Alpinist, the best climbing magazine ever produced, has gone under. A brief statement on the website points to the current economic crisis as a factor. I’ve read elsewhere that the relcutance to publish shit is what really drove them down. Let’s be honest, Rock and Ice and Climbing are still in business because they publish the same reports of some 14 year old flashing some choss pile somewhere that no one cares about. Ok, I’ll give, that may be a bit harsh, someone, somewhere, must like that crap.
Unfortunately, the main problem for Alpinist is that the advertisers that pay the bills at magazines love pointless reports and big-breasted girls climbing in jeans, sports bras and beanies. And who has ever seen someone climbing a legitimate route in the mountains wearing a sports bra and nothing else, that’s right, you haven’t. This was the real death sentence for Alpinist, no advertisers = no money.
What about subscribers you say? Let’s take a look at the explosion of climbing in recent years. Sport, Bouldering, and to a increasing degree trad. How many people jump right into suffering in the mountains. Not many. Not too many “climbers” these days would willingly go and subject themselves to the freezing temperatures, rockfall, avalanches or having your buddy spooning you on a ledge that is smaller than the back seat of my volvo. “Why in God’s name would I go do all of those at once?”, most would ask. No, there never really was a large base to pull subscribers from for Alpinist. Especially at $12 an issue.
As a subscriber of four years, I bid you farewell Alpinist. All of us subscribers and readers will miss you dearly.
There is a point at which one becomes too busy to get everything done that one wants to. I am there right now. Maybe it’s just the weather that has cuased this predicament. It has been gorgeous for a few solid weeks now - with maybe one or two days of rain. One or two days of rain is just not enough to allow me time to do all the inside stuff that I need to do. I go to work, I come home, and I have another full-time job worth of stuff at home that is waiting for my attention. But when the weather is nice, I just get on my bike and go outside. Sometimes I find myself praying for rain or freezing temperatures so that I can have an excuse to stay in and work on the towering pile that is patiently awaiting me. Is that wrong?
What do you do when it just gets to be too much? Pull an all nighter? Throw a big bunch of it away and pretend it didn’t exist? Let me know in the comments …
Well Microsoft has come out with a new ad, and this one is a little different than the Seinfeld one. I guess it is probably easiest if you watch first and then we can discuss.
I know. Nails on chalkboards, ball-peen to the kneecaps, or as one other blogger put it, “your teeth so on-edge that it feels like you have been rubbing a mixture of Ajax and cocaine into them for the past week. With a wire brush.”
But from an advertising perspective, is this what Microsoft wanted? It certainly has shock value. It is very quickly making the rounds of the blogosphere, although most posts are blasting it as simple, horribly produced and just plain bad. But backup. Is this what Microsoft wanted? They have certainly made Windows 7 known and they have made it known that at PDC they will be handing out hard drives with Windows 7 installed on them. Maybe that was all they wanted to accomplish?
From another perspective - I would argue a more well-balanced one - this is yet another wrap on the old “hang Ballmer” noose. Honestly, you’d not be surprised to hear that Microsoft was on a campaign to alienate all of their developers, users and employees. Oh, wait, they are.
Seriously though, Microsoft used to be the big kid on the block. Anyone remember that old Simpsons episode where Bill Gates buys out Homer’s internet company ”Compuglobalhypermeganet”? Bill comes in with two hulking thugs and “buys out” Homer, breaking all his pencils and destroying his office. Microsoft was the 800 pound gorilla in the room. What has happened since then? Well as they say, its better to go out with a bang than fade into the background - and Microsoft can’t even get that part correct. They are slowly killing any and all goodwill that they had with developers, users and the general public. Even their ad campaigns seem hell bent on making everyone just cringe and look away. Like the guy who always gets too drunk at the Christmas party and then starts hitting on the boss’ wife. Everyone knows what happens next - but no one wants to watch, it’s just too pathetic.
ArsTechnica author Peter Bright, has penned a beauty. What Microsoft could learn from Apple, is a lengthy, well thought out and pride inducing piece on the history, design decisions and development opportunities of both the MS Windows OS and the Apple Mac OSX platforms. The first three parts can be found at these three links and there, apparently, is a fourth part in the works.
While a lot of the in-depth OS structures and conventions flew a little over my head, I did immensely enjoy the parts discussing the GUI’s of each system. Basic gist, Apple eats it’s own dog food. Another way of saying that not only did they develop a core set of values and design decisions, they practice what they preach by applying those decisions across the board to their own projects. This gives a clear message to programmers of third party apps that they should follow Apples lead. And in the end, you know what? It leads to a nicer looking and more usable OS for all users!
Well done with the words good sir. Keep up the good work.
So I received an email from a friend recently that informed me that the newest Blue Ridge Mountain Sports catalog uses one of my photos. Only problem, it’s not credited to me, it’s credited to someone else. This was news to me. Which is not normally what you want when you have photos published. Problem is, I can’t get my hands on one of the catalogs. There isn’t a BRMS in Blacksburg. I’ve tried looking on their site for a “Request a Catalog” button to no avail. What a pain! Anyone out there have a BRMS nearby that wants to burn 42 cents and mail me a catalog so that I have the evidence to build my case for payment?!
