ThongCharm

We've Moved!

2012-01-03T20:05:00.001-05:00

Loyal Readers -- One final reminder that we have moved to thongcharm.tumblr.com. I have set the redirect from www.thongcharm.com -- so that link should continue to work. Thanks for sticking with us!--Lilac and Priya

We have a new Blog

2011-11-22T00:13:00.001-05:00

Pardon our schizophrenia as we move to a new blog on TUMBLR. Insert happy la la music here. Finally I will no longer have Tumblr envy!http://thongcharm.tumblr.com/

Doctor's Offices Pet Peeves

2011-11-17T18:09:00.003-05:00

Perhaps because I'm a business person I like to see things run professionally. It just scares me when:The doctor doubles as receptionist.The receptionist speaks loudly, yells at you and also does not enunciate her words (actually this one has happened multiple times). The doctor's office requires you to come in-person to fix medical billing errors to talk with some guy named Steve who sits at

Forward me that email?

2011-11-11T11:43:00.001-05:00

Back when I worked with Molson, so many years ago (Hi Molson!), we set up a system. No article was ever forwarded without a succinct 1-sentence description of why you should care. Why? Because a link and a "this is cool" subject line is absolutely useless. On a plane, I get no access to it - and in consulting this was a significant amount of my timeHalf the articles written on earth seem to

Bureaucracy, as defined by Pynchon

2011-11-10T06:19:00.002-05:00

As I continue in my unending quest to read all Thomas Pynchon books ever written, enjoy this particular line from Gravity's Rainbow. The scene - a mental/research institution called the White Visitation. The issue - that one Brigadier Pudding might be shutting down Pointsman's pavlovian program. The program - a series of surreptitious tests on a man who has an uncanny ability to predict where

You Rang?

2011-11-09T10:08:00.001-05:00

I'm in a funny position in my company. As the product marketer of the cheese, I actually tend to know a lot about the entire cheese process. To many people, I'm the only person marketing cheese - they don't know that there's a cheese advertising division placing "MooNow!" ads on Facebook and a cheese analyst interface decision, trying to woo the good people of Food & Wine and Gourmet magazine. I

Party on the A Train

2011-11-06T08:29:00.002-05:00

A Train, 6:30 PM, Saturday Night1st - 6 teenagers clap and sing in a circle while their friends take turns doing half hearted dance moves in the circlethey leavenext stop - A guy with an accordian gets on, plays a few lackluster notes and then his 10 year old son goes around collecting moneythey leavenext stop - A very large man dressed as an african magi gets on, saying something about something

there must be an art

2011-10-27T22:33:00.001-05:00

to speaking to someone in their language, but not speaking to them on their terms

Lifetime Movie Network vs. Bollywood

2011-10-24T21:18:00.003-05:00

I recently watched some movie on LMN. Here is what happened and here is the Bollywood equivalent in italics. Don't ask me the name of the movie, I don't know.* A woman, let's call her Kim, is picking up her nephew from school he is hit by a car and dies.(Bollywood translation: A stuck up, citified woman is having her driver pick up her nephew from school, they have a car accident with an

Becoming a Celebrity Chef

2011-10-22T07:10:00.001-05:00

I watch a LOT of cooking television, so Mario and Gordon and Morimoto-san and Bobby, and all those folks are regulars in my house. I've learned almost nothing from them (Alton Brown, however...) but I've often wondered about their path to greatness. Not just to great chef-hood, but to becoming celebrity. And for those of you watching the popcorn pop on this blog... rest assured, this is a

Full-Assed

2011-10-21T08:53:00.000-05:00

As a coda to yesterday's blog regarding half-assed performance, I just realized I was experiencing the flip side:Someone typically reliable, efficient and effective dropped a ball - or, perhaps more accurately, failed to complete a pass. The new cheese graphic (white, not yellow, to reflect the changing taste of cheese consumers) was not approved by the Bovine Council - and now we're in a rush

you know what? ok, fine

2011-10-21T07:39:00.002-05:00

I for one found it mostly revolting that a dictator died, and there wasn't an ounce of remorse or humanity shown in his death. Ok sure, yes, the guy was a horrific dictator. But just in terms of him as a person, as a human being, wasn't anyone capable of saying "bless his soul, he was a troubled individual" or something? I watched the reporter from the Independent News try to fight her gleeful

