Monday, January 25, 2010

So, who is this guy anyway?

Well, I guess it was time to get with this new fangled communication technology. Blogging. After all, I embraced pagers first in the 90's, followed by cell phones and now Smart phones that not only make calls, but can keep track of my schedule like a sexy little techno-secretary AND surf the web to find the best sushi restaurant wherever I am. How cool is that?

Admittedly, I am a technology nerd. It is my life's work after all, but having said that, I am NOT a technology-slut like some of my friends and colleagues. When a new shiny widget comes out, I want it to prove itself to me first, and then and only then, will I consider parting with the coin of the realm to add said doo-hickey to my ever growing collection of silicon hearted monsters lurking around my house. Even my kid has one of our old cell phone rejects as a toy (battery removed of course).

So now I'm a blogger.

Wow. How'd that happen? I've spent the years following the first contraction - nay - portmanteau (look it up! thanks Amy W!) of the words web and log into a word that sounds like the person speaking is about to soil my Persian rug or is describing what happens after powering through a 5th of Metzcal.

So now I'm a blogger. Now I know how Hank Moody felt.

I've always felt that unless you have something to say, you really ought to keep your yap shut. Over the years, I have played in numerous rock bands as a guitar slinging singer, and I felt I had something to say. I've spent many years populating various pupil seating devices and written my share of papers on innumerable topics. Once again, I had something to say and said it. You want 1000 words on Cubist architecture? I'll give you 800 sharp ones and you'll like it. Mostly, you did (whoever you are).

So now I'm a blogger. Why? And why now?

Why not? (I ask you)

Seriously. Thanks to the whack economy, I was politely asked to vacate my little cubicle shaped slice of the American Dream and was put on the welfare gravy train. The checks barely pay the mortgage and for the diapers, but it is better than having to hawk everything I own for mac'n'cheez so my progeny can eat. My beloved Stratocaster is safe for now.

So in a weird way, I'm getting a second chance.

See, for the last 14 or so years, I've been on the business hamster wheel, running my skinny little ass off. I've had a lot jobs from my college years until I got my band on the road back in the mid 90's. Like all good things, some misguided choices lead to a complete implosion of our little rock 'n' roll dream machine. So there I was - no band, no job, no life (and no girlfriend or dog - sounds like a C&W song).

Time to hit "F-disk" and reboot. Gundy version 2.0.

So I got a gig installing TVs and the ilk in public school classrooms all over New England thanks to my best buddy (Thanks Josh!). During those days, video projection for the masses was finishing it's skyward climb on the big techie roller coaster. My employer started pushing these pricey little units like a snake oil dealer trying to opiate the masses. It worked. The market expanded like crazy and my years of electronics and sound technology were finally a viable commodity in western Mass. I quickly became the go-to guy for system design simply because I was not afraid to read the manual - and then throw it away. Once you know what the rules are, you can feel free to break them.

Like I said, I ran on the wheel and eventually found that that kind of running is crap on your knees, so I planned my timing just right and threw myself off the wheel, narrowly escaping the support bar of death that had for 12 years threatened to decapitate me if I dared seek grasses greener. But seek them I did, right there, at the end of 8 years of failed policies as the economy finished it's swan dive into the empty pool of financial ruin (how's that for a mixed metaphor???).

I briefly dipped my tootsies into the astroturf colored greenery and had a good run until this employer figured out the light at the end of the tunnel was in fact a run away train and the best thing to do was reduce overhead. I was not alone, although that hour long drive home with the dreaded pink slip still crumpled in my hand - cell phone-less, laptop-less, jobless - was one of the longest and loneliest I've endured in recent history.

So now I'm a blogger. Who-da-thunk it? Me. Blogging. Humpff. You would think my Communications Degree from UMass would've made this an obvious turn of events. I still can't say blog without letting out an adolescent guffaw of derision. Me. Blogging. Yeah right.

I figure after almost 15 years on the techie treadmill, I might have another trick or two up my sleeve. Turns out I do. I can do what all good unemployed designers/ engineers do - consult. Yup. To err is human, but to really gum things up, you need a consultant. That's me. I figure I've seen enough creative systems installed over the years, and I have frequently been the cavalry when the pieces start to unravel - or worse, never worked in the first place. I always say that letting sales people "design" a technology system is like building a house without an architect. It's always good to have a fresh, unfettered perspective on things. I don't care who has a sales quota to meet. I only care that the sound system has exquisite fidelity and that the video is sharp. But more on all of that in future blogs. Check out my website for more info on my company: Norseman AV Technology Design (rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it? See comment about consultants above.)

In future rants, er, posts, I will discuss the emergence of the new digital technologies and what that means to the little people. I will also get into discussing, ad nauseum, Green Technology, or, using technology to go green. Sound like an oxymoron. It doesn't have to be, but the up front design work is the key. Check out Project Green AV for more info there.

So until next time, keep a wary eye on anyone that wants to sell you anything. Remember Beta tapes? Sure you do.

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