The bill(s) essentially are going up for discussion and voting once the houses reconvene in a week or two and if you want to have any say in how they are voted upon, you might want to take a moment to call/email your representatives.

Highlight arguments for the bill include the ambitious goal of stopping piracy and copyright infringement on the Internet; a noble goal indeed. The proponents of the bill say that content creators will ultimately make more money since you would have to go directly to the source to buy/obtain whatever material you’re trying to consume.

Opponents against the bill are quick to point out that it’s pretty vague language that fails to drive home the point that they’re willing to shut down sites (along with judicial-related punishment for site owners) like YouTube, Google, Twitter, Facebook and millions of others in attempt to eradicate the small minority of offenders.

Groups like the MPAA, RIAA [read: big money lawyers backed by the movie and music industries], NBC, Ford, NBA and associations like the National Chamber of Commerce are all backers of the bill, and as you can probably guess, have a significant amount of money on their side to push this type of legislature through.

Interested in seeing how much? Mike Ciarlo was too. He put a [very well-done] presentation together of the 25 highest “backed” representatives by proponents of SOPA/PIPA that you might want to check out.

There’s plenty of research out there for you to take some time to form your own opinions off of, as an Internet user, I’d encourage you to at least get informed on your own. If nothing else, take ten minutes to run through this Wiki of SOPA/PIPA and educate yourself a little on this Friday. It may not end up affecting you one way or another but I’d hate for you to be uninformed about such a significant legislature that might just alter the way you consume content on the Internet for the foreseeable future.

After learning the facts, you might just want to do something about it. If you’re an American, lucky you, you have the right to do so.

Recently, I’ve done a decent job of the classic “pot calling the kettle black” by noticing and possibly pointing out others in what looks like their failed attempts at doing due diligence in their decision making. Of course I am an expert when it comes to second guessing others’ decision making, so potentially they did do some research and pre-planning and I am just not seeing it. Then again, maybe not.

The Brownstones at Town Square

I live in the suburbs and to be honest, the section of town I live in is quite affluent. One of the neighboring towns is above all the rest in terms of socioeconomic standards in the area and they really don’t take any steps to hide it. Just the opposite, actually. It’s your typical keeping up with the Jones’ but on a pretty high scale. There are no multi-unit rental facilities (truly, none) in said town and there is no city transportation system to help people get from one place to another.

All of that to set up my surprise when I watched them start a project 3-4 years ago called The Brownstones at Town Square. In this town of purely upper class, single-income homes, somebody got the bright idea to build 3-story vertical townhomes (or row homes, if you prefer) similar to those you might find in major downtown cities like NYC or SF. I get that they’re targeted at high-end buyers and that they’re good for fitting larger amounts of people into smaller spaces without putting up a high-rise; but this is a town where if you’re lot is smaller than an acre, you’re poor. They have no lack of space.

In my opinion, the developer failed to do his due diligence. He saw visions of wealthy people spending over $600k on attached housing and developing the sense of a downtown community within this town. But what it appears he didn’t do was research the fact that these are people who don’t want to live downtown. They want space. They want a minimum of three-car garages, land and a pool. If they wanted a shared wall or the ability to walk to all their ammenities, they’d have bought in a downtown area. These residents drive cars with numbers on the back that range from 740il to S550. And they’re not fond of parking them on the street in front of their home.

I’m not trying to force stereotypes, just being a realist. And fortunately for my argument, I’m not alone.

As I perused our local, weekly paper today at lunch, I noticed an article mentioning that a study had been done by Deloitte Consulting on the Brownstone properties I had always questioned. The study proved the fact that the developer and the city missed the mark on the project both for current and future residents. With quotes ranging from “they don’t seem like they belong” and “we are not very close to having it right” you can see that somebody overlooked some important steps in planning a project of this scale. My favorite though came from one of the members of the Planning and Zoning Commission for the city, “it is a hobby for the city and the chamber of commerce,” meaning that they knew up front that this project was just put in place to cover some developer’s dream without research and/or studies. Shame.

Millions of dollars and effort have been put into a very nice development and I am assuming that taxpayers flipped the bill for a portion either through direct money or tax cuts for the developer. If I had to guess, I would estimate that more than half of them sit empty today. I would chalk this one up as a sad waste of time, money and effort; I’m just glad it doesn’t have my name on it.

