learning to be human, since 1984
time management
Private (Vomit) Practice
Jan 24th
Get out that big imagination paintbrush in your brain:
As I write this, I’m laying in bed with my girlfriend. Naturally, I am building a database and naturally and she is watching Private Practice. It’s her guilty pleasure – a stress relieving wind-down before bed. All of the sudden I hear a familiar voice – the voice of Mark Sloan. Yes, Mark Sloan of Grey’s Anatomy fame. Now, I know what you must be thinking. You recognize his voice? What a doofus.
But, yes. Yes I do recognize his voice. You know why? Because. Because there have been many nights that while I was working, she was watching Grey’s anatomy – enough so that I’ve loosely become familiar with the shows.
So fuck me in the ear: what the fuck is Sloan (McSteamy that is, not his daughter – whose first name is Sloan but last name is Riley) doing on Private Practice? I shit a brick. A huge brick. I turn and ask, “Why is McSteamy on Private Practice? That is his nickname, right? And the other one is McDreamy?” She tells me I’m right, after which I pull open the elastic of the oversized women’s basketball sweatpants I’m wearing and vomit into my underwear.
Fake doctor shows have cross-over episodes. Holy fuck. What is the world coming to? I’d rather vomit on my balls than deal with this nightmare.
So, I write this, and relocate to the dining room table.
Saving Illustrator CS4 Preferences
Jan 7th
While Adobe products are industry standards, they are still not without serious workflow issues.
One of my major gripes is Illustrator’s inability to save and load preferences from within the program. This would come in handy when working in different units, as I regularly do; The 10px grid I use for web work isn’t compatible with an imperial or metric grid for print work, and vice versa. Luckily, I’ve devised a workaround.
- First, you’ll need to find your Ai preferences file. For Windows 7, it can be found in a hidden folder:C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS4 Settings\en_USFrom your explorer window, drag the en_US folder to your start menu and Pin it there. In OS X, you can similarly make a link to the folder and keep it in your Dock, desktop, or wherever you fancy. The file we’ll be renaming later is named AIPrefs (no extension)- we’ll deal with that soon enough. If you don’t have hidden folders visible, here’s how. If you’re on a different OS, or using a different version of Illustrator, have a look here, or search the nets.
- Open Illustrator, start a blank document, and set your preferences. The document type doesn’t matter.
- Close Illustrator.
- Open the folder you linked in step 1, copy and rename your preferences file to something descriptive like AIPrefs[web]. It’s crucial to copy so we don’t accidentally modify or delete our manually defined preferences.
- Repeat steps 2-4 for each grid-setup or preferences variation you need.
- Now you’re ready to use your custom preferences. Before you reopen Illustrator, delete the current AIPrefs file.
- Copy the preferences file you want to use and rename it to AIPrefs.
- Start Illustrator and behold the glory.
Obviously, if the last thing you worked on is for web, and the current thing you worked on is for web, you don’t have to change the AIPrefs file, so it might be helpful to keep a note of which file is currently active. You can also search the AIPrefs file to see how Illustrator is modifying the contents. It’s for the most part readable alpha-numeric content. If anyone knows of a better way to do this, please let me know. Ciao.
A Blessing and a Curse
Nov 18th
I’m at my Aunt’s and Uncle’s house for the night. They let me use their button maker for a school project which involved 50 unique, hand illustrated (with use of a graphics tablet) vegetables and fruits. I’ll maybe post photos at some point. Following that I did a brochure for the campus writing center, again by hand. It feels so good to abandon technology sometimes, or at least, to connect with it in a more natural way.
Anyhow. I realized something. I am completely anal and a perfectionist when it comes to the work I do, when/if I do it. I’m getting better, I swear. I trick myself into moving on and getting things done. But that’s all it is-a trick, a loophole that lets me override my natural proclivity for innane fumblings which yield only marginal improvements, yet make me feel like a million bucks.
I am this way because of my Father, and my Uncle. I came to this realization while in the bathroom, nursing an upset (probably stress-induced) stomach. It was there, in the room that my Uncle made with his tools and hands, that I realized his attention to detail. I then thought about the meticulous work my dad does, for no one but himself. The sheets upon sheets of hand-written spreadsheets tracking his stocks, soccer scores, and other things important to him. And though completely different men in their abilities, understandings, and pursuits, they both share that immense ability to produce amazingly detailed work.
