Evil Children's Shows

Actually, all children's shows are evil, it's just the manner of degree that they are evil. The easiest solution would be to ban TV altogether for my 3.5 year-old, but dammit, I sometimes need that 20 40 minutes of relative peace and quiet to do something or take a break.

Thanks to Tivo, I can limit what Little Miss Director sees and can screen out shows I don't want her to watch, but since I have to let her watch something, I have to settle on the lesser evils. So here is my take on shows for the pre-school set going from least evil to most. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but just what I have run across:


Show: Backyardigans
Evil Level: Low
Type of Evil: Evil Music Writers



This is one of a new generation of children's cartoons that is completely computer animated. I actually find The Backyardigans somewhat entertaining from an adult level, and since there is an inverse relationship on a show's adult entertainment value and its educational content, I assume this show's educational value is low. But that isn't what bothers me. What bothers me is that the music writers for this show are mad geniuses - probably commercial jingle writers - who put a song in every show that is impossible to get out of your head.

So imagine my anger when, even an hour after the show is over, I still have "Three Friends" running over and over and over in my head.

The other problem is that they picked a show title that is impossible for a 3.5 year old to say. Every time she wants to watch this show I think she is asking to play in the back yard.


Show: Dora
Evil Level: Low
Type of Evil: Siempre la misma línea de la historia



Dora is the most popular pre-school show on television today. The problem is that if you seen one, you've seen them all: use a map to get across three obstacles to get to the magic Kingdom - and use a mix of English and Spanish along the way. The show has a large Hispanic following, maybe because the storyline seems very, very familiar...


Show: Barney
Evil Level: Moderate
Type of Evil: PC



I was one of those smug single people who swore that Barney would never play in my home. Fast forward a few years and you might find it on in the living room while I work in my study. Barney is actually pretty good since it is so educational. What bothers me isn't the "I love you - you love me" song that so many people despise, but the low-level Political Correctness that permeates the show. Usually it is low enough to ignore, but there are a few episodes I've deleted from the Tivo just by reading the show's title, like "Feeling Good About Ourselves", "It's Okay to be Angry", and "Accepting Daddy's New Boyfriend" (okay, that last one is made up, but you get my drift).


Show: Caillu Caillou
Evil Level: Moderate
Type of Evil: French Canadian



Why is this kid bald at six years of age? Why does he have a name no one can pronounce or spell? Why is this airing in the U.S.?

Actually, the main problem I have with the show is that it explores the "darker" side of being a preschooler: being scared, being frustrated, being angry, being lost. Yes, these are all real-life experiences that pre-schoolers can relate to, but Little Miss Director seems to get a bit down after watching the show. Maybe this was meant for a slightly older audience? Mrs. Director gives it extra evil points for the narrator's voice, which she finds particularly grating.


Show: Lazy Town
Evil Level: High
Type of Evil: Bad Acid Trip



Little Miss Director has never seen this. The only reason I ran across is that Nickelodeon played it at a time my Tivo thought it was recording Dora. I watched a few minutes of the show and couldn't get my brain around it. It didn't make sense, it was non-linear, and everyone and everything in it was very, very strange. The fact that the main male protagonist seems French (the guy in blue above) just sort of completes the whole bad hallucination.


Show: Teletubbies
Evil Level: Cthulhu
Type of Evil: Alien Mind Control



This show has never aired in the Director household, but I have seen at other people's houses. Never mind the stupid gay references - that's nothing. The real problem is that the show is either an attempt by aliens or a religious cult to take over the brains of small children. Avoid at all costs.


Not reviewed is Sesame Street, which Little Miss Director doesn't like, and which I thought was stupid when I was five. Bear and the Big Blue House is low evil, but I can't find it on TV, so it's only on DVD in our house.

Update: Linked to OTB's Weekend Traffic Jam!

When Does an Interview Turn into Consulting?

I had an "interview" with a company who apparently thinks they have come up with something interesting that is in my field of expertise. Five minutes into the conversation it was apparent the company had only a high-level understanding of the market, as I was running circles around them on what was going on in this particular segment. It is a market I know cold and have been involved with in one way or another for over six years.

