December 2011
38 posts
Day 360: Engage in archery
REMEMBERED DETAILS I believe my sister, who went with me to the archery range, shot 11 arrows.  She shot one over the building that housed the targets, one over a fence, and the rest below the target where she was aiming. I shot 12 arrows, one stuck into the wall of the building holding the targets and the rest hit the white area of the target itself. I switched bows halfway through...
Dec 31st
5 notes
Day 359: Investigate an abandoned, "haunted"...
Exploration and curiosity are ingrained in everything that makes us human. The benefits of seeking the unknown have been many and have ranged from discovering new trade routes to swapping secrets on crop irrigation with indigenous populations. And to a certain degree, we are all the ancestors of explorers. On the plains of Africa, for instance, those who moved to new lands in search of food...
Dec 31st
6 notes
Day 358: Buy and deliver presents to a family in...
Though a 2005 report showed that four out of five Americans believe the holidays to be too materialistic, psychologists have argued that gift giving is an important ritual in maintaining a healthy, balanced lifestyle. But experts claim giving presents is more beneficial for the givers than for the receivers.  “If I don’t let you give me a gift, then I’m not encouraging you to think about...
Dec 31st
10 notes
Day 357: Reconstruct an animal skeleton using...
Girlfriend: “So I have the perfect present for your sister for Christmas.” Matt: “Oh?” GF: “I met a woman who has a passion for finding bones located inside owl vomit and bottling them up in glass vials.” M: “Wait. What?” GF: “I should buy it for you - so you could give it to your sister. Essentially, there is a woman who runs a shop...
Dec 30th
8 notes
Day 356: Bet on a horse
Pressed for time and finishing up a story for work - I quickly signed up and bet on a horse here. Though I am still slightly confused as to whether my horse won… REMEMBERED TIME I believe it took 9 minutes and 31 seconds to sign up and bet on a horse. ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 30th
5 notes
Day 355: Receive an enema
Hm. Well. What to say about this Time Hack… I am surprised at how easy and quick the entire process was. I was expecting an ordeal, to say the least. But really - in the end, it was a short and sweet painless Time Hack. From what I can tell without having looked at the recorded times of each event this past year, the more awkward and uncomfortable the experience, the longer each event...
Dec 29th
8 notes
Day 354: Recreate a childhood photograph
Ze Frank, web entrepreneur, online performer and general crazy internet guy, created a project in 2008 ago called Young Me Now Me, a campaign asking people on the web to recreate childhood photographs of themselves. The results of the project are both entertaining and fascinating.  The group photographs of families are particularly interesting. REMEMBERED TIME I estimate that it took 21...
Dec 27th
7 notes
Day 353: Give yourself a makeover hairdo
REMEMBERED DETAILS I believe I used the “number 8 setting” on the electric clippers on the backs and sides of my head. I buzzed the right side of my head first a total of 13 times. The back side of my head was the next to go, followed by the left side of my head. I used two hair clips to hold up my mane, while using the electric clippers. A small handheld mirror was used a total...
Dec 27th
1 note
Day 352: Stand while taking off in an airplane
REMEMBERED TIME I believe I stood in front of my seat during takeoff on a United flight for 1 minute and 48 seconds, at which time I was scolded by a flight attendant.  ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 27th
1 note
Day 351: Spend time in a trampoline room
REMEMBERED DETAILS I believe the room was six trampolines long and six wide. There were 24 trampolines lining the walls of the room. There were seven people jumping on the trampolines in the room at the time I took the video, six males and one female. The ceiling of the facility was white and had a drop ceiling. Four large florescent lights hung from the ceiling. There were four black...
Dec 27th
Day 350: Go to a punk rock strip club
REMEMBERED TIME I believe I was in the punk rock strip club with my friend (pictured above) for 29 minutes and 11 minutes. ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 27th
1 note
Day 349: Have dinner with an Iraqi refugee
On day 349 of The Time Hack, I visited a family who fled Iraq after a bomb exploded in front of their home in 2009 - gifts of a drawn out war graciously provided by Al-Qaeda, the father told me. I gulped down large portions of well-prepared pot roast at a worn brown table in the family’s kitchen, while listening to stories from Amir Ahmed (not his real name). He was excited for someone to...
