My Old Blog

I guess not entirely, since other stuff did go on….some of which might interest people, some of which wouldn’t……but it doesn’t seem like much went on when I write it out like that.

I should go back and read 3 months of one of my travel journals. I guess that wouldn’t be very helpful though, huh?

One odd thing went on this week: I’ve had my resume posted on Monster.com for a little over 5 years and I never got one good lead, either by companies contacting me or me applying to other companies.

I’ve had 6 companies contact me in the past week….not just recruiters either. Three of them have produced initial interviews and are real, decent jobs.

One of them I said no to with Citigroup (even though I hadn’t of course been offered the job yet). It was a fairly decent gig making more money doing something similar in Jacksonville, FL.

The other two I’m considering going through all the interviews just to see what might happen (Workbrain and Bearing Point).

I bet I won’t do it no matter what. My job isn’t really that bad. On a similar note, in the an upcoming issue of nationally distributed business magazine the cover story will be the Top 20 Companies for Leaders. I’m participating in that research. Its sort of fun…and I certainly need that.

These are more or less in chronological order:

I went to an Atlanta Hawks game.

I didn’t get the job I wanted…very frustrated. They still have me “on hold” pending some work we are supposed to win in the March/April time frame.

I won’t hold my breath….good thing too, otherwise I’d be dead. I’ve been doing this job 3 years.

I went a Yoga class. I have been a few times….not much exercise, but very peaceful.

I’ve been on a few dates. I have never liked dating and still don’t. I guess I need to learn.

I went to a singles event to see what it is like. I don’t think I’ll be going to any others. If I ever get that desperate I think I’ll just join a monastery.

I watched Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure again and was remind what a totally excellent movie it is (cue air-guitar). San Dimas High School football rules!!

I played a lot of tennis. Why not? My team is in the semi-finals of the tournament……two weeks from now hopefully we’ll be city champs. Hey, you’ve got to look forward to something right?

Most of my floor at work moved to Ashford Dunwoody. I stayed in Smyrna. Its odd being mostly alone in a big office building.

I got to meet a guy that wrote one of the business books I’ve read.

Daniel (who owns the house I live in) moved out. Most everyone knows I live in a loft above the garage. Even though the whole house is now empty, I still never go in it.

A dog saved a man from a bear. I admit I got a little misty-eyed reading this. I love dogs.

This is too funny…it is billed as a “much-needed alternative to Wikipedia, which is increasingly anti-Christian and anti-American.” The site offers many great, “lesser-known” scientific insights….such as the fact that the Earth is only 6000 years old.

Some of you will have noticed that I haven’t said anything about why I haven’t written lately. I think it will have to stay that way for a while…don’t know how long yet.

One day I’ll look back and smile surely….right?

I will post again on March 1.

2007 is going to be the best year ever because I said so. If you do not think 2007 is going to shape up too well….then please don’t talk to me because I am only interested in having the best year ever.

I have made no resolutions this year other than that my life will be the best. I will get a new job this year, and buy a house. That means I will have to buy furniture…..but that’s OK, because the furniture will also be the best ever.

I had an awful hangover yesterday and went to see the new Rocky movie. It was not the best ever. It was pathetic; but it was still Rocky and he is awesome…even if he is now 164 years old.

I noticed that Rocky is alot like Forrest Gump…in that they are both dumb, but do really smart things. I think there is a lot to learn from the two of them. Such as hard work really pays off, and if you don’t believe in yourself, then you’ve got nothing.

There is also the age old lesson of know thyself. Rocky and Forrest Gump are well aware of their limitations and live within them at the same time stretching on the things they are good at.

Rocky and Forrest are also both generally nice to people. Its always the smart people who think they know enough to judge what is right and wrong…dumb people (at least the ones who are dumb but act smart like Forrest and Rocky) realize they don’t know enough and so tend to get confused or blame themselves when things go wrong. (Then there are the dumb people who think they are smart. I have no idea what to do about them.)

I am reminded of this book by A. E. Van Vogt I read in high school when I was really into science fiction. “The World of A” is about a race of super-humans who live in a world without government. Because they are so logical and intuitive they are always able to make the right decisions immediately without the heuristics we live by. So they always know what to do even though there are no rules. I really learned a lot reading all those sci-fi books….although it didn’t get me any women…I have to admit.

I think I might get a TV in 2007 too. I played trivia the other night and was totally clueless on a lot of the questions. TV plays a really big role in most people’s lives. If I want to participate in life…it appears I need a TV.

Happy New Year everybody!!

I got a new wallet for Christmas….so I had to clean out the old one.

I had a ticket stub from the Empire State Building (which I never remember visiting, but I guess I did. I did go to NYC a few times.) There is a receipt from when I visited Albert Einstein’s house in Bern, Switzerland: Entry fee 2 Swiss Francs.

“Alaska Employment – Fishing Industry. Earn up to $3,000 – $6,000+ per month. No experience necessary. Male/Female. Age 18 – 70. For information call: (206) 971 – 3512 ext. A53812.”

