My Bucket List

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 by innovative_edge

My friend Hank recently posted on BePositive about creating a "Bucket List" as a way to explore who you are as a person, your life goals, and possibly some sort of meaning to your earthly life. Here's my attempt at a Bucket List!

1. Married to just the right woman.
2. See the world. [I would feel so left out if I didn't, and I mean the WHOLE world.]
3. Own my own business and be successful.
4. Innovate in something I am passionate about.
5. Drive a Ferrari.
6. Complete a triathlon.
7. Have a child.
8. Compete in a mountain bike race.
9. Fly an airplane.
10. Learn a second language.

Visual Map of Mozilla Open Innovation Model

by innovative_edge

If you remember the sketch that I posted a week or two ago, here is my first draft. I've shown it to a friend or two and emailed it to my professor as well, but just important, is what it means to you!

So, please! Tell me what you think. What I really need to know is what it means to you and if what I am trying to get across is clearly communicated. Thanks for looking!



Here is a link to download the full .pdf if you prefer to view it in High Res.
http://j.homes.mcad.edu/~jszymanski/images/Mozilla_VisualCommunityMap.pdf

New Kicks!

Monday, October 27, 2008 by innovative_edge



Got a killer deal on these from Aldo today. Regular price = $150. Jake's price = $68. I was able to talk the salesperson down on the price because they were on sale online and not in the store. I also found a 15% off coupon for all online purchases, which can be found here -->

http://www.retailmenot.com/view/aldoshoes.com

People at the store were super nice and helpful, even though their shoes may be a little overpriced, but it just takes a little shopping around and a little Google know-how.

Filed under , having 1 comments  

New Parts for the Paragon!

Sunday, October 26, 2008 by innovative_edge

The Paragon got some new parts last weekend!



FSA OS-99 Stem 90mm 6 degree rise. So long Bontrager Race X Lite and your crappy
sticker!!



WTB Rocket V Race Saddle



… and Crank Brothers Egg Beater SL Pedals. Not sure how I feel about these yet. I’m still working out the cleat setup, but I sure do come unclipped a lot when I don’t want to as compared to my previous Candy C’s… I have faith that I will be able to figure it out.

P.S.

by innovative_edge

P.S.


I need this bike...


[Trek Remedy 9]



So I can do this...










Not to mention. This kid is nuts!







No Mega Ride... :(

by innovative_edge

I’ve been looking forward to the MORC (Minnesota Offroad Cyclists) MEGA RIDE II that was scheduled today. The Mega Ride is a tour of the Twin Cities best single track totalling about 50 miles! However, to my dismay, last night at 12:30am it was cancelled.

I’m still not entirely sure why… Yesterday and for the past couple days of rain the weather for today looked unfavorable, but the trails had most of yesterday afternoon and all of last night to dry out. Rain was predicted for early early this morning, which is probably why it was canclled, but I really wish we could have somehow gone through with it.

Fortunately, I did get to ride today. I was grinding tooth and nail to ride. I wanted it so bad, but unfortunately, today was not my day. I just felt sluggish. It may have been my poorly nutritioned breakfast, but I just rode like crap. I started fast and would have spurts, but then I would also have spurts of terrible. I walked through a couple of the Expert sections that I would normally breeze through.

I think this section took a good bit of my big chainring hostage… I haven’t seen it since.

There is a group ride up at the Milaca trail system about an hour north of the cities, but the weather looks like snow tomorrow with temps in the low 30’s… I still haven’t decided if I’m hardcore enough for that. We will have to see!

I’ve also got to start taking pictures when I ride. My friend Jake Kuchta did a great job earlier this semester when we were out together, but I haven’t had any since. Here are couple from our September Adventure —>

Me on my brother’s 4500 beater machine equipped with SID Race Ti Fork… HAh!

Kuchta killin it in the air… cus he’s white…

by innovative_edge

My poor Nudies are falling apart! There are now 5 holes in the butt, a hugely blown out crotch that is partially repaired, a hole in the ankle, and a  broken belt loop! Good thing I’ve got my new Imperial Dukes!

My poor Nudies are falling apart! There are now 5 holes in the butt, a hugely blown out crotch that is partially repaired, a hole in the ankle, and a broken belt loop! Good thing I’ve got my new Imperial Dukes!

by innovative_edge

This is about I feel right now. School + School = No Food. I need a trip to the LundZOR!
This is about I feel right now. School + School = No Food. I need a trip to the LundZOR!

Filed under having 0 comments  

Roller Coaster Life Study

by innovative_edge

I’ve seen many people do these things where they make it a point to take a picture of themselves every day without fail. I tried this for a few day. Here are my days…

This is one way that people analyze their day-to-day lives. I’d like to take a new approach.

A Roller Coaster Life Study

Everyone’s life is a roller coaster, but I would like to visually plot mine as one. I am going to develop a chart system that will allow me to plot my mood in relation to my activities and order. For example, if I go mountain biking, and then take a nap; will I be happier for the rest of the day than if I made lunch immediately after I went biking.

Hopefully this makes some sense in text, but I will soon be posting my scibbles! Then, once my study has finished, I will post the tool for you to do your own!

Check back later today as I will be scanning my doodles after class!

Colour Game

by innovative_edge

This is an interesting tool/test that my friend Nathan Dryden posted on BePositive.

http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77

I got a 16! What is your score?

