Goal: Get Healthy.

That’s coming along just fine. I’ve dropped 2% body fat since October, and I’ll be competing in my first indoor triathlon on Sunday. Most nights and then the weekends at the gym. I have a pretty rounded plan for swimming, biking, and running. Throw in 2-3 days of weights, and I feel better about how I look.

Unfortunately, I’ve also been dealing with fatigue since around the same time. Working with my doctor to figure out what’s causing it. Trying one plan of attack for 6 weeks, and if that doesn’t clear it up, we’ll try another route. Slow process, but the body needs about that much time to adapt to a new diet.

Goal: Figure out what I want to do.

Slowly getting there. I’m a person that likes new challenges. I like to help people, but sometimes working with people drains me. Talk about a dichotomy to overcome. Small groups are good. No closer to what I want to specialize in since I’m highly distracted by all of these different job titles with seductive words like information, content strategy, navigation, ontologies, research, and personas. Which, pretty much tells me that I’m still solidly in the Information Architecture realm.

Recently at work, I’ve been able to take on a bit of UX design in addition to my IA/taxonomy responsibilities. It’s fun, because I do like designing. However, I struggle with those emotional connections you’re supposed to create to entice / encourage the trust or continuation of the process. That emotional stuff? Never been really good at those types of connections, even in real-life. Translating that on to a screen? Ouch. Painful for me. Especially since design was one of those things I did on the side for fun, now it’s an every-day task (but task isn’t quite the right word since I do enjoy parts of it, like typography and color selection…). Which, again, pretty much tells me that I should be solidly in the Information Architecture realm.

But, that line between IA and UX is so muddled right now that many people can’t see the difference between them.

The other thing that’s caught my interest as of late is the impact of external trends on eCommerce. Think along the lines of If the price of cotton goes up on the commodities market, that impacts the price of manufacturing, which then impacts retailers and finally the consumer. How much does that price have to jump for the consumer to not want to buy products made from cotton because the price is too high?

Yep. Big Data. Lots of data to sift through to find patterns.

Still not any closer to figuring out the consultant v. in-house. Both have benefits and drawbacks. And, at this point, unwilling to give up some security of a paycheck & benefits to try out consulting.

In many ways, still wandering. I know that I’m in the right area of the woods, but haven’t found what I’m looking for quite yet.

Goal: Find my personal Mount Kilimanjaro.

No movement on this. In many ways, it goes along with figuring out what I want to do. And finding my professional passion — besides having clean data with which to work. That’s an ongoing fight in ANY information profession at this point!

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xkcd: Resolution

Hello, 2013!

You have certainly started off with a bang. Everyone asking each other about resolutions while others eschew resolutions in favor of goals. I’m actually wondering when the resolutioners will be out of the gym…

For me? Never been a big fan of new year resolutions. The way I see it? You can change any time you want, but you have to be ready and willing to make that change. Some type of catalyst is usually involved to push you to make that change. For me? Those changes came last October, and I expect more to happen this year.

More gym time. Making more time for my family and friends. Letting go of the things that were sapping me of my will to make changes and holding me back.  Weeding out the distractions preventing me from reaching those dreams. Believing that I CAN do it.

Since that time, I’m 4 out of 6 half marathons into a personal challenge. I’m working out 4-6 days a week in preparations for a sprint triathlon. I cook at home as much as possible. I call my parents at least every week. I contact a minimum of one close friend a week just to catch up. I’m working on building my finances for future dreams and passions. I’m cleaning the clutter out of my home and my life, and keeping the important things — the people, animals, and plants.

And 2013? I’m looking forward to it. I’m ready for the continuing adventure, building off of the excitement of the end of 2012.

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Things have been… uh… funky. There’s no better word for it without going into great detail. And I’m thinking that it’s life’s way of giving me a good swift kick in the ass to get moving again. To get out over that 5 year mountain and do something good. To make a change and do something big and not simply these little somethings that are only adding up to a molehill.

