Why I Eat Almost No Meat And No Dairy

Repeat After Me: We Are the 100 Percenters

In order to make this easy for you as possible, simply click on this link:
We Are the 100 Percenters. Bottom line: It’s up to us, together. Not Wall Street. Not the government. Not “the billionaires.” It’s not about how much Democrats suck. It’s not about about how much Republicans suck. It’s not about how much the Tea Party screwed everything up.

Now, that said, if you’re really interested in becoming a one percenter, financially speaking, then read this bit of wisdom. But I’d submit to you it’s great advice for everyone who simply wants to raise their game a little bit, or a lot. I know the advice to not day trade may fall on deaf ears (mine included). That said, recommendation #9 is my recommendation #1.

My Second Generation 8 GB Apple iPod Nano

Yup, it’s OLD. I just found it under a pile of crap last week. It was dead, but it charged up just great. I had to look up how to master the little flywheel on the front of the unit–to turn it off among other things, because it had been so long since I used it.

Then  I reloaded about 7.5 GB worth of music onto it. The battery seems to be holding the charge just fine, which is very impressive for a five year old gadget, and more than I can say for my two year old, 2nd generation Kindle.

Yes, this is more of a novelty than a main ‘go to’ device for music. But on longer runs, the light weight of this is very intriguing, although the current Nano, which doubles as a watch, is quite lovely. It also is just fine as my garage system for those weekend yard work regimens.

This little baby holds about 2000 songs–probably about 2/3 the size of your typical tightly formatted commercial radio station music inventory. Good enough given that I’m awaiting a 64 GB iPhone4S.

I’m impressed.

The Vitamix 5200

I must say, I whipped up a magical smoothie for my wife and I this afternoon, and the industrial strength Vitamix 5200 grounded it down and made it tasty in just a few minutes.

Ingredients:
8 Leaves of Organic Kale
2 Large Organic Carrots
1  Medium Sized Organic Fuji Apple
1 Organic Lemon, Skin Peeled
2 Teaspoons of Spirulina powder
16-20 oz. of cold water
16-20 oz. of ice

Chop up the ingredients so they fit in the blender, but don’t go crazy. And there’s no need to pull the vein from the middle of the kale leaves. That said, I did core the apple.

This made two very large glasses, with a bit of left-over for a few extra gulps, for my wife and I. Lovely!

Good Mondays

I know I’m having a good Monday. That’s because, unlike the woman I saw in the Oracle 600 building parking lot at our headquarters this morning, I didn’t get chased into the lot by a Belmont motorcycle policeman and get handed a speeding ticket at 8:45 a.m. Now THAT’S not such a good Monday.

Livvy the Dog Does GarageBand

When Livvy the Dog is not sleeping, she is mastering the art of multi-track recording. Her latest track is called “The Livvy Beat,” and I must say it’s quite impressive.

Ridiculous!

I have no excuses. I took my second third long break from this blog in the past 18 months. No more! Even if I have nothing but pure drivel to share, I am back! Peace out.

Gratifying and Spirit-Enriching “Work Goodbye” Emails

Isn’t it odd how the most sincere of emotions come out when one resigns from a company? Well, I received the following email this morning from a younger colleague who is moving on. I don’t post this to brag, but only to reinforce two often unspoken elements that are so vital in the workplace. Let’s call them “relating” and “helping.” Here is an excerpt of the note. And yes, I’m bowled over.

You may not know this, but you have been a great source of inspiration for me. You made me want to be better at my job – to not be caught off guard without answers and to thoughtfully think out all the options. You helped me keep a positive outlook on some personal things. And your insight into all things marketing has been truly enlightening. I will sincerely miss you and if there is any hope of staying in some cyber semblance of touch, through flicker, FB, LinkedIn, etc., I would love that!

Heather’s 21 Days of Yoga

I really do love my wife. Those who know Heather appreciate her intelligence, combined with playful goofiness, combined with quiet intensity. In addition to doing a fantastic job raising our child while working at Intuit, Heather always finds no shortage of temporary pursuits. I won’t mention a big goal she is working on. But I can’t help but tell you about the “21 Day Yoga” program she has been trying to do.

I believe this is a Yoga Journal concoction. Nevertheless I occasionally come home to find Heather doing her thing with some ultra mellow new age voice getting her into poses. Last Saturday night I left a room but for a few minutes, came back to the kitchen, and saw Heather doing some super chillin’ yoga with a “healer” type of voice emanating from her iPad. I howled to myself, went to our garage, recorded a very crude and facetious satire on my iPhone, hooked it up to our stereo, and blasted it loudly over her existing class.

We were both howling. Well, yesterday  I gave this same recording more of a professional touch and shared it with the world. As for Heather, she wasn’t so thrilled with a couple of crude body part words I included for public consumption. Therefore, to maintain domestic bliss, here is the new censored version of Heather’s customized yoga recording.

In Praise of Good Looking Blogs and UXs

The folks at Rhapsody have a punchy looking blog called THE MIX, which shows constant enthusiasm for what it is they do: stream MUSIC. Whether you concur with their tastes or not, admire their passion and graphic sensibilities.

To that end, they’ve also revitalized their Web UX to incorporate a cleaner and more modern look and feel, and more social-like features. And it looks much better to this subscriber!