Sunday, December 31, 2017

First Impressions: @Amazon @Restaurants

Ok, it is cool that Amazon Restaurants1 does have the Twitter handle @restaurants. That's pretty slick.

We used the Amazon Restaurant platform tonight for the first time to order from a local restaurant We tried a few weeks ago, but we couldn't get past the part where you pay. No matter what we did, it wouldn't let us use one of the existing credit cards, wouldn't let us enter a new one on my wife's account using Chrome on a PC. The credit cards on the account did not match the payment options I see in normal Amazon.2

Tonight we had the same problem on my Mac using Chrome but I reloaded a few times and it was finally successful. I was about to try Safari, but I think it's a cop-out if I have to use a different browser to get it to work. (Via Twitter, Amazon Help suggested I clear my cache or try a different browser. That's a lazy suggestion.)

Also, the search box at the top has nothing to do with Amazon Restaurants.3

We put the order together and had it ready to go. The confirmation screen showed the approximate delivery time. We noticed that if we let it sit there for 10 minutes and then reloaded, it didn't refresh. We had to leave the cart and re-enter the cart to get updated delivery time.4

A $10 coupon was applied, but there was no explanation why. when I attempted to use one of the ones I'd received in email for No Rush Prime, it acted like it was accepted, but did not change the total.

We placed the order, got a text message confirming. Then another text telling us that the order would be delivered incomplete and to look for an email. Turned out they couldn't provide the appetizer and would be providing me a refund. There was no option to cancel the order and there was no option to add to the order.5

There was a map that showed the restaurant and our house. In a cool/creepy way, it updated to show the food making its way to our house. Amazing what GPS and cell phones allow.

In the end, we were able to enjoy our New Year's Eve date-at-home but without me needing to pick up food. It's pretty rudimentary at the moment, not quite as polished as you'd expect from an Amazon product, but we'll use it again and looking forward to seeing how the platform improves over time.

Happy New Year!

1 Affiliate link. If you buy, I get pennies for books.
2 Suggestion for future release - Make AR's payment options match Amazon's payment options; make AR more resilient on Chrome
3 Suggestion for future release - make the search look for restaurants or look within a menu
4 Suggestion for future release - the ability to select the delivery window; also make the delivery time refresh if you reload the cart
5 Suggestion for future release - the ability to cancel the entire order; a window during which you can add to your order

Lie Down, Sheep

Notes captured into Evernote from a sermon, undated

4 reasons sheep struggle to lie down

Grass is greener on the other side

1) fear
* When sheep are tense they cannot rest because they are on alert
* What causes sheep to be less fearful? (The shepherd)

2) Tension
* Contention and jealousy exists between sheep and is detrimental to the flock
* what calms them? (The shepherd)

3) aggravation (flies)
* We are all bound to a life of "being bugged"
* prayer and the Holy Spirit can help
* Practical steps can help too

4) hunger
* Sheep cannot rest if they are hungry
* Bethlehem was a wasteland. Green pastures don't happen by accident.
* God is always at work trying to help his people experience plentiful lives.
* What has the good shepherd done for you?
* Sometimes he had to break rocks, sow seeds, water, till the land

He sees the end from the beginning.

Thirst - caused by a lack of water - can only be quenched by an outside source. (We cannot make ourselves less-thirsty.)

Friday, November 24, 2017

Today's DIY Art Project - Light-Up 2D Christmas Tree

Here's a project I created last year for our new house, a flat Christmas tree to hang on the wall.  Here's the supplies and tools I used:


Parts:

  • Three-foot long pieces of doweling (x3)
  • Small bolts (x5)
  • Wingnuts (x5)
  • Small piece of chain
  • Small cuphooks (many)
  • Christmas lights (not pictured above)
  • Kitkat
Chain is usually sold in 1' sections.  Get the size you need and when you get to the front and they try to hassle you, just tell them what the price was for the full 1' section.  

Tools:
  • Drill, drillbit
  • Saw
  • Vice or clamp
  • Eye protection



Here's what was left over when all was said and done - one bolt and wingnut, a bunch of cuphooks and a small section of doweling.  If I were doing this project this year, I'd go to Lowes instead as me and this company have had a falling out over the political comments of their CEO.  I sold my stock and stopped shopping there.


Basically, lay out the tree shape.  Add about eight inches to the base.  Cut off the excess.  Then cut the piece in half.


Drill holes into all of the pieces at the ends.  For the bottom pieces, overlap by 3-4 inches and drill a second set of holes.  You're going to overlap the bottom piece of the frame for two reasons: you can remove one bolt and fold up the tree if you want, plus you need to make up for the thickness of the doweling as I'll explain in the next step.


Begin fitting together.  The left pole goes on top of the right pole and bottom pole.  The chain goes between the two poles at the top.  Insert the bolt and secure with a wingnut.  Because your bottom pole is in two pieces stacked together, it goes above the right pole on the right side.


The basic tree.


Hanging on the house.



Finally, add lights.






Freeform

Ok, time for some free-form thought, just because I wish I was writing more. Yesterday, Lori put up the tree, and put lights on the tree. We watched Elf and part of Arthur Christmas yesterday and listened to a lot of Christmas music.  Today it's been less Christmasy, though we have the tree, the lights and Lori's put up some other decorations already. 

The day started way too early today, the cat waking us up several times, and Ben waking us up, too.  He was just ready to start the day far earlier than we were.  In the past, I might have seen the extra time as a chance to get some more stuff done, but today, it was difficult to drag myself out of bed.  And then I had to make coffee twice because I didn't get the pot pushed in all the way the first time and it overflowed and got all over and filled everything with coffee grounds.  Yuck. 

Things improved after that.  I've been slowly nursing my first and now second cup, I got some good cleaning done on the back patio that I've wanted to do for a long time and it hasn't been as hot today as they said it would be. 

I'm typing this in a very cool website called https://wordcounter.io - as you type it counts words, characters, sentences, paragraphs and pages.  It also shows you the  "keyword density" - the words you've used the most.  And it's all updating in realtime as you type.  I think I will use this from now on when I want to write a certain number of words.  When you first start, it also counts down how many characters you have left for Twitter and Facebook posts.  Really smart tool.  There's also a little graph, it looks like it wants me to get to 2,500 characters.  Not sure why.

I'm at 4,500 steps and I need to get to 10,000.  That'll be difficult as Ellie's going to have friends over so we'll have access to less of the house, including the living room where I usually make up the steps by jogging in place.  I'll have to see if I can do that in the bedroom, I guess.

31 days to Christmas.  I have some, but not all of my Christmas shopping done which is sad because I have two people to shop for - my wife and my one direct report at work.  It's sad because my wife is shopping for everyone else and I'm sure she's much further along in her shopping.  How else can I make today more Christmasy?  There's the tree frame I made, I can hang that up.  I also still need to do a blog post about it because it was a fun DIY project. 

So far today we haven't listened to any Christmas music because it's all been about listening to whatever Ben wanted to watch.  Which is ironic because he's the one who got us up earlier.  He should be listening to what we want to listen to or watching what we want to watch.  But I guess it doesn't work that way.

