I am a cog. This is my blog.

I really hate delay. Not just the literal definition of the word, but even the actual word itself. Delay. Delay. Delay. It’s one of those words that if you say it too many times, it starts to sound funny and lose it’s meaning. Try it. Delay. Delay. Delay. De-lay. De-lay-ed. Funny right? Delay. Anyway I’m sure you want me to get to the point now because, quite obviously, it really sucks to be delayed, as we all know.

And that is my point. You see this post came about because I had to go to the bathroom. Yea I know too much info, but really it all started in the lav at my office. There are three sinks and two soap dispensers in the men’s room; one dispenser in between each of the sinks (it’s the same in the woman’s room because I’ve looked, but that’s another post all together.) The dispenser on the right which is between the second and third sink is the one most folks tend to use including myself. This is because it’s the closest one to the toilet stalls as well as the one closet to the paper towel dispenser. OK so now you have the layout.

The problem is that this second dispenser has a delay. That’s right it’s delayed. What I mean is, that when you push the little lever thingie to get your nickel sized portion of liquid soap, the dispenser does not dispense that soap while you’re pulling the lever but it dispenses as the lever moves back into position. Now I may be wrong and you are free to argue with me about it but this is NOT right. Not at all and here’s why – bcause I expect an action to happen when I push a button or pull a lever or flick a switch. I don’t expect that action to happen after pushed the button, pulled the lever or flicked the switch. That is a delay and delay is usually an unexpected event. No one really ever uses the word in a joyous or exciting tone unless they’re talking about cancer or death.

So what happens? I pull my hand away prematurely and the soap spills onto the counter-top (ignore the undertones here will you?) So I push the lever again. Again I pull my hand away. Finally I realize that I need to wait a minute to get the soap. This waiting infuriates me. Sometimes so much so that I move over the 2 feet to use the other dispenser which dispenses normally. The funny thing is that even though I know the dispenser has a delay I don’t remember until after I dispense. This is because I am so trained to go to that dispenser but also because I’m not thinking about the way the soap dispenser works. You may think I’m stupid and sometimes I am, but I don’t expect to HAVE to think about the way a freakin’ soap dispenser works. I just want soap when I pull the lever thingie.

I used to stay at that dispenser until it did dispense the portion of soap I needed but I have more and more been going to the dispenser that’s a little further away. Even if I forget and do go to the Delayed Dispenser and pull the lever thingie and pull my hand away and watch the soap spill on the counter I immediately move to the further dispenser bringing my anger at the Delayed Dispenser with me. And so from now I’m training myself to make the Non-Delayed Dispenser my first choice from now on.

Just because I’m a cog and this is my blog doesn’t mean I have to take crap from a soap dispenser.

Are you a good follower? I know it’s not the kind of question one may hear all that often in the Twitterverse but have you ever sat back and thought about what it is to be a good follower? You can find a lot of stuff on how to get followers and keep followers but not too much on how to actually follow someone. Just as someone can choose to follow or unfollow, a person may choose to block, or not. When you want someone to follow you and they don’t that’s bad enough but if they block you well, that’s even worse.

So what does it take to be a respected follower? One that might even go so far as to get followed back or promoted via the person or people they’re following. There are a couple of resources out there already that relate to this kind of thing. The #SMManners chat is awash in good advice on how one should behave when in the social space. Twitter itself is a great resource. Just throw a question out there (preferably with an oft-used hash-tag) and I’m sure you’ll find a soul or two willing to give good advice. But what I’m trying to get at is a little more specific and what I’m looking for is something more aggregated and all in one place. A list perhaps. A guideline if you will.

Now it may be rough and I’m sure it will need to be frequently updated but here is my stab at such a guideline. I would appreciate any feedback and look forward to hearing of any additions #youseguys think I might need to add.

1. Have a good bio
I personally do not follow anyone without a bio and I know many folks feel the same about this. Let me know something about yourself. I may follow you just because of the bio. I may need a few days of engagement with you or I may not follow back at all but having a bio will increase the chances that I will.

