Notes From A Clever Ogre: team

Showing posts with label team. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Ogre Shawn Knows the Key Code: It’s F#m

Alright, listen up. If this is your first time here, look around a little. This is the final installment in our Clever Ogre “What are the ogres listening to?” blog series. We’ve talked about all kinds of different music, from Christopher’s old school jams to Nora’s punk bluegrass (Punkgrass? Blunk?) across to Dadant’s reggae and Dan’s jam bands. We finally had a chance to catch up with ogre Shawn and get his take on the listen.

When we found him, Shawn Grimes was sitting in a dark cubicle in the corner of the basement. It smelled like a coffee shop in a cave. He was wearing headphones and typing away like a crazy person. Shawn is Clever Ogre’s front-end web developer. He doesn’t work in words or images, instead he uses special characters, acronyms, and abbreviations to do his work. In other words, he’s free to rock his music loud and constantly.

So, loud and constant it is. If Shawn is streaming music he’s either using rdio or Pandora. He cranks his headphones to drown out all external sounds allowing him to dive deep into codeland. When coding, he turns to his favorite band, 311, for good tunes. Alternately, if he’s in the mood for mostly lyric free music, he’ll listen to Deadmau5, Skrillex, or some other dubstep-electronic grooves.

If Shawn finds himself cleaning the house or doing other non-web related work, he listens to a wide variety of music. Of course, 311 makes a return, but he also likes to throw in Mumford & Sons, Jimmy Eat World, Sufjan Stevens, Sublime (even with Rome), Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, and pretty much any 90s alternative including Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Stone Temple Pilots. Old habits die hard, indeed.

On the off-chance he finds himself with little to do other than relax, he puts on some Pink Floyd or Adele. The melodies of Adele and lingering instrumentals of Pink Floyd allow his mind to rest. It’s tough when a person thinks in <html dir=”top”> <head> all the time. A little decompression is important for everyone, but for a programmer it’s kind of like when a daycare worker is finally able to be around adults and have actual adult conversation.

Phew. That’s 100% of the ogres. Do you think you’ve gotten some good tunes out of this series of blogs? There certainly has been a wide variety of artists in these posts. If you dig or hate any of the bands mentioned, let us know. We’re all over the place and ready to hear from you.

You’re already clicking around the internet. Click here to check us out on Facebook and here to Tweet us. Oh, don’t forget to click here to go to our website.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Music is My Literature – the writing ogre listens

If you’ve been waiting for our next ogre music blog, your wait is over. If you haven’t, hopefully you’ll be waiting for the last one – which will be out after this one.

By now, we hope to have turned you on to at least one really good band or artist. Have we succeeded? We can’t hear you or read your thoughts, so please nod at your webcam. Cool. Speaking of music, we recently told you Christopher listens to a lot of really good, but obscure, music; Chris Dadant likes his music melodic, driving, and jammin’; and Nora likes a little punk in her bluegrass. What about Dan?

Dan Fugate is Clever Ogre’s writer and social media manager; sometimes he even does graphic design. Writing doesn’t afford the same listening freedom as social media and design, so he has a couple of listening trends. This has been bittersweet for the one-time loud singing jam band enthusiast.

Being a writer, you might expect Dan to be a voracious reader. Well, he’s not. He goes after and gets into music the way other writers devour books. He often says “Music is my literature.” We believe him. When he’s writing, music generally leans toward instrumental stuff. Widespread Panic, the Grateful Dead, Phish, the London Symphony Orchestra, and Deadmau5 are where he turns for lyric free tunes.

Behind the social media and design wheels, Dan likes to add the lyrics back into his listening. The same jam bands from before are present, but also folks like: Mumford & Sons, MGMT, Keller Willaims (who he’s going to see at Vinyl in May), the Black Keys, and Ok Go.

Dan also has a soft spot for female singers. The emotion that comes through is “so powerful”, he says. When he’s in the mood for lady listening, he turns on: the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Feist, Mates of State, Tori Amos, Regina Spektor, and Sugarland. Melt and swoon.

He will listen to most anything once and he’s found he has no place in his heart for rap, r&b, or the heavier rock/metal stuff. They have too much anger and screaming for his liking. Dan has a bit of music snobbery in him too. He’s of the belief if a band can’t perform as well on stage as they can in the studio, they’re not worth his time. He says he’s just about stopped listening to Modest Mouse after seeing them live.