The interview soon turned into Q&A, not on my abilities as a worker, but on the market, players, customers, competitors, etc. They are inviting me in for a follow-up face-to-face, and have forwarded me a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) so they can talk more freely about their invention, so it will be interesting to see if the meeting turns into more brain-picking or something that moves forward into a full-time position.

This Isn't Like My 2002 Unemployment

Whenever I got a lead, I rode that horse for a while until it gave out. Then I went searching for another horse. When I found one, I rode that one as long as I could. It took me six months and four horses before I found an oasis.

- My neighbor, on his 2002 unemployment

My block got a double whammy in 2002 for the non-retirees living on it. The tech bust of the 2001-2002 timeframe had the tech workers being laid off left and right. 9-11 and the resulting travel downturn had the hospitality people looking for work by the end of that year.

And unemployment in 2002 just sucked. This time it isn't bad at all, but there seems to be fundamental differences this time around:

Economic vs. Company Specific Downturn - When my company sank in 2002 it was part of a general tech downturn, so I was one of literally thousands of tech people looking for work. This time the reason I am looking is a company-specific issue, and the tech market in general is still pretty good. This is why in the past two weeks I have lined up two hard interviews, versus taking two months to make that milestone the last time around.

My Network is Employed - My network is mostly other tech people. In 2002 they were all laid off looking for work along side of me, so they weren't much help. This time I am getting all sorts of great leads, help, tips, even free marketing reports on companies I am doing research on.

My Network is Better - It's amazing how much a network can grow in a two-year period. It helps that I worked at two other companies in that time frame, which means I have two more customer bases, vendor bases, and co-worker bases to pull from versus last time.

Severance - In 2002 my company was shut down by its venture capitalists. All we got for severance was swift kick in the butt as we walked out the door. This time I have a pretty cushy severance package, which takes a lot of the angst out unemployment (the company, I think, felt guilty about cutting my group, so they gave me a severance package far in excess of my one year of tenure).

Better at Job Searching - Like my neighbor's experience, most people take a serial approach to a job search. They get a hot lead and follow it to its ultimate conclusion - whether it be a job or a no-thank-you - and stop other searching during that time. After being screwed, ignored, shunned and lead-on by various companies (mainly HR departments) the last time around, I'm not taking that route. I have a consulting proposal going out tomorrow at 9am followed by a full-time job interview at 11am. If they both happen someone might feel they got screwed (either a pushed out a start-date or a non-extension of the limited-time consulting contract), but it won't be me getting screwed.

The Entrepreneurial Option - I have an idea or two rattling around, one of which I am discussing next week with a large integrated company. Maybe a long-shot, but it is keeping me engaged.

A Confusing Situation for the Unemployed

Today is Administrative Professionals' Day.

I'm Glad I Had All My Bases Covered

So I "interviewed" with the CEO of a small high-tech firm today. The CFO brought me in for the interview, but the problem with this arrangement is that the CEO was already doing things on the marketing side which he hadn't told the CFO about (and the CFO has been there all of three weeks). This all means that the interview felt a bit like a set-up. The conversation went something like this:

Mitch: So you can see in my proposal here I have some ideas for Business Development.

CEO: I just hired a VP of Business Development. He was a competitor who went out of business and understands this market completely.

(CFO does a double take and stares at the CEO. He obviously didn't know about this).

Mitch: That's why in the second section I have a complete outline for your Product Marketing Strategy

CEO: I hired a consultant who previously worked at (names 800 lb gorilla in his segment) to help me out in this regard.

(CFO - who is sitting next to CEO so the CEO can't see him - looks at me sort of pleadingly, like this is all news to him)

Mitch: Of course you did. That's why in the last section I have a comprehensive Market Communications plan, to market your company instead of just the products.

CEO: Really! This is very interesting.

So he was interested in my Marcomm abilities, but felt that I didn't measure up in the product segment compared to the other people he just brought in. His actual comment was something along the lines of "I wish I had your marketing ability and their segment experience in one person".

I talked to the CFO a few hours later and he reiterated this statement, and said the CEO wanted to know what I wanted in terms of consulting fees and a permanent position. It sounds like the CEO is thinking of bringing me on as a support person to one of these other guys to do Marcomm, which is fine for a consulting gig, but not what I was thinking of for a full-time position.

