:mattLandia:

A few years back, I wrote a rather long blog entry on my first decade of time spent living in Atlanta. You can read it here if you are a) strangely curious b) bored or c) a compulsive stalker. Anyway, you can read about my old friend Laura (see 1995...) and how much she meant to me. When I got married in 98, we lost touch, more by accident than anything else (yes kids, this was before Myspace, Facebook, email, and the social glue that keeps all attached at all time now). I haven't heard from her in 10 years now.

Last weekend, I was out in East Atlanta and when I got back to my car, someone has left a flyer on the windshield for an upcoming show by a troupe called Varietease. A sort of cabaret / drag show / Vegas style song and dance performance. Normally, I just chuck the flyer to the ground and move on, but this time, for no reason I can explain, I just put the flyer in my back pocket.

A few days later, I noticed the flyer on my desk and picked it up to examine it again. The show was in a few days, and it occurred to me that I might be able to get some really interesting photos backstage if they would let me come in an shoot. So I sent off an email explaining who I was and what I wanted to shoot, etc. Done. Forgot about it.

A day later I received this email...

"Matt.... you are going to die when you figure out who's show this is......My name is Blue now but you know me as Laura.... wtf????? I just got your email and saw your name, the crazy thing is I just was talking about you two days ago because I came across the Shimmerzeen(sp) CD and laughed and told some good stories about us...."

I was stunned. Crazy coincidence? Maybe. I'm more inclined to think that the universe moves in mysterious ways and helps rearrange pathways when needed. Who knows why? I don't. But I don't care. I got my friend back and in the words of Forrest Gump, "we's like peas & carrots again..."

I spent the past three nights shooting her troupe and what a treat it's been! Part Cirque, part Drag show, part comedy... I could go on...

Posted by mattLandia at 03:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by mattLandia at 08:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dear Mom,

I keep this photo on the wall in my room. Looking at you helps me understand myself...

I was raised by a woman who was madly in love with a spy, endured six children, herded her brood from country to country, bought me both a ventriloquist's dummy and my first guitar, sent me to clown school, made sure I got my Eagle, got me to church every sunday, and taught me how to sew, cook, dress and fix my hair. All the while with a busted up, impossibly painful, mutinous lower back.

Mostly though, I was raised by a woman who found ways to leave her own demons behind, slowly, one by one, until in my mind she came to embody LOVE. Love for her husband. Love for her God. Love for her family. Love for me.

Anything in me of worth, beauty, or grace I owe to you. All things I still lack, I look to your example for inspiration. They say there is nothing like a mother's love. I say there is nothing like MY mother's love.

Happy Mothers Day!

All my love,

Matt

Posted by mattLandia at 07:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, I was showing some folks at a client site (Shopko) in Green Bay, WI some of my photography, and I stopped by the Alternative Apparel website to show them some product shots I did last year. (I love Alternative clothing - if you haven't purchased something from yet, treat yourself to some of finest tee shirts around...) While clicking around, we came across this image. I'd seen the photo before, but not the title. HILARIOUS!

moustache club

Posted by mattLandia at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's been awhile since I wrote a reasonably well thought out entry. And if you think this is gonna change that, well, sorry... However, I thought I'd let the interweb know about a great little oasis in the world of maddening airport terminals.

If you happen to be traveling through Milwaukee (MKE) and need to kill some time in peace and quiet, there is a great little business center tucked away in Concourse C. I've walked by it each trip here, but really never noticed it till today. Since my flight was delayed again (Yay for spring thunderstorms!), I was meandering down the terminal (as opposed to hustling in a stress induced quick step) and noticed the tiny room, empty except for a bunch of empty cubes. Each cube has power, a little privacy and a really comfy business chair that is tethered with steel rope to the cube wall. Nice touch Milwaukee.

I've been able to sit in peace and quiet, do my expense reports, shoot off a few emails, and watched a few episodes of the Office on www.hulu.com. Hulu rules!!

Posted by mattLandia at 06:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I hate tornadoes. Always have. They scare the crap out of me. Not as much as earthquakes, but pretty damn close. I have recurring nightmares about tornadoes approaching across the horizon, and I'm stuck, helpless to hide or get away. I wake up in cold sweat, with nothing but hate for tornadoes.

So, it's no small thing to have a level F-2 tornado miss my neighborhood by just a few blocks -- in downtown Atlanta. It hit last night around 9:30 pm, doing heavy damage to downtown and to Cabbagetown a few miles away. Thankfully, there has been no damage to my building, or any buildings in my neighborhood that I am aware of. We were blessed.

Last night and today has been eerily quiet. The halls in the old loft building are pitch black, we are without power, and for awhile, without water. My phone died last night, so when I woke up today, I felt completely isolated. Although the damage to the city was minor compared to Katrina, Andrew and what not, I still was struck deeply at the feeling of desolation. I had a twinge of needless panic when I realized I had no drinking water, couldn't find my flashlight, had no food in the loft to speak of and no way to reach friends and family. Imagine if this had been worse -- an earthquake, a bombing, etc. It's time to put some real thought into how to better prepare myself for that unlikely, yet unforgiving event.

Anyway, I am safe, even though still without power for another few days most likely. I'm writing this entry from my laptop batteries, on a cell card. Thanks so much to all of you who have called or texted me to inquire if I was safe or not. I feel blessed to have so many people who care enough to check in!

I took a walk today and took photos of the damage downtown...

Posted by mattLandia at 06:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

As many of you know, we've been developing and selling the ExchangeFrame.com platform to fashion designers and retail boutiques across the US. We've had some wonderful successes and continue to learn from our customers. In the past 6 months, we've added Inventory Management, Bar Code Scanning Integration, Online Payment services and more! It's very exciting!

One of the common pieces of feedback that we continue to get from our customers is the desire to connect more closely to their customers -- that is to say -- fashion conscious consumers. Our customers want to know what they wear, what they think of trends in fashion, how they mix and match pieces in an outfit, etc.

