Congratulations

I've known for a little while, but have yet to publicly congratulate Mike (found here and here) for getting a traineeship to egypt.

Fate, I am thy jaded lover...

I'm trapped again. Stuck in a semi-depressive state where I'm not sure if I'm tired or want to do some manly version of crying. You know the one with watery eyes, a gruff voice and lots of blinking. Or... something like that.

It is possible that my problem is the end result of poor weather and sunlight and all those things that screw up seasonal affectives like myself.

But such thought is new age touchy feelie crap. And I'm only a believer when it suits me.

More than likely my problem stems from my own lack of conviction and passion. I have general goals. Things I know I ought to do, and want to do... like finish my education. But that feels vague and cold at times where I need to make a decision.

And I really do need to make a decision. However, when lacking strong conviction both 'the right way', and 'the wrong way' and 'the convoluted fucked up way' all seem... ok.

savvy?

Don't worry, I do. And it's dragging me down.

I've reached a cross road of unfortunate circumstance... Carefully, I've mapped out where each road leads. However, I've been camped at this particular junction for a while now and have yet to choose a direction. Soon, this delay will force a decision on me. And letting time make a decision by default is rarely a good idea.

And so... I'm in a funk. I'm stir crazy at home. I have trouble getting homework done. I avoid class to get homework done. I futz around and only partially complete stuff while avoiding class. Exercising cuts stress levels but also isolates me enough to force me into thinking... raising stress levels and indecision.

Ever wonder why the universe sends you conflicting signals? Like laying one path beneath your feet... then forcing you onto another path... only to be put back on the first path again... and then again forced to other path...

The back and forth really has me confused. And because I don't prefer one path over the other, I'm loathe to choose one over the other because I've been jerked around so much.

Fate, I am thy jaded lover. Stop teasing and let me choose... work and independence with education following later... or education then work and independence

yes it's a real school

you know... when i related to a friend recently that i'm averaging about 10 written pages for homework & papers per week he said something along the lines of "Wow, i didn't realize you were in a real school."

uhhhhh, what?

'well, you know... it's only a junior college... two year school... that kind of thing. I didn't think they made you actually learn or anything at those kinds of places.' (paraphrased)

well shit. what would be the point?

Claude

anybody ever notice that claude almost always looks possessed in pictures?

iTunes Pricing

Joel Spolsky has an interesting train of thought about why the recording industry wants to have variable pricing on iTunes.

It has nothing to do with economics and more to do with control of consumption.

The short version is that all those songs at the lower price point will become the electronic version of that crap bin that record stores have... you know, the one where the cd's aren't priced individually, aren't neatly arranged and full of music you know had to be bad to end up there.

as an artist... where would you want your song to be released: At the front of the store in it's own display with an outrageous price, or in the big bin at the back with out a price even listed? Care to take a guess where independent artists would end up, and where the ashlee simpson-s would be?

It's all about control. Go read it.

Keeping your options open?

Monday night was an interesting time. I decided to skip class and catch up on some reading for a paper due today. I ate slowly and tried not to get anything on my book and avoided the dirty/odd looks from the waitstaff.

No longer comfortable with the environment at Chilli's and unable to convince myself that they would indefinitely continue my unlimitted refills of diet coke, I packed up and moved to Panera. Once relocated, with super sugary coffee in hand, I found a comfortable spot to read. Until this guy... just kept talking to me. Admittedly the book I had in hand was rather... uncommon... Beauty and Sadness by Yusinaro Kawabata. It was kind of a conversation starter... I guess.

Eventually, he managed to overcame my reluctance to talk and suddenly became, a Cool Guy. He had a great philosophy on life and had some interesting stories. He had a meeting with somebody later, but for the hour or so until that guy arrived, we stood and talked.

And then things went sinister. Not sinister like a cartoon super villain arrived... but multilevel marketing (MLM) sinister. He asked if he could give me a call the next day, to set up a time to meet again. Only 15 minutes of my time.

The next day he called. And I agreed to meet with him today. What the hell, I'm a sucker for a good conversationalist.

Tuesday afternoon I searched online for the names related to the business card, and wasn't able to figure out the scam. None of the names came up as pure evil on a webpage.

This evening we got together at the same place we originally met. And he ran his spiel on me. It involved some pretty little pictures and diagrams of how they help people move from one category of crappy life to a much better category of non-crappy life. He told me about how he talked me up to his mentor and got approval to do an interview.

I was asked what I would do with $5,000 more income a month. My answers were deemed critical to the next step... People who gave crappy answers like 'drink more' were told to take a hike, but not me... I had potential. I was the type of person they were looking for.

Now, my worth no longer in question... If I were to be given the opportunity, could I move some things around to be able to attend a meeting at the local Holiday Inn on Tuesday? There were people I had to meet. Dress business casual, and be prepared to spend an hour or so with a large group. I begged off on the premise that I had class, and lacking a syllabus with me I couldn't judge whether that class was skip worthy. What if I had an exam?..

After the whole script was recited, which was in all honesty only about 15 minutes... My smooth pitchman turned back into the Cool Guy I had met earlier. And we talked another 45 minutes about absolutely unrelated stuff. I was able to pry a few hinky details from him, but no secrets were to be revealed prior to the big meet.

