Baltimore Bound

Last Friday, Ann and I went to Baltimore. She had a job interview that morning.

On the way home, they emailed to offer her the position.

Suddenly, I've gone from a champion of Pittsburgh to a soon-to-be transplant to Baltimore. What a whirlwind one email makes.

Since I freelance for a living, nothing I do professionally will change despite my new address. (In fact, since most of my current work comes from the New York area, I'll actually be closer to NYC in Baltimore -- maybe I can cut down on the car-destroying road trips.)

Nor will my cultural identity change drastically. To wit:

Pittsburgh is a wonderful, historic, affordable and underrated city with an identity crisis and an ongoing youth population drain.

Baltimore -- from everything I've read so far -- seems to be a wonderful, historic, affordable and underrated city with an identity crisis (namely, its "kid brother" proximity to Washington, DC) and an equally debilitating population drain.

So far, so similar.

The big change will happen in my own personal fishbowl. I've been fortunate to meet dozens of great people here in Pittsburgh whom I consider my friends, acquaintances or the regularly interesting extras in my life. I'm sure those same personalities exist in Baltimore, but our shared Pittsburgh experience won't be in place to help break the ice.

This move also has direct implications for my involvement in PodCamp Pittsburgh (i.e., not much involvement at all) and the future of Something to Be Desired, the web series I've been producing here in Pittsburgh since 2003. I haven't yet decided what that future will be, so I'll consider it over the next several weeks of apartment hunting, U-Haul packing and the waving of goodbyes.

And thus, this is the beginning of my hat tip to Pittsburgh -- a place I'll always consider to be some part of "home," no matter where I live -- and my opening bow toward Baltimore, which will become my home for the next chapter in this occasionally surprising book I'm reading called "life."

I wonder if Baltimore has pierogies...

Photo by stevehdc.

Post-PodCamp

Thanks to everyone who helped make PodCamp Boston 2 a success this year. I had a good time, met some great new people and caught up with a bunch of old friends -- several of whom I hadn't seen since last year's event.

Locobone and I also greatly enjoyed watching the closing innings of Game 3 of the World Series in a bar off Quincy Market, surrounded by energetic, passionate (and remarkably knowledgeable) baseball fans -- several of whom happened to be dressed up for Halloween. Now THERE'S a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a tourist...

I need a little time to let the specifics of this weekend's experience marinate before I make any further observations. I also have a Halloween episode of Something to Be Desired to finish editing, so off I go...

(Meanwhile, Locobone is STILL driving home... 12 hours later...)

Recapping My Trip to Israel

After much ado, I finally made my way to Tel Aviv for the Blogference this past Saturday. Instead of being able to stay for 4 days, as originally intended, by new itinerary called for me to land on Sunday night, speak on Monday and fly home Monday night at midnight.

Funny thing about El Al Airlines security staff: they get a bit suspicious when you're only flying to Israel for one day.

Like, check your bags for an hour and then escort you to the gate suspicious.

Nonetheless, I made my flight (thankfully), and arrived safely in Tel Aviv around 5 PM Sunday night. There, a driver was waiting for me. The downside? He didn't speak English, which made for a quiet car ride to the hotel. The upside? He knew where there was candy hidden in the cab...

I checked into the Crowne Plaza hotel, which is one of several hotels along a promenade that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. It also provides complimentary cookies to its guests. (As my girlfriend has said, my retelling of the trip makes Israel sound like Candyland...)

Kfir Pravda picked me up from the hotel and we grabbed dinner on the beach, then drove down to the nightclub district, which is mostly comprised of converted warehouses that now offer booze.

There I met everyone else from the conference: the IDC faculty and staff, some local new media creators (including Blonde2.0), as well as my fellow presenters, including Douglas Sarine (Ask a Ninja), Andrew Baron and Joanne Colan (Rocketboom), Om Malik (GigaOm) and former MediaBistro honcho Garrett Graf.

Ask a Ninja's Douglas Sarine fields a question from Israeli media's Ayelet Yagil.
We drank. We chatted. We grabbed dessert at a chocolate bar. (All right, so it really is Candyland...)

On Monday, we hopped in a van and drove to the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya -- which, I was told, is former military property -- for the conference. The school is only a year old, so events like this go a long way toward establishing their relevance and future direction. Based upon the passion and instincts of Dr. Latar and his faculty, I think they're definitely on the right track.


While blogging this entry, I realized I had more to say about the individual sessions than I thought, so I'll save the specifics for future entries. For now, suffice it to say that the atmosphere was very PodCamp-like, with experts and audience members alike able to share ideas that pushed the conversations forward in unexpected ways.


After the conference, I met some folks with interesting business ideas -- like Abbey Content's Alan Abbey -- as well as some students who put Israeli web media into perspective for me: in a nutshell, blogging is considered an activity for Israeli youth. After someone completes his or her mandatory military service, the expected lifeplan moves from college to business to family -- there's no real time for a creative outlet, or anything else seen as needlessly frivolous.

