Virtual Magpie (the equivocal adventures of Megan M.)

One of my favorite gifts this year was the Creative Whack Pack, a card set by Roger von Oech. (I told Marty I wanted it, ordered it “from him”, and he wrapped it. But it still feels entirely like a gift, and every time I look at it on my desk I experience a mad sort of glee that I “got” it for Christmas!)

The Creative Whack Pack is a true relic of my childhood. It was always floating around in my parents’ offices when I was little. Em and I would stay there after school until one or both parents were finished with appointments for the day. Amidst all the things we had to occupy ourselves, the Whack Pack was one of the things that fascinated me. I didn’t understand it or really know what it was, but it had pretty pictures and I felt like it had to be something good, something interesting, something I would like… if I had any idea exactly what superior magic it was supposed to work.

And now, more than a decade and a half later, I know exactly what magic it works — and I know exactly how to use it.

Isn’t that just the way of relics, huh?

Friday morning we finished up an album design for the upcoming Cherryfix release — which is fantastic, by the way, and has had me jamming all weekend. Something about doing lyrics layout keeps a song stuck in your head… You can take a look at the results on Flickr (and the album hasn’t even shipped yet!):

Although their site is will most likely be renovated for the tour, you can check them out at the official Cherryfix site or take a gander at Emii’s blog here — and I believe a few of the album tracks are on MySpace.

Have a listen — it sounds awesome!

Update: Em posted a free mp3 from the album for Christmas, and I posted it here — it’s one of the best tracks they have, so snatch it up and share it with your friends. ;}

Ragen and I meet every two weeks to catch up, stay in each other’s monkeysphere, and discuss Virtual Magpie from a business standpoint. This woman solves problems for me like you wouldn’t believe — in fact, we’d reached the end of our meeting yesterday and I was just yammering idly about this thing or that thing, and the solutions just kept coming. We laughed about how hard it is to turn it off; I have the same urge to constantly find solutions, and we work well together because the solutions we’re each best at finding seem to be complementary.

Something she said at our meeting really struck me as a process I’d been going through. It’s been a long, weird eight years, man. I think I took three art classes in college; the rest were all related to my performance degree. I started my work here by reading books, doing commission sketches and building free websites. (Can you say Hot Dog Professional? Wow, have they changed… but me too!) When I look back I am sometimes surprised, sometimes horrified by the understanding I had of what I was doing then. The old versions of PsycHumor.com, for instance, seem to possess a lot of awareness of what I wanted, what I was shooting for… but plenty of other projects ended up looking pretty spare. I’ve come a long way since then — we all have — but what Ragen told me yesterday cut right to the heart of the thing:

When you begin an endeavor, you enter a state of unconscious incompetence. You don’t know that you don’t know shit.

Once you’ve been doing that for a little while, you enter a state of conscious incompetence. You become keenly and sometimes painfully aware… that you don’t know shit. Oh, how I have suffered this one.

After time and work, you will enter a state of conscious competence. You now know what you are doing, but you really have to concentrate and pay attention, in order not to mess it up. This has been the case for me over the last several years — if I stay on the ball (balancing act though it is), I’m fine.

After more time and experience, you enter a state of unconscious competence. You are so proficient at what you do that it becomes second nature to you and only the most complex of problems will require strict concentration and assistance. This… is the state I’ve entered, just in the last handful of months. It’s been especially noticeable since I began working with Cloud Nine — and it’s unnerving because even having gotten to this headspace, it’s so obvious how much more there is to learn. And I’m already discovering new ideas and areas I don’t know anything about, things I want to develop and explore. And some things that are so young, so green for me, that I will have to start from scratch entirely!

The reason this hit me so hard is that I feel like I’m at the edge of unconscious competence, after so long… and at the same time, I’m clearly starting over. It’s an incredible cycle that I suspect will continue for the rest of my life. But what an exciting way to live a life! It blows my mind, a bit.

I noticed with no small amount of glee that the good dudes at 37signals had posted about antibiotic packaging this week.

I noticed this fantastic phenomenon about a year ago, on a different antibiotic with the same attention to design. I don’t know who designed this packaging, but they’re brilliant; no packaging or printed material I’ve seen in the medical industry (yet, to my recollection) matches this perfect layout, clear communication and ease of use. Matt even included a pretty picture. ;}

Would that everything to do with doctors was so simple to understand…

I love having partners in crime. The people I work with make me excited to be alive.

Appropriate thoughts for the Monday after Thanksgiving, yes? ;}

The thing that most forget while dreamily looking off into the horizon for the ship of their dreams, Megan, is that such ships never sail in, but are actually built beneath their very feet.

Ohh-wee-ohh,
The Universe

PS. Get my drift, Megan?

Beware; I have donned my preachin’ hat.

The other day, a man came and knocked on my door. He looked like some kind of tech or fix-it guy. He said he was from Time Warner, and at first I couldn’t quite grasp why he was here. The first words out of his mouth held some mushy half-meaning, and it sounded like he was here to fix something… at least until he started giving me sales pitches.