I attended InfoCamp Seattle two weekends ago and met a poop load of super inspiring people. For those of you who don’t know what an InfoCamp is, it’s an unconference. The only talks planned are the mornings Plenary sessions. Otherwise the sessions are determined and lead by the attendees by pitching their sessions to the attendees. The slots / rooms are filled for each round, and attendees choose which sessions in which they would like to participate.

There were two completely awesome plenary speakers, Marcellus Turner and Dan Klyn. Totally engaging speakers. Careers that have journeyed amazing paths. As an IA, I’ve been following Dan’s blog for a while, and somehow has a sixth sense for publishing posts on topics relevant to events happening in my professional career. They’ve given me perspective and thought fodder.

Marcellus also made a great point at the end of his talk: it’s your choice to suffer. Either you end up accepting the situation that you’re in, or you take action and steps to change it.

Which got me thinking some more about the events of the past three months. In stewing things over, I came across a few insights:

• I’ve never been comfortable with titles. I consider myself an Information Professional since my skills and interests encompass a wide swath of the field. Call me what you will, but move to the side so I can perform the tasks at hand to the best of my abilities. I love to organize all types of information.
• I feel more comfortable as an Information Architect than a User Experience Designer. Data, patterns, and structure are my friends. Graphical interfaces and emotional connections seriously challenge me (yay, Asperger’s), but I’m willing to learn and take a stab at it.
• Lose the negativity. According to a trusted friend, many content strategists possess a perpetually poor outlook on their job functions. Probably due to frustrations with others understanding of the role, or the lack of respect for deadlines by the content creators. I’ve fallen into that mindset and need to jolt myself out.

First steps:

• Get healthy. If I don’t take care of my body, I feel bad about myself and encourage a cycle of negativity. So, I’m training for a triathlon as well as eating vegetarian at home. Still allowing myself meat while dining out if I feel like it. Staying active. Dropping a few extra pounds I have laying around to lighten my load.
• Figure out what I want to do when I grow up as an Information Professional. Does that mean finding an area I which to specialize? Does it mean changing from business to libraries or another industry? Does it mean becoming a consultant?
• Finding my personal Mount Kilimanjaro to climb. What do I see that I can change within the information professions? What skills do I possess that I can champion for a difference? For something improved and good? Where is the base camp from which I need to start?

Yep. That about sums it up. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to start on my journey.

Cartoon: What We Are by GapingVoid Art. Please support Hugh MacLeod’s work. Brilliant artist with arrow-like messages, and the prints are always beautiful. They make fabulous holiday gifts!

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It reminds me of what my grandparents talked about feeling in the 1940s to 1960s. Technology moved quick. The space race began in the 1940s, the same time computers became a viable idea. Kids received chemistry and erector sets, and short wave radios as toys. Numerous medical advances began (kidney dialysis and synthetic cortisone), Vannevar Bush proposes hypertext, the color TV is invented, and the microwave oven and atomic bomb were developed. The nuclear age began.

We’re in another quick changing time — much like the 1940s — and I think it’s going to be the Millennials (GenY) / Digital Natives (GenZ?) driving it. I’d love to think it’s the GenXers, but we’re (I say ‘we’ because I am a GenXer) the link between the Greatest Generation, the Boomers, and the Millennials / Digital Natives. We’re old enough to have talked with our grandparents and parents about their experiences adapting to new technology and the struggles, fears, and excitement that went along with that. GenX lived in both the analogue and digital worlds, forced to adapt from paper to computers in high school and college. We’re the ones with dreams of what could be, but — with limited numbers — we share our hopes and dreams with the Millennials who have the manpower to get things done since they are the largest generation since the Boomers.

GenX are the connectors, Millennials are the doers.

And they’re running with it.

The world has swung from passive engagement and use to active participation and inventing. Hackerspaces are flourishing. Space travel is again being advanced. Small businesses are once again on the rise, with small groups of like-minded individuals working towards new advances in the STEM industries. Medical advances in genes, robotics, and treatments continue, as do explorations and experiments with alternate fuel sources. And so much more.

Yet, I have a feeling all of those advances will be minor compared to what’s coming. I hope I’m around to experience it. And, so long as it’s not another atomic bomb, I’m all for it!

