Category Archives: Commentary

Personal views of the post-er (sanctioned by Gabardine, of course).

The week that was, in 10 links or less

By Peter | Peter's articles December 11, 2010 | Permalink

It’s getting precariously close to the end of the year, and you know what that means: Weird-ass stuff happening on the regular. This ain’t Halloween, people; oh no… We’re talking weeks of the strange and barely believable building to a crescendo of wackiness. Consider this one.

  • If you’re one of those people who’s just down on the holidays in general, write a blues song about how you feel.
  • Sometimes we want to sing the blue about bad logos. Other times, we want to scream.
  • Speaking of screaming, those kids in London seem a bit miffed.
  • On the flip side, even life’s injustices can’t keep this kid from shaking his groove thing in anticipation of St. Nick. (FFW to 3:30)
  • Know who could use a visit from the the jolly fat man? The folks with the worst bathroom in NYC. (Provided that man is a licensed plumber.)
  • Plumbing makes us think of leaks—Wikileaks, that is, and the people/hackers who defend it in all sorts of nefarious ways.
  • And while there’s nothing particularly nefarious about the Chinese knockoff peace prize, it does seem completely contrived.
  • What’s not contrived is this woman’s stellar concept and execution of a desaturated Santa.

Surely you’ve noticed some oddball stuff happening already this holiday season, so why not tell us all about it…?

The week that was, in 10 links or so

By Jonathan | Jonathan's articles December 2, 2010 | Permalink

We’re finally coming down off our respective tryptophan binges and getting back into the Friday swing of things…

  • So there was that Wikileaks thing. And, in related news, that molestation thing.
  • Not quite as naughty but still infuriating are some of the return policies Consumer Reports thinks you should be aware of. Yes, Virginia, there are nice ones, too ;-)
  • While we’re on the infuriating tip (and as more holiday gorging looms large), you might be interested to know that suggested cooking times are, in the words of one expert chef “utter bullsh&%.”
  • Sounds like a quote from the late, great Leslie Nielsen, who’s passing leaves us to ponder his legacy, as well as Laurence Olivier’s.
  • One thing we don’t have to think about is which shipping method to use this holiday since, apparently, each one sucks.
  • Maybe the folks who work for those companies are just too busy translating shipping addresses — and getting their groove on.
  • Or perhaps their catching up on the year’s top searches according to: Yahoo!, Bing, Google

You’ve probably got some favorite searches and/or links of your own.

Do tell…!

The week that was, in 10 links or less

By Jonathan | Jonathan's articles October 22, 2010 | Permalink

And now, the international edition…

  • A 20-year old Mexican criminology student is now police chief of drug-cartel controlled Praxedis Guadalupe Guerrero. We don’t know about her qualifications, but those glasses make her look very intelligent.
  • South Africa has little use for World Cup stadiums. Where the hell is Bono when you need him?
  • Apple pie wedding cakes: Mickey-D’s in Hong Kong introduces extra value nuptials.
  • A McDonalds in the Netherlands, on the other hand, offers its customers a different experience to get you all misty.
  • ‘Come here and tell us what we should do to make you want to come here,’ says Japan. We say ‘It’s your crab vending machines.’
  • Some Canadians think soup is subversive. We think they should be more concerned with their other exports.
  • Speaking of bias, venerated NPR reporter Juan Williams is fired. (We know that’s not exactly international news, but it’s incendiary enough to turn into it…)
  • He might have fared better if he branded himself Juan Juan. Just sayin’

Phew! 10 exactly. But we’re sure you’ve got a few to add. So have at it.

Website development 101

By Mary | Mary's articles October 21, 2010 | Permalink

Website development 101

Sometimes the whole client-agency thing doesn’t work out. For any number of reasons which may or may not include some combination of capabilities, personalities, experience and halitosis, it’s just not a good fit. We’re cool with that.

SchlitzSometimes, though, there’s more to it. Like when a client perceives Website design and development as a commodity on the order of hand soap or puffed rice cereal. If that’s you, that’s fine. We won’t try to convince you otherwise or bore you with talk of user-centered design and hand-crafted XTHML and CSS. Nope, we’ll just assume that you’re more than okay with paying your wayward brother-in-law a thousand clams and a case of Schlitz to create your site.

