Get noticed...

...or at least be remembered with unique business cards like these on display at Re-Encoded.

It doesn't matter what your profession, there is a benefit to standing out in a crowd and being remembered -- repeat business. Business cards may not be around long in this age of electronic media, so get your name out there and in people's minds before they jump ship and just start searching Google for someone when they need assistance with their dental care, lawn service, IT consulting or babysitting...

National Gas Price Heat Map

What color are you?

I tried to add the actual graphic, but size constraints prevented it... Gas Buddy has an up-to-date Gas Price Heat Map showing average gas price by county.

OUCH!

Tick Tock Wow

I went through a phase of collecting clocks. I had probably 75 or so at one point. Small clocks. Big clocks. Clocks with clocks. Clocks with balls. Digital clocks. Analog clocks. Hanging clocks. Sitting clocks. I had some clocks...

I've since moved on from clocks (perhaps I came to realize what a pain it was twice a year as the time shifted, or that batteries for those clocks were hard to find and expensive). I still enjoy looking at them when I come across them, but I don't collect them any more.

Nonetheless, this amazing clock really caught my eye...

My son the entrepreneur!

We've been paying on-and-off-again allowances to our kids for the last couple of years to encourage helping out around the house, a personal pride and sense of responsibility as well as a wee bit of financial stewardship -- but nothing recently. Then this...

My wife (to our 4-year-old): I need you to pick up the things you were playing with this morning.

Son: But [my brother] was playing with them too.

My wife: Yes, but I know I saw you playing with them. Just clean up the tools and the hexabits please.

Son: OK, but you're going to have to *pay* me.

After my wife stopped laughing, I think she told him something to the effect of, "Um, no, just pick 'em up..."

Procrastination is costly

We've all heard the adage about the early bird being well fed, while the rest of the flock goes hungry. The true meaning of that hit me again the other day. About a year before the housing market crashed, my wife said that we should start looking to move. She defined her search area,
documented the requirements, started looking for houses, etc... Me? I'd dutifully look at the MLS postings that she'd email me, but I wasn't really in the "in the mood" to move yet. Yes, I want a more up-to-date house with. No I don't want to go through the hassle of it all. Well, I guess you know who came out looking like the fool in that one.

My fear of change and simple procrastination has cost me in other ways as well. Waiting too long to refinance cost us several thousand dollars by the time we finally did. I have probably spent more money in car repairs for the my current van that I would've spent in car payments for a new one (not to mention the cost of gas savings available now). It took us way to long to move to DSL, which we ended up getting at the same price as the dial up we had. There are probably countless others, but those are the recent ones that come to mind.

It's human nature to avoid change and I envy those of you who are much more risky (and successful) at that. Maybe that's part of growing up -- added responsibilities, more caution, greater fear of change and the unknown... Hopefully, it's something that we can learn to outgrow.

Are they related?

I often view Corporate America with a little disdain. The CEOs, and other executives just don't seem smart enough to me to be in charge of that much money and that much power and those many lives. They got where they are for a reason, but I'm not sure that it's always because
of their strengths and abilities (other than the ability to play the political game). In addition, it's a club to which I have no desire to join -- it's the THEM in the "US versus THEM."

Often, the "them" is really "them and them and them". Certain persons seem to influence multiple entities, through board memberships, or actual corporate positions. One site that can help identify these relationships is the NNDB. Feed it a list of corporations, persons, even bands, movies or TV shows and it can help diagram the relationships between them all. You can also search through already created maps to find some interesting insights into the behavior of some companies...

Another one for your phone book

I wrote a while ago about several phone numbers you should have in your cell phone. One service that I had been waiting for was one that allowed you to perform an Internet search via a phone call (versus on a web-enabled cell phone). Well, wait no more... Not sure where I found this one, but ChaCha has arrived!

The site works by submitting your speech to text query to an army of modestly paid surfers who do the surfing for you and then text you the answer. It's not perfect, but if could help you out of a jam. You can also log in to the site when you're back in front of a live Internet connection and see who fielded your query and the site that they used to get your answer.

I'm not sure of the business model, so I'm not sure how long they'll be around, but it's worth checking out while you can. Just call 800-2ChaCha

Sorry...

I just noticed that I had not been including the Thumbalizr snaps of the sites that I mention recently.

There is no standardization to when or how I do these posts, so after a while I simply forget. Sorry :-( I'll try to remember going forward.

