MNteractive

People just getting into information architecture (t d) frequently ask me which application to use for creating wireframes. After nearly a decade of making wireframes myself, I still ask this question on a client-by-client basis if not a project-by-project basis.

Garrick needs to add Dia to his list of applications/technologies useful in creating wireframes. Dia is an open source (meaning, among other things, it’s free) Visio. It’s young, but promising. Here is Dia’s project page

San Diego’s manufactured festivals: Carnevale and Mardi Gras. Matt Yukor, the Visions restaurant bartender, is drunk and itching for a fight.

Little Italy has a Carnevale night. Tara, Ashby, and I spent about an hour and half walking around the neighborhood checking out the stilt walkers, musicians, and people wearing Venetian masks. I asked on gentleman on stilts if I could ride on his shoulders. He said ‘no’. I asked if he would consider at least giving me a piggy back. Alas, he said no to this as well. We grabbed a Guinness and Calamari at Zia’s Bistro. They do wine events early evenings on the weekdays. We hadn’t been there, but we liked it. As for Carnevale, it was pretty sedate. Then again we were indoors by 7PM. Maybe it got crazy after we left, but I doubt it. The whole concept of Carnevale is cooked up by the local businesses in order to get folks from outside Little Italy to come out and spend money. I noticed Fillippi’s had a line of people going darn near around the block. This is one of the busiest places in Little Italy, but not one of the best in terms of quality of food.

• Carnevale photo set

San Diego does Mardi Gras. Kind of. The city cordons off a 2 block by (about) 10 block wide swath of the city in the Gaslamp district, creates a police militarized zone of happy-fun-time, and charges $20 for admittance. I didn’t actually go to Mardi Gras, but Steve and I walked the circumference of the event bar-hopping along the way. Neither of us could convince ourselves, or one another, that spending $20 a person to listen to DJs, second rate cover bands, and throngs of drunks cheering maniacally at passing PG-13 rated floats was a good use of our dollars. We did decide that if we saw a hole in security we would slip in. However, the city was damn serious about collecting their $20 a person. Security was better for this event than I have seen at some military installations. I’m serious. There were police in staggered patrols around the circumference on horseback, bicycle, foot and squad car. I don’t believe we were ever out of site of police or hired security. The city likely needs to collect $20 a person because keeping people out must have cost a fortune! Inside the event, Damien told me, they were equally serious about maintaining absolute control. Allegedly, even crossing the street was a security risk in the eyes of the police and was disallowed. This made it difficult to meet up with friends on the opposite side of the street.

In lieu of Mardi Gras, Steve and I started off at an Irish pub on 4th st. We had a couple Guinness. We then walked all the way around the event. On 7th street we almost stepped into a restaurant called Visions, which Steve had been told by somebody was a happening and funky place. While walking toward the, albeit side, door I was physically halted by a fellow named Matt Yukor. He was a tall 30-ish bartender who shoved his hand into my chest and demanded to know: "where do you think you’re going?" I told him we were planning on going inside to have a drink and he derisively sneered: "no you’re not" with an alcohol laced breath and slight slur to his speech. Apparently Matt Yukor had been drinking on the job. Evidently the bar was in the Mardi Gras and Matt Yukor, the bartender for Visions restaurant, San Diego, CA (search engine optimization) thought it appropriate to lay hands on a potential patron and assert what little authority his life afforded him. I thanked him for letting us know it was closed to the public as I gently placed my hand on his chest in a much more ginger manner than his was thrust onto my body and told him to have a good night. As Steve and I turned to leave it must have struck Matt that I had made a point of mimicking his actions and he flipped out. Matt Yukor, Visions restaurant bartender, San Diego, CA was itching for a fight. I suggested to him that he probably shouldn’t shove potential patrons. With his chest puffed out he charged us in an attempt to rub against either of us, mind you we were already walking away. It was hilariously reminiscent of high school, which I’m guessing Matt Yukor, 30+ year old Visions restaurant bartender (another attempt at search engine optimization), likely did not graduate from. This made me stop and smile. I asked a couple other employees who were smoking nearby what Matt’s name was. Matt Yukor proudly announced his name and even spelled his last name for us: "Matt YUKOR–Y-U-K-O-R". I hadn’t asked for the spelling, it struck me that he may be attempting to prove that he could spell. Meanwhile another employee proudly hollared at us: "the owner don’t give a fuck so don’t bother, he don’t give a fuck man, I’m serious." Hehehe… Needless to say, avoid Visions Restaurant in San Diego, CA where Matt Yukor drinks on the job, is itching for a fight, servers don’t speak grammatically correct English, and allegedly the owner "don’t give a fuck".

Steve and I left Visions Restaurant in San Diego, CA and went to the the Marriott’s Altitude bar, which is on the 23rd floor (if I recall correctly) and overlooks the ball field. A very cool place where the staff is classy and polite. Finally, we finished our night off at La Cantina. Daniel the bartender sings opera and makes the best damn margarita I think I’ve ever had. Here’s how he does it: 1 lemon, 1 lime, 1/2 an orange, 2 shots tequila, and about 1 1/2 shots of Controy. All shaken vigoursly with ice, served in a salted glass with a lime. Killer. Not too sweet, just right. The food is pretty good there too.

