keith’s new self

This halloween I dressed up as iconic nerd Napoleon Dynamite. The reaction I got from people was totally unexpected and over-the-top - possibly since I bear an uncanny resemblance to the guy - it was like being a famous person for a night. Way more attention than I’m used to. Funny how the quintessential social reject is also totally popular. It was weird too since I was trying to stay in character and not smile, so I would just generally ignore people. I also practiced some Napoleon dance moves that I busted out at the club. That was a hit too.

Oh well… my ego ate up the attention, but I wouldn’t do it again. Being famous sucks, I’ve decided.

posted: 3:19 pm

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I’ve created a credo for my working life, inspired by Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art, David Allen’s Getting Things Done and my meditation practice. Many of these are ideals of course - things that I strive for, keeping in mind that it’s all an ongoing process.

I am a professional.

I am talented, and I am paid fairly for the work I do.

I don’t overwork, or expect others to do so.

When I sit down to work, I work. I dont procrastinate or allow insignificant things to distract me.

I am dependable - I am careful to make promises I know I can fulfill, and I always fulfill them.

I am pragmatic - I seek the solution that is as simple as possible, but no simpler.

I am disciplined - I understand that true velocity requires consistency, diligence, thoroughness and punctuality.

I preserve my sanity with a trusted system that ensures everything requiring my attention is captured and processed.

When I am working, I am psychically present, centered and grounded in my body, mindful of my body and my energy at all times.

When I am working my default emotional state is one of amusement, joy, enthusiasm, freedom.

I am passionately involved with my work but not attached to specific outcomes.

I am always looking to further develop my skills and improve how I do my work.

tags: code, gtd, health, lightwork, meditation, productivity, work, stevenpressfield

posted: 9:00 am

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Been playing with Flock, the Web 2.0-aware browser. It has some nifty features, but it hasn’t really grabbed me. I like how big a leap it takes into the Web 2.0 realm - bringing blogging tools and web services such as delicious and Flickr to the desktop - but I don’t find the UI and features work for me.

Maybe I’m not the kind of power user Flock is made for. I find that I use my delicious more for history and sharing more than for regular bookmark use - I rarely need to look back into my delicious bookmarks for anything. My often-used bookmarks, which I want quick access to, are more personal and not worth sharing (banking, bloglines.com, company intranet, various servers i develop on, etc.). I find that the delicious bookmarklet is convenient enough for adding new bookmarks - so I guess I don’t find the client-side bookmark management that compelling (yet). I don’t use Flickr so I don’t have anything to say about the Flickr support.

Flock’s other main features, the feed aggregator and blogging client, have tough competition from specialized apps like ecto, NetNewsWire and bloglines.com. Having all these features in one app would only work for me if they provided greater value bundled than separate. Meaning that they would have to match all the necessary features of the apps I already use, and then provide some additional value by being able to exploit commonalities in ways that standalone apps can’t. I wasn’t able to get the blogging interface working with my WordPress blog, unfortunately, so I wasn’t able to check that out - I just get the error:

Alert
There was and error detecting your blog settings
Method blogger.getUsersBlogs not supported

Ahh… the joys of beta.

I definitely like the concept, and knowing that this is not even 1.0, there is a lot of potential coolness coming for Flock. I think that if the Flockers keep tabs on users’ needs and continue to innovate they could spawn a very killer app.

tags: flockbuzz, web, web2.0

posted: 2:58 pm

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Saw Serenity a week ago, and been watching the Firefly TV series, thanks to Bittorrent, and I’m starting to get what all the hype is about. Nerds everywhere are hungry for something to replace the ailing, long-since-sold-out Star Wars and Star Trek franchises. I’m hooked - this series (which owes a significant debt to Lucas and Roddenberry, certainly), has a quality and novelty that stands far apart from the tepid sludge of tee vee and (most of) Hollywood. The main thing I like about Firefly is that it is intensely human - it deals with classic human moral and psychological issues. And I like how it avoids the transcendent quality of Star Trek, where most episodes are confrontations with the bizarre and other-worldly. The Serenity universe is more a way-cool backdrop to the classic human drama. And the characters really are interesting and engaging and alive, a Star Wars that revolves around complex, fallible (and thus enjoyable) Han Solo rather than Luke. And the plot is kickass. Hope to see much more from Joss Whedon.

tags: firefly, movies

posted: 8:17 pm

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During the moment of illumination,
when I see the original face of mind,
a limitless compassion arises.
The greater the illumination,
the greater is the compassion.
The greater my compassion,
the deeper is the wisdom I feel.

- Garmaba

Courtesy of dailyzen.com

tags: poetry, zen

posted: 5:34 am

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Deep green needles glow against a cobalt sky;
They radiate something that only few can sense.
Snow white peaks, tops shrouded in the clouds,
Shine and echo, shine and echo
Through both sides of the skin line.
Oh, in all of this does lie some deep implication,
Yet when I try to say more, I become silent, mute.

- Ji Aoi Isshi

Courtesy of dailyzen.com

tags: meditation, poetry, zen

posted: 7:35 am

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Let the sun and the moon revolve by themselves!
When I have time I read the sutras,
When I am tired I sleep on my straw bed.
If you ask me, “Whom do you see in your dreams?�
I would answer,
No one special.

- Saigyo

Courtesy of dailyzen.com

tags: poetry, zen

posted: 6:34 pm

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