If you’re an avid Firefox user, as we are at Fresh Consulting, you probably know about “Personas for Firefox”, but if not let us school you with some knowledge that will make your Firefox browser look like a work of art.

The Easy Way

1. Go to https://www.getpersonas.com in your Firefox browser and choose from over 100,000 different personas you can have your Firefox browser wear.

2. After you have found the persona that best fits your style, hover your mouse over the persona you wish to use and click “Wear It”.  For example, the Fresh Consulting persona is here.

IT’S THAT SIMPLE!  Now you are ready to show all your friends and colleges your artistic style.

Tip: Use the search at the top to find specific genres or themes you are interested to narrow your persona results.

The Custom Way

1. Go to https://www.getpersonas.com in your Firefox browser and sign up for a New Personas User account.

2. Click “Create Your Own” in the top right hand corner of your browser and read about the dimensions and requirements your custom persona will need to be approved by Firefox.
3. Once you have followed all the directions you can go back to the main personas page and click “My Designs” to view your work.  Hover over your design with your mouse and click “Wear It” and you’re good to go!

If you get artistic or sport a new Persona, let us know in the comments below so we can check them out!

]]> http://freshconsulting.com/blog/how-to-freshen-up-your-firefox-browser/feed/ 0 http://freshconsulting.com/blog/our-fresh-meeting/ http://freshconsulting.com/blog/our-fresh-meeting/#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:42:20 +0000 Elisha Terada http://freshconsulting.com/blog/?p=608 In the spirit of trying to keep our minds “fresh”, we had an important “company meeting” at the closest freshest place possible: Crossroads Par 3 Bellevue 9-hole Golf Course.  It was close enough to make this mostly a lunch hour event to not interrupt our timely client work.  We had some fresh first time golfers and some seasoned experts.  In the spirit of collaboration, we played Scramble (taking the best hit) and divided our team into groups of two.

Important Takeaways: 1) Worth repeating monthly to bring in Northwest air and hard core exercise to fresh thinking brain flow  2) Bring lunch next time while waiting for Jeff to put and Mike to drive 3) Watch out for Steve.  He claimed to never play before but connected well.

Check out the pics below…

I read it when I first got to Fresh Consulting and the guys were throwing new Web 2.0 terms at me like “social networks” and I was left wondering what in the world was “Yelp” and “Digg”?. The whole thing  left me at the time…well…utterly confused.  Honestly, I thought Yelp and Digg sounded like what you name a dog– the big kind who catch  frisbees in the park.

But it’s not that  I was a complete novice to the new technologies happening. I mean, yes, I read blogs.  Didn’t write them yet, but I certainly read other people’s.  Yes, I watched YouTube videos. Yes, I posted reviews on Amazon.

But it’s also fair to say, at the time, not so long ago, I just didn’t get it. Didn’t get the fact that a internet revolution had happened exactly during the years when most people (myself included) thought “dotcom” was a dirty word. Before I read this book, as far as things like Twitter went —well let’s just say I didn’t get  why people needed to know about my peanut butter sandwich for lunch that day.  Twitter is not really about that, but that was the impression I had at the time.

But then I read this book, filled with the stories about  the founders of Facebook, Twitter, PayPal, and Digg.  From the flap of the book it says, “…It was the era of paper millionaires, eight hundred dollar office chairs, and Super Bowl ads for dotcoms that no one had ever heard of. Then in 2000 the bubble burst: The NASDAQ lost 75 percent of its value and hundreds of companies closed up shop. It was all written off as “irrational exuberance,” and everyone moved on. OYLTYG is the story of those who never gave up on the Internet dream. Instead, they learned their lesson from the bust and in recent years have created groundbreaking new companies…”

Once it was put to me in those terms, I started to understand. Technology—now that I don’t always get. But a great story? Okay, now we’re talkin’.  So it occurred to me that Web 2.0 is simply the next generation of the new web.  Part 2 of the internet revolution.  Nothing too weird or scary about it.

