I suck at wish lists. For one, I don’t feel comfortable accepting gifts. Also, I generally want things that I have no right asking someone else to purchase for me, like a guitar. My birthday wish list for my parents this year was:

1. A car, which I have asked for every Christmas and birthday since I was 16 and have never received. Gotta stick with tradition!
2. Money, so I could buy some things for the new apartment.
3. A 24” Cinema Display, knowing I would never get it, further ensuring that I would receive money.

Well, my parents are way too thoughtful to give money. They put a lot of pride in the gifts they give their children, and so this year I received the incredible following gifts:

1. Two boxes of food and necessities for the new place.
2. A $25 Subway gift card
3. A lamp, which I had planned to purchase with the money they were going to give me.

So really, things worked out in the end. Except…

It happens every year; I think of what I want for my birthday days after the gifts have been bought and opened. And so this year I have decided to write down what I should have asked for, with the intent of asking for these items at the next appropriate occasion (or so my mom can surprise me at any point throughout the year):

1. A cook book. Gordon Ramsay’s “Fast Food” or Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” seem to have recipes I would be interested in.
2. A Nike Plus system. I want to start tracking my runs better than I do now, and this seems to be the best solution.
3. A Nalgene Fitness bottle, so I don’t spill water down my shirt while I run and drink from my normal Nalgene bottle.

Three simple, small ideas that I really should have asked for. Oh well, there’s always Christmas.

Fever tells me that I currently subscribe to 110 blogs¹. Having read Aaron Mahnke and Patrick Rhone’s latest posts on their RSS reading habits, I thought I would explain my criteria for subscribing to blogs:

1. Do I know this writer personally, or personally know someone who does?
2. Have I read at least a half-dozen posts that I would classify as being very interesting?
3. Do I follow this person on Twitter, and if so, do they link to most of their posts in their Twitter feed?²
4. Is this person’s writing something I would rather be reading than doing something else that I enjoy?

When I subscribe to a blog, I place it in a “tryout” folder. In order to graduate and remain in my reader, it must pass the following criteria:

1. Has this blog updated semi-regularly, and have the majority of the posts either been interesting and/or beneficial to my life?
2. Have I learned something from this blog?
3. Is the signal-to-noise ratio better than tolerable?³

I have very high standards for the blogs I subscribe to. They may not be the same as your standards, and that’s ok. The important thing to realize is that our time is valuable, and we need to be a lot more discerning when it comes to what signals we allow into our daily lives, because they can have a lasting affect on who we are and who we become.

At what point have you checked your email, your Facebook, your Twitter feed, your RSS subscriptions, browsed YouTube, Vimeo, Digg, Reddit, checked your email, checked your iPhone for text messages, scanned through your todo list, refreshed your Twitter feed, reblogged that ironic photo, checked your email, read pages and pages of Daring Fireball, complained that the iPad isn’t everything you dreamed of, read your RSS feed for other people complaining about the same thing, scanned your todo list again, and checked your email enough times before you actually decide to do something productive?

I’m almost there.

I like to think that, in at least a few cases, I add value to peoples’ lives. Through a helping hand, a word of encouragement, or simply by simply being present, I hope that I have had an impact on someone’s life at some point.

Over the past few weeks I’ve had a number of experiences where people have had a really positive impact on my life, and I wanted to take a minute to offer my thanks to those people publicly.

Richard Dew - Aside from all of the amazing work he is doing in Haiti, Richard has really challenged me as a friend and a professional over the past week. We get out for lunch often, and during this time we talk about life, work, and everything in between. Richard has been very encouraging as I make some big decisions over the next while, and I definitely value counting him as a friend.

Chris Bowler - Chris is simply an amazing guy. Besides the work that Chris sends my way through Fusion (as well as offering me a spot on the publishers list), Chris has been there to offer words of encouragement through some trying times in my life recently.

Darren Hoyt - Darren is a designer I admire and respect deeply. Just today, Darren passed on some incredibly kind words, as well as some possible exciting work! His support in real, tangible ways has not gone unnoticed, and I am full of gratitude for it.

Jonathan Christopher - Jonathan Christopher has been my go-to guy for learning a new WordPress plugin, Pods. Having learned what I’ve learned over the past week from Jonathan, I can definitely see Pods revolutionizing how I build websites with WordPress, saving me countless hours and headaches. Through his blog series on Pods, to Twitter and chat, Jonathan has offered advice and tips for working with this incredible setup, and has really helped me out.

Kyle Baxter - Again, another guy who has simply offered kind words of encouragement when I needed it, and with whom I am devising a pretty awesome project.

Phil Coffman - I am working on a new site at the moment (separate from this blog, I promise), and sent the preview site to a few friends whose opinion I respect. A lot of them offered some great tips and thoughts, but Phil went above and beyond and really critiqued each design decision I made. His input was both helpful and respectful.

Just a few of the people who have had a really positive impact on my life lately. Maybe you’ll share some of yours?

Dearest Patrick,

It would be my greatest honour and pleasure to receive your very first Dribbble invite. From a designer of your skill and capacity, this could be the shining moment of my year!

Sincerely yours,

Chris Bowler

I also accept bribes.