Tag: work (Page 1 of 2)

Daily Reading List — November 17th

November 17, 2016 / Scott / 0 Comments

What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class – It's important to me that our kids understand that we're multi-generational working class, and that we don't lose sight of that.

That's one reason I drink "Old Man Coffee". "Old Man Coffee" is made in a regular old coffee pot (or press) from a can that is bought in bulk. It doesn't come from a Starbucks or a single serving made-especially-for-me-by-a-machine cup.

"Old Man Coffee" was good enough for my old man. It was good enough for his old man too.

It's good enough for me.

Google Play Music starts using your location & activity to recommend tunes – Needed. Why should I have to search for my "Sunday Morning Coffee" playlist every Sunday morning while I'm making coffee?

Why should I have to search for my "Old Man Rolling" playlist when they know I'm at the gym during jiu jitsu class.

Can't wait!

The Great Fall of Chyna –

Microsoft Flow Is Out of Beta, Ready to Challenge IFTTT’s Automation – Microsoft does its products well. But they always seem to be late. Now I need a reason to switch from IFTTT, and charging me $5/month for something I'm already getting somewhere else for free isn't a good reason to switch.

BTW, this post was bookmarked in Pinboard by me. IFTTT automatically tweeted it with a link to the article on my behalf (without all this commentary), and it also made an appended a draft version of a blog post that continues to grow until x number of entries have been made, then automatically publishes out to my blog, which is where you're probably reading this.

This didn't take very long to set up, but why would I want to bother doing it again?

How To Clean Burnt Stains off Enameled Cookware – Works so great, I wish I'd taken before and after photos. Next time.

Who Wins in the Gig Economy, and Who Loses – "There’s no way to avoid the truth that fundamental changes in the ways we work are here to stay and are creating a new set of winners and losers. But the proliferation of new opportunities in the gig economy to choose how, how much, where, and when to work is one big win for all."

Was listening to Joe Rogan's podcast the other day, and he noted that the whole corporate structured way to work is a pretty new phenomenon. If you look at it over the course of history, it's just a blip. An anomaly.

Says the guy with a full-time job.

The Elimination Of Reason – Vote today with the 2020 election in mind. #MakeAmericaAgain

Daily Reading List — September 20th

September 20, 2016 / Scott / 0 Comments

Hurricane Prep: How to Board Up Your House –

Timeular’s cute little box makes the hellish task of filling out your time sheets fun –

Stop Stealing Dreams – Here's why we homeschool. Should turn into a longer post at some point. I think I've linked to the download before, but now it's available on Medium and a little easier to read. It's long, but not as long as it could be.

This Free Course Teaches You Everything You Need to Know About Digital Photography –

How to Calculate the Effect of Humidity on Running Performance – Runners Connect – Would be interested in seeing heat adjusted PRs.

Duo opens martial arts business in Cocoa Beach – Don't sing it.
Bring it.

Can smart medicines crush U.S. healthcare costs? –

The Ancient History of Cheating in the Olympics – I thought Olympic cheating was invented in the 1980s. Next they're going to tell me people were cussing and drinking cold beer before 1992.

Daily Reading List — June 27th

June 27, 2016 / Scott / 0 Comments

Here’s How Much Slower You Run In the Heat – This should make you feel better if your are sweating your times now that summer is here. For me, I'm just running on heart rate no matter what. When it's really blistering hot out there, that means I'm walking. So be it.

These Are Job Seekers’ Top 3 Priorities Right Now – *SPOILER ALERT*
The first one is "Culture, Culture, Culture".
I expected all three to be culture in one way or another.

The 5 Principles of Moonlighting Success – Works for sunlighting as well.

Generatedata.com – Create a bunch of fake data for dev/test – Lifesaver here. Lets you fill up your database fast with just the right amount data.

Market share yearly trends for content management systems, June 2016 – Makes it a little easier to understand why I can't find a lot of information from the last 5 years or so. 50% drop in market share for Drupal since 2010. Ugh.

The Best Exercises to Look Great Naked – Once you are bored with functional stuff like being able to move heavy things around or have hours and hours of stamina, you should focus on things that will be impressive to the ladies.

Burner: Free Phone Number, Temporary Disposable Numbers – When it's time for a re-up.

Is It Fair To Call Digital Health Apps Today’s Snake Oil? –

“I’m a Process Person”

April 26, 2016 / Scott / 0 Comments

That’s exactly what you want to hear, right?

