moriartys.net

Just back from attending my first South by Southwest, and it was pretty much exactly what I thought it would be, only better. In no particular order, here are the things I learned or had affirmed:

You can’t do it all - Heard that warning 100 times leading up to SXSW and it was absolutely true. Just pick what you’re going to do and commit. This is double true for the after hours events (a.k.a. parties).

(Some) Panels are Great - Choose wisely, and choose items you don’t know much about. If you’re an SEO expert in an SEO panel you’re likely to be bored. Go to learn something new, but don’t hesitate to bail if it isn’t good.

Best Part of Panels is Afterwards - Panels are more than good info, they’re a place to connect with people who share an interest. If you watch a panel later online, you miss the hallway discussion about it afterwards.

People trump Panels - However, if you have a chance to do something with a group of cool people at the same time as a panel you wanted to see, choose the people. The panel videos may not be as good as the real thing, but the connections you make with people in small groups are the best you’ll have.

Support your Hometown - Maybe this is just a personal thing, but I try to attend every panel where someone from Phoenix was speaking.

Meet your Friends, Hang with Strangers - Phoenix was awesomely represented at SXSW, and it was great running into the local crew everywhere, but I wanted to meet as many new people as I could. If you connect with someone new, hang out with them for a while, meet their friends, and work out from there.

No Fear - On a related note, don’t be shy to talk to people. Step outside your comfort zone if necessary, and just do it. I’m not a shy person so this isn’t a problem with me, but I met several people who were nervous or downright afraid to talk to someone they liked or admired online.  Of those who went up and said Hi, I don’t know anyone who was disappointed.

Parties are Overrated - Some were fun, some were not. Wasted a lot of time trying to chase the “best” ones. Better strategy would be to pick one or two, go with a group, and just hang out and enjoy it.

Work + Play = Ugh - I was doing some work related stuff while I was there, in addition to trying to enjoy the conference. Big mistake. One or the other would work, but doing both just got really frustrating. Decide why you’re going and don’t clutter it up.

Need More Electrons - Spent far too much time camping near outlets trying to get my device(s) powered back up. Next time will bring an external power pack that I can charge overnight and use to leech power from to keep my iPhone and other things alive.

Eat on the Run - There is great food in Austin, but I didn’t get to sample nearly enough of it. If I had a good group headed out for a meal I tried to join them, otherwise I ate something on the go. The restaurants were so packed that a meal could be a good 90 minutes (or more) out of a day that I already thought was too short.

BLACHOOOO! - I have a strong immune system and rarely get sick. I popped vitamins and tried to eat healthy. I still got just nasty sick on the way back. They call is “SXSW SARS” and it comes from so many people getting in one place and swapping their local bugs like trading cards. I collected the whole set. Prepare for this, and maybe take a day or two off work when you get back.

Wish I could have attended some of Film, and stayed for Music, but that likely would have killed me. Definitely worth the effort, and hope to be back agains next year.

I’m headed to South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, for the first time this week, and am quite excited. I’ve been wanting to visit Austin for quite a while, and see SXSW on top of it. Of course, I cannot be expected to endure such complete geekery without proper food so did some asking around for good restaurant/food suggestions. I received three so far from Joe Johnston, a local foodie and restauranteer who is very familiar with the Austin area.

Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, TX.

Southside Market and Bar-B-Q in Elgin, TX. Told to try the hot sausage.

Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que in Llano, TX. I thought this might be too long of a drive, but looking at the Yelp reviews, I gotta check this out.

If you have any first hand accounts, add them in. I’ll post updates when I get to try them out!

Updated:

Via @Jose602: Casino El Camino on Sixth Street for burgers. Tamale House for bfast tacos, Maria’s Taco Xpress for good stuff all around.

In my meandering exploration of this whole idea of personal branding, I decided it was past time to get some personal cards. “Business cards” doesn’t quite cover it, since I’m not exactly an “all business” kind of fellow. I was inspired (again) by Tomas Carrillo and his new Moo cards, but my creative talents are in a very different arena than what was needed here.

