Currently Listening �g�tis Byrjun By Sigur R�s see related

I decided to go as a member of Blue Man Group for Halloween and go all out this year. Check out the damage:

Had a lot of fun “making the costume” but let me tell you that the beginning of winter is definitely one of the worst times to shave your head.

Had an incredible hike near the town of Glencoe in the western end of Scotland this past weekend. Let me first say that it was definitely the worst hiking conditions I’ve ever experienced. I’ve realized that there are very few clear, good weather days in Scotland. It was raining pretty much non-stop throughout most of the trek, visibility was often no more than 50 ft, 300 ft at best and we got lost on several occasions due to the complete lack of a proper trail and incredibly steep and thus mostly inaccessible slopes. I was with a group of 11 other hikers and we were trying to summit one of the nearby Munros known as Bidean nam Bian and then follow the ridge of this mountain to a nearby Munro called Stob Coire nam Beith. We hiked on, but never found the summit, later finding out that we had hiked right to the middle ridge between the two without hitting either one. The weather continued to deteriorate and we found ourselves at a dead end, forcing us to turn back the way we came a hike downhill in the rain on a slope that was an average of about 45 degrees or steeper. The storm finally lifted during the last hour giving stunning views of the surrounding mountains, many still masked by dense, low-hanging clouds. I guess I could maybe say that I hiked 2 Munros halfway or one overall, but I doubt that would fly. Current Monro count: still 1. My clothes still have yet to fully dry from that hike.

I’ve been putting a bit more time volunteering with the Creative Waste Exchange, but I have a troubling feeling that the organization will never really catch on in any large capacity. I’d love to see a program like this in the Boston area that would reuse office supplies donated office supplies and other items that would otherwise go to the landfill and many people think that it’s a great idea in concept. The only problem is that people typically like and prefer having new things. I’ve been doing a lot of PR for the group over the past few weeks and that seems to be what I’m repeatedly finding. Though lots of people would love to help out a reduce waste, they’d much prefer to pay an extra few pounds to get something nice and new rather than a secondhand  item with some random business logo on the front. It’s only the rare few that will actually go out and actually get these reused items, either to do their part to reduce their own consumption of resources or simply, and more likely, to save money. It seems like it will forever be destined to exist as just a small niche market. I’m alright with that, it’s just I think it would still be nice to see this sort of program in the mass market.

I was listening to an interesting talk online the other day from the TED conference by Barry Schwartz where he talks about choice. He’s done some resource over the past few years on how when we’re given more choices we typically become unhappier by the outcome than when we have little choice, because we often feel that we didn’t make the “right” choice. It’s like if we have little choice we try to make the best of what we get in the end, but when given lots of choices it’s more likely to incapacitate us and we often focus on the negative aspects of out choice and regret our final decision. I can think of many occasions where that’s been true for me. The irony is that when given an option between having lots of choices and then only a few, people obviously go for being able to have more choices, even though it may make them unhappier in the end. Funny how the mind works. TED definitely has some of the best, more inspiring speeches I’ve ever heard. Check them out if you haven’t already at http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/index.cfm?flashEnabled=1. They add a few new talks every week. You’ll come away from them totally inspired.