I’m already psyched to see what they’ve put together for tomorrow, but I wanted to go ahead and get my slide deck online for my presentation tonight. It’s lacking some context, but has a few good data nuggets and some fun maps to enjoy. Check it out:

I love meeting people who really, really make me think. I think I’m going to start mentioning them on my blog. To kick things off: Eric Schulze is one of those people.

Over the past few months I’ve been fortunate enough to talk with him, hang out with him, and party with him and his friends, and he absolutely lives up to his slogan for Thirst DC (which he created), “Be utterly fascinating.” He totally is. Few people I know have as many surprises, stories, and fascinating knowledge about the world as Eric does, and I feel really lucky to have met him.

Today we met to talk Uber, Thirst, plans for the future (stay tuned!), and just catch up. Before long our conversation spiraled into topics like data, perceptions of DC, and how the eyeball and the brain works together to show us the world we see each and every day. He’s just a fascinating dude and I’ve never had a boring conversation with him—and I’m confident I never will.

If you haven’t met Eric, you should. If you haven’t heard of Thirst, you should go. And if you’re a fascinating person, too, let’s talk.

I just read this piece and absolutely love it. This dude seriously hit the nail on the head.

I think this is why I hate being anonymous. Out of all the stupid anonymous blogs I’ve started up over the years (there have been plenty), I’ve only actually kept one of them alive and it’s fairly new. Honestly, I doubt it will last long.

I hate being anonymous. I like having a name. I like attaching my name to opinions, and I like people knowing it’s ME, Alex Priest, not some faceless figure in a crowd. I don’t even care if people know it’s me when I’m wrong or when I screw up, or when I say something stupid. Out of 60,000-some-odd tweets, I’m sure I’ve said plenty of stupid things in 140 characters or less and dammit, I’m proud of it. Or least I’m proud that I learned from those mistakes.

Anonymity is bullshit.

I mean really. Who thinks they’re special for being anonymous? You’re not being anonymous because you want people to focus on “your content” or any of that crap. You’re probably anonymous because you’re too chicken to let your own words actually be attached to your reputation. Anonymity is the lamest way to be a conformist. Yea—I just called you out. And I called me out because I’m just as guilty of it as anybody else, at some points.

Anyway, read the piece. You won’t regret it. It’s fascinating and it makes you think. I guess that’s the whole point.

So I’m stranded at a JFK airport bar with a shitty wi-fi connection and no wall socket within reach. My flight’s been delayed for five hours, I’ve got 23% battery left, and a beer on the table, so hell, I figured I’d write a blog post.

It’s been a busy 2012 already. Between work craziness (thanks, DC Taxi Commission), food poisoning (as horrible as it sounds), visiting my baby nephew (D’AWWWW), and now traveling (en route to Uber HQ in San Francisco), I haven’t had a whole lot of time to stop and sort of reflect. I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing, but in the little bit of free time I have had I’ve basically been sleeping or watching How I Met Your Mother.

I’m totally Ted, by the way.

I’m feeling my life priorities shift in real-time. A year ago, I think I can safely say that my number one priority was graduation (obviously), and number two was probably my online reputation. Now, I have to be 100% honest, I could seriously care less about that second (the first one being irrelevant for obvious reasons).

Maybe it’s because I have a new job. Maybe it’s because my reputation is already fairly solidified. Maybe it’s because my social network is changing, or because I’m feeling a greater need for personal fulfillment rather than social fulfillment. I don’t really know, but I’m finding that—as much as I love my blog and Twitter and Facebook and all that jazz—I’m focusing less and less on what happens there, and more and more on what happens in the here and now, that I can touch. I think this is all a good thing.

Now let me stop you there: this isn’t a “I’m over social media” post, because that’s stupid. It’s a “my priorities have shifted” post. Social media is and likely always will be a very important part of my life, and something that I greatly enjoy. I’ve met amazing people through digital tools, and I certainly don’t want that to change. I’m just finding that I care less and less about Twitter followers and SEO, and more and more about what kind of real change I can make in the world.

But now, I’m finding that there’s something just more exciting about meeting people in person, and not online. I want to meet someone and have a conversation about who they are, not what their Twitter handle is. I want to know who their best friends are, what their passion is, where they long to travel and what they want to achieve—not what their favorite metric is or the coolest marketing campaign they just heard about.

This is getting deeper than I’d planned.

I’ll put the brakes on this one for now. Suffice it to say, I feel my priorities shifting. And not only that, but I can actually feel my social network changing, my hobbies transforming, and my day-to-day routine transitioning to an entirely different one than it was even three months ago. Weird.

My nephew Luke! Such a tiny person. (Taken with Instagram at New Haven, CT)

Nephew Luke! (Taken with Instagram at New Haven, CT)

My new bike! (Taken with Instagram at Twoomies HQ)

So I purposefully avoided the whole New Year’s Resolutions thing. Every time I’ve ever done them before, I usually fail. And why set yourself up for failure?

But that’s not to say I haven’t been thinking about it. Because of course I have. I think back on all the things I said I’d do last year, and all the goals I’d set. It’s a mixed bag.

• I read more for fun, but overall I read less.
• I exercised a lot… in spurts. I need more consistency.
• I wrote some, but not particularly any more than I have in past years.
• I networked a lot. And that was good. Yay.
• I was definitely more independent, I think. That’s a good thing.
• I didn’t volunteer like I wanted to. I want to make more time for this.
• I stressed a lot. Not really in a bad way. But I just stress a lot. That’s life.

So yea, see why I don’t make resolutions? I also think about all the things that I accomplished outside of those “resolutions” and then realize that honestly, I could kind of care less about my resolutions. 2011 was a good year, resolutions be damned.

For 2012 I’m not making resolutions. There’s lots of things I want to do, and lots of things I want to do better. And I’m going to make concerted efforts to do a lot of those things, but a resolution isn’t necessary. I’m just going to do them. Maybe without the pressure of having them in a list, I’ll be able to just naturally fit them into my life instead of feeling like their big goals that can’t be a part of my daily routine.

#1 Productivity Tip: Spend 10% of your time consuming and 90% of your time producing. Make more stuff. Watch less. Read less. Do.

— Scott Hanselman (@shanselman) December 31, 2011

And I realized that with my new job, over the past month and a half or so, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. It’s an amazing feeling.

I love reading and watching and learning and hearing from others. But after a while, I just want to do things. Working with Uber has given me that opportunity to actually do things and accomplish things and make things happen. And it’s amazing.

I’ll certainly continue to read and watch and learn from others. But I really like this idea of just making that 10% of my life. 90% can be spent doing cool shit and making awesome things happen.