tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53245006659112889912024-02-21T01:27:08.788+01:00Ryan NelsonMy life, my thoughts, my universe. Sometimes America, sometimes Germany. Always awesome.Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-52992601755936428642013-11-03T20:12:00.000+01:002013-11-05T21:17:51.589+01:00Pursuing excellence (before passion!)Nota bene: I wanted to bang out a quick note to myself related to two ideas, K. Anders Ericsson's seminal piece The Making of an Expert, as well as Steve Martin's injunction to "Be so good they can't ignore you." Astute readers of Cal Newport's excellent Study Hacks blog will note that this rehashes of some of his ideas; because originality is less interesting to me than authenticity (AudenRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-5695298951201656662013-10-23T23:20:00.000+02:002013-10-23T23:37:10.016+02:00Doubt.
I went out for a walk tonight, just up my street. It's curious: as terribly familiar as I am with the other side of Oberer Gaisbergweg—the German mouthful that is my lane—I had never walked more than two hundred feet uphill. Partially this is because it's quite steep and things tend to flow down; on top of that, I think I've never gone that way because it never seemed ripe for possibility the Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-6127884336041204732013-10-04T07:38:00.000+02:002013-10-04T07:38:51.350+02:00Radical Simplicity.This is a post on function.
I'm back in Germany, which means that I'm back—after a delightful wedding and a jaunt to Park City—to the daily grind of being a productive student. Ha. It's around 5AM, and thanks to the addling effects of jet lag I'm awake, and thinking about things that I want to change in my life in order to be better at studying, and generally just better at living. And for me, IRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0Heidelberg, Germany49.400583054269745 8.6943423002958349.400526054269747 8.69426330029583 49.400640054269743 8.69442130029583tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-38509688772720581292013-09-16T23:31:00.000+02:002013-10-04T07:39:21.497+02:00Hello again.It's been a few years.
Life is good, but somehow writing—or at least, blogging—has fallen by the wayside. (To add to that, this blog badly needed pruning; from now on I'll let the chips fall.) But tonight seems to be the night for it, because I'm feeling pensive: slow rain is falling on my windows as I look out at the valley, and the breeze smells like fall. It's a Robert Frost sort of night.
ARyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com1Oberer Gaisbergweg, Heidelberg49.401799999999987 8.694690000000036949.381134499999987 8.6543495000000377 49.422465499999987 8.7350305000000361tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-39528879263740431502010-10-01T00:47:00.006+02:002013-10-04T07:39:43.561+02:00An American EveningYou should know that the reason I don't write more often is because I'm on the rocks with writing lately. Sometimes words are wonderful, and sometimes they're the last thing I want to see. My words. I'm undoubtedly my worst critic, and I've tried to write -- but then I throw away my attempts, disgusted. C'est la vie.
As I walked past a McDonald's this evening, I saw what I had to have: the 1955Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-53635490593712673012010-09-23T21:33:00.002+02:002010-09-23T21:43:26.317+02:00Part One, Done.After four weeks, my first of two intensive courses is done. 15 proud, brave souls withstood the test of time. Though made weak by time and fate, our strong will pushed us to strive, to seek, and to find* our way through what Mark Twain lovingly dubbed "That Awful German Language." We are the few and the proud.I celebrated by going to the Oktoberfest then having a burger at McDonald's. At almost Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-56457141537407577432010-09-15T18:08:00.005+02:002010-09-15T18:54:55.157+02:00Salzburg and ZugspitzeOn Sunday I spent most of the day doing things that would make my mother cry.One should expect, when visiting different countries, that the culture there will be different. I've spoken about such overwhelming surprises before. Though very similar to the United States in many ways, Germans tend to be more strict and observant of some things (when trains leave trainstations, for example; I had anRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-76644643608887661942010-09-08T00:53:00.000+02:002010-09-08T00:55:20.461+02:00Bowling and JazzOn Sunday I went to Salzburg, and it was one of the highlights of my life. I've never seen such a beautiful city - it's enough to make one's heart ache for the joy of it. I walked probably 12 miles while I was there, and one of the best moments was eating