Duncan.co

Category: Personal Stuff

  • Don’t Live Someone Else’s Version of a Life

    You’ll be much happier if you create your own life and live the way YOU want. Don’t start living the life other people have told you to lead. Live your own life.

    Travel allows you to meet people that have chosen to lead unique and interesting lifestyles. For instance last night we went out for Indian food with a great kiwi couple. They’re going to work as caretakers of a hotel in Nantucket for the next year or so. They’ve already travelled extensively and they’re choosing to do interesting work in the hospitality industry because that’s what they enjoy doing. They’re totally excited about their next adventure.

    We’re now staying with some friends we met in Western Australia. They have such a wonderful lifestyle here in Balina / Astonville. They can’t go anywhere in town without running into friends. They’re constantly joking around and laughing with them. They have an incredible home and are very very happy. What’s interesting is that they’re doing pretty much the exact opposite of what we’re doing now. They have deep roots in the community and they are so settled in that they’ll probably never move away. And why should they? They’re some of the friendliest and happiest people I’ve ever met. They are the consummate locals. They know everyone and everything about this slice of the earth. They laugh and smile more in one day than I do in a week!

    Beyond those two groups of people we’ve met a guy who is literally walking around the entire planet. He’s been doing it since 1998 and won’t finish since 2016 or so. We’ve also met a great guy who rode a horse all the way across Australia.

    All of these people have setup their lives in a way that I didn’t even know was on the menu of lifestyle choices until I met them. You can choose to make your life whatever you want.

    Don’t buy into anyone else’s version of a life, especially one that has been sold to you be the brilliant marketing people of the world.

    Do your own thing.

    Ignore everyone.

    Especially me!

    In completely unrelated news, I’ve posted new photos over at Photo.Duncan.co

    I have posted many more images over at Duncan Rawlinson Photography

    Also, check out this video and this article as they both relate to this post.

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  • You Are Going To Die


    Boracay Phillipines Sunset (view full size)

    Newsflash. We are all going to die.

    That’s a handy tool to think about when faced with this question:

    “Is this exactly what I want to do with my life?”

    If not, your knee jerk reaction may be to assume you have no choice. That you are bound by circumstance.

    You do have a choice.

    What exactly do you have to lose when you remember you’re going to die?

    Nothing. There is only now.

    Act accordingly.

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  • Counterintuitive: Start Your Day On A Hill

    Here is something you can do to really kickstart your workday. Start each day on a downward slopping hill. A metaphorical downward hill that is.

    Stopping a task at an arbitrarily defined time like 5PM really makes no sense. Try stopping your task on or shortly after the point you’re most excited about it. One would think if you’re excited about something you should continue working on it until the excitement wanes. This is great if you can complete the task in sitting. If the task takes you into another day you may want to consider quitting while you’re ahead.

    The whole point of this is that it takes an incredible effort to get back to that level of energy and excitement the next time day. Sometimes generating that kind of interest is just too much to ask early in the morning. So we allow the distractions to take over. Like processing email. In other words procrastinating with something that feels productive but is really just busy work.

    Stop when you find yourself totally motivated and pumped up. Move onto the next item and get that task rolling.

    When you start your next day you’ll be excited to get back to the first task where you left off. Ideally if you stagger your tasks like this it will never feel like a chore to get going, and you’ll be a ninja on startup every day.

    Update: 4314 days after I originally posted this I learned about something called the Zeigarnik Effect which basically explains this phenomenon.

    The Zeigarnik Effect is a psychological phenomenon in which people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks. It is named after Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, who first described the effect in 1927. The effect has been used to explain why people often have difficulty forgetting unfinished tasks and why people often feel compelled to finish tasks that they have started.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeigarnik_effect

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  • The Flow State

    You Know The Feeling
    Your head is down, you’re cranking out whatever you’re working on and all of a sudden time disappears and nothing else matters. Everything else is muted and you are just destroying! Well, er, in a good way of course. Everyone has this feeling of getting into the zone or being in a state of flow from time to time. I’ve started to ‘hack’ this artificially get myself into this headspace at will. Here’s how I do it.

