badlybent.ca

Okay, maybe not….and truth be told I don’t think it’s ever really going to happen, but occasionally a teeny tiny part of it will do something that impresses the shit outta me with it’s reason and intelligence.

Case in Point: I picked up this week’s Staples flyer…umm, I guess if you live outside of Canada you don’t know what Staples is - it’s an office supply big box chain, similar to Office Max in the United States - crappy service, good prices, etc. Anyhoo, I picked up this flyer…and there, on Page 13, in the laptop section of Page 13, at the bottom right hand side of Page 13, read the following: “Kid”…..sorry, I was channeling Arlo Guthrie there for a second….Alice’s Restaurant anyone? Anyhoo, what it said on Page 13 was this: (and I’m actually quoting here) “Includes Free Downgrade to Windows XP!” Yes, there actually WAS an exclamation point there.

First I laughed, then I wept…tears of joy, of course. Had I been in the market for a new laptop I would have purchased one. Shit, I very nearly bought one anyway just because of that! (that last exclamation point was mine, by the way, licensed under Creative Commons and all that) I didn’t buy one though…I’m still saving my dollars, pesos and euros for a Mac.

However, speaking as someone who knows about as much about technology as Hunter S. Thompson did about moderation, I still think that Billy Gates really missed the marketing mark with Vista. Apparently (so I’ve been told) Windows Vista runs amazingly well on a high end machine with pantlods of ram and a Sooper-De-Dooper Processor (I believe Intel makes both the Pentium and the Sooper-De-Dooper Processors) however, those of us that ain’t Spec-Heads and have ‘okay’ computers (note the clever Radiohead reference there) have to suffer through Vista’s…uhh…’quirks’, to put it mildly.

Billy G. should have kept XP as the ‘People’s Platform’ and marketed Vista as the ‘High End” Operating System that all the cool kids are using. In doing that, not only would he have spared peasants such as Yours Truly the Agony of Vista, but he may have even lured some of the Apple ‘Early Adopters’ and ‘Gotta Have The Slickest and Newest’ Uber geek types (sorry, I don’t know to put those little uumlautes over the ‘u’ in uber. Hell, I can’t even spell uamlauttes) over with his clever marketing.

Hey Willy Gates - if you need any other ideas, call me….I’ll work for beer….oh and a copy of XP….or maybe a Mac.

Of course, I’m just sayin….
Stevie Z

Last weekend I attended the Podcasters Across Borders (PAB) conference in Kington, Ontario. I considered not going for a while, because the thought of me at a technology conference was laughable - I mean, the only time I have a laptop is when I’m sitting. But then I realized - it wasn’t about technology, it was about people. Once I understood that I was even more nervous…..after all, ‘people’ can be more unpredictable then Windows Vista. After listening to people talk about the conference, however, I figured that everyone sounded like a friendly enough bunch, and the worst case scenario is that for a couple of days my wife and I would sit alone at a table at the back of the room, and at least I’d come away with some good ideas on how to ‘fix’ my podcasts.

What actually happened was the direct opposite - before I had even made it to the conference room I had met 3 people and received a very warm greeting. By the end of Friday evening I had met 7 0r 8 people I’d never met before, some of whom had even heard of me or some of my stuff….imagine that! Perhaps even more “validatingly” (it’s a word now, deal with it) was that some of the people whom I’d really looked up to in the Podo-and-Blogo-Shperes really liked some of my stuff.

Something had happened that I hadn’t counted on - even though these people and I had never met face to face, had never spoken on the phone, had never emailed each other, or thrown Tweets at each other, or had even commented on each other’s works, there was a connection and feeling of already knowing each other. That made things a lot easier.

Now I’m a ‘gregarious idiot’ to quote Ted Nugent, and I don’t really have a problem walking up to people, sticking out my hand, saying hello, or joining in conversations. Even if I was the shy, retiring type though, it wouldn’t have mattered all that much. As much as I was approaching other people, I found that people were approaching me as well. It’s so much easier to start a conversation or ‘break the ice’ if you have something in common, and everyone there did to some degree or another. Especially if someone did as Bob Goyetche or Mark Blevis suggested on their show and have a listen to the shows or read the blogs of other attendees before the conference. You were able to walk up to someone and say “hey, I really agreed with what you said about de-worming your dog” or “I think your opinions on Oprah are full of shit!”

Before I left for the conference I had compared this year’s speakers to last year’s. At first I was a little dismayed by the lack of technical presentations, noting that it focused more on ‘how to get where you’re going’ as opposed to ‘how to drive the damn car’. By mid-day on Saturday I noticed though, that any technical questions I did have were much better answered by my finding a person who had a sound or style I liked and asking them how they achieved it, rather then listening to a 40 minute technical presentation that, face it, I probably wouldn’t have understood anyways.

Sure there were some disappointing things as well - the boat cruise, and concurrent Open Mic were fantastic fun, but too short apparently (I never DID get around to actually performing), and….well, I think that was about it, really. Anything else was my own damn fault - picking a crappy hotel to stay in, the hangovers, and pouring water down my shirt during lunch for example. The only thing I really really regret is that I didn’t meet everyone I wanted to, but that’s my own fault as well. There was only 1 occasion all weekend when my joining a conversation wasn’t 100% welcome, but the gentlemen already engaged in said conversation were discussing business, and even then were still polite about it.

Bottom line is this - I can’t compare it to other Podcamps, meetups or even past Podcasters Across Borders - I’ve never been to any. Not one. This was the first time I’d been in a room with more then 1 person who even knew what a podcast or a blog was…..and that was only because I had explained it to them….so looking to me for an intelligent comparison ain’t a good idea. I also can’t speak for anyone else’s experiences either….of course, can anyone, really ??

What I can emphatically state is:

1. That both my wife and I had an amazingly fun time.
2. We learned a pantload about podcasting, blogging and the whole new and or social media thingy.
3. We met so many people that we consider amongst our new best friends.
4. I got some concept, deep down, of what Community means, and even more importantly,
5. I got the urge to help build, nurture and forward it in some way.

Oh yeah, I also learned that Kingston is a kickass town, the Torres Band is a kickass band, and Forno’s Wood Fired Pizza is really kickass wood fired pizza.

That’s all what will fit in my brain right now.

Stevie (Never did resolve the Zee or Zed issue)

PS - I still say “SCREW OPRAH!!”

PPS - Special Thanks to Nico for the photo of my nametag….cuz I’m not smart enough to take one myself