So while I am lucky to have inherited and gleaned this trait, it is something I try to override, to circumvent. I need to learn to focus it, hone it into a surgical tool and wield it with effortless grace-lest it consume me.
101 Things in 1001 Days
Aug 26th
Awhile ago, a friend told me about a project called 101 Things in 1001 Days. Check it out. Here’s my list:
- Biking
- register with the USAC and USCF
- race regularly
- obtain at least cat 3 (preferrably cat 2) status
- fix crank and bottom bracket of my orange road bike
- get a winter bike 19 OCTOBER 2008
- get bike rollers to train indoors during winter
- build a fixed gear/track bicycle (just to have, and to train) 19 OCTOBER 2008 (would still like to build one)
- join a cycling club/team
- bike over 25mph for at least 10 miles
- bike to a different state (of the United persuasion—the mind is a given)
- bike through the valley (With Ginnie and Phil)
- Exercise/Outdoors
- run at least 4 miles per week for 4 weeks
- run 10k
- start doing yoga again, at least 3 times per week if not more
- do daily calisthenics
- go camping
- go canoeing
- go kayaking
- camp for 3 days with only a knife
- canoe the Milwaukee River
- Business
- register my business with the state and IRS as an LLC
- finish developing letterhead/business cards (SEPTEMBER 2009)/document system
- School
- finish college! (Holy Shit! 11 January 2010)
- Job/Work
- quit my current job (Double Holy Shit! 16 January 2010)
- get a real job (one that pays me what I’m worth)
- put together a portfolio for getting a job! (In progress) (JUNE 2010)
- work 2 jobs simultaneously (2009)
- Food
- take a cooking class
- learn how to make sushi (20 November 2009)
grow an awesome garden(MAY-NOV2009)- complete with vermiculture bin
and composting heap(MAY 2009)- harvest urban fruit
- make falafel (15 JANUARY 2010)
- find or develop a consistent and easy French bread recipe 29 DECEMBER 2008 (taught 25+ at the CCC)
- maintain my own bread dough starter(Spring 2009)
- bake at least one batch of bread per week DECEMBER/JANUARY 2009 (Have been baking 3+ batches weekly)
- make limoncello
- brew beer
- make wine from grapes
- make dolmades with fresh grape leaves
- make cheese from scratch(JUNE 2009)
- make flour
- bowhunt for deer
- trap hare and cook them
- go fishing and cook my catch
- catch octopus and cook it
- slaughter a chicken (and cook it?) (June 2010)
- harvest honey
- teach 10 people how to cook a simple, fast, flexible meal 15 JANUARY 2009
- find five good ethnic food stores/markets in Milwaukee (Viet Hoa, x, x, x, x)
- Crafts/Projects
- teach at least 5 people how to knit (1. Gavin 11 DECEMBER 2008 2. Dana 29 December 2009)
- knit a sweater
- knit socks
- make shoes or slippers (more like moccasins) by hand
- sew some curtains
- build a bookshelf
- improve my sewing skills (learn to sew from a pattern)
- sew some aprons
- make a messenger bag from old plastic bags
- make grocery bags out of recycled t-shirts and other scraps
- Housing/Household
- move to a new apartment [house] 15 FEB 2010
- care for a cat
- clean my closet 13 FEB 2010
- fix the light fixture in the back room
- Time Management/Organization/Fixing
- develop a daily routine
- develop a weekly routine
- develop a monthly routine
- wake up before 8am regularly without an alarm clock
- organize my books
- buy/make a daily planner, and use it…daily 14 FEB 2010
- install subversion on my webhost
- Entertainment/Leisure/Volunteering
- watch at least the first ¼ of the original Dr. Who series in order
- read one book per month for pleasure
- hold a David Lynch marathon viewing festival weekend
- volunteer at People’s Books at least 20 hours
- volunteer at the Bike Collective at least 20 hours (6 hours total: 10 JANUARY 2009)
- Travel/Destinations
- West Coast
- New York City
- Greece (and possibly travel through Europe)
- a planetarium
- the Domes
- the Milwaukee County Historical Society (do research for old Rustbelt businesses, typefaces, logos, etc)
- Writing
- blog at least 4 times per week, consistently for 6 months
- finish The Ruthless King book and illustrations
- finish the Busku book and illustrations
- start writing another children’s book (Concept developed 21 JANUARY 2009)
- write a book for big people (In progress)
- Design/Photography/Programming
- redesign my blog
- model something in 3D with Maya
- find 10 easily accessible rooftops in Milwaukee and take photographs from atop (3 found so far…)