Before you he fires up his pirated version of Photoshop, though, make him read this quick primer on how Websites should get built, start to finish. It won’t guarantee you don’t get screwed, but it might help stem the tide of canned templates, co-opted design and inferior experiences. (We do what we can.)

Step 1: Discovery

Put down the mouse. This is thinky stuff. It’s about finding out what the site needs to do, based on a combination of business goals, competitive factors and customer needs. Assumptions are only OK when they are verified by research. Research that doesn’t include yelling a question across a crowded room and guesstimating results by a show of hands.

The business goals come from key client stakeholders; people who can weigh in on what content and/or functionality should be part of the experience, from the company’s perspective. Feedback from relatives of any sort and Magic 8 Balls don’t count.

Magic 8 ball

Do you think they'll like my website? "Highly unlikely"

Customer needs are really the most critical, since users are ultimately in control of the experience. Existing site analytics will provide insight into current user behaviors, but the best audience research includes actual customer interviews to learn what they expect the site to deliver. These interviews often yield incredibly valuable information beyond the questions themselves, because while a user can’t necessarily articulate the functionality they want, they can often describe the kind of information that’s important to them and how they’d like to receive it. If you choose to do nothing else—and that is completely likely—do this.

A comprehensive document known as a Requirements Analysis should synthesize all of this information and clearly articulate recommendations for what the site will be. You probably won’t do this. No, you definitely won’t.

Step 2: Information Architecture

Here’s where the site begins to take shape, by defining the navigation, content areas and functionality elements in the form of two foundational documents: The sitemap and wireframes. Think of these as blueprints; the sitemap provides a high-level, structural view of the main areas of content and how they relate to one another. The wireframes are detailed plans that show the priority of content and functionality on each page of the experience.

You don’t have to get all fancy schmancy here. Feel free to sketch it out on a piece of paper. Just don’t use the back of the FB quiz you printed out—clients don’t care what kind of Pokemon you are.

Pikachu car

Pikachu car

Neither the sitemap nor the wireframes are intended to show actual design, but they do inform it. (No, that’s not a haiku. Read on.)

Step 3: Content Audit

Together the Requirements Analysis and Information Architecture will provide an idea of the content that needs to be created. Beyond that, however, an audit is required to evaluate all content that exists to inform the IA, and identify where new content has to be created.

That new information should be developed alongside the visual design.

A word of caution: Don’t rip copy. The Google knows everything.

Step 4: Visual Design

Ideally, several different design comps will be created based on the sitemap and wireframes from step 2. These comps will typically go through a few rounds of revisions and reviews, with the client weighing in on branding, layout, etc. (Or, since you’re ‘the Web guy,’ your sis’s hubby probably just asked you handle everything; in which case, it’s best to use your favorite NFL team’s colors.)

The key is to ensure that each set of comps is faithful to the IA in terms of how information is organized and prioritized. That said, you’ll likely design one page and then copy that for every all the others. If your bro-in-law asks for changes, feel free to ignore him in favor of playing WoW. Who needs the hassle, right?

Once a design is approved, templates are created for different page types and prepared for the development team. This is the intersection of design and technology. It’s like the matrix, only with more Mountain Dew and Skittles.

Taste the rainbow

Candy? Or design inspiration?

Final deliverables for a web project range from a mixture of layered Photoshop files, a comprehensive style guide and CSS files. These documents work together to provide the dev team with clear instructions on how to setup the site’s technical environment and answer any lingering design questions.

Or you can fast-track the whole thing and ship your PSD file to one of those PSD-to-HTML services for $150. Same thing.

Step 5: Development

The technical side of Website development will have to be covered in a separate tutorial (don’t hold your breath), but suffice to say there are a myriad different ways a site can be coded. What’s important is that the dev team’s been involved with the project from the outset, reviewed all the relevant documentation (especially the RA, the IA and the visual design) and has an open line of communication with the design team.

In this case, since you are the team, you know the project inside and out. And if you haven’t already bailed on the project, you’ve purchased a stock template and modified it a little bit to appear less unoriginal. Either way, you’ve got some cash in your pocket, the client has a Website (sort of) and even if he doesn’t like it you don’t have to see him until the next family holiday. We know: Sweet.

The Woz

The Woz thinks you did a good job!

Next week’s lesson: Advanced banner looping techniques. (Just kidding. Teaching’s hard. We’re going back to creative.)

