I’m burned out.

I’ve been working on one project for over two years now, and I’m over it. I have a hard time getting motivated, and find it difficult to care about what I’m doing. I look at my inbox with dread every morning.

As I realize this, I also identify that I hate not caring. I love what is do, and I never think of design as “just a job”… Correct that. Until recently, I hadn’t.

I don’t look at the two years I have spent on this project as wasted… But I also don’t look at it as successful, either. I have made great friends and done good work but the project has drained me, caused personal problems for myself and my family and resulted in a lot of stress and, frankly, unhappiness.

It wasn’t worth it.

It’s time for a change.

So, as I look at the past as prologue, I look forward. To a break over the holidays, and then a quick two-month wrap up to my work on this project. Then…

Then what?

I’m in a moment of transition, methinks. I’m 42 years old, and have had many successes. I’ve achieved much… But I still aspire to achieve much more. There’s things I’ve started thinking about, things that can radically changed life if I commit to them.

Changes. Potentially big… And risky… Ones. The only question is whether I will step out of my comfort zone and make such changes happen. And yes, I’m being intentionally vague.

Stay tuned.

I love googling myself.

I do it about once a month, entering my name in google to see how often I show up. I’m right near the top of the results, with a lot of results. Yes, I know that this is self-centered and egotistical… But everyone has done it at some point or another. I do it not just for self-gratification, but also out of enlightened self-interest: as someone who may need to be looking for a new job someday, I want to make sure that future employers who look me up don’t see anything that could impact my career prospects.

I’ve written about online reputation protection before, and I won’t rehash those thoughts here. This post is about making yourself findable on the Internet. If you aren’t you need to be. Why? A big reason is referenced above – potential employers use Google. If you are applying for a tech job, and you don’t have a significant web presence, that ‘no results found’ may hurt your prospects.

Have a presence in social media. Join Twitter, Quora, LinkedIn, and as many of the networking sites as you can… Yes, even Facebook (though I’m not a fan). Pick one or two to focus your time on. Contribute as much or as little as you can, but the engagement is key. The more you engage, the better your chance of increasing your visibility.

Start a blog. Get a free WordPress or Blogger account and start writing. Yes, even if you aren’t a writer, put something up. Make it a quick bio, or a summary of your resume, or just use your blog to link to stories that interest you. But create a “footprint” on the net that you can call your own.

Use your real name. Google’s new social media network Google+ got a of flack recently by requiring users use their real names, and many felt that was a bad idea. While I’m not debating that point, the key to being found is to not go by a pen name but to go by your given name. If you want to be anonymous, then call yourself ‘fuzzynomnom132′.

Finally, be prolific. “Feed the beast.” One of my favorite sites is Lileks.com, the web presence of author and humorist James Lileks. He adds content to his blog all the time – in fact, look at his output and compare it to my own throughput and I feel like an amateur. The more content, the more pages that search engines index, and thus the more hits. Yes, there are ways you can tweak your site to optimize it for search engines, but in the end content is king: make more of it and you chances of being discovered because if it increases.

(And a quick tip: political rants in ALL CAPS with prodigious cursing? May not be the best way to make a first impression with people who find you on the ‘net. Just saying…)

As I was looking over my posts on The Prisoner, I realized I didn’t write much about the penultimate episode. I correct that oversight now…

Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time is unique in several aspects. It again features the great Leo McKern, reprising his Number 2 from the second episode (effectively “bookending” the series). The majority of the plot takes place in a single room, and it is also one of the few episodes that doesn’t feature a female character. It’s also an episode that drops some very clear clues as to why McGoohan is in the Village… a topic I will cover later.

Finally, it’s an amazing piece of storytelling. The premise is simple – the new/old Number 2 returns, apparently not by choice. He calls McGoohan and asks, directly, “Why do you care?” About what? People? Principles? Why do you resist? Or all of the above.

He shouts out to his master (Number 1?) on the phone “We have to use extreme measures… I am a good man… But he will be better.”

He speaks about recruitment, and a transition of McGoohan to a leadership position… Not about interrogation. Hmm.

