Browsing the "Rants" category...
Self-Assured or Pig-Headed
If you are reading this, then you are probably pretty smart. You are accustomed to being right. And you have a certain amount of self-assuredness about it. Like me.
Much of that came from being a big fish in a small pond. Things change when you frequent bigger ponds. Requiring a different reaction to other self-assured people with contrary positions.
Sometimes it just doesn’t matter. Like the misguided colleague who didn’t know that Dr. Dunkenstein was Darrell Griffith.
Sometimes it is someone you are not likely to ever see again. Just let it go.
But sometimes, they are making decisions that affect you. You need to consider the possibility that they are right. Back off and double check your position. You will usually be right. Sometimes you will be wrong. Try to acknowledge when you are wrong.
Self-assured is taking a stand. Pig-headed is refusing to consider the alternatives.
PS. Every time you say “Everybody knows”, you take a step to pig-headedness.
PPS. Still working on acknowledging when I’m w***g.
What are you doing?
For customer “Dwight Shih”, project “weblog”, I am ranting.
I get it. People implement a time tracking system so that they can roll up activities for accounting purposes. But
- Rolling up data is easy.
- Collecting data to roll up is hard.
Customer, then project, then task may be the natural accounting hierarchy. That doesn’t mean that you have to make people enter data that way.
Shame, Shame
To the person who returned the heat moldable footbeds which I just received from Zappos:
- On what planet can you trim a size 11 footbed shorter than a size 10 and heat mold said footbeds and still assert that the footbeds are “in the condition that you received them?”
- Was it really that difficult to exercise the manufacturer’s money back guarantee?
- Or did that mean you would have to eat the shipping yourself instead of having the Zappos pay for the return shipping, the re-stocking, the shipping to me and the shipping of another set to me.
Every person has their price. The price for which they’re willing to sacrifice their ethics. Congratulations, it looks like your price is about $10.
Bottom to Top
I’m sure that there is some rule that numbered lists must always have number 1 at the top. But given the physical reality of the number 1 lane at the bottom of my TV screen, do you think that NBC might make an exception and list the the lanes and participants in the same order that I’m going to see them?
Two weeks with Vista
The IT powers that be are ordering our new computers with Vista. And lacking a compelling argument against it, I’m now using a shiny new laptop running Windows Vista Business.
With two weeks of usage under by belt, I have to say “eh”. I haven’t found anything compelling for Vista over XP. While Vista starts up much faster, it shuts down much slower to make up for it. [And yes, I have looked at advanced settings on the Control Panel Performance for advice].
While I wouldn’t advise running away from Vista, I wouldn’t advise rushing to embrace it either. My advice would be to stall and hope that XP wins another reprieve.
Made in China
I never thought that this would happen.
Once upon a time, I was pleased to find products Made in China. No more.
Recently, Sam Stevens sampled and savored a new canned cat food. I was ready to add it to his regular food rotation when I saw the words Made in China. And I paused.
I eventually decided to buy the food. But if the current situation is enough to give me pause, then China has a serious problem that they need to address.
vox populi
Roy Pearson is a lawyer. That used to mean that he held all the cards in a civil action.
The Virginia Court of Appeals, in a 2005 review of Mr. Pearson’s divorce proceedings, upheld findings that he created “unnecessary litigation” in a relatively simple case and was responsible for “excessive driving up” of legal costs.
It’s not so simple any more. Pearson may be winning in the court of law, but he is losing big time in the court of public opinion. He is rapidly becoming the man with the $65 million dollar pants:
How does he get to $65 million? The District’s consumer protection law provides for damages of $1,500 per violation per day. Pearson started multiplying: 12 violations over 1,200 days, times three defendants. A pant leg here, a pant leg there, and soon, you’re talking $65 million.
Roy Pearson didn’t realize that the rules have changed. Knowledge of the law was once enough to insure either a personal victory or a pyrrhic victory for the other side. That’s still true. But the personal cost of legal action was once next to nothing. Now Pearson has his reputation and career tangled up in this case.