Flight to Seattle

I am on a flight up to Seattle right now for a friends wedding celebration this weekend and my Uncle Jim’s retirement party.

I brought two computers – one is my behemoth server laptop that I use for programming and all sorts of other heavy lifting. The second laptop is this little cheap Chromebook I bought that has actually turned out to be quite convenient for email and Google Drive and note taking.… read more “Flight to Seattle”

Marketing Is A Force Multiplier

Marketing is a force multiplier – if you apply it to a business that has been around for ten years and been able to work out a lot of kinks in sales and production, then it can cause an enormous boom in revenue. However, a new business that is still working on issues and may not have a polished product and sales force yet will have the marketing multiply a much smaller figure.… read more “Marketing Is A Force Multiplier”

Mutineers

I am listening to a nonfiction writing course on Audible.com and one of the exercises is to write a short piece about mutineers.

The young man walked out on the sunny deck of the Providence. He felt his rate rise and hands twitch as he thought about his fellow conspirators in the cabins below. Looking up into the mist that surrounded the boat as it left the harbor at Marseilles, he rehearsed the secret handshake that would be the signal to take over the ship.… read more “Mutineers”

Tricks for Surviving a Long Flight

Below are my tricks for surviving a long flight:

  1. Try to sleep as much as you can on the flight, but make sure you are well rested prior to boarding. Nothing is more miserable than being exhausted AND unable to sleep on a plane.
  2. Bring tons of snacks and water.
  3. Bring a kindle with a variety of books loaded – nonfiction for if you are feeling ambitious, fun fiction for when you just need to pass time.
read more “Tricks for Surviving a Long Flight”

Dale Carnegie’s Six Ways to Make People Like You

  1. Become genuinely interested in other people
  2. Smile
  3. Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language
  4. Be a good listener, encourage others to talk about themselves
  5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
  6. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

Writing a Book

I am thinking about writing a sci fi / fantasy novel. The core concept would revolve around a portal that characters can go through to have adventures and improve upon their skills. I wrote up a ton of notes yesterday, we’ll see if I do anything with it.

The Honest Job Applicant

A fictional job applicant’s information conglomerated from my actual experiences with people over time (client’s employees and pre-skills test CT employees):

  • “I get bored after six to nine months of work and quit every job I’ve had”.
  • “The gap in my resume was six months I spent in a drunken stupor in my bedroom”.
  • “I hate people and will drive out any team members you assign to work with me”.
read more “The Honest Job Applicant”

There is no justice

I’ve been reading a very fascinating book, “Sapiens”, that has really helped me to think about things we humans take as absolutes in a new light. Concepts that we assume to be concrete real things… really just don’t exist except in our own imaginations. Everything from justice to money to laws to human rights to religion to politics are invented by human beings.… read more “There is no justice”

Hacksaw Ridge Movie

I am a little worn out on movies that glorify war, especially those that don’t really portray it accurately. No one stands up and runs around when they are under fire. You crawl from place to place.