“Degree Absolute. Deny it, please.” Number 2 asks,

His master(s) do not deny it, and so he and a (brainwashed and brand wiped) McGoohan have to face each other in the Embryo Room, where McGoohan evolves through the seven stages of man, from Shakespeare, from As You Like it: infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, pantaloon, and second childhood. Well, he actually doesn’t go through all seven. He only goes through the first five. One could argue that he becomes a pantaloon in the final episode…

Is McGoohan reliving his own life in these scenes? Or are they metaphors? We don’t know but they are still riveting.

In the end McGoohan ends up as judge over Number 2… And calling for his execution. Or does he?

“Die, Six, Die!” is the words McGoohan uses as Number 2 literally runs out of time. Is he killing Number 2, or striking out against the number the warders have given him? I think it’s the later, and that the death of 2 is not a result of any action on McGoohan’s part. At some point I’ll seek out the shooting script to see what it says about this scene.

In interviews about this episode McKern stated that it was one of the most grueling acting efforts he had ever done and it almost drove him to have a nervous breakdown. You can tell – the electricity and the tension between he and McGoohan is palpable on screen, and it makes for riveting viewing.

And then, next episode, The End, where we find out who Number 1 really is…

Hmm: Link.

Here’s a recent article I’m reading: Link.

The new app I created on User Experience Design, Experience Matters, is now available in the iTunes store. It covers the latest news in the User Experience domain as well as a continuing stream of articles and reference materials on user experience design from this very site. Intended to keep the UX professional on top of the latest thoughts and tactics in user-centered design, it’s a great tool for novices or experts alike.

You can see more details and download it here.

Photos and video captured on my iPhone 4 and edited on the iPad 2 of a trip to Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia.

Here’s a recent article I’m reading: Link.

Here’s a recent article I’m reading: Link.

Here’s a recent article I’m reading: Link.

Here’s a recent article I’m reading: Link.

Here’s a recent article I’m reading: Link.

Here’s a recent article I’m reading: Link.

Here’s a recent article I’m reading: Link.

Here’s a recent article I’m reading: Link.

Here’s a recent article I’m reading: Link.

I’ve been taking lots of videos lately with my IPhone of downtown Sydney – it’s one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and I’m still thrilled that I have the opportunity to work (and bring my family) over here. Here’s videos I recently uploaded to Youtube.

I’m filling the dishwasher after another nondescript day, and I’m listening to the classic rock radio station on the kitchen’s radio station. A comforting flow of innocuous memories, music once vibrant now freeze-dried and repurposed to make Boomers feel Safe and Content in their lives.

Then, “Werewolves of London.”

Warren.

You know, I’m not a philosophical guy. Sometimes, I’m downright pedantic. But at this moment, I get mad.

Warren Zevon was an independent thinker, his own man. Right or wrong, drug-induced or not, he had a Voice. And a Point. A point reflected in many many albums and songs. Songs like “Desperado Under the Eaves.” Or “Don’t Let Us Get Sick. Or ”Hasten Down the Wind.” Songs that didn’t appeal to top-40 play lists or simplistic tastes or joe-six-pack workers who aspired to nothing and therefore achieved nothing.

These were songs… they meant something. They were worth something. They mattered.
These songs, the ones that reflected the artist’s work far more than the one major hit that he had, the classic rock station did not play. These… and other songs, songs that are hopeful or dark or visionary or all of the above, they dare not play… because these songs may not comfort. They may not help sell the local car dealer’s wares or keep the ratings in line with the predetermined demographics that the marketing department had set in plastic stone.

These songs, they simply could not be played. They were not “Roxanne” by the Police. They were not “Hotel California” by The Eagles.

They could cause a reaction other than comfort. They could provoke Emotion… They could provoke. A tear may be shed at the vision the songwriter made.

This simply isn’t done.

So I miss Warren. I miss Warren, and I miss Bill Hicks, and Harry Nilsson, and George Carlin… I miss all those creative mad men who spoke truth to power and did it not to sell records but did it because they had a voice and a calling and a need to do so.