Actually, I think that there is a service that will do it automatically if I can find it.

Are you entitled...

A lot of people feel entitled to something.

According to Google, one definition of entitled is "qualified for by right according to law." Another is: "something that you have right to do."

Are you entitled to talk down to someone else because you make more money than them?
Are you entitled to interrupt someone else simply because you're busy?
Are you entitled to run a red light because you can't see anyone else at the crossing?
Are you entitled to run me off the road because you have a larger vehicle?
Are you entitled to park in a handicapped parking space because you're "gonna be right back"?
Are you?!

Driving on Google Maps

Another interwsting mashup of Google's StreetView maps will automatically drive for you. Check out this beta StreetView Driver available at MapChannels.

Principal versus Principle

No this isn't a dictionary lesson. Instead it's a life lesson.

I wrote several weeks ago about my issues with BCC and the issues with the way they dealt with our car issue. In a nutshell, they didn't. I was very frustrated and angry because they didn't seem to care about the issues. It's not just that they didn't care, it's that they seemed to be so obvious about it. I was convinced that their treatment of the issue was enough to keep me from buying a BCC car in the future. There is precedence for this with me (another car company, a pizza store, a bank, a retailer, and a few others that are close to making the list of companies that I won't shop from). This caused me a lot of angst because I was really looking forward to buying a particular model of BCC car.

I fought with myself quite a bit. I was rationalizing myself away from the car I really wanted -- the need to make a point by withholding my dollars, the embarrassment about "caving" after the big stink I raised, the need for a more fuel efficient model, that the technology in the car was more of a toy than a tool, etc. Then I'd swing back and say that I needed to protect my job (not just by buying a BCC car, but by not making waves my employer could notice), that I wouldn't be happy settling for something else, that the car would be "safer" in the BCC parking lots than a non-BCC car might be, etc.

Then I priced the alternatives.

The non-BCC cars would cost me $3-5000 more for a comparable vehicle. Now what? Are my principles worth more than the need to pay down my principals?

As much as a really feel the need to make a point, I don't think I can afford to do it by spending that much money right now.

I had already intended to write a letter to the BCC CEO, and Marketing and Dealer VPs to let them know about the issues I experienced. I have written an outline of the letter, but have not filled in the guts of it yet. I think I still need to send it (as my little form of protest), but know that they've already got me as far as buying another BCC car. I'm debating sending the letter and waiting a little while to see if they acknowledge the failure on their part to address the issues and see what they may do to keep me as a customer. Or do I just go ahead and buy the BCC car to show that as mad as I am, I'm still "loyal." In either case, the letter will definitely be politically correct (see above comment about losing my job), but I think that if I don't tell the appropriate people, it's my problem. If I tell them, and they don't do anything about it, it's their problem. That's the way I've addressed things like this (and the must more little infractions) in the past.

I need to do something quickly because it's affecting my attitude at work. I'm not some big ogre or anything, but I can tell I'm not as jovial as I otherwise would be.

Decisions, decisions...

Afraid of heights?

My mother-in-law is a hiker. She's hiked about 2/3 of the Appalachian Trail. I don't think she could handle this though... These guys are just NUTS! I, by the way, am afraid to get on the top of my garage to get a Frisbee down for the kids :-( You won't catch me filming the followup to this piece.

(Give the video a few seconds to load. Seems to hang for a little bit before playing.)

Bored or bold?

I'm not sure if these architects just got bored with the normal rectangular buildings, or decided to just throw caution to the wind and leave a legacy. You decide after looking at some of these creative buildings.

When you're done there, head on up to the top of the Oddee site for a whole blog dedicated to oddities like those buildings. Too many interesting posts to talk about here.

Best Pictures Ever

The Best Picture Ever site has a constantly changing interesting picture-of-the-day. I cant' seem to find a way to add a daily feed to a site, but it's worth checking out occasionally. The pictures run the gamut from nature, to funny, to just plain weird!

Graphic tools

Just a couple of quick graphic tools I found on-line this weekend...

Are you old enough to remember the Polaroid Instant cameras? The Instantizer site will take a picture you upload and add the ol' Polaroid Instant border (thin white around top and sides and wide white border at the bottom). Nothing spectacular, but if you want to give a little old fashioned feel to a picture, this will help.

