Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Two Things

I was feeling pretty proud of myself for having written ten days in a row. I figured I had this NaBloPoMo thing down pat.

Yeah, right. Here it is, bedtime, and I can't think of anything interesting to write about today. Work had a few issues, but nothing that I want to share with the general public. I had a great time knitting at Starbucks with a friend, but I'm trying to keep the knitting posts to a minimum.

So I did what any good blogger does, and I started trolling other blogs for ideas. Along the way, I found inspiration in "Gary said..."

A few years ago, I was chatting with a stranger in a bar. When I told him I was an economist, he said, “Ah. So… what are the Two Things about economics?”

“Huh?” I cleverly replied.

“You know, the Two Things. For every subject, there are really only two things you really need to know. Everything else is the application of those two things, or just not important.”

“Oh,” I said. “Okay, here are the Two Things about economics. One: Incentives matter. Two: There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
The Two Things game traces back to Glen Whitman, who has been playing and posting the Two Things Game since January 2004. It's worth your time to go follow the links; Glen has some pretty good subjects defined in this game.

I've been trying to define my job by Two Things, and it isn't as easy as it seems. I want to think on it a bit more. The first "thing" was easy; it's the second "thing" that I'm having trouble settling on.

In the meantime, let me offer the following:

Two Things about Knitting:
1. There are no knitting police.
2. Any errors you make can be fixed, frogged, or accepted as design elements -- so relax and enjoy the process.

If I think of any more, I'll be sure to share. And please feel free to add your own Two Things in the comments!

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