“Life is about the people you meet, and the things you create with them.” BOOM!

Pick of the Post: Florence + The Machine – Spectrum

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I’m doing a lot of transitioning over here.

In just under 3 months, Copenhagen and I will reunite our firey love affair. That means selling my belongings, packing my bags, and transitioning out of my role(s) is soon going to be my reality.

Since my offline life is getting an overhaul, I thought it only fair that my online life get one too. Well, a mini-haul at least.

We’re doing a mini-haul of the site over the next week or so, so you may notice some pages and features of my site begin to shift and change in appearance and function. (We’re giving this bad boy some new kicks.)

I can’t wait to show you the final product – it’s gonna make your eyes smile.

#GoCanucksGo

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Ever wonder the difference between baby boomers, generation x, and millennials? Wonder no more!

Box1824, a Brazilian research company specializing in behavioral sciences and consumer trends, has created the best video to date in describing the current generations in the workforce and how they relate to each other.

Not only is their content great, but the video itself features clips from movies, music videos, and YouTube memes in creative ways that kept me entertained while watching.

HUGE hat tip to Box1824! You’ve created something remarkable here:

We All Want to Be Young from box1824 on Vimeo.

Pick of the Post: Jeremy Fisher – Shine a Little Light (official music video)

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Earlier this week, I was in a colleague’s office and saw her whiteboard with an interesting diagram on it. The longer I looked at the image, the more I realized I had no idea what it was trying to communicate. It was a combination of lines and boxes mixed in with dates and activity titles. Needless to say, it was the perfect opportunity to test out the techniques Dan Roam explains in “Unfolding the Napkin: Solving Complex Problems with Simple Pictures.” He argues that anyone can solve any problem using a simple picture.

While I don’t want to give away all its secrets (as I think you need to go read/doodle in this book yourself), I will share Dan’s four unwritten rules of visual thinking. They are simply:

1. Whoever is best able to describe the problem is the person most likely to solve it.
2. We can’t solve a problem that overwhelms us. However, there are only 6 kinds of problems (each with a simple picture that can be used to solve it), so identify the kind of problem and your problem is half solved.
3. Problems don’t get solved by the smartest or the fastest or the strongest; they get solved by the one who sees the possibilities.
4. The more human your picture, the more human the response.

So I picked up the whiteboard marker and started asking questions about what kind of problem she was having. She wanted to explain what type of and how much work needed to be done at different times of the year. So we doodled away using the simple pictures that would help answer those questions and saw her solution simply emerge from the drawings! It was so cool to see! Two people passing by even came in and immediately could tell what the diagram was trying to explain. I just love it when theories actually work when they are applied!

Long story short, on my way back to my office, on this total high, I thought of all the ideas I try to communicate here on this site and how beneficial simple pictures would be. So I grabbed the giftcard I recently received and picked myself up a BAMBOO tablet.

It’s time to infuse these posts with some more hand drawn doodle love! I hope these help!

Pick of the post: Jason Castro – Let’s Just Fall in Love Again (official music video)

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TOMS Shoes has a great business model. For every pair of shoes they sell, they give a pair of shoes to a child in need. One for One. Awesome? Awesome!

I recently found another great company that follows a similar philosophy. FIGS – threads for threads – gives a school uniform to a child for every tie or bow tie you purchase from them. Threads for Threads. Awesome? Awesome!

From their website:

In many parts of Africa, a child may not attend school without a proper uniform. This is due to the strict rules about pride in appearance within most cultures.  Unfortunately many areas are stricken with poverty and so countless children do not have uniforms, resulting in lack of education quickly becoming a widespread epidemic. … We hope to soon provide uniforms to children all across the world so that they can get the education they so rightly deserve, one tie at a time.

Spreading knowledge and style at the same time? Sign me up. I know where I’m getting my next snazzy tie that’s for sure.

Pick of the post: Great Big Sea – Walk on the Moon (official music video)

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I love reading great blogs. It kick starts my morning, provides reading material at lunch, and is a great way to end off the day. However, reading the 123 blogs that I subscribe to could be quite time intensive.

But it’s not. I use Google Reader (a type of RSS Reader) to help me skim through all the blog posts in about 5 minutes. (Note: time varies depending on length of blogs I click on to read. I’ve never spent longer than 20 minutes reading blogs though.)

This weekend, I went through my digital life and made it a bit more organized – which included renaming and reorganizing my blog subscriptions in my Google Reader. The trick to fast blog reading: a really great folder system!

