In Business It's Hard To Get All The Datapoints

So I will relate one more bit of information on the VP Visit Story and move on to other things.

The new datapoint this morning is that one of my colleagues in my group is resigning to join a competitor. This is in a group that is one of my company's focus areas for 2005.

So the VP was coming out to gladhandle one of the remaining people in the group to make sure no one else was jumping ship. If you are a VP and have a key area that you are investing money in, you want to make sure that all of your people aren't about to walk out the door.

The surprising - okay, maybe not very suprising - thing is that I called this guy when I found out the VP was coming to talk to me. "Hey, you know any reason he would come out and talk to me?" The guy pleaded ignorance, although this one little bit of information - "I'm resigning and they have been trying to talk me out of it for the past week" would have been a the key to figuring the whole thing out. I had to find out this little bit of information from the grapevine this morning.

EVP Visit Cancelled, But Found Out Reason

EVP just called and his trip was cancelled. However, he told me why he was coming out, and since there is no trip, I will let everyone know today instead of Sunday the reason for his visit.

It was.....
.
.
.
.
.

.....to...

.
.
.
.

.... have a chat. I am also to start attending his monthly staff meetings at HQ, although I am one level down from a typical staff attendee. There was also some other stuff specific to the marketing report I had written earlier in the week.

Winners in the betting pool for full or partial credit are: Dave, Mrs. Director, Sayheydk and Todd. Everyone email them some money.

This Sounds Like "A Beautiful Mind"....

As noted below, I am waiting for my Executive VP to fly in for an agenda-less meeting, and am wondering why he is coming here instead of having me visit him at HQ. I listed the possibilities in the below post, but Rorschach mentioned a scenario in the comments section that I didn't think of....

"Mitch, take a seat."

"Why are you dressed in a trench coat and hat?"

"Mitch, you've been at this company for a year now, and I think it's time we told you what we really do."

"We don't make components for tech products?"

"Of course we do, Mitch, but where are our factories located?"

"Korea, Taiwan, China..."

"Has it ever occurred to you that our plant in Korea is just miles from the DMZ? That our plant in Taiwan is strategically positioned in case of an invasion? That our plants on the Mainland have electronic listening access to every major military command center in Red China?"

"So what you're saying is..."

"Yes, Mitch, the whole company is a front for the CIA."

"But why create a whole company? Why not just place operatives at real tech companies that have plants over there?"

"Mitch, we tried that. And we found that we couldn't train operatives to go under cover as engineers. They were found out too easily."

"Found out to easily?"

"Back in the early days of tech, the North Koreans took out one of our guys who claimed that the Intel x86 was architecturally superior to the Mot 68000."

"Uh, oh. That would certainly blow his cover."

"Yeah, he confused market penetration with technical superiority. And he paid for that mistake with his life. More seriously, we lost all of his NK contacts.

"So you started training engineers and technical marketing managers as operatives."

"It started that way. We'd find an engineer or technical marketing guy who had regular travel schedules to all the places where we like to operate - Red China, close to the DMZ, and so forth - and then recruit him to work for us. His cover and travel patterns were already established, so there would be nothing unusual about his activities. The problems developed when these guys kept getting promoted to management, so we would have to start the recruiting process all over again."

"So you started your own company?"

"You got it. After a year of tenure, we let you in on the deal."

"I'm interested, but what if I refuse?"

"You think all 62 Taiwanese businessman killed in a China in the last 15 years were by criminals or elements of the Chinese Communist Party? It's a tough game we play over there."

"Then I guess I'm in."

I suppose this scenario's chances aren't zero, but if I claim on Sunday that this is what happened, make sure I am put on meds.

The EVP Is Comin' To Town

I got a call from my Executive Vice President's (EVP) Personal Executive Private Secretary (PEPS) that went something like this:

Mitch: Yeah, hello...
PEPS: Hi, this is the EVP's PEPS.
Mitch: HELLO!!! HOW ARE YOU DOING?? I AM SO GLAD TO TALK TO YOU!!
PEPS: The EVP is flying to Southern California tomorrow afternoon and will be at your office in the afternoon.
Mitch: Does EVP need a pick-up at the airport? (Ed: Mitch knows when to brown nose)
PEPS: No. He has a car. Will you be in the office?
Mitch: Of course. I looking forward to seeing him!!