So I turned to the very talented Luz Galusha-Luna for some help. She is yet one more in the army of amazingly talented people I’ve met through Twitter and the related stomping grounds. We shot back and forth a few ideas, and the results are what your peepers are now feasting upon.

The different fonts for my first and last name were Luz’s idea, and intended to capture both the playful and professional parts of my personality. I asked for a nice, simple pattern on the front, and she came up with this wonderful, mildly-retro looking pattern… and in a gorgeous selection of colors.  I told you she was talented.

I struggled with what to put on the back, not wanting to turn it into a full resume. I went with my phone, email, and twitter account to cover the basics. My LinkedIn, Facebook, and websites are easy enough to find with a little help from Mr. Google.  Beyond that I just went with a few keywords: creative, technical, passionate, writer, developer, igniter, explorer, inventive, high in fiber.

Most of those are self-explanatory. “high in fiber” you can take in a number of ways, and I think they all apply.

I had the cards printed by Moo, and absolutely love them. Good quality and fairly inexpensive, so now I always have plenty to give away at Ignite, lunch, or whenever I make a new connection. If you’re thinking about making any cards up for yourself I highly recommend both Luz and Moo to make something that is distinctly you.

If you’re havin’ trouble with your Google rank
It’s givin’ you the blues
You wanna get first page but not break the bank
Here’s what you gotta do
Grab your iPhone, I’m in the zone
Txt me any time
Just ping 1.36.24.36 hey
I lead my life online

Dirty tweets, done dirt cheap
Dirty tweets, done dirt cheap
Dirty tweets, done dirt cheap
(Dirty tweets and they’re done dirt cheap)
(Dirty tweets and they’re done dirt cheap)

You got problems in your web designer
You got a broken link
He’s double dealin’ with another site
That’s when the clickthroughs drop fella
Grab your iPhone, I’m in the zone
Or make a website crawl
Log right in, forget ’bout him
We’ll have ourselves a blog!

Dirty tweets, done dirt cheap
Dirty tweets, done dirt cheap
Dirty tweets, done dirt cheap
(Dirty tweets and they’re done dirt cheap)
(Dirty tweets and they’re done dirt cheap)

If you’ve got a spammer and you want her gone
But you can’t block that putz
She keeps emailin’ you night and day
Enough to drive you nutz
Grab your iPhone, I’m in the zone
It’s time to trash her brand,
For a fee, I’m happy to be
Your linkjack man!

I’m prone to random ideas, and last week it struck me that just about any danged crazy thing could (or has) been used as metaphor for Social Media, Web 2.0, or whatever you want to call this stuff. I had some time waiting for a program to install, so I threw out onto Twitter for people to “send me a noun” that I would then attempt to form into some faux profundity about Social Media.

Well, leave it to Twitter. The nouns flew fast and furious, and I had to cut them off quickly or I would have been at it all day. Below is the list of people, the words they gave me, and my replies. I won’t vouch for the quality of the replies, but it was definitely fun. Sometimes the best creativity flows when you’re really under the gun.

• The rutabaga is a vegetable similiar to the turnip. The Root O’ Social Media is building communities. (@JeffReidAZ)
• Getting old corporations to adopt new media is like curing a giraffe of a cough. It takes a while and you’re gonna get kicked. (@TSDivaDani)
• Like a noun is the crux of every good sentence, honesty is the crux of every good blog. (@c_reed (nice one!))
  
• Travelling snake-oil salesmen used to sell from their suitcase, now they just use twitter and my InBox! (@snakecharmers)
• A good blogger needs a good pair of overalls, because like a farmer at some point you’ll be covered in ****. (@maniactive)
• Like parsnip cowers in the shadow of the mighty carrot, spammers will never quite measure up to the honest blogger (@smlacy)
• Even the mighty blue whale knows the difference between the soggy plankton and the nourishing krill of the internet. (@memestorm)
• Like the mighty aardvark, you must plunge your moist snout of curiousity into the anthill of social media! (@jeffmann)
• L is for the layers of conversation social media brings to discussions, from the meaningful to the totally contrived. (@deanouellette) (ed: Not sure L was a noun, but what the heck)
  
• Many enter the social media vestibule, but they’re not entering the main hall without purchasing a Ticket of Sincerity. (@timedalkat)
• Social Media is the soup of the internet. You have to stir through lots of broth and peas to find the tasty bits of meat. (@spellwight)

I’ll definitely give it another try someday. Maybe make a whole book of these things.

