The odds of a U.S. resident getting killed by terrorism from Islamic extremists are roughly the same as dying in a bathtub.
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“No, thanks, I’m pretty sure I’m allergic.”
“Well, they say the proper body-mass index is…”
I am, oddly, almost apologetic to note in this space that I have little to report personally on the storm.
My family was out of town for the weekend ahead of Sandy’s arrival; we cut our trip short for safety purposes, got home Sunday evening with a responsible amount of food and bottled water, stormproofed the windows a bit, filled the bathtub, checked our flashlights and candles, and put the kids to bed. Then we watched TV and Twitter for a few hours, cast a wary eye at the wind-rattled windows, and went to bed ourselves as the flooding crested. We woke up to normal power and water while most of the region lacked one or both. Today we walked around a bit, hung out, took something of a family day. Could be a lot worse.
Which is not to say things are perfect. I’m way behind on my work. Our child care situation this week is going to be interesting. But relatively speaking, we came out great. I can only hope my friends and colleagues in less fortunate areas emerge as well in the coming days.
Tomorrow I report to a conference room at a sister company for what hopes to be a productive day at work. My team dealt with multiple deadlines this afternoon, many of them working through power outages. Life goes on. Even when it’s wet, and dark, and strange.
A few days ago my last company disappeared.
Well, not exactly disappeared and not exactly a few days ago. But in a press release dated Monday, the ecommerce shop I founded, Canopy Commerce, was rebranded and folded back into its parent company, Alexander Interactive.
Canopy lasted roughly two years and built a successful portfolio of client work. We launched some pretty good stuff, frankly (“incredible success,” per the press release) and had a pretty good time doing so. Several Canopy employees rolled into Ai with the name change, ensuring a smooth transition.
Back in 2010, when I was creating Canopy with Ai’s owners, I advocated having a business unit and not a standalone company, so I am neither shocked nor disappointed that Canopy is now Ai-branded. My CEO role wasn’t filled after I left, so this is a logical step.
I have been thinking a lot about this, though, and about the ephemeral nature of employment in general. I now have worked for three companies whose names no longer exist, not to mention my own currently dormant consulting shop. While one former employer became a client of mine, 13 years later, I’m at the point where I don’t even know how to refer to some others.
For better or worse, people identify heavily with the work they do and where they do it. I typically recite with pride the places I’ve been, which is made harder when they disappear. It’s a little soulless, a little confusing, a little disjointed. People’s recall lessens. Web searches become less fruitful. LinkedIn profiles get messy. (I rolled up my Canopy title into Ai on my profile, for example.)
This is the nature of the business world, of course. I should be used to it as someone who specializes in Internet projects, where entire companies can disappear in a click; even my own website archives are full of missing files. But employers gone missing resonates in a different way.
Farewell, Canopy. We had an interesting run.
Nate, holding an Elmo doll: “Eli, look! Who is this?”
Eli: “Elmuh.”
Nate: “Who is this?”
Eli: “Elmuh.”
Nate: “Say it one more time and you can have him.”
Eli: [blinks]
Nate: “Eli, who is this?”
Eli: “Elmuh!”
Nate: “Right, Eli, very good! Here you go.”
Seems my work here is done.
For all the noise he makes about the Nets, Jay-Z’s stake in the team is 0.067%. (It looks to have been a million-dollar buy-in.) He also has 0.2% ownership of the new Barclays Arena.
Behold: the Fisher-Price Apptivity Case, a protective baby-friendly cover for your iPhone.
I’m a digital guy, have been since I got an Atari as a second-grader. I now have two kids that can’t help but see my TV set, laptop, iPad, iPhone, iPod. They think it’s fascinating and fun.
So I did what any responsible parent should do. I downloaded and tested some age-appropriate apps and let my older son explore. The iPad and iPhone are genius devices in their usability, with their clutter-free fascia and immersive interfaces. So now the gadget is teaching the boy animals, colors, shapes, letters, memory retention and matching, spatial relations, you name it. We also set up guidelines: no screens between breakfast and dinner, no YouTube (Thomas the Tank Engine snuff films! who knew?), you have to play out difficult boards and not quit things quickly, etc.
That boy is now 4 and is as digitally savvy as anyone his age. He’s also wicked good at memory matching games, he can write his letters in capitals and lowercase, and he plays sophisticated games like Flow, Trainyard and Rush Hour better than many adults. Heck, he figured out how to unlock the home screen at 21 months. And he still loves his real-world toys, crayons and books.
Done right, gadgets are as wondrously useful for young people as they are for adults.
My baby boy is 15 months and dying to play with the iPhone. Right now he only gets glimpses when his big brother is engaged. Soon enough, Eli, soon enough.
Stuff I carried around Hong Kong as I explored on my first trip there, October 2000:
- Map
- Camera
- Guidebook/phrase book
- Magazine (for reading while on trains, at lunch, etc.)
- Handwritten sheet of destinations
- Nokia 8290 cell phone
Stuff I carried around Hong Kong as I explored last week:
- iPhone
Hopeful female lead sleeps with director
Director tries to sleep with other hopeful female lead
The better actress wins top billing
The better actress loses top billing to the ingenue
Both actresses lose top billing to Big Name Star
Ingenue returns to bucolic country home, finds inspiration
Big Name Star can’t sing, burns out, quits show
Ingenue steals female lead’s side job
Spurned female lead contemplates suicide
Writer sleeps with male lead
Writer’s marriage breaks up
Writer’s marriage attempts reconciliation
Assistant keeps secrets
Assistant tries to bribe someone
Show loses funding
Show regains funding
Composer finds love
Composer loses love
Composer finds truer love
Ingenue faces pressure from impatient boyfriend
Producer and composer hate each other
Producer and composer find detente
Teenager gets busted on drug charges
Teenager briefly goes missing, but comes back
Everyone gets jealous of the relationship their partners have with the show instead of them
In my limited forays into politics, I have in this space previously noted my support for Barack Obama (moreso in 2008 than 2012, but still) and my heartfelt support of gay rights and gay marriage and my frustration in this country’s resistance to its obviousness. So today is a particularly gratifying moment, as I can note that Barack Obama, too, supports gay marriage.
That this comes a day after North Carolina residents banned gay marriage in all its forms makes this news all the more enjoyable. Fifty years ago many Americans were against civil rights for African-Americans, too. As Dave Pell noted in his NextDraft newsletter today, “History’s march towards equal rights often feels inevitable, but it can really take a long time.” Yesterday we slowed down, and today we sped up again.
Next Saturday I am attending a wedding party for my gay friends Chris and Stuart, who are getting married at City Hall, because as New Yorkers they thankfully can do so. I couldn’t be happier for them, or more supportive of their right to be married. And I am glad that the President of the United States of America feels the same way.