As a workers’ compensation defense attorney I travel throughout Northern California for hearings and depositions. To date I’ve been as far North as Ukiah and as far South as Fresno for cases. I’ve compiled a list of the various things I’ve found come in handy when I’m on the road.
Always in the car:
Cup holder
Quarters
Hand sanitizer
Moist towelettes
Water bottle
Rubber bands
Glove compartment
1/2 cup almonds in a sandwich bag
Tire gauge
Flashlight
Driver’s seat
Umbrella (underneath)
Front passenger seat
Roll of paper towels (underneath)
Trunk
Jumper cables
Two blankets
Rope
Second pair of shoes (comfortable shoes for driving, dress shoes for appearance)
Extra tie, extra socks
Am I missing anything?
Update: I added flashlight to the glove compartment.
A blogger I respect very much, Roger Dooley, recently posted about “The Power of FREE.” His Neuromarketing blog is mostly about the interplay between marketing and psychology. You should read the article for yourself, but the bottom line is that offering something for free is an incredible incentive – even where someone might get just as as good a deal for “almost free.”
Many people measure their success by their search engine ranking for their “target keywords.” I would wager that most people care about their Google ranking over other search engines. Most search engines alter the search results by placing paid advertisers at the top. Google does not sell search engine rankings. I would say this is one of the biggest reasons it’s considered the gold standard of search engines.
I recently saw banner advertisement for something called, “The Mojave Experiment.” The “Mojave Experiment” consists of hidden camera videos of people (who had negative opinions about Vista, but had never used it) being shown the next version of Windows, codenamed “Mojave.”
The Twist: Mojave was really just Vista.
Critical flaw #9: People who haven’t tried Vista by now probably don’t know enough about computers to tell whether the program they’re using is good or bad.
Shocking development #7: Everyone loved Mojave! Riiight. Everyone thought Vista could do wonderful things and was fast and responsive.
What kind of hardware were these “Mojave” machines running2
Whether these people actually used “Mojave” or merely watched the interviewer use “Mojave”
What programs they’re showing these people and whether those programs would work on other versions of Windows
I would be astounded if this bit of propaganda changed a single person’s mind. More than 18 months after Windows Vista’s launch on January 30, 2007, people still loathe it. People hate it so much they’re telling their friends.
Here’s a business tip for Microsoft: Don’t try to convince people they want your product. Just learn from your mistakes and build a better product.
There are eight versions (four consumer, two business, one Ultimate, and one Red edition [↩]
Vista requires four times the RAM, three times the processor speed, and ten times the hard drive space of XP. [↩]
Mario Puzo, the famed author of The Godfather, The Sicilian, and The Last Don, also wrote a slightly lesser known book by the name of “Fools Die.” 1 Fools Die was a very cynical look at the gambling, literary, and film industries. Some of the best parts were the casino owners talking about gambling:
Percentages never lie. We built all these hotels on percentages. We stay rich on the percentage. You can lose faith in everything, religion and God, women and love, good and evil, war and peace. You name it. But the percentage will always stand fast.
Throughout the book characters say, “no percentage,” or “bad percentage,” or “I have the percentage.” This phrase refers to a (slight) mathematical advantage or disadvantage which, with the inevitability of a glacier, will guarantee a net win or loss over time.
At this point I could redevelop the calculators to work with more phones. No one is clamoring for cell phone based permanent disability and permanent impairment calculators. Though I have a feeling that day is not far off, right now there is no percentage in that game.
However, do not despair – I’m thinking of offering something of a consolation prize. More on this later.
Gordon Ramsey, the super duper chef and Fox network star, has a show called, “Kitchen Nightmares.” I watched an episode last night. Its about what you’d expect from a Fox reality show – a slow motion train wreck from which your eyes cannot be pried away.
Nevertheless, I watched it.
It featured a pizzeria owner who had a failing and tragically flawed restaurant which was entirely supported by his wife’s income. The owner prided himself on his stubbornness and his ability to do anything he set his mind to. He had dreams of turning his establishment’s business model into a global franchise.
He kept running this restaurant for two and a half years. Some might admire his persistence. I think he probably would have learned a lot more about building a successful business by failing spectacularly, rather than throwing time and money at a losing proposition. As best as I can tell, successful people take risks. Throwing good money after a bad proposition just doesn’t seem risky or brave.
My thought: When your business doesn’t make money, its just a hobby. An expensive and time consuming hobby. A friend once referred to this as “feeding the beast,” when your business turns from a money making proposition to something that will eat your savings, free time, mortgage, second mortgage, and marriage. (Thanks anonymous!)
This may seem contradictory to my prior post where I quoted, “do what you love and the money will follow.” Now, I may be a victim of Fox’s incredible ability to edit footage, but that guy didn’t seem to love what he was doing. He seemed to love the idea of what he was doing – playing at being a chef and restaurateur. The reality of his situation seemed to be escaping him.
I’m rather lucky with this little hobby/business of mine. There is no beast to feed. I have no office, no staff, no programmers, no graphic design team, and no ad department.1 Of course, I did have a significant upfront time investment. But, I said I didn’t want to talk about that. :)
Perhaps that trite phrase is better stated as, “do what you love and the money won’t matter.”
Look at me waxing all philosophic!
Reminds me of the song “Turning Japanese” by “The Vapors.” [↩]
A few weeks ago I stopped by a friend’s office on the way back from an appearance. On the way over I called ahead to see if there’s anything I can bring with me.
Her response? “A handsome single rich man.” Then someone in the background piped up, “And cookies!”
“I’m 75 miles and more than an hour away, but I’ll see what I can do.”
On the way over I called up another friend who performed one internet search and placed one phone call for me. (Thanks Ray!) I showed up at my friend’s office with cookies and a bunch of the nearest bakery’s richest chocolate brownies with men drawn on them.
They way I figure, if the guy is rich enough he doesn’t have to be that handsome. Amiright, ladies?
Priceless moment from my visit:
Someone, holding up a brownie, asked me if the men I brought will make a huge mess in her house like the one she already has. I point out that the ones I brought only have a life span of about 5 minutes and shouldn’t be too much trouble.
