I’m going to keep this post short and sweet.

Here’s some brilliant examples of inspirational hand-work by Chicago artist Michael Dinges. His current show— “Dead Reckoning” — features a set of laptops engraved with spectacular images, as well as a “set of brass instruments styled after traditional sea-faring navigational tools.” It’s all very amazing and another reason I wish I had better drawing skills.

Source: Collision Detection

My wife is Canadian and when we started dating, she sent me a “declaration”(below). Turned out, this declaration is from Molson’s I Am Canadian beer campaign that was huge in Canada at the time. I fully admit to being an ignorant American before I met her–knowing very little about Canada or other counties & cultures. That’s no longer the case, I hope. I love visting other countries, learning about other cultures and enjoy working with my peers in London, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore & Tokyo.

But I have a great fondness for Canada for their smart, sophisticated & considerate ways. We’re headed to the great north to visit my wife’s family and I’ll be back in early September (one of the great perks of working in-house design department).

On an unrelated note, The Inhouse Creative is 2 weeks old today and I’ve gotten really great feedback and support for the site. Thank you and keep coming back, the best is yet to come.

Enjoy, I Am Canadian.

Hey, I’m not a lumberjack, or a fur trader….
I don’t live in an igloo or eat blubber, or own a dogsled….
and I don’t know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada,
although I’m certain they’re really really nice.

I have a Prime Minister, not a president.
I speak English and French, not American.
And I pronounce it ‘about’, not ‘a boot’.

I can proudly sew my country’s flag on my backpack.
I believe in peace keeping, not policing,
diversity, not assimilation,
and that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal.
A toque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch,
and it is pronounced ‘zed’ not ‘zee’, ‘zed’ !!!!

Canada is the second largest landmass!
The first nation of hockey!
and the best part of North America

My name is Joe!!
And I am Canadian!!!

Leave a comment or you can email me.

We have people on vacation, another one off getting married and our Summer workload is higher than normal. AND I haven’t taken any time off yet but that’s changing late next week. The entire family, all 6 of us, are headed to Toronto for a vacation to visit my wife’s family. I can’t wait. I really enjoy them, even if they are my “family-by-law”.

So, today’s post is on the lighter side–laughter is such a great way to recharge the mind.

I am a big fan of Flight of the Conchords and you should be too. Their brilliant HBO series is nomitated for 3 Emmys, yet no one seems to have seen it (you can rent it on NetFlix). Their YouTube Business Time video has over 10 million views! So, take 4 minutes to recharge and enjoy a favorite FOTC tune: Beautiful Girl.

Leave a comment or you can email me.

Drawing from Bruce Mau Design.

I want to start Monday with a little perspective.

While online last night, I re-read An Incomplete Manifesto For Growth by design icon Bruce Mau. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. And if you have, I recommend re-reading it. It’s a quick read and very good.

His site describes it like this:

Written in 1998, the Incomplete Manifesto is an articulation of statements exemplifying Bruce Mau’s beliefs, strategies and motivations. Collectively, they are how we approach every project.

I’m personally working on Number 32.

Listen carefully. Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.

When I was younger I was very good listener. I would listen to my friends’ or coworkers’ ideas on a subject, stew on them a bit, and then usually form a competent opinion on the matter. Now that I’m older (not old,older), I feel like I’ve lost that skill. So much of my day is spent answering questions, giving instructions or following direction that I rarely, honestly listen to anyone or their ideas. When I’m “listening” I’m really just pausing, waiting for my turn to talk. I’m trying to change that.

So lately, I’ve been listening more. Like when my wife read the first draft of this post and told me she was bored, I listened. She was right. Like when my youngest son wanted to fix the workbench in our garage a certain way, I listened. He was right. Or when my Creative Director pushed back on my crappy ideas around brochure project, I listened. He was right.

I’m finding when I genuinely listen to my family and friends, I almost always learn something new. When I genuinely listen to our clients, I almost always do better work. When I genuinely listen to my coworkers, I hear the whispers of new ideas–and I love new ideas.

Winston Churchill said, “It takes courage to stand up and speak; it also takes courage to sit down and listen.” With this blog I’m trying to do a little of both.

Leave a comment or you can email me.

I feel compelled to share, what may be old news to some of you, the brilliant Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. I know I should be discussing the chore of being creative in a corporate environment, working under tight timelines, with minimal budgets, but I can’t help but share this 42:26 of pure, unadulterated perfection. So please, go forth and be inspired, and we’ll get back to work stuff soon. Now, I need to go work on my evil laugh.

And if you haven’t seen it, Lifehacker has an great little exclusive interview with Felicia Day (love interest Penny).

What inspires you? (leave a comment or email me)