We knew we could build a fun application that would give consumers a chance to brag about their fashion tastes, but we didn't think it would fit well into the business centric platform that is ExchangeFrame. So we've built a stand alone site called MyDailyThread.com, exclusively for fashion conscious consumers!

MyDailyThread users can post information about what they wear, including photos of their outfits and items in their wardrobe. They can browse and rate other users outfits, rate them, comment and earn MyDailyThread points for their activity. Each month, we'll tally up the point rankings and users who've earned the most points will win actual merchandise, prizes, and special offers from major fashion designers and retailers from around the country.

We've even released an integrated version of MyDailyThread on Facebook.com! Later in the spring we hope to deploy to MySpace, Bebo, and more sites on the OpenSocial network. You'll be able to post an outfit in one location (Facebook for example), but still see your outfit information appear on MyDailyThread.com and any other social networking site that we support!

So, if any of my readers think they have a little fashion sense -- well, sign up (it's totally free) and post at least a few outfits for the community to rate and comment on! Trust me, if I can do it -- you can do it!

Posted by mattLandia at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This tasty YouTube morsel was brought to my attention by Dooce...

Posted by mattLandia at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Christmas came and went so fast this year. Of course, setting up my new loft, decorating, work, holiday parties, shooting, walking Boris 3 times a day, makes the time fly by! Christmas was a wonderfully low key affair. Ashley and I attacked the kitchen with a vengeance, cooking up ham, potatoes, carrots, beans, wassel, snickerdoodles, brie, baked garlic, hot chocolate, etc. We spent the whole holiday basically just watching movies. 8 movies over 24 hours, to be exact. Each of us with a whole couch to themselves, trading animals to cuddle with. Yep, not too shabby. We watched:

National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
Love Actually
The Aviator
Reign Over Me
Tears of the Sun
Charlie Wilsons War
Underworld
Underworld 2

Oh yeah, the small red tree on the left of the photo is my place. Philips Arena, CNN Center, Bell South Tower are all in the background...

Posted by mattLandia at 11:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hey Dad - Just wanted to tell you how much I love you, how much I admire you and how lucky I feel to count you as my father. Not every son gets to be a 'spy kid', a world traveler by the time they are 12, taught how to shoot M-16's by Air Force as a scouting activity, taught how to detect / evade surveillance on foot, or had dinner together in small town in Ecuador. You have filled me with wonderful memories.

You added another this weekend. Thanks so much for the memorable time this weekend! Going to the game together, watching our team come from behind, screaming till we can't talk, and high-fivin' all afternoon long is a father-son moment I've been waiting on for a long time. I just didn't realize it until it happened.

You are one in a billion. I hope this year brings you the success, happiness, and joy you seek so diligently every day!

Love,

Matt

Posted by mattLandia at 08:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My good friend Eric runs Raygun, a creative media house in Atlanta. He takes great pride is featuring his friends in some of the ads they product for TCM, Spike, HBO, etc. This time around, I got the nod. So here I am, in all my gun fightin' glory!!

The best may be the promo VO:

"Van Damme is Back.
A Cop Left For Dead.
Vengeance on His Mind.
A Needle in His Arm."

Posted by mattLandia at 03:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This video give me chills. The worst kind, when considering implications. The good kind if you, like me, aren't totally entertained watching someone shell around UNIX. If you don't understand the last statement, don't even bother watching this. Geek love. In effect.

Posted by mattLandia at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This video clip gives me chills. The good kind. The BEST kind. I've been a fan of U2 forever it seems like, and my admiration and respect for Bono as an artist grows with each passing year. This is a great window into the enthusiasm of a songwriter, right after finishing a song. I can't tell you how many times I've made Dan, or Jason, Or Kent, or Karen, or Sarah, or any other one of my friends sit down and give a listen to a new song I've just finished, singing over it in pieces, explaining or calling out imagery in the lyrics that I'm proud of. To see Bono doing the same... I dunno, somehow makes me feel like I'm not such a nerd sometimes.

If this clip doesn't work, go to iLike here and watch it.

Posted by mattLandia at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you want to see a larger photo, click here.

I saw this place 15 days ago. I owned it as of 3 days ago. I finished moving in yesterday. I am officially BACK IN THE CITY. And I'm exhausted.

Since selling my place 3 months, I've been crashing with a good friend at his house. About 6 weeks ago, I found a loft in foreclosure and tried really hard to work out a deal to purchase it. Countrywide just couldn't move fast enough for me, so the deal fell through. I was pretty crushed. I really liked the foreclosure unit, but I needed to move - and quickly.

I thought I would take one last look around before giving up on finding something in my budget and going the rental route. Determined to find something in Castleberry, I decided to walk the Loft Tour. Since there are so many amazing lofts in this neighborhood, the Loft Tour basically lets anyone walk around on a guided tour, visiting some freaking amazing spots. Of course, any realtor with a listing was going to have an open house as well, I figured this was a great way to cover a lot of ground quickly.

I saw lots of great, spectacular, beautiful, totally renovated spots -- but all were more than I wanted to spend. I was pretty dejected after a few hours of walking, and decided to head home. But at the last building, on the last street, I had to walk before reaching my car, I spotted a flyer... Serendipitously, the doors to both the building, and the actual unit were open so I walked in to take a look. Within 48 hours I'd made an offer.

What you can't appreciate in the photo above:

• There is still quite a bit of fixing-up to be done.


• I'm right next to the train tracks so I'm learning to live with the pretty consistent rumblings of passing trains.


• I have a TON OF CRAP. I mean, I thought I had actually done a pretty good job of condensing my stuff, but my stuff just seemed to keep expanding and filling up the place.


• The HOA fee includes T1. Yeah. T1. Comcast can suck it.

It's gonna take me a few months to get this place situated, decorated, lit, cleaned, painted, etc. Once I finish it up, I'll post more photos then....

Posted by mattLandia at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yeah, it's that time of year again. Where yours truly gets a wicked sinus cold and spends all weekend in bed. Of course, that means it's time for Chicken Bean soup. It's my own variation on Chicken Noodle soup I suppose, and it only takes about an hour to prepare!

