UX Week 2009 | Aaron Forth | Adaptive Path from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

Ingredients

Serves 4 as a side.
* 1 pound of Brussels sprouts
* 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
* salt and pepper
* pinch of sugar

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Cut the sprouts in half through the north and south poles (not equator). You may elect to remove the nub of a stem, but it’s really unnecessary. Drizzle some olive oil on top and toss with salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar.

2. Lay the cut sprouts in a single layer on a baking sheet or casserole pan and place in the oven for 45 minutes.

3. After 30 minutes start checking to see how they are coming along. Do not be afraid to get some color on them. I prefer mine quite dark and almost burnt looking. The inside will have a creamy almost custardy consistency, and the sugars will caramelize.

Some options to try
If you want to spruce things up a bit, try adding bacon (cut up in small, ¼-inch pieces) in the last 10 minutes of baking. Try pairing it with grilled beef, guava, or mustard. They all share the same flavor profiles, so you might discover a new combination you like.

The older I get, the more I realize how little I know. I am not talking about an overall naivety but the discovery of new skills, techniques, and just factoids that I would absolutely be considered elementary in. What’s important about this discovery is not how it should make me feel (stupid), but how it actually makes me feel – enlightened.

In stark contrast, I encounter people every day that would rather do something wrong than admit they really don’t know how and just ask for help. We are all adults here and I have personally never laughed or chastised someone who asked for help. What’s the problem then? Pride? I think it’s much more. It’s a level of unfounded confidence that fools people into realizing how little they know.

A couple of weeks ago it occurred to me that my roommates were using the balloon whisk attachment for the KitchenAid to make their banana and pumpkin spice breads. They were using a tool meant to whisk and introduce air into cream and eggs to mix thick batters for bread. What really struck me about this is the confidence they carried with them week after week, mistake after mistake. They have clearly never used a standmixer but when it came time to pick among four attachments, they considered the balloon whisk the best bet. Let’s put aside the food science aspect of things (how whisking and mixing differ) and even common sense and you still have a glaring problem. Rather than asking me (the owner of the mixer) how to do something, they just did it. It doesn’t end there. Not only were they doing it wrong, but they were so confident in their choice that they could not even imagine the choice being wrong. And that’s the real issue here.

I had some guests over for dinner a few months ago and we were splitting up tasks. I asked one of them if she knew how to use a knife and she replied as if she was insulted – “Pshhhaw, duh!” I was not sure how to respond so I handed her the cutting board, food, and knife and let her at it. Even with my back to her, I could tell by her comments and the sound the knife was making against the food and board that at the very least she was damaging my knife and at the very worse was going to seriously injure herself. Why didn’t she just ask for help?

I tell these stories because admitting you don’t know something and learning how to use a tool or perform a task correctly helps everyone. Let’s talk about knife skills, perhaps one of the most important in the kitchen and certainly the only common thread in every dish you make, whether it’s stir fry, fresh pasta, or a poached fish. Why is it then, that cooks put so little investment in their knives? Let’s ignore the physical knife for now (that will have to wait for another post), and focus on the use of a knife.

It does not take much to learn how to use a knife properly. And why wouldn’t you want to make the investment? A knife is a sharpened shard of sharp metal. It can stab you and cut you. You would not pick up a gun you were unfamiliar with without some proper instruction first, would you? Then why is a knife any different? If there’s one kitchen skill you want to learn how to master – it’s the knife. Use a saucer the wrong way – I don’t care. But if you are going to be in the kitchen, learn how to use a knife, for godsake.

So, where do you start? Well first find someone to teach you. I don’t care if it’s your neighbor or Food Network (thanks Alton Brown). You can’t learn unless you ask. Then practice, practice, practice. Cook. A lot. Often. That’s the only way you’ll get better. Yesterday, my friend Prakash, asked me how I cut an onion. So we spent 10 minutes discussing it in great detail over chat. An onion. Yeah, not how to filet a fish or carve a chicken. An onion. He asked me how I learned and I admitted I actually Googled it and watched videos on YouTube and various tutorial sites. Lame? Maybe a little, but I’d rather be embarrassed and eating than smug and in the hospital.

Next time you are in the kitchen with someone, watch them use a knife. Does it look like they have any control of their knife or is there a nervousness in their movement? Do they cut with certainty and deliberateness or is there hesitation. Is food sliding around? Is there slippage? If they seem like a pro and you could use some tips, ask for help. Or if they need it, offer them your advice.

Out first Bite Club was on August 18th 2008 and I kicked us off with a fresh summer Pasta Dish:

Since then we’ve had many awesome evenings together and from our idea has spawned a Santa Barbara chapter and a website posting all of our recipes and adventures.

