I checked my YouTube stats yesterday and was surprised to see that my timelapse construction movie has been viewed over 25,000 times. That is enough to motivate me to start getting more of my timelapse movies online. Here is a link to my YouTube page, and below is another construction video that shows some cranes dancing around:

I either buy music on iTunes or at independently owned record stores. If I am in Denver I visit Twist and Shout. If I am in visiting Lincoln, Nebraska I stop at Recycled Sounds. Here in Greeley I enjoy The Finest. You probably have a pretty good idea of what these stores are like. The walls are covered in concert posters. The walls are lined with old vinyl stuffed into cardboard boxes. An eclectic blend of music plays over the sound system. There is an intimidating alternative-looking guy at the counter. They all seem to have that smell of incense. I could probably buy most of the same music anywhere else: Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Target or even the grocery store. It just wouln’t be the same. It would feel cheap. It wouldn’t be any fun. Buying music is fun when it is tied to a memorable experience. Searching through a stack of LPs feels like a treasure hunt. It is fun to take a risk and take the recommendation of that intimidating chick behind the counter. It is nice to have the memory of hearing a song for the first time in a dusty old record shop. You don’t get that fuzzy feeling from dropping $17.00 at a Circuit City.

The funny thing is that the record store is my second choice for where to buy music. The majority of my music purchases happen on iTunes. It is convenient. It is automatically synced with my iPod. I can “discover” a band through an mp3 blog and instantly sample and purchase some songs. I can buy single songs or a whole album. It is still an experience even if it is nothing like the record store.

Since I am on the topic of music, maybe you would like to know what I have been listening to over the past couple weeks. Here are some bands that have been getting repeat listenings with links to The Hype Machine where you can download some mp3’s

Yeasayer - Check out “2080″ if you haven’t heard it.
Phoenix - I started listening to them based on a recommendation from Wes Anderson.
Sea Wolf - “Black Dirt” is a great track.

Several things have crossed my path this week that have to do with the power of exponential numbers. The first was a great movie called Soylent Green which takes place in a future on an over-populated Earth. Here is a video clip of the opening credits:

The second exponential example comes from the Colbert Report where Steven Colbert interviews Chris Jordan. Chris is a photographer whose work tries to show the amount of waste that everyone in America discards every day. Very interesting interview and artist. You can watch the interview here.

The final exponential observation has to do with an addicting little online game called Vector TD. Beating a level involves destroying vectoids that get a harder with each level. Don’t start playing unless you can afford the exponential time sucking side effects!

Do you ever ask yourself this simple question: Am I happy? I guess it isn’t that simple of a question becuase I sometimes struggle to answer it. For many people happiness is most directly tied to there jobs. When they struggle with happiness they might ask question like:

“Do I like the people I work for?”

“Could I be making more money?”

“Is the work I am doing rewarding/meaningful/fun/important?”

This can’t be an original idea, but it struck me that if a person could be satisfied in all three of those areas (people, money, projects) then they would have reached complete career happiness. I sketched the following diagram to illustrate the Complete Career Happiness Continuum™.

As you can see there are three factors that contribute to career happiness: good co-workers, good projects and good money. If you are short in one area then you fall into one of the three gray areas of misery:

1. You like the people you work with and you enjoy your work, but the pay stinks.
2. You make good money and like the people you work for but the work is terrible.
3. You love your work and the pay is good but your co-workers are losers.

For me I have a hard time complaining about any one of those factors. I like the people I work with. I am getting paid to do something I love. I am making decent money. So why can’t I just say, “Yes, I am happy!?” I think this is where my diagram falls apart. It doesn’t take into account the “grass is greener” part of human nature. You are always going to want to make more money. You are never going to get along with everyone you work with. No matter how great your projects are, there will always be times when it is just work. I guess the challenge of being happy is learning to be content with what you have. Unfortunately, that sounds more like a fortune cookie than words to live by. I wonder if I could be happy writing fortunes for a living. Hmmm.

A couple weeks ago I was contacted through YouTube by a user wanting to use one of my cloud timelapse movies in his music video. I happily gave him the green light and below you can see the result of his work. It is a techno mix of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. I assume that is him playing the piano. Warning: this clip contains neon green Papyrus. Font faux pas aside I actually digg the music. What do you think?