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Attention to Detail (A Work-Related Post)

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

It's unfortunate (or ironic) that the photo makes it difficult to see, but this was a stage at an event we attended this past weekend. A speaker from the stage was talking about how they're the "city of parades" and if you look on the local culture website, you'll see they host a lot of events. Impressive, really. (This doesn't look well attended, but it was late in the afternoon, there had been intermittent rain and there was lots of other stuff going on -- there was definitely lots of people in attendance. Even some stuff that really resonated with our autistic son. A really great event.)

The problem here are the two large banners flanking the stage. The banners proclaim the city's name in large letters, there were a number of them throughout the event. However, these two are both backwards.

So they put on a show, but it's surprising that no one noticed that these had been erected backwards or flipped around. (It's wasn't particularly windy that I can recall.)

But I suspect that there were a lot of event coordinators wandering around, but this didn't get fixed.

It's minor, but it's a part of your brand.

Have you put someone in charge of the minor details?

Week 8 (Tuesday)

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:09:00 +0000

Week-at-a-Glance (May 20-26)

Weight: 153.9 as of 05/08 (9.3 to go) [Goal for Friday - 152.5 or less]

Exercise (week): Walk: 3 (4.2 miles) [goal: 12 miles]
Jumping Jacks: 150 [goal: 350] // Situps: 60 [goal: 150] // Pushups: 60 [goal: 150]

Remember the Milk: 25 repeating + M 23; T 18; W 15; R 10; F 8; A 46; S 61 (175r+181nr)

Tuesday, May 20 - 10:09 pm - Another good day. Worked from home in the afternoon so we could have a plumber come and look at an issue. Wasn't sure if it was going to be a big deal or not - grateful to learn it was actually quite minor. There's a point in the future where I'll need to rip out some drywall and insulation. Won't be easy to fix, but I think I can do it. I didn't finish all the stuff I had on my list, but I did some other stuff, some big stuff. Weighed myself and was disappointed with the results, so not updating the chart. Maybe tomorrow.
Lose-It: 1,659 calories available; 1,619 consumed; 369 earned exercise; 409 remaining.

Email: 36 (Inbox: 5; Mailbox: 31) // Feedly: 214 // TED Talks: 2

Remember the Milk: 51 completed; 7 items postponed

Remember the Milk this week: 115 completed (164 remain)
Reading since last night: 20 minutes book, 20 minutes magazine
Bed last night: 11:35 pm

Monday, May 20 - 10:46 pm - Good first day - though it feels more like Wednesday than Monday. Tasks completed exceeds starting amount because I did some from later in the week and because some tasks I did more than once. Things look better in a number of categories, but not email. Yikes. I'll try to get a walk in tomorrow, but I have to be at home in the afternoon for the plumbers, so not sure if I'll hav time to get one in tomorrow.
Lose-It: 1,659 calories available; 1,288 consumed; 584 earned exercise; 955 remaining.

Email: 42 (Inbox: 7; Mailbox: 35) // Feedly: 97 // TED Talks: 2

Remember the Milk: 64 completed; zero! items postponed

Remember the Milk this week: 64 completed (180 remain)
Reading since last night: 10 minutes book, 10 minutes magazine
Bed last night: 11:40 pm

Sunday, May 19 - 9:52 pm - Getting set for the new week. Much, much shorter list for each of the work days. Left a lot on the weekend. Some can be done early if I get ahead of the game. Some still might not get done. But trying to simplify this whole thing. I'm overdue for a weigh-in, but my last one had me up, and I'm only going to report when I go down. If it takes a long time, that will just look bad.

Plumbing Leak

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

The other morning Rachel noticed water on the floor in the laundry room in front of the washing machine. I looked up and saw a small wet spot in the ceiling about the size of a half dollar.

I pressed at it and it was definitely wet. I cut a small hole and found the center of the hole was a screw holding the drywall. I cut until all of the wet drywall was removed. The beam was wet and I'm sure the insulation will also be wet.

Through trial and error, I narrowed it down to the master bathroom toilet. Yes, the master bathroom, the one we had to bring down to the studs, replacing the shower, subfloor, reinforce the joists and replace the insulation and drywall underneath. Guess I can at least be glad I hadn't gotten around to repainting it - it's a pain, it's up 12 feet.

So, we have someone coming today to see if the leak can be stopped quickly or if we have a bigger problem on our hands.

Sigh. Will we ever get a break?

Worth Repeating: Meg Jay @drmegjay

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

I know I normally have these on Saturdays (in fact they're scheduled out for quite a few upcoming Saturdays) but I just watched this one and thought it couldn't wait. If you're under the age of 29 or have a child under the age of 29, you need to watch this.

Video:

Why 30 is Not the New 20 - Clinical psychologist Meg Jay has a bold message for twentysomethings: Contrary to popular belief, your 20s are not a throwaway decade. In this provocative talk, Jay says that just because marriage, work and kids are happening later in life, doesn’t mean you can’t start planning now. She gives 3 pieces of advice for how twentysomethings can re-claim adulthood in the defining decade of their lives. More on TED.com...

Why I posted this - In under 15 minutes, Meg dispels so many misconceptions that are detrimental to people in their 20s.

Week 7 (Final)

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Mon, 20 May 2013 04:49:00 +0000

Week-at-a-Glance

Weight: 153.9 as of 05/08 (9.3 to go) [Goal for Friday - 153.0 or less]

Exercise (week): Walk: 4 (11.2 miles)
Jumping Jacks: 350 [goal: 350] // Situps: 120 [goal: 140] // Pushups: 120 [goal: 140]

Remember the Milk (non-repeating): 197 - M 34; T 21; W 18; R 16; F 13; A 40; S 55

Sunday, May 19 - 9:39 pm - Good week. Definitely planned for far too much. I almost think I need to plan less for the weekends than during the week. Did not meet my goal for pushups and situps but did for jumping jacks.
Lose-It: 1,659 calories available; N/A consumed; N/A earned exercise; N/A remaining.

Email: 38 (Inbox: 3; Mailbox: 35) // Feedly: 112 // TED Talks: 6

Remember the Milk: 64 completed; ? items postponed

Remember the Milk this week: 402 completed

Saturday, May 18 - 11:12 pm - Quick one, almost forgot to do this. Went to Petpalooza in Auburn today. Pretty decent event. Mostly all dogs, though I saw one person with a cat in a bag and another with a Shetland pony on a leash. And woman dressed like a cat. Free facepainting, a free petting zoo and pony rides. There was even a farm section that included a bean bin and a corn bin. Ben enjoyed playing in the bean bin but we didn't let him play in the corn bin. As we walked away, he got really upset so I took him out of the stroller and just decided I'd see where he went. He just takes off running, goes all the way around the petting zoo and right back to the corn bin. He seriously has a far better grasp of spacial geometry than I would have guessed. That was impressive and exciting to see. Didn't do the diet tracking thing today.
Lose-It: 1,659 calories available; N/A consumed; N/A earned exercise; N/A remaining.

Email: 55 (Inbox: 0; Mailbox: 55) // Feedly: 125 // TED Talks: 7

Remember the Milk: 68 completed; ? items postponed // 138 (ha) items tomorrow

Remember the Milk this week: 338 completed; 138 remaining

Friday, May 17 - 10:06 pm - I didn't get as much done today as I would have liked, but it was an excellent day. I don't think I did well with my calories, starting with Lori bringing me lunch (instead of me walking).
Lose-It: 1,659 calories available; N/A consumed; N/A earned exercise; N/A remaining.

Email: 61 (Inbox: 22; Mailbox: 39) // Feedly: 172 // TED Talks: 6

Remember the Milk: 56 completed; 29 items postponed // ?? items tomorrow

Remember the Milk this week: 270 completed; 165 remaining

Thursday, May 16 - 10:36 pm - It feels like it's Friday, but it's not. But instead of dreading an extra day, it's actually feeling good. I think it's because it's been a good week at home and at work.
Lose-It: 1,659 calories available; 1,777 consumed; 537 earned exercise; 419 remaining.