2. Understand who it is you are following and for what reason
Not knowing what I do or what I’m into or passionate about makes me wonder why you follow me. It could just be the great conversation but you should still read bio’s and look through a few streams of tweets that the person has written. Get a feel for them. See if you’re right for each other. Relevance in a relationship, even an early one can help fuel the synergy that can lead to a “Twitter Friendship.” <– future post on what this is will be coming soon

3. Don’t be a nag
Asking to be followed back and generally bugging the hell out of someone does not make you a good follower. It makes you seem annoying and very much like a stalker.

4. Relax with the DM’s and RT’s
Obsessive DM’ing and even going a bit overboard on the RT’s can become annoying and also makes you look like a stalker.

5. Engage yourself
Don’t be afraid to ask. This what Twitter is all about. Conversation. Have a question about someone? Ask it. Engaging with that person and the folks they hang with, especially if they have a cause or subject they are passionate about can open the door to conversation. Jump into a few chats that they may attend. Read and post to their blog if they have one. Make yourself visible but please remember to refer to bullets 3 & 4 and use your best judgment.

I hope this helped and again I encourage input because as you know I’m just a cheerfully following cog and this is my blog.

A while back a friend of mine named Steve Farrell DM’ed me to ask for my support of an initiative he was taking part in. That initiative was called The Great Football Giveaway.” I donated some cash thinking I would never hear anything else about it. Then about 2 days after Steve came back from Tanzania he sent me the below message which I want to share with you because it moved me, Here it is:

“Dear Ben and Carl,

I’m back from Tanzania for a week now and I’ve just taken my last post-travel malaria pill. My farmer’s tan is fading and, like you, I’m getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. I thought this would be perfect moment to tell you the story of your donation, because while you’re taking time to give thanks for all that you have, some Tanzanian kids on the other side of the world are thankful to you for what you’ve given them.

Here in America, we have no concept of what football is to the rest of the world. In Tanzania, you can’t throw a rock (or kick a ball) without hitting a football pitch, even if it’s just a dirt lot with sticks jammed in the ground to mark the goals. The smallest village with no running water and no electricity will have a pristine football field and if they’re lucky enough to have a TV, chances are they’re crowded around it watching Chelsea or Arsenal. So dropping in, out of the blue and giving a child who has next to nothing a football and telling them to go play with their friends is an unbelievable experience. It’s like Christmas, the Lottery and the Superbowl championship all rolled into one. You see the kids go through what we began to regard as the clear stages of the Great Football Giveaway: shock (what are these people doing here?), disbelief (why are they handing me this perfect, brand new football?), realization (my god, they’re just GIVING it to me to keep!) and celebration (pure, unbridled, shrieking pandemonium and joy). And your simple donation made that possible.

Your balls now reside (figuratively) at a primary school south of Kilwa near the town of Mitole. We visited the school on our way south to Lindi where all three of our trucks were kind of leapfrogging their way along the main road with teams taking turns visiting schools. This school was one of the smaller schools we visited with only 100 students. They didn’t have a football pitch nearby so we had to set up our shoot-out competition where the kids would win the balls for the school by dragging out a couple of chairs and setting them up near a wall. I was in goal, so the outcome was assured. When we arrived at the school, they had no balls of any kind but we left them with 10 footballs and 5 netballs (sort of like basketballs) for the kids to share. The headmaster said they were saving up to build an additional classroom on the grounds but that this gift was “nearly as good”.

So many times throughout the year we’re asked to give and for whatever reason you decided the Great Football Giveaway was worth it, so it’s incredibly rewarding to show you exactly where your contribution went and tell you the story of how it was delivered. Now I would ask one more small favor from you: share it.

Share this proof of your donation with your friends and connections on Facebook or Twitter, not just to blow your own horn, but to hopefully inspire them to follow your example. When you tell them about it make sure they know they can get involved by donating to the Great Football Giveaway or to the Malaika Children’s Village, which our team donated to as well. Either way, you’ll be paying it forward in some small way and hopefully the cycle will continue.