And once I was able to see it in those terms, I was able to  (mostly) happily embrace the changes going on. So after reading this book– which I recommend for anybody in technology aged 32+– I’m now on board. Twittering, blogging, the whole shebang.

One thing that is most striking to me about this new Web 2.0 generation is the absolute emphasis on collaboration, collaboration, collaboration.  It’s more than technology, there have been cultural shifts.  This was shown by the story in the book about  Max Levchin–founder of PayPal who made sure his company IPO’d at a staggering price (in the heart of the dotcom slump!) simply because he wanted to make sure the engineers who worked underneath him became millionaires too, the same engineers he collaborated with.  Somebody had drunkenly challenged him at a party by saying it wasn’t possible, not with the way the stock options were structured.  So he wouldn’t rest until his company went for an astronomical price, and everybody ended up with seven figure paydays. Ka-ching.

This reminds me of Fresh Consulting where everytime I say I want to feature a post about a certain person, the founder winces, shake his head and says, “No, the group. The group is what is most important.”

Okay, so I’m learning. Sometimes on my lunch hour I pull out this book. Because what writer could resist being fascinated by a tale of the phoenix (Web 2.0) rising from the ashes of the old (DotCom) world, just when all seems lost? I mean–how cool is that? And Fresh Consulting is part of the wave of new companies using the mistakes of the past and the success of the next generation to create something even more extraordinary for their clients.  Can’t wait to see the sequel!

On that day, Fresh Consulting office was abuzz as everybody gathered in the main space (described as the War Room from a previous post). The lights were dim, and voices were muted. In hushed expectation everybody gathered around a laptop to watch Apple make history.  Fresh had 3 computers stations tracking the event – 2 were livestreaming it via attendees that were holding up their iPhones and others were watching the bloggers real time comments and pictures. Even two clients came to hang out and join the party and enjoy drinks and snacks. This was serious.

And I, old fashioned book lover that I am, am as thrilled with the potential of the iPad as everybody else.

I say this even though let me make one thing clear: I love physical books. I love the weight of them in my hand, love the feel of turning pages with my fingers, love the dusty smell of standing in an independent bookstore looking for forgotten treasures.

But… even with all that, I also want to carry a library in my purse. Want the security of knowing that any time I’m standing in the DMV line, or on the airplane, or getting my prescription filled I have access to pretty much any book ever published in the Western World for the last 100 years. And I want it in 60 seconds. Or less.

So, if  somebody like me wants a digital eReader… well can I just say–paper is pretty much toast. Going the way of vinyl records. (Yes, somebody will always want those, but it won’t be the majority. This is also true because publishing houses as they exist today simply can’t survive financially under the current model.  I mean, when’s the last time you spent $25 on a hardback?)

But all the talk seems to be about which will win out–iPad or a Kindle? Sony Reader vs. Barnes and Noble’s nook? Potatoe or potato? But to me the reading revolution is really more about–do you want your reading experience to be interactive (as in vooks–a combination of video and books) or is the fun of reading seeing text and using your own imagination?

Soon you’ll be probably get an interactive book experience on all eReaders. Because even though Amazon has had a couple of P.R. um… (how shall I say this politely?)… missteps lately what with eliminating the book 1984,  and holding publishers hostage to the $9.99 eBook price, Jeff Bezos is one sharp cookie. Most likely his own amazing version of vooks will be offered on the Kindle and announced  shortly.  (And IMHO–hopefully a sleeker design. That cheap white plastic has got to go!)

So I’m torn… already some of my favorite authors are happily putting together vooks to tell their story.   They are doing this because ultimately people read books to feel emotions, or to gain knowledge, and using music and images is a great way to expand on that experience.

When our Fresh team adds videos to a  website often they can do more for the message in that 1-2  minutes than pages of text and hundreds of still pictures could ever convey. I get that! I really do. But would my favorite books be the same if the images weren’t all created in my own head? On a rainy day am I going to curl up by the fire with Peppermint tea and …turn on the show?

Let us know what YOU think??

