Business Meeting Time

Well, I’ve been posting to my blog for 9 months now, and I think it’s time to take this blog to the next level. I’ve been out of pocket for a while, and one of the outcomes of this was a realization; the need to come to a meeting of the minds of my readers. So, let’s have a roundtable, so we can brainstorm on ways to either level the playing field and/or come up with a real win-win situation.

I want us to think outside the box, color outside the lines, and form some synergies with you. You all are my change agents. I don’t have the bandwidth to do this on my own. You all bring a lot of value to the table. At the end of the day, I’m looking to get more than just the low hanging the fruit. I gotta raise the bar on what I’m posting; improve the user-experience. Who is going to step up to the plate? Grab the bull by the horns? Feel free to leave a comment or you can ping me and we can touch base and take this off-line. Or we can schedule some face time. But I don’t want to have to take anyone out behind the woodshed. Will you be in the trenches with me?

From a high-level, specifically the 8,000 foot view, I like where I’ve been. But this is a chance move up the value chain and offer something game-changing. I’ve been flying under the radar and it’s time to be front and center.  Time to bring my “A” game. I’ve done some back of the envelope calculations and I’ve realized that I need to push the envelope.  Go off-road.

Net-net, my goal is to create a fully-integrated, precision-engineered, streamlined reading experience. I want this to be a ground breaking, state-of-the-art collection of cutting-edge posts and I develop this blog to be more robust and customer-focused. The name of the game is to create not just the industry standard, but the industry leader. The benchmark of blogs. This needs to be a world-class collection of thoughts and the bottom line is that I want this blog to offer everything from soup to nuts. I need to expand from my core competency.  It’s not really a paradigm shift, but more building on my best practices in combination with analyzing some lessons learned. My goal is to architect each post to differentiate myself from the rest and hit the sweet spot every time. My posts should sometimes include all the bells and whistles, but at other times I’m Ok living under the 80/20 rule. But I don’t want to be all things to all people.   

Excuse me, I have to take a bio-break.

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RIP Flaky (1995-2011)

So, I said good-bye to my old POS car yesterday, somewhat affectionately known as Flaky. The picture should explain the name quite well. I bought Flaky from a co-worker who was moving overseas; it was her grandfathers’ car, single owner, 42K miles over 9 years at that time, good condition, maintenance records kept in details, and yes, it had all of its paint at the time I bought him in 2004. I didn’t drive Flaky much during the rest of my time in PA; Flaky was the “second car”, the “drive back and forth to work” car. So, in the first three years, I only put 10K miles on him. 

But also in the first three years, the paint flaking had already started. The flaking occurred mainly in the winter – during the worst of it, pieces of paint 6 inches in diameter would fly off the hood while driving down the highway. In doing some research online, I found out that for many GM cars in the mid-90s with white paint, flaking was a commonly reported problem, yet GM would not do a recall. In the Rochester NY area, I have seen at least four other cars, same model with white paint, with the same flaking problem.

So, yes, as I moved up to upstate NY, relocated and re-started my life, Flaky became a steady, reliable, every day car for most of the last 4 years. Flaky survived 4 lake-effect winters without issue at all, and in that four years, I added the final 85K miles on him. The only non-maintenance item that I had to repair was a new $250 water pump in the spring of 2010. That entire time I didn’t have a car payment at all. And yet…he was Flaky. But in the end, all things must come to pass, and I ran Flaky down as far as I could push...a broken engine mount and an intermittently-failing cylinder was the end.  

And see, here’s the reason…driving cars until the bitter end is in my genes. My dad did it growing up, and his dad before him. My dad’s infamous saying: “a raggedy ride beats a dressed up walk.” The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

My Journey on 9/11

So, without much fanfare, or the normal clichés of a day of remembrance, below is my story of 9/11. It is a somewhat unique story, unique compared to most of the people I know, though I’m sure many other people across America have similar stories. My story is fortunately not tragic; and if you’ve followed the general themes of this blog, this story fits very well with those themes.

