A man named Rich Jacobs contacted me earlier this year, asking if I could contribute some of my old skate zines to his art exhibition called “there is xerox on the insides of your eyelids.” I had only published three issues of my zine, called Altered Skates, in 1982-83, primarily to promote a skateboarding series that I was organizing called MESS.

I rooted through some old stuff and dug up the last remaining copies of my zine, which, thanks to Rich, have now made it to London. The sad part of the story is that I sold a huge box of zines and other memorabilia a couple years prior to someone in Florida. I had a collection of approximately 200 skate zines, the first nine big issues of Thrasher Magazine, and the first issue of Snowboarding Magazine (with Steve Caballero on the cover), along with other odds and ends.

I hope to be able to view the exhibition one of these days, since I carried one around with me for years, not realizing the magic contained in that box of paper. I appreciate Rich for seeing the value that I didn’t see because it was so much baggage.

Takes too much time should never be an excuse when finding the best way to communicate with your audience. People said the same thing about bringing email into the organization. I’ll bet some people said the same thing about phones way back in the day.

The sooner you start using and understanding new tools, the easier it is for your employees and your organization to adapt. The longer you wait, the more frustrated your employees and your audience will become.

There are many people doing the research for you. Take a little time to learn what they have to say.

Well, the social aspect of music discovery could well be a thing as permanently tied to the past as the sound of a rotary telephone dial, and browsing through the racks for surprises may be as dead as disco. The Internet is fine for finding music you already know you want, but record stores are great for discovering music you didn’t know you needed until you heard it played over store speakers and hotly debated by at least three over-opinionated sales clerks. Imagine an unemployed Dick and Barry from the Nick Hornby novel “High Fidelity” forced to get bookstore jobs. It’s just not the same.

I was just talking to a friend a few days ago about how we use the iTunes Music Store to browse for new music, since they now have over six millions songs available, a bit more than most brick and mortar music stores.

While at one time I did depend on the knowledgeable clerks at Lou’s Records for recommendations, I now have tools such as Last.fm to offer recommendations in many more ways. I’d argue the internet is better for finding new music, while the record store is better for meeting people face to face who share similar interests.

And now that the new iPod will automatically pick up on the current song playing at the Starbucks you just passed, it will be even easier to find new music. The biggest change is the location where you meet people to talk about music. It’s no longer the music store. It’s everywhere.

Years pass, and I become interested in online identity. I had long since abandoned that old blogspot site, and imported the posts into this WordPress blog hosted at Dreamhost. I thought little of abandoning the blogspot blog since the URL had nothing to do with my name. Boy, was I wrong about that.

I had since created several blogs in my own name at some of the top services (Vox, WordPress.com, etc.) As I began testing services for online identity, I began checking Google search results on my name. There, in the top ten, was always Mr. Alexander Graham Bell, the new owner of my abandoned blogspot blog.

I managed to bump him down a couple notches but that’s all I could manage. Something, somewhere, was keeping Mr. Bell steady in those search results. Finally, it dawned on me. I knew there was one important link from my name to that old blog.

I emailed Jason and asked him to change the link. Not expecting an answer in the near future, I got up from the computer to clean around the house. He replied in less than the time it took to sweep the kitchen floor, saying that he had changed the link.

So if you get a chance to gain an important link to your blog from an established, well-read blogger, make sure it’s a blog you’re going to be keeping for a while. And don’t be afraid to send $30 bucks to someone who writes a blog that you read.

I’ve managed to bump it down a few notches but am curious why no listing for my own Blogspot blog shows up in Google’s search results. The old Blogspot blog is number 16 in Yahoo results and doesn’t appear in MSN search results.

I will begin posting in my vanity Blogspot blog to see if that changes the Google search results. The old Blogspot blog hasn’t been updated in years, so I would think that new activity on my own name would overtake the historical rank of the old one.

So if you create something on a free service and only use it for a while, don’t automatically delete it. First, see if you can archive it or turn it off while maintaining administrative control. One a URL is connected to your name, it won’t go away overnight. If you give up administrative control by releasing the URL into the wild, you never know what will become attached to it.

First, both SimpleHelp and Mashable leave out one of the best resources for online identity, claimID. I’ve written about them before, but will repeat that it provides the simplest interface and the best features for describing who you are and who you aren’t. It also uses OpenID and microID (for verification). After I signed up at claimID, it showed up at number four in a Google search on my name.

