When I was in New Zealand last week I spoke at Webstock Mini in Wellington, in conjunction with Full Code Press (more on that in a future post). The evening featured presentations from my friends Liz Danzico and Jason Santa Maria, plus eight 5-minute talks on topics of presenters’ choosing. I talked about the history of the cocktail, based on my recent read of the book How’s Your Drink by Eric Felton.
From Devon to SF – my pint of Young’s, originally uploaded by JLB.
Tapped with one finger on an iPhone. Please forgive any typos.
UCSF Pool
10 things I learned in the pool this week:
1. Swimming in a roof-top pool does not suck (per previous post,running along beach also does not suck)
2. I get some of my best thinking done in the water. managed to think through a self-imposed design challenge and craft an approach to a proposal while I was swimming. If only I could record the train of thought in my brain, I’d be so much better off.
3. If I did record my train of thought, there’d be a lot of “okay that was 3, or 4. shit, was it 3? or 4? Ugh.” Because apparently I can’t count. Or I can’t hold onto a count, anyway. I try tricks like tracking sets of 5 laps (still get stuck between 2/3 and 3/4). Or sets of 10, where I tell myself “2 down, 8 to go,” thinking that combination of numbers will be harder to forget. But then I still manage to let fact that I’m heading into lap 3 seep into my brain before I touch the wall, which results in me starting that lap with “wait is this #3, or did I just finish #3?” It’s a tiresome game, but if nothing else it forces me to swim for longer — my rule is that if I can’t remember what lap I’m on I have to go with the lower number. In any case, the inner dialogue is pretty funny.
4. My form is much much better when I start out, and then it goes to shit once I get into a rhythm or get tired. This is normal I imagine, but I need to find a way past it. Today I tried 500 yards straight swim, 500 yards with training toys (250 w/paddles, w/250 fins), 500 yards isolated – half pull, half kick, and then a final 500-yard straight swim. That last 500 was much less effective than the first, but breaking it up in the middle helped a bit.
5. Swimming in zoomers is super fun. It’s been a while since I tried wearing fins in the water, and I only used them for 500 yards, but they do wonders for speed and power in the legs. I’m going to start doing kick training with them to see if I can build a stronger kick without them.
6. Conversly, the paddles are not so much fun. A necessary evil, as they force you to angle your hand correctly in the water, but when you’re off, you’re way off, and the big plastic paddle becomes a hindrance instead of an aid. (An obvious, point — they’re designed as such. But I was off as much as on target this morning).
7. Converting all my distances from yards to meters is depressing. 2000 yards becomes 1800 meters, and that’s just not as far.
8. The crosses at the end of each lane remind me of my dwell studio bathmat. Big blue plus signs lined up in a row.(Okay it’s a stretch, but it kept me distracted for a few laps.)
9. For the past week I’ve been walking through the lobby of the gym and up the main stairs to the pool, wondering how they keep the stairs from sopping with all the wet foot traffic they must get. Didn’t notice that no one else was sopping through the gym like I was, but finally figured out today that there’s an entrance from the locker room that leads directly to the pool. Oops. At least I won’t have to flash the general public with my swimsuit look from now on.
10. I need to find some actual work outs with drills and such, or I’m going to get bored with my new found friend very quickly. Any suggestions?
Dear anyone who visits this site,
be warned, I’m going to start blogging about my triathlon training here. This will probably mean that I update more often, but I will most likely be sharing somewhat personal (and boring) information that anyone who doesn’t know me – and some of those who do – will find less than entertaining. Continue at your own risk. The race is in June.
My first job was in retail.
I lied about my age when I was 14 years old so I could work at Grand Records in the King of Prussia mall. We sold LPs and Cassettes. The Queen Is Dead, Head on the Door and Life’s Rich Pageant were on the Top 10 wall. Money? I don’t remember getting paid. I remember making fun of the people who came in looking for Bon Jovi records, directing them to the Listening Booth Store at the other end of the mall.
This response is powered by Plinky.
I stumbled upon this video from last year’s 20×2 show at SXSW on the CIID website, posted as inspiration for video prototyping. What strikes me about it is the way such a simple concept — 2 people, 1 couch, 10 frames of images — can convey an emotional connection, and how when strung together in a series of 20 vignettes, they can evoke an emotional response from the viewer (me) that almost makes the heart swell. Cheesy? Maybe. Effective? Definitely. Makes me smile, sigh and say awww. Well done!
20 x 2 : What’s The Difference? from photojunkie on Vimeo.
from photojunkie on Vimeo.’ 20×2 – What’s the Difference? by way of CIID.
this blog is still under construction — please bear with me.
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