So why would the EVP come to SoCal on a Friday afternoon? None of the local sales guys have customer meetings set up for him. This means he is flying out here with one purpose: to talk to me. So I am wondering, why is my boss's boss's boss flying an hour and a half to have a face-to-face with me? My mind races through the possibilities and odds:

Hatchet Job - Odds Against 10:1 - This isn't very likely. If my company wanted to lay me off or fire my ass they wouldn't send an exec three rungs up to do it face-to-face. Why waste the air fare?

Move to HQ - Odds Against 3:1 - Also not likely, but odds against diminishing. My particular product group is suddenly red hot and has the attention of the Chairman of the Board. Mr. EVP may want to bring everyone in the group under one umbrella, but there is really no reason I can't do my job from where I am. In addition, if they wanted this, I don't think they would send an EVP - I will be at HQ in two weeks where my own manager could make the request.

Reservations at Disneyland - Odds For 3:4 - Just less than even money.- Disney is 10 miles from my sales office. There is a chance that EVP's family is on the plane and after he finishes chatting with me for an hour (thereby getting the corporate write-off on his ticket), he joins his family in time for dinner and doing the Disney thing over the weekend.

Special Assignment - Even Money - A SVP (Senior VP) sent out an email yesterday saying that "someone" needed to go in and kick some ass in one of our factories that was having some serious production problems. This factory happens to be making my product, which has all that attention from executive management. Who else better to send than someone from the group that is effected? This would probably be a multi-month overseas request, which is something that you 1) Make in person and 2) Have a sr. mgr. assure you that it would do wonders for your career.

Just Coming in to Chat - Odds for 4:3 - I just sent a multi-page marketing analysis to said EVP yesterday and instead of doing a conf. call, he may actually be willing to take the time to fly out and chat. He has been in his position for only four months, and this would give him a chance to size me up better and do some bonding with the guy who works in the remote office.

Unknown Customer Meeting - Odds for 2:1 - The local sales guys not knowing about a meeting doesn't mean one doesn't exist - especially if it involved M&A. In this case him swinging by the office to chat would just be something to add to his agenda while he was in the area.


Put your wagers in the comments section. Results and winners announced on Sunday.

UPDATE: Since his trip was cancelled and he told me the reason, I announced the end of the betting pool early.

Business Lessons From The Ukrainian Election

Stanly Bing, as usual, has a humerous but thought provoking piece in the latest Fortune giving us business lessons we should consider from the Ukrainan election:

· Don't be a moron. It's okay to be courageous in the face of your enemies, but credulity and trust are often repaid with a plateful of chemicals. Or more likely, in our environs, with a shiv between the ribs.

· Never underestimate the desire of the ruling cadre to stay in control. Power is nice to have. Losing it is very unpleasant, unless you get a mighty good book deal. There's little that people won't do to keep the thing that makes them feel strong and safe. For some, it's kids and family. For others, it's their job, a state-supplied vehicle, and a welcome mat at the corporate Kremlin.

· Don't assume that the adversary is human. History proves otherwise. When Marius took over Rome, he killed all of Sulla's friends. When Sulla came back, he killed everybody Marius liked, including his dry cleaner

As they say, go read the whole thing.

Hat Tip: Mrs. Director (who just refuses to guest blog any more!)

Cliches and Catch Phrases

Just Procrastinating Has a Dream: develop a cliche that will be universally adopted.

This is a worthy goal, and similar to a major professional aspiration for advertising executives: creating a massively used "catch phrase". While cliches are truisms that people use for specific cases, catch phrases usually don't designate any deep truth or meaning, and - ideally - relate back to the product. In addition, cliches are generational or regional, while catch phrases usually last a few months, tops (example: "I love you man!")

Besides advertising, catch phrases also come from movies ("I'll be bak"), comedians ("Now, isn't that Special?!)" and TV shows ("Don't have a cow, man!").

The thing is, our culture generates so many catch phrases that there is there is a board game which names the catch phrase, and you name the source.

Based on this I will create my own cliche: Everyone in America will generate a catchphrase once in their life (okay, maybe I am ripping of Warhol's idea a little).

In Case You Lose Your Balls

This is actually a pretty good idea for hackers like myself: Radar Golf claims breakthrough with RFID golf balls

The RadarGolf Handheld transmits a specific radio frequency signal that is received and reflected back by the RadarGolf microchip (inside the golf ball). The handheld provides a visual LCD signal strength display and pulsed audio tone feedback to the golfer looking for their ball.

This is basically putting a homing signal inside your golf ball. My only question is whether it works under water for those lakes, ponds and streams I always seem to be hitting into.

A Tech Guy Who's Behind The Tech Curve

I got my VOIP box today. Set it up in 30 seconds. Works great. No more long-distance toll calling for me.

