The Curve Ball

One week after I arrived here, my plans for Glerb fell apart. The two Seattle people that were working on the project with me over the last few months began to have "second thoughts" about the company -- philosophy and viability -- and we parted ways. I NEVER anticipated that this would happen after driving 4,200 miles to get here, but life (and professors!) have a way of throwing you curve balls. Needless to say, I've run through a range of feelings, but I'm trying to remain optimistic and decide how to move forward.

On the positive side of things, I'm learning to navigate my way around the city (I'm far from being even mediocre at this, but each passing day helps). The traffic here is insane and the many winding streets don't make it any easier. But flowers and plants are beginning to pop out of the ground, and when the sun shines and the Cascade Mountains and Mount Ranier are in view, it's breathtaking.

I'm just starting to meet people. Two days ago, I visited Troy Church at Adobe -- beautiful offices and a very neat working environment; Troy is a graduate of our HCI/d program from several years ago; a very bright and creative designer. There's a good chance that I will be giving a talk at Adobe in their "Distinguished Lecture" series; I'll give an UNdistinguished lecture. LOL Also, Troy is setting up a group of designers for me to talk to at Adobe; I'm interviewing them for my book on Design Pedagogy.

Last night I met up with Drew Paine; he's a graduate of Rose-Hulman University in Indiana. He almost attended our master's program, but he also got accepted into the University of Washington's PhD program and that's where he headed last fall. He's having a great time here, and he's doing a lot of work in CSCW with his advisor. Over the next couple of weeks I will meet up with faculty and students at the UW ("U-Dub"), and I'm looking forward to that.

I've gotten a special appreciation for how it feels to move to a new city and not really know anyone -- to be on your own without anyone knowing what's happening to you. But in time I will make friends and feel familiar with Seattle. My big decision now is how long I want to stay here. It will depend greatly on what happens next with Glerb. I have a few ideas, so I'll see how events unfold. I'm not yet ready to give up on my dream; I also need to reflect on "lessons learned" -- my personal post-mortem.

[I've been hearing about the students who attended IxDA; I'm really proud about the way you've handled yourselves. Also, congratulations to Team "Foodmunity" for being one of 12 teams selected in the CHI competition. Everyone should help them improve their design, create their poster, and support their efforts; their win is your win too! Much appreciation, as well, to the teams that submitted a paper; I'm proud of their efforts too.]