The Greatest Things Since Sliced Bread

According to Wikipedia:  “Sliced bread is a loaf of bread which has been pre-sliced and packaged for convenience. It was first sold in 1928, advertised as "the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped."  Yes, Wikipedia has an entry about sliced bread.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliced_bread

The contents of the entry are:

    1 History

    2 Effects

    3 The 1943 U.S. ban on sliced bread

    4 Around the world

        4.1 Thickness by country

    5 Home slicing

    6 Popular culture

    7 Notes

    8 External links

Yes, there are different thickness standards in different countries.  There are two sentences discussing the options of home slicing.  Yes…there was a ban on sliced bread in 1943.  According to the entry, a letter was sent to The New York Times about this:  

"I should like to let you know how important sliced bread is to the morale and saneness of a household. My husband and four children are all in a rush during and after breakfast. Without ready-sliced bread I must do the slicing for toast—two pieces for each one—that's ten. For their lunches I must cut by hand at least twenty slices, for two sandwiches apiece. Afterward I make my own toast. Twenty-two slices of bread to be cut in a hurry!”

So, I thought I’d take just a quick moment to list the 25 greatest things since sliced bread, in my opinion, in no particular order: 

A Golden Rule Gentle Reminder

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Did you know that the people that seem the strongest are usually the most sensitive? 
Did you know that the people who exhibit the most kindness are usually the first to get mistreated? 
Did you know the ones who take care of others all the time are usually the ones that need it the most?

Why can’t people say what they mean and mean what they say?

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The quotes above may appear to be unrelated, or at best loosely related. The first quote is, of course, the Golden Rule. The second is a generic post on Facebook that has been passed around, and the third is a comment I posted not too long ago. These quotes are related to each other in two ways:  one, they have been on my mind lately; and two, they all deal with how we treat and interact with others; the connections and inter-connections between us as humans.

The Rooster And The Rat: Rochester's Cold Case Archives (Part 3)

This is the last of three newspaper articles chronicling one of the great unsolved cold cases in Rochester history... 

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Rooster Found In Michigan – Cleared of Any 

Wrong-doing In Kidnapping

Police Baffled, “Back To Square One”

BATTLE CREEK, MI. (8/13/10):  In yet another amazing turn of events, The Rooster once thought to be the animal behind the recent kidnapping of the Rat, was located in Michigan and has been deemed innocent.  Authorities are now returning to the original crime scene to re-start the investigation  

 “I received a frantic phone call overnight Tuesday night from my cousin Cornelius, who most people know ‘that Corn Flakes rooster.’ He heard a rumor that Kellogg’s was gonna ‘get rid of him’ because they need a new, hip logo.  Well, that really ruffled my feathers!” said the Rooster, who then called his brother.  “My brother Blackie, who lives in Parma, we needed to get away anyway. We were recently on the news on 13-WHAM for supposedly making too much noise.  I mean, really?  But I digress” he said.  He then hit the road on a quest to help his cousin Corny.  “I left a note at work and headed west.  You know, as we Roosters are up at the crack of dawn anyway!” (Editor’s Note:  the link to our sister news station 13-WHAM.com’s story: Town Wants Rooster to Stop Crowing  

The Rooster And The Rat: Rochester's Cold Case Archives (Part 2)

This is the second of three newspaper articles chronicling one of the great unsolved cold cases in Rochester history... 

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Kidnapped Rat Makes Miracle Escape!

Police Intensify Bird-Hunt

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (8/12/10):  In an amazing turn of events, The Rat was able to escape from his kidnapper, and has returned home safe and sound, to the relief of his friends, neighbors and families.

Sometime late this afternoon, Mrs. Rat received the phone call that she would never forget.  “He said, ‘Honey, I’m OK, you can stop worrying about me now,” and I just broke down into tears of joy!  I then called my mother, who was watching our son Ratatouille, to tell her the good news, and I can’t get over how great it feels to have our family back together!”

According to the Rat, he never had a good glimpse of my kidnapper.  “I was at my desk at work, silently working away, when all of a sudden, I was hit in the head and blacked out.  When I woke up, I found myself hung on the wall of a dark, musty room.”