Email: 66 (Inbox: 31; Mailbox: 35) // Feedly: 175 // TED Talks: 6

Remember the Milk: 61 completed; 27 items postponed // ?? items tomorrow

Remember the Milk this week: 214 completed; 177 remaining

Wednesday, May 15 - 10:37 pm - Really tired all day. I got even less done than I thought. I did sleep in a little bit.
Lose-It: 1,659 calories available; 1,619 consumed; 259 earned exercise; 299 remaining.

Email: 52 (Inbox: 22; Mailbox: 30) // Feedly: 204 // TED Talks: 6

Remember the Milk: 37 completed; 19 items postponed // ?? items tomorrow

Remember the Milk this week: 153 completed; 199 remaining

Tuesday, May 14 - 9:54 pm - Last night's sleep was really screwed up by a child who woke up and was happy. I fed him but he was still wide awake, laughing and screaming with joy and jumping in his crib. I went and slept downstairs, but the cat was bugging me so it still took awhile to fall asleep. So I slept in and didn't get much done this morning. And then we discovered a leak in the laundry room ceiling so tonight I spent time cutting out some of the drywall and trying to figure out where it was coming from. And the tomorrow night I have a church thing so I might as well not plan to do much at all tomorrow night and just be surprised if I find time to get anything done. I tried to hack it back as much as possible, but still seems like a bigger list than I would have thought. But it almost all seems necessary. I guess we'll see.
Lose-It: 1,659 calories available; 1,473 consumed; 487 earned exercise; 673 remaining.

Email: 44 (Inbox: 12; Mailbox: 32) // Feedly: 176 // TED Talks: 6

Remember the Milk: 50 completed; 26 items postponed // 59 items tomorrow

Remember the Milk this week: 116 completed; 206 remaining

Monday, May 13 - 10:22 pm - Forgot we had a doctor's appointment at the end of the day. But still, a decent day, all told.
Lose-It: 1,659 calories available; 1,613 consumed; 487 earned exercise; 533 remaining.

Email: 38 (Inbox: 6; Mailbox: 32) // Feedly: 143 // TED Talks: 6

Remember the Milk: 66 completed; 21 items postponed // 68 items tomorrow
Remember the Milk this week: 66 completed; 217 remaining

Sunday, May 12 - 10:20 pm - OK, my goals are locked in for next week. There are 197 items that do not repeat daily and 38 tasks that repeat daily. I know that 197 is not totally reasonable, but we'll see how things work themselves out in the end. I tried to load Monday through Friday with what I could get to. Saturday and Sunday are more... squishy. I also know that as the week progresses, new things will be added to the list. Also, 38 seems high for a daily count (it makes it hard to aim for a daily list of 50) so I will continue to look for things that don't need to be done as frequently. (Or in some cases, items that can be combined.)
Email: 47 (Inbox: 1; Mailbox: 46) // Feedly: 147 // TED Talks: 8

Remember the Milk: 70 items tomorrow

Review: I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 by Douglas Edwards

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

I've come to realize that I enjoy a good biographical or autobiographical book - you get to see mostly the highlights of a period of time, to get some more insight, some more backstory. I enjoyed the Conrad Hilton story and DisneyWar and I definitely enjoyed this one. The downside to biographical books is that at some point the book ends but history moves on. This was less frustrating because the period covered (1999-2005) is still fresher in my mind and the details explained were ones I had lived through as a customer.

This was a really good read - it was fascinating to learn what went on inside Google, but provided some cautionary tales as well.

The takeaways I got from it:

* You really have to give someone something to believe in. It would be harder (but not impossible) to foster that kind of culture within our large, old non-profit. But it has to feel special, it has to be something people want to be a part of.

* You always need to be hiring people smarter than yourself. I've often heard it said that "Wow, if I was being interviewed today, I wouldn't get hired." I know that's not entirely true, but on the other hand, it's because we're there, we're smart and we're improving the process. Therefore, we need to continue to bring in smarter and smarter people to shake things up and make sure we're doing the right things.

* Trust the data and test, test, test. Take risks, but make sure you can measure them. Don't use the testing as an excuse not to intuit or move quickly and boldly. If you're transparent, apologies will be accepted and mistakes forgotten quickly.

* Move fast. (There wasn't entire sections on having to refactor code so that your Google sign-on worked flawlessly everywhere. That wouldn't have made for a good story, but you know it eventually came. But what they did do was execute quickly, improvise, enhance and test.)

* Keep the customer the focus. While it's true that in some cases they did things and then waited for the customers to figure out, it was also very apparent that they were focused on improving the lives of their customers. They weren't free of quibbles and squabbles, but they still kept the focus on the customer. And the customers love(d) them for it.

* People are brilliant. (Committees aren't. Give people space and tools to prove it.)

* Manage your own career. (The author worked hard, accomplished a lot, but in the end, found himself without a place as the world shifted around him.)

* All startups slow down. (What made Google so crazy in the early days wasn't sustainable. But they were wise enough to realize that they needed to diversify and have additional revenue-generating products.)

* Don't kill Google Reader. Ok, that one wasn't in there, but I have to say it.

* Set unreasonable goals (but only a reasonable number at the same time) - Google made some giant leaps because their lives depended on it and they believed they could. And so they did.

* Things are solvable. Forget everything else and pick a problem and solve it. You will be rewarded for it. Do it repeatedly and you'll change the world. (Look at all the random stuff they're doing, from glasses to cars... why? To solve fun and interesting challenges. Sure, there's a lot of potential money there, but it's also gotta be a lot of fun.)

* Stay connected to your people. If you insulate yourself, you will lose touch. (They had a regular Friday afternoon meeting that introduce new staff and highlight stuff that had been accomplished that week.)

* Leave margin. Leave time for legitimate (not forced) fun, leave time for group celebrations (not forced).

* Always be producing. They had a system that everyone had to update each week telling what they had been working on. (If you didn't, it would make up fake and embarrassing stuff and put your name on it.)

* Perk your employees. Seriously. Even if you're not going to give them all the free food they want, there are things you can do to make your employees lives better, simpler, easier. This deserves its own blog post, I think.

* Be open and transparent. (Some of that was lost when they became a public company, but for the most part, they made data available internally, presented relevant stats regularly and always celebrated their successes.)

If I had any negatives, they're super-minor - I guess I would say that there was a lot of foreshadowing, as if the author felt like he had to keep teasing the next chapter or section, as if I was constantly about to bail. That and it wasn't exactly linear. Not that there's anything wrong with it, I just wish that were a little clearer. As he explored different overlapping themes, he'd start at a relevant point and move forwards, so we slowly progressed from 1999 to 2005, but at a halting pace, sometimes moving backwards. Again, not necessarily bad, just a little confusing. That's probably mostly my problem.

The most important thing of all, not necessarily a theme from this book but probably one collectively evident from all biographical works:

* Timing is important, but mostly in retrospect - someone's amazing story could start tomorrow or started last month. (Including yours. Are you doing something amazing? Something exciting? If not, why not?)

Worth Repeating: Tim Brown (@tceb62)

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:55:00 +0000

Video:

Designers: Think Big - Tim Brown says the design profession has a bigger role to play than just creating nifty, fashionable little objects. He calls for a shift to local, collaborative, participatory "design thinking" -- starting with the example of 19th-century design thinker Isambard Kingdom Brunel. More on TED.com...

Why I'm posting - Brown illustrates some good examples that you might not even consider design, but cases where big things happened, infrastructure-big. It's hard to imagine things that large being done today and it's no wonder that when we think of design we think of websites or logos or cell phones.