    Drinks
    I’ve noticed that I almost always have some type of drink on the go. And no, I’m not talking alcohol. I gave up that poison years ago. I’m talking about the best espresso you’ve ever tasted at a cafe in Athens. Or the incredible organic coffee from Arbutus Coffee in Vancouver. Whenever I get into this flow state or into this zone there is always a drink involved. I suppose the caffeine induces some type of biochemical or neurological response which makes my feel like I’m in the zone… It could also be that I’m least productive when I don’t have a drink going.

    Music or Silence
    If there is not complete silence at the ass crack of dawn then I need to have music. Usually ambient or lyric free music is best. For example this week’s Friday Mixtape by Tor is exactly the type of flow inducing music that I love.

    Very Early Mornings
    I’m talking 4:30 or 5:00AM. When I get a restful sleep I can rock up at this time of day and immediately start cranking it out. For many people, like my most awesome brother, the late night is a better flow time. He and I once tried to work together and this caused huge issues! He works best at night, I work best in the morning. You can’t just start waking up this early on a whim. It takes quite a while to get used to the sheer ridiculosity of this time of day. The best part about this time of day is you can take your dog for a walk and there is near silence. Take your dog to the local cafe and crank out some work before the rest of your timezone is even awake.

    Exercise
    The best combination is this: some fantastic early morning exercise, a great coffee type drink, and silence or ambient music. If you’re a runner you can parlay your well documented ‘runners high‘ into your flow state. If you can combine all of them in the right order you’ll be a productivity master. Your inbox will be zeroed and you’ll get your most important tasks done before your friends or colleagues are even awake. They’ll wonder how you make it look so easy. It appears as though most high performance people (yeah I just said that, pfft!?) do this.

    If you really have trouble finding your flow state use one of the time tracking tools to monitor your productivity. Then take note of your environment. Act accordingly.

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  • Counterintuitive: Internet, Less Is More

    Contrary to what common sense would suggest, having less connectivity will actually increase your productivity. If your internet access is intermittent and you’re genuinely offline, you’ll get more crap accomplished.

    I’ve written 40 000+ words, shot 30 000+ photos, bought and sold several websites+domains+photographs, and run a successful photography school. All of this was with very limited connectivity while traveling through 20+ countries this past year. I’ve gotten more done in less time and I’m happier for it.

    When you do have “online” time you have be highly focused on what you need to get done. As a result, you get it all done. Think reverse Parkinson’s Law which states:

    Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

    Online time should be a treat, like ice cream. If you have 24/7 high speed internet getting distracted into useless minutiae is easy. The web is a hyperactive distraction machine. There is something incredibly awesome and simultaneously useless that comes out every single day. If you want to be more effective give yourself more offline time.

    Spend your time having fun and building sand castles, not Facebooking your friends to death. Speaking of ways to be more effective, read this article about email.

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  • On “Saving” A Young Girl’s Life

    My Garmin Forerunner GPS watch tells me we’re doing 52.4 kilometers per hour on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry en route to Tasmania. Life is good and I’m really enjoying the adventure. I fire up Hootsuite to tell people I feel good about helping save a young girl’s life a few days earlier. I brag about how I helped in saving her life. I thought I was “all that” for helping out… Then I started searching the web to try to contact her and, um, well let’s go back to the start:

    The story…

    We we’re at a beach in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere called Port Broughton. It was “hot as” as they say here in Australia so we wanted to go for a swim. Just as I reached the water I see two women yelling at me from a floating platform about 100 meters out in to the ocean in waist deep water. They we’re hysterically screaming “call an ambulance”.

    Like an idiot I yell back “I have no phone?!”. It wasn’t the time or the place to explain I was a traveler and I use Skype for voice communication… Luckily someone had a phone and was already calling an ambulance.

    I raced out to the platform as fast as I could throwing my frogskins on the beach. I don’t know why I did this but you don’t think straight in a panic. (The sunglasses broke…)

    There were two panicked ladies trying to resuscitate a non breathing and very purple young girl. Her name was Hayley and she looked like a healthy young girl except that she wasn’t breathing. Hayley’s friend said she was just lying on the platform tanning and then she stopped breathing. (Hayley had a heart surgery before so this is probably why this happened)

    She had some nasty vomit (or fluid or something) blocking her airway so I took it out. She was totally unresponsive, didn’t appear to be breathing, and purple at this time. We made sure her airway was clear and tried to get some air into her lungs. I was positively freaking out on the inside but trying to remain calm on the outside. Little kids screaming, crying teenagers, and adults yelling made for all out chaos.