Well the answer came when Sean Debutts from the Puget Sound Blood Center came to give a demonstration to our office on how social media has increased donations by 30%.  He mentioned that they were doing a blood drive for the first few weeks of December because donations drop off towards Christmas, exactly when they need it the most. Supply runs low when demand is high.

So I thought, why not do a blood drive for our office? It’s not asking anybody to spend money, there’s no shopping involved, and it saves lives. Plus it’s unique and different for Christmas. Fresh type of event. Perfect!

And when I brought it up at the meeting, everyone agreed that it was a great idea, nodded that they would like to participate, and so I scheduled our appointment. No big deal, everybody was on board, nothing to worry about.

Or so I thought…

My first inkling that something was a bit off was when I sent out emails confirming our appointment time.

Only one person emailed me back.

Hmmmm…that’s a bit strange, I thought. They must not have gotten the message (although you could send these guys a text at 2 am and receive an immediate response).  Must be really busy with client work.

Slowly the emails confirming the appointment came drifting in late Sunday night.

On Monday of our appointment, one guy who I hadn’t heard from kept coming in to ask me every couple of hours, “We still going to that thing at 3:00 today?” In the same voice of a kid asking, Are we there yet? “Yes,” I would answer.  He would take a deep breath, sigh and say, “Okay,” and walk out of the room, only to come back in two hours later to ask the same thing.  Weird, I thought.  Why does he keep forgetting the time of the appointment?

So I went up to him and said, “Hey did you know I need your date of birth to make the appointment for giving blood today?  I sent you a couple of emails, but you must have been too busy to read them.”

He looked down and then whispered, “It’s not that. I’m still thinking about it.”

“Thinking about it?”

He nodded slowly. “I’ll let you know,” he said.

Okay I was beginning to understand what was going on here.  No wonder the emails were late, the sighs so loud.  But honestly the last thing I would ever think is that the Fresh Consulting guys were scared.  Of like, anything!  Not when they do dangerous sports like rock climbing and snowboarding to the extreme…Basically activities I mentally classify under “Weird Things Men Do That I Don’t Understand.”   I was tempted to ask him: what’s a little needle compared to hanging backwards off the edge of a cliff or dropping a massive cliff while backcountry skiing?

Besides this guy is super nice, and there’s no way he isn’t going to show up and help people and be part of the team!  I nodded and then started looking for his email confirming he was coming with us. But…

11 am: nothing.
12:00 pm: nothing.
1:00 pm: nothing.
2:00 pm: nothing.
2:50 pm, as I’m putting on my jacket to leave, I look down the hall towards his office. I don’t hear any voices.  I sigh, bite my lip, fuss with my scarf. I check my watch again.  We are all standing in the hallway.  Standing outside his office door trying to look casual, wondering if I should go in there, just to, you know “see how he is doing” (no pressure or anything!) when I hear his voice behind me, “Aren’t you guys ready yet?” he laughs.

And just that decision alone saved three lives, and as a team we saved eighteen!  And because he decided to join us, we won the blood drive contest with 100% participation! Steve Hulet even went above and beyond the call of duty by doing a double red cell donation (took three times as long!).  We all had a great time, and it was a great bonding experience for everybody.

I decided to ask Sean DeButts a couple of questions about how it all works and how he’s using social media to help save lives.

Q&A questions with Sean:

1. How is Puget Sound Blood Center using social media to increase donations?

The social media program is increasing donations by building long-term relationships. We use Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. Announcing blood shortages in Western Washington is important, but we’re going to get the most ROI by being an active member of the social media community. We try to be friendly, thank donors, answer questions, engage people and promote other worthy causes. These give our followers value and invite friends to donate.

2. What are your upcoming technology plans?

The next version of our “Donate Blood” Facebook application will let donors form competing teams. We will also add fun features such as awards, quizzes and newsfeed posts to encourage viral growth. The program also will incorporate location-based applications and mobile technologies. Thanks in part to some pro-bono advice from Fresh Consulting, we are creating a Google Maps mashup that will display the locations of blood drives. I hope that eventually we’ll have applications for iPhones, Androids and Blackberries.

3. I understand you’re using social media to encourage ethnic minorities to donate blood?

Yes, social media is crucial for that. Less than one percent of donors in Western Washington belong to ethnic minorities, and it can be a matter of survival for patients to receive blood from donors of the same ethnicity. Receiving from someone who’s genetically similar to you helps ensure compatibility. Social media sites, especially Twitter and MySpace, are perfect for spreading that information to motivate new donors.

It’s really easy, and fun to do as a group. Almost anybody can give blood and by doing so save lives. Here’s the Facebook link to make an appointment.

It got so bad that finally I had to break down and pull out my laptop to take notes (high school peer pressure never really goes away!).  I always knew the Fresh team were super mega MAJOR Web 2.0 enthusiasts, but how do normal, ordinary  people know when they’ve officially crossed that invisible line into nerdom?

I started thinking back to a few things that have actually happened to me in the last few months with the Fresh team and put together a little quiz to help the team realize how nerdy they really were… and help others evaluate the same.  Give yourself one point for each thing below that you can relate to and don’t forget to add bonus points if you have gone the extra mile.

1. When you want to go out to eat, the first place you go is Yelp to look up restaurants. When we were in San Fran at lunchtime when I was VERY HUNGRY, there were two wonderful restaurants right in front of us, but we couldn’t make a decision because nobody could figure out which one was best–10 restaurant reviews at 100%, or 20 reviews at 90%?(+5) Bonus Points if your first reaction to this dilemma is: “I’m sure there is an algorithm or iPhone app for that!” (Yep, one of the guys said exactly that as we were trying to figure it out.)

2. You talk about the logistics involved in using social media to selling products online –anything from selling Girl Scout cookies on eBay and direct messaging your friends on Twitter to spread the work to launching a holistic social campaign for a major brand. Just normal morning conversation over bacon and eggs when you work with these kind of guys! (+2) Bonus Points if you push your kids fundraisers on Facebook.

3. You read about your conversation with a client on Twitter…before you hang up the phone. (Glad he had something nice to say!) (+5) Bonus Points if its got its own #hashtag.

4. You know your company meeting is over, not because anyone leaves the room, but because everybody has stopped talking and the only sound in the room is people quietly tapping away on their computers. Nobody at Fresh thinks this is strange when this happens at our weekly meetings. (+3) Bonus Points if somebody starts snoring in there.

5. You find out you’ve been dumped when your great aunt Ruby in Ohio emails you to find out why your girlfriend just changed her status to “single” on Facebook. (Okay this didn’t really happen to me, but still….) (+5) Bonus Points if she sends you over the LinkedIn profile of the neighbor down the street that she wants to fix you up with.

6. People start recognizing you by your online avatar.  Recently a strange man commented on the outfit he had seen me wearing at a social media event because a few days prior somebody had taken pictures and tweeted them out.  (Honestly, how can you tell the stalkers from the people that are just really, really connected anymore? It’s a fine line!) (+10) Bonus Points if you start talking about “your tweeple” (Twitter friends) in the same way you would say “my public.” Okay, you can add the bonus points if you ever even think of using the phrase “my tweeple.”

7. You use your iPhone to take a picture of the Row and Number in the garage where your car is parked (+7) Bonus Points If you take a video and tweet it out making at least one of  your followers DM you with congratulations that you got a space so close to the handicapped stall. Score!

8. You’ve been involved in a Virtual Reality experience. (+100) Bonus Points if you’ve paid actual money in Second Life to buy a tropical island in the Pacific for your work meetings. (Yep, people really do this. Are the fruity drinks with the umbrella straws real there too?)

9.  You are so interested in increasing your online connections that you “friend” the person who shared a cookie with you in second grade. (+5) Bonus Points if you ask her for a recommendation on LinkedIn… after all, the two of you “go way back.”

10. You do one of the following AT LEAST three times a day: (+4) Bonus points if you do these ten times per day:

1. Talk about your new iPhone applications.
2. Think or say, “I’ve got to tweet that out!”
3. Roll your eyes when people that say “Social media is just a fad.”

