Decision made...

So, one of the big decisions Mary and I had to make was ... what do we do about the car?

Should we:
a) tow it with the truck, and pay for renting the towing cart+extra gas+California taxes
b) move everything in a moving truck, and just drive the car out there
c) sell the car here and get a new car when we get to California ... even though we will already have the moving expenses (which JWT doesn't really pick-up due to my increase in salary) and apartment deposit + higher rent, etc.

Fortunately for us, at 5AM this morning, a police officer knocked on our door and told us about option D, and option we had not considered ... Option D(estruction)

Yes, apparently (and allegedly) this morning at 4:15AM a GM Yukon owned by a Mr. Michael Harty, plowed into the back of our car and smashed it into the back of another car, which smashed into another car, which smashed into another car... The driver then took a left at the next intersection, parked the car and went into a residence (also the residence of a Mr. Michael Harty). He chose not to answer the door when police tried to reach him.

Option D(emolished) -- Looks like the car is totaled. The official word has not been handed down, but I am feeling pretty good about it. So, we'll pay our $500 ... to get maybe $2,000 and just head to San Francisco, find a car there.

On the bright side:
It was the worst condition I have ever seen a car of mine. So considering the car was parked with no one inside of it and we were thinking of getting rid of the car in less than 2 months, I guess we are lucky.

what a week...
at least this 32nd year started with a bang ... get it? BANG ... because our car was crushed so loudly it woke people up! .. yeah...

Murder

It is amazing how quickly the dime can flip. You can spend your whole life trying to place you and your family in non-violent situations; and one day, you find yourself spending a week listening to, discussing and thinking about a gang murder simply because you chose to change the address on your driver's license or vote. Even more amazing is that it all comes down to how 12 people interpret, not evidence ... not the law ... but words.

These little arranged collections of the 26 possible characters carry quite a weight. I am sure there is significant thought about who to pick for a jury to be sympathetic to the evidence or aware of the application of the law based on their background and the answers they give to a few scattered questions. However, I think our different cultural upbringings, education, thought-processes have just as much to do with how we will read and interpret the words of a case as the actual evidence and law. Law ... I thought it was something concrete, you know? But it's just words. Powerful words which have been heavily scrutinized ... but just black type on a white sheet, easily crumpled and thrown away.

I have a tough time with the phrase "beyond a reasonable doubt." I also have a tough time with words like "intent" and "knowingly." Actually, I don't have a tough time with these words ... I have a complete and total understanding of what they mean to me. And I have a complete and total understanding that they mean something different to other people.

Anyway, I really want to close the door on this subject: on the gangs, drugs, gunshot wound to the back of the head from 2 inches away, the several other gunshot wounds to that man, expert testimony, lies, manipulation, waiting, discussing irrelevant things ... it all has been an experience I will never forget. I woke-up today ... on the morning of my birthday, when I am going to a Cubs game, and needing to be thinking about an old job and a new one and a move to San Francisco, I thought about killing and words.

Our jury ended up being a hung jury. We could not all agree.

But I am ready to walk away from this. And let it continue behind my back again.

California Dreaming

It has been a tough week for blogging. I have had this trial going on which I am not allowed to discuss, and occupies a significant amount of every day.

Also, I had this monumental decision filling our evenings that I could not yet discuss on an open forum either. However, the decision has been made. I am returning to JWT, which I am very excited about, more on that later.)

With this new job, will come a new home. Mary, Sam and I are moving to San Francisco in June. Something else I plan to extensively write about in the next several weeks. We are overwhelmingly excited.

I'll be back tomorrow with more than facts.

Pardon the Interruption

Well, first Microsoft decided to take my computer back to the beginning ...

And now I have jury duty for the "bulk of the week... "

So, this may be the last blog before I turn 31 ...

See you on the other side.

peace,
Cameron

The Honda Fit

Honey,

Can we get one of these?

Look, you can chill with your laptop in the car!

Ok, I'm being silly and stupid ... but I do like the vehicle so far, and I especially enjoy the Space Invader graphics!

"How to write a blog"

I have seen so many articles and suggestions about how to write a blog, especially since the Boston Globe piece about blogging for a career.

And of course I see how a company should use a blog for PR and Marketing. (In addition to the use of "online communities" as marketing tools.)

In fact, just Tuesday I was discussing how to use one to position us as an agency.

And, I just want it all to stop.