    Before I knew it there was a whole group of genuinely freaked out men and women on the little floating platform. So many that it was almost tipping over. People we’re literally falling over themselves in sheer panic trying to help this little angel. Hayley’s mother appeared and was trying to talk to Hayley and help out. Then a man stepped off a tin boat and almost wiped out completely but I caught him. He behaved and sounded like a doctor.

    We realized that she’d have to be transferred to shore before the ambulance could do any good. It wasn’t one of those spinal cord injuries or anything like that so we decided to move her. A local man (who later had a fireman’s uniform on) brought his tin boat and we lifted her into the boat. I felt strange physically lifting her because people we’re standing around and they weren’t doing anything. Just staring. Not to mention lifting a little girl who was purple and didn’t seem to be alive was actually quite scary.

    Three people continued to perform CPR on Hayley as she was taken ashore in a tin boat. It was quite precarious.

    I made it to shore before the boat did so another bystander and I lifted her out of the boat. We didn’t have anywhere to put her down. There we’re rocks, weeds, and crap everywhere. We first tried to lay her down on a kids inflatable boat but the doctor yelled out “too soft” as he disembarked from the tin boat. Too soft, meaning for the chest compressions of CPR. Someone else grabbed a wooden plank and we laid her down on that. All of that happened in about 4 seconds.

    The three gentlemen from the boat continued to perform CPR on her and at this moment the first ambulance arrived. It looked like a volunteer ambulance and the poor folks seemed positively overwhelmed and immediately called for backup. You have to understand we’re in the middle of nowhere and having an ambulance there within minutes was pure good luck because they must have been in the area.

    They took out the machine you see in the movies where they “shock” the patient and yell “clear”. Turns out a defibrillator is another thing that is quite terrifying in real life. It’s robotic voice will haunt me. They shocked her several times and her little body twitched violently. The machine would sometimes recommend a shock and sometimes not recommend a shock. I think that meant her heart was starting and stopping. I don’t know, I wasn’t going to ask questions either. Not exactly appropriate.

    At this point I felt like a useless person just standing there gawking so I waited on the road and directed the other ambulance and rescue vehicles into the area. It was hard to find the little spot and it turns out they needed some guidance.

    After that we just waited, and waited, then waited some more. There wasn’t anything I could do to help. We tried to be respectful and stay well back.

    After what seemed like an eternity a helicopter arrived and landed right on the beach. Then they airlifted her out (to Adelaide I think) and people told us that “she’ll be fine”. Everyone seemed to think she would be fine. I thought she would be fine as well because none of the rescue people seemed to be in any kind of a hurry. I thought that meant all was ok.

    When she flew off in the helicopter I wasn’t sure what to feel. I was just hoping she’d survive.

    Five days later and Dorothy and I are on the ferry to Tasmania and I’m trying to contact her.

    “Ladies and gentleman this is your captain speaking. Dolphins have been spotted out the starboard side of the ship. That’s the right side”

    We see dolphins playing in the bow wave of the massive ship and at that very moment I find a Facebook page with Hayley’s status and discover she had passed away after five days of fighting for her life in hospital. It was like a kick in the stomach. It was an awful feeling and I had never even met her.


    :( :( :( This is me, after reading about her passing. :( :( :(

    From all accounts she was a very special young lady. I should also mention that I don’t yet know how she died but it may have been related to a previous heart surgery she had.

    There isn’t really much more to say than this. Let’s just be thankful for every single day we have together.

    Also, just know that CPR is super important. I could have WAY better prepared for this situation by taking some simple life saving classes. I could hardly remember anything since I last learned CPR when I was about 13 years old. Spend a couple minutes and give yourself a refresher on CPR.

    Here is the only photograph I could find of Hayley:

    ♥ right back at you Hayley. R.I.P

    My condolences go to Hayley’s family and friends. I’m sorry we couldn’t do more.