This time I was able to write down some of the 'big names' he was throwing at me. And sitting here at work I was unable to google up any bad news about anybody... Until I checked up on the email address on the business card. The domain name was bww.com. The main page is ubiquitous... just a login and no identifying features. On a hunch, I grabbed the corporation name (Britt World Wide) and googled up a whole heap of bad tastes.
(My personal favorite is here. Check out the entry from Wednesday August 14th, 2004.)

It's obvious to me, this isn't something I want to get involved with.

Anyway, keeping your options open is one of the tags he used to draw me into conversation... and now, i've managed to keep my options so open, I'm not going to be drawn into the MLM web.

Now the question is... Is this Cool Guy worth keeping as a contact despite his shady connections? We have quite a bit in common and he's very earnest about what he's doing. Or is The Cool Guy just how business is done?

Two interesting thoughts

As quoted in The Special Events Advisor by David Sorin, from Competing for the Future by Gary Hemel and C. K. Prahalad:

"Typically the existing industry structure works to the disadvantage of everyone save the industry leader, and most especially to the disadvantage of aspiring aspirants. What is needed is a capacity to transform the structure of an industry... Industries don't 'evolve.' Instead firms eager to overturn present industry order challenge 'accepted practice,' redraw segment boundaries, set new price-performance expectations, and reinvent the product or service concept."

Another exerpt from Competing for the Future as quoted in The Special Events Advisor:

In our experience, strategic planning typically fails to provoke deeper debates about who we are as a company or who we want to be in ten years' time. It seldom illuminates new white space opportunities, provides any insight onto how to rewrite industry rules. It seldom stretches to encompass the threat from nontraditional competitors. It seldom forces managers to confront their potentially out-of-date conventions. Strategic planning almost always starts with "what is." It seldom starts with "what could be."... Strategic planning works well when the foundations of planning - assumptions about what is our "industry," what "business" are we in, who are our competitors, who are customers, and what are their needs - remain unshaken. But in many industries these foundations are being shaken. They are being shaken by new competitors who have no stake in the past. They are being shaken by seismic shifts in technology, demographics and the regulartory environment. Strategic planning is well-suited to the challenge of extending leadership - adding a story or two atop the old foundation. It is not well-suited to the challenge of regenerating leadership - building new foundations.... To extend industry foresight and develop a supporting strategic architecture, companies need a new perspective on what it means to be strategic. The need to ask new strategy questions: not just how to maximize share and profit in today's businesses, but who do we want to be as a corporation in ten years' time, how can we reshape this industry to our advantage, what new functionalities do we want to creat for customers and what new core competencies should we be building?... They need to apply new and diferent resources to the task of strategy-making, relying on the creativity of hundreds of managers and not just on the wisdom of a few planners.

I know that second one is long. but it's meaningful. the basic idea that i'm drawing is that big established business is good at the status quo and expanding the status quo. they've invested heavily in equipment and brain cells and think only of protecting that investment. the only way for new entrants to gain the upper hand it to change the game and the industry.

Does this give new entrants any clue what to do?.. not exactly, but it explains what not to do.

SNOW!

Oh man... even though it's mid November, I'm still not prepared for snow.

Get a clue

The same group of people who bring you the live action portion of the rocky horror show are doing the same thing for another movie with tim curry... CLUE! She's Mrs. White. For those in Chicago, it's at the Music Box Theatre...

The Midnight Madness home page!
The Music Box Theatre!

Loitering

While loitering in a coffee shop, the advantage of hot versus chilled coffee stems from the opaque nature of the container

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Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

We all have long term goals

[23:35] Baixa: Hit any Bears games this season? They are hot man, except for that game yesterday.
[23:36] BG: nope... i may get to go to the pack game
[23:36] BG: how much of a dissappointment have they been eh?
[23:37] Baixa: bllaaaaaeeeehh!
[23:37] Baixa: Oh great God, give GB a 1st Round Draft pick next season and let Favre stay one more season.
[23:38] Baixa: inujries + penalties = 1-7 Record.
[23:38] BG: it's been painful to watch.
[23:40] Baixa: just ridiculous. BUt I really appreciated the GB/Steeler game. I'm originally from Pittsburg and its been 10 years since the team's played together. I was at Lambeau 10 years ago... for the game.
[23:40] Baixa: kinda nostalgic
[23:40] BG: no shit?
[23:41] Baixa: and I've broken the 20,000 barrier for the waiting list on season tickets this year! I'm only 19, 672 on the list!
[23:42] Baixa: :-)
[23:42] BG: LoL
[23:42] BG: when did you sign up?
[23:42] Baixa: in highschool
[23:42] BG: ten years?
[23:42] Baixa: a little more... maybe 14 or so now.
[23:43] BG: jesus what a great tradition
[23:43] Baixa: maybe by retirement.

Hard Sell

I've been watching some evangelists work a kid over for an hour.
Jesus must have been in sales.
=P

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Mobile Email from a Cingular Wireless Customer http://www.cingular.com

Bon Jovi

My girl's favorite band in concert.
Good seats.
Good times.

Photos here

Helluva show. Heather was really happy, and really cute. Photographic evidence was procured, but not all of it passed executive review.

Belushi's Ghost

roamed the halls of my school yesterday. The costume wearer deserves a nod for honoring our first student body president.