Hike. Beautiful. Art. Bridge. Family. Love. Celebration. Sing. Children. Rest. Gentle with self. Sunshine. Early bed:

(Happy 50th, Don.)

Today I auditioned for an improv troupe training!

Amazing how, day after day, I manage to love more — humanity, the world, myself, and this strange, fluid substance we call life.

Thank you to everyone out there: you are included.

I know this guy who was dating this girl named pandora. But he broke up with her because eveyone told him not to go near her box.

Happy birthday, Elizabeth.

…Another busy Monday, another uneventful post.

Valentine’s weekend: check. Next up: slinky, St. Paddies, and turning 29.

This is an op-ed / obit from the brilliant (and incredibly well-read) writer/composer Ian Gray on the recently departed J.D. Salinger. If any of you are a fan of Salinger, the true Salinger, in all of his “Teddy”, “F&Z”, “Carpenters”, “Banana Fish,” “Down at the Dinghy” glory — then you will enjoy:

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Yes, yes — so everyone knows Apple’s new baby sounds like a personalized feminine product –

And as a “Professional Namer” (and as a plain old consumer) — no. I don’t love the name, I don’t even like it. And yet — I don’t think it was a stupid move, either.

Now, first of all — I know what they were thinking. They were focused on brand consistency, and nice streamlined naming architecture, and wanted to keep it all in the ‘iP—’ family: iPhone, iPod… iPad (although, I would argue, the initial ‘i’ serves that purpose just swimmingly: iMac, iBook, etc.)

But, intentionally or not, this move will not be a deal killer (user experience will be) and, in fact, the name that everyone is touting as only one step away from “iTampon” might even work to their advantage.

Don’t forget the ridicule of Wii when it first came out:

“Sounds like someone needs to be potty trained!”

or even of Google:

“how do you SAY that… man, that’s a mouth full… it has nothing to DO with search!”–

The process of coming up with a name is important. Really important: it determines how to communicate positioning, audience, description, functionality, benefits, evocative “lifestyle” qualities. It also pays my rent.

But a name can not carry a product completely, and it certainly is never meant to live in isolation from the brand.

Which brings me to my next point: the iPad is under the Apple brand. Never, ever, underestimate the value of viral buzz (“No PR is bad PR”) and if you are Apple: you, like Google, get brand PR by scratching your nose.

And when it comes to naming the next anything in Apple’s product line, you must always remember that their marketing strategy is banking on their #1 commodity: coolness.

Just that.

Also using:

• “Sparticus” brand radio alarm from thrift store (rather than cell phone as alarm clock)
• Wrist watch (rather than cell phone as mobile time manager)
• Wall clock that has to be plugged in – no batteries (rather than cell phone as how-much-time-before-I-have-to-leave-for-work tracker)

(how did we live before cell phones?!)

Forgot to post!

Friend in town!

Projects at work!

Car broke down!

Rain!

All excuses, none of them good!

A sure way to fail at New Year’s resolutions: make them.

1. My loyalty to ATT (still typing on iPhone… Stupid “U-verse”

2. Coffee at 4pm

3. Attempting to make risotto in under 10 minutes

4. Telling new coworkers I write a blog

Rain.
Pasta.
Orchids.
Tea.
Exhausted, but happy.

For the early retirement into pajamas this evening.

For loving my job and loving this change, however unexpected.

For new adventures, so close to home.

For the comfort of words and poetry; of pause and silence.

For a wealth of amazing people that have crossed my path over my lifetime…every single one I love.

For the streetlamp’s reflection upon the still of the lake, thin wobblings of light.

For my wide-mouthed bay windows, a panorama to enjoy over tea.

For centeredness.

For clarity.

For aloneness feeling different than lonliness.

Oh! You mean “working full time” means I have to work a full week AND return again the next Monday?!

One week down, a lifetime to go.

(thank you A., W., M., & F. For the magic, baklava and inspiration of today. You gave me faith I can have it all.)

Tripitaka,
Amen.

(my new crush)

Just because I took a vow of celibacy / flirting haitus / bizarre interpersonal experiment that I’m starting to question– doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to spend some quality time alone with a man I love: so, tonight I had me a reading date with Walt Whitman

(shhh. Don’t tell anyone, but Virgina Woolf watched)

Here’s a little excerpt from our rendezvous, for good voyaristic measure:

“There was never any more inception than there is now,
Nor any more youth or age than there is now,
And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.

Urge and urge and urge,
Always the procreant urge of the world.

Out of the dimness opposite equals advance, always substance and
increase, always sex,
Always a knit of identity, always distinction, always a breed of life.
To elaborate is no avail, learn’d and unlearn’d feel that it is so.

Sure as the most certain sure, plumb in the uprights, well
entretied, braced in the beams,
Stout as a horse, affectionate, haughty, electrical,
I and this mystery here we stand. “
- WW, Leaves of Grass [Song of Myself]

This is a post.