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	Phil's Blogservations Tuesday, November 29, 2005 Posted by philgomes 6:53 PM Half A Life Later, A New Blog Policy Half A Life Later, A New Blog Policy When I was around driving age, Mom would give me the safety litany on the way out the door. Those of you fortunate enough to have such loving moms know the drill. Buckle up your seatbelt. Don't drive too fast. Keep your elbows off the table. Don't trust the creepy guy on the corner who looks like the cover of Jethro Tull's Aqualung. Don't talk with your mouth full. Follow the three-second car-following rule. Don't play your music too loud. Look before you cross... Hopped up on Mountain Dew and JuJu Beans (while quickly gaining a rather early taste for black coffee), the young Phil thought that the safety litany took entirely too long. Teenage distractions wait for no not-quite-yet-a-man! After all, there were rally band gigs to play at, band practice with "Mile Zero" — and, later, "Of The Gods" — and, somewhat rarely, a date with any girl whose feet I hadn't already turned painfully black-and-blue during the most recent school dance. So, at one point, Mom and I reached a compromise. The "safety litany", in its entirety, was condensed to a simple number: 62. I'm not sure how we arrived at that number, but all I do know is that it cumulatively put almost a year back into my adolescence. (And, while no one has said anything, hearing a mother yelling the number "62!" to her son as he bounds toward his car must've seemed a bit weird to the neighbors.) Now, as Ron White says in the middle of his famous "They Call Me 'Tater Salad'" tale, "I told you that story to tell you this one." I think we need to similarly "numberize" the "blog hiatus post" that people inevitably put up when life intervenes and days go by without updates. You all know the kind. Here's an outline. [Somewhat breathless title (e.g., "I'm back!" or "Whew!")] [Apology.] [Dramatic description of the voyage, journey, adventure, or technical difficulty that prevented new posts.] [Promise to be more diligent.] [Links to stuff that was deemed interesting upon a quick review of a stacked-up inbox, social bookmarking tool, or aggregator.] [Another promise to be more diligent.] [Signoff.] Henceforth, the "blog hiatus post" will be known as "38". (My non-Y2K-compliant year of birth, minus the day, minus the month.) When I write "38", there will be a link to this post. You'll know what I've been going through. You might even say to yourself or a colleague, "Man. What's up with Gomes? [Pron. "goams", one syllable, rhyming with "roams".] He's totally gone '38', you know?" In any case, maybe this might put some time back into my thirties. *8-) I'm in Chicago this week, NYC through some of next week. Hopefully blogging throughout. Thursday, November 24, 2005 Posted by philgomes 12:25 PM Fun With Satellite Photos Fun With Satellite Photos I just hooked my family up with WiFi. They're thrilled. Anyway... During the Xbox launch event, a colleague was using Google Maps to show me some intriguing photos of the surrounding region. Here's the unmistakable profile of a B2 stealth bomber: Here's an F117a stealth fighter: He showed me some SR-71s, but I can't find them now. The complex my parents just moved into has an indoor pool. I'm out... Technorati Tags: Google Maps, satellite, military, aircraft Tuesday, November 22, 2005 Posted by philgomes 9:11 PM Thanksgiving Haiku Thanksgiving Haiku I might try to blog but I probably will not. Happy Thanksgiving! Monday, November 21, 2005 Posted by philgomes 7:39 PM Random Thoughts -- Nov. 21, 2005 Random Thoughts -- Nov. 21, 2005 Based on the number of picture viewings that Flickr recorded in my photojournal of the Xbox 360 launch, over-the-shoulder shots of someone playing a video game are more popular than any other shot of the event by a 3:2 ratio. As nearly every gaming journalist will tell you, never underestimate the power of the almighty screengrab. After the holidays, I'll be in LA all of one day before heading out to Chicago. I've received IM's from some of my Chicago colleagues, who are apparently quite concerned for my characteristically "native Californian" tolerance for cold. Sunday, November 20, 2005 Posted by philgomes 8:36 PM Xbox 360 Launch Event Xbox 360 Launch Event So, at about 3pm on Friday, my Edel-colleague Lisa IM'ed me. Would I want to go to the Xbox 360 launch event in Palmdale, only a scant 65 miles away from where I live? Note: You