The Future for Artrain

I was out at a Chamber of Commerce networking event tonight at Katherine's Catering. Lots of fun people and, not surprisingly, piles of delicious food. While I was there, I ran into my friend Brian Tolle.

Brian, in addition to running the Tolle Group, a business leadership consulting firm, is also the Vice Chair of Artrain USA's Board of Directors. He was the one, some months ago, who first told me that Artrain would be leaving the tracks and going on the road.

Brian introduced me to Debra Polich, the President and CEO of Artrain and the three of us spent some time chatting about the future of the mobile museum. Ever since I found out that Artrain wouldn't be on a train anymore, I've been intrigued by the solutions they were considering. As I mentioned in a previous post, they were looking at putting them on semi trucks -- and not just any semi trucks...

... transformer trucks.

No, really. I know it's hard to imagine, but these vehicles can roll into any large parking area and before you can say "Optimus Prime", they will convert into a full-fledged museum.

I can see that you're having trouble visualizing, so you might want to check out the video of how it will all work.

So, would you go to see Artrain if it rolled into your town?

Random Notes to Myself

Looking around my office, in addition to the clutter which often infests my desktop, I see a number of notes that I've written to myself. Often I'm inspired by blog posts or books I've read, podcasts I've listened to, or just random thoughts which flit about the dark corners of my mind.

For example, on a small whiteboard next to my monitor is the simple phrase "I am a goal setter". This one is to encourage me to set my long-term goals. I'm pretty good with short- and mid- term ones, but thinking on the order of five or ten years gets a little past my everyday comfort level.

My larger whiteboard, in addition to being the repository of the status of current projects, also houses a number of notes.

"If I want to succeed significantly beyond my current levels, I must fundamentally change what I do and how I do it". I don't remember what I was reading to inspire that one. It might have been Scott Ginsberg's "Make a Name for Yourself" or it might have been Seth Godin's blog. Wherever I got it, though, I wanted to keep that one in front of me in order to remind myself that the riskiest path is not to change -- something with which my "paralysis of analysis" brain has a real problem.

Right bleow it, inspired by "The Disney Way", a book I'm reading right now, is "What beliefs and values does Cyber Data Solutions represent and exemplify?" and immediately below it is "Rescue. Teach. Empower. WOW." Just me trying to find my way and to figure out what I want my company to stand for.

In my Google Notebook, I've got a list of concepts that I've found. Right at the top is one from lifehack.org in a post titled "12 Ways to Upgrade Your Weekly Review". For me this is an idea which underscores all great achievement: "Decide to do something that will make you uncomfortable next week."

I've got these little messages to myself all over. Some I see all the time, others only appear when I look for them. All are designed to keep me thinking about who I am and what I want from my life.

How do you remember your concepts and inspirations?

Baskets and Bags

Mary D'Alessandro

I had the opportunity today, in my role as an Ann Arbor Chamber Ambassador, to welcome a new member to our boisterous group. This time, the lucky recipient of the coveted Welcome Bag was Mary D'Alessandro, owner of Baskets and More, here in Ann Arbor.

Now before you say "Oh, another gift basket company," you should take some time to check out her offerings. I took just a few minutes to look over her online catalog and was amazed by the variety of different baskets she offers -- and these aren't just your average fruit baskets. From food (of course), to pet toys, to garden hoses, her products hold almost everything under the sun.

If you can't find the perfect basket for your needs, she will work with you to build a custom masterpiece. She told me that one executive actually had her create baskets with complete steak dinners in them. Wouldn't that be a nice surprise?

Well, OK, not for me, since I'm a vegetarian, but you get the idea, right?

I chatted with Mary for over an hour. In talking with her I found that she really knows how to build her business and always has an eye out for opportunities. We were glancing over her complimentary copy of the Ann Arbor Business Review and not a page went by where she didn't find someone for whom she's made a basket. Obviously she knows how to keep her customers happy.

If you find yourself in need of a unique gift for a loved one or a business contact, you could do far worse than giving Mary a call. Tell her Greg sent you...

... It won't get you anything special, but I'm sure she'd get a kick out of it.

So, what was the best gift basket you've ever received?

Freelancing Advice

I sent out volume 2, issue 4 of the "Clearing up the Confusion" e-zine today. This one focused on some of the new blogs that I've been following lately. In particular, I've become quite attached to The Freelance Switch. Here's what I wrote in the e-zine:

For those of us who are off running our own businesses, this is a great resource. It has "how to" articles, advice, links to a podcast, and even its own comic strip, "Freelance Freedom". This blog and its associated website are clearinghouses of great information. I think I've found at least one useful take-away idea every time I've visited. I also love their podcasts for those times when I'm not able to sit down in front of the computer. I can get in a little education while I'm shoveling the driveway.

If you'd like to read about more of the blogs that I recommend, check out the latest issue of the e-zine. You can read other issues in the archive, or you might even consider getting a subscription.

So, what blogs are you following lately?

Don't Surprise Me!

OK, I like a surprise as much as the next guy. Really. When my wife decided to throw a surprise birthday party for my 40th, I was elated. The clock radio she got me for Christmas -- the one I can plug my MP3 player into? Delightful!

The kind of surprises I can do without usually involve software. Ironically it's often the little things that get under my skin.

For example, this evening I was working on incorporating all of my contacts into Gmail. Now, don't get me wrong. I like Gmail. Anyone who's been reading this blog knows that I am a big fan of Google in general.

This time, they did something that just didn't make sense to me.

As a result of doing this import, I had a lot of contacts which were duplicates of others and some which were just completely unnecessary. As a first pass to clean things up, I decided to delete all of the unnecessary ones. I spent about 15 minutes going through the list, clicking on the little checkbox next to any that no longer belonged. When I got to the end of the list I had 148 names to be deleted.

I clicked on the "Delete" button.

Gmail promptly informed me that I was only allowed to delete 20 entries at a time and I would have to go back and "unclick" some of the ones that I had selected.

What???

OK, for all of you who are designers out there: Don't do anything like this. Don't let me walk that far down the path and then tell me that it's a deadend. If I try to delete that many and you think I might be mistaken, pop up a dialog to make sure that this is something that I really want to do. If you don't feel like doing that, then you'd better do something pretty obvious when I click on that 21st entry.

So, now I get to go back and do the whole winnowing process again...

... but you can bet I'm keeping an eye on how many I've selected!

So, what sort of software bizarreness have you uncovered in your Internet travels?