Monthly Archives: July 2010

“Tweet Less, Kiss More.” Indeed.

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I love Twitter. The reason I love Twitter is not because I can listen in on what celebrities are doing, but because my Twitter feed contains tons of posts from interesting people about interesting things. I’ve blogged about some of these before, often relating to things posted by Kathy Gill or Hanson Hosein.

If you have read posts from previous weeks, you might recall my comments on Hosein’s post “Death to Distraction.” Today, thanks to Katey Deeny, I found someone else who shares our views. On July 16, 2010, New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Bob Herbert wrote a piece entitled “Tweet Less, Kiss More.” In it, Herbert shares many of the same sentiments that Hosein and myself (as well as many others) have:

I don’t think we can stay in touch with our song by constantly Twittering or tweeting, or thumbing out messages on our BlackBerrys, or piling up virtual friends on Facebook.

We need to reduce the speed limits of our lives. We need to savor the trip. Leave the cellphone at home every once in awhile. Try kissing more and tweeting less. And stop talking so much.

Listen.

I couldn’t agree more. I was recently on a trip to the Oregon coast, and tried to keep my phone away as much as possible, only bringing it out to search for restaurants on Yelp and take pictures. It was a wonderful feeling of freedom and disconnectivity.

I definitely recommend giving his article a read. While you’re at it, check out Hosein’s segment on New Day Northwest, where he discusses going on a gadget diet.

TED Tuesday #2 – Jeff Bezos on gifts versus choices

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For the second installment of TED Tuesdays, I want to draw your attention to a talk given by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos to the graduating class at Princeton University this past May. What Bezos outlines is that while talents and gifts are beneficial and can definitely guide you in your life, ultimately it is your choices that define your story. Do not be seduced by your gifts, he warns, but be wise in the decisions you make. Check it out at TED or in the full post. Continue reading →

TED Tuesday #1 – Rory Sutherland and the “Chief Detail Officer”

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Given my love and appreciation for TED, I’ve decided to start a series here on the W+I called “TED Tuesdays,” where I share a Ted Talk that I’ve seen over the past week that resonated with me.

To kick off TT, I want to share Rory Sutherland’s talk on how small changes can have large impacts. In his presentation, Sutherland examines a graph of cost versus impact, breaking it up into the four quadrants of High Cost/High Impact, High Cost/Low Impact, Low Cost/Low Impact, and Low Cost/High Impact. While we have names for the first three of these (Strategy, Consultancy, and Trivia, accordingly) there is no term for something that has high impact but costs little. Sutherland believes that this is because there are too few people in the world (and in business) with lots of power but no budget. But we need these people, Sutherland asserts, and his proposal is the creation of a “Chief Detail Officer” in businesses and a “Ministry of Detail” in the government.

Check out his talk in the full post. Continue reading →

OhMyZod! Finally Up

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If you’ve checked out my blog before, OMZ may be a familiar name, so the words “finally up” attached to it could be confusing. For a while, I was using the domain to showcase the art portfolio of my friend Suria as she applied to schools. Now that she is happily moving down to California, I was able to take some time and post my own work.

Oh My Zod Teaser

Above is a snapshot of the new site, built with Core CMS. There still are a few tweaks to be made (try clicking “can’t stop” or “won’t stop), but for now, it should be a new home for my work. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Click here to visit OhMyZod!

How jaw surgery and one book have changed my life

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2010 is my year. While it would be easy for some to agree, pointing out that I’ve graduated from undergrad, will begin my MS this fall, and am turning 21 in August, none of those things have had the impact on my life that two other events have: jaw surgery and reading Eckhart Tolle‘s book A New Earth.

The two events have a lot in common and by happening in tandem, taught me much more than either of them would have alone. On the surface, jaw surgery seems a bit cosmetic, if not shallow. However, for me, I have had a significant underbite for much of my life, one that caused me to bite most of my food around my canine teeth, since that was the only place my teeth came together. While this is not a life-threatening condition, doctors told me that I could have significant jaw and bone problems later in life if I didn’t have an operation, so I did. On May 24th, 2010, I had both my upper and lower jaws cut, moved, and screwed back in place.

Post Op.
My jaw, post-op, with 27 titanium screws.

Reading A New Earth lasted much longer than my surgery did, and for a good reason. It is not a book I would recommend anyone read through in one sitting. Each chapter feels like a lesson, one that you want to take time to process, meditate on, and come back to later. I started reading A New Earth in March, at the suggestion of a friend. After finishing the book earlier this week, I’m glad that I took as long as I did. There were many things in my life that were coming together around the time I began the book. I was coming to a new place of peace, becoming more aware of myself and my feelings, and significantly more able to savor each moment. I credit much of that to Buddhist readings and discussions with my advisor, Dr. Nathaniel Cordova. ANE deepened many of these feelings, and began to articulate what it was that I couldn’t; things that I felt but did not quite understand. While I don’t want to dive too deeply into ANE in hopes that you read it, I will explain how it related to my surgery (and ultimately, my recovery). Continue reading →