no...no...no...yes!

I was just going through my older emails, and one that you sent me with a great sales resource made me think of something:

Dave (XPLANE founder) Gray's book - Selling to the VP of NO - is by far the best book on 'sales' that I've ever read.

I know you're not doing that kind of stuff right now, but I wanted to pass it along while I'm thinking of it, in case you're ever looking for some 'getting shit done that the decision-maker is waffling on' tips.

The thing is, the book is barely about sales - it's more about how people make decisions, and uses excellent info design to get the ideas across. He's the first one that I've seen convincingly take the 'sales is NOT manipulation' slant - it's more like creating a dialog that leads the other person to realizations through understanding (like our design presentations in school). If only I'd had this when I was taught sales the first time around and going, 'but...no...%#$!' to the other approach in my head... It's just a great resource - one to add to the library of keepers, I think.

Yay for more stuff that's good! :D

Right writing (oi)

I ran across another great writing resource yesterday: Word Usage

One recent post is about commmonly misused or confusing words, like the old Lay vs Lie dilemma (I know it keeps me up nights...)

Lay/lie: Lay is a transitive verb and means to place or set down. Lie is an intransitive verb and means to be or stay at rest in a horizontal position. Use lay when you place the object down, lie when the object is already down.

Or the always devious:

Differ/different/vary/various: To differ is to be dissimilar in quality, amount, or form, or to be of opposing opinions. Different means to be dissimilar in quality, amount, or form. You say that something is different from something else, not different than. To vary is to make or cause changes in characteristics or attributes, to modify or alter. Various means to be of diverse kinds, unlike, or different—various is more similar to the word different than to the word vary. So when you propose that someone select from among thirty options, they are selecting from various options not different options. Oh, you might say differing options and I’d let you slide. But I would hope that the options were all different from each other. It would be silly to offer thirty options that were all the same, wouldn’t it?

Tricky, tricky, this language of ours...

The Right Tool for the Job

From a discussion about the Hipster PDA:

"I remember a bit on West Wing where they were talking about all the years of work put in to design a pen that would work in space…
“And what did the Russians use? ”
“A pencil?”
“Yup, a pencil.”

Genius.

This is how I feel today.

Opinion cloud?

THIS is awesome. Now, I have a place to send all the opinions I have hanging around, gathering dust!

To add to the list of ~40ish 'social' 'web 2.0' and now 'Ajax' services and apps that I've tried out in the past few months there's now Riff, which is the most fun so far.

Riff exists simply so people can share opinions about stuff - whatever they like. It also includes the usual suspects - tagging, a blogroll, integration with del.icio.us, and topic, music, and friend recommendations. Since it uses an Ajax approach, it's fast and you can move the 'mini-windows' around in your browser - which is still totally novel and fun.

I think this one's going to be around for a while...

...to do good is my religion.

Words by Thomas Paine

Hello measure|map

I just added Adaptive Path's Measure|Map to this blog - and I'm really excited to try it out.

Let's see what this post looks like in their tool...

More thoughts on this soon!

Beautiful.

(from core77)

Jelly Journal

I've been using MacJournal for a few days, and I thought that you might really like it too...

I've actually used it because I can create multiple journals in one place, and password-protect some of them (so no one reads my take-over-the-world plans, of course), AND upload posts to blogger if I want. And the icon looks like a big blue jelly-covered book. :D

How Much Is Our Blog Worth ?

My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

Ok, so I really like to play with new blog tools, and this most recent one I'm really amused by:
I went to How Much Is My Blog Worth and typed in our address, and lo-and-behold, it's worth absolutely nothing. :D

OF COURSE it's worth nothing! It's information. Must there be a price on everything? Sheesh.

It has meaning to us, but being that it's not a product, or for sale, or a revenue generator - simply something that we're doing for the pure interest and enjoyment of it - I hope it stays at big-flat-zero for a while; I like it that way.

The Fuel for Creative Vigor

Excerpt from an inspirational article:

"Give yourself time to dream. Sometimes you rule out solutions that seem far-fetched. Explore how to make them work. You never know when you will find a gem."

Attempting the great

"For what purpose humanity is there should not even concern us: why you are there, that you should ask yourself: and if you have no ready answer, then set yourself goals, high and noble goals, and perish in pursuit of them! I know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting the great and the impossible..." -Nietzsche

virtualipo

a cool flash app - stunning interaction and information architecture

Like fireflies

Flight Patterns - check out the videos

Quit possibly the most gorgeous expression of emergence that I've seen in a while.

Stuff On Other Stuff

For a fun break from the smart side:

Stuff On My Cat

If only I had one to put stuff on! Oh well, I'll just use one of my roommates...

I'm gainfully employed x2

I got the job at Anthropology :)
I interviewed this morning, and they already called back - yay! I'm actually really looking forward to it. It's a really nice environment, even the music is subtle ... that kind of stuff matters a lot to me in a place I'll be spending tons of time. AND it's nights and weekends so it works awesome with my other 'real' 'fancy' job :)

And now I can buy more shoes. Oh, wait, just kidding. Maybe next month's rent instead? This 'broke' crap is hard to get used to.

So ... We just heard from the movers, and they're coming tomorrow (yay) - right at the same time that I'm supposed to be hanging out with Carla at the Frog DUX studio tour (f#%&!) I'd been trying to into this tour for weeks, so I'm totally bummed, but I'm REALLY excited to have my desk so I can properly sit and do all this work that I have! AND it'll be like getting a whole house full of totally new stuff, since I don't remember anything that I packed; hahahaha :)

Quotes

"When you have a swiss army knife of a mind, everything looks like it should be dismantled."

-danny o'brien & merlin mann, make:01, "life hacks"

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed."

-albert einstein

Nov 25 - Buy Nothing Day

'I want it!' 'I want it!' 'I want it!'

This is a really cool way to kick off the holidays with a bit of perspective. I want to post it up in all of the Wal-Marts :)

In less than a month, millions of people around the world will ask for the ultimate refund -- by opting out of consumer culture. For 24 hours on Buy Nothing Day, November 25, we remember that no one was born to shop, we pause, make a small choice to participate by not participating, and we regain some calm.

I have such a strong attraction to anti-consumer-culture activism, yet I'm sitting here typing on the second computer I've purchased in 3 years wearing one of the 40 pairs of pants that I own... Sometimes my mind and my actions clash violently, but I think they're learning to play more nicely together - I'm very close to not caring if the movers Ever show up with my stuff from GA. (It's been a month and counting.)

Life is a lot more simple without years of product-baggage competing for my attention from every corner.

In fact, I'm pretty sure 'I don't want it!'