The unsolicited recommendation

October 27, 2009 in philosophy with Leave a Comment
Tags: Facebook, networking

To me, this is the most valuable thing a small business can have.

The Ideal Business Meeting

October 23, 2009 in lessons learned with 4 Comments
Tags: ideas, management

The Waverley, home of the Slow Helen's Steak

I’ve been working with Kelly Karius for the last six weeks on a series of projects, and the trip to Melville, SK is nearly at an end. So we met a couple nights ago at the Waverley here, and she urged me to have the steak, renowned throughout these parts.

The Unsung Hero of “Jerry Maguire”

October 21, 2009 in Author's Choice with Leave a Comment
Tags: customer service, sales

The Great Dicky Fox

You might think that Cuba Gooding Jr. was the hero of “Jerry Maguire.” He did win an Academy Award for the job, after all. You might even think that Tom Cruise was the hero, though Gooding Jr. outshone Cruise’s title character.

The Two Most Critical Weeks

October 12, 2009 in recommendations with 1 Comment
Tags: education, management, staffing

My first job out of college, on my first day of work, I arrived to a desk empty save for a foot-high stack of manuals and a note from the man who was to be my mentor, saying he would be on vacation the next two weeks, and that I was to try to familiarize myself with the material in the manuals. I guess you’d say I was a bit put out, given how green I was – but I wasn’t going to complain, no sirree. I was there to do the job. And I was afraid of complaining. LOL

Understanding the “Facebook Like”

October 8, 2009 in recommendations with 2 Comments
Tags: etiquette, Facebook

I’ve been watching the Facebook Like for months now, trying to get a handle on exactly what it means, because it’s not very good at being a one-size-fits-all. In short, there’s a whole bunch of ways to interpret the “like.”

…and we make this world our Hell!

October 8, 2009 in philosophy with Leave a Comment
Tags: networking, the life

We are all our own devil, we are all our own Devil!
And we make this world, make this world our Hell!
- from Company of Thieves, Oscar Wilde

Replace “all” with “each,” and the quote becomes from Wilde himself.

Learning Statistics 101

October 6, 2009 in lessons learned with Leave a Comment
Tags: education, estimating, management

This is something I wrote for a question on LinkedIn. In that thread, others recommended Excel as your software of choice, though SPSS and SAS are more industry standards; some recommended The Cartoon Guide to Statistics as a text. I recommend them too.

Can Facebook mean the end of the Greek system?

October 5, 2009 in philosophy with 2 Comments
Tags: Facebook, networking

Overheard on Facebook:

BG – Nevermind, forget it, just memories on a page inside a spiral notebook
SB – Awwwww is u ok???
BG – yeah i’m alright… just reaaaallly glad to be out of high school
SB – Hahaha me2….well i miss having ppl ik around actually
BG – lol i miss the people i liked good riddance to the judgmental hos
SB – Hahahahaha lmao, i just want ppl i could at least have a conversation with so i wouldnt be alone but oh well cant have everything
BG – aw i love you you can always talk to me
SB – Awwwww thanks but when im stuck alone in class i cant
BG – ya… we should drop out and form a non-school affiliated sorority… that’s the dream
SB – YES u genious u!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RG – Am I watching history in the making? Is Facebook the end of the Greek system? I wouldn’t be sorry if it were…
BG – lol that would be just fine with me
RG – I feel a blog post coming on, about this. I won’t mention you or your friend here if you’d rather not. LOL But I’m gonna boost the idea and throw it out for conversation.

Too much time on MY hands?

September 28, 2009 in Author's Choice with Leave a Comment
Tags: rants, the life

Don’t you tell me I have too much time on my hands if

• you don’t read at least one book per month
• you don’t have kids, or are not involved in their lives
• you work fewer than 50 hours per week
• you’ve taken a vacation this year
• you haven’t done someone a favor involving manual labor in the last three months
• you haven’t done someone a favor involving the social media in the last week
• you watch more than four hours of TV per week
• you are closer than a mile away from where you work
• you haven’t done anything for a charity in the past year
• you’re not HIRING

If more than three of these describe you, and you dare to tell ME how I ought to spend my time, you’d better be wearing asbestos underwear.

The Four Laws of Dealing with Vendors

September 28, 2009 in lessons learned with 1 Comment
Tags: management, operations

This article marks the first video released by the Facebook Start-ups Helping Start-ups Group. There would be many more if I alone were to make them. LOL But I hope other members have a story. Need some to join the 200. The text for the video follows.