Photo: Tesla Coil by Justin Kent and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) license.

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You know — one of those professors that stopped keeping up with trends before you were born? Those people who no longer have the vision to see beyond what’s in front of them? The people who’s idea of risk is wearing the wrong color socks with the wrong color trousers?

Yeah, one of those people.

That’s probably my biggest fear. Not being poor. Not finding the right guy to spend my life with, but becoming obsolete by my own hands (mind?). Biggest fear, by far.

I don’t want to become one of them. There is always something new to learn. There’s always some place new to explore. And there are always things to fail at so that you can move on to the next thing you always wanted to try.

Yet, becoming a dinosaur seems to be one of those things that slowly creeps into a person’s life — and some much sooner than later. It can start with music or social engagements. It may be a way of dressing. It could be not keeping up on trends within your chosen profession. But what it really boils down to is comfort over risk. The mentality and fear keeps us from growing: “If I step out of my comfort zone, I may lose everything I ever gained.”

And if that happens, you’re stronger. You’re smarter. And you’re no longer afraid of losing everything.

For me, I’m going to keep stepping outside of that comfort zone, forcing myself to travel, meet new people with divergent viewpoints, and learning by any means possible. Understanding the fear is the first step in overcoming it. I don’t ever plan on becoming a dinosaur.

RAWR!

p.s. Thanks, Thomas Knoll, for giving me the rest of the inspiration to finish this post! Been working on it since Thursday and it finally found its direction.

Photo: dinosaur_06293 by Mik Scheper and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) license.

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Photo: It’s forking complicated by Gautam Dogra and used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) license.

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I always love to hear that someone is looking for “The Next Big Thing” to grow their business.

Think about this for a minute. This person spends years jumping from product to product, idea to idea, testing them only to find it’s not the money maker they had hoped it would be. Or it doesn’t fit their business model. Just because it’s popular, doesn’t mean it’s a one-size-fits-all item. Off to the next product or idea du jour.

While that person is busy looking for ”The Next Big Thing,” the creatives are out there making the next big thing. They’ve done the research, found a hole to fill or a niche market for which to cater, and acting on it. While the others are wasting their time figuring out how the current Big Thing works, the creatives are already on their way to reaping the rewards of their Big Thing.

If you want the Next Big Thing, design it, build it, market it, then profit off of the sheep looking for The Next Big Thing. Don’t just sit there. Define the damn thing and make ideas reality.

Photo: A Thrilling Time is in Your Immediate Future by Drew Bennett and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

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The morning was a bit rough trying to figure out what I missed on the day off. Weeded through the email for the important items. Went through the ticketing system to find any quick wins. Took care of a few items before the weekly UX touchbase meeting. The afternoon was more of the same — quick tickets, a meeting for search and product discovery on the site (yes — information architecture and taxonomy are integral to that process!), followed by a company leadership monthly meeting. I can’t tell you what went on in that meeting because it’s James Bond-like — if I told you, one of us would have to perish in some odd turn of events. Ok, not really, but it’s still confidential information.

Picked up Triumph of the City from the Zappos library to read this week. Ended up making it through 3 pages before falling asleep. Did I mention how tired I was?

Wednesday started out about the same, but a 9:30 meeting. The meeting went well, especially considering I’m trying to normalize the taxonomy so that no items are duplicated (one home — and only one home — for items). Worked out a work flow for this team which will help everyone out in the future, so a win first thing in the morning. Followed that up with a quick quality assurance test on a new feature for our in-house taxonomy tool. Found an error, and worked with the fab developer to get it fixed so that it might be released tomorrow.

After lunch, it was time for the weekly data sync, where the UX team, customer service people, analysts, and project & product managers get together to put everyone on the same page. I really like those meeting since there’s a lot of good information exchanged. The three o’clock crash then happened, where I felt like I needed a 2 hour nap. Acquired an Odwalla bar and some green tea to pick up my energy again, and pushed through another few tickets before the end of the day. Tickets ranged from taxonomy additions to search items that needed to be cleaned up or redirected to a taxonomy based search rather than a raw text search. That’s always an interesting vetting process since it’s a bit balance between search (the broad gathering of products) compared to taxonomy (the narrowed gathering of products), especially since you never want to assume what your user is thinking or for what they’re searching. They’re annoying little fights at time, but they’re what keep the job exciting day after day.

