Over the River

Last week was an odd and uncomfortable week. It started with my birthday - somewhat subdued by the fact that I was feeling ill and that my Batavus - a gift - had been stolen the week before. As the week wore on, the discomfort grew as the illness I was feeling turned out to be Lyme Disease.

This has always been one of those conditions that I’ve dismissed as a lack of gumption of the part of its sufferers. Something that is best treated by sucking it up and getting back to work and life. There are any number of illnesses that fit this bill for me - and every time I name one of them either I or a friend or family member is diagnosed with it as fate works to demonstrate the validity of the condition.

I now know that Lyme Disease is real and it really sucks. I had fever and chills for ages, aches and fatigue that were persistent and an overall feeling of malaise and malady that simply wouldn’t let up. I am still feeling like crap but I kind of feel like I need to get out and get back to life. It might not be the wisest decision . . .

While this illness was irritating me I was also trying to sort out replacing my bike. I had one in mind but it was pricey(ish). I was anxious and impatient to get my hands on it and kept peppering the owner trying to find a time when we could meet. This weekend wasn’t going to work but I thought I might do something late Sunday.

Shortly before 10:00 on Saturday I got a call from the police. They had a moped that they wanted me to see and ID. I was on the scene in minutes and sure enough it was my bike. The fellow who had it was using it as a bicycle - peddling the damn thing around. It can’t have been easy, that’s for sure. The bike has only one speed and weighs nearly 100 lbs.

He claimed to have found it on the side of the road and no have painted it to make it look better. I noticed that the paining was largely limited to those areas of the bike that had names or logos . . . I also know that he will have passed at least a half dozen posters looking for the bike in the few minutes before the police stopped him. I guess he didn’t have a chance to read them.

Here’s the bike with the current paint job:

I am going to have it painted I think. Orange perhaps.

In any case, I am beyond happy to have my bike back. I want to thank everyone who’s been helpful in my search and recovery - the gang at Moped Army who had lots of great suggestions, the folks who saw the posting on Craig’s List and contacted me with tips and clues, the Natick PD for taking this seriously and being totally helpful and most of all Rich Berg of Natick who spotted the rider and contacted the police.

Pretty crazy that everything worked out in the end - and that was thanks to so many people helping out and playing their own part. Now I can get back to making my bike the most awesome moped around . . .

Sometimes I feel like a total blockhead - not in a bad way but more in a comfortable, easy and familiar way. This is one of those times. I have a ton going on - all of which is pretty cool - but an equal number of distractions - most of which totally suck. On the plus side is starting work with some new companies, being touched and surprised by the unexpected kindness of others having an overall feeling of (perhaps unwarranted).

On the downside are the fact that I still haven’t found my bike (and at this point doubt I ever will), that I have been sick for the past several days - suffering from a fever in the midst of the recent stifling heat and that my mind has been in a fog of late - all of which have made it difficult to be as focused and creative in my thinking as I would like.

Being optimistic though - and starting to feel better and having found a new bike - I am expecting the fog to life and for me to be able to do more of what I want more effectively. At least that is my hope.

Update

My Craig’s List post about the stolen bike netted a response. Someone say the thief pushing my bike down the street on Thursday afternoon. He described that person as a white guy, around 23 with black or dark brown hair. The fact that it was being pushed gave me some glimmer of hope - since obviously it wasn’t a pro or anything.

On Friday I drove around the area looking to see if I could spot it. I did come across a guy with a rental van full of bikes. When I asked if he’d seen my yellow moped he back toward the van and closed the door - pretty suspicious if you ask me . . . On Saturday I made posters offering a $100 reward for the return of my bike and went to the station where it was taken and the neighborhoods around there. I made a point of talking to the van guy’s neighbors and gave his girlfriend one of the posters.

My daughter found tracks from the bike which were were able to follow further and further up Rt. 135 but eventually we lost them. It’s all a really big bummer. I do want to thank everyone that has offered their thoughts and assistance - especially everyone at Moped Army.

At this point I think my Bat is gone for good and I’m looking to get a replacement - but that isn’t going to happen for a few more weeks :(.

