I’m actually not in the office this week, I’m working from the US Fencing Summer Nationals in Atlanta where I am cheering on my daughter. But I realized that I didn’t mention that I switched offices a couple weeks ago away from the producers and coordinators so that I’m now surrounded by geeks like me the digital team. Not only that, but I got a window out of the move, though the view is nothing like what I had back in Cambridge.

Switched Offices is a post from: Trumblog

The other day at SoxUp (a Tweetup at Fenway Park and book signing for Steve Garfield’s book Get Seen) someone who I’d never met before came up to me and said “You’re @TPapi? I was reading your stuff today. You’re the guy with the glasses.”

Yup, I’m the guy with the glasses. I feature them in the blog design, have them on my Twitter background using the glasses as an icon. I don’t care about being “the guy with the glasses.” I’m adult enough to accept what I look like (pretty much) and if I really wanted to do something about the glasses I can afford contacts.  But the comment did get me thinking about my brand and specifically my Twitter avatar.

If you follow me on Twitter then you’ve seen, and maybe recognize, my Twitter avatar a yellow and orange Ganesh (Yes it is a Ganesh Prentice). I began using that avatar years ago when I first dipped my toes into social media because I could hide behind it and I thought that being represented by the remover of obstacles couldn’t hurt.

Now of course if I was starting out today I would use a picture of myself as my avatar, which is best practice in order to show transparency, openness, that there’s a real guy behind the tweets, etc.  But even knowing that, I’ve been hesitant to change avatars for two reasons:

1. I’ve used this avatar long enough that I’m afraid that I won’t be recognized without it
2. The little orange and yellow guy stands out from other avatars in the tweetstream

But the comment last Thursday is making me rethink things. I’ve accidentally given myself two icons (Ganesh and Glasses). What do I do? Hang on to my recognizable and identifiable orange Ganesh? Begin using my glasses icon as an avatar? Switch to a picture of myself?  How do I introduce the change and ensure that a new avatar stands out as well as the current one does?

Let me know what you think in the survey below. I’ll announce the results in a week or so and let you know what I’ll be doing.

Twitter Avatar Survey

Thanks

Poll: Should I Change My Twitter Avatar? is a post from: Trumblog

With the start of a new year last month we all talked a lot about making changes.  A simple one that we discussed was to make small adjustments to our habits as a way of keeping the brain fresh and avoiding things like Alzheimer’s Disease.

I’m in favor of that so since the start of the year I started mixing up how I walk to work in the morning.  I have 2 choices of routes from my house to the subway in Cambridge and only 1 route on the subway, but when I get off the green line at Arlington Station my options for diversity in paths to the office unfold before me.  If I take into account different sides of the street  and 2 routes through buildings (which are handy on days like last week’s gales) I see about 21 routes from the subway to the office.  I don’t make any decisions about my route and let the traffic signals lead my way.  I follow walk signs or empty streets until I can’t keep going straight then turn at the signal.  Yes it’s a little bit OCD, but it works.

Now I’ve started to worry about this rule being too strict and that rather than it being a tool helping me to stay fresh it actually has become an impediment to that end.  Clearly I think too much.  But I can’t wait until Spring when the weather is better and the Public Garden and Boston Common beckon with even more options for routes to and from work and staying fresh.

What are you doing to mix it up? Let me know in the comments.

Staying Fresh By Mixing It Up is a post from: Trumblog

The other night at a Tweetsgiving event I was asked what I was thankful for and I added my part about a job, friends and family. But really, I have so much more to be thankful about. I am thankful for being one of most fortunate people on earth to be well employed, highly educated, middle class and living in the United States of America and to share the benefits of this luck with my family and many of my friends.  It is luck that this was the stellar hand that I was dealt when so many others do not get the benefits and opportunities that I have for their trip through life.  I and most of the people who will read this are truly blessed by happen chance and should remember our fortune every day. Happy Thanksgiving.