- walk around the city collecting textures with photos and rubbings (then organize them) (MAY 2010 – in Wausau)
- design another cd package
- To Buy/Pay for
- get a nice digital SLR
- library fines
- buy OR BUILD a really nice bike (race worthy) and accessories (shoes, helmet, etc) (helmet, gloves, socks 21 JANUARY 2009)
- buy some nice Golas 28 SEPTEMBER 2008
- Learn/Education/Exploration
- all the constellations in the zodiac
- take another French class
- find a good secret hiding spot in the city(19 JULY 2009)
- determine my haplotype distribution
I am certain I’ll add more things to this list, so here’s an area for additional tasks:
- make papermaking equipment, then paper
- keep bees (Still illegal in Milwaukee: I found this out on 20 JANUARY 2009)
- learn to drive stick (APRIL 2010)
- make kombucha
- make vinegar
- teach another cooking class
- go morrelling
- grow mushrooms (Started 16 FEB 2010)
Progress: 24/101
Finally, I found this awesome artist duo from São Paolo called mulheres barbadas (bearded ladies, in Portuguese) while looking through some websites. Here’s one of their collaborations:
Mise en Place
Jan 9th
Nobody wants to stand around cooking for hours. The flood of “quick-meal” cookbooks is a response to the ever increasing pace of business-driven society. Less time, better output. One way to eat well and save time is to minimize both preparation and cooking. Using raw, whole foods is a good solution, and a rather trendy one at that. But what if your favorite meal is port-braised duck with chanterelles and pearl onions? Luckily, there is a method that most chefs – and indeed, the kitchens they run – employ to keep food preparation as efficient as possible.
Mise en place [miz ã plas] is a French term meaning “set in place” or “everything in its place”. It refers to the planning and setup necessary to prepare food, both food and equipment alike. This includes cutting vegetables, gathering necessary spices, cleaning pots and pans, preheating the oven, and so on. Often, especially in English, it is simply called mise [miz]. The brackets denote the pronunciation as transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet. It’s worth learning.
Having everything in front of you allows two things things: easy access to all your equipment and ingredients (and that you indeed have all necessary items), and the ability to spot shoddy ingredients or equipment. A great tip for recipes involving eggs, and certainly part of mise en place, is to crack them one at a time into a small bowl or ramekin, inspecting each one before pouring it into the collective bowl. Every once in awhile, a bad one makes it into your fridge. Thankfully, our pal Mise is there to bail us out.
Okay, so lets get to the application. How exactly do you look at a recipe and figure out the mise en place? There are five steps, roughly, to tackling any recipe or set of courses:
- Figure out each step in the recipe.Usually this is done for you, but sometime it isn’t. Break the recipe down into sequential tasks that make sense.
- Assess which steps can be done ahead of time.This includes all your prep-work, preheating, bowl-chilling, vegetable blanching, etc.
- Decide how you will store your ingredients will be stored until you are ready to use them.Some things, like sauces, need to stay hot. Others need the fridge or freezer, while others yet can simply reside in bowls in or near your work area – so consider both the storage location and vessel.
- Determine the time each step will take.This one is pretty straightforward. One note, however. Sometimes you can use downtime later in the cooking process to get some prep out of the way. For example, if you’re making a roast, it needs to rest after being cooked. You can use that time to make the sauce from the juices. This is where you can multi-task by using passive cooking time to do prep work or cooking. This leads into the final step:
- Look for ways to be more efficient.For example, blanching vegetables partially cooks them while allowing you to chill them, and finish cooking them later. Since they are blanched, it won’t take as long and you can do it ahead of time while maintaining their quality. Also, if you are cooking several courses, look for common ingredients or preparation techniques in each dish. Doing all your julienning at the same time allows you to get into a routine, which saves time.
