Summer

I was just thinking: What am I looking forward to most over Summer?

Is it home to see the family, see how Neil and Iain are doing?
Is it the roadie?
Is it Mitchies gig on the Coromandel?
Is it New Years in Paihia?

To be honest, I just cant wait to be on the beach in the sun after being in the water. That's summer for me.

So what are you looking forward to most over summer?

Robots

This post is about robots, and also about how they are awesome.

Robots are awesome.
They are awesome because they are made of steel and many of them have lasers which could be used for a multitude of tasks. My mate once used one to shoot down three flying saucers and an undercover military jet.
Robots also do whatever you want, so its like: what a robot can do, you can do. Its pretty awesome. What if, say for example, you wanted to go in one of those competitions where they make robots fight? Youre not a robot. You cant do that.
BUT if you had a robot you could.
Robots are awesome.

P.S. Yesterday, in Ponsonby, I saw a >person sized robot made out of skateboards with a vintage tv for a head that worked. awesome.

Commitment, laziness, distraction, priorities, reward and achievement

I really like the idea of blogging.
Its not people reading what I write, its the personal development facilitated by introspection that appeals to me.

So why do I always forget to do it?

Is it laziness?
Is it a lack of commitment?
Is it distraction?
Is it a lack of time due to other priorities?

I don't think so.

I think its because unlike so many other activities, there is no instantaneous feeling of reward or achievement (spot the Gen-Y, but I'm going to rant anyway)...
I go to work, I complete a piece of work and something happens. Achievement and/or reward.
I go for a run, I'm knackered. Achievement and/or reward.

Just two examples, but everything is about instantaneous fulfillment and it seems that writing to a blog takes a little longer to achieve the fulfillment I am so used to, and subconsciously am wired to require.

Just a thought.

What is it about winter that makes you so lazy? Is it the cold, the grey, the wet? I'm not sure, but I notice that my levels of exercise, and the amount of times I go out declines pretty heavily over the winter months. When it looks all horrible out and is cold, its just so much easier to stay at home and hibernate.

I am trying to break free of this mold, so its not as bad as it sounds! I'm off to Waiwera this afternoon to lax in the pools, and in three weeks I'm off to Hotham ski resort in Oz for a week of boarding and partying with a couple of friends from way back.

But, all things considered, Im definately a summer kinda guy. Bring back the hot, sun soaked days spent in the ocean surfing perfectly clean waves!

Serendipity

Isn't it funny how things seem to align themselves sometimes, as if by magics?

Over the past 3 months or so, I have been on a journey of musical re-discovery. All the music that I used to like in my ill-spent youth has been streaming back into my consciousness. The Clash, The Ramones, Iggy Pop, Sex Pistols, DK's... (please note, I was not young at the time these bands were around). I Love them all, the Punk revolution was something I feel I missed as a Gen-Y. When I think of musical evolutions I have seen in my lifetime, unfortunately nothing stands out to me to be as game changing as what bands like the pistols started...

Anyway.

I digress. The point of this post is that often, when you are so attuned to something (like me at the moment with these bands, and era of music) you see it everywhere. Those of you who are my twuddie (twitter-buddie) or fbreind (facebook friend) will know I am currently reading Audrey Niffenegger's "The Time Traveller's Wife" -Henry in the book, has exactly the same taste in music as my current bent. What a coincidence! By the way, if you haven't already, READ THE BOOK. It is a brilliant tale, told in a style so enticing that once you start to read you struggle to stop.

Another example of the "point" of this wee post is when you buy a new car. Nick, my flattie, has just purchased a funky wee Alpha Romeo (mr stylish that he is). Wherever either of us go there seems to now be Alpha Romeo's. Its as if all of Auckland has simultaneously purchased Alphas. Clearly they havent, its just we are now subconsciously on the lookout for them.

Funny isn't it?

