Do not hurry. Do not rest
Exactly 8 posts were made on this blog in 2011.
3 of those posts (37.5%) were related to Steve Jobs.
4 of those posts (50.0%) utilized a picture.
2 of those posts (25.0%) were primarily quotes from other people.
6 of those posts (75.0%) contained less than 100 original words.
6 of those posts (75.0%) were tagged “inspiration”.
1 post (12.5%) garnered a comment from a beloved reader.
0 posts (0.0%) were about writing.
1. Insert coin
2. Avoid Klingons
Yeah, it’s kinda like that.
There’s still a lot more to say on this subject but for now let me just say that I will never forget what it felt like to read this screen on a rainy Wednesday in Los Angeles.
You changed the world. Several times over.
And I refuse to believe this is the end.
The New Yorker has a pretty great profile on Sheryl Sandberg this week that is, oddly enough, not categorized in the Profiles section.
My favorite passage:
She described a poster on the wall at Facebook: “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” She said that it echoed something the writer Anna Quindlen once said, which was that “she majored in unafraid” at Barnard. Sandberg went on, “Don’t let your fears overwhelm your desire. Let the barriers you face—and there will be barriers—be external, not internal. Fortune does favor the bold. I promise that you will never know what you’re capable of unless you try. You’re going to walk off this stage today and you’re going to start your adult life. Start out by aiming high. . . . Go home tonight and ask yourselves, What would I do if I weren’t afraid? And then go do it! Congratulations.”
Keep on riding that fire eagle, Sports Racers.
“I haven’t been spending that much time in this restaurant because of all the shit that’s been going on,” he began, “but the past two days I’ve had aneurisms because I’ve been so upset at the kitchen. On the cooks’ end, I question your integrity. Are you willing to fucking sacrifice yourself for the food? Yesterday, we had an incident with fish cakes: they weren’t properly cut. Does it really matter in the bowl of ramen? No. But for personal integrity as a cook, this is what we do, and I don’t think you guys fucking care enough. It takes those little things, the properly cut scallions, to set us apart from Uno’s and McDonald’s. If we don’t step up our game, we’re headed toward the middle, and I don’t want to fucking work there.
“We’re not the best cooks, we’re not the best restaurant—if you were a really good cook you wouldn’t be working here, because really good cooks are assholes. But we’re gonna try our best, and that’s as a team. Recently, over at Ssäm Bar, a sous-chef closed improperly, there were a lot of mistakes, and I was livid and I let this guy have it. About a week later, I found out that it wasn’t him, he wasn’t even at the restaurant that night. But what he said was ‘I’m sorry, it will never happen again.’ And you know what? I felt like an asshole for yelling at him, but, more important, I felt like, Wow, this is what we want to build our company around: guys that have this level of integrity. Just because we’re not Per Se, just because we’re not Daniel, just because we’re not a four-star restaurant, why can’t we have the same fucking standards? If we start being accountable not only for our own actions but for everyone else’s actions, we’re gonna do some awesome shit.”
It’s not the most impressive social game on Facebook, but Starship Command did win my heart over as soon as I was presented with this.
Yeah, it’s kind of like that.
With the Super Bowl almost upon us it’s been nearly two weeks since the Bears lost 21-14 to the Packers in the NFC championship. Still, it was only recently that I was able to watch the rest of the game (the second half unfolded while I was on a plane heading home from Sundance). Here are my notes from the game, which I feel compelled to write down before I can put this surprising (mostly in a good way) Bears season to rest:
1. As excruciating as it was and despite the few key plays this game ultimately came down to, it’s clear to me in hindsight that the Bears weren’t fated to win this one. Jay Cutler just didn’t have it on a day they absolutely needed him to, and it’s entirely possible that had he stayed in they wouldn’t have pulled as close as they did (third stringer Caleb Hanie might’ve actually still ended up on the field).
2. That being said, once I finally saw the way the injury unfolded there was a part of me that came down on the side of the critics who believe Cutler should’ve stayed in. I’ve been watching him fairly closely these past two seasons and I know for a fact he’s a tough guy; no quarterback takes as many sacks or hits as Cutler does, and yet anytime this guy runs the ball he still dives headfirst. The guy is durable, and doesn’t shy away from contact. So why is it that when I saw him standing on the sideline I still couldn’t help but think, That dude looks like he can still play. I know I’ve seen Ben Roethlisberger (who, by the way, is actually playing in his THIRD Super Bowl) play on what looked like half a leg before, and this just didn’t sit well with me. I still think most of the flak Cutler ’s getting is probably undeserved, but man did that look incriminating.
3. The Bears defense was amazing. Yes, they allowed those first two touchdown drives but if you’d have told anyone in Chicago that they’d hold Aaron Rodgers scoreless for two and a half quarters, we’d have considered this game a lock. Urlacher and Briggs might be my favorite duo in all of sports after Jordan and Scottie — they were everywhere. The defense didn’t score points but it did get their takeaways that literally took away points.
