Thoughts on a (somewhat) free day

First, I would like to say, because I missed out on celebrations, and did not get to speak to everyone, that the presentations all were really great. Obviously there is some sort of equation here, where working students to death, giving them projects with a wide variety of options to pursue, and late hours of voice/video recording, documenting, and flash wizarding produces high quality results.

Second, it has been a strange week. I managed to sleep during the day Friday following our presentations, and my sense of time has been all wrong sense then. I might blame Ford for not having windows with natural lighting in our EDI office. I've been living a "Liz" lifestyle, staying up too late, and sleeping in (too late). Not good. Liz, your health may be in jeopardy.

Third, I still have a large workload, which I left for myself to do. These decisions to put work off until the last minute always end up poorly (for my mental health), yet I continually do it because I'd rather play frisbee during the day and not sleep at night.

Fourth, does anyone still read this?

Onto the real stuff. I won't post on Dan Kraemer yet, although I've had some really interesting thoughts come up (in relation to several of the things we spoke about. Rather, I'll choose to post on several interesting things that I've read through my other RSS feeds (not too many posts lately). I'll keep it brief, as I have DXD to work on, but if you guys who have time to kill or spare before your trips home, these articles proved interesting.

Objectified

Objectified (read reviews/discussion for SXSW here and there) is "a feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the designers who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability."

Sounds like a great film, which covers a lot of topics that we've discussed (formally and not), and would make a great primer or wrap up film. I checked about tickets (out of personal interest), but the April 28th screening in Chicago is sold out, unfortunately.

For me, I'm interested in the final line of that summary where it says "It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability." There, if any, is a great way to get any one with any remote interest in design, to immediately bite the hook and try to see this film. Sounds good

3 Dudes Gone 3D

This is a series of short films produced by the company that created SolidWorks, and they are actually funny. A brief remission from the work that I should be doing. Actually, chances are, if you were online Thursday night before the Miller presentations, I showed this to you.

Spring

This past Monday and Tuesday, I have enjoyed the weather, chomping at the bit to shirk my duties and responsibilities to instead, toss a disc around at Deering field. On Monday, I threw around with my roommate and Ben, and I realized being outside is something that is key to my sanity. Anyways, I really enjoyed it, and hope that there will be many more afternoons spent outside relaxing, at least with an even ratio to nights spent inside Ford working.

Well that's a few things that has been on my mind. Service designing has been on my mind. Well, no, but it will be (very soon). Have a good break!