In the mean time I have a Silicon Valley outfit wanting to talk to me tomorrow about a full-time position and is okay with a commuting/remote office-arrangement.

I think I will tell the CFO from today that I am interested in a consulting opportunity only at this time, and try to arrange a half-time deal while keeping my options open for other full-time opportunities.

Interviewing Has Changed in the Last 16 Years

I am interviewing for a job tomorrow. Only there isn't a job opening.

A guy started a tech business with $30K of his own capital and has grown it to $20 million a year. He did this without any marketing staff and with his wife doing the books. He decided he needed some professional help and brought in a real CFO. The new CFO called me on his second day there, saying this guy needs marketing help, and asked me to come in and talk to the guy.

So I am going to talk to this guy tomorrow in sort of a job interview, and I reflected on how different this is from my first job interview all those years ago in 1989:

Job Opening:

Then - Designated entry-level job opening defined by the Texas Instruments HR department. HR sent someone to the Rice University campus to interview dozens of candidates.

Now - No official job opening. President of the company sort of thinks maybe he possibly needs a marketing guy. Perhaps. His new Finance guy is telling him he needs one, so has me come in to talk to the guy. I have to convince him that I would actually add value to the his company.

Dress:

Then - 2 piece suit that Mom helped pick out and helped pay for (hey, I was a poor college student!)

Now - I will be wearing slacks and a sports coat. A suit will be too suck-up for a SoCal tech company. I could go in without the sports coat, but don't want to be TOO casual for my first meeting with the CEO.

Resume

Then - One page. Formatted how the University Placement Office told me to do it. Had my GPA, listed some key classes, extra-curricular activities, and even had a few things from high-school on it.

Now - Two page, professionally prepared resume. Details only go back to about 1996, as all information before that is listed as "Other TI Experience". Professional degrees are listed at the end, almost as an after-thought.

Preparation

Then - Read up a little on the company to know that they did stuff besides made calculators. Otherwise depended on a firm handshake, good eye contact, and my winning smile.

Now - Prepared 20 page Powerpoint presentation outlining a marketing strategy for the company and how it will build the company's value. Also prepared 25 page Word document that is the start of a business plan, since this guy apparently doesn't even have one of those. I just got back from Kinkos where this was all bound into a professional looking binder for presentation and discussion. Total work for the "interview" is hours and hours of what could be free consulting work, or even wasted time if he throws it all into his circular file.

Expectations

Then - Job offer! Options? What are those? I don't get them anyway? Don't worry about it.

Now - If he decides to move forward, I am actually giving it a 66% chance that it is a consulting gig with a potential "bridge" to employment. And if it gets to that point, options are definitely a part of the deal since the whole thing that makes this opportunity attractive is the potential upside if this guy decides to sell out.

I'll probably know fairly quickly how it goes since the new CFO who is pushing for me is attending most of the meeting and should be able to give me some inside scoop in a day or two.

2 Minute Review: The Interpreter

I was interested in seeing The Interpreter since it looked like a good adult drama. Unfortunately, the movie has some problems.

The big plus of the movie is Kidman. She is one of those women who actually looks better as she ages, and she is a talented actress. Sean Penn is also a good actor, although I always have to shove the mental picture of Spicolli to the back of my brain whenever he's on screen.

Unfortunately the good acting can't overcome the weak script. I felt like the story was still 2-3 drafts short of being ready for the screen. In an attempt to create "surprise twists", the writers were too clever by half and created plot holes you could drive a truck through. I also felt the movie dragged through most of the middle as they tried to develop the strained relationship between the principle characters.

If you are a plot-driven movie fan, as I am, the movie is likely to be a disappointment. If you are a acting-driven movie fan, you will probably like the movie more. Based on a data set of two (me and Mrs. Director) guys will probably fall in the first category and women in the second.

2.5 stars out of five from Director Mitch.

I Like The Evil Enterprise

I was rather amused with the opening to this evening's "Enterprise". It is a "parallel universe" episode (which is still recording, so I haven't watched it all yet) but they went so far to change the opening credits from that milquetoast, sappy, We Are the World BS to some hard charging, militaristic ass-whupping. Much better.

I also liked the "opening scene" before the credits, which they cut and pasted out of the Start Trek: First Contact movie, but with a slightly different ending to the scene.