    UPDATE: here are some better links and resources regarding CPR:

    http://depts.washington.edu/learncpr/

    http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/CPRAndECC/CPR_UCM_001118_SubHomePage.jsp

    http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.d8aaecf214c576bf971e4cfe43181aa0/?vgnextoid=aea70c45f663b110VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default

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  • 2010 – Year In Review

    “Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder…” – Henry David Thoreau

    Last year I wrote a “year in review” style post about the year in my life. I figured I’d keep that going again this year. It’s fun to look back and ahead to the new year.

    Dorothy and I have been fortunate enough to have another fantastic year. We’re healthier and happier than ever.

    The Start of 2010
    We started 2010 living in a chalet in whistler complete with hot tub and BBQ courtesy of VANOC. The first few months of 2010 we’re spent going back and forth between Whistler and Vancouver. We had two AMAZING roommates in Duncan and James. As you can imagine living in a chalet at Whistler was quite a treat and having two great roommates was just bonus! It was a fascinating time up in Whistler. The place was being turned upside down in preparation for the olympics and people we’re partying like crazy.

    I can now check off “live in whistler” from my bucket list…

    During this time I got to see the Olympic torch go by a few times. I streamed it live on my phone and friends from various places around the world watched from my phone. In fact 2010 was the first time I ever did any live streaming from my phone.

    In order to get ready for our big trip I started to pear down on our possessions. Anything we didn’t want to keep was either sold, given away, or tossed out. We’d already been living a minimalist lifestyle but this process still took longer than we’d anticipated. It really is remarkable how much “stuff” works it’s way into our lives. Our goal was to get rid of everything we possibly could. From furniture to to clothes. We we’re left with a few items which we put in storage. Things like our vintage bicycles and photo albums. Things that you can’t really replace.

    The Vancouver 2010 Olympics
    Before we knew it a little event called the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games took place! Dorothy worked to help put the olympics together so we had “backstage” access to many of the events. We had an official VANOC vehicle with no driving or parking restrictions. Since we we’re at Whistler for part of the games we could actually walk to some of the events. We ran into Buzz Aldrin at men’s super G. I was more excited to see him than to see the skiing… My family also came out to Vancouver to see some of the events so it was really fun.

    It was a crazy fun time. We we’re working, partying, enjoying the Olympics, spending time with family, and getting ready to leave town.

    The end of the olympics we’re really special for Dorothy and I. It was the most incredible day I’ve ever spent in Vancouver. People we’re lined up at bars all over the city to watch Canada play the United States in Men’s Gold Medal Hockey. After we watched Canada win at a pub I went out into the streets and saw the city literally erupt with joy. Someone was smart enough to record the audio of the city as Canada won. You can watch it (or rather listen to it) below.

    There was a massive party in the streets and total strangers we’re hugging and high fiving everywhere. It was amazing and i’ll never forget it. This epic street party lasted all day long, right up until the closing ceremonies.

    Being at the closing ceremonies was an incredible experience as well. It was the end of a chapter in our lives. Dorothy had been working day and night for YEARS to help put the olympics together and it all came to a close on that night. It was an emotional and exhilarating time for everyone.

    Here are my Vancouver 2010 Olympics photos.

    It’s hard to believe that was just the start of 2010 for us.

    #RTWnow
    After the Olympics wrapped up we went on a Round The World trip. #RTWsoon went into #RTWnow mode! (RTWnow is the Twitter hashtag for people who are on Round The World trips and want to share content and experiences with each other.)

    On April 1st 2010 we flew to Toronto, dropped off dog with Dorothy’s family and then we flew to Paris. We’ve had an amazing trip that will literally have taken us all the way around the world when we finish.

    Abbreviated list of cities we’ve visited in the 2010 calendar year:

