Natala la la la ... ... ...

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

on vacation 

thanks for checking out my blog. i'm on vacation through most of next week in Wailea, Maui. I'll be snorkeling, biking, hiking and of course - spa-ing! I won't be checking e-mail and I probably won't blog (although I will twitter...).

anyways, ma halo!

Saturday, February 24, 2007

it's raining, it's pouring... 

As mentioned previously, I'm doing the King's Trail Olympic Distance triathlon in Maui on June 10th. I've been fussing around trying to be focused on getting back into shape and, being goal oriented, i knew a triathlotn would do the trick. Well, I'm now realizing exactly what I've gotten myself into. It is 7:30 AM on a Saturday and it is RAINING and yet here i am getting ready to go on a 20 mile or something bike ride on bainbridge island called "Chilly Hilly" -- who is this person? what am i doing? it's cold. I could be snuggled in bed. where it is warm. and cozy. Instead i'm trying to decide if maybe i really do need toe covers for my bike shoes because my feet might really get that cold. really.

Ok, i've got to go catch the ferry. wish me luck!

Thursday, February 15, 2007

holiday cards... 

I usually send out holiday cards for new years...however, the last couple of year's have been busy - travel, work, moving etc. So i decided that this year I just had to send out cards... however I missed the new year holiday ... so this meant i had to send out valentine's day cards! It has been so much fun. In the past, I had designed my own cards -- but i knew that this year I just couldn't do it so I contacted one of my favorite local artists, Todd Karam to see if he could design my card -- and he said yes.

I met Todd at our December ArtReach event -- he also designed the new artReach logo and was one of our December artists. The picture below is of him with one of his pieces that I purchased (the one with the birds on it right next to his shoulder).


Todd was just a dream to work with -- we actually got this card designed with one sample - he just nailed the concept from the get-go. We then did a round of reviews on text and color and things like that. I think it took 3 weeks to go from our first conversation to printed product.

Below is the card he designed (along with some of my notes) -- I absolutely LOVE it - -i think it captured the sentiment of good vibes but not too much romance that I wanted (i mean afterall i am just a little bit of cynic right? i can't be all warm fuzzies! - i must have some edginess -- even if it is wrapped up in morkie cuteness).

So what was the core concept? Well, I wanted "love birds" -- i have just been into birds lately -- three of my new pieces of art have birds on them...! And I wanted something that reflected the northwest -- and had some color and cheer to it. I didn't want a card that was sappy -- it needed to be fun. Todd captured this with a "Northwest rock-and-roll screen print" and wazzam we had a model to go from. We based the front cover text on the Beatles song "All we need is love..." but i was worried it would be sappy...


I really loved the sun setting in the back. Originally it was a darker color but i wanted something brighter and more cheery.

Figuring out the text inside the card was HARD. I have to give mad props to my cousin, Jasmine, who was a huge help sharing her wit and charm to come up with the right text. The addition of chocolate was key.

The back of the card might be my favorite because of the cuba-cut-out. This was all Todd's invention and it is just perfect. Cuba is a 4 lb. dog. She's nothing but ridiculous -- and the cut-out just nailed that silliness.



Ok, i'm in London and it is close to 3 am. I need to sleep! Happy Valentine's Day to all my beloved readers! Email me if you want your own Cuba cut-out!

Monday, February 12, 2007

blackjack 

People! we have entered a new era. The rumours ARE true! I have upgraded and am now off of Sprint and on Cingular with a Windows Mobile BlackJack.

More details to come (you know on thursday, when i blog for reals)...

Thursday, February 08, 2007

long tail discussion group + blogging 

Image from: hinchcliffe.org

Last night we met for the long tails DG. I was also supposed to blog! I'm realizing that i can't pack my Thursday's if I want to blog on Thursday OR i have to blog in advance and *post* on Thursday. This has been a good reminder of the value of preparation. I'm going to raise the bar on my Thursday blogs by actually getting them done on Wednesday so i can blog them Thursday. we shall see how this works with my currently hectic schedule of triathlon training, work and socail life (what social life, i know...).

As for Long Tail -- it was interesting - our focus was to think about how to access the long tail. From a search perspective, we often think of the LT as the location where you get long-multi-word queries like [9.5 blue stripe adidas runners] that narrow down to a very specific result. It made me realize that these types of queries are expressions of uniqueness and desire. It's also when people are further down their search path -- they might have started at [shoes] but they now know exactly what they want and if they can find it, they will buy it -- and likely at a premium price. But we also talked about the Long Tail as the function of personalization. Imagine if you went in to the doctor and instead of prescribing a generic drug he took a look at your symptoms, your genetic profile and history and had a custom drug made for you? It would probably be more effective as it was designed specifically with you in mind. The problem here is that today this type of drug-making is prohibitively expensive. This then got us thinking about the economics of plenty - are these conditions required for long tail access? Do the distribution costs have to be minimized to such an extent that distributing along the tail becomes nominal - some sort of up front work to customize for the tail but no additional (or very minimal) cost to support it. This seems to be the case - the industry has to flip from economics of scarcity to those of plenty. Once this occurs, the long tail within that industry becomes accessible.

What do you think?

Also - here's a link to out readings:
http://bluedot.us/users/mndoci?st=tag%3aLongTail

Thursday, February 01, 2007

i heart my 1997 honda civic 

In November 1996 I bought (with help from my dad) my first brand new car. A 1997 Honda Civic EX Sedan. Flash-forward 10+ years and here I am with the same car, now with over 175,000 miles! I've been trying to decide what to do with my car lately... as every now and then those shiny new Volvo CX 90's and those Audi A6's just seem damn appealing...

The Pro's:
- it's paid for, the only costs are maintenance (oil changes, new tires and brakes as needed).
- it's mostly fuel efficient. On average about 27 mpg.
- it's silver. i named it firefly.
- it already has a few bumps and scratches so when a new one comes along...
- it has history. roadtrips roadtrips roadtrips.

The Con's:
- no seat warmers
- that little rattling noise in the air conditioning (but i could fix it!)
- it's not "cool" in terms of style but it's "respectable" in terms of value.
- it's not exactly a speed demon (which is probably good as one speeding ticket is enough)

After careful consideration, I've decided to recommit to my car for at least another year. I'm tempted to commit to getting us to 200,000 miles. But right now, I realize i have too many things to figure out beyond my vehicle so i'm just saying, this will work for another year.

Updated: Yes, I meant November 1996...oh how time flies!

Labels: honda civic car committment 200k