Archive for 2010

I’ve been saying this for years, based on even the most cursory reading of the literature that is out there, that not all sugars are processed by the body in the same way. Fructose and glucose, even though they appear chemically similar, are treated by, and processed in, the human body in totally different ways.…

Who the Hell brags in their profile that they’re “published on LinkedIn.” Seriously!?! Maybe I am missing some context somewhere. Have we sunk so low as a society that we now need to celebrate every piece of mediocrity that we engage with?

Nobody sits engineers and software developers down at the end of their education and says to them “Remember this, as your entire career success hinges on it..” and then they spill the secrets to being a successful engineer or developer or accountant. Instead we’re sold on facts and data and deep knowledge about a subject…

For every action, there will be a social media overreaction.

Leaders work on their business. Bosses work in their business. I’ve worked for a lot of bosses and I respect none of them.

I cannot respect any person who insists on getting on the elevator before people who need to get off actually have.

It’s 1999 all over again (almost). Investors keep throwing handfuls of darts at a dartboard without any kind of aiming and hope by a miracle that they will hit the bullseye. Smart investors at least know where the dartboard is. Really smart investors are actually in the same room as the dartboard. Translation for the…

I receive a lot of email from recruiters because I keep refreshing my resume on a monthly basis. Whether I am looking for a contract position or nothing at all, it never hurts to have exposure and having people contacting you. However, I have noticed, over the past several years, that the level of penmanship…

With the current state of college admissions and the technologically backward, myopic thinking most higher education institutions engage in I think it will take me longer to determine how to get an education than it will take to get the education.

I’m not stand off-ish, quiet or shy. I just don’t like you.

I find myself this evening at a Starbucks in Van Nuys, drinking a coffee, watching dozens of people who are not drinking coffee, or any sort of drink actually, play very bad games of chess. There are two points to this very short post, and it is a very short post with only two points,…

Givers want to help others in a way that is selfless. Takers want to be pleased. And takers are never pleased for very long. Takers want to take from others in a way that is selfish. Givers are often easily manipulated in to giving that goes beyond selflessness and into activities or generosity that is…

You reach a certain point in life where “It will be good exposure” in an attempt to get you to do lots of free and original work that goes unpaid carries little weight. Where is this point in your life? About 30 seconds after you were born. If you do not have the work ready…

I’ve been running some corporate training classes recently at various Fortune 500s in the Bay area. It’s pretty nerve wracking standing up in front of a room full of engineers to teach them a technical subject. Public speaking was never my forte. One of the “tricks” people would always tell you is, “Just imagine everyone…

Last week I was in Las Vegas for DevConnections and the launch of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. Normally you won’t catch me dead in Las Vegas along The Strip due to all of the tourists, the constant cigarette smoke and the pervasive heat. This trip did not turn out so bad. I went in the…

I hate the very smell of shellfish. I am sure I would hate taste too, but I will never know because I just cannot get past that smell. The concept of eating shellfish, because of the the odour, induces abundant stomach churning and heaving. I believe in an abundant life, I just don’t subscribe to…

Talking to an admissions officer at a college that shall remain nameless, “As an International Student you will need to submit your TOEFL score.” Me: “I live in California.” Admissions Officer: “Yes, but you are from a different country so you will need to take an English language competency exam.” Me: “I speak English as…

Are you guilty of that? We’re all guilty of creative masturbation at times, but some people manage to take it to the extreme and do it almost consistently in every activity. Uh. Okay. Lets back up a bit and explain what I mean by this. I am not talking about an activity you would get…

The industrial era mind-set like the Victorian’s that made it the pinnacle of their society, is one of command and control, of rigid authority. Central authority, or just your boss’ authority, and personal responsibility are the anti-thesis to each other. You cannot have personal responsibility if your boss insists on having all of the authority.

An idle pursuit should be always be pursued with purpose. It is good to sometimes just “do nothing.” Where people get lost is when they get busying doing nothing that is of no use and their time for doing nothing of no use is unconstrained.