I'm... Microsoft?

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Sat, 18 May 2013 00:29:00 +0000

This weird thought has been flittering around in my head and i can't shake it. So, I guess I'll write about it as a way to get it out of my head.

Many, many years ago I was interning at a place that did a lot of work for Microsoft. I think this is free and clear of any NDA issues now because it's been so long, but I saw this video back then.

Forget Bob, Google Now, Ford Sync or even Siri, this was of a parrot named Polly. It flew around in a virtual room and it talked to you. And you could talk to it. You could ask it to play music and it would, you could talk to it and it would talk back. If you ignored it, it would preen or put its head under its wing and go to sleep. Or, it would fly around the room.

Oh, and the camera also moved. It would make small movements when you were interacting with Polly and when Polly was flying, it would make grand cinematic moves to show off the rendering of the bird.

The animation quality was probably almost as good as Toy Story but without the lighting effects, but it was in real-time, and it did voice recognition and natural speech and it understood your music library and could even make suggestions. This was long before MP3 players, hand-held devices or even high-speed internet. It was a great idea but it had nowhere to go beyond research.

So when I hear of talk now that Apple is doing a watch as if it's some novel new thing, I think "Wait... didn't Microsoft do SPOT like years and years ago?"
And there have been other things like that where Microsoft tried it, maybe the execution wasn't great or maybe the marketing didn't really sell it, but in far too many cases, I think that the public just wasn't ready for it. Take another product near-and-dear to me - UltimateTV. (I came up with that name for an internet startup and when the name was eventually sold to Microsoft after I'd moved on, I got a nice check for $5k.) UltimateTV (plus WebTV) was probably a precursor to Google TV or Apple TV, but it was too early, people couldn't see the need and Microsoft couldn't make them see the need. So by the time people see the need, Microsoft has dejectedly packed its bags and moved on. (Some of that stuff is now reappearing in XBox, sure.)

Sometimes I feel like that - I have these great ideas, but I can't drag the horse to the water. Sometimes the ideas limp along, sometimes they die ingloriously. By the time someone else has the same idea, I've moved on or I'm resentful and don't want to get on board. Or it causes me to be more reserved or withhold new ideas.

It's an interesting thing to realize. I will definitely have to figure out how to combat that because I love so many of my ideas and want to see them become reality.

Magazine: Fast Company (May 2013)

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Wed, 15 May 2013 13:30:00 +0000

Here's some selected reads from the May 2013 issue of Fast Company.

The Magical Tech Behind Paper For iPad's Color-Mixing Perfection - a look at the math and UI considerations of color mixing on a touch-device.

The Maestro Speaks: J. Crew CEO Mickey Drexler shares 10 rules for creative success - some great insights. A quick read.

Andrew Mason on How to Deal: From Founder to Ex-Groupon CEO - wow, so not a quick read. But an interesting look at the up and then down of Groupon and where it's going next.

Just like everyone else...

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:55:00 +0000

Thanks, Cigna. I feel loved and ever so special.

Does anyone else see this when they sign-in, or is it just for me?

Rewarding Loyalty - @HiltonHotels (A Work-Related Post)

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:45:00 +0000

Last September, my wife and I stole away for a very brief visit to Los Angeles for our anniversary. Since I also needed airfare, a car rental, convenience and stealth (I purchased the whole deal ahead of time without telling her), I went through Expedia. They're easy to use, give me good rates and in this case, also a $50 discount by opening up an Expedia branded credit card. Also handy because it helped me further obscure the purchase while I was paying it off.

I chose the Embassy Suites in Glendale for a couple of reasons, one of which was that the Hilton Family of Hotels is the Official Hotel Chain of the Lamb Family. Whenever we can, we stay at a Hilton Hotel, preferably Embassy Suites. (The ones in Oxnard, Calif. and Lake Buena Vista/Orlando, Fla. are pretty cool hotels. Glendale, not so much. Bellevue, Wash. is pretty standard. Can't recall any other Embassy Suites.)

So I included my Hilton Hhonors points in the notes for the hotel and presented by Citibank Hilton Hhonors credit card at checkin for incidentals. Ended up with a subpar room, but didn't spend much time in it anyhow, so whatever, and great breakfast and neat lobby, very friendly staff. But the most bizarre parking lot ever. I know it used to be a Red Lion hotel before Hilton bought the property, but the parking is so bizarre, it's like they just dug under the building and the adjacent building (you can tell at one point you're driving through a formerly solid wall that they've cut through the concrete) and then paved. So many columns, so much unusable space. Crazy. Anyhow, I digress.

Bottom line, we love Hilton. (The Hilton Arctic Club in Seattle? Totally awesome. Cannot wait to stay there again, especially if we get a top floor room again.)

I realized a few weeks ago that I wasn't seeing any mention of our stay so I contacted them and provided details as best I could. The fact that they wanted specific information I wouldn't have and provided little area for notes, I should have guessed it wasn't going to happen.

So I got back a decent enough form letter from the oddly generic "Document Services" account. I almost tossed it as junk except that the preview line on my phone showed me that it included my Hilton Hhonors number at the start of the email.

So anyhow, there's a whole lot of conditions under which you aren't rewarded for your stay, including:

Wholesale/tour operator packages
Contracted airline crew rates
Travel industry rates (including but not limited to travel agent discount rates)
Complimentary or barter rooms
NET Group rates
Series Group or IT Group rates
Contracted Entertainment or Encore rates
Master Bill bookings (irrespective of incidentals)
Third party websites bookings (for example. Expedia.com, Priceline.com, etc) this rate is also ineligible to receive credit for any incidentals that are paid at the time of your stay.
"Opaque" channel bookings where the brand is unknown at the time of purchase
"No Show" or cancelled bookings

Some of these make sense to me. Some of them not so much. I may have used Expedia, but I still chose Hilton. Third parties help provide exposure and sell rooms.

It seems like this is a missed opportunity on the part of Hilton... Were I the King of Hilton, I would reward existing Hhnonors members at a reduced rate. I would also award non Hilton Hhonors members with points, as a way to introduce them to the program.

Essentially, I would award anyone who stays -- for any reason -- points. Attending a conference? Bam - Here's 100 points and a brochure about the program. Here with mommy and daddy on vacation? Bam - Here's a certificate for 100 points signed by the manager, a line drawing of the hotel with a blank space to draw the whole family in front of the hotel and a box of crayons with the Hilton and hotel logos and an inflatable (easily deflatable for packing) beach ball with the logos. And a cookie!

Some people might see points as a silly useless thing. But some people, especially if they don't belong to any hotel points program, may now become a brand regular. In the email world, best practice says that people will not subscribe to more than one vertical (keep them from unsubscribing to keep them from subscribing to your competition.) I suspect the same holds true in the world of points - that people won't invest time and effort into collecting points from multiple competing partners, so if you can give points to someone who previously had none, you might just sway their ongoing loyalty.

Points to the people!

Week 6 (Final)

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Mon, 13 May 2013 03:49:00 +0000

Sunday

Weight: 153.9 (05/08; 8.9 to go) // Lose-It! Today: 1,659 minus N/A (food) plus N/A (exercise) equals N/A under.
Jumping Jacks: 300; Pushups: 120; Situps: 120
Walks: 5 (1 for a meeting) - 10.7 miles
Email: 47 (1+46) // Feedly: 144 // TED Talks: 8

8:49 pm - I made a conscious decision this afternoon to stop doing chores and go play with my son outside. I was going to take both children but Rachel was being disobedient so I didn't take her. After we came back in I was still pretty tired so I didn't do a lot more after that either. So I'm ending the week with a lot yet unfinished, but I'm still happy with the week, unless you count the poor diet Friday, Saturday and again today. It's going to be awhile before I'm willing to weigh myself again, but I'm going to get back on track tomorrow. No more birthday cake, apple crisp, cookies, doughnuts, bacon, french toast casserole, ice cream, etc., unless I can be certain of the portion and calories.

