Perhaps the hardest aspect of working in the "new economy" is explaing things to those that don't:

woman: "So what are you selling again?"
me: "Software. On the web. Instead of installing software on your computer you come to our website."
woman: "I don't understand."
me: "Sometimes you open a program on your computer. For our software, you come to our website."
woman: "And then download the software?"
me: "No, you just use it from our website."
woman: "So what do people pay for then?"
me: "The software."
woman: "But they're not downloading anything?"
me: "No. You just use the software on our site."
woman: "Well I still don't understand. You'll have to explain this in a letter."

I was rather surprised by the poor design of the ballots as I voted yesterday. It took me a couple seconds to figure out what to do, and I actually had to read the instructions. I found the ballot overly-complicated, in part due to the number of languages that were squashed onto the same page. And to select a candidate, I had to draw a line connecting the head of an arrow with its tail, which was a manner of indicating a selection that I'd never seen before in any type of voting or test-taking. After seeing the controversial ballot in Palm Beach, I wonder: who designs these ballots? This is, perhaps, some of the most important information architecture work to be had. Do they perform user testing on the ballot designs before election day? I can't imagine that the Palm Beach design would have passed. It's hard to believe Gore could lose the election over some bad UI in Florida.

Back to work after two days home sick and what do I find awaiting me? A "blog care package" from Steve! He sent all kinds of crazy sugar packets from all over the world, Canadian maple syrup (which I'm sure will be delicious and only slightly inferior to the stuff from Vermont), a box of Smarties (which are different from American Smarties, these look like M&Ms) and best of all: Phantom Power by the Tragically Hip! What a great way to start back into work, I feel 100% better already. Thanks so much Steve, you're the greatest!

I'm only going to mention this once, right now: there's an article in this week's New Yorker (November 13, 2000, the cartoon edition), p.102. I'm in it.

Remember when things were crazy and people would invest in anything web-related? Well things are still crazy, but in the opposite direction it seems, and now no one will invest in anything. Irrational fear seems to have taken the place of irrational exhuberance and optomism. And the latest victim? Pets.com.

Certainly the market couldn't support three online pet stores, but can't it support one? Can't pet supplies be consolidated with some other online venture? Groceries, perhaps? It's hard to believe we're going back to the days of no online pet stores. It makes me a little sad, not because I like shopping for pet food on line or anything like that, but because it feels like a step backward. I'm getting used to my internet-enabled lifestyle (webvan, kozmo, etc.), and I don't want it to go away.

Working in a small company is great: you know everybody, you can hang out with everyone, be friends outside of work, buddies, etc. etc. Of course, when one person gets sick, the whole team goes down. I don't know who got it first, me or pb or Matt Haughey, but we've all certainly got it. Guh. I'm too tired to even watch tv. I'm getting back in bed right now.

It's kind of fun to get up early, to not be rushed to get stuff done and get out the door and get the day off to a start. It's kind of nice to sit and drink a cup of coffee, read on the web, and just think. Just reading and thinking and that's about it. I'm speaking on a panel today at WEB2000 on web applications at 10:30, so come on by if you're attending. Of course, if you're around, you're probably going to hear Clinton speak. The President is coming to Moscone South (exactly where the conference is!) to rally for Gore at 11am. I imagine it's going to be a zoo. I hope some people come to here us babble about the future of web apps, of course, if they don't, I imagine we can have quite an interesting conversation on our own.

WEB2000, day two. I'm beat, and we're just getting started. I don't know how much more I can talk to people about Blogger, but it sure is fun. Yesterday someone came up to me and said, "Oh my God! I just love your product. I *LOVE* Blogger. I tell everyone I know to use it. I just LOVE it!!"

Hearing that made me feel really really good.

I'm at WEB200 right now.