Snowy Day in Eugene Oregon from dave.merwin on Vimeo.

Simply wonderful.

Most folks in the business world could care less about the terms I use to describe the different pieces of my profession. I have a vocabulary that is different. And it doesn’t matter what the topic is. Movies, photography, development, even cycling. My world can get very small when it comes to describing things in it. Not because I am smarter than anyone, I just have a different vocabulary.

And the funny thing is I know and work with people who have yet again another vocabulary. When they are talking I just laugh because I have no idea what they are saying. I recently told my students at A3 that if you can translate between the geeks and the designers you will always find work. Because you will be the one that can bridge the gap and enable communication.

We were sitting in a meeting recently and I was asked a question. I gave an insightful answer. The client looked at me a little bewildered. My partner Luke, sensing the confusion, looked at the client and said “No”. We had a good laugh.

This morning I was watching a Scoble Show with John Nack from Adobe about Photoshop CS3. He started to talk in jargon and Scoble called him on it. John cited this video as an example of what he was doing.

I am glad I have translators in my life. Now if someone could just explain to me what my wife is saying!

In a couple of odd twists of fate I have started getting involved in education again. I am an artist in residence at the Springfield Academy of Arts and Academics (A3) and I am an expert adviser at George Fox Evangelical Seminary.

I was a teachers assistant in college. I helped teach class on interactive design to freshman and sophomores. The problem was that I was responsible for most of the class and student apathy KILLED me. The students just did not care. I don’t know if that is because I am a poor teacher ( I’m certainly not a patient one!) or if it was the culture of the class.

Regardless, the experience turned me off of teaching for good. Or so I thought.

For George Fox I am helping students consider and plan interactive media projects. I critique and offer advice for projects that they are working on. It is a one on one experience and I am working with a motived individual.

For A3 I am an artist in residence, teaching a web design class. The class is new and the students WANT to be there. While they will definitely goof off more that the George Fox students (I would hope so!) they are still motivated because they have chosen to be there.

The two common threads are… 1. Motivated students. 2. Niche teaching.

I am only dealing with a small motivated class and I am teaching about very specific topics. I love it.

The rest of the year should be interesting.

Side Note: Pure Blue implemented the architecture for the A3 site. We did not do the visual design. This work has led to additional projects with Michael Fisher and William Mastrosimone to be launched soon.

Well, it is public news now.

AGIPRODJ is shutting it’s doors.

It is actually a good thing. I have been working on AGIPRODJ for a number of years and some really great innovation has come out of it. Both from marketing initiatives and in the technology that I led the development of.

We worked really hard to be a part of the DJ community. Honestly, Justin & Ty worked their tails off over the past few years building a dedicated and loyal customer base. We developed some great videos and were able to speak to the needs of the customers very well.

So why is it going away? Well, AGI, the parent company, is refocusing on what it believes to be the keystone of what they are supposed to be doing. DJ has proven to be a valuable learning experience and will shape future efforts with AGI. But as a business model, it is outside the scope of AGI’s mission.

It is a bitter sweet thing to se something we have worked so hard on go away. But at least it is because AGI is making wise choices about what it is supposed to be doing.

I have learned a lot in the past few years with DJ. Here is just a few of them.

Becoming part of a community is HUGELY rewarding
By becoming a part of the DJ community, AGIPRODJ was able to leverage the vast knowledge at its finger tips. This was exciting financially of course, but it was exciting relationally as well. Justin & Ty both developed great relationships with customers and those relationships became an us experience instead of a we vs them experience.

Enabling that community is crucial to success
In order to NOT take advantage of the community, you have to give back. Justin & Ty did that through video, blog posts and the occasional podcasts. Not to mention the excellent customer service and the knowledge that these guys have int there head. They invested in the community and did not leech the community.

Vendors make all the difference
The relationships that AGIPRODJ and the vendors have is steller. They work hard to comply with policies and work with the manufacturers.

WordPress is incredibly flexible and powerful
On a completely different note, WordPressCart, the shopping cart we used to prower AGIPRODJ was built on WordPress. It was one of those eureka, forehead slapping moments. Tie a blog to a product and you get a product you can subscribe to and discuss. WordPressCart does just that.

To wrap it all up… I am sad to see it go. I am happy that AGI is staying focused on what is important. I have learned a ton in the process.

I LOVE what I do.

In the same week I am learning Ruby on Rails, discovering the White Stripes and I just saw the Scoble Show about Krugle.com. The full post is at BetaChurch.

I love what I do.

I haven’t boarded Mt. Bachelor until this past weekend. Three kids, work, and the plethora of mountain biking and surfing has kept me away from the snowboard for some time. This past weekend me and the boys went to Sunriver to ski and board Mt. Bachelor as a get away.

Mt. Bachelor is an amazing place. It is considered a family mountain. It has something for everyone. Not the most technical mountain that I have ever been on, but the varied terrain kept the trip entertaining.

