Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!

I know everyone in the US is big on wearing green for Saint Patrick's Day, but green is just not in our palette of wardrobe colours. We're in good company: artist Piet Mondrian wasn't keen for green either. Naturally occurring green in nature is wonderful, but green beer? Emphatically, no.
These Purple Shamrocks grow along our brick walkway, and, at certain times of day, especially when the setting sun illumines them, they transform into a jewel-toned red.  Red, purple -- those are our colours!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all our friends, followers, and family!  In this part of the globe, we wish you a soon-arriving Springtime after this hard winter we've all endured.

Photo copyrighted 2012 by Gitanajava Productions LLC

See you on the patio!

A Fresh Year, New Chances, New Choices...

Yes, we're posting another welcome to the new year!

Why?  Because the last few days runneth over with an abundance of joys, some minute, some majestic, and all magnificent:   a chilly but serene walk around the lake as the sun slipped into a gold horizon; new-found old friends; an authentic Ethiopian jebena for making spicy, molten coffee; a brother-in-law who will soon leave the hospital to greet a new year with his wife and children; the generous neighbours who haven't yet taken down their Christmas lights; the jingling harnesses of the coach-&-horses as holiday-makers make one more chance to revel; the friend who invited me to share her Christmas celebrations.  Life is good.

However you welcome your new year -- sleeping through the toll of midnight, dancing in the streets, toasting champagne, or in quiet candlelight -- here is our New Year's toast to java-pals & Twitterverse compadres.  May yours be a safe & glittering 2014!

See you on the patio in 2014! ;-)

War of the Worlds: Evernote vs. Earthlings

The role of invading aliens will be played by Evernote

In September 2012, T. J. Luoma, a writer for TUAW (a/k/a The Unofficial Apple Weblog) posted a pungent, well-reasoned article about Evernote's absorption of the highly esteemed Mac application,  Skitch.  You can read Skitch 2.0 is like Skitch 1.0 without all those pesky "features" for yourself.  Go ahead, you'll be glad you did.  The story of Skitch's dismantling demonstrates all too vividly what happens when the vision of creators, users, and opportunistic buyers clash.  "Creative disruption" can be a good thing.  Mutilation, not so much.

Today, I re-encountered Luoma's article.  It still resonates.  This time, I'm pausing long enough to respond and add a history update -- what broadcaster Paul Harvey called "the rest of the story".

A Note From Home...

Next time you're having one of those days when you need a note from home, here it is, ready and waiting.  Use in good health! ;-)

Happy Easter to All Our Java Pals!

From darkness, Light.  From despair, Hope.  Do the Happy Dance, because we have a new beginning!

With both its somber rituals and its light-hearted frivolities, Easter refreshes me and reminds me again of my "life raft" scripture:

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)

Rejoice!

Huzzah! Gitanajava's New Bizcard ;-)

Our thanks to the fab folks at Moo.com (Twitter = @OverheardAtMoo) and the rocketeers at SlideRocket for their generous creativity, assistance, and all-around brilliance.

We'd love for you to share our business card with an emerging or established entrepreneur you know.  You can do it from the options below or from here.  Plus, your comments are welcome, so leave us a note ;-)

Our Java-pal, the "Leather Lawyer"

Our java-amigo, Daniel Denton, is a lawyer, a former organic chemist for the pharmaceutical industry, and also a gifted leather artist.  The photos above are a small representation of the colourful and exacting leather work he does.  For more examples, go to http://www.facebook.com/flyingd.leather.  If you've a project in mind -- say, a customised seat for your motorcycle, a briefcase (you should see his!), a wallet, whatever -- get in touch with him.  His work will be featured soon in "Cowboys and Indians" magazine, so get in touch with him before demand drives his prices higher.

Caveat Venditor, Starbucks...

This cartoon is by the ever-brilliant Mick Stevens, New Yorker magazine
Buy the framed print at http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/Braithwaite-Starbucks-How-may-we-help-you-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i8543850_.htm

"What Starbucks has created around coffee is

an extension of the front porch.

If you look at the UK, the English pub is an extension of

people's homes but for a different beverage.

Our stores have become a gathering and meeting place

in addition to the coffee."