There are a few key ideas necessary that are beyond the scope of this post. They are knife use (and other tools, in general), and cleanliness. I will dedicate at least one post to each of these topics in the future. I must note this disclaimer, however. I am not responsible for your mistakes in the kitchen. I have badly cut myself, as I am sure most chefs have. It wasn’t fun, but I take full responsibility for it. If your knife doesn’t feel right, set it down. If your blade is dull, get it sharpened. This is what mise is for – getting out all the kinks and working efficiently and responsibly. You are entirely responsible for your own safety. That being said, here are some tips:
- Keep your fingertips tucked under your knuckles, using them to hold the food to your cutting board.
- When chopping, keep the edge of the tip on the board. It never leaves. Simply rock the blade to cut-you can steady it by carefully pinching it with the thumb and forefingers of your non-dominant hand. Let the knife do the cutting-bad things happen when you apply too much force. If you can’t cut something without exerting undue pressure, then its time to sharpen or true your blade, or get a new one entirely.
- Keep your workspace sanitary and free of clutter, cleaning as you go. The only thing worse than not having space in which to work is hurting yourself because of a mess that you left. Keep it clean, keep it safe.
- Make sure all the equipment and food you are using is thoroughly cleaned, dried, and prepared properly.
It should be noted that mise en place also refers to your individual setup-how your workspace is arranged regularly. Everyone does things differently, but there are certain commonalities (salt, pepper, cutting board, etc).
Till next time! Stay safe!
Getting on the Grid, in a Major way
Jan 1st
Over the past year I have dedicated a lot of time to making sure that the important things in my life are safe and organized, within reason. I’ve been using the book Getting Things Done as a guide, supplemented with other online recommendations.
Here’s a brief and somewhat complete description of my paper system. Important documents are stored in plastic folders in my plastic file box. Each folder has a label printed with my Brother P-2700, which I connect to my computer for more efficient label-tape use. I got it new, with free shipping for $40. Expect to pay far more – I lucked out. A simpler machine will do the same task, but I really enjoy using it, which means I actually file things. The labels make the folders far more uniform than if they were handwritten. I also avoid hanging folders at all costs. Instead, I use plain manila folders, unless the document needs to be water-safe, as previously mentioned. If I need to make a “group” folder, I simply make a list on a sheet of paper (printed from my computer) of folders that would normally be filed inside. This way, I can still maintain a hierarchy while avoiding the clutter of nested folders. Someday (soon, I hope) I will scan some of the stuff and get a safety deposit box. Finally, everything is filed alphabetically.
On to digital/electronic things. Important files are backed up somewhat regularly on my external hard drive. I’m still looking for a program to do this well and automatically. I don’t have Leopard yet, but I will soon enough – I’d like to give time machine a spin. Right now I simply drag and drop directories that I know have changed since the last backup. Much of my work in progress, especially things that I’m working on for others, is emailed to them and myself – and thus also stored online. I will eventually acquire more permanent online storage, other than my web host. I regularly synch my phone with OS X’s Address Book via Bluetooth, then export all contacts as a group vCard that I upload to Grand Central, which I use to manage my numbers and to log messages and conversations, mostly to note how much time I waste. Then I take a breath. I route my email accounts to Gmail. Replies appear as though sent from the same address the original message was sent to. I bi-directionally synch gCal with iCal using GCALDaemon, a server which I manage using Lingon. Lingon is a GUI for OS X launchd configuration files. It makes managing processes prettier and easier. I also use Jott to update/check my gCal via my cell phone. Jott sends me an email and an SMS confirmation/transcription of added calendar events. Also, gCal sends me emails and SMS texts at specific intervals prior to calendar events, depending on which calendar the event stored in. I use this setup to keep track of everything from class times to birthdays to TO-DOs to celestial happenings, like the Southern Solstice. This mobility and flexibility enables easy task capture and review – read/write access to my calendar whether I’m at my desk or on a bus.
I think I’ve lassoed the bucking steer, caged the paper tiger. Now I just have to keep it that way, forever 
. One further improvement, however, would be to print hard copies of all my contacts – a proper address book or rolodex seems in order. I figure tertiary storage is good, but a hard copy doesn’t need to be powered on to use. I will update this in the future, and also write more in depth articles, especially regarding gCal, workflow, organization, and staying mobile. I’d like to hear what others are doing!