I just keep a journal. And I get to put pictures with it, and links to interesting things. And great, I can post it online so others can read if they care.

That's all I want to do, and that is how I'll write my blog. I am not leading the charge into the future.

Conversing at work - Ah-Ha!

So as I continue to research this problem with communication at work, I ran across this insight from Gavin Heaton, he has a great, short entry about writing for 'clarity' rather than 'understanding.'

Brilliant.

This is it, isn't it? Too many people are trying excessively hard to be clear ... they are concentrating on what they are saying or writing or communicating in whatever fashion. When what they need to do is think about how to communicate for understanding, the listener.

I mean this problem is logical of course. It is much easier for us to think about how we can express our ideas, rather than worrying over how someone else might interpret them. So, we put excessive effort into how we say what we say, rather than thinking about how will my audience hear what I am saying.

We are onto something here.

Personality Awareness

Well, here is an interesting exercise in personality awareness.

The Johari Window. I chose 6 adjectives to describe myself, now you (being someone who knows me) can go to the link below and chose 6 words that describe me. I get to see how self-aware I am. Of course given that no one actually leaves comments on my blog, I am expecting 0% participation (great ... I hope "pissy" is not one of the words, because I just locked that one up!)

http://kevan.org/johari?name=cameronmaddux

Also, afterwards, you can see the words I chose for myself. Please don't look beforehand, because as a "researcher" I want to take away the skew factor ... beyond what the blog already provides.

Turtle watching

While I certainly was no Huck Finn or even a Tom Sawyer ... I did spend a great deal of my childhood exploring the area of our quiet suburban sprawl of Lafayette, LA. Now, for those of you who don't know Lafayette, it is a giant suburb surrounded by the heart of the real Cajun land. However, no matter how much you try to suburbanize southwestern Louisiana, the inexplicably humid hotness takes over the outside world. Gigantic oaks coated with Spanish moss, and fat, finger-length leaves of grass prevail.

Not too far from our house, we had a "coulee." In Cajun land, this is a creek or stream. In the paved, white-collar world of Lafayette, Louisiana - it was some sort of concrete-embanked drainage ditch. However, it had all the traditional nuances of a creek: there was a rope swing, it flowed towards the Vermilion River and we had many small eddies which made great water battlegrounds when G.I. Joe would take on He-Man...

However, the most remarkable things to me were the turtles. This animal was created for children. Indestructible, slow enough to catch and watch and keep track of, eats grass and bugs, is a reptile, detailed designs. The turtle is a kid's dream.

When I think back to the happy memories of growing-up, it is not long before I feel the 90+ degree concrete slab on my belly, the pressure of my chin resting on my pebble-pockmarked hands and the always cool grass between my sweaty toes. There I am just staring at that turtle. Watching her eat, waiting for her to blink, please walk towards me. Yes! She jumped in the water. Cool. Look at her swim; she looks like she totally belongs in the water. Swish. Wow, now I am riding her back. King Poseidon Cameron surveys his kingdom.

I don't stare at anything like that anymore. I can't devote that much attention and time to a turtle. Too many things to think about, books to read, ideas to generate, responsibilities to monitor, people to consider. I miss staring at turtles.

Conversing at work

I have noticed that many people cannot converse about work at work; I mean really exchange ideas through spoken words. They have to use a certain protocol and lexicon. This issue is far from a new idea, of course. Poor workplace communication has been a realized problem for centuries, I’m sure. However, I am just now noticing how immense of a problem it is. I decided to jot down why I think this is happening.

Why people can’t have true conversations at the office:

1. Walking on eggshells and being wishy-washy

2. Concern over being "politically correct"

3. Feeling that a critical business remark is a critical personal remark

4. People being forced together, rather than choosing to be together

5. Ease of using buzzwords and corporate speech

6. Narrow-minded thinking that conversations are casual; business talk is SUPPOSED to sound productive

7. Awful physical environments, not conducive to conversing

8. Supervision is always watching and those pesky moles

9. Lack of confidence in knowledge

10. Thinking instead of listening; overall poor listening skills

Yes, this is me being a bit whiny, for sure. I am more doing this as a self-awareness exercise and thought I would share. I have no solutions yet.

Random blog surfing

I do love to just take random looks into people's lives, as explained through a blog. I found this great one. I have no idea what it is about, what I am promoting, anything ... I really am not even sure what language it is. However, they have some great random festival shots in it. I thought this one I grabbed was the pure representation of music festival fun ... loved it.