I organize my blog subscriptions into 10 separate folders:

1. Must Reads – The blogs that have posts worth reading every time. (e.g. Steph Corker Irwin, Jason Mraz)
2. Creativity – The blogs that get my creative juices flowing – a mix of marketing, advertising, design, music (e.g. Canadian Marketing Association Blog, Creative Criminals)
3. Change Makers – The great companies that blog about how they are changing their world (e.g. Brains on Fire, All Things McNak, Inc)
4. Personal – The personal blogs that follow the lives and ideas of great individuals (e.g. Callum Ng, Justin Ritch)
5. Movements – The bloggers who write about ideas bigger than themselves or their company (e.g. SuperForest, Five Rules for Life)
6. Digital – Blogs that keep their finger on how the changes in the digital world affect our offline life (e.g. Mashable, Community Organizer 2.0)
7. UBC – Blogs about the inner workings, events, great ideas, and people that make UBC worth reading about (e.g. Student Blog Squad, Terry*, UBC Admin Blog)
8. Vancouver – Like my UBC folder, but expanded to check out what’s going on in my lovely city (e.g. Vancouver Observer, Beyond Robson)
9. Travel – Great people who are traveling around the world and writing about their experiences (e.g. Backpack with Brock, Geoff Cox)
10. Perspectives - Blogs that share news and views on conversation starting topics (e.g. Overcoming Bias, TED)

With one click and I can search through them all or just get a dose of the info I need (a jolt of creativity, a thought to ponder, etc). It takes reading over a hundred blogs from a daunting task to a enjoyable past time.

Good systems to organize your online life help you get the most out of your offline one. Happy reading / living!

Pick of the post: MSTRKRFT – Heartbreaker (official music video)

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My black suit hates me. While I’ve worn each piece separately, I don’t think the full suit has seen the light of day (or the tunes at night) for some time. This may be because my love for its step-cousin (the vest) has a firm grip on me or because I just feel boring in it. Wearing it reminds me of those events in business school where everyone is standing in a sea of black suits … bored.

Recently, I started feeling a little boring with my work wardrobe. Not a good sign, as I didn’t want to go out and buy new clothes (and there are only so many ways of wearing the same shirt). Instead, I thought back to this video I saw from the GQ Rules’ Style Minute series last year:

Check! To get back to feeling great in my work wear, I needed to add some pizazz! My totally rad bro-in-law then rocked my world at Christmas with the best find that did just the trick: Happy Socks!

Each time I wear them I get compliments on my sock choice! I then grin even bigger when I get to lean over and say “they’re called HAPPY Socks!” That usually involves both parties chuckling and some even respond with a “of course they are.”

If you’re getting bored of wearing the same outfits to work, save some pennies and grab some socks that will make a statement. These bad boys certainly make MY feet smile!

Pick of the post: I Believe – Nikki Yanofsky (…in honour of my first volunteer shift – today! HEYO!)

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When energy is able to flow without resistance, we feel more fully alive. When challenges, confusion, and wrong information block our energy, we tend to feel restricted or frustrated. That breath of fresh air that comes after overcoming a challenge in life is that awesome feeling of letting the energy flow again!

I strive to keep energy flowing so try removing resistances (both mental and physical) whenever possible. I call this my “easy philosophy.” I believe it should be easy to be successful, easy to feel happy, easy to be a part of your community, easy to share, etc. One way of making things easy is to find solutions (or ways of presenting the pre-determined solution) to frequently asked questions/problems.

UBC student’s common question/problem? “How do I get involved?”
The easy answer? “Go to the new Centre for Student Involvement in Brock Hall.”

Finally(!!) a one-stop shop for students that wish to explore the variety of involvement opportunities available to them in the different faculties, clubs, and units on campus. The space is close to the SUB and the bus loop, and in the same building as where students would pay tuition, pick up transcripts or get a campus tour. Better yet, some friendly students greet you on the way in and are there to help provide advice and different options to visitors if they wish to get a student’s perspective!

Dreamed of 10 years ago, designed by an incredible UBC alumna last year (who is an interior designer by day, jewelery artist by night), and then championed by a rockstar student and staff team – the space is now open and ready to keep the energy flowing.

A new (and easy) answer to a common problem! I think I just heard another silo fall. Sherry, Geoff, and Chad – you should be very proud.

Pick of the post: Charlie Winston – In Your Hands (official, freakin awesome, music video)

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Well, not me personally. But my family name is!

One of my Dad’s long-time friends Andrea, an Art Director for Invasion Productions in Toronto, is currently working on a Steven Spielberg pilot. Scrambling to find a product name for some background food stuff, she finally landed on the brand: Corker Farm. She sent us the below mock-ups of what the graphic designer created informing us that we’ve “finally made it to Hollywood.”

Hey, it’s one step closer to Hollywood than I was last week! When’s the last time you celebrated a baby step along your journey?

Pick of the post: Chris Brown – Crawl

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