Postcards From My Life

Dear Reader,

No, this is not a SOPA rant, but it is related.

Recently, I attended a round table discussion on SOPA hosted by my Congressman, Rep. Jim Cooper. While the discussion was heated at time, I felt that overall it was a good meeting. I didn’t actually expect anything to get resolved, and I wasn’t disappointing. I did however, get to meet some new people here in Nashville that I hope will become friends.

One person I met, I will not say who, had something very interesting to say as we were shaking hands at the end. They said:

The problem is, we have a generation that doesn’t understand right from wrong.

I disagreed and said so by quoting my friend Jacques Woodcock from a previous event where he sagely said:

It’s not that people don’t understand that copying music is wrong, it’s that they don’t care. They don’t respect your copyrights.

(ok, I’m paraphrasing Jacques quote since I’m working from memory on it. Jacques, feel free to correct m if I got it wrong.)

It’s not that people are looking to steal stuff. If the material is made easily available and reasonably priced most people will buy it instead of trying to download it from somewhere. Most people want to do the right thing, but when they can’t, they are willing to violate the rights of a copyright holder, especially when they feel they are being treated unfairly.

Here is a specific case to prove my point. in 1995, Disney released “The Goofy Movie”. It was meh but my kids loved it. In addition to buying a VHS copy when they were available, we bought the CD sound track…which was equally meh. There was however, 1 song on the sound track I-2-I that was catchy. I really liked it, it got my toes to tapping. (Seriously, if you know me, don’t act surprised. I like Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez too. My kids are threatening to disown me.) :)

Fast forward 10+ years, the CD has long been lost. I don’t want to buy it again, just to get that one song so I do what everyone does, I go out to iTunes (and also Amazon) to find the song. Guess what, you can buy most the other songs individually for $.99 but I-2-I (mislabeled “121″) can’t be bought individually. So while all the other songs are reasonably prices, this one is effectively $10.

I don’t mind respecting copyrights but I seriously dislike being ripped off.

NOTE: I am not admitting to finding an alternate source for a song I have already paid for and legally own a license to, I’m just using this as an example.

1/2 of the equation for killing most copyright violations out there is reasonably priced. $10 for 1 song is not reasonably priced. Attention big media, I am happy to honor your rights as long as you don’t abuse me. You don’t seem to have learned that lesson yet. People like Louis CK have proven that if you get it right, you’ll have to rent a truck just to carry all your money to the bank. (You guys in big media have got to seriously hate him for poking large holes in all of your arguments!) :)

Keep getting it wrong and I’ll remind you of this post in a year cuz you’ll still be bitchin’ about how copyright violations are gonna kill you. They aren’t killing you, your own stupidity is.

Until next time,
I <3 |<
=C=

Dear Reader,

As part of my end-of-the-year process, I’ve been looking at how I spend my time. I’ve always fancied myself a “creative” but when I look at how I spend my time, a lot of it is spend sitting in front of a TV. I find myself Tivo surfing a lot these days under the guise of “winding down”. Watching re-runs of sitcoms takes a lot less effort than sitting down and reading a good book so I tend to be lazy and do that. One of my goals for this year is however to read more though. This means I have to cut something out. Given that “big media” has declared war on me by penning SOPA, I think this is a good opportunity to re-evaluate my support for them and their sponsors by reading more. (Yes, I am aware that most major book publishers are supporters of SOPA/PIPA…baby steps.) So I’m starting my reading list. Hopefully, I’ll post about each book as I read it.

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
  Ok, I’m cheating because I’m about 25% through this one already. Like Marketing White Belt: Basics For the Digital Marketer before it, I am reading it “purposefully”. I am taking my time, and taking a lot of notes. So far, it is fantastic.
• The Cluetrain Manifesto: 10th Anniversary Edition
  I read it when it first came out but I’m re-reading it to refresh myself. This one is a great read. If you are in Social Media and haven’t read this book, stop what you are doing now and read it.
• EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches
  This is at the top of my list to read next but I have to finish “7 Habits” first. This is another one I want to read purposefully.
• Brand Against the Machine: How to Build Your Brand, Cut Through the Marketing Noise, and Stand Out from the Competition
  I follow John on Twitter and he has some interesting things to say. When this book was released, the marketing echo-chamber went gaga over it. It looks like an interesting read and since Marketing is my hobby, I hope to learn a lot from it.