I reached 2,500 characters.  Nothing fancy happened.  But feels like I've written enough for now.

Monday, November 20, 2017

Low Salt Soups

My health coach wants me to cut back on sodium.  I'm seeing weight loss results, so I'm trying to do what she asks.  Because I take the train in to the office, I'm limited to items I can order on Amazon and that can persist without refrigeration.  Of course, salt is what allows lots of things to remain shelf stable, so my choices are slightly limited.  Here's what I've tried so far.

  1. Healthy Valley Organic No Salt Added Chicken Rice Soup - pretty decent.  Would eat again.
  2. Healthy Valley Organic No Salt Added Chicken Noodle Soup - it's ok. But the Chicken Rice is better.
  3. some soup I haven't tried yet, I'm sure
  4. ditto
  5. ditto
  6. ditto
  7. ditto
  8. ditto
  9. ditto
  10. Campbell's Low Sodium Cream of Mushroom - avoid. And I have 11 cans left.  Ugh.  Horrible stuff.  If I find a soup worse than this, I will be surprised and supremely disappointed with the human race. Choke it down with soda. (Of course, she wants me to eliminate soda.  We compromised on a partial can with my soup.)
Recently I thought I had found a winner, it was made by Healthy Valley Organic and it tasted it really good.  And then I realized that it was not low sodium.  Amazon had delivered a different soup than I ordered and I wasn't paying attention and had eaten most of them before I went back and looked at my orders.  I eventually gave the remaining cans away to coworkers who aren't watching their salt.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

identity

I've been thinking about people who have to go somewhere to find out who they are.  To me, that kind of suggests they've been neglecting themselves.  We can get busy, but why are we letting ourselves get lost?  But I guess it's probably quite easy to do.  Sometimes we're just trying to survive, the flow of life pushing us along until one day a rare moment of margin, buffer, pause... and we take stock and realize we don't like what we see.  And so then we run away to try to figure out a better picture for ourselves.

I don't want that to happen to me.  I have to admit I'm not always being true to who I am, but I think I know who I am.  I wrote it down at some point in the front of my current EDC notebook and occasionally I look at it, but I don't spend any time really thinking about it.  I'd like to think about it more in the future.

Here's what I wrote down.

simplify

husband/father/son
email and social marketer
christian
compassionate/intelligent/organized/healthy
resident of burbank, los angeles, california

And before you say... wait... you're not (pick one)... maybe I'm not.  Maybe they're aspirational.  Maybe they're reminders of where I want to be going, where I want to aim.  If I'm not, it is at least my ideal self.  

Or maybe you're saying... don't you want to be something else?  Political? Verbose? Thoughtful? Generous? Thrifty? Brave? Joyful? Patient? Kind? To be sure, there are plenty of other things I could aspire to, but for the moment, I'm pretty happy with this list.  Now the key is to keep these fresh in my mind to help me course-correct.

And what does "simplify" mean?  That one's not new, that word has resonated with me for years.  I just haven't always applied it.  But I need to get back to it.  It's the elimination of stuff, whether it's literal stuff or mental clutter or wasted pursuits that are neither productive or enjoyable or necessary.

This post is tagged so you can read some of my other thoughts on the subject if you're curious to see what I said last time I posted on the topic.

Wow... two posts in one day.  

Bring It On

It's been on my mind that I need to write more, so this my attempt to do just that.

36 days until Christmas. That's crazy.  It's way too close already. In past years, I have lamented "missing Christmas" - while I can't figure out where the month has gone, that stops now.


I'm listening to what's been declared by many as one of the greatest Christmas songs and I'm going to make sure I have Christmas in my day from now on through Christmas.


So, bring on the merry, bring on the lights, bring on the snow (or at least some great renditions of "Let it Snow")...


Bring on the baby Jesus, bring on the holiday decorations in the stores, bring on the "Merry Christmas", bring on the "Happy Holidays"  Bring on Miracle on 34th Street, bring on Elf, bring on Family Man.  Bring on careful dieting, bring on eating stuff you shouldn't and feeling good when you don't eat stuff you really want to.  Bring on carols, bring on music, bring on the annual debate with yourself about whether it's ok to listen to "Baby It's Cold Outside."  Bring on Holiday Inn, bring on It's a Wonderful Life.

I didn't feel good earlier.  I didn't finish my yogurt and then during church I had to get up and get some fresh air.  But I didn't have a really good reason for it.  But now it's gone and I'm happy and sad and excited for Christmas.  Lori's got the wreaths up in the house, we had a Thanksgiving lunch at Lori's mom's church (and I did not have any gravy, pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving cake or cheesy scalloped potatoes, I did really well if I may say so myself).  And I'm ready.  Bring on Christmas.

And one more before we go...




Wednesday, October 04, 2017

Counterpoint: Why you can't dismiss @Glassdoor

Context: A few years ago I was working for a company.  The work was challenging, but I believed we were doing good in the world.  And then one day, it ended. They were an at-will employer and they had eliminated my department. After eight years, it was "thanks, good luck."  I was thrown for a bit of a loop.  I hadn't kept up-to-date with what was going on out beyond the doors of my organization and I had allowed my resume to drift as I moved around within the organization tackling interesting challenges.

Fast-forward to now. I landed on my feet in a far better position than I could have even dreamed. I'm working with the smartest people I've ever worked with and there's always really interesting challenges and opportunities for growth. But one thing remains the same - the employer is an at-will employer.  I could be gone tomorrow.  I hope not.  But at the end of the day, the business has to answer to its shareholders. If it decides my role is not aligned with its goal of increased profits, I could go. It's nothing personal.

I'm not looking to leave my current employer (hi, boss!) but to make sure I stay in the know, I respond to recruiters who reach out to me. I have a unique skillset that a lot of companies are seeking and I work for a company known for its top-notch people.

So a recruiter recently reached out to me and I looked at the role and the company they were recruiting on behalf of. When I don't know much about the company in question, I'll look at their website and check out Glassdoor.  In this particular case, the company had a 2.1 on Glassdoor.

I asked them about it. Their response was that you shouldn't rely on Glassdoor and sent me a link to this article: 10 Reasons You Shouldn't Trust Glassdoor Reviews.  I thought there was some validity to the author's arguments, but I think there's more to be considered.  So I don't intend to pick apart the original post, but offer my counterpoint:


You can't dismiss Glassdoor. Here's why:


1. We're using it.

Whether you like it or not, we're using Glassdoor to learn more about companies.  Just like a restaurant can't stick its head in the sand and ignore Yelp!, companies cannot afford to plug their ears and go "lalalalalala" whenever Glassdoor is mentioned. Someone who's researching the company on Glassdoor is also showing initiative and discernment. You want to pass the Glassdoor test. You want potential candidates to poke and prod and then respond, satisfied that a relationship with the company you're recruiting for is a relationship they want to participate in.  Onboarding a new employee isn't cheap.  Onboarding a new employee only to have them discover it was a mistake is a big waste of money.  You want informed, inquisitive, proactive candidates.

2. We know how to spot B.S.

Again, Yelp.  Or Amazon.  Any of us worth our salt can smell bad reviews a mile away (and you don't want people who can't tell the difference).  And we're familiar with the idea that bad experiences are more likely to make it into a review than that of someone who's happily plugging away, content in their job.  It takes some work to create multiple reviews, so someone has to really hate you to go to the trouble. Also, the researcher is going to have a positive bias and seek confirmation for what they want the outcome to be. A job seeker wants the company they're thinking about joining to be good, so they will give more weight to positive reviews and less to negative reviews.

3. Where there's smoke... 

The Trending graph is an amazing part of Glassdoor.  It's harder to "game" by people submitting fake reviews and it says a lot.  Got a low score that's getting better over time?  That's a great sign.  Have a high number that was higher a few months ago?  That might give some pause.  (Yelp, please bring this back!)

4. Glassdoor is motivated to make it right

This is a no-brainer. Glassdoor is a for-profit company.  They live and die by their reputation as a legitimate source for on-the-ground insight for how companies are doing. They're going to be fighting bogus reviews and they've made tools for all of us to flag potentially bogus reviews for them to assess as well.  It's not going to be this pristine source of 100% truthiness in all cases, but I think they've established well that they're reliable and that being reliable is important to them.

5. It's a great way to show if you're invested

A brand no longer has 100% control over its own image and reputation.  But, a proactive company will cultivate the image it wants to portray in the areas where its customers are.  So much like investing in a social media strategy, a smart company also invests in a recruiting strategy that includes participation on Glassdoor.  For some companies, that means a generic reply to every review (I almost called this "We know how to spot B.S., part 2") but for other companies, it's a real engagement - responses where necessary, visible attempts to learn and grow from the negative responses, knowing that an engaged and interested potential future employee is going to pick up on this.

So... what if you're recruiting for a company with a low score?


Own it. Be prepared for the question. Know you will lose some who will see the the rating and not respond.  (You may even need to make additional promises, like an increased salary or certain guarantees to protect the candidate from existing unfixed issues.)

Make sure the company is aware of its rating and working to correct it.  Be ready to talk about how.

Watch that trend. Make sure it's on the upswing.  Ask employees -- especially the high-performers -- to post honest reviews.  Don't coerce, don't promise or reward participation.  Be completely above board.

But whatever you do, do not dismiss the candidate or make the candidate feel bad in any way for bringing it up.  That's just bad business.

(Cross-posted on LinkedIn.)





Thursday, September 21, 2017

Outlook 2016 Mac - Gmail Calendar Notification Keeps Coming Back

Outlook recently added support for Gmail in its Mac desktop client.  I added it and was immediately hit with a calendar notification that would not leave me alone.  I would dismiss it and it would come back 5 seconds later.  I would snooze it and it would come back 5 seconds later.  It was really frustrating.  All of the information online that I could find dealt with resetting profiles, repairing calendars, clearing caches.  None of this worked.

Since the item was on my calendar and I owned the item (a yearly reminder that Sept. 19 is "Talk Like a Pirate Day"), I simply deleted the entry from the calendar (inside Outlook) and the reminder immediately vanished.

Hopefully this helps because you've tried everything else or the other options seem way too drastic (yeah, I'm not telling my IT department that I nuked my Exchange profile) and you were tearing your hair out trying to find a solve.


Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Penalize the Purchaser @1800flowers

Recently, I bought a gift online.  I knew there'd be a delivery/service charge and they were wise to hide it until the very end because it was a bit outrageous.

To add insult to injury, the more you spent, the bigger the service charge was.

To add insult to injury, the more you spent, the bigger the service charge was.  It wasn't based on weight or items, but on the price you paid.  Spend more, pay more.

This is a penalty when it should have been a reward.  The service charge should have stayed the same, or gone down as I spent more.  Considering the price of the items/upgrades, they could easily absorb a few dollars into the cost to offset the declining service charge.  You can make the same money while simultaneously making the customer feel like they scored.  

Perhaps it's a moot point... they knew I was already invested and didn't want to appear cheap and didn't want to give up the time I'd already put into choosing my gift and building my order, so why should they bother? They got the sale.

But... they lost the next sale.  No matter how much the recipient loves the gift, I'm going to feel like I got a raw deal.

Memo to self: Use Amazon next time. I can't control the delivery as precisely but I can avoid the service charge altogether and it looks like I can get quite a bit more for my money.

Saturday, August 12, 2017

The Red Car

This toy car has lived in my dresser for decades, until last year when it disappeared. I feared that I had decided to give it away when we were purging for the move to the much smaller house.

So I was happy to find it again recently and put it back where it belongs.

But I also wanted to share it with all of you so that its meaning would be greater than just me because someday (a long time from now hopefully) I will die and then it will probably end up in a box destined for a charity reseller like Goodwill.

So, here's the story of the little red car.

Growing up, I had an Uncle named Jim. When he was a baby, they said he had a hole in his heart and that he was mentally retarded. I expect these days they'd have a more specific diagnosis, but I don't know what it would be. They said he probably would only live to the age of three.

Uncle Jim proved them all wrong. He lived in an assisted care facility, holding a job, going on trips to interesting places around the world planned by the facility, and enjoyed friendships with other residents.

Whenever we visited my mom's parents he would drop by to visit with us. He was one of the happiest people I knew, quick to smile, quick to laugh.

He gave me this car one year as a Christmas present. It didn't have any particular shared backstory, it was just a present he picked out for me and one that has just traveled with me ever since.

Uncle Jim died in 2004 at the age of 51.

And now you're part of the story. Thanks for reading.

Friday, June 30, 2017

Toastmaster Questions: Music Theme

Here's some questions around the theme of music. I used most of these at our recent Toastmasters meeting.

  1. A movie about your life is currently the reigning champ at the box office.
  2. After people see the movie, they're going to want the soundtrack. What songs, artists or genres will they be listening to?
  3. What kind of music do you listen to when you're feeling sad to either feed the melancholy or beat the blues?
  4. What's a genre of music you can't stand?
  5. What kind of music do you listen to when you're feeling happy, pumped or on top of the world?
  6. If I found your phone and launched iTunes or Pandora or Spotify, what genre or song would I probably likely hear?
  7. Tell us about a song that makes you feel nostalgic about a previous chapter in your life?
  8. What's your theme song?
  9. Audio Daily Double: Play short clip, ask speaker to describe how it makes them feel.
  10. Tell us about an earworm that has recently plagued you.
  11. You end up at a Billboard Music Awards after-party and someone busts out Karaoke. A duet is announced and you're pushed on stage. Which celebrity in attendance (they're all here) do ask to join you?
  12. What does "the classics" mean to you?
  13. Have you ever made a mix tape for someone? What did you put on it?
  14. What instrument do you think it would be interesting to learn to play? What's keeping you from learning?

I was ready to be offended if anyone called the '80s "the classics" but the guy who answered the question plunged the knife in and then really twisted it when he called music from the '90s "the classics." *sigh* Ok, I get it. I'm old.

