I’ve liked Hugh Laurie ever since he was on “Black Adder“, but I had no idea he was a genius songwriter whose words capture the essence of the human condition while offering up a solution to all mankind’s problems.
Archive for October 22nd, 2007
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House Music
2007
10.22
10.22
I’ve liked Hugh Laurie ever since he was on “Black Adder“, but I had no idea he was a genius songwriter whose words capture the essence of the human condition while offering up a solution to all mankind’s problems.
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What does it mean to be a good teammate?
2007
10.22
10.22
I normally keep my aggressive, hyper-competitive side in check because I can sink in to a binary “Us vs. Them” mentality that is more fitting on a battlefield or in a sporting event than, say, in a corporate environment.
That said, I think that it’s interesting that Michael Jordan, often held up as the ideal basketball player, was able to motivate his teammates by getting in their faces and just “riding them” until they upped the level of their game.
Not everyone likes to be challenged like that (and hey, I myself have times when I’d be more likely to tell someone like that to “F*** off!”), but sometimes it’s good to stir the pot and get people fired up and passionate about what they are doing. Sometimes that’s the difference between mediocrity and excellence.
The big challenge is knowing when to play that card.
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Expert Advice
2007
10.22
10.22
I just wanted to give a quick plug for my buddy Teresa who periodically graces me with her presence when she isn’t teaching people how to lindy hop.
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If business meetings were like blog postings…
2007
10.22
10.22
…then the “suggestions” people make might sound like this. And nothing of value would ever get accomplished.
(assuming, of course, that a business meeting accomplishes anything — but that’s a rant for another day…)
Interestingly enough, there’s a cool posting on slashdot.org about what it is like to work behind the scenes there. Here’s an excerpt:
If you can imagine working in the office of a school for gifted, troubled, and criminally insane children, inside an international airport, you can get a taste of what it is like to do support for Slashdot. I’ve worked here around 5 years now and have seen some crazy things.
…
As everyone knows, people are precisely 500% more rude and angry online than they are in real life. Something about not having to see the tears or dodge the fist of the person you are swearing at brings out the worst in some people. We decided it would be fun to go through some of the more ‘interesting’ mails we’ve got through the years as part of our 10 year anniversary.