“There’s no way for readers to be online, surfing, e-mailing, posting, tweeting, reading tweets, and soon enough doing the thing that will come after Twitter, without paying a high price in available time, attention span, reading comprehension, and experience of the immediately surrounding world. The Internet and the devices it’s spawned are systematically changing our intellectual activities with breathtaking speed, and more profoundly than over the past seven centuries combined.”

Read more here. I’m slowly disconnecting from things that pay a high price in my time. The process has been incredibly freeing.

With that said, I’m tapping into my reader base this year to see if anyone might have a spare invite they’d like to throw my way. I would be more than happy to send you back an invite in return for your troubles. Thank you in advance.

My friend Jen. Lover of Japan, typography and cameras. One of the latest from my recently acquired Leica M6 TTL. Shot with Kodak Portra NC 400.

Thank you Jen for your eye and your friendship. I rarely have photos of me to take home always being the photographer so this means a lot.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

From Theodore Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” speech given at the Sorbonne in Paris, France on April 23, 1910.

There are only a handful of companies in my book that capture a certain aesthetic that I deeply appreciate and love. It’s an aesthetic that is always classic, elegant and timeless. Like black and white photographs. Like an old Leica.

My dad has a handful of companies he’s loyal to. One of them has always been the spirit and German engineering force that is BMW. He has owned countless generations of BMW’s and he will drive BMW for the rest of his life.

For me, Rapha is one such company that combines my love for bicycles and photography. I cannot say enough how much I love their photography. Timeless and always good. In addition, their products are fine products. I love the attitude and feel of the brand and I’ve been smitten with them since Day 1. Everything I’ve heard about this company of people has only been good and it makes me appreciate them all the more.

Today I came across a set of wallpapers available for download on their website. These were all shot by Ben Ingham, one of my favorite photographers that works with them. Go there quickly, download and enjoy. The one featured above is my current desktop and I’m reminded again of how much I love this brand.

It’s been crazy busy lately but some new posts are coming. How is it December already?

Happy weekend to you all.

This image captures my mood really nicely right now. Found via Cold Splinters, a recent find and one of my favorite reads right now. Image by beekeeper25.

Days have been very long lately. I deactivated my Facebook account recently (and temporarily) and it’s been really nice. Hoping to get outdoors soon. There’s a photo I found that I’ll share in the next post. Really captures my mood right now.

In for the long haul. That’s what it’s about. And congratulations to my sister for finishing her first half-marathon last weekend. She flew.

I write this as I look at a few magazines that I want to subscribe to but know that I will not have a chance to read. That irks me a little – to not have the time to read. For the last month, I’ve been meaning to subscribe to Rouleur and The Monocle Weekly. But my hesitation has been a preemptive exercise in futility as I’m barely making through my regular dose of reading each week.

To all of this, I say it’s time to slow down a little to gain a little. To regain a little bit of sanity and a little bit of life. If we keep living like this we’ll start to lose an appreciation for life. And if we lose that, frustration will quickly become an unwanted bedfellow.

The French have some things figured out in this life. Fantastic pastries and wine. Undeniable genius in their cheeses. And living life by the tempo of living richly and enjoyably.

When I started this site, I had no desire to hit the internet running. I think my hope was always for this place to just be a rag tag band of friends and acquaintances. That’s just how I like things. Of course, after more than a year of writing, you start to wonder who actually pops by to read since Google Analytics only tells you so much.

I wanted to write this post first, to say I really appreciate all your stories, comments, linkages, and feedback that you all leave on here from time to time. It’s a great feeling to just share love for things and experiences with others. The second reason I wrote this post was simple. I wanted all of you to have the opportunity to finally stop by and say hello if you haven’t already. Some of you may read the site solely via RSS. Others may actually stop by on the actual site (kudos to you). Some of you read this site religiously and others may have stopped by only once. Whatever your story, I would love for you to just comment on this post and say hello. It’s about time we met.

It’s Friday. Hope you have some beers in hand. Enjoy the weekend my friends. I’m looking forward to saying hello to all of you.

There is a nice op-ed by author Pico Iyer today in the NYT on the Joy of Less. Go read it if you have the chance this morning.