[Update] :
If you look at the comments of this post, you’ll notice an example of good customer service. I talked with Kurt yesterday and he was all help. Seth Godin had a great post recently about how small companies need to be better, and BRMS is certainly on the right track. Thanks Kurt.
Is it just me? Or do other people get annoyed at how poorly most of the world works?
I am part owner of a couple of rental houses here in Blacksburg. As part of that we have to pay mortgages, pay insurance, pay home owners association dues, pay bills and sometimes we even have to collect rent too! Of all the managerial tasks that must be done each month, only one of them can be accomplished online. One of the two mortgages can be paid online with a credit card. And it’s even the smaller of the two mortgage companies. The big one, who is also a huge bank and provides merchant services to a huge portion of the businesses out there, can’t accept credit cards. Only snail mail checks, and ACH (electronic checks) for a fee. A fee?!! Are you kidding me? No? You’re not? Ok, I’ll continue wasting paper, paying 42 cents and risking a check stolen each month.
Are we becoming spoiled as consumers? Has the internet’s cadre of small companies made the world of commerce too easy? Is it too much to ask that companies function well, with a human face? Or is it just me, am I just incredibly inpatient with corporate bureaucracy?
I think that Gina and I moving to Italy is going to be scary…
Many of you know that recently I got a new mountain bike. It’s amazing. Vicious Cycles definitely knows what they are doing. Reynolds 853 for the front triangle and a Titus aluminum rear triangle. It’s a work of art.
Well, when I was building the groover (that is the name of the bike) up I decided it was time to send my fork off to be rebuilt. In the 5 years I’d owned it I’d never sent it away. So I asked around and mailed it to the name that came up most often. Suspension Experts in Asheville, NC. The service was quick, I was happy and I started riding my new bike. Then I noticed the oil. I stopped riding my new bike. There was fork oil leaking out of the bottom of the left leg of my fork. Right next to the disc brake mount. Right next to the disc brake pads. Oil + brake pads = no stop. I called the guys at Suspension Ex, they were really apologetic and said to send it back right away, on their dime, and they’d get to it fast.
The fork came back from them, clean and appearing to be fixed. 2 rides later, same story, a steady stream of oil from the bottom of the left leg. Not good. The only reassuring thing about the situation was that there isn’t anything important in that leg. Since I own an old coil spring Manitou Black at least I didn’t have to worry about having blown out the rebound damper (which is on the right side). Again, Kevin (the president of Suspension Ex) apologized profusely and had me mail it back, again on his dime. After I was sure they’d gotten the fork I called Kevin to ask about it and he explained some of the problems, he also said that if something happened this time he was going to build me up a completely new fork (of considerable upgrade) at his cost and mail it to me. There was no way he wanted a fork leaking oil with his name on it. When I picked up my fork from the bike shop on Friday, I was told that the entire cost of the original rebuild had been refunded by Suspension Ex, simply for my trouble. I wasn’t annoyed, I wasn’t angry, I didn’t ask to be refunded and I certainly didn’t expect it. This is a great example of a simple thing that a small company can do to make evangelists out of their customers. I know that from now on, I’ll never send a fork anywhere else. Even after I move to Europe. I also know that from now on, anytime anyone mentions anything even remotely wrong with their fork I’ll be pushing Suspension Ex.
So, thanks a lot Kevin and the other guys down there in Asheville for the really great experience even if it was a pain in the ass to all involved.
This is a great little checklist to run through in your head every time you are getting started on a task. I think that everyone has times when they get bogged down in the details and the day-to-day and having a list of important big-picture questions can help to clarify the immediacy/priority of the task at hand. And let’s be honest. Everyone could use a little more clarity in their lives, especially when a co-worker or a client comes running to you with something that is “very urgent!” So stop, take a breath, and answer the questions before you waste your time on something worthless.
Being an entrepreneur, in my opinion, is some of the best fun you can have without the aid of jello and a very large, very high-speed fan. One thing that I think a lot of people overlook when thinking of business is that business can be a creative endeavor. What would creative business look like? Well lots of different things. But no matter what it looks like, entrepreneurship is the creative arm of the business world. Think about it; the idea of creating something new is the central pillar of creativity. But what is entrepreneurship but creating something from, effectively, nothing. The processes might be a little different, but in the end, creating art and creating businesses have much in common. In both cases you are forced to bring something new to the table, and in both cases you are forced to make decisions about the direction of your creation. In the end, even the outcome is similar; if you are good, you’ll be able to scape a living out of either.
In the past, I’ve been fortune enough to be involved in a few small businesses. As an investor in one and an investor/operator in the other. But they have always been small and, in both cases, the cash flow has been very small. The idea of business creation is almost constantly at the front of my mind and yet, I haven’t done anything new in ages. Almost always there but almost impossible to put into practice. This is a common problem and one that I, and anyone else in a similar position, needs to kick as fast as possible. You can have the most wonderful idea in the world but without execution it’s not worth a dime to anyone.
I have my idea, and this time I’m going to run with it. What’s your idea?