I'd counter that that's an obstacle worth overcoming, for one specific reason: I had no idea what Israeli culture was like until I flew there myself. Otherwise, all I have to go by is what I see on the news. By that rationale, all I ever expected to see was a country in perpetual, daily conflict with an embedded enemy, rather than the complex, multifaceted and completely "normal" culture I observed.

For example: I had no idea that Israel had such a high population of Ethiopians. Apparently, Israel helped huge numbers of Ethiopians escape from Ethiopia a generation ago, when their own government couldn't (or wouldn't) provide for them. Now, second-generation Ethiopians are growing up knowing Israel as their home, which creates an interesting multicultural mix with its own problems and perks.

Personally, I'd love to see more social media created from Israel... or any other nation, for that matter. The more easily we can all communicate WITH each other, the more the rest of the world can learn ABOUT each other... and ourselves.

Thanks to everyone who helped make my trip to Israel possible. I'll have more insights about the actual Blogference sessions themselves over the coming days.

PS After the conference, I flew home -- again on El Al, though this time without the security snags -- and I must say, the food on El Al is among the best food I've ever had on any airline. My dinner en route to NYC was one of the best meals I've haad all year. This means either El Al has cornered the market on in-flight food or I need to start eating in better restaurants...

UPDATE: See my handheld highlights from the Ask a Ninja presentation!

En Route to Israel

Saturday afternoon, drinking a Sam Adams beside my gate, awaiting my connecting flight from Pittsburgh to New York. After that? On to Israel...

... for about 30 hours.

But hey, at least I'll get to speak at the Blogference. And I'll get to see some of Tel Aviv. Better than doing it all via Blog TV...

Meanwhile, I'm missing an open house at Creative Treehouse tonight. In Pittsburgh and wondering what the buzz on Creative Treehouse is all about? Drop down and check it out.

Delta Blues

Update: 6:00 PM: The folks at IDC came through and worked out a new arrangement to get me to Israel on Sunday evening. Two days late, but better than nothing at all. And, taking the place of Delta in this equation? JetBlue. Why do they consistently save the day (when they're not idling on a tarmac)?

Update: 4:00 PM: El Al airlines called. They have a Saturday night flight I can take from JFK, which will get me to Israel about 24 hours before my presentation. So far, so good. All I need now is to work something out with Delta to get me to NYC tomorrow...

... except I didn't book the Delta flight, so I can't make any negotations. That's up the the folks at IDC who've programmed the Blogference. And, on top of it, my phone just died. Craziness...

Update: 10:30 AM: The folks running Blogference from Israel are in touch with their people in NYC to see what can be done. They've been working on it since at least 7 AM. No word yet.

Originally posted at 1 AM Friday, June 29:

I'm supposed to be boarding a flight from NYC to Israel right now. Instead, I'm blogging from my apartment in Pittsburgh. All because of Delta's response to some rain in New York.

I'm scheduled to speak at the Blogference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. The folks running the conference arranged for me to fly out of Pittsburgh at 6:20 Thursday evening and connect with an El Al flight at 1 AM Friday (aka right now).

When I arrive at the Pittsburgh International Airport -- after a 2 hour bus ride, due to rain + construction-induced traffic snarls -- I'm told my flight has been cancelled.

The Delta attendant puts me on the "next available flight" -- which is Friday morning at 7 AM.

I explain that I need to be in New York before 1 AM Friday, not at 7 AM. She says there's nothing they can do. I walk away from the counter and starts considering my options.

Then I notice the new boarding pass she's given me is actually for SATURDAY at 7 AM, not Friday.

I return to the counter and point out the issue. The clerk heads to the back office, confers with an unseen supervisor, and returns with a new "next available flight" for me -- Friday at 1:30 PM, with a stopover in Atlanta. All told, I'll now reach New York at 8 PM Friday -- a full 19 hours after my connecting flight departs.

Meanwhile, it's 1 AM in Israel, so everyone who could work on the issue is asleep.

I find the number for the travel agency that booked the Delta flight. (They're in New York.) The agent tells me Delta's not the only carrier canceling flights because of the storm -- Continental and others are, too. The earliest she can get me to NYC on any flight is 8 PM Friday.

I try calling Kfir Pravda, one of the event's promoters in Israel, only to find out my Verizon plan doesn't include international calls.

I try connecting to the internet, but the Pittsburgh airport's free wireless is highly unreliable and achingly slow. No dice.

I call Erik Schark (aka Rich on Something to Be Desired) and ask him to find the phone number for El Al Airlines. He does.

I obtain an international calling card number from my dad (suddenly feeling like I'm 16 again) and call El Al. Their service center is closed (predictably), but they have a 24-hour emergency service line. I'm transferred there.

