Jesse says...

My life is pretty cyclic. Oh, that could be a can of worms… let’s rephrase:

My hobbies are pretty cyclic.

I find that I get really obsessed with one thing, go crazy on it for a month or two, then jump to something else. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

It’s a pretty consistent cycle, though, so I can probalby start to anticipate when I’m getting bored and start picking up the next thing… let’s see:

Comic Books > Illustration > Interface Design > Operating Systems > Dynamic Languages > Real Time Communications (Instant Messaging) > Web Design > Movies > Comic Books

Now, I could have started with anything, but comics seemed like as good a place as any. And, speaking of comics, buy Demo. It’s simply amazing. It’s hands-down one of the best new-ish comics I read in a few years. (Oh, and Heroes totally ripped off the Demo story “Emmy” with this comic… jerks.)

Two fun learnings:

One, almost all Flash designers think their coding skills are “at an intermediate level” — that includes people way better than me, and people way worse than me… and I’m at an intermediate level.

Two, Ali thinks that everything happened yesterday. Or, as she says it “etserdee”.

I also learned today that people think I’m worth bookmarking. Damn, that might be more pressure than I can take.

I learned I need two houses. Or at least two beds. I think that springs from when I was really little and used to spend so much time at my grandparents’ house. I probably spent at least a day there a week. Because of that, I always have this need to sleep somewhere different. I get bored of my own bed, and tend to want to fall asleep on the couch or in a chair or somewhere just different. I hardly ever do, but I always want to.

Today was the 2006 MIMA Summit. MIMA (for those too lazy to follow the link) is the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association, and I was there because I was invited to represent my school, CVA, as part of a panel on the role of education in interactive marketing. The panel itself went really well, but I have to say that the rest of the event was even better. I saw so many great presentations it’s almost obscene. From Elisa Camahort I learned how to be a more effective blogger (note to self: attract a female demographic…). From Andrew Eklund I had it confirmed that Second Life really is the way of the future… oh, and that it’s okay to start off a presentation by saying ‘penis’. From Matt Thompson I learned that I should probably utilize the resources of my fabulous Twin Cities and maybe get out to a show or two.

Oh, and most importantly about MIMA, I learned that I am in love with Michelle Collins. Madly in love. I don’t care that she’s taller than me… or taller than a tree… she’s funny as hell. Damn.

And, to top off the night, with non-MIMA-related news… I learned that not only am I the Prophet of Google (yes… this is mine… I’m working on it…), but I am also the Prophet of Teleportation! I’VE BEEN SCREAMING THIS FOR YEARS, PEOPLE!

Just remember… the Future is NOW!

I have’t really posted any “things I’ve learned” lately, other than the OpenBSD stuff… so, let’s see. Yesterday I learned that yellow flowers make any illness feel better. I also learned that it can be quite difficult to find 10 year old computer parts on eBay, but you can’t be picky. And the last thing, which is OpenBSD-related, is never underestimate the value of good documentation. Being able to just type ‘help’ at the command prompt and get a good introduction to the system… that’s priceless.

Jeff Bezos.

Sergey Brin.

Larry Page.

Jimmy Wales.

If you don’t know these names, you should. They’ve probably changed your life. Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon. Sergey Brin and Larry Page are the founders of Google. Jimmy Wales is the founder of Wikipedia. So, other than all being founders of highly successful and life-altering internet presences, what else do they have in common? Yesterday I learned they were all Montessori students.

I think Tanya and I made the right choice of where to enroll Ali for her first school experience. Hopefully that will be the right cornerstone to help instill in her a love of learning and a desire to look outside of the normal to find solutions which can help everyone.

Last night I learned that there is an Ojibwe language group that meets at the Minneapolis American Indian Center. The Ojibwe Learning Table meets 5:30 – 7:00 on Tuesday nights, and I think Tanya said something about Monday and… some other day. When I find those out I’ll post them.

I also learned that Ojibwe is an endangered language. I’ve wanted to learn Ojibwe, and given that fact and that it’s a part of my heritage, what better excuse do I need.

Also, I learned that the fudge brownie sundaes at Pizza Luce are more than one adult and one small child can handle… particularly after consuming half of a mashed potato pizza.

After listening to The Legion of Doom‘s mash-up Icarus Underwater about 20+ times today, I can only be forced to conclude that I have an unnatural and unhealthy obsession with mythological figures who follow their pride to their downfall. Lucifer, I’m talking to you.

Speaking of Icarus, I learned that I encounter a lot of “that can’t possibly be a coincidence”-kind of events in my world. For example, today Michael emailed me a link to some free fonts for use in Etoile. I found one I really liked, called Lacuna (which, appropriately enough, is also a word I find stuck in my head a lot). And what is shown as a display of the Lacuna letterforms? This.

I’m starting a new format for my blog. I’m notorious for not posting, and I figured out why tonight. The issue is, I have a) not much time, and b) too much going on that writing about all of it feels like a daunting task, so I just avoid it. As a remedy for that, I’ve decided on a new system.

The idea is this: every two to three days, I will post a couple of things that I’ve learned over the last few days. These may be life lessons. They may be technical things. They may be little self-revelations. They may be things I actually always knew, but have just never written down. This gives me a mission statement, a focus, and a reason to write regularly.

With that out of the way, here’s what I learned today:

Having an audience is a double-edged sword. On one hand, you have people’s attention. On the other hand, you’re expected to say something interesting.

Deciding to be in Chasing Windmills will be one of the things I will look back and say was a pivotal event in my life.

After 6 Red Bulls in the span of two hours, shooting pains run up and down my right arm. It’s three hours since I’ve had my last one, and my insides still feel weird and I’m kind of twitchy.