4. Bears coaches did make some glaring mistakes. Punting instead of kicking a 48 yard field goal in the first half. Having Todd Collins higher than Caleb Hanie on the depth chart. Subbing in Hanie right before the end of the 3rd quarter which (due to some obscure rule I still don’t really understand) meant that they would be unable to use either Cutler or Collins for the rest of the game if Hanie got injured. Burning that last timeout to call an end-around that netted negative yards and set up the final interception. I still respect Lovie Smith as a coach, and he still makes downright non-intuitive decisions in key situations. I don’t know how to reconcile this.
5. Let’s talk about key plays that determined the game. Urlacher’s interception prevented Green Bay from scoring on a key drive, but Rodgers’ subsequent tackle of Urlacher prevented the Bears from scoring what would have been a key touchdown. If Caleb Hanie sees B.J. Raji drop into coverage and avoids the pick six, the Bears aren’t down another touchdown. Yet if Hanie doesn’t make a clutch touch pass to Earl Bennett later on in the game, one which you could argue even a healthy Cutler might not have made that day, the Bears don’t pull within 21-14.
6. Poor cornerback Tim Jennings was targeted mercilessly by Green Bay, drawing I believe two pass interference penalties which also affected the game at key moments. Ultimately a good strategy for the Packers.
7. The final Bears drive is storybook, all except for the ending. The Bears overcome an intentional grounding penalty, a fourth down and several ridiculously shaky throws by Hanie to somehow advance the ball deep into Green Bay territory. Then they call that last timeout and the rest is history.
So there you have it. The Bears definitely got several breaks this season, but they made the most of them and ultimately overachieved. It’s kind of crushing that victories can’t be bought with the faith of an entire city, but it was great while it lasted. I’m a little apprehensive about what the future holds — the defense is aging, and while the offense should get better with time it’s hard to argue they’ll ever catch up to a young Packers team that still has plenty more upside — but that is why they play the games.
Thank you, Chicago Bears, for a great season.
Yes, it’s been a while dear readers. But no year would be complete without the traditional End of Year list to put it all in perspective. Here are some of my favorite things from the fantastic, serendipitous year known as 2010:
Coke Zero, Season 4 of Mad Men, the anticipation of finding out what the signature sandwich at work was each day, any sandwich served by anyone anywhere, The Walking Dead, the brief and wondrous life of Caprica, the performances of Andrew Garfield & Rooney Mara & Justin Timberlake in The Social Network, the rich dialogue of True Grit, the team dinner in Vegas, any work party that I remember the ending of, the soundtrack of Inception, the extremely detailed and thought-out universe of Mass Effect, “Lisztomania” by Phoenix, “Horchata” by Vampire Weekend, “I’ll Try Anything Once” by The Strokes, Lady Gaga’s music video for “Telephone”, Ryan’s Prison for Bitches fanzine, Owl City, Betty White hosting Saturday Night Live, Sunday dinners with the roommates and assorted guests, whiskeys, old fashioneds, Blue Moons, any Chicago Bears offensive play that did not result in a Jay Culter sack or fumble or concussion, any play in which Devin Hester touched a football, Jim Harbaugh, Andrew Luck, the World Champion San Francisco Giants, Derrick Rose, the company suite at AT&T Park, EverNote, Foursquare, 750 Words, Flipboard, Instagr.am, Legacy of a Thousand Suns, the art and science of game design, Cityville, Sid Meier’s GDC keynote, Will Wright’s ridiculous GDC presentation, Julius Peppers, Michael Vick, my iPad 3G, Kanye’s Twitter account, Fashion for Writers, Signal vs. Noise, Olivia Wilde in Tron, staying up all night in New York for a get-together of three generations of my friends, drinks with Nita, Parkside drinks with coworkers, Connecticut Yankee drinks with roommates, the psychedelic Playa at night at Burning Man, the last 30 seconds of Black Swan, the last 10 minutes of Lost, the last four minutes of the USA vs. Algeria World Cup game, the animated sequence from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, lying on the beach all day without a care in the world in Tahoe, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “Write the Future” commercial for Nike, Pop Chips, beers by the lake on the Wisconsin campus, beers by the lake in Eric’s hometown, Katanaya ramen, Perogi SF, Rebecca’s Christmas party, Breathless with Princess in NYC, deep sea fishing with Eric and Les and Eddy in San Diego, Thanksgiving dinner at Sallie and Danielle’s, Snow Crash, the first eight volumes of Fables, the first three volumes of 100 Bullets, the first two volumes of Blackjack, tennis sessions with Anthony and Clint, partying with Mitch at a GDC party, Alice’s birthday party, A Moveable Feast, Scotch Club at work, the Daily reunion with Jennie in SF, early morning phone calls with sis, the Wisconsin band at Whazzmaster’s wedding reception, the Cubs game with Dad & Wil, Seeyew being able to go to the Rose Bowl.
Thank you, 2010.
On good days, I feel like this guy
On crazy days, I feel like this girl
On really bad days, I feel like I have this guy’s job
