July 2010
5 posts
True Expression, age 12
I helped out at Austin Bat Cave on Tuesday, editing their soon to-be-released student anthology. After pouring over dozens of poems, short stories and writing exercises, I concluded that teenage writers can be classified into two groups:
Kids writing like a writer.
Kids writing the way they think.
The first group is comprised of “good students.” Their writing receives top marks...
Dan Gilbert's Personal Guarantee →
Once in a rare while, someone really pisses me off.
After a healthy dose of whiskey, I open Gmail and draft a letter so scathing, it makes paint peel and school children cry.
Rationality returns with mere seconds to spare, however, and I opt for the button labeled “Discard.”
Dan Gilbert?
He hits “Send.”
Deer Tick - Dirty Dishes
It’s a good thing...
June 2010
10 posts
Sharing Time
On Youth and Young Manhood, I try to post things I’ve created. If you give me your attention, you can be fairly certain you’re reading something new…something I made for you.
This also means I don’t share the great things others have created, however, and I wanted a way to do both.
Over the past two weeks I made big changes to YYM. I now have a place to showcase the great...
Lacey's Travel Advice
You can use travelocity to book it because if you want, you get to swim with the dolphins for free as a bonus. Although I wouldn’t recommend this because dolphins are extremely unhappy in captivity and are killed in large numbers because of places like that.
Advice on your "Someday" List
Start now. It will take longer than you think.
Where Can I Fly & For How Much →
Be The Mayor →
A helpful little tool for Foursquare feuds.
May 2010
9 posts
Mom Genes
23 and Me is a service that allows you to analyze your DNA. Through your DNA analysis, you can discover ancestry, genetic pre-dispositions to disease and a whole host of other interesting things about you and your body.
I’ve wanted to do this for over a year, but couldn’t justify the roughly $500 price tag. But on April 23rd, they had a $99 special under the guise of “DNA...
“It’s laughably easy to find someone to critique a sentence, to find a missing apostrophe or worry about your noun-verb agreement.
Sometimes, you’re lucky enough to find someone who can tell you that a paragraph is dull, or out of place.
But finding people to rearrange the chapters, to criticize the very arc of what you’re building, to give you substantive feedback on your...
Text Playlist
viafrank:
A lot of designers and creative folk that I know keep a morgue file, a folder of random elements that they find from old jobs that got killed, inspirational bits, torn images from magazines, and other scraps. In fact, a lot of these Tumblr blogs are just that.
I do a bit of that myself, but I keep what I perceive to be a more valuable, important morgue file: one made of the best...
“The less confident you are, the more serious you have to act.”
– Tara Ploughman
jenmcnasty asked: So do you work at P. Terry's? I notice you are there quite often!
April 2010
24 posts
I purchased the domain SellingLove.com last night. Anyone want to fancy a guess as to what the idea is?
Career Advice
I’ve never had a friend regret quitting a job they didn’t love.
$100 Day
In addition to a handcrafted thank you note, our SXSW guests sent a check totaling $100 for our hospitality. It was very sweet, if a bit too kind.
Rather than squirrel away their generosity, I’d like to use the money for more debauchery. Anyone who’d like to help should come over around 7pm tonight. We’ll sit down over a drink and decide how to best spend a hundred bucks. Then...
WatchThis just changed my life.
JFDI Update
Earlier this week I was offered $150 for the domain JFDI.
Said Robert, the offering party:
I am intrigued by it because I often use that exact phrase to get people to stop complaining about why they can’t do something!
I am new to this “buying domains thing” myself but I’ll put a stake in the ground - would you take $150 for it?
I replied to the effect of:
Let me...
Addendum to On Cumulative Effects
I think this post makes a great addendum to On Cumulative Effects. It’s written by Leo Babauta and titled “The Only Thing You Can Change.” It’s published here courtesy of Uncopyright.
You can’t change your entire life.
You can only change your next action.
—
You can’t change a relationship with a loved one.
You can only change your next interaction.
—
You can’t...
Friendly Reminder
Today is 4/20/2010.
If you don’t have an impending drug test or a morality rooted in temperance, you might consider smoking some marijuana this evening.
And for my readers who aren’t twenty-somethings in an urban area: No, I don’t know where you can buy weed. But I bet if you offer a five spot to the clerk at your nearest 7-11, he’ll guide you in the right direction.
Crazy Legit
My name’s Luke; I’m a college freshman, and I’d love to apply for a spot at Agent Pronto for this summer. I know I’m late in the game, but I just saw your Craigslist ad today. You guys seem, to put it colloquially, crazy-legit.
Damn straight. Take that career services.
“Every time you sniff and say somebody has “too much free time,” the...”
– Merlin Mann
Happiness Button →
Suppose humans were born with magical buttons on their foreheads. When someone else pushes your button, it makes you very happy. But like tickling, it only works when someone else presses it. Imagine it’s easy to use. You just reach over, press it once, and the other person becomes wildly happy for a few minutes.
What would happen in such a world?
Gayngs - The Gaudy Side of Town
Gayngs (featuring...
Tumblr Meetup at Crown and Anchor →
This is where I’ll be tonight, liking all of you in person.
“Imagine a puddle waking up one morning and thinking, ‘This is an...”
– Douglas Adams
March 2010
15 posts
“Leave the poetry in what you make. When something becomes too polished, it loses...”
– Rework by 37 Signals - Page 183