Thanks again for your donation and participation in one of the most amazing charities I’ve had the privilege to be a part of and have a great and relaxing holiday.

Thanks,
Steve

I like to build things. All kinds.

It started as a little kid, with the typical stuff; blocks, Legos, Lincoln Logs, mud. As I found I had a knack, I started to build houses and dragons and spy kits and maps and even a whole carnival which I used as a backdrop for a stop-motion piece I was filming. I was 11 and I made these things out of the simple materials around me. Construction paper and toothpicks and glue. I made them out of paper shopping bags, cardboard and other “found” objects. I learned key skills here. Enough to get me on over to art school where I honed those skills to a point. It was here that I first discovered how to combine my talents in the material world with those I was about to develop in the digital. The computer and it’s toolbox of software opened up wide avenues of learning and expression for me.

So I moved into the digital world. My first employ was in an architectural design studio where I used my knowledge and skills to bring to life 2D and 3D renderings of spaces for clients like MTV, JPMorgan and Tiffany. I used Photoshop, 3D Studio MAX, AutoCAD. I created mood boards both physical and digital. I became quite the large scale format printing expert. I was key in moving all of the creative reviews from a “print and ship” model to a “post and view” model via the company’s brand new intranet which I helped build. I attended client meetings and presented my work for the first time. I was learning key skills here but I was also developing a passion for the digital space and it started to consume me. I was online constantly. It was the first time I really started to really dabble in web design/development. I was a huge online gamer and I loved the interaction that allowed. I wanted to build digital things and found out I could. I learned here that I was creative AND technical. I had these skills all my life but it was only then that I recognized it.

I started a side company with a friend called CJWebmaster (remember web-masters?) and we built our first site. It was for a company called Tie Dyed Turtle. We used Front Page. It was February 1998. It was here that I learned how to program and to develop and to produce. It was here that I learned a little about writing and manipulating code. It was here that I learned to sell myself and my services and where I also learned how to bring the goods. It was here that I started to realize that I wanted to have a career in the world of interaction. I wanted to play purely in the digital.

My skills got me a job at a large advertising agency where I started to learn a lot about things like marketing, strategy, ROI, analysis, media, planning, insights, PR. It was where I created my first campaign. It was where I realized that I was a part of the advertising world. It’s where I first got the title Art Director. It’s where I learned many key skills. I moved around this new agency world with it’s many changes and complexities for 10 years. I now find myself at a smaller, more agile shop and my title is that of Creative Director, Interaction. It sounds great as a far as titles go but I don’t feel like it’s descriptive enough of what I do or where I’ve been. A lot of people like to call folks like me Creative Technologists (not a new term, I know) and that feels about right, but I’d like to hear what you think.

Here’s what we know: I can design, whether it’s in Photoshop or with a pencil. I can write. I’m very good at the conceptual level. I am fluent in HTML, CSS and XML. I can dabble in JavaScript and PhP. I can build, host and manage a website on my own. I’m a marketer. I can key out a green-screen. I’m excellent with a hot-glue gun. I’m engaged in the social space. I like to take things apart and am good at putting them back together. I like to make art. I can inspire. I can lead.

What am I? Other then just the cog who writes this blog. Let me know.

It was on June 11th, 2010 that I posted my last rant. Yea, I know six months. How pathetic. Why even have a blog? I wish I could say that something cataclysmic had happened to prevent me from posting. Moons aligned. Stars burnt out. Something like that. But no, nothing like that occurred. It was just regular old life bearing down on me and I just didn’t find the time anymore. Not “couldn’t” because I had done so previously so I knew I could do it. I just didn’t. I’m sure I could go into a bunch of reasons why; work got a little busier (that’s great). Then my 8 year old started football (5 day a week commitment) and my 6 year old started soccer (too much fun), etc. etc.

But really none of that is an excuse. I just didn’t post anymore. Even though I wanted to. So I’m picking up where I left off. I’m sure it’ll take a few weeks to get back into the groove but I’m patient and I hope you are too.