The Walled Garden is not just for stalker ex-girlfriends anymore.

By Darren | Darren's articles September 15, 2010 | Permalink

Get a lifeWe all know about social networks. They’ve been around for a while and most people are familiar with the 800 lb. gorilla that’s so massive it’s poised to rip the fabric of the Web itself. Social networks are still evolving though, and some niche players are adding new twists to the usual echo chambers.

First, a brief history lesson

One of the persistent myths about the Internet is that it was created to allow the free and unfettered transfer of information. In fact, it was originally funded by the military to create a robust, de-centralized network that could survive a nuclear attack by those pesky Russians.

The original internet browserIn the beginning, the barrier to entry was pretty high, in that you had to be familiar with a command line terminal and arcane Unix incantations to actually use it. So in a sense, only those with long beards and/or slide rules could take part. Once Sir Tim created the Web, however…well, it was on. Now, grandma could keep in touch with her knitting peeps in Saskatchewan while little Johnny got his freak on in Second Life. The Web would be an egalitarian wonderland where everyone spoke Esperanto, worked together for the common good and bought books from Jeff Bezos for cheap. Or at least that’s how everyone likes to spin it.

In reality, the social evolution of the Web followed a predictable pattern of human nature: Users started to form clubs, which were (as they are in the offline world) as much about exclusion as they were about connecting the ‘right sort of people’. The WELL enacted the digital equivalent of this in 1985, when it set out to be a “watering hole for some articulate and playful thinkers from all walks of life.” It wasn’t really exclusive; anyone could join as long as you were willing to use your real name—which was actually quite prescient. The polite term for clubs like this on the ‘net is virtual communities.

These days, virtual communities have morphed into social networks powered by social media Web apps, such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and others, many of which are highly specialized in their appeal. Hell, even programmers have GitHub, where they can store their source code and quibble with like-minded propeller heads about polymorphism and various other tradecraft.

The thing about most of these social networks is that they are true walled gardens. That is, you have to join in order to gain access, and then get permissions to go further. You can’t get much out of my Facebook profile, for example, unless I say you can, by adding you as a ‘friend.’ (Granted, this has much to do with the rather paranoid privacy settings I’ve enacted, but you get the idea.) Similarly, I have to accept you into my network on LinkedIn. Even GitHub makes you recite the proper incantations before you can see anything worthwhile. In short, anyone can join the ‘clubs’ to which I belong, but I have to explicitly grant you access to my profile (as more than one stalker ex-girlfriend has discovered.)

The triple double

Now, the graphic design cognoscenti has built a garden of its own, but with a narcissistic twist. I give you Dribbble. Built by Dan Cedarholm, it’s an invitation-only site for Web/graphic designers to share and comment on small images of works-in-progress. Members are given a few invitations, which they can bestow upon their friends. Getting a coveted invitation from Dribbble means you can upload your work and comment on other members’ work. Not having an invite means you can look all you want, but you can’t participate. This fulfills a very basic need for an artist: being seen.

Artists, myself included, are a little tetched. We make things and put them out into the world for  people to love—and we really want them to be loved. Dribbble not only helps satisfy this need, but also adds a sense of validation, as the work is displayed in an exclusive invite-only community. To the unwashed (read: unaffiliated) looking in from the outside, the message is clear: This must be the shit, since only the anointed get to play.

To be fair, many members of Dribbble—including some of my heroes—are at the top of their game in what passes for Web/graphic design in 2010. And I can understand the decision to limit the ability to comment as a means of weeding out trolls/keeping you connected to peers.

Deep into the trees

ForrstThe other player in this new space is Forrst, put together by Kyle Bragger. Forrst functions similarly to Dribbble in that you can post images of projects you’re working on. Additionally you can ask questions and also post code snippets. In this respect, Forrst functions more as a social network for Web creatives in general, both designers, coders and those who do both. Like Dribbble, it’s also invitation-only—but it’s a whole lot easier to get invited. You can register, for example, and potentially get an invite in a random drawing every week. Unlike Dribbble (and more like Facebook), you can prevent your work from being seen by non-members. In this respect, Forrst takes the essence of a programming Q&A site, like StackOverflow, and grafts on the Facebooky features that StackOverflow’s founder, Jeff Atwood, has adamantly refused to put into place. (Atwood has some pretty spot-on things to say about walled gardens in general.)

