Tech consultant for Olympia, Lacey, And Tumwater

Why Gnomedex attendees should stay at the Marriott instead of Edgewater

So this was my second time going to Gnomedex. Last year I stayed at Edgewater and this year I stayed at Marriott. Most people going to Gnomedex stay at one or the other because they are the two hotels within a 2 minute walk from the Bell Conference Center. Well I now want to strongly recommend that if you are going to Gnomedex (which all my readers should do) that you should just stay at Marriott.

What does Edgewater have going for it? They are a historical hotel where the Beatles took a very famous photo. They are also on the same street as the conference center. Well, those two things also go against the hotel. It was a great hotel back in the 60′s I’m sure. Times have changed and people expect a little bigger room. Those rooms are freakin’ tiny! The rooms at the Marriott are way bigger and more comfortable. The Edgewater being on the same side of the street go against it as well. Sure it’s the same side, but it’s way further (or it at least seemed to me). The street is very easy to cross and it is way quicker to go from Marriott to the conference center. The staff of Marriott have a much better attitude and seem to have a mental condition that makes them way to happy to serve their guests. I have never been treated so well as I was when I stayed at Marriott.

Edgewater seemed desperate. They seem more interested in packing their tiny rooms with things to rack up charges than making their guests comfortable. Both provide a fridge, but the one at Marriott was nice and empty. So I could bring the comforts of home more easy and not be worried about getting charged for something I brought. It’s not about me being cheap, but their are things that I enjoy that a hotel can’t be expected to provide. Having an empty fridge welcome me was a really nice thing I thought. It also made Marriott seem less desperate. Because of that I stayed an extra night and even had my first “room Service” experience. The food was great and even my dinner the night before was good. The night before I wanted to make sure I went to the open bar party with a full stomach. SO I had a burger and fries at the Marriott restaurant. I thought the bun was a little strange. What is so wrong with the traditional bun? Am I too white trash for wanting a traditional bun? The fries however were pure awesome! Too many times restaurants force me to eat these tiny shoestring things. I want nice think fries with the skins still on them dammit! Marriott did it right!

The shower head at Edgewater left me paranoid that I wasn’t getting all the soap out of my hair. I’m not sure if there wasn’t enough holes in the shower head, the holes were not big enough, or whatever else but it sucked. At Marriott the water pressure was better and it made me feel like I was actually getting a good shower. An extra thanks to the valet for helping me with my first big city taxi cab experience. I thought Eddie was going out of his way to help me, but I soon figured out that that is just the Marriott way…at least in the Seattle location. Screw Edgewater if you are going to Gnomedex people. Just stay at Marriott. I know I will. See ya at Gnomedex 10!

Get your Gnomedex 10 tix now at http://gnomedex10.eventbrite.com/

Scanning your followers for signs of spamminess

The list below is of my followers with the most likely spam accounts at the top. It was scored based on common characteristics of junk, by a service called TwitBlock. Now I think the name shows a lack of research due to the fact that “Twit” has nothing to do with Twitter. Other than that it is a great service.

I am asking my followers to look over the list (use the ctrl +f function to make it take two seconds) and make sure they are not on the list. If you are on the list and are not some lame spam bot (spam is not done by humans), please let me know so I can vote “not spam” and of course not block you. If you are on the list and want to know what might be getting you on this list please ask me and I will help you figure out how to look less like a spammer. Thanks. Together we can stop spam!

