Paul Merrill | Shiny Bits of Life

December 15, 2015December 17, 2015

A single focus

a medicine bottle in the dark My molar was still aching, even though the dentist with a thick accent completed the filling a week ago. So it was time for ibuprofen.

After the drug was consumed, I returned to our medicine cabinet to place the bottle on its shelf. Being of orderly mind, I attempted to turn the bottle where others could quickly determine its contents.

Not an easy task. In the dark, the front of the bottle looked like the back.

A simple design choice could have solved this problem. If the designer had made “Ibuprofen” in large type with strong contrast, users could speedily identify the contents in low light or daylight.

That points to the idea, dear readers, that whatever communications piece we are creating, whether a simple email or a lengthy novel, we need to focus on our main point.

December 8, 2015December 12, 2015

We need the perspective of others

face made up of trash cans Hipster coffee shop. Fun visit with family.

My daughter noticed the face that their trashcan and recycling bin made.

I never would have seen that on my own. But after seeing her perspective, I never can look at that corner the same way again.

We need others to show us things we don’t see.

Sometimes I need to ask, and sometimes another perspective is volunteered. Either way works fine.

December 1, 2015November 21, 2015

Give yourself variety

Don Henley in Rolling Stone Magazine We all need variety. It keeps our brains firing properly.

One area of intentional variety in my small life is my whiteboard at work. I really don’t use it as a whiteboard, but I do tape interesting things to it, in my attempt to provide some changing scenery.

I would urge you to look for areas you can change – to give your average days a little extra spice.

By the way, Don Henley is no longer on my whiteboard. The latest tenants are a band called Public Access TV.

November 24, 2015November 23, 2015

Losing touch

It’s easy to lose touch.

The buyer of this $200,000+ Mercedes Maybach sedan will think little of paying another $5,000 for a fancy sunroof. (The Magic Sky Control roof will let you change its opacity from fully opaque to clear in a matter of seconds.)

It’s easy for me to cast stones. Recently, Heather and I got new phones that cost way too much. (Our kids have been giving us a hard time, and justifiably so.) Compared to $5,000 for a fancy sunroof, new phones that we use every day for tons of productive (and not so productive) things seems to be sensible.

But when I think about kids in developing countries going hungry – and that a fraction of our monthly phone bill could feed several, I can’t justify this extravagance.

To the Maybach owner, extravagance means one thing. To me, another. But we both need to step back and see the bigger picture. We’re both losing touch.

November 17, 2015November 17, 2015

Stop vs. Yield

stop-sign In England, there are fewer stop signs per intersection than in the USA. I wish America would follow the UK in this area.

If you see no drivers coming, it saves time for you and the people behind you if you slow down, rather than coming to a complete stop. Slowing down also saves fuel, compared to completely stopping and then speeding back up.

Maybe it boils down to trust. The driving test in England is much harder than in the US. Drivers in the UK are required to be more qualified to be behind the wheel. (There are 2-3 times fewer traffic fatalities per capita in the UK compared to the US.) When I took the driving test in England, it was much harder.

The only downside to having fewer stop signs would be the loss of revenue from traffic tickets. Perhaps local governments could come up with a less predatory way to raise funds.

November 10, 2015November 16, 2015

Beauty is pain

shoes-of-ms-prada Just looking at this photo* caused me pain.

What great lengths people go to in pursuit of beauty – and have done for the scope of human history.

The vast majority of good things come with a cost.

Even enjoying a beautiful flower along the path requires you to take a moment to stop.

– –

*This is an excerpt of a photo taken by Craig McDean. It appeared in the November issues of WSJ magazine.

Footnote: The pain Miuccia Prada must experience while wearing these shoes must make her feel beautiful – enough to put up with the pain of wearing them.

November 3, 2015October 31, 2015

Assumptions

“Everyone has one.”

Tom Kundig, a famous architect said that about his Cab armchair by Mario Bellini. I did a quick Google search and discovered it costs about $5,500. For one chair.

The full quote is just as priceless: “It’s almost embarrassing to admit that [I own one] because everyone has one.”

Then I had to ask myself, when do I make assumptions about others? Quite often.

They look like that because they have no sense of taste.
They are struggling with that health problem because they refuse to exercise.
They keep failing at relationships because they…

You get the point. It’s too easy to assume things without knowing the bigger picture.

Photo by vetustanova on Tumblr.

October 20, 2015October 18, 2015

The good side of the Goodwill

old-receiver The past has value. The current often undervalues the past.

One change during the last fifty years is that youth is worshipped and age is scorned. This is true for people – but also for things.

Thankfully, this is reversing a bit. We saw the movie The Intern over the weekend. Robert De Niro plays a retired executive who joins a young CEO, played by Anne Hathaway. By the end of the movie, she comes to appreciate all that he can offer her startup company. (Yes, the transformation is a bit unbelievable, but this is a movie.)

In much the same way, charity shops sell a boatload of cast-off items that once held value. The audio receiver pictured here was once state-of-the-art. You can buy one like it for a song – if you visit the Goodwill store near you often enough.

Sometimes it takes a person from a past era to shine value on the items from that era to someone of a younger era. It’s a form of translation.

Maybe a translation bureau will open up. (Venture capitalists apply here. I’ll sign on to represent the 70s.)

October 13, 2015October 10, 2015

Will you use it?

a totally covered Toyota Land Cruiser How often do you use it? Is it worth covering when it takes 45 minutes to get it ready to use?

I passed this Toyota Land Cruiser on my way to work one morning. (I was on my bicycle, so it wasn’t hard to pause to take a quick picture.)

I understand the desire to collect nice things. But how often are you going to use that treasured item?

I ask myself this often. (Does it drive me to reduce my possessions? Not as frequently as I’d like!)

October 6, 2015September 22, 2015

Smaller can be better

two wireless external keyboards Two external keyboards – the larger is the one that I used to have at work. The smaller is my new one, and I love it.

I realized that the numbers keypad was forcing me to type at an odd angle to the screen. The new smaller keyboard lets me type in a more ergonomic position. It’s much lighter and easier to move out of the way, when I need to use more of my desk. And, it’s more elegant.

America is in love with big things. If you travel to almost any other part of the world, you’ll see small.

What can you go smaller with? Play around with this idea and you might enjoy the results!