06.27.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:47 am by Colin Steele
So like many others, I am developing iphone applications. If it didn’t already seem perfectly clear to you that we technology people are just as lemming-like as say, commodities traders, or art collectors, well, I hate to break it to you.
Yeah, so I’ve gotten sucked into the iphone hype too. Frankly, I can’t wait to get my hands on one, even if lil’ ole Charlottesville lags piteously behind the rest of the world with no 3G network.
I’ve been noodling about what location really means, especially in a user-pull application environment like the iphone. (I’m with the crowd that says, “Thank God iphone apps won’t run in the background - and dry out my battery in 15 minutes flat.”)
Rather than trying to come up with some New New Thing by smooshing together social networks, location and a handwave at a business model that involves trying to convince businesses to advertise “on the spot” sales to iphone users (ummmm, nrme, anyone?)… I’m wondering instead, “What things are truly location dependent?” I guess I mean something beyond just “Where’s the closest Starbucks?”
A few things have come to mind:
Hmmmm…. more ruminating is called for.
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05.29.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:45 pm by Colin Steele
I’ve just completed my first custom Myspace page for a consulting client.
Words that come to me are things like shameful, nauseating, broken, hopeless, confused, and ugly.
Myspace, you should be ashamed of yourself. And you deserve every bit of the ass kicking that Facebook sends your way. If your definition of “customizable” is godawful nested CSS “table table table table” nonsense, then… yeesh. I’m speechless. That’s not a presentation layer. It’s a pillow held over my face while I sleep.
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02.19.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:33 pm by Colin Steele
I really hate to trash local businesses. Perfect Flavor is my very own local business. I guess I live in a glass house. But I can’t help but launch this one out there into the blogosphere: Don’t hire Plan Electric of Charlottesville. ‘Nuff said.
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01.13.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:10 pm by Colin Steele
Happy accidents? Unforseeable synchronicity that happens from time to time when I try to make art. A confluence of factors - a dash of creativity, a pinch of technique, a spritzing of awareness - come together to create a piece of art that somehow comes together to create a whole that seems to be more than the sum of its parts.
There seems to be a correlation between the rate of happy accidents and the psychic energy I devote to making art. The more energy, the more happiness. The relation does not seem to be linear, and it certainly isn’t predictable. (What kind of accidents would they be if I could predict them?) I welcome happy accidents, but they reveal what an abiding gulf there is between my technical prowess - my ability to execute - and my vision. They even reveal a certain poverty in my vision. If I can create these images - or simply be in the right posture and attitude to create the opportunity for me to receive them - then the standard to which I currently aspire is too shallow.
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11.25.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:24 pm by Colin Steele
Grist on christmas.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 8:12 pm by Colin Steele
Lynsie and I have been practicing our own version of transparency, which includes things like posting our recipes for gourmet ice cream on the company blog. But this slide (see to the right) is a new ballgame. People ask us why Perfect Flavor does this, and the answers are pretty straightforward.
First, we want people to know what we put into the ice cream, and into the company itself. These things are our competitive advantage, and hiding them negates them. We want people to know that we use only local and organic ingredients. We want people to know that our ice cream is made by hand, using the same recipes that harken back not just to your grandmother, but to Thomas Jefferson, and beyond.
Our assumption is that our customers are really very smart, well informed, and careful. They know what they want, and hiding information about how we do business works against us. Sooner or later, it all comes out, and so why have any secrets at all?
To that end, we’d like to nip the question “Why is this so expensive?” right in the bud. We’ve gotten it sporadically, mostly from folks who are used to buying a half-gallon of Bryer’s ice cream for a few dollars. When you compare the cost of Perfect Flavor against that, it’s liable to give you sticker shock.
Are we crazy to disclose the costs of our business so explicitly? Will it come back to haunt us somehow?
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11.19.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:27 pm by Colin Steele
Adam is the coolest.
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11.06.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:10 am by Colin Steele
“Throw it away.”
Think about that for a minute. Yes, I’m serious, a full minute. Sit back at your desk or cubicle, and take a deep breath, and think about what that phrase means. What is away? Where is away?
You might find that away represents a convenient (and fallacious) mental shorthand for “not my problem anymore”. I have been forcing myself to conduct this exercise several times over the last year or so, especially in the stark light of launching our own green business, Perfect Flavor. By degrees, it changes your perceptions.
For me, this awareness adds a painful dissonance to the mundane act of putting anything in the trash. Because, you guessed it: away doesn’t exist.
In that spirit, I offer your a link to Grist’s recent feature on what to do with some of those hard-to-recycle items: computers, running shoes, cellphones, and so on.
Repeat after me: “Nothing goes away.”
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10.31.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:26 am by Colin Steele
Out in Mt. Sidney, VA, you’ll find Bonny Venture Farm, which Lynsie and I visited on Monday. It’s run by Kevin Hoschar, who is an organizational coach and teambuilding expert by day. In his spare time he manages to raise Cashmere goats, like this one:
He also raises a wide variety of fruits, herbs, and so on. We’re hoping that soon he’ll become one of Perfect Flavor’s suppliers. We’re looking for quite an assortment of fruits, berries, nuts, and so on that can be grown in Virginia, but aren’t widely available on a commercial basis. For example, choke cherries, pawpaws, and quince. If you are a grower, or know where we can find one, for anything on this list, let us know.
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10.29.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:09 pm by Colin Steele
Geisha and Samurai. Dawn and Aaron rock.
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