Virtual Magpie (the equivocal adventures of Megan M.)

I listened in delight the other day as Ragen informed me that she’d done a double take at my reference to a “coke-fueled coding binge” — of course, we haven’t known each other long, so of course she has the luxury to wonder if I’m a cocaine addict. She didn’t really believe that was the case, but who wouldn’t think twice? (I am told I don’t have the “coke personality”, which shows how much you all know…) So no, in the interests of good communication: The supplies I bought for my most recent project included a case of Coca-Cola, but no other brain altering substances. And she suggested, clever business maven that she is, that I refer to further sugary, caffeinated exploits as cola-fueled coding binges.

Well, whatever floats your boat, right? ;} I wonder if this could turn into a caffeine post. How do you keep yourself going at all hours?

My preference, I will state, is not to keep going at all hours — but I can, and I will for the right reasons. (Reasons that are getting slipperier to hang on to these days, to be sure.) If I would like to finish a two month, four person project in a little over three weeks with one and a half, that corrosive, corn syruped potion might do the trick. Those of you who have used the stuff to work know exactly what I mean, and those of you who drink coffee have something similar. Necessary evil? Maybe not. Fun to see your best output in half the time? Uh… yeah!

In normal time — time without high-fructose corn syrup, I should say — I like clear working hours, clear relaxing hours, and some manic writing time somewhere in the middle. When I need a boost, I like green tea, or yerba mate. (I have yerba chai that is completely delicious with soy milk.) Neither of those things make me monstrously superhuman (there’s an excellent argument for just plain superhuman), but neither of those things will have me crashing at the end of the week, either.

I guess it just depends on how much time you want to spend functioning like a giant robot, and how much you enjoy feeling your heart bounce around in your chest cavity. Even trade.

But next week, I’m going back to tea!

Last night, dozing off to sleep after a coke-fueled coding rampage, I began to dream of websites built with sweet and scrumptious foods. The white lines were goat’s cheese, smeared, with raspberry dressing; the stuff holding everything up was strawberries and cream, and chocolate fudge…

It felt so real and natural, this construction of websites using such delicious things. It felt like I was dreaming about precisely what I do all day…

Yum!

Hola, ladies and gentlemen — more commentary on the way customers are treated. Blech!

Thanks to Michael Galpert, who posted this earlier. Man, it’s time to change the paradigm around here. Wait, wait! Was I not supposed to say ‘paradigm’? Oopsies…

I loved reading this post from Seth Godin because just this week I had been discussing natural search results for a really nifty project. The folks behind the brand hadn’t mentioned traditional search engine optimization at all and I wanted to make sure they understood that their rankings could be much better, much more reliable, if we took the whole path and provided visitors with excellent, continuous content. It didn’t take them any time at all to understand me, and we had already been thinking the same thing. People like this are awesome to work with.

When the sales rep started talking about natural search results, I knew I had a core of kindred spirits here. Many people look at the web and try to find the magic pill that will give them exactly what they want, but do not so often look to the web to develop a plan to give others what they need. They want to know who they can throw money at so that all their problems will be solved — without honesty or effort, in so many cases. Providing a service, selling a product, this isn’t just about us. It’s about those who need what we can give them, about helping those people because we can, an exchange of value that benefits both parties. It’s not about tricking them into buying our stuff. It’s about showing them how very well we can help each other. Suddenly, the world has forgotten this wonderful, wonderful thing — and Google is upsetting its search algorithms apple cart over and over, screwing up the magic pills and shortcuts that we use because we’ve forgotten. It makes you just want to hug them.

From Google Keeps Tweaking Its Search Engine, NYT…

“Even more daunting, many of those pages are shams created by hucksters trying to lure Web surfers to their sites filled with ads, pornography or financial scams. At the same time, users have come to expect that Google can sift through all that data and find what they are seeking, with just a few words as clues.”

Beyond the Hansell piece being an awesome article about a complex and wonderful system and the new exchange of information via intertubes, Seth saw the same thing I saw. He saw that what they’re doing is going to change everything in an excellent way. Oh, I bought Web Position Gold in the old days — we are all growing and learning and changing. (Well gosh, that’s what I’m all about these days!) But that’s sneaking around in the bushes when I can come right out into the open road and show you what I am, what I stand for, and how I can help you. How we can help each other!

For once, it’s obvious that being honest and true can give everyone what they want. Why was that so hard?

In any case, thanks Seth, and Saul — and Google!