I’ve been hearing the buzz for the last few months of the new release of Wordpress. Usually I’m not one to get too excited and upgrade hastily, but after watching this video I might be persuaded to jump ship from 2.7 and go for it.
Check it out:
I’ll be keeping an eye on how fast some of my standby plugin’s migrate. Hopefully they’ll follow suit and do what they need to do to keep up.
After weeks of negotiations & preparations, the new world order is finally upon us. Jay’s first official day is today. Computer, check. Network connection, check. Email, check. Pens, whiteboard, file folders, Post It notes (JB’s addicted to them) - check, check and check.
Our morning (and much of the afternoon) has been occupied with looking at new office space and helping Jay get a handle on this mad-house of a business.
Now the fun starts.
I tripped over my skis getting to the computer, but hey, I made it! For the two of you reading these posts, you’ve certainly been made aware the skiing in Utah is off-the-hook currently. As a matter of fact, as I write this, I’m waffling on whether to ski again today (I mean the Cottonwoods have reports eclipsing the 20″ mark again). To be honest, the body probably needs a rest for the family ski day we are planning for tomorrow at Deer Valley.
So what is the point of rubbing all this skiing your face? Well, the answer is logically this. If I’m the CEO of an outdoor products company or a local restaurant (or any business looking for partnership with an agency), I want a fresh team working on my account. Not a team all wound up because they had a 2 hour bumper to bumper freeway commute, or the respite they get is a walk to the corner Starbucks. No, I want clear minded, Happy I live where I live, glad to be alive today people working with me. Think about, I’m sure you might agree…and certainaly will if you are a frequent visitor of the mountains. I’ll leave you with this: Go to the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flow into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. by: John Muir
Until next time, I look forward to my official start date on April 20th (and promise to partake in as many powder days as possible between now and then).
While I Believe it’s important to have open lines of communication between partners, it’s getting out of hand.
It’s Friday. I’m on deadline & trying to put the week to rest. JB blasts a Tweet my way : @Jride13No - it wasn’t a digger. All day face shots!http://twitpic.com/2ry61 There’s nowhere like Utah. And photographic evidence to boot.
At least he’s having a good time. I gotta unplug some wires.
As one who has been in the business of building websites for nearly ten years I am constantly amazed at just how this technology has evolved. Back in the day you’d sit down with a white screen in front of you and a thick HTML how-to book by your side. Then after a couple of hours you’d finally conquer placing an image into a table with some text just below. Then you’d test it on another browser and it’d all go to hell. Frustration would ensue and then you’d call your buddy who’d check out your code and point out the errors and make you feel stupid because it was so obvious (or not).
Quite frankly the process was painful and even at best this super-awesome site would basically serve as an online brochure that was a static brick of information. Content was stagnant as the process to update was left to the code jockey’s and not geared for the common desktop publishing man.
So, when we were discussing the development of this site I proposed building it on Wordpress. Sure, lots of agency’s have these fancy Flash sites (which are cool) but we don’t really do a whole lotta Flash and I didn’t think it’d be the best solution. Besides, maintaining a Flash site is a royal pain unless you have a really really expensive CMS that can handle it all.
So to ask again, why Wordpress? Simply put: Wordpress is awesome and it was the best Solution for our needs. We wanted a site where we could interact and show that we’re alive and kicking and inspired about our work. We also wanted a site where we could employ some wonderful technologies that we’ve steered our clients to use. We wanted to Tweet and Flickr and blog and link to our little hearts content just to show you, our loyal readers that our hearts beat just like yours.
Yes, we are alive and kicking and excited to come to work every day. Yes, we embrace these wonderful technologies that connect people in new and exciting ways. Yes, we’re excited to sit down and strategize with you about how to best implement these new mediums of communication.
So c’mon back as this site will be continually be populated with new and engaging stuff.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy for Jay having a month off to transition into partnership. His daily calls and emails are strewn with enthusiasm and purpose that will be valued assets moving forward. But what he seems oblivious to is that I’m working here! Besides running the business operations, I still need to maintain a threshold of billable hours. I could read every book, reference article and white paper he sends my way - if I just cut out sleep from my daily routine.
Case in point: last week, I was planning my day, balancing my weekly partner’s meeting with Jay and a full day of meetings and deadlines. 8 a.m. my phone rings, Jay: ‘hey, it dumped last night, let’s hold our meeting at Solitude. It’s going to be huge.’ Me: Got a full slate today. Can’t.’ Jay: would it be OK if we moved to this afternoon?’
This is a case of too much connectivity. During the day I was bombarded with tweets and updates as to just what I was missing. One particularly annoying tweet included photographic evidence: @jayride13: Noooo, you go first. No, you go. Ok, if you insist. Noon @ the tude! http://twitpic.com/2h1jo
I love my work. But sometimes, it’s torture.
After 9 years of being soul owner of this agency, I’ve finally found a suitable business partner. I honestly believe the planets, stars, tea leaves or whatever have aligned for a very bright future; however, it’s not without some reservations. True, Jay is one of the finest strategists I’ve been fortunate to work with and is one of my most valued friends. While I look forward to having spirited debate about our humble firm’s direction and operations, I have been at the helm of a dictatorship for 9 years now. I alone have faced the consequences of bad decisions and banked the occasional check for the good ones.
Through the years, my wife and I have patiently taught our children the virtues of sharing. Hopefully, I’ve paid attention to the lessons. Now I need to learn a whole new set of pronouns: we, us, ours, etc. More to come and Jay and Dan’s excellent adventure.
This is the first posting on our new blog. God help you all as I subject you to my random musings.