A “process person” wants things to work with efficiency and structure. A “process person” wants to make sure things are done correctly and with as much transparency as possible.

Except…

What if this “Process Person” can’t tell you what the process is–won’t even produce a high level flowchart of the process on the back of a napkin?

What if this “Process Person” is hiding behind that phrase and actually trying to send you one of these messages:

“If there isn’t an existing process for this (produced by someone else), I’m not going to do it.”
“If there is a process, I’m going to use it to tell you why we can’t do what you’re asking me to do–it’s outside of our process.”
“What’s most important is insuring that if something goes wrong it will be blamed on the process, not me.”

Daily Reading List — January 14th

January 14, 2016 / Scott / 0 Comments

Mobile app playbook: Lessons learned | Twitter Blogs –

Ex-Vols star Shazzon Bradley knows secrets of security – No way Shazzon Bradley remembers me, but I worked out with him a little at Golden Gloves in the 90s. When I say "worked out", I basically mean that I let him go in front of me at the water fountain.

He is one of the most polite, genuine, and nicest people I've ever met. This article is a few years old, but I'm so happy to see that he is doing well and living an exemplary life. He deserves it!

For Rugby Post-Match Social Stumbling: Mouthguard Detects Severity Blows To The Head – Could have used one of these when I was playing rugby more regularly. I'm not sure how much benefit it would have provided for the matches themselves, but would have definitely been handy stumbling around at post-game socials.

Only 8% of Leaders Are Good at Both Strategy and Execution –

How to Send Your Computer’s Audio to a Chromecast – *Not available for Chrome OS

6 Fictional Lands We Should Bomb Once We’re Done With Agrabah – I would add wherever the Princess Bride is supposed to be and the entire WWE Universe.

7 Steps to Make Your Business Introvert Friendly | Inc.com –

Handy Home Improvement Cost Estimates –

Vegas Man. Poop. Thieves. –

If You Like Student Loan Debt (and maps) You’ll Love This –

Vitamins Vodka And Caffeinated Peanut Butter – I can't tell which of these two I'm more excited about.

Vegas Headline Generator: Man…Extortion…Videotaped…Stripper…Sex…Guilty – The headline for this story happens to have all of them.

How to Fart in Public and Get Away with It – These are rookie tactics at best. I have the real goods, and there's no way I'm going to divulge my best tips to the whole world. I'll give up one though–if there's a pet hamster around, it's pretty easy to pass the blame on to them.

Smokey!!!!

52 Of The World’s Most Widespread Myths And Misconceptions, Debunked – Still no debunking of the "more-calories-to-digest-Cap'n-Crunch" theory. So it stands on its own, not yet disproven.

Up Goer Five – Hat tip to Seth Godin for pointing this out, even though it showed up in my feed reader.

Daily Reading List — September 24th

September 24, 2015 / Scott / 0 Comments

Five Useful Cooking Techniques No One Teaches You

Going to need this article in spades once the Whole 30 session kicks in.

Technique is for peaches.

All Boards Need a Technology Expert

Only a multi-year, board-level sponsored effort can ensure a responsible IT overhaul. But without IT expertise at the director level, how can a board truly make an educated decision and, more importantly, follow it through until the end of the project, adapting the design of the overhaul over the course of years to take advantage of rapidly changing technology and consumer behavior?

If your industry hasn’t been completely disrupted yet…

We cain’t have NUTHIN’ nice! Ferrari dealership at Wynn Las Vegas to close

Tires, coffee and people

And mostly, we run classified ads to find the cheapest common denominator employee and spend all our time building systems to protect our customers from people who don’t care.

Ouch.

I like to relate everything to rugby and triathlon though:

Spending money on jerseys instead of spending time on fitness.

Buying an expensive bike, instead of riding the piss out of the crappy one you already have.

Also, yoga pants. Wait…no…I like yoga pants (not on me).

New IBM Tool Wants To Bring Shadow IT Under Control

I hate the word “control”, but “managing” this stuff is crucial. Management helps you set you direction and figure out what capabilities you need to be driving toward.

The Unexpected Influence of Stories Told at Work

It seems we are especially lifted up by stories of those at the bottom behaving generously and particularly discouraged by stories about higher-ups misbehaving.

I’m just going to leave that right there.

Why Wrestling Matters

I get chastised about being a wrestling fan a lot. Well, not chastised, but I know people are making fun of me in their heads. Just read it.

