Chris, Hugh and I were at Book Expo America over the weekend. While we were there, we saw the first copies of our book in actual real life. It was pretty awesome.

There’s something incredible about working really hard for a really long time on a project, with little or no reward, and then finally seeing something real show up, that was made and that you can hold. Of course, we had a nice turnout, so all that lasted only a short time before it was time to sign them all away.

That’s something that’s amazing about what we do, all of us, here on the web. We try to work hard, we have faith that it will have an impact, but we largely never hold something real in our hands. So it’s incredible to see something that people will not only see in bookstores, but hold in their bags and keep on their bookshelves.

I remember one rainy morning a while ago I was giving a girlfriend a few presents for her birthday. I woke up early and painted little cartoons on the wrapping paper. She liked the presents, sure, but somehow the wrapping paper made a huge difference.

It really is about the details, about things you will remember later because they’re real. Simple emotional stuff blurs over time, but actual objects, they can really bring you back.

Filed by Julien at 3:44 pm under the book
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It’s amazing looking at statistics on various URL shortening services.

We bloggers have always realized that there was a rough 80/20 (90/10?) ratio between those who comment and those who read, but services like tr.im really put it into perspective.

Example: The other night I was tweeting about random old 4chan memes (Rich Raven, Courage Wolf) and I got over 100 clickthroughs, even though no one said anything.

This brings me to the point of this post.

We all have moments when we feel appreciated, when someone tells us they like something we did or something else about us. I’m thinking there’s a ratio there too. So when someone comes up and says “I like your tweets” or any other compliment, there are likely a few more that think the same, but that don’t say anything.

It’s people’s natural tendency to say nothing (likely why most married people don’t feel appreciated enough), but this doesn’t mean they’re feeling nothing. I’m thinking they are, and they’re thinking about you. ;)

Filed by Julien at 1:57 pm under random
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I saw Duncan Moore at a café the other day. We chatted about bootstrapping and some new projects. He looked excited, and I offered up a great presentation on the subject I had seen by one of the 37signals guys*.

Later he left, and sent this out to his Twitter stream, below.

Here’s the great thing that most people don’t do: If you’re ever thankful for something, it’s great to put it on paper like Duncan did for everyone to see. The person who helped (me) will see it, and the broadcast (tweet, blog post, whatever) will be an added benefit that will be seen by others.

Those of us that are online, those for whom the web is an important place, where we try to do business, these references matter to us because they’re seen by everyone. A public reference is worth a ton, especially when it’s accompanied by a link (which is hard to get these days). If you can tweet AND link, that’s even better.

So if you’ve ever done this for me (or anyone else), thank you. Really. And let me know if I ever should have done it for you! :)

* (BTW, hat tip to SEOmoz for pointing out the video in the first place.)

Filed by Julien at 2:50 pm under strategy
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The word waffle is pretty interesting.

First of all, it’s negative. It says, “this guy is changing his mind,” and probably over and over again. And sometimes waffling can be bad, but not always.

If you don’t change your mind, by definition, you’re accepting the decision made by a younger, stupider version of yourself.

Some religious people are like this. They decided a while ago that [X] was true and now they’re not going to change their mind, no matter what. Same thing with politics, sometimes, or any complex issue for that matter.

As time goes on, we learn more. Rules change, and we change. We should be ok with changing our minds.

I’ve always tended to hang out with older people, and I’m glad about that. I’m spending time with people that have more life experience than me. That doesn’t mean they’re always smart, but hey, it does give it a higher likelihood. :)

Filed by Julien at 1:13 pm under random
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We sure travel a lot in social media. Conferences, business meetings, long distance relationships… along the way, we meet a lot of great people that do really exciting stuff all over the world.

But we can’t ignore our local talent, either. Last night, I was hanging out with two good friends, also great people, and I realized something: There are great people everywhere.

And I think a lot of us, on the local side, are really missing out.

A lot of my day ends up being spent chatting with smart people all over the US and Canada, but they’re far away, and there are tons of locals doing great stuff, too. You probably know some of them.

I know body modification professionals, Zen monks and experimental musicians. You might know other kinds of people I wouldn’t dream of meeting.

So here’s the challenge I’m putting to my friends: Introduce me to the coolest people you know, and I’ll do the same for you. They don’t have to be related to the internet (in fact, maybe they shouldn’t be) and should be the kind of people we wouldn’t normally meet.

Here’s another challenge for those that know me less well, or that are far away: Do this yourself. See what happens. I dare you.

Filed by Julien at 8:57 am under random
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Unbelievably, I am still reading a book a week, and have been doing so since January 1st of this year. I’ve been experimenting with this since 2007, so I’m really pleased to say that it’s still working for me.

Reading books regularly is the best thing I think you can do for yourself. You read on the web all the time but I’m betting this will be more fulfilling. Try it– here are some tips.

If you want to do this, the system is pretty simple: put it into your schedule, as early in the day as possible. Read a set number of pages per day (40-50 is a good rule of thumb) and you’ll see the books fly by. Sometimes you finish early, so you can get a bit of a head start on other weeks.

Instead of typing in all the books I read, though, here’s a picture of some of my favourites.*

* As I was taking this picture, I realized that half the books in my “completed” list are not in my bookcase. Strange. I don’t remember lending them to anyone.