never really have to ask the funny-looking bald man whether he'd want to go to a gaming-related event! So, here's my photojournal so far. Expect that I'll add to it throughout the night. Disclosure: The Microsoft's Xbox group is an Edelman client. Update: Check out the photojournals from my Seattle colleague Arne Meyer, as well as from Microsoft's John Porcaro and Major Nelson. Public relations, PR, Xbox, Xbox 360, games, gaming, consoles, edelman Friday, November 18, 2005 Posted by philgomes 7:59 PM Putting The "Freak" In "Frequency" Putting The "Freak" In "Frequency" Things have been pretty busy, so I haven't really been able to hit the blog too often this week. As you know, I've never been one to obsess about the frequency of posts. You're either interested in what I have to say, or not. You'll either read me, or you won't. The raw amount of content I choose to put into this blog really matters very little, though I'd completely understand if people would start unsubscribing after I've gone a couple of weeks without any activity. The topic of frequency, however, has crested my aggregator horizon recently. Steve Rubel and Nathan Weinberg, for example, pointed to a reduction of post frequency as a possible downside of the del.icio.us approach. Then I heard about a guy who wants to teach my CEO how to blog. The main argument as to why this guy thinks Richard Edelman needs his help? Richard's blog's relatively low frequency of posts. (About one per week, on average.) The proposed "solution" to this so-called "problem?" To have someone run around finding content for Richard and post to his blog for him! Oh, this person would disclose that it wasn't Richard writing but was, instead, just someone merely keeping the hopper hopping. Um. What? The argument assumes that 1) frequency is the coin of the realm, and 2) a team blog is somehow objectively better than a personal one. I don't buy it. I haven't heard anything that silly since the "PR People Are Morons" guy failed to successfully navigate a UK bathroom. For one thing, if Richard felt he needed a team for his blog, he'd have one. Beyond the overall perception of "activity" or the obvious SEO ramifications... Does frequency really matter? Well... Why do you read this blog? I can guarantee you it isn't because of the frequency of posts, so allow me to hazard a guess: You've been subscribing to it ever since there were only maybe five of us PR bloggers Your aggregator is so bloated with feeds that you just don't have the presence of mind to unsubscribe. You're a friend or family member and kind of feel obligated. You find some nugget of PR insight... sometimes. You find some nugget of humor... sometimes. You find my life as interesting and fun as I do... sometimes. Now, the reason why people most likely read Richard's blog is because it is a reflection of the world in which he lives — the man advises world-class business leaders and heads-of-state, for Pete's sake! There aren't too many other blogs that offer a way someone can see the light that comes from under those particular doors. I think, therefore, you can find it in yourself to forgive the man for not living his life online to the degree that, say, I do. (As a public service, here is a friendly reminder to the Tinfoil Hat Crowd.) When he wasn't stirring things up with his "PR is dead" assertion at the Blog Business Summit, Dave Taylor said that "the evolutionary path is better and better content." I wholeheartedly agree. Of all the things that should be keeping bloggers up at night — possibility of regulation as political speech, potential for sparking summary job termination — the posts-per-day ratio should be the least among them. For some reason, the mere enjoyment of something just isn't enough for people. Technorati Tags: Public Relations, PR, blogs, blogging Posted by philgomes 2:51 PM "Everybody's Workin' For The Weekend..." "Everybody's Workin' For The Weekend..." From my IM: Friend: i'm going to see a band tonight. Friend: but i really want to just stay home. how lame am i? Phil: über-lame Phil: terminally lame Phil: the gold-standard of lame Friend: awesome. thanks. Phil: Anything I can do to help. Tuesday, November 15, 2005 Posted by philgomes 9:50 PM Undergrad Comms Programs Catch Up, Hope For The New Breed Undergrad Comms Programs Catching Up — More Hope For The New Breed I'm not complaining — I was a guest lecturer at a couple of universities, after all — but I've gotten three requests for student interviews in five days. Different