      Whistler, Canada
      Vancouver, Canada
      Toronto, Canada
      Paris, France
      Lisbon, Portugal
      Casce, Portugal
      Sintra, Portugal
      Madrid, Spain
      Barcelona, Spain
      Majorca, Spain
      Marseille, France
      Interlaken, Switzerland
      Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland
      Gryon, Switzerland
      Venice, Italy
      Rome, Italy
      Vatican City
      Athens, Greece
      Santorini, Greece
      Ios, Greece
      Mykonos, Greece
      Athens, Greece
      Dubai, United Arab Emirates
      Manila, Philippines
      Cataclan, Philippines
      Boracay, Philippines
      Sydney, NSW, Australia
      Melbourne, VIC, Australia
      Geelong, VIC, Australia
      Adelaide, SA, Australia
      Port Augusta, SA, Australia
      Cooper Pedy, SA, Australia
      Uluru/Ayers Rock, NT, Australia
      Alice Springs, NT, Australia
      Tenant Creek, NT, Australia
      Katherine, NT, Australia
      Darwin, NT, Australia
      Kununura, WA, Australia
      Broome, WA, Australia
      80 Mile Beach, WA, Australia
      Port Hedland, WA, Australia
      Krratha, WA, Australia
      Exmouth, WA, Australia
      Cape Range, WA, Australia
      Coral Bay, WA, Australia
      Carnarvon, WA, Australia
      Monkey Mia, WA, Australia
      Denhim, WA, Australia
      Shark Bay, WA, Australia
      Point Quobba, WA, Australia
      Kalbarri, WA, Australia
      Hutt River Province (A ‘sovereign’ area within Australia. We met “Prince” Leonard himself)
      Geraldton, WA, Australia
      Jurien Bay, WA, Australia
      Perth, WA, Australia
      Fremantle, WA, Australia
      Rockingham, WA, Australia
      Bunbury, WA, Australia
      Busselton, WA, Australia
      Margaret River, WA, Australia
      Augusta, WA, Australia
      Cape Leeuwin, WA, Australia
      Albany, WA, Australia
      Esperance, WA, Australia

    The Now
    As I write this we’re at our “secret” spot for Christmas. A friend of ours who has been traveling around Australia for the last 18 years “reckons” it’s his favorite spot in all of Australia. Only the locals even know it exists because it’s way off the beaten track. So we’re very happy to have been invited here. We wouldn’t want to spoil the fun and tell people about this place. It’s quite nice with no tourists here and the fishing is fantastic! Living the beach lifestyle and living off the sea is like a dream.

    We still have the entire East Coast of Australia to see including the Great Barrier Reef! We will fly back to Los Angeles on May 1st 2011. About a week later we’ll fly to Vancouver, then Toronto, and finally we’ll be in the 1000 Islands area for part of summer 2011.

    This trip has changed my life forever.

    I’ve never been more inspired and happy in my life.

    My Photography In 2010
    Just a quick note on my photography.

    I’ve been into digital photography since about 1999 when I bought my first digital camera. I’ve probably taken almost a million photographs by now. Photography is such an important part of my life. In 2010 I really focused on my photography school. I’ve found that helping other people learn photography is really fun.

    In 2010 I sold all my Nikon gear (lenses and all) and switched entirely over to Canon. So far I’m happy with Canon but Nikon is still far superior in terms of the ergonomics of the camera itself.

    I’m starting to really hate flickr and I’m still looking for a better alternative. I have yet to find a better photo sharing and hosting service. I’ll probably try photoshelter this year.

    Speaking of photos… Here are some random photos from this year. I would upload higher resolution versions but we have slow internet here at the moment.

    Here are some photos from this year:

    Things I Hope To Do In 2011
    I stopped doing “new years resolutions” a few years ago. I find new years resolutions to be like “the secret” style thinking where you just think positive thoughts and hopefully something good will happen to you. I believe in taking concrete action towards very specific goals and just making things happen instead of letting things happen to you.

    As ridiculous as it sounds, I plan to embark on another epic trip.

    I hope to continue traveling whilst working (online) for the foreseeable future. The digital nomad lifestyle is full of adventure and excitement. I’m not keen to stop that anytime soon. Maybe we’ll drive from Alaska to South America in customized Mercedes Sprinter Van? Who knows… As of now there is no plan for fall 2011.

    I hope to spend a big chunk of the Canadian summer with my father in the 1000 islands.

    I will probably publish the ebooks I’m writing now. Maybe I’ll sell a copy or two. Who knows, I’m just doing it because I enjoy writing anyway. I might just give them away.

    I think I’ll stop doing any consulting work for the time being. It’s just not that interesting anymore.

    I will dramatically improve my photography school in 2011. I will update the course content, improve the student forum, change the price structure (raise prices), and make it scale a little better. A Chinese outfit is looking to license the course and it’s content so that could work out nicely. We’ll see…

    Wrap It Up Already!
    I hope you all had a great year and wish you the best in 2011!