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Amazing Animations

I came across an email in my inbox from a year ago.  I had been looking up some examples of animation in mobile UI for some project.  I was surprised at how well these have held up - how great some of these animations still look.  For these first three, I only had the URLs for the images, not the pages they came from, sorry.




Plus, here's a whole gallery of great animated mobile UI.  Even after over a year, these still feel fresh and relevant and in some cases, futuristic (and not just because some project out of the device).

Sunday, May 28, 2017

What is User-Generated Marketing (UGM)?


User-Generated Marketing, or UGM, is when your customer (or aspirational future customer) advertises your product without any reciprocation. You haven't promised them anything in return - you're not paying them, you're not giving them entries into a contest, there's no affiliate scheme, they're simply painting your product in a positive light and helping others to be confident in their choice to purchase out of the goodness of their heart.

In its simplest form, UGM is simple Word-of-Mouth (WOM) - your customer raves about you on Yelp! or Amazon reviews because they had a great experience and they want others to know about it. (Sure, they may be helping to improve their reputation on the particular platform where they've left the review, but it's not a direct tangible reward or it's an outcome for an accurate review, not necessarily a positive one.)

UGM differs from User-Generated Content (UGC) because whereas UGC shows your product in use (whether it's a video game or a grill), UGM is more about motivating others to make a purchase as well.

There are practical steps you can do to foster UGM - whether it's including your logo on a sticker with the product, or offering up a link in your email that generates a Tweet or Facebook post with some suggested wording or an image.  It could be offering up Memes or animated GIFs that people enjoy sharing.

But, there's one thing you must do more than anything else to turn your customers into an extension of your marketing department. It's not easy, but it's something you must do, something that will set you apart in a big way from those who don't.

Ready?

Be awesome. Sounds easy, right? It's not.

It's the day-in, day-out focus on surprising and delighting your customers, of anticipating their needs, of having the solutions they need before they even know they need them. It's a commitment to identifying and addressing problems quickly and having values that will support making the tough decisions. It's about being willing to admit when you made a mistake and being open about how you're going to work to avoid those mistakes in the future.

It's about avoiding cutting corners. Doing the right thing, every time. Following the rules not simply to avoid penalty, but because you want to be above reproach. Going above and beyond when the rules or laws are aren't sufficient to truly protect your customers, your employees, your company's future.

It's about empowering your employees to represent you well, and rewarding them when they do so. It's about creating a culture that cares - because when employees feel loved, they will be more loving.

It's about being personable.

When you truly are awesome, it will be impossible to keep your customers from telling the world.

Like this article? Please share on Twitter.

(cross-posted to Linkedin)

Saturday, May 27, 2017

A Few Recent Things...

3 Simple Strategies for Motivating Your Tech Team -- In a tight job market, these tactics can make your tech workers want to stay. (Inc.)

Driven to Success: Getting Inspiration from Plumbers -- Folks in their own service vans know as much about startups as we do at my high-tech outfit. (Inc.)

Monday, May 22, 2017

The guy on the train...

It's been 11 months since I moved to L.A. and started using public transportation for my commute. My previous commute was - get out of bed, turn on the coffee maker, grab the laptop and find some place to sit.  But, my employer made it clear that wasn't going to be the permanent working arrangement - I think they wanted me to show up in person more often than the few days a month when they'd fly me down and put me up in a hotel.

Why track this?

Partially curiosity, partially an attempt to refine it and squeeze out every second that I could to make the commute as short as possible.  This isn't meant to be an exhaustive examination of the system, just my tiny slice of daily travel on a much larger, complicated and busy system.

My commute:
  1. Walk to bus stop
  2. Drive Take bus to North Hollywood Red Line Station
  3. Red Line to 7MC
  4. Expo to Santa Monica
  5. Breeze Bikeshare to work
From Burbank to Santa Monica
  • average: 1h, 39m
  • best: 1h, 25m (12/19 - dwells under 2 minutes)
  • worst: 1h, 57m (not counting my "bus" phase - tie: 5/11 - Expo had to wait to go around broken train; 9/21 - 18 minute wait between Red and Expo) 
  • best days: Monday and Friday
  • worst day: Wednesday
From Santa Monica to Burbank
  • average: 1h, 45m
  • best: 1h, 28m (7/14 - super fast bike ride and no wait for Expo, feels like a fluke or bad reporting)
  • worst: 2h, 40m (9/14 - includes a 104m Expo leg. I think this is when the train died and I jumped off and took a Lyft to 7MC)
  • worst days: Tuesday and Wednesday
  • best day: Monday
Red - NoHo to 7MC, AM (usually depart at 6:28)
  • 170 runs tracked
  • Fastest: 20.27
  • Slowest: 33.82
  • Median: 23.58
  • Average: 23.78
Red - 7MC to NoHo, PM (varies)
  • 166 runs tracked
  • Fastest: 19.58
  • Slowest: 60.07
  • Median: 23.80
  • Average: 24.32
Expo - 7MC to 26th/Bergamot, AM (varies)
  • 170 runs tracked
  • Fastest: 35.63
  • Slowest: 67.05
  • Median: 42.58
  • Average: 43.10
Expo - 26th/Bergamot to 7MC, PM (varies)
  • 166 runs
  • Fastest: 40.13
  • Slowest: 104.95 (may have been the one where we jumped from the stalled train on the embankment near Palms and walked down to the street and called Lyfts and Ubers.) 
  • Median: 47.57
  • Average: 49.10
So, what have I learned after almost a year of commuting?

June 2016 to May 2017 (with much of January missing for some reason)
from left to right:
Burbank to Santa Monica,
Santa Monica to Burbank,
morning averages (reds were the bus era),
evening averages (we're pretty close to the best it's been yet),
overall averages (doing pretty good),
day of week rankings.


Morning and Evening averages (oldest on left)

1. The bus is so not worth it
As much as I liked the exercise, it added too much to walk to the nearest bus stop and then wait for the bus. I could never figure out how to predict its arrival time and finally decided it was easier to drive and I could stop buying the monthly pass and instead rely on loaded fare.

2. I can beat the train in the morning, but I can't beat it in the afternoon.  
I can get to the office in under an hour, driving, and I've done it a few times and it's been somewhat magical to experience different parts of L.A.  But in the afternoons, driving in L.A. is horrid.  If I could stay in the office every night until 9, then the drive only takes 20-25 minutes.  If I had a self-driving car, I'd have it drive me to the office and then send it home and take the train home.

3. The Breeze Bikeshare is crucial
If they decide to stop offering this, I'll probably have to find a new job.

4. Things got better after the Expo got more frequent
Lots of time was lost waiting at 7MC.  Now it's usually less than a 3 minute dwell from when I exit the Red.

5. It's hard tracking all this stuff.
It got easier once I started using Toggl.  Before that, it was difficult keeping track of when I departed. I missed a lot of January for some reason. Google Sheets is awesome for aggregating, summarizing and color-coding. I suspect the older numbers are a little less reliable, as I add more it'll even out. Of course, I'll be the first to recognize that the trains are running every 5 or 6 minutes so these stats are but a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny slice of what goes on.