Oh, yes… and over the past two days we set up a new fish tank. The old one decided that it would be fun to short out on Friday. Smoke and everything. Glad it didn’t fry the lone tetra in the tank! But now fishy has a clean new home, and seems quite happy in his new digs.

Photo: Back To Work… by Richard Holster and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) license.

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The Three Caballeros Family Fiesta 5K started bright and early on Jan. 6th. No official chip timing for this event since it’s not a competitive 5k. Lots of people, though. About 8,500 people showed up to start running / walking around EPCOT’s World Showcase. I arrived waaaaaayyyyy early, catching the bus out around 4 am (the event was to begin at 6:00). It was nice and clear when I arrived. By 5 am, the dense fog rolled in, dropping the temps so that I was starting to get chilled to the bone.

Ended up walking with friends and their family instead of running it. We were in the last corral because of the baby stroller. Yes, they had unofficial corrals based on times for a 5K, which worked out well. The course wasn’t very cluttered at all, and I forgot what it was like to see the sun rise over the façades.

It was officially the slowest 5K I have ever completed, coming in at over an hour. I had the Garmin running, but neglected to turn it off until after I

was on the bus back to the hotel (this becomes important for the half). I was okay with the lack of timing, though. Gave time to catch up with my friends!

They handed out small bags of food which included a bagel, banana, and orange.

Got back to the hotel room and crawled into bed for a nap, piling on the blankets to help take the chill out of my body. Three hours later, I rejoined the land of the conscious, took a shower, and headed off to the parks. Walked 8+ miles.

Got back to the hotel sometime around 8 pm. Rolled out my calf muscles and my feet very well. In bed by 9. Exhausted!

Up again by 3 am to catch a bus at 3:30 am. Get on the bus. Breaks down on World Drive. Driver gets the bus going again. We make into the lot for EPCOT, and the bus loses its brakes. Oh, yes. Luckily we coast to a stop in an unused lane. Wait 20-ish minutes for a new bus. Transfer busses. In that amount of time we could have walked to the bag drop area.

Finally make it. Realize that we have to walk about a half-mile to the start line…. And on the way hear them start the race. I barely make it to my corral in time to start with them, but I do and I’m feeling good.

And my Garmin dies. In the first 500 yards of the race. Resort to my old counting methods to keep a steady pace. Count to 100 while running, then count to 50 while walking. Also opted to not listen to any music since the course had so much activity!

The first 5K I keep my steady 13:30 pace. Stop to take a few pictures at the hot air balloon and by the parking plaza. At 10K I slow a few seconds more to 13:45 or so. That’s fairly standard for me – and something I’m working on. I run through the Magic Kingdom at a much slower pace, stopping to have a cast member take a picture of me in front of the castle on my camera, stopping again for a picture of everyone running through the castle, and then by the pro photog smack in front of the castle. Fun!

The course is fully stocked. Tons of volunteers. Water stops every 2 miles or so with cups of Dasani water and/or Powerade.

Around mile 8 I can feel a lovely stabbing pain starting in my heels. Not good. I pull off to the side to stretch out my calf muscles. Walk. By this time I’m somewhere around 14:30 miles. I stop to stretch again. The 3:00:00 pacer passes me (on the right when I’m already as far to the right as I can get – but that’s a rant for another day) around mile 10. Mile 11.5 stop to stretch again. Force myself to run (hobble?) the last mile through the pain, and end with a respectable time of 3:08:33 – including all the photos and stretching.

The runner’s area flows well. More volunteers. Medals everywhere. Piles of mylar blankets. Easy to grab water or powerade. Fairly quick getting through the picture area. But the food area was chaos. No little baggies like the day before. Mad rush for bananas and Builder’s bars. Bagels snatched out of hands of others. But no one in front of the oranges. SCORE! Favorite post-race food acquired.

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