Normal Rockstar

Free Wireless Internet: I Love Panera Bread!

I've switched offices recently - a complete overhaul. All the furniture is modern-looking (like it was purchased at IKEA), the colors were done professionally, the artwork is great, and the soup is fantastic! Yup - I've discovered the free wireless internet at Panera Bread.

Now, you have to understand this about me: I am an email junkie because I pride myself on being extremely responsive - I make it a game for myself to see how quickly I can get back to someone (for a great blog on the importance of responsiveness, check this out at Working Smart). I'm not a coffee drinker, so I don't spend copious amounts of time in Starbucks - but I do like the coffeeshop/bookstore hang... What I DON'T like is the whole T-Mobile HotSpot thing - they have been charging for years at large chains such as Starbucks and Borders as much as $30/month for unlimited access. Not cool... and so my question is this: with the direction that Panera Bread, most hotel chains, and many other independant coffeeshops are taking offering free wireless internet, is the whole charge-for-use thing in public places going to be a thing of the past? With whole cities investing millions of dollars into creating wireless CITIES across America, is the general consumer really going to want to pay for wireless access? Or are they going to come up with a new structure to help offset the cost of creating and offering such an amenity?

Questions that float through my mind periodically in moments of frustation when I find myself in an area that is charging me for wireless access... In the meantime, I'll be spending much more time at a Panera Bread near you. Please stop by and say hi, but don't expect too much of a conversation - I'll be hovering over my keyboard waiting for the next email to dare find it's way into my inbox...

Sudoku Madness!

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column, and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

Have you joined the Sudoku craze yet? I have - but it took me a while. A friend of mine gave me a fun little puzzle book to keep me entertained on my flight up to Montana for Christmas, saying that it was the hottest thing going these days. I figured it looked like fun - I enjoy logic games thanks to my mom's side of the family - and so it didn't take long before I pulled it out on the flight and started to see what I could do. Well, the directions in my book were not quite as clear and precise as the directions above, and so I missed a KEY ingredient (the last phrase of the directions above). Therefore, it made my puzzle solving a lot less successful or enjoyable... and I was working on the "easy" puzzles! Frustrated, it didn't take long for me to put down the book... and I didn't pick it up again until 3 weeks later on ANOTHER flight when I came across a puzzle in the in-flight magazine. Amazed at how such a difficult game had become such a hit everywhere, I thought I would read the instructinos and try and pick it up again - I want to get in on the action! Upon reading those directions, I discovered the little nugget that I had overlooked in my book (for a moment I thought MY book had actually neglected to mention that part of the process, but when I read through the instructions carefully, there it was!).

So, the moral of the story is this:
1. Sudoku is actually quite fun! Join the party...
2. Successful reading requires an element of comprehension too!

There you have it - my life lesson for the week... I keep my Sudoku book in my bag with me now - when I need a brain break, I just pull it out and complete a puzzle. I'm hoping that somehow it's making me smarter (maybe next time I'll understand the instructions on the FIRST read!!)...

Happy New Year!

In the wedding industry, it is considered appropriate for gifts to be sent to the newlywed couple up to one year after the wedding (although, I believe I speak for all newlyweds when I say that we will gladly accept gifts any time - within the first year or not!). I am going to borrow from that tradition somewhat now as I wish you a Happy New Year! I trust the first month of 2006 has been a good and encouraging one for you: you have managed to stay on track with at least half of your resolutions, and you have not gained any more weight (I'm pretty sure it is definitely too late to be blaming any weight gain on Christmas goodies!).

I have been quite absent from the blogosphere - it has been over a month since I've posted, and in this age of instant coffee and fast food I might as well have died. For the most part I quite enjoyed the little hiatus - partly because I was so wrapped up in other stuff (visiting with family, Christmas, work travel, year-end finances, etc.) that I didn't really feel like I had any time left over to invest in posting here. However, over the course of the past week or so I've been feeling like I needed to get back here and start posting again - not so much for you but for me. In the past year I have used this as an opportunity to ask questions and explore different issues and topics that are close to my heart. Because my wife and I have decided against having both internet access and cable TV in our house, I find that if I am not posting regularly I am pretty disconnected from what's going on in the world (thanks to a fellow blogger I didn't miss the election in my own country!).

So I returned to my blog today. As of yet I have not looked at my hits (I'm afraid to!), but I did read through my comments and was encouraged to find that there is still some activity going on here - people are still challenged and learning together with me as we journey through life together. I am excited about what this year has to offer - both from an individual perspective and a professional perspective; and I'm looking forward to learning and growing with you as we tackle the challenges that 2006 will throw at us. Thank-you for being a part of this continuing conversation - stick around, leave your thoughts, and let's grow together. We'll talk soon!

Patriotic Office

I was out mowing my lawn yesterday morning and was struck by the imagery of this picture. I am a Canadian citizen living in America and have recently married an American girl. I am extremely proud of my roots and of being Canadian, but over the last number of years here in America I have come to appreciate the history of America and much of what she represents. The last four and half years have been very formative, gut-check years for America through the tragedy of 9/11 and the ensuing War on Terror, followed up most recently with hurricanes Katrina and Rita, two of the most significant natural disasters to have ever hit this continent. I have watched as somewhat of an outsider as the American people have displayed time and again the resiliency, courage, and perseverance to press on that won them their independance over 200 years ago, and have been challenged time and time again to examine the passion with which I love my country, and more importantly, Jesus Christ.

I had no intention of turning this into a sermon. I thought this was rather an interesting picture, and should give you a good idea of where I work when I'm at home. One thing's for sure: I wouldn't be working on my front porch in flip-flops in mid-October if I was back in Canada!

