brian clegg

Waiting for some friends to show up in Austin. It's 10.30am but a beautiful day already, so I'm going to go sit by the pool. I'll be here for 11 more days and then back in Calgary for at least a couple of months.

As previously mentioned, I had a great meeting for Game Plan Systems on Tuesday. I was also able to stop in and chat with my client the Calgary International Film Festival. Aside from those 2 projects, I'm not too sure how much I want to get back involved with web marketing. It's not that I don't love the industry, but the hard part is that from a service provider standpoint it is a real grind. Sites like Clients from Hell illustrate the lack of respect for people in our industry. We don't sell anything tangible - we sell ideas, pretty pictures and lines of code - and I can understand where clients are coming from when dealing with us. I'm as guilty as anyone - when dealing with contractors I am bound by the limits of my budget and although I always try to be as fair as possible, often it is hard to justify paying as much as is asked for when there is such a variance in the outcome.

So my number one goal is still to make Game Plan's hockey training and coaching software successful. Over the next couple of months there is a lot I can do in Calgary to continue towards that objective. Beyond that, I'm wondering about the best place for me to be. New York was light years ahead of Calgary in fostering web entrepreneurship and my understanding is that San Francisco is even better. However, this is not possible due to visa restrictions - I will need some other work until Game Plan is self-sufficient and I can't do that in the US without a visa.

Toronto has a hotter hockey market and is on the East coast (which makes it closer to the important markets of NY, Boston and Montreal). Vancouver has a hotter interactive market than Calgary and is closer to Seattle and SF. Calgary has been home for a long time and it is a good hockey market and there is promise on the interactive front but I also have this Mashable article about the time-honored location, location, location in the back of my mind.

So now I'm going to put that in my brain-hole, take my orange book and sit by the pool for 3 hours. Sunburns await.

I'm going to squeeze all the motherfucking juice out of this orange!

This book talks about an iconoclast being someone who does something that everyone else says can't be done. I've always seen myself that way, and those are the expectations that people have placed on me. I would say so far I have not lived up to those expectations - in fact it hasn't even been close. I think a lot of entrepreneurs probably feel like an iconoclast, beating their heads against a wall for years on end, and putting everything on the line when nobody else sees what you see. Certain things happen along the way that validate that you are on the right track, but more often than not there are stumbling blocks and challenges that will cause you to fail and possibly give up completely along the way. A very small percentage are able to make it to the other side... it's a stressful existence and can be especially stressful for those in their life.

I've been working on Game Plan Systems for over 8 years now. Not full-time, straight through. During a few years it was nothing more than a support phone call and renewing some hosting services. However, other times it included 90 hour work weeks and the most stressful situations imaginable. Now we are up and running and there is more promise than ever for something that was nothing more than a lark a few years ago. Promise isn't success though, and there is a way to go before we are a legitimate success.

The introduction of the book opens with an anecdote about Howard Armstrong. In short, the story describes an event that happens 14 years after Armstrong proved to his friend (the head of RCA) that his invention, FM radio, was superior to AM. The thing was that RCA was heavily invested in AM radio, so Armstrong not only lost his friendship but also ended up banging his head against the wall for 14 years trying unsuccessfully to make a business out of his invention. The event that happened 14 years later was Armstrong jumping out his apartment window, committing suicide after not being able to make a living out of one of the greatest and most essential inventions of the 20th century. His wife ended up selling the patent to RCA a year later for $1m, but lost a husband and probably sold for far too little.

I value my life way too much to consider what Armstrong did as a viable option, but as an entrepreneur I can certainly relate to the struggle. I often wonder why I'm 'blowing my brains out' over something that carries only a potential payoff down the road. Ultimately, I wouldn't want it any other way though. I like taking the risk, even if it never works out... it's about the journey, not the destination right?

Anyways, I take any kind of self-help book with extreme grains of salt. But I am hoping to take one or two useful bits of advice out of this book which will make me a more effective iconoclast.

I'll let you know if it's worth the read. Stay tuned!

Forgot to mention that the highlight of the trip back from Spain was getting to watch yet another Gervais comedy on the plane - The Invention of Lying. Was great as expected. Jim Gaffigan and Louis CK had solid supporting roles. It wasn't as good as Ghost Town, but entertaining nonetheless.

Also - the flight reinforced my love for British Airways. A top-notch company.

Another side note, while I'm thinking of it... I really had a chance to bond with the guy I was staying with in Spain over my last couple of days there. He sent me a couple of messages on Facebook after I left. He's a really good guy and has a similar outlook on life to me. I hope I get to run in to him again as he'd be a great guy to travel with. Definitely wish him luck with everything he's doing.

I essentially started out my blog with a post about my top 10 movies of 2009. I noted that I hadn't yet seen Fantastic Mr. Fox or Moon. I saw the latter about a week ago and just finished watching Moon. Both were great - and I was right that both belong on the top 10 of '09 (I'm just not sure who they would replace). With his performance in Moon, and previous efforts in Matchstick Men, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Frost vs. Nixon and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Sam Rockwell is becoming one of my favorite actors. In every movie I've seen him in, he's always one of the most interesting characters.

This is my "colour". I demand a recount.

Find out yours at: http://www.colorstrology.com/

When I was growing up my favorite comic was Far Side, followed by Calvin & Hobbes, Bloom County/Outland, and Fox Trot (in that order). All of them had the perfect blend of awkward social situations, nerdiness, and (with the exception of Fox Trot) complex questions made digestible by self-aware animals.

Not that I read a ton of comics, but those are still my all-time favorites... and aside from some funny stuff like xkcd and Bob the Angry Flower, I haven't really found anything that could rise to that level. Garfield minus Garfield definitely fits, but aside from the concept (which really is the funny part of the whole series), it is hardly an original piece of work.

A trending topic in Reddit this morning was the question of how many people under 30 knew (and loved) Far Side. That in itself is an interesting question. Comics which pre-dated my childhood, such as Archie and Peanuts, were still around when I was growing up - but those are comics that I still see in reprint today, unlike Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes (which I'm more likely to see resurrected in a powerpoint presentation).

Anyways, discussed in the Reddit thread was one of Gary Larsen's contemporaries & influences - B. Kliban, who was a cartoonist for Playboy and created the Cats cartoon which were on all the Hawaiian Crazy Shirts back in the day. Apparently Kliban invented the 1 panel comic which people like Gary Larsen and Jim Unger (Herman) made famous.

I looked up some of Kliban's shit - pretty impressive. I'm going to stick it in my humor section.

Aside from taking 2 naps and trying to figure out how and when I'm going to Morocco - not a lot was accomplished today.

However, I did learn one new thing. There are orange trees all over the place here... I looked it up and they are Clementines.

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Was watching the above video the other day and made me think of my top films from last year. In no particular order, I was able to come up with 10:

Avatar
District 9
Watchmen
Star Trek
Hurt Locker
White on Rice
Where the Wild Things Are
Up
Inglorious Bastards
Zombieland

For being great for what they were, honorable mentions to: Coraline, Dead Snow, Art & Copy, I Love You Man.

Missing are Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moon - both of which I have yet to see, but I have a feeling would make the list.