"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently." - Nietzsche
That’s me playing Nerf Russian Roulette¹ with our new quasi-roommate² Andrea at the Ted Rejects party.
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Nerf Russian Roulette is not unlike Chat Roulette. That is, a mildly dangerous way to create fodder for interesting photos.
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I include the “quasi” modifier because she’s sleeping on an air mattress in what was once our dining room.
Stop it Mother Nature, I have lap swim at 5…
Hey people, come to our apartment on W 5th tonight. We’re having friends over to experience the horror and delight of Chat Roulette.
We’ll also be roasting S’mores and drinking beer (BYOB).
Come over at 9 and get the heck out at midnight. If you haven’t been over before but want to come, email me. Meeting strangers is our M.O. tonight after all.
Saturday evening I was browsing the Austin tags on Tumblr and came across the blog of two University of Florida students who were doing a weeklong trip related to entrepreneurship.
That, my friends, is something I can get behind.
An email and a few phone calls later and they were partying with us at the Ted Rejects party…
The Internet is a crazy, crazy thing. Safe travels Adam and Meaghan!
If you buy Sarah a $2 Schlitz she’ll draw something on the bar for you!
The best photographers will let nothing stand between them and a great shot.
Yesterday morning I got up to cheer on Tim & Shelly during the tail end of the Austin Marathon (didn’t get up quite early enough to watch Matt do the 1/2 Marathon…sorray). I had one opportunity to get a good photo, and I FAILED MISERABLY. But I fixed it.
Great job runners!
From sarahachtemeier
For all you ladies out there feeling lonely on Valentines Day, I present to you Mr Fox.
On Cumulative Effects
Yesterday I woke up with a sore back. I’m sure my flu symptoms had something to do with those achy muscles - but I couldn’t help but wonder whether my mattress had a hand in it too.
I’ve had this mattress since college. It was a hand-me-down from my Brazilian roommate Bruno. And come to think of it, Bruno got the mattress secondhand when he moved to America.
Jesus, my mattress is probably a relic of the 90’s.
Thinking about my mattress led me to wonder: “If I continue to sleep on my outdated, inwardly sloped mattress for too long - will I start to look like a hunchback?” I know a night, week, month, even a year of restless nights on a cheap mattress can’t cause irreversible damage. But five years of cumulative poor rest could, right?
I then began thinking of the negative cumulative consequences of other things: frequent bike riding, working with a laptop on my lap, drinking to excess nearly every weekend, going to 15 or 20 loud rock shows a year.
I had never considered how much these things could add up. I began to cringe thinking about being 40 and having the health and cognizance of Ozzy Osbourne. But then I realized…
There are positive cumulative effects too.
Every workday I spend 7-8 hours managing awesome freelancers and helping people connect with customers on the Internet. Every day I also spend a few more hours reading and learning about how to do what I do better. I’ve read so much that I’m getting to the point where I want to shut off the spigot of information and just start taking action. Often.
And this feels incredible. It’s like the past three years I’ve been accumulating everything I need to know to make what I’m about to do possible.
Think about the actions you’re taking in life that might have a cumulative effect. Especially the positive ones. And instead of trying to do everything today. Just do one thing.
One stupid little thing.
Read a few pages in that giant book. Run for 10 minutes. Say a few nice words to your roommate or your bed mate.
It doesn’t seem like much at the time, because it isn’t. It just really adds up.
There are always more than two options
Sometimes I have thoughts in my head. Thoughts which I dream of turning into essays someday when I’m in the essay writing mood.
But alas, if Derek Sivers keeps writing insightful little posts like this one, my essays will be nothing but a well edited collection of footnotes to sivers.org.
- My barber explains the benefits of hairstyle variety