Just for fun here’s a list of things that were (or weren’t) six months ago. Please precede each bullet with the words “Six months ago…”

• There was no iPhone 4 with 4G. There’s an iPhone 4 now but no 4G to use with it

• Rockmelt was what happened when you threw a rock into a volcano, not a pretty cool Social Media browser. @JaeSelle wrote a pretty good pre-review you can check out here.

• I had 212 followers. I now have 879.

• No one knew what a full-on, double, all the way rainbow was. We do now. And there’s even an app for it.

• There was no need to be exposed to radiation or involuntarily felt up at the airport. You could still be voluntarily felt up but that’s a different post.

• Believe it or not, there was no #UsGuys on Twitter. What’s UsGuys you say? I’ll let @REALChaseAdams tell it like it is – right here.

• There was no Flash support for Chrome. Seriously. In 2010.

• Sarah Palin didn’t have a television show. Not sure if the country is better off with or without it.

Well, see you on the next post. Hopefully it won’t be six months from now. Remember – I’m just a cog and this is my blog.

OK so I like to tweet out my foursquare locations occasionally. I try and remember to turn off the Facebook and Twitter feeds when I do but you know what? I forget sometimes. So what. I’m having fun gathering badges. I really dig the website blip.fm. In addition to listening to playlists of music that you and other users have created, you can “blip” a song out to the folks following you on Blip as well as all your connected socials networks. I really never turn off the feeds for that. You see I love music. It’s a big part of my personality, and my friends and those that follow me know that. If folks don’t like that I blip then don’t read my posts or un-follow me. If people on Facebook are getting annoyed at my sometimes (really, only sometimes) incessant blipping, than hide my posts or, ask if we’re really friends, and if not un-friend me. Hey no hard feelings. I didn’t realize that a link to the Sleigh Bells song “Infinity Guitars” would freak you out so much.

I get it that Twitter is used for marketing, (both yourself and to many others) and business and breaking news and communication but there is also a playfulness and an expressionism that IMHO was the basis of why Twitter was created. If I am excited that my inbox is finally cleared of those 983 unread emails and Twitter allows me to express that moment of joy then guess what? Your going to hear about it. If I’ve had something not so good happen to me, Twitter lets me unburden myself by allowing me to shout my anger/fear/frustrations/sadness out to the world. It doesn’t even matter if anyone is even listening. It helps.

There is no wrong way to use Twitter and I am tired of pontificators who keep telling people there are only a few right ways. Get over yourself. It’s an outlet. It’s a micro-blog. It’s a soapbox and a forum. It’s what people want to use it for. OK?

I’m just a blipping, four-squaring cog and this is my blog.

I love it. And lately I’ve been using it the “wrong” way but for all the “right” reasons. Yea, I know there’s a specific purpose of the hash-tag when searching for like communities or subjects on twitter and blah blah blah. What I’ve found (and I know a bunch of others are doing the same thing) is that when you’re creating a thought in 140 characters or less, there is a descriptive quality of hash-tags that can be employed to further support the idea of the tweet. And so I do.

For example, the below tweets are shown with and without hash-tags so as to show how they can add to the meaning of the tweet. In this case they’re there for supporting humor. They have little to do with the actual meaning of the hash-tagged word itself though they are still relevant as search-able tags. The idea is that they further the emphasis and meaning around the tweet:

Hey @carlsorvino are you working late again tonight?

or, more colorfully:

Hey @carlsorvino are you working late again tonight? #factory #slave #workhorse

Isn’t that more fun? In a way there is relationship between descriptive hash-tagged words and emoticons. Emoticons can display the emotion around the statement you are making, therefore supporting that statement more fully. I argue that the hash-tag does the same thing. Now I know the purists may yell and scream and say I’m muddling up the purpose, but folks are already doing it. Hash-tagged words and phrases like #youknowhowitis and #bummer appear in tweets all the time. These folks are less concerned about the search-ability of their tweet (though again there is relevance there) and are more focused on the full meaning the “#” can help convey.