Why do they pull out these clever stunts now, after the show is cancelled?

I'll put a short update on my thoughts on the whole episode once I get around to watching it all.

Update: Grrr, a 2-parter. The good news is that this means I get another hour next week of Hoshi and T'pol in mid-drifts.

The New Food Pyramid

I've lost over 15 lbs. in the last six months by keeping my diet the same and increasing my exercise to about an hour a day (my Tae Kwon Do schedule is actually more like 1.5 hours 4 days a week - although being unemployed that will be going way up).

It's been great for my health. I've just had several pairs of slacks taken in two inches in the waist. I have gone from having a small beer belly to the beginnings of defined obliques (I can actually start to see the "six pack" starting to take shape).

With this new found fitness I thought I would run my statistics through the New Government Food Pyramid, which, based on your age, sex, and exercise routine, tells you what you should be eating. Here's my recommendation:

So the feds recommend that I should be eating 2600 calories a day. I think this is a bit high. I LOST my weight by keeping my diet around 2,000 calories and upping my exercise to an average of an about an hour a day. And eating 2K a day I don't go around hungry, so I think the table is a little high.

I also think the make-up of the table is also skewed. My fruit and veggies are higher and my grains are way lower. I am not doing low-carb, but other than a bowl of cereal in the morning I rarely have any more grains throughout the day (assuming that a vodka martini doesn't count as a "grain").

I understand that the government has about 300 million of us to recommend a diet for, so these things are pretty much a "one-size-fits-all", but I am not so sure about this new pyramid scheme. If we look at the miserable failure the BMI has been, and the misleading statistics on weight and health, the track record isn't too good for the government when it comes to this sort of thing.

Sometimes Hiring a Professional Is Worth It

No, I don't mean THAT kind of professional. I mean professional resume writer.

The resume I have is essentially an eight year old document. I originally wrote it in 1997 when I was interviewing for my first job in California. As I interviewed for each subsequent job, I just added a new section with my most recent experience on top of the old stuff I wrote before.

Now I don't have any illusions about my writing. I am extremely left-brained and my style is closer to Hemingway than Faulkner: subject-verb-object. That engineering background comes through even if I've gotten pretty good at shoveling the marketing BS. I've tried rewriting my resume, but I just ended up writing the same stuff all over again in my own style of writing: broad examples with numerous parenthetical exceptions (although I sometimes use dependent clauses).

Since I decided my resume needed a workover, I went ahead and bit the bullet and invested some of my severance in getting a professional writing service to do a complete rewrite. I didn't want to go overboard on the spending (you can spend as much as you want on this sort of service), so I used the service that is linked up with Monster, which isn't cheap, but is fairly reasonable.

I sent them a copy of my current resume and spent about 45 minutes filling out an on-line questionnaire. They promised the first draft in three days. I needed it a day earlier for a hot lead, so they went ahead and pushed it through in two.

I just took a look at the first draft and all I can say is: Wow. They did a hell of a job. They really managed to take my pertinent job experience and bring out the stuff that is really impressive. The stuff that sort of worries me about my work experience (several jobs in the last few years) really gets lost in the way they formatted it, although the information is there. It's all about presentation.

In all, I can say that this was a very worthy investment and recommend it to anyone else who is doing an active job search.

Update: One thing to keep in mind is that job search expenses - of which this is one - are generally tax deductible.

My Only Comment on the New Pope: What's With the Name?

I don't know much about the new Pope, but I do have a problem with the name: Benedict XVI.

They definitely did not have an American audience in mind since this name is some sort of strange combination of one of our biggest traitors and the Superbowl that ushered in the era of the 49ers (Joe Montana was the MVP).

There is also the problem of a nickname. We just lost good ol' "JP". What do we call this guy? Bennie? Old Ben? (Ed: Obi-wan already took that one).

(Note that for writing this post that Mrs. Director will make me say a bunch of Hail Marys)

Day One: 1 Offer, Multiple Leads

While today was my first day of "unemployment", I didn't hit the links. I actually had a busy day working my contact list and working on a business plan for the opportunity I was already chasing before my layoff. I get my first good look at this deal during a lunch meeting on Wednesday, so blogging will be light for a few days as I prepare for that.

