Inspir.es

How to Build an Owl

Sun, 20 May 2012 17:51:00 -0500

Decide you must.
Develop deep respect for feather, bone, claw.
Place your trembling thumb where the heart will be: for one hundred hours watch so you will know where to put the first feather.
Stay awake forever. When the bird takes shape gently pry open its beak and whisper into it: mouse.
Let it go.

"He finished going through my work, and said into the phone, “Janet, could you hold on for a..."

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:42:36 -0600

“

He finished going through my work, and said into the phone, “Janet, could you hold on for a moment?” He covered the receiver with his hand, and I leaned forward in my chair. “You know, Frank, after looking at this…” My eyes widened. Okay, here we go. Finally, some honest feedback. Something other than “looks great.”

“Needs more love,” he said to me. “Okay, Janet, I’m back. Sorry for that, just have a student in here.” He waved his hand to shoo me out of his office. He wished me well on my trip and said that he would see me next week in class. He smiled.

“Needs more love.” Best damn advice I’ve ever gotten. You can keep your practicality and your action items and your take-aways. You can have your instructional advice, your recipes, your prescribed steps to fulfillment, and your ladder-climbing. I’ve got this: this little gem of insight from a man who taught me so much. The only thing that matters is that we care more than we already do about the people and places and projects that we give our time and attention. We’ve got to believe in the stuff.

”

- Frank Chimero in The Manual, Vol 1

My bedroom is freshly cleaned. And since I’m not traveling...

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:30:04 -0600

My bedroom is freshly cleaned. And since I’m not traveling in February, I just might sleep there once or twice.

"I think most creative people want to express appreciation for being able to take advantage of the..."

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:53:23 -0500

“I think most creative people want to express appreciation for being able to take advantage of the work that’s been done by others before us. I didn’t invent the language or mathematics I use. I make little of my own food, none of my own clothes. Everything I do depends on other members of our species and the shoulders that we stand on. And a lot of us want to contribute something back to our species and to add something to the flow. It’s about trying to express something in the only way that most of us know how—because we can’t write Bob Dylan songs or Tom Stoppard plays. We try to use the talents we do have to express our deep feelings, to show our appreciation of all the contributions that came before us, and to add something to that flow. That’s what has driven me.”

- Steve Jobs

Beirut - Goshen You’re the face in stone, through the...

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:56:00 -0500

Beirut - Goshen

You’re the face in stone, through the land I own.
You never found it home.
You’re not the girl I used to know.

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Casual Work Environment

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 17:36:41 -0500

Andrea: helllo dave are ou there?
Tim: Is that French?
Tim: Oh, NVM. I saw your email. It's drunk :)
Andrea: eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, i'm very drunk and i'm tryring to fugures our how ot turn off adds'
Andrea: i'm taking a vacation from friday-monday
Tim: Haha, I'll get your ads.
Andrea: dear tim, i love you very mush
Dave: Wowza

Palace Brothers - All is Grace The blessed grace of waking...

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:20:04 -0500

Palace Brothers - All is Grace

The blessed grace of waking up—of breathing in the sheets. And hello to you, at the window, hello to you.

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"The problem with the Internet startup craze isn’t that too many people are starting companies;..."

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:47:00 -0500

“

The problem with the Internet startup craze isn’t that too many people are starting companies; it’s that too many people aren’t sticking with it. That’s somewhat understandable, because there are many moments that are filled with despair and agony, when you have to fire people and cancel things and deal with very difficult situations. That’s when you find out who you are and what your values are.

So when these people sell out, even though they get fabulously rich, they’re gypping themselves out of one of the potentially most rewarding experiences of their unfolding lives. Without it, they may never know their values or how to keep their newfound wealth in perspective.

”

- Steve Jobs - Fortune, Jan 24, 2000

If you need inspiration to drop out of an Ivy League school and...

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 19:21:00 -0500

If you need inspiration to drop out of an Ivy League school and move to the middle of nowhere, I’m your man.

Just do me a favor and tell your mom first, okay?

Al Green - I Want To Hold Your Hand Download

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:32:00 -0500

Al Green - I Want To Hold Your Hand

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"Talk about what you have written, by all means, but do not read from it while the work is in..."

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 06:04:36 -0500

“Talk about what you have written, by all means, but do not read from it while the work is in progress. Every gratification procured in this way will slacken your tempo. If this regime is followed, the growing desire to communicate will become in the end a motor for completion.”

- Walter Benjamin - One Way Street

Iron and Wine - Die If you haven’t seen Beginners yet, you...

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:56:00 -0500

Iron and Wine - Die

If you haven’t seen Beginners yet, you should.

This song isn’t in the movie. But it’s a good, sad song. And Beginners is a good, sad movie.

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We skipped out on the gambling/whores/Prada stores of Las Vegas...

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:05:07 -0500

We skipped out on the gambling/whores/Prada stores of Las Vegas to go see Hoover Dam last weekend. Here’s a poorly assembled panorama of Peter spelling HOOVER.

My late-20’s will be remembered as the phase of my life...

Tue, 24 May 2011 11:59:00 -0500

My late-20’s will be remembered as the phase of my life where I did boring things in fun places.

One True Thing

Fri, 20 May 2011 13:08:33 -0500

One True Thing:

Sometimes when I ask people about the majors they picked in college, I get an answer—regardless of the major—akin to “because it’s like, just so fundamental, you know?” The neuroscientist thinks, the brain, the brain! Everything starts with the brain. The writer thinks, where would we be without language, without the ability to communicate our ideas? The investment banker thinks, money runs the world, and he who commands it shapes the entire planet. The environmentalist thinks, none of this would matter if we didn’t have an earth to live on. The designer thinks, everything is designed and design can solve all the world’s problems.

"Darwin’s notebooks lie at the tail end of a long and fruitful tradition that peaked in..."

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 19:18:44 -0500

“Darwin’s notebooks lie at the tail end of a long and fruitful tradition that peaked in Enlightenment-era Europe, particularly in England: the practice of maintaining a “commonplace” book. Scholars, amateur scientists, aspiring men of letters — just about anyone with intellectual ambition in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was likely to keep a commonplace book. The great minds of the period — Milton, Bacon, Locke — were zealous believers in the memory-enhancing powers of the commonplace book. In its most customary form, “commonplacing,” as it was called, involved transcribing interesting or inspirational passages from one’s reading, assembling a personalized encyclopedia of quotations. There is a distinct self-help quality to the early descriptions of commonplacing’s virtues: maintaining the books enabled one to “lay up a fund of knowledge, from which we may at all times select what is useful in the several pursuits of life.””

- Where Good Ideas Come From

If you need me, I’ll be in the backyard.

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 15:49:28 -0500

English muffin pizzas on the grill

Hammock

Raised bed garden

Chandelier

If you need me, I’ll be in the backyard.

What Should I Do With My Life?

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:45:00 -0600

What Should I Do With My Life?:

I wanted to be an engineer. My uncle Jack was an engineer, and I love my uncle Jack.

When Uncle Jack’s family visited from Minnesota, he and I would play catch. Sometimes we’d even play a modified, capitalist version of the game 500. Jack would throw a tennis ball (or baseball, as I got older)…

I wrote this for the Real HQ blog.

Slow Club - Let’s Fall Back In Love And although you are...

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 21:13:00 -0600

Slow Club - Let’s Fall Back In Love

And although you are so near
In everything you do
All your doubts and fears I hope some day stop haunting you

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Close encounters on my walk to the grocery store…

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:29:35 -0600

Close encounters on my walk to the grocery store…