More and more Day9 love, of course. In one episode of his show (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-9VLVkm8R4 ), he bring up one of the
main things that holds people back in their competitive mindsets:
Assumptions. Plenty of material here to help me think about the way I
approach challenges. Here are my notes on the episode:

Assumptions fill ambiguity and get in the way. They are difficult to
examine, are often invisible, and are very powerful.

"How do we solve the problem?" gets asked before "Do we have the right
information and assumptions?"

Wrong assumption: Knowing secrets = skill "All I need is the key
insight or trick to win"
Right assumption: Process = skill. Know the processes, not just tricks.

Wrong: Broad variety of knowledge = skill
Right: Depth of knowledge > breadth of knowledge. Have a strategy that
works, and know how to apply that strategy. Also know how to get back
to that strategy if you get sidetracked. Being excellent at one
strategy means you're an excellent player. Being decent at 100
strategies means you're a decent player.

Wrong: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Right: You can probably improve what currently works, so always try to
improve. Be more efficient. If it's working, that doesn't mean it's
optimal. Try to improve what already works.

Wrong: The system is flawed. The system is messed up so the result was
messed up or could not be found.
(note: This is where he brought up the insurance salesman riddle that
I previously posted)
Right: The system is NEVER flawed. If you are playing in the system,
you are held to it. You can't change the system. Strive for perfection
within the system.

Wrong: Believe patterns.
Right: Question patterns. "You don't need to VERY win. All you need to
do is win. A win is a win is a win is a win."

Wrong: Language is knowledge.
Right: Language is a tool that can help out but is not necessarily the
truth. "Just because it's surprising doesn't necessarily mean it's
good."

Wrong: If I have a good answer, I answered the right question.
Right: Make sure you're answering the right question. Question your
question and make sure it's the right question before answering it.

Another "I love Day9 and the things he talks about" post. On his daily episode today, he used a riddle to introduce a section of the show. I am now in love with this riddle and will share it with you! Doing it off of memory rather than looking it up, so hopefully I get it right. Have fun.

A mother of three kids answers her doorbell, and it is an insurance salesman at the door. After listening to his pitch for a few seconds, she stops him and says "I've heard enough. Here's what we'll do: If you can figure out the ages of my three children, I will buy your insurance. Here are your clues:

• The product of the kids' ages is 36.
• The sum of their ages is the same number as the address number of the house next door.

The insurance salesman thinks about it, looks at the house next door, and says, "I need one more clue." The mother agrees to one more clue:

•  My oldest daughter plays the piano.

The mother ends up having to buy the insurance.

("Insurance salesmen aren't smart enough to figure this out" is not a valid answer.)

People's attention spans keep getting shorter and shorter, myself included. That's why I enjoy microblogging! Most of the time I don't have the attention span to write up a full blog post, and other people don't have the attention span to read the full blog post. tl;dr etc. I enjoy throwing out short updates about what I'm doing, where I'm at, what I'm thinking, and what I'm listening to, among other things.

Here's a rundown of the microblogging (or similar, as I'm including quick photo and image sharing services) sites that I'm on and use regularly:

Twitter
140 characters. That's it. So much can be done and said in just 140 characters. I get just about all of my news here. I have conversations, I set up meetings, I learn about events, I win things. The list goes on and on.

Instagram (link to Webstagram)
Photo sharing with captions to your network on Instagram, or to other networks like Twitter, Facebook, and Posterous. I use Instagram to share where I am and what I'm looking at. There are lots of options for adding effects to photos. I usually don't use any.

Path (link to main website)
Kind of Facebook-ish, but purely for mobile use without a web interface. Share photos (with effects as well), where you're at, who you're with, what you're listening to, what you're thinking, when you sleep, and when you wake up. You can add comments to your own "moments" or to other peoples'. I like Path because it's new / recently redesigned, the mobile app looks good and works well, and I get a fresh start on who I share with. Excited to see how Path grows from here.

Pinterest
The newest site I'm on, and what inspired me to write this post. Share images with your network about whatever you'd like along with a short message about why you're sharing it. I'm planning on using Pinterest to share pictures of clothing I'm looking at / looks I like and food, and whatever else I feel like sharing.

Foursquare
Check in where you're at with comments. I've used this to broadcast that I'm at a place for other people to find me, or to find other people. 

Untappd
Check in with what beer I'm drinking, with comments and pictures. Fun to keep track of what I've been drinking and what other people are drinking.

Tumblr
Including this because most people tend to use this to post and re-post pictures rather than as a blogging platform. I'll reblog pictures and add comments.

