Category Archives: Work

Thursday – 2/26/2015

Worked on UTM. Spent time on phone with Tim Varney at Troy Web on new iTunes Connect provisioning system. Still very unclear how this works. Also cleaned up more of the investor presentation. Drove to UAlbany. Jan is sick so he attended most of the meeting by telecon.

Talked with Anita Harris for first time since late November. Karen had a photographer in for a portfolio review so I met Chad Weckler at Verdigris to talk about the makerspace project. Next steps, check in that we are on the same page philosophically.

Tuesday – 2/24/15

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Temperature 6:30 am

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Temperature 10 am

Walked to UTM at 10 am. Slow meeting with Jan, Seth and David.

Stopped at Moto for coffee at 2:30 pm. Worked on corporate organization trends essay.

 

 

 

 

Bob's mocha latte

Bob’s mocha latte

Bob and Marie Rasner came in. Bob likes to talk. Told stories of his corporate life.

UTM call with Troy Web about new Apple app provisioning process. Procedures still unclear.

Karen has gone off with David Drake, SJ Williams to movies in Albany.

 

 

Friday – 2/20/15

IMG_9035 2The cold is not ending. Temperature at 7am.

Met with Agi Clark at Cascades to explore possible modes for her to engage the library project. 90 minute discussion. She has owned a house in Taghkanic across the lake since 1976. Now living on Warren St. as an experiment. Background on the creative side of advertising. Not a committee person. interested in engaging the poorer parts of the community. Knows Joanie Hunt at Promise Neighborhood. Also spoke of the need to video everything we do. Perhaps get a high school student involved.

Talked with Seth about UTM. Disaster with Troy Web last week not managing Apple app licenses and loosing connection to the CMH app. New CMH website now in web developer slow down…… still spelling errors in the text. More about the aggravations with Angie Keefer. He also now had some nagging damage to right shoulder from a fall earlier in the winter.02202015-UTM-scrn grab

 

 

Thursday – 2/19/15

Went to gym at 7:30 am.

Visited Albany Public Library Made Here Creative Space at Washington Ave branch (former main branch. The library is iun a former IRS building. Low ceilings, though they have made considerable improvements in its appearance and functionalities.

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IMG_9029IMG_9030UAlbany students cancelled with less than one hour’s notice via email. Jan is skiing with his kids so he didn’t count in the equation.

Fortunately I could move my 2:30pm meeting to talk about their new makerspace at the Albany Public Library to 1pm.

Met with Sarah Clark and Ryan Slowey. Etsy’s main contribution was so stimulate the start of the space and a six week workshop on entrepreneurialism. Held last fall with sixteen participants. Staff funding is coming out of the regular budget. APL is a school district library so they get $42 per person for their budget from taxes. They will have official launch of the space shortly. Because of the layout the space can only be open during library hours. They don’t seem to have a very strong connection to their community and possible customer base.

 

Thursday – 2/12/15

FullSizeRender 19Drove to Albany for a UTM meeting with Belvedere Home Care for a requirements gathering meeting. Jan Woodcock led the process. Very active customer inputs from four staff & CEO/owner.

Then on to UAlbany for the regular weekly meeting with the students.

My visit to Albany Made Here Creative Space at Albany Public Library was cancelled due to illness. Will see this next week. They are building this in partnership with Etsy.

Finished last of season five of  The Wire. Now have seen the entire series again. Still most compelling TV.

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 Wednesday – 2/11/15

1 North Front St. Hudson - home of Chamber of Commerce and HDC

Hudson Business Coalition meeting at Hudson Dev Corp at Firehouse. Two hours long because there were new people, including conspicuously Russ Gibson, co-owner of Croft House and Barlow Hotel.  He reported on B&B matters. Interesting support for Lodging Tax proposal with some useful caveats, including spending some of the receipts on marketing Hudson.

Hudson-Walking-Guide-2015Also spent time on Hudson Walking Guide – its future. Set up a strategy committee to come up with overall marketing direction. SJ Williams volunteered to organize this.

Got a chance to talk with Chad Weckler about the Etsy /CEDC support for a makerspace. We will collaborate further. He has a proposal ready to go to Galvan focused on the Van Kleeck Tire building.

Went to gym.

Tuesday – 2/10/15

FullSizeRender 18Shoveled garage doorway out so that I could drive car to UTM. In the end, though the storm carried on for almost 24 hrs. it only left 8 inches of snow here.

Meeting at UTM with Seth, Eliel and Jan to discuss development costs. David stuck his head in but did not attend. After almost a year we are still in a situation where there is no plan or none that anyone is adhering too.

Left UTM meeting to come home for a meeting of the HAL Nominating Committee. I scheduled this on Tuesday because David had cancelled the regular weekly UTM meetings on Tuesdays. Because of the repeated snow storms, this committee meeting has been rescheduled twice. Today, out of six members, only Marie Rasner and Gwen Gould showed up. Still a good productive meeting. Talked a somewhat reluctant Gwen into serving as Treasurer for one year. Brian Stickles who I bumped into at KASH just this morning has committed to being Treasurer next year after he finishes his MBA.

Karen decided not to go to Boston tomorrow because the snow storms – 77″ of snow in 17 days – have paralyzed the place.

 Monday – Tuesday 2/2/15 – 2/3/15

imageimageimageSnow storm that was predicted to be 12 – 18 inches veered away to sea leaving us with 8 or so inches. Enough to cause trouble but nothing big. Boston gots lots. NYC not so much though they shut the city down in anticipation.

Lengthy UTM telecon with Seth, Troy Web and Jan. Way too much background grinding by Seth. Boring, excruciating. Very little gained from 1 1/2 hrs.

A snow day extending into Tuesday. We went for walks both days in snow. Nice crunching sounds.

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Wednesday – 1/21/15 – back to UTM

Gym in the morning. Lasted only 15 minutes on bicycle. Very out of shape.

Met with Seth for first time since December. 2 hr history of last six weeks at UTM. More craziness because David continues to drop people into the mix with no consultation or plan. Latest is Angie Keefer who is another of David’s infatuations. She appeared at a meeting last December and claimed to know things about web design and user experience. No evident experience on mobile though. While I was away she caused a ruckus attacking the revised website as outdated before it was even launched.