And I miss that the channel that such independent voices have is no longer public, and is instead sequestered away on the Internet, no longer open to the 21st Century Era of Corporate Communication. It’s pigeon-holed.

Perhaps this is nostalgia speaking… Maybe it’s a reaction to the Clear Channelization of radio, a medium I once held dear… Or maybe, I just miss the voice of Warren Zevon, and I am angry that the only sliver of that voice that so many will ever hear is “Werewolves of London.”

Warren gave us more than that. It’s always more.

Seek it out.

Enjoy every sandwich.

One of the things that I’ve been thinking about over the past few weeks is continuity. Now, to some people, the term “continuity” means consistency on a TV show or movie from scene to scene (someone on the set makes sure that the actor’s hairstyle does not change from scene to scene and that props set on a table don’t mysteriously “move” in between cuts). That’s not what I’m talking about.

What I mean is the continuity of character and story inside a TV series. In the 1950s there was very little of this, even in hour-long dramas (with some exceptions – The Fugitive famously had the ongoing story thread of the one-armed man, which was resolved in the series’ final episode). In the sixties some continuity began to occur more often, with recurring villians (Wild Wild West, Batman, Star Trek, Doctor Who) and references to earlier episodes in later ones (again, Doctor Who, The Prisoner, Thunderbirds). Note that british television was an early pioneer of continuing story arcs and continuity.

The real continuity as we know it today was on TV in the 50s and 60s, was on daytime television. Soap Operas such as Guiding Light and Edge of Night told continuing stories, and character arcs ended while others began.

Then the era of the mini-series: the 1970s became the “novel for television” decade, starting with Roots and continuing with Rich Man Poor Man, Holocaust, Winds of War and many many others. These allowed the creators of television productions to tell complete stories with a limited number of “episodes” and to may in television this was a very appealing prospect (far better than having to create stories in the context of “everything’s the same/works out/fine” at the end of every episode). A lot of the writers on mini-series ended up in hour long dramas and so…

Following quick on the mini-series was the prime time soap opera, taking the same approach at story telling that daytime TV had used for decades. You know the shows: Dallas, Knots Landing, Dynasty, Falcon Crest. Continuity was all-important and, like day-time soaps, viewers had to tune in every week to keep up with the story. It has continued to this day, with dramas (Lost, ER, Battlestar Galactica, etc.) and comedies alike (The Office, My Name is Earl, Arrested Development, etc.) having ongoing stories steeped in a self-created continuum.

And that’s when I think the problems started, for both viewers and TV creators.

First, the positives that continuity brings to TV:

• Stories are not limited to an hour, and can last anywhere from two episodes to an entire season.
• Viewers HAVE to keep watching (to keep up – networks LOVE that)
• Characters can leave and return, and writers can explain advances in their character through exposition (it happens “off camera) and allow for
• New characters and arcs can be created and introduced at any time.
• An entire series can be “planned out” by the producers, much like the better soap opera writers have done.
• It allows for the creation of a rich “universe” that can be used as a springboard for new ideas and arcs.

Now, the negatives (some directly related to the above):

No better tribute exists for Robert Goulet, save for his work:

More info on his career here.

Keep Heaven classy, Robert.

iweb 2, WHERE ARE YOU?

Well, I was anxiously awaiting the anticipated update to ilife to be announced during Steve Job’s MacWorld keynote this morning, so that I could continue to use the software to easily post my blog. Well, no such announcement occurred, as the iphone ate up the bulk of time.

SO, the fact that iweb is unmanageably bloated and has created a virtual “walled garden” due to the lack of trackback pings, I am done. I have installed WordPress and will be customizing this and other screens shortly. That being said, I will miss some of the iweb featres and may – MAY – go back to using it someday. But, for now, I’m back to where I was a year ago (I used Moveable Type back then) and will probably not look back.

HOWEVER, I will cherry-pick selected postings from the past year and repost them here if I think they are worth retaining. Stay tuned.