I said no twice — with this awful, pained look on my face. It was really clear, after that initial confusion, that he wasn’t interested in why I wasn’t interested. He was only interested in giving me as many different lines as he could think of before I closed the door in his face.

Of course, I didn’t close the door in his face. That’s really not something I do. (Although considering the field of war, Time Warner… I may have to start.)

Ninety seconds in and his third or fourth spiel, I started interrupting him. No, I explained, we’re really not interested in changing our services at all, I’m really sorry. His face went from semi-confident to resentful. His tone changed from spiel delivery to something else, something I didn’t recognize at first because I wasn’t accustomed to hearing it from strangers — his tone changed in an almost derogatory way, You’re making a mistake, That’s a pretty stupid decision on your part, You’re going to be kicking yourself later. He didn’t use any of those cute little lines, but he did say this: “I’m just trying to save you money…” As if he knows better than I do, and he wants to make sure I regret my decision.

The last time I found myself in the path of a guilt-trip like that, it was my mother — or my high school boyfriend.

My affection for Time Warner is waning.

The services he was trying to sell me on, incidently, were services that would have started out completely free, then added money to my bill unless I canceled them before the free period ended. He wasn’t interested in any of the things I had to say. He was only interested in the next checkmark on his list.

This isn’t at all about the cold sale. I don’t tend to feel that cold selling is the best way to accomplish most things, but if you’re going to do it, you had damned well better be pleasant and brighten your customer’s day — NOT piss her off. If this man had come to my door, given me a straight offer, and bowed out gracefully (and amiably, and god, politely!) when my answer was no, I would not have closed the door angry. Hell! He could have suggested a few additional options after my declination, and another smiling face would have left me in a good mood, door-to-door sales or no. But — maybe because he had no real sales training, or maybe because Time Warner requires him to say certain things, or maybe some idiot actually taught him that it was appropriate to behave this way in a professional capacity — he was entirely unprofessional, unpleasant, actually petulant (!) and more than that, desperate. He gave me no reason to treat him professionally in return (although I did), and when I closed the door I was really pissed off.

These days, the only thing keeping me with Time Warner is that to my knowledge, I have no comparable alternative. That’s a dangerous spot for a company to leave its customers in — especially incensed.

Petulant is an awful way to make a sale, ladies and gentlemen. “I’m just trying to save you money” is the refuge of the defeated. The company that uses these techniques (purposefully or by accident!) is a company desperate to sell more services because something is going wrong. I’ve felt this way about Time Warner before — their advertising campaigns, and the way they deal with customers on the phone, has always been obnoxious and lately has been pushing the envelope — but never before had they sent a (downright rude) salesman to my door.

What kind of business sells its product this way? Most of them? Maybe. But I say that’s crazy. The company that sets out to sell in a way that infuriates current, happy customers is a company that won’t be around much longer. All it takes is one competitor that knows how to treat people like human beings, fully capable of making good decisions for themselves, and a company like Time Warner will be kaput. Gone. And suddenly someone new will be the only option.

I yearn for that day, Time Warner.

Enjoy your monopoly while it lasts.

I know — I know I said I wasn’t going to schedule any more business while I was in town. But yesterday I had a sit-down with Jim Cossler, and he showed me around the Incubator. Dude, the mad genius things they are doing in that building!

The whole experience was appropriately mind-blowing. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that. And although now I am left to mull it all over, and percolate for awhile, I can’t help but be antsy. Scary-awesome things are a-foot.

Beka Serdans, the founder of Care4Dystonia.org, is going to be doing an interview with Dr. Mehmet Oz on an XM radio station today. Please let friends and family know about this interview — Beka is a huge advocate for dystonia awareness and her cause deserves all the help it can get!

Dystonia meets America’s Doctor:
Dr. Mehmet Oz, M.D ~ Nov 2, 2007

On November 2nd, 2007 “Oprah and Friends” XM Satellite Radio 156 will feature Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD discussing the disorder, dystonia, with NYP’s own Critical Care nurse Beka Serdans, RN, MS, NP and Dr. Michael G. Kaplitt, M.D., PhD. The interview will focus on one person’s struggle with misdiagnosis, treatments and personal journey with dystonia.

About Dystonia: Today there are over 40 million people in North America suffering from a movement disorder. One of them is the 3rd most common: DYSTONIA. Dystonia is a neurological disorder causing abnormal, involuntary postures, movements, and tremors; it remains cureless as well as disabling for many of its victims.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, MD is the Professor and Vice Chairman of Surgery at Columbia University in New York City, Director of the Cardiovascular Institute, and Founder and Director for the Complementary Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He is a regular contributor to The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Beka Serdans is a critical care nurse within NYPs Critical Care Division and works with Dr. Oz. She has had dystonia for close to 20 years, and underwent Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery at Weill Cornell for control of her symptoms in 2004. She has published two books on her experiences with the disorder, and is a strong patient advocate who works frequently with the media. She will be endorsing Care4Dystonia, Inc., an innovative patient-oriented organization which she founded in 2000, with Dr. Kaplitt as scientific advisor.

Dr. Michael G. Kaplitt, MD, PhD is a pioneer in gene therapy, and Director of the Surgical Movement Disorder Program at Weill Cornell, as well as being Beka’s neurosurgeon.

