Slideshow of Benazir Bhutto's last rally, including the bombing

This slideshow shouldn't be missed. Not only does it show you the last few images of Bhutto (and some beautiful images from the rally), but it shows the bombing and the aftermath.

» The Assisination of Benazir Bhutto

365 Self Portrats in one year

20.365 | new water filter = yea!, originally uploaded by emdot.

I mentioned in a post a few days ago that I started the 365 project in Flickr. For those of you not in the Flickrverse, it's a project where one joins and commits to taking a self portrait each day for a year. That's a whole lot of emdot, folks. I'm not sure if even I can handle it. :)

I thought that today I would point out the flickr stream of the person who inspired me to do the project, yellowbike. (That link goes straight to her 365 set, but I'm sure you can figure out how to see her flickr stream proper). I freaking love her self portraits. They make me smile, they make me want to take photographs, and they make me admire her life from far away.

It's funny because all this inspiration and she wasn't even one of my contacts. Well, I just rectified that. So everyone go go and check out her stream and enjoy! :)

(I would have used one of her photos here, but her photos are copyrighted and I'm very lazy with the whole plan-ahead thing that it would require for me to get her permission. So, you got a photo of me. HA!).

And p.p.s., click on the photo of me and learn why I am smiling. :)

Hot damn I love that guy in the blue t-shirt

The Super Ninjas from moxie on Vimeo.

This is one of Moxie's videos on vimeo. (Thanks Mox).

That's Orrin, being fun and silly. That's Hex on the left, being his wonderful Hexodus self. And that's 7s far right and stealing my heart with that look in his eye and saying "it's true it's true." I didn't know these guys when this video was taken. And now I know each one. And I've been to the Red Lion several times BUT NEVER WITH THE NINJAS. That has really got to change. Next time I'm in LA. :)

for my friends interested in GTD but don't have the time to read the book

Lifehacker had an article today about an abbreviated form of GTD. Check it out.

Things I want to read from Lifehacker that I haven't gotten around to yet

1. Your best study tips
2. How do you manage your time?
3. Tiny business card calendar
4. Take incredible self portraits
5. Freeze a Shapeable Ice Pack with Rubbing Alcohol
6. Quickly Sort Any List with the Alphebetizer
7. Bill Gates pens an article for BBC News on skills you need to succeed
8. Give Less Stuff This Holiday Season
9. Breathe New Life into Your Old Gadgets
10. Know (and Avoid) Your Schedule Wreckers
11. Hack Attack: Motivate yourself
12. David Allen Speeds Up by Slowing Down
13. You Are Self-Employed (Even If You Work for a Company)
14. Why You Should Plan Your Day the Night Before

it's one of those morning

• i pulled my right glute at the gym
• my bangs stood STRAIGHT UP after blow drying my hair. they are mostly down now. it took an act of god to fix them
• 10 minutes late for work
• that glute really hurts

Answering More Questions. This time: What are you sewing?

8.365 | my salute to sewing, originally uploaded by emdot.

leedav on flickr says she wants to learn how to sew and then asked me what i've been sewing. Here's my answer. :)

basically, i'm sewing easy stuff. while i "sewed" as a kid, i haven't done any sewing as an adult. until now. my friend kb is lending me her machine (so nice!). if you want to learn, here are the books i bought and that i'm using... all geared for the newbie sewer seamstress (I think I just realized why one says "seamstress" and not (stinky) "sewer."):

• Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter
• Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol
• InStitches by Amy Butler
• Last Minute Fabric Gifts by Cynthia Treen
• Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray
• Colorful Stitchery by Kristin Nicholas

5.365 | work window

5.365 | work window, originally uploaded by emdot.

My friend Steve C. in South Africa is starting down the GTD path (go Steve!). This morning in an email he asked me what tools I'm using (he uses Thinking Rock). Here's my reply:

I use pen and paper mostly. I am a fanatic about the filing system. And I also use a wiki called tiddlywiki made for GTD called GTDMonkey or some such. It is okay. It works for me, but I've heard about other GTD tools that work better. Are you familiar with Merlin Mann's hipster PDA? I like that a lot.

