Category Archives: Internet

My Bookshelf

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We know what John Moore is reading and what’s on Kathy Sierra’s (virtual) coffee table. I decided I’d take a look and see what I’ve been reading.

One of the best ways to get to know someone is to look at their bookshelf. Or at least their coffee table.

I couldn’t agree more. I remember someone walking into our house one day and the magazines on the coffee table gave an insightful look at who I was and what I was into. They mentioned how great the magazines were and he and I quickly found some common ground (The magazines were Fortune, Cargo, PC Magazine, and FastCompany). I no longer have magazines on my coffee table but I certainly have a growing pile of books lying around. These are the books I’m in the process of reading:

To Read

…and these are the books on my shelf. Most have been read while a few will sit there until I feel it’s appropriate to read them.

Bookshelf

I wish I had more time to read becuase I have a lot more books piling up in queue. My goal is to finish a book a month and so far im 0/2. I think it’s best I get back on track…

What’s on your bookshelf? Is it a pretty accurate portrayal of who you are and your interests? Mine certainly are. I love business, marketing, blogs, history, and technology. What about you?

[tags]books, reading, bookshelf, book[/tags]

Seeking Solitude

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These days it’s hard to find time for ourselves. The Open Debate in the back in this month’s FastCompany struck a chord with me. Shannon, a high school senior, says the following:

Many teenagers instant-message instead of having actual relationships. Everyone rushes through the streets jabbering on their cell phones, iPods stuck in their ears. No one has time to be close to, well, anyone.

I, along with John Seely Brown (former Chief Scientist at Xerox Corp.) disagree to some extent. As he mentions, instant messaging and the internet allow us to establish extremely dense networks. To many, this brings us closer to more people with more ease. Take me for example: I work under two seperate individuals that I have never met in person, I communicate with friends studying in Spain, and I am in constant contact with my friends at school (despite living 20m away). I think Shannon is trying to date herself without having the required years to effectively do it…

But, what exactly is an “actual relationship?” Are we to suggest my relationships with Noah, Jeremy, and Jim are fake? Certainly not. A relationship doesn’t always require physical interaction. Sure, it’s become clear that there is an important difference between working with people in an office and working remotely from home. The point being, we’d all prefer Shannon’s “actual relationships”; but we can’t discount the value of any other relationship.

I agree though, people do run around with cell phones attached to their ears. As mentioned earlier, we rush from A to B to C back to A. Certainly it begins to wear on us. We’re constantly connected and constantly ‘doing’. Put simply, our hectic lifestyles require some sort of solitude.

I realized as I started my biphasic sleep cycle that I lost some important ‘down time’. Instead of lying in bed and thinking to myself for who-knows-how-long I had to start forcing myself to stop and fall asleep quickly. This way I woke up at the correct time and didn’t throw my schedule off. Frankly, that sucks. I need some of that time to reflect and escape the nonsense around me.

I can walk to class and turn on my iPod, I can sit at work and listen to it too. This doesn’t mean I’m trying to shut people out and dissolve my “actual relationships”, I’m just seeking solitude. Taking some time to stop and think (or stop thinking) seems necessary. I forgot where I read this but it’s recently been shown that after taking in a lot of information the brain tries to rewind and re-process it. If we never have that downtime our brains don’t seem to develop as well as they could. That thumb-twiddling time is important!

I don’t know what I’m going to do about getting to sleep, though. Perhaps I’ll set aside 20 or 30 minutes to just lie there before I expect to fall asleep. I’m not sure yet. I just know that I need some of that time back… I need solitude.

[tags]solitude, personal, schedule, relationships, sleep[/tags]

Stiff Magazine Ads

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Dear Marketers,

Want to know the best way for me to hate you, your product, and anything remotely related to you? Put a stiff page in a magazine. If you’re really going for the gold, make sure I can’t remove it. I want to be reminded of you everytime I try to place my magazine on a surface. Any surface.

Seriously, that’s exactly why I bought the subscription.

It’s not like I ever try to have the magazine open very often. But when I do, make sure your ad is in there keeping the pages from easily turning. That shows class.