• Mardi Gras photo set

If you haven’t heard. MindTouch has centralized our offices in San Diego. Come out and meet the crew.

Details

When

Friday, March 2, 2007 5:00 pm PST

Where

Map: Google | Yahoo | MapQuest

See other events at this venue

What

News.com

I like Larry Page. I’ve respected him, but I didn’t know I liked him before tonight. I just read about his urging earlier this week to members of AAAS to take their research out of halls of academia and engineer it into something that will benefit society, or, at least, make sure their findings can be consumed by someone who will. He also encouraged them to be politically active.

…take their scientific studies, market them better and make them readily accessible to the world. That way, the world might have a better chance at solving problems like energy consumption, poverty and global climate change.

“Virtually all economic growth (in the world) was due to technological progress. I think as a society we’re not really paying attention to that,” Page said. “Science has a real marketing problem. If all the growth in world is due to science and technology and no one pays attention to you, then you have a serious marketing problem.”

To that end, Page urged the group to take on more leadership roles in society, i.e., politics, so that they could control more funding for research and development. He also said that scientists should get in the habit of investing part of their scientific grant money to marketing budgets, in order to get the word out to the media about their research.

This concept of science having a marketing problem is not new. I’ve heard this discussed for years. However, I’ve not seen it discussed in such a public forum and it’s great to see it getting wide spread coverage. Also, Page’s emphasis on entrepreneurship (not included in the above quote) resonates with me. I believe entrepreneurship (and federally subsidized education) is what’s made our country the dominant world power.

So, we have:

1. Science should make every attempt to ensure research is accessible in order to maximize the potential that science benefits society.
2. Scientist should be politically active.
3. Academia should treat entrepreneurship as a positive outlet for their research.

All very obviously positive thoughts. It’s important to note that scientists need to be politically active now more than ever. Finally, Page provides us with some real world examples of how today’s science can be today’s solutions:

– Build fewer roads in underdeveloped parts of Africa. Instead, he suggested ultralight planes capable of traveling at up to 145 kmh and which would consume less gasoline than ground vehicles.

– Solar energy installations in the Nevada desert were capable of producing 800 megawatts per square mile (2.5 square km), somewhat less than half the 2000 megawatts of a nuclear power plant, he said. (A midsized natural gas-powered plant generates around 400 or 500 megawatts).

– A major limitation to wind power is the need for a distribution grid to move power from regions where wind blows to where populations are centered. He said 80 per cent of the electrical grid of Europe and North Africa could be served by an ambitious wind distribution grid cross-connecting the two regions. “Are we going to build that grid? I don’t think so. But I think it would be a good idea.”

As I write this I’m watching: “Who Killed the Electric Car“. Very relevant. It’s a good watch. Definitely infuriating.

After years of me cajoling Tara she’s finally started blogging. She’s video-logging at blogger: my bunnybear, which happens to be the name of Ashby’s favorite stuffed animal. I couldn’t convince her to use WordPress (open source), but blogger seems pretty cool with how easy it is to tweak skins and site layout. She’s just using her little Elph digital camera right now. We have an old digital 8MM, but it’s just so big. Maybe we should be looking for a nice (cheap) small mini-dv camera. Uploading videos with Google Video’s desktop uploader is a snap. It surely seems superior to uploading to YouTube via their webform. However, both sites ask too many damn questions when you upload. They want tags, descrips, titles, all kinds of nonsense. Still very easy though.

Mark Kurtz – Vice President of Client Services
Mark’s been a friend of ideapark for several years and we’re very excited to mix his skills and interests into our group. He brings extensive experience in technology and marketing from both the agency and client perspectives. During his time spent with Seattle-based Garrigan Lyman, Mark worked with clients such as Microsoft, Wall Street Journal, Aveda, Polaris, Nikon, and SAP. As a voracious entrepreneur, he’s started companies in Australia, Singapore and St. Paul. Most recently he served as the Vice President of Marketing and Sales for the wiki wizards at MindTouch (which recently moved to San Diego). Mark’s lived all over the world, but he’s a Midwesterner at heart (we’re hiding the fact that he’s from the Green Bay area for obvious reasons).

– New faces at ideapark

Looks like MarkK’s found a new home. These guys are very fortunate to have him. There have been a couple times in the last week or two in which I said: “yup, that was Mark’s doing”. His positive influence is still felt at MindTouch and both SteveB and I miss him. Mark heading Client Services is a perfect role for him. He’s amazingly adept at creating and maintaining relationships. Because of my intensity I tend to struggle in the maintenance department, which is one of the many reasons why it was so nice to have Mark around.

On the topic of IdeaPark: these guys are very talented. BTW fellas the Hayes release will have a dramatically improved presentation layer for ease of skinning if you have interest in wiki projects for your customers.