Thing is, I am a little late to the VOIP revolution - even my 66 year old parents had it before I did. But the fact of the matter is that I have always been a non-innovator when it came to tech:

This is a little surprising from someone who has a Electrical Engineering degree and has worked in tech for 14 of my 16 professional years, but it's because I work in tech that I wait a bit. I know what bugs, problems, and general crap that is put out there early. I have seen that you really need to let the Innovators work the bugs out and - more importantly - wait for the price to come down into the consumer space. If I think about various technical items around my home, I have been pretty consistent in this strategy:

Personal Computer - Probably the only device where I was even close to the Innovator stage, if only because my parents saw the opportunities it could open to their 13-year-old. They were right - look what I do for a living. I wonder what ever happened to that Commodore PET?

PDA - The only reason I was an early adopter on this one was that I came to work one day in 1997 and saw that everyone - and I mean everyone - was walking around with a Palm. Turns out some manager okayed expensing them to the company, so everyone ran out and bought one. Who was I to turn down a free Palm?

Cell Phone - I was a Late Majority on this one not because I wanted to wait for the technology, but because I didn't want to be tethered to my boss. I got my first one in 1999, a bit late to the party, although my boss did make me carry a pager for a year before that.

Digital Camera - This one is pretty funny - I didn't get one until 2001, but I worked at a company starting in 1999 that (planned to) make chips for this market. I was really hoping my first camera would have MY chip in it, but the company went belly-up before I had the opportunity. I was probably right at the Early/Late majority border. I "acquired" a camcorder that same year since I had a kid - a required accessory to a camcorder.

DVR - 2003, almost exactly two years ago. Don't know how I lived without it. Probably Early Majority.

VOIP - Today, probably Early Majority.

I still don't have a flat screen TV (waiting for LCDs to get a lot bigger and cheaper) or HDTV (waiting on the flat panel, plus don't want another box cluttering up my TV area). I may also wait until the whole Hi-Def DVD thing works itself out. There is going to be another Betamax/VHS fight with BlueRay and HD-DVD, and I don't want to invest on the losing side of that war.

If First You Don't Succeed....

There's nothing wrong with failure as long as you learn from your mistakes. So, I want each of you gentlemen to reflect on why you failed, and then go out there and give it the ol' college try again. The world is behind you on this one: Mass Suicide Attempt at Gitmo.

And, boys, if you fail there, maybe the good ol' USA can ship you to Oregon and let them assist you in the process. There's nothing wrong with a little help from time to time.

Because There Is No Amex in Hell

Thinking about currency collecting, I thought I would mention a somewhat unusual practice out of Asia: Hell Notes:

This is money that you burn and send down to Hell in front of you. By the time you die - and assuming you're going down instead of up - you can build up a nice account for yourself down there for, well, whatever is on sale down in Hell (You think there is a Hellmart?). You can also burn Hell notes to send down to other people who might be down there, but hey, why bother with charity if they're already in Hell?

There is no equivalent Heaven note. Does this mean Hell is capitalistic and Heaven a commune? I shudder just thinking about it. I'll just assume that Heaven doesn't have any scarcity, so has no need for money.

Sometimes You Can't Bring Up Your Hobbies

"So, Mitch, what are your hobbies?"

I looked across the table at the customer. He was the vice president of a corporation whose name was known throughout the world. His division generated nearly $1 billion in revenue and it spent hundreds of millions of dollars with suppliers. Our two companies currently did little business together, but this dinner meeting was a follow-up to a factory tour and the potential building block to an agreement that could mean significant business for my division - and recognition for me.

I sipped on my soju and replied, "You know, with work and family commitments, I have little time for anything else."

The customer nodded understandingly. After all, who has time for hobbies?

The fact of the matter is that I have hobbies that just can't be brought up in business conversation for one reason or another:

1. Blogging - This hobby gets the most of my time and has two problems in a business setting. First, if the person doesn't know what it is, you have to explain it to them, and that just takes too much time (and they still won't get it). Second, if they do know what a blog is - or once they understand it - they will want the link, and since I blog on both customers and managers from time-to-time, that is something I want to avoid.

2. Tae Kwon Do - This is really nothing more than my participatory sport, but is a little outside the mainstream compared to "normal" sports such as biking cycling. The first question - always - with the mention of this is "Are you a black belt?" and I don't what to go into that. This hobby is okay, however, to discuss in Asian business circles since many of them have a martial art as a hobby, so it that case it creates a common ground rather than a separate ground.