In the evolution of social sites, Dribbble and Forrst make sense. They’re custom built for communities that are ill-served by Facebook and LinkedIn. They also fulfill a need, especially for remote workers. If you’re a designer/coder working in Montana, you can now get a spot critique or reality check from a global community. However, the exclusive (some would say elitist) character of sites like Dribbble has started to cause some friction. Francisco Inchauste, a pretty talented designer himself, recently wrote an interesting blog post in which he noted a tendency for some of the better-known personalities on Dribbble to come down a little heavy on lesser players.

From a business perspective both sites are revenue generators for their founders. They take advertising and have plans for profitability (if they haven’t already achieved it). They’re meeting a need that hasn’t been met, so they will get an audience of some value to marketers. The big questions is: Will they grow to become vibrant communities of creative people living in a walled garden, or will they descend into cliques more reminiscent of Mean Girls?

Full disclosure: I’m a member of Forrst but not Dribbble. My jump shot’s pretty good, but not that good.

My Incredible Labor Day Weekend

By Cat | Cat's articles September 9, 2010 | Permalink

Like a lot of people, I use technology as a means to an end, without giving it much thought. I guess that’s just par for the course these days, when there’s so much information available and so many ways to parse/digest/apply it.

Incredible

But every now and then I’m reminded of technology’s awesomeness in ways that hit really close to home. Or, as in the case of this past weekend’s festivities, home itself…

Saturday:
Anticipating a yard full of guests and a scorcher of a Labor Day, my hubbie and I started setting up our cabana. Everything was going well until we realized the canopy was missing—which, if you’re keeping track, pretty much means we had four posts and no coverage. True, we could’ve called an audible right there and arranged for a winner-takes-all tetherball tournament, but we decided instead to go on a wild goose chase for said canopy. When that turned up nothing (and, really, when does  a ‘wild goose chase’ ever turn up anything?), I took matters into my own hands—literally—in the form of my Droid Incredible.

 Here’s how it went down: Google > cabana > shopping link > sort by price to find the one I want, then Target’s mobile app > store pick-up.

Problem solved.

Sunday:
I woke up, grabbed some coffee and started planning how to feed my ravenous Italian family which, at that point, were mere hours away from descending upon Chez Krook. (Note: This wasn’t so much a chore as a labor of love. Cooking’s a passion of mine, and few things make me happier than showing the people I care for how much they mean to me via their tastebuds.)

A friend recommended searching recipes on epicurious and—whatdoyaknow—there’s an Incredible app for that.  Love it!

I found the perfect dish, Beer Marinated Flank Steak, > printed a shopping list with all the ingredients > and even got a wine recommendation (an Argentinian Malbec) that proved to be the perfect compliment.

Epicurious App

Monday:
The guests arrived, the cabana did its thing (no tetherball tournament, but no cases of heatstroke either) and the food received high praises!

In the midst of it all, we played a Finnish game, Mölkky, which, despite resembling a collection of wooden stakes for slaying vampires, proved to be a huge hit. So huge, in fact, that people wanted to know where they could get their own sets. With the Incredible, I had the answer at my fingertips thanks to the ShopSavvy Barcode Scanner app.

It was a great weekend. And, yeah, the Incredible’s a pretty great phone. But the fact is most smartphones are equally capable of making life not just easier, but more awesome, as well.

The week that was, in 10 URLs or less

By Jonathan | Jonathan's articles August 20, 2010 | Permalink

Boy, for a sleepy summer week, it sure was packed with some interesting and controversial news. For example…

  • Google continues to defend its position on net neutrality. We question whether it’s actually defensible, but what the heck do we know?
  • Chris Anderson of Wired declares the web dead. Pundits debate this. The rest of us remain blissfully apathetic.
  • Congress, misremembering nothing, indicts Roger Clemens for perjury and other bad stuff, yet gives him a pass on murdering the English language.
  • The Ground Zero Mosque debate heats up. We won’t comment (you wouldn’t be able to hear us through our burkhas anyway), but local businesses support the idea.
  • Facebook wants to know where you are, and even put together a slick, tug-at-your-heartstrings video to convince us all it’s a great idea. Still, others are trying to protect you from revealing too much about yourself.
  • Nick Carr thinks we’re all getting dumb(er). So maybe none of this even matters.

Did we miss anything? Sure we did. Write in and tell us all about it.