Here are some links that might prove useful:

To access a free trial of XM Radio, visit this link.

To see Beka’s photo essay on her DBS surgery, visit the photographer’s site. (Shot at Weill-Cornell.)

To learn more about dystonia and its impact on so many people, visit the Care4Dystonia Website.

Thank you so much for reading — Beka has been doing incredible things and I’ve been learning a lot from her as we work together. I would really like her organization to get as much exposure as possible. Please tune in if you have the chance!

I just watched a great interview from Thomas Mulready of CoolCleveland.com, with the Youngstown Business Incubator’s Jim Cossler. You should watch it, and pay attention. It’s incredible. It excites me. But I have demands. (This discourages me only slightly, because how can you find earth-shakingly-fabulous solutions if you don’t start with some kind of problem?)

I’ve seen the Youngstown Business Incubator’s website, and I’m not pleased.

I want a more educational, more easily parseable and navigable site for the Youngstown Business Incubator. They are a huge influence on the Youngstown business community — probably more than I even know. This should be done right.

I see this problem everywhere in Youngstown’s corner of the web. Rosetta Stone had a good thing going until they stalled out (and God knows where they are now); a solid internet design influence would do really well in Youngstown. It could provide a desperately needed service to local businesses. But I don’t see it. Where are you when we need you?

After watching this interview, the state of the YBI site really distresses me. Why isn’t there more detailed content, instead of the same mainline bio over and over? Is there some reason the layout structure can’t be consistent? It’s hard for me to want to read the material, even after watching such an incredibly engaging interview. And, dude — the Incubator can easily be taking new, gorgeous photos and publishing vignettes about its businesses, giving them excellent publicity from the get-go. There’s no reason for the graphics to be so out-dated.

More importantly: Why can’t I find a list of startups they’re assisting? I want to support YBI companies in Youngstown!

I’m very frustrated. I don’t want this to be a bitch-fest — I need it to be a call to action. The YBI is an unbelievably excellent resource that is going to waste in its web space because no one has taken the time to solve these problems. Of course, they’re spending that time in an awesome way: They’re helping businesses grow in the Youngstown area. But getting the website taken care of just isn’t that hard. Can you convince me that redesigning this site, and fixing all the content issues, navigability issues, making it from an eyesore into a fantastic, useable, functional web presence is anything but easy? Where are the excellent, internet-bent artistic minds? Where are the Youngstown arts community web designers and skilled developers? I know you’re out there. (For Heaven’s sake, send me resumes.) There’s work to be done!

This wouldn’t take a lot of effort, or a lot of money. When is it going to happen? The whole situation causes me a great deal of personal pain, because Cossler is full of exciting ideas that seem to be coming to fruition. I loved this piece here:

Mulready: “Why Youngstown? Why is something like this so successful here? This is something that’s really not happening in Cleveland, it’s not happening in Pittsburgh, it’s not happening in Akron or Columbus — why here?”

Cossler: “…Rather than being mediocre and incubating a broad range of technologies, we chose to be world-class at one technology, and we are world-class at business-to-business software. It’s narrowness of focus.”

Cossler: “…The second thing is, we have what we call a managed cluster. Every single one of my companies and every single one of their employees has a responsibility to share their knowledge with people who need it. Now, there’s 230 people working in this building today — that’s a lot of institutional knowledge for a two-person startup to tap into.”

Link (via).

Now, if you’re me (or anyone else, trust me), this is really, really exciting. It’s right in line with many of the business precepts I’ve been fixating on — think Seth Godin, think 37signals — and it’s right on the money, it all fits together. Jim goes on to talk about Turning Technologies, which is a great story — but what he’s explaining is an incredible system that makes me excited for growing Youngstown businesses.

Cossler: “[Turning Technologies was] just named the fastest growing software company in the country by Inc. Magazine. Not San Jose, not Austin, Youngstown, Ohio.“

That made me grin. This guy is awesome! Why isn’t there more information on the site? If I could read the damn thing, I would be completely hooked. Who is involved? What can I do to help? Where do Youngstown startups go if they aren’t in business-to-business software? Anyone? How can I help, how can I tell people about what’s going on, if I can’t get answers from the one place that should guarantee them?

Anyway, just listening to the interview it’s obvious to me that they have some serious structure underneath the sub-sentient web presence. If you are thinking of putting together something wonderful, the Youngstown Business Incubator could be exactly the resource you need… as long as you’re not depending on their website for more than contact information. I guess that’s what business cards are for. But man… the web is so much better than that. It can give people so much more than that and honestly, it’s what they’re coming to expect. Now just isn’t the time to screw around with lame implementations. And Youngstown is growing so fast — can you just imagine what a solid web presence could do for an entity that’s already creating so much amazing change?

Someone needs to set the precedent for positive, appealing design in Youngstown. Who better than the Youngstown Business Incubator? It’s already given so much, and been such a role model for Youngstown business ventures. I don’t see any indication, from what I could find, that someone is working on it now.

You know what else? I can’t add YBI news to my feed reader, because I can’t find an xml feed anywhere.

Let’s get on the ball!