~Howard Schultz, Chairman/CEO Starbucks

After several weeks of finding local store and office personnel unresponsive to issues regarding faulty Wi-Fi and an approaching remodel of the store, a group of us who are regulars at Starbucks Location X decided to "bump the thread".  We met, listed our specific concerns, and Gitanajava Productions drafted the following letter, written to Starbucks via their website.  We posted our letter the evening of Friday, 6th April 2012.  Now, we're waiting to see what, if any, response we'll get from Starbucks.

Buckle your seatbelts, here we go...

To All Our Friends & Colleagues, Near & Far....

A Christmas Screensaver for You from Gitanajava Productions LLC
(right-click, open to full-sized view, then d/l to your device.)

Happy Christmas & Merry New Year! 

أجمل التهاني بمناسبة الميلاد و حلول السنة الجديدة

Buon Natale e felice anno nuovo! 

¡Feliz Navidad y próspero año nuevo!

חג מולד שמח ושנה טובה

Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein gutes neues Jahr! 

สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาส และสวัสดีปีใหม่ 

С наступающим Новым Годом ~ С Рождеством Христовым 

Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou!

BTW, Gitanajava Productions also designed and decorated the tree portrayed in this screensaver -- that's enough 3" tied-them-ourselves-bows and strategically placed candy canes to cover an 8' foot tree from top to bottom and all around, with no bare spots.

Make Yourself Merry!

I was looking for something evergreen, but phresh, to kick off my Christmas.  Thanks to friends at Google-Plus, I found just what I wanted, Sean Quigley's Little Drummer Boy.

You'll like this video so much, you'll want to own a copy -- buy Sean's work at www.cdbaby.com/seanquigley.  Follow him at Twitter, too -- @SeanQuigley204.  This guy is good.

The Coffeehouse Blues

Gitanajava = Gypsy Loves Coffee

(The original Rajah Coffee label was designed by Henri Meunier, 1897,

find it at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rajah-coffee-ad-1897-henri-meunier.jpg)

(This post was originally written, published, and distributed under the title The Coffee Canticle in December 2008.  Although the coffeehouse in question has long since passed on to the celestial heights, the thoughts and sentiments about what remain the same.)


Starbucks #6262, alias Lower Greenville Starbucks, officially closed 2 PM, Friday 19th December 2008.  Even before the farewell party ended at 6 PM, the guerrillas from Starbucks HQ arrived.  While the corpus delicti was still warm, they began taping sheets of brown butcher paper across the windows:  pulling the shroud tight.


When is a cup of coffee more than a cup of coffee?  What recombinant DNA transforms a mere java joint into a legend?

Happy All Hallow's Eve, Everyone!

To see original image & download as your holiday wallpaper, go to
http://tiny.cc/Spoooky

See you on the patio - boo!

In Pursuit of Defining Yourself...

Senorita La Tinta, a/k/a Miss Inky, taking her photo opp

I was not looking for anything remotely like Ken Robert's essay when I stumbled across it in one of those blessed web serendipity moments.  La, la, la, la-lah, I was skipping along the 'net path, gathering posies, en route to some somber research for a client.

For we RPISH* entrepreneurs and contrarian thinkers wrestling the challenges inherent to re-structuring ourselves and our work, the scant few minutes it will take to read "We’re So Ashamed of Changing (This Is Why We’re Crazy)" at Ken Robert's blog, Mildly Creative, will be minutes well spent In Pursuit of Defining Yourself.

While you're there, check out KR's self-description, too.  If Ken's blog is food for thought, his About page is the whipped cream and cherry on top.  Read and ponder, Unicorns, read and ponder!

Appearing Soon at a Theatre Near You

In a day or two, in consideration of that whole re-structuring topic, we will return with some ponders.  Stay tuned!


*RPISH = Round Peg In A Square Hole

See you on the patio!

Don't Be Afraid of the Kid in You!

I don't care what anybody says, I like the Teletubbies.  I also dig Schnuffelbunny.  I'm a happy subscriber of Peter Rabbit and the rest of his posse, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Squirrel Nutkin, and Hunca Munca.

I've never needed an excuse to enjoy a retreat to childhood joys and fantasies -- when I was up to my eyeballs in the nightclub business and then later, music management, marketing and distribution, it was a welcome relief to arrive home in the pre-dawn hours, just in time for the local broadcast of Teletubbies.  Just the same, I'd like to thank my niece and nephew in Germany for sharing the welcome news of their soon-to-come baby.  If I need it, I have a cover story for why I'm singing the Schnuffelbunny song.