Alright, readers, that’s 80% of the ogres down. Now, if we can track down Shawn Grimes we’ll feature his preferences next time to round out this musical exposé series.

Let us know how we’re doing. Have we turned you on to any new music? Sound off on Facebook or Twitter.

Monday, February 20, 2012

No, I Can’t Hear You. My Music’s too Loud.

Once again we’re here to tell you about an ogre’s music preferences. If you’ll recall, Christopher is a music snob with a broad, eclectic musical taste (except for reggae) and Nora listens to everything she can cram in her ears. This time around, we’ll talk about Chris Dadant’s ear candy.

Chris is Clever Ogre’s chief designer. As a result, he is in the best position to use music as an IV drip. When other ogres have to stop listening so they can take a phone call, concentrate on a series of words, or focus on lines and lines of code; Chris can keep the music pumping and draw inspiration from the rhythm.

When he’s designing, which is pretty much all the time, he listens to music that drives him – moves his thoughts from point to point. He listens loud. Music, to Dadant, serves to activate the mind and remove external distractions. The Black Keys, MGMT, Phoenix, Wolfmother, these are the bands that drive the broad strokes of Chris’ designs.

When it comes to concentration, he mellows out the sounds a little. The same music Chris uses for concentration is what he chooses when it’s time to relax. John Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Eric Lindell, Blackberry Smoke, and Bob Marley are just the right mix of dip, drive, and dance.

Chris’ preferences sway with the weather as well. In the summertime, his mood is high, and his musical tastes reflect this with an extra injection of reggae. Once the temperature starts to drop and the grill gets warm, the music gets a twang and the Illinois country boy comes out with some George Strait and Eric Church.

The only genre Chris tends to shy away from is screamo. In his own words, he’s “hard of hearing as it is” and can’t tolerate a lot of screaming and yelling in his music. Understandable.

As for live music, Chris, like all of the ogres has an addiction. He can often be found listening to James Adkins, one of his favorite local musical talents, wherever he’s playing. He recently saw Kermit Ruffins and the BBQ Swingers at the Blue Nile in New Orleans. Also, he never misses a chance to see his pals Boukou Groove play. Usually, however, this requires a trip to Destin or South Walton but he says “It’s well worth it to hear some real New Orleans Funk.”

Alright, three ogres worth of listening.

Are you finding any new bands or artists to check out? We hope so. Get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter to let us know.

Thanks for reading.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

What the Lady Prefers

Welcome back! Last time, we started a series of blogs dedicated to each ogre’s musical preferences and listening habits. If you read that blog, you now know what kind of music Christopher Davis enjoys and when. You also know he’s a bit of a music snob. This go ‘round, we’re going to discuss the lady ogre’s musical taste.

Nora Jones loves music like no one we’ve ever known. One time, she referred to music as her Xanax. We’re assuming that means it relaxes her and helps when things get too stressful. Either that, or it’s a drug that requires a prescription and she’s hiding her addiction from the public. (Hmm, a daily dose of music doesn’t sound like a bad medication.)

She’s constantly on the lookout for a new band to get into. Relix magazine is a good source for interesting tunes, and their monthly compilation CD showcases the artists featured in that particular month’s issue. Other sources for new music are Paste Magazine’s website, Spinner.com, and Spotify.

There is not a particular genre of music Nora sticks to and her listening is steady across most moods and activities. She has an affinity for punk band members who’ve gone solo and broken away from their punk roots. Among her favorites are Tim Barry of Avail, Dallas Green of Alexis on Fire, and Ben Nichols of Lucero. Though she doesn’t limit herself to one particular genre, bluegrass is far and away her favorite type of music. Her love of bluegrass and interest in punk has drawn her to bands like Old Man Markley, who’ve created an interesting blend of the two musical styles.

Like every audiophile, Nora has a specific preference for when she’s feeling sullen and down. On the rare occasion when something is troubling her, she likes to listen to mellow sounds like Adele or Florence and the Machine.

Alright, that’s two down and three to go. Up next…maybe Chris Dadant.

Do you share Nora’s musical preferences? Get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter and let us know.

Thanks for reading.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Just Another Day at the Office

Sometime around 7:45 am the key enters the lock and another day begins at Clever Ogre. Chris Dadant, coffee in hand, steps into the cave. Over the next 15 minutes, his coworkers, who all require lots and lots of caffeine to be productive members of society, will arrive. His early morning energy is both envied and hated.