school for each. I'm happy to make time for this. I think it's a good thing — clearly undergrad instructors are pushing students to explore online communities and blogs. Here's one example from Northeastern and, of course, we have Robert French and his students at Auburn. To these instructors and others like you: You're doing the Lord's work, as far as I'm concerned. To their students and others like them: You're learning far more than simple point-and-click, pushbutton publishing. I hope 1) that you realize how fortunate you are to have these instructors, and 2) that you're not in these classes just to get a box checked off at the registrar's office. Make no mistake: Pros like myself are taking notice. Some classes promise "real-world experience," such as that is. Your ears may not yet be firmly planted to the third rail, but you'll be miles ahead of most of your peers when you graduate. Technorati Tags: Public Relations, PR, education, undergraduate Posted by philgomes 8:18 PM Random Thoughts -- Nov. 15, 2005 Random Thoughts -- Nov. 15, 2005 Robert Scoble recently had dinner with Doug Engelbart. (See my Heroes page.) Couldn't help but weigh in. People always seem to like my Doug stories. He is an amazing man. John Wagner points to the nearing end of a free online PR Week. I say this to PR Week and The New York Times: I'll pay for your most recent content — just open up your archives. You'll get love from the blogosphere and clickthroughs galore. Monday, November 14, 2005 Posted by philgomes 2:39 PM Random Thoughts -- Nov. 14, 2005 Random Thoughts -- Nov. 14, 2005 This graffiti robot reminds me of something I saw in the movie Demolition Man. In a Slashdot post about Cray's use of AMD's Opterons, I found this exchange entertaining: I'm not sure that the geek factor surpasses the conspiracy concern factor here. DARPA shares most of its resources with the NSA (through the NSF-DARPA-NSA consortium). Hell, DARPA.MIL almost says enough. I'm sure Intel has its own paws in milspec work, but AMD seems to be proud of helping spy on its citizens. Or did you think HPCS was focused on DNA deciphering? DARPA created the Internet. You are using the Internet. You are part of the conspiracy. Sunday, November 13, 2005 Posted by philgomes 3:35 PM Phil's Podservations, Episode 5 Phil's Podservations, Episode 5 This one, from the 2005 Portable Media Expo & Podcasting Conference, was a fun one to make. Many thanks to my buddy Aaron Grant for the thoughtful commentary and for being Podservations' first guest. The first day, Friday, was small. Very small. Aaron reckons maybe a couple of hundred people. We were originally thinking "Uh, oh," especially considering the energy around podcasting and the sheer number of great podcasts out there. The conference sessions were sold-out, but there just wasn't a lot of traffic on the floor. Things got better at that night's award's ceremony and raffle at the Marriott. As you can see in the photojournal, the awards event was well-attended. It was also great to see folks like Leo Laporte, Adam Curry, Doug Kaye, Dawn and Drew, and Sam Whitmore. The next day, the expo was quite lively, with 1,000 attendees, by this one account. One thing's for sure... There was no shortage of sleeves, cases, and cubbyholes for people to put their iPods. Several booths were hawking such things and we were particularly struck by these two offerings. Finally... A shout out to the LA Podcasters and the OC Podcasters. Manually download the podcast. Technorati Tags: Podcast, Podcasts, Podcasting, Public Relations, PR Posted by philgomes 12:57 AM Photos: Portable Media Conference & Podcasting Expo, Nov. 11-12, Ontario, Calif. Photos: Portable Media Conference & Podcasting Expo, Nov. 11-12, Ontario, Calif. My photos from this weekend's expo are online at Flickr. My hardware is (again) fighting me, but I'll have my podcast I did with Aaron "Mean In Green" Grant up soon. Thursday, November 10, 2005 Posted by philgomes 9:19 PM Love To The World's INTJs Love To The World's INTJs My Myers-Briggs type is "INTJ": Introversion (Ant. Extroversion) iNtuitive (Ant. Sensing) Thinking (Ant. Feeling) Judging (Ant. Perceiving) I'm told that us INTJs are one-half-of-one-percent of the population. I'm always excited when I meet one. Today, I met one in my company. Very cool. This person forwarded me "How to communicate with INTJs": Be willing to back up your statements with facts — or at least some pretty sound reasoning. Don't expect them to respect you or your viewpoints