I remember putting it in my wallet at Clemson right when I was about to graduate. I must’ve called, because I wrote “talked to Linda” next to the number. I’ve since seen on TV a little about life on those fishing boats. I don’t think I missed out; however, I did talk to a guy once who did it and said the money is real and it was the best summer of his life.

I have the combination to the equipment locker of the Rockmont gym. That piece of paper is almost 10 years old. I used to go shoot basketball after all the kids were asleep and since the counselors locked up the balls after the day, I needed the combination.

I have tons of old phone numbers, the ink blurred by moisture and the paper mildewed. I bet none of those people live there anymore. It was before cell phones though, so I had to carry everyone’s info around in case I needed to call….which I rarely did.

I have Gloria’s phone number from Holland. Pete told me she is still playing music in a band in Lexington. I have Anne Marie’s phone number from Spain. I wonder where she is? Last I heard she called off her wedding and was doing investment banking in Germany.

I have a contact number for St. Barts in Charleston. They are a boat delivery service. I thought I wanted to be a sailor. That was before the Mediterranean, before I learned about salt water and sea sickness.

I have the first few lines of a poem I penned the weekend I graduated from Clemson over at the lake. They are so faded I can barely read them now. I did sort of fancy myself a poet for a while. I wasn’t very good though.

I have the email of Brendon Jones, a philosophy major from Oxford I spent a little time with in Morocco. I wrote about him once in this post. I just wrote him an email. We’ll see if the address is still valid and/or if he remembers.

I have Peter’s address when he lived at the chateau in France:
30570 Valleraugue
Gard, France
ph: 4 67 82 25 12

I remember I tried to call him and the message said some crap in French I couldn’t understand. The girl I was living with at the time in Taiwan (Merrilyn) happened to speak French and told me the message said “the number you are trying to reach has been changed”.

The new number was:
04 67 82 26 33

I have this poem too….which I certainly did not write:

The raindrop whispered to the Jasmine, “keep me in your heart forever”.

The Jasmine sighed, “Alas,” and dropped to the ground.

You see……the raindrop landed on the jasmine, but the raindrop was too heavy for the delicate flower.

That is sad.

Perhaps the most frustrating, subtle, and brilliant strategy ever devised in human relations is the “The Aiken Solution”. Everyone uses it, but few realize how powerful and universally applicable it really is.

George Aiken was an old-school, state’s rights, conservative Republican from Vermont. He counseled both Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon on Vietnam, but they never listened. “Declare victory and get out,” he said.

Declare victory and get out. The simplicity is astounding. You can’t argue with it because of its illogic.

It does not have to be a lie….though it is certainly a reshaping of the truth. It can snatch victory from defeat, except unlike REALLY snatching victory from defeat…..in this case you are INVENTING victory from defeat.

To use a sports analogy…..if you win the Super Bowl on a last second field goal after an unlikely interception, then you snatched victory from defeat. You celebrate big: uncork the champagne, smoke the cigar, have the parade, get the trophy, etc. etc.

But what if you missed the last second field goal after an unlikely interception? And you celebrate big: uncork the champagne, smoke the cigar, have the parade, get the trophy, etc. etc.

The two paragraphs read similar. You still had the parade. You still drank the champagne. You still have the trophy. In a few years, who will remember that the score seemed unfavorable at the time? All that matters is that you won!! You’re a champion baby!

If that was slightly confusing to read, that’s why the Aiken Solution is so brilliant. But you think, “Who is dumb enough to buy that strategy? Everyone knows what the score was right??”

No. In real life there is no score. Often success is subjective, the outcomes distant and the evidence hard to verify. Then you really can declare victory.

I watch companies do it every quarter when they release earnings. No matter what numbers they release….whether above or below expectations, they will paint a positive picture of the previous quarter while outlining the challenges, and say that the business is sound, and the next quarter will be even better. They won….simply because they said so.

People don’t know what to make of the Aiken Solution, so, if nothing else, you can throw up a smokescreen to buy yourself some time. It takes a while to catch on to.

Bush used it well in Iraq. “Iraq is linked to Al Qaeda.” It turned out it wasn’t…so he used the strategy, ignored his defeat and declared an unsubstantiated victory instead, “Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.” They didn’t…..so he just declared a different victory. “We are bringing freedom to Iraq.” They haven’t done that either since Iraq is all but at civil war….so he might literally declare victory and get out this time. That’s what the Baker Report should’ve suggested.

So the point is that it took most people years to figure out what Bush was doing. Some knew sooner, some later….but all the same: the strategy works and people use it all the time.

Start watching….you’ll notice it. Anytime anyone just blatantly disregards reality and declares it something else…..they’re using it. Sometimes we don’t even know we’re doing it.

