It’s no surprise I’m a fan of Brian Raszka’s art. I think this is about the fourth time this year I’ve posted something of his. This time we bring you the opportunity to put a little piece of Brian under your tree for the bike art lover you love.

Bidding will start @ $35 with a buy-it-now of $150. Auction ends Nov 24, 200910:07:44 PST Some of the proceeds, depending on the final price, will go to fund IAI, TBS and BikeCarson Hosting. The rest goes to Brian.

Brian’s work has appeared in Adobe Magazine, Advertising Age, The Atlantic Monthly, Chicago Tribune, MacWorld, Muscle & Fitness [nude self portraits], Surfer Mag, The Wall Street Journal and Many more. Please bid on this auction and tell your bike loving friends. Check out Brian’s work here.

Lots of cool things coming up from i am indisposed in the next week or two.

A continuation of the epic saga of how we almost [thought we] got kidnapped in Morocco.

More images and descriptions of my backpacking trip to the Wind River Range and Grand Teton National Park including a beaver video…

And some interesting tidbits about the company I work for, Twelve Horses.

In the meantime, this has been described as one of the best videos I’ve produced @ Twelve Horses.

Videographer: Tyler McPherron
Editor: Jason Newmark
Project Manager: Laura Turpack
Copywriter, Producer: Mike Henderson

-M

In the world of ski resort marketing @ Lake Tahoe, web video is becoming a mandatory component of the strategy. I’m pretty stoked to be involved with the business. But I can’t help but notice two discinct approaches being taken. For example let’s take a look at two resorts that happen to be neighbors:

Which one was made by a PR agency and which one by skiers who happen to be into web video?

Which one better gives you a sense of what it is like to ski at that particular resort and what their core brand is? 

I have my opinion, but bloggers are always biassed…

-M

I had high and mighty illusions that I had the time and energy to develop this sight in Drupal. I thought that I would create a more varied range of content types and maybe that would have been the case eventually, but not now. I’ll keep the Blog2 site open so I can dick around with drupal if I want to, but I’m going to devote more time to writing and posting here and bringing back the Snake in the Road story thread and initiating others.

I’ll also be focusing on video more. I’m experimenting with TallcanTV, and will be starting a backcountry skiing podcast as soon as the snow starts to fall and I get a video camera.

There are also a lot of compelling reasons to stick with WordPress as I found out in my interview with Matt Mullenweg and the talks @ Wordcamp Utah.

So I’m back with what I know and love. Vivi Las WordPress!!

-Mike

Some things can get you hurt, some things can get you killed and some things can get you a shit ton of hits to your twitter profile. Being the first with a clever, accurate or even mundane response to an earthquake in Reno, Nevada Is one of those things that can make or brake your social media aura and propel you to the top of everyone’s mind for a few minutes, or relegate yourself to minor obscurity. Here are some educational videos we produced:

In video # 1 Andy may have saved his life with his quick and decisive “duck and cover” maneuver, but no one will know how he fared the traumatic event until he sits back up @ his desk.

In Video #2 Seth manages to fire off the first Twitter update associated with that particular siesmic event. That will likely garner him a free Guinness @ the pub tonight and increase his attractivness with local females. Good Job Seth! Also note that he is on his way out to check on others in the office and make sure they see his twitter message…

I hope we’ve all learned something.

-M

wait, WTF is a copywriter?

-M

Confessions of a Social Media Expert:

1) I can’t stand MySpace. Oh yes, I’m on MySpace. And what have I gotten from the relationship? About a thousand solicitation emails from lovely young ladies who have interesting profiles and far more interesting websites. When I set up profiles for clients they are ALWAYS FEMALE. The result is no porn spam. Go figure.

2) Facebook Apps are lame. Oregon Trail? Super Poke? A dozen emails with no info in them telling me I have a useless message on facebook??!?!! I’m over it.

I only ever had one interesting interaction on Facebook with someone with whom I went to highschool. She friended a bunch of people FB said were her high school friends, and I had no recollection. Then I looked at her pics and sort of recognized her, but REALLY recognized her boyfriend. Turns out HE went out with MY sister when they were in highschool, which was about 10 years after WE were in high school. “Yeah, she’s hella old,” my sister says…

3) I rely on Twitter to stay informed. We like to talk about using personal social networks of people we trust to help filter the content we need from the world around us. David has some good comments in here. As such, my personal network does a great job of keeping me informed. Especially @rgj, @skialpine, and @colinloretz. And here’s something about how you can use Twitter as a customer service tool…

-M

Level Six

Originally uploaded by LeilaniS

So I started this this AM just as a test to test posting a pic to my blog and Flickr from my phone. Then Jeff took iteration 2, Stahl Glenn, Colin, and now Leilani! So I started the group. Enjoy.

-M

Welcome to the i am indisposed first annual new years predictions post. Herein I will expound about how I expect the world to change next year. Since I’m almost never right about predictions I’ll not restrict myself to reality…

And here we go:

1. The new year will bring AMAzing amounts of new snow to Tahoe and the Sierra and I will ski it all with impunity.
2. People will realize that high definition TV is like polishing a turd when it comes to local news personalities (Tad Dunbar).
3. Twelve Horses will dominate internet viral video in the category of “office antics…“
4. Smella and I will go on our trip out of the country and have an “adventure.”
5. Web 2.0 will realize that we don’t want or need service specific inboxes and that emails telling you have an email w/o the ability to read it or respond to it are STOOOPID! (Flickr, YouTube, Broadbancsports.com, MySpace AND ESPECIALLY Facebook.com: I’m looking at YOU!)
6. People will start to realize that social media providers are NOT taking advantage of user generated media and that notoriety and popularity are freely tradeable commodities. (that could be the most profound thing I’ve typed all year…)
7. Half my female friends will be, or get pregnant…
8. Someone will get back to the car after a bike ride and say: Goddam your dog is FAST!
9. Someone will come up with something cooler than the ipod that you can sync on an open sourced, plugin compatible platform from multiple machines, use as a drive AND play music, expand as new products are available that is neither WHITE nor CHROME nor a massive repository for hand, nose and FACE goo…
10. I will be a NINE year resident of Reno (freaking) Nevada and NINE years older than I was NINE years ago, and Smella and I will be celebrating our Diamond/Tin Wedding anniversary [ that only sounds HALF expensive].

-M

“I’m not a scientist, but I play one in real life.”

Yeah, you might have heard me say that. Well, no more. From now on it’s, “I’m not a tech geek, but I play one in real life.”

What’s that? Anyone who spends this much time blogging and twittering his late night snacking habits has got to be a tech geek! Well, I managed to fool some pretty sharp dudes, cause THEY GAVE ME A JOB!!!

After weighing the offer over TWELVE donut holes last evening and eating like a heard of HORSES @ Super Burrito, I decided that “Content Developer” sounded like a job made especially for me. (they even specified, “6 foot 2, skinny, scruffy looking, rides bikes. experience with fart jokes preferred.”)

Since I spend about 90% of my cognitive time thinking of ways to be clever on the internets, and the other half making fart jokes, this will be the perfect job for me. And since the guys I’ll be working with seem like a bunch of weirdos, I’ll fit right in. (I wonder if I have to re-up my membership in the RTYFN (Reno-Tahoe Young Foux-hawkers Network…)…)

Thanks to family and friends for help and support in my, uhh, whole thing!!!

-M

ps Stay tuned for details on my celebratory Organic Chicken Bake, and pics of me riding my bike through the new office. (It’s not boredom, just something that needs to be done.)