It occurred to me this morning, and then two good friends have reminded me, that I haven’t really posted here about what I’m up to lately. So I figure it’s probably time to say something about it!
Earlier this year I joined a company called GreenScreen Interactive… I had been doing consulting work for the previous year and part of it was for GreenScreen… as the company grew it made sense for them to hire someone full-time for tech, so I came on as VP Technology. It was a growing young multi-national, multi-location publisher, with a main office in New York, and a development studio and two smaller publishers that had been purchased. The core team of people there was great, and we were dedicated to creating high-quality original titles. Well, it isn’t appropriate for me to get into the details, but most of the company came apart about a month and a half ago. The core team is gone, the New York office closed down, the studio has detached itself, and what is left of the company is basically just the two small publishers. That company is now known as Zoo Games.
We did some good work there. I really had a great time, and got to meet and work with some fantastic people: in New York, in Orange County, Melbourne, Helsinki, and here in the San Francisco Bay. And we built some fun games.
So it’s back to consulting for me, for the moment. I’ve been toying with a lot of other ideas, from spinning something new up to joining on with someone full-time. Lots of ideas, lots of conversations. Right now I’m enjoying having a little office in San Francisco, walking to and from work, meeting up with people to talk about what they’re working on and how I can help. And when the time and opportunity is right, I’ll dig in. For the moment though…

I came into the office this morning late and cranky… I’m thinking about my next career move, brain spinning in a million different directions at once, and taking some deep breaths to encourage focus. Not really seeing where I’m going as I walk down the street, but I know there’s a coffee and cookie at Specialty’s with my name on them. And that will motivate me toward the office. It’s that kind of day, you know what I mean?
When I get to the office, Charles is back at the building’s front desk. He is a true southern gentleman and one of the reasons I really looked forward to getting an office in this building. But he hasn’t been here since I moved in (September 1), and I thought he had left.
I ask Charles if he is okay, if everything is alright, and his answer is “no, not really”… this is the kind of statement people generally laugh off, they would reply “oh I hope your day improves”, and then turn toward the elevator to head to their own set of problems. But I’ve never been good at being one of those kind of people. So I walked over to chat with Charles.
It turns out he’s been in Texas the past month, working with the Red Cross, helping out victims of Hurricane Ike. Why is he not okay? His body-clock is off, his brain is distracted, he’s thinking about the little girl who gave him a crayon-drawn thank you card. Charles may be sitting in the lobby at 55 New Montgomery, but his mind is still in Texas with all the people who suffered, and who he did his best to help.
That kind of caring self-sacrifice always stops my heart – and pulls me out of myself. It’s easy to lose sight of life’s big picture when we’re caught up in our own world of problems. Fortunately the world sometimes decides to intervene in ways we don’t expect.

Worth sharing.

MB and I are moving… I’m moving out of my loft from one side of the town, she’s moving out of her flat from the other side of town, and we are winding up at a slightly larger place somewhere between. The new loft is a gorgeous modern two-story in San Francisco, a mere block from where GDC is held every year. It is really a fantastic place; the owner appears to have been a lighting designer and has added a lot of nice lighting elements around the loft.
But it is a bit small for all of our stuff! We have gotten the majority of it in there but so far the downstairs bathroom has been put to use as a storage room, and I have yet to move over the office books, desk, printer… I will put most of the books in storage for now, as I have a LOT of computer books (I bet you never would have guessed that huh )
Next step is to clean up my old loft and rent it out… if you know anyone looking to rent a beautiful 3-story loft in San Francisco near 9th and Mission, shoot me an email!