Whether you are already into it or about to be, I wish all of my readers a happy and prosperous 2009.

Yes, I did say prosperous! Despite all that is going on in the world, in our economies – not to forget Illinois politics – life and business must still go on. It will be the fast thinkers and movers and those ideas outside of the box, even with inside of the box budgets, which will do well in the coming year. Where we all will be at the end of 2009 it is hard to say right now, but the way things have been, up is almost the only way to go.

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Just taking a few moments out of our family gathering to wish everybody out there reading this a very Merry Christmas! For myself and my lovely wife, it is very special as it is our baby’s first Christmas, as can be seen in the accompanying photo of little Margo looking in amazement at the tree and presents.

I am grateful for the things I have. We always want more or want certain scenarios to be different, and those take work. I just don’t want to be forgetful of what I have as I quest for what I don’t have yet.

Now back to my outhouse wall calendar and big box of Almond Joys I got from Santa.

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There is a growing and growing myth out there about what some call the “traditional office” but not many people realize it.

The myth is that it is alive and well! Office space keeps going up, or in the case of the accompanying photo of the BlueCross BlueShield building in Chicago, it is expanding. The reality, though, is that it is shrinking. As huge corporations lay off people in droves, send jobs overseas or just shutdown, the notion that there is a need for so much space is far-fetched. Even for those organizations who continue to thrive, the need for traditional space is declining.

Why is this? Office space is expensive, and the reality is that it is underutilized. Other than storage, how many hours of the day to employees really occupy their space? Couple this with more and more people working form home or Starbucks or wherever, especially by choice, the picture is clearer about the lack of need for massive office spaces, and the shift away from the traditional office.

Still, I have encountered many people who have not embraced this, and I share these examples.

At my last employer before I went on my own and started Dunkirk Systems, LLC, I had all of the capabilities to work remotely. From VPN connection to all of the software, I could work from home, and did so in the evenings. But during the day I was not allowed to. My immediate manager did though, and others outside of my department did, but I couldn’t. Why? I was told the VP of the group liked seeing people in their cubicles. Granted the cubes had 5-foot walls! But it didn’t matter, it was not an option.

Recently I made a connection with a local high school about possibly bringing on one of their students as an intern. As I work from home, I told them we could arrange to meet at the school, a library or other neutral environment. Their response was pleasant, but since I could not offer their students a “traditional office” experience, I was disqualified from their program. We never got into any details about my business or what I could offer the students. I never got a response from them on my challenge to them to consider the new paradigm of offices.

A friend moved to the southern US from the north recently and I connected with him briefly last week during the day. He told me he had to go as his office was shutting down. I wondered how this impacted him, as he still had the same job, just working remotely. His response was the manager of the group was closing the office due to local snowstorms, which didn’t impact him at all. Even after inquiring to his manager about working as his colleagues dashed through the snow home, he was told the network would be disconnected.

Perhaps these examples will help paint the picture of where offices are going, and feel free to refer these to those who don’t quite get it yet.

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Chicago is a city all about its directions. There’s the North Side and the South Side and nothing in between them. With the exception of a few streets the city is in a grid formation, and all addresses have a north, south, east or west before the name. Many times signs tell you to go in a direction and, unless you know where you are, you would have no idea how to proceed.

At the corner of Wabash Avenue and Madison Street is the 5 North Wabash building. Originally known as the Kesner Building, it was previously commercial space and home of jewelers before converted to condos several years ago. The building has a storied past, including the setting for the book The Girl from Farris’s by Edgar Rice Burroughs and the movie The Package. Burroughs is rumored to have written Tarzan of the Apes there, and Ernest Hemingway is thought to have purchased the gun he used to commit suicide with at the Abercrombie & Fitch store there, back when A&F was a high-end sporting good store before it became the teenie-bopper clothing store. And Mr. T reportedly bought some of his jewelry there.

Up until this summer, at the corner of the building there was a compass laid into the sidewalk, showing which was which as well as the street names, as pictured below.

This photo shows the compass much clearer.

In addition to the compass was the name “Capper & Capper” which was the name of a men’s clothing store that once occupied part of the building. It is mostly obstructed by a piece of plywood as the sidewalk was vaulted and there was a hole under the board, as pictured below.

