Blog Posts About: personal

This summer we've been experimenting and exploring new paths for Common Craft. One of our priorities is to be more authentic and personal in how we communicate. I say "we", but Sachi prefers to remain behind the scenes, so it's really just me. 

What does it mean to be more authentic and personal? For one, it means being more accessible online and publishing a variety of things. Like you, we are more than our work, and I'm hoping to be more open about our lives and who we are, outside of the videos and business.

Lately, I've been experimenting with live videos on the Common Craft Facebook page. I just turn on the camera and talk for a couple of minutes. I've come to enjoy it because I can talk to you more casually and I hope that you can feel more of a connection than you would otherwise. It's never perfect and that's part of the fun of live video. It's real. 

Yesterday's live video was about a weekly newsletter I've written for a few years called Ready for Rain, which is mostly stories and anecdotes from my personal life. The video mentions this week's issue (#115), called "The Westward Wind". The story is about solving a mystery regarding a cool wind that blows by our house each evening in the summer. I finally figured it out and this post is, at heart, an explanation. Here's the live video:

I've love to have you as a subscriber to Ready for Rain. You can read all back issues and subscribe here. 

To go along with the release of our latest video that explains podcasts, we’re sharing some of our favorite podcasts along with how we listen.

Sachi and I listen to podcasts both together and individually. Most of our listening together happens in the car. However, we have tackled longer form podcasts as a kind educational project. For example, we listened to Mike Duncan’s long-form podcasts on The History of Rome and The French Revolution from his Revolutions series. As we listened, we’d look up images for objects or scenes he described and then debriefed after each episode. We learned together and it became a great way to feel productive and entertained.

I love podcasts, in part, because I can listen and do another activity at the same time, like drawing or exercising. Also, it can allow me precious time away from a screen. Sachi, who always seems to be optimizing for productivity, finds that podcasts motivate her to keep pushing through a home project or even find additional tasks that give her more reasons to keep listening.

How We Listen

We are both fans of the Overcast app (iOS only). We sometimes ask Alexa to play our favorite podcasts, which happens through TuneIn. And other times, we use the Stitcher app.

Our Favorite Podcasts

Lately, we’ve been fans of daily news podcasts that offer a single story or short updates relevant to the day’s news. A few of our favorites are:

The Daily (New York Times)

The Post Reports (Washington Post)

The Indicator (Planet Money/NPR)

Up First (NPR)

Today Explained (Vox)

 

On the general interest side, we often enjoy podcasts that are more tech, science or design oriented. A few we love:

99% Invisible (Wide-ranging look at the thoughts and ideas behind ideas and products)

Endless Thread (Stories based on popular Reddit threads)

Reply All (Geek-oriented stories by entertaining co-hosts)

Hidden Brain (Interesting psychology and science stories and discoveries)

 

A few history podcasts that we find interesting:

Hardcore History (Entertaining look at some of the most important people and events in history)

American History Tellers (Stories from American history, with some reenactments) 

Revisionist History (Not really historical, but Malcolm Gladwell takes another look at ideas from the past)

 

I’m a big fan of true crime related podcasts and enjoy:

Criminal (Stories of criminals)

Ear Hustle (A look at the reality of prison life, partially produced from San Quentin)

Mafia (Stories of notorious gangsters)

Sword and Scale (Sometimes graphic and upsetting true crime stories)

 

Sachi enjoys British media and a few of the BBC Radio 4 shows:

Infinite Monkey Cage (Panel discussions of scientific topics)

In Our Time (Very wide-ranging panel discussions with experts)

From Our Own Correspondent (Discussions between BBC correspondents, journalists)

Related: The Guardian Long Read Podcast (Audio versions of popular Guardian long reads)

 

On the business and entrepreneur side, we like:

Business Wars (The stories behind the biggest business rivalries)

How I Built This with Guy Raz (Interviews with people who experienced extreme success)

Startup (Series focused on starting a business)

Without Fail (Interviews with people who have done difficult things)

 

And some general interest/catch-all options:

All Songs Considered (NPR Music podcasts where hosts play their favorite new music)

Freakonomics Radio (A wide-ranging show about the “hidden side of everything”)

Love + Radio (A artfully made podcast that usually focuses on one person’s unique experience)

Pop Culture Happy Hour (Pretty much what it sounds like)

Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine (She’s a physician, he’s funny. They’re a married couple talking about the history of medicine)

Too Beautiful to Live - A daily podcast hosted by Luke Burbank and Andrew Walsh that covers news, pop culture and witty observations by the hosts.

Video: Podcasts Explained

I'd love to hear about your favorites in the comments...

 

Through a rigorous search and even more rigorous interview process, we've decided to make our first hire. His name is Bosco and he's just over 6 weeks old.  Over time and with some management, we expect that he'll become a very valuable member of the team. Follow him on Twitter: @boscolefever

He's half-lab, half-springer spaniel, which is the same mix as Amos, our last dog.  Read more about Amos here and here.

UPDATE:  We've been through a lot with this little puppy.  From the moment we brought him home from the family that owned his Mom, he was happy, but seemed more lethargic than we expected.  He had some loose bowels and minor vomit, but we thought it would pass.  It didn't and he became more lethargic. Over a few days and many vet visits, he started to lose weight and had little interest in food or water. He was a very sick puppy and you could see it in his face.  Nothing so cute should be so sick. Heartbreaking.

It turns out that Bosco had Canine Parvovirus, an extremely contagious virus that attacks the intestinal track of dogs. It keeps the dog from being able to absorb nutrients. It's a very serious disease that is often fatal, especially if untreated.  On our vet's recommendation, we had him admitted to an Animal Hospital, where he would be isolated and cared-for 24 hours a day.  The treatment plan was long and included plasma infusions, feeding tubes, IVs and multiple medicines.  The idea is to keep him stable with supportive therapy and let the disease run its course. There is a vaccine for Parvo, but as a 6 week-old puppy, he had not yet been vaccinated.

Bosco was in the hospital 3 nights and came home on Sunday night, almost completely recovered. It seems that he had a light case of the virus and responded well to the care.  Now we have a lively, energetic and hungry puppy with no signs of disease.  We just need to put him to work so he can help with the pet bills.  

We quite literally owe Bosco's life to the care he received through our local vets. Both Four Paws Veterinary Clinic (our normal vet) and VCA Five Corners Animal Hospital were amazing. Professional, informative and empathetic. Highly recommended.

A couple of months ago, I presented a 5 minute presentation at Ignite Seattle called "Where Goldfish Come From" that is based on my experience growing up as a son of a goldfish farmer in North Carolina.  The Ignite series happens around the globe and each presenter has 20 slides that display for 15 seconds each, and auto-advance.  It's a challenge to make it work, but I enjoy it.

Here's the video:

Learn more at BlueRidgeKoi.com

It's a sad day at Common Craft headquarters.  Our 15-year-old dog Amos passed away today. 

I picked him from a litter of puppies in the back of a pickup truck in Boone, NC in 1994. Since then he was a constant source of love in our lives.  They don't make 'em better than him - we were lucky have him for so long.

Amos, September 4th, 2009

See Having an Old Dog for a bit more about Amos.