What is your decision making style?

I did some research and determined I’m a data driven decision maker.

And that was before I took the assessment.

Daily Reading List — October 17th

October 17, 2014 / Scott / 0 Comments

"Let’s go around the room" – Dang. Seth Godin has smarts real good. I was in this exact situation a couple of weeks ago. I always feel challenged to make whatever I'm sharing the best…

Or the shortest if I don't think I can pull off being the best.

More than just driverless cars – "Driverless cars are the Ptolemaic Systems of transportation. They’re an over-engineered solution to a relatively simple problem., but because they are compatible with things like existing infrastructure, cultural expectations, and well-established economic and political power structures, they probably have a much better chance of success in areas where public transportation hasn’t already taken hold."

Don't discount those cultural expectations. People love having their own little pod.

4 Ways to Retain Gen Xers – Gawsh. Hewlett has me so pegged. She names the four most important things to me much better than I could for myself. So I guess I'm stereotypical Gen X. And, being Gen X, I'm very irritated that I'm so typical.

I banned email at my company – Hopefully he didn't use email to announce the ban. But stranger things have happened.

Why You Should Hire For Potential, Not Experience – I would add to this that, at least for technology and information systems, much of your experience past the last couple of years is irrelevant to the current environment. But the ability to learn and adapt is a skill that you can take with you into any situation.

IT Departments as Disney Parks–Learn to “Plus” – I think there's a lot of catching up to do here before we can even begin to "Plus". Even as an IT group member, it's frustrating to have so many great tools available to you as a consumer, only to open a hatch and crawl into a time capsule to work in "a-few-years-ago" style.

Big Data May Be Hot, But The Server-Management Tool Puppet Is Hotter – Is that writing I see on the wall?

One thing I think is really interesting with stuff like DevOps and Big Data is that the technology matures faster than the workforce's skills do. I know that I'm constantly trying to keep up, just to be *aware* of what's out there, much less knowledgeable about it.

Technology doesn't seem to be a limiter for anyone. It's the skills that are holding us back.

The renovating Casino Royale is a sliver of independence (and affordability) on the Strip – Hard to believe that Casino Royale can get any better than it already is. The only suggestion I'd make to management would be to bring back $2 craps with 100x odds. This $5/20x stuff is a little high dollar for some of us.

"Make a pass line bet for the price of a footlong!"

And, for the record, I'm not joking or making fun. I <3 this place!

Daily Reading List — August 20th

August 20, 2014 / Scott / 0 Comments

Underwear Meat Clock – Probably the greatest opening band in the history of the Knoxville music scene. And I was there for several shows.

It wasn’t long before this success led to temptation: an offer to headline a mud-wrestling show at Michael’s on the glittery Kingston Pike strip. Refusing to sell out to their dozen or so fans, Lucky issued this resolute statement to the South Knoxville Shopper: “We won’t headline. It’s pointless. It’s stupid. We open. We open because we like to get drunk after we play.”

The Key To Better Work? Email Less, Flow More – My recommendation is to set up the most aggressive inbox filters you can think of so that you only get notifications on the most important messages from the most important people–the ones that actually pass the filters and make it to your inbox.

A week later, make them even more aggressive.

My favorite filter is the one that sends every message that has me in the cc: field straight to a secondary inbox. I only check this inbox a few times a day. It’s amazing how many issues can get resolved without you having to work yourself up just because someone kept you in the loop.

I have another one just for automated positive notifications from various systems. 99% of the time, I only need the positive notifications to confirm something went ok. Yeah…uh, just notify me if it’s broken, please.

A Trip Through The Land Of Magical Realism – I’ve only been able to see a teeny tiny bit of Colombia (13, 14, 15), and it. is. awsum.

This has me wishing I could do the grand tour!

How Companies Can Unlock Billions With The Value of Code – I think maybe the best advice here is in the “Narrow Your Focus” section. Otherwise, holy Toledo, this stuff is overwhelming.

Beastie Boys Return to Paul’s Boutique – Cool tribute for the Beasties!

They should do something similar at the White Castle where they got thrown out.

Why Nobody Likes To Chew Gum Anymore – I think it’s because we don’t walk as much as we used to. Take away the walking, and you’ve taken away the challenge of gum chewing.

Build Your Own Tech Radar – This would be a great exercise to undertake quarterly as individuals, departments, and entire organization.. Probably well worth the time, and (hopefully not needed) an easy way to reference “I told you sos” later.