Filed by Julien at 12:37 pm under book a week
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I finally have a task management system that works.

A while ago, Chris talked a bit about the systems I taught him to use that, we hope, help him manage the email and tasks he’s dealing with. On my end, i’ve used them for over a year, so I figured I’d put together a list of what I use that, when put together, become a compact note and task management system that really works for me.

The first is what I write with: the Perfect Pencil by Faber-Castell.

Everyone should have one of these. If you like Moleskines, try getting a good pencil to go with it. I use light, foldable notebooks but I won’t do a post about those since it’s so common.

Pens stain and need refills, so I use pencils instead. I tried mechanical ones, but despite staying sharp, they can tear up my pocket + stab my leg. So I looked around for a replacement, and the Perfect Pencil came up.

I loved the plastic one, but gave it to Tara Hunt at a conference, so I bought the metal one after that, which is pictured above.

What’s so great about it? First, the point of the pencil doesn’t stab you because it’s held inside the pencil extender. The same extender holds the pencil onto your pocket, so you don’t lose it.

When the pencil gets short, the extender ensures that using it won’t contort your hand. Perfect right?

Best of all, though, is an integrated sharpener. I hope the PencilTalk.org guy will forgive my use of his picture here, but I just can’t take one that’s as good.

Yep, inside there is a great sharpener, so it’s this perfectly integrated, compact little device that holds anything you might need.

The reason I think I need something like this is that digital just doesn’t do the job right now. Voice-recording is socially awkward, and you can’t write fast enough on an iPhone. I also won’t deny that there’s an emotional appeal from using old-fashioned analogue stuff (as people so often say about books).

Anyway, there’s always a lot of interest when I talk about this thing at conferences, so now it’s on paper. I love this thing. Not much point to this post other than that. :)

Next time, I’ll talk about my favourite task management tool, Gootodo.com.

Filed by Julien at 12:00 pm under random
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Having just spent a month in Japan and a week in New York, I was pretty surprised to see these Bixi bikes right by my breakfast place this morning. I had seen them in Paris but never used them, so I figured what the hell.

You may never have seen something like this before, so if you’re unfamiliar, the service allows you to rent a bike with a credit card from any station in the city for SUPER CHEAP. The basics:

• Allows you to pick up a bike at any station and drop it off at any other station (ie, you don’t have to bike back there).
• First half hour with a bike is FREE, so a short trip costs nothing.
• Further half hours cost as little as $1.50.
• This system incentivizes biking (no looking for parking) and reduces traffic jams and pollution, not to mention being one additional great thing that will encourage tourism to the city.

Basically this is perfect for me. I don’t have a bike because I sometimes just don’t feel like biking BACK from wherever I’m going, which discourages me from biking in the first place. I end up taking lots of buses and cabs as a result.

Here’s how it went down today though. (Sorry about the point form but it’s easier.)

1. Saw the bike station by my breakfast place, realized I’d never need to take the bus after breakfast ever again. Nice.
2. Went to grab one after breakfast. There are 50 pages of Terms of Service but I ignored them (probably at my own peril).
3. Put in my CC. It gave me a code to unlock one of the four bikes, but it didn’t work. :P
4. Tried the same CC again. It says I can’t, so I try another one. Second CC gives me another code to try.
5. I try the other code on this same bike. It fails. I call customer service.
6. CS is quick to pick up. Nice girl lets me know that one of the bikes is defective, and if I use my code on the defective bike (which is not labelled), it deactivates the code. FAIL.
7. She directs me to another station, which is 5 blocks away, letting me know there’s 1 bike left (info available on this page). I walk there.
8. I grab a bike and go!

I know it sounds like a bit of a trial, but it was actually ok. The customer service people seem to really want to solve problems and have two stations near my house and tons of them downtown and in other areas I visit, so this thing is totally worth it. Plus, when I wanted to get rid of it, I called the number again to ask for the nearest station. Super easy.

Biking burns around 400 or more calories per hour, so for a lot of city people, this might be a great option. I’m totally looking for ways to make my lifestyle more active, so I’m really looking forward to using this every day. Well done Montreal.

Filed by Julien at 3:28 pm under random
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So I was in Japan for a month. In a Zen temple, doing a lot of sitting meditation, and meeting a lot of people. My first real break from the internet, except for occasional email, in the past 10 years.

The world didn’t collapse.

It’s hard to discuss “what I got out of it” in this attention-deficit prone format. But I’ll tell you what, there’s a lot of stuff out in the world that isn’t available online.

I’m glad to be back with you guys though. :)

Filed by Julien at 12:59 pm under travel
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Just saw that Patrick is talking up the new RiP: A Remix Manifesto movie, which was made by boingboing favourite and local peep Brett Gaylor.

I missed the premiere at SXSW but saw the film last night here in Montreal, and it’s totally awesome. It’s probably the best laid out argument for reasonable copyright law that’s ever been made, just as good as watching Lawrence Lessig do his thing live.

By my count, Brett has been working on this movie for 3 years. I strongly suggest you see it and help spread it. Click on the boingboing link above to watch a preview. The visuals are crazy and the story is strong. You’ll like it.

Filed by Julien at 2:21 pm under random
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