Failed advertising budgets

On a much shorter note, somebody should be fired for their failure in doing their due diligence in either researching viewing audiences or auditing the network on when their ads run after I witnessed a feminine hygiene product commercial last night during an airing of Poker After Dark on NBC.

Really? Is that their target viewing audience? I’m no genius but in my household, only one of us is watching poker on television and it isn’t the one buying said product.

I would think that in a time like this when budgets are so closely guarded, you would want to know more than ever when/where/how your products are being marketed. Or maybe, instead of running ten commercials during late-night poker for your product, run two commercials during Desperate Housewives and watch the dollars roll in. Again, no genius here but it makes sense in my head.

Sorry, just a long-winded sermon remembering to do your due diligence. Whether in business research, cost of a certain product or even knowing your surroundings when you decide to go off-the-cuff with your speech; think a little in advance about what ramifications each decision may have.

I’ve been populating this .net with content since 2006. While three years isn’t that long relatively speaking, in terms of blogging I would estimate it falls in the top percentage of longevity of personal blogging. Most weblogs get started and published for only short amounts of time, those that produce content on a consistent basis more than a few months are becoming rare.

For the last six months or so, I’ve had trouble defining what this is all for. I had no original intentions when I started collecting my thoughts online, it was probably an experiment that had a 50/50 chance of ever making it two months. (Note: Though she doesn’t write often enough, she is still inspiring and I did help her to get a real domain: http://daventate.com)

Some time in the last 6 months I did a redesign. It was an experimentation and as of today, I’m pretty sure it failed. Most designers dislike their stuff just a few days after it hits the shelf but this is a little more than that. Right away there were things that bugged me about the look I decided upon for the current version. I originally wanted a wider content area but by framing it, I made it harder to get things to look the way I wanted when I published them. Videos and images were the worst. I drew the original frames up at 600px but somewhere in transition from slicing to programming I ended up with an area that looked best when objects were exactly 597px wide. That, my friend, is a pain.

I also had visions of minimizing everything around the content itself – navigation, titles, sidebar – thinking that the content itself would stand out and be the ultimate focus. Don’t get me wrong, it should be, but I went about it the wrong way. In the process of building it up, I alienated anything older than the five most recent posts. Shame on me.

Other issues that spring to mind include the issues with difficulty subscribing to my blog and the inability to find related or content that I am proud of. Just to name a few.

With all of the flaws built in to this design, I think I ultimately tied my own hands. It may sound silly but I forced myself into this (these) boxes and ended up restricting my thoughts and ability to publish them. From there, I just forced it. I forced myself to produce and/or find content to supplement. I ended up turning this whole thing into what I could best describe today as a tumblog.

To explain, Tumblr is a hosted blogging platform built to eliminate almost any possible technical barriers into blogging. You can set up a blog in seconds, pick a template and get to blogging within 3 minutes. I know, I’ve set one up recently. Its ease of use and quality UI make it a popular and useful tool. But what I have seen it become more often than not for most people is the ability to rapidly reproduce (read: republish and/or plagiarize) content by other tumblr’s. In one click you can “reblog” any content across the tumblr platform to your own blog without having to really lift a finger.

Tumblr is great, for what it is. I am sad to say though that my attempts to just produce something, have left me producing something mediocre. What I have turned my personal soundboard into is just a tumblog. Publishing anything I found slightly amusing through my main feed became a habit. I became your email forward buddy. For all of this, I apologize.

With all of that out now, my hope is to go back to the drawing board to find a balance in both form and function. Good content is what I want this to be about. Right now there is some good content there, but it is hidden.

All of this said, I enjoy sharing the goodness of the Internet: stupid videos, funny websites, random quotes and hot topics of the day. My goal is to provide a way that I can still do that but not in a way that allows me to hide behind it all. I know of some who run separate blogs or tumblr accounts for things just like I’m mentioning but my hope is to tie it all in together in a one-stop shop. We’ll see.

It’s time for another experiment. Here’s to hoping I get a little better result.

Onto my personal dilemma. I stumbled across a link this morning to a job description that may fit what I do better than I could explain it myself. Only this would be on a much larger and more public scale as for what is produced. The job itself is a great position, including the things I love: design direction, copy writing, strategy, communications, PR and development all rolled into one. It would put me in a position that I would thrive in, the ability to have a team around me that probably do any of the above better than I could but would allow me to bring them all together to produce some great products.

