a pair of paragraphs, full of run-on sentences, that capture some essense of memories I came across lately:

I remember one Sunday morning a number of months ago when I went to church with my family, and my hyperactive 4-year old son was being so hyperactive and just-like-me-at-that-age that all I got out of the 45-minute praise and worship portion of our service was about 2 minutes of peace during a quiet song, when Collin settled down and just sat quietly with me, and that 2 minutes made the entire rest of that week easier. I remember being amazed at how aware I was that God had blessed me with that one little interlude of peace. I remember sitting there while most of the congregation around me stood, singing slowly and quietly, and Collin and I just held onto one another.

I remember sitting in my friend Harrison’s living room on a January evening when his house had lost power (but a day or two before a good part of it was destroyed by a burst pipe) watching flashpapr transfix the room of twenty or so people who were gathered to listen to their music. I remember being transported to a warm summer evening, riding the bus next to the girl I love and feeling so happy and alive and joyful, all from hearing Fred Thomas sing “you are my best friend, you are the most beautiful friend I keep inside my heart…”. I remember thinking to myself that you could tell that it was going to be a magical evening almost as soon as it had started.

For Paul Ford’s Ftrain.com, a site featuring some really great writing.

A few favorites:

Memoir Of The New Economy (glad those days are pretty much over…)

Interview Extension (I like anybody who calls their own ideas “Didactic hoo-ha”).

I’ve finished reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It continually made me want to stop reading the book and start writing – it’s powerful stuff. Her comments about needing to open up and tell what you know as truth resonate with me, and got me thinking about something I may start writing as a series of blog entries (and already have, to some degree, starting with my first post) – the story of how I became a Christian.

I’m not sure if that would be interesting or not, but I feel sort of compelled to write about it. I’ve had enough interesting encounters with other people after mentioning my faith that I think it might be worth doing.

On a few other topics:

1. Work has been extremely busy lately. If anyone reading this is owed an e-mail by me, I apologize. If any of my team members happen to be reading this, I love and appreciate you all.

2. Music has been going well. I’ve been working on 3 different projects simultaneously, and am seeing some great things taking shape. The record that Josh and I have been at for almost 2 years is really taking shape (already?), my solo stuff is slooooooowly coming together, and the collaborative project I’m doing is blazing along, with 3 people/groups signed up to contribute already. I apologize for not elaborating more about this, but I’m heading to bed directly after this is finished.

3. Just when things seem to be settling back into a normal routine at work after Bryan Bickel’s death, I keep finding myself noticing things that remind me of him. Something I mentioned to a friend at the visitation is that it’s a real testament to how important he was to the team – his personality is all over the office, woven into server names, language, traditions, and countless other things.

I still intend to write something about him more, but for now, a playlist I composed the night after his funeral. I thought it fitting. In case you’re interested, the Kool and the Gang is in there because it reminded me of a great time I had with him.

In May of 2002, the entire Detroit office of i33 flew to New York to meet our compadres out there, and we all piled into 2 vans to make the trek from the airport down to the meat packing district where i33’s NY office is located. Bryan and I were sitting in the front, chilling, as the relatively insane van driver ducked and wove through New York traffic, and “Summer madness” came on over the radio. Bryan and I both got hyped at hearing it; it was the perfect soundtrack to the warm weather and time of year. I can still imagine Bryan doing the air synth he was known for when it hits that portamento’d glide up into that final octave…

a playlist for Bryan Bickel

1. Green Pastures – Emmylou Harris (Roses in the Snow)
2. Sometimes- Daniel Lanois (Shine)
3. Never Tear Us Apart – INXS (The Best Of INXS)
4. Final Sunset – Brian Eno (Music For Films)
5. Summer Madness – Kool & The Gang (Light of Worlds)
6. …Passing By – Ulrich Schnauss (Far Away Trains Passing By)
7. Track 01 – gas (zauberberg)
8. Vietrmx21 – Autechre (Tri Repetae++)
9. My Radio – Solvent (Tangent 2002 – Disco Nouveau)
10. “the 3 synthpop tracks” – D’Arcangelo (Rephlex Cat 039, Gold 12″)

Bryan Bickel passed away last night after a long and valiant battle with cancer.