6. The dwells are key.
I know when to leave in the morning, but I'm still trying to figure out what time to leave in the afternoon. But, the bike leg is less predictable so not sure if I'll ever be able to get that down to a science. But when I zoom out far enough, it's the dwell columns (red headings) that have the widest red/green variance.

7. Some things are predictable
The Red Line takes 23 minutes. It's brilliant. Maybe someone holds a door, but the precision is amazing.  The morning Expo is pretty predictable.

8. Some things aren't so predictable
I seem to often arrive at the Santa Monica station just as a train is pulling up, but I still have to return the bike, go up the platform, TAP in, so I usually miss the train there.  DTLA is unpredictable. Sometimes my Expo rides are in the low 40s, but other times there's so many stop lights and it can be 10, 15 or 20 minutes longer.

9. Things have gotten better
Last summer, lots of Expo train failures and quite a few Red failures. It's possible some of this will come back in the hotter summer months.

10. On average, DTLA isn't as bad
The key word there is "average" - on average, it's only 6 minutes slower in the evening for me than it is in the morning. It can be speedy in the evenings, but it can also drag on and on.  Thank goodness for Netflix allowing you to download shows.

11. It's worth it
Parking plus the train each way plus the annual membership for Breeze Bike Share costs less than the amount my company pays me for not parking in the business park parking lot. Plus, instead of sitting in traffic, I can watch movies, read email, write blogs, and when the Expo is really quiet, pull out my laptop and get some work done.


Thursday, May 18, 2017

No Bars Blog

It's been awhile since I've added a new entry (and even longer since I transferred an entry the blog) but I have been busy and/or haven't felt much like writing. But today I find myself sitting on an empty train in the station and it's weird enough to cause me to write. I guess I had just missed a train. A few people have gotten on, but it is still very quiet. Except the announcements - they are super-loud. Aaaaand we're underway. Yay.

Had to sit in a medical waiting room yesterday for about an hour. I was subjected to the Kelly and whoever (whomever?) show and The View. I didn't have my Galaxy S5 with me with its ability to control TVs, but also people were watching it. Instead, I worked, except when an old couple gave me their phone to fix issues with it not ringing and flipping the screen every time turned it. I owe Samsung an apology.

I did but sleep well last night after a number of nights of good sleep. Poor sleep makes me sad. Not in a "as, you have Beats headphones, I feel sad for you" way but in a "I'm in a dark fog and feel bad about everything" way. Our to put it another way, "Donald Trump it's still President and I just watched the 'Jurassic Bark' episode of Futurama." Although I did watch that yesterday. Speaking of horrible Presidents, I've started watching House of Cards again. I feel like even Frank Underwood can make me have hope for the future of our country compared with what's actually happening now. Though puerile see starting to turn on dear leader so maybe the orange jumpsuit scenario will yet come to pass. One can hope.

(composed on the subway, uploaded later)

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Jamey Kay Peterson (Aug. 19, 1997 - May 5, 2017)

Jamey and I found ourselves in a KFC one night and despite both being cat lovers for some reason we decided that their new product Popcorn Chicken was actually made from cat instead of chicken. Every time I'd put a piece in my mouth I'd meow. Jamey was almost hysterical with laughter. We must have been so annoying to the other customers.

Jamey passed away last week. I picture her in heaven, reclining against her sister Josey while Josey runs her fingers through Jamey's hair.

not actually Josey and Jamey

No Bars Blog

Thursday, May 11, 6:30 am Last night the last thought I can remember before going to sleep was that a few months ago we fondly wished for the days of Jeb Bartlett but now we'd probably be happy with Frank Underwood. I've been thinking recently that I need to get back to focusing on my identity - the elements that I'd like to be central to who I am - the things that I'd want people to say at my memorial (which shouldn't be in a church, but instead in a park with swings for Ben). So I think I'm going to start exploring them again in upcoming blog posts, but not today.  I've narrowed it down to five areas and a one-word mission statement.

Friday, May 05, 2017

irregardless definition

ir·re·gard·less
/əˈrəˈɡärdləs/
adverb

1. intentional disregard to the present situation in an extreme manner; despite the prevailing circumstances. (without + without + regard) = without² regard
2. paying attention to the present situation (without + without) + regard = with regard

Common usage: "Shut up, shut up, shut up! Irregardless is not a word!"



Tuesday, April 18, 2017

📶 4/5, 6:30 am

I continue to make the mistake of going to bed 6-6.5 hours before I need to get up, never remembering that the stupid cat(s) will probably wake me up before my alarm. Milo thinks it's his God-given right to be in a bedroom by 5:45 and he starts becoming a major pain (Major Pain! Salute!) if he is denied. It's pretty irritating.

You know what else is irritating? When someone sits next to me when there are other empty seats on the train. Then I have to balance this bag on my lap while I type.

A third thing that's annoying is how dreadful the text-prediction is when you're swipe-typing on a Kindle. Maybe I should just do a full post where I don't correct the errors.


Composed Tuesday, April 4, 6:30 am on some device or in some location where I didn't have a signal.

Monday, April 17, 2017

📶 4/4, 6:30 am

I have mixed feelings about "sensory issues" - a catch-all term our family uses when a texture, noise or light source causes us problems of some sorts. I realized this morning that when Rachel tries to avoid touching dirty dishes in the sink without wearing gloves that I am resistant. But when when I have to flee the house because someone is coughing and it's making me furious (it manifests as undetected fury, bubbling up until something happens - usually I can put on headphones or earplugs, or if possible, flee the area entirely), yeah, when noise is impacting me to that degree, it's a lot more real to me.  Memo to self to apologize to Rachel, she's not simply trying to shirk helping with the dishes. 

Our train is being held - they're checking some open door in the tunnel that shouldn't be open. And we're in motion again. Nice and quick. 

But, yeah, sensory issues - plenty of people would declare them things you just need to get over.  Bright sunlight hurts your eyes? Wear a hat. Or sunglasses. It's not that bad. For me, there are times where if I'm driving and I've forgotten sunglasses, I have to pull over and stop and take a break. It is that bad. For Ben, he has trouble with wearing hats of glasses, so it can be even worse. (Though we try to put his hat on him when we can, hopefully he can grow to tolerate the hat as a way to combat the brightness.)

So, anyway, why am I thinking about this? Our family is suffering with colds right now. The coughing makes me so angry - the particular sound just affects me. I'm not angry at the person who's coughing, but I just get to angry. I have nowhere to direct the anger and it makes it difficult for me to show how bad I actually feel for the cougher. But if I weren't aware of sensory issues, would I be angry with the person coughing? Would my desire to flee the situation be worse, or negatively impact my contributions or desires to remain with my family? I think it would. So I'm grateful to have had a chance to learn about sensory issues - not only does it give me a new kind of empathy for what my children are experiencing (and appreciate that it is real) but it also impresses on me that there is a need to consider my verbal and nonverbal responses. I suspect that without an understanding of sensory issues my responses would be far different and probably detrimental to my family or my part in it. 

And thinking about that makes me sad all over again about my parents who we don't really have any contact with. The final straw may have been politics but out decision to move here (away from them) wasn't held up in any way by feeling a need to remain geographically close to them since they had stopped making any active efforts to be close to us or to connect with their grandchildren, declaring our children's issues to be parenting issues - if it's not a broken leg, it's not real. If it's not bleeding then it's a behavior issue.

I've rambled enough. Good news is I know why I react the way I do and why I must carefully consider my responses when an outside stimulus causes me harm or reactionary emotions that are best not shared.  


Composed Tuesday, April 4, 6:30 am on some device or in some location where I didn't have a signal. If there's typos, I blame the Kindle Fire. Worst autocorrect ever.

Sunday, April 16, 2017

📶 3/24, 5:15 pm

Reading a book at work about influence. One of the first things it talks about is identifying behaviors. That you can usually influence change by simply getting people to change one or two behaviors. So if I want to lose weight, I need to identify one or two key behaviors vital to success. Essentially that's easy - stop eating unhealthy crap. Boom, done. I need to study the book more because if this is really the case, maybe I don't want to lose weight. To be sure, the book is about influencing change in others, but if I can't do it in myself, why should I even try to change other people's behavior? When they talk about addictions, they say to change your environment, stop hanging around with people who are still caught in the lifestyle you're trying to get out of. Sadly, our house and office are filled with the very stuff I love to eat which is coincidentally the precise things I need to avoid if I want to lose weight. All hope is not lost but the struggle is real.

Composed Friday, March 24, 5:15 pm on some device or in some location where I didn't have a signal. If it was the Kindle Fire, that explains all the typos.

Thursday, April 13, 2017

📶 3/22, 6:10 pm

On the train home. Busy day. Kinda quiet, but still a lot to do and not enough time.I guess that's nearly always the case but right now my work inbox is suffering. I can't seem to get it down below 320 and right now I have no idea how full it is but I'm guessing it's close to one thousand. My home inbox is pretty full too as is Feedly. But I guess it's the result of how I've been prioritizing (or not). I am looking forward to the single-day vacation tomorrow - maybe sleep in and then just spend the day with the family, go to the Huntington and just be still and chill. That's very appealing.

Composed Wednesday, March 22, 6:10 pm on some device or in some location where I didn't have a signal.

Friday, April 07, 2017

📶 3/20, 7 am

Everything feels different. I slept poorly after 3:30 am, and since everyone else is on spring break I snoozed the alarm for 30 minutes. But sure how much that did, but I'm glad I did it. Except that I had to park in the dreadful overflow, there's a bunch more cops hassling people and the timing is all off - I will not win any awards today for travel-times, at least not with the 10 minute wait and extra time waking from the overflow lot. People on the train also seem to be more chatty at 7 versus 6:30. Weird.

I don't understand why sleep continues to be horrible. I had no problem falling asleep but once I woke up I couldn't get back to sleep. Amazing - this train car is full already and we're at the first stop with still a minute or two before we depart.

Composed Monday, March 20, 7 am on some device or in some location where I didn't have a signal.

Thursday, April 06, 2017

📶 3/16, 6:30 am

I try to work from home once a week, usually on Thursdays. That gets me back the 3 hours I otherwise spend commuting or allows me to work late on days with a deadline without then having the commute after that. Not today, I find myself again on the train heading in. Read a report last night about the new proposed budget. I was surprised to learn that even though California puts more into the federal pool than it takes out, that federal remit is still a third of California's budget. And because we've diversified our workforce and aren't primarily reliant on the military for all our jobs, we stand to lose quite a bit when it comes to the new budget - a lot of our federal money goes to quality of life issues (education, environment, transit) especially for those marginalized or on the edges (elderly, disabled, poor, homeless). But, I think there is safety in numbers. When they say "the Great State of California," it's not just a catchphrase - this is a place of compassion, empathy and care for all its citizens. We will have to tighten our belts, but we will still survive, and prosper. But - I fear we will lose some of our young men and women to an unnecessary future war because you don't increase military spending unless you're planning to use it.

Composed Thursday, March 16, 6:30 am on some device or in some location where I didn't have a signal.

Wednesday, April 05, 2017

📶 3/15, 4:50 pm

It was a good work day. I got caught up in some stuff and I advanced some other stuff and I fixed something that's been broken for some time now. I didn't mean to skip my oatmeal, but that was fewer calories this morning. It it's an amazing day out right now, blue skies with a light breeze. Cool - got a seat today.

Composed Wednesday, March 15, 4:50 pm on some device or in some location where I didn't have a signal.

Tuesday, April 04, 2017

📶 3/15, 6:20 am

Thirty-seven point five. 37.5 damn pounds. 37.5 dumb pounds. 37.5 reminders that I have not been exerting the control I possess. 3.5 months into the new year and I pretty much weigh what I did when the year started. There's no excuse for that. Sure, I tried to take on too much... lose weight, keep up with chores, email and Feedly, floss every day, hit my step count, read a book for at least five minutes a day. Jumping jacks. Situps. Pushups. Write a blog post. And so on. While I have flossed every in 2017, everything else has been allowed to stagnate. No more. 37.5. I'm coming for you.

Composed Wednesday, March 15, 6:20 am on some device or in some location where I didn't have a signal.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

What happened?

What happened to #blogaday?

I will get back to them. But at the moment, I've gotten behind. I've been busy at work, not getting great sleep and frankly, this whole Trump fiasco has got me quite depressed. It's such a disappointing mess and I'm a little scared for our collective futures. One article I read says that Russia isn't done with us yet - that if need be, they'll perform some terrorist acts on our soil to keep us off balance and distracted.

I heard that the average Trump voter makes $70,000 a year. That's a decent amount of money. Although I have a theory about that - basically lots of people who make nothing per year were conned by the obscenely wealthy and together they make $70,000 but if you were to look at the median income, it would be a lot less.

I feel like I can generalize Trump voters into a few basic groups:
(1) People who stand to profit financially. Many of them are now getting cabinet positions. / They might also be racist or sexist.
(2) People who will always blindly vote Republican / or will never vote for a party because of those who celebrate values they disagree with (especially abortion) / They might also be racist or sexist.
(3) People who genuinely believe that things are going to get better for them. These people also think that Obamacare and the ACA are two different things. They are grasping for any place (besides themselves) to put the blame for their situation. In some cases, it's their state or the education offered to them or private enterprise that failed them and their situation is not of their own making, but they are going to be sorely surprised. / They might also be racist or sexist.

I also wonder about Trump himself... is he a clueless pawn in all this? Remember those movies where there's a party and the cool kids each bring an uncool kid and the uncool kids don't realize it's just one big joke at their expense?  I feel like that's what's happening here.  I don't really believe for a minute that Trump got where he was without a lot of help, but that he's not in on the joke. I just don't know who brought him and when they'll let him know. A convenient scapegoat for Republicans who will impeach him shortly? Or someone the Russians will assassinate as soon as he becomes a liability?

And speaking of, what about the mood of our nation as a whole?  Is he safe from the people who voted for him once they realize he actually doesn't care about them? Is he safe from some other country he insults on Twitter? If they prioritize strategy over saving face, they'll leave him be because far more damage will be done to our country if he continues to call the shots, but if they're about saving face, I think it's plausible that a foreign country might decide to take him out. I feel like we're in for dark times of uncertainty while the GOP and its supporters get richer and richer at the expense of all of us.

I really do not get it. People are saying that it's time to take the restrictions off of businesses. This will not help the average worker. It will help the business owners but remove the restrictions and you end up with environments that are less safe and pay less.

People are saying that foreigners are taking our jobs and that we should shut down the Visa program, but at the same time, this administration seems hell-bent on destroying our education system.

People are saying NAFTA steals jobs, but the facts are that immigration from Mexico (illegal or otherwise) has actually been going down but destroying NAFTA will eliminate jobs in Mexico and Central and South America, forcing more people to come to the states looking for work.

All the while we seek to privatize prisons (as a whole, for-profit prisons are more violent than government run facilities), education (as a whole, for-profit schools produce lower test scores), health care (as a whole, for-profit nursing homes are far more likely to keep their charges sedated because it's cheaper and easier than keeping them enriched and safe) and basically anything else you some private company wants to profit by doing. (Like the private nuclear waste company that contributed a lot to Perry's campaign while he was in Texas.)

We've got wholly unqualified people who haven't even bothered to learn about the jobs they've accepted. It's appalling. I loved the Esquire article: "As nearly as I can tell, the nominees for the president-elect's Cabinet fall into several different categories. There are the people you'd pretty much expect from any Republican administration. (James Mattis, Michael Flynn, Ryan Zinke). There are the people who understand the mission of their departments and have spent their lives undermining it. (Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, Rick Perry at Energy, Andrew Puzder at Labor). And there are the people who are fundamentally clueless about the general nature of public service. (Rex Tillerson at State.) On Tuesday night, DeVos demonstrated that she is that rarest of Trump administration fauna: Someone who fits capably into all three categories."

This is the last land-grab of a desperate political party that has given up any semblance of compassion - they've said "screw you" to the social contract we all (whether we like it or not) are a part of in this grand experiment of the United States of America.  I wondered aloud of any non-criminals still existed in the GOP and my wife mentioned Senator McCain and one other person whose name I can't recall.  It's slim and even the "good ones" seem unwilling or unable to go against the party. They've either lost their backbone or they were pretending.

Dark times are ahead and the only thing I know for sure is that whether it's for the PTA or President, I'm never voting for another Republican.  I'm not ready yet to call myself a Democrat, but I'm getting pretty close.

I've spent way too much time reading internet comments lately, but I'm just astounded by all the people who are so excited for this presidency. And who actually read Brietbart (a headline on there for earlier this month: "Dear Mr. President-Elect, Please ‘Pick a Fight’ with California on Behalf of the American People" - I'm not linking to the Fake News, you'll need to Google it) and think it's real news while accusing CNN, NBC News (and even Fox News) of being Fake News.

It's getting to where even the jokes aren't funny anymore and it's getting difficult to even watch pick-me-ups like Futurama. I just see the aliens blowing up buildings thinking how an alien invasion or the rapture would be nice right about now. This isn't a "you lost, get over it" moment -- I didn't vote for Hillary Clinton either - but my state was a lock for her electorally so my vote didn't count - I've been an independent when it comes to my Presidential voting record since 1996 though in hindsight if I was allowed to retroactively vote in the 2012 elections I would have voted for President Obama -- this is true dread.

I do not get it, not at all. How are so many people snowed? There's one thing I really, really want to know.  When will those who voted for Trump know if they made the right decision or not?  When can we poll them and ask "Is your life better off today than it was on January 19?"  When can we start making them uncomfortable by making them use their brains and really assessing if their vote was a wise one or not?

Saturday, January 14, 2017

#14 - This is Not a Backpack #blogaday

I mean, technically, it is a backpack. I guess I should say it's not *just* a backpack.  This rugged bag is really my "go bag" - at any time (except right after I get home), it's packed and ready to go.  Usually for a train trip, but with the addition of a few power cords and maybe a few more items of clothing and vitamins and it's also ready for a flight and a 2-3 day conference.  I can also leave the helmet behind for most flights these days.

With all the trips last year, I felt like I have it pretty much down to a science.  When I get home, I remove the items that are used or worn, replace with new items and I'm ready to go.  Electronics, clothes, pen, paper, toiletries in airport security approved sizes, even a lint roller. Everything has a purpose and nothing extraneous. Except maybe a few extra pairs of headphones.

~~~~~~~~~~

Blogaday 2017 (what is blogaday?)
Tomorrow: #15 - You Were Saying Football Things in a Football Voice

Friday, January 13, 2017

#13 - 2016 Did Not Happen #blogaday

Oh, boy. Would that this were true.

Some good things this year. Some... ehhhhh.... I can't recall exactly when I picked these topics and I feel like the thing to do would be to pick one single thing from 2016 that I wish hadn't happened.  I really want to say Trump. I really do. Maybe I can save that for 2017. I suspect we'll regret him even more this year when he finally gets the keys and is able to drive the country off a cliff into a pile of manure.

No, I'm going to go with the murder of a friend (who I hadn't seen in 10 years).

~~~~~~~~~~

Blogaday 2017 (what is blogaday?)
Tomorrow: #14 - This Not a Backpack 

Thursday, January 12, 2017

#12 - Not in the News #blogaday

No one reported that tonight Ben was upset with Lori and said "You Bad You Bad" - it wasn't super clear, but we're both sure that's what he was saying. No one reported that he also had his best haircut ever today.

No reported that Rachel and I had a nice day today, including lunch with my college roommate, and a 2-for-1 sale on Skylanders at Gamestop (we picked up two Senseis and two Creation Crystals rather inexpensively) and went to the library and Lowes.

Also not in the news today - Rachel and I played Skylanders, Ben enjoyed swinging at the park, Rachel read some books and we went to Menchies where Rachel and I had frozen yogurt and Ben sat and ate lots of Cheez-Its and Wheat Thins.

You also didn't hear about Lori having a morning playing with a restless Ben and then a few hours without the kids in the afternoon or how I got to read and drink coffee and ease myself into the morning or how I installed a new light in Ben's room tonight, or how I fought with lightbulbs earlier today.

~~~~~~~~~~

Blogaday 2017 (what is blogaday?)
Tomorrow: #13 - 2016 Did Not Happen

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

#11 - Me, Myself and I #blogaday

One thing I've discovered is that I can be quite selfish. I've convinced myself that I need time to myself. Nevermind the time on the train each day when I can put on my headphones and read or watch TV.

I've also decided that I need time on weekend mornings to myself.  I've been trying to sleep a decent amount, but getting up at 7:30 or 8 hasn't worked because my daughter's been getting up earlier than that.  If the weather was nicer, I could go outside, but lately it's been cold and/or rainy. One Saturday recently I had to ask her to take her book back into her room because she couldn't not talk to me.

But, I have to get past it.

I'm not a solitary creature. I have a family. I have a long commute. What little time I have with them, I need to be available to them. I need to be prepared when they're in the house to be there and present with them. If I want time to myself on the weekend and I can't convince everyone else to sleep in, then I need to get up earlier or just suck it up.

