Dave Caolo

Getting older isn’t easy. You look back on your life and all the messy parts of it that you wish you could re-write.

And then you look down on your little child and you realize that you cannot possibly regret anything in the whole complicated chain of events that led to the existence of this child. And so, you turn to the future, which is where you should be looking anyway.

There’s a great article at Smashing Magazine today featuring the most unique and creative American TV shows. It’s an impressive list and worth reading.

It also reminds me of my old idea for a Seinfeld episode that used Jerry, Kramer, George and Elaine as background extras. They’d lack speaking parts and would barely appear on screen. Instead, the entire episode would feature new characters we had never seen before and would never see again. It would have been brilliant.

I attended undergraduate school from 1989 – 1994. Back then, the campus library at Marywood University was called the “Media Center.” The school insisted that everyone from faculty to students call it the Media Center, and not “library.” I thought it was silly.

Today, I know they were ahead of their time.

I entered college almost 20 years ago (yikes). In the Media Center I first used a computer for something other than mindless poking around. I had a professor who required all communication with this students to be done via email, a novelty in 1991. In fact, the Media Center computers could explore books at other local universities and even place reservations. Remember, this was 18 years ago. I was blown away that experience.

The IS department on the 3rd floor became my home-away-from-home, and by the time I graduated I was prolific with computers and the newborn internet. I had great conversations with interesting people and free access to cool technology. All thanks to the Media Center.

The emphasis was on communication. Both one-way (books, newspapers, etc.) and two-way (people, in person and online). Ideas were exchanged enthusiastically. I loved going to the Media Center, as it was on the forefront of technology.

My experience with public libraries has been different.

The Public Library

When I was young, my mother would walk with me to the library regularly. I loved selecting a book to take home, having my own card and so on. I also understood that the library was a serious place, where children had to be quiet and polite. We were to pick a book and walk home.

In jr. high we learned to use a card catalog and the Dewey Decimal System. Again, use of the library was “…a privilege” and not the place for fooling around. In other words, the sense of excitement I experienced at The Media Center was not there.

A Communication Hub

Today, our public libraries can create that excitement among their patrons (especially young people). My local library is taking (tentative) steps in that direction. They’ve hosted educational programs on Flickr, MySpace and Blogger. They’ve got a teen blog and a nice (if not small) room for teens with two brand-new iMacs.  They host teen movie and game nights.

That’s great, but we can think even bigger. The Media Center was a communication hub for the university. In the same way, a public library can become a communication hub for its community.

Video conferences with professionals in Hong Kong could be as commonplace as checking out a copy of The Old Man And The Sea. Community calendars that anyone can subscribe to with their home computers. Live blogging local literary events, book signings or special happenings at the local museum. When a person wonders, “What’s going on today,” the answer should be “check the library.” Today, people search a newspaper website, tourist magazines, community calendars, etc. The library should be the de-factor answer. Everything from live streaming of town meetings to the inventory of Jean’s weekend garage sale should be available at the library. Just off the top of my head.

I’ve even written an article about how independent web workers like myself can get a day’s work done (for free!) at the library. It’s a great place to work, and I think libraries would benefit from advertising this fact to freelancers and independents.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, Inc., calls the Mac a “digital hub” which brings together a person’s photos, music, stories, etc. I see the library as doing the same for the people it serves — a community’s “Communication Hub.”

For many, there’s something mythical about a professional writer’s creative space. This photo essay by Kyle Cassidy encourages that.

They look great.

Kubrick. All potential and cooler than you or I will ever be.

I’ve spent the last few weeks with Posterous, a relatively new blogging platform from Sachin Agarwal and Garry Tan. The result is both a modest record of my travels and a powerful enthusiasm for the service.

Posterous is going to be huge.

I’ve used every blogging platform I’ve found, including (but not limited to) WordPress, Typepad, MoveableType, Squarespace, Vox, Livejournal, Blogger and Textpattern. The easiest among those are the hosted solutions, like Typepad, Livejournal, Blogger, Squarespace and Vox (Note: Typepad, Livejournal and Vox are all products of Six Apart). WordPress and MoveableType are (usually) self-hosted and require the blogger* to create and link to a database.

After installation is complete, they all require additional fiddling. Customizing the layout, design, colors, graphics etc. takes time. Adding something like an image gallery is even more time consuming, and typically requires a plug-in which you must find, upload, configure and test on your own.

By contrast, here’s how you create a complete blog with Posterous: Send an email message to post@posterous.com. That’s it.