The groggy ogres, and the one peppy one, settle into their desk chairs. Coffee is consumed by all as music plays. After the overnight emails have been checked and coffee from home has been consumed, a bit of 1-2-3 not it! determines who will make the first pot of ogre coffee.

Someone asks “What’s on the agenda this week?” – clearly it’s time for a meeting. The group gathers around a table in the great room. A close look reveals pens and paper, a sure sign the ogres are ready to take notes…or at least doodle. After all of the upcoming projects have been discussed, each team member returns to his/her desk. The sound of mouse clicks and keystrokes mixes with the music. Work is happening here.

Dadant is stroking his beard as he’s scouring the internet looking for bits of design inspiration. The reason for this is two-fold; he wants to see what kind of design elements are being used by others to suit a particular client or market, he also needs to be sure Clever Ogre doesn’t produce anything that could be confused for anyone else’s work. “We don’t use stock clip art.” he says as he modifies layers, removes strokes, and ogres up an image.

In the same room, Dan is typing away…and singing. It doesn’t matter if he’s writing website copy, a commercial script, a blog, some pithy social media post, or a storyline for a web video, his stoic demeanor is an odd counterpart to the frequent outbursts of overreaction, laughter, and singing. Inspiration comes from everywhere, except other people’s writing. Not reading is a great way to avoid plagiarism.

Over in the corner, Shawn sips on a Java Monster as he stares at code. Sometimes it’s hard to make websites do cool stuff without using Flash, but he finds a way. “Why no Flash?” you ask…a lot of portable devices don’t display Flash content. More than 90% of tablet based web browsing in the U.S. is done on Apple’s iPad, which doesn’t support Flash. The voodoo magic he’s creating over there looks like a bunch of punctuation to the average Internet user. Fortunately, we never have to see that stuff; just the cool things he can do with JavaScript.

Out in the great room, Nora is plucking away at her computer, scheduling meetings and keeping all of the ogre children on track. She spends almost as much time out of the office as she does at her desk. She’s a member of this group, that chamber, and just about any network where humans are welcome. The lady ogre is responsible for being the main point of contact for clients, both current and potential.

Telecommuting is Davis. Everything gets run by him before going out. He’s an emailing and phone calling ogre, for sure. Whatever the other ogres are doing, he’s having a peek and providing his opinion and expertise.

Two or three pots of coffee (and 20 or 30 potty breaks) later, someone blurts out “I’m hungry”, gets up, and makes lunch. One by one, stomachs get the better of bodies and food is consumed by all…at a desk, in front of a computer.

It’s not long before Dan decides it’s time for another pot of coffee. “Anyone want some? Cool. Who’s making it? 1-2-3 Not it!” Sounds of “Not it!” come from the remainder of the team. “Nora, you’re it.”

Soon, afternoon fatigue begins to settle in. Dadant leans back from his monitor, eyes red, and proclaims “This isn’t working!” Writer’s block doesn’t only strike writers. Really, it should just be called creative’s block. Like zombies, the other ogres look up from their work. Dazed, they decide to break the tension with a little teambuilding.

Putting contest!

Stress free and clear headed, the ogres get back to work. The last hour of the workday breezes by. Around 4:00, computers are set to “sleep” and the see you tomorrows begin as each ogre packs up lunch containers and coffee cups.

The same key that began the day turns the same lock to end it.

“See you tomorrow, Clever Ogre.”

Friday, September 16, 2011

The Eye in Your Team

Every business owner has heard or read something about the importance of team and unity. When everyone knows his role, but also knows his voice is as important as anyone else's within the organization, there is a powerful yet humble force. Success seems inevitable. Who doesn't appreciate humble acts?

The truth is, most folks don't. Yes, we all are moved by anonymous gestures of kindness and sharing the glory, but more often than not, we don't even know these things happen. But that's okay. The whole point of doing good is to make something better, not to better one's reputation. Besides, who likes a boaster? Exactly.

That’s why you need an advertising agency. Hear us out.

Good business leaders know there’s no “I” in team. We’ve already established no one likes to hear others talk about themselves. Save that stuff for interviews and confession. You’re passionate about what you do, as you should be. Someone else needs to be in charge of spreading the word of the organization’s good deeds.

Enter Clever Ogre. Our passion is advertising. The root of advertising is cleverly and memorably telling folks what’s good about something, and why they should buy or use that particular something.