The Rooster And The Rat: Rochester's Cold Case Archives (Part 1)

A little over a year ago, starting on August 11, 2010, one of the great unsolved cold cases in Rochester history occurred.  This is the first of three newspaper articles chronicling these events.  The case is still open and unsolved.

(Ed.note:  I inherited the fake rooster from the office where I worked in PA.  When my job and I relocated to NY, the rooster came with me.  A peer in another department owns the fake rat, and one week the rat made it's way around the floor...)
___________

Local Rat Kidnapped:

Police Begin City-Wide Search

ROCHESTER, NY (8/11/10)– Authorities have reported that a local Rat was reported missing yesterday, in what appears to be a kidnapping for ransom. 

The ransom note, which did not specify an amount at this point in time, was delivered to a Xerox employee on the same floor where the Rat was last seen.  The Rooster, who is also a Xerox subcontractor, signed the ransom note.  The Rooster left a note on his desk stating he was “out of the office indefinitely,” according to police.  He left behind a picture at the scene, which the police have released.

(Picture left at The Rooster’s desk)

At a press conference today, Police Sergeant Beaver stated, “We do not have many leads at this point.  We believe the kidnapping took place in the morning hours of Wednesday, August 11.  We have reviewed the crime scene and are currently analyzing potential clues to determine where to narrow the search.”

It appears that as of right now, there is not a motive for the kidnapping.  “He was here this morning, just minding his own business, and I left to go to a quick meeting.  When I came back, I saw the feathers on the ground and feared for the worst,” said Michelle Defendis, a fellow Xerox employee.  Another Xerox employee, Kristi Carlton, said, “I just hope he is found safe and sound.  I can’t imagine who would do such a horrible thing!”

Labor Day

(suggested music pairing:  Hot Night, by Me'Shell Ndege'ocello)

According to Wikipedia, Labor Day was created in response to civil unrest related to the Pullman Strike of 1894. The article states, “Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland reconciled with the labor movement. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day

In college, my second favorite college course was an elective course titled “Protest Movements Of The 1930’s and 1960’s,” which I took as a pass/fail course. (My favorite course was a Senior Synthesis course, which studied the historical and cultural influences of New Orleans, but I digress.) I took that course to hopefully learn more in detail about the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s; but I found the entire course to be completely fascinating. The course was structured chronologically as an exploration of the American people organizing, advancing, and influencing major social change, starting with the Great Depression, and ending with the anti-Vietnam-War movement. The professor’s general stance was that this four-decade period of history was unique and finite; mass influential protests had not occurred and/or had such a significant influence before that period, or since.  

Music: Queen Of My Soul -OR- Who Am I? (Part 4)

(suggested music pairing:  Queen Of My Soul - Average White Band)

A few weeks ago, I had a friend ask me about the influence of music in my life, in life in general, and why and how we as humans are drawn to music. As I may have hinted, and as those who know me know, music has and still does have a major influence in my life. This topic cannot be adequately explored in one post, so this post will be more of an exploration of what music means to me. I’ll attempt to make broader connections with music in later posts.

As I wrote in my Father’s Day post, I “inherited” my base love of music from my dad. My dad had a huge record collection, which is direct predecessor to my CD collection. My dad was of course into the Motown sound of the 60’s, but he was also into the socially-conscious performances of Marvin Gaye, Earth Wind & Fire, Sly & The Family Stone, James Brown, and Donny Hathaway. My dad also liked some of the classic rock sounds of The Doobie Brothers and Steppenwolf. Finally, my dad was into a lot of the fusion jazz of the 70’s, such as Grover Washington Jr and Wes Montgomery. On top of that, my maternal grandfather and his brother (my grand-uncle) performed for decade in a band, the Verda Tones. The band featured Cape Verdean traditional and jazz music. My grandfather played the upright bass; my grand-uncle played the maracas. Growing up, on  Saturday afternoon when my mom worked, my dad always had his records on, or we would watch the music trifecta of Soul Train, Dance Fever, and Solid Gold.  Music was always on in our house, or in the car.  To this day, I am still very much the same way.  The MP3 player is the greatest invention since sliced bread! I have my MP3 player with me at home, at work, and on the road – it’s is probably on and playing an average of seven hours a day, every day of the week.