Strategize

Serket Telson Watch

2009-07-13T11:01:00.002-06:00

Serket, maker of some of the coolest boutique watches in America and owned by a friend of mine, has just released its newest model: Telson.

The Telson is a big watch at 48mm, but unlike Serket's previous two diver-style models, the Telson is a more straightforward and classy design. Additionally, unlike previous models, the Telson is available with different colors in the face: white, blue, and yellow (shown here).

Like the previous Reef Diver 2.0, the Telson has an exhibition back that shows off the Cotes D' Geneve mechanism, which is an extraordinarily dependable manual Swiss mechanism. The watch ships with both a black leather band and a stainless steel strap; the leather strap is pictured above in both shots.

As usual with the Serket collections, only 200 of each collection is produced, so not only do you get a high-quality, beautifully designed watch with a manual Swiss mechanism, but you also get a limited production piece of art.

Link

Book Review: Who's Got Your Back?

2009-07-08T08:48:00.002-06:00

I didn't (haven't yet) read Keith Ferrazi's first book, Never Eat Alone. It's sitting here on my shelf (I can see it), but I never cracked it; it was an unfortunate victim of my shift to strictly electronic books and so it's sort of been caught in limbo (sorry, Keith).

Keith's new book, Who's Got Your Back?, had dropped across my radar after reading about it on some blogs, but it wasn't until I listened to Keith's appearance on the first Author Teleseminar with Seth Godin and some others that I knew that I wanted to read the book. In the recording that I was listening to, Keith was talking about "lifeline relationships", the success of forums at the YPO and EO, and how important it is to have strong, trusting group relationships that encourage success and mitigate failure. The timing was interesting for me because I've been evaluating joining groups such as YPO and Vistage, along with re-evaluating the dynamics of interaction within my company.

This book sat on the list on my Kindle for a few days and jumped into it at the gym I couldn't put it down. Unlike some business books that are compelling for the first few pages and then spend the remaining hundred plus pages hammering home the same point, Keith provides useful content and real-world examples throughout the course of the book. Although many other reviewers have criticized Keith for gratuitous name dropping throughout the book, I look at the name dropping as affirmation that Keith is presenting sound concepts that are agreed to be powerful people throughout the world.

There is a good mix of tactical and actionable steps along with theory and real-world examples that make this book one that I will continue to come back to as a strong reference tool. For me personally, I was able to use the book not only to understand more completely how my business teams could be incredibly stronger through lifeline relationships, but also how much I am missing those same kinds of relationships outside my organization; it also helped me more fully realize the value of professional organizations such as Vistage and the YPO (not that you necessarily need them, but it does make you more fully understand what they are trying to accomplish).

Whether you fully embrace everything that Keith has to say in his book is entirely up to you. However, even if you don't believe all of it, there are some worthwhile take-aways:

Four Mindsets to building lifeline relationships: intimacy, generosity, vulnerability, and candor. (How many of these mindsets permeate your relationship interactions?)
The need for healthy conflict, what Keith terms "sparring".
Active listening and the importance of engaging in it.
Leading by example.
Happiness and meaning in what you are doing; following dreams.
Commitment, accountability, and ownership.
The dramatic importance of teams vs. flying solo -- how a team working together can produce vastly greater results than individuals working separately.

There's a lot more than the list above, of course, but my guess is that everything above is enough to get you to read the book. Here's the main thing that Keith wants you to take away from the book: "I hope you'll take away the idea that there is great power in vulnerability (the one mind-set with a bad rap)." My guess is that if you are like me, you never thought of vulnerability as a powerful leadership characteristic -- go pick up a copy of the book.

Kindle version available.

