We do some dumb things...

A few days ago, I was focusing on my fuel economy, and didn't want to waste kinetic energy stopping for traffic at a left-turn - so I made the turn in front of another vehicle, knowing there was enough space, but that it was tighter than I typically allow for such a manouver. Not smart at all. But there were no horns, gesturing, or (even more importantly) damages that resulted. All was well.

Still, I found myself asking - What the hell was I thinking?

We make quick decisions all day, every day. It is the only way we can get through life without having everything take an inordinate amount of time. We rely on muscle memory, prior experiences, pre-set expectations - to get done whatever we need to do. We very often don't think about what happens when something unexpected crops up. Perhaps the vehicle 5 cars ahead of us on the highway will blow a tire, or swerve to avoid some debris. Other vehicles react by swerving to avoid the sudden obstacle, or worse yet, with panic stops, because the driver wasn't paying adequate attention and it is the only reaction that comes to mind.

How prepared are you for unexpected things in "normal" surroundings? How close to the car in front of you do you follow? How many fire extinguishers do you have in your home, and where are they? If your income stopped, how long could you keep paying your bills?

It is when things *don't* go as we expect them to that we find ourselves in the most trouble...

There *are* some smart people in this world...

We regularly hear about the stupidity that exists all around us. Just turn on the television or radio, watch any moderately successful movie, read any popular fiction, open your local newspaper - you won't have to look far. Between reality TV, talk shows and mind numbing drivel, one might be lead to think there is not much intellect out there. Certainly, much of what is offered to us is not geared to engaging our brains.

Output from the brightest and most ingenious is somewhat harder to find, but they do have outlets as well.... TED.com is one of those outlets.

Instead of spending a few hours watching TV, have a look at the Technology, Entertainment, Design website. Some of the most brilliant minds at work today are invited to speak (often quite articulately) for only 20 minutes on their subject.

Two examples:
Tony Robbins asks why we do what we do.
Aubrey de Grey says we can avoid aging.

Watch with an open mind. Listen to genius speak.

Today's language lesson...

In an IM conversation today, a friend of mine used the term "bated breath". As one trained (thanks, Mom!) to use language correctly (if not imaginatively), I did a quick Google search to determine the proper spelling, as well as the origination of this curious idiom - because I'd always spelled "bated" with an "i".

"Bated", as it turns out, is a linguistic corruption of "abated".

Read more about it here.

Thnking of Verizon FiOS?

Here is something to consider before you make the jump to FTTH (Fiber To The Home) from Verizon:

Will you ever, in the future, require the use of the telecom copper cabling that currently feeds your house? I'm not talking about the telephone lines inside your walls, I'm referring to the copper pairs that come from your street.

Verizon's policy is that once you have FiOS installed, they will make unusable those pairs that go from their publicly-subsidized infrastructure to your home.

If you ever decide that you want to switch to a different telecom provider - one that would use those copper wires - you yould need have new lines run, at your cost (if Verizon would allow it at all).

The hidden agenda:
Verizon (and other ILECs (Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers) were required to provide open (low cost) access to their copper infrastructure to other CLECs (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers). This allowed companies other than the ILEC to provide DSL and other telecom services, without having to build out their own infrastructure.

Verizon lobbied hard to make sure that the same sort of access would not be required of them, were they to build out a new, fiber optic infrastrure. With that in place, they began to roll out FiOS to their territory.

The bottom line:
If you want the option to go with another telecom provider (for data or voice service) other than your cable company, get it in writing from Verizon that they will not destroy your existing copper infrastructure in any way.

Or, don't get FiOS at all.

What is your time worth?

Sage wisdom came from a business owner for whom I worked a few years ago:

I knew our office made a lot of long-distance calls, and I spent about 15 minutes trying to explain to our office manager some ways the company could probably save some money every month by subscribing to Vonage or another unlimited LD plan. Another engineer joined me, and another 15 minutes passed as we discussed the upsides and downsides.

The CEO came out of his office, and suggested that our time would be better spent finding ways to earn the company $20K than to save $200 - and that in the time we'd spent thinking about the savings (30 minutes * 3 people), we'd expended well more than that $200.

Certainly, from the company perspective, employee time is best spent focusing on that for which you have responsibility - it is why you are employed.

Similar thinking applies to our personal lives - what are you doing with your "free" time? Are you using it to your best advantage? Weekday evenings and weekends are short enough as it is - are you making best use of that time, doing what you need to do, and hopefully, what you would like to do?

For example, would it be worth it to spend $100 every two weeks to get your home cleaned by someone else, and get back the several hours you'd otherwise spend on it?

I commented to a friend of mine a few years ago that I was always amazed at what he would accomplish - teaching himself this skill, completing that project - and I asked him how he found the time to get it all done.

His simple answer: "I stopped watching TV."

What is each of your hours worth?

Adventures in good music...

What kind of music do you like?

In answering this, some would indicate a genre - (country, rap, classical, classic rock, techno) and specify a few groups that are good examples of what they like to hear. Or, perhaps you'll point to a channel on a content provider (like "FNX in Boston" , WQXR (New York), or "XM Flight 26"), because they program the genre to which you typically listen.

I have no idea how to say what I like to hear. I enjoy the three examples above, though both play music that will make me switch away to something else. I regularly listen to Tag's Trip, Space Station Soma and Groove Salad from Soma FM, but again, I don't like everything they play.

I hate to pigeonhole my likes and dislikes, because indicating a genre is too broad. I will say I like "Techno" or "Electronica", but most people's idea of that is James Brown is Dead, even though they're exposed to it daily in advertising and other media. There is soul-touching, spine-tingling electronica, but there is also uninspiring noise.

If you would categorically say "I hate country.", then you have likely not heard country that you like - and I would wager that it is indeed out there, among all that which you find too twangy or otherwise unlistenable.

So, again, to what do you like to listen? Or do you rather silence?

Daily?

Ok. Here's something I should already know well enough...

Blogging daily is hard.

With countless other items in my life which demand my attention, it takes more than this has initially received. It is said that it takes 21 days of persistence to transition a new behavior to a habit.

Is it possible for me to transition this to a daily habit over the next three weeks? Time will tell. I *intend* to do that, but the best intentions don't mean much if the implementation is lousy.

And, of course: "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."