What I've fully adopted:

• using a labeler (not hard as i LOVE labelers)
• right-sided manila folders (right tabs, i mean, only)
• next action steps
• tickler file (although i HATE the term tickler file)
  (i also hate the term "tiddlywiki")

What is harder for me

• planning/scheduling/sticking to calendar items (like x hours at this time to work on project y)

The above is a pic of me at the start of my work day last week. I started participating in a Flickr group project called 365 Days where you take a self-portrait every day for a year. So, if you are interested in that, you can see my ever-evolving set here.

everything's always changing. even this.

What is our life but a dance of transient forms? Isn’t everything always changing? Doesn’t everything we have done in the past seem like a dream now? The friends we grew up with, the childhood haunts, those views and opinions we once held with such single-minded passion: We have left them all behind. Now, at this moment, reading this book seems vividly real to you. Even this page will soon be only a memory.
— Sogyal Rinpoche

Thinking about "Getting Organized" for your New Year's Resolution?

Dog-eared, notated, and page tabbed, originally uploaded by emdot.

Why not start reading Getting Things Done now? It's an easy read and pretty motivational. And then you'll be good to go for implementing the plan on Jan 1, or even taking advantage of slow days between holidays. :)

Hmmm,These Magnets are Strangely Attractive

Calavera Christmas Magnet, originally uploaded by 7-how-7.

7s (my bf, for those who don't know) has opened an Etsy shop and is selling very fun magnets that he makes out of very fun things. You should buy some! :)

From his blog:

I've opened a little shop, The House of Sevens, on Etsy, that online marketplace for buying & selling all things handmade.

Most of what I'm making and selling are cool, unique magnets that you won't find anywhere else: magnets like the bottlecap magnet in the photo, a sort of Day of the Dead / Christmas mash-up magnet: magnets made from old wooden Scrabble pieces: magnets made from old Japanese kanji game pieces: magnets made from vintage Shiner Bock beer bottlecaps: An Asian Map magnet set: Magnets made from old money, like the Greek Drachma magnet: Mexican comics magnets, Chinese Joss Paper magnets, Christmas magnets, and more. I add something new every few days.

I sell some individual magnets, but most of what I sell are sets of magnet that I make at home. My magnets sets make great gifts and stocking stuffers. I also do custom orders, so if you look at my stuff and see something you want, but maybe a little different, let me know and I see what I can do.

So when you're looking for the perfect, unique gift for the person who has it all, or for you, come check out my magnets in The House of Sevens.

Two Things

Thing one.

I love many things about the place where I work. One of them, is that to get to my office I have to pass a row of "Browsing" books every morning. These are recently released, non-academic books. It's like a little reading nosh table. This morning I picked up In an Instant by Lee and Bob Woodward. Last week I picked up Shakespeare by Bill Bryson. It's the little things.

In the elevator, going up to said office, I opened the book up and my eyes fell on this:

Love is in the heart, not the head.

That slayed me. Right there in the elevator. Such a little, but awesome, reminder and a great way to start the work week.

Thing two.

I am not embarrassed to say here (again) that I am an Angel fanatic. I came across it (via 7s) long after the damn show had stopped airing, but oh so many DVDs and oh so much time. We picked up Season 1 this weekend at Best Buy and had Angel mini-marathons during and after dinner. Anyway, the last episode we watched last night featured super silly self-help. BUT parts still resonated. Like this:

Anger is just disguised fear.

That is the truth people. Though I would add disguised sadness, too. It's something that I believe. And I felt strangely validated when they said it last night in the show, even though they were poking fun.

The Daily Coyote

You probably saw this in Dooce; it's where I saw it, too. But in the (hugely) off-chance you don't read/subscribe to Dooce, or if you saw her post, but didn't check it out, I'm here to highly encourage you to check out the Daily Coyote. It's the blog of a Wyoming (via SF and NY) woman who rescued an infant coyote and has been raising it in her one-room cabin with her cat. It's just about the sweetest, cutest, ooh-and-ahhing blog out there right now.