@ZNdqLa
@vyghnggmvhxw
@Rafn0145
@freefreebies5
@purebreeze
@TracyLewis79
@amazongoldenbox
@08Taste244
@clencher11k
@1644webdesign
@health777
@mikepowell01
@jhollyhu89
@bella9968
@wampyr
@mistakepunk
@yobird
@she0foreclosure
@lessthanlaura
@VicmesClothing
@svarogg
@YolandaBolducY
@ilovepartyingg
@gbeautig
@Tweetreferrals
@drivingpoints
@italian4you
@monatwt
@dinusha
@aaataa
@pmband
@suit_sunlighta
@Sexylady1999
@teamnastymerch
@Grasternal
@xiaopan1
@osen
@oeg572
@xhanne_mizz
@Y2Yqlg
@Pseudorant
@shortyawards
@jon_getmuscle
@DeathTollRecs
@herIKE
@1000000
@DannyEdwards
@LizzyG1984
@ThirteenPills
@CodeRad
@FDR666
@hannh78
@Uragany
@mrachievement
@klaAz0r
@Nukenband
@tlawmusic
@BestDJSets
@sxswtweets3
@48hourprinting
@kiara_white
@pdxfreelancers
@OutletThruNoise
@AptHunt
@cutiebootygirl
@millionfollower
@06ceasefire
@mediamavens
@minervaband
@CorsetPrincess
@1stChurchOfTwee
@DestinyWW
@ubmerch
@Radioblogger
@soremfamchiro
@garygover06

How uncool is cool?

So I feel that someone at Gnomedex got the totally wrong impression of me. They accused me of thinking I was cool because I did not agree with a speaker yesterday. The funny thing is that me and the speaker are very casual about our disagreement. I think she mistook my passion for something totally different. Me and the speaker are just two people that are very passionate about the subject (of doing interviews) and so we disagree passionately. I hope this speaker has as much respect for me as I have of him. How can I not respect someone who is passionate about something I am passionate about? So anyways, one of the questions I could hear (noisy lunch room) was if I thought I was cool. I have to admit that I was thrown and didn’t know how to answer. She totally caught me off guard because it is not something I care to think about. I make jokes about not being cool because I think the whole concept of a person thinking, caring, wondering, or even hoping they are cool is down right retarded. For the record, I don’t think I am cool.

I could totally be wrong, but I think most people have enough uncool moments in life that it keeps them from honestly thinking they are cool. If you think you are cool, I am willing to bet you are the furthest from it. If my memory serves me correctly she was lead to believe I thought I was cool because I mentioned I interview rock and metal bands instead of saying I interviewed people. I’m not clear how those choice of words make her think that, but that’s not the point. I interview people I think are cool, but does that make me cool? I don’t know because I don’t care. I don’t interview bands to be cool. I interview bands because I am passionate about it. I love doing it. It doesn’t make me anymore cool than someone who interviews underwater basket weavers. This is just my passion. It does bother me that someone would think I could be “one of those people.” I hate those kind of people! I shouldn’t let it bother me, but I can’t help it.

Full Disclosure:
Here are some reasons I could never be cool. First off I hate cool. I hate the entire concept. Cool is uncool for the most part. Second, I grew up as one of the reject kids. I have always been an outcast. A loser. A dreamer. A nobody. Now don’t think for a second that I am putting myself down. I take ownership of those tags that people have thrown at me my entire life as a minority might “take back” a racial slur. I have grown to love them because it has come to drive me. It’s the battle cry of the underdog. Third reason I could never be cool is how I make a living. Online music journalism makes dirt for money, so I have to scrub toilets at the local high school. Yes, I am a high school custodian. It’s a union gig and pays better than any tech job I am currently qualified for. It gets great benefits too. Better than most of my higher paid (and educated) friends.

So I will assume that this person that has this horrid impression of me has not done too many interviews themselves. If they had they would know that nothing will humble you more than interviewing “rockstars”. Not sure if this person will read this, but if they do please know that you seem way more offended by my questioning of the speaker than the speaker was. I am a very casual guy and am pretty much the exact opposite of the impression you seem to have. I hope someday we can have a conversation in a place we can hear each other better so that maybe we can clear the air. I’m not a bad guy…really!

So I just saw a very frustrating speaker at Gnomedex. You know the people that cross the line from confidence and into arrogance? This guy came very close to the line. He was talking about the art of the interview. The one thing that he said that got under my skin is that you should not prepare questions. I even called him on that. He told me I lacked confidence. At this point I think I proved that he lacks listening skills. Which is pretty scary for a person that does a lot of interviews.

