One of my more productive times for writing is when I’m walking to the bus stop in the morning. This is unfortunate because it’s hard to write while I’m walking. So I take that time to run over thoughts and phrases in my head as I walk, hoping that by the time I get to the stop and the bus comes and I pull out my resuscitated laptop, the nugget is still fresh and ripe for transcribing as it occurred moments earlier.
Taking advantage of these moments when they happen is important because I’m especially susceptible to distraction. Checking email, checking blogs, checking Google News, checking Boing Boing, even making dinner. All of these things satisfy my brain, but they also leave it cloudy, and destroy any self-generated thought not directly related to what I’m reading. I don’t usually lose thoughts, but I do forget some.
The way home is something I’m trying to change. Sometimes I return to what I was writing in the morning on the bus, but usually it’s not a time for original thought until I get off and begin my walk home. Luckily there’s a nice coffee shop at Polk and Bush which I see my self frequenting as a rest stop on the way. Beer as well as coffee shop fare, food (which I haven’t explored yet), comfortable, quiet, laptop-friendly atmosphere. Wireless that doesn’t seem to work, but ethernet cables if I need them.
Oh and people.
Sitting amongst strangers, comforted by their din, hearing and yet barely listening to their conversations. This might be my most mentally soothing environment. I really seem able to space out here without losing focus. This is something I already know and keep remembering.
Discontent spurs innovation for sure, but sometimes in the least expected ways.
How much should we be thanking Microsoft for its narrow vision of the web, its monopolistic business practices, and the browser it put out to pasture for over half a decade? Why? Well for one, it lead directly to the formation of the Mozilla project, later organization, later corporation, and the Firefox web browser they’ve spawned. I would even go so far as to say that no company has done more (albeit inadvertently) to solidify the goals and aims of the free and open source software movement than Microsoft.
And shouldn’t we be thanking our lucky stars for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the RIAA? Among other things they motivated Larry Lessig to create the Creative Commons, an organization which set out to produce and promote a series of copyright licenses not previously envisioned by politicians and corporate rightsholders. Rather than the one-size-fits-all copyright of All Rights Reserved, By Permission Only—which always seemed good enough—the Creative Commons demonstrated to people a parallel world where creators of all stripes could license their content in advance from an a la carte menu of permissions, in order to grant, if not encourage people to use their creations.
There’s a nugget of something here that keeps rattling around in my brain. Namely that often dire, draconian circumstances breed an intense sort of clarity, followed by a streak of rebellious creativity. For sure it’s a shame that such brilliance must start with tragic and disheartening earth scorchings, but man do they open people’s eyes in a way that flowers and butterflies don’t.
Another example, where the eventual outcome is yet unclear. People worry about the domestic and international mess that George W. Bush has managed to get us in, and that things may never be the same. For one, I say hear hear! After 8 years of Bill Clinton, we got lazy. Who knew government could be so hard but seem so easy? It’s just an unimaginable shame that the country of Iraq has had to endure chaos and torture and death because our democracy failed to keep our leadership in check. But you know what, I also say, don’t be so shortsighted. George has done more harm to the Republican party than perhaps even Richard Nixon. And his administration has angered so many people across the spectrum, I’m almost giddy with anticipation to see what the opposition (and I don’t mean the Democrats) eventually cook up to prevent a disaster like the last 7 years from EVER HAPPENING AGAIN.
I’ve let myself get completely wrapped up in the whole story, since the moment I first heard about the missing person’s report on SF Metroblogging. Apparently I’m not alone.
But I don’t get it.
What happened that caused the Kims to get stuck? Did a tire go flat? Did they go off the road? With hours, and then days on hand, you’d think they’d spend every waking second trying to get their car unstuck. Could there have been too much snow on the road to drive? Maybe they didn’t think they had enough gas to finish the trip (or backtrack the way they came)? Yet they had enough gas to run the engine and keep the heat on. How do you have enough ingenuity to burn your car’s tires, but not get a car unstuck? And why haven’t these questions been asked by reporters, at least of the rescuers?