Link -- Amazon

Link -- Kindle version

Link -- Keith Ferrazzi promotion for buying 3 copies (free teleseminar and other items)

PS -- outside of how I will apply the principles of this book in the company where I work, the big thing that this book did was help me crystallize some thoughts that I have had for many years about a vacuum in my industry and provided a road map for creating a group, organization, whatever you want to call it to fill the vacuum. I'm excited about the project and I've invited some really talented people to help me with it. It will start out small (5-6 people to begin with) and will scale from there; I hope to share the project and process with you on this blog at some point in the future.

Book Review: Ignore Everybody

2009-06-18T15:48:00.003-06:00

I've been following the growth of Hugh MacLeod through his blog, gaping void. I've always known Hugh as a guy that produces insightful blog posts and the guy that draws cartoons on the back of business cards. Hugh's drawings are cool and provocative and cause conversations; I have a number of them printed out in larger size and posted in my office to start conversations.

Hugh took a blog post that he wrote entitled "How to be Creative" (also available as a ChangeThis Manifesto), expanded upon it, and turned it into a book. In effect, I had already read a good portion of his book. I was aware Hugh was writing a book because I read his blog and he posted all about it and I follow him on twitter and he's been tweeting about it.

Ignore Everybody is exactly what I expected (hoped) that it would be: unflitered, unpolished, full of cool cartoons, and totally worth reading. I actually downloaded it to my Kindle right before my flight yesterday and read it during the flight with some time to spare (so, yes, it's a quick read).

In reading the book it's clear that Hugh did not compromise much to his editors at the publisher; he made the book the way he wanted it. I like books and blogs and articles that I imagine sound like the author talks and Ignore Everybody strikes me as exactly that kind of book; I could imagine having conversations on the topics in the book with Hugh and the language coming out exactly the same.

This book is not about marketing (though it will give you ideas). This book is not about becoming an artist (though it may inspire you to move along that trajectory). This book is not a tactical manual (it's most definitely not an ordered, step-by-step process). This book is about thinking big and embracing ideas (especially the scary ones) and changing your mindset. And it's about The Sex and Cash Theory, which explains that there are 2 kinds of jobs: the sexy, creative one and the one that pays the bills -- read the book for further definition and why this is dramatically important as you evaluate your current mindset.

This book will push you, hard, outside your envelope in a good way -- I hope that you are like me and you're willing to let it.

Link -- Kindle version

Link -- Hardback version

PS -- this is one of the better graphic-intensive business books to read on the Kindle. Probably due to the fact that all of the graphics are business card-size, which makes them just a little smaller than the width of the screen on a Kindle 2.

A knife sharpener that works for under $10

2009-06-15T15:25:00.002-06:00

I decided to try out the AccuSharp knife sharpener based on the reviews on Amazon. To be honest: it looked to me like it should have had an "As Seen on TV" stamp on it, but for less than $10, I figured it was worth a try. Note that I did not read anything about it except for the glowing reviews.

When I received it, I was even more convinced that it should have been sold as a package with the food dehydrator (yeah, you know what I'm talking about). However, I figured that something that appeared to be so gimmicky couldn't have gotten the reviews it did for no reason, so I gave it a hard look:

The device can sharpen serrated and plain blades, which is a neat trick, considering serrated blades normally require some specialized work.
It's designed to work with the knife blade facing towards you so that you are using gravity to apply pressure against the blade and sharpening surface.
There's a cover over the part of your fingers that might be exposed to the blade if the sharpener slipped.
The sharpener blades are pre-angled and hit both sides of the blade.
The sharpener blades are reversible (i.e., twice the life as would be expected) and replaceable.
Most users average 5-10 years between blade replacements according to the literature -- guess it's not about giving the razor away and selling the blades.

To try it out, I used it on one of my pocket knives that was less than sharp -- within 25 strokes it had a razor edge, which is pretty incredible. Due to the fact that the knife I tried has serrations, I tried it on that portion as well and the AccuSharp put a razor edge on those as well with no special effort.

Besides looking cheap, this is a great knife sharpener to have around (and what do you care what your sharpener looks like as long as it works?).