From my previous unemployment experience, however, I am not putting all by bets on one horse, so I am also starting a "traditional" job search. And networking today turned up one job offer already. An ex-employer wants me to accept a sales job calling on yet another ex-employer in Dallas (hint - it's a very large semiconductor company). I thanked him profusely, but told him that I wasn't interested in relocating - yet - but would keep them in mind if I was still in my current situation in a quarter or two.

I also was asked to apply for a sales job from the company that just laid me off! One of the sales guys I'm friends with heard about my situation and called me up and told me he thought I would be a great fit for an open sales position in his region. I thanked him, but told him that I wanted to look at other options before going back. If anything I should at least use up my severance package first. He understood.

The rest of the day was spent chasing leads from people I know, as well as one lead from one of you readers (thanks!).

In addition, while I was extremely hesitant to do it, I went ahead and posted my resume on Monster ANONYMOUSLY to see what comes up there. I was spammed with two offers for multi-level sales within 2 hours of posting. That site is really becoming a disappointment, which is a shame since both Mrs. Director and I found good jobs on Monster in 2002.

I also am tied into LinkedIn, which has a new job search feature, which seems promising. If any of you are on LinkedIn and want to link to me, send me an email with your real name and email and I'll send you an invitation.

All I can say is that I am busier today than I was when I was employed last Thursday.

They Fired Me Before I Could Resign

My company laid me off on Friday. It was sort of funny the way it happened since I home office. My manager's boss (the micromanaging head of the group) called me mid-morning, which he does most days of the week. But this time he told me that he was in the SoCal sales office and that I should come in and meet with him. Like I didn't know at that exact second what was going on? I was on a conf. call with the guy 12 hours before and he didn't say he was going to be in the area the next morning, and even the rawest of recruits knows that if a manager shows up unexpectedly in a remote office, it isn't just to see what kind of carpet they installed.

The easiest thing to do is just bulletize all the points going through my head in the last 36 hours:

- I wrote just two days before that I had job security worries and thought something like this was in the works, so it was not a complete surprise, but thought I had more time.

- I do think the aborted visit by the Senior VP in January was to do this exact mission, but a customer-specific issue caused that trip to be aborted - turns out postponed - until this week. The reason I think this is that 10 days ago this same customer informed the company it was pulling out of this business.

- During the official discussion - which was very collegial - I was told that two dozen other people - mainly product marketing guys - were getting the axe. My boss even rattled off a bunch of names. His official explanation is that each group had to give up one person.

- An Executive VP from another division called me that same evening from Singapore with other news: My group is going to be slowly dismantled. No more capital is going to flow into it. No more customers are going to be pursued or won. They are going to run what business they have with no more investment - essentially cash cowing it - and slowly dismantle it piece by piece. His exact comment was "You don't think they would put (the guy who laid me off) in charge of a business they actually were planning to grow, do you?". That guy is probably safe in his job, but I sort of feel sorry for the other product people in the group, who sound like they are the walking dead.

- I was given a very fair severance offer, which I still have to finalize with the VP of HR. Note that I was "RIF'd" and not asked to resign, so I don't have much room for negotiation. The only thing I am pushing for is to keep my PC. Since I remote office and didn't have it with me when I was given notice, I still have it and am using it this very second. There's that whole thing about possession being 9/10s of the law, and I am giving it a 30% chance that this just slips through the cracks and I end up with it.

- They didn't turn me off from the corporate email system for seven hours after they told me. That is either a big vote of trust in my professionalism, or a big screw up by someone in IS (or maybe Curtis kept my window open longer?). At any rate, all I did was send out a handful of emails to people to let them know what was going on and how to reach me since I was told that an official email would NOT be going out telling people what happened.

- I am not particularly worried or upset since I was dissatisfied with the way my career was developing, and I already had an "irons in the fire" on new job leads before this happened. Worse case I could probably get a job back at my employer before this one - I actually just finished a side consulting job for them - but I want to pursue a few other leads before I take that route, and with my severance package, that is an option I can take.

- I am actually busier now than when I was employed. I was already doing research and analysis for my new job lead before this happened, and now I have a bunch of calls to make, a lead on another consulting gig from someone who heard about my situation on Friday, and of course updating my resume and everything else that goes with a job search. The main thing is that I want to avoid just taking a GOOD (Get Out Of Debt) Job, which is a job you take just because you need a salary. We all need to get paid, but I am hoping to find one this time that fits my aspirations. In a few months however, I will be looking for a GOOD Job.