just because you say so. An INTJs respect must be earned. Be willing to concede when you are wrong. The average INTJ respects the truth over being "right." Withdraw your erroneous comment and they will see you as a very reasonable person. Stick to erroneous comments and they will think you are an irrational idiot and treat everything you say as being questionable. Try not to be repetitive. It annoys them. Do not feed them a line of bull. Expect debate. INTJs like to tear ideas apart for intellectual stimulation. Do not mistake the strength of your conviction with the strength of your argument. INTJs do not need to believe in a position to argue it and argue it well. Therefore, it will take more than fervor to sway them. Do not be surprised at sarcasm. Remember that INTJs believe in workable solutions. They are extremely open-minded to possibilities, but they will quickly discard any idea that is unfeasible. INTJ open-mindedness means that they are willing to have a go at an idea by trying to pull it apart. This horrifies people who expect oohs and ahhs and reverence. This also means that they will not just accept any viewpoint that is presented to them. The bottom line is "Does it work?" — end discussion. The ultimate INTJ insult to an idea is to ignore it, because that means it's not even interesting enough to deconstruct. Do not expect INTJs to actually care about how you view them. Posted by philgomes 7:51 PM Random Thoughts -- Nov. 10, 2005 Random Thoughts -- Nov. 10, 2005 Found a Fields Of The Nephilim hoodie sweatshirt and bought it online. The closet goth in me rejoices. When you have a colleague help you out at your computer, be sure to shut off your IM. Don't ask. Just trust me on this one. Posted by philgomes 1:47 AM Badly Grammar, Po;or Punc?tua:tion, And Terible Speling Do Not Make A Blog "Authentic" Badly Grammar, Po;or Punc?tua:tion, And Terible Speling Do Not Make A Blog "Authentic" I really hate to flick a booger into some of your Dixie cups of Kool-Aid, but it's true. Actually, these writing problems are typically evidence that the blogger is either careless or, depending on the frequency, just a bad writer. (This is, of course, barring a language barrier or malfunctioning keyboard.) I'm incredibly sick of the notion that lousy writing is somehow an indicator that a blog is "authentic." I've seen and heard some otherwise smart people make this claim. I hope they never charge for that kind of counsel. Wednesday, November 09, 2005 Posted by philgomes 7:40 PM Random Thoughts -- Nov. 9, 2005 Random Thoughts -- Nov. 9, 2005 Unfortunately, I might miss Leo LaPorte's keynote at the Portable Media Expo this weekend. This disappointed our GM's executive assistant, who is a big fan. (LaPorte's radio show is on KFI-AM down here, as well as George Noory's, another fave.) I worked with LaPorte's crew a couple of times when he was at TechTV and I was doing PR with SRI International. Class act, all the way. The cafe connected to this building was playing a continuous loop of what I believe to be the entire collection of Bud Light "Real Men Of Genius" commercials. I'm not kidding you. For all you folks in the Tinfoil Hat Crowd, I've got a new one for you: The Pentagon is podcasting. Will you leave me alone now? (Hat-tip: Donna Papacosta) Allan Jenkins' Desirable Roasted Coffee is a year old. Congrats! As I posted on Allan's site, I wish our correspondence might've started under different circumstances. Tuesday, November 08, 2005 Posted by philgomes 10:38 PM A Milestone For BizXchange A Milestone For BizXchange A friend of mine back home, Chris Haddawy, is the SVP of business development at BizXchange. The company holds dual HQs in Seattle and the SF Bay Area. I met Chris and his wife, Tatiana, some years ago through a mutual friend, über-recruiter Carolyn. I'm writing this 'cause I got a note from Chris today that BizXchange is now #16 out of the top 100 fastest-growing private companies in Washington state, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal (PDF). This would be due to the company's 375% revenue growth since it's founding three years ago — $293k to $1.39M — and customers like Southwest Airlines, 24-Hour Fitness, and a few major sports teams. I realize these numbers might not necessarily impress the group of my readers who glibly throw around the eight-or-nine-figure sums commonly found in wire stories and business periodicals. Get past that. You really gotta hand it to the BizXchange crew for making a business out of