Link -- AccuSharp via Amazon

Google Apps Sync: Outlook and Google Apps seamlessly

2009-06-10T13:11:00.002-06:00

Google announced and released today a Google Apps Sync, which allows a Windows user with Outlook to seamlessly connect Outlook to Google Apps Premier Edition. Instead of needing to use 3rd party products, employees that use Google Apps can seamlessly sync e-mail, contacts, and calendar data to Google's servers instead of an Exchange server. This software, as I've mentioned, is currently only available for Premiere Edition users, but at a cost of $50 per user per year, it's a small price as compared to yearly costs per user for Exchange.

Has the Exchange server in the computer room just become an artifact for small and medium (and maybe large) businesses?

Link -- Google Apps Sync download page

Phone decisions: N97 vs. iPhone 3Gs

2009-06-10T09:25:00.005-06:00

I keep saving and redrafting and editing this post, so I'm just going to fire it out this morning because it could go on forever if I don't hit the Publish button soon. Here goes:

So if it's going to cost me $699.00 to get a 32GB iPhone 3Gs or $699.00 to get an unlocked Nokia N97, which one do I get? I assumed that there would be a much larger price differential between the 2 and, generally when there's a $300 delta, it's easy to let the decision be made for me; in this case, the cost portion is neutral.

I'll be honest in saying that I have not ever held a N97 in my hands, whereas I am very familiar with the iPhone and a faster processor would be very cool (the rest of the features, such as video, that are not iPhone OS3-based aren't that cool to me as I will receive them as part of the OS3 update on my existing iPhone). Assuming that the N97 is as well made as other Nokia phones that I've used, and knowing that Google Sync is available for Symbian S60 devices, I do start to question which is the better device.

In the past Nokia had made US and non-US versions of its phones, and the US versions were generally crippled for reliable international use by the exclusion of a particular megahertz band, while the non-US versions did not include the most prevalent US frequencies. The N97, by comparison, is a quad band world phone, excluding none of the frequencies used by GSM carriers worldwide.

While both the iPhone and N97 have touchscreens, the N97 is a resistive touchscreen, meaning that it provides tactile resistance when pressed (i.e., it pushes back at you). Unlike the iPhone, the N97 includes a QWERTY keyboard that slides out from under the screen as an alternative to the touchscreen. However, the N97 uses a significantly slower processor (not sure why) than the iPhone 3Gs, which could lead to significant performance hits depending on how the OS handles background processes, simultaneous open programs, etc.

On all other specs, the N97 meets or exceeds the iPhone: 5MP camera vs. 3MP camera for iPhone, 32GB base memory with SD slot for an additional 16GB expansion vs. 32GB non-expandable for iPhone, unlocked GSM phone vs. contract-required iPhone locked to ATT network.

Probably the biggest hit against the N97 is the Apple Application Store. I've only been able to find a very small percentage of the Apps that I frequently use available in the Nokia Ovi Store -- all the apps are being written for the Apple Application Store. As many of you read, I tried to use the BlackBerry Bold and wound up switching back to the iPhone because the Apps were to critical to my daily workflow.

Decisions, decisions.

Link -- N97 on Amazon (for around $600 and available 6/25/09)
Link -- iPhone 3Gs on Apple's site

Did su.pr just win as the status update portal?

2009-06-09T12:34:00.002-06:00

One of my challenges with posting certain content to certain services (Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) was the kludgy way that I had to do it through a mish-mash of various services and through the use of an independent URL shortener. Even with doing all that, my content was only getting on to StumbleUpon is if someone stumbled it.

Su.pr changes the game by allowing me to post content directly to the StumbleUpon population and to choose whether or not to post the same content to Twitter and/or Facebook (no LinkedIn support yet). Furthermore, su.pr is a URL shortener natively, so I get that service without having to use a separate site. Additionally, su.pr allows me to schedule posts into the future, which means more flexibility around shorter posts and microblogs; now I can actually schedule some of that instead of having to think about it throughout the day.

