Thursday, April 26, 2007

Searching for Adam ...









I made this map and widget for the most lovely lovely Caroline, who has a fabulously important book coming out on the 15th of June.

It was particularly satisfying because we only hatched our cunning plan on Friday and it launched on Tuesday!

Yay!

I have to say, it's one of the most fun tasks I've done ages. And I am just soooo thrilled that people are using it, and I'm getting a huge kick out of the fact that they are using it in so many place in the world.

Sometimes, here in Surrey, it's easy to forget how huge the planet is. I mean, I kind of know it, I have clients in Australia and Sweden and America and even Staines* ... but it's so easy to hang your washing out under a blue sky and not give a moment's thought to the fact that in other places it is dark. Dark! Amazing.

I feel like the map has plotted a journey of my own. Intellectually it gave me a chance to rub up against my new server and really find it's edges - having a new server is kind of like having a new girlfriend / boyfriend. It isn't til you have a major falling out and they won't do what you wanted that you really have a clue about how good the relationship is. Emotionally it was an opportunity to bury myself in something utterly self-absorbed for a few days which happened to coincide with some difficult anniversaries.

Working with Caroline, hatching ideas and bouncing them off each other has been a beautiful experience, one that has made me certain that I want to do more collaborative and less solitary journeying this year, in all areas. But most of all, spiritually, I am reminded that the world is a huge place and life is complex, but amazingly, little things I do really can create a ripple in the pond, that spreads and spreads and laps up on a shore on the other side of the planet.

And, there were a lot of numbers, and I am a bit of a dirty techie and I like a good bit of geometry every once in a while.

So, I have derived that:

(Numbers + new Server(php5) ) x ((InspirationalBlogFriends.caroline + purpose) / (tightDeadline + cupsOfTea(93))) * (blogFriends - geographicalConstraints) = http://insearchofadammap.blogspot.com + Stray.happy++;


And, if you haven't yet put your pin in the map - get over there! And please zoooooom right in before you position it because Canterbury is definitely NOT in tyneside!



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*for my international audience, Staines is about as exciting and glamourous as it sounds. Is there a word that means onomatopoeic but for meaning? There should be. And my housemate has pointed out that RonSeal doesn't actually seal Rons. Which is really quite worrying.

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6 Comments:

Blogger Caroline said...

This is a beautiful post and I cried. I always cry!

It has been fun Stray. I get such a buzz from seeing the pins around the world. And I have giggled out loud so much over the last few days.

You're a genuius and a genuine soul.
Hugs xxxxx

26 April, 2007 09:03  
Blogger XXYXX said...

Stray darling, step away form the keyboard now. You're being to see personal messages written in code fragments and it can't belong before the voices in the head start up again. Please, follow this link

< a class="adore you"
href="http://www.strayissmallbutcool.com" target="_neatstray" >
You need Help < /a>

OK, NOW do you see. Lay down quick

26 April, 2007 13:08  
Blogger Random Reflections said...

Just catching up on the last week's blog reading and this is such a lovely post. Making connections, feeling that the small things that we do maybe make a difference to someone somewhere, well that is what can keep us going sometimes. I hope the happiness continues.

26 April, 2007 19:34  
Blogger Dale said...

Oy! very cool. except I accidentally dropped a pin up in the north country somewhere, in addition to my one in Oregon. But hey, can't a person look in two places at once, in the virtual world?

28 April, 2007 07:11  
Blogger Paula said...

Hey Stry, I suspect you already know this but just in case.... There is a fabulous book called The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell....""The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life," writes Malcolm Gladwell, "is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do." Although anyone familiar with the theory of memetics will recognize this concept, Gladwell's The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject"

I think you have already done this! but it might hold a few more useful tips before your deadlines. Good Luck - Love the Map & Widget!
PaulaBxx

28 April, 2007 23:50  
Blogger Stray said...

Caroline - are we taking it in turns to make each other cry or what? And giggle. Giggling is good :)
Böbø - Bless you. I'm pretty sure you can't have a space in a legal CSS class name, but ... oh! sorry .. I'm doing it again aren't I? Shhh! Stray! Stop it!

RR - Thanks for stopping by. If you've read any more recent posts you'll know how important those connections suddenly became!

Dale - I see absolutely no rule on the map that says 'One pin per person' ... go for it!

Paula - Thanks for the reminded about The Tipping Point - it's one of my favourite books (of that kind) and I have put it straight on my "To re-read" list for this summer! Nice to see you - and lovely to see you blogging Cas's book - I think, having read some of your other sites, you'll appreciate the content (from the little I know about it, she's very secretive you know ;) )

Sx

29 April, 2007 00:25  

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