Here they are:
Seven Steps to Better Presentations

“I’ve noticed a lot of talk about Powerpoint lately. About how it’s so terrible and how it enables awful presentations. But the problem isn’t Powerpoint, of course. The problem is bad content delivered poorly.

I speak for a living, and hear lots and lots of presentations at the conferences I attend. Here are some notes I wrote up for someone who is about to give his first ever public presentation.”

1. Tell stories. Seriously. People could care less about the five ways some XML vocabulary will enable enterprise whatever. Rather, put a screenshot of your project up, tell people what you learned while doing it, then give them a slide that reiterates those ideas in easy to digest bullets. That’s interesting. Even more interesting are before-and-after screenshots. Better yet: a step-by-step evolution. Just do not go from bullet-point slide to bullet-point slide trying to tell people what to think.

2. Show pictures. Got a good metaphor? Use it. “The Web is like a school of fish.” But go to images.google.com and type in “sardines” or “school of fish” or whatever. Make it a slide. Then say the Web is like that. Much more powerful and memorable.

3. Don’t apologize. Ever. If something is out of order, or if something occurs to you as a mistake during the presentation, keep it to yourself. They’ll never know. Besides, nobody cares about the presentation itself. This is really hard, because you know the whole backstory, and you’ll be tempted to explain why something isn’t quite perfect. Skip it. Also, you don’t need to apologize about the color on the projector, or the fact that your mic just popped off your lapel, or that a staff person spilled a pitcher of water. Commiserating is fine, however. “If it gets another 5 degrees colder in here, I’ll be able to see my breath!”

4. Start strong. I can’t believe how many presenters forget this. Do not get up there and say, “Um, well, I guess we should probably get started.” Instead, say, “Hi, I’m Jeff. It’s really great to be here, and thank you so much for coming to my session. Today, we’re going to talk about….” Make sure those are the absolute first words you say out loud. No need for a joke or an opening or any of that. Just start strong and confident.

5. End strong too. “…so that’s why I like social software. I appreciate your attention today. Thank you.” Then stand there and wait. Everyone will clap, because you just told them you were done. When they’ve finished, ask them if they have any questions. If nobody asks anything, break the uncomfortable silence with “Well, I guess I told you everything you need to know then. [heh heh] I’ll be around after if you think of anything. Thanks again!” and start packing up your stuff.

6. Stand. Away from the podium. Out from behind the presenter table. Keep your hands out of your pockets. Take off your conference badge (the lights will catch it and be distracting). I pace a little bit around the stage, timed with my points, saying one thing from over here, and another from over there. But don’t move too much.

7. Pause. When you say something important, leave a gap after it. Let it hang there for a few seconds. Try it when talking to your friends. “You know what I think? (pause…two…three…four…) I think Bush is bankrupting this country for the next twenty years. (pause…two…three…four…) Here’s why…”

While I learned a lot from each speaker, I think the one that had the most meaningful impact on me was Don Norman’s talk titled “In Favor of Complexity”. While this spans many fields, on the web we see designers today trying to make things as simple as possible which may not always be the right solution. Norman argues that because life and people are complex, the tools we use or the things we interact with must (but not always) be complex as well. He gave a few examples that covered devices like an Italian espresso machine to Al Gore’s messy desk. In the desk example, just because I can’t go into Mr. Gore’s office and understand where things are doesn’t mean it isn’t an efficient/productive workspace environment for him. My take away from Don’s talk is that intuitive designs come are based on understanding and providing tools to afford more complex inputs might not be such a bad idea.

Here are 10 highlights over the past year (in no particular order):

I Built a house

Noelle Graduated

From Noelle's Graduation

My good friend Tushar left to Singapore for a year

From Tushar's Goodbye

I went to Paris

From Paris 2008

… Twice

From Valeo UX visit

My Best friend got Married …

From Sean & Kristen's Wedding

… And gave me the honor of being his best man.

From Sean & Kristen's Wedding

I treated my kids to a college tour of Portland State

From Portland 2009

I did a 40 mile hike through the Gila National Wilderness with close friends.

From MBT 2008

I went to Hip Hop Internationals (no I didn’t compete)

From sort

Yea there is a bunch more that happened but we all know how awesome I am at blogging. Maybe i’ll write more frequently? Probably not =p

I moved into a new apartment in Sunnyvale with my buddy Eric from college. The last apartment I had raised the rent about 45% on me in two months (no there is no rent control) so I figured that if I was going to be paying that much for rent I might as well move away from the train tracks . In the process of the move, I lost my point and shoot camera which is why you haven’t seen many picture updates from me. I have a new camera on rush for my trip to Paris. Hopefully I’ll get to post while I’m there (or at least sometime in the next 2 weeks as opposed to 2 months)