The weekend has been full of ...

SWORDPLAYINGDUNECLIMBING

FLOWERGAZING

BEACHSTROLLING

ROCKTOSSING

Now it is time to do some eggcoloring and easterfeasting... I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.

Can I at least break open the center for chocolatey goodness?

I got an e-mail today from our lovely friends at Mars about their vanishing deals on popular games featuring their brand characters. I love good marketing that can convince me to spend money on showing off their brand. Major universities do a great job of this, as apparent from my wife's Iowa State clock and my ever-fading, ever-replenished collection of LSU and U-Texas t-shirts. However, I HATE when companies do a poor job of selling their brand to us ... such as the pictured trinket. This thing is a give-away at best. And putting the extra stab of "Magic" cube, that's awful. Really, I don't even think the word magic was ever applied to the Rubix cube, and that was the 80s! Anyway, I am boycotting M&M's for the foreseeable future (unless they introduce dark chocolate peanut M&M's ... then forgive and forget, I say.)

a brief pause

I just wanted to take a second and lament the loss of an incredible person. My uncle, Joop van Roosmalen, passed away just the other day in Amsterdam. He's the husband of my mom's youngest sister, Noortje. Joop will always been remembered for his caring and loving personality, as well as an exceptional husband and father. My thoughts and love go to the whole family, but especially Noor and 13-year-old Valerie. I wish everyone as much peace as possible.

Brilliant.

I love this word, specifically as it relates to this definition:

Marked by unusual and impressive intellectual acuteness: a brilliant mind; a brilliant solution to the problem. [Thank you dictionary.com]

The term is so easy to use and understand, yet stands alone. Brilliant is one of those words that truly taught me the importance of diction, using the correct word. I remember thinking as a teenager that a thesaurus was to be used as a replacement device. Find a word, and replace it with another word. I did not understand that each word had a distinct usage. I am still quite bad at diction, but at least my awareness of it grows!

So, let’s dissect this definition, because I think being brilliant is something very important in the planner/insight/strategic world. Also, it is not something I am, but achieve to be.

Marked – this is really one of the most distinguishing characteristics of the word, what sets it apart from just being smart or clever. There is some sort of outward display of the intelligence. Brilliance goes back to “to shine.” Brilliant is not for the person who sits in the corner figuring out how the universe works; it is for those who share in their thinking. The thinking does not have to be right, just done and displayed. There is the perception of the intelligence, beyond the actual presence.

Unusual – my gosh, if this isn’t critical in our industry, I don’t know what is. UNUSUAL … unique, different, out of the ordinary, out of the box … please, please, please don’t do or say the same thing as everyone else!

Impressive – there it is again, see? Impressive, marked … intelligence is only mentioned once in the definition, but this idea of leaving an impression/mark is here TWICE.

Acuteness – once again, another industry must … sharp, targeting. We must define the dilemma, the situation and present relevant ideas.

So, should any budding account planners, insight managers, strategists … whatever, be reading this: don’t just be smart or clever or bright or profound … go for brilliant. (and let humble me tag along on your coat tails.) Anybody else in the mood for a Guinness? Darn you advertising, must you kill every word?

the industry...

My friend Anthony likes to ask me about every piece of marketing communications that greatly insults him. He figures I must play some role in its development. He is an English Professor, yet I do not call him about every new diet-fad book, pulp romance or "teacher has sexual relationship with student" news story. Anthony, this one is for you:

justcurio.us

brilliant. I love this site. random questions answered for you...

I asked ""Where is the dream place to live?"

So far I have:
Oz
cave
"thats kind of like the dream place to not live"
Valhalla

Lake Geneva Invasion

Yesterday, Mary and I made a pilgrimage to Lake Geneva for a "prairie hike." The clear sky allowed the lake to be a sparkling jewel on a day when the winds ripped brown waves into Lake Michigan.
While there we encountered these pod plants. I am quite certain they are Venusian and that our world will be conquered very soon.

Fish Bait Vending

My favorite part about this entire experience is that people gave Mary and me strange looks for taking pictures of a fish bait vending machine.


(Side note: Leeches from a vending machine will one day make a great horror/suspense novel villain)


To be fair, I have purchased worms and crickets and minnows with my dad at 5am enough times to realize what a brilliant idea this machine really is.

