moving

so i spent a few days moving the site to a new server.

future entries and a new look can be found here:

http://www.uncomplicatedblog.com

see you there.

something going in = something going out

one rule or guideline that we set a few years ago is that if something is coming in, something must go out.

usually this is something similar in function or monetarily the same. somehow the exchange must balance either the monetary scale, the object storage space, the object function or all of the above. this keeps us from acquiring a bunch of stuff and also mitigates the financial impact of upgrades or purchases.

a recent example is the purchase of miglia TVMiniHD.

our sony wega tv that we purchased almost new on craigslist, was fine. but our computer monitors had better color and a higher resolution. and, they took up less space. by selling the tv we accomplished several things:

• more space as the object we were acquiring negated the need for the larger object
• almost no monetary impact – the tv was sold on craigslist for nearly the value of the tv adapter
• the visual quality was much better – we now had HD programming

i sometimes think people are surprised that our studio isn’t packed in disarray. with the tendency to acquire materials and interesting objects, the one thing that has saved us from being overrun by stuff is the acquisition rule.

craig on charlie rose

craig was on charlie rose this week. kinda liked how craig directed the conversation to his own talking points. one thing that craig newmark and jim buckmaster do well is stay true to their core values and vision of craigslist.

people that know us, know we dig craigslist.

if you live in sf, chances are you use craigslist a lot. transactions we have done via craigslist

• recently gave away 4 contractor sized garbage bags of pure elm sawdust from a project that was made from salvaged elm hardwood. it was picked up by 2 guys + 1 girlfriend in her little car, who were going to take it back to berkeley for use in their composting toilet.
• ram for our macbook within 2 hours after realizing that we needed it to run aperture for a presentation the next morning.
• sold 2 lacie monitors and some misc. mac peripherals to fund my new mac display.
• sold a used jetta within an hour. actually had to ask for the hour so that we could finish cleaning it.
• purchased equipment for the studio including flat files, pipe benders, hazmat cabinet, sweets catalogs, power tools, bar fridge, microwave
• bigger aquarium for our fat-tailed gecko
• offload our design mags every january
• found our studio and our awesome landlord, now friend
• bought and sold tickets
• found excellent vacation rentals
• bartered some excellent work trades
• gotten and given some excellent advice
• bought and sold motorcycles and motorcyle parts
• been to some fun craigslist parties back in the day
• bought and had recycled planters delivered at no charge for the front exterior
• once sold an epson c80 printer to an artist who only printed their work with epson c80 printers
• sold and bought musical instruments
• met a lot of kind, interesting, smart, quirky and eccentric people

in fact, i can honestly say that it is our main mode of acquisition/barter/liquidation. also can’t deny the entertainment value. if you peruse craigslist, you know what i mean.

bummed about sunrocket

it all started when we got a call from a client on monday and he couldn’t hear us on our end. i called him back from the cell and he said that he had tried to call us several times that day and couldn’t get through. and we just thought it was a quiet day to get things done. ha!

so after a call to our provider, sunrocket, and an online search, i found that they shut their doors without notice. poo.

we were near the end of our contract and it was a great price anyway, so we can’t be bummed about that. i also have to say that in the 2 years we had service with them, they were great. i only used customer service a couple of times and they were knowledgeable and professional. there were a few minor glitches when they expanded their systems and changed some features, but it was usually late at night and no big deal. i can appreciate that.

but i have to say that i am bummed about how they handled this and even sadder about the struggle of some of these smaller businesses to go head to head with these giant corporations. the first thing a lot of people asked was if we were going to go with att. hell no.

our venture is going with another small company that seems to be into the technology and proud of what they do. sure, i checked out reviews and voip forums, but the most telling to me was the company blog and their own forums. so we are going with viatalk.

i hope that they succeed. not just because it can be a pain for us to switch providers. i want to give them our money because i want better product choices . . .

and i want to see the little guy do well, doing a good thing.