June 7, 2006
-
Okay. So here�s the new NEW plan: write a single, solitary, stinkin�
paragraphsentence a day. How much easier can it be?
Don�t answer.
Where has one been? Good question! Its already the SIXTH month of 2006 and one has been MIA or at least Xanga-challenged for all too long. You could say its due to the ole adage but it actually hasn�t been 100% phun. Mostly, though. Even on the slogging days or times when you want to bury somebody in kitty litter because that's the extent of their contribution to humanity in general, our team manages to have a couple of good laughs�usually at our own expense (or more likely our boss�). I was going to explain the transition of our Marketing dept into Product Manager teams but honest-to-Pete, that puts even me to sleep. Suffice it to say, we've taken on a HUGE challenge and while its eating up even more personal resources (time and energy) than ever before, we're feeling more in control of our destiny (use the Force, Luke). Ask me in another 6 months what I really think, though. The great thing is we're moving beyond the confines of our company (which could never be termed as "normal" or "standard" anyways) and finding a Brave New World out there... Where people know what our jobs should or could be. Where companies actually appreciate the role PMs play in the grand scheme of things. Where networking helps us to grow our own jobs and abilities and, more importantly, can also lead to opportunities in other spaces. Exciting? You bet! And its so much more satisfying than allowing oneself to sink into a morass of complacency or futile negativity or ironic laissez-faire. Anyways, cross your fingers and wish us luck!
Leave It to the Japanese, Part 2
As if you thought the samba-dancing samurai wasn't enough, those Wizards of Whatnots, those Purveyors of Pomposity, those...well, you get the picture...have come up with Another Good Idea:
Bounces during the Big One - the Barier, a tiny model home on display at a housing convention in Nagoya, Japan, resists earthquakes, floats during floods and cost less than most cars�$12,629. It's also smaller than most cars. They even have a great slogan:
Soccer Ball-shaped Houses
Strong with Disasters
The Underground Barier: Barier can be installed underground. For example, as a storeroom or wine cellar in the basement.
The Connected Barier: Large or small Bariers are connected by a passage and can be used as a Karaoke room or a house.
A Fruit-type Barier: Very popular! How about a "direct delivery shop" for products sent directly from the producing center?
Last but not least Barier for Your Pet Dog: Small but strong. Your dog will like it very much! We can cope with small to large dogs.
For Those Wanting Temporary Accomodations
From Wikipedia: A capsule hotel (Japanese カプセルホテル kapuseru hoteru) is a hotel system of extremely dense occupancy. Guest space is reduced in size to a modular plastic or fiberglass block roughly 2 m by 1 m by 1 m, providing room to sleep and little more, although facilities usually include a television and other electronic entertainment. These capsules are then grouped and stacked, two units high. Luggage is usually stored in a locker away from the capsule. Privacy is maintained by a curtain at the open end of the capsule but noise pollution can be high. Washing facilities are communal and there are often restaurants, or at least vending machines, and other entertainment facilities.
This style of hotel accommodation was developed in Japan and has not gained acceptance outside of the country [editor's note: gee....yathink?]. The Japanese capsule hotels vary widely in size, some having only fifty or so capsules and others over 700, and are often male only. There are also capsule hotels with separate male and female sleeping quarters. Clothes and shoes are sometimes exchanged for a yukata and slippers on entry. A towel may also be provided. The benefit of these hotels is convenience and price; usually around 3000-4000 yen a night (�21-29, $25�34, �15�20). Such hotels are not necessarily regarded as only a option for those with lower incomes - a typical customer would be the business salariman after a night of drinking.
Speaking of which...
Have I ever mentioned I'm claustrophobic? Never grew up thinking of myself as Panicked in Cramped Places (PCP) but perhaps it did start during my childhood when my dear brother decided to lock me in the toychest. And leave the room. At first, it was rather comforting to be enclosed in a small, dark place�you could imagine that you were safe from the world outside. But after pushing on the lid didn't produce the desired result, i.e., freedom, one started to think that being....trappped...wasn't such a grand idea and WHAT IF no one realized where you were and you were...stuck...FOREVER. These are the types of thoughts coming from someone who never before considered that wedging oneself into a tiny darkened cabinet during hide-and-go-seek was any big deal.
Of course, this is the same person who resisted buying a car with electronic windows for ever so long because WHAT IF one was driving along.....say.....the San Mateo Bridge and maybe, just MAYBE someone caused an accident which resulted in said car with electronic windows to veer off the side of the bridge and into the bay and then...this could happen you know....the windows would be stuck because the electrical system would short out underwater AND you couldn't open the door because of the water pressure being greater outside the car BUT because the windows couldn't open to equalize the pressure, you would have to resort to kicking out them out which wouldn't work because they're oh so tempered nowadays.
But I digress.
So anyways, fast-forward to the young adult years, where basically one was trying to prove oneself in macho shithead situations. Therefore it was No Big Deal if one went caving, for instance, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains at a place called Moaning Cavern. At that time, it was all about keeping up with the boys and if everyone was going to crawl on their bellies through mud and ice-cold water or push themselves through spaces so narrow that you had to turn your head sideways otherwise you were stuck and everyone behind you started making rude noises.....then by gawd you were gonna follow suit. THEN it was okay to be crawling face-first down a narrow tunnel into a tiny round space they called the Womb Tomb which was one of the first stops where they ascertained who wasn't "appropriate" for caving, i.e, who lost their head and screamed like a widdle girl, by stuffing as many people inside as possible. Kinda like angels on the head of a pin but without the angels. Or pin, for that matter.
This is mud, BTW, that the young lady is mucking around in.
Anyways, one has now advanced to the more practical time of one's life where things are considered and measured and weighed. In other words, we ain't doing the same shite we did as kids. But now things have spiraled downhill to the point where one can actually get a claustrophobic attack if one's head or arm gets stuck in a garment one is trying on in a dressing room. Of course, in this predicament, one is not about to ask for some stranger's help extricating oneself from being...trapped. No siree because then the stranger, aka the saviour, would be subjected to the same sight one enjoys in a 3-way mirror and under fluorescent lights. Not happening in one's lifetime is what one would normally say. Until....maybe.....a zipper gets stuck and then one HAS TO get out of the garment at all costs. Then it gets really ugly. No wonder one no longer goes clothes shopping.
Now what were we talking about?
Recent Comments