Now I have not only done a ton of interviews but I have also of course watched a ton of interviews. Now if you want to make sure you go in depth, you need to do a ton of research and prepare about 20 questions. Why not just be spontaneous like Warren Etheredge thinks you should be? Well because every interview is it’s own creature. I have went through 20 questions just to get the artist to open up. One time I interviewed an artist named Anathema that just kept replying with “Don’t worry about that”. After getting through those 20 questions that proved to him that I had done my research and knew something about his band, he started to open up. If I didn’t have 20 questions I would have has a 30 second interview. Either that or I would have ended up asking him stupid crap like “What’s your favorite Pizza topping?” It was that framework that got the real meat of the interview going. About a month ago I was interviewing Raymond Herrera of Arkaea (ex-Fear Factory) and ended up with some info that shocked me. When doing my research I saw a banner for the energy drink Cocaine on his personal site. So I asked him what he was doing with them and how he hooked up with them. This was one of those prepared questions that Warren Etheredge tells you not to have remember. Well Raymond tells me that he is a co-owner! This ends up with a 20 minute conversation about the company, the name, the controversy the name brings, and how he benefits from it. It was a total “get” that would not have happened without that prepared question.

So was Warren Etheredge totally wrong? No. I think he made some great points in his minutes on stage at Gnomedex 9.0. Anyone who does as many interviews as someone like him or I end up doing, that person is going to know a little about doing interviews. However, he showed his weakness as a listener and interviewer. When doing an interview you have to understand that not only is every subject going to be a different beast, but every person doing interviews is going to be a different as well. We are human and unique within that. You need to prepare for that. Of course you should always do your best to listen to your subject and be able to “Tarzan” questions from what they say. Never zone out or you risk asking about their most comical moment right after they explain how a song off their new cd was about dealing with the death or their mother a few months ago. So listen yes, but prepare as well. Have that framework ready. Maybe Warren Etheredge was never a boyscout, but I was always taught to “be prepared”.

Is your message clear?

Yesterday I wrote a review of the movie District 9 that has offended a few people. Seems the movie has some really important message about apartheid. I had no clue. My review still stands though. The movie was a total bummer and I don’t like getting hammered over the head with heavy drama when I am expecting to be entertained. The thing you must now think about is why did most viewers of the movie not have a clue that it was going to be a pseudo-documentary about something as heavy as apartheid? I am pretty damn sure that most had no clue going into it or even after the movie was played. This means that the movie was more of a failure than I originally thought. If they had a message they thought was so important why didn’t they make the message more clear? Why? because they knew that the movie would have not been seen by even a tenth of the amount of people. Maybe their own greed got in the way of this message that was so important?

I mention this to make one point clear to you bands. if you have a message, make that message clear. Don’t be a wuss and hide it like the people behind this movie did. Especially if it is such an important message. Say it loud and say it proud!

Now let me make this clear, I in no way mean to belittle the importance of apartheid. I do however mean to belittle the extremely massive ego’s of people that get on their high horse and look down on me because I didn’t get some really vague message buried under a movie that didn’t offer what the previews suggested it would. I listened to more podcasts than I can count that talked about the movie and not one mentioned apartheid. I watched every promo I could find on the movie and never once saw a mention of apartheid. I heard interviews with Peter Jackson and he never mentioned apartheid. Not one movie poster says anything about apartheid. Like 99% of the people that went this weekend, if I would have known it was going to be SECRETLY about apartheid I would have stayed home. Not because I don’t care about apartheid, but because I don’t need to be beat over the head with the message that it is bad. I already know it is bad.

Rage Against The Machine talked all the time about how their songs had some big heavy message. You want to know why? Because they knew that no one would have a clue otherwise. It is not my fault that the creators of this movie let their greed get the best of them. it is not my fault that they let the message get so buried that the great majority have no clue that it is secretly about apartheid. Of course maybe I am wrong since that has happened more times than I care to count as well. So I am making a poll. Please send this message to as many people as possible. I want to know how many people had a clue that this movie had something to do with apartheid. If nothing else we can do what the movie makers obviously failed to do. Get their message out. It is an important message after all…which would explain why it was such a bummer of a movie.