Slashdot | Kansas Adopts New Science Standards

“The Kansas State Board of Education has changed the state science standards once again, this time to take out language questioning evolution. This turnaround comes fast on the heels of the ouster given this past election to the ultra-conservative Board members who originally introduced the language. ‘Science’ has also been re-redefined as ‘a human activity of systematically seeking natural explanations’ (the word ‘natural’ had been previously stricken from the definition). If you’d like to see the new standards, a version showing all additions and deletions is available from the KS DOE’s website (PDF).”

This was just brought to my attention by SteveB. Why is the term ultra-conservative being used as a term to describe religious fanatics in the United States. Is this a way of lessening the rightfully negative stigma of someone who is intolerant and ignorant?

Tara asked me to post her list of ten things she loves in San Diego so far:

1. Filippi’s Cash & Carry Market – for the best 5.99 wine
2. Global Village Marketplace for great customer service and cheeses (coming soon wine and cheese combinations)
3. Mona Lisa Deli for the truest Limoncello you can find outside of Italy (made in Capri no preservatives or artificial flavoring)
– I can personally attest to the quality of this product, it’s almost as good as the Balzano family’s of Meta, Italy.
4. Assenti’s Pasta for fresh pasta (the Chipolte pasta was damn good)
5. Chi Chocolate for amazing and unique chocolate
6. Cafe Italia for a great cup of coffee and excellent service
7. Petrini’s for an amazing Antipasto Salad – Wow!
8. India Ink Papers for unique gifts/cards/ and cool baby stuff
9. Niche Boutique is where you’ll will find unique and wonderful baby clothes and accessories – love it
10. Anthony’s for great seafood (and a good long island ice tea)

All in beautiful Little Italy, San Diego, CA.

There’s this game of blog-tagging that’s been going around for some time now. I was just tagged by my old neighbor in Minnesota. The very lovely and talented JJ Killins who has been such a good friend to my wife and daughter. In fact, her daughter was Ashby’s first friend. This meme (see Unusual #2 below for why I’ve not used that word for two years) has evolved some it seems from the original five things that most people don’t know about me to 6 things that make me unusual and 6 things that make me happy. Here it goes:

Things that make me unusual (Tara helped):

1. I’m blunt. I mean really really blunt. I speak my mind like no one I know. Want to know what I think? You may not even need to ask me. You may have to ask me not to tell though.
2. I don’t like things that are trendy or particularly popular. Whether it’s a band, a restaurant, fashion whatever. If something becomes popular I’ve been known to drop it. If it’s already popular when I’m introduced to it I’ll likely avoid it like the plague. I’m making an exception for blog-tag I suppose, which is surely very trendy right now. This aversion for the popular or trendy has, on some occasions, proven to be counter-productive professionally because there can be wisdom in crowds. Some examples: I stopped blogging when it became really popular and abandoned a thriving and growing community of readers for a couple years. I refused for over a year to use any application with tagging. I avoided anything Web 2.0 (confs, groups, etc) for over almost two years. Anyway, the wisdom of crowds does not often manifest itself in pop culture.
3. I never leave home without my knife and my camera.
4. I enjoy reading, but mostly I consume my books in audio format on my iPod. The only novel (fiction) I’ve read in the last ten years (I think it’s been ten years) I read on my Treo600. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always reading something, but I don’t read fiction often. The reading a novel on my Treo (smart phone) is what Tara suggested was an item that makes me unusual.
5. I like documentaries lots. I watch a few a week. This tends to irritate friends, family, and my wife who are all not as fond as I am of documentaries. Tara likes documentaries, but she doesn’t want to watch one every night. As I write this I’m watching “Jesus Camp“. Craaaa-zy–Duude, Ted Haggert has a cameo appearance, you know him. He was the evangelical preacher who was snorting crank, banging a gay prostitute, and advising George W. Bush every Monday of the week. At home right now I have: “Grizzly Man” (Steve recommended it a long time ago), “Terror Storm” (apparently you can watch it free here), and “Who Killed the Electric Car“.
6. Tara says I dress like an old man. Particularly my socks, shoes and hats. I almost only wear Birkenstock’s and I like hats. I don’t know what’s wrong with my socks…

Things that make me happy:

1. My daughter Ashby makes me happy in ways I never thought possible. All I have to do is look at the girl and regardless of my state of mind I’m filled with happiness.
2. Sex. And my wife in general. Tara is so funny. See Unusual #1.
3. Making the world a better place. Diminishing poverty. Helping under-served people and communities to improve their quality of life. Facilitating education. I love helping people learn. Knowledge is everything man.
4. Camping. I try to make at least one solo camping trip a year. When I had fewer responsibilities I spent a lot of time in the Boundary Waters.
5. Sharing. Sharing knowledge, ideas, emotions. Sharing is good (most of the time). This may account for Unusual #1 and Happy #3.
6. Diversity. In everything, but particularly in culture and ideas. It’s hard not to love California when you love diversity.

Now it’s my turn to tag two people. Definitely PeteE who, because he’s so much cooler than me, has probably already been tagged. And Paul Jones who I barely know, but admire greatly.