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The Extended Conversation...

So I've been reading/ watching the global conversation about wine...no,really, there's a global conversation going on about wine...I kid you not...

What could that possibly have to do with this little tiny piece of the global conversation? It's kind of a long story... here goes anyway...

signed up for a geek dinner...for Stormhoek, a South African wine company...it's a big/ little marketing thing that hugh macleod came up with...read all about it here

with me so far? right...

so I'm glancing through the other people who have signed up...it's a pretty diverse crowd so far

so what is there possibly to gain from all this?...although just being amused is good enough for me...

then I notice the entry for BioBrewHaHa Seattle...interesting...read further...Life-Sciences Special Interest Group...curious...further comments..."The technology in biotech and wine are very similar..." google "userspace.com" and look for sanjay...it's a biotech instrument company, I think...they host a website for Laboratory Robotics Interest Group

Still with me? right...

this group has a Philadelphia Chapter with events now being covered in the Philly Pharm Bio Blog...

whew...long story...wine... to seattle...to biotech...back to Philly...

The "Extended Conversation"...

related link..."on becoming more viral..."

Conversations about wine...

Dinner, too...

Planning on hosting a wine tasting dinner...

with the wine provided by Stormhoek, a South African wine company...what's up with that...

all part of the global conversation...frappr map here

sent an e-mail to Stormhoek about their label design conversation, went something like this...

Let me first apologize for not being completely up to speed on the status of your label design efforts...

If you're still looking at the label design, I would like to offer another suggestion...

Short version...

the label could contain a photograph taken and submitted by customers with the bottle in their favorite location, activity, etc. etc. etc. A rotating or changing series of photographs shows the on-going "conversation" or connection with your customers...

The longer version...feel free to skip this part...

I have signed up for one of the dinners and it turns out that we will be on our family vacation during the original date I was going to use..oh well, I'll bring the wine along...we'll try it out watching the sunset over the bay along the Jersey shore (traditional vacation spot on the east coast of the US)...one of my favorite things in the world to do...I figured I'd send you guys a good picture of the bottle in the sunset...(trying to keep this short...)...I was looking at gapingvoid the other day and noticed the guy who takes pictures of the t-shirt from all over the world...so, what if you asked customers to submit high quality pictures of a stormhoek bottle in their favorite place from all over the world...might make for some interesting label art...the customers are motivated by the concept of their picture "making the label"...you get the unique label you're looking for...and continue the conversation...

just a thought...looking forward to trying the wine...I'll send you the picture after our vacation...


no response yet...

update from gapingvoid...I guess hugh wants to keep the conversation going his way...

maybe post something about this on the wiki page?

Hope...

is not a plan...

That's a good one...from Bob Giorgio...

We spend a lot of time planning projects/ things...

be careful you're not just hoping...

We had a Plan...

The next one...

I always liked that quote from H. H. Richardson...

Question: "What is your most important project?..."

Answer: "The next one..."

getting the next one, always the biggest challenge...

I think it takes some getting used too...there is no work without the next project...what do you do to get the next one...what happens if you don't get it...

I think it leads to a certain mentality...a bit of a predator approach...hunt down your next project...

I don't think everyone gets used to this approach...

another good question...what part to play in "the hunt"?

lead the hunt?...part of the pack?

Difficulties writing...

Writing is hard, or maybe blogging is hard…

I get a bunch of good ideas, but if I don’t get them down in writing right away I find I can’t remember all the nuances of what I originally had in mind…

I don’t want to say I have a hard time expressing myself…

I have a hard time with the logistics, I’m trying to get a project finished, 3 or so separate blogs underway, and still finding time a get some writing done, in a timely enough manner that I get the ideas down…before they all get away…

Losing Count...

Husband...
Father/ Dad...
Project Manager...
Process Architect...
Lead Architect...
Designer...
Artist...
Writer...
Painter...
Scupltor...
Hobbyist...

Blogger...

How many things am I trying to be?...

Architects are Great What???!!!

Great Marketers are Architects

the link above is for an article on Seth Godin's blog...

who's Seth Godin??? he's just this marketing guy...quiet well known, apparently...blogs a lot, writes books, about, well, marketing stuff...

I am not sure why, but a lot (a majority?) of the blogs I read have to do with marketing...Mr. Godin, metacool, gapingvoid, some others...

Is the writing more interesting?... better topics? more time on their hands?...or maybe they're just more pre-disposed than most to write their thoughts down...

I am always curious as to how people refer to "architects"..."he's the architect of that policy...", "great marketers are architects...", for instance, nice ring to that one...people seem to ascribe some status to the profession, or at least to the concept of the profession...Tom Peters is fond of refering to the Professional Service Firm, like architect have it all worked out, nice and neat...if only they knew...

how come I don't read any architect's blogs, about, uh, Architecture...please note the capital "A"...

do real architects blog? guess I'll have to find out, off to google...

if not, maybe it's just to keep the secret...

what's my excuse?