Did they expect that someone would eventually come by, so they decided to just wait it out? After a few hours (let alone days!) I’d be going crazy scheming of ways to get out. The average person can walk a mile in about 20 minutes. If the car was indeed immobile, why didn’t James Kim set out immediately either up the road (one day) or down the road (the next day) to try and find help? In 6 hours he could have walked at least 18 miles. Why did he wait a week to go off in search of help? Why did he decide to turn off the road? Apparently about a mile from where they were stranded was a resort, closed for the winter, but certainly something they could have broken into for greater shelter—and a location the search teams repeatedly searched. Were they worried about wild animals? Bears perhaps?
My heart is completely torn out in empathy for their family, but so much doesn’t make sense. Why did this story have to end with such indescribable tragedy?
Last Sunday after hiking with Mark, Marcia, and Stephanie, I felt a burning sensation in my nasal cavity right above the palate—as if a morsel of food had gotten stuck up there (and was trying to slide down). Or perhaps that chili cheese dog I had before walking across the bridge wasn’t such a hot idea.
All week I felt out of it, especially at night, but always decent enough in the mornings to get to work. Thankfully I wasn’t alone. Andre, Andy, and Jonathan were also in various stages of sick. By Thursday I’d developed an annoying cough. Friday I finally threw in the towel.
When I woke I felt like I was swimming in my head, and the consistency of mucous I was coughing up (thick and mustard yellow) impressed even me. I stayed home from work. Didn’t get much extra sleep, but I spent the day in bed trying to make sense of the differences between a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. We’ll see if I made the right decision in 2040.
Yesterday evening the coughing was intense. I couldn’t take a breath without triggering a reflex cough. Watching a few episodes of The Office helped, as did several puffs on an albuterol inhaler leftover from a similar cold Stephanie had earlier this year. But man, last night. I’d forgotten to take cough syrup because I felt ok when I went to bed, but all night I suffered through a semi-conscious state of sleeping, coughing, and trying to breathe. At 6am it finally woke me (and Stephanie). I took some cough syrup, and slept until after 10am.
Things seemed better this morning, so we went out around noon to do some errands, including dropping off my bike (which has been out of commission since spring) to be overhauled at Lombardi Sports. On the way my body felt like jelly. I’d alternate between feeling hot, and having cold sweats. I thought I was on the mend. We grabbed some nighttime Nyquil liqugels, some frozen fruit for smoothies, some frozen pie crusts for a quiche, and headed back home.
Stephanie’s napping right now. We toyed briefly with the idea of going to see snowboarders catch mad air at the AT&T park, but I think instead we’ll head out and try to grab tickets for Borat (which was sold out last night). But first dinner:
What would I free, off the top of my head? The patented formulas for every current HIV/AIDS medication.
My fear? That the money the pharmaceutical industry hopes to make off these drugs far exceeds $100 million. You’d think that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation would take the lead in this direction, except that freeing the source would seem to be in direct conflict with the origin of the foundation’s astounding $31 billion endowment.
Update: Speaking of HIV/AIDS, this has got to be the hottest image ever associated with the fight against AIDS. And I don’t mean hot sexy, I mean hot scintillating. What a stunning photograph (of a stunning beauty).
These Product Red Gap ads have been plastered on billboards throughout the city, and every time I see Christy Turlington in a meditative yoga position, I practically freeze in my tracks.
To celebrate the introduction of the Gap (PRODUCT) RED Collection, Gap is launching a powerful new advertising campaign featuring an incredible cast of celebrities photographed by renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz.
The only thing that bothers me is how much this campaign is tied up in marketing and consumerism. It’s as if the subtext reads, the only way to make the West care is by influencing what we buy and who we buy it from.
No doubt the companies involved (GAP, Apple, American Express, Converse, Motorola, etc.) are looking for a boost in their non-(RED) products and brand image. Did Annie Leibovitz and the celebrities in the GAP ads volunteer their time? If so, shouldn’t that be as much a part of the message as buying more crap? If not, how much is being spent on the message versus the cause?