3. Currency Collecting - I have not been active in this hobby for a couple of years, so my collection has just been sitting on the shelf appreciating 15%+ a year, so if anything it has been a good investment. The problem with this hobby is that it is - admittedly - boring to a lot of people. The few times I have tried to explain the difference between a Federal Reserve Bank Note and a Silver Certificate, the person's eyes just glazed over, so it is best not to bring it up.

Other ways I spend my free time - the gym, reading, walking on a Southern California beach in 75 degree weather in January - I don't consider "hobbies", so aren't worth bringing up.

So I think I will stay with my packaged answer. It seems to work, and most business people seem to relate to it.

Troy: Better Than Expected

I originally passed on seeing Troy due to dumbass statements from the director, but with my Netflix queue getting very thin, I decided to put it on the list (the top of my list has the Battlestar Galactica miniseries pilot, but it is listed as "long wait", so they keep skipping it to ship me stuff).

The movie was a lot better than I expected, although it has a few weaknesses:

Cast: Mixed Bag - Pitt does a very believable Achilles and did a great job. Casting Sean Bean (who played Boromir in LOTR) as Odysseus was a stroke of genius since I always thought of Odysseus as a likeable smart-ass, which Bean pulls off well. Orlando Bloom as Paris came off as effete. The female leads were forgettable, and whoever played Helen didn't exactly launch my ship.

Action: Great - The battle sequences were really good, especially the fight scene between Achilles and Hector (and telling you they fight isn't exactly a spoiler on a 3,000 year old story)

Plot: Okay - They changed it too much from the original story in my opinion. As this was a "non-mythical" version, they had license to kill off main characters who were killed by gods or in the follow-up Odyssey, although I thought offing both Agamemnon and Menelaus was a bit much. Also, in the story the siege of Troy lasted a decade, but in the movie it takes about a month. I do give a kudos for a "cameo" appearance by Aeneas (I had to read most of the Aeneid in the original Latin, so was glad to see him in the movie).

3.5 out of 5 stars from the Director.

The Problem With Bumper Sticker Philosophy...

...is that it is contradictory. In catching only a few minutes of the ANSWER anti-inaugural festivities, I watched them accuse the troops of being bloodthirsty hacks ("Hey I say, how many children did you kill today?!"), and in the next breath said that our poor oppressed troops are there against their will ("Rich man's war, poor man's blood!"). They were having trouble figuring out who to hate, although they will definitely end up hating someone and something in the end. However, they spend an awful amount of time chanting left-wing nursery rhymes, so maybe that is their form of therapy?

Update: Mark the Pundit also has a few observations

BSG: Looking Good

Ever since I finished watching all of Star Trek:DS9, I have been looking for a new space soap opera cool sci fi show I could sink my teeth into.

A few blogs recommended Babylon 5, so I ordered the first disk of the series from Netflix and watched the first four episodes. It didn't pass the "if someone I didn't know came into the room would I be embarrassed to be watching this?" test. So I gave up on that series (can anyone say if it got better in the later seasons?)

Enterprise seems to be finally finding its legs this year. After the horrible season opener with the space nazis, this season has turned out pretty good. But I was looking for something outside the Trek universe, so I had my Tivo start taping the Battlestar Galactica series.

I have to say I am pretty impressed. I found the characters, plotlines, and "message" very compelling. Having a Victoria's Secret model as one of the main characters doesn't hurt (an evil blonde with a perfect body...you think men are one of the target audiences?).

I was a fan of the original series (it was campy, but I was ten years old). Although I missed the miniseries that was the pilot for the updated series, I knew from the blogosphere that my favorite character from the original, Starbuck, was turned into a girl, but that is offset by the very cool, updated versions of the robotic cylons (and the "human models", which is a new, and interesting, concept). So far, however, there is no sign of the guy with the Christmas tree head, which in 1978 I thought was way wicked (although I don't think that term was in the vernacular yet).

I will be watching the rest of this season, but so far BSG gets the Director's seal of approval.

Caption Contest

I don't have the traffic of the "majors" to make it as interesting (I average 85 hits a day), but let's try anyway (hit picture for a link to the actual story):

My caption entry: Unlike human males, bull elephants can be taught to put down the seat when they're done.

Put your entry in the comments section. Bonus points to anyone who comes up with a political theme.

I'm Not Setting Foot On This Plane

As a frequent flier, I actually am one of those people who makes note of the model of plane being offered when I book reservations. The issue ranks below scheduling in order of importance, but all things being equal, there are some planes I prefer to be on than others (I avoid MD 80s - aka Multiple Defect 80s - for example).