OOOoofff!!!

Out to Arizona for ISPE for a couple of days...back to the office for 1/2 a day for some critical items...off to the mountains for a couple of days R+R with the family...

sounds great, had a lot of fun, very relaxing...until...

Monday back after a full week out!!!...with a project under budget pressure, trying to maintain a tight schedule...

a full week of Monday's...

It's almost not worth taking any time away from the office...

it is, really, but what a battle to catch up and get back in the loop...

Phoenix/ Scottsdale/ Arizona

was out at the ISPE Annual Meeting this week in Scottsdale, AZ...

read the review here!!!

I had never been to that part of the country before...Interesting terrain, the flat desert plain surrounded by the rocky bits popping up around the city...hard to get used to the brown gravel desert color scheme, no grass, cactus instead of pine trees, etc...

very spread out, but I was surprised at the density in some of the developments I drove by...houses 10 feet apart, really crammed in there...I guess there's only so much room before you hit the next hill...

The conference was at the Desert Ridge Marriott Resort in Scottsdale...very nice place, beautiful inside and outside...palm courts, fountains and water features everywhere, very pleasant staff...

didn't actually stay in the resort due to oerbooking the resort, so I just had to enjoy the place vicariously at the various meeting events...

nice to see a bunch of people, lots of good seminars, but good to get home, too...

Express Yourself...

Find a way to express yourself...

Not just through work, design of structures, buildings, etc, etc...

Paint, sculpt, write an article, start a blog…

It’s easier once you get started...

You’ll find you get better at it...

Documenting your thoughts seems to generate room for more!!!

Trust

more from H MacLeod...

Technology and Trust

I find this to be true more and more...

Ultimately, this industry is about performance...

Been driving up to North Jersey a lot...

for my current project...

I listen to other radio stations as my normal station fades out above Princeton...

So I listen to college radio from that area...interesting

some stations have that quirky college radio feel...the odd presentation, the different programming...

others are surprisingly not that creative, college radio, yes, but just a lot of all the same stuff...I guess that just makes me sound like a middle-aged whiner...
"music was great when I was a kid!!! kids!!!"

and so what does this have to do with anything?

A good way to keep current is to keep some college kids around the office...
this can help keep you close to the cutting edge, or somewhat close, at least...

You can get stale real quick if you don't make a concerted effort to stay current

College radio and recent college grads will not solve all your problems, but it can be one way to stay "hooked up"...

"if it's too loud, you're too old..." this may be truer than I think...

You know you've been traveling too much when...

Your bed at home feels different, not the hotel bed...

You have a favorite radio station in a different city...

The shuttle driver asks how your kids are doing...

The Satellite Franchise Virtual Office Model

Why do we drive so far to work?

been thinking about this issue for a while...

now that gas is $3 a gallon, it may make more sense...even if it doesn't make any more sense there may be more pressure to adopt something like this...

Think of McDonalds, Walgreens, or Home Depot...

A location wherever you go, all similar, close to home, convienient...

Offices should go to the employees rather than making them come to you...gives you the best possible shot at the biggest possible talent pool...the ability to draw on every possible employee...

linked with technology to form a virtual group...Obviously, the challenge is to truly work together as a group...hey that's a challenge anyway...

the engineering company as a series of small "franchise" locations, acting together virtually to make up the required horsepower...

just athought...

the porous membrane: why corporate blogging works.

from the gaping void blog

I like this explanation...hopefully this blog and the website offer the same opportunities...

Things you might here me say...

"Actions speak louder than words..." could be considered Rule No. 1

"Make a qualitative difference..." don't just have an opinion

"Overtaken By Events..." also known as "OBE"

"There is a need for precision..." 'nuff said

"Never ignore fundamentals..."

"There is no substitute for preparation..." I'm not kidding...

"Life is not a perfect process..."

"Draw like you know what you're doing..."

"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed later..." I thought this was attributed to Patton but I have never been able to confirm it.

"Looking spontaneous is a matter of careful preparation..." M. Twain by way of R. Heinlein.

"Make an effort, not an excuse..." taken from a poster in the gym at our local elementary school...it would be a pleasant chnage if people focussed the energy they expend coming up with excuses and reasons for not doing their work on actually doing work...

Draining New Orleans Easier Said Than Done

good article from ENR.com

In particular, check out the link to the slideshow of the damage to the levees and pumping stations...

good luck to everyone down there...

Wrapping up the summer...

at the beach today...

back to school...back to work...

it's nice to have an extra day off...I'll still be working, but at least I'll be at home...been much too busy lately

HST ...the send-off...

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

later, dude!!!


link from yahoo.com