I think what I learned from this week is that I can get too focused on the day-to-day tasks. I can get a lot of stuff done, but some of that will just be there again tomorrow, so missing a day isn't going to be the end of the world. In a few cases, I did extend the length of time between recurrence, even on a few of the daily items, but there's probably even more I could do in the coming week. So I did complete 437 items, but I'm carrying over 113 I didn't get to. I also need to look at the week as a whole more, both in looking back and in looking forward, especially on those non-repeating tasks. Also, I need to have some goals. Not just track email, but have a goal of where I want it to be at the end of the week. Stuff like that.

Completed:
Monday: 87; Tuesday: 73; Wednesday: 65; Thursday: 64; Friday: 30; Saturday: 68; Sunday: 49

Saturday

Weight: 153.9 (05/08; 8.9 to go) // Lose-It! Today: 1,659 minus N/A (food) plus N/A (exercise) equals N/A under.
Remember the Milk: Today: 0/68; This Week: 152/388
Jumping Jacks: 300; Pushups: 120; Situps: 120
Walks: 4 (1 for a meeting) - 7.9 miles
Email: 69 (3+76) // Feedly: 130 // TED Talks: 2

11:17 pm - Celebrated my son's birthday today. It was a nice gathering with a only one of his grandparents, us and a family friend-family. (A family that are friends of the family collectively. Is there a term for that?) Bad dietary behavior again today. Tomorrow some tasty treats so it won't be before Monday that I'm back on track.

Friday

10:40 pm - Friday was not a day where I got a lot done on my chore list. I did get a lot done this morning. But then I headed up to The City for a short conference. Then back home and then work for the afternoon. Then back home and headed off to a Bon Voyage party for friends leaving the country, and then back home and helped Lori with some of the cleanup related to the cake she's making and now starting to exercise at about the time I'm usually wrapping up. Tomorrow will also be busy with a birthday party and prep for Mother's Day. We'll see if I get much done tomorrow or Sunday.

Thursday

Weight: 153.9 (05/08; 8.9 to go) // Lose-It! Today: 1,659 minus N/A (food) plus N/A (exercise) equals N/A under.
Remember the Milk: Today: 0/64; This Week: 202/290
Jumping Jacks: 200; Pushups: 80; Situps: 80
Walks: 4 (1 for a meeting) - 7.9 miles
Email: 82 (3+79) // Feedly: 204 // TED Talks: 3

7:15 am - Mornings rule! I do like the slower pace of not just racing to get out the door but of getting some stuff done and having a few seconds to catch my breath. Tired, though. Suspect what I'm getting done is all the basic stuff. Not a lot of big one-time-things. Obvious by how many still remain for the week - they keep spawning when I check them off.

10:28 pm - I think I'm going to discover at the end of this week that I haven't done enough - I need to space out repeating tasks more and I need to make sure I actually complete some non-repeating. I think I've postponed a lot of non-repeating tasks. On the other hand, this week has been less stressful. I feel like I've actually gotten more done, but not at the sacrifice of time with my children. So I think this process is continuing to improve. Even if most people think I'm crazy and shouldn't have such an elaborate process to track stuff. I do think the important things are shaking out - exercise, time with friends (over reading) on my lunch break, reading at home and the less important are becoming apparent (Feedly, email). I can't have it all. And if I don't get this darned Google book done by Saturday, I won't have a blog post for Sunday.

Wednesday

Weight: 153.9 (8.9 to go) // Lose-It! Today: 1,659 minus N/A (food) plus N/A (exercise) equals N/A under.
Remember the Milk: Today: 0/63; This Week: 213/226
Jumping Jacks: 150; Pushups: 60; Situps: 60
Walks: 3 (1 for a meeting) - 5.1 miles
Email: 69 (0+69) // Feedly: 212 // TED Talks: 5

7:30 am - Apparently I went right back to sleep after I turned off my alarm. Got some stuff done but not as much as I'd like.

5:19 pm - Ok, the few minutes of transition between work and leaving work go by some quickly. Trying to leave sooner these days. Good day, except for my diet. Time to head home. Happy. Feedly 272? Yikes. Email 74? Yikes yikes. Oh, weigh-in was good this morning.

10:27 pm - This week has slowed down. I think that part of it is the days getting longer because I'm doing more stuff in the mornings. The reading is coming along, it's interesting but dense.

Tuesday

Lose-It! Today: 1,662 minus 1,502 (food) plus 611 (exercise) equals 771 under.
Remember the Milk: Today: 0/73; This Week: 227/161
Jumping Jacks: 100; Pushups: 40; Situps: 40
Walks: 3 (1 for a meeting) - 5.1 miles
Email: 60 (34+26) // Feedly: 189 // TED Talks: 5

7:31 am - Getting up in the morning and getting stuff done is definitely the way to go! Continuing also to look for items that can be done less frequently.

5:20 pm - I'm still exhausted. I went to bed earlier last night, but it might not have been enough. Still too much I want to do in a day. Work was also quite busy today, and I even missed a meeting I wanted to attend. (It overlapped and it was easiest just to not go to it.) Tomorrow I've got several hours booked just to try to get some work in on a major project. We'll see if it works out that way or not. Also, no walk tomorrow but instead going out to lunch. I don't want to but I promised I would.

10:33 pm - Got a lot done tonight and didn't sacrifice spending time with the family. Not sure how that came about. Found myself with more free time than I expected, I guess. Rearranged the living room, did some thatching (both not on the list) and did a lot of stuff on the list as well. Only postponed a few items, all non-essential. Extended the intervals of a few more things - that will be the big outcome for this week - stuff repeating less frequently. Major update to the book page finally.

Monday

Lose-It! Today: 1,662 minus 1,423 (food) plus 571 (exercise) equals 810 under.
Remember the Milk: Today: 0/87; This Week: 230/87
Jumping Jacks: 50; Pushups: 20; Situps: 20
Walks: 2 (1 for a meeting) - 3.3 miles

7:09 am - So this week will be all about what's reasonable to get done in a week. Got up early and already got quite a bit done. Definitely need to go to sleep earlier, though.

9:35 pm - Was very tired. But rocked the day. So hot today. That didn't help.

Happy Mother's Day

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Mon, 13 May 2013 03:29:00 +0000

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, but especially to Lori, who has the really tough job of putting up with all of us. We love you and hereby proclaim "You rock."

The Three Troublemakers

Worth Repeating: Hans Rosling (@hansrosling)

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Sat, 11 May 2013 12:55:00 +0000

Video:

Let my dataset change your mindset - Talking at the US State Department this summer, Hans Rosling uses his fascinating data-bubble software to burst myths about the developing world. Look for new analysis on China and the post-bailout world, mixed with classic data shows. More on TED.com...

Why I'm posting: Rosling's talks are always fascinating, illustrating historical data and trends that really help you to understand how different things impact the countries and the world, and how you always have to dig deeper on the data.

Things @Waze should do

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Fri, 10 May 2013 14:30:00 +0000

Waze is awesome. I read about Waze before I even had an iPhone and it was the first app I installed after I finally got an iPhone. I've pretty much used it every time I've driven and often when I've been the passenger in a vehicle. I report problems, I do updates on their website. I love Waze.

(If you don't know what Waze is, it's crowdsourced GPS. As you drive, the driving conditions are reported passively and you can actively report things like construction, accidents, police traps and road closures. It will give you driving directions and because it knows real-time road conditions, can route you around things that will slow you down. It also can help you find the best gas prices near you. And because you contribute by noting new roads and map changes, they happen more quickly than with a standard GPS, and with no upgrade fees or maps to purchase or download. The more people regularly use it, the better it gets. It will also occasionally try to tempt you by suggesting you want a Chalupa and offer you directions, but considering Waze is free to use, that's a small price to pay.)

