Decided to use Tumblr as a repository for various vinyl related images that catch my eye (see what I did there?). Take a peek over at VinylEye.com

NOTE TO SELF:

Imagine receiving the letter above. Imagine someone saying ‘Thank You’ for doing a thing you had to do  - a thing you created and is a part of who you are.

Doesn’t have to be from a President and the recipient doesn’t have to be an acclaimed author. If someone puts something out there that speaks to you in a meaningful way - repay them with your thanks. It’s a powerful currency.

^{{image by way of SwissMiss} Thanks Tina.}

A while back I noticed that film critic Roger Ebert started tweeting various deals and interesting products he stumbled across while browsing through Amazon. I certainly wasn’t the only one who noticed Mr. Ebert was doing this with some frequency and one day Internet Nice Guy & Bea Arthur fancier - Mike Monteiro asked:

Quick as a flash I dug into Twitter’s search operators and determined a feed could be created pretty simply by formatting my search thusly: from:@ebertchicago amzn filter:links (amzn because it forms the core of Amazon’s URL shortener). Presto we had a feed which could be monitored: http://search.twitter.com/search.atom?q=from%3Aebertchicago+amzn+filter%3Alinks

That was kind of nice but truth be told, I really don’t bother with feeds much these days so started wondering what else I might do with this information. Well I’ll tell you what you can do with that information, you can just go right ahead and create: http://ebertpicks.com

As mentioned in the site’s footer I’ve been rather blatant in drawing inspiration for the layout from Ethan Marcotte‘s excellent article on Responsive Web Design. FYI, I emailed Ethan about the site before going public and he’s cool with it. The man is mensch.

So that’s it. A fun little project that I hope people might enjoy referencing from time to time.

From The Story of Nostrils by Genichiro Yagyu.

I’m pretty sure the only way I’ll ever solve my chronic sinus problems is to learn Japanese & read this children’s book. I’m screwed.

Once, long ago a child asked me, "What’s the difference between a job and a vocation?"

In my own feeble way I attempted to answer in terms both convenient and digestible, "A job is work you have to do. A vocation is what you do because it’s what you must do"

Clearly too convenient and not at all digestible I was assessed with incredulous eyes and deemed insufficient. A diagnosis I could confirm with a mix of parental pride (for it would result in independent verifications and research) and parental shame for falling so woefully shy of the mark.

Later I would be confronted. "A vocation isn’t doing things because you ‘must’. I looked it up." Chin pointed upwards in defiance and victory. "The word comes from something spiritual… or something. So a vocation is spiritual."

So it is.