At 3am yesterday, in a fit of creativity after watching Queer eye for a straight guy (a show which far exceeded my admittedly low expectations) decided to drive to Stanford to walk, think, and play around in my design log (sketch, doodle, write, diagram, reason, colour outside the lines). I can't quite explain why the show made me want to do this, but I'm sure the two are not unrelated.

Anyway, after the 45 minute drive spent only an hour being creative and fell asleep in the car. But.... spent today fufilling my creative destiny instead. Felt really good, and I even produced what I think will turn out to be a useful "philosophical" insight into the overall design of desktop software that will spawn a lot of fresh designs. My muse will receive a good report in this month's performance review.

Usually I give short shrift to this important design practice, alloting no time whatsoever. Typically there's something with tangible benifits to be doing, so I never get around to my poor neglected design log. Fortunately my mind has a mind of its own and I usually spend a half hour or more each night while trying to fall sleep extending and ruminating over the ideas of the day...

The stanford campus is an amazing place for this activity. I move every hour or so to a new stimulating/beautiful/comfortable enivornment. Helps keep me focused w/o forcing the thinking.

The other advantage is of course visiting friends...a worthwhile distraction. Having dinner w/ Jamie Fitz in 10 minutes... So better start walking down to the dining hall.