Drupal

Several times in the last few weeks I ran across the interview question "What is the coolest thing that you have seen in the last 6 months?" -purportedly one of the infamous Google interview questions from Marissa Mayer. It struck fear into me. My initial reaction was that I couldn't think of anything cool.

Twinklebox from Aaron Bradbury on Vimeo.

Several months ago my brother-in-law showed up at a celebration with a musicbox for his mother. What a wonderful whimsical gift. A modern version with no key just a small electrical motor still the simple tunes bring a smile to our faces each time we hear it.

As is often the case as I ramble through my morning reading, looking and thinking about "Oh it's time for a new blog entry." I was following my nose on a new button for Facebook when a phrase and blog title caught my eye. Social Media for Law Firms. It's a natural. Lawyers are wordy people. Many times they are involved in newsworthy events. As Eddie Greenspan has made abundantly clear in Canada - the law is a battle for the hearts and minds of the public. But I have no lawyers as clients.

Stepping outside what we normally do can give us fresh insights into what we do and how we do it. I have just completed the Level 3 Occupational First Aid course. 70 hours in the classroom. Many more hours spent poring over a massive textbook. Learning. There were several moments when I wanted to chuck the course and come back to my computer and web design. But I realized that not only was there First Aid skill building going on I was learning.

Stepping outside what we normally do can give us fresh insights into what we do and how we do it. I have just completed the Level 3 Occupational First Aid course. 70 hours in the classroom. Many more hours spent poring over a massive textbook. Learning. There were several moments when I wanted to chuck the course and come back to my computer and web design. But I realized that not only was there First Aid skill building going on I was learning.

Stepping outside what we normally do can give us fresh insights into what we do and how we do it. I have just completed the Level 3 Occupational First Aid course. 70 hours in the classroom. Many more hours spent poring over a massive textbook. Learning. There were several moments when I wanted to chuck the course and come back to my computer and web design. But I realized that not only was there First Aid skill building going on I was learning.

This morning I ran across Adobe's new product - Business Catalyst . My first thought was "This is it. This is the product. It has finally arrived." And I am not scared.

Five years ago I sat in a small cramped room in Yaletown for the demo of a new product. It did what I did - building a website with incredible functionality. But it did it with a few cllicks of the mouse.  I walked out scared. Like Pogo in the famous cartoon strip "We met the enemy and he is us"

"Come for the software - Stay for the community"

So I totally missed this discussion in the Drupal community. Until I googled it. This slogan simply resonated with me when I heard it for the first time today.  And when I repeated it at the Drupal user group tonight some people looked at me funny (like "are you from another planet" funny) and others echoed my sentiments - that it captures what Drupal really is all about.

As I was sitting thinking this morning, drifting through some reading, blogs, journals, I came across an article that made me realize again that there is new thinking. In the past I have often referred to the "arrogance of science." Often science and scientists are unwilling to admit that there is another way of thinking about something. Blinders, same old same old - are all symptoms of the same kind of thing.

Many folks know of the KISS principle - Keep It Simple, Silly. But how do you implement that in your work life? Really how do you implement it in your life in general?

Leo Babauta takes on this question in an article on ZenHabits.net entitled "13 small things to simplify your workday" Lovely piece of work. Here is the list and my thoughts on how I'm doing on it and where I could improve.