So here is a recipe for my most excellent Chicken Bean Soup.

Ingredients:

1 Rotisserie Chicken (I like Herbed)
1 Gallon Can of Chicken Stock
2 Cups of carrots, sliced
1 Cup of of celery, chopped
1 Cup of Onion, diced
1 Can of Butter Beans, drained

Debone the rotisserie chicken. I like to include the skin, but keep it out if you like. Put everything in a pot, boil on high for about 30 minutes, then let simmer for 30 minutes. Season to taste! This creates about 6 to 7 servings!

Delicious!

Posted by mattLandia at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My Grandma passed away last week, after a long, joy filled life. She was the Grand Matriarch of my family, watching over her progeny from the warm, comforting center of her southern kitchen. She was compassionate above any other person I have ever met.

When I think of her, I will forever think of Krispy Kreme, Fried Okra, Fried Chicken, Banana Pudding, Ben Franklin's, Church on Sunday and hand written birthday cards.

We all miss you Grandma. Don't worry though, you didn't raise no fools. I think we're in good hands....

PS - For any of my family reading this, you can click here to see the full gallery of photos I took at the funeral.

Posted by mattLandia at 12:22 AM | Permalink

Some of you may have seen the photographs I took of the Atlanta Soap Box Derby. If not, check them out here. J Light forwarded me this clip today though, which may be the coolest little soapbox derby movie out there yet!

Posted by mattLandia at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

If I was an interior designer, I would be known as the dude who designs Bath Spaces -- not bath rooms. I would have waterfalls, plants, winding stone paths, sunlight, bamboo, a small fridge, mist and small rain forest animals. Maybe a Lemur. Guests and family members alike would beg to come over and spend a few precious moments of their lives in my bath space. And they would be happier for it. And they would also feel better because they probably took a quick pee on my eco friendly dual flush mode toilet bowl.

If I were an interior designer, my shower would definitely look something like this:

Posted by mattLandia at 01:39 PM | Permalink

All day long I kept running into pirate flags on my favorite sites (flickr.com, google, etc.). As a self proscribed Pirate, I was perplexed. Finally, I came across this posting on Tech Crunch:

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

Apparently, it was the national "Talk Like A Pirate Day". And I didn't even know it. What a shame. In honor of such day, I give you these:

Posted by mattLandia at 12:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Many of you know that I'm serious photo enthusiast and aspire to the title of PHOTOGRAPHER. And even though I've made some money through photography, getting some of work actually printed in a significant apparel catalog that is circulated all over the country... well, that just makes me feel down right proud. Like a new merit badge on my sash or something. Anyway, here is a little collage of the work I did that got printed. That one of my shots made the COVER makes me all the more happy!! Thanks Alternative!

PS - The shot of yours truly was an afterthought at the end of the shoot. The shirt is called the Motocycle Tee and Jarod Von Jones (the artistic director) said I looked like I should be wearing it, so... camera went up on the tripod, I framed the shot with another model, then stood in and had someone just press the fire button.

Posted by mattLandia at 12:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I'm back from assignment / vacation in Playa Del Carmen. Had a wonderful time and didn't get sick at all! (For those of you who follow the gastric soap opera that is my defective GI, you will appreciate the wonder of this...). More photos will follow soon...

This was shot by Ashley Zeltzer, my notorious traveling buddy and photographer superstar.

Posted by mattLandia at 09:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Summer storms; Heavens Glowing; Blue Disco Electric Fire; Energized with a Rumble into Night.

Just a few words bouncing around my empty head as I write this. Shot this during a FIERCE lightning storm over Atlanta tonight. I shot this hand held, which makes it even more amazing I caught it.

Posted by mattLandia at 12:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Dear Home,

This is a hard entry to write. I'm not sure why, so perhaps I'll find catharsis in it.

This week is hard. Sweet. Bitter. And all mixed up.

Sweet because on Wed, at 1PM, I sold you, my home, to another. You'll note I said 'home', not house. I called you house for years, because I never wanted to admit that I owned a house in the suburbs. But a funny thing happened. Eventually, after MUCH coaxing and persuasion, you got through to me, and made yourself my home. And not without a little pain along the way:

But perhaps our greatest bond, the reason I struggle with this feeling of guilt at leaving, is that you know the echo of my voice, my anger, my pain, my sadness, my happiness, my joy. Thrice, these walls sat vigil while I watched a partner leave and move on. Your stairs stood solid while I would sit on them alone, wrestling with phantoms. Your mirrors looked into me deeply and watched me swallow and hold down the bile of anger and loss. The backyard held me up when all I could do was lay in the night grass, counting stars, watching the trees sway and wishing I could fix it all.

Six years have past. I leave this home in a better condition than I found it. I leave this place a much different man than when I entered. Changed. Transformed. Scarred. Wizened. And I leave the ghosts of all that has transpired here in my wake.

It is 1:45 AM and I leave the driveway, the last of my things crammed deep in the Saturn. Boris's head out the window. Blanca whining in her box. I turn the corner and watch my mailbox melt into the summer night.

Good night and good luck.

Posted by mattLandia at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So I'm reading a CNN article on how the image of the Pit Bull is being further marred by the Vick case, and I come across these paragraphs:

The blood sport has operated underground for years, but many agree the hip hop use of pit bull images moved it out of the shadows -- and the Vick case placed it at center stage.

The star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, who is black, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in U.S. District court in Richmond, Virginia, on charges of sponsoring, along with three others, a brutal dogfighting ring on property he owns in Smithfield, site of their Bad Newz Kennels.

What does Michael Vick being black have to do with price of tea in China? It's an absurd, racist comment that has no bearing on the article. The context of the article doesn't justify the need to call out Vick's ethnicity either. Hip Hip isn't exclusively Black. The Rural South is not exclusively black. The commentary is total unnecessary.

An CNN editor somewhere should get their wings snipped.