Needless to say, this sidewalk had been put to great use over the years. And partially for that reason all the sidewalks were ripped up along Wabash this summer and replaced, as pictured

As you can see, the compass is gone. With all of the heavy jackhammering that it took to remove the old sidewalk, most likely it and its letters were broken up and hauled away with the concrete. Another small piece of history lost. Though the sidewalks are much, much better and new street signage declare Wabash Avenue as Jewelers Row, they don’t tell you which direction you are going.

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Premium tequila. I have to be honest; those are 2 words I never thought I would put together. But after attending a special event sponsored by premium tequila brand Tres Generaciones, my perspective has changed.

The event I am referring to was a small, intimate dinner organized by the Zocalo Group, who is working with Tres Generaciones (or 3G as I’ll call it for brevity) on social media strategies. It was held at Rick Bayless’ Frontera Grill in Chicago in one of their private rooms. I had never been to Frontera Grill before and was very impressed by the food as well as the service. It was attended by about a dozen people, including 3G’s brand manager and brand ambassador, who gave us a world tour and history of tequila and 3G.

Prior to the tour we enjoyed margaritas made with the 3 varieties of 3G – Blanco, Reposado and Anejo – and following it enjoyed Frontera’s signature cuisine. I had a Topolo Margarita, shaken in my presence. Of the 3 tequilas, which range in color and intensity (my term, not theirs!) my favorite is the Reposado, which has a light, caramel color. The blanco is clear and can substitute for vodka in a drink, and the Anejo has a darker color and could fill in nicely for a scotch, though I would have to have one accompany a good cigar to completely confirm it.

When I thought about this event beforehand, two other events came to mind of which I have attended in the past.

Back in the early 1990’s I attended what was one of the first rounds of Johnny Walker scotch tastings. You had to know someone to attend, and my invite was through a friend whose invite was through a VP of a big Boston financial firm. It was at the Harvard Club in Boston and everyone was wearing suits. The brand ambassador was a Scotsman wearing a kilt, and everything tied in with the experience of enjoying scotch, whether it was Johnny Walker or the single-malt scotches that are blended to make it. This tour was accompanied by a buffet of fine gourmet foods. This introduction to scotch is one I still appreciate today.

Earlier this year I attended the first-ever Nokia OpenLab, which if you are a regular reader of The Hot Iron I have gone into at length. Again here was an event that was about an experience, this time Nokia technology. It was a small, intimate setting of about 35 people from around the world sharing their thoughts and backgrounds of technology and beyond. Coming away from that I gained unique, global perspectives on communication, and was sold on the Nokia brand.

With this in mind, I was not disappointed with the 3G experience. At the opening of the event I had the opportunity to talk with Derek Sauls, the 3G Brand Manager. He gave me the background on the brand and name, which evolved from celebratory tequilas to mark the 3 generations of the Sauza family. Derek also told me 3G is in the process of a rebranding which will be launched in February 2009, complete with a new bottle design and marketing campaign, including social media. Their foray into social media is something new for them, which explained why the attendees were people involved in various forms of social media.

Following dinner we had good conversation around the table, which included 3G’s brand ambassador Jaime Rodriguez. We talked about perceptions of tequila, and as well what we do for the majority of our days to make a living. I recall my first indulgence in what we would call “to kill ya” and it would always be a group of us doing shots. Granted you can do this with any liquor, but the concept of it as a premium drink, and the fact there are other varieties of it, was a new and welcome concept. Our conversation also included the idea of social media in general, and I definitely learned more than I contributed to it.

As it is relaunching in February, 3G now has a new blog, Thirst for Wisdom and a profile on Twitter, Don Cenobio who was the founder of the Sauza. Their Web site has a “coming soon” message, but no links to either of these. I am interested in seeing what comes from this event, and how it evolves. I am also interested in seeing the new bottle in action – they had some empty ones there, but they asked us not to take pictures of them as it hasn’t been launched yet. But I can tell you it is a nice looking bottle, displaying “coins” of the 3 generations, indentations to represent the blue agave plant from which tequila is made, and a cool-looking metal design at the top of the bottle.

Thanks again to Derek and Jaime for hosting, as well as Michael Stern and Andy Angelos of Zocalo Group for inviting me to this unique experience.

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