Dec 23rd
3 notes
Day 348: Pick up a hitchhiker
During the fall of 2007, I traveled around the US via the kindness of strangers through a web project called Around America in 2.0. It was a time in the internet’s youth when YouTube was just beginning to get its bearings and news reports were coming out almost daily about crimes that were committed through people connecting on Craigslist. So I created AA2.0 as a way to prove the web...
Dec 22nd
6 notes
Day 347: Find a spirit animal through a Shaman...
During a ceremony during day 347 of The Time Hack, a Shaman told me that my spirit animal was a horse. [Video below] According to SpiritAnimals.com, a horse, pony or mustang can help their cohorts with the following: power (Sweet.) stamina  endurance (Last time I ran was sophmore year of high school.) faithfulness  freedom to run free (Like a pony?) control of the environment awareness...
Dec 22nd
7 notes
2 tags
Day 346: Operate coin-controlled street art
REMEMBERED DETAILS The coin machine told me that I was going to have an eventful day. It had a screen that glowed green and then blue. I think it asked me whether I thought I was a nerd? There was a stuffed crow above the machine that moved around each time the screen prompted me with new questions. The machine made “clinky-like” sounds while it ran. ACTUAL EVENTS What...
Dec 22nd
9 notes
Day 345: Visit an airport dressed as a Star Wars...
REMEMBERED DETAILS I placed two calls outside the Alaska Airlines arrival gate to determine the whereabouts of my girlfriend. The first attempt was unsuccessful.  A friend, holding the video camera during the experiment, asked what I was doing at the airport. I explained that we were there to pick someone up.  I then explained that I had recently arrived home from fighting the Death Star and...
Dec 21st
11 notes
Day 344: Make grape juice with your feet
Memory from the day: The experiment on day 344 of The Time Hack was supposed to be “Object at a wedding”, though I only admit this because the friend whose wedding I had been intending to object at is a self-admitted luddite.  That said, a chain a peculiar events led me to crushing grapes instead. I had been sleeping on a curiously smelling Murphy bed for several nights in the...
Dec 21st
6 notes
Day 343: Spend a full working day at a web...
REMEMBERED TIME I believe I spent 6 hours and 19 minutes at the home of Picplum. ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 21st
2 notes
Day 342: Attend an exhumation
For Day 342 of The Time Hack, I attend the exhumation of two skeletons in Ukiah, California, a town where the bodies of two children were found in 1979. The children were never identified and the case has yet to be solved, which is why I attended the exhumation as part of an upcoming story by the BBC News. At different points throughout the day, I had the opportunity to speak with a forensic...
Dec 19th
1 note
Day 341: Drive across a the Golden Gate Bridge
This little number has been on the list since the beginning of the project.  REMEMBERED TIME I believe it took 5 minutes and 19 seconds to get across the bridge. ACTUAL TIME How did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 19th
Day 340: Document the moon's shape 'tonight'
I realized after the fact that this experiment was not necessarily proposing that I draw the moon… REMEMBERED TIME I believe that it took 6 minutes and 06 seconds to draw the moon. ACTUAL TIME How did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 19th
1 note
Day 339: Stay indoors for over 24 hours
I have somehow never stayed indoors for a full day, partly because I do not get sick and partly because I get stir crazed easier than Gilbert Gottfried after six cups of coffee. I do not recommend this experiment. REMEMBERED DETAILS I believe I got up from the couch nine times, one of which was to nap on my bed. I used the bathroom four times during the day. I watched roughly 13 sitcom...
Dec 19th
Day 338: Write a letter to the mailman
REMEMBERED DETAILS In my letter to the mail carrier, I told him that I appreciated his effort in bringing the mail to us on time, even when it was raining. I told him that I noticed the way he carefully sets the mail inside our doorway when it’s wet outside and the way the mail is placed face up. The letter went on to explain that in my last apartment, the mail delivery was not nearly...
