I just turned down a creampuff of a job at Adobe. Great group to work with. Great Boss. Great Benefits, etc. Great Job - wrong time. With so many peers scrambling for work (any work) I feel like an ungrateful boob for turning this down. BUT - a greater fear is that I'll look back and regret. Perhaps the next big thing won't be visible until I look for it.

I mentioned earlier that I have a muse. A very busy muse. And it wakes me up at night - something that hasn't happened for quite a while. There I am, lying in bed, cursing that I can't get back to sleep, knowing that unless I get up and write, create, practice, etc, I'll be stuck, lying in bed, cursing. My muse provides me with a list of things to do - every morning, at about 5:30 am.

In any case, I'm demonstrating my trust in the process - it's OK proceed, not with caution, but with wild abandon and enthusiasm.

When MTV first came out, I was thrilled by the creative mix of music and cinematography. Granted, there were a bunch of musicians (or their agents?) that mistakenly viewed this as a channel to broadcast live concerts filmed in abandoned warehouses - no need for additional creativity. But some musicians "got it."

Remember back to early television, which was little more than radio shows retooled to accommodate a video camera? MTV, or more precisely, music videos, started with the same problem all over again. We continue to learn that each media is unique, and only borrows concepts from the previous media.

Her Morning Elegance / Oren Lavie - Oren has done a lot of writing about this song which is worth reading if you're interested in backstories. As for me, I find the combination of story, animation and song appealing. By the way, this chord progression (Bminor, G, A, D) shows up again in a later video.

Camille - Ta douleur (clip) - There is a great interview with Camille on NPR - she's creative and willing to take a chance on her musical expression, watch some of her other videos. Although I haven't heard the entire album, each song is connected by a drone note common to the entire set of songs. You can hear it at the very beginning, and the end of this piece.

Stand By Me | Playing For Change | Song Around the World - These filmmakers recorded a band that never existed.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) - No, Matt is not a hoax, and they did not use animatronic puppets

Jill Barber with Oh My My - I don't know much about Jill Barber, but her song has a nice pocket, and a good storyline that gets fleshed out in the video.

4 Chord Medley: Bm-G-D-A - Remember the chords from Your Morning Elegance? These two vocalists run us through a brief lesson on Current Pop Music and the basis of four chords.

Lily Allen / Alfie - speaking of bringing the unreal world to your doorstep in video, Lily combines polkas and puppets.

Sesame Street: Outdoors with Jason Mraz - Did I mention four chords? They appear again in this song by Jason Mraz. The original video and song is interesting - but Sesame Street always brings things to a amusing place.

Sixteen Military Wives - The Decemberists - The Decemberists are a local Portland band made good. This video came out in 2005, shortly after the United States showed their unique new stand on diplomacy. Poor Carl.

Ok Go - Here It Goes Again (The Treadmill Video) - A recent exceptional dance routine by "OK Go." If you like this one, check out "This Too Shall Pass"

Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer (1986) - Peter Gabriel endorsed the "Clever Video" category WAAAYY Back. As I recall, this was the first impressive video I ever saw. In 1986, this animation was cutting edge, and to see it synced up with a great song was stunning enough to cause me to make the bartender wait for my order until the video was finished.

KT Tunstall vs Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer & The Cherry Tree (DJ Schmolli Mashup Mix) - So if you liked Peter Gabriel, this mash-up of two videos does a spectacular job of staying in the pocket.

Peter Gabriel - Steam - You probably don't remember "Lawnmower Man" or "Max Headroom" - the first real jumps into use of 3d mapping applied to faces and bodies. Here's Peter (again) jumping around on the cutting edge of video. Most every scene is using layers of static and animated artwork, new animation techniques (at the time) and a great beat!

Mother of All Funk Chords - At some point, all media performs a self-referencing backflip. Painters who include paintings, photographers taking pictures of photographs.YouTube videos that consist of youtube videos...

By the way - if you're on Facebook, you're not seening the links. They are all at http://www.niemannross.com

Well - not really.

Well - Yes, I have.

On November 3rd, I was told that Adobe was laying off 9% of it's workforce to align with reduced revenues, and I was going to be part of that 9%. However, what I do (Developer Evangelism) is critical to the successful launch of a future product, and so I was asked to stay on until February 28th, 2010. I am therefore, a "transitional" employee. I'm told there are others (quite a few) but there isn't any list, so it's hard to know how many.

After February 28th, there is a strong possibility that I will be kept on at Adobe to manage the upcoming Developer Summit, and a possibility that I will move to a similar job in a different business unit. But as of today, Adobe Finance is still working out the numbers, so those positions are still in limbo.

The upside is that Adobe is providing me with a handsome severance package, and a bonus to stick around until 2/28/2010. Plus it gives me a long and comfortable window to explore my employment options.

The downside is that I have to keep explaining to my contacts (both internal to Adobe, and 3rd party) that any Adobe work I'm doing will end on that date. I'm still actively engaged in developer evangelism - but unsure how to pass the baton after that time.