16 Cultural Critiques Every Man Should Read – I should spend less time reading blog posts about books I should read, and more time reading books. Too many options. Too many options.

Luckily, I’ve been able to check a couple of these off already.

Daily Reading List — January 17th

January 17, 2014 / Scott / 0 Comments

NCAA Welcomes Women’s Triathlon – A little bit of a different view here from me, but I can't imagine why you'd want the NCAA involved in your favorite sport. Stay away from my beer pong.

Steven Lord Blog: The Rhythm Of Life (and drafting) – I see people drafting in races all the time. And I really don't give a ladybug if they do it. Eventually, this is going to result in a really big pileup in a really big race. Besides, virtue is its own reward.

From Victim to Villain in a flash – As they are fond of hollering in East Tennessee — "Git off the rowed!"

I <3 Trainerroad.

6 Simple Habits To Keep You Consistently Happy Every Day – All very easy to do. I'd add another–Just.Slow.Down. That probably falls under disengagement.

Narcissists tweet more often and crave followers on Twitter – So younger narcissists are more likely to post to twitter, and middle aged narcissists are more likely to update Facebook.

Unanswered questions here: what about middle aged people who update twitter a lot? Was Instagram even considered in the narcissism scale, out did they run out of space to measure it there?

10 Tips for Dating a Single Mom – Hilarious. Read the comments first, then go back and read the article. The comments are pure gold. Gold Jerry!

Van Halen’s 1984 Turns 30 Today — How Does It Hold Up? – Best quote from this whole (incredibly good) post:

"Does it ['Panama'] hold up? Embarrassing question. Yes, it holds up. It might be holding this entire goddamned country up."

Happy People Count Their Current and Future Blessings – "View living a spartan lifestyle as temporary, merely a prerequisite to joining the ranks of the socioeconomic achievers in America."

This is Sparta!

Daily Reading List — September 6th

September 6, 2013 / Scott / 0 Comments

The student loan bubble is starting to burst – HT @instapundit People will still be able to take equity loans against their homes to pay for their kids' college, right? Assumption is that they have equity. #creditbad

Why The Perfect Nap Makes For The Perfect Workday – I was once asked in a job interview about the single thing I'd change about every job I've ever had. I instantly replied, "I'd implement a post-lunch nap."

Whatever helps you get work done effectively.

$10,000 bike disappears from Ottawa event – Worse than keying Vincent Vega's car.

Key West may impose $50 fine for vomiting in cab – Adjust your travel plans accordingly. I think I'm out regardless of whether or not this passes.

Daily Reading List — August 26th

August 26, 2013 / Scott / 0 Comments

A letter to our online readers from our publisher – I've really missed Billie's comments for a long time. This is the final nail in that Cherokeep's coffin. 🙁

Pizza delivery man shoots, kills attempted robbery suspect – I had a friend back in the day who was robbed and shot while delivering pizza. Thankfully, he made a full recovery, but it was a long hard road. This outcome would have preferable to me. Word to the 321.

ZenTri Podcast 536 – What is Zen? – If you only listen to one podcast today about how Eastern philosophy can influence your training, make sure this is the one.

And…even if you aren't a triathlete but you'd to hear some plain talk ideas on how to get a little more clarity in general, you may dig this episode.

4 Reasons To Love Your Work – I'm batting .750 here. I'll take it. That part where you "actually like meetings" is a tall order.

Daily Reading List — May 26th

May 26, 2013 / Scott / 0 Comments

Sitting is the new smoking? I hope lying down is the new sitting. That’s the kind of gig I’ve been looking for. –

Student wins science fair with 30-second phone battery charger – More of this please

What Do Unschoolers Do All Day? – I've learned so much about birds and fire ants from my 5yo. Thanks #unskooling!

Wealthy Manhattan moms hire handicapped tour guides to bypass lines at Disney World – NYPOST.com – I don't doubt this for a second. The density of those scooters in the parks is amazing.

Daily Reading List — March 29th

March 29, 2013 / Scott / 0 Comments

Bike Trainer Workouts for Every Distance – Been kinda going on my own so far this season. Race in a few weeks, then going to focus on Sprint for a while before ramping up to another 70.3 in the Fall.

Unfit for Work: The startling rise of disability in America | Planet Money – A person on welfare costs a state money. That same resident on disability doesn't cost the state a cent, because the federal government covers the entire bill for people on disability. So states can save money by shifting people from welfare to disability. And the Public Consulting Group is glad to help.

