06.17.08 07.21 am
Remembering Rodney
I will never forget our last conversation. It was only a few days beyond six years ago. He called me up to see if I wanted to “hang out, have some brew, see some girls” in that sly way he regularly did. We had both worked for a time for the same employer and had become fast friends. I enjoyed his irreverent style and his unabashed fanboy advocacy of all things Macintosh. He even went so far as always keeping a weekend job selling Macs at a largely PC retailer. There was nothing he loved more than “converting sinners on the floor” by introducing those coming in looking to by yet another Compaq to the Macintosh, thus, he felt, changing the rest of their lives for the better.
I also loved his writing. As a freelancer, he wrote for a number of the Macintosh related web sites that I followed. I loved his confrontational style. He really enjoyed pushing peoples buttons. Not because he wanted to piss people off but because he knew if caused them to think. Perhaps, for even a second, they would be introduced to something they had thought themselves but never had the balls to say. I mean, this is the guy who had the balls to write an article called “Macintosh Is the ‘Nigger’ of the Computer Industry”. He took a lot of flack for simply using “The ‘N’ word” and he ate it up. I loved the passion that he poured into every word, thought and action. This was a guy who really wanted to suck the marrow from the bones of life and did so with a big impish smile on his face.
He also had problems, heck who doesn’t. He had long suffered from manic depression. I had as well. Yet another thing we had in common to make us such fast friends. We often shared our struggles with staying on medication. Medication that, in an effort to keep you from “feeling down” or “feeling crazy” mostly makes you not able to feel anything very deeply at all. Psychiatry in this area is a “true science” in that there are no right answers or perfect drug combinations. Everyone is different and even then things can change. It is all a matter of constant playing with dosage levels and trial and error until a person is lucky enough to stumble upon the right mix for them. The trip to not being crazy is a rollercoaster ride of emotions so severe and intense for so long that one feels… Crazy. He and I commiserated on these subjects often – usually while having some brew and seeing some girls at the local gentleman establishments. He seemed to be managing the ride as well as can be expected.
This time, when he called to hang out, I was too busy. Between trying to manage being a full time single dad, my consulting business, and way too many other seemingly important things, I had to decline. “Give me a call in a couple of weeks,” I said, “I’ll even buy.” Looking back, I still feel like that was the worst decision of my life.
Rodney O. Lain passed away a few days later on June 16th, 2002 – six years ago yesterday. He took his own life with a gun to the head sometime in the late night/early morning of the 15th and lived for one day more (I imagine just as a final “Fuck you” to the gun – He was that type of guy). There is rarely a day or two that goes by that I do not think of Rodney. He was my friend. I miss him. I miss being able to share my life as it is today with him. My beautiful wife, the strong lovely young men my sons are becoming, my beautiful baby girl… I often think about how much fun he would be having right now with Apple enjoying such great success (I can imagine him writing “The iPhone is the Whitey of the mobile phone industry”). Not to mention the strong possibility of having a “Brotha” in the White House. What kind of writing about it all we are missing. Words that might make us laugh, or piss us off or bother to think.
Those words are hard to find now. Six years on the internet is a long time. Some of the sites he wrote for are now gone and his writing along with them. I even tried to do my part by reviving his old site a few years back but many behind the scenes complications kept it from staying live. Do a search on Google for him and you will find a number of loving tributes and obituaries and even still find an article or two written by him…
As for me, I still grieve. There is a hole in the world now that will never be filled. A friend that will never be replaced.
Update - Many of Rodney’s articles can be found archived at Low End Mac.
06.16.08 09.13 pm
Necessary Self Promotion
Things have been crazy busy here in Patrickland. Lot’s of travel. Lots of busy work. Lots of taking care of The Duchess. Who is The Duchess you ask? For those new around here, she is my little girl Beatrix and she has a blog – Team Trixie. The blog is a comedic outlet for me and I write it from her perspective. Of course, her perspective is that she is a Duchess from a mythical land called Heckofalot, her mommy is Princess Bethany and her daddy is The Butler. As I said, it is mostly a fun creative outlet for me and a unique way to share her with the world.