What's really cool is the level of analytics that su.pr provides that shows optimal posting time, click-throughs, etc. for everything; similar to what Google Analytics does, but drilled down to the individual post.

Check it out -- su.pr

Higher utilization of your existing home network wiring

2009-06-05T09:06:00.002-06:00

Wait, do you have a wired network in your home? Yes, everyone does: your electrical system.

Although technology to utilize existing powerlines to extend ethernet, phone lines, and crappy quality audio has been around for a while, a company called Averlogic is supposed to be providing a demo of the following 2 technologies:

DVD-quality high-definition A/V streaming over powerline
IP-based security camera connection via powerline

While the security camera side is slightly less impressive, consider the implications for being able to stream high definition audio and video via an existing power plug in your home. The high definition signal coming out of the receiver can be brought into your television via HDMI or component; HDMI being cooler because you'll receive the audio and video via a single cable (assuming your tv or A/V receiver supports it). Additionally, the receivers include remote controls that allow you to manipulate the transmitter unit (i.e., change the channel, switch between DVD and cable, etc.). In thinking about how I consume video in my house, I rarely, if ever, have multiple televisions going at once and this would allow me to consolidate all of my A/V equipment in the same room as all my computer equipment instead of having multiple satellite TV receivers, multiple DVD players, etc. Furthermore, I would actually save money by reducing the total number of DirecTV receivers that I have and I would be able to access my DVR recordings from all of my tvs.

No word yet on pricing, but imagine how much you could save on recurring monthly fees and custom A/V installer fees.

Link -- press release

They

2009-06-02T15:30:00.004-06:00

They said it couldn't be done.

They said I would never make it.

They said it wouldn't last.

Who are "they"? I look at statements like the ones above and wonder why those statements aren't worded like this:

They said that if anyone could do it, you were the one.

They said it would be hard, but I made it.

They said I could make it last if I wanted it badly enough.

The end result if we constantly find ourselves saying the former statements instead of the latter? Maybe some of us need to find a new "they."

(at least that's what they told me)

Picture from House of Sims

Thanks to Antony Bonavita for the unintentional inspiration

Kindle highlights and notes are now online

2009-05-26T09:43:00.002-06:00

Amazon is finally linking my book notes and highlights from my Kindle to the cloud -- see below:

When I switched from my original Kindle to the Kindle 2, I had to connect the Kindle to a USB cable and pull off my highlights and notes as a TXT file, so I am glad to see that Amazon is now permanently storing and associating notes and highlights to my purchased books. I'll make the assumption that there will be more powerful search and organization features coming soon.

Link

Steamed dumplings in spicy cilantro sauce

2009-05-21T09:41:00.003-06:00

That was a big response; per my Tweet last night, here are some pictures and the recipe for steamed dumplings in spicy cilantro sauce.

You can make dumplings by hand -- there are tons of recipes on the internet on how to do it. Essentially you need to get your hands on some skins (easy to do at an Asian market), make the filling of your choice, and crimp and seal the dumplings. If you're looking for a shortcut, however, simply pick up a bag of the Ling Ling dumplings at Costco (in the freezer section in a bright yellow bag); they go from frozen to steamed perfectly in boiling water in about 5-7 minutes. I used the Ling Ling dumplings last night due to the time restrictions and they always work well with this recipe.

Here's what you need for the spicy cilantro sauce:

1 bunch cilantro chopped fine
Splash sesame oil
Splash rice wine vinegar
Juice from 1 lime
1 scoop of minced garlic (2-3 cloves)
1/2 bunch parsley fine chopped
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2-3 hot peppers diced fine (I use either cilantro or jalapeno, though you could use habanero; I also throw in the seeds for more heat)

You can and should mix the cilantro sauce in a mixing bowl 30-60 minutes prior to making the dish -- the longer the mix sits with everything combined, the better the flavors combine. If you want, you can shortcut the chopping and dicing process by just throwing everything into a food processor and letting it to the work. I let the sauce sit at room temperature instead of putting it in the fridge, but if you're storing the sauce or making it well ahead of time, it's probably a good idea to refrigerate it.

