sup

Wawaweewa!

What’s she so excited about?  Lunch?  Nap time?  Shiny thing?

How about a giant ass Snickers?  Kablammo shazammo.

I didn’t bring it home with me.  Seemed excessive.  But one had to admire a pound of candy.  I bet it really satisfies.  And eventually nauseates.

Yeah, that’s little Avery Peppermint strapped to my chest in the background.  Slept through the whole thing.  It’s what she does.  But that’s cool.  There isn’t much you can say about the K-Mart experience that’s really worth being present for.  Which probably explains why so many K-Mart Shoppers™ seem like zombies.

Why aren’t there more baby clothes consignment stores?  Why isn’t there a baby clothes recycling operation online?  Baby Gap clothes are made well enough to go through at least three babies.  They only wear them for three months, then they’re up a size.  Premium brands would go even further.  Look, here’s the model, for free.  You don’t have to give me a dime.  Build a nice simple searchable interface.  Let people sell for free.  Let people buy for free.  Buyers pay the shipping, all flat rate USPS.  Colour photos welcome.  Add a forum for product reviews.  The whole site is user-moderated.  What’s the revenue model, you ask?  Where do I start?  Sidebar ads.  Embedded links.  Premium services like storefronts and priority notifications.  Build it and they will come.  I know because we’ve been looking.  Huge blue ocean market.  Used frickin baby stuff, dude.

The last thing I need is another business idea to work on with all my spare time.  So this one is up to somebody else.

It’s now December 9.  In ten days we’re Canada-bound for the Xmassing.  All sorts of things happening between now and then of course, but it’s bright on the radar.  You can hear the sleigh bells jingling.  Actually, you really can.  We bought some for the Christmas pillar.  I heart xmas.  My girls do, too.  Sigh.  Happy.

However it happened, I got to spend a lot of today with an adorable baby in my arms.  Sure, she was squawking for some of it, but it was all quality time.  She’s very communicative.  In the sense that she talks a lot.  What she’s saying is a bit of a mystery, but I’m sure we’ll work it out.  Video shuts her up.  Doubly so for video of her being talkative.  Interesting.  I wonder if she knows what she’s saying in them.  And yes, we played some Christmas music, and we liked it.  So screw you, Scrooges.  It’s all good in moderation.

She almost rolled over today.  From her back.  She hasn’t quite negotiated the shoulder yet, but the days of safely stepping away from the changing table are fading fast.

When I wasn’t holding a baby, I worked on CBcom a bit.  I set up the next newsletter for premium subscribers, but I’ll hold off sending it til Monday to give Chris a chance to include a personal message.  The site is doing really well now that it’s been rebuilt from scratch.  Can’t even tell you what a boondoggle the last site was.  Enough said on that subject.  The new site is great.

The meeting I was supposed to have with the tech/design school didn’t happen – I gave her the wrong number.  Proofread, people.  For the love of all that is holy.  Proofread.  So we rescheduled for Monday, no worries.  Dang it.

That did free up a few minutes to tinker with a new Twitter account – Voicemail From God.  Check it out.  I suggest starting at the beginning.  There’s a bit of a narrative there.  Wait til you see where it’s going.  Such nonsense.  Irreverent, unapologetic, all in good fun comedy nonsense.  You have been warned.

Marjorie said earlier that she wishes she could get paid to cruise Facebook and write tweets.  Not even a week ago she was talking about starting a mommyblog, and you can make a comfortable living doing that, so, to her I say, en garde.  On the other hand, we haven’t actually made any money as Chaos yet.  Not with our own creative work, anyway.  We’ve contributed to all sorts of wonderful work by other people.  Nevertheless, one feels a certain pressure to validate.

It’s coming.  And it’s frickin awesomecore.

Speaking of amazing creations, I should resist the urge to put my daughter’s adorable face to work, right?  She’s a gorgeous girl, and I (like every parent, I suppose) am sure she could do well as… I don’t know… the next face of Gerber, or Baby Gap, or whatever.  I just don’t think I want to put her on that ride.  Or us.  Celebribaby parents can be horrible people, subjecting their kids to all sorts of unhappy conditions, not least of which is the schedule.  Or the utter abandonment of routine.  Kids need a certain amount of routine.  Structure.  It makes them feel safe and gives them room to grow.  So… I don’t think I’ll submit too many pictures of her to too many contests.  Not too many.

What a doll, though.  If she keeps these eyes I am going to have to lock her up in the attic until her 21st birthday.  If they do change to brown I will settle for sending her to school with a bag over her head.

I wonder if that’s how it all started out there in the Middle East?  Being facetious, of course.

Well, here’s hoping your Friday was super great, and that your weekend will multiply your happiness.  Merry Christmas.  Happy Holidays.  May the spirit of the season infuse your loins with the passion of thirteen storms.  And stuff.

Check out my reindeer feets!

She loves them.  Today was the first time I’ve seen her make any effort whatsoever to engage with her feet.  Way too much work for not enough return, historically.  But footsies with antlers are apparently a motivator for exploration.

The Chaos session was a fun one today (though they always are).  We are tearing ourselves apart trying to decide which project to throw our energy at next – the zombie love story, or the praying mantis story?  They are both strong ideas.  Both are pretty much ready to shoot.  The idea is that we actually shoot and produce something of our own here, because a team needs big visible wins they can point to with pride.  So, unable to decide, we are going to do both.  I’m pretty sure we can shoot both in three days, and wrap post (for both) in two weeks working around other commitments.  No, I’m not producing in a third world country that has no labor laws.  They’re charming little shorts.  Well, one is charming.  The other carries a bit of wow factor.  Both, then, are deserving, and relatively bite-size compared to our usual megaliths.  We’re thinking of tackling this fabulous project in late January, depending on our access to talent and makeup.  Matt’s talking about coming down for it, which is entirely appropriate.  It would be a terrific way for us to start the year.  And I need to see something out there with our name on it that isn’t a showpiece for someone else’s brand.  Let’s be awesome for us.  So – my promise to you – look forward to seeing a bit of what the Chaos Complex can do this February.

Meanwhile, on the app side, I have a meeting tomorrow with a tech/design school to explore the possibilites in their internship and post-grad hiring programs.  This is not something I have done before.  I have only the most cursory knowledge of how internship works anywhere, much less here in New York.  And while we’re not looking to hire a full-fledged team member out of the gate, we are looking to find a good match, so that they can evolve into the position – a position which will shortly carry a title like CTO of a multi-million dollar international corporate entity.  A good fit is absolutely vital.  No pressure.

Hey – are you sure you don’t know anyone who can work in a cross-platform Adobe Air environment?  Seriously, this is a huge opportunity.  Chuck me some names.  They will love you for it.

Time for sleep.  Lots going on.  Lots to think about.  Such as: what if my first novel writing project is the Haunted Fortune story line?  I wonder if it’s strong enough to get an unknown writer published?  Hmm.

Pondery.  Very pondery.

Oh – important for Twitterheads (twerps?) – go follow @BeepGodCalling.  You’ll be glad you did.