Being Thankful is a post from: Trumblog

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving which means a short day today, clogged highways, airport delays, a significant drop in attention to the media (except football) and of course long lines at Whole Foods.  I had a few posts lined up for this week about the event social agent and BlackBerry application reviews, but due to the aforementioned drop in attention to media I’m going to hold off on posting these until next week.

Instead I’ll write something that if you know me in person you may have heard before.  Thanksgiving is the best holiday ever becuase…

Thanksgiving has no ego

Are there Thanksgiving songs? No.  Do we have to worry about getting just the right Thanksgiving presents for our loved ones? Nope.  Are there Thanksgiving decorations? A center piece here, a grocery story display there, but for the most part Thanksgiving decorations have been squeezed out by Halloween and Christmas and I don’t hear anyone complaining.  I know that some people go through travel hell for Thanksgiving and many of those same people go through family hell too.  But that’s not Thanksgiving’s fault.  Thanksgiving is easy.

There can be stress out about the Thanksgiving meal, but Thanksgiving doesn’t want that.  Thanksgiving wants you to have whatever meal makes you happy.  I like turkey and stuffing, but you do your meal your way.  Plenty of people go out for Thanksgiving and if that makes you happy then Thanksgiving is all for it.  Thanksgiving is about eating too much , but it is also the holiday of watching football and giant floats on Broadway.  WHere is the stress in that?  Relax and enjoy.

Finally, Thanksgiving has the best schedule of all the holidays.  Think about it.  You get 2 work days off for Thanksgiving and then you get a weekend.  Name another holiday that give you that kind of love.  Not only that, but Thanksgiving is good enough to get the holiday over with first thing and then move out of the way so that you can enjoy your free time.

Thanksgiving is the best.  Tomorrow I will be enjoying it casually dressed, grilling a turkey, hanging out with friends and family, eating too much, watching some old movies, and maybe doing a little Christmas shopping online.  I hope that you enjoy the holiday in whatever way makes you happy.

Thanksgiving wants it that way.

Thankful for Thanksgiving is a post from: Trumblog

About a month ago I started taking photographs of the Boston skyline as I crossed the Longfellow Bridge on my way to the office each morning. I thought that it would be interesting to see how the image changes from day to day; not just the occasional rainy daysm changing colors of the leaves, snow and freezing Charles, then the breaking up of the ice and return of spring, but also how my commute affects the picture based on how full the train is, where I sit, etc. The results are all posted on Flickr and on the Boston Moment page of my website.

I called this is the Boston Moment project after an article that I read in the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine a few years ago where this was referred to as the Boston Moment, when all riders take in the view.  Now you can see my view of the Boston Moment just about every weekday either here or on Flickr.  Enjoy!

My Boston Moment Project is a post from: Trumblog

Gone, but not forgotten, Spy magazine used to have a feature called Separated At Birth where.  This afternoon my profile picture  was compared to Dennis the Menace’s father on the old TV show.  I’ve got to admit there is a strong resemblance between the Mad Men version of me that is my current profile picture and Herbert Anderson, the actor who portrayed Dennis’ dad Henry Mitchell.  Check it out.

I think that Gloria Henry, who plays Dennis’ mom Alice Mitchel, has a Betty Draper/ January Jones thing going on.

Dennis the Menace, which I watched as a kid when home sick and on vacation days, ran for 4 seasons from 1959-1963 churning out 146 episodes in that time,.  Like the 2 Darren situation on Bewitched, Dennis the Menace had 2 Mr. Wilsons. first George and then John, George’s brother.  The change was necessary when Joseph Kearns died during filming of the 1961-1962 season.  In the show’s story line this was explained by the first Mr. Wilson and his wife Martha going on a cruise leaving his brother and wife as house sitters.

Hebert Anderson also starred on shows that became weekday TV fodder when I was a kid such as My Three Sons, I Dream of Jeannie, Family Affair and The Brady Bunch.  He was in both the stage and screen versions of The Caine Mutiny, the only cast member in both the Broadway play and the film that starred Humphrey Bogart. Anderson died in 1994.

Incidentally if Herbert Anderson and I were separated at birth that would have been a 52 year long labor.  Ouch.