So I bought a moped just a week ago. It was a birthday gift (which isn’t even until 6/9). I spent the past weekend getting it working and had only ridden it a few times. Then today, I locked it up at West Natick station and went to work. When I got home it was gone. Lock, stock and barrel. It’s really bumming me out.

Here’s a picture of it:

If you see it let me know. It wasn’t super expensive but it’s not like I can just go buy another one . . . and I have $100 in parts en route. What a shitty day.

Weber Shandwick has an active and growing Clean Tech practice and will be co-hosting a Renewable Energy Business Network reception this evening in conjunction with Cleantech 2008. Here are the details:

Time/date: 5:30pm, Monday June 2nd
Place: The Hynes Convention Center, room 304 – in conjunction with the Cleantech 2008 event going on next week
What to expect: Lots of open conversations, a drink or two, a few brief words of encouragement from your co-hosts and some announcements from the REBN.

In order to get into the convention, you need to register – FOR FREE – with the conference organizers. Your registration will enable you to attend the REBN reception, as well as tour the exhibit hall.

To register, go to https://www.eshow2000.com/nano2008/nano_reg.cfm. Fill in your contact info, and select “Cleantech2008” as the event you’re planning on attending. Important: On the second page of the registration site, you need to enter both the Registration Code “REBN” at the top of the page, and select “Exhibit Hall only” – the page will indicate that the cost is $80, but don’t worry, on the next page you’ll see that your REBN membership means the fee is waived. There will be a name badge waiting for you at the Hynes Center when you get there.

Last week I went and bought a moped. It’s a Batavus Starflite. It was only $300 and it should do fine getting me to and from the West Natick train station every day. Every day that I drive it I’ll be saving $2 on parking and since it gets around 100 miles per gallon I should managed to save *some* money on fuel - not to mention the reduced wear and tear on my car.

Sure it’s 30 years old and it might not be the fastest thing on the road but I like it - and it seems that I can fix the thing myself (so far).

I don’t know what’s happened to me over the past few months but I have taken a total hiatus from almost everything: writing here and on my other blogs, writing stories, taking photographs, going out, attending events - everything. A few weeks ago (or maybe it was months) I did resume taking pictures and I’m treating that as the first step on the road to recovery.

Has this happened to anyone else? I mean I consider myself a fairly active and creative person but it’s like I just went blank for a while there. My hope is that now that I’ve recognized the problem I can address it but I worry that isn’t going to be the case and my days of thinking and self-expression have come to an unfortunate and dismal end.

I sure hope that isn’t the case . . .

When I talk with people, clients, companies, organizations, etc. I’m amazed by how much content - often awesome content - is just sitting around unused. Old brand materials (ads, packaging, signage), physical artifacts (products, packaging, prototypes) and information (historical data, b-roll, photographs) that could be doing a world of good in the light of day are simply being ignored.

It’s time for there to be a good old fashion content harvest. Look around at some of the great content you or your client or your company has on hand and imagine what could be done with it to make it accessible, engaging and exciting to people.

Have examples of every model widget your company has ever produced? Photograph them - show the evolution of the design - and post the photos onto Flickr. Have footage of every CEO speaking at a company event for the past 40 years? Cut it up, mash it up and use it to tell the story of change over that period. Tag it, post it, get it out there. This isn’t hard stuff - it just isn’t always obvious.

“But how will this approach support the current story or key messages?” you might be tempted to ask (although I hope you aren’t). Well, sometimes we get so fixated on telling the immediate story that we forget there are millions of forgotten or untold stories that will spark conversations and build excitement around individuals, brands and companies.

Come on, this stuff isn’t getting any fresher . . .

Technorati Tags: content, brands, marketing, communication

Brokaw started his comments with some self-deprecating humor and jibes at Harvard (where he was accepted but not given financial aid).

MIT, he said, is at the intersection of information technology, the personal computer and the Internet. While he doesn’t understand the inner workings of technology, he does recognize that the introduction of technology will fundamentally change the world. In fact, he sees this as the most transformative era of technology that he can imagine.

He likens this transformation to a second big bang; with all of us looking and trying to determine which of the new planets will support life, watching planets merge (or attempt to merge) and grow to play a larger-and-larger role in our digital life.

