The speed of technology and innovation has never been faster. Everywhere we look, everything is different and being disrupted. Across industries, corporations, and countries, those that can't keep up and simply left behind as a warning to everyone else of what happens if you don't adapt to what is right now.  We are bombarded with more information than we can handle and all of it is apparently urgent. Our smartphones make sure that we are never more than three swipes away from a flood of content about anything and everything that happened, might have happened, and could happen everywhere in the world. And we're completely burnt out.

And the pendulum is swinging back the other direction.

And fast.

Right now, the hottest trends are being inspired by cavemen.

Not the Jetsons, the Flinestones.

• After years of using state of the art equipment in perfectly lit and scented gyms, millions are flocking to previously abandoned warehouses to get their caveman work out on and push a tractor tire around for a hour.
• Instead of rushing out to sample the latest in molecular gastronomy and high art cuisine, the current diet trend is based on the bench mark of what the paleolithic beings from 15,000 years ago might have consumed.
• Apparently as it became easier and easier to communicate instantly, the thought and meaning of long form communication has gone the way of the dinosaurs and short form emoji-laden bursts of text have brought cave drawings back as the preferred standard of communication for the next generation.

So with our workouts, diet, and communication already reverting back to caveman inspired standards, what is next?

This is a hipster. This is a hipster walking his cat and yet another reason I love NYC.

Having just finished an incredible meal at Roberta's Pizza in Bushwick Brooklyn, I walked out side and saw this scene. Because of the never ending opportunities to capture reasons why I love NYC, I have gotten pretty quick on the draw and was able to snap this photo.

I shared it last night on Instagram (HERE) and some lively debate ensued about whether that was a hipster walking a cat or a cheetah. Turns out, the answer is both.  This is a Savannah Cat, the most domesticated breed of cats from Africa. It is a hybrid between a normal cat and a wild cat. Costing anywhere between $4,000-$10,000, they are actually illegal to own in 3 states in the US, as well as in... New York City.

This of course makes me smile even more about this photo. Not only did a hipster spend 3-6 months rent on a cat, he also decided to get one that is illegal to have in NYC. Which leads me to my final conclusion on the matter: Bushwick is a safe haven for law breaking cat lovers and I might just have broken that scandal wide open.

----

Report posted from Greenwich Village, where we don't have mini-cheetahs as pets.

With each job that I've had, I taken away some long term practical advice. Being a bus driver in college was one job that didn't yield quite as many nuggets of wisdom as some jobs that came after graduation, but there was one piece of advice that I learned, applied, and saw results from. The sage counsel came from an Education major at Texas A&M, she said "Don't smile until Thanksgiving." Quick note: being a school bus driver in college is the best job ever. You make $12-15/hr, never work nights, weekends, or holidays, and get to watch kids get excited when they see you turn your Bluebird onto their street and flip open the flashing red stop sign. Fun times all around.

Not completely understanding the point of my friend's advice at the time, I follow it anyway. I was relatively stern with all of the kids on my bus routes. They wanted to listen to ghetto rap radio, I forced them to listen to country music. They wanted to play musical chairs, I stopped the bus and watched them go back to their seats. They wanted to hang out the windows, I put the windows up if they tried it. And, after the first couple weeks, they started telling me that "Mr. Casey (the other driver on my route) lets us...." to which I replied, "Then do it tomorrow when he's driving. Not on my bus."

Now, a funny thing happened. Sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving, order had been established. Country music was understood as the soundtrack for Mr. Andy's bus, butts stayed in seats, and the windows stayed open because no one tried to throw their seat mate out while we wear stopped at a light. But then, in an unforeseen turn of events, the kids started complaining about Mr. Casey being mean. They things that he used to let them do, he now didn't and they liked riding with me better.

I found out that Mr. Casey had had a couple of parents call in because their kids were hanging out the windows when they came around the corner to be dropped off and may or may not have been singing rap lyrics as they walked in the front door. Mr. Casey had to crack down on his routes and the fun loving attitude had to change. Or, put another way, he smiled before Thanksgiving.

Now, ten years later, I'm not driving buses any more (though I do miss having a 36 foot vehicle under my control) but I am still following the principle of "not smiling until Thanksgiving." It is so much easier to establish respect and the ground rules for a professional relationship and watch a friendship emerge than to start 'buddy/buddy' and try to flip it to having professional relationship. I don't want a sales guy to be my friend. I want him to sell me on why his product is better than others and on the value that it creates for me and my company. If, in that process, a relationship develops beyond that, it's a bonus. But, when there is too much smiling and not enough closing, I end up listening to ghetto rap and trying to shove that sales guy out the window.

Growing up reading the Guiness Book of World Records,"I currently hold two world records" is a phrase I never thought I'd be able to say. But, as of last week and the official verification from judges at RecordSetter, it's true. I now hold two world records, both having to do with Pocket Squares. The very kind folks at Eton of Sweden were nice enough to let me use their gorgeous boutique at 58th and Madison for these record setting attempts as well as supply the Pocket Squares (my favorite place to add to my Pocket Square collection. Eton has some amazing new things coming this spring and fall.) Being surrounded by that much classy fashion, there was no way I could fail.

The first record: Most Pocket Squares Worn in 30 Seconds

The second record: Most Pocket Squares Worn At Once

Now that I've taken the plunge and have two of my very own world records (until someone breaks them), my mind has started to race with other records I can create/set/break.

What about you? Was set/break world record on your 2012 resolution list? Is it now?

Some might say I have an opinion about the downfall of my generation as a result of the toxic and unfounded self esteem enforced by the participation trophies that were a part of our growing up. Others might say that I'm overreacting and a tad bit cynical. But, Saturday Night Live seems to agree with at least the sentiment as seen in this past weekend's sketch called "You Can Do Anything!"

Completlely hit the nail on the head. Bravo.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/319318/saturday-night-live-you-can-do-anything