velocity, impact.

12.4 pounds of miscellany packed every square inch of the large flat-rate box.  I smiled at the postal employee as he grunted under the one-handed weight, satisfied in the decisions mailed back.  There is that wonderful moment in suiting up a well-designed backpack - after toggles and buckles are adjusted the weight becomes almost an extension of yourself.  My daily laptop/messenger bag goes on first and sits low, forming something of a posterior shelf.  I then put my backpack on over that, giving me the carrying capacity + close fit of a more traditional hiking pack, sans the need to check it into the belly of the plane.  While I’m still carrying a hefty load, it now feels far more reasonable.

The last four months have been one jarring stomp on the accelerator pedal.  When my life changes in a radical way I tend to let go entirely, or at least let things run wide. Truth be told I wasn’t planning this trip.  I didn’t know I’d be saying an extended goodbye to friends and family.  The sweeter side of oblivion overtook me entirely during those last few weeks in Seattle, and I smashed headfirst into New York City an exhausted mess of a man.



Lucky for me an old friend pays way too much for a great apartment with a fantastic view of the Hudson.  This is the kind of friendship that enjoys equal parts understood silence and insightful conversation, the former I sorely needed.  I’ve spent the last two weeks decompressing / preparing myself for the leap back into project #1.  I wish I could spend a lot more time here, but honestly I’m not sure the elbow-to-elbow environment would have been conducive to getting much work done.

Where will I work?  Not New York.

Next stop: Berlin, for 2+ months.  My goal is to have a Beta of project #1 launched before I leave Europe, else I risk facing a non-Western character set for that critical testing phase.  Fake data can only take you so far…