One of the things that is striking about the advances in technology, he said, is that it isn’t happening in the darkened cloisters of nerdish wonks. The advances are being driven out in the open by all kinds of people. The power of the transformation available through technology is limited only by our imaginations. As technology makes our planet smaller, it also makes the possibilities larger.

But, he went on to say that life can’t be a virtual experience. What happens, he asked, if we have capacity without compassion; or if speed outstrips reason. It will do little good, he continued, if we wire the world but short-circuit our souls. A bit overwrought perhaps but I got his point.

Brokaw went to to talk about the people whom he’s met who were the most interesting and he ran through a litany of the saints of power and influence. The most memorable people though, he said, were ones whose names he never know (he could have asked them or something – just sayin’): civil rights workers in the 60s, American doctors in Somalia, Chinese students in Tiananmen Square, NY firefighters after 9/11. What made these people memorable was that they were willing to put their lives at risk to make the world a better place for everyone; and, he said – perhaps again with more drama than was needed – technology was providing new tools for these people.

He went through examples of how technology is making a difference and cited Rwanda and Pakistan. He suggested that the tools being used need to always have a human face to help “lower the temperature of fundamentalist rage.” I think I got where we was going with this but not 100 percent. People of goodwill from around the world have been putting themselves at risk to help others for a very long time – often with nothing but a human face to present to the world.

If anything it seems that technology can – while making the process of providing support more efficient and effective – throw up barriers between people that even technology with a human face might now be able to surmount. His point was a good one though as he described the possibility of connecting technology with commitment to help define this generations contribution to the world.

He went on to describe the horrors witnessed during the 20th century and pointed out that we are now living on an even smaller planet where the limits of power have become increasingly apparent. He ticked off a list of the problems we’re facing today – the growing gap between the haves and the have nots, global warming, etc. - and suggested that while we had the technology to deal with these issues (which is questionable) we needed to find the will; and the attention span.

This led to his addressing concerns around the Internet. He feels that we need to think about the source and the integrity of what appears on the small screen (as, frankly we do with information from any source) and his message to the audience was to beware of the unidentified matter that comes from the edges of the blogosphere. Of course this assumes that the blogosphere – like the universe – has edges, which isn’t necessarily the case.

He expressed concern that there are “small media meteorites” that may be the product of imagination, error or malevolence bombarding us every day. And while how we receive information is changing the requirement that information be gathered and distributed by trained professionals remains. I suppose as someone who has spent his life in the traditional media this point of view is understandable; but clearly the rise of citizen journalism is in response (at least in part) to the frustration people feel with the main stream media.

Brokaw likes the democratic nature of the Internet for sharing ideas and opinions, for sharing information and connecting with others and for hearing voices that one might not otherwise hear. The access to information is powerful. He pointed out, however, that the possibilities for distortion, fraud and anarchy are there and that we need to recognize our moral, and intellectual commitment to leave the planet better than we found it by putting our boots on the ground while using technology as an extension of our hearts as well as our minds.

The whole of his comments lasted only 20 minutes or so (about the time I spent waiting in line to get in) and they were generally innocuous. There was nothing unexpected or profound in them (perhaps others would disagree) and they left me with the impression of an honorable man’s attempt to offer his perspective on a rapidly changing world.

Technorati Tags: Tom Brokaw, MIT, technology, media

One of Boston’s best events – WebInno – is on for tonight at the Royal Sonesta in Kendall Square. If you’ve never been you need to go and if you’ve been before you know you don’t want to miss out. As I’ve done for some time now, I’m offering my rundown of the companies that will be on hand and I’ll be following up in a few days to see if I was right in my predictions and assumptions.

Main Dishes

Good2Gether – one of the really nice things about WebInno over the past several months is that there’s been an undercurrent of social benefit in many of the participating companies. We’ve seen Carbon Rally, Make Me Sustainable, GoLoCo and SpotScout to name a few. Good2gether continues this tradition.

The goal is to help connect people and causes. The idea is that they will put non-profits in front of potential donors, volunteers and advocates. It all sounds well and good and some of their launch partners are terrific (the American Red Cross, the National Audubon Society, the MS Association, etc.) but I wasn’t able to get on to really monkey with things.