I've been sitting on this post for a few days now, just a riff I threw out the other night and then saved in draft without posting. But with the news that Facebook's making a run at it, I might as well post it. But first, let me express my disappointment. I think it's a bad fit. In terms of cool utility, it feels like a much better fit with Google. To be sure, Google could probably build something similar with its own mapping tool, but it hasn't. Which made me think that maybe they were interested. Heck, even Apple is a better fit, even if it meant its first foray into making Android apps. I'm sure that would offend their sensibilities but if Microsoft and Google make Android apps, this would be a case where Apple could benefit from having a cross-platform offering for all the data it provides. So here's hoping that Facebook's offer simply causes a better dance partner to make an even better offer and make the swell folks at Waze even richer.

Anyhow, this was just a collection of ideas that have been floating around in my head for awhile of the things that Waze might do as an independent company if they wanted to expand their core offering.

From easiest to hardest...

(1) Improve the navigation address book - two columns of large square buttons would be easier to press than the current rows.

(2) Speed-based alerting - an alert two miles out is more important at 60 miles an hour than it is at 25. Then it's just clutter way too early.

(3) Better tracking of stop lights. Waze often wants to take a route that would be fast, except for really long stop lights. Doesn't feel like the app adequately considers them. Like UPS, it might be better to reduce left turns, especially across busy streets or at long stop lights. (Or the ability to report a "Long Stoplight" so that the system can start paying more attention to that area to see if that's really true.)

(4) The ability to edit my address book from the website. I use the same password on the app as on the website and I know the address book is saved to "the cloud" so why can't I edit it on their website?

(5) A "Send to Waze" Chrome extension. If you're on Google Maps (or one of those other ones) and you're looking at an address (or if it sees one on a page), it would be nice to be able to send it to your address book so that when you get in the car and turn on the app, it's waiting for you.

(6) Better learning - it doesn't seem to as good a job these days of learning my favorite ways to get places and insists on these paths that I know aren't the best way to get somewhere.

(7) Waze-For-Civic - putting devices on buses, police cars, maintenance vehicles, etc. to use them as another means for tracking and traffic problems. Would include a simple "problem" button on the dash that takes a photo and records a generic problem. This could also allow for real-time bus arrivals and also warn people using Waze to change lanes to avoid a bus about to stop in lane (as they like to do around here).

(8) Waze Command-Central - may already exist. Hopefully already exists. A real-time control center set-up for law enforcement that allows them to get a eagle-eye view of what's going on in a region, complete with escalating alerts. (Probably offered as a package of a robust computer and customized software so it can be installed in existing traffic control systems. Pair it with Waze-for-Civic and track other civic vehicles as well as review the generic reports they create - also great in routing police and stuff.)

(9) Waze-Enhanced Car - a small bluetooth device plugged into the ODBC to let Waze know more about your car. I'm not sure what all you can learn about the ODBC, but I assume it could then know if you're running low on fuel (and route you to the best priced gas) or if you have your windshield wipers/headlights on (to be able to better predict weather's impact on driving conditions) or if you have your turn signal on (so that can warn you if you seem to be heading in a direction other than what it recommends.)

(10) Visual Exception - this is a bit of a stretch, but in terms of local governments as a revenue source, this is something I've wanted to see someone do for a long time. I'd do it if I knew how to program, but this is heavy math. Essentially, this is a learning system that learns about its surroundings. You also teach it about things like speed limits, no parking zones, etc. And then it observes. You mount it on all of the city's vehicles (police, fire, maintenance, bus, etc.). As they drive around, it visually watches its surroundings. Simple stuff like what happens now (looking for stolen cars by their license plates) but also other stuff like cars that appear to be abandoned or cars parked where they shouldn't be, etc.,

Facebook is lazy.

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Thu, 09 May 2013 12:55:00 +0000

Greedy Facebook is misguided and greedy. And possibly lazy.

Hey Mark, you're so rich, you buy her the mug.

Wha.. Why?

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Thu, 09 May 2013 04:39:00 +0000

Behold! I give you the "Lowes Hardware Danger Challenge Course Extravaganza" - a three part rather silly and seemingly unnecessary and potentially hazardous bike lane that crosses two car paths and at one point has car traffic on both sides of it.

I think you park in the Lowes parking lot, ride half a block and then walk back to your car having killed and 2 minutes and avoided getting run over by fast moving traffic.

Click to enlarge

Here's the street on Google Maps*. That whole section to the west was entirely moved south and rebuilt after the Lowes was built and the corner rebuilt, so it's not even like they can claim that they would add more as they rebuilt the streets nearby.

*I would have zoomed in more but it wants to do that stupid 45 degree tilt thing which makes it very difficult to see the street. (You can turn it off when you're in Google Maps, but there doesn't seem to be any way to create links that have it turned off. Very stupid. Boo, Google!)

Legal Drink

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Tue, 07 May 2013 14:55:00 +0000

Wow, just to read this you feel your soul being deflated. The ingredients list is no better, and I quote:

Filtered sparkling water (sufficient to reconstitute), juice concentrates (blueberry, apple, pear and white grape), natural flavors.

It's been sitting on the counter for two weeks and no one's dared open it.

The Easy Thing (A Work-Related Post)

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Mon, 06 May 2013 12:55:00 +0000

There was an interesting discussion recently in one of the groups I participate in. A company had offered electronic gift cards and now they were facing a lot that hadn't been redeemed.

The easy thing to do would have been to do nothing - that's pure profit in their pocket for every gift card that's never redeemed.

But they knew the easy thing wasn't the right thing. Unused gift cards means the giver's money didn't go where they intended, it means that the recipient didn't benefit and it means carrying that as a liability because at some point in the future, the gift card could still be redeemed. Unused gift certificates are also a missed opportunity to gain a new customer and word of mouth.

So they were trying to figure out their options. Could they email the recipient? Maybe. But they didn't really have a relationship with the recipient. They didn't want to run afoul of the CAN-SPAM laws. Worse yet, if there was some kind of delivery problem the first time around, there's no guarantee the recipient would receive it this time either. And maybe the recipient didn't like the company issuing the gift card, or didn't find anything they liked. That would make the email unwelcome and possibly risk the recipient flagging it as spam.

Another participant on the list had a brilliant idea:

Email the giver instead.

They had a financial relationship with them so it's well within the guidelines of CAN-SPAM, there's a better chance they'll receive the email and it shows that you're looking out for them. Even if you stay on-message and avoid any other sort of cross-marketing, this is going to build loyalty, credibility, trust and that will definitely lead to future sales. It shows that they have the customer's best interest in mind. No one wants to give a gift and find out that the recipient tossed it in the trash or Goodwill pile.

If the gift was a mismatch, the recipient may have originally planned to just not use it and not say anything to not appear ungrateful. But now enough time might have passed that if the original giver were to contact the recipient to say "Hey, did you receive the gift I sent a few months ago?" there's enough time that even if the answer was "Um, no, I never received it" but intstead "I didn't want to use it" it might be easier at that point to give them the bad news of a mismatch because they're open to the conversation.

Of course, there are additional tactics that ought to be considered:

(1) An automated confirmation to the giver when the recipient redeems the gift card.

(2) Make it really easy for the recipient to send a thank you when they redeem the gift.

(3) Make it easy to donate the gift to charity if it's a mismatch (or regift it to someone else)

(4) Automate the "your friend never redeemed their gift card" emails

(5) Examine why and when people aren't redeeming gift cards to determine if there's a problem with how the gift cards are presented to recipients or if the card price points don't line up well with the offerings in your store (no one likes receiving a gift card for $25 in a store full of $15 or $50 items)

But most of all, I am very impressed at the company's decision not to take the easy route - and their customers will be as well.