Here’s how you create a full-featured, thumbnailed photo gallery with built-in navigation on Posterous: Email your photos to post@posterous.com.

Want to post a video? Same thing. It’ll even encode it for you. Send nearly any codec you want.

It’s brilliant because there’s nothing to learn. Everyone knows how to send an email message. Additionally, there’s nothing to download, install or configure. You can use the email client you already know; the email client you probably have with you all day via your laptop, phone or iPod. Additionally, you can have Posterous notify your other accounts, like Facebook and Twitter, each time an update is posted.

I oversee many bloggers at my day job and some are more technically savvy than others. We use WordPress, which I love, but does pose a challenge for some of the writers. However, they’re all proficient with email. If I could simply tell them, “Just email your posts and pictures to this address and you’re done,” they’d fall down with gratitude and relief.

The sticking point right now is the lack of customization. If I’m going to embrace Posterous for work, I’ve got to be able to customize the CSS and other layout features. But that’s an extreme case.

For the vast majority of people, Posterous is a very desirable option. Sachin and Garry took an incredible idea — get out of the way and let the blogger write via a familiar and nearly ubiquitous tool — and executed it wonderfully. I can’t wait to see where this goes.

*Some web hosting companies provide a one-click install for WordPress and MoveableType.

In less than 2 months, I will celebrate 1 year of freelancing with the Mac. It’s been the most educational year of my life. I learned about CSS and PHP, taxes and marketing, faith, patience and the power of being positive. I’ve also seen why the freelancing lifestyle is a cyclical return to the past, and how the Mac is the ultimate freelancer’s tool.

Take a moment and come with the to that little house on the prairie. Yes, I’m talking about Ma, Pa and Laura Ingalls Wilder. When Pa wasn’t saving the day (and making modern-day fathers like me feel inadequate), he was making furniture. It wasn’t Pa’s job to make furniture — there was no time clock to punch or office to occupy for 8 hours a day — it was his work. If you needed a chest-of-drawers, you went to see Pa. Got the flu? Call Doc Baker. Need some pestering done on your behalf? That Nellie Olson is always available. None of them had jobs, but they all created work.

The industrial revolution changed all of that. Instead of laboring at his little house, Pa would have found himself in a factory with a clipboard and a typewriter. He would have worked for the same company in the same physical location for the rest of his entire physical life (this is a metaphorical Pa, of course. Even with this awesome Dad Powers, he couldn’t have lived that long). At that point, Pa would have had a job.

That was the process for decades. Go to the office, perform your job and then go home. Now it’s 2009 and the model that my father adhered to — work for the same company for 35 years, get a gold watch and retire — is dead. Technological advances, automation and overseas outsourcing have eliminated the majority of those production jobs. Freelances like me don’t have jobs, we create work. Just like Pa.

In fact, if you look up the word “job” you notice that many of its meanings — a task, something to be done, an assignment — apply to work both as it existed in the Pre-Industrial Age and will exist in the future. Yet the world is still most often used in the sense that it took on during the Industrial Age — a permanent, full-time position with a single employer. For that reason, I suggest swapping “job” with “work.”

“Job” bears roughly the same relation to “work” that “orange” does to “fruit.” If you go to the store with your heart set on oranges and a bad winter has caused a shortage, you’ll end up disappointed. If you go looking for fruit instead, you’re likely to find a variety of ways to satisfy your taste and appetite.

When a worker has a job, s/he knows exactly what must be done in order to secure a paycheck. The chance that she will do anything beyond what’s required is slim. And why should she? She’s paid do perform her job as described and that’s all she’ll do.

Now, if she doesn’t have a job but is creating work, her choices increase tremendously. She knows her skills and what employers want. She’s free and motivated — heck, required — to move beyond what’s expected and consider what would benefit an employer; what would benefit her; what artful and beneficial way she can apply her skills to solve a problem (fruit, anyone?).

I’m happily creating work and thrilled to be doing it with a Mac which, incidentally, has undergone a transformation of its own.

Years ago, Apple’s slogan was “Think Different.” From the Crazy Ones ad to the Jolly Roger at Cupertino, Apple set their machines apart. No, they don’t operate like every other personal computer and that was the point. Many of us loved the branding. Many more did not. Then something happened while Windows conquered the business world.