You don’t want to spend time talking yourself up, so let us. We can be “the eye in your team”. We’ll find out what you do, what you’re about, and who you are…truly. Then, we’ll create whatever kind of advertising thingamabob you want. Video, web, print, PR – we do it, well. <- See, we’re talking ourselves up. It just comes naturally to us.

Can you think of times when it’s appropriate to be boastful? Let us know about them here, on Facebook, or on Twitter. We wanna hear from you.

Share the glory, hog the blame.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

AAdvertising Dollars Well Spent

Have you gotten this phone call?

“Hello, may I speak with the business owner or whoever is in charge of advertising and marketing decisions?”

It’s the Yellow Pages or one of the other phone book companies, and they want your business to advertise in their publication. What to do? What to do? Well, you have two obvious options: buy an ad or don’t. It’s that simple. The decision, however, might make you want to commit hari-kari.

There are pros and cons with each. So what’s new? Everything has a dark side, even duct tape. A lot of businesses still advertise in these directories, and they’re one way to get your name out there. People will see your business name, and maybe a little blurb about what you do, but that’s it.

In the not-so-distant past, this ad space was priceless. If your business wasn’t listed in the yellow pages, then your potential customers couldn’t “let their fingers do the walking” and find you. Of course, if you operated Wilson’s Whitewash, your listing would be well below AAble Whitewashing Company. As a result, you probably got a lot fewer calls. So, even though it was incredibly important to be listed in the telephone directory, there were still drawbacks.

Fast forward to today. When was the last time you pulled out a phone book to look up a number? It’s more likely that you use the book as a booster seat at the Thanksgiving dinner table. It’s going away, and replacing it are Google rankings and search engine optimization. A well programmed website will go a long way to increase your chances of landing a job when a potential customer searches for a whitewashing company. The old trick of adding a couple of “A”s to your business’ name to beat out the competition are over. Good riddance to bad practices.

Even if you and your audience are not computer savvy, there are still better ways to spend those advertising dollars. Instead of buying a phone book ad, consider a billboard or vinyl lettering on your company cars. Remember, not everyone is going to see the van driving down the street with Wilson’s Whitewash emblazoned on the side, but a lot more will see that than the phone number buried under little Timmy’s tush.

If you want to explore your options, find the best place to put your money, contact an ogre for a free consultation. We have a phone. The number is 850.912.4203. We’re on Facebook, Twitter, and at cleverogre.com. You can even email us.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

A Bite of Inspiration

It’s been sunny and beautiful in Pensacola the last, well, the last several weeks. Summertime is here and we’re enjoying it. The writing ogre (that’s me) was sitting at his computer trying to figure out what he would write. Sometimes inspiration is hard to find, so he went for a walk. Lo and behold, right there, beside the sidewalk was inspiration.

For those of you not familiar with fire ants, they’re a kind of ant found in the southeastern United States. They build big dirt mounds, or anthills, some of which are so big one might think they could be seen from space; oceans, the Great Wall of China, and anthills… yep. The thing about fire ants is that they’re extremely territorial and aggressive. The slightest disturbance to the hill and thousands of them emerge, looking for a fight. Their main goal is to defend the queen, so that she can produce more fire ants and grow the colony. The fire ant’s bite packs a painful and venomous punch. They’re not deadly, unless the victim weighs about a gram, or there are thousands of them biting a larger creature or person at once. The bite swells up, develops a red, itchy rash, and is dang near impossible not to meddle with. Their tenacity, however annoying, is admirable.

Here’s a short video of fire ants emerging from the hill, ready to attack.

Much like the fire ants, a good team - whether family, friends, or coworkers – will defend one another against intruders and unwanted outsiders. They work together, each one doing his or her job, and helping out as much as possible wherever needed, to perform each task to the best of the group’s abilities. These are the kind of groups we all seek out in life; others with a common interest and goal, who will fight for and defend one another and their collective task. Find these people, and you’ve found something special… something different.

At Clever Ogre, this is artistically illustrated. Ogres do what’s required, and then some, to produce the best possible product. Whether it’s a logo, a website, a blog or a full-on branding campaign; rest assured, they’re on it. Each one knows what is expected of the other and what the end result should be. When they’re working for you, you’re part of the group. You and your product or image will be defended just as vehemently as the fire ants defend their queen and hill.

Do you have questions for the ogres? You can find us all over the web. We’re at www.cleverogre.com, on facebook, and on Twitter. Say hi, let us know if you need anything, and we’ll be there for you. Don’t worry, we don’t bite.