Pet Please #5: The Coffee Aisle

I’m not a coffee drinker. Floofy coffee drinks I enjoy; frappacinos, mocha latte chills (thank you, Cinnabun), that sort of thing. But coffee–no thank you. Tastes like dirt. But it smells heavenly. If coffee tasted like it smelled, I’d drink it every day. But it doesn’t. So I’m left with this tantalizingly delicious smell and no … Read more

Blog Redesign

Alert reader Bob Z. sent me a link to this article this morning. The article focuses on the uproar over Facebook’s recent redesign; it points out that most people hated Facebook’s other two redesigns as well…at first. Two weeks after each redesign, people had adjusted from the change and used the site more than ever.

Based on the poll I posted after this blog’s redesign last Friday, 77% of respondents said they didn’t like the blog’s redesign. The same Bob Z. that sent me the article today posted a valid comment, and I heard direct feedback from several friends.

The main reasons I’ve stuck with it follow the break. For now, 5 days into the new design, I want to post a poll to see if people are coming around to the new format.

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The Future of Telecommuting

Every once in a while an unknown movie comes along that nearly makes me burst with curiosity and wonder. Last year that movie was Let the Right One In. But that was based on early, extremely positive reviews (and they were correct). All I’ve seen of Sleep Dealer is a mediocre trailer and a brief interview with the director in Wired magazine.

But I’m hooked.

View the trailer below (my new format cuts off the edges, so for the full view, click on the Archive page and see the first article). Analysis and discussion to follow.

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Phoning in from the Bathroom

You’ve had this happen to you.

You’re on the phone with a significant other or friend. You’re talking, laughing, blah blah blah…and then you hear a toilet flush in the background.

You have to ask. “We’re you…going to the bathroom?”

“Uh, yeah.”

Perhaps you’ve even been the perpetrator at times. The question is, is this practice acceptable? Point/counterpoint follows after the poll.

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It's Twitter Time

I think I’ve finally figured out Twitter. For myself, at least. I have an ongoing list of things I want to blog about. The list currently has hundreds of items, many of them not worth writing more than a sentence or two about. This list has been growing longer and longer. My new blog format … Read more

Management Tactic #11: Fingerpointing

When you encounter a problem at the workplace, fingerpointing is a must. Point your finger at the solution, not the problem (or who caused the problem). You’ll double your chances of solving the problem quickly and effectively.

A few years ago I walked past my boss’s office around 6:30 in the evening, after everyone else had left. He was in the middle of leaving a voicemail to his secretary–I tried not to eavesdrop, but he was accusing the coworker of dropping the ball on a scheduling issue, so it caught my attention.

finger-pointing-796415

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Cat Flips for the Flip

Thanks to an incredible deal on Woot! the other day, I have found myself the proud owner of the easiest-to-use video camera in the universe: the Flip Ultra. It’s so simple that it even has a built-in USB drive. So when you’re ready to upload the photos to your computer or YouTube, you just “flip” … Read more