What’s cool is how closely it connects to my Visual Thinking class, in which we just finished a study of color/word associations through Shigenobu Kobayashi’s “Colorist.” This book maps words and colors to provide a very useful tool of presentation for those in visual arts.

I took screen shots of three different buildings from King Street in Madison, WI and made a pallete of four prominent colors from each facade.

We then took ideas about relating colors and words from Kobayashi and
integrated our color palette with Kobayashi’s word/color map.

This allowed us to gather word associations from the colors we acquired from our street. With these words and colors we then designed a very basic mach-up of a neighborhood branding.

This is the final product.

Filed under having 0 comments  

Mozilla Project Beginning

by innovative_edge

Right now in my Innovation & Progress class we are doing research on an innovative company. My company is Mozilla. The eventually goal will be to give a brief history of Mozilla, descirbe their process of innovation, and then predict how they might go about innovating in the future.

Below is a sketch of an idea I have for how to illustrate the distribution and workings of Mozillas groups, teams, and how they go about bringing in outside ideas through their Mozilla Public License.

What is going on here you ask? I know, it’s kind of difficult to see, but just generally…

The goal of this visualization will be to demonstrate the connections between Mozilla and it’s all of it’s contributing communities.

—> On the left you have the start of a project, idea, or general goal.

—> On the far right is the path of the purpose of the project.

—> In the middle, you have the current project completion. Each circle represents a person contributing to the project.

Each person comes to the project from different angle and background. Everyone has something different to offer. They move into the project and move out during daily cycles taking in new experiences and inputs that they use to continue to contribute to the project. Many of these inputs that are gathered come from interactions from other people outside of Mozilla.

These are other companies, forums, and communities that interact with Mozilla and share in their open innovation model.

Get to know me...

by innovative_edge

This morning I started brainstorming about what it is I must do In order to express my personality very clearly on my website or blog. Again, the goal is for people to get a feel for who I am very quickly, so they can experience who I am without needing to know me for a long time or sit down and have a very serious conversation.

I’m almost thinking that I should design a basic website structure that is super flexible and has areas that expand, contract, and change emphasis and that can be redesigned in and added to or subtracted from easily without having to readjust the entire site… I’ll be working on this structure.

Filed under having 0 comments  

Let me tell you a story about who I am.

by innovative_edge

The few people that know me really well tell me that I will be great and I will do something important or interesting. My challenge is finding my path to that aspiration.

I want to develop a space on the web that is more than a blog. I want to have a space that is a direct connection to my mind, my personality, who I am, and the way I think. It may include videos, sketches, ideas, comments. What can I do?

Filed under having 0 comments  

This Is My Online Persona

Wednesday, October 8, 2008 by innovative_edge

So, I've changed my mind again and decided to make this my personal blog. It will still continue to reflect my thoughts and progressions through BePositive, but I will be putting my personal ideas and experiences here as well.

I'll start off with my new bike! I recently purchased a 2009 Gary Fisher Paragon.



It's a poor picture, I know, but hopefully I will get to ride with my friend who has a nice camera soon. Or maybe I'll just find a sunny day! Who knows...

The Paragon is a 29er, which means that it's got big wheels. Bigger than a standard mountain bike. The big wheels give you a better angle of attack on obstacles and also make for an overall faster bike.


More about 29ers

So far I'm really liking it. The frame is stiff and the new G2 Geometry makes it handle better than any other bike I've been on. It's so eager to turn in and whip around corners. Sometimes it makes me feel like I am not as brave as the bike.

The full SRAM X.9 setup works great. I've been at a bit of a loss to set it up properly since I don't have a bike stand in my apartment. I'm seriously thinking about getting one though.

The brakes are another issue. Avid has long had problems with their Juicy breaks making the notorious squawking noise and my new Paragon is no exception. The brakes have very little power compared even my previous 2008 Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo which had the step down; Juicy 3 brakes. Modulation is better on the 5's, but overall power is pretty poor. It may just be that not only does the rear squawk, but it vibrates the entire frame when it does it and completely ruins braking performance. I think a call in to Avid will be in order....



Avid did just release a new G3 rotor, which, coincidentally, did not come on my bike. I may have to purchase these.

This next weekend I will be adding a little bit longer and lighter FSA-OS99 stem and a WTB Rocket V Race saddle. Can't wait to get those parts on it and do some more riding! The MORC Summit is this weekend!

Filed under having 0 comments  

Stage One - COMPLETE

Thursday, October 2, 2008 by innovative_edge

I feel that we have reached the end of stage one in BePositive. BePositive is online, and everyone has successfully migrated from "the thread" to the new forum structure, as well as having a few new key members join.

Now, my next goal will be to acquire new members in the form of new people that can continue to contribute to the BePositive Community. In order to do this we need to keep populating the forums with new content, I need to continue to evolve the design, integration, and usability of the site design, and we need to locate, target, and market to new people.

Bringing in new members will be the biggest challenge. In order to get new people to join, we will have to have compelling content on the site. Things that people will get excited about when they see it and want to contribute their thoughts. So, scour your Digg's, and dredge through your Delicious! Find stuff that you think is cool and innovative, and get it up on the site! Tell us about yourself and your ideas! Whatever appeals to you.

Next, talk about BePositive. Don't just Be, BePositive. I'm sure everyone has a friend or two that might be interested in what we are doing here. Send them a personal invitation via email, the invite tool on the site, or just write on the Facebook wall.

Lets get this community on the map!

-Jake