2006.10.18 Apex of your Existence

Don't let one experience define your life. Nothing should be able to narrow your frame of reference so much that everything else you experience must be compared to that one thing.

• "Oh, well… when I worked at (whatever company) we used to…"
• "Well in (some country) the people there do…"
• "This is nothin' compared to when I (some extreme sport), because…"
• And so on…

The only way that one experience, or a set of experiences becomes the apex of your existence is that you continue to focus on your past as you move forward.

2006.08.10 Damage Controlled

I was told about an upcoming change before it was public knowledge. I was informed about the change by an individual with the proper authority. We talked about the change that was to take place, how it might impact me and others, and how the message needed to be communicated in a variety of ways for various people. We talked a little about damage control and the sensitivity of the information. It became apparent that there could be some adverse reactions if the details of the change got out without proper communication. What struck me in this whole thing was the following – although the conversation was originally masked as a “I need to get your input on this” session, it really was a “We need to tell you this now, since you're one of those who would normally complain the most” conversation.

2006.07.21 Birthday, I Stand Corrected

Last year at some point I ranted about bad birthday presents, some real, some fake. This year, I want to take back everything that I said. Because this year was so much worse than receiving any/all of those gifts, with/without asking for them.

2006.07.12 Responding to the Unfamiliar

People respond to things in curious ways. I've had a few different experiences lately at work that have caused me to ponder my own reaction to various things. A couple of the instances were caused by me asking truly trivial questions of people. The other is from a reference made to a TV program with which someone was unfamiliar. Why is it that people seem so alarmed by such simple things?

2006.06.29 Newbie Cell Phone Users

They're über popular. Lots of people have them. But everybody goes through a form of honeymoon phase with a cell phone. Although they give you a nice thick manual to tell you how to perform any random function on your phone, they don't hand you any sort social rulebook for this newly acquired telephony device.