He's my brother!

Much of my focus and field of study lies in informational graphics. How do you best "display" information. Especially complex information. There a few authors out there who provide some great direction and theory around information graphics.

One of the most preeminent is Ed Tufte.Check out his site.

I also came across GraphJam. Pop culture measured. Some really funny stuff here. Like the following:

Visit GraphJam for some interesting displays of important information.

I keep thinking about our veterans...not just the veterans, but our service members on active duty right now.

Many people are surprised to hear that I served in the Air Force many years ago. I did 4 years active and 2 in the National Guard. Some good times, some not so good. One year of that was spent supporting the first Persian Gulf conflict in various forms (Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Provide Comfort). At the time - at least in hindsight - I was so damn young. I didn't understand politics. Neither did anyone around me. We were just a bunch of kids who were looking to get out of the mundane drudgery of our lives. Or to escape the dirty path that we were blindly heading down. Or to get money for college - money that our parents didn't have. What did we know about political motivations? We only cared for each other. We only wanted to test our skills in real-time. And we did.

Looking back now, it's really very sad to see these kids coming back from Iraq. Injured, confused, trying to assimilate back into a society that must seem comical in comparison to the previous. You just can't get thrown back in. Nothing has any meaning. Getting up and going to a desk job?...after defending your country?...it has no motivation. You will never get that sense of doing something that's bigger than yourself again. Well, let's hope they can. There are many ways to recover that sense. Many more productive. Many community-based. But it takes time and patience and some empathy.

I really despise seeing these troops getting pulled into political arguments...saying if you don't support war you don't support the troops...What?! I support the troops, therefore, I want them the hell out of harms way as soon as possible! That's supporting them! You don't support them by putting them in a no-win situation.

I hope we wake up as a nation after this to truly see who suffers the most from aggrandized political decisions made by people who have never served a day in their lives!

Leadership comes naturally. You can work at it, but if you don't possess the inherent qualities that make people want to follow you, want to go to battle with you, then you may fall short.

Leadership also takes wisdom. And respect. And a sense of humanity, of empathy, of understanding human behavior.

There are those that feel fear and intimidation is what makes people follow you. This is a sign of leadership immaturity. And a sign of low self-esteem.

Fear and intimidation do not motivate people through their true passions and morals. It motivates them through spite. Through fear. Through the unknown. And through obligation. You will never see the best in people using this tactic...it will only create resentment, spite and bitterness.

Leadership is about confidence, not arrogance. And it's about knowing your people, treating them individually in a personalized manner that you know will get their best. It's about humanity.

NYC - many roots there. Although probably less than I suspect. But there is that inherent draw.

My father, the Sicilian with unrivaled independence, tells me many stories of his childhood in the Bronx. Some perhaps embellished, others I'm sure, leaving out the sordid details. But they are intense and they draw me to this city, the one that rivals all.

I was born in upstate New York, but migrated to Denver when I was merely five. I still tend to associate myself with NY over Denver, which is quite silly since I know Denver's roads and hidden spots like the back of my hand, and I've probably never been north of 120th Street in Manhattan. Still, the many times I have visited the City, it has been like coming home. A comfortable feeling that is hard to describe.

I never took the step to live there, having lived just about everywhere in the West. There was an opportunity at the point in my life where I was just about to get married, settle down. We had decided to move there, to take the chance, to live it up while we were still kind of young. But, alas, we came back to Seattle and realized we could start our dream quicker (the house, the kids) if we stayed in the Northwest. And we did.

I'll always keep New York in my soul. There is a mystical pull. And I feel my ancestors beckoning at every step on those dirty sidewalks.