Posted by mattLandia at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

PS - I'm assuming this is Japanese. I could be wrong though...

Posted by mattLandia at 07:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, I'm back in the Vue again, and it seem to be driving ok. The problem seems to have been with an engine wiring harness jumper and a hybrid resolver circuit. The installed harness was causing a high resistance on the resolver circuits, which led to the battery light being triggered as an alarm of some sort, which led to the 12 volt battery being drained. Or something like that.

In any event, I'm back in the Saturn. Here's hoping I don't have to go back again too soon!

Posted by mattLandia at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I've had my hybrid about 7 or 8 months and I've put about 9800 highway miles on it. Until a few weeks ago I would give it a 8 out of 10. I'm pretty pleased with overall performance. Rides smooth. Has nice punch when I need it. I'm getting about 29 to 31 mph depending on driving conditions -- not too shabby for an SUV.

A few design complaints:

- It has a lot of squeaks and moans that seem to come and go, especially in the dash. At about 70, I get an almost impercetible squeak in the dash -- it comes and goes -- but when the stereo is off, it's just enough to really annoy me.

- The placement of the window buttons is totally dumb. As a single driver, I have to reach over the gear shift to lower the passenger side windows. Seeing as how they put emphasis on having more controls at the drivers finger tips, seems like a total "DOH."

- The biggest, and perhaps most annoying design flaw is the rear cargo door. The didn't include any handles, latches, etc. that one can use to tie the door down if you are transporting an object that won't entire fit inside the car. I've made at least 3 trips to home depot where I had to just drive home with the tail gate all the way up!

All these complaints are MINOR compared to the complete SHUTDOWN OF THE ENGINE GOING 80MPH ON THE INTERSTATE. Yep, you read that right.

About 3 to 4 weeks ago, the battery light came on. Seeing as how the Vue is an ELECTRIC HYBRID, I figured this wasn't good. I took it in to the dealer. After a day, he said that it was a faulty sensor on a harness of some sort, and that it would be a few weeks to get the part in. No worries though, just turning off the car would 'reset' the computer and the light would go off. So they had me come back and pick up my car and sent me on my way.

And no real problems, other the annoyance of the battery light coming on, or check engine light, etc. But I'm not worried right? The Saturn Tech told me not to worry about it and that they would let me know when the part came in.

So I'm driving home yesterday and while traveling about 80 up I 85, the engine shifts into neutral, the RPM red lines, all the lights on the dash come on, and all I can do is coast (IN RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC) across the HOV lane into the center median. I turned off the car, waited a few minutes and then tried to turn it over again -- nothing. As if the battery were totally dead.

Anyway, after calling Saturn Roadside Assistance, the tow truck showed up around 70 to 80 minutes after calling. So, my happy ass just stood in 95 degree heat, in the middle of the interstate, staring at my new Vue, wondering if I made a terrible, terrible mistake purchasing this vehicle.

I dropped it off at Saturn, and I"m in a rental car today. I'll update you next week to let you know if Saturn's customer service comes through when I need it to.

Posted by mattLandia at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

After 945 days of uninterrupted mechanical joy, my Canon Rebel is showing signs of age. This past week, with little fanfare or cause, the automatic focus just stopped working. I've tried a few different lenses and such, but to no avail. I've cleaned off the contacts, gently cleaned the interior of any dust or hair, etc. and I still can't get it to focus properly.

Not the end of the world, since manual focus still works ok, but I shoot a lot from the hip, over crowds, in dark clubs, etc., which I'm only able to do in auto focus. I tried shooting a few bands in manual mode last night, at the Drunken Unicorn. Ug. As if trying to focus in the dark isn't hard enough, my eyes aren't totally perfect either, so I don't really trust anything I'm shooting. Looking at the photos from last night today just made me groan....

Anyway, I still recommend the Rebel. I'll need to send it off to Canon to see if it can get fixed cheaply. Fingers crossed.

Posted by mattLandia at 01:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ok. You got me. Maybe not zombies. Bitterroot Idiots is more apropos. Or maybe just really, really bitter roots. The stink of Hamilton Montana's School Board can be smelled approximately 2200 miles away. Joe Jessop (my brother in law) is one of the classiest, most dedicated basketball coaches I have ever met. He understands hard work, he understands that high school athletics are as much about winning as about building quality character. He actually wants to stay in Hamilton, wants to coach your sons in spite of your constant whining and back seat coaching, LOVES the game, and got your team to a competitive level of play by the time end of season rolled around.

And you want to fire him from the position? Unbelievable. Quit sucking that bitter root so hard and try embracing something a little more savory -- loyalty, patience, and true sportsmanship.

The May 22 Ed Op in Ravali Republic described the thankless job of coaching best here:

HELP WANTED:

High school coach. Candidates must have at least a bachelor's degree, two years coaching experience at the high school level, skin as thick as tree bark, willingness to be bad mouthed by meddling parents of the players you coach and the tranquil restraint that prevents you from losing your cool when they accuse you of a) not playing their kid enough, b) not playing their kid properly, or c) not winning every game during the length of their kid's career.

Success is not a guarantee of job security.

Pay is about $2.50 an hour, less if you take into account time spent talking to dads who think their kid would be getting college scholarship offers by now if you weren't such an idiot. Good opportunity for a young coach not yet embittered by years of community criticism and unattainable expectations.

Posted by mattLandia at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Nothing really novel about this entry -- basically it's just me complaining to the blogosphere that ripping about 150 CD's takes a LOT of patience. This all started about four hours ago when I pulled just about all my stuff out of the garage to clean, straighten and basically throw out a TON of crap that I've been hoarding in the event the Crap Fairy shows up wanting an offering of some sort. She's never shown up, so I'm throwing crap out with impunity.

As I was pulling out boxes, I was like, 'Hey, why not start ripping some of the stuff that you're missing in your iTunes library. It will be easy... Just pop in CD after CD as you work...." Riiight. This is mind numbing work people. Mind numbing. So mind numbing that I decided you needed a photo of my foot. You better hope I finish soon, or you're gonna end up with even more random photos....