Scoring Range

1-5  Points: You are on the cusp of normality. Acceptable level. Hey you live in late 2009! Nothing to worry about.

5-20 Points: You are sliding fast into nerdom. Tipping Point time, baby.

21+ Points: Get thee to a psychiatrist!

So how about you… what are some of the ways you can tell when someone’s crossed that invisible line into official web 2.0 nerdom?

I started to get a clue about the revolution that had taken place when I talked to my boss about writing this blog. Now, because I consider Gen Y to be roughly people aged about thirty three and under, Mike and I are part of the “older” group  (Because…uh…I just turned thirty four. Like last month.) Another way of saying this is that we were both around when Microsoft was the Google of its day, and Jeff Bezos was just another online retailer begging for loans. (Caveat– just like trees are good for oxygen, books are good for the soul so I was always rooting for them to make it, and look at them now.) Anyway, I told him I wanted to write about my experiences here at Fresh Consulting, including stories about the personalities of the people who work here. Mike was open to the idea, but had some valid concerns: “Are you sure? What if you offended somebody? Maybe Better not.”  Nevertheless, I decided to bring it up at our next meeting just to see what the reaction would be.

The Team Loved the Idea

The rest of the team instantly and absolutely loved the idea, explaining that opening ourselves up online as a company, and hence as individuals, was critical to our brand and growth.

When I said, “But you do know that in order to make it interesting, I’ll have to …um…sort of make fun of all of you. Talk about your quirks and flaws.” Nobody batted an eye. (It helps that they all have a good sense of humor about themselves.)

“In print. With nicknames. Stuff that potentially your grandchildren could dig up someday.” I continued.

They all nodded. They even looked slightly puzzled. Brent, ever helpful, (but maybe slightly sarcastic), even said, “Do you want us to tell you some embarrassing stuff about ourselves?”

Learning Cool New Ways to Communicate

As far as I can see, in my own personal opinion, (NOT meant to be a scientific poll or anything) here are the coolest ways of communicating in descending order of importance:

1. Tweets (When Mike wants to let me know something, he will tweet it from his phone so that it also goes out to thousands of people in addition to me. He wouldn’t dream of using that funny ringer thing, and talking to me. Instead his message goes out to thousands of his followers because calling me individually might be considered a tad intrusive.)
2. Twitter Direct Message
3. LinkedIn Email
4. Facebook Email
5. Texting
6. Instant Messaging
7. Regular Email
8. The Telegraph (just kidding)
9. Phone (Used mainly for communicating with your grandmother. Heck, even your mom’s on Facebook now!)

Learning the New Style

Just a couple of my observations about the “new world” so far: To me, it seems that now…

• The Office Is Silent As Landlines Go the Way of Vinyl Records: At Fresh Consulting, we don’t even have a central office phone number.
• While the Mac and iPhone Are De Rigeur, The People of This Generation Are No “Crackberrys.” Just like past generations had to learn that too much television is not good for you, this new generation has learned to handle information overload and – hopefully at least – keep it in its proper place. Yes, it’s cool and expected to have information at your fingertips, but it better ADD to the discussion. You need to show respect. Like shoulder pads and big hair, eye contact and being fully present in the conversation have made a comeback.
• Selling Is A Lot Like Dating You have to court your prospects now over time, not just PUSH your messages out to get them to buy from you. Subtle casualty is key here. Rather than shower people with phone calls, instead you should initiate in social media channels and put out a lot of good content. Let that speak for your company and PULL them in from the various channels they engage in. Like dating, it’s better when your clients come to you naturally. In a nutshell: basically you should make sure you look good, and play a little hard to get.
• It’s Desirable To Be Creative or Geeky. Ideally You Are Both. When I tell people that I’m also a writer, I can see them visibly relax, while letting out their breath. Now admitting that you’re not just a corporate type of person is way cool.  It’s even good to be a nerd.  Jeff, our founder even insisted that we added that we are “geeks” on our home page. Check it out at FreshConsulting.com
• The Techies Look Like Musicians Who Like To Surf Instead of horn-rimmed glasses and pocket protectors, everybody now seems to have long curly hair, and a laid back ‘tude. Think Matthew McConahey, not Bill Gates. In the dot com days, everybody bragged how long and hard they had worked the night before. The new generation hides their yawns and the blankets in the office and pretends it was easy. But just like it takes hours to get the natural look in makeup, there’s a LOT of hard work that goes on behind the scenes to make these projects look effortless. But you can’t admit that anymore. You need to suck it up, and hide the bags underneath your eyes.
• You Should Be Careful To Mind Your Meritocracy Manners This younger generation believes that all levels can contribute and that all have equal value. This mindset is even continued when they come into contact with the people whose job it is to wait on you. For instance, I was at a networking event at a coffee shop and some (older) gentleman left his cup on the table to be picked up by somebody else. Uh oh. Not cool. Everybody talked about it, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a picture of the dirty coffee cup tweeted all over the place. Poor guy!