~~~~~~~~~~

Blogaday 2017 (what is blogaday?)
Tomorrow: #12 - Not in the News

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

#10 - Lazy #blogaday


It's taking me too long to get to this one.  Not because I'm lazy, but because I've been swamped.

Someone called me lazy today. The good kind.

Normal lazy bothers me. Lamenting a situation but never working to change it, accepting a bad situation with a shrug, not working to one's potential. That bothers me.

But I'm amazed by the kind of lazy that doesn't accept the status quo and makes it better by making it easier. Remote controls, automatic transmission, voice activated stuff... that type of thing.

This applies to work, too.  All the time we hear "This process is dumb. It's repetitive, it takes too long, there must be a better way." I admire the person who says that and then steps up and makes it quicker, easier, faster.

To me, that's the person who's always wondering... are we in The Matrix?  (Or in simpler terms, if I right-click or long-press, are there hidden options?)  They don't simply accept things as they are, they want to know why... why is it like this? What was it like before? What will happen if I mess with it? Who's behind the curtain? Do I have to?

This kind of lazy is inquisitive, curious and introspective.  This kind of lazy changes the world.

Disclosure: Still behind. Maybe this weekend?

~~~~~~~~~~

Blogaday 2017 (what is blogaday?)
Tomorrow: #11 - Me, Myself and I

Monday, January 09, 2017

#9 - Unwrapped #blogaday

I got a nice waterproof windbreaker for Christmas from my wife. I don't remember it raining in California quite as much as it has this year. I suppose we need the rain, but I don't need the rain while I'm riding to work. Sometimes I have to remind myself that it's only 1.5 miles and that I can change into dry clothes when I get there.  Fortunately, the rain has been more intense after Christmas than before because I would have been quite miserable if I didn't have this jacket.  Now I need to find pants to go with it.

I also received a pair of Bluetooth headphones - the first pair I've owned. I figured if that's the way the world is going, I might as well get used to it. They are neat, but I've found sometimes that I don't turn on music because it's more work than just plugging in a pair of headphones, or because I have range anxiety - they once ran out of juice in the middle of a phone call.  They gave me a few warnings and then the call was back on my phone instead of in my ear.  That said, I used them all afternoon while building phase I of Ben's fort and they lasted a long time and sounded good. I am also a little more afraid of damaging them compared to simple headphones. But as a technological thing, they're fun.

This year was a lot about gift cards - which is fine with me. We have a much smaller space so I was glad to not get a lot of "things" - most of the physical items I received were edible treats (neat candies from around the world and some salmon I have yet to dig into) or other treat-myself items, like a couple of different soaps and some hair gel and aftershave.  And that's fun.  To me, at least.  I recently read someone say that adulthood is realizing something is cool but not buying it because you know you don't have a practical reason to own it - and that's why children find adults boring.  I guess that makes sense.

Full Disclosure: Still posting late. Hope to be caught up soon.

~~~~~~~~~~

Blogaday 2017 (what is blogaday?)
Tomorrow: #10 - Lazy

Do you have two Twitter accounts? If you're a business, you should.

After tweeting to a brand recently, I went and looked at their Twitter feed. They sell microwavable popcorn. So they had marketing tweets about movies and popcorn, but then there were a lot of tweets that looked like this:


On the web, Twitter will hide all tweets that start with @ - you can find them under "Tweets & Replies" - but in the app, they're all just displayed right away.  It's clear that they're using a cut-and-paste (not that there's anything wrong with that) and that they are proactively and quickly addressing concerned customers.  (Yay!)

But... This brand was trying to foster the idea of watching movies and popping popcorn, curling up with a buttery treat, but in the meantime, it was cluttering up its own feed with what I can only assume were people complaining that they burned their popcorn.

What this brand needs to do:
They need to separate their Brand (Marketing) Voice from their Customer Service Voice.  You can find plenty of examples of companies that currently do this.  Hilton (@HiltonHelp) and Comcast (@ComcastCares) come to mind. The company I work for uses our stock ticker + "Assist" but most of the ones I've see online use "Cares".

They continue to promote @PopcornCompany on their products and they continue to use @PopcornCompany to tweet about watching movies and watching tasty popcorn and whatever else will inspire people to buy more popcorn.  But when someone tweets with a problem, the response should come from a different Twitter handle: @PopcornCompanyCares.  There's a couple of reasons:

  1. You separate your marketing (we're awesome) from customer service (this guy doesn't think we're awesome, let's see if we can make him happy again)
  2. (Optionally) You can continue the conversation online -- maybe you don't need to switch to email just yet. Though there may be lots of valid reasons why you would, especially if you've outsourced your social media or have a hard and fast line between marketing and customer service.
  3. The longer Twitter handle @PopcornCompanyCares immediately signals that you do care and that the customer has reached Customer Service even if they haven't encountered this naming scheme yet from other companies.
  4. The longer Twitter handle @PopcornCompanyCares also reduces the length of complaints by a few characters, causing customers to be more concise and less colorful in their dissatisfaction. (Sorry, it's true.)
If this sounds like your company, quick, go register that second Twitter account ASAP.

Sunday, January 08, 2017

#8 - Bacon and Eggs #blogaday

nomnomnomeltte
Breakfast is a treat for me. Most of the time, it's very standard - coffee and Maple & Brown Sugar oatmeal. That's been the staple for years. It's good, it's healthy, it tastes good, it's not a lot of calories. You could say boring but I'd say, "Umm.... coffee. Not boring."

But every once in awhile, we'll stay at an Embassy Suites and then I get to look forward to a really good stuffed omelette - start with 2-3 times as much cheddar cheese as is typical, then add in whatever else... ham, mushrooms, bacon.  Then add some salsa... awesome.  And coffee.  And being Embassy Suites, also pastries and fruit and who knows what all else.

Sometimes Lori and I will get the kids off to school and then go and have breakfast. We've done this lately on birthdays, especially. We'll go find a restaurant that specializes in breakfast. Might be named after someone and might even have spoon in the name. ("Marcia's Silver Spoon" comes to mind. "The Best Place in Town" fails that naming convention but also comes to mind.) It's probably not a Made-to-Order omelette here, but rather one of their specialties, possibly recommended by the server.

When it's all of us together, then we're McBreakfasting it (though Lori and I have been known to occasionally drop in unenchildbered) - a McGriddle or Sausage McMuffin for me and either a Big Breakfast or Sausage Biscuit for Lori.  Coffee, juice, milk. And often extra trips up to the register for more hashbrowns after Mr. Ben eats everyone's hashbrowns.

I keep thinking I'm done and then I think of another breakfast... We'll pull out the griddle and I'll make pancakes and Lori will make bacon and we'll have breakfast for dinner someimes. That's always a fun, family affair because we'll eat as we cook, so it's a lot of time together talking and sharing. And I'll make coffee.

Breakfast is definitely more fun shared.

Full disclosure: I'm still not caught up and posting these a day behind. Maybe tomorrow.

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Blogaday 2017 (what is blogaday?)
Tomorrow: #9 - Unwrapped