    Dorothy and I miss you guys.

    Here’s to 2011!! Happy New Year everyone!!

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  • Free High Resolution Mac Webcam Software

    Over on the Kitskam (my Vancouver webcam) I’ve posted some free software that allows you to run a high resolution webcam. The application lets you connect a DSLR or digital camera (with ptp) to the web and upload photos at a given interval. It’s basically a web connected DSLR intervalometer that uses Amazon S3 for online storage.

    Here are some screenshots:


    (This is the application itself. It ain’t pretty but it works!)


    (This is the preferences pane.)

    Or you can make timelapses with it like this
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xacYcRtGO3c

    I designed the software and Michael wrote the application.

    Download this free high resolution mac webcam software here.

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  • 2009 – Year In Review

    It was a great year for Dorothy and I:

    delightful dinner was had here
    Dinner at the Wickaninnish Inn

    Loungin at Whistler
    Loungin at Whistler

    Dorothy and I atop "The Chief" Mountain
    Dorothy and I atop “The Chief” Mountain

    Dorothy and I Smoochin
    Dorothy and I Smoochin

    On a personal level I stopped worrying about pissing people off and avoided seeking perfection. I focused on making stuff that was just barely good enough and then iterating on that. Here are some side projects I started this year in that vein: a vancouver webcam, a weekly mixtape, and a wiki about augmented reality. They all sucked at first and continue to suck a little less over time. The point is they exist. Last year I probably never would have started them for any number of reasons.

    In 2009 jettisoned lots of baggage both physically and emotionally. Physically decluttering your environment and your mind by letting stuff go feels great. More importantly I started to believe in myself again. I’m trusting my instincts and making investments accordingly.

    Dorothy, Pepper, and I live in Vancouver and have designed our lifestyle such that we’re relatively untethered. Currently we’re not attached to jobs, leases, mortgages, kids, or even our location. Dorothy is working hard on the 2010 Winter Olympics and my work online is going better all the time.

    Dorothy at the Olympic Oval
    Dorothy at the Olympic Oval

    The only thing stopping us from doing being completely mobile is the dog. Luckily Dorothy’s parents are happy to take her off our hands when we travel!

    A Dog's Life
    A Dog’s Life

    I don’t do new years resolutions anymore. I used to set expectations that we’re just flat out unrealistic. I’ve never been a big partier and this morning’s reflective blog post is my own little way of bringing in the new year.

    “New Year madness is a thing of quite modern making, and hardly an improvement on the tradition that long preceded it, which called for a somewhat sober, respectful and reflective morning celebration.” – Simon Winchester

    As I mentioned above I’m more into to just good enough, not perfection. Instead of thinking “I want to get super fit and run a marathon this year” it’s “I want to be healthier this year by having fun doing some exercise, whenever.” It’s just a softer way to deal with yourself.

    Given that, here are some things I’ve done in 2009, stopped doing in 2009, and hope to do 2010:

    Things I stopped doing in 2009:

    Using the same password everywhere:
    A few of my websites got hacked this year because Media Temple had a security issue. That got me to thinking more about security. I realized that I was using one or two passwords across all my accounts. I switched to using 1password with dropbox syncing and haven’t looked back. You’d be amazed at how many accounts you have when you start doing this. My 1password has 265 account passwords stored it in.

    Tweeting too hard: (see year in tweets)
    For a while there I was tweeting my life all all of the boring minutiae. I was also link blogging like crazy and generally adding noise online. I even had my tweets published on my blog. At some point I was like who the hell cares… So I’ve dramatically lowered the volume across all the feeds and content I produce. I respect your digital space. Less is more…

    Using Voice Mail:
    This may predate 2009 but I haven’t looked back since I stopped using voicemail. It was just another inbox that I had to check all the time and 99 percent of the messages we’re “hey it’s so and so, call me back”.

    Trying to keep up with the fire hose:
    At one point I was subscribed to like 350 RSS feeds and followed like 500 people on twitter. Today I read about 30 feeds and follow about 70 people, which is still way too much. I hope to cute rss feeds out entirely this year but this is one of my vices.