lunch (Spätzle noodles with mushrooms and this sauce consisting of a mixture of tomatoes and ambrosia) in Salzburg's mountain castle while Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-3291660531180379402010-09-07T10:38:00.001+02:002010-09-07T10:38:24.244+02:00A Word from the EditorI've heard from a few sources that there's been some confusion about my last post, i.e., that the Goethe Institut is easy or I'm not taking it seriously or something. Allow me to assure you that that isn't the case.The "cultural awareness" class to which I was referring was a pre-departure seminar I was required to take at BYU. While it could be helpful in other circumstances, possibly, Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-446868064970660462010-09-01T21:10:00.001+02:002010-09-01T21:10:30.892+02:00The Problem with Experts.So I'm sitting in the middle of Munich right now. As we speak. As I'm writing. It's dark outside and the furthest into the night sky I can see is the towering Rathaus (city council building) ahead of me. There are hundreds of people milling in this large square, and a little down the street a performer is playing Tchaikovsky on a marimba. The church bells all around just started ringing because Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-23544464714581146272010-08-31T21:58:00.000+02:002010-08-31T22:02:24.639+02:00History LessonsI caused a history lesson today because I'm an american.Class started today, and I now get to enjoy sitting for five hours a day learning about intricate german language rules for the next two months. I know how exciting that must sound to you, because just writing that sentence was abhorrent enough to me that I wonder why I *chose* to do this. German is good, german is great, german is wonderfulRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-14548444640554763162010-08-30T22:18:00.001+02:002010-08-30T22:18:39.110+02:00My room is a MOMA exhibit.Well, I'm in Munich. It's raining, the institute classes start tomorrow, and my landlord is slightly crazy. I'm going to love it here. :)So I cam down from Erlangen to Munich (or, as the germans say, München) this morning with my great aunt and uncle, and we had to spend the whole 120-mile drive in the rain. To give you an idea of just how bad the rain was, we had to drive 75mph most of the way Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-62699371953530129912010-08-28T00:03:00.001+02:002010-08-28T00:07:41.591+02:00Back from BerlinThe problem at the moment is that I can't upload pictures yet. Give me three days.Succinctly, Berlin is awesome.Over the course of five days I traveled from Erlangen near Nürnberg to Eisenach. Eisenach is the little medieval town next to the Wartburg Castle where Martin Luther translated the New Testament while he was hiding out from a very angry Catholic church. After Eisenach we drove to Bad Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-56065559988669955992010-08-24T22:05:00.001+02:002010-08-24T22:52:03.583+02:00Der Blick aus meinem HotelfensterThere's a river right below my window. It's quiet, maybe 150 feet wide, and moving just fast enough that lights from the other side are twinkling in the eddies and ripples from the current. Directly across from me is a palace, and just upstream the tall clock tower of the Rathaus (city hall) proclaims the time is neither wrong nor right. A single river boat is putting upstream, red light facing Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-59835727527099291622010-08-21T20:11:00.006+02:002010-08-21T20:56:36.167+02:00A Word on German Food."He who eats alone, chokes alone." - Arabic proverb"I don't like broccoli. And I haven't since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. I am the President of the United States, and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli." - George W. Bush (though he probably said "ain't", per our last discussion)"One can not think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - VirginiaRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-7609763784281895172010-08-20T10:23:00.002+02:002010-08-20T10:41:36.225+02:00A Stranger in a Strange Land, or Deutsch and NarcolepsyTevye: As Abraham said, "I am a stranger in a strange land... "Mendel: Moses said that.Tevye: Ah. Well, as King David said, "I am slow of speech, and slow of tongue."Mendel: That was also Moses.Tevye: For a man who was slow of tongue, he talked a lot.Having been in Germany for a few days, I'm finally starting to sleep normally. My travel took me on Sunday from Salt Lake City to Atlanta, and thenRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-41811362880299422622010-06-08T03:07:00.000+02:002010-06-08T03:50:48.114+02:00Burnt RubberI joined a biker gang yesterday.We've decided we're going to meet on Sunday nights, and