Scout for Success

I Love My Work!

One of the beauties of being a website designer and content developer for small businesses is that I literally learn something (and often many things) new with each project.  Over the years I’ve worked in various capacities on websites for master knife makers, a knife collector and merchant, a storm water treatment specialist, a company that makes train signals, assorted doctors and surgeons, a vintage amplifier afficianado, a “film noir”-style portrait photographer, accountants and IT specialists, an all-camoflauge product retailer (from baby doll nighties to bathroom scales), a “cozy mysteries” book reviewer, a painting contractor, an interior designer, landscape specialists, a fence builder, a healthcare staffing company and, most recently, a master leathersmith and online retailer of steampunk accessories - Steambaby.net

My interest was piqued from the start on this one.  Owner Doug “Mac” McGowan of Salem, OR, had updated a mutual friend on his latest creative venture and I was intrigued enough to do some steampunk research.  The more I learned, the more interested I became.  Though I may offend steampunk purists, if such folks exist, I would describe the genre as a cross between Jules Verne-style fantasy, Victoriana, and obsession with steam-powered, eclectic, retro-industrial mechanics and gadgetry (spanning several eras and some dubious scientific disciplines), coupled with creative adaptations of aviator / Edwardian / American Indian / explorer attire.  Kind of like whirling Sherlock Holmes, Indiana Jones, Dr. Who, H.G. Wells and assorted other writers, begoggled aviators and turn-of-the 19th century mercenaries (along with a few belly dancers) in a blender and coming up with an unusual and potent concoction.  I got so creatively fired up that, unsolicited and unbeknownst to Doug, I pulled an overnighter crafting the website design that is now Steambaby.net and sent it off to him the next day.  I’m happy to say that he liked it, too.  Take a look - and a listen, specifically to band Abney Park’s “Airship Pirates” video at the top right of the Resources page.  What adventurers amongst us can resist these sentiments, as expressed by Captain Robert, the band’s lead singer and airship commander:

“With a crew of drunken pilots
We’re the only airship pirates
We’re full of hot air and we’re starting to rise
We’re the terror of the skies, but a danger to ourselves now”

Enjoy!

High Summer

It’s that time of year, when the trees are the deepest darkest, green they will be, before the first tiny splashes of color begin to appear.  This month is like a tranquil, sun-dappled porch in the late afternoon, lazy when we take the time to stop and enjoy, lazy and slow with time to watch the twilight fall and the shadows lengthen, time to see the sun go down, as the streetlight on the corner flickers first then settles to a steady glow.

Of Mastadons and Voting Booths…

It was 5:57 a.m. as I stood in line outside the designated polling place in the beautiful forest preserve near my home.  Dozens of people had arrived before me, and talked quietly or sipped their morning coffee as we waited for the appointed 6 a.m. opening.  The sun was rising up beyond the groves of trees and its light silhouetted the stone statue of a large Ice Age mastadon a short distance away from the winding sidewalk, poised as if to take a curious step closer to the small, white-gabled discovery museum where voting would take place. 

Not to delve too deeply into allegorical symbolism, the scene still gave me pause to think about the import and impact of today’s election.  For the past month or more (and many would say far longer) leading up to today it has felt as though our nation was collectively slowing down, almost grinding to a halt.  Those are disconcerting circumstances for a people, a country and economy as vital, tumultuous and contentious as ours.  Small business owners, in particular, have seemed to be locked in some parody of the statue maker game we played as children, business plans and marketing initiatives frozen on the drawing board while we wait to see “what happens.”

Well, “what happens” happens today.  Hopefully, like the Prince’s fairy tale kiss, the Election will break the spell and allow the innate energy, vitality and gumption of the American voters, the people who do the real work of making the country run, to start flowing again - regardless of who wins.

Stand up and be counted - VOTE!

Thank You, Studs

Studs Terkel

Social Historian
 May 16, 1912 - October 31, 2008

• WFMT Radio - Best of Studs Terkel
• Official Studs Terkel Website sponsored by The Chicago Historical Society