- I am not sure what I am going to do on unemployment benefits yet. Even though I will be on full salary for a few months, I am still eligible to get unemployment from the State since severance doesn't count for unemployment eligibility. The Good (not GOOD) Citizen part of me says that I shouldn't be taking that money since I don't really need it yet. The Overburdened Taxpayer part of me says I should try to get every dime I can get from a government that holds me in contempt when I do have a job.

- If I were a democrat this would somehow be Bush's fault.

- Mrs. Director is working, so the other alternative is to hang out at the pool, play tennis, and become a Kept Man. There are plenty of women in Newport Beach who do that, so why not me?

The Bear on Fox

The Bear Flag League's own Calblog was on Fox News this weekend discussing the amicus brief she filed on behalf of the league in the Apple v. Does case. I think this is just one more example of how blogging is going to find a whole new place in our culture the areas of journalism, entertainment, and even law.

Another Tax Year Gone For Me - Just Starting for Others

I just mailed my taxes this evening. While I was mailing out my two LARGE, FRIGGEN CHECKS BECAUSE MY TAXES ARE TOO FRIGGEN HIGH I noticed that some guy was in the post office looking at all the tax forms trying to figure out which ones he needed. Well, he has about 28 hours left to do them, so he's in good shape.

My tax efforts each year amount to writing checks and signing forms. Like those with doctors in the family who never see the inside of a waiting room, I have never filled out a tax form since my mother is a tax accountant. As Mom pushes 70 and starts thinking of retiring, however, I face the frightening prospect of finding another accountant I can trust - I am sure as hell not going to fill out the forms myself.

And this year, if one of you out there want me to do a consulting gig for you, I take cash only. The combination of federal and state taxes put me in a 50% tax bracket, so I'll be trying where I can to do things under the table. And I don't want to hear anything from democrats who say my taxes are "too low". At 50%, making a little extra money legitimately is hardly worth it.

That Networking Thing Really Works

Network, network, network. That's what everyone says, including me. I am just amazed sometimes just how well it works.

I am been venting recently over my frustration over my current job. I love the home-officing set-up, but am currently dealing with a micromanager (and I don't mean he's short), and a situation where we are turning away customers, making me wonder just how many marketing people this product group really needs. And I am savvy enough to know that if the company does decide to cut someone from this group, the easiest thing to do is to cut is that guy who offices out of his home in California. So I also have some low-level job security issues going on.

These two factors had me starting to put out the feelers over the past few weeks. Nothing so forward as I AM LOOKING FOR A JOB PLEASE HELP ME, but just calling people and seeing what's up, catching up, letting them know that I was looking for new opportunities, etc.

Today I got a bite. And at first blush it looks pretty interesting. It is a long way from here to actually making a move, and it might be more a consulting opportunity than a job lead, but I am just amazed that I got something already. The chances of this turning into something real is remote - and I know that - but I am surprised because I wasn't expecting anything like this to hit for months.

The lead is from someone I used to work with who I have made an effort to keep in touch over the last few years - lunch once or twice a year, a call or email in between. It's these little networks that seem to become valuable in the long run.

iPod One: Don't Analyze it Too Much

I found this article about Bush's iPod - called iPod One - a little funny, although I think that some perople are taking the playlists a little too seriously.

Speaking of which, Mrs. Director thought about something interesting about the Apple iPod. Look at this:

And remember that it was Apple Records that released the White Album. So is this just a coincidence?

Are Business Starting to Avoid China?

A couple of recent stories in the tech area have caught my eye:

1. Intel to open new plant in India
2. Nokia to open new plant in India
3. Motorola to open new R&D center in India
4. Elcoteq (cellphone manufacturer) to open new plant in India

Most of the stories state that booming Indian cellphone use is one of the reasons for the telecom plant openings. I can buy that - to a point. There are currently more cellphone users in the U.S. than India (for now), but not a single cellphone is manufactured here. Same is true of Europe, or even South America.

And Intel can make chips anywhere - it doesn't have to be near an end-market for any particular reason.

