Category: General musings

Pretty picture, ain't it? Actually, it's what's happening to this blog, despite my good intentions. What we rail about over on the corporate blog and in our podcast — the orphaned blog — is beginning to happen here. I've got a million excuses, some of them pretty darn good. I'm blogging like a maniac for…

I'm sad. Lotus Notes — which played a huge role in my career — has been vanquished more or less completely by Microsoft (though they won't stop attacking until the carcass has dessicated into dust). And its (formerly) thought-provoking leadership has apparently come down with an early case of Alzheimer's, is lost and looks like…

I remember reciting the Humpty-Dumpty rhyme for my kids. I know a lot of revisionist people think these nursery rhymes have a violent streak to them. But in this case, it's a pretty good message: break it, and you can't put it back together again. I wonder if there's an equivalent message for non-English speaking…

Dear Mr. or Ms. Someone-who-knows-better, I owe you an apology. I didn't approve your comment of August 27th in reply to my post of July 21 until today because it ended up in the spam bucket (imagine that!) and I didn't see it until today. Sorry about that. It's my policy to allow all comments…

Today, I learned a lot about complacency . Not mine (though I'll bet I'm guilty more than just occasionally). This time, it's the complacency of someone else, which makes it a lot easier to see. In the business world, that "I've got it covered, don't worry" attitude sometimes goes along with being in an established…

I found this astonishing podcast the other day, and I have to tell you, it's may be the best podcast I've heard in a long time. Right, you say….a podcast on English grammar? I run three miles every morning. Because I am not a natural athlete and at 6am my body is…shall we say…reluctant, my…

I take a lot of guff from people about my obsession with cars. In particular, I am currently getting no pity — none — for lusting after a new car. Not this one (it's a coupe)…but the one rumored to follow later in '07: a 335i sedan.  I gotta have one in this color. Why?…

Sometimes the synchronicity of it all blows me away. First, I was really excited to discover a completely new, wonderful word: susurrus, which means "a whispering or rustling sound". I saw it it, in of all places, in an editorial today in the Wall Street Journal decrying the public whipping Sir Paul McCartney and his…

Good question, isn't it? This is the view from the place we rented for a family vacation this week on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. The weather has been a 10. The water is cold. (This is freakin' New England, for sure.) And a lot happened. I'm not sure how to sum it all up. …

I've been cartharisizing here lately about my own apparent naivete. But today, I want to rant about something else: those who profess integrity but define it by their own standards. You know, the ones who think nothing of copping a little free music from the 'Net or making promises they have no intention of keeping.…

So, I recently asked someone what my good qualities were, and he said loyalty was one of them. Did believing that I was loyal make any difference in this relationship? Apparently not, as I think today's image aptly describes what happened. It's gotten me to thinking that loyalty (apart from that you express to your…