Posted by mattLandia at 12:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Posted by mattLandia at 11:06 PM | Permalink

Working in tech / software development companies for the past few years makes this song even more hilarious to me!

Song and Lyrics by Jonathan Coulton. You can find out more here.

Code Monkey get up get coffee
Code Monkey go to job
Code Monkey have boring meeting
With boring manager Rob
Rob say Code Monkey very dilligent
But his output stink
His code not "functional" or "elegant"
What do Code Monkey think?
Code Monkey think maybe manager want to write god damned login page himself
Code Monkey not say it out loud
Code Monkey not crazy, just proud

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you

Code Monkey hang around at front desk
Tell you sweater look nice
Code Monkey offer buy you soda
Bring you cup, bring you ice
You say no thank you for the soda cause
Soda make you fat
Anyway you busy with the telephone
No time for chat
Code Monkey have long walk back to cubicle he sit down pretend to work
Code Monkey not thinking so straight
Code Monkey not feeling so great

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you
Code Monkey like you a lot

Code Monkey have every reason
To get out this place
Code Monkey just keep on working
See your soft pretty face
Much rather wake up, eat a coffee cake
Take bath, take nap
This job "fulfilling in creative way"
Such a load of crap
Code Monkey think someday he have everything even pretty girl like you
Code Monkey just waiting for now
Code Monkey say someday, somehow

Code Monkey like Fritos
Code Monkey like Tab and Mountain Dew
Code Monkey very simple man
With big warm fuzzy secret heart:
Code Monkey like you

PS - Turns out there are a bunch of these tribute videos out there... Here's another.

Posted by mattLandia at 09:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Feeling like one needs a vacation, now that vacation is over, is always a good sign that vacation time was well spent. I worked on the house, worked on the yard, tended the garden, went out with friends, took photos, played with Boris, slept in, bought some new stuff for the house, slept in some more, rode the bike, and ate crappy fast food and take out. Yep, all in all a great way to spend a week and clear the head.

Hmm. Maybe I should just take another week off. Tempting.

Posted by mattLandia at 01:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It is a Hybrid after all. Part SUV. Part Ninja.

Posted by mattLandia at 02:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So I'm chilling (house sitting really) at Dan and Brians for the weekend, Boris in tow. I wake up and take Boris out for his morning constitutional, and *click*, the door shuts behind me -- locking me out in naught but boxers and a tee shirt. Awesome.

So here is my brief photo essay on what to do when facing this situation.

# 1 - JUDO CHOP TO THE WINDOW.

Ok, as much as I admire Chuck Norris, my jumping round-house-kick just wouldn't reach 8 ft up. So instead, I stood up and balanced on a garbage can, boulder in tow, and then heaved it through the pane of glass -- after THREE TRIES. First two heaves glanced off with the dull 'thunking' sound of a white man in boxers who is beyond humiliation.

#2 - CALL IN SECURITY TO GUARD THE HOUSE.

I called 1-800-MUSTACHE and had Michael show up to guard. Note: Men with mustaches are 27% more likely to do a better job guarding stuff. It's a fact. Look it up in the latest edition of MAN LAW. The reference can be found in the chapter entitled "Burt Reynolds and Other Hard Core Man Stuff".

#3 - ENGAGE CAULK SKILLS

Sorry folks. Sometimes the jokes write themselves.

Posted by mattLandia at 01:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tuesday:

Having to leave the house at 5:15 AM to make a 7 AM flight (I just barely made the flight) is criminal. CRIMINAL. It didn't help that I could sleep much the night before (like two hours of sleep), but hey, who's counting. I made the flight, flew to Philadelphia, dropped off my luggage at the Hilton, then took a cab to Philadelphia University.

My host, Meriem Chida and I went straight to work and started brainstorming about new ways to incorporate software like ExchangeFrame or other Merchandise Planning Tools built on LogicBlox into the curriculum. She has got some great ideas on how to make each course more challenging and relevant for the students who want to go into the world of Fashion Merchandising. We worked on ideas till about 4 PM, and then I taught two classes, back to back, about ExchangeFrame and how it can be used to both Plan OTB and create wholesale orders. Overall, the classes went well I think.

But the time I got back to my hotel room around 8, I was beyond tired.

Wednesday:

Meriem and I met with various members of the faculty in the AM and shared her ideas for developing new courses, and tried to solicit participation and support from some of the other professors. I was there more as a sounding board than anything else. We adjourned after lunch and I was free for the afternoon.

I went back to the hotel, changed clothes and headed downtown.

I started at Independance Hall. I won't get all mushy or anything, but I was really moved as I just stood and took in all the old buildings and thought about what transpired in that area so many years ago. The first time in a long time that I've really felt a swell of patriotism. I wish the world was such that I felt that more often, but I digress.

Spent the rest of the afternoon walking. And walking. And walking. And walking. I'm telling you, I must have walked about 10 miles or so. It wasn't too cold, a little windy, but I still felt right at home, carrying my camera in my right hand like a sidearm, ready to shoot anything that seemed interesting.

Highlight of the day trip was being able to buy a ticket to see The Stooges play the Electric Factory. I had to talk my way into the venue even though I had a ticket, because no cameras allowed. I reached a compromise with the security dude and he held my memory card so I could keep my camera with me. I met him after the show and got the card back. Whew. I was stressed a little bit. But it was worth the gamble. The Stooges blew the doors off the hinges. Those dudes are like in their sixties or seventies and are still shredding.

After the show, walked seven blocks or so over to Kyber, a really cool, but divey bar. They had a great DJ, the place was crammed, and I just hung out till close. Ran into one of the students from a class I taught. That was funny. She was like "why are YOU here" and got really paranoid that maybe the whole staff was there. But she chiilled out and actually ended up introducing me to a bunch of people and had a good time just talking random late night talk.

Thursday (Today):

I don't teach for another few hours, so i'm just camping out at the hotel until it's time to go to campus. Today will be more hands on 'lab' work than lecture, so it should be fun.