If you look at the factors companies look at for international manufacturing location: cost of labor, quality of labor, logistical issues, etc., India is almost as good as China. But I think there is one other item that is pushing executives over the brink towards India: political risk.

There isn't anyone with an IQ above room temperature who doesn't put the chances of a regional conflict involving China and Taiwan (probably dragging in the U.S.) above 50% in the next 20 years. And executives for the most part have IQs above room temperature. This consideration might be putting second thoughts in their mind about putting new plants in locations that would - at best - be closed for the duration of a conflict, and more likely confiscated by the Chinese government. If anything, executives will at least spread their risk and start putting new plants outside of China if they already have a certain amount of capacity already installed there.

China is getting the message, but it isn't going to change its political posturing. Instead it is reaching out to India for some sort of bizarre partnership. I don't think it's going to help dissuade companies from looking more seriously at other countries for plant locations.

A Visit From My Muse

This time it was a fashionable bar in San Francisco's Union Square district. I don't know why, but it's always a different city.

Her jaw dropping beauty dazzled me at first - it always does. As if to mock the passage of time she dressed this time as if it were 1986, with her blonde hair slightly teased and in an outfit that could have been from a ZZ Top video. This was a bit of a change and it would have made any other woman look less than reputable, but the intelligence and intensity in her eyes made certain no one would ever make that mistake.

Those piercing blue eyes looked through me as she inquired to what I was up to, although, of course, she already knew. She sort of smirked while she listened, running a finger in slow circles around the lip of her martini glass, taking in what I said.

"That's it?!" she asked. "That's all you're doing? Sounds about the same as when I visited you in Seoul back in '99."

"I've had a few set-backs since then."

"What was it you promised me when you were 17? That you would "conquer the world and lay it at my feet"? I'd say you haven't gotten very far on that goal."

"I was young and naive then."

"No, you were cocky and optimistic. You didn't know what problems lay in your path so you ignored them. Now you find problems where they don't exist."

"I also have responsibilities I didn't have then. A kid, a mortgage..."

"Look, I'm not interested in hearing your 30-something angst. I'm here to remind you of a few things. First, you only have about 30 years left to work, so you are now about a third of the way done. What have you accomplished? And you have about 50 years left to live, so you're coming up on the half-way point on your life pretty quick. I'm telling you now that if you are going to do all the things you wanted to do that time is running out."

In the disjointed way of dreams we were suddenly continuing the conversation outside, walking arm in arm along the sidewalk. Somehow I was taller, although she was in stiletto heals.

"I thought you were supposed to inspire me."

"I AM inspiring you. Inspiration isn't just serving up ideas on a silver platter. I also cajole, berate and threaten. Just like that old football coach of yours."

"I got the cajole and berate. What's the threat?"

"Regret. James Barrie put it better than I could, but then I was the one who inspired him to write it:

The life of every man
is a diary in which
he means to write one
story, and writes
another; and his
humblest hour is when
he compares the volume
as it is with what he
vowed to make it.

Then she leaned over and put her head close to mine and whispered into my ear "So, Mitch, how are your volumes comparing so far?"

With that she left me, leaving me awake in the middle of the night to think about what she said.

$20 for Pretty Graphics?

In 1998 I decided to upgrade from using Excel to track my finances to Microsoft Money 99 (even though it was only 1998, so I was ahead of the curve!). Seven years later I was using the exact same Money 99 package. Since I got a new laptop and had to reinstall all my personal programs, I decided to go ahead and splurge $20 whole dollars (with rebate) on updating to Money 2005 and downloaded it on-line.

As far as I can tell it is the exact same program, just with prettier graphics. Plus, there are financial advertising links all over the place - mortgages, insurance, you name it - so it seems to me that MS should have paid ME to upgrade.

Upside to Corporate IT: Infinite Resources

I complained earlier in the week about having to do my own IT support since I work from home. Turns out my earlier "fix"stopped working, so during my visit to the Mother Ship this week, I called up my IT Support Desk and told them about my problem.

"Curtis", the PC support guy at my Corporate Headquarters isn't only good, he cares. He takes it as a personal insult when one of the PCs under his domain gives someone a problem, so he showed up in my borrowed office minutes later to do the same things I tried: uninstalling, reinstalling, and rebooting. He gave up faster on this technique sooner than I did - only 30 minutes - but it was because he had other things he could try.

