For those of you under 25, a blackboard is a piece of slate upon which you write in a public setting. Not a digital software program for teachers sharing homework with students remotely. Anyway, remember that? Showing your cursive skills. Basic addition, etc. Raise your hand if that was a fairly terrifying moment. Come on be honest. We just took a poll around yonder studio and almost everyone (at least the three of us over 28) agreed.

So that's kind of the feeling right now when writing our studio's first blog. Silly if you think about it.

Why the pressure? Because it feels like everyone from Charlie Manson to the Dali Lama already has a blog. Heck, we're just happy the term blog 2.0 didn't already exist as we launched DSPR blog 1.0.

So like with any good creative work, we thought it was important to start out with some simple ground rules to manage expectations and set a mood for satisfaction. (As for the mood, we hope that comes across in our new Web site)

• We promise to publish this regularly. At least every Tuesday, perhaps more frequently than that.

• We promise that it will always try to be entertaining, amusing or poignant. Nothing mundane (at least intentionally) shall pass through this content management system.

• Sometimes it will be about our industry or business in Phoenix. There will also be random disjointed, semi-incoherent babble.

All we ask for in return is that you subscribe. Because after all, what's the point if nobody is reading it? We also ask that your comments honor the spirit with which these blog entries were created. Amen.

The answer to pretty much all of the world's aches and pains lies in a simple, 2 X 2 square piece of paper with a sticky back.  Sometimes it's in a clear plastic sheath fastened by a pin.  Sometimes it's engraved or embossed.  Would someone please explain the difference between those two again?

Yes, ladies and gentlemen we are talking about the one and only Name Tag.

The theory is really quite simple and I defy any skeptic to disprove it. If everyone wore name tags all the time life would be so much better.

Think about it.  Strangers would greet each other more often. People would ask each other for help more freely. Riding in a crowded elevator wouldn't be quite so awkward. Unless of course you're a beautiful woman and the green ogre looming over you, asks you on a date, with a sparkle in his eyes and drool on his lips.

Just imagine the dreaded "I can't remember their name" moment being eradicated like polio. And even worse, those times when you're pretty sure somebody doesn't remember your name and you don't know what to do. Do you remind them and risk the reverse insult? It's the strangest thing.  Virtually everyone struggles with these situations and yet so many still take offense. 

How about trying to recognize someone when you bump into them in the completely wrong context? For example, Lynn works at a non-profit whose board I recently joined.  I'd seen her easily 10 times at her desk and yet, what do you think happens when I bump into her on a Saturday night, in a different part of town, at a Women's Roller Derby Bout (that's a separate story)?  Instant terror that's what. "Oh...Hi...wow...uh what are you doing here?" While the laugh track running inside my head says, "David you know this woman, pull it together and focus." Lynn!  Right!  "Good to see you LYNN.  See you next week at the board meeting LYNN. Bye bye LYNN.  Have a nice night LYNN. My Aunt's name is Lynn, you would think I could conjure up that one a tad easier huh?

Forgetting someone's name shouldn't be any more socially awkward than sneezing and yet it continues to be treated by most of us like bubonic plague.  Well, a well-placed name tag is the panacea for all of our social sniffles.