September 27, 2007 – 12:02 am
Quick update:
Today is the first day I wasn’t really writing code; I spent most of the day writing letters and site documentation.
Earlier tonight I had the idea to change the name of “campaign” to “thing.” I truly believe it’s a great idea, but being experienced in having ideas and thinking that they are great, I can recognize signs that point to it probably being awful.
Just now as I was getting ready to go to bed I made the following observation in my head: “today is the first day I am not writing code and I had an awesome idea, therefore writing code is enslavement of the brain.” Then I said “I can’t believe you just thought that” and I ran to my computer to punish myself.
Anyway, here are the reasons that “Thing” is a great word:
- Ironically, “thing” is wide-open for someone to define. Right now, its meaning is neutralized by its ability to be any thing.
- It gets at the diversity of our model.
- It’s totally memorable.
- Simply naming it Thing will entice people to figure out what it means.
Plus it is fun and catchy.
Join my Thing!
Got a problem? Why don’t you start a Thing at The Point?
This Thing has tipped!
September 26, 2007 – 9:48 pm
We flipped the switch on The Point yesterday. By which I mean, we made it so people can go there and see it and use it.
For most of the day we took it easy, knowing we might not have another opportunity to relax for awhile. Or at least that’s why I relaxed. Joe, on the other hand, probably relaxed because that is just how he rolls.
We had lunch at Bistro 110. On the bus ride there, at the 59th second of the 59th minute of the 11th hour, we changed the name of the things on on our site from “unions” to “alliances” to “campaigns” to “drives” to “campaigns” to “tipping actions” to “campaigns” to “tipping actions” to “campaigns.” If anyone ever reads this and can come up with the perfect word, I’ll eat an animal.
You can read my introductory blog post here.
September 25, 2007 – 1:03 am
Tomorrow we unveil The Point. I use the word “unveil” very deliberately — it’s going to be a slow roll out while we figure out what people make of this thing.
I’ve spent most of the past two days paralyzed with indecision — I can’t decide what to name the… “things” on our website. We’re going with Tipping Action for now. This is like the worst thing to be thinking about the day before launchveiling. I am now going to live-blog the putting of myself in my employees’ shoes, and… I think I would hate me.
For 10 months, I’ve imagined what this day would feel like. I am surprised to report that it feels like… nothing. I’m so overwhelmed with work that I haven’t stopped to reflect. Gives me a weird pang of sympathy for George Bush.
So that’s it. Special thanks to Jenny for being the best girlfriend in the world and putting up with the myriad neuroses I’ve developed over the past 10 months.
September 16, 2007 – 11:40 pm
For every post on this blog, there are eight unpublished posts that I hastily scribbled, with the idea that I would later polish them to the blinding sheen for which my regular readers have purchased special glasses. Predictably, those posts never end up seeing the light of day. I will release them in a rarities collection someday.
I’m going to fake-write one of them real quick. A couple months ago on the way to work I heard something on the radio about Bono taking off his sunglasses, and then I saw it again later in the day on the front page of CNN.com. I thought, “yes, I suppose I never have seen Bono without sunglasses.” I looked at the story, and buried somewhere in it was the reason he took his glasses off — his frustration with the lack of progress at the G8 summit. The removal took place during a videotaped interview(which I watched), and was accompanied by the utterance of something along the lines of, “I get so frustrated, it just makes me want to smash me glasses.” Now I always thought Bono was a buffoon for wearing sunglasses everywhere, but this story made me appreciate his genius. If he wants people to listen, he need only unveil his peepers. It’s his one wish — he takes them off and the world listens. Thinking that anyone willing to wear sunglasses for the rest of their life could also have their Cyclops moment of unbridled power, I gave it a try. But after about half a day, I got tired of telling this story to everyone I cared about not thinking I was a buffoon. (By the way, I’m disturbed by how many people are indifferent to someone wearing sunglasses in an office) What a great sacrifice Bono made, to endure the jaundiced eye of millions so he could draw people’s attention to Africa for one day.
September 5, 2007 – 8:42 pm
My girlfriend Jenny is a wonderful poet. When I read her poems, I see images and I think thoughts, the majority of which are dual-parted: “Is that supposed to be real or a metaphor?/ I don’t understand poetry.” And then about half the time, I’m reminded that I don’t understand crossword puzzles either, which is a tri-part.
So I started writing poems to increase the proportion of ones I can understand. Here is a new treasure that leaves no question as to its meaning or intent:
Dandelion Bay
Welcome to Tarantula Island
I bet that isn’t where you thought
This poem would take place?
September 5, 2007 – 6:59 pm
This weekend I bought the Kronos Quartet’s celebrity playlist from the iTunes Store. I’m not especially familiar with the work or tastes of the Kronos Quartet, so why did I buy their celebrity playlist? After engaging in a session of retrospective introspection, I realized that I must have been impressed by the fact that there are four of them (hence the “Quartet” part of their name), and they all like these songs, even though their association as the Kronos Quartet exists for purposes other than the liking of these songs. Anyway I’m just writing this because that was a terrible rationale for making a decision, and despite the prior privateness of its nature, I am compelled to make a public apology. The music still turned out to be OK.
Here are a few stills of Gary Shandling eating a banana from the Larry Sanders Show DVD Extras.
He puts his upper lip on the bitten-off part of the banana.
August 8, 2007 – 11:25 pm
I spent the evening puttering around in my old photos, and I found this one of a Snyder’s pretzel bag from August 10, 2002:
“Why,” I asked myself (Andrew), “Andrew, did you take that picture?” Then I remembered: I thought the idea of America having a pretzel bakery was kind of dumb. I remember carrying this bag around and showing it to people. I remember feeling like anything that was “America’s” needn’t be identified by it’s name; uttering “America’s Pretzel Bakery” should be enough to conjure thoughts of Snyder’s. Not only in our minds, but in our hearts. Of course, it didn’t. It doesn’t.
I guess I still think it’s stupid, but after this war, the Hummer, and Captivate, it takes me a minute to remember why.
I have been trying to identify with the victims of the Minnesota bridge collapse. I imagine myself driving along, and suddenly the ground giving way beneath me. The best could do was, “cool way to die!”
Then I thought of what it must have been like for the people heading towards the bridge, but still a few miles away when it collapsed. The traffic must have been unbelievable.