Week 5 (Final)

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Mon, 06 May 2013 05:25:00 +0000

Sunday

Weight (Wednesday): 154.3 (9.3 to go)
Lose-It: 1,662 calories available; N/A consumed; N/A earned exercise; N/A remaining for the day.
Exercise (week): Jumping Jacks: 300 // Situps: 130 // Pushups: 130 // Walk: 4 (11.2 miles)

Remember the Milk: Today: 0/84; Week: 0/442
Email: 49 (13+36) // Feedly: 151 // TED Talks: 13

Reading: Fast Company May 2013 (100 of 121); Fast Cpmpany Dec. 2012/Jan. 2013 (completed); Inc. May 13 (57 of 114); Inc. Dec. 2012/Jan. 2013 (99 of 112); I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 (113 of 390)

10:12 pm - Good week. So... what I learned:
(1) I need to look at the calendar before planning what I want to try to get done in a day. If I won't be home in the evening, thinking I can get anything done is silly.
(2) I'm not allowing for fun - playing games with Rachel or just spending time laying on the floor while Ben jumps on me.
(3) Letting the daily recurring items prevent me from getting to the non-daily items (therefore not making any headway).
(4) Items that aren't specific enough - need to make them more specific.
(5) I am overpromising and underdelivering. I'm the customer, so all I'm doing is disappointing myself.
(6) I can't sleep in. I need the time in the morning to get some stuff done. Otherwise, some things I just need to kick off the list if I don't do them before work.
(7) I need to consult with Lori about my plans. If they don't match hers, it's a recipe for frustration for one or both of us. I gave her a list of the big items I've been postponing and she noted all the ones she wants to see done in May (and by the same token all the stuff

This was my third day of not tracking my calories. That was stupid. I feel like Friday-Sunday of next week will also be a problem. I guess I need to work to come in under my calories by quite a bit Monday-Thursday and do my next weigh-in on Friday morning.

So I've consulted the calendar and I know what's coming up this week. I haven't fully aligned my plans to the week yet, but I'm at least aware. I'll adjust further as the week progresses. I have a plan for the week and for the month. It's not perfect, but this week was quite helpful.

Saturday

Weight (Wednesday): 154.3 (9.3 to go)
Lose-It: 1,662 calories available; N/A consumed; N/A earned exercise; N/A remaining for the day.
Exercise (week): Jumping Jacks: 250 // Situps: 110 // Pushups: 110 // Walk: 4 (11.2 miles)

Remember the Milk: Today: 0/113; Tomorrow: 100; Week: 100/359
Email: 49 (9+40) // Feedly: 154 // TED Talks: 13

Reading: Fast Company May 2013 (100 of 121); Fast Cpmpany Dec. 2012/Jan. 2013 (completed); Inc. May 13 (57 of 114); Inc. Dec. 2012/Jan. 2013 (99 of 112); I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 (81 of 390)

3:19 pm - Today has veered from the planned course. I should have a lot more done by the end of the night that I originally planned to do, but I also got quite a few things done that I hadn't planned to, a number of them things that were already on the list for tomorrow or next week, so that's cool. The weather outside is gorgeous!

11:12 pm - A nice dinner and game night with friends, but I know I'm way over my calories. Surprisingly, the list for tomorrow is down to 100 items. I'm not sure I'll get to all of them, but I feel like it's a good list.
Friday

Weight (Wednesday): 154.3 (9.3 to go)
Lose-It: 1,662 calories available; N/A consumed; N/A earned exercise; N/A remaining for the day.
Exercise (week): Jumping Jacks: 150 // Situps: 70 // Pushups: 70 // Walk: 2 (5.7 miles)

Remember the Milk: Today: 44/35; Tomorrow: 125; Week: 262/245
Email: 55 (54+1) // Feedly: 221 // TED Talks: 10

Reading: Fast Company May 2013 (100 of 121); Fast Cpmpany Dec. 2012/Jan. 2013 (111 of 128); Inc. May 13 (57 of 114); Inc. Dec. 2012/Jan. 2013 (99 of 112); I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 (55 of 390)

10:57 pm - As soon as I got home, I had to give Ben a bath because he had played in the yard and gotten really dirty. The day itself was weird, so I really wasn't in the mood to do chores. As such, didn't get a lot done. Same amount (35) as yesterday. Now tomorrow... tomorrow's pretty open day. The list right now stands at 125. That is a crazy amount, but taken individually, it doesn't really seem crazy. We shall see. Totally blew the diet today because I had a lunch meeting that included all you could eat pizza. I did not take them up on that, but I did eat more than I should have.

Thursday

Weight (Wednesday): 154.3 (9.3 to go)
Lose-It: 1,662 calories available; 1,623 consumed; 343 earned exercise; 382 remaining for the day.
Exercise (week): Jumping Jacks: 150 // Situps: 70 // Pushups: 70 // Walk: 1 (2.8 miles)

Remember the Milk: Today: 30/35; Tomorrow: N/A; Week: 265/210
Email: 44 (43+1) // Feedly: 258 // TED Talks: 10

Reading: Fast Company May 2013 (100 of 121); Fast Cpmpany Dec. 2012/Jan. 2013 (88 of 128); Inc. May 13 (57 of 114); Inc. Dec. 2012/Jan. 2013 (99 of 112); I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 (44 of 390)

9:56 pm - I am still making up for last night. I had an evening thing that kept me out late, I didn't get a lot done, I tried to read, stayed up late, slept in, worked really had all day, tried to get a bunch done tonight, but too many large items. Tomorrow night we have a thing, too, so I shouldn't plan to get a lot done tomorrow. Mail is creeping up and Feedly's out of control. I also need to finish some magazines, apparently. Ok, time to go give the little one second dinner.

Wednesday

Weight (Wednesday): 154.3 (9.3 to go)
Lose-It: 1,662 calories available; 1,768 consumed; 371 earned exercise; 265 remaining for the day.
Exercise (week): Jumping Jacks: 150 // Situps: 70 // Pushups: 70 // Walk: 1 (2.8 miles)

Remember the Milk: Today: 41/21; Tomorrow: N/A; Week: 275/175
Email: 44 (11+33) // Feedly: 173 // TED Talks: 10

5:19 pm - I realized that I have an engagement tonight. I will end the night with very little done. I need to remember this for future nights where I have something so that I don't even bother to plan to get stuff done. Feedly is out of control.

10:57 pm - Yep, not much done. That's fine.

Tuesday

Lose-It: 1,667 calories available; 1,598 consumed; 571 earned exercise; 640 under for the day.
Remember the Milk: Today: 0/75; Tomorrow: N/A; Week: 274/154
Email: 44 (5+39) // Feedly: 180 // TED Talks: 10

7:15 am - Awesome what an extra 45 minutes can do. Instead of snoozing and getting crummy sleep or being annoyed that I couldn't get more sleep, I got up when my alarm went off. It was difficult, but now I'm glad I did. I got quite a bit done. I rock.

10:43 pm - Should be upstairs already. Almost ready to go. Again, around 65 plus duplicates. So, will aim for that again. Got most of the stuff done off my list, most of the important stuff. I don't think I can get any therapy done with Ben during the week, it's not the right time and then it's dinner and then bedtime. But I got some work done in the yard and the light cleaned. I shouldn't plan for TED Talks on the nights when I'm not shaving. I noticed I haven't listed what I'm reading.

Monday

Lose-It: 1,667 calories available; 1,882 consumed; 575 earned exercise; 360 under for the day.
Remember the Milk: Today: 0/79; Tomorrow: 70; Week: 286/79
Email: 59 (1+58) // Feedly: 117

7:17 am - I realized last night looking ahead to this week that I was turning my chores into a sprint - committing to a reasonable body of work and using what I completed the week before as a guide for what I could get to this week. So, welcome to Sprint Week. Not because I will race and end the week exhausted, but because I will be agile.

