What have you been doing lately?
http://www.searchalliance.com/home
http://www.starbucks.com/clover/
http://www.starbucks.com/sharedplanet/index.aspx
http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/jobcenter.asp

How did you get into advertising?
I got into a big agency as a freelancer. My first booking ended on a Friday, so on Monday I went in early and fished some important-looking papers out of a recycling bin. I set up shop in an empty office. I walked around muttering at my papers. I talked on the phone. I ate in the lunchroom. I walked around muttering at my papers some more. I waved at the receptionist when I left. If anyone asked, I said, "I'm a freelancer and I'm handling some paperwork." After a couple of weeks, someone booked me again. They hired me full-time a few months later, and I stayed there for nearly five years.

What holds your attention?
Digital natives. Digital immigrants. Social media. Grilled meat. French cinema. Urbanism. Raising kids. Photography. Fender Telecasters. Distance swimming. Renewable energy. The perfect Caesar salad. Telling stories. Getting off the grid. Toast.

You need ideas but you keep hearing crickets. Who do you channel for inspriation?
Jerry Della Femina. William Eggleston. Jim Riswold. MAD Magazine. Art Spiegleman. Eugene Atget. Roger Waters. Alice Waters. Muddy Waters. Merle Haggard. Wild Bill Donovan. Matt Groening. Also, people who work well together: Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, Hunter Thompson & Ralph Steadman, David Lynch & Angelo Badalamenti, Irving Penn & Alexy Brodovitch, or Django Reinhardt & Stéphane Grappelli.

What else have you done?
Tended bar. Run a janitorial crew. Taught photography. Raised kids. Designed furniture. Made photographs. Taught people to shoot handguns. Paid my bills. Broke my collarbone. Walked my dog. Ran a parking lot. Hiked in the Cascades. Swam in the ocean. Wrote a screenplay. Rode Moab. Worked in a pawn shop. Finished college. Learned to speak French.

Man, you look sharp. Where can I get a suit like that?
Gian DeCaro, 2025 First Avenue, Suite D, Seattle, WA 98121. www.giandecaro.com