The pleasure of growing pains

By Peter | Peter's articles May 6, 2010 | Permalink

Some things hurt soooooo good, they should be illegal. (And, let’s face it: Some are.)

But take your mind out of the gutter for a minute, and you’ll see it’s true for lots of things; like the way you feel after a tough workout, or when you eat one of those ridiculously tart candy-thingies your kids bring home on Halloween and absolutely must be sampled to ensure the li’l uns’ safety.

I know, it's uncanny right?

Lately, we’re finding out first-hand that the same is true for growing businesses. Or for ours, at least.

As word gets around about Gabardine and our list of happy clients grows, so do the complexities of running the agency itself. From program management to payroll and everything in between, stuff gets exponentially tougher with each new piece of business. And here’s the thing: We’re loving every excruciating minute of it.

Why? Because it’s what we’ve always wanted to do. What we were meant to do.  And, for that matter, what we should have done a long time ago. (But that’s a different story altogether.)

The point is, we recognize our growing pains for what they are, i.e. tangible, honest-to-goodness indicators that we’re doing something right, and that Gabardine is fulfilling its promise—not just for us, but for our clients. And that’s an awesome feeling. But how are we dealing with the discomfort? Glad you asked…

For one thing, we’ve added a bunch of  people in positions that are incredibly important to delivering on our service model, including a senior project manager, a marketing coordinator, a director of digital experience and a writer/IA, to name a few. And we’re on the hunt for mid-level graphic designer who can help us conceive and execute more good works. If you know somebody who fits the bill, let us know.

We’re also looking for larger space. (Though that may have more to do with my volume control problems and Keith’s penchant for speed metal than actual physical limitations.)

Finally, we continue to expand our universe of amazing contract creative talent. Truth be told, in this regard the economic downturn has worked in our favor. As big, bloated agencies and once-profitable brands shed great people, we’re able pick them up to work on terrific projects for our burgeoning client roster. Funny how things work out.

Finally, we’re putting our financial house in order; using the information and insights of the past 10 months of growth to inform future planning—for materials, resources, space…everything. As you might imagine, this is tough stuff for a couple of creative guys. But here, too, we’ve got some incredibly talented folks with tremendous experience helping small agencies become big ones. So we’re following their guidance, even as we continue to lead with our guts.

After all, guts (and chutzpah; and maybe a little luck) is what got us here—a place where we have the pleasure of feeling that little bit of pain that goes along with growing something you believe in.

Human nature vs. office politics

By Peter | Peter's articles September 24, 2009 | Permalink
alivsfrazier5

Ali's all 'Ima git you, sucka.' And Joe's all 'Do you wax, 'cause those brows are flawless.'

So about the title of this post: It’s not a competition, like Ali vs. Frazier, or Superargo vs. Diabolicus (a movie so friggin’ cool that it’s literally one of the few TV memories I’ve retained since childhood; the others being every episode of Abbott and Costello, including the slightly creepy The Time of Our Lives).

It’s more a matter of opinion, you know, like Nature vs. Nurture. As with that old chestnut, the question of whether people are just venal pricks at heart or if it’s the workplace that makes them that way is a source of never-ending curiosity. Well, to me, at least.

I thought about this the other day while having lunch with a friend and former colleague, who’s about year into a great gig with what for all intents and purposes seems like an amazing company (all open and friendly and creative and sh%&). He’s got a ton of responsibility—the good kind—a crackerjack team and the faith and trust of the big boss. Life’s good, right? Well, apparently, not so much.

Lately he’s run into some resistance in the firm, mostly other senior managers who, for whatever reasons, aren’t making things easy for him. Of course, this could be due to any number of factors: Poor social skills. Halitosis. Rickets.

But I know this guy, and trust me: He’s great. Smart, funny, engaging, well mannered, well groomed (something methinks Joe would appreciate (see caption, above)), and a genuine team player—the kind who’s always looking for ways to collaborate, make things better and celebrate the achievements of others.

Right about now you’re probably thinking one of two things. Either A) This guy sounds amazing; I wonder what he’s doing for the Jewish holidays, or B) It is a cosmic impossibility that such a person is friends with Leeds. Both are legitimate, but neither is germane to this post. Think of this paragraph as the textual equivalent of a musical interlude.