I read a study the other day that asked why people lie. One of the their primary, and very interesting, theories was that lying developed not to manipulate other people…..but to manipulate ourselves. We tell ourselves what we need to hear to get through the day…..and the brain gets so used doing it that the practice spills over to what we say to other people.

Not sure how true that is…..but is interesting….and I just won the Super Bowl!! You can too if you like.

I can say I’m playing a lot of tennis. I can’t say that I’m playing all that well….but it does give me something to do and actually takes up a fair amount of time.

Christmas is coming up!!! I can’t say I’m all that hyped. I like Christmas…the decorations and festive atmosphere, but it isn’t the same as when I was younger. Everyone thinks that though…I don’t know why I just bothered to say it??

I applied for the MBA Enterprise Corp this year again. I tried when I first got out of B-School and they turned me down. I wanted to see if they would accept me now. They did. I got a “preliminary” match in Bosnia and Azerbaijan. I can’t even point to those countries on a map…although I suppose I could get close.

I told them during the interview that I would not accept any placements in Sub-Saharan Africa. They asked why and I told them about all the ragged travelers in Egypt and Morocco that had come up from the Dark Continent with horrible stories. That isn’t very professional….but it was true.

The MBA Enterprise Corp is like the Peace Corp for MBA students. I think I’ve said that before…but in case you forgot like I did, I just said it again. They partner with governments, NGOs, or large consulting firms on various projects from micro-finance, to international marketing efforts, to process improvements…etc, etc.

I am not going to do it, although part of me still wants to. I kept asking about what people did AFTER their 1 year placement (its 3 months of language training and a one year placement…so 15 months). They said the majority end up working for their host organization or get a job abroad through whatever network they create while working. I don’t know if I want to do that again. Its such a bizarre lifestyle.

On the flip side, I don’t know how much longer I can keep up what I am currently doing. I’ve been at it for a little over 2 and a half years now….its really not that long I suppose. I had a 1 year question moratorium and six months in India. I have issues.

I need a plan. I have one to be honest, but plans are only as good as your willingness to execute on them. Motivation is the problem.

I interviewed today with some people for a different position inside my company. I have done that enough times now to shrug it off without a hope. You just keep trying because you don’t know what else to do.

Drinking has lost its fun too. I notice that the more unhappy I am the LESS I drink. I guess that is a good thing as alcoholism is a low quality lifestyle.

I watched Superman Returns last night. I had already seen it though…when it was called Superman. I thought they would try to do something original with the character or throw a twist in. They didn’t. They special effects were cooler though.

Alright….that’s enough. I don’t even like listening to myself…which is a first.

Actually, they are George’s pictures, but as you can imagine they look the same as mine, which I am too lazy to post. He did a better job than I would’ve anyway.

Here is the link.

George took his camera everywhere, while I could never bother to get mine out. He had a very small, nice camera in a waterproof case. It rained the whole time we were there and, while I certainly do have some pictures…..I don’t have nearly as many as he did. I don’t have any from rafting.

I have laid low at work since coming back. (on a side note I checked the grammar on that and the correct usage is “I have lain low”….although that sounds a little pedantic to me).

I am at a low point for sure. 4 of my coworkers have left in the last few weeks (the 4 I liked the best), and our busy season at work is nearing an end so there isn’t much to do…which is boring. Also, there is no tennis right now to distract me and get me exercise, which I need to stay sane. Then there is just general life stuff which takes up the majority of my brain cycles, and never seems to get anywhere….which takes up more brain cycles getting frustrated with that.

I have been writing a whole lot in my personal journal, which is never a good sign. I haven’t written this much in years. I don’t find it nearly as cathartic as I used to. I used to get really excited when I had something to write….now it just makes my hand tired. Typing is much better.

I guess when I was younger I used to solve things when I thought. Now I just get frustrated over what I cannot control. Maybe I should start meditating?

My mom came down over the weekend. It was really nice to see her. She needed a break anyway. We went to go look at houses for me for a while on Saturday because I knew she liked that. (I am not nearly as excited about getting a house for me as she is.) She liked all the houses that cost too much money. I did too.

I’ve been playing the guitar alot lately too. That is an exercies substitute I think, since I also find that very soothing. I’ve been going to sleep earlier too…that usually helps, but I still have really dark circles under my eyes. I’m having a repeating dream these days too. Its really weird.

I am rambling aren’t I? Oh well….I think I’ll watch TV.

This picture turned out really nice. Its of the cloud forests at Monte Verde. It almost looks like stock photography…like the archetype jungle shot.

I was reading an article online today about happiness (my favorite subject). It asked whether you would be happier with a new car or a trip to Europe? I think most people would pick the new car because it lasts longer, but the study said the trip to Europe would actually be better for the precise reason that the car will stick around. You will become acclimated to it; it will get older; it will break etc. The trip to Europe doesn’t stick around and the brain can play great tricks with our memories. The memory of the trip will soften around the edges and even the parts you hated will make funny stories. The trip to Europe will make you happier than the car.

Anyway, here is the memory/picture: