The greatest art calls you to action. Avedon makes you want to pick up a camera and hope that you’re a genius like he was a genius.
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“Start with good stuff. Otherwise: Garbage in, garbage out.”
In Greek Debt Crisis, Some See Parallels to U.S. /
Really interesting comparison of the two countries.
NYTimes: BUSINESS
By DAVID LEONHARDT Published: May 11, 2010
The United States will probably not face the same kind of crisis as Greece, for all sorts of reasons. But the basic problem is the same. Both countries have a bigger government than they’re paying for. And politicians, spendthrift as some may be, are not the main source of the problem.
We, the people, are.
We have not figured out the kind of government we want. We’re in favor of Medicare, Social Security, good schools, wide highways, a strong military — and low taxes. Dealing with this disconnect will be the central economic issue of the next decade, in Europe, Japan and this country.
TV coverage of the 2010 World Cup for the US /
Looking forward to the June 12th US vs. England match.
Patagonia helping Wal-Mart to improve their eco-footprint: /
Who would have expected this?
Wind and climbing /
It seems like its always windy in the City of Rocks.
The weather switched between warm & sunny and biting cold & windy every 10 minutes or so, all day. It even rained a little bit. Day tripped up there with Sam yesterday and the climbing was great (despite the weather). The routes on King on the Throne rock are not to be over looked!
The grey-ness illustrates the weather well.
Carol’s Crack on the Breadloaves, great climb to start the day. Also great, was being the only ones on that formation.
Fun, but kinda thuggish 5.9 corner with a really cool thin-hands mantle.
Photos by Sam
The Oracle of Silicon Valley /
"Money is like gasoline during a road trip," he says. "You don’t want to run out of gas on your trip, but you’re not doing a tour of gas stations. You have to pay attention to money, but it shouldn’t be about the money."
Fascinating, will be the lunch-time reading today.
May 1 powder? /
Oil Leak from Damaged Well in Gulf of Mexico /
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/
“An estimated 42,000 gallons of oil per day were leaking from an oil well in the Gulf of Mexico in late April, following an explosion at an offshore drilling rig on April 20, 2010. The rig eventually capsized and sank.”
The future? /
Interesting listen from the weekend. The first half of this and the last 5 minutes are worth pondering, and despite the gaming title, its about quite a bit more.
via twitter.com/rands: “Who is going to lead us to get there?” : http://j.mp/90lx3g #rockyourworld (@ginab)
Ancient Art /
A few weeks ago Polly and I got to climb in Arches National Park and the Fischer towers to kick off her return to climbing. Being able to see her climb again was very welcome and hopefully brings the start of a new climbing season for her.
We got the last campsite that Saturday night in the Fisher Towers and had a great meal and desert before climbing Ancient Art the next day. Super interesting climbing and one of the wildest looking summits I’ve ever seen or read about.
As a side note about climbing, its well worth the hike up to The Sail in Little Cottonwood. The climbing is better than I expected and I’m looking forward to exploring some other less traveled wall up the canyon.
Mmmm desert!
A toast to the next day’s climb
Polly freeing the first pitch
And Polly on the summit! Quit a climb to return to after many months of recovery away from climbing. Very impressed.
Had great “fun” getting the rope stuck and then unstuck after getting down on the ground and pulling the rope…
Garage Days Revisited (A 250 ft^2 house) /
Getting the most out of less. Inspiring.
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“When an industry changes dramatically, the future belongs to the nimble.”
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“…buying objects is ultimately more disappointing than buying experiences…”
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“There’s nothing more valuable than an unmet need that is just becoming fixable. If you find something broken that you can fix for a lot of people, you’ve found a gold mine. As with an actual gold mine, you still have to work hard to get the gold out of it. But at least you know where the seam is, and that’s the hard part.”
Define Success. (Your Own) /
First.
Go listen to this episode of the Dirtbag Diaries: A Successful Life.
Don’t get lost in the romance of quitting your job and moving to the mountains.
Then.
Think about what motivates you.
It might be living in the mountains at all cost like the protagonist of the story, or it might be making a living through a craft or a trade that can’t be practiced behind a desk. Or yet, it might be working at a desk, behind a computer doing what do you because you love it.
I listen to stories like this, or stories that involve people who make a living with a camera, a guitar or a paintbrush and its hard not to think, “wow, I just sit at a computer.” But those are other people’s dreams, other people’s talents plus their hard work.
Each of us is different.
We’re told that we should find a way to live passionately.
Okay then. How do you do that?
That might be moving to the city to pursue a job and leaving the mountains in the rearview. That might be pouring your soul into raising your kids the best you can. That might be quitting your job to strike off on your own doing what you know your soul requires of you.
The hook, however is this: live your own passions.
There are so many adds, marketing material and other people’s stories that its hard to filter it all out from what will work for us versus what looks good on and for other people.
For example, Patagonia's catalogs feature amazing photography of climbing, skiing, surfing etc. and to me the message from them is, “you should be doing more of these things.” That's fine, but not everyone lives that close the mountains or the oceans. The suble message that follows is if you can't do this, then at least buy the jacket… So the discontent generated from not doing those activities can be solved by buying the gear. Fair enough, seems to be working for them. Classic marketing at work.
However, You can’t buy off your soul.
Buying things or buying into other people’s dream’s won’t satisfy in the long run. Answering that call will never be easy and will require a lot of hard work. So don’t get lost in the romance of other people’s successes. Define you own and then don’t be afraid to follow after.
It might even mean living close the mountains, but in a city.
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“Most teenagers do not look at their math homework the way toddlers look at a blank piece of paper. It would be wonderful if they did. Maybe one day we will all approach our jobs that way. But until then, most adults work primarily for money, and in a curious way, we seem to be holding kids to a higher standard than we hold ourselves.”
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“By worrying about things no one else is worried about they find new ways to delight and provide value to their customers.”
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Had a great weekend with Polly in the desert, there will be more photos to follow, but first some landscapes:
These are worth viewing larger: here.
Dusk Patrol /
Got to end the week the week well on a quick after-work tour above Alta. Two laps in, and snow-cold beer at the bottom.
The snow quality was extremely sensitive to aspect, probably around 15-30° of difference and you’d find condensed powder or sun crust. Not really anyone else around, no wind and the fading light made for a good time out. Can’t complain about getting in some reasonably good turns in to boot! (Especially since I was climbing in a t-shirt yesterday).
Not deep or blower, but definitely fun.
Most of the way up for lap 2 just as the sun set.