it’s my island
andy.ciordia.info
Archive for June, 2007
June 28, 2007 at 8:31 pm · Filed under Interests, Points In Time
Tagged with:
images,
photography,
print,
sales,
wall,
wallscape 
I’ve been working hard to get better at photography for the last 5 years. I can probably attribute it to Photo.net as an early resource for an aspiring eye, some fantastic in-family photographers and a consistent amount of moments to capture around me.
As Robin joined my carnival of fun it seems I can even more so rarely be found without a camera. To put all that time to good ends we decided to build a photography site that can sell some of the best of our collections now and later. We really enjoy sharing our world and a lot of the time the moment transcends to others and now they can share.
IMI—it’s my island—Photography
The prints start at a length of 2ft to 6ft. We can do even longer (8ft!) if you have the need. We are printing on the highest quality poster paper and canvas.
While Jeff and I work hard to create something that enables us to do more in life, hopefully this venue will drive a little sales to make these transitions easier.
We are also giving back to our agricultural communities. As we document regional farms participating in the Grateful Growers Farm Dinner prints sold from those farms get 15% of the sales.
As collections expand and new ones are formed I’ll make updates. If you have any requests or thoughts on the products I’d love to hear them.
Thank you for your continued support,
-a
June 26, 2007 at 11:04 pm · Filed under Interests, On the Radar
Tagged with:
Get-Things-Done,
gtd,
Meme,
productivity To be like the cool kids I want to play in the GTD Meme setup by gtdfrk. I’ve been juggling this article amongst a number of fireballs recently and while it’s taken a little while to get out it wouldn’t have gotten this far without GTD.
As a good geek I’ll automate as much of my world as possible. Being that what it may, I really drove away from paper for years. Many, many, stupid, years. It wasn’t until the hPDA emerged and my mentality being deeply unsatisfied with the state of the lack of GTD digital system; paper was embraced.
Everyone has said it and will continue saying it until a solution is really developed; there is no single solution. I swear, I know nothing about any solution.
Somehow at that moment of discovering the simplicity and actual creativity one could have with paper—I transcended the agitation for the right tool. I got very curious about what I could do. I threw out the notions of digital, sharing, and fancy ways that a geeks desires for what could be are.
I decided to shape my own little private sunshine. I stumbled then upon my next greatest paper find, DIY Planner. With the early resources of an active community we built and used some of the first template pieces. I was really in heaven. Making notecards that served little pieces of the puzzle; a Project card that also worked as a Next Action list, Weekly/Monthly Calendar, Someday/Maybe’s, Workflow reminders, etc.
I used this system for a few years. Picked up little folders, indexers, card boxes for housing my supply. I have card stands around the house that I can keep some @context specific items at still, or messages and reminders my wife might put in my queue. This all worked well until I washed a few important cards…repeatedly. Who knew my simple system would meet it’s biggest challenge, the washer machine!
GTD’rs are iterative creatures or at the vary least on the look out for ways to get more out of the things around them. No system will be the same for long. We’re adapting.
What’s also changed over the years is my need to have such specific criteria on each card and how the cards—or paper—get processed. I’ve grown to like Levenger note cards. Finding myself more in a mood to mind-map, sketch, and detail than always ready to map the project I’ve allowed myself the creativity that paper affords.
These cards slowly make their way through the day—from note card wallet, note card Jr. trapper, or David Allen’s portable folders—to the Inbox next to my desk. Meanwhile bills enter a billing inbox and reading materials enter a reading bin next to my desk as well.
The note cards are then processed at a whim through the day (maybe driven by a need) or during the next morning’s coffee & wake up session. The cards are usually one of three things, a list of things to do—project, next action, or idea (Someday/Maybe—maybe), a mind map, or bits of information—phone numbers, people, restaurants, etc.
Lists are added to Kinkless, a Mac specific tool that’s like an advanced outliner. Unfortunately I never fell into the right usage model and have been bastardizing the tool to behave how I want and I tend to forget advanced functionality due to it being buried. It serves the purpose though. I’m glad to be seeing the Omnifocus beta. It is definitely a step in a better direction.