barter; money out of microeconomies. Considering their take on brokered exchanges is between 6-7%, it's pretty easy to get a rough idea of the value of bartered goods and services that have changed hands among their members. I know that, at least in the early days, getting folks to consider barter instead of cold-hard-cash must have been like running into the same inch-high curb over and over again. Clearly, businesses large and small are coming around. So, respect goes out to Chris and team! Monday, November 07, 2005 Posted by philgomes 7:30 PM Random Thoughts -- Nov. 7, 2005 Random Thoughts -- Nov. 7, 2005 Mom on the new house in Rio Vista: Well... We're getting DSL. We're getting HDTV. We're getting the whole darn alphabet installed in here. I've started actively using ActiveWords. These are some of my CTRL+SPACEBAR web shortcuts: vanity traffic metal I find it's most useful for email, though. Registered for "Integrated Communications Strategies" for the next semester at Annenberg. Watch this space in 2006 for more detail. Sunday, November 06, 2005 Posted by philgomes 3:44 PM Meet Up At The Podcast Expo? Meet Up At The Podcast Expo? Drop me an email or leave a comment here this week if you want to meet up at the Portable Media Expo & Podcast Conference, taking place this Friday and Saturday at the Ontario (Calif.) Convention Center. I plan to get there around 1pm on Friday. I'll be spending the night there to make sure I catch all of the next day, probably having dinner out there before heading back to LA. It'd be great to see some of you there! UPDATE: Looks like I'll be meeting my longtime friend Aaron Grant, host of the currently off-season Athletics Fan Podcast, and Orange County's own JvonD and Kat. Other takers? Friday, November 04, 2005 Posted by philgomes 5:03 PM And The Hits (To Reputation) Keep On Coming... And The Hits (To Reputation) Keep On Coming... Michael O'Connor Clarke points to the EFF's hilarious parody of Forbes' "Attack Of The Blogs" piece, entitled "Attack Of The Printing Press." Forbes' original: Web logs are the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective. Their potent allies in this pursuit include Google and Yahoo. And the EFF's parody: Printing presses are the prized platform of a public lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel, and invective. Their potent allies in this pursuit include Ben Franklin and John Hancock. Very funny! The analogy might begin to fall apart after heavy scrutiny, but the point is well-made. The boss says that "we [PR folks] should put around the positive cases of blogging" (my emphasis added), and I very much agree. Dilbertian pointy-haired executives nationwide got the Forbes piece plopped on their desks and many are likely to heed it. It's up to savvy communicators — whether so engaged in the formal sense or otherwise — to point out the fallacies in the piece and ensure that the negative impressions it will likely give are balanced with a discussion of the compelling advantages of thoughtful community engagement. In the interest of equal time (not that I'm obligated to, but it's just a good thing to do in this case — to heck with you and the Fairness Doctrine you rode in on), here's Sam Whitmore's audio interview with the Forbes article's author, Dan Lyons. Posted by philgomes 12:23 PM Random Thoughts -- Nov. 4, 2005 Random Thoughts -- Nov. 4, 2005 I'm not trying to make excuses for Scooter Libby, but I'm wondering... Where was all this furor when Sandy Berger was caught smuggling Pentagon documents in his pants? No one has yet been able to answer this question for me. My new conspiracy theory: The Men's Wearhouse operates a secret society that protects politicians and political employees who wear their garments. I've already said too much. George Zimmer's spies are everywhere. My Rio Carbon's music-shuffle schizophrenia while at SeaTac airport last night: "Cool #9," Joe Satriani "Funk Me Dirty," Bootsy Collins "Pain," Soulfly "Pay As You Go," Greg Howe "Hole," A Band called Pain "Pneuma," Tarental "Horror Business," Misfits Pat Boone's version of Dio's "Holy Diver" An early Portuguese requiem mass from Manuel Cordoso "Disciples Of The Watch," Testament Mom emailed me about the new house my parents just bought: Not to say that Rio Vista is small, but the hair salon, gift store and cleaners are all in one store. They did attempt to put a separate door into the salon. That's funnier than the Burmese-restaurant-and-hair-salon on Park St. in Alameda, where I