I don’t care how much exposure the publisher promised you. Send them a message: you don’t want your future clients to hate you. I think it’s a solid message to send.

Think about it: do you really want to be associated with tearing, ripping, anger, and my trash can? Sure, your ad was seen once…

…but we all know how quickly that ended.

Thanks for listening!

Working From Home

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Heather mentioned working from home the other day and I, too have thought extensively about it. In fact, Seth made an awesome point:

“The reason you go to a building to go to work every day is that steam or water power used to turn a giant winch-like structure that went right through the factory building. Every workman used that power to do his work. As factories got more sophisticated, it remained efficient to move the workers, not the stuff.” Seth Godin

Nothing I do requires a factory. I’m a “knowledge worker”. I’d estimate that roughly 10% of my job actually requires human interaction; 5% of that can be eliminated with phone calls (there is only so much email can do). The point being: my desk is wasted overhead. In fact, I’m a sizeable cost. I eat the snacks, I use the electricity, I have a computer, chair, etc. Sure, some of these are sunk costs but there are plenty that aren’t.

I’m also less productive at work. As Heather mentions, the side conversations are amazing distractions. We’ll talk about the craziest stuff sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about socializing. But, for someone knee-deep in PHP while juggling support requests and e-mail… distractions are already plentiful.

Team meeting? Sure, I’ll drive in and take a seat at the table. Computer blew up? Of course I’ll be right there. Other than that, I’d rather sit at home with my slippers and put my two monitors to good use. I can eat from my fridge, take a break with my TV, and enjoy my house that I pay oh-so-much for to spend oh-so-little time in. Wow. Just writing this has improved my morale.

So, why don’t more employers let employees work from home? Can we not be trusted? Do we really need to sit near people to work? Don’t get me wrong, I’m well aware of the benefits of working around people. Many jobs requires. But, to some extent I feel we do this because it’s always been this way…

The communications barriers are nearly eliminated. Skype can put my phone number in any city. Planes can land me in any country. Video can place me in any room.

I haven’t worked at any other desk job so this is all I know. It just seems that we should all be moving back home now. Our lives lack solitude because we rush from A to B to C back to A. Am I wrong? Would anyone care to enlighten me?

Blogonomics

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Well, ask and you (well, I) shall receive. I’m now interning with James Turner of One by One Media and working my way towards Blogonomics.Blogonomics is a 5 day blog conference in October where individuals like Jeremy Wright, Tris Hussey, Darren Rowse and Robert Scoble will be speaking (among many other people). This should be a great trip because it’s not merely a social opportunity, it’s a cruise! I didn’t even realize cruise ships had wireless. Personally, I’m looking forward to a day of (mini) golf and some great company.

Anyway, it seems pretty evident that anyone who has anything to do with blogs should be going to this event. You’ll obviously learn a lot and have a lot of great conversations. In addition, you can bring guests! Seems like a nice escape for folks because the conference is held during the boring down time on the ship.

With that said: I’m excited. Have you signed up yet? Apparently the slots are filling up pretty quickly. Plus, if you register now you’ll get a pretty decent discount. So… go register! Don’t forget to tell them devinreams.com sent you!

Credit Question

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Is it normal for a bank to extend your credit limit without any kind of request? I wasn’t able to effectively Google that particular question. Anyway, Wells Fargo just upped my limit a little bit today with no notice whatsoever. I looked around and their site said they don’t extend additional credit until you’re a customer for a year. I’ve only been around 4 months. Oh well, it’s still less than Dell Premiere is willing to risk on me, though.

Event Discounts

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Why don’t awesome events have student discounts? I can start rattling off a list of big events I would kill to go to this year (or last, or probably even next). But, they cost something like $300, $500 or even $1000-plus. Jeremy pointed out Blogonomics today. It sounds like an awesome trip. Why don’t the folks putting on big events start setting aside some student tickets? We’d love to participate, too… unfortunately some of us have to pay for a lot of schooling though. How about a send-Devin-to-Blogonomics fund? I’ll sell my soul, I’ll do anything!