Now - about that upside. It's been a long time since I've done any consideration about employment. I love working for Adobe, and have been there for just about ten years. Other than a few brief moments of "What am I doing here" I haven't considered anything else. So now is the time to listen to opportunity knocking, and start looking for the big "What's Next."

When we moved to Portland, it felt like Opportunity was Knocking. The first time it knocked, I ignored it in favor of a safe and warm existence. Time ticked, and safe/warm turned to uncertain. Opportunity knocked again. Moving to Portland was still a big deal - but I got the sense that opportunity wasn't going anywhere - possibly, it might start knocking louder. I have a mental image of myself standing in front of my burned-out house when Mr. Opportunity pulls up in a stretch limo, rolls down the darkened window, and suggests that I reconsider the offer.

So I'm having conversations with my muses. I wish they spoke louder. I may be sorry if they do.

We started off with the world's largest Scrabble game, followed by a performance by the Supa Dupa Marimba Bros. For those of you that couldn't make it, here are some photos...

The sentence: Courtney Brandt was warm to the touch. Which was truly bizarre because she was so solidy frozen I couldn't depress her skin enough to have found a pulse if there had been one to find. The story is a technical who-dunnit with a twist that software programmers will relate to.

Ok - I'm doing this because Will is competing in the race, and it's always a hoot to watch these folks do the event. Annndddd - Alex Ann (Will's girlfriend) is organizing the event. You can imagine it's a TON of work, so I'm happy to do whatever to make sure she gets a full enrollment. In fact, if you need a ride, send me an email (use the "contact us" link to the side of this message.)

But you - you ought to sign up first!

Update, June 5th, 2008: I sent a copy of this letter to Ron Tonkin Honda in response to one of their postcards regarding customer service. About a week later, I received a phone call, telling me that there had been a mistake, and that the closer simply forgot to fill out the paperwork for the free oil change. As I am writing this update, I am looking at a laminated LIFETIME OIL CARD. No arguments, they just did it. So I'm sold - In a sea of suspect auto dealerships, I would back Ron Tonkin Honda as one of the most honorable bunch of folks I've ever dealt with. Really.

My neighbor dinged the corner of my 2007 Honda CR-V, so I've even had some experience with the body shop. I did a competitive pricing - guess what. Ron Tonkin Honda was the cheapest. And they did an amazing job. Go get your body work done there. Absolutely.

Actually, I bought the CR-V from them. Good price, nice guys. I even liked the guy who sold me the car. His name is Dan Mason - go buy a car from him. Seriously.

But when you buy that car, watch out for the closer (the nicely dressed guy in the back room) and the extended warranty. I mean, come on. How many times has Consumer Reports told us that extended warranties just aren't worth it. And I told this guy no less than three times that I didn't want the warranty. He would drop the topic, then come back around to it after a couple of minutes - each time telling me more about the wonders of an extended warranty - and dropping the price. Each time I said no, because come on - how many times has Consumer Reports told us that extended warranties just aren't worth it. PAY ATTENTION

I changed my mind when he told me that it included free oil changes. Actually I didn't, because there was a good chance that we would be moving out of state, and free oil changes at Ron Tonkin Honda would probably have meant a 1,000 mile drive. But Janell and I did some quick math, figured that we weren't going to move for a year, and that a year of oil changes might make the whole thing worth it. We confirmed that oil changes were part of the deal, heard "yes", asked where that was stated in writing, and then bought the Advantage Vehicle Service Contract for $700.00. In fact, we have pretty distinct memories of being told that the warranty pretty much covered all routine maintenance items, such as tire rotation, anti-freeze, etc. oops

By the way - $700 was about 1/4 or 1/5th of the original stated price on this contract.

So recently, my beloved Honda CR-V flashes the wrench sign, and tells me it's time to get the oil changed. I schedule an appointment with Ron Tonkin, and they get me in early. They have wi-fi so I can hang out while they're changing the oil. It's like hanging out in the United Airlines Ambassador Club. Cool

Then I find out that although my first oil change is free, the tire rotation is not, nor are subsequent oil changes. I self-assuredly pull out my maintenance book which includes all related paperwork, show it to the service rep, who assures me that I don't get free oil service. He even goes and gets the nicely-dressed closer-guy from the back room - who assures me that I don't have free oil changes, and that Ron Tonkin Honda would never mis-represent a promise. I dig through the Coverage Booklet, and have to admit that I can't find anything about free oil changes. In fact, there seems to be a $100 deductible option on the contract as well. Way more than the value of an oil change. I should have listened to those guys at Consumer Reports. dog-gonit!

Janell assures me that we heard "free oil change", but I didn't think to have the video camera running when nice-suit-guy brought it up. So, like Jim Carrey in "Liar liar", I'm forced to resort to whiney blog entries in the hopes that karma will have out.

Moral of the story: Ron Tonkin is cool. But the Advantage warranty by Protective doesn't change your oil. Seriously.