Status Update - 3.10.13

This past week I ventured outside of West Seattle's Admiral District and spent time on Capitol Hill cat sitting for a friend. As a frequent visitor to the neighborhood during the weekends and evenings it was interesting to peer into the more subtle parts of the Hill and get a taste for its day-to-day rhythm.

Below are a few great places I had a chance to visit during my stay. Stay tuned for photos and more insights!

Restaurants
Kedai Makan - Malaysian street food on the slopes of Olive
Kimchi Bistro - Korean food well suited for modest budgets
Arabica Lounge - Ultra hip coffee house with delicious pastries
Baguette Box - Vietnamese inspired sandwiches
Top Pot - Doughnuts perfected

Drinks
Sun Liquor - Handcrafted cocktails with freshly squeezed mixers
The Lookout - Low key neighborhood bar with a stunning view of the Space Needle
Q Nightclub -  Upscale club with a deafening sound system
R Place - Gay bar that blasts contemporary hits

Parks
Summit Slope Park - Former parking lot turned urban P-Patch
Republican Hill Climb - Old Seattle Staircase that once connected Seattle's Cascade and Republican neighborhoods

Photo of the Republican Hill Climb taken by Joshua Holland

Sunrise Reinvigorates the Calendar Management Process

After months of struggling to seamlessly integrate my various calendars, I discovered Sunrise - a calendar service created by former Foursquare employees. Using data from my Facebook, Google Calendar, Eventbrite, and LinkedIn accounts, Sunrise creates an itinerary which is emailed to me every morning in an easy to read newsletter format. This personalized email includes weather information, friends' birthdays, and upcoming appointments. Sunrise even adds a bit of visual flair into the calendar process by including photos of people I'm meeting with and clever icons that match the activity - e.g. wrapped packages for birthdays and speech bubbles for meetings.

Sunrise also recently took a step outside of the inbox by creating its own iOS app. A natural evolution of the service, the app allows users to effortlessly add new appointments, view their complete calendar, and wish friends happy birthday with a Facebook message or text. Perfect for professionals on the go, the Sunrise app creates extra value for this fantastic service. 

If you're sick of your current digital calendar, give Sunrise a try. Its  integrated approach to calendar management is a welcome change. After using the service for over a month, I've found Sunrise to be a good replacement for iCal.

To learn more about Sunrise, visit www.sunrise.am and read more about its development on the Sunrise blog. I've also included a video explaining the service below.

How do you stay organized? Do you stick to traditional paper bound calendars or does your digital assistant know more about your whereabouts than some of your closest friends?

Discovering Sparks of Brilliance - Ignite Seattle 19 Recap

Presentations are an art form. When done well presenters can captivate an audience and inspire action. On the flipside however, poorly executed presentations often bore and frustrate those within earshot. This past Wednesday I had the pleasure of checking out  Ignite  – a Seattle born educational event focused on highlighting stellar presentations. Ignite prides itself in harnessing “condensed creativity.” The organization accomplishes this goal by implementing a five-minute stage rule for all of its presenters and limiting them to only 20 slides, which automatically rotate after 15 seconds. For anyone who has sat through a dry and long drawn out slide presentation, these rules seem like a gift from God.

Topics at the event ranged from motivational speeches about overcoming life challenges to acquiring new skills. There were also a few quirky ones such as “Mapping the United States of Starbucks” and “How I got seriously hurt at summer camp, and ended up meeting Donnie and Marie instead.” While there was not an official grand narrative that connected the presentations, most of the talks centered on the importance of human connectivity and discovering your passion. A few of my favorites included:

Jonathon Colman - Surviving as an Introvert in an Extroverted World
Wendy Hinman - We’re Gonna Die
Lindsay Sharma -What do Swaziland, Papua New Guinea and the United States have in common?
Adam Philipp - NETWORKING, the RPG
Forest Gibson - How to make a viral video (and why it’s not easy)
Kate Bergstrom - Online Dating Tips I Have Learned After Meeting Over 100 Men
Andrew Dumont - Projects: From Idea to Launch and Beyond
Sara McNally - How the downturn made me a small business owner (and why it was a good idea)
James Davenport - Mapping the United States of Starbucks
Geraldine DeRuiter - Sharing Personal News Online

Overall the event was outstanding. It showcased some of the region’s brightest talent and highlighted the essence of great storytelling. To relive the magic, check out some of the  tweets I curated from the event. Videos of the presentations will also be available online in the coming weeks on Ignite’s video page.

For all the latest info about Ignite Seattle, visit www.igniteseattle.com and follow them on Twitter at  @ignitesea. The next Ignite Seattle is May 16th. See you there!

[Photo courtesy of Ignite Seattle]

Status Update - 2.17.13

Short post this week.


I'm...

Reading:
The Great Gatsby
The 4-Hour Workweek
The Elements of Content Strategy

Watching:
The New Normal
The Mindy Project
RuPaul's Drag Race
Amazing Race
1600 Penn

Playing:
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Learning:
HTML and CSS
Content strategy
Productivity tips
Life coaching and mentoring skills

Working On:
A personal website
Jumpstart 2013
Arranging coffee with "strangers" for info interviews
My next opportunity
An application for the Seattle Planning Commission
Running more often
A longer blog post

[Photo courtesy of Flickr user Frank Peters]