Uncle Mark Gift Guide

Mark Hurst, otherwise known as "Uncle Mark" has just published his fifth gift guide (PDF). He blog posting and newsletter announce the new edition as follows: If you *have* read Uncle Mark in the past (this is the fifth year!), you'll still find new material in this year's guide: - my new digital camera pick - my new cell phone pick (hint: same as the camera pick) - an unsung hero of consumer technology - new kitchen tool - a new (and very old) wristwatch pick - and items for parents The "expecting and new parents" section is all new, and it represents some of the most important purchases I've made since becoming Daddy Mark a few months back. If my wife and I had had"Uncle Mark 2008" as a resource, we would have saved a LOT of time in researching baby gear. If you know anyone who is a new or expecting parent, just send them the guide - they'll almost certainly find a nugget or two to thank you for. Mark is one of the founders of Creative Good, the author of the Good Experience blog, and the host of the GEL conferences. I have had the pleasure of attending GEL 2005, GEL 2006, and GEL 2007.

sherku: What is GEL?

A sherku answering the question: What is GEL? Time: 25 seconds MP3 File What is a sherku? For other writings on GEL 2007, GEL 2006, GEL 2005 The text version of this can be found here

sherku: What is GEL?

What is GEL? New York springs gellin' food spirited conversations good experience live What is a sherku? For other writings on GEL 2007, GEL 2006, GEL 2005 The podcast version of this can be found here

GEL Couplets

In an attempt to answer the question: What is GEL? I have the following couplets to offer. These are developmental steps towards one or more GEL sherku. What is GEL? Gathered energetic latticework Gradually extending life -------------------- Geocentric ethereal libation Greatness ever lasting -------------------- Gymnastic evocative lyrics Goodness expanding limits -------------------- Glutinous earthly ladder Good experience lives

GEL2007 - Day 2 - Session 4

Dan Dubno was joined by Greg Harper to present a quick and wild overview of technology gadgets while simultaneously delivering and reinforcing the point that “youthful experimentation is an important part of creativity”. Jim Baumgardner is interested in randomness, complexity, usefulness and uselessness. “Randomness us complexity that we don’t understand.” He referenced John Whitney, incremental drift, then he had the crowd participate in the Whitney Music box, a wild and wonderful experience. Robert Fox, Danish film maker, is putting together a film documentary on the Thule airbase built in northern Greenland and operated by the US during the cold war years. There was a nuclear disaster there for which they evacuated many of the natives. One of the natives has come forward with his own camera footage of life in and around Thule over the years. 30 years of 8mm film footage that is priceless in its story telling. Ira Glass, writer, producer of This American Life He spoke of excitement, that the passion comes from within, that seriousness and funniness can never collide. That the world is a place where surprise and joy exist. Ira looks to portray people at exactly their human scale. He spoke about the structure of the story. To be interesting, it must carry well. The sequence of action is not about logic, it is about motion. Just start the action, then you’re in the middle and can’t get out. Cringe; the human body moving in fear for an instant. Jump to the bigger moment. What’s the bigger universal story. Action, action, action, thought He closed with a story of Mary Zimmerman, director of The Arabian Nights, how Scheherazade told a tale daily and eventually saved her own life. The power of narrative is a back door to deep inside of us.

GEL2007 - Day 2 - Session 3

Phil Terry spoke briefly to endorse the copy of Bit Literacy; Mark Hurst’s new book which was included in our GEL bag. Mark has been working towards this concept for sometime and has finally published his writings in a book format. It is now on my reading list. Charlie Todd, founder of Improv Everywhere, reviewed highlights from the Slo’ Mo Home Depot event. It was hilarious. John Williams, founder of Frog’s Leap Winery, told the story on how the winery came together, how they operate, how they are green. All to the backdrop of a slide show with scenes from the winery. Erin McKean, Editor in Chief of United States Dictionaries for Oxford University Press (one of the youngest editors in chief of one of the five major American dictionaries). Erin presented a quick recap of her afternoon session on Day 1 where they created words. The winning word? It was crappyjack 'any kind of empty, snacky junk food', created by Karen Watts. The two runners-up were drunch 'to consume alcoholic beverages with like-minded individuals between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Sunday', coined by Lizzy Klein, and mispronoonce 'a jocular way of saying 'mispronounce', to be used in the first person after a particularly embarrassing mispronunciation: Oh, gosh, I mispronoonced that, didn't I?' which was coined by Nick Baum. Erin posted the full listing of the words created on one of her blogs. You can find that here. ES made a wonderfully crafted natural presentation. She used/referenced almost every presentation thus far in her brief but insightful talk. “There is spiritual crappyjack.” There has been a sacred meal in all societies through out all time. She told the story of meeting with Nathaniel, a would be mugger, on 28th Street. How she avoided being mugged, and their relationship after that critical time. John McDowell John was the composer for the music soundtrack of “Born into Brothels”, the Oscar winning documentary in 2006. His group played wonderfully to close out this session. It was appropriate to close here. No one could have followed that experience.

