Years ago I vowed never to do an unpleasant job if I had the money to pay someone else to do it. My reasoning is quite sound: I love the work I do and would, in fact, do it for no pay. If I give that money to someone to do those things I dislike doing, I can go get so more money by doing something I love. Is that so hard to understand? But there are a few manual chores I enjoy. Splitting firewood is one of those. All those sticks and no fetching. Ripley was not pleased.
A couple of years ago I confessed that I thought I looked my best in theatre restrooms. Now I’ve done the unthinkable. I photographed myself in that challenging setting. In the tradition of all great risk-takers, I had no cover story in the event someone walked in.
“Our longing for the Web is rooted in the deep resentment we feel toward being managed.” — David Weinberger, The Cluetrain Manifesto. I’m not sure why this feels so true but it does. I’m rereading Cluetrain and find it more…relevant than the first time. You’re going to have to wade through more quotes (that I might have posted the first time).
Tomorrow is my father’s birthday. He would have been 78. He’s been gone a couple of years now and would find it amusing that I remembered his birthday since I usually forgot. If he were here I’d ask him where this photograph was taken. For some reason I think it must have been in St. Louis. If we have any STL readers, and you recognize this statue, drop me line and let me know where it is. John and Evelyn partied there right after the war. Happy birthday, Johnny!
“Life is too short for office politics, for busywork and pointless paper chases, for jumping through hoops and covering our asses, for trying to please, to not offend, for constantly struggling to achieve some ever-receding definition of success. Too short as well for worrying whether we bought the right suit, the right breakfast cereal, the right laptop computer, the right brand of underarm deodorant. Life is too short because we die.”
— Christopher Locke, The Cluetrain Manifesto
Eastman Kodak Co. on Tuesday said it will stop selling traditional film cameras in the United States, Canada and Western Europe, another move by the troubled photography company to cut lines with declining appeal in favor of fast-growing digital products.
Collie was my first dog.
“…a generation of compulsive self-chroniclers, a fleet of juvenile Marcel Prousts gone wild. When he meets new friends in real life, M. offers them access to his online world. ”That’s how you introduce yourself,” he said. ”It’s like, here’s my cellphone number, my e-mail, my screen name, oh, and — here’s my LiveJournal. Personally, I’d go to that person’s LJ before I’d call them or e-mail them or contact them on AIM” — AOL Instant Messenger — ”because I would know them better that way.”
— Emily Nussbaum[via Dave Winer]
There are mistakes and there are mistakes.
Some mistakes we learn from. For example: Thinking that selling toys for pets on the Web is a great way to get rich. We’re not going to do that again.
Other mistakes we insist on making over and over. For example, thinking that:
…the Web, like television, is a way to hold eyeballs still while advertisers spray them with messages.
…the Net is something that telcos and cable companies should filter, control and otherwise “improve.”
… it’s a bad thing for users to communicate between different kinds of instant messaging systems on the Net.
…the Net suffers from a lack of regulation to protect industries that feel threatened by it.
–Doc Searls and David Weinberger
From Tom Peters’ wonderful book, Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age:
* Getting things done ultimately is not about “power” or “rank.” It’s about…PASSION and IMAGINATION and PERSISTENCE.
* The biggest waste of time in the world: trying to sell and idea “up the chain of command.”
* A Cool Idea is by definition a…Direct Frontal Attack…on the Holy Authority of Today’s Bosses.
* The power of the “powerless” lies in “Boss-Free Implementation.”
* You don’t need an Officially Big Project to attack a Very Big Opportunity.
* Volunteer for Crappy Jobs: crappy jobs that let you take independent charge of things quickly—and early in your tenure.