On Deciding . . . Better 3.0

Self Portrait in Steel, originally uploaded by jjvornov.

I’ve got shelves of books on time management, leadership, and, of course, decision making. In the last two years, working as more of “A Creative”, I’ve moved more toward reading about personal achievement. Biographies are good and I just finished “Snowball” which will probably be the the definitive contemporary biography of Warren Buffet.

I’m now reading “Effortless Mastery” by Kenny Werner. It’s aimed at jazz musicians, but takes an approach to creativity that resonates with me. I was reading it on a plane trip home yesterday and realized that since I was going to in meetings during daylight, I didn’t bring a camera. As I was walking through the airport I realized that the iPhone I was holding was a camera and went into a visually receptive mode. The reflections in the steel columns were visually interested and I captured a few images during the long walk toward the car.

My thanks to 1001 Noisy Cameras for again featuring my Flickr photography as part of their flickr member showcase They’re the best photo news aggregator that I know of and provide a nice hub for keeping up on the latest gear rumors and reviews.

I for one have too many good cameras for now. The Sigma DP1 really provides me with an almost effortless experience as long as I can slow myself down to its speed of capture. I had a nice groove last week in Cambridge and came home with a small number of images that fit together nicely.

OC Pipe, originally uploaded by jjvornov.

I had a short trip to the Boston Area. I brought the Sigma DP1 along. It was too cold to comfortably take photographs, but the DP1 proves itself over and over to me as a great travel companion. A small package that produces unique, high quality images. I found myself falling into the rhythm of single shot composition quickly. Base ISO, auto focus and program, evaluative metering. Easy.

Rocks in the Grass, originally uploaded by jjvornov.

January 1 and I’m back on the bike. With 26 degree F tempertures and gusty winds, it was an indoor training session.

Just a year ago, I wrote about my first experiments with 8 second intervals. There was a buzz about a publication from Australia showing that very short high intensity interval training was effective training both for improving fitness and weight loss.

What I liked about it was that it was a relatively easy way to get my work levels up to high levels rapidly on the bicycle trainer in a way that was hard work but seemed easier to achieve and maintain.

Interestingly on the bike today I didn’t get up into as high a heart rate zone today as I did a year ago. It felt like a mismatch between aerobic fitness and leg strength. The effort I was able to put at the pedals wasn’t enough of a demand to really push my heart rate up.

Unfortunately it may not be due to improved fitness but rather loss of power from being off the bike for a few months. I think this workout will be become a weekly staple for a while, so I’ll be looking for rapid improvement as I build back muscle strength specificity on the bike.