GEL 2007 Collection

Here is the collection of my postings on the Good Experience Live 2007 Conference held in NYC on April 19 & 20, 2007. Juggling Lesson (initial posting) Community Building (initial posting) Day 1 - AM Session (more on juggling) Day 1 - PM Session (more on community building) Day 2 - Session 1 Day 2 - Session 2 Day 2 - Session 3 Day 2 - Session 4 GEL Couplets sherku: What is GEL? (text) sherku: What is GEL? (podcast)

GEL2007 - Day 2 - Session 2

Robin Burgener is the creator of the 20Q ball and 20Q.net. The game is really the normal 20 questions just some simple coding to help the logic actually learn via a neural network. 90% of all the games center on 100 objects; this is better than the 80-20 rule. The number one object is a carrot. The game (online version at least) is built by every use. There was a challenge to restructure the code to fit within the confines of the ball but they overcame those challenges and it works well. 50 million games had been played online by the time the conference was held. Marie Lorenz talked about her water taxi service located in NYC, the “Tide and Current Taxi”. It is stilted somewhat in her favor. The riders don’t always get where they want to but she always gets a story. Her service lives on the edge of what is permitted. Henning Rubsam talked about Sensedance, his effort to bring a better awareness to dance and how body language can be effectively used and appreciated. He spoke in a number of ways to be aware of and open to the senses. With our arms by our side, we are contained. With our arms extended, brought forward, we are reaching and at the same time giving. Doug Quin had us listen. Yes, listen. The lights in the theater were dimmed to take away the visual distractions and enable us to concentrate on what he played for us. He had recorded a variety of birds in the wild, deep in the jungles, and walruses/seals under the ice in Antarctica. The sounds were amazing. His point was simply to be aware of the sounds around us.

GEL2007 - Day 2 - Session 1

Mark Hurst is creating a community of folks interested in “good experience”. This year’s theme was “food and spirit”. He talked of his visit to Napa Valley and Frog’s Leap Winery. “… some spirit infuses the goodness of the outcome…” Danny Meyer opened the Friday session talking about hospitality and how he has organically grown his business from a single restaurant to multiple restaurants in NYC. He said we are all looking to replicate the experience of when we were just born; we received eye contact, we were acknowledged, we were hugged and we received some great food. Chris Jordan is now an artist but did spend time in the corporate arena as a lawyer. He is looking to present data on some of our significant problems in a way that makes the data become emotionally engaging. Data and numbers by and large are rather dry. His art starts with a picture and then he uses PhotoShop to multiply the images to create the numerical impact. Peter Skillman is the ‘usability guy’ for Palm. He talked about learning to fail, early, and often, ultimately to create a better experience. He described a project he has taken to multiple groups from kindergartners to business school candidates. The group is given a small set of materials, some tape, dry spaghetti, a marshmallow, etc. The objective is to create the tallest structure that will support the marshmallow. The kindergartners have the record for the tallest structure and generally will create a structure more than one inch taller than the business school candidates. How do they do this? Less fear. More openness to trying something. Andrew writes songs and maintains the web site “songs to wear pants to”. He shared a dozen songs or so specifically generated from user requests. He has over 300 currently on the web site.

GEL2007 - Day 1 - PM Session

I chose to participate in the Community Building exercise for the afternoon session. This workshop, facilitated by Phillip and Andrea Spencer-Linzie, is based on the "community building" process developed by M. Scott Peck, author of “The Road Less Traveled”. Participants practice ways of being together that create the possibility for authentic connection. There were multiple reasons for me to participate in this session. I thought I would be able to leverage what I learned. I was disappointed in that due to the short time allocated we did not really get into an “authentic connection” but made some good steps along the way. Given that this workshop can be delivered in a 1-day, 2-day, 3-day or 7-day format led me to provide feedback that it should be renamed “a taste of” or “an insight into” because you can’t build a community in less that three hours. The initial posting on this session can be found here. Note: the picture did not come out as well as I would have liked but I found it interesting. We are on the 10th floor, lower Manhattan, the window is reinforced and there is barbed wire on the outside window sill. And we are inside learning about building a community.

GEL2007 - Day 1 - AM Session

I chose to learn how to juggle with the Flying Karamazov Brothers for the morning session. I can’t keep three balls in the air yet but I know what I need to do and it will take time and practice to do so. The benefits of that level of mind body coordination I think will be beneficial. We need to be able to work each side of the body in a similar manner. If one side is stronger than the other, or more developed, or more coordinated, then the balance of the body is off and juggling becomes a challenge. More importantly, there may very well be other aspects of life that are challenging. I found it interesting that my wife who teaches kindergarten has as one of their regular activities what they call “brain gym” exercises. These exercises are very similar to what is required to juggle. Previous post on this session (with picture) Previous posts on FKB from GEL 2005 Note: picture taken during the demonstration after our lesson.

Community Building

Community Building Originally uploaded by shersteve. Afternoon session on Day 1 of GEL2007 in New York City I selected a session on community building. Community-Building: Better Ways of Being Together This half-day workshop, facilitated by Phillip and Andrea Spencer-Linzie, is based on the "community building" process developed by M. Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled. Participants practice ways of being together that create the possibility for authentic connection. The photo represents some of the participant's feet in the circle.

Juggling Lesson

Juggling Lesson Originally uploaded by shersteve. For the morning session on Day 1 of GEL2007 in New York City I selected and lucked out with a juggling lessons with the Flying Karamazov Brothers. They don't fly, they aren't brothers, but they do juggle, and juggle very well. I won't make their "B" team anytime soon. I have a lot of practicing to do to keep the third ball in the air regularly but I do have a good idea of what I need to do and some key things to focus on to get there.

Shake Shack

Shake Shack Originally uploaded by shersteve. Danny Meyer is one of the scheduled speakers here at the GEL Conference. I stopped by for a longer than expected lunch at one of his operations; the Shake Shack. More on this later. I don't want to be late for the start of GEL2007 today.

Street vendors

I love the street vendors in NYC. Took my morning run from the hotel up and through part of Central Park stopping at a cart on the corner of the street near the hotel. Small black coffee, 1 pint bottle Poland Spring water, one seseme bagel (plain). $2.25. Yes, that's right. Each single item can cost much more elsewhere.

Early bird

Here in NYC for the Good Experience Live conference today and Friday. The view from the hotel room shows only one early bird in the building across the way. Do you like to get an early start? Or are you a late riser? Does it matter to how successful you can be? What do you think?