Ok, there needs to be two categories where SciFi used to be. There seems to be a trend in scifi to be overly melodramatic. What got me into scifi was that it was a fun escape from real life. Real life sucks so bad that we need these escapes. We need something that is FUN! District 9 was well done for what it was, but the thing was a total bummer! It was simply no fun. Let’s compare the original Star Wars to District 9. Can you count how many times Star Wars made you laugh? How about Firefly? That show cracked me up more than most comedies. Even Hellboy had a ton of laughs. So if you are expecting to have a good time avoid District 9. If you want to have fun avoid District 9. If you want a total bummer of a movie that leaves you exhausted and maybe a little depressed, go see this movie now! If you like being beat over the head with extremely heavy drama and conflict go see District 9.

Now I also hated the recent reboot of Battlestar Galactica for the same reasons, so I am sure there will be many who rave about how great District 9 is. It was original I will give it that. I have heard that the biggest complaint about Transformer 2 is that there are too many jokes and it is too lighthearted. So just like those reviews makes me want to go see Transformer 2, this review will probably make some excited about what to me was a complete downer. For those people I give the following positive tidbits on District 9. The previews do nothing to prepare you. Hell, there are many scenes in the trailer below that are not even in the movie! The movie is done like a documentary. Imagine the BBC doing a documentary on a million aliens being evicted from a slum in Johannesburg and you get the basic idea. It is very well done and Peter Jackson has proved that he still has a few more tricks up his sleeve. It is a very unique and original way to approach scifi. The bug like aliens are very well done and you do forget at times that it is CGI. They do have a robot of sorts that is obviously strongly influenced by the first Transformers movie. The storyline is a story about the underdog fighting the powerful. There are great underlining messages about racism that are done well. I just think the whole thing is depressing and doesn’t offer any escape from the depressing world we currently live in already.

So I wouldn’t say this movie is total garbage. It just all depends on what you are looking for when you go to the movies. If you are the type that want something that is full of really heavy drama and leaves you feeling like you need to watch classic Tex Avery cartoons for a few hours to avoid slighting your wrists, this is your movie! I highly recommend watching it on the big screen. If you are looking for a fun escape of pure fun, a few laughs, and a lighthearted story, stay at home and watch your Firefly, Star Wars, Hellboy, and Eureka DVDs instead. Hell, even the show Heroes. is a better escape but I could list scifi entertainment I prefer for hours and hours. This just wasn’t my thing. If it is your kind of scifi, can we create a new term to separate the two approaches? I could have done without Peter Jackson hitting me over the head with an over sized hammer for two hours. Can you drama queens start using Syfi instead?

Why Metalheads need to flood Gnomedex this year!

Gnomedex.com

As a metal loving geek, I am always asked what Gnomedex is and what bands are playing. Ok, first off Gnomedex is not a festival and no bands are playing. So why do I care? Because I am also a geek. Gnomedex is an annual tech conference in Seattle Washington (USA). It’s main focus is the social aspect of the internet. More then anything it helps put a real face to social networking. They have speakers get up and talk about things that social networking geeks are interested in, but where I learn the most from is just from talking with the other people there. The attendees always teach me more than any speaker could.

So why should Metalheads go? Because if you are in a band, work at a label, are an online music journalist, or just a fan that wants to help promote your favorite bands, this conference will tech you how to use sites like Facebook, Twitter, and FriendFeed smarter. It will show you how to get the word out on what ever it is you are trying to push. I have found that people in the music industry are either frighteningly behind the times or horridly misguided. Going to this conference will teach you how to do things right and stop spinning your wheels. Do you like wasting time? I don’t. So I go to this conference so I can learn from people way smarter than I am.