Regardless of whether you made the dumplings or are using frozen dumplings, all you need to do is steam them so that the skins are soft and the inside filling is hot and cooked. I'll assume that you are using frozen dumplings for the purpose of this post, so get a pot of water boiling and put in the dumplings once it is boiling. Generally the dumplings only need to cook for 5-7 minutes in the boiling water, but that depends on the size of your pot and how many you are cooking -- you can check tenderness with a fork. Once you put the dumplings in, get a large mixing bowl and dump the sauce in the bottom; you're going to be moving all the dumplings into this, so it needs to be large enough to hold them and allow you mix them around.

Remove the dumplings once cooked, drain out all of the water, and put them into the sauce hot. Mix the dumplings into the sauce until they are evenly coated, taking care not to break the dumplings open with your mixing spoon when you are mixing. After you have a good coat on the dumplings, you want to get a large plate or platter and pour out the dumplings and any remaining sauce.

If you are eating this as a main entree, a good rule of thumb is 8-10 dumplings per person; as an appetizer a good rule of thumb is 3-4 dumplings per person.

Amazon Web Services betas physical import/export

2009-05-21T08:30:00.002-06:00

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is launching a beta program that allows you to send a physical hard drive for data import to or export from the Standard Storage Solution (S3) program. This is an interesting solution for those that want to get large amounts of data into or out of S3, but do not want to waste the time and bandwidth to do so.

Pricing and specifications are included in the link below.

Link

My Neat scanner isn't so neat right now

2009-05-19T14:32:00.002-06:00

It's not liking scanning more than 1 page any more; it just hangs after the first page with both lights blinking and I have to restart the machine to get it going again. Not a productive environment, especially given what I was trying to accomplish with it.

I sent Neatco an e-mail this morning and, to their credit, they did get back to me this afternoon with this response:

Ross,

This is a known issue with our software and we are working hard on a fix. As a workaround, we've found that setting the scanner to scan Double-sided helps to reduce the crashing. Also, if you do have a crash with this scanner, instead of rebooting, unplug the scanner and go to Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor. In there, select Neat ADF Scanner and click on Quit Process. Wait 10 seconds and plug the scanner back into the computer. We're sorry about the inconvenience and we hope to have a fix out there soon.

Thank you,

Ok, am I using a Mac device or has someone somehow switched my operating system to Windows? Seriously, don't the instructions above sound like something you'd have to do with Task Manager in XP?

Guess I'll try this tonight; sure hope that the software automatically deletes the blank page backs from the double-sided scanning.

Book Review: Rules of Thumb

2009-05-19T08:56:00.002-06:00

Full Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review.

Additional Disclosure: I had already purchased this book myself before I received the free copy.

I remember the first issue of Fast Company: it came out in 1995, just before I started business school in 1996. What I remember most about the magazine as I read it during business school was how interesting and real the stories were, how much they talked about failure and success, and how much different and more relevant the stories were than what I was learning in class. There were many times that I ripped stories out of the magazine and brought them to classes to start discussions (some professors appreciated it, other did not). Fast Company introduced me to Seth Godin, got me more interested in Tom Peters, and made me aware of companies that generally weren't discussed in my classes until 6-12 months after I had already read about them. While I was forced to read Fortune for many of my classes, I chose (at my own expense) to read Fast Company.

Yes, this is a book review. It's a review of Rules of Thumb by Alan Webber, one of the two guys that started Fast Company (now all that stuff above about Fast Company makes sense, doesn't it?). As I stated above, I had already purchased the book before being contacted to review, though I probably would have done so regardless of whether I had been contacted for a review or not.

