Two Cents and a Thousand Words

I’ll admit it: I was planning to let my subscription of Wired run out.

This month’s Wired cover story features Sarah Silverman helping readers understand why so many parts of the world suck. I’m always impressed by their stories; they’re topical, fun, and really comprehensive. This month’s issue also includes the paper version of the iPhone story, so I thought I’d flip through and see which pictures they decided to use and how they decided to lay the story out. (I’m a bit of a page layout geek, too.)

Not surprisingly, I was interrupted on my way to the story by a stupid pack of magazine subscription cards stuffed annoyingly into the middle of a story. On the facing page I noticed Sarah out of the corner of my eye. I looked down, and she was surrounded on a couch by a plethora of the very same Wired subscription cards I now held in my hands. I cracked a smile, and I couldn’t help but shake my head and whisper to myself, “There’s no way.” I read the segment of the “Why things suck” story on the page underneath the cards:

“You know all the subscription cards cluttering up this issue of Wired? Well, um… sorry … The worst part about ‘em? They cover up some really good stories.”

I think my jaw dropped at that point. I’m not an expert on magazine design, but they either had to choose that page for the placement of the cards or lay out the issue so that the story would appear at that spot. They addressed an annoyance about the medium and had some fun with it.

I wanted to cancel Wired because each issue takes me about two hours to read and I have a pile of about twenty unread magazines collecting in my bedroom. I literally enjoy the magazine too much. Needless to say, the pile will continue to grow thanks in large part to that little stunt they pulled this month.

How’s that for marketing?

The question I’m asked most often is why I’m still in Maine. The answer to this question is a lot more complicated than you might think.

First you have to understand why I still do Web development. Although I have some pretty strong complaints and annoyances with this line of work, the fact is that I like to help people. Above all else, I like to help people. I like helping people understand this new world. I like seeing their face when they say, “You can actually do that?” I tell stories to try to make people understand what makes me excited about it all. And while Web development isn’t the closest match to my real technology interest, it’s a fairly secure way to have some sort of anchor in this world that I adore (and it’s something that I’d like to believe I’m fairly good at). I also like it because it’s a fairly reliable 9-5 job (although that sometimes doesn’t happen). The set schedule allows me to spend my non-work time exploring this space even further, trying new things, and being creative in ways that I just can’t while I’m doing business sites.

So why do I do it in Maine?

I am within a two-hour drive of what I believe to be the best national park in the country, a great city, and one of the best mountains in the East (and within three of one of the coolest areas in the world). We have some of the best people in the world here. We’re independent, we’re opinionated, and we do things our own way. We have snow, we have heat, we have rain, and we have thunder. It’s laid back. I honestly believe there’s no other place in the world that can match the place I am right now.

What happens if you combine the two? I have the chance to help the businesses I’ve grown up watching, visiting, and paying. It’s a way of saying thanks, and it’s a way to let other people know about the businesses that I love.

My final point is this: I do not do what I do where I do it for the money. It’s true that I could be making a lot more dough in the middle of a city, or if I tweaked my job a bit to become more specialized. Instead, I do it so that I can be proud of the work that I do. I do it so that I can enjoy the work that I do. The combination of those two serve as the barometer of my happiness; if I am enjoying work and am proud of it, I’m happy, but if either of those two fade, so does my happiness.

I’ve thought a lot today about what I want to include in this post. I realized pretty quickly that I have one encompassing goal for 2008:

Less planning, more doing.

2007, in my opinion, was a year spent figuring out who I am, who I want to be, and how I want to get there. I constructed a bunch of systems – both personal and public – to organize what I do in a more easy-to-understand way. The prime example? Collage. I launched Collage a little less than a year ago as a place to keep track of everything I publish, mark, and discuss online. Today, about 90% of my public work is included in Collage in an easy-to-read (and subscribe-able) format. I’m really proud of it.

I want 2008 to be a year of advancement instead of planning. I want to take the systems and practices I constructed last year and move forward. As it stands right now, I’m in a pretty good place to do just that.

Don’t get me wrong, I intend to plan when appropriate. In fact, I’m planning two new projects right now.

The first project is a new blog I intend to launch soon called Another New World. I’ve always debated whether Two Cents and a Thousand Words should be the random collection of personal tidbits it is today or whether I should focus a bit more. I realized last year (largely due to my columns in The Maine Edge) that I really do enjoy focusing on a topic. I tried for months to figure out what the focus of the blog should be; I wanted to find my true passion. I realized after some time that my passion in technology has always been looking at what’s new, reflecting on how we reached this point, and seeing how it may affect what’s next. ANeW will cover that. I’ll have more details when it launches, of course. I was originally planning to launch it today, but I just felt as though it wasn’t ready yet. I’m not setting a launch date now, but I hope to have it up fairly soon.

The other project is a new service by Sephone (and more notably, the Sephone Development Teamâ„¢) that we’re currently storyboarding. I can’t go into much detail about it right now, but it has the possibility of transforming Sephone (at least partially) into something new. It’s also more in line with my personal interests and philosophies than anything else we’ve ever done. We hope to have it ready by Q2 ‘08, but it’s at a very tentative stage right now. I’ll update you as more details emerge.

As I said before, I’m in a good place right now to move forward. I’m already trying some new things this year; I’ll let you know about them as soon as they’re ready to go. Some of the projects I’ve done in the past may receive a little less attention as I carve out my ideal “brand.” But with a good understanding of who I want to be, a good lineup of tools to get me there (including my amazing new iPod touch – thank you Mom and Dad!), and some great ideas waiting for their chance to shine, 2008 will hopefully be a very fun and inspiring year.