When Sweet becomes Sour

I was presented with a potential piece of work recently.  That's a nice thing when it happens.  At a minimum, it reinforces that you're still needed.  However this was disingenuously offered.

What was initially characterized as a very short term piece of work, had a large amount of background development and foundational work needed. Despite reassurances it was only small when I began to look into the job it wasn't small, it was big.  All this after initially indicating my own agreeableness to the idea.  The catch here is that the time available to prep was small, and the return for that work was also small.

So, I went back and said no thanks, citing the truth that I didn't have a week to put into the preparation. So all is fine.  Except it's not really.  I feel like I was taken advantage of, and taken for a fool.  The experience left me with a very bad taste in my mouth for that organization.  I don't think that was the intent, but in some situations the reality of how something is handled is more important that what it is.

Your Favourite Song

Have one ?  Does it change often, are you up with the latest trends in the genres you enjoy, or is it an old favourite from your childhood or some other significant time in your life .

What does the music evoke for you? Is it memories you cherish, or does it make your toes tap and fingers move.  Perhaps both ? Lucky you.

Mine makes me want to run faster, play air drums and sing.  In fact, for me, music and my favourite songs are a barometer of my soul.  I listen more when I'm in a better frame of mind, and singing - out loud and proud - is a sign of real mental health I've learned about myself.  In fact one of the reasons I think I enjoy summer more than winter is that I don't have a winter outlet to sing.  I sing the most while riding my bike, and that (usually) takes place when it's warmer.  It's my cocoon flying along at 30kph and I can pretend no one can hear me.  The big impediment is bugs - draw your own picture.

My favourite song at the moment is one that completely exceeded expectations when I first heard it. I was with someone special and I heard it live and loved it right away.  Every time I hear it now my thoughts go back to that sunny day, the keyboard players bright hair and how it just 'worked' for me from the very first time.  I'm good at sharing - so here it is - enjoy it, and think of me when you listen to it.  The band is still getting established by the way,  so buy a copy if you like it.

When Life is better than Photoshop

We've seen the image- I'm sure we all have.  I'll admit wondering about it a few times.

The story of it's origin is circulating at the moment, coincident with the formal demise of Microsoft's XP operating system.  This was our home screen, the one we all got by default.

In looking at it, I had - perhaps cynically- always imagined that the image, with it's oh-so-perfect light and vibrant grass and sky, I'd always thought it must have been enhanced, and manipulated as I'd rarely if ever seen something as remarkable with my own eyes. I also wondered if it actually existed at all, or rather was a dreamscape put together by an engineer somewhere.

But, and this is the renewing part I think, Charles O'Rear took the picture himself, and it wasn't made artificial in any way. That's the way it was, one fine day in 1996 north of San Francisco, at some stunning moment that his experienced eye and great skills were able to capture.  Lucky us.

Bliss indeed.

Lactic Acid

I ran on Sunday.

First time in a while, a long while.  Felt great

At the time.

Afterwards, the legs seemed to have seized a little.  Actually a lot. Imagine concrete.

And I know this goes away in a couple days, and I should avoid squats, bends, lunges, turning quickly, breathing deeply or blinking fast.  It'll be fine.

But it did get me thinking (thinking doesn't hurt).  In other areas of life do we get lactic acid - the solidity that appears, paralyses us against any change attempted or new activity. Something that dissuades us from creating some new habit, or best practice.  This is a type of active disincentive against trying something new. Lactic acid of the soul.

I think it does happen.  But it's not permanent, and we can push past it.  I know.  I'm writing this while sitting down.

I'm not Buying a Car this Week

I'm in the market for a new car, and I've spoken to various car salespeople.  Mostly as a normal person, thinking they'd 'get' me what I needed.  Hasn't worked.

So, I changed approach with them, and spelled out exactly what my buying criteria were, down to the options I was looking for, colour choices and the like.  I spelled out timing and so on.  Still didn't help.

As an aside, I teach people (teach is an ugly word to me, as I don't actually teach them, I share best practices and as grown-ups they elect what to take onboard, and what to throw away from the interaction we have, and each individual is different.) how to sell.  In a B2B sense - business to business.  I don't dabble in retail sales, and don't claim to be an expert in that area in any sense.... but it galls me terribly when I have such amateur idiots pushing their junk on me and urging me act fast without ever asking me what it is I'm trying to do.

So, I'm protesting in my own way, and I've elected that they'll all starve a few days.  I'm not buying anything.  I know this will have no effect, and won't affect the behaviours I despise.  But I'm feeling quite mean-spirited about it all actually, so there.

Beware the pissed-off buyer.

How to Really Screw Up Aviation, Emergency Situation Management and Search & Rescue

See: "Malaysia".  (ⁱ/məˈleɪʒə/ mə-lay-zhə or ⁱ/məˈleɪsiə/ mə-lay-see-ə)

The Mystery Continues

Let me begin by saying it's not possible to keep a secret in this world.  That's becoming evident with the Malaysian government's seemingly lame attempts to dribble information out over the course of a week. I guess the fact that they have very little and/or poor military radar capabilities isn't something to be broadcast, but still ...where they really thinking this would remain confidential ?

The improbable answers to what has happened to MH370 that I wrote about last week are starting to look very credible. (See post below this one).  The fact the aircraft hasn't been found suggests a few other things however, notwithstanding it's 6-7 hours in the air.  A 777-200 is 209 feet long, and 200 feet wide. It's almost 61 feet tall.  Hiding this thing, from the prying silent eyes of spy satellites if it's on land after touching down somewhere, would be REALLY HARD.  Firstly, you need a runway at least 3500-4000 feet long, and that assumes a perfect landing, very little remaining fuel, dry conditions and no tailwind.  Landing is a tricky business and in the normal commercial aviation world, the rule is the aircraft's stopping distance must be no more than 60% of the runway length, which translates to close to a 7000 foot runway (1.5miles / almost 2kms).  How many of these are there within the flight range of MH370...not too high a number.  Then you'd need a serious big hanger to hide the aircraft. The list whittles down again.  The reason for the interest ?  Those counties that own spy satellites notoriously distrust this region of the world, and will be keen to look for state involvement in this little caper.

What's more likely..?  It splashed down somewhere where no one is looking today, on purpose, out of gas, or maybe as a result of a struggle for control.

Big conspiracy theories are always fun to discuss, but we do run into that core thing once more - no one can really keep a secret.