We Interrupt This Program…
Originally uploaded by JHawbaker1800

Genia and I are in New York City through Monday to celebrate her 30th birthday. So, to keep up with our travels, check out my Twitter feed or check my photos on Flickr or Facebook (links at right).

I have some cool post ideas in the works, but regularly scheduled FNR content is on hold until late next week.

If you’ve been following web analytics commentary in the blogosphere (talk about a micro-niche), you’re probably aware of the ongoing debate about Eric Peterson’s proposed Engagement model. Peterson and fellow analytics guru Avinash Kaushik have respectfully disagreed back and forth on their blogs about the nature and value of such a metric for some time, and I have been torn between the two perspectives. It seems well suited for a site that is not commerce-driven, so I decided to just give it a try and see for myself whether or not it was worthwhile.

I spent a bit of time on Friday working in WebTrends to see how easily I could put together the different components and start tracking Engagement on our site. It wasn’t going too well, and I commented about it on Twitter. A brief conversation ensued with Chris Grant and by the end of the day, our conversation was referenced in a blog post by Aaron Gray of WebTrends about Eric Peterson’s dismissal of Twitter as a marketing tool.

I commented on Aaron’s post to come out in favor of Twitter, but also to say that I disagreed with Eric when he implied that something could not be valuable if it were not instantly measurable. For whatever reason, this stuck with me as I went about my afternoon until finally it hit me. The engagement model is trying to create a qualitative metric out of quantitative metrics. I thought this was a revelation until I reread Avinash’s post on Engagement, where he says basically the same thing:

“At the heart of it engagement tries to measure something deeply qualitative. Yet most efforts to measure it in our world tend to be hard core quantitative.”

At the end of the day, I think I’d be better off looking for a way to bring in real qualitative data from our users and letting my quantitative metrics be quantitative. Next up on Friday Night Running, I’ll take sides in the “Web Analytics is Easy/Hard” debate.

Via Grace and Orange Clogs, I found this YouTube video of Dr. Tim Keller speaking at Google HQ about his new book, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. The entire hour is worth watching for those interested, but there were a couple points in which I took particular interest. Keller argued that there is a sort of three rung ladder which people often climb as they move towards belief in God. The three rungs he described are as follows:

1. Disbelief is as much a leap of faith as is belief
2. Disbelief actually takes more faith than does belief
3. Belief takes more than just reason; it requires a personal commitment

In justifying the first rung, Keller made a great point about many of the common objections to the existence of God. Namely, that they often make assumptions about the nature of God before even being willing to admit God might exist. A related point, which he also discussed, was best worded by Bright Eyes a few years ago: “If you swear that there’s no truth, who cares? How come you say it like you’re right?”

Shouldn’t I have posted this about four months ago? Sure. But posting about my first experience with Muxtape made me want to throw this out there as well. So, in no particular order, here they are:

• Arcade Fire Neon Bible
• Spoon Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
• Andrew Bird Armchair Apocrypha
• Over the Rhine The Trumpet Child
• BRMC Baby 81

I suppose if I had to pick one album that I couldn’t live without, it would be Neon Bible.

Muxtape has been all the buzz for several weeks now, and I finally got around to putting together my first mix. It’s actually a condensed version of my annual mix cd, which I typically spend weeks compiling and then run out of steam before mailing out. So, thanks to the magic of the internets, you can still enjoy the fruits of my labors. These are mostly a few of my favorite tunes from 2007, with the notable exception of a new tune by Jon Foreman, which I just discovered about two weeks ago and hasn’t left my inner soundtrack since. It’s called A Flask Filled With Hope, and featured artists include: Arcade Fire, Spoon, Andrew Bird, Over the Rhine and BRMC, among others. Check it out at: http://jehawbaker.muxtape.com

Unum: "Me, Too"
Originally uploaded by JHawbaker1800

I finally figured out the real reason the old EPB building came down: Branding. Unum wanted downtowners to remember they also have a big fancy HQ on a hill.

The Killers just performed on Austin City Limits. It was a good set, and they even brought out a Gospel choir for the closing number, “All These Things That I’ve Done.”

It got me thinking about the fairly common but seemingly incongruous mix of a rock band and a Gospel choir. Who started this trend? More interestingly, who do you think has done it best?

My vote goes to U2 and the New Voices of Freedom for the Rattle and Hum version of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”

This might be the most exciting sentence I’ve read in recent memory:

“In about a week I will load up my car with amplifiers and guitars and drive to Nashville to begin recording my next record.”

This is from a recent NYT blog post by none other than Andrew Bird, who created one of my favorite albums of 2007. Armchair Apocrypha was astoundingly good, and it sounds like he’s got some interesting songs lined up for this next project.

If you ever get a chance to see Andrew Bird live, do not miss it. A friend and I caught him at 3rd & Lindsley a couple years back, playing a Lightning 100 radio show with Over the Rhine, and I was truly impressed. It was really interesting to watch this obvious introvert who somehow managed to have an almost frantic energy and stage presence. It might have had a bit to do with his unique ability to play the violin and guitar in the same song…

Evening Outdoors
Originally uploaded by JHawbaker1800

After dinner on the patio at Mellow Mushroom, we walked down past the aquarium to the riverfront for some playtime.

Does anyone know a good medical malpractice lawyer? I think we may have a case against Genia’s OB/GYN because apparently her tubal ligation procedure failed. The doctor should at least deliver #3 at no charge, right?

UPDATE: April Fools! No #3 on the way…