Half-Assed

2011-10-20T21:28:00.001-05:00

There's a lot of stupid work out there. And sometimes there's important work out there. But, if you're getting paid, presumably you're being paid to do something. Now, I'm the first fan of automation -- but not everything can be automated. And so, we have you, Ms. Employee or Mr. Employee - and your job is to infuse your position with a mild amount of thought. Not a lot. Just enough. For

ALL CAPS

2011-10-20T17:12:00.001-05:00

I find myself using ALL CAPS, WAY TOO FREQUENTLY as a way to emphasize certain words or phrases. When did Bold Text fall out of favor?

We Didn't Start the Fire

2011-10-16T19:08:00.002-05:00

In tribute to my lunch with my dear friend M, may I remind everyone during this Diwali season to not set any indoor areas on fire with diya lamps or firecrackers. Especially not conference rooms in office buildings. That is all.

One Ball

2011-10-13T14:02:00.001-05:00

Part of the show in popcorn season is the annual games of strength. Not unlike a greek olympiad or a strongman competition, all the contenders have to take the field and prove their mettle in the ring. Much grunting is involved - and more than a little posturing. And, as anyone who has even seen advertising for a prize fight can attest, half the game is a psychological preamble to the actual

Industrial-Sized Popcorn

2011-10-13T07:39:00.001-05:00

I wish I could go into the convoluted detail behind why now is the dawning of popcorn season at my company. Popcorn season was coined at a time when my startup was imploding - though it took it almost a whole year to actually die. Popcorn seasons are chunks of time when the organizational dynamics are far stronger than any logical working patterns. Reality, strategy, and often even tactical

Bring Back Piece Rates

2011-10-12T18:55:00.004-05:00

It occurs to me that the lack of an assembly line type, manufacturing like system is what gets us office workers into such a state of chronic overwork and stress. If I may reminisce back to business school for one moment, I would recall for you the Lincoln Electric case, where-in, workers needed to be measured on piece rates as a measure of productivity. (Or something like that... it was the

Ripples of Possibility

2011-10-10T21:01:00.003-05:00

Finally things are looking up a bit! Went for a nice easy run after 1.5 months off due to injury. Jay Cutler can finally play offense tonight on MNF. It's 80 degrees. It's Columbus Day. Things are on sale. These things are good.

vocab flourishes

2011-10-04T06:31:00.001-05:00

today i just woke up wanting to say orientated instead of oriented and ironical instead of ironic.

and also

2011-09-29T17:45:00.001-05:00

i need an alien to invent a painkiller that actually works. also it would be great if the alien knew a jewish fish receipe for L

Can I get an alien over here?

2011-09-28T08:52:00.002-05:00

The TV show Ancient Aliens explains that aliens taught ancient people all kinds of things. Like how to start fire. Like how to fly. All I'm asking for is, can the aliens come down to earth and help with my work? Because that would be awesome. I need their help.

Not The Droid You're Looking For

2011-09-27T07:35:00.000-05:00

You know the setup... Obiwan and crew at a traffic checkpoint with storm troopers asking questions about their pair of droids. Obiwan uses the force to put words in the mouths of these intergalactic paramilitary officers, telling them "These are not the droids you're looking for" - knowing full well that they are. We are led to believe it's "the force" that enables this power of persuasion. I'm

Whimsical Clipboardry

2011-09-20T07:28:00.002-05:00

Whimsical Clipboardy is whenThere is a Unicorn on every page of a product requirements document for no reasonInstead of showing a red yellow green status chart with the standard bars or colored in circles, there is a green smiley face, a yellow calm face and a red frown face.

Just Do It

2011-09-14T09:18:00.001-05:00

This week has been a week of watching people fail to execute the most basic of tasks with accuracy. The cheese council failed used a photo of Laughing Cow triangles in place of artisan gouda in our advertising.The Cheese Blend webinar series coordinators failed to send out the meeting information to the presenters I just got a list of our cheese product offerings that, on its surface, pretends