Well, that blog and it’s author (that would be me, The Butler) were featured in the June 15th edition of The Saint Paul Pioneer Press newspaper. They did a feature on Dad’s who blog and The Duchess and I were included. Check it out:
05.12.08 09.36 am
What's in your notebook?
One of my favorite advertising campaigns of all time was from Apple (natch). It featured a number of Mac using celebrities giving a list in response to a simple question – “What’s on your Powerbook?”. What was great about this... » More
05.09.08 08.00 am
My Addiction
My name is Patrick, and I am a notebook addict. I have never really tried to hide my addiction. Many who know me well know of this “problem” (I am sill not sure I feel comfortable calling it that). Sometimes I am able to fight it. I convince myself that I really don’t need yet another notebook that will sit on a shelf and probably never be used. Sometimes they are given to me. Sometimes, I just can’t stop myself. The paper is too nice, the aesthetic beauty too compelling. The myriad of uses flood my brain and I become drunk with the elixir of possibility.
Here are just some of the examples of the times I have fallen:
Black n’ Red Ruled A4 – Years ago I worked for a company that had an office in Brussels. These were the office standard issue notebook there. It was love at first sight so on a visit I grabbed two and I still have both. These are big euro letter sized bound books with 192 pages of bright white paper. One was used as a Journal, during a particularly miserable time in my life, for about a dozen pages. The other remained unused. Looking back, I figure that the misery did not stop but my will and desire to chronicle it did.
Grey Sketchbook – This was a birthday gift sent to me by my friend Adeline in the U.K. I am not sure of the manufacturer, as there are no markings to indicate it. The book has a grey suede slipcover, blank pages with the following quote from Gandhi stamped into the cover ” You must be the change you wish in the world.” At my most recent day job, I gave it to one of my student workers who is a wonderful cartoonist and had him draw something on the first page. What he returned to me is a true work of whimsical art. That is what is linked to above since I can’t find the manufacturer of the notebook.
Xonex Ru – Bought this in the Walker Art Museum Gift Shop after seeing a friend with one. I have the charcoal grey model. There was just something about it that I was compelled by. Perhaps it was the European sizing – A bit more flat and geometrically shaped than a Moleskine. It has a number of the same features though, an elastic closure and a pocket in the back. Also, here’s the thing, I generally don’t use notebooks without ruled lines or grids. My writing is far too messy and my art skills are like those of a two year old.
Muji – I actually have two different Muji Notebooks, neither of which can be found in the US. They were brought back for me by a co-worker from Japan. The first is about the same dimensions as the Xonex Ru, has a beige craft cover and decent blank paper (did I mention I usually don’t use blank notebooks). The other is very much like a Large Lined Moleskine but with a bookcloth cover and without a pocket in the back. It does have the elastic closure though.
Moleskines – Since they keep popping up, I will discuss the several Moleskines I have. I have a Pocket Lined (this was my daily capture for a long while). I have a Large Lined (use this as a personal journal). I have a Pocket Squared (unused). I have a Reporter Squared (A few mind and process maps but otherwise unused). I have a Barcelona City Book (The maps were indispensable. Wish I had written more in it and hope to return soon to fix that).
As I said, these are just a few examples. I have intentionally left out quite a few. Many of which I have written about recently here. The two Levenger Circa Notebooks. The several Field Notes Brand notebooks I have waiting on deck for me to complete the one I am using. The list could go on.
OK, I guess I may need an intervention.
05.06.08 11.53 pm
Boo!
Life has been kind of a whirlwind lately. Although I have several items in process for this site, my little experiment in blogging, I really have not had the time to sit down and put the finishing touches on a full post. Then again, if I don’t post for a while, those that follow me here, and don’t catch me at the several other places I peek my head out on the internet, start to make up stories about my horrible demise ( The incident with the meat grinder and the Shriner go-cart resulted only in a minor scratch. Honest.).
All is well, I promise, and new posts will be coming soon.
