Tom Watson’s Thought
I read something else in The Brand You 50 that’s been bouncing around in my head a lot lately. I believe it was a quote from Tom Watson of IBM, who suggested: Stop doing non-excellent stuff. And it got me thinking. How much of my time is spent doing stuff that’s just uninteresting? Or that just doesn’t help anyone or anything? (Note that you can have excellent relaxation. This […]
A quick referral
I’ve been following this, and it’s inspired me to save a fair bit of money: The Million Dollar Savings Club. One major feature, to me, is the steady buildup of three piles of physical cash. You actually see piles of cash sitting on your dresser, and that’s quite inspiring. I want them to grow, because I can see them. Much more inspiring than the drab financial game of making numbers add up […]
Automation
I’ve been thinking a lot about automation lately. First, I’ve been working a bit on this server, and I’ve noted how many things I’d like to be notified about. For example, I’d like to know when… …the server logs get really big and need to be trimmed …one of my webpages links to a webpage that’s now dead …the traffic to one of my sites increases significantly …some program on the server begins to eat up […]
Brand You
I’ve been re-reading Tom Peters’ The Brand You 50, a book I agree with more every time I read it. His basic premise is that 90% of white collar jobs will be annihilated or completely redefined in the next ten years. I’ve quoted that to a few people, and the reaction has always been the same: sage nods in agreement. But what are they actually doing about it? Nothing. […]
Slow-Motion Gunplay
I’ve now watched my first Hong Kong John Woo movie, A Better Tomorrow. Overall, I’m impressed. It’s about two mafia friends who get involved in a disastrous situation, after which one is crippled and the other serves three years in jail. The ex-con spends the rest of the movie trying to go legit, while the crippled guy wants revenge, and the ex-con‘s brother (who’s a cop) is hell-bent on re-convicting the ex-con. So […]
Creature Comforts
Creature Comforts is a series of shorts made by Nick Park, the creator of Wallace and Grommit. It’s a claymation series in which interviews with average British folk are animated as though the interviewees are animals. It’s brilliantly funny, as droll explanations from hypochondriacs and circus performers seem much more real when coming from a dog or a duck. There’s probably something about the idea of the animals finally getting a say, too, that […]
The Mall
I took off work yesterday, so I could partake of my yearly tradition: a trip to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to visit the museums. I’d already gone once before this year with Mandy, but decided I could use another refresher. It was a cloudy day with a bit of occasional drizzle, but I never got wet; I was exploring the museums too often. The Natural History Museum is first on my list every […]
Internal Dialog(ue)
After my revelation last weekend, I’ve been consciously avoiding any internal arguments. I stop rehearsing conversations or imagining how I’d explain something to someone, as soon as I realize I’m doing it. I still do it a lot, but I’m doing it less than I was before. The result? I focus on the task at hand much more often and much more deeply. I’m less distracted in general. I find I can focus myself […]
Night of the Living Dead
I was in Target last week, perusing the new Halloween aisles, when I came across their Halloween DVD selection. It was mostly pretty thin; B-grade movies even by horror standards. They had a copy of Night of the Living Dead, “In spooky color.” They’d colorized it; I could hardly believe they thought this was a selling point. So I took down a copy and flipped it over, to read that the black-and-white […]
Creative Energy
When I was a kid, I had boundless creative juice. I could spend hours creating and fleshing out worlds. That ability waned as I grew older. I’m still creative, but it doesn’t pour out nearly as much. I thought this was just part of growing up, until a few minutes ago, when I recognized a habit that I got in my teen years. If someone frustrates me, I often argue with them […]