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Federated Media Goes All Virtual, Yo.
At my old job when they'd pass the birthday card around I'd hold onto it longer than most--fretting over what I was going to say and reading what other people had written. They always wrote wonderfully personal sentiments that I could never match. My friend Brian would usually write something border-line offensive/incredibly funny. You could tell he just wrote it off the cuff and without thinking, yet it was always so apropos and clever. People would later remark about how funny Brian's comment was.
I'm serious.
Eventually the company got bigger and the birthday card passing was phased out. If you wanted to you could go downstairs and sign the card they'd leave on the table, but I was thankful I didn't have to participate anymore. I always wanted to say just the right thing, and I'd spend so much damn time trying to come up with something, eventually (sometimes after a whole day) I'd wuss out and write "Happy Birthday! Andre".
Even then I'd torture myself over whether I should put the exclamation mark in and whether a comma would sound too insincere. "But is the exclamation point too festive?" I would fret. Then, after I wrote it and handed it to the next person, I'd wonder if everyone was thinking I was mildly retarded since I basically just yelled happy birthday on a card that said "Happy Birthday" on the front.
So at FM everyone is incredibly supportive and friendly. When the sales group lands a big sale there is a nice flurry of CC'd email congratulating them and jokes about the beer being on their tab tonight. I usually find myself panicked that I don't have anything to say. "Hooray!" sounds silly. "Way To Go!" just isn't me. I want to join in but when I realized I have just spent 10 minutes trying to come up with something more than "Woot", I give up and go back to work.
Today I tried to congratulate someone with an "off the cuff sounding but really not that off the cuff because I spent 5 minutes on it": "WTG, _____!" (Way To Go) message of support for their hard work on some data for a presentation. The reply was, basically: "I didn't do that, your boss who you CC'd did."
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Hilarious. A story I know is true is being heartily beat up over at MetaFilter. Why do I know it's true? Because the person who posted the original story is an upstanding and honest member of a different community site I'm a member of.
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Good.
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This made me want to stand up and pump my fist when I saw it. Amber just LOOOOOOOVES it when I play the part of grammar nerd.
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I live on the edge.
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Weeeeeeeeeee!
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I remember when this was going on, we were listening all they way over on the west coast.
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If you like the sample track, you'll love Hemstad. Open your Cat Bird Records package over a trashcan. I'm just saying...no 33 year old should be on his hands and knees picking up confetti.
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Really nice tutorial on building a core data application.
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Dear Apple, please just make iChat tabbed. I have to slog on with Adium (no file transfers please, I'm using Adium!) and it's getting old. Safari has tabs so I know you know how they're done and how to do them well.
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Aww yeah, mashing up when mashingup was fun.
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I love transmit but something tells me there might be something better out there. Adding this to my "try it out list".
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Download embedded video from many sites.
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Hide old app windows that aren't being used.
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If I had two minutes to rub together I'd play this.
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You know, when Tom comes to where *I* work it's because we're in trouble.
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Coop on Evel Knievel. Coop nails what it was like to be a kid in the 70's and worship not only Evel, but those drag racers. I remember when I got Don Prudhomme's signature. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.