California Pt.3: Day 2 (Dropbox)

/ Cali, Design, Me, Photo

Wow, I haven’t had a chance to post the rest of my photos from Cali. It’s been a whirlwind over here.

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Some of Patrick’s roommates were nice enough to give us a tour of Dropbox. They have a saying over there, “It just works”. It’s probably been one of the most profound things I’ve heard in a while. It’s not just a sign on the wall—it’s in the air they breath.



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I really like how they’ve invested so much into culture. They describe things as looking polished on the outside, but it’s total chaos internally.

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Part of that is because they weigh their organization around product delivery, and making “it just work”. Reaching that kind of level requires doing anything necessary to get the job done right.

Their CTO also has penchant for product. He emphasizes QA and it’s a huge part of the design process there.

Anyway, more on this later. I have more photos that I’ll have to dig up from my iPhone. ^_^

D600 Err Message

/ Me, Photo

So this is probably one of the biggest bummers recently—I purchased a D600 from craigslist, but it seems like it has problems.

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Really annoyed that I drove that far to pick it up. But I’m actually more annoyed that I settled for a used camera body. I should have bought it brand new.



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Now I’ve got to wait about 3 weeks before I get it back from Nikon. Hopefully they send me a replacement d610.



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I’ve read about some cases where Nikon has offered this replacement. I’ll keep you posted. In the mean time, I’ll have to use my iPhone for photos.

Happy Birthday Charlie!

/ AddThis, Photo

A little tribute to our fearless leader, Charlie Reverte. On Facebook, his birthday was monday… we all really know today is his real birthday.

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While his title is VP & GM of Publisher products, he’s a friend to all bears.



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He’s got a passion for robots, racing, and all things geeky.



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He’s also a fast talker. 140 characters per second, in fact.



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By the way, did you know he raced sailboats? What does this guy *not* do? Hah!



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And Charlie’s favorite quote:

If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The Desks of AddThis

/ AddThis, Me, Photo

Figured it would be fun to show some of the desks in the office at AddThis.


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That’s my desk. I can probably simplify it a little.


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There’s Foo’s desk.


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Gordon Ramsey once said, “Clean kitchen, clean food”.


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I guess a lot can be said about how one operates with a messy desk and desktop.


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I like the christmas lights. Someone’s in the right spirit.


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Funny how we’re still using desk phones. I totally forgot they existed.


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Multiple monitors.


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Jim’s standing desk.


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Multi monitor setup. I guess the vertical screen helps with spreadsheets.


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Marty’s custom multi monitor setup.


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Collin’s standing desk. I like how he’s set everything up at eye level.


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Okay, this takes the cake.


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Okay, this is more reasonable.


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Magic cards are making a come back.


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The minimal setup.


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Okay, this is another insane desk. It’s like a college dorm. Lol.


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And this desk is literally next to the last one.

Anyway, it’s pretty interesting to see how people work and think. What does your work desk look like?

Astrophotography on a Half Moon

/ Me, Photo

I tried taking another stab at astrophotography with the 16-24mm f2.8.


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Unfortunately, the half moon caused the stars to underexposed. I’ll have to wait another 2 weeks before I can get some better shots.


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The photo above shows some nice ambient light with the stars above.


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And this photo has all sorts of wild colors from the long exposure. Also, there’s severe distortion from the wide angle… but I guess that’s ok.