More later.....

Posted by mattLandia at 01:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Because my dad, is the former Agency man, now "world acclaimed anti-kidnap expert". Yep, my dad. Mild mannered bad ass. ;)

But should you ever suspect that you are kidnap material, that evil thugs are gonna get you the next time you're making a late night run to Waffle House because you just HAVE to have grits and bacon right NOW.... here are some tips for you:

Tips on surviving an abduction

* Remain calm.
* Follow instructions.
* Provide a phone contact.
* Anticipate denial and disorientation followed by depression, sleep loss and intestinal disorder.
* Deal with abductors in respectful but not subservient manner.
* Attempt to win respect and sympathy by developing one-to-one relationship.
* Avoid political discussions.
* If you have a clear opportunity to escape, take it but be mindful that abductors might have laid a trap for you. Statistically, the best chance for survival is in a negotiated release.
* Remember that efforts are being made to secure your safe release.
* Keep positive frame of mind.
* Source: Wes Odom

On a more sober note, it's sad to hear that kidnapping in Trinidad is on the rise. Hopefully the police and government will work to stamp out kidnapping as a 'profession' before it becomes as entrenched as it is elsewhere in South America.

For the record, the editorial team at The Trinidad Guardian grossly misquoted Dad in their headline. I'm paraphrasing, but the general statement was that while one theoretical approach to combating kidnapping would be to not pay the kidnappers, the reality is that if a family member of the victim has the means to pay a ransom, and there is a reasonable chance that the victim may be returned to his family, paying the ransom is practical. I believe Dad was able to correct himself on a morning news show the day following the release of the headline, but still, there isn't a good excuse for reckless journalism.

You make us all proud Dad.

Posted by mattLandia at 09:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I sooo love it when family comes to town! Darcie, my art-school cousin, came through last night. She brought her cousin Ben, and her friend Hope too. It was a brief visit, but we managed to pack in a great dinner, a night out on le town, and a reasonably passable breakfast. What a blast! Makes me realize how much I miss having family close. On the other hand, I suppose it also makes seeing family that much more sweet and exciting.

Posted by mattLandia at 04:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

About 10 months ago, an idea was roughed out on a piece of scratch paper, and a product/business venture was born. So we jumped off the proverbial start-up company cliff...

The business idea was brought to me by my close friend Dan Caplin. Dan spent the past 3 three years starting a fashion apparel tradeshow called Trafik, launched first in Atlanta then moved to Miami. He observed an opportunity to improve the ways boutique retailers order goods from their suppliers. We brainstormed about the idea through 2005, but didn't pursue the opportunity in earnest until early 2006 when Molham Aref, a friend / colleague/ and veteran of the retail software world, listened to our idea, saw the vision, and got on board.

Dan would continue to build the Trafik brand, and facilitate introductions to the apparel industry; Molham would serve as a sounding board on technology choices, design, execution and go to market strategy. I jumped at the opportunity to start with a blank slate and design a web based application from the ground up.

So we went to work.

I don't have the time or inclination to give a week by week accounting of how we transformed our unnamed idea on scrap paper into ExchangeFrame, the sexiest web based retail business tool around. (I suppose that’s a lot like saying that my child is the smartest kid around -- but you what? -- I don't care, so go suck it.) I do however, feel like sharing a few of the lessons I learned. That's not to say that what I learned was original, or hasn't been written about hundreds of time before, but it's my point of view on the subject.

People, People, People. If I were wearing a Century 21 blazer, I'd be saying location, location, location. But I'm not. I'm saying that with the right team of people, things go right. As much as qualifying skills, we qualified understanding and enthusiasm in the vision of what we were building. You can't pay for enthusiasm (for that matter, you can't pay someone to fake it either). Smarts + enthusiasm = good things. A good developer can show code samples and answer your questions well. GREAT developers can write code with paper and pencil, on the fly.

Nimble and Lean. Since the beginning, we work in teams of three. A Designer, a GUI engineer, and a server side engineer. Even now, as our product team has grown to fill our lab, teams are never bigger than 3 individuals, often having engineers swap places on teams. Occasionally, we'll work in teams of two, but three seems to be the magic number for speed and efficiency.

Open Source Software Is Your Friend. Our entire application is built using open source software: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, TurboGears, Linux, PostGresSQL, Lighttpd. ExchangeFrame is a heavy duty AJAX application... "AJAJ" actually, since we decided early on to use JSON in lieu of XML. We've also leveraged Prototype and Mochikit. We had a sophisticated prototype 45 days after our first hire that we used in user focus groups. At $0 license cost.

Engage Users Early On and Often. We took a working prototype of ExchangeFrame to an apparel show early in development. We held invite only demonstrations and shared our vision with the very users we hoped would adopt ExchangeFrame down the road. This experience was invaluable. I don't know if there can be anything healthier for software development than to start an attitude of accountability with your user base as early in development as possible. Sure, sometimes a user doesn't know what they need until it's available, but more often than not; uncensored feedback helped us see weakness, foolish design, or gratuitous feature creep. Other times, something we thought was 'ok' turned out to be the feature that sparkled most. But you won't know if you don't ask.

You can't cut corners on equipment. Spending cash is tough. It makes you pucker in places you don't talk about in polite conversation. It makes me sweat a little, on the bridge of my nose. However, spending money on the right equipment (even if expensive) will pay off. As evidence, I offer you two unsolicited endorsements and one pimp slap:

Strix Wireless Gear: We didn't want to rely on exhibition halls software, so we decided to put together a mobile network that we could deploy, through our own mobile server, anywhere, anytime. We spent a CHUNK of change on mobile setup, but you know what? Strix gear CRUSHED any WAN we came across. The Miami Beach Convention Center offered a 'wireless solution' at ridiculous prices. Thank goodness we didn't take them up on it. Their idea of a 'wireless solution' was two consumer grade Linksys wireless routers DUCT TAPED to two different columns at opposite ends of a monstrous hall housing 200 exhibitors and 500 buyers. Our ExchangeFrame_Local WAN signal was Hulk Hogan in a room full of whiny emo kids.