It might seem like this is at odds with "Simplify" but in reality, it helps me regain control and really assess what is important and what I can shed or at least do less frequently.

9:58 pm - Ok.... so good first day. I had said 79 but the 79 completed weren't the same (I needed to discount some as repeats). Therefore, I'll aim for 70 for tomorrow. Didn't get to:

Study with Rachel and Study/Therapy with Ben - may not be possible on school nights
Study/Therapy with Rachel - may not be possible on school nights
Defrag PC, Wii Exercises, some cleaning, some work in the yard - just didn't have time

Book Review: Decisive

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Sun, 05 May 2013 12:55:00 +0000

Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work by Chip Heath and Dan Heath is the latest and greatest from the brothers Heath and my favorite so far.

Decisive lays out a framework for making choices that is smart, easy to follow and I think will really help me in the future. As with their other books, it's packed full of great examples that help you understand and remember the concepts. And a feature I really loved is that at the end of each chapter there's a summary of everything you read about in that chapter. I think this is a book you could put on your bookshelf and refer to from time-to-time to hone your decision-making skills.

Here's a quick run-down of the book.

The book starts by laying out "The Four Villains of Decision Making" all with great examples:

you miss options by framing your options too narrowly;
you gather self-serving information in order to support a confirmaton bias;
you're tempted to make the wrong choice by short-term emotion;
and you're overconfident about how the future will turn out.

and then introduces the four-part process that will help you to avoid those pitfalls with the acrostic "WRAP" -- and the following tactics:

Widen Your Options
There are options you haven't considered.

Tactic: Avoid the Narrow Frame. Avoid falling into "this or that" decision-making. Explore additional options. Ask what would happen if you had to discard your current options and come up with new ones. Consider the opportunity costs.

Tactic: Multitrack. Do a deeper dive on multiple options at once to really understand the question and answers better. It'll be faster and eliminate the problem of having an ego attached to a particular option. Alternate between promotion and prevention. Embrace the and.

Tactic: Find someone who's solved your problem. Seek out competitive analysis, benchmarking and best practices. But also look inside for past success. Turn your greatest hits into a decision "playlist." Ladder up for options outside the field of study via analogies or strategic tangents.

Reality-Test Your Assumptions
If you're not careful, you'll only seek out information that supports the choice you don't realize you've already made.

Tactic: Consider the opposite. Look for evidence that doesn't support your options. Intentionally spark constructive disagreement. Ask disconfirming questions. Test assumptions by introducing a deliberate mistake.

Tactic: Zoom in, zoom out. Trust the averages more and our instincts less. Find base rates. Ask an expert. Get really, really close to the situation, live in it.

Tactic: Ooch - run small experiments to test our theories. (This one has more caveats.)

Attain Distance Before Deciding
Overcome short-term emotion and faulty logic.

Tactic: Overcome Short-Term Emotion. Gain distance. Perform 10/10/10 test. What would my successor do? What would I tell a friend to do?

Tactic: Honor Your Core Priorities. Agony means option(s) are out of alignment with values. Clearly identifying and articulating core values helps to immediately validate or invalidate different options. Go on the offensive against that which is not a core priority.

Prepare to Be Wrong
The intentional effort to consider being wrong will help you to determine the best way to ultimately not be wrong.

Tactic: Bookend the Future. The future isn't a point, it's a range. Consider a range of outcomes from very good to very bad. Conduct a premortem. Conduct a preparade. Build in a "safety factor." Anticipate problems and assess them for severity and probability.

Tactic: Set a Tripwire - will allow you to go only so far down an uncertain path, will help prevent a subtle/gradual shift that's hard to see as it happens, avoids egos, prevents throwing good money after bad, creates a safe place for risk-taking by setting limits (which quiets fear and doubt and allows you to focus on what it will take to succeed).

Tactic: Trust the Process - work to a fair decision, bargain for acceptance, make sure there's procedural justice, make sure the justice is obvious, apply it consistency.

....

A really great book. There's also follow-up materials on their website, a single page guide you can print and tack on the wall, and there's scenarios online and in the back of the book. As well as their usual massive end-notes section, also worth-a-skim for even more context. There's also a section called "Overcoming Obstacles" - you've read the book and now you're stuck with the expected "Yeah, but..." where you're in a situation now where this stuff all seems nice and good but requires the other parties to be reasonable and logical -- and they're not. This section helps you to figure out which tactics will be the most successful in those particular situations to bring about a better environment for decision making (no, it's not a handy guide to getting your own way).

I Rock Laundry (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Sat, 04 May 2013 18:00:00 +0000

<<< Continued from part 1 (yesterday)

Step 5: Washer to Dryer

A silly step, to be sure. Another step I regularly enlist my young autistic son in helping me with. Where a front loader is great. We pull it out of one machine into one of the "clean" baskets and then slide it over and load it into the dryer.

We have five laundry baskets. The first two are the "dirty" baskets that are upstairs to collect the laundry. The other three are "clean" baskets that are used in various situations.

All the sweaters get laid flat to dry on the rack next to the bins.

Step 6: Dryer

Again, a silly step to list out. The "Custom Program" setting is also my friend here. Load in the laundry, grab a dryer sheet from the drawer below, run the load. Timer on the phone so you can grab it as soon as its done so you can get out and hand up the wrinkle-prone stuff before it has a chance to wrinkle.

Step 7: Remove and Sort

Once again, grabbing a "clean" basket, I empty it into the basket. Then I turn around, set the lip of the basket on the counter and sort.

I have a large basket clear labeled basket for each person. If they need a specific article and can't find it, this is a good place to look. The baskets have lids so I can move them around the house if i want.

Those hangars that I sent down with the dirty laundry can come in handy at this point - I can grab one and quickly hang it up. This is where the system breaks down a little bit - if it doesn't seem like something that can wrinkle, it just goes in the bin. Then it may end up somewhere else when I'm doing folding and yet I'll have to go downstairs for hangars. A minor pain, but proof that my system still has kinks.

I will often drop single socks back into the dirty pile and let them go through the wash again, figuring eventually they'll reunite with their mate, either here or in the other world where lots socks go to play. (I also have an empty tub that used to have cat litter in it. There's a bunch of single socks in there. Every so often I'll drop a bunch in there. And when it seems like there's a decent amount, I'll dump them all out and look for matches and toss the rest.

There's no separate stack for towels, they go in my bin.

Empty the lint filter. Every time. It'll make the dryer work better. I think most people know this, but it goes without saying. If it's done every time, then you won't have to check when you load in new clothes.

As an added bonus, my daughter will beg me to let her clean it. I think she likes how you just wipe across it and end up with a fuzzy warm ball. A small trash can right by the dryer captures all the fuzz balls and used dryer sheets.

Step 8: Folding

So now I've got sorted bins of clean laundry. So this is another natural stopping point.

When I am ready to do some folding, I'll grab the bin (usually the fullest one) and one or more of the "clean" baskets. (If I'm in the middle of running a bunch of loads, I'll transfer everything to a basket and leave the bin behind.)

Now, this is what makes folding less onerous - the "clean" baskets. Get a flat surface like a table or bed, put a chair next to it, put the bin on the chair and put the baskets on the floor. Decide the "type" of clothes you're going to fold (shirts, underwear, socks, towels, whatever). Pull things out of the bin one by one. If it's the type of item you're going to fold, fold it. Everything else, into a clean bin. If you've brought up multiple clean bins, then you're sorting at the same time into the different baskets.

Again, you can stop there, having folded some items. Or, drop the bin to the floor, pick up a basket and repeat the fold/sort process. You'll have stacks of clean items and it's fast because it's all the same kinds of items.