The biggest reason you should go this year is because they have greatly reduced the costs. For $300 you can get a full pass for both days. This includes includes two very classy lunches, seating in the main Auditorium, and access to your very own power outlet to keep that laptop running all day (internet connection included). If you feel cheap you can do just one day for $100, but once you pay to get there you might as well do the full experience. Plus that $100 only gets you the conversation in the lobby. Sure that is (in my opinion) the most important part of the conference, but there is not a ton of people to talk to when we are all in the main auditorium. So get the full access pass. It’s well worth it.

Who will be there? Well last year I met people from CNN, Google, Microsoft, and a ton of very high profile bloggers that are a hundred times more powerful than I am. The face time with these people combined with being able to pick their brains for knowledge was priceless. This year I notice that there will be people there from Intel, Jeff Barr from Amazon, Verizon Wireless, Network Solutions, CNN, Microsoft, RealNetworks, T-Mobile, Expedia, University of Washington, Go Daddy, Discover Magazine, Eric Schmidt, and tons more. Most of those are not speakers, but they are still there to talk to and learn from. Many of the people there you have not heard of, but are full of information that can help you.

My wish has always been that people in the music industry would get more tech savvy. I think this would be the best start. Plus it would really freak out all those Radiohead loving geeks if a bunch of us rivet heads showed up. I bought my tickets months ago, so who is going to meet me?

Gnomedex.com

Why I left my reunion after 45 minutes

So I wasn’t able to make the big reunion, but the pre-reunion Friday night thing was in my budget. So I figured I would give it a try. I lasted about 45 minutes, realized I was bored out of my mind, and went home. This is not because my alumni are boring people. Far from it. However, the people that showed were not the people I ever hung out with. These were not the people I wanted to catch up with. Nothing against the people that were there. I’m sure they’re ok people. I just have zero in common with them. We have no common interests. There is just simply nothing to talk about. No mark on them for this. We are just different types of people.

Reunions are still cliquish
Now everyone’s high school is cliquish to say the least. We would all like to think we are above that as adults, but this just isn’t true. However, is this a bad thing? I don’t think so. I think it’s reality. We no longer segregate by color in this country (which is a very good thing), but yet notice how often people do this naturally? It’s because of common interests. Just because two people have nothing to say to each other, doesn’t mean they have any negative thoughts about each other. They just have nothing to talk about. So they gravitate to people with common interests. Now the 3 ladies that run our reunions work like mad to try to include everyone. However, there are some that are so scarred from high school that they never give the reunions a chance. I have a feeling that many of those people are the exact people I want to catch up with! Since they can’t be encourged to give the reunion thing a chance, I end up a wallflower, get bored quickly, and go home early.

Is there a solution?
I think the way to solve this problem is on it’s way. Us outcasts love the internet. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Plurk, etc, we are on most if not all of them. Facebook does a great job at connecting all of these people. If we can use this tool more to get more people to break down their walls we can get them to show up. There is one piece missing though to make this tool work. There needs to be an easier way to mark how you know someone on Facebook. I just went into my account to separate people into lists of how I know them. There are a ton of people who I have no clue how or why they are on there. I don’t have a clue how I know them. Maybe they are spammers who somehow caught me in a gullible mood one day? So should I delete them? What if they are old high school classmates who are trying to make a connection? There needs to be a simple note Facebook puts in the list that says “You know this person from: High School”. Keep it simple though. I know people from either the music industry, high school, social networking on these inner-webs, or in real life. So maybe HS, web-friend, IRL Friend, and music can be choices people can pick from if they are my friend on Facebook. They pick how I know them from choices I create and pick.

Why not the official website?
Now our alumni association has an official website, but the people that really need to be reached out to are not going to sign up to that. Currently Facebook is the best tool we have for this mission. So we need to work it hard to get the “anti-social” people like me to come out of their shells and give this thing a chance. So maybe by next reunion we can have more people show up? Maybe we can have people show up that have never been to a reunion ever before? I think we can do it. I don’t want to miss my reunion, but I’d like to have someone of interest to talk to when I go.

If you are my friend on Facebook, can you tell me how we know each other? It’s driving me nuts. Thanks.