The company is planning to launch in 11 cities over the coming months, staring here in Boston in April. Given the general economic slowdown, non-profits are going to need all the help they can get to stay relevant and well-funded. I sure hope this is a solid, well-executed and well-received idea.

Expectations that I’ll be wowed: at the moment they’re pretty low. The site looks good and the idea seems strong but there wasn’t much to go on.

Chances that I’m way off base: wicked low

PicMe Photo Sharing – I love taking and sharing pictures. I am totally addicted to Flickr. It’s probably the service I use the very most and find the most satisfying. But is there another category that is as splintered and diverse as online photosharing? I mean you have the big walled sites – Kodak, Shutterfly; the public sites like Flickr and Photobucket; the hybrid sites like Phanfare and into the fray leaps PicMe. How many of these do we need and how many are going to stick around?

PicMe seems to be all about organizing photos. (A good thing for someone taking a few thousand photos a month.) I signed up, downloaded the desktop application and was pleased to see how quickly it found and stacked the few photos on my work PC. I liked that I could see my Flickr contacts but couldn’t figure out how to see my own photos. I scared me that I could right mouse click on a friend’s photo and get the options: “Remove Photo from Flickr” and “Remove Photoset from Flickr.” I was too chicken to find out if that really works but if it does it’s really, really bad.

Sharing photos seems a little annoying as everyone you want to share with has to have the desktop client (which is currently Windows only . . .). Even the old-school sharing sites allowed you to share with just an email address.

Not to be a total gloomy Gus though. This has some very positive points. The ability to see all of my contacts images in a single UI is pretty nice (of course I can do that with the Media Bar in Flock, my main browser). I think PicMe is an interesting application and one worth checking out. I do kinda feel like most people have their imaging workflows more or less together so it will be interesting to see where this fits in.

Expectations that I’ll be wowed: I liked what I saw but didn’t exactly love it. I’m sure it will demo well though and that it will get plenty of ohhh and ahhhs.

Chances that I’m way off base: pretty high I guess. I could see myself walking out of there and wanting to go to town and use it every day.

Jack Cards – Connecting our World Thoughtfully? What might that mean? The home page includes a quote from the Wall Street Journal: [jack cards] “ . . . saves users the hassle of last-minute trips to the card store.” Guess what? I don’t make FIRST minute trips to the card store. In fact, I don’t like cards in general. When I get them I look at them for like a second and say, “Aww, that’s nice,” as I walk to the recycling bin. Clearly I am not the target market.

What’s weird about this is that unless I am mistaken this is the second greeting card company to present at WebInno in the past year. Nichie-nichie or what?

Expectations that I’ll be wowed: On a scale of zero to negative infinity, I would say there is an infinitely negative chance of that happening.

Chances that I’m way off base: If I become a woman between now and this evening I might think this is perfect; but I’m not expecting that to happen (and if it does I’ll be pissed) so I think that speaking for me I have this right.

Side Dishes

Traackr – can I tell you all a little secret? I am a total attention whore sometimes. Not *ALL* the time but certainly sometimes. My greatest aspiration is to be a supahbrand. I spend hours on end clicking refresh. I can’t control myself. The along comes Traaker. It promises to do this mindless checking and double-checking for me. I signed up but I can’t figure this thing out to save my life. I’ve put in my user names multiple times but they never seem to stick. There’s a tick box but it never seems to click.

Expectations that I’ll be wowed: Pretty high actually. I would LOVE to have an easier time of determining how awesome I am. I just wish they’d look at a broader range of sites and services.

Chances that I’m way off base: not that high. This seems straight forward and if it actually works it would be a cool site.

Moborazzi – When I first heard the name I thought of Lego Bionicles. Then I went to the site and saw that it was a play on words “Mob” and “Paparazzi” – two popular and friendly terms . . . So this is ANOTHER way to share photos? This is a service that allows you to take picture with you phone and post it to the Web. Ummmm and this is new how? Most of the photosharing sites seem to allow this and new services like Utterz and Qik are allowing people to do more and more interesting things with their mobile devices.

