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.

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.

I’ve been thinking about failing a lot lately, which is kind of odd given that the past month has probably been filled with more successes than almost any month in my entire life. I have amazing friends, an incredible job, and I’m doing ridiculous things each and every day that I never thought I would have the opportunity to do, much less succeed at. Long story short, things are really, really good.

But failure is on my mind. Because there have been plenty of failures in the past month, too. I mean hell, it’s been almost a month since I’ve blogged—wow. Talk about failing. I think there are three big reasons it’s on my mind right now:

1. Wins are easy. Failures suck and we want to ignore them, but they’re much more valuable to learn from. I mean think about it. There are little (and big) wins in our lives almost each and every day. And while there are failures there, too, we tend to try to avoid them and push to the back of our mind. What if you spent 15 minutes every day thinking about what you’ve failed at? And then try to fix it and succeed next time. I think I need to do that a little more.
2. Failures come from neglect, too. When you’re passionate about something, it’s tempting to drop everything and focus all your time, energy, and effort into that thing. I’ve sort of done that with Uber for the past month, neglecting my blog, my  side projects, and some of my other responsibilities. I don’t regret it at all—I love my job and I’ll happily throw 3000% at it, and it’s tremendously rewarding. But I do think I should take note of the things I’ve neglected and try to make at least a little time for them, especially as things calm down a little now that we’re post-launch in DC. What else am I spending time on outside of work that could be better allocated somewhere else? How can I work time for fitness into my routine? How can I make sure I’m staying emotionally, physically, and intellectually healthy? You can learn from these kinds of failures, too.
3. Failing is sticky. I’ve been happier than I’ve been in a really long time for the past month or so. But I still find that some failures weigh very heavily on my mind. It sticks in your brain and you can’t get it out, try as hard as you might. It’s sticky. Writing this—and as I think about them more and more—I realize that I can’t just let them sit there. I need to take some time to focus on them, figure them out, fix them, and move past them.

I feel like trying to describe it much more than that would never be able to do it justice. On one hand, it was wonderfully tacky—a lot of old people on a relatively old boat doing old people things while us young ones drank and sang and drank and sang some more. The carpets were sea foam green, the trims and decorations all centered around that awful, typical ocean teal. The event spaces had silly names like the Stardust Theater and Dazzles Nightclub, or—my favorite place, albeit with a drab title—Captain Cook’s Piano Bar.

On the other hand, it was just perfect. I had three incredible friends to spend the time with: Chris, Rachael, and Lindsey. We bonded and relaxed and talked and it was exactly what I wanted and needed. We did nothing we didn’t want to do, and whatever we did want to do. We slept in, ate and drank when we wanted, and became friends with Jeorge the Filipino bartender and Randy the piano man from the Midwest with a girlfriend in London. They were both officially invited to all of our future weddings—whenever those may be. I have Jeorge’s email address on a napkin, and Randy the piano man’s business card. I wish I could bottle up the music and bourbon and sip it every time I need a jolt of joy—it was perfect.

“Knob Creek on the rocks… Just a couple rocks.” I said that a lot this weekend, and it’s become my drink of choice. The smooth, warming liquid with that perfect balance of smoke and fire and calm. It’s hard to describe how wonderful it is to sip that, surrounded by friends you love and engulfed by song and happy people.

It was exactly what I needed. A lot of things in my life have changed recently. Not in a bad way, but they’ve changed for sure—a new house, a new neighborhood, a new job, and even some new friends. This cruise was exactly the kind of dramatic change of pace I needed to recalibrate and prepare myself to really accept and embrace all of these big life changes going on right now.

I’m ready.

One blog post, an hour of Fruit Ninja, and a glass of tomato juice later, I’m still awake and I’m writing another blog post.

In a lot of ways it makes sense—it’s hard to sleep as I’m contemplating all of the big changes in my life the past few weeks.

Yesterday was my last day at GeniusRocket, and I am now the DC Community Manager for Uber. It’s a phenomenal opportunity and I’m thrilled to be joining the Uber team. We’re going to do awesome things. On top of that I’ve moved across the District to a totally new neighborhood. It’s a wonderfully diverse, up-and-coming spot, with a very different feel and culture than upper northwest DC. I love it.

So lots of positive change and forward momentum. So much that I can’t even sleep. But that’s not a bad thing.

I don’t drink tomato juice at home, or dining out, or anywhere else, ever. Except when I’m on an airplane.

I’ve thought about ordering something else. I’ve thought about coffee, or just ice water. I’ve even considered splurging on an adult beverage. But try as I might, when the flight attendant finally asks me what I’d like to drink, the only words I manage to get out of my mouth are “tomato juice.”

I usually try to say it sort of quietly. I’m not exactly proud of this strange 30,000 foot drink obsession. I’ll mutter it once, and of course I often end up needing to repeat myself—eventually blurting out “TOMATO JUICE” because I can never quite judge exactly how loud I need to speak to be heard over the jet engines and awkward aisle conversation.

Until today’s flight (on my way to Miami for a long weekend cruise), I thought I was alone in my strange, ambiguous vegetable/fruit juice dilemma. But then I started listening up the plane as the attendant made her way down the aisle. My ears perked up. I hear “juice.” Then another. Then someone says something that I thought was “potato,” and quickly realize is “tomato” since obviously potato juice would be gross.

Say what? There’s someone else on this drab little 737 who shares in my odd affinity for that red, soupy drink? Hooray, I’m not alone!

So now I wonder: who else does this? And do you drink it with ice?

It’s exciting. The new townhouse is incredible, my roommates (@ptklein and @scottlanford) are fantastic, and the opportunities for this neighborhood are seemingly limitless. It’s a part of town that could, without a doubt, use a little work, but it’s got a ton of potential. One of my goals—and our goals as residents here—is going to be to stay as involved with the surround neighborhood and Ward 5 as we possibly can be. We’re not just going to live here and sit idly by while lazy and corrupt politicians ruin a phenomenal part of the District just because they won’t do something to take advantage of the opportunities this area provides.

We’ll be at meetings. We’ll be vocal on Twitter. And we’ll even be blogging. Not here, but on a new, separate blog, and a new blog for the DC local blog ecosystem: Twoomies. Named after our joking term for ourselves (Twitter roomies = “twoomies”), we’ll be documenting the fun we have, our experiences here in Edgewood, and we’ll throw in a healthy helping of animal goodness, too. Make sure you’ve got it bookmarked, and stay tuned for more and more frequent updates.

Stay tuned.

There’s a lot changing this time around. New zip code. New neighborhood. Totally new environment and lifestyle. New roomie (my cousin!). Even Walter Cronkat is going to have to deal with a new friend (Shadow the dog). It’s… well, a big deal.

But I’m really excited. Like really excited.

Tomorrow is the first day (of two) for moving. I’m picking up the keys, dropping off the first rent check, and doing my inspection of the townhouse first thing in the morning. I’ve already changed my addresses, updated my billing, changed my DMV information, and set up all the new utilities.

It’s a little weird because I’ve been living in this current apartment for over a year and a half. It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s the longest I’ve lived anywhere since I left home after high school. I spent one year in the dorms, three months at home, another year in the dorms, three months in an apartment, five months abroad, five months in an apartment, and then my current residence. So lots and lots of moving.

Of course, this is by no means going to be a permanent residence. Who knows, we may only be there for a year. Or we may be there for multiple years. A lot can happen in a short period of time.

But again, I’m excited. There’s something about change that really excites me. I love the constant new experiences. New stories. New people. New sights, new smells, and new feelings. All good things.

Anyway, more updates as the move progresses.