Seth: Be careful who you work for

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“The single most important marketing decision most people make is also the one we spend precious little time on: where you work.

Think about this for a second. Your boss and your job determine not only what you do all day, but what you learn and who you interact with. Where you work is what you market.

If you want to become the kind of person that any company would kill to have as an employee, you need to be the kind of employee that’s really picky about who you align with.”

Seth Godin is the only blogger I quote so frequently I had to create a category for those posts. The nuggets above are from a longer post I encourage you to read.

I’ve only worked for two companies in my adult life and they’ve both been great. And if that’s important in good times, it’s true in spades in tough times.

Radio station streaming live video from Palin event

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Hit99fmvideoSarah Palin is holding a rally in Springfield, Missouri, and radio station Hit 99 FM is streaming video live from the event. They could have made it easier to find but deserve props for the effort. I’m having trouble getting audio but perhaps that will change when the event gets underway.

Interesting that this is a music formatted station, not a news/talk’er. David Brazeal is there and might interview someone from the station. We’ll post it here if he does.

PS: This is what we lovingly refer to as “a face for radio.”

Learning “New Media” tools

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I’ll be in our Dallas office for a few days next week. The agenda is kind of loose and open-ended. Our sports division (HQ in Dallas) is exploring ways to use more “new media” tools and I’ll try to help them find ways to do this. I think. My point is, what a great job.

And here’s what I’ve learned. Just about every online tool you need is out there. Cheap or free and easy to use. The hard part is finding people who… I wish I could come up with a better word… people who “get” this whole Internet thing. Sure, everybody uses email and Google and all that, but for most the net is where you go to find something rather than create something.

Posting photos to flickr, writing a blog, even something as simple as Twitter involves sharing something of your self. Expressing who you are. It’s walking out on that high school stage and singing Killing Me Softly. A lot of people just can’t do it.

But when I meet (discover?) such a kindred spirit, someone who has something to say and a passion for saying it, it’s great fun showing them things I’ve discovered on my endless surfing safaris.

Dwight Schrute on how to deal with the elderly

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“Unfortunately, humanity seems to lack the backbone to demand that the elderly continue to contribute until they terminate. Instead we both indulge their laziness and demean them, locking them away in retirement homes while they slowly rot in a medicated stupor. The thought seems to be, the elderly, like most minority groups, enjoy being grouped together in a designated living area. But what if we stripped them of their pills and deprived them of their Rascal scooters, perhaps the elderly would stand up and face death like a man: head on, in a battle royal. Win or lose, they’d be more alive than they are now, even if the exertion caused them to cease living.”

When every game is webcast

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A few months ago I got a call from Brian Slawin. Someone told him I fooled around with streaming live video and he wanted some ideas on how to stream his daughter’s softball games so family members could watch her play. He gave Qik and Kyte a try but wasn’t happy with the results but he kept at it. This past weekend he packed up his laptop, webcam and Sprint cellular card and headed for the ball field.

“Initially, I was concerned that a wireless cellular card wouldn’t allow enough upload bandwidth to actually stream the signal, but it turned out that even at 100kbps upstream, the signal was rock solid and remarkably clear. My gear includes an HP Pavilion PC, the Sprint card, a Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro, a power strip with 1400 joules filtering and some other cables, etc…

“Turns out I got lucky…my Sprint signal was 5×5 and there was power right at the backstop plus an angled desk/bench that made for the perfect setup.  I used the Justin.tv streaming system and it was tons of fun to have about a dozen parents/friends watch each game and join in the chat with Justin’s embedded chat feature. I made like a play-by-play narrator typing out what was going on…and every now and then playing “Joe Buck” for fun.”

Webcam“I’ll need a better setup than just hanging the web cam from a couple of lanyards and a bag…when it got windy, or when there was a foul ball, the camera shook and I had to reposition it numerous times.  Likely a tripod or perhaps a platform that is more securely attached to the fence and would allow for a higher angle is what I’m going to experiment with next.”

Brian’s company has some big plans.

“I can see a time where we’d actually hire broadcast teams (students in broadcasting programs in local high schools or colleges) to broadcast the games. We’ve already begun working with a softball tournament company on the East coast and are going to try and bring this forward for next summer’s tournaments in the New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey area.”

“But for now, I’ll continue to enjoy traipsing after my daughter this fall and into next summer as we travel to Junior Olympic softball tournaments throughout the Midwest.  Be sure to visit Warcats18Gold.com for more information about the team and if you’re nearby, be sure to come by and say hello at the Eleventh Annual St. Louis Softball Showcase in Chesterfield, MO Oct 31 – Nov 2.”

During my early radio days (’70s) there was tremendous pressure on the radio station to broadcast high school football and basketball games. We did some high school baseball but I don’t know that we ever found air time for girls softball. There just wasn’t enough time, staff or advertising support. And if one of the local radio stations didn’t broadcast the game… you had to be in the stands.

No more.

Anathem

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“What would motivate someone to sit alone in a one-room apartment reading and thinking? What would have to be true of a person for them to consider that a life well spent?”

“What if the places you went and the things you encountered in your work were more interesting than what was available in the physical world around you?”

“They knew many things but had no idea why. And strangely this made them more, rather than less, certain that they were right.”

“I am tormented, or tantalized, by the sense that I am almost in view of something that is at the limit of my comprehension.” — Neal Stephenson’s Anathem (pg 543)

“All the story had been bled out of their lives.” (pg 414)

“…in the intervening hours, my brain had been changing to fit the new shape of my world. I guess that’s why we can’t do anything when we’re sleeping: it’s when we work hardest.” (pg 366)

“…we do not perceive the physical universe directly, but only through the intermediation of our sensory organs.” (pg 529)

Cuddling new MacBook Pro

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I had every intention of staying offline this weekend. I even left the MacBook back in t Jeff City. But it’s 7:30 a.m. here in Tulsa, Blane and the kids are still asleep, Tonya is making breakfast and Ryan’s laptop is just sitting here. Connected to the Net. Practically begging me to take a spin.

This is Ryan’s first trip home (as in temporary U.S. home) from college (he’s a freshman at Union University in Jackson,TN) and I get to be part of it. Blane and I will take him back to school today, so lots of quality car time.

Yesterday we hit the mall and –lo and behold– found ourselves walking past the Apple store. So we popped in get Tonya an accessory for her new iPod and I got to fondle the new MacBook Pro. I ordered mine online, sight unseen and it’s somewhere between here and China.

I won’t bore you with my impressions. But if you find yourself near an Apple store, just pick up one of the new MacBooks. Hold it. Open and close the lid. Run your hands over it. That’s all I’m saying.

Tulsa Bound

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Off the grid for a few days starting Friday. Heading down to Tulsa for family time with Brother Blane. My nephew Ryan will be home from Union University (Jackson, TN) where he’s a freshman. Ryan and his brother and sister grew up in Indonesia and were home schooled. I’m eager to hear his thoughts on college life. If his Facebook page is any indication, he’s having a great time.

I’m not taking the MacBook on this trip so the blog will be dark for a few days (unless Ryan takes pity on me).

Seth on art, love and money

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Seth Godin puts his digital digit on why I would never put advertising on this blog (assuming anyone ever wanted to do so):

“Do your art. But don’t wreck your art if it doesn’t lend itself to paying the bills. That would be a tragedy.

And the twist, because there is always a twist, is that as soon as you focus on your art and leave the money behind, you may just discover that this focus turns out to be the secret of actually breaking through and making money.

Loving what you do is almost as important as doing what you love, especially if you need to make a living at it.”