I’m not in any state to write at the moment, or perhaps I’m just not willing to let it all flow out right now, so instead I’ll simply point to Rob’s writing, and try to capture something similar myself when I have the strength and courage.

I’m reading “Bird by Bird” right now, by Anne Lamott, and I’m struck by the parallels between the process of writing as she describes it and the other creative processes I’m engaged in, whether it be interface design, music or persona development. I’m not sure if that’s an especially profound observation, but I thought I’d put it out there anyway. I highly recommend the book, and her earlier work “Traveling Mercies” as well.

A quote from Daniel Rosenberg, VP of development for usability and interface design at Oracle Corporation:

“Automation reduces complexity faster and in larger increments than UI design. For example, after home networks got automated (DHCP), the average person can set it up now.”

From: Seven Myths of Usability ROI

I really like this quote; it points to how valuable it is to look at the big picture when developing Web interfaces and services (really, any interfaces or services). I spend a fair amount of time focusing on interaction design at my day job, and it’s easy to be drawn into the tendency to try to solve problems by making the interaction or interface easier to use somewhere. However, maybe the best thing to do would be not to make the user or customer do anything, and instead just do it for them (if you know what they’re trying to do, of course).

This also reminds me a little of the quote from Alan Cooper about “No matter how good your interface is, it would be better with less”.

I’m simply going to start writing this blog, something I’ve meant to do for a long time now. I’ll introduce it more later, but for now, I want to get on to the writing and not have to slow down to do the “why I decided to write and what I intend to write”.

So, some thoughts:

1. A song that mattered to me in the month or two leading up to my acceptance of Christ and my decision to become a Christian: "Jordan", by Emmylou Harris featuring Johnny Cash. Beautiful stuff, with a chorus that resonates with me:

“You’d better take Jesus with you, he’s a true companion, for I’m sure without Him, that you never will make it o’er…”

I got into Emmylou Harris after reading an article about her in the Tower Records free magazine around 8 years ago, and was hooked by the description of her recording of "May This Be Love", aka "Waterfall" which is her cover of a Jimi Hendrix song. The production on that record is by Daniel Lanois, who is by now one of my favorite producers ever (he’s done a bunch of work for U2, among others). "May This Be Love" is a gorgeous tune, wonderful in its restraint and rawness.

Anyway, I got into Emmylou via that song, which was on "Wrecking Ball", and subsequently tracked down more of her back catalog. "Jordan" is on "Roses In The Snow", which is a real bluegrass/country record – if you only know that genre from "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" (and I won’t front, that soundtrack is what got me into American roots music), you’ll probably really like "Roses In The Snow". There’s a great cover of Paul Simon’s "The Boxer" on there, too.

2. I’m going to try fasting for the first time on Monday. I was meditating on it this evening and mulling it over. I’m nervous about it for a bunch of reasons (what will I say when people ask me to lunch? will I have the willpower to resist the free bagels that our office provides on Monday morning? etc), but in the end I’m going to try it for a couple reasons. One, I think it’s a sharp, clear way of using your body to bring into clear focus the fact that all good things flow from God, and that you/me/everyone ultimately depends on God for all things. Two, I think it will truly help me to empathize more with those for whom hunger is a daily occurance, not a choice. Three, I’ve never tried it before, and there’s a certain element of needing to take risks with my faith. Four, it’s Lent, and though the church I go to (Bethesda Bible Church) doesn’t really do anything with Lent, I was raised in a Presbyterian/Episcopalian tradition that does recognize it to varying degrees, and fasting is a very Lenten thing to do.

My thoughts about this were definitely influenced by this article, in a blog I just started reading called "Correction" (thanks to the Real Live Preacher blog for the pointer to Correction).

3. This is a great interview with a producer whose name I’d seen before, but never knew anything about: moodswing9 (of anticon fame). He makes a couple of book recommendations that I’m going to track down…

OK, enough for now – off to bed, and to church in the morning.