clay all day: 10/01/2011

Monday, October 31, 2011

BOTTLED UP

Gemma and i made hot chocolate tonight.

we don't have any microwave-safe cups.

and these were just on the counter, so...

it was good-skis.

what can i say, he's been a brother to me. throughout the years Danny and i have remained good friends. we haven't always hung out with each other, and we weren't always as close as we are now. but i can guarantee you that the times we did, and the times we were, were some of the best times of my life. he's a loyal, honest, talented friend. we've done some pretty wack stuff together. last year in the talent show he played the ukelele while Marissa and i sang. he was the glue to our show. we wanted to call it off once but Danny persisted- the show must go on! and so it did. not even half a year ago we were on vacation together in the middle of the caribbean when suddenly (in his words) a demon from the infernal pit just attacked my friend [me]. we'll be on tv in a few weeks (maybe days, i'll keep you posted) together. all because he kept filming as the demonic monkey kept eating into my shoulder. curse you poncho. but i think my favorite thing about our friendship is the fact that we can sit around his kitchen table and talk about computers for hours. i wouldn't be lying if i said that a good eighty percent of our conversations had something to do with an Apple product or something we read on engadget or gizmodo. he's my right hand man when it comes to tech. i hope it stays that way when we both get back. he's leaving on wednesday to serve the people in honduras. and serve them he will. he's always had such a big heart and way with people that just makes you want to stop and listen. i'm going to miss him quite a bit, more than he knows. surf... and turf.

good luck out there Big D.

God be with you till we meet again.

follow his mission experiences here.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

NEVER FINISHED

every once in while i'll latch on to something.

and once i'm 'latched', i don't let go.

just ask my parents.

two summers ago i was a recluse.

i spent every day reading and learning, drawing and designing, thinking and solving. i wanted to make a game. and i wanted to more than anything. just ask Joh Donaldson. she was the only girlfriend i had in high school. we dated for (we debate about this) a month. and then suddenly i had this extreme desire to learn to 'code'. and so i stopped seeing her, i distanced myself from her and pretty much everyone around me. but the thing about me is that coding isn't enough. i want to control it all. i want to design it. i want to make the animations. i want to lay the foundation. i want to say that i did it. all. so i went at it alone. i got pretty far and i was a few months away launching my summer project. and then something happened. i received a phone call. Clay, this is Nick, from the Apple Store. we want you to work for us. can you meet me at the Store next week? i remember it all. and so i forgot all about my app. i let it go saying, i'll finish you later. in my free time. little did i know that my free time would soon disappear as work would dominate my schedule. and then, another phone call. Clay, it's Nick again. listen, we just got approval to hire you, but i need you to answer this question honestly. you said you were working on app- how devoted to it are you? i immediately knew what he was saying. i cut down the bush he was beating around and briskly answered not as devoted as i am to Apple. we started speaking legalese, going over my contracts- the things i had to stop doing- and i agreed to everything. over the next few weeks we finalized my hiring in ink. i said that as long as i worked for Apple, i would no longer code- seeing as i would have (limited) inside access to upcoming products and services. i stopped working on my app.

i'm glad i did.

i know how to do it better now. i'm a better coder. i have a better eye and appreciation for great design. i've learned to say no. Steve said a lot about narrowing your focus- about saying no.

"It comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much."

i had way too many ideas for my app. it was complicated. it was crowded with noise and confusion.

"That's been one of my mantras- focus and simplicity. Simple can harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains." -Steve Jobs

and so- i think i can do it better now. i have a lot to learn and i don't know anything about half of the stuff i run into. but it's fun and it keeps me thinking. i've always wanted to do this. and now that (legally) i can. i will.

this is small piece of what it looked like right before it was shelved.

everything is hand drawn. i didn't really know how to use photoshop.

i still don't.

i need to start there.

as well as fifty other places.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

FOLDS

i think this is brilliant.

i love that the colors on the paper look like they were sketched on with colored pencils, but when you see the final product, they have a nice gloss to them. contrast is my favorite. (well, one of my many favorites.)

the best part, though, is that they had a wonderful idea and made the tools to make the product.

they improvised and innovated.

and that is brilliant.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

MORNING DILEMMA

Monday, October 24, 2011

TOO SHORT

in a world filled with touch screens and tablets,

it's a dangerous thing to cut your thumb nail too short.

it can seriously chop your productivity in half.

i've done just that.

great.

IT'S OUT

the day has arrived.

seize it.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

TRUST FALL

it's fun. trust me.

this was more or less just a test of the camera on my phone.
do yourself a favor and watch it in hd.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

ON THE NEWS

remember how last week i didn't post at all?

well, on thursday something happened.

iPhone 4S came out and i just had to get it.

i slept in line at the gateway.

that place is a second home to me.

anyways, abc4 came to cover the launch.

and guess who was the expert in the field?

just watch.

two for two!

last year i was first in line for the iPad
and made my television debut.