 

In what will likely be a recurring line in my posts: This was inspired by something that Day9 said or posted. This time, he tweeted this article: "Flow is the Opiate of the Mediocre: Advice on Getting Better from an Accomplished Piano Player"

I don't want to restate too much of what's in the article, but I'll post the main points "Jeremy" made and my interpretations:

• Strategy #1: Avoid Flow. Do What Does Not Come Easy.
  
  • Don't spend so much time practicing what you already know and are good at. Practice what you need to work on.
• Strategy #2: To Master a Skill, Master Something Harder.
  
  • Go 110% (or higher) to master something at 100%. Go faster, go harder.
• Strategy #3: Systematically Eliminate Weakness.
  
  • Create strength and well-roundedness out of weakness.
• Strategy #4: Create Beauty, Don’t Avoid Ugliness.
  • Have an image of what things should look like or how they should go, and move toward that while embracing anything that may go wrong. 

Practice and get better, for whatever it is you do.

Thinking in threes. Another idea partially inspired by Day[9].

Three steps or things at a time is a good number, in my opinion. Three isn't too many, and it's not too few.

The clothing purchases I'm planning on making this year:

• Three-piece suits: The other inspiration for focusing on the number three. I need new suits. I want three-piece suits because I do enjoy the waistcoat now, and I enjoy the flexibility of having the three pieces that I can wear in different combinations or separately. Colors:
  • Navy blue: The classic. Would be my go-to suit for business or non-business. Like this.
  • Gray of some sort: Haven't decided if I want to go with charcoal, a medium gray, or a lighter sharkskin-like gray as Roger Sterling (left) is wearing.
  • Summer suit: Lots of options. Something like one of these. TSB uses light gray in that post, so maybe a darker gray and a lighter gray? Hmm...
• Shirts: Simple enough, right? Variety is good.
  • Dress shirts: White, light blue, black. Plain, stripes, checks.
  • Polo shirts: I'm trying to wear polo shirts when I would have worn t-shirts in the past, so it would make sense to get more of them! And get rid of more of the t-shirts I still have.
  • Henleys: I don't have any yet. I want some.
• "Outerwear": Using the term loosely, as this is San Diego I live in.
  • Topcoat/single-breasted trench coat: I just like the way they look. Navy blue.
  • Leather jacket(s): These are always a good idea! Thinking black, brown, and/or some sort of off-white.
  • Cardigans: I have a few, and I want more. Maybe something big and flashy like this.

 

And because the theme here is threes in 2012, I did make sure to start the year in three:

• "Fit is more important than (everything else)." And so I figured out a more proper fit on my clothes, which led to getting rid of most of my clothes that were bigger than what I should have been wearing. Held on to some of my L t-shirts, though.
• Kept going with the cleaning of my closet: Stuff I didn't wear much regardless of size, short sleeve button-up shirts, pullover hoodies (except for my SDSU alumni hoodie)
• As for what I added...
• Cardigans. Practical (don't have to pull over your head so no messing up of hair, can open the front if it's getting warm) and stylish. Daniel Craig wears them on (as James Bond) and off-screen. If Bond can do it, I can too. Steve McQueen wore them as well.
• Dark denim: Until I bought two pairs of dark jeans (dark blue, gray) this year, I hadn't worn jeans since middle school or early high school. Helps make an outfit look more casual compared to slacks, and don't make me look like an out-of-touch dad like light colored jeans would. Also, no holes or designs or vintage looks.
• More polo shirts: I already had polo shirts (in large, which I got rid of) and wore them regularly to work. What I did was embrace wearing a polo shirt instead of a t-shirt for quick/casual outings, so I bought more (medium size) than I got rid of and started wearing them a lot more than I was in the past.
• Better looking and fitting sportcoats/blazers: "A good looking jacket 'fixes' an outfit." is something I've said in the past about my clothes.
• Waistcoats: I first got to wear a waistcoat (going with the proper name rather than the ambiguous "vest") for my brother's wedding, and I decided that I liked it and should make waistcoats a part of my wardrobe. I currently have three (one of which may show up on here again soon), and look to add more next year.

How I should have listened to more music that came out this year because
there is a lot of stuff I didn't listen to that I wanted to. I spent a
lot of the year listening to Slacker and its 90s Hip Hop station, as
that's my favorite music era, and creating other hip hop stations.

As I did last year, I will have my list in tiers. I will also include older
albums I finally got around to listening to, and albums that I want to
listen to still. I'm using martial arts and action films for tier titles.

