The Edge of the Envelope...

Ted.com

Where do you go for exposure to cutting edge thought?

...Ted.com...

When you think that your world has been hopelessly and completely overrun with the Walking Dead, Ted.com is here to show us that we still have Quasars among us.

The best Ted.com has offered up over the past two years can be found here ~ The Top Ten most popular presentations. Go get 'em buckaroos...

I suggest you start with "Jill Bolte Taylor's Powerful Stroke of Insight."

Oh, yea...I'm here!

Winter is setting in. It's time to get kindling for the fire split and stock piled so I don't have to go hunting for it at dusk in my slippers. And it's definitely time to pour meaningful thought into my blogs. I've been negligent not because of a lack of potential content, but because I needed to implement some efficiency maneuvers and strategies in my life. Fact is, I've been getting TOO MUCH DONE.

I'm not just making this up. I've been pretty good over the past few years at gathering up tools, ideas, strategies, excellent little gems of advice from mentors, etc. to enable me to GET MORE DONE! Unfortunately, in my naivete - though I was getting SO MUCH MORE DONE - I filled up those glorious new time slots by frenetically committing myself to do even more things. And thus...an explanation for my absence here. Also an explanation for my dismal (and needless) exhaustion. Damn efficiency! (Right?) No. Damn hyper, obsessive productivity. My bad.

If you drape thirty-nine iron chains around your arms and shoulders and then do a dance, the whole point of the dance will be to seem light and effortless. (Robert Francis)

I'm coming back at this efficiency and productivity issue from an entirely different perspective...working smarter, not harder, while keeping an emphasis on balance. Or, to put it in designer terms (as in "Life Designer")...I've committed myself to protecting my personal White Space.

I just returned from visiting with my daughters and while resting on a bench in the womb of a steamy Japanese Communal Women's bath it occurred to me how whole I felt when I nurtured my body. At that moment, with my thighs becoming one with the slats of the bench, epiphanies erupted like blue fireworks. Not about nurturing my body, but bringing effortless answers to some of the heaviest burdens I'd been carrying around on my shoulders.

There, dripping wet, no capture tools, just me dripping wet on a wooden bench...and epiphanies were illuminating the way forward. Finally, what I consider the most profound epiphany emerged ~ When I take time to physically take care of my body, my mind has the freedom to soar. Simple.

And I realized a simple response was called for...

"Thank you"...

Spring on the Rogue...

Emily and I created a video documentary. This is our first collaborative project and we think we did an exceedingly fine job of it...The title of this mini documentary is Spring on the Rogue (View video here).

Short Writing...

Shorts versus Features...
I've tried my hand at short writing and have found that I prefer features. I want to have the ability to thoroughly explain a subject and then add my own images. Yes, I am a photojournalist and an experienced reporter.

I supposed I was "spoiled" at the beginning of my professional career because I had the opportunity to work as a general assignment reporter for small rural papers where "general" meant I did just about everything, but definitely both writing and shooting my own pieces. When I did a stint at the Medford Mail Tribune I was confined to writing exclusively and I often ground my teeth to see the images the photog assigned to my pieces came up with. Why? Because I thought I could do better. I saw things differently as the writer of the piece. And I had an image portfolio to prove I could shoot. I don't know why they wouldn't let me shoot my own images other than maybe it was some kind of union issue.

So, about writing "shorts" versus features - I choose features and book length projects. I think I'll leave the "short writing" to those organizational writing "whiz kids" who have the patience for it. I don't. I supposed I better get my ass in gear and do that then, eh?

Archiving...
I'm in the process of creating an archive for my writing over the past 24 years. I have an image gallery set up (link to the right). Need to spend some time populating that an my writing archive.

What do we do? We swim, swim, swim...

Dory on Persistence...(Listen)

Okay, today Dory is my hero...

Dory's on edge today!

What? The ocean isn't big enough for ya? Huh? Huh? Huh?(Listen)

John Kao is my new hero (I have many.) Kao is an innovation maverick and writes and speaks eloquently about innovati0n on a global scale in Innovation Nation. Here is an excellent Q&A with Kao. I also have to say he is so darn cute as he's waiting to speak at an engagement in Finland. By cute, I mean...polite and gracious. I suppose that's just so very refreshing these days.