BREAKFAST

too many toppings?

no way.

powdered sugar.

cinnamon sugar.

whipped cream.

maple syrup.

type two diabetes, here i come.

A PIXEL OF MY PICTURE

i'm not feeling so good right now.

i'm not sick, i'm just bleh..

i don't know how to explain it.

but i'll try.

being in college is fun. it's really fun. i love my roommates and the crazy things that we do. i never thought that shouting at the top of your lungs at one another just for fun is just that: fun. (you'd have to live here for a week to understand, it's something that i can't explain.) i love our neighbors and the crazy things they do to us. it's good to have someone burst through your door uninvited, unexpected, and unannounced. there's just something about being interrupted from study or homework or napping that keeps you on your feet. i love being able to clean my room when i want and on my own schedule. i love learning the bigger things in life- the things that require a higher level of thinking. i love riding my bike to school every day. heck, i just straight up love my bike! i love going to scoreboard grill everyday and getting the same thing: build your own double, two slices of american cheese, barbecue sauce and ketchup, bacon and lettuce. i say it like that every single time- with the commas in the same place- hoping that one day i'll be able to walk up to the counter and say: 'i'll have the regular', and out will come a burger made just for me, just the way i like it. i love going to work and getting to solve problems that are way above my head. i love the fact that my muscles have memorized certain keystrokes that allow me to create a program in the same way i create music at a piano. there is a beauty and a great power in knowing how to make a computer do anything you can dream of. i love my dreams. and that's where i want to start.

my dreams.

who am i? i can guarantee that if someone close to me answered that question, somewhere within the first ten words would be the word Apple. in the next ten you'd hear 'computer' mentioned twice. and in the next twenty would be the phrase 'he'll be the next Steve Jobs'. do you have any idea how badly that scares me- the fact that i've tied my life so closely to something that can simply be wiped from existence by a newer, cooler little box that has a few chips inside with a screen that displays fancy ones and zeros? the fact that three out of five conversations i have in the day are about computers and why one is better than the other? and not just that but the fact that people expect me to do something great? it consumes me. let me put it like this. have you ever sat on a bench in a public place, maybe in the shade of a tree or something more man-made, and just watched the people passing by? and have you ever wondered, what is he thinking about? where is he going? who does he want to see most right now? i walk by. the answers are: the future. to work. no one. that's my life. i have become so obsessed with inventing and creating that i've forgotten why i love the things i do. i'll explain. i love Apple for many reason, but at the core, at the very center, is one very simple and very plain answer. and i think the answer is best represented in these words.

"This is what we believe. Technology alone is not enough. Faster, thinner, lighter: those are all good things. But when technology gets out of the way, everything becomes more delightful. Even magical. That's when you leap forward. That's when you end up with something... like this."

it's because technology alone is not enough. technology is cold, hard, and mean. it doesn't care about you or what you're doing. in fact, often times it will hinder you and misbehave, deleting what you've dedicated your time to working on. frankly, the only thing it cares about is the electrons running across it's arsenic-laced paths. and that's where people tend to be blinded by it. they misunderstand it. they embrace it as it is- they think it's wonderful, that it will help them. they are wrong. they are dead wrong. it takes someone with a vision and a heart to make it right. but not only to make it right- to make it human. that's the point. that's what most people don't understand. you have to be able to stare the man in the eye, forget the wrongs he's done, forget the lies he's told and things he's stolen, and believe in him. believe that he can be a good person. then you have to make him a great person. only then will he be your friend. he will work for you, help you, keep your wellbeing at the front of his mind. he will talk to you, teach you things and together, you really can change the world.

it's through those eyes that you have to look at technology. it's not until you make it human that you can make it great. and that's what i've lost sight of. i've disconnected. i want to be great. i want to share my vision of the future, of what technology can do for us, with the world. i want to share it for the world. i want to build it. i want people to see what i see. but i can't do it unless i remember that.

"Technology alone is not enough. It's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields the results that make our hearts sing." - Steve Jobs

it's heavy.

it's a heavy thing to want. that's why i feel bleh. i feel like if i don't deliver then i've failed. but that's me. that's what i want.

i'm a different person once you know what i spend every waking second of life thinking about, aren't i? i mean, just listen to me. i sound crazy. but the craziest thing is- i believe it. i believe that i can do it. i'm crazy enough to want to do it. and that's why i will. it would only be fitting to finish with this.

"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

i love this stuff. i hope i didn't lose you there. it's hard to explain the core reasons behind what you love. but i did my best. it feels like a huge incomplete sentence that just runs on and on. but it feels good. that's the most complete picture of my mind to date. and what you got was a pixel. i wish you could see the whole thing.