The other site, Face In Hole allows you to upload a picture of a face and then insert it into a picture that has had the original face removed. Sounds kinda funny described that way, but think of the board paintings that you used to stand behind at fairs, etc and then have someone take your picture. This is the same concept except it's online and the painted boards are replaced with things like the cover of Sports Illustrated, USA Weekend magazine, and a host of other more contemporary pics. The site has a host of tools to make your pictures face blend in with the picture as best as possible -- rotation, zooming, even lighting. You can also browse previous submittals if you're up for a laugh...

"This is my best day EVER!"

My youngest son, 4 years old, is filled with more wisdom than people many times his age. He often amazes my wife and I with quirky little observations and insights. When the weight of the world isn't bearing down on your shoulders it gives your brain a little time to really think I guess. Ah to be young again...

One morning, about a week ago, he awoke with the proclamation that "Today is my best day EVER!" I don't even remember why it was the best day EVER for him, but even for someone who has only lived about 1500 days, that's saying something! I'm sure that it was something that we might consider insignificant in our hectic, stressful lives -- something like it wasn't supposed to rain that afternoon so he could ride his bike, or maybe it was that I was the one who got to drive him to school because Mom had jury duty.

This one day was extra special because it topped all of the other "best days EVER" that he had had in the past. He has one of these "best days EVER" every couple of weeks for one reason or another. Ah to be young again...

But... Maybe it doesn't take being physically young to have that mentality. Maybe I should have seen that it was the "best day EVER [this week]" for me because I got to spend a few extra hours with one of my children. Maybe it was "the best day EVER [so far that week]" because he was in a good mood and enjoying life. Maybe it was "the best day EVER" because all of my family was alive and healthy and I was loved.

Maybe TODAY IS THE BEST DAY EVER! I just have to realize that! And tomorrow will be the best day EVER as well if I allow it to be. It's amazing how much wisdom is contained in that little, growing bundle of joy I call my son.

Make today your best day EVER!

Fan Out!

I had just gotten to sleep a couple of nights ago when, at about 10:30, the phone rang. I figured someone calling that late at night had to be important. My first thought was a family member in trouble. Most people know not to call that late unless it's an emergency. My adrenaline started pumping. I hobbled across the bedroom to the phone and picked it up expecting to hear at least a voice I recognized. Instead, it was a call from the local Police Department! Uh, oh...

It was a recorded message, but in a conversational tone, so it took me a few seconds to realize that it was recorded. The message went on to say (from what I can remember) that there was an elderly man who was missing. It gave a physical description of the man, and his last known location (a couple of streets over from our house), and asked us to check our yard and street looking for him. It was a kind of Amber Alert for Amber's grandpa.

From what I recall it was a missing man and not a suspected felon, but honestly I can't be sure. This was the first time we had gotten a call like that. It was kind of cool. You don't think about such high-tech tools being used by local governments. At least not in a way that most of us get to see (behind the scenes, even the sheriff in a one traffic light town has access to some pretty cool gadgets nowadays).

Having looked at the local PD's website in the last couple of months (designed in circa 1990), this bulk notification system surprised me even more. Way to go Good Guys!

Language on the net

The Internet has really changed the way we communicate. I don't think that anyone would disagree. Email, instant messaging, texting, etc are all common everyday occurrences. Some Internet terms and companies have been added to the dictionary as nouns and verbs (when was the last time you Googled something?). Xerox, Kleenex, and IBM as well as many others suffered this fate before the Web was even invented. I saw an article the other day about how people are now naming their kids with "Web 2.0"-esque names. Instead of "James" they're spelling it Jaymz the article stated as an homage to shortcuts (?!) used when texting. Whatever... I guess I can't speak too much because we spelled my daughter's name a little different -- phonetically spelling her initials to make her first name. It makes it hard to find those personalized magnets at tourist attractions... Didn't think about that.

But, what was really strange was to see words taken AWAY from the dictionary because of the Internet. I don't remember where I saw the article, but the one that really stuck out was when the article mentioned that the powers that be (whomever they are) had removed gullible from the dictionary (click here to link to their explanation of the removal). The article went on to describe how, with the flurry of spam, scam and hoaxes on the Internet, and those sent via email specifically, it wasn't right to use the word gullible any longer. Scammers were becoming so sophisticated that even very intelligent people were getting caught in their snares and succoring to the come-ons.

Have we really gotten so dang PC that we can't even accept things for what they are here either?!

Better secure your hard copy of the dictionary. At least that they can't change in an instant!