Mind maps are redrawn in Novamind or Curio depending on what’s being done with the information. Mind mapping or brain storming is very important. It has the ability to shine a light into the unanswered darkness. Perspectives or connections that might have otherwise been missed can be gleaned. This practice along with optimal questions can take you far.
The last of the cards are filed—digitally or physically. We have a home wiki we use internally that collects a lot of information, shared iCal’s (webdav). In addition to a multitude of filing cabinets that are A-Z, to a specific Context A-Z.
All of this is sorted, reviewed, iterated, cleaned, as we move around the board game. Some weeks are better than others; chaos is as chaos does.
Over the years I learned that you can make due with a lot. Getting the experience through past/current solutions to the flexibility of a blank piece of paper; I feel that I move through the world a little saner than some of my counterparts. It’s not the perfect system by a long shot, but it’s not a perfect world. We will continue to trial and error ways of succeeding better tomorrow than we did today, this I am sure.
Stay flexible by having a good foundation of understanding on what productivity and organization are, what has been working for you, and you’re emotional states. Never stop seeking answers to what ails you.
If I can be of assistance, or you want some further granular answer since this was a fairly broad piece let me know.
-a
June 15, 2007 at 11:22 am · Filed under Scribbles, Skull Sessions
Tagged with:
friends,
life,
mind,
patience,
perspective,
puzzle,
self,
thoughts,
work-out 
I remember a sage once told me that my life was to be walking one of Saturn’s squares. Loosely translated she meant that I would need to work hard and be patient for a long.. long.. time.
It’s taken quite a long time, probably the first 26 (nearing 31 this month) years of my life but I’ve become rather good at being patient. It doesn’t mean I don’t lose it from time to time, but I’m able to swing in some Zen harmonies more often than naught.
I found my way through with many systems. Have few friends and make them the best friends. Keep the temple of yourself in check through working out. Find a way to keep your mind clean and clear.
To achieve greatness isn’t necessarily hard, but it does require patience and persistence.
Relationships
We are social creatures that get out of hand when we have too little or too much interaction. Over the years I’ve had ample friends and acquaintances; when I look back I can only see derived value from those who had similar passions and goals as myself.
If you have a ring of people who are draining you emotionally due to their needs and it’s not helping nurture you’re own needs; over time this can foster social delinquencies which usually end in spite. Who needs that?
friend
a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection
Foster those you connect with and cherish them. Let those who do not mesh well with you fall away. In your life you will cross the path of thousands of individuals. Stay open in knowing that you will find others that will support you as you will support them.
Stay Fit
Purity Through Sweat
I’ve used that motto for years. When I realized I was overweight—probably 9 years ago—I began what would be one of the longest things I’ve ever stuck with, working out. It began without any instruction; then when I wasn’t getting the results I wanted I became my own trainer. Going through the ACE program taught me so much about who we are and how we operate.
As I shed the pounds I also shed the fears I had accumulated like a rotten onion. The better I felt, the taller I walked, the happier I was. It’s been a roller-coaster of goals I’ve set over the years but when it comes down to it if I don’t get a good sweat in at least twice a week I begin to get very irritable.
We take a lot in, whether it’s our nutritional choices to the stresses of life. Keeping up a good regiment of physical activity helps purge and keep level a lot of these things. I’ve said many many times that knowing we are thermodynamic machines if we don’t help find balance our bodies will do very odd and generally unpleasant things to us to find it’s own accord.
Mental Clarity
Who doesn’t want mental clarity? Being trapped in a mental rat race is no joy yet most of us are doing just that. It takes a lot less work than you’d think, but it does take persistence and a desire to as the Delphi inscription read ‘Know Thyself’.
What you find is a lot of people don’t like themselves, and this creates an open loop which is filled by a lot of irrational behavior because of a fear of self and almost always a greater fear of change.
Find a way to love yourself. The words are almost cliche these days but it’s true. No one can hurt you if you own yourself. It’s hard to explain how to do this but the roots of it are taking responsibility for yourself. If you don’t like an aspect of yourself, accept it or change it.
Be granted the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and to have the wisdom to know the difference…
That’s half the equation right there. The rest of the puzzle is just clearing the cob-webs of daily life from your mind just like working out does. Practice Yoga, breathing exercises, even a Pzziz moment is worth it.