Rackspace Dedicated Hosting: Before endorsing Rackspace, let me give you a little background. We had been using a MediaTemple DV (Dedicated Virtual) offering to get started. Ug. They couldn't scale quickly, but worse was the total attitude I got from their customer service team. I called them in a fit of panic because I needed a faster, more powerful offering, and I was willing to pay for it -- they waited 48 hours to call back. And when they did call back, I was greeted with a snarky stoner voice who wanted to schedule a consultation in another few days. WTF?! I had such high hopes for MediaTemple, but in the end, our experience indicated that MediaTemple is what photogs like to call "Prosumer" grade. Not quite pro grade, not quite consumer grade.

On the other hand, when I started calling around for other options, Rackspace answered my IM to sales within 20 seconds and got on the phone with me within another 20 minutes. Misty Crayton, my sales rep, asked about our business, didn't get discouraged when we beat her up on price, and stayed off and on the phone with me from the early morning till 11:30PM. She was taking my calls on her cell phone. And when we reached a deal we could stomach (barely - our costs were going up by 6x) she had a proposal waiting in my inbox when I woke up the next morning. They under-promised and over-delivered, having both our app server and db server configured and ready for business 48 hours ahead of their estimate

ExchangeFrame went from being frustratingly slow and hard to optimize on MediaTemple, to snappy as hell and fun to use on Rackspace, virtually overnight. Yep, you get what you pay for kiddies. No doubt about it.

Rackspace = 1. MediaTemple = Pimp Slapped.

Anyway, enough for now. I've wanted to write about ExchangeFrame for months. Call it superstition, or just nerves, but I didn't want to write about it until we went live -- for real. So I'm sitting here, like a proud, nervous, sleep deprived web-app daddy -- watching users sign up, designing and debugging feature enhancements, scheduling demos, analyzing forecasts, managing budget, and looking for ways to get our message out to the right people.

ExchangeFrame is evolving the framework for retail trade. Yep, the future is now.

Posted by mattLandia at 06:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I read about Amazon's new service called Unbox that allows you to rent movies and have them download to your TiVo. Hmmm... a service that makes watch moves require even less effort than i make now... sign me up! Gave the service a try this weekend. If you sign up, they give you $15 in credits, so it didn't cost me a cent. A couple of observations:

1 - The library of movies for rent at Amazon is WEAK. Best guess is that Apple has the rights to most major titles in preparation to release their own movie rental service AKA "NEXT MOVE IN TOTAL WORLD DOMINATION".

2 - Check out was confusing. You really had to look for the fine print about how it would download to your TiVo, how many credits you had (they didn't really confirm that you had free credits until you posted checkout). Basically, the Amazon check out process is completely overcluttered. They should make this whole transaction much cleaner and AJAXY. It seems a perfect candidate to give their order interface a makeover.

3 - The movie started downloading withing 15 minutes. Took about 3 to 4 hours to download, but the quality was great. Not bad. Pretty nifty even.

4 - The rental expiration date is only 24 hours from time of starting the movie. THIS BLOWS. I mean, if I had rented this same flick from NetFlix or BlockBuster, I could have watched it a couple of times, or let my girlfriend watch it when she wanted etc. Why put a 24 hour limit on a digital rental? Talk about a service weakness.

Overall, this service isn't ready for primetime. It's relatively convenient, but considering the weak movie catalog and the ludicrous 24 hours right-to-watch policy, paying $2.99 for a movie rental seems a high price. I could have rented the same movie for less around the corner and the video shop, watched it, put it on the dresser and then stare at it resentlyfully for five days until I finally <> I have to go drop it off at the store.

Posted by mattLandia at 10:42 AM | Permalink

Posted by mattLandia at 02:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Oops. I forgot to trim off the second half of the song. It's really only a 3 or 4 minute video... Right about now I want a Mac.

Posted by mattLandia at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I was tipped off over at TechCruch about a new site called Geni.com. He wrote:

The initial product is a very easy to use Flash tool to create a profile and a family tree - including siblings, spouses, cousins, aunts and uncles, and their families. When you add a relative, there is an option to add their email address and have the tree sent to them as well. They can add their own data, extending the tree, and Geni will launch tools to merge overlapping trees.

I love the idea of viral genealogy. Basically, if enough families create their tree (or contribute to one) eventually, the trees will begin to overlap and connect, creating a visual map of the ancestral universe. Do your tree!

Posted by mattLandia at 10:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Zoemas came and went beautifully! We had about 25 loyal souls leave the safety of the city and venture to out to mattLandia for a little food and festivity. I was in hardcore homemakerbot mode and laid out a spread which included 4 lbs of shrimp, a 10 lb. Honeybaked Ham, about 2 lbs of IKEA meatballs, and a simmering vat of Wassel. All that was left was mutilated ham bone.

Thanks to everyone who made it out, who brought gifts (totally unnecessary but awesome), and who made our home feel extra warm and festive. Zoe and I went to bed happy and content in the knowledge that we have such fine friends. One Zoemas attendee took me aside and said "who knew so many good looking people would be at your party..." So to all you hot Zoemas revelers, we salute thee!

Boris is shown here, flexing his best Zoemas pimp gaze in his new reindeer collar.

Posted by mattLandia at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Posted by mattLandia at 09:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Five glorious years in the rockin' Hyundai Elantra GT are over. Done. Kaput. Alas, commuting in rush hour traffic day after day in an manual car drove me to the edge. So I decided I'd trade her in for something new, automatic, and just big enough to tow the Harley. My criteria: automatic, best gas mileage possible, large enough to haul the dogs around, powerful enough to pull a trailer with a Harley on it, and no more than 25k new. I slowly narrowed the field of candidates, landing at the Toyota FJ, Honda Element, Scion Xb, and the Saturn Vue.

