And I’m off! I will not be blogging, checking email, or phone calls for the next week. That’s what I call a vacation!
I will be working, but very happily skipping around the desert. Yee-hah! SO EXCITED!!!
For all you Burners, you know where to find me. I’ll be at the ARTery and camping there in the smallest trailer imaginable.
xoxo,
vixen
Steve Jobs, thank you for all that you’ve accomplished. I’m proud to say that my very first computer was an Apple IIe. I bought a Mac in my first year in college—as did so many of us in the dorms. And I’ll forever be a Mac lover. I can’t think of anyone who has innovated more in our time than you.
Here’s what Steve Jobs had to say about design.
“Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works. The design of the Mac wasn’t what it looked like, although that was part of it. Primarily, it was how it worked. To design something really well, you have to get it. You have to really grok what it’s all about. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it. Most people don’t take the time to do that.”
He totally got it right. Who cares how good you look if you don’t feel good? I have a pair of high heeled Christian Louboutins that are so painful, I can barely walk in them for more than 20 minutes. Flushing money down the toilet.
I’ve come to realize that I can no longer buy clothes and have them altered. Seamstresses have measured me, pinned, and always gotten it wrong. I’ve brought clothes back. I’ve tried different people. They all croak, “Aye, you’re too skinny. I bring the top in, see? I added elastic, see?”
“It falls right off of me. You measured me right? Can’t you get it right?”
It’s got to fit like a glove. It’s got to feel good. It’s got to be like opening up a new iPad or MacBook Air. So pretty with solid functionality to boot. Thank you, Apple!
Leaving work around 5pm in the heart of the Financial District is like swimming along a tidal wave. You have to throw yourself in there, then you’re carried by big crowds of fast walking suits. I was walking toward my bus stop. Most people were moving toward BART.
Stopped on the corner of Bush and Sansome, waiting for the red light to flash green, a tall woman lit a cigarette and began smoking. Some people turned around and gave her a sour look. I was behind her and quickly dodged left. Others spilled out into the street to get away from that horrid smell.
I thought, wow, I can’t remember the last time I saw someone smoke a cigarette. Swear to God. Nor do I know anyone off-hand, right at this minute, who smokes. It’s so weird. From the way the crowd dispersed as soon as they smelled cigarette smoke, it looks like most people in general (at least here in San Francisco) can’t stand it.
Anyone out there still smoke?
I was listening to NPR when they interviewed one of the co-founders of GlassDoor.com, the up and coming site that stores anonymous critiques of companies. He said that Steve Jobs’s approval rate is 97% which is rarely attainable. Across all of their hundreds of thousands of companies with reviews, there are only two other CEOs with a higher rate: General Mills and Bain. The Glass Door co-founder made some interesting points. CEOs with extremely high approval rates have usually been with their companies for at least 20 years. The co-founder went on to quote from a few Apple surveys, including someone who said of Steve Jobs, “He is the Thomas Edison of our time.” I’ll write more on Steve tomorrow.
Burning Man: Aug. 30, 1998
Google’s first doodle was a spur of the moment idea by Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Today, Google logo doodles, which can be anything from a quick reaction to a news item to the anniversary of a scientific discovery, are so popular that the company hears from hundreds of thousands of users all over the world with suggestions, corrections, or, like one Japanese businessman, with a thanks “for bringing a small smile to my face every single day.” Here, Dennis Hwang, Webmaster Manager, and Micheal Lopez, Senior Web Designer, share the stories behind a few notable doodles.
“Our first doodle went up when Larry and Sergey were running Google while it was in beta on their own,” says Hwang. “It shows the Burning Man symbol, the annual alternative festival, which they like to go to whenever they can. They wanted to let the early Google search engine users know that the site would be running unattended while they were there. So they put this up—it’s like a fun ‘out of office’ message.”
“It was so popular they did one for Thanksgiving. In the early years, it was a controversial thing to do. If you read any kind of corporate marketing or branding textbook, the one thing they tell you is to make your corporate branding consistent no matter what. But Larry and Sergey said, ‘Why not? We should have fun with this.’ They did it in spite of some resistance within the company.”
