Art Nouveau Building Front

I found a new blog yesterday and through it this photo. Beautifully creative, IMO.

What do you think? Do you like it?

Design Is A Job (2012)

Hello .... and how are ya? I just finished reading "Design is a Job" by Mike Monteiro, #7 in a series called "A Book Apart." If I had to sum it up in just a few words, I'd say the book is about a few basic truths, all centered around the idea of R-E-S-P-E-C-T, including perhaps a side message about the value of lunch. So, here goes ...

1. Respect your clients. You need them. Without them, you don't have work. Help your client communicate their needs and do not mock them ... but if you do - mock them - make sure you are out the door, down the hall, in your car, and over the bridge before you do. Makes sense.

2. Respect yourself, your time, and your process. Stick with it. Go with your gut. If someone isn't going to be a good fit for you or your company, refer them to someone else. Determine who's making the decisions and include them in the conversation at the beginning. Get comfortable talking about money. Make sure it's there. Know how it's controlled. Invoice often and at concrete milestones. Have a good lawyer who will stand behind your well-written contract and pull you out of the fire if necessary.

3. Respect other designers. Swallow your pride if you are an in-house designer and an outside source is brought in to do your work. OK, this coming from the perspective of the author who is big enough, well-known enough, and respected enough to have his book's foreword written by Erik Spiekermann, but it's a good point. Who understands what you do better than someone else doing the same thing? and why not help your brother succeed? We should all act like bus drivers and protect our own (read the book if you want to understand that reference).

In addition, Mike respects his lawyer, his kid, probably Aretha Franklin, everyone in accounts payable, his business partner, and his baby mama, who probably isn't his love partner, but apparently not vice presidents. Go figure.

Mike's got a smart-ass style of writing. It took me a good 25 pages to warm up to him but when I did, I found myself laughing out loud. "Design is a Job" is applicable to anyone in business and, bottom line, when you finish the book you feel good about about yourself.

To find on amazon: Design Is a Job

Orange Line: Court House (Farmers Market)

An orange line treat: the Arlington Farmers Market. I've been going every Saturday morning since early February and this is the first new-to-me crop: Brussels sprouts!

This afternoon, I'll reference the Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook and will let you know how they turn out. And later on today, I've roped Eric into watching Ingredients, a documentary about the slow food movement in America.

My idea of a good weekend.

High Fashion!

It's been a while since I've posted an inspiration photo. What's so special about this one? The orange and blue, of course. The light coming in through the door and making the room glow and shine and gloss on the floor ... but what's especially important about this photo is the wrecked upholstery on the divan. Cat owners will understand. Let's make their destruction our high fashion! Much easier than replacing all of our furniture every third year of so.

Resolution #3: Santiago de Compostela

This isn't a resolution as much as it's an online commitment, and it's definitely a commitment that will not happen this year.

But, next year, in 2013, I want to walk el camino to Santiago de Compostela and I will probably take the French route since it seems to be the most travelled and best marked.

For some reason, this pilgrimage appealed to me back in grade school and the possibility of following a 1,000-year tradition keeps coming back to me, time and time again.

When I was in Spain years back, I noticed the huge jubilee poster right outside my window (here) and I mentioned my desire to take the trip (here) in one of those tag meme things we do online. I downloaded "Spain ... On the Road Again" with Gwyneth Paltrow and Mario Batali, and there they are in Galicia talking about the walk. I red-boxed (new verb) "The Way" and it was this great hippie thing with good music and personality. I found a Facebook page and a forum. It's got to happen to me. I've reached that age when time doesn't feel open ended and good health can't be taken for granted. One month, northern Spain, with a backpack, a scallop shell, and a destination. 2013. God willing.

The Simons

These are the Simons: my great-grandfather Harry with his wife, Rebecca and their two children, Abe and Bernice (my grandmother).

Harry was born in Minsk and emigrated to the United States in 1904. He owned a variety of businesses in New York City's lower east side, a grocery store, a restaurant on Hudson Street and a junk store over at 84 New Chamber Street.

I've been told Rebecca was intelligent, favored the vote, and died during the Spanish influenza epidemic in 1918. Harry married twice more, but I have to think - looking at this photo - that he must have loved his first wife best.

Abe became an electrician, joined the union, and moved from Manhattan to the Bronx. His sister, Bernice, married young, travelled the world, and is profiled here.

The photographer's mark is that of L. Boressoff, an American photographer who advertised in The New York Call, a socialist newspaper that was in operation from 1908 to 1923. His studio, located at 355 Grand Street, was not that far from some of the places I visited here. I am due another trip to the big city. And thanks go to my friend Kevin who restored the photo and brought small tears to my eyes. I love this photo.

Catching Up

Well, it's been a long while since my last post. All of November, December, and January, and now most of February, gone silent. Why the delay? It all started with Eric's and my navigation class. Then it was the holidays and a freelance job that was a bit challenging, and, finally, an overwhelming sense of not knowing how or where to start blogging again.

But here I am (hello) and it seems appropriate that I start with the nav class. It was a great idea. We are interested in the subject matter, but in the effort to learn, we didn't handle the process well.

I chose the teacher. He's local, participated in our Coast Guard-approved safety class, and has more than ten years experience sailing the Caribbean. Perfect! I found the man's website, contacted him via e-mail, and we signed up.

Then all of our good intentions started to fall apart. The instructor wanted to delay starting the class (okay, fine, we have all winter). A third gentleman wanted to join the class (great, that means a reduction in fees). Next, the instructor announced he wanted to finish everything up during the month of November (which meant doubling up classes due to the holidays). The third wheel didn't want to attend classes on the weekend (which meant commuting out to the suburbs during rush hour). Eric and I, agreeable sorts that we are, compromised ourselves into failure. We made it to class; we took in the information, but we were so brain dead and tired as a result, that neither one of us picked up the textbook, our GPS, or a single chart until maybe one hour before the next class and by then we were worthless. The resentment was there and nothing made sense any more. We "participated" all the way up until the "final exam" and then dropped out rather than suffer through another "we just don't have time (whine) to make "whiskey" calculations due to (excuse #1), (excuse #2), and (excuse #3).

Then, that out of the way, it was Thanksgivings, my mother's birthday, Christmas shopping - always supplemented with personal shopping, several visiting pets for the holidays, and an obsession with ancestry.com, the subject of tomorrow's post.

So, today, I give you a photo of Thanksgiving at my sister's house. It was a great celebration this year with more family members than usual and a lot of good music. A little bit late to blog about Thanksgiving, but loads more fun than telling you about how we flunked out of "Sail the Seas" navigation school. :-) See you again tomorrow.