I don’t fault Mashable for providing a list of sites that aggregate your online life, but it should be pointed out that signing up for yet another account to aggregate your other accounts is not a solution in itself, especially if it doesn’t provide a higher level service such as OpenID.

The single best thing you can do to manage your accounts and identity is to create your own blog. Use Vox, WordPress, or Blogger as your foundation. You don’t have to worry about writing something but at least provide an updated post occasionally to reflect changes in your online life. You can use free tools to integrate photos, bookmarks, videos, etc. into your blog so it becomes a central spot containing all your stuff.

If you don’t like what you see when you search your name on Google, it’s too late for a cover-up. The better bet is to start creating content that you want to see connected with your name and use claimID to manage it.

I scored 10 out of 10 using their online identity calculator.

On the way home, we took a voluntarily bump from our late flight from Chicago to Portland and walked over to the Hilton for some free relaxation. I cracked open the laptop when we got settled in, but instantly shut it. When I thought about how much time I would need to do anything, I extended my offline time for another night. Doing that felt good, similar to the way I felt when I went through an anti-TV phase many years ago.

But I eventually had to sit down and plow through email, RSS feeds, and the latest tech news (a transparent menubar is a feature?). As Steve Rubel predicts will increasingly become the case, I had already winnowed my sources of information, relying mainly on peers for my attention.

While on vacation, I noticed that when I had time, I didn’t know what to do. Even though I brought my laptop, there was not an internet connection and I vowed not to do anything that resembled work. I brought an iPod, but I didn’t want to listen to music, podcasts, or audiobooks. In fact, I just didn’t want to consume any media at all.

At first, I was a little anxious, pacing like a caged nerd. Eventually, I loosened up a bit and let my thoughts and body wander. I enjoyed sitting and staring at the trees. By the end of the week, I was comfortable with no stream of media bouncing across my eyeballs (although we did watch movies at night).

I once had a bookmark with a quotation from Thomas Hobbes. It said, “If I had read as many books as other men, I would be as ignorant as they.” When I first got that bookmark, having worked at a bookstore and amassed a sizable collection of books, I was put off, especially since I was not a Hobbes fan (not including tigers).

But now, more and more, I find that keeping track of the latest news, rumors, gossip, etc., keeps me ignorant. Prior to the internet, I spent much more time writing and thinking about issues from my own perspective. I doubt I’ll ever turn off the internet like I turned off the TV for many years, but I hope to lead the pack in making Steve’s prediction come true.

My trip chain in the morning involves two stops before getting to work. First, I drop my daughter off at pre-school, swing by the coffeeshop, and then to my office. The total elapsed time for my commute (depending on how busy the coffeeshop is) runs around twenty minutes. On foot.

The first link of the chain is a little over four blocks. Next, a half block to the coffeeshop. Finally, five blocks to work. At the end of the day, I go straight home, six blocks.

No traffic jams. No stress (well, maybe a little if it’s pouring rain). No pollution.

I was drawn to the Scottish film Late Night Shopping (2001) because it had similarities to a script I’m currently writing. As I sank into my plush seat while sipping on a Blind Pig Dunkel Weizen, I thought about David Denby’s recent article in The New Yorker (“Big Pictures,” Jan. 8, 2007) in which he questioned the new age of digital distribution of films while wallowing in the nostalgia of the grand theaters of his youth.

As much as I love movies, and the experience of seeing one in a theater, I have only a fourteen-inch TV at home. Unlike the crispness of the large flat-screens Mr. Denby mentions in the article, my TV doesn’t engulf me in the movie. While I might miss out on some of the details of the cinematography, I do find, however, that if a movie has a great story at its core, I get lost all the same.

Mr. Denby misses the point of the video iPod. It will not replace seeing a movie in a theater, be it a rank chain that pushes large popcorns and sodas, a cozy theater with wine and beer, or a home screen in front of a couch. I’d love to own a few of my favorite movies on a video iPod so I could revisit them whenever and wherever, just as I would do with photos.

I hope Livingrooom Theaters is successful. Their screens aren’t bigger, their sodas aren’t giant, and their seating capacity is limited, but they create an atmosphere where you enjoy arriving early and not rushing out the door the second the movie is over.