04.21.08 12.19 am
(Re)Introducing Machine Methods
Just wanted to take a brief moment for some self promotion. This weekend, I launched a redesign of the website for my technical consulting business, Machine Methods. Once again, a tip of the hat goes to my web design partner, friend and all around code ninja, Michael Armstrong.
For the design of the Machine Methods site, the idea was “one page, many purposes” . The majority of the information is on a single page – who we are, what we do, and how to contact us. Not only would this design function as a web page, when printed it would become a one sheet (8.5 x 11 single side) brochure that could be part of a promo packet. Then, when folded three way letter style and slipped into an envelope, when removed, the top of the page (as seen below) will be the first thing people see…
…Then, when unfolded, the page would be there in front of them appearing in the real world almost exactly as it does online. One page, many purposes.
As you can see, this site may be minimal and, therefore, may look easy to throw together, the idea I am going for and the execution of that idea are often complex. Because I often design for myself with a fairly limited and rigid constraint (i.e. only using text), a lot of thought and planning goes into how to make it look good and work well. It should not just be text thrown onto a page. And while the design may be minimal, the functions this design can serve are quite a lot. For instance, I could easily see a slightly modified version of the image above working as a quarter page advertisement in a newsletter or magazine.
So there it is, a little peek into my strange design brain. Take a look and, if you need some technical consulting, give me a jingle.
03.29.08 12.14 pm
Weekend Self Promotion
Since it is the weekend, I thought I would take a little to to point out some of the places that my little blog has been popping up:
This site, patrickrhone.com, was featured in the February 2008 issue of the UK magazine .Net ( branded as Practical Web Design on this side of the pond). That’s right. An actual dead tree publication. The particular article we are featured in is a focus on minimalist web design and, if you could not tell, it don’t get much more minimalist than this. I can’t begin to tell you how honored we are by this. Totally stoked is more like it. If you are wondering why I keep saying “we”, my web design partner, Michael Armstrong, gets credit for doing most of the “heavy lifting” around here web wise. I mainly point to where I would like him to put the boxes down.
Speaking of Michael, he has recently started a fantastic photoblog featuring pictures he has taken in and around the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul - MyTwinCities.net. Some beautiful photos there. Show him some love.
This site was also mentioned among the Top 100 Productivity and Lifehack Blogs by CollegeDegree.com. I’m at #22 under the Life Organizers section. Very cool.
Remember, not all of the action pertaining me is happening here. For other topics of interest, make sure to check out The Random Post. There I cover, link to, quote and prognosticate on a variety of topics that just don’t seem to fit here but otherwise may be compelling. For instance, have you heard of Muxtape yet? No? Well, I did a little write-up on it over at The Random Post.
Also remember that I can be found all over the internet. I am very active on Twitter. I ghost write a blog for my new baby daughter, Beatrix. Of course, there are my photos on Flickr and well as my FriendFeed. I am easy to find.
03.04.08 10.03 am
Ink
Based largely on my friend Ryan’s urgings, I finally made a visit to a pen store here in the Twin Cities called Ink. Three words… Completely Blown Away! Proprietor Barry Rubin has created, what has to be, one of the most amazing shopping experiences I have ever had. It is something I will remember forever.
There are a few unique things about shopping at Ink. In order to shop, you must make an appointment. Barry explained that he does this to give each shopper the personal service he strives to provide. When in the store, he is at your sole serivce, ready to answer any questions or grab any pen you wish to try.
Another thing is the selection. He has a vast assortment at every price point. You could walk in and spend $20.00 or $20,000.00 or anything in between. There really is something here for everyone. For me, I walked away with a Taccia Staccato (pictured above). Words simply can’t explain what a big beautiful pen this is. Extremely smooth to write with. As the Ink tag line says, this is “Art. Five inches tall.” (although this one is a bit larger than 5 inches).
Finally, the view. Ink is located on the 45th floor of the IDS Center in downtown Minneapolis. One of the tallest buildings in the state. When you walk in the door of Ink on a clear day, you are met with a jaw dropping southward facing view that stretches for miles. It takes several minutes to simply take this all in before you even notice the store.