our agenda involves cruising the strip, intimidating other gangs and trying to fly under police radar. Last night was talking plans, talking initiation, talking possible tats that we could get to show our dedication and our street cred - but we still found time to roll Center St and show our solidarity and Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-24698094144494534332006-09-12T09:49:00.000+02:002009-03-18T03:24:28.288+01:00The tapestry of our livesHi, I'm back. As some of you have probably noticed, I suffer alternately from insomnia and narcolepsy. Lucky for you, tonight I am apparently afflicted with the former.Lying in bed this evening, and having given up counting sheep some time before, I was thinking about friends and family and how various individuals have helped shape who I've become and who I am. From this thought, it occurred Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-8924313163510319172006-03-01T22:14:00.000+01:002009-03-18T03:12:37.488+01:00To have a heartWell, it's time at the moment for an anatomy lesson, because I was thinking about it and because one of these days I'm going to relate this to a more in-depth discussion on cycling. Basically, I'm going to skip almost everything but the heart for now, because that's what I've been thinking about lately (And, oddly enough, the organ that has been partly responsible for allowing me to do the Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-5370245887764477132006-01-12T08:46:00.000+01:002009-03-18T03:12:37.488+01:00The Pen and the Sword, or: Death and TaxesI enoy writing. I feel like it's a medium through which I can communicate and be understood, or at least understand myself. I'm starting to find a voice, and as I go through my day I hear this voice in snippets that beg to be put on paper (Whether digital- or cellulose-based). I don't expect that I'm especially good at it, but it at least puts in a singular stream some of my thoughts that Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-65068519237816965192005-11-30T09:50:00.000+01:002009-03-18T03:12:37.488+01:00These are a few of my favorite thingsI love showers. And by love them, I mean I absolutely adore and admire showers for all the glory that they are and all the truth and light they stand for. Sure, they're technically inanimate objects that only have a limited power of salvation, but once you run hot water through those pipes, a shower becomes a living, caring thing, and that meaningless inability to grant salvation becomes more Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-51944290509288681742005-04-18T00:33:00.000+02:002009-03-18T03:12:37.489+01:00TimeIt's been a long time since my last update. Unintentionally. Really.Fitness: On April 4 I ran approximately 19 miles as a culmination of my marathon training. The intended date is April 23, with the Salt Lake Marathon being the chosen run. I will likely be flying down on Wednesday. The lack of exercise as I taper is killing me, though I plan on running about 5 miles tomorrow to keep things Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-49186034532420370372005-02-23T07:04:00.000+01:002009-03-18T03:12:37.489+01:00This is a picture that was taken in New York City's Central Park durin The Gates art exhibit. The exhibit was created by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. 7500 16-foot tall gates were erected in Central Park at the cost of the artists, with widths ranging from about 5 feet to 16 feet. They follow 23 miles of paths in the park and will be up for 16 days before being taken down February 28th, 2005.Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-12478316667094123022005-02-12T07:44:00.000+01:002009-03-18T03:12:37.489+01:00Bridge UpdateThis is a picture of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge taken February 10, 2005. The new bridge towers are expected to be at over 350 of their 510 foot total height by the end of the month of February. They are made of marine-grade concrete and are angled slightly to increase compression strength between the cross-members that will be supporting the bridge horizontally.The photo was taken at 5:01PM with aRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5324500665911288991.post-66905988821351345452004-12-03T04:19:00.000+01:002009-03-18T03:12:37.489+01:00This is a picture I took perhaps a month ago on a comfortable Sunday evening. It's of Gig Harbor looking towards Mount Rainier. I was disappointed by the haziness of Rainier that evening, but in retrospect it adds to the picture, in my mind, because it stands as a monolith in a pink haze of the same shade.Our fascination with water sometimes surprises me. Our greatest cities are, with few Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05885525621322382705noreply@blogger.com0