If your mind is found twittering about on daily todo’s and not allowing you to find stillness you might want to look into David Allen’s Getting Things Done so that you can empty your head enough so that you can enjoy some peace. I’ve also found an amazing resource in skydiving. Clearing your head with a leisurely fall from 13,500ft can do wonders for you. haha!
It’s a Long Road
Life’s a crazy journey. I’ve fallen in love with it’s chaortic idiosyncratic strangeness. I don’t fight what comes my way. It’s accepted, analyzed and solved for. I encourage all of you to stay nimble and stay open to the worlds possibilities. Be honest with yourself and the ones around you.
Let’s all try and make something great with what we can. If you can look back and say, “I did the best I could at the time with what I knew”, you’re doing A.ok!
June 2, 2007 at 5:15 pm · Filed under Career, Points In Time
Tagged with:
change,
David-Allen,
gtd,
Liquid-Minded,
productivity,
Solutions,
vision,
work We live in a moment of impermanence. If we live in such a moment why aren’t we making the most of it. Why give energy into anything other than enjoying the experience by maximizing it?
I have (with great consultation of my wife) resigned from my former employ. That is to say I have left that which was comfortable for the vibrant dynamic life of an entrepreneur. Jeff’s talking about it.
We’re jumping all the way in to our passion—making us all rock.
I got my first technology gig when I was 15 selling the first internet service in Charlotte. I remember going to business meetings and PC groups preaching what online connectivity would do for you. Can you believe how fast we’ve assimilated?
For the last 10 years I’ve honed myself into someone who just solves problems—people, graphical, engineering, environmental, and in between. There are questions that don’t have answers, but most of the world is run by a lot of things that have answers. You just have to find the organization, association, peer group, blogs, usenet, irc, [continue list of sources] and filter the history or provoke a current discussion. It’s amazing.
Like Scoble has mentioned for his work, you have to learn how to filter the inputs to gain relevance to find what you want, quickly. Know the problem, scope out the domain, find existing solutions or connect dots and develop new solutions, gather resources, implement.
The human filter needs help.
In this domain full of partial productivity (application) solutions the only people I see giving deep thought is the OSAF Chandler Project. After a foundation of GTD going through Chandler made for some interesting synergies.
Unfortunately the complexity grew way out of line. If you can’t refactor something complex then you need to be worried. It only takes a few of those to make a solution clunky and once you give in to one you can easily give in to others. It’s better to table the idea if you stall and come back to it.
Later you’ll figure out what you really wanted to say, but couldn’t find it, have another solution, or you’ll realize what you wanted wasn’t really needed after all. As Jeff can attest, sometimes getting there can peel the paint. Taking a break can give you critical insight that you might miss in the moment.
The application we’re honing takes into account everything that has pissed us off about solutions since we first tried to live GTD lifestyles years ago. I really don’t like paper, but I put up with it. I put up with the best solution of the moment and that can flux depending on how angry I am at one vs another.
I want to live more in rhythm. Not only for myself, but with my network, my friends—my family. Why can’t we all help each other out and find a better rhythm for it all? That’s the itch I scratch. Personal communication, interaction, responsibility, with the ability to reflect on my history and work towards my future.
David Allen lays a compelling framework we’ve enjoyed immensely. We took a hard (amazingly hard) look at what tenets bear weight and those that are personal choices and turning that into a flexible, shareable, easy to use, access/input near anywhere solution. Piece of cake. I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, you have no idea what I can do now. haha!
For Real?
No! It has taken a lot of hard work (is fun hard work really hard?) just to get to this point. Eight months working towards a solution before it was decided that we would seek outside help, four more months to know we were solidly on-track and needed funds, three months to realize our brains we’re exploding with split resourcing. Today finds me working hard on a capital campaign to see this vision manifest.
Expect the unexpected or you won’t find it.
—Heraclitus
I am so psyched it’s hard to sleep. Thanks for all your emails of encouragement and great thoughts along the way (my support network rocks!). This new book we’re all cracking open is going to be one helluva journey.
-a
