Life In The Weeds

Feel Good Story

We have all received "feel-good" e-mails with video clips embedded.  If you are like me, your immediate reaction is to hit "delete" and move-on to the million other things you are working on at any given moment.

However, for some odd reason, on this particular clip, I hit on the link...and stayed through the end.

It's 6 minutes out of your day and worth the view.

It will humble you and force you to ask yourself, "do I really have it that bad?" or "I'm I really doing enough?"

Enjoy.

mj

Operating

Five surgeons from big cities are discussing who makes the Best patients to operate on.

The first surgeon, from New York, says, I like to see accountants on my operating table because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered.'
 
 The second, from Chicago, responds, Yeah, but you should try electricians! Everything inside them is color coded.'
 
 The third surgeon, from Dallas, says, 'No, I really think librarians are the best, everything inside them is in alphabetical order'

 The fourth surgeon, from Los Angeles chimes in:'You know, I like construction workers...Those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over.

 But the fifth surgeon, from Washington, DC shut them all up when he observed: 'You're all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on. There's no guts, no heart, no balls, no brains and no spine, and the head and the ass are interchangeable.

Magical - defined

"It's true, when something excedes your ability to understand how it works, it sort of becomes magical - and that exactly what the Apple iPad is".

"I don't have to change myself to fit the product, it fits me."

Jony Ive, SVP Design 

See the iPad Intro Video

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.  

I found Pandora!

I may be behind the times on this great, innovative idea...brought to you by a company called Pandora.

I read an article recently that highlighted their business model and discussed why Pandora is making a name for themselves . Check it out here.

So, I downloaded the App on my iPhone and tried it...and, it is terrific!

Here is out it works...type in an artist, song title, or genre and Pandora selects a song.  You then can offer a thumbs up (and the song continues) or a thumbs down (and another song is selected)...then, additional songs are selected based on your feedback.

I typed in a song by Train, so now I have a station called "Train" and all the songs that play are similar...I have not given any selections a thumbs down yet!

Oh, and by the way, it's FREE.  Still wondering why I would ever now buy song title on iTunes?

mj

Stick, then Switch

Read, learn and act on the recommendations of the Heath Brothers. I read "Made To Stick" (what businessperson hasn't), I read them in Fast Company magazine and I subscribe to their blog and Twitter feeds.

I just pre-ordered their new book "Switch" from Amazon after reading the insightful excerpt  in Fast Company.

The uptick: When confronting any type of problem in any setting, don't look at the just the problem, nor the enormity and complexity of the problem. Instead, zoom in, find even one thing that is going right or bucking the negative trend, ask a few simple questions about why it is going right and start cloning the positive things.In typical Heath Bros. fashion, they give practical everyday examples that show that we can indeed make it happen ourselves, in our everyday life.

O.D.O.o.O.D.B.   

Missing in Haiti

As it turns out, the earthquake in Haiti has reached our own little town of Hopewell Township.

A 22-year-old student, Christine Gianacaci,  who graduated from the Lewis School of Princeton and resides in Hopewell, NJ has been missing ever since the 7.0 earthquake hit the island nation of Haiti.

Christine was just starting a Journey of Hope-Haiti humanitarian effort with 12 other students...she was staying in the Hotel Montana when the quake hit.  Rescue teams are hard at work trying to clear the rubble, not only at this particular hotel, but throughout Port-au-Prince.  Are there survivors living within the rubble?  After 8 days?  Hard to imagine if you had survived...and were trapped...how would you deal with each minute, hour, day of survival?  What a terrible circumstance!

It makes you wonder...why?  Is there a higher purpose?  Do things really happen for a reason?  I'm sure Christine's parents are asking the same questions.

Keep praying!

mj

Pants on the Ground

Does it bother you when you see a young man walking around with his pants half down...far below the waist line...barely hanging on? 

This look infuriates me!  Often times, they spend every other second pulling their pants up, only to have them fall back down below their butt!

It's not a race thing...I see all colors and creeds participating in this bizarre fashion behavior.  It's origin comes from men (or boys) who went to jail.  Upon arrival, inmates have to give up their belts, thus, causing their pants to fall...and a "look" was created!

Last week, American Idol held auditions in Atlanta...and one of the participants was a 52 year old African American man, General Larry Platt.  He was far to old to actually qualify for the Show, but he wanted to sing his song for America.  His song was called Pants on the Ground.  

Take a listen...you'll see, Larry and I share the same view on those individuals who walk around with their Pants on the Ground.

mj

J - E - T - S, Jets, Jets, Jets

C'mon...in your wildest imagination, did anyone really think the Jets would be playing for the AFC Championships against the Indianapolis Colts...

As a lifelong Jets fan, I really did not think it would be possible...especially after their performance during the middle third of the season.

Last time the Jets played for the AFC Championship was in 1998, against the Denver Broncos.  We were living in Denver at the time...we lost and Denver went on to win the Super Bowl.  After such time, my son became a committed Denver fan!

I'll be cheering for Gang Green!

mj

Hope in Haiti

If you have a morsel of compassion in your body, than, like me, you have been reading and learning about the massive earthquake that rocked Haiti.

Yesterday's NY Post cover was especially disturbing...but the cover, in a not so subtle manner, puts into perspective just how awful the situation is "on the ground" in Haiti. 

What sent chills up my spine was seeing the man's wedding ring...just awful!!

Reports are saying that there may be up to 500,000 deaths.  Let me put this into perspective...

...the population of Haiti and NYC are almost the same - just under 9 million people.   Our nation was devastated during the attacks of 9/11 - two totally different circumstances, I know - when we lost 2,751 lives.  The Nation mourned and saw images that looked like a war zone after the Towers fell.

Now, in a third world country, JUST IMAGINE what the scene is like for the citizens of Haiti!

Pray for those folks...I am!

mj

Final Words on CES

General thoughts:

- CES, in some ways, epitomizes what's wrong with the world.  I know that may sound holier than though...but seeing all the waste, all the load-in trucks, all the electricity, all the over the top displays, all the electronics, all the competition for attention...deep down, it kind of turns my stomach a bit!  Is all that really necessary? 
  
- To that end, Vegas in general is the same...everything competes for size and number of lights...everything is over the top!

- It's hard to tell Porn stars, strippers, prostitutes and regular woman apart.

- There is no where to go to just grab a sandwich and a beer.

- There are many better places to stay than Bally's...I'm glad I did not have a "blue-light" with me to scan my room...yuck!

- I found out my neighbor's's friend won $5K...at 2:56am, and again, at 4:50 in the morning.

- 2% of taxi-cabs take credit card payment...and those that do, charge you an extra 3 bucks.

Glad to be back home safe!

BTW, check out some of the live performances at Sony.

mj