P.S. Mom, thanks for the Canadian flag that you gave us to put up opposite our American flag. Unfortunately, I must have given you the wrong dimensions, as the flag you sent is twice the size of our American flag. Since it is illegal to fly a bigger flag next to the American flag, we decided not to risk my Green Card application and hung your flag in the garage. I guess it's okay if I SIT in a flag chair larger than the American flag - at least no one's said anything yet...

Feedburner Feed

Hey! Just a quick request today: if you are using an RSS or XML feed to read my blog, could you do me a favor and change the feed you are currently using to this one? I've created an account on Feedburner.com so that I can track my readership a little bit better, and I would appreciate it if you would take a second to make the switch. You can also just click on the Feed button on the right sidebar if you would rather. Thanks so much!

I Feel Like It Now!

I have not posted recently as I have not really felt like it.

I came across this sentence in my blog reading today [HT Major K.] and realized that it quite succinctly summed up what I've been feeling the last couple of weeks. Why have I not felt like it? Well, two major reasons:

1. I am a happy newlywed trying to figure out how to manage my time so that I get done everything that I want to day-to-day (so far I'm not doing too well, but I'm just barely getting started!).

2. My wife and I just moved into our new house two weeks ago and I've had my nose buried in boxes sorting through what junk we'll keep and what junk we'll throw away (hint: when you move with your wife, make a point of going through each others' boxes - you will be able to throw away so much more stuff that way!), hanging pictures, mowing my lawn (shout out to my neighbor Travis who lets me borrow his lawnmower!), and making many stops at Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Wal-Mart, and any other home improvement store that might have what I'm currently looking for.

So, the bottom line is simple: I haven't had much of an opportunity to have deep thoughts the last couple of weeks. And I refuse to allow my posts here to digress into a "this-is-what-I-did-today" online journal (see a great post on therapy blogs here). So instead, I just didn't post! I don't know if that was the best way to handle the situation, but that's what I did.

What's changed? Well, I have a few days of "work" at a camp this week in Orange Beach, AL at a beautiful resort. So I intend to do plenty of reading and thinking in between phone calls to my wife, runs along the beach, swimming, sleeping, and - oh yeah - working! So stay tuned - I'm back in the saddle and ready to blog... 'cause I feel like it.

You're Dooced!

I was leafing through the June 15th issue of USA Today and discovered the following cover story in the Money section: "Warning: Your clever little blog could get you fired." (You can read the whole article here). If you just want the Coles Notes version, check this out:
- of the 8.5 million bloggers in the USA...
57% are male
48% are under age 30
42% earn more than $50,000
39% have college or graduate degrees
82% have been online for six years or more

How about this: "According to a report this year by public relations firm Edelman and Intelliseek, a provider of business-intelligence solutions, about 20,000 new blogs are created daily, and an estimated 10 million U.S. blogs will exist by the end of 2005." Companies are have a hard time catching up - it seems that there are a growing number of lawsuits concerning employees who have been fired because their superiors discovered things on their personal blogs that they deemed unacceptable (i.e. revealing trade secrets, posting pictures of yet-to-be-released products, slandering co-workers/management, discussing clients, etc.). In fact, some companies are now drafting blogging guidelines, giving employees a list of do's and do not's for their personal blogs, a move that is meeting mixed reviews. What do you think?

Sidenote: UrbanDictionary.com now defines "dooced" as losing your job for something you wrote on your online blog after a woman was fired in February of 2002 for venting about her company on her blog.

Over-The-Top Protection

I have always been a huge fan of stuntpeople and deodorant.

Yes, you read that correctly - I put stuntpeople and Deodorant in the same sentence (twice in a row now!). I love watching Jackie Chan movies for the simple guilty pleasure of seeing the outtakes at the end as the credits roll (I have often found myself fastforwarding through the actual movie because the acting is so bad, although when Owen Wilson came in the picture it was a little more enjoyable...). My wife and I ran out of time, but while at Disneyworld on our honeymoon we overheard someone at the pool raving about the new stunt show at MGM Studios - always gotta leave something to go back for I guess!

And then there was deodorant - or more importantly, in my case, anti-prespirant. Being the active guy that I am, I find it best to keep a stick in every bag I own just in case I need to re-apply. In fact, applying before I crawl into bed has become a part of my nightly ritual along with flossing and "swishing" mouthwash... (too much information? Sorry!)

All this to say that I came across this great commercial the other day while perusing through some blogs in the early morning and could not resist posting a link to it. I honestly don't know anything about the product and am not endorsing it - what I am endorsing is their marketing department and the genius who came up with this ad... Enjoy!

The Best Seat in the House

If you're like me, every time you walk into a public washroom you make a beeline for the stall the farthest away from the door. Well, research - yes, people have actually researched this! - shows that this is not the best way to go about things. In fact, the cleanest seat in a public restroom is the first seat when you walk in, says Charles Gerba, a professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona, in Tuscon, who did a study on the cleanliness of public restrooms. That's because it's the toilet people are least likely to use. "When there are three stalls in a row, people almost always go into the middle one," he says. "The cleanest public restrooms are touchless, meaning that the sink turns on and off and the toilet flushes automatically," Gerba says. Now if only they could make the doors touchless too...

Answers to Life's Questions #2

Is honesty really the best policy?

No. Okay, that was a lie. It all depends on why you're being honest. "Honesty with oneself is primary and paramount," says Arthur Caliandro, the senior minister at Marble Collegiate Church, in New york City, and the author of Make Your Life Count. But when it comes to other people, the situation gets more sensitive. "If we were to tell other people everything we actually feel or think, it could be devastating," says Caliandro. "If the truth is unnecessarily hurtful or you're trying to clear your own conscience, it is often wiser to remain quiet."

For answers to other common life questions, go here.