The Toyota FJ won hands down on looks. The test drive was really nice, it was reasonably affordable, and looked bad as hell. But I just couldn't buy one knowing how many miles I'd put on it and how average/poor gas mileage it gets.

The Scion Xb was a promising candidate. At 16K, definitely the most affordable. However, it was just too small, didn't offer enough room to seat 4 and the dogs, and largely handled like a mini van. If I didn't have the dogs or the motorcycle, it may have made it further along the process.

The Honda Element was a strong second place finisher. It drove moderately well, although I thought it still drove a little squirrely at high speeds, perhaps due to it's rather short and tall profile. The Element wins the "most configurable" back space award. It can handle dogs, bikes, tents, etc.with ease. It's EPA estimate was also pretty decent on the highway at 27mpg, but still weak in city driving at 22 mpg. I went so far as to sit down and crunch numbers with a dealership. However, I have to say that I left Honda with a bad taste in my mouth. The whole pitch seemed to be "Um, yeah. We're Honda. You'd be an irresponsible citizen to buy anything else." I should also point out that I had already test driven the Vue once earlier in the week and gave Honda the opportunity to match every offer that Saturn was extending me (including almost twice the trade in value on my Hyundai).

So back to Saturn I went. I test drove the Vue again, hours after the Element, so things were fresh in my head. There was no comparison. The Vue just felt better to drive. Smoother, better visibility, and a really powerful V4. The interior appointments were classier, but not too much. It could handle the dogs and could handle the Harley. Check and check.

Which brought me to the price tag and gas mileage. I test drove Green Line Hybrid (a gas/electric model) which really blew me away. It was powerful, but smart. When you come to a stop, the gas engine stops quietly and runs on electric power, but as soon as you take your foot off the brake the engine comes on like it was never off. I CAN'T TELL YOU HOW COOL THAT IS. At 27 / 32, this was by far the best option in terms of gas mileage. However, I had to suck up an additional 3K for it. After a lot of number crunching, I decided I would rather pay a little more knowing that I was doing my part to be more energy efficient.

And thus we enter the VUE ERA. I'll have to post a photo of my own in a few days. Here are the highlights: Black exterior, tan leather interior, moonroof, power everything, heated seats, 1 year of OnStar included, XM satellite, 170 hp, 2.4 Liter, Dual VVT, 4 cylinder, 4 speed auto.

And enough new car smell to keep me high for days.

Posted by mattLandia at 09:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Finally, a little honesty how the losing award nominees really think!

Posted by mattLandia at 08:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I'm not lax. I'm not lazy. I'm not bored with my blog.

What I am is totally tweaked, amped, taut from working - nay - living, sleeping, dreaming, and communting cloaked in the experience of developing the final stages of a Web 2.0 retail app at work. Outside of a primitive prototype, we've been in stealth mode for months, but we are sooo close to have our first beta release. That's not to say we aren't living long hours of fixing bugs, which create other bugs, which we fix, which sometimes stick, which we then enhance, which then break, which we then fix, etc.

Still, the countdown is on. Tick tock tick tock.

ExchangeFrame cometh.

Posted by mattLandia at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Another small step towards crushing 'America's Next Top Model'.

Posted by mattLandia at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Virtually all the images created, edited, or tweaked on this site were done using Macromedia Fireworks. For Photoshop purists out there, that may border on heresy, but I got turned on to Fireworks in 98 and made it my tool of choice. Granted, virtually all of my work (including my photography) is showcased digitaly and Fireworks greatest strengths favor digital vs. print images. The one drawback is the cost to purchase new or upgrade.

I was turned on to a free photo editing tool recently called Paint.NET. I've played with it for about an hour and feel like this is a pretty decent photo editing app. A couple of observations:

- You'll need to install the Microsoft .NET framework first. It doesn't take more than a few minutes to install (using broadband).
- It seems really speedy at processing, resizing images, applying multiple color filters, etc.
- When saving, it prompts the user to optimize the file size, a huge plus to anyone posting photos on the web.
- It's more like PS than Fireworks, so I got stuck on how to do some relatively simple things like adding a drop shadow, but I'm sure it's more my lack of PS experience.
- And it's FREE.

Give it a try.

Posted by mattLandia at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As you can easily guess, we took some time off this past week. Both our schedules are getting increasingly busy, and with the holidays around the corner, we decided it was time to take off a week and let our batteries recharge. So we boarded the dogs, threw a bunch of clothes into the Hyundai, and drove south to Pensacola Beach. More importantly, we turned off our cell phones and laptops and relaxed. We took a ton of photos, and if you care to check them out, you can check them out by clicking on the Flickr thumbnails to the right.

Our recipe for relaxation was 5 days of no schedule, laying in the sun, gorging on seafood, buying tacky beach gifts, visiting museums, dropping in on relatives, walking on the beach, snorkeling, listening to books on CD, and laying around the hotel room.

Try it. You might like it.

Posted by mattLandia at 05:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Posted by mattLandia at 05:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One, NBC lets you watch episodes of their new shows on their website. Very, very practical this time of night and faced with crap cable programming.

Two, if you have the time, use this same service to watch the premiere of Heroes. It's a little slow paced, and makes you impatient. However, the last 60 seconds of the show turned me on my ear. Twists of twists. I am now completely hooked and will obediently serve my TV Master and watch the second episode.

Nicely played TV Master. You win again.

Posted by mattLandia at 01:23 AM | Permalink

As per usual lately, I can't sleep, so I thought I would just give up a quick 'thumbs up' to the first episode of Studio 60. I caught an encore presentation on Bravo (after Project Runway of course) and it was hallmark Aaron Sorkin, although more Sports Night Sorkin than West Wing Sorkin. I've been avoiding this show on purpose, simply because the promos seemed so... I don't know, so non-Sorkinish.

I stand corrected. The pace of the dialog was frenetic, laced with wit (sometimes a little forced, echoing the performance of a corral of comedy writers on the show). I'm also a little concerned that Bradley Whitford's character Danny is just Bradley whitford playing Josh