What’s this? Finally a breakdown of my PechaKucha presentation and only one month after it occurred? Why Sam, you are on the ball, I tip my hat to you…

I wanted to post about this much sooner, of course, but the news that it hadn’t gotten recorded dampened my enthusiasm some. It’s of no matter now, but it did upset me a bit at the time. Read on to hear a little more about the presentation and some of the “reviews”!

“Hey, I know I don’t know you but I just wanted to say that I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time, maybe ever. Great presentation! “
– Random Stranger during intermission

The reviews are in! ‘Failing Upwards or How to Succeed as a Creative Freelancer Without Really Trying’ enjoyed by all. The theatre was packed and the audience laughed in all the appropriate moments. I was somewhat nervous about being in the same set as Ace Burpee, but well, I think I actually got more laughs than him, which is amazing. And he did give me a double high five before he left at the intermission. So now I know I’ve joined the upper echelon of the arts community in Winnipeg…

“All the ladies in the bathroom at beer break agreed, Sam had the most charisma!”
– Sara Maximus

So what is PechaKucha? Well, it’s a night where a group of individuals do 6 minute, twenty second presentations (20 slides at 20 seconds each) on a variety of topics. Most of the subject matter is creative, as it is put on by the Manitoba Chapter of the Graphic Designers of Canada. I really busted my ass to get this presentation just right, as admittedly, I feel many PK presentations are lackluster, either due to lack of preparation or unfamiliarity with the format. I’ve been to a few of these events, so I knew that you really have to keep on top of the timer (20 seconds per slide, and woe be the speaker who goes over time) and let your slides speak for themselves.

“It was f*cking brilliant! I know that everyone I talked to agreed with me! It will live on in memory, we’ll talk it up, it will take on vast mythical proportions. Can’t happen with a video”
- Ian McCausland

In all honesty, I really wish I had a video of it, as I feel like those 6 minutes were my shining moment, and I’m not sure when I’ll have the chance to address a large audience like that again. I’ve included a pdf with all the slides and the basic speech here. I made some changes on the stage, but for those who weren’t there, check it out, you’ll get the drift of what I presented.

“@samposnick amazing presentation tonight @pechakucha, you were hilarous ! Loved every second of it.”
- @adesign_girl

Despite my disappointment at not being captured on stage for posterity, I would probably still do this again, if asked. Hell, I almost felt like a real “professional” up there, and I can’t really discount that. I also got interviewed by CBC for the Scene section of their site, which was very cool.

I attended the PechaKucha event last night and wanted to take a moment to commend you on your presentation. You obviously put a lot of effort into your materials and your delivery was great. I am sure you have heard nothing but wonderful and sincere comments about the great job you did and I wanted to add mine as well.

Thanks for the putting the pants on and entertaining us:)

- John (via email)

While I claim this post is here for those who didn’t attend PechaKucha that night, it is actually mostly for me. I don’t want to forget that I put myself out there and did something special that people really enjoyed. It will keep me warm on those cold, self-doubting nights.

RUNNING GOALS

So most of my goals this year are running related. I think it’s easier for me to post these since they’re a bit more quantifiable than other life goals.

1. Run more consistently
Trying to build up my base mileage to a bare minimum of 20 miles per week, preferring to be closer to 30 miles per week. I was at around 25mpw before the half marathon last year, but that was short-lived. Currently I tend to do about 60 miles a month, which isn’t really enough to show improvement.

2. Run 1000 miles this year
This is simple enough and relates to the previous goal. If I can make the previous goal, then this one pretty much comes with the package.

3. Run FASTER
I’m already working on this one by mixing in some tempo, interval and 5k pace workouts. I’ve already chopped about 0.5mph off my pace time and I’m hoping to get to an average 6.5mph speed by the end of the year. Which leads me to…

4. Run a less-sucky half marathon
Yeah, I already ran one. And I enjoyed it. But man, I find my time so embarrassing that I’m hesitant to even talk about it with people. There were a number of reasons, most of them probably based on the fact that this was my first race. So this year, whether it’s the Manitoba Half or an alternate one, I want to get a better time. Even if I decide not to race, I plan to at least run the distance at a much faster pace.

LIFE GOALS

1. Have more fun
I feel like this is a constant goal for me. I always have a good time when I go out, but lately things have been holding me back. I let other people’s moods affect me too much, which in turn affect my social priorities. Me staying home and being miserable won’t make the other person feel any worse or have any sympathy for me (obviously), so why make myself upset? Life is so short, wasting my time sitting around sulking when I could be having fun is stupid.