And I think that’s ok. I mean, I know that if I want to find, or be found by, other fried chicken fans I would search or tweet using #friedchicken. If I wanted to tweet about how great Mary’s fried chicken was, I would say:

“Man, Mary makes some kick-ass fried chicken!” #crispy #tender #juicy

Those three words on the end just make the statement far more enticing and descriptive and to Twitter users and fans they are put into a context that is understandable and recognizable, making them IMHO more effective.

Am I making any sense here? Does anyone agree? Let me know and please remember,  I’m just a #cog and this is my #blog. #doh #stopmakingsense #sillyboy

Yes I’m here. It’s been nine days and I just wanted to touch base.

Work is a bit of a monster right now as we are trying to get a bunch of sites prepared for launch. Since all the work for FAT C had to be done on time for the conference, we needed to push some things a few days. Now we are paying for it a bit But no worries! Sleepless nights are part of the “creationary” process and for some reason I am a glutton for that kind of punishment.

You see when you love to do something and when you love what you do, there is no limit. What I mean is that you will work yourself until you are exhausted because of love. You will forgo food, appointments and yes the precious little sleep we already get. I am at my office desk right now, slightly disoriented and completely exhausted. Yet, I’ll go home, eat something, play with my kids for a few, then look for the first chance to get back to work. What’s wrong with me? Or more succinctly, why do I do this? Why do you do it?

Again, for me, I think it goes back to my FAT C preso on Chasing the Muse (read last weeks post). Love is something that is tangible. It affects you. Makes you feel a certain way. Gives you a satisfaction and a sense of completeness. I love my wife and kids. I love my family. I love my friends. And holy crap, I love what I do! I wish I could be better at it (who doesn’t) and so in addition to the work there is the research. And the testing. And the hours of trial and error. And the half-built websites that get ripped down because you have a “better idea”.
Guess what? It’s all worth it. Trust me. Work hard. Become involved in the community. Whether it’s design, development, motion, strategy, whatever. If you love what you do and you do it hard, then you will be rewarded. Rewarded with knowledge. Rewarded with experience. Rewarded with love. See you soon.
I am a cog. This is my blog.

I’m presenting at Flash and the City this week. My piece is on inspiration and being creative. It’s titled “Chasing the Muse”. And really, I am. I have been all week. It’s been a struggle to catch her this time around. Maybe it’s that this could definitely be the largest audience I have ever spoken to. Maybe it’s because of the brilliance of the group I’m presenting with and the fact that secretly, I’m slightly intimidated. Maybe it’s because I’m so busy and am freaking out over what little time I have to prepare. If you knew what my personal and business schedules were like you’d ask me why I was doing it. Chasing her that is. Well…

I’ll tell you a little secret. I can’t help it. No really I can’t. I’m driven to find her. To chase. To anticipate the utter abandon to which I will leave everything else. To writhe in the ecstasy she can provide when caught. I think that since I crawled out of the womb she has been playing a game of cat and mouse with me. She is a tease and many of you may know what I mean. If you’re someone who is required by nature to create, to breath life into something that was once nothing, whether it’s a painting a poem or a program, then you definitely know what I mean. It’s why you’re up late. It’s why you get home late. Why your always working on something or another. It’s why when your having a really good time somewhere, a party, a concert, anything, you get that gleam in your eye, because you saw the muse and the only thing you can think of is leaving. Leaving for the thrill of the chase. Leaving so you can go home or back to the office or to whatever hole you crawl into so that you can enjoy the coupling. The creation.

But it’s also why sometimes you’re lazier than a sack. She’s exhaustive too, you know, and the need to recover from your encounters is something not to be taken lightly. Rest up while you can. It always seems that your in the middle of the chase before you even realize it. At least that’s how it happens for me but I’m just a cog and this is my blog.

There’s something about it. Sitting alone with my work, exhausted but happy to be doing something I love. Not much of a post here tonight. I just wanted to take a break from the AIR app I am helping to design and skin for the Flash and the City Conference next week. Here’s a sneak preview: