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Welcome Pessimistic Phillies Fans*
I was 13 years old the last time the Philadelphia Phillies won a World Series. The next day the Sisters of St. Joseph were generous enough to let us make signs and walk up and down our block of Broad St. un-ironically singing Queen songs. It was a crisp October morning, we were World Champions, I was about to leave the confines of parochial education forever, and the future looked pretty good.
One month later Ronald Reagan was elected president.
The Phillies haven’t won a World Series since. I saw my city plunge into an abyss of despair and self-loathing. I saw our other teams come really, really close. There was even an NBA Championship in ‘83. But nothing else. We lost World Series’, Super Bowls, NBA and NHL Championships. Philadelphia isn’t about losing; it’s about having the rug pulled out from under you at the very last moment.
I live in San Francisco now, but as any of my friends will tell you, Philadelphians have an indelible stain on their souls; a distrust that anything is final until it’s actually final. Not only do we not count our chickens before they’re hatched, we’re convinced someone is about to steal our eggs. Probably family.
So as I sit here 5 hours away from a World Series victory, with our best pitcher on the mound, and 8 days from a Presidential Election, with the best candidate I’ve seen in my lifetime holding a big lead, I am utterly convinced that both will go wrong. I can’t help it.
Andrea Seabrook explored the inner psyche of what makes Philadelphians so pessimistic yesterday on All Things Considered. She even gave us a shout-out because of our “I’m Not Angry, I’m From Philly” t-shirt. The piece aired when we were up 2 games to one and you can hear how nervous the interviewees are. I can only imagine that after last night’s win they’re absolutely catatonic.
Why can’t us? Because we’re from Philadelphia.
And for the love of all that’s holy; PLEASE remember to vote next week. Unless you’re from western Pennsylvania; we were always right never to trust them.
UPDATE: Game 5 was suspended due to rain, taking our best pitcher out. God hates us. This is the best proof yet.
UPDATE: Wow. We did it! We REALLY did it.
* real fans spell it Phans.
Written by Mike Monteiro on October 27, 2008 with 5 comments | 
Content Professionals Management Summit
I had the opportunity to give a talk today at the CM Pros Spring Summit on integrating social networking with existing sites for businesses with limited technical resources. I love getting out and talking to people about what we do.
I had a great time, and want to thank CM Pros for the opportunity. They were great to work with, in particular Andrew Wilcox who set things up for us.
Written by mccreath on June 17, 2008 |
Tonight: Content Talk in the 'Hood
This evening I’m in a language-lover’s double-feature (also for the content-curious).
I will perform an abridged version of Copy as Interface. Kristina Halvorson, president of Brain Traffic, will present Content Strategy: The Mania, the Myth, the Method.
Our friends at Adaptive Path are hosting in their offices at 363 Brannan St. The event is free and open to the public. I am told there will be “beer and nibbles” (sic).
Full details:
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/668376
I hope to see you there!
Written by erika on May 20, 2008 with 2 comments |
Web 2.0 Expo: Copy As Interface
Yesterday, Information Week picked up this quote from Erika about the trends of today’s technologies:
“Given [the controversy surrounding Google Street View] and tools like Twitter and Dopplr, and Yahoo’s Fire Eagle, I think George Orwell would be stunned by the extent to which people are embracing the eradication of privacy.”
She made that remark in a preview of her upcoming speech at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. If you’re attending the conference, make sure to check out her speech, Copy As Interface, Wednesday April 23 at 1:30pm. You’ll learn something.
UPDATE The slides are here for your convenience:
Written by katiespence on April 22, 2008 with 6 comments |
I swear this is the last Battledecks recap
… but rocketboom put together an awesome highlight reel:
Written by Mike Monteiro on March 13, 2008 with 2 comments |
Battledecks
Just got back from SXSW where our “panel”, Battledecks, was a huge success. We filled the room and people had a blast. I’ll be posting the decks on slideshare as soon as we have the audio synched. For now, here’s Battledeck winner Anil Dash.
I’ll have a fuller recap of the conference once I’ve caught up on some sleep and played with my son a lot.
UPDATE: Here’s a slideshow of the Best of Battledecks:
Written by Mike Monteiro on March 12, 2008 with 1 comments |
Mule Design at SXSWi
Later this week, Mike, Erika, Brandie and I are headed to Austin, TX for SPRING BREAK SXSW Interactive Conference 2008. We will be eating lots of tex-mex and drinking lots of free beer. But perhaps more importantly we (along with Lane Becker) will be running the most extraordinary panel ever, anywhere: Battledecks II.
We’ve collected some of the finest internet folk around to compete against one another in such categories as jargon, gesturing, and point-making using the one tool that unites us all: powerpoint. There will be presentations and they will be extemporaneous. If you have a bucket list, then this panel should be on it.
We are bringing free beer tokens and other fun Mule goodies. So if you see us wondering around the halls of the conference center, please say hello!
Written by David McCreath on March 3, 2008 with 1 comments |
New Laptop Stickers
Following Scott’s lead, we ordered some laptop stickers from Sticker Giant. They work as advertised. I’ve been putting them on all manner of items I shouldn’t and they come right off. You can even peel them off co-worker’s hair. (As an added bonus it turns out that Sticker Giant was started by an old friend of mine, John Fischer, so we got to reconnect.)
If you see us at SXSW next month, ask for a sticker. If I try to charge you for it, well, it’ll be ‘cause I’m drunk.
Written by Mike Monteiro on February 19, 2008 with 3 comments |
Erika at Future Of Web Apps
Erika and I just got back from London where she spoke at the Future Of Web Apps conference. Her presentation, Copy Is Interface, went over extremely well.
We get a lot of positive feedback about our work here at Mule, but what makes me happiest is when people mention the tone and language we use both in our own site and on clients’ sites. That’s all Erika. She does an amazing job in the trenches and it was great to see her do an equally amazing job onstage and get the recognition she deserves. I’m very lucky to work with her.
I’ll be posting a little more about the conference later, and I believe she’ll be posting her slides. Stay tuned.
Written by Mike Monteiro on October 8, 2007 with 0 comments |
South Park: Not just a cartoon anymore!
Over the weekend, there was an article published in the San Francisco Chronicle, profiling the South Park neighborhood and the businesses surrounding it. Mule Design was one of the companies mentioned by writer Dan Fost:
There is a look to the South Park crowd: rectangular glasses, ironic T-shirts and hipster shoes that almost look like bowling shoes but are more likely Skechers for men or, for women, Campers or Fluevogs. The most popular shirt is from Mule Design, which discovered that the squid biomass on Earth is greater than the human biomass. The shirt declares simply, "Welcome Squid Overlords."
While we appreciate the mention, we didn't actually discover the large squid biomass. Scientists did. We just capitalized on it. Thank you, South Park, for letting us dress you!
Written by David McCreath on April 17, 2006 with 7 comments |