June 26th, 2009
I love magazines. There. I said it. With a capital < & 3. This is probably surprising for somebody that is notoriously glued to a computer screen and falls asleep within seconds of opening just about anything with pages in it. Maybe it’s out of frustration due to my inability to stay awake long enough to enjoy a book or because it takes too much effort to really get a good bite of any juicy knowledge from a book, but they’ve just never been my thing. I bet a lot of avid page-flippers would belittle my intellect for this, but I have a lot of reason to believe that’s uncalled for.
These days I really don’t believe the difference b/w books & magazines to be an affair of intellectual might or cerebral stamina. Recently it’s become more an issue of wanting to arouse the rest of my senses. You might very well criticize me for this but I kind of hate the fact that when I look at a book I don’t get excited by the idea that the value is all in the interpretation and visualization of the words. Instead I’m bothered that there just isn’t more effort into making that book attractive. Now more often than not it’s probably an issue of practicality or budget, but what happened to putting effort into quality binding, picking just the right font, or finding that paper that really complimented the subject-matter well?
What I like about magazines is that not only do I love the information I’m getting out of them, because it’s quick and to the point, which suits my lifestyle (and naturally regulated attention span) but also because the good ones look good, feel good, and smell good. It’s as if the craftsmanship that used to go into books is being injected into magazines now. When I say “look good” I mean the typeface is appropriate, the colors make sense, the layouts are well designed and it’s great to be able to grab information at varying levels of focus. When I say “feel good” I mean the paper literally feels good at my fingertips, and when I flip through the pages I actually want to preserve its structural integrity. When I say “smell good” I literally mean you can tell the paper selection was a priority - that smell helps give the magazine an identity.
Based on all of the above, I could almost make the claim that picking a magazine is like picking a partner. It’s very important that she have something to say and be able to keep my interest when she opens her mouth, but if she looks good, feels good, and smells good, then I’ve got the whole package. Some may call that greedy or ambitious, but I just call it knowing what you want.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and already love that you read this.
Cheers!
Edison
Some magazines that helped inspired this - Monocle, Antenna, Surfer’s Journal, Wired, Saveur, The Economist, Esquire, & The Standerd.
Tags: craftsmanship, Magazines, Reading, senses
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December 17th, 2008
When you’re growing up, trying to figure out the next step in your life, the easiest and most logical strategy is to look at what other people did when they were in the same situation. The fact of the matter is, that’s not always the best idea. Along the way that can create a lot of false expectations. When you come upon a point in your life when plans seem to mysteriously deviate, it’s easy then to get down on yourself and wonder why things didn’t work out like they did for everybody else. The reality is that their path was not necessarily made for you, and that’s okay.
Traveling is the analogy that makes most sense here. If I’m traveling from California to Florida, logic would tell me that the only way to go is by plane, but the reality is, that’s not true. I can drive, ride a bus, take a train, bike, walk, run, take a cruise, hitchhike, or make it a million other ways. All those means of getting to the end destination of Florida of course have their pros and cons. But the fact still is that there’s a countless amount of ways to reach the desired destination.
The same rules apply to getting to a certain point in your life or attaining certain goals. Yes, most people would fly to Florida because that was the best way for them, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the best way for you. Don’t think of moments in life as failures when they don’t follow suit with everybody else’s plans, but rather as deviations in the path that gave you the opportunity to learn something that everybody else didn’t get to learn themselves. In the end, if your path was the same as everybody else’s you’ve got no story to tell.
Finally, since I’m talking about life paths, I couldn’t finish this off without mentioning Robert Frost and his famous ‘The Road Not Taken.’ Cliché? Definitely. But I’m okay with that.
Tags: Experience, Growing Up, Life Path
Posted in Life, Outlooks | No Comments »
December 16th, 2008
… because, somebody once told me “the most successful people in the world are the ones that made the most mistakes.” You’re always going to be engaging in new situations in life, and unless you’re an expert at everything, you’re going to screw up at some point, but that’s okay. Just face it. Go into situations acknowledging that messing up is a possibility. You also have to remember that some mistakes are worse than others. Because if you go into new situations knowing that messing up is a possibility then you stand a much better chance to learn from it and come out of it stronger than you were before.
Tags: Experience, Growing Up, Mistakes
Posted in Life | No Comments »
December 8th, 2008
That’s right, after only about 2 months of living at the last apartment, I’ve found a new place to hang my hat, kick back and work some more after the time at the office is done. All things considered it’s definitely an upgrade in space and situation. The previous lady I was living with, Susan, was really nice and welcoming, but as we both knew would come, I felt that I needed to find a place with someone more my age. Plus, it totally doesn’t suck that this place is last than a mile down the road from work which means it’s just down the road from an Apple store, a Borders, tons of coffee shops, restaurants, and about as much excitement as can be found in Palo Alto.
Lucky for me I was having a brew with a co-worker on my team and her boyfriend when I met another co-worker that happened to be moving out to our office in Dublin and needed somebody to take over his lease. It’s definitely a decent place that just needed a little TLC when I moved in and I’ve quickly gotten settled in to try and make it my own. My roommate is an engineer at facebook by the name of Eric. He’s from the east coast (Vermont) as well so it’s cool that he can appreciate humidity and the warmth of the Atlantic ocean.
Overall it’s not a huge upgrade but nevertheless it’s still a step forward and I’m really glad I took it. I’ll be taking some photos and video pretty soon to give all of you a better understanding of where I’m running around these days. For now, think of it as the closest duplicate of Park Ave. Where Rollins is, we have Standford, where Sakura Sushi is, there’s Facebook (well, one of the 10 or o buildings) and then on the opposite end of the strip is where I live. So there’s a lot going on in a small area.
Email me if you want the new address to mail me some cookies or notes about how much you miss and love me 
Cheers!
Edison “I love the cold weather” Cruz
Tags: New Home
Posted in Life | 1 Comment »
December 4th, 2008
This is my second attempt at writing this because I want to keep this short and simple, because the point is very simple. I jumped on the CalTrain one Saturday a couple weeks ago. Zone 3 to Zone 1. San Francisco. I just finished a week that had brought a lot of frustration and I needed to distract myself.
I rushed to get on the train, and this one was different than the rest I was used to. I didn’t get my own seat on the second level, like usual, where I could just silently sit and gaze out the window then inevitably fall asleep. This time the train was cramped and the air was thick with a very somber mood. Down the isle from me there was a woman who had obviously suffered very serious burns to her face & arms and right across from me there were two older men. One with such drastic curvature to his back that he needed a walker to get around and the other with a cane and the appearance of somebody who had seen everything in this world.
After several stops, the older gentleman with the walker got up and bade his friend adieu. As the train continued, the other older gentleman began to get curious as to how far we were from his stop in San Francisco. He asked me for the time, I told him and explained how many stops it would be until we reached our destination.
Identifying with his inexperience with the area, I asked him where he was from. He explained that he was on his way to see some of his family. He then explained that he was old, and with a very proud, dignified voice he said it made him feel like a man to be able to get around on his own, even if he did need a cane. It made me smile. I hope to carry myself with that much pride and self-respect when I am his age. What he said next though, is the point of this story. He said “you know, these (pointing to his legs) don’t always work very well, no… and this (pointing to his groin), eh, it doesn’t work so well anymore either, but you know what? Life is beautiful.” “Yeah?” I replied. “Yes, life is beautiful. Look at everything around us. There’s so much to enjoy and appreciate on God’s green earth. Life is beautiful.”
Those words have resonated with me ever since. No matter what is wrong, no matter what seems impossible to overcome, just remember, life is beautiful.
Tags: Life
Posted in Outlooks | 1 Comment »