Best of the Best (My top 5 for the year, in no order)
The Black Keys - El Camino
Mayer Hawthorne - How Do You Do
little hurricane - Homewrecker
Foster the People - Torches
Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

Highlander II: The Quickening (Just a notch below the top tier. Also,
"The Quickening" is what I would add to a sequel if I were writing
anything. Part three would be "Electric Boogaloo.")
The Weeknd - House of Balloons
Company of Thieves - Running from a Gamble
Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
The Joy Formidable - The Big Roar
Childish Gambino - EP
M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

Only the Strong (albums I enjoyed, just not as much as those above)
The Weeknd - Echoes of Silence
The Weeknd - Thursday
Patrick Stump - Soul Punk
Childish Gambino - Camp
Kevin Martin - Throwback Pop
Kanye West & Jay-Z - Watch the Throne
Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi - Rome
Face to Face - Laugh Now, Laugh Later
Adele - 21
Those Darlins - Screws Get Loose
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Scandalous

The Expendables (meh. these had some songs I liked, but just meh overall)
My Morning Jacket - Circuital
Rise Against - Endgame
The Strokes - Angles
Murs & Terrace Martin - Melrose
Cage the Elephant - Thank You Happy Birthday

Older albums I finally got around to listening to this year and what
tiers they would fit into:

Highlander II: The Quickening
Franz Ferdinand - You Could Have It So Much Better
Jimmy Eat World - Clarity
Passion Pit - Manners
Daft Punk - Discovery
She & Him - Volume Two
Superchunk - Majesty Shredding

Only the Strong
The Hives - Your New Favourite Band
The Naked and Famous - Passive Me, Aggressive You
Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak
Chromeo - Business Casual
Two Door Cinema Club - Tourist History
Foals - Total Life Forever
Best Coast - Crazy For You

Albums released in 2011 that I still have to listen to that I remembered
to take note of, as I'm sure there are plenty of other albums I would listen to:
DJ Quik - The Book of David
Tom Waits - Bad as Me
Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra
Drake - Take Care
Peter Bjorn and John - Gimme Some
Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm With You
Common - The Dreamer/The Believer
Tyler the Creator - Goblin
Explosions in the Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
Lupe Fiasco - Lasers
Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto
Portugal. The Man - In the Mountain in the Cloud
Dum Dum Girls - Only in Dreams
Thrice - Major / Minor
Feist - Metals
Mutemath - Odd Soul
Phonte - Charity Starts at Home
Florence and The Machine - Ceremonials
Switchfoot - Vice Verses
Blink 182 - Neighborhoods
Arctic Monkeys - Suck It and See
Hercules and Love Affair - Blue Songs
Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Protest the Hero - Scurrilous
The Kills - Blood Pressures
TV On the Radio - Nine Types of Light
Panda Bear - Tomboy

I should probably start blogging more. That'll be in the post about
2012, but let's look back at some 2011 first.

Goals/resolutions/whatever for the year I posted here:
"
-Get back to a job more suited for me
-Start watching Breaking Bad
-Drink coffee black
-Clean out my closet of clothes I wasn't wearing much or at all
-Dress better.
"

Nope but a work in progress with good prospects upcoming, nope, yes
for most of the time I drink coffee, yes which helped a lot for moving
this year, and yes (I could probably do a whole post about dressing
better... maybe I will!). Three out of five isn't too bad. I did lose
a couple of pounds too! And drank less this year, which helped the
losing weight part. Also, stuff happened this year. A lot of stuff.

I said quick, so that's it. Boom.

Or: A Night Without Light (kind of). San Diego's Black Thursday. #sdoutage. #sdblackout. Whatever else works.

Power came back on in North Park around 11:00 PM. The worst part about the blackout for me? No phone signal in the area. Couldn't call or text, or check social media. I walked around 30th and University to see what was going on without power.

The North Park sign unlit. Birch Theatre in the background.

A shoutout to MTS for running buses during the blackout. This one is fairly empty it looks like, but I saw plenty of others passing through that were full.

Heaven Sent Desserts was giving out free desserts when I passed by. Partly to get rid of their stuff that would go bad, but also for a good cause:

Emergency crews were still responding to calls, of course. Here's a couple of shots of a fire truck passing by Heaven Sent:

El Take It Easy was open as well. Candles lit the restaurant, and a grill was outside cooking up the food. I saw tacos and burgers, mainly.

 

There's my blackout adventure. Not quite what I had planned for yesterday (Taste of Downtown then Thievery Corporation, both of which were postponed. Watching the football game would have been cool too.) but it was definitely an experience.