Apple offered a free and painless way to run Windows on any new Mac. Suddenly, those machines went from being “different” to being “special.” Yes, they can run that mission-critical, Windows-only software, plus all this other cool stuff. In short, there’s nothing this machine can’t do. It’s the sharpest tool in my kit.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to write all about freelancing with the Mac. I’ll cover everything that’s been a part of my experience. I hope you’ll read along and get something out of it.

Jason Calicanis abandons reason in a lengthy, anti-Apple rant. Others have dismantled it fully, but I’ll add my two cents to a particularly frustrating passage. Jason writes:

“The funny/sad part of the debate so far has been the technology folks who are actually arguing for less choice in the name of ease of use/customer support. The fact is, allowing certain folks to easily/officially/legally jailbreak/unlock their phones is something Apple could do easily. Same with opening up iTunes or the App Store. Apple could easily make users flip a warning or two-like folks do on routers-when users opt-in to doing something a little more ‘hacky.’”

Abandon ease of use and customer support for more “choice?” Where do I sign up for that? Ask a system administrator how easy it is to support a network and users with a lot of “choice.” Let’s say, Jason, that Apple allows people to “…easily/officially/legally jailbreak/unlock their phones.” Then something goes wrong. Who’s responsible for the cleanup? Apple? Hell, no. But those users will beat a path to Cupertino for a “fix” to the problem they created.

If I want to put a hemi engine in my Volvo station wagon, that’s great. But it’s not Volvo’s issue when I’ve got a telephone pole in my front seat. Likewise, I can’t condemn Nintendo because my Wii won’t play PS3 games.

I’ve used Apple products since 1994 and have never felt hindered by a lack of choice. Everything works perfectly. Mail, iCal, Safari, my Macs, my iPhone, my iPod and my Apple TV do exactly what I want them to do every day. I add a calender event and pow! It’s everywhere. I download a podcast and it’s distributed just as quickly. Where’s the problem?

Because I can’t run any Windows or Linux app I want? Oops, I can, and Apple provides the how-to for free. Because I can’t use a music player with iTunes other than the iPod? Oops, I can.

To ask Apple to change their wildly successful business model to accommodate a small group of hackers and devotees is ridiculous.

A couple of months ago I had an idea for a short story that came from the question, “How far can a parent’s love go?” As the father of two toddlers, they’re often on my mind.

It was about a single mom who worked the graveyard shift (11:00 PM – 7:00 AM) as an ER nurse. Every morning she’d come home around 7:30 AM, just in time to make breakfast for her kids, pack their lunches and get them into the school bus. Then she’d go to sleep.

Often she was still asleep when the kids got home from school. Sometimes they’d let her sleep so they could fool around for a while, but usually they’d wake her to make them something to eat. On one occasion, she told the kids a story of a young boy who had broken his leg while sledding as a cautionary tale. Her daughter took the story as intended but the boy, a bit younger, became fascinated with the gory details, and pressed her for more information. The mother didn’t think much of it and obliged him.

As the weeks wore on, the son would press her for more stories from the ER. Often she would refuse, but on those mornings that followed an especially rough evening, when she was groggy and unclear, she’d reveal more than she would have if fully awake. One such morning was the day after Halloween when a man was brought into the ER horribly disfigured from an accident while trick-or-treating with his kids.

His was one of those families that really embraced the holiday. He and his wife had as much fun walking around in costume as their kids did. That night, a drunk driver hit the man and pinned his body between the car and a chain link fence. The car caught fire, burning the man and actually fusing parts of his costume to his body, so that when he arrived in the ER screaming and wailing, he looked like a horrible human/monster hybrid.

Again, the mother revealed this story in her half-awake state. The boy was riveted and overcome with his imagination’s images of the ruined man. So much so that he actually willed that horrific creature into existence, and (at least in the physical sense) became what he imagined.

That’s the back story. Now, the woman is mother to this vile, wretched thing. It’s bent and misshapen and living underneath the bed in an upstairs room. How could she abandon it? This is her own son. What would she do — or not do — to keep him alive?

To the daughter, who belives her brother has died, he’s the quasi-mythical “boogeyman under the bed.” All kids are afraid of the boogeyman in the dark, and she’s just old enough to begin questioning her childhood superstitions. What happens when she finds him and the truth?

It’s still an idea as you can see and not fleshed out. But it started by asking “What if?” which is my favorite way to start a story. I’ve only revealed it now because the movie “Grace” seems to follow a very similar logic, and I’m a bit bummed. My idea! I think I’ll write the story anyway, and then see “Grace.” I guess great minds scare alike.