Herbert Anderson and I Separated at Birth is a post from: Trumblog

During a stimulatingly contentious meeting yesterday I was sketched by art director, Eddy Perez, making it into his book.

Guess I’m officially part of the Jack Morton community now.

Made It Into The Book is a post from: Trumblog

Over the holidays we moved our offices from Hollywood on the Charles (Watertown, MA) to the heart of New England biotech (Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA).  Actually I didn’t do any of the move myself, I just packed up a few bins before the holiday and then while I was enjoying some time off other folks made sure that those bins were moved into the right office and that internet and phones were good to go when I got in this morning.

I’ll miss the old mill building on the Charles, funky decor and lunch walks along the river, but I won’t miss the mice that would visit in the winter and the conference rooms that were either too hot or too cold.  The new place certainly has less character, but is pretty cool.  A three stop commute on the red line can’t be beat and rather than a ground floor view of a zip car in the parking lot I’m on the 17th floor and can see Fenway park from my window.  Come on over for a visit if you’re in the area.

Update
A few days later they turned on the lights at Fenway Park, which is also visible from my office.

New Office is a post from: Trumblog

After missing the first 2 New England Patriots games this season, the first because I was working in New York and couldn’t get the game on the office TV and the second because of having family in town, I realized that I’m not making time for football.  Why was this? Because it was not a part of my weekend schedule.  Football games weren’t in my Outlook schedule, which means that there waren’t on my Blackberry and therefore I wasn’t making time for them.

To remedy that I looked around for a schedule suitable for importing into Outlook like the Red Sox provide.  The Pats aren’t so accommodating.  Their schedule is downloadable as an excel file and PDF, but not for easy importing into MicroSoft Outlook.  I could buy the schedule for importing, but couldn’t bring myself to pay for 16 appointments, no matter how important.

So I made my own Patriots Schedule and am making it available to you for download.  The schedule includes the entire pre-season and regular season, but not the post season (one game at a time guys), shows game locations, TV schedule and an alarm 15 minutes before kickoff.  Remember that the NFL has “flexible scheduling” on Sundays in Weeks 11-17 meaning that game times can be moved, which could impact this schedule. So keep an eye out for that and don’t get caught missing a game.

Here’s what you do if you want to add the Pats schedule to your own Outlook Calendar.

1. Download the New England Patriots 2008 Schedule CSV.
2. Open Outlook and from the top toolbar, click File -> Import and Export
3. Select “Import from another program or file” and click Next
4. Select “Comma Separated Values (Windows)” and click Next
5. Click the Browse button and navigate to where you saved the schedule that you downloaded
6. Select “Do not import duplicate items” and click Next
7. From the “Select destination folder” pop-up, click on Calendar and click Next
8. In the next window, under the box labeled, “The following actions will be performed:”, click the box next to the option labeled, “Import “Patriots_Schedule_2008.csv” into folder: Calendar.”
9. It shouldn’t be necessary, but if you want to, in the Map Custom Fields pop-up window, click and drag the fields from the left window into the right window, as follows:
   * START_DATE to Start Date
   * START_TIME to Start Time (select START_TIME for local time zone, or START_TIME_ET for all ET)
   * SUBJECT to Subject
   * DESCRIPTION to Description
   * LOCATION to Location
   * END_DATE to End Date
   * END_TIME to End Time (select END_TIME for local time zone, or END_TIME_ET for all ET)
   * REMINDER_ON_OFF to Reminder On/Off
   * REMINDER_DATE to Reminder Date
   * REMINDER_TIME to End Time (select REMINDER_TIME for local time zone, or REMINDER_TIME_ET for all ET)
   * SHOWTIMEAS_FREE to Show time as (I like to leave the time free so that I can schedule going out with friends, but you
10. Click OK, then click Finish
11. A status window will appear that says, “Importing Appointments from ‘redsox2008.csv’ into Calendar”
12. Never miss another Pats game

Matt Cassel we’re counting on you.  Go Pats!

New England Patriots 2008 Schedule for Outlook is a post from: Trumblog