Super Jellyfish

Rule of the day: Don’t let consumption consume you.

I like shopping. I mean, I don’t like going to retail stores, but I like doing research when I’m about to make a purchase, I like to consider all my options and preferences. I like to ponder what I’m going to buy. But, I realize that my apartment is filled with all sorts of cool things that I never use. Like that Braun hand blender. Or that Foodsaver vacuum saver. I mean, those are awesome tools, and I used them a ton when I first bought them a year and a half ago, but now they are sad appliances lying lonely in the kitchen. They haven’t felt my caress in over a year.

Poor things. Should I toss them? I like to throw things out, but I think I tend to swing from one extreme to the next. I either hoard everything (e.g. my 4 pints of Haagen Dazs Almond Hazelnut ice cream) or throw things away/donate that I need (my favorite grey pants).

Is there a way to enjoy the act of shopping without actually buying more stuff? I have so many pairs of shoes, but I still want to buy those Camper boots I saw last weekend and a big white puffy jacket for the winter. Oh and rain boots and a trenchcoat for when it’s pouring outside. I feel like my “to buy” list is never-ending.

Can I get my mind out of the shopping gutter?

Last night, I saw a 300 GB hard drive for $40. Even though I don’t need a hard drive and I have plenty of space, I still thought seriously about buying it. I mean, $40!? Then I started to wonder about SATA versus IDE, and decided I didn’t feel like going through the brain damage of figuring it out.

And do I really need both a Spud Trooper *and* a Darth Tater? Even if they are really cute pieces of plastic?

The never-ending question, is it better to buy or rent?
read this NYT article

As much as I would love to own my place, with prices sky high, things just don’t seem affordable…
ack.

I noticed that Evernote is now officially no longer beta and is available as a purchase-able release!

That’s great and everything, but I don’t think they’ve fixed a number of bugs that sort of annoyed me with the beta version. The main thing that annoys me is the inability to print pages without having the right side cut off!!

When I travel, I try to clip out a bunch of articles I’ve been wanting to read and lately I’ve been using Evernote for this. Unfortunately, I can’t print out all the notes I’ve clipped without missing parts!

Since Evernote expects users to pay money for this product, I sure hope they get this feature fixed soon!

(Oh and to add to my list of complaints, how about removing the words “Evernote” on the top of every single note printed? I mean, when you use Microsoft Word for notes, you don’t see Microsoft on every single printed page, do you?)

I guess this is “social networking week” at Super Jellyfish.

Try this cool website called 43things. The site is a social network for aspirations.

Once you sign up, you can list up to “43 things” that you what to do with your life. Some things other people have listed include:

• Live passionately
• Get out of debt
• Have better posture

Once you list your own items, you can see which other list the same aspirations as you. You can also post entries about the progress you’ve made towards your goals or lack thereof. Most popular goals are listed in larger type on the main page and you can also check out most popular goals of the day.

The site was created by The Robot Coop and funded by Amazon.com. Their next big release is something called 43 Places — a social network for places you want to go.

You know, every time I look on the Internet, I’m amazed by the amazing things a small group of dedicated people can create. Its truly incredible and exciting! (And, I’m also impressed by the number of neat things that Amazon has funded.)

“Eighty percent of success is showing up.” - Woody Allen

Observation: when things are made illegal, people hesitate to report crimes relating to the illegal act, even if the crimes are more severe and more serious than the initially illegal item.

For example, take marijuana. Marijuana is a pretty innocuous drug, but its definitely illegal. So say you were trying to buy some marijuana, but then someone robbed you and stabbed you.

Well the robbery and the stabbing are for sure worse than the act of trying to buy and use marijuana.

Unfortunately, a crime such as this may go unreported and thus unregulated by the government or legal authorities.

Maybe this particular crime would be reported, since the consequences of having marijuana aren’t as severe as say, dealing with crack cocaine or something like that.

But the point remains, by making something taboo, we plunge that act along with other more terrible acts into chaos. (I’m not sure what the solution is though.. this is just an observation.)

This is why the Belgian experiment to legalize prostitution (WSJ - password required) is so interesting. You can also sample this lawlessness phenomenon by viewing the movie Maria Full of Grace, a story of a young pregnant woman who agrees to become a drug mule in hopes of achieving economic prosperity. Great movie, sad story in some respects, highly recommended.

Curbed comments on the war brewing between two dumpling locations in the East Village.

“Dumpling Man Lucas Lin is pissed that the not-yet-open competition [Plump Dumpling] has been flaunting a smiley-faced dumpling logo that is similar to his own. He had his lawyer fire off a cease-and-desist letter, he’s threatening to spy on the store, he’s putting up incendiary flyers.”

We stopped by and tried the dumplings at Dumpling Man a couple of weeks ago — pretty good, but not stupendous either. We noticed the flyer denouncing local competitor Plump Dumpling while we were there.. Hmm, if he hadn’t had that flyer up, we wouldn’t even have realized Plump Dumpling existed! Is any publicity good publicity (at least for Plump Dumpling?)?

With all this buzz, I’m sure there will be quite a few curious souls checking out Plump Dumpling once (if) it ever opens!

Whoa! For the full story, go to Curbed.

So I’ve been reading this book about the adaptive unconscious (Strangers to Ourselves, by Tim Wilson) and it says that introspection is not necessarily the best way to get a hold of your unconscious thoughts and feelings. The analogy Wilson alludes to was to compare your mind to a a giant cave; you only have a flashlight and archaelogical tools to explore the mind with. But apparently there are some deep, dark places in your mind that no amount of archaelogical work can dig up.

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Pretty inspirational stuff from David Pollard:

Have the courage to assess what you’re really good at (or if you’re still young, work at something until you’re really good at it. I mean brilliant. If there’s more than two things you’re not focused enough. Then work harder and practice longer until you’re even better at those one or two things, world class, in a class by yourself. That will mean not doing a lot of things that are fun, or interesting, or which you’re merely competent at. That will mean not juggling, just going all out knowing that if you fail at these one or two things you’re going to have to start over. Very scary, but absolutely necessary. If the greatest inventors in history had decided instead to become second-rate concert pianists, we might today be living in the dark, and telling our tales orally.

Focus on one or two things and become an expert.

If you want to make a difference in this world, you need to know yourself, to perfect what you do well until you’re brilliant at it, to focus your energies, and to show others courageously that nobody does it better.

Gosh, this is much easier said than done. But, I think he’s absolutely right. Its tough to enjoy an activity unless you are really good at it, when you are at the top of the game.

How can we get into Csikszentmihalyi’s flow?

Flow, whether in creative arts, athletic competition, engaging work, or spiritual practice, is a deep and uniquely human motivation to excel, exceed, and triumph over limitation.

When you’re in the flow, time both stops and flies.

jellies at monterey by lotecduc

“took a few hrs to go to monterey bay aquarium. had a wonderful time. a short time with the jellyfish and you cant help but be giggley.”