He asked me to bring my computer back the next day so he could wipe my hard drive and reinstall everything from the ground up. I readily complied since, guessing this might happen, had already backed up my PC.

So I dropped off my PC yesterday morning and went to my all-day meeting. At the end of the day Curtis shows up and gives me a brand new laptop! After fiddling around with my old PC he figured the wireless hardware was acting just a little too flaky so pulled out a new laptop from his vast supply of stuff he has at the IT secret location (I have no idea where his office is, and it isn't labeled, but he shows up when I call him in a matter of seconds).

So I can now say that my problem is definitely fixed.

Google Satellite Mapping Privacy Concerns?

I heard about this before, but PoliBlog pointed to a new article that raises privacy concerns about the Google Satellite Imaging Maps. I thought I would try out my house on the closest setting to see how worried I should be.

You can see me smiling and waving at the satellite, can't you? I can't say I am terribly worried about privacy concerns, although I think you CAN tell this was taken when my back-yard was under construction.

One Downside to Home Officing: Do-It-Yourself IT Support

When I shut down my computer system last night everything worked fine: my wireless connection to my computer worked great. The really cool wireless print server I installed a few days earlier worked fine. Everything was fine.

When I booted up this morning nothing worked. The most frustrating part was that my computer could "see" the network, but it wouldn't connect. I couldn't call Tech Support, IT, IS, or whatever it is called in most companies. I had to figure it out myself. And I wasn't going to waste my time on the phone with a tech support hotline since I didn't know who to call: Was it the wireless router? Laptop WIFI? Wireless Print Server? Software issue?

I probably spent three hours going through the usual Windows kludge/fix process: Uninstall. Reboot. Reconfigure. Reboot. Reinstall. Reboot. I am not a trained Windows expert, so it was a lot of trial and error as I guessed at the application, driver, or setting that was causing the problem. My guess is that a trained person still would have taken an hour just to go through all the boot cycles.

I did get everything working again, but it's frustrating wasting so much time on a problem but not really get anything accomplished for the day - it just got the system to where it was the night before, and I still don't know WHY it went out of wack.

Another Carnival of the Capitalists

I am up at the COTC again this week with my HBS Case Study input. It's not surprising I got into another COTC since I have been primarially focused on business issues for the last few weeks.

Posting will probably be light this week as I deal with various make-work projects, but every time I think posting will be light I end up posting twice as much since it is when I am busy that I think of things to blog about.

I am Supposed to Interest Customers So We Can Turn Them Away?

In my 16 years of working I keep running into management decisions that make absolutely no sense. In the latest example, I am running up against a decision that is not only stupid, but also contradictory to the stated strategy of the manager.

I have written before on how my division has capacity issues. Specifically, we have about twice as much demand as manufacturing capacity, meaning that we are on line allocation. This line allocation - which will last at least 12 months - means that we are actually kicking customers out of our factory. These are paying customers with purchase orders who are currently running product. And we're telling them to get lost! This is not a pleasant situation to be in, but it has to be done.

Because of this situation, the group has decided to do the following:

• Cut back our current customer engagement from six to four. Those two customers we are cutting have low market share in this segment, but suffice to say that once we kick them out we will never get business from them again.
  
• The four customers we are keeping are the top market share leaders in this product category. The strategy is to keep them happy during our capacity crunch, and once we are ready to expand, grow capacity with these top guys by increasing our penetration with them.
  
• The sales force has been instructed "not to sell" this product category. We are engaged with the customers we want to be engaged with and can't take on any more customers anyway.

Seems pretty straight forward. So I had to do a double take when my VP asked me to source a new marketing brochure for this product.

"A new marketing brochure? We are engaged with four of the top five customers and are turning away business. We don't need a marketing brochure. We don't need marketing collateral of any kind, actually."

"Do it, Mitch. We never know where the next customer might come from."

This makes NO sense whatsoever. The company is going to throw away thousands of dollars of print costs for a brochure that will never be handed out. And sourcing it is a waste of my time. The company is signing my paycheck, so I am going along with it, but I am chalking this up to yet another example of corporate stupidity.