I Heart Ted

I have more or less resigned myself to the fact that I am the type of person who feels the need to give voice to my frustrations. I like to complain. I like to rant about how f*cked the world is and bristle at whatever latest injustice I come across. When self-help enthusiasts are encouraged to purge "negative" friends from their lives, there's a good chance my name would show up on their the purge list (provided I knew them). So while my brain is constantly working to find a way to articulate all that is wrong with the world, I am nevertheless a sucker for that which is life-affirming.

And that's why I'm drawn to Ted, a conference that brings "inspired thinkers and doers" together.

Although I've never attended a Ted talk in person, I've attended many online. The first, I believe, was given by "Blink" author Malcolm Gladwell on spaghetti sauce. Doing research for a "Lost" segment, I came across one by JJ Abrams. They're really kind of great.

So now, when I find myself getting overwhelmed by crap, I'll hop over to Ted and watch a talk. And just yesterday I discovered the Ted podcast, which means I've got hours and hours of great stuff to listen to in the car.

And when I was in San Francisco, I would try and make it to Heather Gold's Talk Show, which was similarly engaging to me.

So if you want to take a break from crapdome, seek out Ted...if you haven't already.