For years, I’ve kept private lists of phenomenons that got me thinking and made an impact. I’ve noticed lately these scribbled thoughts are becoming part of private conversations I have online, and so I am starting an experiment. I’m going to start sharing these thoughts in my blog.
The result is informal, but I’ll post a few versions of this format before I decide how to proceed. And so we begin with…
Most people would say it’s near impossible to pick favorites, but every year 500 experts from around the globe choose the top bars in the world. Their choices become the industry-revered rating that is The World’s 50 Best Bars.
When it comes to web analytics, bounce rate (aka when visitors land on your site and then leave) is a lot like a golf score. The lower it is the happier you are. If you have a normal, well-working website your bounce rate should be below 50%. If you are seeing higher bounce rates your site is suffering for two reasons.
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As per usual, I had 62 tabs open in Chrome, fluttering about from one article to another, following the link trail that is the endless pursuit of knowledge. Tabs have a way of reproducing like that. When they do I tend to get lost in the whimsy of content hurricanes.
An article about pre-screening engineering talent paves the way for a blog post about machine learning algorithms and then a Wikipedia page about some theory I know I should know but have to look up just in case someone asks at some point in time.
We met just before the Perseid Meteor showers and I fell in love with you when they peaked.
Not long after we met I lost a mother figure. I pulled out my phone when we separated for the night and read the text. All I wanted was you. Somehow you had service even though you were already underground and you came back to meet me. I remember sitting on a ledge at the edge of a building, crying. You beside me, patient and warm.
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I believe that in the future more and more people will work for themselves. Many of these indivuals will use the Internet to create location independent businesses. This creates a landscape where anyone can literally work and live anywhere. Some of these people are becoming digital nomads who work while traveling the world. Others just enjoy the liberty of being able to earn a living on their terms.
Problem is, taking the plunge can be scary. A lot of people have an idea but they don’t know what to do or where to start. Or maybe they are already freelancing but they want to figure out how to turn their work into a more sustainable business?
I want to help these people make it happen.
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I realize today that we don’t have much time. Time to look at the mountains, to smell home cooked food as it wafts down the block to where we’re sitting. Time to let things sink in or to feel everything. These moments will be gone quickly and all that will be left are the people and things we felt them for.
I’m sitting on the rooftop of a fourth story coffeeshop with big open windows. It feels like I’m in a Jeep Wrangler with the doors and top popped off. All those extra parts (the sides of the car and the roof) are off somewhere sitting in someone’s garage. There’s structure around me but for the most part I feel free from the typical confines of buildings. Covered but not, like the outdoor-acceptable version of naked on the go.
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Home sweet home, editing a content marketing piece completed by my extraordinary new employee, Dor. It rained today and I celebrated with a run along the East River trail. Even though I live alone I still yearn for these jogs of solitude. Nothing beats the experience of bounding down one side of Manhattan (skipping and singing and hollering), surrounded only by tall buildings where people are hidden away to stay dry.
I took a quick detour to slip and slide on a turf field today. If you caught me between conference calls you would have found me soaked through and dripping, diving headfirst with abandon and sailing across the turf with a huge grin smeared across my face.
The Future of Music Revenue Models
There’s something bubbling in the music industry, and I think Beyonce, Jay Z and Kanye are closest to what’s next.
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Back from another run on the East River Trail, drinking coconut milk and eating fried tortilla neons* of two varieties. A main entree (or plato fuerte) of Justin’s almond butter and jam spread elegantly over a lightly crisped tortilla followed by nutella and cayenne pepper roasted marshmallows atop a lightly carmelized/sugar-fried tortilla for dessert. If there ever was a non-Mexican meal that represented me, this might be it.
* Neons are crackers (or cracker-like things) with two or more toppings on them. For example, Breton crackers with fig jam and feta cheese or Wheat Thins with apple slices and smoked gouda. My mom invented this definition of Neons and so even the mention of them makes me feel special. You know, like the President’s coming to dinner.
1.1 Cleanly
I tried Cleanly this week and I’m still deciding whether it should be a part of my regular routine. In case you haven’t heard, Cleanly is pick up and drop off laundry services that you can order from a streamlined and beautifully designed app experience. Another one of those services that lets people pay other people to do the things people’s parents once did for them.
I was on the phone with my mother when I realized our end was almost as extravagant as the beginning. My Mom and I, we’re just now able to talk about the way life feels. And so in my new openness I tell her about you, filling in the gaps I was afraid to share when we first began.
I told her about the night we met. How pivotal it felt when I went back to the oatmeal shop and told my friends about my adventures. The way we closed down the bar at 4:00 and then pedaled over the bridge into Brooklyn. How we lied down near the carousel and watched the sunrise over The City. The beginning couldn’t have been more romantic.
And then there was the end.
The Rose Bar at the Plaza Hotel. Fresh off the gondola in Central Park. A fancy bar in our summer clothes. You and me, we’ll always be ones for opulence.