The Taiwanese government’s HiRecruit campaign aims to attract professional talent to the island. This year, they asked me to talk about what brought me here, and why other people should do the same thing. Check out the video below:
Obviously what I really cared about was that I looked good on the bike … 🙂
Well it only took SIX YEARS. Skype has finally added group video calling to its (all-be-it Beta) services, and we just gave it a test drive for the first time. It took a few seconds to get going, but once in … it was a resounding success. Apparently they will be adding it to their ‘Premium’ service offering from next year, though I am not sure how much money that will mean for us poor customers. No matter; hilarious fun. Here’s a link if you want to upgrade.
Benjamin enjoying the internet from a different angle.
Since we will both be travelling a fair bit in the near future, Nikki and I decided to make a break for the border and head down for a weekend away in Taichung – Taiwan’s second city. The bigger spaces, cleaner air, better weather and more relaxed pace makes for a good get-away location. That, and being able to sample some of the crazy hotels that the hotel is famous for.
Browsing the shops in the nightmarkets of Taichung is never anything less than a visual overload – and a pleasure. Hello Kitty kitsch is so stunningly ubiquitous as to slowly become invisible. Miffy stuff, however, seems to have fallen completely out of favour. Ah, the whims of the Taiwanese cute collector.
An Aladdin’s Cave of cuteness
I wish I had bought this sleeping mask now … it would be perfect for the flight back!
Doggy and kitty fashion by the boatload
High-speed Takoyaki restaurant, with its own custom oil sucker-upper … pretty sure they shouldn’t need that much oil, but I guess that’s how they come here.
I am constantly amused by the legs descending from the sky in Taiwanese night markets.
Nikki in the Museum of Fine Arts – Taichung
Watching the clouds, skies, and kites on the grass … people don’t lie on the grass much in Taiwan!
Reflecting on things #1
Reflecting on things #2
Waiting for the HSR back to Taipei.
Exit Through The Gift Shop
It’s time to vote, people!
Yes, leave your reason and logic at the door; it’s election-time in Taiwan. What does that mean? Tanks. Tanks and LEDs!
Cruisin’ for a bruisin’.
Underlighting.
But wait a second! Haven’t we seen these before? 2004? 2006?
Shilin, 2004
This seems … familiar … except updated with LEDs. What next? LCD screens all over it? I should not joke.
It took me several hours, multiple attempts, over many months to write that simple sentence, but I think it sums me up. I am, by training, an Industrial Designer and Mechanical Engineer. However I seem to gain a similar amount of pleasure from cooking food, taking photos, delivering a speech or writing my blog. I like to make satisfying things, I gain pleasure in understanding why and how to make things better, and I enjoy thinking about how to work with other people in the pursuit of doing these things.
Why even bother taking the time to write down what it is that I do? After quite a few years in the field, and with a bit of experience under my belt, I wanted to pause and reflect on where I have come from, where I am right now, and perhaps most importantly where I want to go. To do that, I need a foundation, and a set of principles.
So, please indulge me, as I dissect these words; “I strive to create great things, resulting in satisfied people”
First of all, I wanted a statement that avoided common jargon and advertising speak, and that summed up the message in a short, natural-sounding soundbite. For a while I had “I strive to create great products, resulting in satisfied customers“, but my aspirations extend beyond work alone, and include more people than solely customers. Yep, I aim to please, and enjoy delivering the goods for the team, the company … and I vainly hope do good in the world.
I also realise I am not Buckminster Fuller; I don’t think I am trying to create a ‘dent in the universe’. I am a ‘craftsman’ at heart, and I enjoy the sheer act (the verb) of designing things, as many designers do. If I can make some things that I am proud of, and that other people admire, I will be happy. Ego, fed. Somewhat.
But for me, design is as much a cerebral activity. I strive, and this brings a desire to understand, to postulate, improve, optimise and to inspire change. The act of writing about or verbalising the process, communicating the idea, or crafting the pitch is even more agonising than doing the design itself. I might even find it easier to talk about others’ achievements, since there is a reduced bragging ‘overhead’.
And ‘Resulting’? Not sure. I’ll leave that for the next version. I did, however, consider why there was no full stop.
Austin architecture … perhaps adding to my contemplative mood right now.
That’s my kimono open with my tackle dangling in the breeze; so what do you do?
Somehow this photo seems to freeze frame a few of the individuals at large in Austin. It must be noted that the guy was using luminous paints to capture his scene.
Enjoying a very nice afternoon in the sun. I am hitting the ‘sweet spot’ with the weather right now. Lovely.