Put simply: this is a great book; it belongs on the bookshelf, desk, nightstand of every person in business today. The rules of thumb that the book provides are succinct and understandable without really needing to read the chapter -- you can skip to the last few pages of the book and rip out all of the rules in 3 pages, pages 265-267 (you can tell by the graphic with the scissors and perforation marks that these pages are designed to be removed). However, if you skip to doing this, you miss the greatest part of the book: stories and context.

Each rule of thumb is accompanied by a story, something that makes it real, something that makes it come to life. Following each story is a "so what?", in which Webber provides further context and information as why the rule of thumb is important. I'll jump off topic here for a moment and jump back in time to high school where I had a great English teacher that used to write SO WHAT? in big, red, capital letter across the first page of papers and make us re-write them. It took us all a while to realize that by doing that, he was turning us into great writers: we had to explain, had to take a position, had to make an argument, had to make the writing compelling. Jumping back to Webber's book: his adding in the "so what?" makes what could potentially be a good business book an extraordinary business book.

Webber makes no bones about the fact that all of the rules of thumb won't be applicable to everyone right now -- he encourages readers to pay attention to the ones that mean something to them now and to revisit the book later (weeks, months, years) and see what applies and doesn't apply in the future as situations and lives change. I will admit that most of the rules of thumb hit a chord with me, but some of them didn't, so I've gone back to those that didn't to try and figure out why; not that I feel like a failure for them not applying, but Webber's got many more years of experience and knowledge than me and I want to make sure I'm not missing something.

Normally in my book reviews I quote some lessons and main ideas, which is not quite that easy with this book because there are 52 lessons and main ideas. You'll just have to trust me in saying that this is a book you should go buy and read and keep and refer back to. A lot of people might say that the content in the book is common (business) sense, but the longer I live, the more I realize that common sense is just not that common; it's never a bad thing to reinforce what you believe to be common sense.

Kindle version available (and that's how I read it)

Link -- Amazon

PS -- rule 53 is wide open and Webber provides some ideas on a framework for us to start developing and collecting our own rules.

10.5.7 update

2009-05-15T10:10:00.002-06:00

Although I've seen reports by others of problems with major Apple updates, I've never had a problem . . . until today.

Instead of using Software Update, I actually downloaded the updater from Apple's site -- took about a hour on a T1. I ran the updater, restarted, and my computer went into an infinitely looping blue screen on my Cinema Display.

Since I figured I was screwed regardless, I opened up my laptop, held down the power button to force a power down, hit the power switch to power up, and ran an errand for about 15 minutes. When I returned, I was presented with the login screen, but my Cinema Display wasn't displaying a picture. I logged in, ran a disk permission repair, restarted, and everything was good.

Now that I'm back up, I did a little Googling and it appears that my problem is not uncommon, so I would suggest doing a little searching yourself and arming yourself with some potential troubleshooting solutions before you run the update.

Good luck.

This blog will be available in the Kindle Store

2009-05-14T08:40:00.002-06:00

(in about 48-72 hours)

Used to be that only the "big" blogs were available for subscription on the Kindle -- Amazon has now opened it up to anyone (i.e., me) willing to go through the effort to publish their blog through the Kindle front-end.

Unfortunately there's no direct link that you can follow to get it, but take a look in the next 2 or 3 days.

What I will do is provide a link for other blogs that wish to do the same thing:

Link -- Kindle Publishing

Book Review: The Think Big Manifesto

2009-05-13T15:47:00.002-06:00

I've enjoyed Michael Port's books in the past, so I was very interested to read his new book, The Think Big Manifesto.

Let me start off by saying that this book is a pretty radical departure from Michael's previous books. This is not a book with concrete lists of action steps at the end of each chapter, rather it is book that challenges you to change every aspect of your life; it is a book about thinking bigger than you are now about every aspect of your life, including your work.

It's interesting to hear Michael admit some of his fears and small thinking as he was writing the book . . . and how he got past those issues by thinking big. I like that he takes large departures from traditional writing modes by doing things such as using Fibonacci numbers to enumerate points instead of the traditional 1-10 list.

