A few Fridays ago was Debbie’s last day before retirement from the city of Phoenix. It was also the end of my second week of my first full-time job at the City of Phoenix. And then Sunday night I went to dinner with Nan, who left Phoenix for a Department Chair position at a university in Salt Lake City. If that week was any more stuffed with change, my pockets would be rattling.

Just a random post today about some ideas I have been simmering over for a few days. In this post, I link the distraction caused by overheard cellphone conversations to “A Whole New Mind” by Daniel Pink, Wikipedia, Britney Spears, and a conversation I had with Ryan. It’s all about right brain and left brain thinking, and it’s probably not what you think.

I got the job! I remember a weekday evening in 2000 when I went to Phoenix City Hall for the first time. I was there for a meeting to work on the report after the Youth Town Hall. Now, after being mentored and taught by amazing people, Cynthia (my fellow Fellow) and I are the 2010-2011 Phoenix Management Interns!

Two days. A fascinating, amazing experience, and I got to meet some great leaders of local government. This was the Phoenix Management Internship program interviews. I quickly run through the two days and provide a few final words. It’s out of my hands now, thankfully.

If I continue to work from home, or from a location where I can choose my desk, I may find myself investing in an adjustable height desk. On a grander scale, this is an interesting development that I assign to the broader trend of flexible workspace and redesigning offices for a new century of work. I am reading Drive by Daniel Pink right now, and the primary paradigm of this book is the difference between what he calles Motivation 2.0 and Motivation 3.0. I think there are broad implications for the physical design of future workplaces in that book.

I know you all have been at the edge of your seat since I said I was selected to interview for the Phoenix Management Intern program. Well, it’s official, I have the schedule for the two-day process! I run through the schedule and also talk about selecting the right suit. And yes, it’s another long post.

Via a teaser article on Slashdot, I found an article, “Citizens as public sensors,” on the O’Reilly Radar blog about a service called SeeClickFix. I discuss that service related to Phoenix and Surprise, as well as the equity issues in using a Web 2.0 service to report issues in local communities.

I just update the Perspectives in Public Affairs (PiPA) website to reflect their new journal. Before I built a new website for SPAN, the Students of Public Affairs Network, PiPA was hosted on the SPAN website. In developing a new website, I asked if PiPA would be interested in having their own website. So, I built them one. Read on to see the link.

I work on a project called Canalscape, which is an initiative developed from previous research, proposals and ideas by Dr. Nan Ellin at Arizona State University. I posted a video about Canalscape, produced by a journalism student at ASU. Notice my terrible interview about half way into the video. Enjoy –

OK, so I did it. It’s to be expected. Did you think I could hold off? I bought an iPad. Out of excitement, a crafty nature, and about ten free minutes, I made a slipcover for my iPad. Pictures of everything are included.