But here’s the rub, the job itself is for an organization that I don’t really believe in. Not that I don’t think they know what they’re doing, or that they’re a bad organization or are involved in inappropriate or criminal activities; but in a sense that ideally I view things differently.

Is there any chance I would be happy in a position like this? Producing great work, leading a good team and enjoying all the areas I would be getting my hands dirty in all the while not agreeing the message being sent out to the masses?

I think I know what my answer is, but I’d like to hear yours as well. Persuade me.

WWYD? What Would You Do?

I think Jim Coudal of Coudal Partners is probably the same type of guy. Although we can push pixels, it isn’t our ultimate passion. In an interview with Design Glut (some nsfw language) he reinforces my desire to find a way to make myself the client.

If it’s a good idea and it gets you excited, try it, and if it bursts into flames, that’s going to be exciting too. People always ask, ‘What is your greatest failure?’ I always have the same answer—We’re working on it right now, it’s gonna be awesome!

Now is as good of time as any to push forward with ideas. Giving it another 18-months just publicizes the fact I am afraid to give it a shot.

Of course it is totally understandable to take the ideas of those that pay our bills as gospel. But we should also be reminded that those same people hired us for our expertise. If they just wanted someone to follow orders, they’d probably have hired someone else.

Rarely do I take the ideas of clients as gospel. And admittedly, there are times when I should be a little more open to an idea or two from a client if it is decent. But there’s got to be a market position where you are no longer just a pixel-pusher for a client and you become a partner in innovation with them. All too often, clients will choose ego over best practice and I can’t help but wonder how much it ultimately affects their bottom line.

My job is to make you look better. Please let me do my job.

I have but one request. Its small, but it is big to me. I’ve noticed for a long and apparently I’m not the only one.

Let me see if I can illustrate it in a way that everyone would understand.

Suppose I was selling a boat on Craigslist. And suppose you happen to be in the market for just the type of boat I was selling. Suppose you contacted me about my ad and wanted some more information on my boat. I invite you over to see vehicle for yourself. But instead of giving you the location/directions of the boat right away, I decide you need to first understand how the boat was put together.

The first location I send you is the fiberglass shop to show you just how much work goes into forming the hull and all of the moldings for each individual seat and storage compartment. The next place I decide you need to see is the motor shop where similar engines are being assembled for boats just like mine.

Next, it’s off to the factory where all of the parts are coming together on one assembly line to produce a pristine water craft. Don’t forget your trip to the oil refinery to see just exactly how the premium gas is produced that will be fueling your new toy.

To add to your fun, in between each of the stops there will be phone calls, billboards, radio ads and planes with banners advertising everything from boat mechanics to deep see fishing adventures in Guatemala. Don’t worry, you’ll soon turn a blind eye to them but they’ll be invasive none-the-less.

Finally, you get to finish your journey at my house where the boat has been stored all along hidden in the back corner of the garage covered by boxes, junk and a thin layer of dirt. Once you clear the debris, I hand you a flashlight to inspect the boat from the ad since I have chosen not to turn on any lights in the garage.

After your inspection, I have one more favor to ask of you. Whether you like the boat or not, would you might spreading the word through every network of family & friends that you keep?

You see developers, this is how you make me feel when I read your tutorials/articles. It’s 2009 and my attention is not only short, it is pulled in thousands of directions daily. You would make my life easier if you could just put your Demo at the top of the page instead of hiding it at the very bottom and making me hunt for it.

I’ve even taken the liberty to draw up a primitive sample post page to show how it should no longer be done. If you’re having trouble locating the demo button, look way down at the bottom, it’s there. Still confused? Let me know and I’ll draw one up (minus the Comic Sans) to show you how it should be done this day forward.

I know you want thousands of visitors to read your blog daily to pump up your ad revenue to retirement-level incomes. Who wouldn’t? But please, do us all a favor and make your product usable right off the bat. If you wanted to buy my boat you would never go through the entire process I sent you through especially without ever seeing pictures or getting an idea of the shape it was in. The same goes for your freebie plugins, widgets and tutorials – show me what I am buying before I get to the checkout like please.

