Don’t compromise the process

The whole purpose of climbing something like Everest is to effect some sort of spiritual and physical gain. But if you compromise the process you’re an asshole when you start out and an asshole when you get back.

~Yvon Chouinard from the film 180 South°: Conquerors of the Useless

Great documentary about a couple of guys trying to create their own version of the now infamous 1968 trip of Yvon Chouinard (founder of Patagonia) and Doug Tompkins (founder of The North Face). Worth a watch.

Ghostbusters sky

Looking towards midtown Manhattan from Central Park last night.

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Using Foursquare to improve your money management

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Personal finance software has changed quite a bit since the days of excel and Quicken. One of the bigger splashes, Mint has been part of my life for over a year now and it’s really made managing finances a much more tolerable task. Is it for everyone, probably not. However, I’m into simplicity and frugality so it works for me. My wife and I are able to enter our various accounts and set budgets and group expenditures automatically to see where it’s all going. It’s also good for trends and goal setting. The charts it generates from all of your accounts makes it extremely easy to see what’s going on. And having an iPhone app to get a quick glance when you’re on the go is super helpful (especially when I’m traveling).

Another tool that generates a ton of valuable data is Foursquare. Sure most people think of it as a game rather than a tool and it certainly started that way for me. However, once I got past the mayor-getting sprees that I was on in the early days (I’m currently mayor of absolutely nothing), and started seeing the real-life benefits, it became an automatic thing for me. Games get boring and tossed aside, valuable tools get used and become habit. It all depends on how you use it. My rules for checkins are simple: 1. am I spending money or 2. is this a place I’ll be at for a while. Do I check in at every bodega or convenience store I go to? Not at all, but if I’m at a place that I might want to remember someday, I’m checking in. Not everyone uses Foursquare the way I do, some check in at work, at home, at the subway station, at the park, at the pharmacy, at their boss’ office (“I’m the mayor of your desk! Give me a raise?”)…  I imagine they’ll get bored with that at some point. I like clean structured data and by checking in like I do, I’ve got a lightweight journal being created with minimal effort. 

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So how do they work together? Well it’s easy. Pull up your Foursquare history next to your transactions on Mint. Did you take $100 out at the ATM? Where did it all go? Hard to remember over the course of a few days, but easy when you’ve got your journal right there. Having uncategorized spending makes it impossible to budget. Using these two together makes it almost too easy not to.

Beer bee

This little guy touched my lips. Close call for both of us

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When the bar isn’t showing the Sox game

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Watching the Sox. At a bar. On an iPhone. #redsox #87Topps
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Alex Payne ??? Don’t Be A Hero

Nobody can pull heroic hours for long. Heroes get sick. They get burnt out. Eventually, the hero resents the rest of the team for not pulling their weight, and rightly so: if your team is relying on a hero, they???re not doing their jobs.

Not a new post, but good perspective on the both-end-candle-burners amongst us.

Fernet-Branca flask

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Stating the obvious at City Winery

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NYT coffee map of NYC, missing a ‘cuppla’ cuppa spots

Two worthy omissions in midtown, Fika and Zibetto.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/09/dining/20100309-new-york-coffee…

Panic Blog ?? The Panic Status Board

Great implementation of a status board. I’d buy this.