    Things I started doing in 2009:

    Using Virtual Assistants:
    I’ve been using virtual assistants to help me in areas that I have weaknesses. Let’s just say this has been a learning experience. I’ve used oDesk to find people to do work that I can’t or don’t want to do.

    Composting:
    On the environmental front I decided to stop being preachy about and it and focus purely on taking personal responsibility. I’m taking personal responsibility for my footprint and doing something about it. We’ve reduced the amount of waste we put out to about one of those little white kitchen garbage bags per week. Everything else is recycled, composted, or not even purchased in the first place.

    Blogging again:
    I’ve starting actually blogging again. I’ve been writing reviews, posting photos, and having fun with it. Hopefully it has added some value. Did I just blog about blogging? Sheesh this post needs to end soon!

    Making mixtapes:
    I listen to music all day long when I’m working. I often made mixtapes for people in the past so I figured it would be fun to share them with everyone. As such Friday Mixtape was born. Now the whole world can get to know my shitty taste in music!

    Monitoring Productivity:
    Working online can often be tough when people are constantly sending you amazing things to watch or read. It’s good to know how your time is being spent… I’ve been using Rescue Time as a tool for this. You’d be amazed how much clarity this gives you into how your time is spent.

    Using Moleskines Again:
    Aghast the horror analog?! Yeah I’ve been using moleskines again to document stuff, scribble notes, and just keep stuff. This post about a designer who has used 85 notebooks in 26 years got me thinking about this. 25 years from now the files on my computer now won’t even be readable but a collection of moleskine will still be useful as an arhive.

    Backing Up My Stuff:
    My digital life and media are important to me. I’ve been looking out for a good solution but I’m kind of stuck between local and cloud based backups. I have too much stuff to backup everything to the cloud. So I backup the big stuff like video and thousands of RAW photos locally to a Drobo. Check out my Drobo review if you’re interested in those. The rest gets backed up to the cloud. Mozy is great for backing up your stuff to the cloud. You may also want to check out backupify, and Amazon s3 + Jungle Disk.

    Waking up super early:
    We’ve been waking up around 5:30 to get up and ‘eat your worms’ as Sean says. I wrote this post before starting work today. It’s so quiet that I can focus really well. It’s my favorite time of the day.

    Organic Food:
    Dorothy and I decided we didn’t care if it was more expensive to eat all organic food. After watching documentaries like Food Inc and reading about the food industry we decided to try to eat as much organic food as we can. Can you think of a better investment that your own long term health?

    HDR Photography:
    I learned how to create HDR photographs this year. I use photomatix software. You can check them out here.

    Inbox Zero:
    I work from zero in all my inboxes whether it’s snail mail or email. If there is something in an inbox, something needs to be done. My brain is then free to think about other stuff knowing things will get done. The trick is to only check them on a semi regular basis.

    Things I hope to do in 2010:

    Epic trip with @dorothyjs:
    This is in the works. We’ll be checking out after the olympics. We’re not sure how nomadic we’ll be but we’re going away for sure.

    Work:
    Continue working on all my projects big and small no matter how crappy they seem at first.

    Contribute more resources charity:
    I’ve made 50 loans on Kiva.org to date and I’d like to increase that number. I also donated several computers to charity this Christmas to Free Geek. I think they’re doing great stuff and I’d like to volunteer for them.

    Continue working to mend relationships:
    Just like everything else, even if they’re broken the key is to improve upon them…

    In closing here is a nice thought Justin Ritchie posted on his blog from Thom Hartmann’s Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight:

    A Cree Native American storyteller and teacher told me: “According to my tradition, from the beginning of creation, every morning, when the sun comes up, we are each given four tasks by our Creator for that day. First, I must learn at least one meaningful thing today. Second, I must teach at least one meaningful thing to another person. Third, I must do something for some other person, and it will be best if that person does not even realize that I have done something for them. And fourth, I must treat all living things with respect. This spreads these things throughout the world.”

    Hows that for something to live by?! Happy New Year!

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  • My Best Photographs of 2009

    Here is a collection of my favorite photos that I took in 2009. These images are quite large so it might take time for the whole page to load…

    Dorothy and Duncan
    Dorothy and Duncan

    Rusty Fog Light
    Rusty Fog Light

    (more…)

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