These 3 current sites I really like because they clearly tell you what they do as a company and of course, I love their design. https://munchery.com/http://www.invisionapp.com/https://www.harrys.com/

Oh I really like https://slack.com/ messaging and branding. It's quirky and feels personal. It has a lot of personality which I think is extremely important to a brand.

I'm really into how http://www.vogue.co.uk is organized. I also think http://www.bench.co does a good job at making their interactions smooth and on a UX perspective, understanding what they do and how they do it.

That's a good question! I do this frequently to brush up on my skills. So what I do is find a tutorial on http://design.tutsplus.com, http://blog.spoongraphics.co.uk, http://vectips.com or http://colorburned.com/category/tutorials/ that's relevant to something I want to learn and I do as much of the tutorial as I can to pick up certain techniques I want to learn. Other times I make Pinterest boards of styles I like or look back at Pinterest boards I made in the past or one's I follow. I pick one that I really like and I copy it the best way I know how to just to get a feel for the style, spacing, colors, layout, etc. When I'm copying something, I notice certain little details that I didn't think of before. And then I just trash it, but I keep the skills I learned with me forever.

I use my Wacom for everything. I even surf the web and write emails/tweets with it. I use the medium sized one. I have a standard sized desk that I use as a standing desk now with the help of cinderblocks and find it very comfortable to use. My arm positions very nicely and my wrist doesn't get stressed out when I use the Wacom. It's also fun to use and I find myself working faster with it than a trackpad or mouse.

These are great questions, thanks! I've been getting in the habit of writing down my random thoughts, it's actually very useful in understanding myself better and focus on what interests me.

I totally understand. There's just so much out there! Would you find an app useful that helps you focus on only the things you are interested in and weed out the noise?

I agree! Voicemail is always so in the background. It's almost like phones don't actually care about the calling and voicemail part of it, which is what a phone was made for in the first place.

Looking back, I wish I didn't waste my time in college. I majored in Actuarial Science only to realize that design was my #1 passion and not just my hobby. I wish I spent more time designing cool stuff than studying for exams and stressing about getting a boring cubicle desk job. I'm a lot happier now and I learned everything I know through experimentation, working for free, interning, cool people I met along the way and the internet.