Leather Jackets and Sailboats

Man I've been bad at this.
Like real bad.
Crap even.
I had grand plans of blogging down everything, but then when it comes to it I just dont create the time. It's like everything I guess, you need to make time, commit, make things happen.
I think my core issue is that I have tried to make my blog something its not. I have tried to make it sound intelligent and insightful, rather than just writing whatever the heck I feel like, and if noone reads it thats ok, because its for me, not you -but any enjoyment you get from my ramblings is of course a bonus.

So heres me getting back to basics:

Things of note from the weekend:
The Leather Jacket
On Friday at some stage I randomly decided I wanted a leather jacket. It somehow got into my head that leather jackets are the pinnacle of coolness, and I should get one. I think it may of been inspired by watching some "Happy Days" episodes on youtube... Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli aka Fonzie is just the tits.
So come Saturday morning I manage to convince my flattie Nick to come op shopping with me in my hunt to find a sweet leather jacket.
3 suburbs, 6 op shops and 3 and 1/2 hours later, I am sporting the sweetest leather jacket. Not only is it awesome, warm yet breathable and nice and soft, but as soon as I don it I feel its instant effects. 20% more manly, and 20% more dangerous.
Stuntmen wear leather for a reason.
For the remainder of the weekend I have been advocating the leather jacket to as many people as possible (In fact, I think I'm going to name it, something tough of course like "butch")...
I hope that I can convince enough people to get them so that we can start a gang, it would be a biker gang but there is a distinct lack of bikes, so maybe a street gang.

The Sailboat
Last weekend, the purchase of a sailboat become a mutual goal with my flattie. This weekend, it was sailboat shopping time. Trade Me was on, and we went and looked at a whole stack of boats, big, small, buoyant, not so buoyant, you name it, we saw it. We found this one beautiful wee wooden number, a "Cherub", which is a two man trailer based sailboat that has all the trimmings. The mast is huuuge, the sails are massssive, it has a spinnaker and all, plus you have a trapeze set-up for when you are flying along, the two of you have ropes attached to harnesses that go all the way up the mast to hold you in as you stand on the edge of the boat to balance it as you reach warp speed -like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6lZhFsFqhY.
How fun does that look!
Needless to say, it has been purchased, at $600 a real steal and the 50/50 split between us both makes it really affordable.
Now the fun comes... will keep you posted on the capsizes and calamities that are sure to follow!

Anyway, I'm supposed to be cleaning my room. NOT writing rando stuff on the interwebs.

Peace out :-)

Crowdsourcing and Collaboration

Something that interests me is crowdsourcing. Examples that get thrown around include Threadless and The Innovation Exchange. The basic idea revolves around leveraging the diversity of experience, opinions and talents in the populace to deliver an outcome, generate a solution, design a product etc.

Crowdsourcing is a bit of an internety/connected world peice of jargon, which I agree with in part because of the ease with which the internet allows teems of people to connect, communicate and contribute. It allows crowdsourcing scale, and means that it can be monetised as a business model due to the cost of connecting each additional contributor being essentially zero, and the value of the output generally being related to the number of contributors available. Im not suggesting that many chefs in the kitchen will make a better cake, but more that value can be created by leveraging each individuals strengths and experience.

So crowdsouring at the macro level is enabled by the internet.

But what about at the micro level, in each and every one of our everyday lives? I think this idea of crowdsourcing is as old as when the first primates started to group together into tribes. Humans are social learning creatures, learning not only from our experience but from the experience of others around us. Underpinning Human survival and success is leveraging the skills, experience, knowledge and opinions of others, which is effectively crowdsourcing on the micro scale.

All of this seems rather obvious, and logical, however I often see people failing to utilise the 'power of the crowd', particularly in a professional setting. Successful people professionally in my experience generally are the people who understand that the best way to achieve an outcome is to leverage the talents of others around them. Its not about the "teflon desk", re-allocating work to others, dodging action points in meetings like you are back under fire in "Nam", but about collaboration in order to achieve the optimal solution. Its about sharing effort and opinions, ideas, beliefs and experience amongst a group of people.

So why dont you try it? Make a constant effort to seek opinions on your ideas, and take the time to offer yours when people are looking for it. Collaborate.