I’ve mentioned before my attempts to suss out a philosophy of marketing. I’ve got plenty of sussing left to do, but some central principles are becoming relatively clear.

Central principle number one? Be remarkable. Be worthy of remark.

Easy enough to say, I know. But I’m not so sure it’s actually that hard [...]

Ever since jotting down a few observations on theater’s crappy business model, I’ve found myself mildly obsessed with finding a solution to the problem of funding theater.

Why?

I’m not sure. Because I love it, I guess. Because although I’m not convinced the arts are strictly necessary, I am convinced they’re one way we make [...]

The Everyman Theatre is one of the best theaters in Baltimore. They make great art. They consistently sell out their shows. Everyman gets big props.

They also just climbed on board the Twitter wagon.

Now, I’ve got nothing but love for Everyman. And there’s nothing really wrong about how they’re using Twitter. [...]

Seen in Boston:

5 cent consultations!

What happens when you don’t start a software project looking at it from the user’s perspective?

This happens:

I tried once or twice to press this point when I was serving my brief stint in the security world. Unfortunately I didn’t have much clout with the big names of SELinux, because I’ve never been a “real” [...]

Amazon updated their software since last year. They found room to squeeeeeze in one more letter:

Eventually they might notice the vast expanse of empty space and go for another two or three letters.

You thought I forgot, didn’t you? Nah, I’ve just been busy. Self-employment has a way of occupying more hours than normal employment. But I have it here, right on my to-do list: “FINISH RUSSIA BLOG”. So let’s take a dip into day eight.

In referring to my notes for day eight, [...]

Today’s our last day; we leave tomorrow morning.

So sad.

I’ve only made it through half our time here on the ol’ blag, but I’ll get to the rest eventually. Just not while we’re here.

In the meantime: NO PRANCING.

(Image credit for prancing man: Andrew’s sister Jane. I never managed to grab this shot while in [...]

Day three was pretty quiet. Owing to the perfection of the weather we decided just to head out to one of the parks, accompanied by some chocolate croissants.

A sixteenth-century church. One of the few with a tent-style top.

Tonight we get on a night train bound for St. Petersburg and points north. We [...]

Well, let’s get this photo out of the way right out of the gate:

Red Square at twighlight, trying not to look exhausted.

We arrived at around 4 AM our time, and stumbled into the puddly, smokey Moscow airport in a daze of excitement and slight trepidation. Apart from a sour young customs lady who snapped [...]