Well, here is one plane that I will change schedules to avoid: Airbus Unveils Monster Passenger Jet. Why? Let's count the reasons:

1. Bigger means more crowded - Getting on a rinki-dink 737 for a short-haul trip takes half an hour for 120 passengers to get on and stow their 4 carry-on bags. How long you think it will take to load 555 passengers?

2. Bathroom Lines - What do you want to bet this thing has the same number of bathrooms as planes that carry half as many passengers?

3. Thirsty? - Since they increased the number of passengers, they'll probably increase the number of stewardesses. Yeah, right.

4. European - I'm sure this plane will hold up as well as the airports the French built for it.

5. Bomb Magnet - For those terrorist cells running low on martyrs, this is a can't-pass opportunity to kill twice as many passengers with half as many suicide bombers.

My Aching Back

An almost imperceptible decline in strength, muscle mass, metabolism, and aerobic activity begins after you enter your fourth decade.

- Ultimate Flexibility, Page 71

After the common cold, back pain is the most common medical complaint in the United States...it is the number one cause of limited activity for adults under age forty-five.

- Ultimate Flexibility, Page 54

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

- Nietzsche

I have been really impressed with my physical improvement since I started taking Tae Kwon Do two months ago, although it hasn't been easy. The first two weeks, my legs were so sore I could hardly do more than walk. I worked through that, but then the joints in my legs started aching. That worried me a little, but it went away after another week as my body adapted. As I have been working deeper into my stretches and higher on my kicks, I have had pretty constant "good soreness" throughout my legs, and in only two months I have gone from hardly being able to touch my toes to being able to put my forehead just about a fist's width away from my knee. In another six months I figure I'll be resting my head on my knee while I stretch.

Starting about a month ago I started feeling a very minor pulling sensation in my lower back. Like the stiffness and soreness in my legs, I thought my body would adapt and work through it - just a part of the conditioning - so I just made sure to always stretch my back.

I wasn't even using my back when it felt like someone stuck two knitting needles into both sides of my lower spine. I was doing a warm-up exercise called a slalom jump where you hop back and forth over a small object to get the heart rate up: back-forth-back-forth-MY BACK! You should have seen me hopping then.

Essentially I have been putting too much stress on the lower back without giving it enough time to recover, as I have been working out four times a week. Jumping isn't particularly stressful on the lower back, but it was the proverbial straw that created a pull in my lower back.

It wasn't all that bad after it happened - I walked it off and took it easy the rest of class, but I knew that after I cooled down that I would be in big trouble. My back never went into a full lock-up, but it hurt enough the next day that I was hobbling around like a much older man than I really am.

This morning - two days later - I was still having trouble walking without pain in the morning, but am probably 90% this evening. I figure I won't have any problems tomorrow, then will take a few more days off before - yes - I get right back out there and keep doing what I was doing. I will also take it a little more easy for a few more weeks to give muscles more time to adapt, but I will say that this would never had happened to me just ten years ago.

Getting old sucks.

Generational War

The AARP is now on my permanent hate list. Before this year they just mildly annoyed me.

The Ponzi scheme known as Social Security is slowly breaking down. No one under 40 will ever see a dime from the thousands of dollars they are putting into the system, but the AARP is running ads against any sort of reform at all (Hat Tip Jim Carson for the link). They and their democratic allies want to keep the system as it's going, oblivious to the coming train wreck.

Those democrats that do admit there's a problem - there are a few out there - have the following suggestions for "fixing" the system (the source was an article in the Chicago Sun-Times when I was there for Christmas and I can't find a link):

1. Raise the maximum salary eligible for social security - the maximum salary this year eligible for SS is $90,000, but it already goes up each year (last year the max was $87,900). Raising the tax on the last 1% of top income earners (and giving nothing in return for the higher withholding) won't fix the system.

2. Raise the SS Tax - If you get a salary, and you're under 40, you pay 6.2% of what you earn into a system where you will never see a dime back (with your employer paying a matching amount). If you are self employed you pay both shares. The dems want to raise the amount you pay, but not raise the benefits you are eligible for. Typical.

3. Estate Tax - This one is easy to avoid: spend all your money by the time you die. I never really understood why democrats believe that after you pay taxes on the money you earn that you have to pay taxes on that exact same money again just because you die.

4. Income or Asset Eligibility - At least there is something honest about the democratic proposal to means test social security to only those who "need" it. Essentially SS just becomes welfare for the old and needy, and if the dems deem that you have too much (which will be a mighty low bar), everything you have paid into the system just goes away (well, it already went away, but you know what I mean).