Higher Ed bubble in two charts – Lots of graveyard whistling going on around this topic.

HBO Mulls Making HBO Go Available to Non-Cable Subscribers – Sign us up.

Haven’t Link Dumped In A While

December 28, 2012 / Scott / 0 Comments

The Age Of Data Wars Dawns

Cool Ironman Kona Infographic – Check out the decrease in bike/run splits. And the fairly level swim splits.

The Future Of Working From Home – Things are definitely moving this way. I’m pretty sure if I had to go back to a normal office situation, I’d struggle with it.

Chrissie Wellington: The Mind Over Body Battle – And you think you suffer? Love hearing how this affects even the super-humans.

Easily Monitor and Manage all of your WordPress Sites with WP Remote – Thanks to @mwender for this one. Great time saver

Google Turns Turtle and Takes Street View Underwater – Coming soon to iPhone5!

Alternative ways to ride The Downward Spiral – I created a Spotify playlist based on this. A couple of the songs weren’t in Spotify, but I found some good substitutes. Just reading this makes me afeared.

Whoa, Dude, Are We Inside a Computer Right Now? – Is it wrong that this seems completely reasonable (and likely) to me?

Solo or Group? Train Your Way – I’ve been opting for the solo route a lot lately. It’s quiet.

How To Determine Your Long Run Training For Any Triathlon Distance – Some really good info here. It’s hard to train for a distance event and fill like you got enough running in. The truth is, you really just can’t, but you can get the optimal amount.

Accessing SharePoint Lists with SQL Server Integration Services SSIS 2005 –

Raising Children To Become Productive Adults – In short, walk it like you talk it. Applies to pretty much everything in life.

Simple Tips to Help Your Grocery Budget – As always, thanks to @couponkatie for all the amazing tips and deals she points us to!

A Glass All Empty – When your S.O. gets on the wagon. Both of us are for the most part…one due to pregnancy and nursing, the other due to choosing brownie calories over beer calories. Must to get faster, and those calories slows me down.

An Unexpected Ass Kicking | Blog Of Impossible Things

It’s About The Children, Not The Farmers

December 1, 2011 / Scott / 0 Comments

Proposed rule changes by the Labor Department may be bad for farmers, but they are worse for kids.

We never owned a farm when I was growing up, but I knew plenty of people who did. Having the opportunity to do farm work at a young age is one of the single biggest advantages I’ve had in life, second only to being as handsome as ten movie stars.

That was a joke.

First of all, it gave me the opportunity at an early age to learn about working to earn something. Most of the time I was paid by how much work I did, not how many hours I worked. The harder you worked or the more desired skills you possessed, the more you could earn. Example: suckering tobacco doesn’t pay nearly as much as cutting and spiking tobacco. I learned the lesson my first year of working tobacco for a family friend. I showed up the next year anxious to cut.

Secondly, I learned the difference between “working” and “working hard”. I learned this mostly from my Uncle Fred. My dad (he was actually my dad’s uncle) had already told me that this old man could outwork anybody he knew, and he lived up to his reputation the first day he hired me on. Lucky for me the other two guys working with us were grown men with a knack for laziness. I could easily outpace them, so he wasn’t too hard on me. But I did get to hear his opinion of people like them while we were waiting on them to finish their work, and I knew I didn’t want anyone to talk about me that way if I could help it.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Working hard at an early age is good for the body, mind, and soul. If nothing else it can give kids the motivation to make the most of their education so they don’t have to spend their lives doing back-breaking labor. I’m talking about kids 11 and 12 years old and up here, not babies.

Why would anyone want to deny kids the right…yeah, I called it a right…to learn these lessons, earn their own money, and actually get outside and do something productive?

Let me put it on tougher terms–these are the kids you are going to be depending on to go out and hit it hard all day to pay your social security (or whatever sort of safety net exists at that point).

We are getting soft.

This is the part that really gets me:

Furthermore, most 14- and 15-year-old workers would be prevented from operating any tractor, all-terrain vehicle, milking machine, or lawn mower. Now, exemptions exist that allow them to operate such equipment given they complete a 24 hour safety course…

My safety course for driving a tractor consisted of “You know how to work a riding mower don’t you?”. It was sort of implied that if I wrecked my Uncle Fred’s tractor and survived, my safety would be in danger.

[Image Credit]

Gettin’ After It!