I tell the operator I need to know if there's a flight leaving for Israel after 8 PM on Friday. She explains to me that El Al doesn't fly at all on Saturdays (it's the sabbath), and since 8 PM Friday in NYC is actually Saturday in Tel Aviv time, there's no connecting flight available. The earliest available flight leaves NYC on Sunday at 8 PM.

Given the 10 hour flight, plus the 7 hour time difference, that means I'd be landing in Israel at approximately 11 AM Monday (Tel Aviv time) -- which is funny, because I'm scheduled to give the first of two talks at noon. That means I have exactly 1 hour to get from the airport to the conference.

Suddenly, the 7-day Blogference I'm supposed to be involved in, which I've already had to scale back due to pre-arranged obligations in America, would be boiled down to a 22-hour period. And I'd be traveling over 24 hours, total, to be there -- longer than I'd actually be in Israel.

Kfir has now awoken in Israel and is working on the problem. We shall see what magic the Blogference planners have up their sleeves....

To be continued...

Justin in Atlanta

I'll be in Atlanta, GA, next Wednesday. A few social media folks, including Steve Garfield, Michael Bailey, Vergel Evans and myself, will be meeting with several of Atlanta's new media stars (including PodCamp Atlanta co-organizer Amber Rhea) at Manuel's that evening.

Care to join us?

Quick Flight Notes

I'm in New Jersey, staying with John C. Havens of About.com's guide to podcasting. He asked me if I wanted to work with him on a freelance project that had come his way and I agreed, so here I am.

This means I rushed around town all day running errands because I knew I'd be out of communication for most of tomorrow. So I get to the airport and I have 80 unchecked messages in my inbox. I answer those, and now I logon to my account and find I have 30 more responses in the 4 hours I've been away from my machine.

Egad. If this is busy for me, I can only imagine what the Jeff Pulvers and Andrew Barons of the world are greeted by when they click their "Mail" icon...

******

Meanwhile, I saw a fantastic example of customer service in action today. I went to Quizno's in the Pittsburgh International Airport food concourse and ordered a vegetarian sub (which is not on their menu, but they have the ingredients to make it; interestingly, it IS on their register keypad...).

While waiting for the sandwich to come through the mini-oven, the girl who adds the post-oven toppings dropped my order sheet on the floor. She stared down at it, perplexed. She was wearing plastic gloves, and she knew that picking up the paper would mean she'd need to throw the gloves away and get a new pair.

So she TURNED THE ORDER SLIP OVER WITH HER FEET, which was not an easy task -- many failed attempts preceded her success -- and read it (accurately) off the floor.

Now THAT'S finding a creative solution to a simple yet vexing problem...

PS The sub was excellent.

Leaving on a JetBlue Plane...

Every day, I find another place I SHOULD be going to, for whatever reason.

Today, there's a Network2 shindig in New York.

Next weekend, there's PodCamp NYC.

Just checking my Feedburner stats, I saw an ad for the upcoming Personal Democracy Forum.

And yet, here I sit.

What I need is a travel fund.

$1.61 cup of coffee

I met with STBD uber-fan (and patron) Andrew Smith two weeks ago at ye olde Crazy Mocha in the South Side Works. During the conversation, a useful concept popped up: the emergency JetBlue fund.

Whether you're away from home for work or school, or whether you're in a business (like web media) where you may need to fly somewhere at the drop of a hat, it makes sense to have that emergency travel fund set aside.

Or, in less desperate terms than "emergency," an ongoing, sustainable travel fund.

Think about it: you can get anywhere in this country in one day, and almost anywhere in the world in two. All you need is about $500 (give or take), plus a little extra scratch for hotel rooms (bookmark Priceline), taxis and food.

And, if the reason for at least half your trips is business, you should be able to recoup those costs cyclically.

In my case, it would also help to have extra $ set aside to bring the occasional STBD cast member along for the ride. (After all, I'm not the star the way they are.)

Budget It In

Smart people have budgets. Those budgets automatically include x amount of dollars per paycheck to be allotted to specific "funds" -- rent, groceries, cable bill, credit cards, donations, taxes, alms, etc.

Why not add a travel fund?

That way, whenever a great new opportunity pops up -- especially on short notice -- you won't have to think twice about whether or not you can go; you'll already be there.

VON Recap... Tomorrow

Jetlag is a cruel mistress. I look forward to resuming my normal blog schedule this weekend.

LOTS to update about VON, and I'll probably split the posts into STBD-specific stuff at the STBD blog and personal observations here.

Buzzword of the event: "Twitter."

Secondary buzzword of the event (in a close race): "Monetize."

Buzzwords within the podcasting community: "Dinosaurs," along with "coffee, free booze," and "snooze alarm."

Live from VON

Due to my being on the road this week -- in San Jose, at Video on the Net -- my blogging time will be limited. If you'd like to follow along with my adventures at VON, please check the official STBD blog, where I'll be uploading throughout the week. If not, check back here Friday and see how coherent I am after my redeye return flight...

You can also follow along in "real time" at Twitter.