Barry has a true passion for pens. His passion shows in every detail. From the location, to the business model, to the hand written receipt. He provides not just a shopping experience, but an owning experience. He made me, the customer, feel like an old friend and gave me a true sense of ownership in a shared passion.
If you live in the area or plan to visit soon, you must make an appointment if for simply the view alone. Be warned though, it is hard not to get lost in the beauty of the fine five inch art that surrounds you. You will want to take home a work of your very own.
02.11.08 02.12 pm
All Hail Duchess Beatrix
For those who are not aware, Beatrix Camille Gladhill Rhone, our first daughter, was born on February 9th, 2008. Mother and baby are doing very well. All updates, pictures and pronouncements can be found on her blog (yes, Beatrix already has her own blog). Link is below.
12.19.07 09.37 am
The Random Post, Now Easier to Read
For those not familiar with my little side project, The Random Post, now is the time to check it out. Being a tumblelog, I post all manner of content and small infochunks there. It is a fun little site. I have just refreshed the design using a ever so slightly modified version of Bill Israel’s Easy Reader. The new theme gives it more of the “newspapery” feel I was looking to have.
10.25.07 11.59 am
Hanging with Ryan from Brassing Adds Character
Been a very busy day so far and is only getting more so. Therefore, just a quick post for now...
Had the great pleasure of hanging out for a few with Ryan Roossinck from Brassing Adds Character last night. What a treat it was. We spent hours geeking out over his massive collection of Pens, my hefty collection of notebooks and our mutual eclectic music tastes. I honestly think this kid (yes, I am enough his senior to use that term) is my brother from another mother because we have so much in common it is scary.
The highlight for me though was having the chance to play with a ton of different pens, nibs and ink types. Ryan is a real serious pen freak and has many custom nibs and rare models. He is a deep abyss of knowledge when it comes to pens and their histories so it was fascinating to just sit back and listen to each story behind the pens. His writing is even smaller than mine so he is also a fan of very fine nibs making each pen absolutly drool worthy to use. By the time it was all said and done, Imanaged to fill up a nice sized page of test doodles. Good times...
If I have not said it firmly enough before, Ryan's blog is a fantastic read and there are more great things to come. If you have any fascination at all with analog capture tools, this is a must add to your daily web reads list.
10.17.07 09.21 am
Remembering Roy
Roy was big for his breed, kind of dopey but very lovable. If Roy were a human, he would have been a laborer, like a handyman. Stocky, friendly and his pants just barely covering his bum. He would spend more time sitting around and shooting the breeze with you than doing the job at hand but there would be no way you could get mad at him because he would be so lovable. You would just chalk it up to Roy being Roy.
Roy liked to lick soft things, like stuffed animals, rugs and furniture. Once he started he would do this for hours. Licking compulsively as if unable to stop. Roy could not, given this fact, figure out why the cats did not want to play with him. When Roy slept, he would snore loudly and, every once in a while, he would whimper and twitch, obviously having a good dream, probably about licking the cats.
In the last few months Roy had a tough time. He was unable to walk, he lost control over his functions, his hearing was going and he seemed very frustrated and confused. We had to let Roy go to sleep today. I hope he is somewhere peaceful and licking cats.
10.09.07 10.21 am
Patrick's Glossary - Entry 3
This is the third of several entries for the readers of my various locations around the interwebs. A definition of people, relationships, holdings, and terms that I refer to often:
We currently have three houses. We do an adequate but admiral job of keeping up with them all. We tend to refer to our houses by the street name or house number. As a matter of fact, I have found that people who live in Saint Paul generally all refer to their houses this way.
The 230 House - This was the house I lived in before we got married and we moved into Princess Bethany’s house. It was the first home I ever owned. Great location. Walking distance to the schools. Grocery store and some other useful shops just a walk away as well. I put a ton of work and money into it before meeting Bethany so it is very well updated. It is currently on the market so if you know anyone who lives in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul metro area and is looking for a great place, send them my way.
