Lynn did the design and I did the WordPress coding. Please check it out, and drop by to visit the bakery.

Had lots of fun with this one. Check out the Bacon American Burger Campaign.

I’m really happy with the final design and WordPress website. Please take a look and get in touch with Nadine if you are interested in learning more about a Gluten Free diet or resources for Celiac Disease.

The mountains, rivers, and lakes are beautiful here. With 300 days of sun, it’s hard to imagine a more spectacular outdoor-adventureland.

Only three short-hours away from Corvallis, I will still be consulting on a regular basis. However, I will not be doing any more in-person meetings in Corvallis. I will be looking to pick up some local Bend clients, once I hit my stride and learn a new schedule with Stacey – who is now teaching math at Summit High School – and Lily, our two year old daughter.

It appears there is a strong media demographic here. The 2010 Bend WebCAM conference is coming up, and I think it would be a great opportunity to put my feelers out there, testing the market pulse.

Otherwise, I’m learning the new demographic makeup here, and the differences in businesses. There are many more recreation-sports businesses in Bend, than Corvallis. I think this goes perfectly with my background. We’ll see.

After learning in college about the downside of having a job where you sit on your butt all day long, I proceeded to do just that. So, today I created a hybrid standing desk by putting one of my spare desks on top of my main office desk.

It is pretty stable, so it should work, as long as I don’t get too frustrated and start pounding downwards with extra force.

One of the benefits of having a standing desk is that it helps you “harness your creative energy”. Rather, I think the soreness of your feet and constant shifting from one leg to the next hour after hour forces you to be ultra-productive, and not waste time.

Another benefit, mentioned by the NY Times in an article earlier this year is that it helps you burn more calories.

I placed my monitor at precisely eye-level, and the keyboard is directly in front of me with a less-crooked position for my wrists when typing. I think this may actually help my sore wrists after long days coding, as well.

Let’s see how it goes. But, for now I’m excited to stand up and work.

I was frustrated with my “lack of productivity,” and the waning hours in the day. So, I tried Cherry Picking.

Cherry Picking

Cherry Picking in business is often used in reference to selecting particular team members or clients who are the most profitable or productive, and directing all focus towards them. I’m using the term more closely related to how it’s used in Statistics;

“Cherry picking can refer to the selection of data or data sets so a study or survey will give desired, predictable results which may be misleading or even completely contrary to actuality.” Wikipedia

In, actuality I was spending a large portion of time working and a fraction of it getting work done. So, I picked the data points (in my case, the times where I was being productive) and only spent those hours in the office.

I worked much fewer hours, accomplished as much (or more, due to the creative energy and rest that I now had), and felt more productive.

This made me realize that productivity is a ratio of time spent attempting to be productive, and time spent actually being productive. The closer the ratio is to 1:1, the more productive you feel. While the output was close to the same, I was being more productive.

Of course, this may not work for your boss. But, if you’re self imployed, work at home, or work on commission, try and pick the data points that are skewed towards your favor and focus on those. Isn’t that what most books on strengths vs. weaknesses are all about, anyway?

Oregon’s unemployment rate is 11.7% and climbing. $20 is a quarter-day’s wages for many people. It pays the garbage bill for the month. It pays for my family’s groceries today and tomorrow.

Yet, no one that I approached was dishonest. And, no one watching – there were about eight others observing the situation – made claim to the money. I would have given it, without question. Honesty intact. Morals strengthened. I was proud that they were not vultures.

Perhaps the people involved thought I was participating in a psychology study. (Perhaps I was unknowingly.) Still, there was a sense of prideful ethics; not the random chaos science fiction authors dream-up when job loss is high.

Are businesses different? When one company falters, do the others jump on the opportune market like vultures on a carcass? Sometimes it is portrayed this way. Maybe it’s perceived as different, since it’s business. When one business leaves $20million lying on the floor, do the others jump to pick it up – or look around and ask if they did this knowingly? Doubtful.

Is it the quantity of money that makes the difference? Is it the arena of battle? I don’t know.

Regardless, I thought it was strangely fulfilling to walk around asking people if the money was theirs, today. And, it made me think of the stark contrast between doing it in business: “I’m sorry, but this client is offering me money to do work. Was he yours?”

I’m very happy with the final product. Take a look, and get in touch with him for your Windows if you’re local to the Willamette Valley. He’s a professional who takes his business seriously, and he does some great looking work.

We worked together with Trent Bingham to create the awesome logo. The site itself was built using WordPress for the CMS, and XHTML/CSS for the front-end.