Something needs to be done to fix SS. At this point Mrs. Director and I assume that we will receive absolutely nothing from the system and plan our retirement savings appropriately.

I think some sort of "hybrid" plan is needed which keeps those close to retirement in pretty much the same plan they have paid into, but gives us younger people the ability to opt into a program which includes private accounts. Bush's current SS reform is currently light on details, but this is what I expect it to be to make it politically acceptable - no change for the old fogies, but a program that makes economic sense - or leaves something, anything - for the younger generations. Even with this trade-off, I expect the AARP and the dems to oppose it - the AARP since they are against any reform at all, the dems because this sort of plan takes power away from them and their government programs and puts it in the hands of the people.

Watching Every Penny

I was at a party last month talking to a former co-worker when the topic came to a gym that I had considered joining:

"Yeah," she told me, "I belong to that gym but haven't been there in six months."
"You still belong?"
"Yeah."
"Not quitting because of a contract cancellation fee?"
"Just never got around to canceling. It's only like $30 a month."
"No, it's $360 a year."

She got an "oh yeah" expression on her face and I'm pretty sure she cancelled the next day.

This is just one example of how people waste their money from simple neglect, laziness, or inertia. It's pretty common, but keeping track of items like this is especially important in a high-tax state like California.

For example, in my annual "where is my money going?" analysis, I have found that I can save around $45 a month on internet and long distance fees (SBC, I decided, really screws me every month, so VOIP is coming to the Director household). From a tax perspective, saving $45 a month - or $540 a year - is like getting a raise of $900 in salary (using a federal plus state tax rate of %40).

So a dollar saved is $1.67 earned - in California, anyway - so it pays to watch every penny.

The Japanese Circle of Truth

One of the interesting things about working in Japan, as well as most other Asian cultures, is the concept of "truth" as changeable, malleable concept.

For those of us in the West - at least those not working at CBS - the truth is a digital concept of yes/no, on/off, black/white that can be divided by a hard fast line:

In Japan, however, the concept is a little different. Imagine absolute truth as Westerners understand it as a point. Then draw a circle around that point. This Circle of Truth is the amount you can change facts, data, or any other information you want while still being "truthful":



This concept can be difficult to grasp, and even maddening, to Westerners doing business in Asia. Not only do customers and vendors use this concept, but also any local hires, subcontractors, and subsidiaries you might have working for you. For this reason any hard data you want to present to an overseas client - especially bad news - should be presented by someone flying over from the States. If you give data to one of your local people to present, there is a good chance that the data will be changed by the time your client sees it.

So when doing business in Asia, just keep this concept in mind when being presented with "facts". They are more malleable than you think.

Updated Links

For those of you "new" members in the Bear Flag League, I very quickly updated my BFL links today - I didn't realize how much the group had grown. If I missed you, just let me know and I will add you on. I will double-check my list with the official list when I get some time.

For those of you not on the BFL, but link to me, let me know and I will cross-link back. I try to check my incoming links periodically and link back to anyone who links to me, but that is another activity that takes a lot of time, so just drop me a line at director_mitch@yahoo.com

How Nerdy Are You?

Just Procrastinating, which is a great site if you want to, well, just procrastinate (and a frequent commenter on this blog), has a link to a nerd quiz.

Yours truly has not only MBA, but also an EE (that stands for Electrical Engineering), and the saying is that you can't spell geek without EE, so it is not surprising that I came in as a low-ranking nerd.

UPDATE: On the other side of the spectrum, I Love Jet Noise has a Manly Quiz, which isn't for the faint of heart (and no, I am not revealing my results on that one).

Do You Buckle Up? Is It Because of a Law?

Searching Snopes on another topic today, I ran into the following true story:

Anti-seat belt law advocate is killed in automobile accident

Talk about ironic.

Seatbelt laws were passed in my state while I was in college. The only time before where I wore a seatbelt was in driving school and for the drivers' test. Once I had my coveted license (I can date!) I never buckled up again until the law went into effect (especially since seatbelts interfered with certain aspects of a date, if you get my meaning).

When the law went into effect I felt somewhat like this guy ("Uncle Sam is not here to regulate every facet of life no matter the consequences"). So I grumbled and started buckling up only if I thought a cop was in the area. Then I started buckling up most of the time. Then almost all the time. Then all the time.

Today I feel naked without it. If the seat-belt law were repealed or I moved to a location that didn't have it I would still buckle up.