In a recent team meeting in Oregon, my team of Software Developers and Community Managers each shared a book we were planning to read. The intent was to learn a little about each other and some of the great books out there we may not have heard about.

The singular Josh Bancroft is on my team, and was kind enough to capture the list for everyone, which I am publishing here. It’s mostly for my own later reference, but I welcome any input on these books.  It should also give you a nice peek into the crazy dynamic that is my Intel team.

ASP.NET 3.5 in C# and VB by Scott Hanselman

Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (This was mine -Jeff)

An Introduction to Inner Fulfillment by Sridhara Deva Goswami

Poe’s Children by Peter Straub

Instructables, Vol. 1

Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas Friedman (Kindle Edition)

The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers

The Histories by Herodotus

The Animator’s Survival Kit by Richard Williams

The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz

I think I got all the links correct, but let me know if any are wonky.  Enjoy!

On Twitter yesterday Ronji talked about a poll which asked which Super Power you would have. Most people at his work chose Invisibility, but I would personal take Flying. In fact, you would never get my butt back on the ground if I could fly. Easy choice.

So I wondered what Trivial Super Power you would have, like Never Having To Wait In Line or Always Having Correct Change.

Below are all the replies I received from Twitter and Facebook. Parking and laundry related powers seemed to be the most popular, but I really liked being able to detect Wi-Fi hotspots.

• emantion: Would “being able to sense Wi-Fi hotspots *and* if they are free or not” fit into your list? I would love that
• burpingdog: Trivial superpower I’d love … the ability to mute the real world… but with closed captioning
• KRGiron: Always Know What To Say, Having the right words for every situation
• alandd: Asked my lunch buddies: Being a Kept Man, Always Have $10 in My Pocket, Always Have Ironed Shirts
• HatshepsutGenie: Folding bedsheets without another set of hands? That would be a pretty handy superpower!
• tdhurst: being able to clean and iron clothes just by shaking them.
• billpearson: I’d like to need less sleep. I envy the people who can function with three or four hours a night of sleep.
• Kinchie: Is healing sickness a trivial superpower? That’s the one I would want, at least today since I’m feeling horrible but must go on.
• blogan: I’d like to be able to remember names flawlessly.
• jakressaty: never waiting in line.
• TDJensen: Dumb detector - being able to visually pick dumb people out of a crowd and avoid them…..I see dumb people.
• WhiskeyChick: I would want super-fast laundry folding skills. Or the ability to chart music by sound. How’s that for trivial?
• halfacat: i choose never having to wait in line as cash is going away. soon it will be known simply as visa.
• JacquiD: i would want “snapping my fingers for perfect hair/makeup/clothes” for my trivial superpower.
• austinmiles: i kind of like waiting in line, it gives me a break that i don’t normally get. So i think i am in favor of change.
• todd_logan: How about killing fail whale by snapping my fingers? Probably not trivial enough, but it could be a lucrative and *secure* job.
• Jerry_Makare: I always wanted to be raffle winner guy. That’d be pretty sweet I think.
• ScottGentzen: Convenient Parking
• mensan98th: My trivial superpower: Always get a good parking space. (Hey, I live in DC.)
• MelonCamp: Never running out of coffee cream!
• ronji: that wasn’t a choice, so i picked ability to fly. i’m hoping the people in or running the line will let me cut to the front =)
• crazeegeekchick: always being able to find lost objects
• Tony Johns: Fear my Nuclear Conversational Zingers
• Aaron Tersteeg: Never having a hangover
• Michele Gartner: Perfect red lipstick, even after eating an apple
• Sorina Popescu: Never having to iron
• Sarah Gregory: Remote Mute - I want to be able to silence someone *else’s* phone line on a conference call, not just my own.
• Sharon Greenfield: Owner of Cats Who Can Feed Themselves Instead of Clambering Onto Owner at 5am Mewling, Kneeding, and Sticking Cold Noses Into Ears.