This is not necessarily a self-help book, but it is certainly a worthwhile read.

Think (big) about this not being a hard and fast system, but rather a thinking big framework about thinking big.

Kindle edition available.

Link

"Hey bud . . ."

2009-05-13T10:27:00.002-06:00

What's happened with addressing people you don't know? Are people just unsure of how to address someone these days?

These seem to be the popular greetings these days:

"Hey bud . . ." (my name is not "Bud")
"Hey brother . . ." (you're not my brother, I don't have a brother)
"Hey bro . . ." (see comment in parenthesis above)
"Hey man . . ." (yes, I am a man)
" " (just starting talking to me, especially when not looking me in the eye is not effective)

What's amazing is how we seem to have lost the simple fallbacks of "sir" and "ma'am". To be clear: this hasn't been lost in some states in the South or by some customer service organizations, but, in general, it seems to be the exception rather than the rule. Further, you are very (very) unlikely to upset me (or any other man) by defaulting to "sir".

If all I did was make you pay attention to this and to think about your interactions, then, dude, I declare this mission complete.

Polite doesn't cost a thing.

The value equation

2009-05-12T07:56:00.003-06:00

I was reading this post by Seth Godin about what he terms as the "value fraction", which is this simple mathematical argument:

Value = benefit/cost

As Seth correctly points out, there are 2 ways to have a net positive impact on this equation:

Decrease cost. This is what everyone seems to be doing these days.
Increase the benefit. This is what fewer people seem to be doing these days.

This equation is mostly applied to the consumer: the consumer wants a better value. However, this equation is equally as applicable to anything where value is required, including your job. If you work for someone else, chances are good that you do not want the cost (i.e., your pay, salary, etc.) to go down, so you need to focus on the benefit you provide to show a higher value.

The equation is easy, the math is simple . . . it's the execution that can be challenging.

Sake-glazed lamb chops with cilantro-mint vinaigrette

2009-05-11T10:56:00.004-06:00

Ok, based on response to my Tweet about it last night, here's how to make the sake-glazed lamb chops with cilantro-mint vinaigrette.

Depending on how many people you're feeding, you'll want to get 4-6 chops per person. Costco actually has surprisingly good chops at a pretty reasonable price under the Kirkland brand -- you can generally find them in their meat section.

Once you're home with the rack of chops, you need to cut them down into individual chops. Use a sharp knife and cut in between the chop bones; use careful and sure strokes so that you don't mangle the meat as you cut it. Once you have them cut down, you will see a fat cap on the bone side of the chop -- cut off just the cap (i.e., only the portion covering the bone, not the portion covering the meat).

For the marinade, combine the following ingredients in a large zip bag with the chops:

1 cup sweet sake (doesn't need to be premium sake)
1 cup soy sauce
Dried chili flakes (I usually just dump in a bunch -- maybe a tablespoon)
1-2 tablespoons minced garlic (2-3 cloves if you're doing it that way)
1 minced shallot
1 tablespoon sesame oil

You want the chops to marinade for a couple of hours at least -- the longer they marinade, the better the chops will be.

In a food processor, combine the following for the vinaigrette:

3/4 bunch of cilantro
Full handful of mint leaves
3/4 bunch of parsley
Chili oil (I pour liberally, but it's up to your heat tolerance)
Fresh ginger
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup peanut oil

Mix with the food processor until you get a salad dressing consistency with the bits of the greens still visible.

I made this with some sushi rice on the side, drizzled with the vinaigrette -- the rice or other sides are optional.

Cook the lamb until rare or medium rare on a grill. Let cool for a few minutes and place in a bed of the vinaigrette with a little more vinaigrette drizzled on top (I generally serve a bowl of the vinaigrette on the side as well).

Best eaten by simply picking the chop up -- fork and knife are not required for the lamb.

This is inspired by the famous lamb chops at Chinois on Main in Santa Monica.

