Realtime says: comtek website is crap
I shouldn't take such criticism too personally. He does't know that I built the site, so he wasn't being mean or anything. I asked him what his specific criticisms were - I was genuinely interested in his input as a professional designer.
Realtime says: too Old Fashion
I suppose the site is no CSS Zen Garden as far as style goes, but it has an excellent functional design which makes it easy for customers to log on and use its services.
Now I'm getting defensive after saying I wouldn't take it personally. But I'm getting off track. In this post I want to write about talk. The thoughts that make it to our mouths become more than thoughts. They enter the public consciousness to some degree and they linger. That's why you've got to be careful to say things you mean, and also to never say anything about anybody that you wouldn't say to their face.
A while back I had a player in my band who was not very talented. I complained about this to my friend Sean. "He sucks," I mused. "He seriously bites ass."
The guy's level of commitment to the band was low, so I never had to confront him. He just stopped calling or coming to jams, sparing us both the uncomfortable situation of me kicking him out.
A while later, that very player was introduced to Sean, who quite nearly blurted out "Hey, are you the one who bites ass?" And you know what? I would have deserved what I got if he had said it. When you open your mouth, you're staking yourself on the words that come out. Those transient sound waves can echo back at you when you least expect it.
In the digital age this is all the more true. Emails, instant messages, and all the rest have more staying power than other kinds of communication. Look at Gmail - with no space restrictions you can save all of your sent or received messages and the user interface steers you to do just that. Your words from good times and bad - rants, rages, criticisms and all the rest - your thoughts! Preserved in all their incriminating glory, forever in ones and zeroes deep inside a server farm on the other side of the world. So choose your words carefully.