More proof that Spring is here

Since moving to Chicago, I often complain about the slow arrival of Spring. However, I forget that in Southern Louisiana, I grew-up with such a fleeting Spring, I should just appreciate its beauty and shut-up. So here are some flowers from the garden ... and one picture of foodporn. I love how people are so quick to put preserves and jelly on toast. Preserves were invented (I am basing this fact upon the 1997 copy of Cameron's Assumptions, one of my most trusted resources) because the opportunity to eat fresh fruit was not so readily available in earlier times. We are no longer chained to such limitations. Free yourself ... buy some fresh fruit for your toast and leave the Smuckers for the unenlightened...

Zoo Story

Like many animal enthusiasts, I struggle with where zoos should fit in our society. The typical debate rages inside my psyche. Animals captured and placed in contained environments = bad. Animals studied to help their preservation = good. But ultimately, zoos as a positive force in my life always win. I know that my appreciation and love for the "animal kingdom" were both fueled by the many zoo experiences I had as a child and continue to have. Furthermore, zoo environments seem to be improving at a remarkable rate despite their limited funds. I was a zoology major for a couple of semesters and the people who work within these facilities appreciate animals beyond understanding. Many zoo workers are wicked smart and could make quite a successful living within research, but give it up to share their enthusiasm with the public. Anyway, looking at these pictures Mary took of the gorillas at Lincoln Park Zoo, reminds me how much fun it was to connect with these animals and appreciate our common ancestry.

50 Reasons people buy furniture

1. To sit in
2. To eat on
3. To sleep in
4. To make love on
5. To display things on
6. To store things away
7. To make things easily accessible
8. To stand on
9. To “rack on” (nap)
10. To watch TV
11. To read a good book
12. To sweep dust under
13. To rearrange
14. To express themselves
15. To impress others
16. To be comfortable
17. To match
18. To make conversation easier
19. To feel good
20. To rest their feet upon
21. To have something for the kids to jump on
22. To rest on
23. To work on
24. To create “a space”
25. To dream on
26. To show off
27. To lounge on
28. To brunch on
29. To have a formal dinner with family
30. To accent
31. To light-up the house
32. To “recline”
33. To see themselves
34. To make spaces look bigger
35. To rest things upon
36. To give a place for others to be
37. To complete
38. To think on
39. To drum their fingers on
40. To gaze at the world from
41. To chill on
42. To rock in
43. To finger-paint on
44. To play Monopoly on
45. To cuddle on
46. To build a fort with
47. To temporarily keep hold of stuff
48. To coordinate
49. To make life easier
50. To build a home

the shift

Has anyone else noticed that the 3pm cookie/brownie fix is being taken over by lattes?

The wait at Starbucks at 3pm is comparable to 8am... Mmmmmm, venti hazelnut latte.

jargon

"From my standpoint, the logistical situation will be this, picture if you will, that we are building a story..."

People who say things like this are going to evaporate from the future of the business world. Today's world of content generation and endless contact opportunities will not stand for this crap. I hope...

A Spring discussion

You would think they get it by now...

Unfortunately, a few resources I regularly read for industry information, actually picked up this article from e-Marketer as content: In-Sleep Advertising. It is VERY obvious that it is an April Fool's joke. "Professor Ivan Nydea" ... any editors who let this get by should be remarkably ashamed of themselves.

What is most a shame is how old this joke is ... don't content-providers have some sort of RED FLAG on April Fool's to make sure they run NO wacky stories? Anyway, I am officially deleting anybody who ran this article from my bookmarks ... I need to trust that these places actually filter the content.

Like I have time to waste on such ridiculousness ... I mean, with Fantasy Baseball starting and all...

Dreary day…

Alarm goes off at what my body decides is 4:30AM … all night rain kept me semi-awake. Sam forgot to do his weekend homework. I forgot to put away last night’s soup. Need to shave, only have an old razor blade. Still raining, sidewalks flooded. Too cold not to wear a coat, to warm to make the raincoat comfortable. Crowded train, can’t even tell when it goes underground, it is so overcast. Did I mention that it is Monday? … Despair … like the kind of despair that a 2nd year pitcher must feel with 2 men on, nobody out and a 3-0 count.

Wait, what was that?

Was that a baseball analogy? It was … oh my gosh… it is OPENING DAY! Glorious Opening Day. Crack of the bat, grilled onions on a mustard covered dog, warm sunshine, wondering what the Cubs are going to do with 2 men on, nobody out and a 3-0 count against a questionable pitcher … hmmm, looks like a bit of despair on his face. We got this…