There is no becoming, no revolution, no struggle, no path; already you’re the monarch of your own skin—your inviolable freedom waits to be completed only by the love of other monarchs: a politics of dream, urgent as the blueness of sky.
— Hakim Bey
I want this year to be productive. Everyone should. Is moping a good way to spend your time? Where are you going to be at the end of it? What will it have gained you? Nothing is not an option.
Let’s work on something better than nothing; something productive, proactive, growth related. You can only be passionate about a few things at the same time or you’ll be too fractioned to make any traction on all of them. This year I’m coming to terms with three such passions.
Rededication to coffee and the hunt for greater understanding and participation. To that extent I have made new goals to take apart my espresso machine, hang out with the CCC espresso techs, and culminate my learning by if possible pid my Nuova Simonelli Oscar. As well it goes without saying that opening the cafe this year would be fantastic. Not having control of so many variables we can only continue our efforts which begin with a fresh meeting with our property broker, Michelle Buckley of New South Properties to begin the churn of properties over again. This time we’re scaling back a little working to be more agile for a more expidient, but secure launch.
I’ve also let the artist in me languish over the past few years. I used to do a lot of digital art before digital art was even a real concept. Back in the early 90’s I could be seen with a large 12x12 wacom tablet in my lap just doodling away or working in Painter on some slow to create realistic oil piece. Over the years I got out of graphic design because I felt people I was working with or for asthetically didn’t get it. As well the web back then was table crazy, and tables just never grooved with me at all. It took the art and made it much more science than I wanted. I’d like to get a tablet back in my world and go back to basics. I love design, I love expression.
The last thing I can really say I’ll work on this year is local networks. Last year was a boon to me online. I’ve met many great people through the internet but the internet is something not yet realized locally as much as it should (much greater for bridging large divides). I need to return to my region and start building relationships at home. At this point in my life I need help (hehe take that as many ways as you need), and you gain help through relationships. Unfortunatly I really don’t have as many as I’d like in Charlotte so the effort must be put into this. With strong ties come strong abilities to leverage. Through this I hope to become a little more civic minded and motivated. The wonderful crew over at Urban Planet has been a nice starting point.
As I come to a close the old UGA slogan runs through my head…
It’s time to let the big dawg eat.
-a
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
— Martin Luther King, Jr.
Excerpt from Commentary on Tech Crunch, Don’t Blow Your Beta:
Successful companies are based on reaching people who are in pain and making their lives better.
So find some people who are suffering needlessly, come up with a brilliant way to (a) cheaply reach a lot of them and (b) cheaply make their week a little easier.
Then execute your plan. That’s a business. Forget about Betas, Web 2.0, yellow fade, eyeballs, alexa and all that. It’s a distraction. The point is to make money. […]
— Chris Marstall
This post brought to you by our friends at Typo. Typo is a Ruby on Rails project and after Jeff’s recommendation and giving it a quick tour I enjoyed what I saw. I quickly established a theme, modifed said theme, and in shorter order than I’ve ever had before, am here.
New face and new engine underneath. All of my MovableType data has been ported rather effectively. If you find errors please let me know.
-a