The 627 House - This is the current house we live in. It was Princess Bethany’s and now we all live there. It is an 1886 Victorian with three floors. It is a beautiful and eclectic house and I have really fallen in love with it quickly. Because it is 140+ years old, it needs a lot of love and labor but it is quite comfortable and livable. We are currently working on refurbishing the back bedroom into a nursery for Trixie.
The Summit House - This is the house the Bethany inherited when her Mom passed away last year. Summit Avenue is considered by many the most outstanding example of original Victorian boulevard architecture in the United States. While this house was built in 1917, it is still a stately and elegant home. It has many perks including a in-groud pool and a hot tub. We eventually plan to move and live there full time but that will most likely not happen for at least a couple of years as there is much we would like to do and enjoy in our current home.
10.09.07 10.20 am
Patrick's Glossary - Entry 2
This is the second of several entries for the readers of my various locations around the interwebs. A definition of people, relationships, holdings, and terms that I refer to often:
Tiger and Polo - Our two cats. Like most cats, they have very distinctive personalities.
Tiger is very protective. When you make a plate of food, he likes to come up and sniff it. Not because he wants to eat it, but because he wants to make sure it is OK before you eat it. Bethany tells me that when she first took Polo and Tiger in from their previous owner, Tiger would back Polo into a corner to keep him away from Bethany. He would not let Bethany near Polo until he approved. Tiger is very sweet and likes to cuddle with us before bed each night.
Polo is very much a one person cat and Bethany is his person. He mostly hides from everyone else. He will only tolerate me in any real way if Bethany is around. He will usually jump into bed shortly after we have fallen asleep and will tap Bethany’s face with his paw in the morning when the alarm goes off to make sure she hears it. He also has a tendency to leave hit cat toys in the other animals food bowls. We are not quite sure if this is out of protection or spite but we lean towards the latter.
10.06.07 01.02 pm
Patrick's Glossary - Entry 1
This is the first of several entries for the readers of my various locations around the interwebs. Here is a definition of people, relationships, holdings, and terms that I refer to often:
Princess Bethany - My wife, best friend and soul mate. Mother of my future daughter. The woman I have waited all of my life to find. We do almost everything together. She is one of the few people that I never tire of and am always intrigued by.
My sons, Maxim and Miles -They are aged 16 and 14 respectively.
Trixie - My future daughter (not yet here). Due date, February 14th but, you know, kids never listen. Therefore could be anytime.
Roy the Wonderpug - My old Pug dog. He is getting up there in age and can no longer walk. He has lost control of most of his bodily functions as well. His time is coming soon. He has been a good companion and I will miss him deeply.
Geronimo! - Our new dog. He is a 7 year old Keeshond with a real joy for life. A bit of a handful and a bundle of affection. Hence the reason I spell his name with a bang (!).
09.07.07 03.48 pm
A funny thing happened on the way to the blog...
Sorry for the lack of posts as of late. There are many reasons for this that I could list here but they would all sound like a lot of excuses. They would not hold much water anyway. The fact is that I have been posting a fair amount other places. Just not here.
Many who know me are aware of the fact the I have a very broad set of interests. When I started this blog, it was supposed to be just a place for me to post any old thing I wanted. Anything that had my attention at the time. Apple news, productivity stuff, film and media, science, religion - anything. I had a handful of readers. Most of them were friends, or family, or internet acquaintances. They stopped by to see what was on my mind that day or week. They stopped by after Apple news broke to see my take on it. They stopped by to see what I had to say about an article on particle accelerators that I read. They stopped by to see what was up with me and Princess Bethany. It was a lot of fun. It was mine.
It just so happened that, I caught the GTD bug right around the time that über-meme was beginning to catch fire. Therefore, I just happened to be posting a lot about that subject because that is what was up with me. I had this new and very busy life and personal productivity, lifehacks, Moleskine, Backpack, GTD was helping me get through it.
