Rural vs City life – or how much culture do you care to contribute?
I recently came across this Simple Dollar blog post – “Why I Prefer Living Rural” and largely agreed with it. I did have two quibbles. There was no mention of privacy and anonymity, the two greatest things about living in the city. It is impossible to keep your life exclusively yours in the county. Lots […]
The five kinds of Facebook status updates
They are all some variation of the following: I have friends and we like to have fun! My possessions make me so happy! Join me in my outrage at a gross mis-characterization of a news story I found online While the number of things I have to say is at zero, my desire to talk is at 10. Therefore […]
Quacks, Business Coaches, and useful advice
photo © 2008 Alec Vuijlsteke | more info (via: Wylio)I recently came across this post about the phenomenon of Life Coaching and I’m in the rare case of disagreeing with the specifics while agreeing with the general theory. The book in question, Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter […]
Rest In Peace Drex
Today at 3:00 PM I put my dog of six years to sleep. I got Drex in 2004 when his previous owner was out of the house for too long during the day and Drex needed constant companionship. Luckily I never left the house and we fit together well. He was a great dog, […]
Better to remain silent than to say any of these things
People use some phrases to make themselves feel better, not to add anything to the conversation. Using these phrases annoys everyone in earshot and decreases motivation to fix the underlying problem. My preliminary list: Any sentence starting with “I need” – you want, “need” is an attempt to manipulate someone from a position of weakness, and that […]
Everyone should read Brain Rules by John Medina
Several months ago I finished reading Brain Rules by John Medina and I’ve been raving about it ever since. Medina is a noted brain researcher and the book contains the 12 things he wishes the lay public knew. The 12 things (with my notes in bold and italic) EXERCISE | Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power. […]
Why you should never complain about anything – with anecdotal proof!
My new commandment: Never complain about anything. Ever. If you feel the need to complain to pressure someone else to make something happen, then be honest and call it manipulation. I realized this while at a client meeting; we were talking about problems with a botched sales program and the staff had a litany of […]
Ten great books for American business
After writing yesterday’s post on lessons learned from eight years in business, I thought I would come up with my listing of great books that have helped me starting out. I follow Tyler Cowen’s notion that if you you finish every book you start you’re wasting time on crap. On average I finish less than […]
Thoughts on predictable software scheduling
While pondering installing Visual Studio 2010, as well as thinking how all software is moving to a subscription basis, I had the thought – why not do two predictable releases a year? The first release, say in January, would be whatever new features were in place by that date. The second release, say in July, […]
Thoughts on the Apple iPad and the Kindle
photo credit: Rego – twitter.com/w3bdesign First things first, I have not seen the Apple iPad. I am an enthusiastic owner of an Amazon Kindle. I honestly don’t see what the hype is about. Granted, I never do with Apple products, but I can’t even see it from Apple’s point of view this time. The Kindle […]