Items I No Longer Fold

Bath Towels - ok, minimal folding - fold in half longways, then shortways, then just roll - you end up with a a log. Then the logs just stack like firewood. Makes it easier to pull out one of a certain color, too. (We decided on color schemes for the bathrooms and then bought two full sets of all towels so that when one set goes to the wash, there's a clean set ready to hang in their place.

Wash Cloths - We go through so many of those in a day it's amazing. I used to fold them, then I tried rolling them. No, they just lay flat in a bin. They don't always lay perfectly flat, but it's still really easy to just pull one out of the bin and use it.

Sheets - Got this great tip from Lifehacker or Unclutterer and it changed my life. I just take one of the pillowcases, flip it inside out and shove all the sheets and the other pillowcase inside. So much less work.

Step 9: Putting Away Laundry

We have these hooks on a lot of the doors around the house. This allows us to move clean clothes closer and closer to its destination as we move about the house doing other stuff. So even if we're not going into our bedroom, if we're heading upstairs, we can grab stuff from one hook and move it to the next.

If we're not expecting company, clean laundry can sit for a day or two (or more) on the dining room table. Sometimes someone looking for a particular article will look there, or they'll grab a stack of their laundry and put it away. (That was also a step I didn't enjoy, putting it all away.)

Sometimes I may take a single stack or two of like items up and leave it on Lori or Rachel's bed for them to put away. Sometimes I do that for myself, too, grabbing a stack (or all the stacks) and leaving on my bed to later get all put away.

It's also easy when it's all laid out on the table to grab a clean basket and load it up with stacks of clean laundry to put away, even if it's not all the stacks at once.

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So there you have it. Way too many words describing the process of "doing laundry." But then I think my process works really well, keeping our family of four and its massive amounts of laundry caught up so that it's never an overwhelming challenge and no one ever runs out of clean socks.

Cheap Seats #maythe4th

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Sat, 04 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

This is a photo from a few months ago when Lori and I went to see/hear John Williams at The Hollywood Bowl. This is one of those few times when it pays to sit further back because the audience really gets into it.

It had been a few years since we'd been to a performance, but going to the Hollywood Bowl, and a John Williams performance in particular, was a treat we regularly gave ourselves. But this year, waiting for the shuttle, we knew that things were... different... from the last time we'd been as Princess Leia was waiting in line with us. Yeah, turns out the Star Wars portion of each show is nothing less than a full-out audience participation extravaganza. Imagine looking in every direction and seeing light sabers bouncing in sync to the music.

Worth Repeating: Ron Finley @evofarm

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:55:00 +0000

Ron Finley plants vegetable gardens in South Central LA -- in abandoned lots, traffic medians, along the curbs. Why? For fun, for defiance, for beauty and to offer some alternative to fast food in a community where "the drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys." More on TED.com...

Why I'm posting this: This guy's on to something. And he's doing so much good - with vegetables and community.

I Rock Laundry (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (James Lamb) — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:28:00 +0000

There was a time when we didn't do much laundry. We had no children and Leticia came once every two weeks to clean our house and she did a lot of the laundry. These days, we generate a lot of dirty laundry.

My friend mentioned that laundry is her nemesis and linked to a Lifehacker article that I felt was quite disappointing, I thought I should write one myself. So welcome to part 1. I guess it's only fitting, considering the two posts where I take the washing machine apart to fix a design flaw are the most read posts on my blog.

So here's my take on rocking the laundry. But first, to answer the question I get asked a lot: "James, you do the laundry?" That's an easy one. It's easy, it gets me out of some other unpleasant chores, and it frees Lori up to do other chores. I do have caveat, though - that when my daughter starts wearing the kind of underwear I wish my wife would wear, that when I officially hand over the reins. I remember Bill Engval mentioning in one of his comedy routines about show her a pair of underwear and making a leering face and making suggestive comments and congratulating his wife on her new underwear only to be told it was his daughter's underwear. So, yeah...

Because I love wringing efficiency out of a process, I feel like I've got it down to almost a science and I had read that same article a few weeks ago and thought "boy, they missed a bunch of stuff."

This is important: Chunk Up the Process

Laundry has multiple steps. Taken together, it's one massive chore. Broken into individual steps, it's not as daunting, it feels more productive when you complete, and you can recruit other family members for individual steps.

Step 1: Collection

We have two short square baskets. One in our bedroom, one in our children's bathroom. These are clearly labeled (so they get back to the right places).

While dirty laundry may occasionally end up somewhere other than the basket (example: we're changing the little one's diaper and getting him ready for bed, we may temporary throw the laundry out of his room into the hall), we know where the baskets are, so anyone can grab the dirty laundry and with little effort get it to one of the baskets.

I also toss in hangars when I know I'm putting on something that I know I'm going to later toss in the wash.

Step 2: Sorting

This is a task I've largely been able to outsource. Our washing machine and dryer sit on pedestals containing drawers. I could never figure out what to store in those drawers until I realized they were perfect for dirty laundry. So, go the label maker out again and now there's one for darks and greens, one for lights and blues and one for pinks and purples. The fourth bin has Dryel Home Dry Cleaning packets and a few other things. We've eliminated most dry clean and iron items, but not entirely.

It's not an exact science, but before I got married and for as long as I could get away with it after getting married (before Leticia), I would wash everything in a single load. But I guess pre-sorting by color is not just Lori's OCD but a best practice for not having clothes that are all the same shade of gray.

This is now one of Rachel's "Must Dos" - one of the 10 or so items she needs to do each day to earn 50 cents and the right to do more lucrative "May Dos"

Socks (which everyone bundles when they take them off and throw them in the baskets) get dumped on the floor in front of their appropriate bin.

Step 3: Sock Ringing

My mom used these growing up and I'm so glad because I'm not sure I ever would have heard about them otherwise and these are what make laundry tolerable. These are small rubber rings. You take a pair of socks and you push them through the ring about 1/3 of the way. They grip the socks and go through the washer and dryer keeping the socks as a pair.

They last a long time and we have one color for each family member. And yes, there are actually five colors here and we are a family of four, but that's a sad asterisk I don't go into here but if you've read this blog, you probably already know. Moving on.

So, yeah, putting the rings on the socks are their own step. If they don't have a ring, they don't go in the machine. Buy your own at www.sockpro.com. (I am not paid to endorse, not even a referral fee.)

Step 4: Running a Load

The day I learned how to use the "custom program" button on our washing machine was a good day. There are a lot of buttons on our machine that are unnecessary for everyday loads and the launch sequence meant it was impossible to get Rachel to help by running a load. True, she can't reach the soap and she lacks the strength to open the door when it's closed, but if I put in soap and leave the door open (good for letting the machine air out anyhow), she can run a load without remembering some elaborate launch code.

I've also been teaching Ben to help me load and empty the machines - ah, the joy of front loading.

My laundry-as-a-nemesis's husband is an electrical engineer and programmer and he and I had talked once about building a wireless display so I could having something in the kitchen that showed me how much longer the washing machine had left. That was before iPhones - now I can just set a timer on my phone, especially since I figured out the custom wash and now know it says it'll take an hour and actually takes about 1 hour and 8 minutes to run a load.

If your machine has it - and is far enough from your bedrooms - use the Scheduling/Delay Start Option. Then a load can run while you're sleeping. In the morning, shortly after you get up, another alarm on your phone can chime and remind you to get it moved to the dryer. I also use this technique as a way to prevent snoozing my wake-up alarm, the notion that another alarm's just going to ring shortly anyhow, so I might as well get up.

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Tomorrow, I'll cover the other four or five parts to laundry, including the flaws that still exist in my system, why we own so many baskets, things I no longer fold and why if you come on a non-"Guest Expected" day you'll find clean laundry in weird places around our house.