Busy week

Monday

Arriving to the hostel (USA Hostels) we were tired and hungry and conveniently, iThai was just across the street. That’s right, we had noodles in an Apple-inspired thairestaurant.

So we’re sitting there eating “Pod Thai”when Gordon Bell calls. Good job Amanda! You just earned 10points to your Fool’s Travelcard! I totally forgot that we rescheduled the interview to one day earlier. I wanted to hit myself in the head with the Go Pro. But Gordon was really nice about it and the moment we stepped in to his apartment I forgot all about my stupidity.

He’s got a pretty neat view that Mr. Bell. In every city we’ve been to and at almost every interview we’ve done his name have come up so it was an honor to finally meet him in person. Interesting facts: Gordon hates paper. He and his friend Jim Gemmel turned it into a project to digitalize every pice of document in Gordon’s possession. Quite some project!

Tuesday

Brian Kerr

The guy lived a life with low self-esteem and bad health. But when his beloved grandma (whom he was very close to) past away he came to a turning point and decided it was time to do something. So he started tracking bits of his day-to-day life in a regular notebook. Thanks to the logging he saw how different things effected him and was able to experiment his way to a healthier lifestyle. I admire the discipline and strength it must take to make that kind of change.
And it doesn’t have to be more complicated than a pen and a notebook. He has one with him during our interview as well.

Wednesday

Trōv

Took a trip to San Ramon and met the creators behind the fresh started company Trōv. And these guys aren’t just trying to establish a new business, they want to print a new expression. Next time you buy a car you might be asked if you want to “trōv” all the info regarding your purchase. That’s what Scott and Jim are striving towards. And yes this is the same Jim who scanned Gordon Bells paper-life.

They are using the tools of lifelogging to provide a service were you collect all the information about your “physical” fortune (such as your home, cars, art etc) in one place to get a better view and knowledge about them.

Memolane

We got so inspired when we met Eric and Katie that we decided to create a Memolane for this trip. You can check it out soon, I’ll keep you posted!

On the way back I bought art from a random dude on the street. He said I could lay a bid on it and I still had money left from London, so I gave him 20£

I think he got the winning deal. But I have a nice painting with a fun story to it – so I’m thinking it was worth it.

Great hostel btw, breakfast included and bed lights. It’s all about appreciating the small things.

Thursday

Google-goodies & Facebook fail

We left early and took the Amtrak to Silicon Valley & Google-land. It seriously felt like we should have brought our passports. The area is huge and people are riding google-bikes. So the first meeting was with Thad Starner; google glass developer and master of multitasking!
I’m not joking. This guy is taking notes and googling me while we’re having a conversation – and I didn’t even notes.

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We continued on to the Facebook facilities for an interview with Timeline-creator Steven Young.
Well at least we can say we met him…
…and then security and PR-manager came.

Friday

Maren Connary

If there is such a thing as Retro-lifeloggers, Maren is certainly one of them. She’s been making scrapbooks since her teens and have a bookshelf filled with aluminum containers that store her entire life. You could say she’s the opposite to Gordon Bell.

Karen Herzog and Richard Sachs

Karen and Richards daughter Sophia was born with an incurable decease and lived for only 4 years. Through her and her parents lifelog she touched and united people all over the world. Thank you Karen & Richard for inviting us to your home. I’ll bring the Sophia’s story with me always.

In a previous post I asked if it still counts as lifelogging if your logging someone else’s life. After this day, I would definitely say it does.