2. Stop over-thinking everything
A big contributor to my unhappiness is the massive analysis I seem to HAVE to do for every event, every word, every action. I feel I’m able to shrug off some things, but I really spend way too much time worrying about people’s emotions and feelings. I’m not vowing to be insensitive, just vowing to spend less time thinking about other people’s motivations.

WORK GOALS

1. Draw more
Just want to submit a bit more to iStockphoto and work on more custom illustration projects (though some of that is up to chance).

2. Just get things done
I put stuff off mostly because I worry about doing the best possible job on things. I think the key is to, as Nike so eloquently put it, “Just Do It”. I have enough talent that I’m probably not going to disappoint people even if I don’t feel it’s my best work. And most clients would probably rather have their stuff done faster anyway.

3. Improve my web skills
This is kind of a given. Despite my reluctance to do them, I still continue to get web design jobs, so I might as well have an easier time doing them.

4. Be more responsive to emails/requests
Whenever I have a new client contact me, I almost always seem to sit on it for a few days. Why? Do I have some kind of problem with making money?

I feel like I may be forgetting some goals, so I may update this post or add a new one somewhere along the line. Honestly, 2010 really sucked the butt as far as personal achievement or growth goes, so let’s hope 2011 works out better! What are your 2011 goals? Feel free to post them in the comments!

A sweet little creamsicle here to tell you that I’m going to be on vacation from July 9 – 24. I’ll be around and reachable by email, so please feel free to drop me  a line!

And here’s an iPhone wallpaper version of the above, for those who want to sweeten up their summer.

Mac, over there on the left, is dumping Stacy for a newer model, despite his own advanced age. Must be a mid-product-life-cycle crisis.

Never ever break up by text message. I don’t care how steeped society is in technology these days, it’s just so disrespectful. I did this one for fun, but I think it does make a little statement. Maybe I should upload this one, I don’t know?

Alternative title for this piece? “I’m sorry, you’re breaking up.”

I am really feelin’ this guy right now. This is sort of the response I’d like to give to a lot of the stuff happening in my life right now. Argh! At first I thought he’d look better with a bite out of him, but then I decided that Sprinkles would never let anyone get close enough for that.

If for some reason you wanted this as an iPhone wallpaper (for when you’re feeling angry), you can download it here!

Just posting this random sketch to prove that I am NOT good at all with a Wacom tablet. For those who are wondering, it’s a bird in a raincoat. I assume they need them in this weather.

So… maybe I should practice more with the pen tablet, eh?

So today’s the perfect day to write this as I’m currently trying to rest up what I think is a slight groin pull. Advil seems to have taken care of most of the ache, so I think I’ll try to give it a good go out there again tomorrow, after about 4 days of mainly rest. It’s not too bad of a pain and it goes away when I run, but I figure it’s best to try and get rid of this one month before the half marathon, rather than overtraining on it and making it worse.

PROGRESS

My longest run to date was last Friday at 9.5 miles. Feeling pretty good about this, as I still have one more month to add those last 4 miles. The goal is starting to feel attainable, though the heat is not helping me in getting in my runs. I love hot weather, so it’s odd for me to complain about it, but just having slightly cooler mornings would help. Or some clouds. Butttt, I don’t want to ruin it for everyone else, so I hope the weather keeps up! It’s better than the cold weather, for sure.

I’ve also managed to chop about a minute and half per mile off my average pace. It’s still a slower pace of only 10.5 -11 minute miles, but I seem to be able to keep it up for long distances and it’s a major improvement for me, so I’ll take it! Just had to focus on consciously running faster and taking my stride from heel-toe to striking on the balls of my feet for better propulsion.

GEAR

Here’s a short list/review of some of the stuff I’m currently using to aid my running:

UNDER ARMOUR COMPRESSION TANK – Pretty happy with this, it definitely wicks sweat well without showing it. It also seems to keep fairly cool on hot days and doesn’t seem to chafe my arms on long runs. Also, I recently discovered that it has a zippered pocket large enough to hold my iPhone.

MIZUNO WAVE INSPIRE 6 SHOES – Just picked these up about a week and half ago and I’m finding them to be at least as nice as my old Mizunos (that turned out to be a size too small, due to foot swelling during distance runs). They’re very meshy, so your feet stay quite cool while you run, and also very light. They’re also built for people who slightly over-pronate so they offer good stability. I use them in conjunction with Dr. Scholl’s inserts for knee pain.

