Charles has built us a homemade system that lets us watch digital TV. It great but every once in a while it freezes. Today, instead of stopping on a frame of an ad, it froze on this:
Archive for March, 2007
Indeed
Friday, March 30th, 2007Tuesday
Wednesday, March 21st, 2007I spend a lot of time alone thinking. I like it. This is my view yesterday morning (sans the computer screen which just mucks up the whole view):
But I also spend a lot of time in meetings. Which I also like. This is my afternoon yesterday, brainstorming and putting the ideas up on the wall:
Brainstorming is where people get together and ‘bounce ideas off each other.’ The people who write the ads (the art director and the copy writer) do this all the time. And over the past several years, account people and strategist and even (gasp) clients have started grouping together into small rooms to do it as well.
There are a few (often unstated) rules. First is the idea that it’s ok to speak up with any idea. Second is that there is no judging. The reasoning is that if you can get that kind of atmosphere going -where people genuinely feel free to say stupid things -then tender new ideas are then safe to come out.
And the beautiful thing is that it works. There’s a magic that can happen where 1 + 1 =3. You get ideas that better and bigger than any one person started with.
But it’s hard to get that atmosphere. It’s business after all. And we need a solution now. And don’t waste my time with something bad. And don’t tell me about your idea when mine is so brilliant. But when it works, it truly is magic.
I’ve gotten much better at setting my ego aside but what I do forget, in the rush of ideas, is the power of listening. It’s like there are two ways to get ideas in a brainstorm: you can either go inside to troll through the ol’ brain or you can coax them out of others by listening and adding your thoughts.
The second way is just as powerful but I have to remember to do it. Why? Because when you’re the listener, you don’t get the credit for the idea. Even though it would have died like a piece of half-lit wet kindling had you not picked it up and held it tenderly and blown on the little flame until it was big enough to burn alone…No credit.
Of course I can picture an ideal way around this. Where the individuals work together to build the team that then builds the individuals. But that takes a lot of trust and perhaps an organizational structure that supports it.
Until then it’s a struggle between the I and the we. Between the need for credit and the potential for that magic.
Anyway, that’s what I was thinking about yesterday.
Woo hoo
Wednesday, March 21st, 2007I weighed in today at our work-out group and found that I’ve lost 3 kg (6.6 lbs)! Yeah! It’s taken 7 and a half weeks (with 2 of those in the US and 1 being sick) but it’s nice to see results.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go eat my 10 almonds.
FYI
Monday, March 12th, 2007The tick bite on my neck is going away so doesn’t look like I’ll be dying from Lyme disease this time.
NYC March 07
Sunday, March 11th, 2007I had a brief stop in Manhattan this time. A fling, really. But it was a quirky one.
Sometimes I forget how beautiful the streets can be if you look up.
I did a bit of quick shopping before meeting the guys for dinner at place near Dave’s that specialises in a blend of mexican and the deep south (I think). Maybe because I miss it in Sydney, but this time I noticed tons of new burrito places. One on every block. Almost as many as there are Starbucks.
I stayed at the Chelsea Hotel. Where Sid & Nancy stayed:
It has tons of artists who live there permanently and a few rooms they rent out to folks like me. There was art EVERYWHERE. And a personal atmosphere that made it feel very cozy -neighbors talking to each other in the lobby, discussing upcoming shows and so-and-so’s cats who are out in the hallway again.
Two doors down is the famous Gotham Comedy club. I popped in just to peak and they had pictures on the wall of Seinfeld, George Carlin, Eddie Murphy… They didn’t have a late show but the guy at the desk pointed me to another club in the village. It was already 10p at that point and I stood there for a minute debating if I should go. It was cold and late. But I was in NY. I find myself at these crossroads a lot these days. Anyway, I’m glad I went because the comics were great -natural and personal and funny without being too crude. It’s an amazing skill. Plus I got to ride the subway at night -always a bit of a thrill.
The next morning I met up with Alexa who just moved here from Sydney. She’s a writer and I don’t know her very well yet but I really like her. I walked away feeling very energized and ready to write for hours a day.
(Ok -just one quick complaint about the flights: on the first one (NY to Chicago) they showed a short sit com, a news segment and an hour-long CSI which they shut off just before we found out who did it! Literally two more minutes is all we needed. I HATE that. But then, on the next flight (Chicago to Portland) we had 4 whole hours -so they showed a movie and then the very same sit com, news segment and CSI. Oh good, I thought, at least I’ll get to see who did it. Nope. They shut it off 5 minutes earlier this time. Just thinking they could figure this stuff out before they schedule it.)
I had a window seat on the second flight and looked down on tons of hilly, icy land just beginning to thaw. Travel grounds me sometimes -the actual riding in a bus or plane -brings me back to that wide perspective. Makes me ask, can I die now? Would it be ok? (The turbulence may have something to do with the question too). The answer so far is a resounding no. I’m reading a great book on the art of obituaries (The Dead Beat, Marilyn Johnson) and it makes me realize how little I’ve given an obit writer to work with. I have such a churning in my belly to do something worth while. To add something instead of just taking up space. But I’m not sure what yet. Not exactly sure how. But I think I have to keep looking for it and in the meantime I think the key for me is to chose more late-night comedy instead of going to bed.