Month: October 2006

This cliché originated, I believe, as a description of tidal behavior. Webster includes the following two definitions:

• Ebb – the reflux of the tide toward the sea
• Flow – RISE

Another version of ebb is “a point or condition of decline .” I used the term last night with Megan who’s been suffering an ebb in her spirit for a little while. While I didn’t know what, if anything, was causing adversity in her life, I knew she needed some help, or “the same old schpiel” as she lovingly refers to it. Attempting to paint a picture of the tides of life, the advice was/is to keep swimming… to keep balanced as she rides the waves that inevitably ebb and flow. Sometimes we don’t know why we rise and fall, but there are basics we need to do to stay afloat… learn… work… parent… listen… love.

Today I discovered the forces pulling her down. Time to parent… listen… love… persevere…

On November 7th, that man (or woman) is going to be you. Will you vote? If so, how? Have you given it any thought? From the international/national to a more local perspective, here’s what I’m thinking:

President Bush and the neocons – My hope is that the Democrats win control of the House and the Senate to neutralize this destructive administration. Of course, I can’t really influence that one. In Massachusetts, we only sent Dems to Congress anyway.

Gay Marriage – Is this the issue the Conservatives, Christian Coalition and “Moral” Majority think they can run on? Please. Is that all they’ve got? Oh, no, they also have…

Immigration – If the immigrants flowing North were a bunch of white folks, would this even be an issue?

Iraq – I don’t care if they try to stick a “cut and run” button on me. Get our kids out of that hellhole now. The people fighting us will never stop until we leave; just like in Vietnam. Oh, I also don’t recall any of the 9/11 terrorists being Iraqi. Most were disenchanted Saudi’s. Why are they pissed off at us? Because we support their dictatorship, um, I mean monarchy.

Energy – What exactly has the Bush Administration and the Republican controlled Congress done about this? Oh yeah, we attacked Iraq and Big Oil makes BILLIONS of dollars in profit regardless of the price of oil. Oh, and the idiots in Detroit keep making lousy, gas guzzling cars. I’ll vote for candidates that truly support renewable energy.

MA Governor – Kerry Healey (R) or Deval Patrick (D)
I’m kinda torn on this one. As much as I want to vote straight Democrat as a protest to the Bush Administration, I also want some checks and balances on the Democrat dominated Massachusetts legislature… Let me get back to you on that one.

Ballot Questions

1. Wine Sale in Food Stores – That’ll save me a trip to Kappy’s.
2. Candidates Nominated by More Than One Political Party – Huh?
3. Unionization of Family Child Care Providers – No.

Why does Cardinal manager Tony LaRussa?

Speaking of Dark Horses, I’m getting ready to work on the Barack Obama for President campaign. I like what I’ve seen and heard so far, but Mr. Obama has some major hurdles to overcome in order to win enough votes in cretin-rich red states:

• He’s African-American
• He’s an athiest
• He’s got a highly functioning brain
• His name rhymes with “Osama”

So far, his forthrightness attracts me most. In an interview Monday with New Yorker editor David Remnick at the American Magazine Conference, Mr. Obama was asked if his admission of drug (pot) use might hurt his presidential chances:

Classic. He went on to quip that he wouldn’t fit in well with the Bushies because, “actually being informed is a good basis for policy.” Finally, with regard to religion, he was very direct. “Evolution is more grounded in my experience than angels.”

I like this guy. Of course after Fox News is finished with him, red state white women will be convinced he’s lurking outside their homes ready to murder them and steal their children.

It’s sad. Our decline as a nation is accelerating. It is led by George Bush.

Hey… How’s it going? I’ve been away most of the days and nights since October 9th on business. It’s not that I haven’t been thinking of you. I have. Really.

My trip to Chicago is now just a blur. A sweet Italian dinner one night with Barb’s new team was a highlight… After one night at home and dinner out with Kyle, I was back on a plane, this time to Wally World. I met Jack (4), Kaitlin (8) and their mom on the flight down to Orlando. Jack’s mom told me he was slightly autistic, but she was hopeful the trip would go well. Jack was cool on the plane. He fell asleep before we hit cruising altitude.

My dad was more than a bit surprised when he opened the door to me later that day. It was his 73rd birthday and I worked out the surprise visit with his wife, Caroline. We had dinner with a few friends of theirs at their favorite place at the Villages and then had cake and presents at their home. My dad loves horses and on a previous October 13th I had given him this Degas print. This year a Degas sculpture to match seemed to please the birthday boy.