used to live. (Alameda, that is, not the restaurant/salon.) Posted by philgomes 2:25 AM Remembering Forbes ASAP Remembering Forbes ASAP In this article, Michael Malone delivers a withering strike on Forbes in the wake of their "Attack of the Blogs" article. I had a different takeaway, though — the need to write this long-overdue post, made timely once again based on this paragraph here: As I've noted in this column many times over the years, I used to run Forbes' technology magazine, Forbes ASAP, which was based in Silicon Valley. ASAP was probably the largest circulation technology-business magazine in the world. I like to think it was because of the good writing and editing, but the truth is that we were respected then (and remembered now) because we understood technology, and we got the big stuff right. This reminded me of the post that started some correspondence with Malone, wherein I asked whether there ever existed any magazines that mixed the high-level, opinion-driven writing of, say, Harper's with a west-coast sensibility. Malone set me straight: I had completely forgotten about Forbes ASAP's quarterly "Big Issue." This was a double-goof on my part because one edition of that series — featuring contributions by Bill Gates, Kurt Vonnegut, Muhammad Ali, and others — was actually on my bookshelf. Some time later, having taken this public stroll down Very-Recent-Memory Lane, Malone made the very thoughtful gift of the complete set of ASAP's "Big Issues." A box of them appeared at my office in Edelman LA. They're on my shelf right now, protected by motion sensors, lasers, and snarling dobermans. If you're nice, I'll let you look at them. A box of sterile latex gloves is nearby, lest the acidic secretions of your grubby digits come in contact with my prize. This kind of periodical really needs to come back — big-thinkers discussing big issues in a publication that's well-considered, well-written, well-edited, and well-designed. Thanks go to Michael Malone for giving it a go back in the go-go dot-com era, and for sending me the excellent results. Wednesday, November 02, 2005 Posted by philgomes 10:34 PM Random Thoughts -- Nov. 2, 2005 Random Thoughts -- Nov. 2, 2005 Yes, damn it, that really is me playing guitar at time-index 4:30 in my latest podcast. Yes, it's a little sloppy, but it was a first-take... So, put that in your "transparency" pipe and smoke it! My new conspiracy theory: The epidemic of shootings involving armed postal workers was not due to on-the-job stress. These postal workers were secret participants in a revived MK-Ultra project and were either mis-programmed or over-programmed. (Think Manchurian Candidate.) Bringing the newspaper's sports page into the john is a time-honored tradition amongst men. In a shared bathroom, it's not uncommon to find the sports page on the floor of a stall or wedged between the dispensers for the toilet paper and the sanitary seats. This isn't littering — it's actually quite considerate, since heaven forbid someone would have to sit on the john for a few minutes and not have reading material. Anyway... Today, I noticed that someone left behind a printout of a web article from the Seattle Times' sports section. This is, I think, the first time I've seen this happen. Mark my words: In under 20 years, we're going to think nothing of finding what we today might call "PDAs" or even "Tablet PCs" left behind in bathrooms. Tuesday, November 01, 2005 Posted by philgomes 8:03 PM Random Thoughts -- Nov. 1, 2005 Random Thoughts -- Nov. 1, 2005 I'm in Seattle right now for a number of meetings. I'll be here through Thursday. The city is as wet and rainy as people in other cities say it is. I like it anyway. While waiting to board the (hour-delayed) plane, I was talking with a management consultant who was waiting for the same flight. She, too, knew that all a plane has to do is back away from the gate in order to have it logged as an on-time departure. It could sit on the tarmac for hours afterward. Makes me wonder: Shouldn't the airline industry be tracking on-time arrivals? HOME | OBSESSIONS | FAQ | HEROES | CAREER | BLOG | CONTACT Note that the views expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Phil's employer, its business partners, its clients, or anyone or anything that doesn't come from Phil.	ABOUT THIS BLOG This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. EMAIL phil[at] philgomes[[dot}]com SYNDICATE Feedburner ARCHIVE YAHOO! 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