Dec 19th
1 note
Day 337: Do body shots
REMEMBERED DETAILS Following a rather calm dinner party, a friend prompted doing body shots of tequila while at a bar in Washington DC. There were five of us - three men and two women. To make the experience more interesting, we thought it best to do them in a circle all at once, starting from our left, using from our necks and arms. I was oddly positioned next to my male friend who demanded...
Dec 19th
2 notes
Day 336: Take a tour of the Associated Press
A quick memory associated with journalism: My grey-haired public relations professor was standing at the front of the room during the first class of my third year of college.  ”Basics of public relations” was a required course for my major, and with great hesitation and venom, I found myself that day awaiting instruction on how best to write a press release. “If I want to be...
Dec 17th
Day 335: Attend a swabbing party
My experience with cancer was, until the summer of 2010, one of ignorance. I had only distantly known those impacted by it. Both of my father’s parents died from it before I was born, so had an acquaintance’s mother, a not-so-friendly movie star, etc. It seemed like a deadly tornado sweeping across Kansas but I was protected by the mountains on the coast, safely receiving headlines and...
Dec 15th
1 note
Day 334: Learn to moonwalk
REMEMBERED TIME I believe I studied YouTube videos to learn to moonwalk for 1 hour and 11 minutes. ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 14th
1 note
Day 333: Ask strangers to hold happy birthday...
REMEMBERED TIME I believe it took 52 seconds to have strangers successfully send birthday wishes to my sister, who I refer to as Lizard. ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 10th
1 note
Day 332: Orchestrate a hand model photoshoot
REMEMBERED TIME I estimate that it took 10 minutes and 23 seconds to hold a photo shoot involving my co-workers hands. I ended up using the final picture for a BBC report found here. ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 10th
Day 331: Go to the top of the Empire State...
REMEMBERED TIME I believe I spent 21 minutes and 13 seconds at the top of the Empire State Building in New York City, the view from which is pictured above. ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 10th
Day 330: Crawl to the grocery store
REMEMBERED TIME Inspired by an art exhibit at the Cororan Gallery of Art, I crawled to the grocery store across the street from my friend’s house. I believe it took 07 minutes and 14 seconds. Currently awaiting a photo from a friend… ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 10th
Day 329: Sneak into a dance party
REMEMBERED TIME I believe it took 15 seconds to sneak into a dance party on the corner of North 6th Street and Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 10th
1 note
Day 328: Host Thanksgiving dinner
REMEMBERED TIME On day 328 of The Time Hack, I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner, which consisted of vegetarian lasagna, cranberry sauce, beans, brussel sprouts and other comestibles. I believe the whole ordeal lasted 5 hours and 17 minutes. ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 9th
1 note
Day 327: Make (vegetarian) Thanksgiving dinner
REMEMBERED TIME I believe it took 6 hours and 19 minutes to make Thanksgiving dinner, which I hosted at my house… for the first time. Guess what day 328 is going to be…  ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 9th
Day 326: Ride a San Francisco trolley
REMEMBERED TIME I believe the BBC’s Jason Palmer and I rode San Francisco trolleys for 34 minutes and 15 seconds, asking individuals: “If you could send one message to alien life, what would it be?” Why? Good question. Report to come… ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 9th
1 note
Day 325: Learn to track incoming data from Aliens
REMEMBERED TIME I estimate that Seth Shostak from the SETI Institute taught me how to track possible incoming data from extra terrestrials for 3 minutes and 11 seconds. ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 9th
2 notes
Day 324: Search for extra terrestrial life at SETI
REMEMBERED TIME I believe I visited the grounds of the Allen Telescope Array in North California (part of SETI’s effort to find a signal from extra terrestrial life) for 5 hours and 36 minutes. ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 7th
Day 323: Jam with a blues musician
REMEMBERED TIME I believe I jammed with an aging blues musician in San Francisco for 6 minutes and 03 seconds before giving up out of embarrassment.  ACTUAL TIME How long did it take? Find out here. Why don’t videos or images of time appear on this site?
Dec 1st