25 years and a week passed between dad’s date of birth and mine. Some mornings when I see him in my mirror, it sure seems like many years less. After this now-73 year old man beat me at a round of golf here, I think it rejuvenated him a bit. He hadn’t been playing much lately and I sense he’s a little depressed over life gone by and chances not taken. Still, he was out there and still can go out there. As his friend Wendy said as she motioned toward the local hospital just behind some distant trees, “There are lots of people in there who which they could be out here hacking like us.”

Two days were too short, but it was time well spent for both of us. “Keep getting out there, Dad,” I implored before hugging him and saying, “I love you.”

After my 4-day work event was over I found myself sitting again in an aluminum tube. Alone with my thoughts and accompanying iPod soundtrack, I saw a familiar and smiling face coming toward me. As she got closer her smile widened, so I got to my feet to let her and Kaitlin in next to me. Jack and his dad were in the seats next to us. Jack’s mom said they had a wonderful trip and showed me all the pictures in a tiny LCD screen on her digital camera. We’d come full circle.

At the gate in Boston, I stood waiting to de-plane and noticed an attractive 40-ish woman in the seat behind me. After a brief hesitation, I asked if she was enjoying “Angels and Demons.” My conversation with Tina continued all the way to baggage claim. I wish I’d got her number, but initiating the conversation was good enough for now. This past Friday night I did the same thing with Kathy at the local grocery store. I’d seen her a few times before, but never had the chutzpah to approach her. I stood in the rain and introduced Kyle and myself. I asked her if I could meet her there next Friday. “Probably,” she said with a smile.

“That’s so random!” I hear that often from Megan and her friends. I’m really going to have that reviewed upstairs so I know what the hell it means. Maybe I’ll just ask her. Currently nestled in 20B on my way to Chicago, it’s break time from a Powerpoint for presentation next week. A Megan hand-me-down iPod Nano is on “shuffle,” so I can now shamelessly copy Jeff’s blog staple, “last ten shuffled songs on my iPod:”

1. Panic in Detroit – Aladdin Sane – David Bowie
2. Twilight – From a Basement on a Hill – Elliott Smith
3. Love the One You’re With – CSNY – Four Way Street
4. Ill Placed Trust – Sloan! – Never Hear the End of It (NEW!)
5. Meet Me On the Ledge – Varnaline – Varnaline
6. Youngstown – Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band – Live in NYC
7. Stage Fright – The Band – To Kingdom Come
8. Midnight Rambler – Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed
9. Come On Now – Anders Parker – Tell it to the Dust
10. Last Goodbye – Jeff Buckley – Grace

The off the chart popularity of the iPod and digital music, especially the free kind the youth of America prefer is laying waste to the music label, especially ill-advised new ones. Bob Lefsetz describes the phenomena perfectly: “But a NEW label has nothing. Only an excessive burn rate. So you spend all that money with the usual suspects, people who’ve been musical-chaired out of the major label system, paying for not only pressing, but distribution and promotion. Everybody blowing smoke up your ass as you try to get in the big box store, the only place where you can sell and make money anymore, purchasing an advertising campaign that is like throwing coins off a cliff since you’ve got no traction, because you can’t get on radio and MTV plays no videos.”

That paragraph tells much of the story of Tar Hut Records; well the part about getting smoke blown up our ass and throwing coins off a cliff. The Martin’s Folly record “Man’ It’s Cold” is a perfect example. We paid a couple grand to get a listening station in hundreds of Borders stores and a couple more to get an independent promoter to work it to radio. Well, pal Jeff happened to be in a radio studio talking to a program manager when said promoter called to “work” the records she was paid to. Funny thing is, she didn’t mention ours while squawking out of the speakerphone. That was the smoke up the ass part. Coins off a cliff came in the form of the many Borders I visited in California that not only didn’t have the record in a listening stations, but they didn’t have it period! The Borders thing did, in the end, produce a windfall for our little label: thousands of CD returns and splashing kerosene to accelerate the burn rate of the Tar Hut Records pyre.

…from the “Blog Ideas” document…

Video:

• This one goes to 11
• Athiest
• How Superman Should Have Ended

Fact:
The fact-masters at Wikipedia put this argument to rest: Hulk Hogan’s Real Height

Agreed:
The question is no longer “How do I manage people?” but rather “Am I the type of person that other people want to work with/around?” – Fast Company co-founder Bill Taylor:

“Not every company and organization needs to be innovative. Only the ones that want to be relevant and successful.” – Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway

Go:
“For Your Consideration” opens on November 17 and comes from the same folks whou brought us “Best in Show,” “A Mighty Wind,” and “Waiting for Guffman.” This time the spoof is on the promotion of films for academy awards.

