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October 20, 2004
The Tipping Point
I started rereading one of my favorite books this evening. It's called The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, by Malcolm Gladwell. It got me thinking in terms of changing the world again. The tipping point is the moment at which a relatively small phenomenon becomes huge. This "tip" can be caused by a whole host of things. A classic, and fun, example happened in the mid 90s when the Hush Puppies brand of shoes went from near extinction to extreme popularity. It turns out this revolution was started by less than 100 hip kids from NYC. All of a sudden all of the major designers featured Hush Puppies on the runways of Paris.
This book is great because it puts some focus on the little things in life. Life really is based on the details. Something as insignificant as a new haircut can change one's entire outlook. A recent tipping point occurred in my life within the past few weeks. Making the switch from Blogspot to MovableType has caused an explosion in the amount of blogging I do. These things happen all the time! Look out for tipping points in your life. If you're aware of them, you're more likely to figure out how to make them happen! Oh, and buying and reading this book wouldn't hurt anyone either.
On to newer things...IBM is awesome! Turns out a problem I had is under warranty...so they're sending me out a brand new piece of hardware, completely free. Oh, and they called me within 10 minutes of me posting my maintenance request online...after business hours. Great service makes me smile. It's almost like getting what you pay for. :-P
Big shout out to my Mom, who sent me a nice pair of running pants for the upcoming winter season...I'll definitely be protected from the elements! Thanks Mom!
There was something else I wanted to say...but it's not coming to me at the moment, I hate when that happens. Well, it'll just give me a chance to write again tomorrow...to sleep I go.
Posted by jevnin at 11:45 PM | Comments (0)
Senior Citizens
Did some usability studies today. Some would actually call it usamajility. Our user group for this project (and the next) is the senior citizen population. I have really liked working with older people. At first I was a bit apprehensive, but getting to know them feels kinda good. They all seem pretty happy for the most part. Of course they are dealing with disabilities such as blindness, memory loss, and a host of other issues, but they still seem pretty content with life. That's rather reassuring.
The retirement community we've been visiting seems pretty cool, in a summer campy kind of way. There are a bunch of activities, and 3 meals a day. Plus you get to hang out with all your friends. Maybe I'm a little bit screwed up in the head, but it all looks kind of exciting.
Photo blurred to keep all individuals anonymous. (I'm the one in brown.)
Went to dinner this evening with a bunch of grad students from the program and the main professor. He brought up the idea of us in 5 years, becoming successful Interaction Designers (IxDers) and coming back to tell the students how successful they will be. What a great outlook! I am excited to be able to pass on knowledge, and the thought of a professor who looks forward to that is refreshing. So often I think that professors are too caught up in their own research to realize that they are here to educate the next generation. I guess the problem is circular since their profs paid no attention to them. Either way, I'm excited about being an influencer...so I can't wait to be in a leadership position.
Ok, I'm hopelessly tired. Big project due in 72 hours, so I may lose sleep in the coming days. I'll catch up while I'm still able to...
Photoshop is just too cool...
Posted by jevnin at 12:18 AM | Comments (0)