Being nearly 20 years older and wiser now, I know that the belt is one of the only things keeping me safe on a highway filled with idiots. So although I might agree with the sentiment about government regulation, this is one area where I agree with the nanny state since this regulation gets people into a habit that might save their life.

I'll Take This Mercedes in Red. Here's 1.6 Million Nickels

How the hell is he going to spend this? Trucker Goes Missing with 3.6 Million Nickels (worth $180K)

I guess he could spend a hell of a lot of time at the nickel slots in Vegas.

What Do You "Know" Is Wrong??

1500 years ago, everybody "knew" that the earth was the center of the universe. 500 years ago, everybody "knew" that the earth was flat. And 15 minutes ago, you "knew" that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll "know" tomorrow.

- Tommy Lee Jones as "Kay" in the movie "Men in Black"

Dean's World is stirring up a hornet's nest on what science has told the public about AIDS and areas where science could be wrong. I am not saying I agree with Dean, but there does seem to be gaps in the research.

Looking at the discussion from a larger perspective, it makes me wonder how much we "know" is wrong. I think every generation for the last 100 years feels that "their" science has proven incontrovertible facts, but then developments happen a generation or two later showing that those facts were not only wrong, but absurdly wrong. What do we "know" today that will fall into this category in 100 years?

World's Easiest Quiz

In honor of the discussion in the comment thread of the below post, I am giving everyone the World's Easiest Quiz today. (The original source for this quiz was the The People's Almanac #2):

Scroll down for answers:

1. In which month do the Communists celebrate the October Revolution (this one is a "gimmy" from the below post).

2. How long did the Hundred Years War Last?

3. In which country are Panama Hats made?

4. From which country do we get Peruvian Balsam?

5. Which seabird has the zoological name Puffinus puffinus?

6. From which animal to we get catgut?

7. From which material are mole-skin trousers made?

8. Where do Chinese gooseberries come from?

9. Louis the XVIII (18th) was the last one, but how many previous kings of France were called Louis?

10. What kind of creatures are the Canary Islands named after?

11. What was King George VI's first name?

12. What color is a purple finch?

13. In what season of the year does Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" take place?

14. What is a camel's hair brush made of?

15. How long did the Thirty Years War last?

Answers:

1. As noted below, the stupid commies celebrate the October Revolution in November.

2. 116 years, from 1337 to 1453

3. Ecuador

4. El Salvador. The herb is grown by the Balsam Indians.

5. Common name is Manx Shearwater.

6. Sheep.

7. This one is easy since it is pretty common. Moleskin is made of cotton.

8. New Zealand.

9. Sixteen. Number 17 died in prison never having gotten on the throne.

10. Dogs, from the Latin Canariae Insulae, or Islands of the Dogs.

11. Albert.

12. Red.

13. Spring: April 29 to May 1.

14. Squirrel hair.

15. 30 years. Duh!

How many did you get right without web searching? The first time I took it I think I got four right off the top of my head. And this is an easy quiz!

Merry "Old Calendar" Christmas!

What I said last year.

Also, the reason explained in the link is why the "Glorious October Revolution" actually happened in November. (Stupid Goddam commies can't even get their dates straight).

Advice: Moving from Engineering to Management

From The Director's mail bag:

I'm looking for a job again. I'm really trying to get away from technical stuff and into management, but all my real professional qualifications are for engineering type things. Got any pointers?

This is a tough one. Traditional employers are hesitant to put anyone in a management position who doesn't already have management experience. It's the Catch 22 of employment: you can't get a management position without experience, and you can't get management experience if you don't get the position (actually this is true of just about any position).

For this reason, I think your chances of walking in and getting a managerial position from a random organization is, unfortunately, very small. So my advice is as follows:

1. Move your Goal Out - Accept a job in an engineering position that fits with your resume, but make it clear during the interview and, more critically, once you are in your new role, that your long-term plans are to move into management. Unfortunately, this will probably add three or more years to your career goal of management, but many hiring managers look for engineers they can hire now for an immediate project, but that they can groom for management positions later. The bottom line is that without experience, it is easier to move into a management position in an organization you are already in than to get one coming off the street.

2. Leverage a Contact - One way to get a managerial position without experience is to leverage a contact who knows of your abilities. Friends, former co-workers, fellow students, or even family members know of your ability to manage even if you don't have it on your resume. There may be a chance someone you know is a higher level manager in an organization and can put in a good word in for you.

3. Start Your Own Business - The obvious solution since you don't have to worry about things like hiring managers and resumes. If not on your own, then maybe with a group of like-minded people. In my experience, however, this does not guarantee a "management" role since when there are only six people in a company, no one really "manages" the others.

