Top 10 - May 2012

It’s been probably almost a year since I’ve written or posted anything. Loads has happened and loads hasn’t. Either way, here’s a first stab at getting going and doing the doing and actually getting back to writing.
So here’s a top ten list which of course everyone loves and which summarises my life this month in a very neat, easy to read and SEO-bashable format.

1. Black Sabbath – In particular the drums on The Wizard

I someday hope to be able to say that I’ve done anything as epic as Bill Ward’s fills on this already amazing song – always in between just where it should be, not too much, but with just enough rolling intensity to make you cry and barely notice its there. If I could pull off design half this good I could die a happy man.

2. Toddler chairs

Just look at how funny this thing is. That’s it. I could try to expound on this and sound smart but that’s quite unnecessary. Just look at it.

3. Multilingual toys

My kid has a toy that you can actually switch languages (English and Turkish) which I’m still amazed by, especially by how haphazard the Turkish version of Old McDonald is translated to fit the music.

4. The canal

London has loads of canals and I sort of live by one. No matter how much they’re scummed over with algae or filled with dead ducks and old scooters, it just makes you feel like there is something that isn’t just concrete and city around you.

5. Sailing

I don’t remember which number this was, but this was definitely on my bucket list since I was about 12. I took a two day intro course in a local reservoir and still stoked. I could try and make some sort of digital comparison between bandwidth/connectivity and wind and dependencies, etc., but that would be pretty dumb with something this righteous. The best thing about it is that the wind makes you move. That’s it. No power, just you against this massive thing you can’t see, but if you work right you can go super fast.

6. Trying to have less and less stuff

This one is sort of self-explanatory, but majorly impactful. By the way, that was one of the worst sentences I’ve ever written.

7. Trello

Amazingly simple managment software and as complicated as you want it to be. Kanban or die.

8. Owning software legally

I’m pretty sure I’m almost 100% legal software-wise on my machines. This might just make me officially an adult. But its an incredibly weird feeling actually owning (or leasing rather) the Adobe Creative Suite and not having to worry about how the crack is going to work.

9. Open source Linux kernel developers

With my recent work on The Yocto Project I’ve met and talked to a few Linux open source developers who I can’t help but give massive respect to. Working off their own backs to contribute to this amorphous type thing that anyone can then take and do whatever they want with is conceptually quite nuts. But more than anything I respect these guy’s passion – something most of us could never touch.

10. Eating whatever the hell I want but being mindful about it

After roughly a year of experimenting with this whole paleo/primal nonsense I’ve realised that its so fundamentally flawed if you are concerned with eating and what it means. Its not half about what you eat, but how you eat. Mindfullness takes it once again.