Monday, September 28, 2009

Le Loup - Planes Like Vultures

I know this is strange...but there is something about this that I just like.


Ze Frank on Respect

I shared this directly on Facebook and at the known risk of duplicating content in two places, I wanted to post this video on this site as well. One of the reasons I miss The Show due is Ze's ability to whip through topics and narrow down to a succinct point in a way that makes a large number of people (and Kanye) look downright silly.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Pearl Jam - Just Breathe



US U-20's Kick Off in the 2009 U-20 World Cup

The 2009 U-20 World Cup is underway and the US U-20 team has its first game today (Saturday) at 10 AM Eastern. We play Germany so it should be a tough match. Other teams in our group include Cameroon and South Korea. Tune in to ESPN360.com, ESPN Classic or Galavision in the morning to cheer on the nats.

Here's a video about the guys preparing as the first game approaches.

Twones

Interesting: Twones lets you tie all your music from across the web to one place, and share it with friends in real-time.

Pearl Jam - Backspacer


By the way, in case you didn't hear, the new Pearl Jam album (Backspacer) was released a couple days ago. If the rest of it is as good as the first single, The Fixer, this may be one of the better PJ albums in a while.

DeVotchKa - How It Ends

Good song for a late Friday night after a long two weeks of travel.



DeVotchKa is a four piece multi-instrumental and vocal ensemble that fuses Romani, Greek, Slavic, Bolero, Mariachi music with American punk and folk roots.

Monday, September 21, 2009

The Jim Carroll Band - People Who Died

Jim Carroll passed away on 9/11. Jim was an inspiration for me when I was in college, his poetry helping me get through some really tough times. I haven't read his work in a while and I wonder if it would have the same appeal to me now that I am older (my favorite poet these days is Pablo Neruda). Regardless, here's a punk rock tune by The Jim Carroll Band that you may or may not have heard in the past.



Mary took a dry dive from a hotel room
Bobby hung himself from a cell in the tombs
Judy jumped in front of a subway train
Eddie got slit in the jugular vein
And Eddie, I miss you more than all the others
And I salute you brother

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Media Convergence

Came across the following video late tonight as I was getting some work done and it made me do a little research into the conference it is advertising, The Economist's conference on Media Convergence, subtitled The Moment of Truth: Consumers, Technology and Commerce.

I would love to go to NY and attend this. Confirmed speakers include thought leaders from IBM, Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), Craigslist, The Economist, Google, PBS, Sony, Starbucks and more.



Unfortunately it costs $3000 to register. If you want to sponsor my registration, let me know.

From the conference site:
The surge of new technologies and social media innovations in today's environment is significantly altering the future media landscape for marketers. Consumer behaviour is changing and the way marketers reach their audience must also change. Marketers are searching for new ways to not only reach their customers, but to understand them, to peer inside their minds. As the level of consumer understanding increases, so can the knowledge of how best to reach them. However the plethora of tools at a marketers disposal is not easy to navigate and real learning comes from a real understanding of the future of media convergence.

Media Convergence forum gathers a unique speaking faculty of thought leaders, marketing psychologists, technology experts, futurists, media and marketing professionals to look into the future to consider the ideas, technologies and tactics that tomorrow's best organisations will adopt.

Wayne Rooney - Make the Difference

So I made the claim a few days ago that I shaved my head and since I did so using a "6" guard I was criticized for being dramatic. I guess I can agree with that after watching this video of Wayne Rooney.


Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Butter

Been meaning to post this for a while. Jozy stumbled on some butter the other day and had an interesting reaction...watch.


Friday, September 11, 2009

Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule

I stumbled on this article a while back and have been meaning to share it via this forum. This is a quick essay on two different methods for scheduling/organizing your work day - centered around the role of a manager or a "maker." If I were to think about the maker/manager question along a continuum, I would definitely be weighted towards the manager end. However, since I come from a programming background, the impacts described related to how a maker is impacted by meetings definitely manifest themselves in my day as well.

Pretty interesting read. Here is a snippet or two:
There are two types of schedule, which I'll call the manager's schedule and the maker's schedule. The manager's schedule is for bosses. It's embodied in the traditional appointment book, with each day cut into one hour intervals. You can block off several hours for a single task if you need to, but by default you change what you're doing every hour.
...
When you're operating on the maker's schedule, meetings are a disaster. A single meeting can blow a whole afternoon, by breaking it into two pieces each too small to do anything hard in...For someone on the maker's schedule, having a meeting is like throwing an exception. It doesn't merely cause you to switch from one task to another; it changes the mode in which you work.

Sunday, September 06, 2009

911

911: Hello. 911.
Me: Hi. I am on I-20 eastbound between Dallas and Louisiana. At mile marker 505 there is a cow on the road.
911: On I-20?
Me: Yes.
911: What color is it?
Me: Black.
911: Ok. We already know about that one.

Plano Labor Day Invitational XXIX Update (3)

We had a tough time of it today and lost 2-0 to FC Dallas. While the result was not what we wanted, the guys played with the fire and intensity that I was looking for. I see the potential for sure, we'll take one step at a time.

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Coach

Players 1, 2 and 3: Coach, can we go to the bathroom real quick?
Coach: You better hurry. And next time, take care of that before we start warming up.
Player 4 (with hand raised): That's what I did. I went to the bathroom right before we started!
Coach: ...and there's no need to brag about it.

Plano Labor Day Invitational XXIX Update (2)

We tied our second game 2-2. Went up 1-0 and gave up a goal immediately after. Then we went down 2-1 but the other team ended up scoring an own goal with 5 minutes left to give us a glimmer of hope to advance. If we win our game tomorrow we have a chance of getting through via a wildcard spot. Wish us luck!

Plano Labor Day Invitational XXIX Update

We dropped our first game 2-0 this morning. For some reason the guys came out without the intensity we needed and the referee gave the other team a cheap PK in the first 7 minutes. We ended the first half down 1-0 and finally came out to play in the second half. With about 12-15 minutes left we pushed more guys forward in an effort to tie the game. It almost worked but the other team managed to sneak one in first. Next game is at 3 pm.

Friday, September 04, 2009

Ze Frank and the Health Care Debate

It doesn't matter where you fall on the health care debate, I think you can watch this and appreciate it. I love the comparison to running it like a business (at 1:59). "It's business-like but it is not like an ordinary business." Nothing like a simple analogy to drive to the core of a problem. Health is fundamental.



via my friend Cool Hand Luke, Ze Frank on the health care debate.

The other thing that hit home about this clip is the reference to the fact that what Ze would like is a politician who has his best interest at heart rather than trying to scare him - like a doctor should have your best interest at heart, rather than trying to scare you. So why did this hit home? Well, when my doctor admitted me this past week to check out my ankle, he had a flyer plastered all over his wall criticizing the proposed health care reform. His political views don't bother me...but using that platform to force them on me? I'll be finding a new doctor moving forward.

Plano Labor Day Invitational XXIX


We pulled into Plano, TX this evening for the annual Labor Day tournament here. It has been 2 years since I've been to the tournament and this arrival comes with a brand new team for the fall season. Here is the schedule for the weekend. Wish us luck and check back soon for updates! We take on the Houston Galactics tomorrow at 9 AM.