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Archive for July, 2007

Great White Coat

I LOVE this coat – a recent New York purchase. It was one of those sample sale deals that would have cost a fortune otherwise. This is one of the things that I realy love about New York fashion – you can get the top Italian and French designers on your terms — sometimes that is. As a New Englander who also lived in England for a stint, you find yourself often asking how / where to wear any fabulous find in Silicon Valley? It’s not as if the culture is so humid and hot that it makes sense for the society to push fashion aside in favor of shorts, t-shirts and an air conditioner. So, what is it? Is Nick Denton’s five year old blog post about the city really that true?

Dancing in Chicago

Life’s magic moments. So many. How often do you take the time to reflect on the kind of magic moments you want to create in your life on a consistent basis? I don’t mean the memory of your child’s first word or your first glimpse of the Taj Mahal, but magic moments you can more predictably create daily. For me, one such magic moment is the pleasure of watching self expression through dance and capturing it visually, sometimes behind a lens and sometimes on canvas. Dance. Movement. Expression. What a joy to shoot human expression. I stayed with a friend recently who is in the design and branding business. In his guest room, I discovered piles (and piles) of worldwide fashion and design magazines. I couldn’t resist browsing through them for a few creative ideas — ones I could use artistically as well as professionally. There it was, a wonderful reminder only a few hours before basking in one of my favorite magic moments — human expression through dance. The excerpt jumped off the inside page of a high-end glossy tabloid. Life is not about the number of breaths you take, but the number of magic moments that take your…

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Chicago By Night

Chicago is so great in the summer. A few shots from a friend’s balcony in Chicago’s city center. I’m starting to ignore white balance settings based on several suggestions. As for depth of field and quality of the color palate, I’m just not there yet.

A Really Great White Coat

I LOVE this coat – a recent New York purchase. It was one of those sample sale deals that would have cost a fortune otherwise. This is one of the things that I realy love about New York fashion – you can get the top Italian and French designers on your terms — sometimes that is. As a New Englander who also lived in England for a stint, you find yourself often asking how / where to wear any fabulous find in Silicon Valley? It’s not as if the culture is so humid and hot that it makes sense for the society to push fashion aside in favor of shorts, t-shirts and an air conditioner. So, what is it? Is Nick Denton’s five year old blog post about the city really that true?

5 Rhythms and The TreeSpiritProject

I recently met Jack Gescheidt, a professional photographer since 1988, at Marin’s Sweat Your Prayers Sunday morning dance in Sausilito CA. I think of the Sweat Your Prayers experience as a combination of yoga, meditation, dance and spiritual connection. Based on The 5 Rhythms practice, it is a moving meditation of listening and following, integrating our physicality, inner awareness, spirituality and feelings into each movement. Also known as The Wave, the experimental dance has been around for over 25 years. The process starts with calming music where you move using gentle motions, then you gradually increase your pulse rate (staccato), work up a sweat (chaos), and then luxuriate in it (lyrical). At the end, you ultimately come to a place of positive and conscious relaxation (stillness) — the 5th and final rhythm. Regular practice offers the chance to free yourselves from inertia, to shift the habits and attitudes which keep you stuck in old patterns. I don’t have an opportunity to go regularly, but whenever I do, I often meet interesting people who are working on projects at the opposite end of my professional spectrum, like…

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Losing my Marbles – Hostage Crisis at an Airport Hotel

After nearly 11 months of travel, it finally happened – I finally reached the end of my rope. Thanks to Egypt Air and Royal Air Maroc Airlines – I nearly had a nervous breakdown that was colossal. I actually had visions of me ending up in a Moroccan jail, arrested by the airport police in Casablanca. This incident actually happened over a week ago – but it was such a sour, terrible experience that I couldn’t even bring myself to write about it until now. I had to step away and collect my thoughts a bit first…so here’s my story of 2 shitty airlines, an inept airport hotel, non-existent customer service, living in the same clothes for 3 days, shedding many tears, making 2 great friends, and experiencing the largest cultural difference that I have faced yet – this is the story of how I got from Morocco to Egypt. I left Marrakech bound for a flight to Cairo Egypt. I was to arrive in Cairo on Sunday morning early which was perfect as my tour that I was to…

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German Culture Tips

DID YOU KNOW THAT…. Germany is relatively hierarchical. When working with Germans, you will find following tips helpful:

• People appreciate structure in manners, behavior and planning.
• If you are on a global team or managing a corporate group or household help, you will want to give clear, explicit directions regarding responsibilities and decisions.
• As a manager, you will want to demonstrate a somewhat authoritative leadership style.
• Show the appropriate level of respect, through language and behavior, to the more senior members of the organization.
• Expect to encounter some bureaucracy in organizations and government.

Moroccan Rainbow – Final Thoughts

View Morocco Photography I’m sure you might be surprised that I didn’t use the obvious title choice for this Moroccan send-off post – Rockin’ the Kasbah… I did actually think about it, but that’s not what I think of when I examine my parting thoughts about Morocco. From the moment I started journeying around Morocco – I was struck by the color…brown. I kept imagining that if the world were a painting palette, Morocco would represent the brown splotch of paint. Photo: Brown Morocco Continuing the thought, New Zealand would be green, Greece would be blue, Thailand would be purple, and Italy would be red, Bali would be yellow, and Cambodia would be black. But as I spent more time in Morocco, acquainting myself with the cities, the culture, the food, the language – I realized that Morocco had much more depth than just brown. Sure, the landscapes and the Kasbahs had a brown hue, there were few trees, little water, and even the camels…

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