We rode primarily on the backside, running the trails off of Northwest Express. A nice mix of steeps and rollers with some well placed quarter pipes for fun. The wind was blowing hard for two days and the snow was pushed to our side of the mountain making for great conditions.

Each day followed with some hot tubbing and then dinner in Bend. This was a true resort experience for me. Boarding, hot tubs, X-Games on cable, and cards. What more can you ask for?

My hat is off to the folks at Mt Bachelor. The staff always seemed courteous and kind, willing to help. It was a great weekend. A perfect break in the madness of the past few months.

Mt Bachelor pictures here.

I’m loopy.

I have been working since yesterday at 6am. Coming up on 24 hours and I still have a full day to put in.

Things have been going really well. We have been doing some freaking cool work. I love all the projects we are developing and I am beginning to feel a little spoiled.

Blink 182. That is what gets me through. Ok, I lied, I had dinner and played with the kids for a bit. Actually, they got baths so not much playing.

You know that feeling when you are so tired that you rub your hand on your face and it doesn’t seem to be there. Your face or your hand? Your hand. Or… your face. Mmmmmm. Sleep.

Blink 182. Why did they go away. They were so amazing. Angels and Airwaves is really, really good. But Blink. Especially the album Blink 182. So original.. so beautiful. “Like violence, you have me, forever and an after.” I have no idea what that is saying.. but it seems great doesn’t it?

The other day, I was listening to NPR in the back ground and playing Legos with Noah. We played Legos for 4 hours this past weekend. The newsman talked about dead animals in New Oleans after Katrina. It got pretty graphic. I looked up and Noah was just looking at me.

He kind of tipped his head and said, “That’s sad”. I scooped him up, hugged him, and with tears in my eyes said, “Yes, yes it is.”

No more NPR during Legos.

My wife and I decided that we are going to become college football fans this year. We live in Eugene, OR. Home of the mighty Ducks and is is more fun to be a duck than not! Especially when a full one-third of the city goes to games on Saturdays in the fall. The Ducks started off very well this year and then fizzled during the season. We are excited for next year! However, I don’t know that we actually became fans of football until last night. We watched the Boise State v.s. Oklahoma game.

I have not watched a lot of football games. In fact, I was only half heartedly watching this game, doing some work at the same time. I was talking with my partners off and on when the hook and ladder play happened. Sarah and I literally jumped off the couch. We could not believe what we had just seen.

As a kid, you always play those moments. In grade school, the game was always down to a minute left, or 40 seconds left… or some other insurmountable odds. In a moment of clarity with a sprinkle of miracles, your team pulls it off.

That’s is what happened in that game.

To cap it all off, Ian Johnson, the tailback that ran the final 2-Point conversion, proposed to his girlfriend, a Boise State cheerleader. She said yes.

What a beautiful moment. What a beautiful game. Sarah and I are excited for next year.

What an amazing book. I have only recently started following Frank Miller’s work. I am totally in love with it. It is so dark and broken, but filled with honor, duty, and hope.

My brother-in-law got me the hardcover for Christmas. I sat up one night and drank a hot beverage while pouring over the illustrations. I love the accentuated features and twisted/stark contrast. Simply wonderful.

I have a obsession with the Battle of Thermopylae. The idea of 300 brothers in arms unified in destroying an enemy resonates with me to my very bones.

UPDATE: I forgot… Jethro sent me to the BBC 4 radio report about the Battle of Thermopylae.

This past holiday was sort of magical. The kids and I spent a great deal of time outside, despite the weather. Sarah was in Seattle tending to new babies with Faith.

Noah, Emma and I hiked into the fort and had lunch. Elk and deer used the trail with us and the kids enjoyed figuring who was going where. Our jaunt ended at the fort where Othar the Giant lived. Eagle’s Rest lean-to is reconstructed stop over for the local mule supply trains. The story is here.

On the way back down the hill, we stopped at the Goodman Creek outflow. The valley’s connection with the reservoir is cut off by highway 58, but is not stopped. So the outflow is a valley and this time of year shines in many shades of green and brown. Stunning.

We played in the mud, and tracked the herds of elk prints. Emma fell into the streams several times and was none the worse. Getting stuck provided constant threat/amusement.

The kids are sponges. They learn with every step, and if provided the opportunity will quickly out pace you with their depth of knowledge. To that end, Noah and Emma have begun to construct their own world, complete with private stories and games.

While leaving the evil pizza parlor, (Pappa’s charges $30 for a large pizza. WHY DO WE KEEP GOING? Because they put kid crack in the pizza and it calls out to children at regular intervals. CURSE THEM!) I was surprised by a moment between Noah and Emma. I had asked that they get their shoes on, there is an indoor playground. I peaked into the play area to check on them and Noah was at Emma’s feet, helping her put her shoes on.

I could not have been more proud.