It didn’t take me long to realize the world of work has changed irrevocably, way beyond just making sure your online profile is up to snuff. The Net generation has done a good job of taking the Internet to the next generation and beyond, in a way that’s benefiting us all. And I’m all for openness, honesty and collaboration…and I’ll pray that nobody posts unflattering pictures of me on Facebook.

I look at him and shake my head…

Full disclosure here–I tend to ignore any and all computer problems that can’t be solved by flipping the Off switch, until basically I’m hit with the “blue screen of death.” And even then I tend to be in denial, thinking that my machine just wants to take a little rest, but will come back on shortly. As long as I think good thoughts, and speak to it nicely, everything will be just fine. Yep, I’m Computer Co-dependent.

I look down at my laptop and listen intently–indeed, there is a slight, slight, slight whirling noise, but when I push buttons, stuff still happens. “No Jeff, I don’t think so. Everything is good,” and I think to myself “we are a loong way from a blue screen. What is he talking about?”

He shakes his head, implying that a less than perfectly behaving new computer will not be tolerated at Fresh Consulting. No sir. And says “You need to take that back to the Apple store and get it fixed.”

Inwardly I groan. Ugh. I hate dealing with techie fix-it guys who will sneer at me and ask me a bunch of questions that I don’t know the answer to. In the past, this has generally made me feel really very stupid. Oh boy, this is going to be fun.

So early the next morning I go to the Apple store at the Bellevue Square Mall with a steaming Pumpkin Spice Latte in hand (normally I wouldn’t pay $4 for a drink in this economy, but I figure I deserve a treat for the hell I’m about to endure).  As I walk towards the store, I tell myself to breathe in, breathe out. Picture some nice ocean waves. I can do this, I can do this…

The first thing I notice at the Apple store is a guy wearing a headset who smiles and opens the door for me. He’s got a slightly funky haircut, but he’s definitely not a nerd so much as a guy who looks more like a songwriter (for some reason all the Web 2.0 savvy guys look like musicians to me.)  I smile at him while feeling the buzz from the latte kick in. He asks me for my name, and when I say it he taps his headset and says into it, “Miss London is here!” as if Angelina Jolie just arrived at the Oscars back-stage. Then another guy, also wearing a headset steps forward a few steps and leads me to the “Genius Counter”, where some “Geniuses” are going to look into fixing my computer. As I’m waiting for the guy to check in my computer I start looking looking around for an outlet, preparing for an onslaught of questions I know I won’t know the answer to.

The guy at the door comes running over, looking perplexed and tapping his headset. “Miss London, what are you doing?”

“Just getting it all charged up for you.”

The entire crew at the Apple store stop to stare at me as if I just grabbed a bucket of water and started mopping the floor. He says to me quietly, “Miss, we have other people to do that for you. Don’t worry about it really. Please just relax.”

Oh. Right. Sure. How silly of me. High-end customer service is clearly important to these guys.