Reading inspires me to write, every time I read, I have to keep a notebook handy to jot down the ideas for new blog posts or chapters for “Avoiding a Goat Rodeo“. TV, on the other hand, just lets me veg out. I’d rather be inspired than just shut down, so for me this year, more reading.

Until next time,
I <3 |<
=C=

p.s., yes, those are Amazon affiliate links. Not the reason I wrote the post but if they bother you, go directly to Amazon and search for the titles.

Dear Reader,

It’s hard to believe that almost a month has passed since BarCamp Nashville ’11. (BCN) It has taken me a while to write this post though because I wanted to do a lot of soul searching before I wrote it. When I volunteered to be the Speaker butler for BCN11, I told everyone there that I did not like the way BCN was run and I was there to change things. Ok, it may have not been the greatest way to start things off but I wanted to be honest.

The next two months were wonderfully frustrating for me. Along the way – in addition to making some new friends – I learned a few things about BarCamps, BCN and most of all, myself.

Here are three of the things I learned. I’m writing them more so I won’t forget than any other reason.

First, do the work

I have already said I started off on the wrong foot by telling everyone they were wrong, even though I had never done the job. (It’s a gift of mine, seeing the faults on other’s processes.) I had not bothered to learn why things were as they were; I just knew they were wrong. To paraphrase my friend Matthew Turland, I should have just “Shut the f** up and sat the f*** down”. I had no idea why the rules were setup the way they were and to be fair to the people that created them, I should have at least worked a full camp before coming to a conclusion.

Sometimes, you’ve got to call bullshit

Even though this was my first camp, I know bullshit when I see it. Just because I am new, doesn’t mean I don’t know. I am proud to say that a couple of time, I did stand up (figuratively of course. the chairs at Anode were way too comfortable to do it literally) and denounce an idea when I thought it was wrong. It doesn’t matter if no one else agreed with me, if I felt it was heading in the wrong direction, it was my place – no, my duty as a volunteer – to say so.

When you have a problem, talk to the person, not the list

A lot of conversations about BCN took place out in the open and a lot of feelings were needlessly hurt. Honestly, I don’t know why other than it’s easier to fire off a blog post or tweet than it is to confront someone in person or in a private email. I had a situation arise where I felt something had gone terribly wrong. I could have easily blogged it or even fired off an email to the crew mailing list, blasting the person who I felt wronged me. However, this person had always treated me with respect, even when we were in disagreement. So I simply emailed them. The email wasn’t particularly polite, but it wasn’t rude either. I am happy to say that in the end, we both came to an understanding of the other’s point of view. No flames, no bridges burned, and because this person was gracious and thoughtful in their responses to me, I feel I have a new friend where I could have easily made an enemy. (and I hope they feel the same)

Conclusion

I joined the BCN crew to change things from within. I was tired of watching people bitch and moan from the outside. I did not affect the changes I wanted, but that’s ok; I am also not going anywhere. unless they boot me, I’ll be on the next *CN crew and continue for the foreseeable future. I will continue to work to change the things that I see that are wrong, not because I want to tear down *CN but because I believe in what if can be, and want to be a part of it reaching its full potential.

The take away here is I got involved. So, what’s your excuse for not getting involved? :)

Until next time,
I <3 |<
=C=

Dear Reader,

My friend – and Day Camp 4 Developers Camp Counselor alumni – Thursday Bram quoted me in her most recent article for Distracted Enterprise, Time to Disconnect: 5 Ways You Can Avoid Being Disturbed on Vacation. In the article, I talk about my trip to Bonair last year and how I successfully disconnected for a week despite working closely with Zend on ZendCon and planning the very first DC4D.

Four others contributed their tips as well to this interesting and short read.

Until next time,
I <3 |<
=C=

Dear Reader,

Yes, I got a tattoo. This one is my own design because the lovely and talented Kathy (was was very supportive of me getting it) won’t color the design she did for me.

The design is one I’ve doodled in my Moleskin for a long time. More recently, I’ve been drawing it on my hand using a Sharpie. (A sharpietoo, if you will) I added the colors recently partly for my love of diving and partly because I bought a red sharpie.

Anyhow, for those that missed the tweet, yeah, I got my ink.

Until next time,
I <3 |<
=C=