Any other advice from others out there?

Why Do We Keep Personal Libraries?

I don't do News Years resolutions, but one thing I do every New Year is clean out some of the more cluttered areas of my home, including the bookshelves.

As I sit in front of all these books, I wonder why I keep most of them. Outside of reference books there is little need to keep most of them. Novels make up the largest part of my library, and I certainly won't re-read the vast majority of them, partly because I seem to be interested in a certain type of genre depending on my age:

Teens - Sci Fi & Fantasy
20s - Spy/Espionage
30s (Now) - Historical Fiction

If I stay true to form I will be into biographies in about 10-15 years.

At any rate, I decided to list the different reasons that most Americans (or I, anyway) keep relatively large libraries of books

Reference - I have a dictionary and thesaurus, but they don't get much use these days with always-on high-speed internet. I also have a physics text that I actually reference about once a year, a few business texts that come in handy when doing things like NPV and IRR, a gardening book, baby raising books, hobby references, and the like. I would include the Bible and other religious texts in this category.

Showing Off - I have the Complete Works of Shakespeare, which I actually have read most of (I took a class in college), as well as lots of other literary classics and impressive looking college texts that I haven't looked at in a long, long time. Let's face it, it shows off that expensive education my parents paid for. There is also the factor of "that's a book an educated person should have in their library", although what these books are is a matter of opinion.

Identity - Whenever you go to someone's office you look at the items and pictures on their desk to get a sense of who they are. If you are in their home, you take a look at their bookshelf (and the medicine cabinet if you get a chance). Taking a look at my non-fiction bookshelf (which are mostly from Mrs. Director's personal collection), you know not to mention any disappointment of the results of the last U.S. or Ukrainian elections. A sample includes: The Wealth of Nations, Turning Right, The Politics of Diplomacy, Slander, biographies of Reagan and Nixon, and lots and lots of books on Ukrainian Nationalism.

Sentimental Value - There are a few books I received as gifts from my Grandmother where she inscribed a note, including a copy of The Silmarillian she gave me in 1978. I have inscribed books from other family members and friends, a few that were signed by the author, and one Clancy novel that I bought in Hong Kong that I just can't get rid of since it reminds me of that really fun trip. I know some people who would put some of their college texts, books they read in high school, or a book that really moved them into this category.

For Guests- For some reason I think I should have a collection of decent novels lying around in case a houseguest is in need of something to read. I think in my lifetime this maybe has happened once. These days the most frequent question I get from guests is "Do you mind if I use your computer to check email?"

Series that I am Waiting to Get Finished - David Gerrold claims he will one day finish his Chtorr series, and if he does, I will need to re-read the first books from over a decade ago, so am holding onto them. Ditto for the various unfinished works of Goodkind (who has a new release this month), Cornwell, and a few other serial novelists.

Books That I Will Actually Re-Read - The Lord of the Rings, the first three books of the Dune series, The Great Gatsby, a couple of business books (which might count as reference), a couple of motivational books I liked, a few others.

Books in Queue - I have about half a dozen unread books in queue for last minute overseas trips and similar situations where I won't have time to browse a book store.

Any reasons I leave out?

Not All Olympic Memorabilia is Wholesome

Mrs. Director's grandfather was an avid track and field fan. He arrived in the U.S. from Ukraine in 1950 with seven dollars in his pocket, but in ten years he was wealthy enough to travel the world to watch the summer Olympics.

Like most Olympic fans he collected and traded Olympic memorabilia, amassing quite a large collection during his trips to the Rome, Tokyo, Mexico City, Munich, and Montreal games. He unfortunately died in 1998 just a few months before our wedding, and this Christmas, Mrs. Director's grandmother gave his collection to me. I guess she knows about my various other collections and knows that I would be willing to put in the effort to sort, identify and protect the collection.

The largest part of the collection are pins, which number in the dozens, of which this is just a small sample.

Somewhat smaller in number are the Olympic medallions, which are not traded as avidly as the pins, probably because at a couple of inches in diameter they are not as transportable as pins:

But probably the most interesting, or maybe shocking, are a few items from the 1936 Berlin games. It is somewhat jarring to see the Olympic Rings - something I associate with Nadia, Mary Lou Retten, the 1980 American Hockey Team, and other wholesome images - along side the swastika.

I am still doing research on this, but I think this might be a participation medal given to all athletes (my guess is that Jesse Owens kept his four gold medals which don't have this imagery, but might have pitched this one). While it is fascinating from a historical perspective, it's something that has to be explained to the casual observer looking at the collection.