And then after chatting with the guy who checked into my computer, (who made sure to ask about my weekend), he helped me understand the problem and guaranteed a quick fix for FREE! He looked up our company account, and then leaned forward and said, “You guys are an Apple shop, aren’t you?” When I nodded, he smiled knowingly at me. We both knew that any self respecting, web savvy, customer-centric, creative Web 2.0 type company like Fresh Consulting wouldn’t be caught dead without their Macs! On the way out, Damian (Business Specialist there) remembered both me and the name of my company on sight. Or maybe it was the info relayed through the headset from the other guy? I dunno, but either way, as he opened the door for me, I left there happy, refreshed, and ready to pick up some stock in Apple Computer.

The War Room

In one room are two strategy consultants and one lead computer scientist, Jeff, Brent and Steve, accompanied by several hired employees or contractors.  In there, the light is dim, the silence thick as everybody stares at incomprehensible data flickering on brightly lit screens…everybody gets along very well, but in a room of very smart, very intense people every so often the sounds of intense conversation–called “productive friction”–will spill out into the hallway as they solve the world’s problems (or maybe just their clients).  Because the team seems to respect each other a lot, friction more often than not turns into creative production pulled together from their diverse powers.  When you walk in there, the air practically hums with all this collective brain power– like a room filled with one of those new connected supercomputers. To be honest,  I tiptoe when I’m in there, whispering and hoping the IQ Gods don’t yank me out of there for daring to cross the threshold of the WAR ROOM.

The Party Room

In contrast, the atmosphere in the office that Mike and I share is more like a PARTY ROOM. There’s always laughter and jokes going on in here while we get our work done, and you never know who you’ll find lounging around –a client who dropped in, a friend of Mike’s (usually the same thing) or somebody talking about the Next Big Thing. I need to request a bean bag chair, a foosball table and a bunch of microwaved popcorn to make this room official! And since Mike was once a technical project manager and a software tester in another life he could actually be in both rooms, making him officially Office Agnostic. (Say that three times fast.)

Crossing Paths

All members of the team cross over into the War Room and the Party Room regularly during the day, and both sides get along well with each other well. I think the consultants and programmers like to come into the Party Room to grab some food, shoot the breeze and actually well… see this little thing called sunlight   Ever since the Rice Krispy treats and Beef Jerky started being stored close to my desk, making me the unofficial GateKeeper of the Snacks, I see a lot of those guys.  And it’s fun.

On my first day I find out  that Mike and I are going to be office mates.  Part of the company culture is that sharing space means it’s easier to collaborate on ideas. Office doors are almost never closed.  But since I haven’t shared an office with anybody since early in my career (and neither has Mike) all I can think is –Oh boy, this should be interesting.

The rest of the Fresh Consulting team, Jeff Dance (founder) and Brent Dance,  former Deloitte Consulting strategy consultants, and Steve Hulet (from Amazon) who decided to go into business for themselves. They all seem very nice. Very brainy.

We seem to be a Mac shop, which is a little strange for me, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it. I’m the only woman here which is, of course, normal for a small technology company. In my first hour here everybody has bombarded  me with information on all the latest web applications, shortcuts on Apple products and cool projects they are working on.  I guess it’s hard to hold back cool recommendations when you focus on emerging technologies.

That’s all well and good, but what I really need to know is: guys where exactly is the ladies room? When I finally find it (in the back, tucked away behind all these doors like some secret hidden attic) I have to wipe away the cobwebs.

And when I get back from lunch, I notice all of them standing around my computer with thier mouths hanging open with glazed expressions. A little anxious, I wonder if I should just pretend I don’t see this… I mean do I really want to know what’s going on? The hushed crowd parts like the Red Sea as I make my way to my desk. What is causing all these longing, lustful looks– Victoria Secret models? Britney Spears? Maybe (please God, no) a Paris HIlton video?

Nope–it’s my new Macbook Air!

Silver surface gleaming in the early autumn light, the width of a magazine, Jeff Dance (the founder of Fresh Consulting) touches the edge of it and whispers in an awed voice, “It’s like a work of art.”

Nodding as the crowd reluctanctly disperses, I turn around to wipe the drool up off the floor.