The point is, this guy’s a friggin’ gem. Oh, and did I mention he’s a star? Like he actually gets stuff done and proactively comes up with all these cool ways to further the business and the company’s brand? Yeah, that too.

So why, I wonder, is he catching flack?

Could it be that offices, by dint of their stark walls, common toilets and color copiers somehow cause otherwise normal people to become petty, spiteful, backstabbing a-holes? Or is it that such behavior is really just part of our makeup, like an enzyme that’s genetically triggered when more than a handful of us are gathered in the same place, collecting semi-monthly paychecks?

I’ve concluded the answer is Yes. Offices are breeding grounds for the detestable behavior of horrid people. And, by the same token, most of those horrid people are just genetically wired to be jerks—no assembly or external factors required. So, what to do…

Well, a lot of us have chosen to make another option for ourselves, i.e. create a new paradigm, in a different kind of office with fundamentally good people. Sounds like dope-smoking, free-love, kids-running-naked-around-the-commune stuff, I know, but it feels right and, for a lot of folks, actually seems to work. Go figure.

Sure beats the office version of the Thrilla in Manilla.

I call bullsh%&t

By Peter | Peter's articles June 26, 2009 | Permalink

True, it’s not an uncommon occurrence, but this time I’m going public.

It all started innocently enough: An email arrived from SocialMedian, a service that claims to offer news, filtered by your network. And there, under the heading Marketing, was a piece that someone had clipped called ‘Find your voice.’

Normally I’d dismiss such a trite, overused term as another turd in the sea of crap marketing advice, but this was different. The source, was ‘Seth’s blog.’

For those who may not be aware, the term ‘Seth,’ in marketing circles, means Seth Godin. No, really. He’s like Cher, but bald—famously bald, in fact. It’s his trademark, don’tcha know? He’s also an author/blogger/speaker and, in the eyes of many, an all-seeing oracle on things marketing and new media related.

I’ve read a couple of Seth’s books and heard him speak, but the truth is I’ve always been a little dubious of him and, for that matter, others of his ilk. And by that I mean folks who make their primary living telling other people what to do. Whether the subject matter is social media, real estate foreclosure or Dianetics, I just find it difficult to really get behind someone who’s preaching and not doing.

I clicked through to the post anyway. (Warning: The sheer genius of what you are about to read may cause rectal bleeding.)

Find Your voice

Marketing (in all its forms) is unlike everything else an organization does, because it’s always different. There’s no manual because everyone does it differently, and what successful marketers have in common is that they are successful.

The only way your organization is going to make an impact is to market in the way only you can. Not by following some expert’s rules or following the herd, but by doing it in the way that works. For you. Don’t worry about someone else’s invented standards for new media, invent your own. Avoid obvious mistakes, don’t follow obvious successes.

Find your voice, don’t copy someone else’s.

Wow. Still with me, or did you blackout somewhere around ‘what successful marketers have in common is that they are successful?’

Yup, you guessed it: Here’s where the calling bullsh%&t comes in. Because Seth’s blog doesn’t allow comments (which, BTW, sort of defeats the point of social/new media),  I left a quick riposte on SocialMedian, but then I thought about it some more…

This is a joke, right?

‘…market the only way you can’? WTF is that, some self-help bs he got from an EST seminar in 1978?

And I love ‘avoid obvious mistakes.’ Really Seth? Think that’s a good idea? ‘Cause I was just about to infect myself with the h1n1 virus right after I invested all my savings with what remains of the Madoff clan!

The height of irony—or is it hubris?—is the part where Seth cautions that your organization isn’t going to find marketing success ‘by following some expert’s rules…’ Weird, because from what I can tell Mr. Godin makes a nice chunk of change serving as just such an expert. Go figure.

Look, I appreciate that the guy is about as prolific as they come, writing, speaking and consulting like a Jack Russell terrier who got into his master’s meth stash. And it must be damn hard work coming up with new and interesting things to say as often as must be required by the machine that is Seth, Inc. But, with apologies to all you Godin sycophants out there (and it’s true I count many of you as friends), I have to say that with this little bit of profundity the guy has officially jumped the shark.

You know, it’s kind of like what your Mom used to say: If you don’t have anything even moderately worthwhile to say, don’t say anything at all. (I said ‘kind of’ like…)

That’s it for now. But stay tuned, I’ll call again.

Update: re-posted on Fatt Lipp by our good buddy John Fatteross