Then, to my amazement, my little musings on these subjects started getting linked by others. Not just any others mind you, but some of the gurus of the GTD field. My traffic from this exposure grew exponentially. More and more people were coming to the site, looking for more and more of that type of information. Therefore, I felt the obligation to deliver, since that is what so many of my visitors were looking for. My little spot on the net became “Patrick Rhone’s Personal Productivity Blog”. I soon felt like I could not post about other things that captured my attention because that is not what people were visiting for. People wanted GTD. They wanted lifehacks. They wanted info on web apps. It was an obligation. It was a task. It stopped being fun. It stopped being mine. It belonged to the readers.
This being said, I am posting a whole bunch some other places. You may even find some of those posts of interest. Here is where you can often see me:
The Random Post - This is my current favorite baby. It really is as close to what I originally intended for this blog. Just like the name implies, I post anything that captures my interest or that I run across in my internet travels. I post short little reviews about stuff I read, see or buy. My del.icio.us links and Flickr photos get aggregated there as well. I am having a lot of fun with it.
Jaiku - This is fairly new for me but I am having fun with the whole idea of “microblogging”. If you want to see what I am doing and where I am going on a regular basis, this is a low impact way to see.
Team Trixie - This is the blog I have started to keep family and friends updated as to the progress of my (yet to be born) daughter. For those not aware, Princess Bethany and I are having a baby.
Geek Gather - This is a collection of friends of mine that get together on a regular basis at a local venue to talk tech and such.
In addition, I have several other projects in the cooker but not ready to share those yet.
I am not quite sure where to go next with my feelings stated above on this site, or what to do to change them. I have some ideas but they are not well fleshed out, and may not come while patrickrhone.com is in it’s current configuration. That does not mean that you wont see any more posts here. You will. Just expect them with the frequency that they have been for the past few months (i.e. occasionally).
Thanks to all of you who have followed this far. I hope not to let you down.
08.01.07 09.36 pm
35W Bridge Collapse in Minneapolis
For those who are not in the know, there was a major bridge collapse in Minneapolis today. It is unbelievable, surreal and tragic. Everyone I know, including many who take that bridge every day near that time, are OK so far. Peace be with those affected.
06.09.07 12.26 pm
The Random Post
Just a reminder to my regular readers. When you do not see much activity here, feel free to check out my tumblelog - The Random Post.
There you will find cool links, photos, quotes, funny words and odd angles. Basically, it is all the little snippets that catch my attention while cruising the interwebs and is far less structured than the posts here.
If you do check it out, and you enjoy it, I would love to hear your feedback. Heck, I would love to hear your feedback even if you don’t.
04.21.07 09.42 am
MinneBar Liveblogging
I am currently at MinneBar, an un-conference happening in the Lowertown area of Saint Paul today. Looks to be a great day with many promising sessions.
I am liveblogging the event (or at least the sessions I am attending) over at my other web space - The Random Post. Hop on over and check it out for some regular live updates.
04.02.07 04.28 pm
Introducing – The Random Post
The Random Post is my new little experiment in blogdom. It is a tumblelog which is described by Wikipedia as “…a variation of a blog, that favors short-form, mixed-media posts over the longer editorial posts frequently associated with blogging.”
Mainly, this will be the place I put all the little stuff that does not seem to be worthy of inclusion in a full post on patrickrhone.com. That being said, I do have my del.icio.us links feeding over there so you may see stuff show up there that I then decide to mention here.
I am using a free service called Tumblr to publish mine which makes it super easy. Gina at Lifehacker has an excellent tutorial for getting started with it. It is a really good solution for those who feel they don’t have the time to blog or would not know what to say.
In any case, take a look and tell me what you think.
03.24.07 08.19 am
Dipping My Toes In
I have come up with a plan I am going to try to overcome my current writers block. Instead of feeling like I have to come up with a lot to say about a particular thing, I am going to post what I am calling a “Quick Take” on it. This will leave me the option of coming back and saying more about a cool shiny new thing later without the pressure of feeling like I must. Therefore, look for a few of these over the coming days.