Expectations that I’ll be wowed: See Jack Cards.

Chances that I’m way off base: Moderately good I guess; maybe this is just what the world needs.

Lingro – first blush – a dictionary? Meh. But then I checked this thing out and man is it cool. You can go to ANY Web site and click on ANY work and get details on the word in a number of languages. How cool is that? I tried it on a number of sites and it worked awesome. Go and try this – it really is cool and I think if like words you’ll like this site.

Expectations that I’ll be wowed: Well, I already am so I guess the expectations that I’ll be wowed are very high. I suspect that seeing it in person will probably show things I didn’t find on my own. I can’t wait.

Chances that I’m way off base: Very low. If I am not as excited after I see this I’ll be extremely surprised.

Yamli – This is kind of a niche but it’s cool never-the-less. Yamli lets you search Arabic Web sites in English. That’s pretty neat. Of course the results are all in Arabic so it lessens the utility a little bit (at least for me since to say my Arabic is rusty is to say the sun is bright). It also provides the ability to type in English and have it converted Arabic on the fly. Here’s an example:
ذي والروس ات مي انجلش مفنس. (In case you can’t read it, it says “The walrus ate my English muffin.) Definitely a tool with potential but it still feels a little rough and the utility could be stronger.

Expectations that I’ll be wowed: I like the idea of being able to expand my ability to search beyond English and to write in other languages so I have high hopes for this one.

Chances that I’m way off base: Total. I could be totally wrong.

Entrecard.com – These are essentially ads for blogs. They kind of reminded me of the ads you see over urinals – kind of weird, generic and untargeted. I have to be honest – the site does a terrible job of explaining what it does. I’ll try to stop by to check it out but man it doesn’t do much for me.

Expectations that I’ll be wowed: I don’t think that’s going to happen.

Chances that I’m way off base: Any time I take an extreme position my chances of being off base go up. Somehow I don’t think that’s going to happen.

FLIMP – Except for its really unfortunate name this is pretty cool. The site allows you to create video sites very quickly and then distribute them to targets via email. The email distribution this is cool because it allows the site to collect crazy analytics. From a content creators perspective it’s pretty cool. As a content consumer, boy, do I really want all the details of my behavior analyzed so quickly and easily?

I like what they are doing and offering. I like the look and feel of the site and I REALLY like the look of the microsites generated by Flimp. It’s cool, they have awesome customers and it seems to work well.

Expectations that I’ll be wowed: High – I already like this service and am imaging ways to use it.

Chances that I’m way off base: Pretty low.

Stylepath – A neat idea – kind of a personal online shopper/stylist that learns about you and makes suggestions for additional products you might like. If I had a less slovenly sense of style I might find this site really useful but as it is I don’t care as much as I probably ought to. I will say that the site is pretty slick in terms of look and feel and functionality.

There would probably me more in it for me if it allowed my to create a profile based on broader interests – books, movies, music – and made style suggestions based on my similarities with other – more stylish – people who share my taste.

Expectations that I’ll be wowed: For people who are into and care about how they and their space looks it might well be a total “wow!” For me, not so much.

Chances that I’m way off base: I think it’s pretty low.

This is an open call for people interested in participating in Boston’s first (and perhaps the world’s only) air marching band. Unlike a rabble, the Boston Paper Hat Air Marching Band (BPHAMB - pronounced b-fam) will be a credit to the community and its members.

The first BPHAMB event will take place on Saturday, April 19th (Patriot’s Day) at 1:00PM on the Boston Common near the corner of Beacon and Cambridge Street. The event will begin with general aimless milling around, followed uniform craft time (paper hats for everyone!), instrument selection and finally a VERY brief rehearsal.

The proposed route will take the band over Beacon Hill, across Government Center and into Faneuil Hall for drinks and other refreshments.

Please let us know if you are interesting in attending this inaugural march. Send us an email and please note if you are interested in helping to promote, enlist, fold or fabricate our mobile sound system.

This has the opportunity to be totally KICK ASS so grab a friend, a sheet of newspaper, a bring your marchingest attitude down to the Common on the 19th.