NIKE AERO SPORT HEADPHONES – Was looking for some headphones that looped over the ear, but weren’t earbuds, so these were really the only option. The sound isn’t that great but earbuds always fall out of my ears and I have an insane fear of getting earaches and infections, so having something block my ear canals from the wind/elements seems like a good thing. The padding is also rubberized, so it’s easy to clean and doesn’t get too sweaty. It also comes with a cordkeeper clip-on, which works alright.

iPHONE + RUNKEEPER PRO – I can’t say enough good things about this little app for the iPhone. It keeps track of runs (and other types of exercise that you can enter manually) beautifully and you can get lots of stats on their easy-to-use website. I used to use TrailGuru and I have to say, it was garbage compared to this. The free version is awesome, but if you’re a moderately serious runner, I’d recommend ponying up the $10 to get the audio cues and support the developers. I’ve had a couple issues here and there with the tracking, but I believe it has something to do with the iPhone’s GPS, rather than the app, and the errors are few and far between. Two thumbs up.

ARMPOCKET – I’m still on the fence about this one. I tried it out last week when I got it and it chafed the hell out of my arm. It may be that I just had it on too tight. Haven’t used it since as it’s been so warm out that I really don’t want to have anything on my arms, if possible.

GLUCOSOMINE/CHONDROITIN – Just started taking this supplement today, so I can’t comment on its efficacy, however it’s supposed to improve/ease joint pain, so I guess it’s worth a shot. The pills are huge and gross tasting, probably because they contain things like “parts of crab exoskeleton”, but not so bad that I won’t try and finish the bottle. They say results come after a month or so, but I’m mostly just taking them for preventative purposes, since they don’t seem to be harmful.

Other than some of the things I’ve mentioned above, I feel like things are going pretty well. I’ve also been reading some books on running- Running for Peak Performance and Running Well - that I’ve found pretty helpful. I’m sure this post was only interesting to runners, but I thought I’d put it out there, since sometimes I’m looking for inspiration in other people’s progress.

Aside from my cousin’s upcoming nuptials, I have a much more exciting wedding to attend later in the year (sorry Jill and Ian!) in the land of “Why does craps have to be so damn complicated?”.

After finally visiting Vegas last year (and LOVING IT), I was delighted to design and illustrate the wedding invite above (front and back) for two of my good friends. The front side is a card-style caricature I created of the both of them fused together and the witty text was composed by them. So happy to do it, and can’t wait for the wedding!

A new(ish) illustration, intended to post it for Valentine’s Day but didn’t get around to it. The person who owns them knows who he is.

GOAL #1 – RUN A HALF MARATHON

I’ve always been interested in running a marathon, but the sheer length seemed too daunting to me. And the possible damage to joints and muscles makes it a little less attractive to me at this point. However, before the whole appendix issue, I was running a solid 4.5 miles a day, which while it’s not much compared to the 13.1 mile distance of a half marathon, was a good start for distance running, I think.

I’ve caved and bought myself a treadmill, so I’ve already been starting to run again. Once I get back from my vacation at the end of March, I plan to start using the Runner’s World training guide to dictate my runs and hopefully increase my speed a bit. Right now, I’m just focusing on being able to run a steady pace for a good length of time, since it’s been so long.

My friends and I are training for the half of The Manitoba Marathon. It being in June should give us a lot of time to work on it. My goal is not only to finish but to have a fairly respectable time (basically, no walking), so I can keep up with my longer-legged friends.

GOAL #2 – LEARN SCREEN PRINTING TECHNIQUES

Yes, courtesy of the lovely Nik, the much coveted Yudu is now mine. Now I just need to clear out the “spare-spare room” and learn how to use it. This may take some time, due to the amount of work that room needs, but it will get done.

GOAL #3 – MAKE AND SELL MY OWN PRODUCTS

Admittedly, this ties in with Goal #2, since I’ll mostly be producing prints and possibly cloth goods (t-shirts, tea towels, aprons, etc.) with the Yudu. But it’s a goal of mine to be selling my own merchandise. I love working with Cardstore and iStockphoto, as well as the independents that carry products with my illustrations, but I’d like to be able to conceive of and finish something that’s 100% Sam. And obviously, I’d also like to hang onto 100% of the profits.

Well, I have more minor goals to add to these, but let’s not go nuts here. These are the ones I feel require the most focus and foresight, so I’ll try to commit to these. Would love to know what other people have planned for 2010!