When you find yourself mired in cynicsm and the weariness of grown-up responsibilities, sing the Schnuffelbunny song to yourself, my friend.  It'll do you good.

See you on the patio!

Bring Down Your Wall!

Building the Berlin Wall, August 1961

Don't you hate it when you read an article, blogpost, or book you know you shoulda-coulda written (but didn't)?  Yeh, this is one of those times for me.  I hope you'll permit me a short ramble, fellow entrepreneurs.

Today, I came across a nifty CNET article by Dennis O'Reilly, How to Use Powerpoint Effectively.  I started kicking myself.

Lotsa Communicating, But Less Connecting?

This image courtesy of Steve Kryger, CommunicateJesus.com

During the Get Javanated! workshops I conduct for entrepreneurs' groups, I use a chart not dissimilar from this one discussed a year or so ago at Steve Kryger's church marketing blog, Communicate Jesus.  Customised to the special needs and challenges of each audience, I also include an additional building block:  blogs.


The best blogs can be superior  communication tools, with a level of intimacy and authenticity varying by how well the blogger at the hub performs his/her role as presenter and moderator.  Readers' comments and interchanges with the blog author and one another act as the sine qua non of how successfully this momentary intimacy is consummated.

To extend your thoughts re people feeling more lonely than ever despite today's Social Media Wonder Tools, consider what Wayne Cordeiro, senior pastor of New Hope Church, Oahu says in a talk entitled "People Hiding in Plain Sight" (the vidcast version at  http://www.enewhope.org/videob... shows the title as "Hidden in Plain Sight").

In a pair of sermons on Social Networking delivered 11th April 2010 (BFF - Best Friends Forever, Pastor Elwin Ahu) and 18th April (Hidden..., Cordeiro), Cordeiro and Ahu re-define and most importantly, re-direct, listeners' attention to the fact that digital communications -- Facebook, Twitter, texting, et al. -- are most successful when --

• (A) we remember the tools are meant to serve us and our needs for friendship and community (fellowship), and
• (B) we use these tools with forethought and intentionality.

"In this socially connected world, *people* are still not connected....In this world of social connectedness, it [social media] can never become a substitute for F2F, face to face....I want to challenge you today, when you see this social networking increase...use it to motivate yourself to go face-to-face with people."

New Hope's well-designed website contains a wide array of digital media -- livecasts with a chat room enabling viewers to ask questions and offer comments; downloadable vidcasts, podcasts, sermon notes, and newsletter; a journalling process for personal faith-building and to share as devotionals through "Doing Life Together"; a "prayer wall"; and "iNeed", their own online classified ads (imagine a scrupulously cleaned-up Craigslist!) -- plus, thoughtfully deployed social networking, New Hope Oahu could be held up as a model for the faith community of a church who have adapted well to modern realities. But, as Cordeiro and the pastoral staff consistently point out, the tools and toys would be hollow and meaningless without "'ohana".

In Hawaiʻi, 'ohana is family - extended, adopted, blood relatives, or anyone sharing fellowship in Christ with one another for an hour, a day, or a lifetime.  And when you have 'ohana, there are connections, face-to-face and heart-to-heart.  The Social Media Wonder Tools are there to serve the spirit of 'ohana by building and connecting the New Hope family.


When you and I review our own whiz-bang technomarvelous tools, let's do a reality check:  what spirit are we building?  Are we deepening and strengthening our connections or are we just beating our drums louder and longer?


Just asking....

See you on the patio! 

Simplicity, Simplify: A Marketing Lesson from the Toybox

 Simplicity, Simplify

A few years into my brilliant marketing career, I learned an important lesson, albeit from an unexpected source.  A six year-old boy taught me how too many choices and too little opportunity to filter one's options can overwhelm and even disable the buying decision.

Kahve: The Joys of Java

"Ca Phe Sua Da" on the verandah

Vintage Coffee Packet Label

The Coffee Tribe

Once upon a time in the U.S., a "good cup of coffee" had less to do with the coffee's roast, grind, brew or flavour, and everything to do with the beverage being hot, plentiful, and cheap. 

Open All Hours

We're Open All Hours. . .or as long as there's coffee.

The downside to being an entrepreneur:  yes, you name your own hours (hah!), but the shop never really closes 'caz it's Open All Hours in your head.  Gotta love it.

If you're an entrepreneur, small business owner, SOHO, freelancer, or contractor:  what's your downside?  Keep it decent.