I had a really fascinating conversation yesterday with a co-worker sparked by her surprise that I went and saw Barbershop (which has a pretty cool movie site). She is black, and I am white. She was surprised that I went to see a “black” movie and really enjoyed the “black humor”. I had the frustrating realization that my attitude toward black people is as much a matter of not growing up in a very mixed neighborhood, to not making a lot of friends with black people, to listening to rap music, but not really “understanding it”. It’s not that I am consciously different. It’s that I am subconciously different. Likewise, I’m fascinated by my co-workers point of view having lived in Europe for some of her life. She’s used to people being judged by different points of view, not different skin colors.

So her struggle in fitting in with the American “Black Community” is to pass judgement the way they do. Her opinion differs with that community oftentimes. This is a theme hammered upon in the movie. It is only within the context of the Barbershop that the black people voiced an opinion that differed from the Black Community at large. My co-worker’s story of black people she knows being offended by these opinions-like Rosa Parks not being any more influential than any other black person that got kicked off a bus in the 60’s, illustrates the homogenous opinion sometimes offered by the Black Community.

My struggle is to understand others in a much more meaningful way. Specifically, understanding the roots of modern attitudes about each other that goes beyond the civil rights movement. If anyone has some good reading on any issues surrounding this topic, let me know. By the end of the conversation I was convinced that she is a human, and so am I. Our struggles are humaan ones, not black and white ones.

Saturday was awesome! Jim and I went to 5 movies in 10 hours.
(1) Red Dragon ** VERY similar to Hannibal.
(2) My Big Fat Greek Wedding *** Funny chick flick. Can’t beat lamb on a spit in the front yard.
(3) Sweet Home Alabama **Boring chick flick. Need some lamb on a spit in the front yard.
(4) Barbershop ****The only unique thing I saw all day. Ice Cube rules, and so does the guy that looks like Frederick Douglas.
(5) Road to Perdition *Don’t even bother. No lambs, no spits, no front yards. No fun to watch.

We topped off the night with my first White Castle ever. Those little mousemeat burgers may NEVER enter my body again.

Here’s a shout out to my dad who turns 50 today. I hope I will have acomplished as much as he has when I’m 50. 2 kids out of the house, 1 VP job, 4 classic cars, 1 five car garage, and a new habit – car racing. Mid-life doesn’t sound too bad. Happy birthday dad. I miss you! Here was his gift. A logo for his new habit:

I just have networking so on my mind. The Chicago UPA meeting last night was interesting. I walked into a crowd of Usability people and learned about the history of the UPA, of which we are starting a Chicago Chapter. I might event join the organization.

I’m struck by networking right now both from a personal quest, and because we’re working on a project at TMP that is closely related. I’m not a networker. I don’t know how to “work a crowd” in a professional/meaningful way. I walk into a room of strangers – of people whose sole interest similar to mine is what we do for a living. I figured I’d be the guy who would go and just sit in a chair and eat the sucky finger food that was to serve as my dinner.

But, something happened. “Jerry” from GM Locomotive came up to me and started a chat on usability in trains. So, now I know a train guy. Then, out of the corner of my eye I saw Brain Joosse from Technotribe. I knew Brian because a coworker referred me to him after my dotcom bombed. Brian interviewed me to freelance with his little virtual multimedia – web company. Come to find out he is living the dream of working from home in a virtual company. I could have talked to him for a few hours. But this is the essence of networking. I don’t even need to read a book that I’ve been meaning to get to written by a client of our dotbomb.

And isn’t a blog a great form of networking? Uh, yeah. In a totally non-threatening way, you can read someone’s history of thought, and who they know, and what they like, and what they link to. Anyone of these things can spark a connection with someone much more naturally than any message board, or even real personal contact. Personal contact is flawed in that you can’t review someone’s history based on what they are talking about at the moment. Think of how many Starbuck clerks would actually offer a mutually beneficial relationship, if only you knew that once they had lived in Western New York, and rooted for the Bills. Read others’ blogs. It’s Blogworking baby!

I’m heading to the inaugural meeting of the Chicago UPA tonight. I’m all for making websites usable, and networking with other Usabiligeeks. I’m thinking there probably won’t be much learning going on. More like “What do we want to name the group?” Oh well. Everything starts small.

GotFreshmen?–Yeah, last night was our first Quest meeting. 12 Freshmen and their parents all in our house. We even roasted marshmallows and hot dogs in our fireplace. I’m loving being able to make an impression on these “kids”…

YouAreAnAnimal— Come to find out, Interaction Designers are sexy beasts. Mark got married this weekend. I don’t even know Wendy, cause I’ve only met Mark in person once. But, he’s the second of our fine TMP trio to be hitched. Is Walt next?

BloggerForHire?–It’s pretty interesting that there may be room in this world for Professional Bloggers. This site makes it pretty clear that BlogMonster is right around the corner. I have some serious questions about the professionalization of something that was supposed to be empowering to the everyday writer. Part of the fun of blogging is fooling yourself into thinking that a.) someone is reading your stuff, b.) you are writing in a “professional” enough style to make your opinions seem to matter, c.) you might someday be recognized by people in some community or other as the author of Magnetic Poetry. As soon as there are “Pros” doing this, it kinda takes the fun out of it. Suddenly news stories about blogging or “professional blogs” about blogging will begin to refer only to themselves. Only professional blogs will be blogs of interest.

I wonder if that is the nature of things though. In the beginning of the web, people could express themselves through web pages, and even the suckiest sites were getting lots of love. As the medium matured, the only sites that got any play were the ones that were done by professionals, or came off as “professional”. I think, in a way, that is what drew me to becoming a web professional. I wanted to be able to express myself in the medium in a way that would still warrant other people’s attention. It remains to be seen, as I’m only a few months into this blogging thing, if I will wish to hone my skills enough to at least come off as “professional”. I’m curious to see how this thing becomes a part of my life…

SpeakingofOutstanding–My parents got to go to the Bills v. Bears game at Ralph Wilson Stadium. I got to spend the day nowhere near a tv or radio, but came home to the pleasant surprise of a Bills victory over the local Bears. Once again my flag was defaced, this time taken out of the falg pole holder and thrown on the ground. I can take it. Bring it on, oh fantom Bills Flag defacer. BRING IT ON!

Tricia and I spent a day away from baby to be with our “new kids”. 40 Freshmen on an hour bus ride to a teambuilding camp in the middle of nowhere. The girls were talking at about 150 lph¹ and the boys were throwing everything from food at each other to walnuts at trees. All in all it was fun. I can’t wait til they come over next weekend with their parents. Then we might have to start talking about God Stuff. Eeeewwww.

¹ Likes Per Hour. Example: “It’s like Jennifer and I are like going to the bathroom, and she was like eewww your hair is gross, and I was like, Jen we’re in the woods, duh…”