I Don’t Like You:
Finally, a couple classic insults from long before “you suck” was all people could muster:

“I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play, bring a friend… if you have one.” George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

“Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second…if there is one.” Winston Churchill, in response.

Just 3 years after losing 119 games and then watching the Yankees beat the Red Sox in the ALCS, the Detroit Tigers beat the $200M team and will now dance at the ALCS themselves. It’ll be a great story if the Tigers can win it all, while the story in the Bronx is about as dire as the one at Fenway Park. I think each team could help themselves with one straight-up trade: Arod for Manny. I’m not sure if this was Alex’s reaction when he found out Joe Torre dropped him to 8th in the lineup today, but after 3 seasons of postseason futility, the $25M man simply can’t make it in NY. Manny, on the other hand, is oblivious to most everything around him and will dutifully put up his 40/120 for the pinstripes. Mr. Rodriguez could be the one guy who could come in and “protect” David Ortiz in the Red Sox lineup upon Manny’s departure, and the jovial “Big Papi” could be just what Arod needs to shake the dreariness he seemed to play under in New York. Lack of pitching is the problem for both clubs, so such a trade would be no panacea, but it would hopefully change chemistry enough to start moving these under-achieving teams in the right direction.

Within the first ten minutes of “Titanic,” Leo DiCaprio’s character Jack Dawson spoke the most ironic line of the film. Lives changed this week as reorganization ended the tenure of some people I now used to work with. Hopefully the buoyancy of severance packages and placement assistance will keep them afloat until the Carpathia of new employment appears on their horizon.

The bitter cold of that night in the North Atlantic is symbolic of the chilling decisions some had to make about who would live and who would die. Though not necessarily life and death, some friends of mine had to make some agonizing decisions over the past couple weeks that undoubtedly sank their hearts and those of the good people that received bad news.

Now what? Well, we must all look at this as an opportunity… a fresh start. One blog I’ve been reading lately is called the Creative Generalist. Over the past week, author Steve Hardy has been blogging from the BIF-2 Collaborative Innovation Summit in Providence, RI. As many struggle to cope with the change of the week, I hope they consider and embrace the positive. Our business landscape is changing and we have to move quickly and decisively to be ahead of it. At BIF-2, the words of InnoCentive founder Alph Bingham fit perfectly for us: “The biggest competitor is the status quo.”

This week’s change improves the organizational alignment of Sales and Service on paper, but just like in sports, competitions are not won and lost on paper; they’re decided in the trenches. To take full advantage of the new alignment, we all need to invest more in our internal relationships. Just think about it… Are you more apt to help a co-worker when you’ve got to know them as a person, or if you’ve kept them at arms length due to some pre-conceived prejudice or past conflict? Building our internal relationships and mutual respect will increase communication, understanding, and ultimately our collective success.

Megan is a right-brain woman. To illustrate, her mid-term progress report shows she has completed 100% of her homework (I’m so proud of her) and:

• Spanish – A
• English – A
• US History (AP) – B
• Religion – C+ (that’s a whole other discussion entirely…)
• Pre-Calc – C
• Physics – C-

Last year Megan struggled with Chemistry, yet breezed through the right-brain focused courses like English and History. I was the same way and this test confirms my right-brain rules by an 11/7 ratio. Yeah, I loved taking Ms. Robertson’s US History mid-terms and finals because they were essay exams and every question began with “Explain in detail…” In contrast, I didn’t enjoy any classes that required use of an abacus. Well, there was that freakish occurrence in college Statistics that changed my life forever, but that’s a story for another time…

Now, if you subscribe to the philosophy of Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, and I do, Megan should put extra effort into her areas of strength. So then, why does she have to take Chemistry and numbers, when clearly Megan’s future career success will be driven by her mastery of words and images? My answer to her is that those tough subjects help you learn to think and solve problems, with the added benefit of stimulating your right brain to help you extend its potential even farther. I believe anything that stimulates your brain, and especially those areas that are relatively untapped, benefit the whole brain and increase its capacity. I recall taking some courses at Bentley early in my career. I don’t remember much from the courses themselves, but I do recollect the experience unleashed all kind of new and creative thinking about my job, even when the courses had no direct relation to it.

So, if you’re a right-brainer, this will provide some insight about how best to approach learning. Oh, and here and here are a couple sites to help you excel in Chemistry. If you’re a left-brainer, I suggest going to a museum or a concert of some classical music to help you make more sense of all those zeroes and ones.

Here’s one last thing to ponder: Are the right-brained more inclined to lean left politically and vice-versa?