ISPCon

October 15, 2007 D. H. McKee

Off

I’ve been sent to this convention as part of work. I’d like to see it as part of some fantastical boondoggle that takes me down to San Jose, California, but I get the impression that it’s going to be a lot more work than I hoped. Sure, it’s all about marketing, and putting on a nice face for the company, but I’m not really good at any of this marketing jazz. The technical abilities that make me a good product manager also detract from the same product management role, since I have a hard time getting enthused the same way marketing people can.
Yesterday was all about flying and airports. We left Toronto, and got stuck on a cramped flight into Denver for a short layover. The in-flight movie was, get this, “Beetlejuice”. I honestly didn’t know there were any copies left of this film, except the one owned by A&E. I got stuck in the left wing emergency exit chair, so there was plenty of leg room (about 5 feet or something), but no stowage for my carry-on. I kept having to crawl up behind the guy in front of me, so I could dig around in the seat pocket to his left. Sounds dirty, no? Felt dirty.
The layover was longer than we expected, and we were stuck in Denver for 3 hours. If the airport is any indicator of Denver, the city’s full of zombies, endlessly wandering around a large, overpriced mall, with a garish sculpture installation in the middle of it all.
The Airbus out of Denver was delayed a bit longer, and we found out why — the thing was falling apart. Also, none of the cabin was actually cleaned prior to our departure. It was like coming into a movie theatre just after the last show got out, complete with popcorn littering the sticky floors. I hesitated to get into my assigned seat, because it was coated with … glitter … a whole lot of glitter. My pants must have looked like an under-aged disco chick when I left.
The Airbus was indeed falling apart. In the cabin, at least, they had two seats with armrests that were missing the padding, and they called an emergency tech in to help repair the armrests with gaffer’s tape. It really didn’t help that the tech was going on about what a piece of junk the Airbuses were — that really didn’t help things.
To further punish us, they showed “Evan Almighty” as the in-flight movie. Then, they interrupted it periodically to announce the Cleveland-Boston game. I don’t know which was worse.

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About This Site

As a guy who occasionally curates art shows and wrangles artists together, I often have to edit and post artist bios, profile pictures, and artwork images. This can be a problem, since many artists and writers aren’t used to selling themselves. Artists rarely know how to present their art for display in a brochure, and writers aren’t used to writing about themselves.

Writers often treat the bio like it’s an interview or something. Maybe like they’re having a conversation with you, the reader. While it may work sometimes, the most common way to write a bio is to write in the 3rd person.

I’m like those writers, and I’m talking to you directly, unlike the common way to do a bio. You should see my About page. It makes sense to me, since this is a bit which describes my blog’s website. When I get famous enough that I don’t have time to talk to you, I’ll have an intern write everything in 3rd person. Until then, you get to talk to me.

Like blogs of old, this one is a personal document of the comings and goings of me. Articles I’ve written, links I’ve posted, videos I liked, etc. Here, a first-person perspective is the way to go, at least for now. So, this is my site. I’m D. H. McKee, a sometimes artist, sometimes writer. Mostly just a guy on the internet.