Sincerely,
Christian

Tomorrow will begin a mad dash over the next couple of days to get caught up for lost time with projects and client work. Though I have only missed about three normal work days it feels like much more.

I hope to also mix in some 2009 goal setting/planning, cleaning of the house, ridding ourselves of some non-needed items through Craigslist/ebay/Goodwill, and fighting the crowds a time or two more to spend some of the very appreciated gifts we were blessed with.

The new year will surely bring challenges with a slower economy but we plan to press on and find new and exciting ways to accommodate our lifestyle that we have become accustomed too. Or, we’ll adjust.

I start the new year with hopes of good health for all those in my life, opportunities to be presented to make a difference in others’ lives, a renewed passion and desire to provide quality work/service to current or potential clients, a hope for business growth and possible expansion, and a daily reminder to be thankful for the most important things in life.

From a monetary standpoint, I pledge to have less debt at the end of the year than I do at the beginning. More than likely, there will still be red on my balance sheet but I plan to watch that number shrink each day.

I’d like to write more in 2009. Maybe here, maybe elsewhere. It would be nice to get to a point where I don’t feel bad for taking the time to write. Sometimes I don’t write because I feel there are more important things I should be doing. If that means getting paid for writing to alleviate some of those feelings then I should look into how one goes about that.

In 2009, I think I will attempt to read more. Smart people read. I will have to be judicious with my time so I don’t end up feeling like I should be doing other things, but it couldn’t hurt for me to pick up a book every once in a while. I might even read something that I could put to use one day.

I plan on getting ideas out of my head this year and into action. Whether it means building a bookshelf for my office, a self-sustaining website, a compost pile for fertilizing my non-existent garden or even putting up a studio office to free up space in our house; my mind needs space for new ideas so the old ones need to be accomplished or demolished.

2009 should be a good year. We’ve been promised change by those soon to be in charge and though I may not agree with their decisions on – what to or how to – change, I believe some change will take place. If not from them, maybe a little closer to home.

I hope you see opportunity in the new year. Your opportunity could be anything from strengthening your ability for service to seeing your own bank account grow. Whatever will benefit you so that you can benefit others, I hope for your cup to overflow.

Happy New Year to you and thank you for being a part of me.

For some reason, as a kid (and as an adult, I suppose) one of the things that seemed to always choke me up a little was when I saw a young person whose glasses got broken or were “mended” somehow. Not exactly sure why, but I assume it had to do something with knowing how much glasses cost and the fact that I didn’t grow up in the most affluent of areas.

Seeing clearly is one of the things we take completely for granted and one of the reasons I stretch the life of my contacts far longer than the doctor/box recommend. I am fortunate enough to be in the position to afford to see things as they are but know worldwide there are many who cannot claim the same. Which is why the following article caught my attention this afternoon:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/dec/22/diy-adjustable-glasses-josh-silver

British inventor and former professor Josh Silver has created adjustable lens glasses so that a wearer can change their prescription without the need to visit an optometrist or in many circumstances, have the optometrist visit them.

His goal of fitting 1 million people in India with them in the next year is grand, his goal of fitting 1 billion people around the world by 2020 is fantastic. Think of the cost involved even if he never made a dollar. Even if the cost was in the tens-of-billions, I’d say it is worth it. And I’d give to the cause.

This is the kind of innovation I’d like to see more of: devices that benefit others. Solar cooking, water purifiers, hearing devices and walking/mobility devices are just some of the things that get me excited.

On top of it all they look cool enough that I’d even wear a pair if they were available to the public.

Now, back to my heated house outfitted with high-speed internet access, microwave ovens, refrigerated cooling systems and enough food provisions to last a while. Just a small reminder to remember where you’re at this time of year…

Client shows you around the factory, introducing you to all his employees. Then, behind closed doors, tells you: “If you do a bad job with this website, I’m going to have to let these people go.”

Comical, but sad in the fact that some feel like this is a business model that works. The “if you build it, they will come” mentality in business is a scary slope to be on, IMO. Just because you pay me to build you a pretty website, it doesn’t guarantee that your numbers will go up. It takes commitment, work, monitoring, tweaking and constant re-evaluation.

Note: Sometimes I finish writing something and realize the old saying – when you point your finger, there’s three pointing back at you – can sting pretty bad.