Moving jobs across English Bay

While i keep hearing that staying with one company results in a “career” with more vacations, raises and professional reputation, i’ve never worried much about my resume but rather try to focus on personal results and most importantly, moving closer to self-actualization.

With this in mind, effective immediately, I’ve moved on from Raincity Studios and joined Movieset.com to help jumpstart their mission of connecting moviefans with moviemakers from the office in Kitsilano.

Thanks for snacks and smarts

I’ll truly miss each of my Raincity Studios comrades – we went through some massive projects together under tight timelines, and curious circumstances. To each of you, sincerely thank you.

Each one of the Raincity Studios crew at times soothed my mental health, weary soul, and achey body in this rather treacherous year. Your kind words, wise counsel, sweet snack, or a coffee break (with the magical Dane at Workspaces’ absurdly perfect beverages) will never be forgotten. I am smarter for working with each of you and happier knowing each of you. To get to work each day with your best pals is something everyone should get to do.

Truly thanks to each of Robert, Kris, Mark, Erik, Francis, Roland, Richard, Audrey, Hubert, Steve, Smith, Katherine, and especially Mariska, plus Niall, Nicky, Boris, Djun, Corinn, Ansleigh, and colleagues in China and South Africa.

I’ll still be around working on the Olympic Indie/Alt/Social media centre plan and stopping by to goof around and trying to distract you from your important work. I am very proud with the work accomplished at RCS including winning the Best of 604’s best company blog award, writing most all marketing copy and messaging for Bryght.com and RaincityStudios.com, producing long form blog essays about net neutrality, copyright reform, and heaps of events, and using social web to inform social justice concerns as evidenced in my finals projects – the Phones for Fearless City campaign and a forthcoming Drupal case study about Homeless Nation.

Sampling Vancouver’s finest

Since moving to my now beloved North Vancouver in Oct. 2005, I’ve assisted a handful of Vancouver’s finest companies in raising their profile, refining messaging, effectuating social media campaigns and magnifying internal culture. At Elastic Path, happyfrog.ca, 3rd Whale and Raincity Studios, I’ve learned much about ecommerce, eco-entrepreneurship, and web community building while riffing with diverse teams to create remarkable projects.

At Movieset.com, I’ll help filmmakers reach out to filmfans using social media tools. As a movie enthusiast and a filmmaker (Hempenroad, 1997), i think i can bring a lot to the table. And I’ll have a chance to work closely with Michael Fergusson who i first met when i interviewed him for a Raincity Radio podcast (thanks Megan Cole). He showed up wearing a vintage Vancouver Millionaires sweater and talked about poetry so I knew we had something in common.

Digital Samurai for hire

Maybe it’s my love of Kurosawa films like the Seven Samurai and/or my feeling of being the reincarnation of writer/explorer Lafcadio Hearn (who lived in Shimane, Japan in the early days of modern western cultural exchange 1870-1910-ish), or sailor/diplomat William Adams (who was the first Brit to make it there in early 1600s and became an advisor to shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu), but sometimes i feel like a digital samurai. No not a stealthy fighter, but a hired hand, loyal until i move on to another fortress to defend, quest to fulfill, or princess to save (or is that Donkey Kong?).

Like the earnest Samurai who left money matters to the merchant class (another story for another time), I’m not in it for just the money and I have a sense of intrepid loyalty which drives my daily life … and I deftly handle a big sword (or laptop in this case).

Changing my bus route (again)

So, again I’ve changed my Translink bus route – this time from Upper Lynn Valley to Kitsilano – which will provide even more time to think about the neighbourhoods in the Vancouver gray.

So, a year later, I am in Michaels’ office. I am wearing slippers, there are several dogs wandering about, a green screen room down the hall, and a nice lady just brought me coffee. Anyone who knows me realizes i thrive on change and new input from words, scenes and smells – so there you go, another life remix.

Don’t worry, i am still here and available for beverages and conversation. See me at Wordcamp Whistler, Northern Voice among other funtimes.

##

change my route to think about the neighbourhoods

March 30, 2007

i change my route
from time to time
to think about
the neighbourhoods

switched Cambie 15
for Main Number 3
or Fraser if i don’t mind
cutting across Kingsway

skirted schoolgirls Xavier-bound
headphones, sweaters
in rows

downtown exchanges
spake in broken halts
sometime gleaming
often rain
occasionally sleet, hail or ice