Well that was fast- about as soon as I launched this thing I got the ability to post on Medium. For those of you who haven’t heard of Medium, it’s the latest blog platform from Evan Williams, the founder of Blogger. I really like the social aspect and new commenting they have implemented (comment next to the relevant section). The conversations I’ve had thus far on a few articles has been much more interactive than on other platforms. I’m also a huge fan of the design- simple, elegant, and content driven. Anyway, I’ll be posting over there now, so check me out. The fate of dudeitstommy.com is yet to be determined, but right now I don’t see myself coming back to WordPress any time soon…
Read MoreI used to scoff at the idea of a standing desk, especially for extended periods of time. The only standing desks I encountered were in factories, and I couldn’t stand them (heh, see what I did there?). I decided to give it a shot a couple weeks ago and I’ve completely changed my mind. My solution is a bit ghetto, but it does the job: stack a couple boxes and and a dead laptop on a normal desk.
Boom. Standing desk.
I do have a slight riser for the monitors (via Lifehacker), but other than that it’s just some stuff under the keyboard/mouse. I still like a chair once and a while, but I much prefer standing now. I feel so much better working in front of a computer for an extended period of time, and hopefully being more productive too. This little proof of concept worked out so well I’ll definitely be building something a little nicer in the future. My buddy Evan built one that looks pretty nice a bit ago. Seriously, go try this out for yourself if you haven’t already.
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I first saw Kevin on The Screen Savers on the now defunct TechTV where he served as the resident “hacker” co-host. This was at the height of my foray into computer mods and about the point I was really getting into the internet, and the show immediately turbocharged my excitement about technology. Sadly TechTV faded away, but Kevin continued to soldier on with his new project (and my favorite venture of his), thebroken, which was an underground podcast-type show focused on security, social engineering, etc. that unfortunately had a very short run (you can watch the episodes here). I can’t blame the guy- he went on to found Digg, Revision3, Milk, and eventually ended up at Google Ventures today. I’m pretty amazed he still has time to think at the end of the day, but he’s now putting out a new series called Foundation.
Foundation is a series of interviews with various entrepreneurs and has quickly become my new favorite web-series. Each episode is 30-60 minutes and seeks to tease out the history, challenges, and lessons learned from his guests in the hopes of inspiring other entrepreneurs. Kevin has pulled together quite the guest list in a variety of tech spaces- from Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey to lesser known entrepreneurs like Sahil Lagingia. One of my favorite aspects of the series is the relaxed nature of the interviews (many times at Kevin’s home with his dog on his lap) that opens the door to see many of the giants of entrepreneurship today in a different light. The dynamic is different than most interviews you will see as this is more of a conversation between peers (or friends in many cases) than a stereotypical interview you would see on TV. I find the entrepreneurship journey infinitely fascinating, and to hear how each of these incredibly brilliant people eventually came to develop technologies that have changed the world is riveting. I highly recommend watching all 32 episodes currently posted as each interview has spurred my entrepreneurial spirit in a different way, but here are a few of my favorites:
Jack Dorsey
Chris Sacca
John Borthwick
Hosain Rahman
If you enjoyed these, I’d recommend signing up for the newsletter on foundation.bz.
Kevin- If you happen to read this, thank you- I can’t wait for the next installment.
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Yup…and I probably should have thought this through more.
If you know me, you know I have an insatiable curiosity- all things tech, science, design, film, music, and the list goes on. I’m trying to be “awesomer” every day and share that awesome with everyone around me. This whole FaceTwit+ thing has served a purpose for the most part, but I began to realize I was having longer thoughts that a status update wouldn’t do justice. A lot of these thoughts have come from conversations over a few drinks with friends, but haven’t gone much further than that night. After a few beers I decided its time to dust off this domain and get something up.
So here I am with a hacked together WordPress theme and a domain derived from my first AIM screen name trying to be “awesomer”. Perhaps I don’t have a concrete set of goals, but I’m not sure it really matters. My commitment in the posts that follow is to share the fruits of my curiosity and things that get me excited.
I’m not entirely sure where this will go, but I’m going to try and post fairly regularly and maybe even get some semi-regular columns going. At the moment I’ve been mostly interested in hacking my life and finding my way to happiness in my 20s. I’m hoping this medium can help force me to get a lot of my thoughts out there (at the very least learn something about WordPress), and maybe some of what I end up writing and sharing will strike your fancy. Here’s to my latest creative outlet- stay tuned for a selection of things rattling around in my head or stuff that fell out of the interwebz.
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