Wireless carrier voicemail

2009-05-11T08:45:00.002-06:00

I don't use Visual Voicemail on my iPhone. Haven't used it since I got it, don't need it, never plan on using it. In fact, I pay PhoneTag so that I don't have to use it -- when you call my cell phone, if I do not pick up, it actually forwards to the PhoneTag system to transcribe your voicemail for me (technically I use a combination of Google Voice and PhoneTage depending on the number you call, but explaining that would be confusing), so I truly use no capacity in the AT&T voicemail system.

What's interesting to me is that the iPhone data plan includes Visual Voicemail, which presume means that there is some sort of related value -- $3, $4, $5 per month? Actually, AT&T (whenever they launch it) is rumored to be charging $2.99 per month for Visual Voicemail on the BlackBerry, so let's call it $3 per month or $36 per year; that's a pretty good amount for me to put against my PhoneTag service -- it would contribute about 1/3 the cost.

Of course, AT&T won't give me a $3 per month discount even though I've never even initialized the Visual Voicemail service; the cost is just part of the data plan package for the iPhone whether I use it or not.

Perhaps they should make the Visual Voicemal an a la carte option with the next generation iPhone.

PS -- if you're looking for a more productive voicemail solution, I highly recommend trying PhoneTag out (this link will give you a 30-day free trial)

always make new mistakes

2009-05-04T15:24:00.002-06:00

Refrigerator magnet with the quote from Esther Dyson:

Buy it here

Good stuff.

Stuck

2009-05-04T15:01:00.002-06:00

If you're stuck, read these tips from Seth Godin to try to get unstuck.

It's not that hard folks.

Link

Picture from gonzalo_ar

10 Rules of Client Service

2009-05-01T09:06:00.002-06:00

Check out this e-book by Matthew Homann at the [non] billable hour -- just a great, quick primer on providing extraordinary client service. Sure, it's aimed at lawyers, but you can remove the word "lawyer" in the text and insert your service instead.

Link

Scared

2009-04-28T08:27:00.003-06:00

Chances are good that you are scared. Scared about your job, scared about the value of your home, scared about your investments. It's ok to be scared, but it's very worth turning scared into an opportunity. I would argue that scared is the best opportunity, especially as it relates to your job.

Let's be honest: even once the economy recovers, things are probably not ever going to be the same. Once it's been proven that profitability can be achieved with less people doing more things, most will not quickly go back to excess. How are you reacting to this? If you are continuing to do just enough to get by, you are probably really scared and very likely with good reason: 80% is no longer good enough (for that matter, many of you are probably being asked to or finding that you need to give 110%).

You are easily replaceable in your job because there so many people that don't have one. The focus has never been stronger on what you are achieving on a daily (hourly?) basis because your boss and your customers want high value for their dollar. If you only do the right thing when someone is watching, if you strive for nothing better than mediocrity, if you do as little as possible to just get by . . . it has never been more likely that you'll get noticed and not in a good way.

It's possible that you're lucky. It's possible that you have someone other than yourself (customer, boss, mentor, etc.) leading you that pushes you hard so that you provide high value. The push can make you scared because it can be intimidating and the intimidation may create fear. (i.e., make you more scared) Here's the thing: you wouldn't feel scared if you were already performing at high value. Think about it: if you stepped back from yourself and looked as an independent third party, would you be able to say that you performed at high value every hour? It's one thing to say that you are a high value employee or business owner or service provider, but it's quite another to prove it through observable action.

High value, 110%, however you describe it, may seem unsustainable. I disagree. It is sustainable with proper care and feeding. If you have someone pushing, hopefully whomever that is makes themself available as a resource, allows you to fail as long as you learn, and pushes you to balance your life between your high value work and your personal side. If you're pushing yourself, you have to be careful not to lose yourself to your work or burn yourself out.

It's ok to be scared, but use scared as an opportunity.

Picture from Melissa Segal