Genius!

So I had an incredible insight last night while I was in class with my students. I'm still on my 300 kick, and I realized that there was such a powerful marketing opportunity that had been missed by both Warner Brothers and Capital One... I'm telling you, I could be in marketing... I could also be locked up in a padded cell, but I still think this drives the point home...



And we can take it a step further with something like this as a way that a financial institution could promote their security.



I am telling you, I am a genius... I think I also am in need of 'special care'.

You Scare Mee

I'm sorry if saying this might offend you, but your avatar sucks... that's not directed to someone specific - it's directed to some group in specific instead. This morning, I was trying to log into Instant Messenger for work and I was having problems connecting, so I decided to go to the AOL website to make sure I wasn't actually having a password problem - and I was greated by an advertisement to make a WeeMee.

Now I've played Nintendo's Wii and I've messed around with the Mee tool (or whatever the hell it's called) and it was sort of fun, but the fact is that now AOL is copying it by having Nintendo-Wii-like avatars as part of it's services... and these things look like a rip-off and kind of frightening at the same time.



It's like a cross between South Park and some fucked up, Americanized version of Japanese Manga artwork. I'd like to know who came up with this idea - I want them shot.

I'm not saying you can't have fun with applying technology, but at least come up with something that won't likely make future civilizations look back on this period and time and say "Wow, I guess it was something in the water. That scares Mee."

You know you're off your rocker when...

I think I've just about had it with people talking on their cell phones in the worst choice of places. I'm not saying I don't think that it's an issue of etiquette - that's a concern when what people are doing is only obnoxious, and not plain stupid. I think a cell phone has the potential to be a useful tool for people, but in the last 10 years or so (what I refer to as the cell phone revolution), I've seen the same thing happen that I've seen with pretty much every commercially available technology: stupid people have gotten a hold of it.

Case in point, people who are answering cell phone calls while on the bicycle. I'm not talking about people who hit a button on an ear piece and let their mom's know where they are. I'm talking about people deciding to do stocks work while on their bicycles in traffic.

If you need to make a business call or be sending text messages, get off your stupid bike before you get killed or, more likely, cause other people to have an accident trying to keep YOU from getting hurt. If you have to be a pain in the ass and hold a lengthy conversation, at least stop, get out of the way and then answer your phone.


WRONG!


Still wrong, but at least not as obnoxious.


Remember, when you're on a bicycle, you're still on a vehicle and you still need to be responsible. If drivers of motor vehicles have to watch for you, they can't answer THEIR important calls...

There is no I or U in team... they're in b*llsh*t!

I get sick lately of people who try to tell me the classic line of "there is no I in team", or the more recent version of the line which is "there is no I or U in team". It's this wonderful old phrase which sounds more like an introduction to the line "cause you're fired". I've never liked that phrase because it tends to be used by people who see themselves (or even are) in higher positions, but who really didn't communicate clearly about something you're supposed to be collaborating on.

Case in point, I have a lot of things I am working on continuously, and I'll occasionally be asked about progress on something - and say they I am still waiting for info on it, and then being told that the info has been available. I hate to say this, because it sounds like a dodge, but when I've been working on 30 pending disasters in a given week, and someone mentions to me in passing that the info I waited 5 weeks for finally came in, my nodding while I'm not even looking at a person and barely make an audible response does not constitute an acknowledgement.

I don't have an ability to split my attention on conversations when I'm fixing the major problem effect an entire server by any means... I have to focus very intently on one problem so I can get it resolved.

So yes, when you tell me something in passing and I've got an intent look on my face, you may need to come up to me and remind me again an hour later, when I am sitting back and relaxed.

And when the customer has dropped the ball for a month on getting me what I need, I can't drop what I am working on because suddenly now THEY decided they could move... I have responsibilities to customers and I'm trying to keep those responsibilities to the people who got me what I needed when I asked for it.

There is no I or U in team - they're in b*llsh*t.

Give Them Nothing, Unless It's a Cheeseburger

So I find myself watching 300 a lot lately, and it's rather interesting, because at this point, you could assume I'm talking about the movie based on Frank Miller's graphic novel about the Spartans and the Battle of Thermapylae; but the possibility also exists that I'm talking about the battle of the bulge and the fact that I need to drastically drop some weight. In truth, it's both.


I find myself lately envious of what the guys in that movie look like - big guys, like myself... but muscle-bound... NOT like myself.



What I look could look like.





What I feel like now.

It's probably a bit overdramatic, but it's rather honestly how I feel lately. And the irony is that though it's a long distance to get to a place that sells the sort of junk food that raises the possibility of looking like that, it's easier to go there than to walk for 3 minutes to get to the gym and do something about it.

Some day I'll get around to looking good and being healthier - hopefully a lot sooner than I look like a Krispy Kreme Doughnut.