If I missed any good ones, let me know.

Once upon a Tweetdeck dreary, while I Twittered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious snurl of meme-passed lore,
While I groaned, nearly bailing, suddenly there came a failing,
As of something poorly scaling, scaling on some maxed out cores.
”Tis some n00b,’ I muttered, ’scaling on a single core -
Only this, and nothing more.’

Thusly here I clicked to Send, when, with what became a great portend,
In there appeared a smirking whale of whose sight I’d soon abhor.
Not the least apology made he; not any helpful info gave me;
But, with mien of poor design, loaded into my screen’s décor -
Loaded into the browser of Mozilla in the focus of my screen’s décor -
Loaded, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this cyan mammal floating my sad patience was eroding,
By the silly and flighty decorum of the struggling birds it bore,
‘Though the image be used and stale, thou,’ I said, ‘art sure of small detail.
Ghastly smug and bloated whale flitting from thy server’s shore -
Tell me what thy pixeled name is on the Net’s Spamtonian shore!’
Quoth the Whale, ‘Nevermore.’

And the Whale, always gloating, still is loading, still is loading,
On the browser of Mozilla just above my apps galore;
And his teeth have all the gnashing of an application’s that is crashing,
And the back-lash o’er him washing throws his funding to the floor;
And my tweets from out that leviathan that is my screen’s décor
Shall be loading - nevermore!

(with profound apologies to E.A.P.)

Today we visited the Galleria Borghese. The gardens are four square acres of lush landscaping with statues and fountains dotting the pathways. The galleria houses what was once the private collection of the Borghese family including sculptures by Bernini and art by Caravaggio and Raphael. The sculptures were amazing. Jeff was most moved by The Rape of Proserpine while my favorite was Apollo and Daphne. The realism and details used by Bernini transports you to a place and time where you believe that Pluto has selected Proserpine as his bride as she struggles against his strength or Apollo pursues the fair Daphne even as she is transformed into a laurel tree to escape him. After using my imagination to complete sculptures without heads or arms or heads and arms, fully formed bodies was refreshing. It is also a reminder of all that was lost.

Galleria Borghese is just North of Barberini Square home of the Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini. Beneath this unassuming church is perhaps the most horrific thing I have seen. It is so disturbing, I cannot believe that it is real. It looks like something from Ripley’s Believe It or Not. To instill the proper mood, read the rest of this post with Vincent Price as the narrator. Beneath the Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini is the Capuchin Crypt. The Capuchin friars believed in resurrection and as such, their mummified and skeletal remains (an estimated 4,000 friars) are arranged in funereal art in the six rooms of the crypt. As I descend into the crypt, I am at the beginning of a long hallway in front of a shrine. Already, I can see the bones. The hallway closes in on me and my flesh is clammy. There is only one way to go although I look back to be ensure an escape route.  There is a sign warning visitors not to touch the bones. Yeah right… Because that was MY first thought. Jaw, pelvis, skull, leg, arm, vertebrae, knee and other bones that I am too freaked out to spend time identifying are stacked, nailed to the walls, hung from the ceiling, and otherwise positioned to create florets, butterflies, clocks, hourglasses, chandeliers and other shapes.  In the last room, is the macabre masterpiece depicting death with a scythe and his weights to judge good and evil. My friends, I am here to tell you I don’t want to be anywhere near Barberini square if resurrection day comes.

If you are looking for corresponding pictures, unfortunately the Capuchin Crypt and Galleria Borghese do not allow photography. I do regret not getting a picture of my face before and after the crypt. Jeff says that he has rarely seen me so unsettled.

Halfway through the trip, we had a day of rest. Nothing planned other than some much needed laundering. I don’t recall if we mentioned this, but we went the carry-on route for our luggage checking nothing. Ambitious, but completely worth it. Lucky for us, there was a laundromat very close to the hotel. We bundled up our two loads of laundry so that no unmentionables accidentally dropped to the cobblestones. The laundromat attendant was friendly and while he handed ME a love poem, i think he was quite taken with Jeff. This is a point of debate.