View original article at Chaaps: Super Cool Collection of Google Doodles and its Tales
Burning Man operates as a gift economy. There’s no bartering, there’s no trading. You give, you get, you gift. Simple.
But Burning Man is not free. In fact, it’s damn expensive which makes complete sense. The money it costs to put the infrastructure in place would blow your mind—the fees to the Bureau of Land Management, porta-potties, the ticketing vendor… Check out the financial chart for 2010 here.
Like any vacation, you’re missing out on a salary, paying for transportation, buying your ticket. Even the low income ticket for the Burn is $160. Add on your tent, sleeping bag, or your share of an air-conditioned several-thousand-dollar RV. Tack on your granola bars, 2 Buck Chuck, sunscreen. It adds up. The planning and preparation is brutal. No matter how many years you’ve been doing this.
Which brings me to the ingenuity around profiting on Burning Man. I’m a capitalist so I like, I like. If people can come up with a need that others are willing to pay for, then the better for all parties involved.
Looks like a couple former chefs at Google started up their own catering company called Gastronaut. For Burning Man, they’ve got your meals covered. Some kind of freeze-dried concept where you put the package in a pot of boiling water and voila. Sustenance! Personally, I’d rather cook up my own Top Ramen for a couple cents, but hey, I know a lot of people who are buying from Gastronaut.
One of the camps (or several camps, I’m not sure) are bringing the French Quarter to Black Rock City. They are selling a 2nd floor luxury suite with a balcony for two people. The apartment comes with some pretty bad ass amenities like the newspaper brought to your door every morning, fresh-baked goods, breakfast cocktails, evening gumbo, wine, access to hot showers, and much more. Wowsers! I want to do this one year!! By the way, it looks like it’s still available. Jump on this, people!
I have been suffering some serious blues lately which is why I haven’t posted for a while. Just taking it day by day. Staring at the walls in a daze with a few days remaining before Burning Man means I’m going to be hyper-stressed before the long trek to the playa on Saturday. But I’m very much looking forward to the solitude of a six hour drive.
Last night we watched the Help. I really enjoyed it. I thought the movie was a pretty good portrayal of the book—as good as you can get in two hours. I wasn’t too keen on Emma Stone playing the main character Skeeter, but she did a good job of playing an awkward nerd. The acting through and through was fantastic.
[If anyone from my book club is reading this post, I wouldn't have been able to make it in time to the San Mateo showing. We were at the AMC Van Ness theater just in time to catch two trailers before the movie started.]
I was up until the wee hours drawn into the Olsens Anonymous blog last night. Maybe because the Olsen Twins are my size. Maybe because they’re California girls living in NYC and I’m heading there next month for 9 days. (Yipper-doodle!) Or maybe because I was utterly bored and suffering insomnia. (I’m trying to see what life is like without Ambien.)
I’m not really a fan of the boho chic style. The baggy stuff doesn’t do it for me. But I do have to say I like the twins’ style. Kind of eclectic.
All photos from the Olsens Anonymous blog.
Hey I was just talking about not wanting a tombstone and I read this piece today on the Big Think. Article by Teodora Zareva.
You don’t find many designers working in the funeral business thinking about more creative ways for you to leave this world (and maybe they should be). However, Spanish designer Martin Azua has combined the romantic notion of life after death with an eco solution to the dirty business of the actual, you know, transition.
His Bios Urn is a biodegradable urn made from coconut shell, compacted peat and cellulose and inside it contains the seed of a tree. Once your remains have been placed into the urn, it can be planted and then the seed germinates and begins to grow. You even have the choice to pick the type of plant you would like to become, depending on what kind of planting space you prefer.
via This Awesome Urn Will Turn You into a Tree After You Die | Design for Good | Big Think.
My nickname is Vixen. I’m a barely-published, newly-married, 30-something writer. An almost mommy, I am forever changed by the loss of my baby. I post daily about living in San Francisco, traveling around the world, and trying to keep up with over 1000 Facebook friends. With a passion for books, reading, and writing, I take pride in sharing my musings with you.
