Fixing Foibles and Follies Fixing Foibles and Follies A exploration of emerging Internet trends, alternative energy, sustainable business, and more. Articles
Most bloggers should tweet instead
2008-06-13 11:25:00 In the cacophonous jumble of thoughts that bounce through our heads every day, there are a few that stand out. We feel compelled to share these observations and ruminations -- the uncommon moment, for example, where you see a mailman who is walking quickly and smoking a cigar.I've been using Twitter for about a month now and I've found it's a handy way to bookmark such observations and ruminations when they happen. And I've come to appreciate the beauty of Twitter's brevity constraint: your posts (or tweets) can be no longer than 140 characters. What's so good about this extreme conciseness? This: it forces you to get to the point. Have you ever taken a random walk down blog street? Granted, there are great blogs out there, but the vast majority are one of two types:Ramblefests: Stream-of-conscious rants that are ferociously uninteresting.Copycats: Multi-paragraph quotations from news sites and other blogs, with maybe a sentence or two of original commentary.All the bloggers t... More About: Blogging , Bloggers , Tweet
Remembering Grammy Shaw
2008-05-29 08:41:00 Over Memorial Day Weekend, Katy, my dad, and I headed out east to Palouse, WA. My parents both grew up there and that's where I lived, too, as a wee little fellow.We joined my cousin and my aunt and uncle Deerkop (who live in this beautiful place just outside of Palouse) to remember Grammy Shaw . She passed away three months ago. Her death caught us all by surprise, and the fact that she's gone is really still sinking in. Grammy and I talked almost every night on the phone ... indeed, we talked the night before she died. I'll always remember that final phone call -- she was happy and in good spirits.I remember thinking over the past few years how it was odd that Grammy didn't really seem to have any hobbies or things she was interested in. But now that she's gone I've realized that she valued what's really important in life: people. To call her a social hub would be an understatement. She had an absolutely amazing ability of bringing people together. She thrived on her family ... More About: Remembering
Healia Communities
2008-05-24 00:38:00 Healia, where I interned last summer, recently launched a health social networking site: Healia Communities . Just like the Healia search engine, which generates high-quality, high-relevance results, Healia Communities uses algorithms to guide users to other users who can best help them. Healia Communities integrates with the Healia search engine via resources. Essentially, these allow users to "clip and save" results from the search engine to their communities profiles. This integration with health search is a key way that Healia Communities differs from other health social networking sites.I was involved in several planning discussions on Healia Communities last summer, so it's exciting for me personally to see how far it's come. Also, I wrote the help section for this site. :)You can give Healia Communities a try here. Tags: health social networking health search Healia Communities
Almost done
2008-05-19 17:02:00 In less than a month, I'll graduate from the UW MBA program. My schedule this final quarter has been refreshingly open-ended and I've had a chance to catch up with old friends. Many of them have told me it seems like this has gone by really fast. For them, perhaps. For me, the past 2 years have had so much packed into them that it really hasn't seemed like time's flown by. September 2006 seems like a long time ago indeed.While my first year (and first quarter of this year) were unbelievably busy, these final two quarters have eased up. I joined classmates on a study tour through South Africa during spring break -- it was an incredible trip. This quarter I've been walking a lot (Gmaps Pedometer is a really handy tool -- it showed me that I walked 7 miles yesterday), reading the news, and just relaxing. I'll be traveling to Thailand and Cambodia after graduation for 3 weeks and then in mid-July I'll start work with Vitalent.Tags: MBA UW University of Washington South Africa
My sister's on the radio today
2008-02-06 19:14:00 While I've been undeniably lax as a blogger over the past several months, my sister has been on an incredible blogging spree. Her blog about the 70s has quickly built up an active community of readers. Indeed, she's gotten so popular that she was interviewed about her blog by local radio station KUOW. The interview will air today at 2 PM, and Katy will post a link to the interview after it airs. Tags: Rollerblog interview More About: Radio , Seattle , Blogging , Today
The top 10 social networking sites, 2006 - 2007
2008-01-21 23:03:00 Although there was explosive growth in social networking over the past year, a few sites actually lost a significant amount of users over the year: AOL Hometown is down 32%. Ouch. I hadn't ever heard of this site (have you?); when I checked it out just now it had a banner ad for another user-losing site: Classmates Online.MySpace is still on top, but its user base grew only 9% from 2006 to 2007 -- compared with Facebook 's 72% growth during the same period.It's only a matter of time before Facebook seizes the #1 spot. I mean, my mom is on Facebook, as are two of my aunts. They never hopped on the MySpace bandwagon. Indeed, many people I know have deleted their MySpace profiles.But MySpace remains popular with the young'uns. T-Mobile's Sidekick, which targets the 14 to 22-year-old set, boasts of one-touch MySpace access. I find that humorous. Then again, I programmed in one-touch Facebook access in my phone..Tags: MySpace Facebook AOL Hometown Sidekick social networking More About: Social , Social Networking , Networking , Sites
Habanero and lime delight
2008-01-12 18:47:00 Trader Joe's Habanero & Lime salsa is insanely good. I don't know why I never tried it before. I bought a jar on a whim the other day and spread it on Trader Joe's non-dairy veggie burritos (of which I've consumed a multitude over the years). Good lord! It's got this delicious, unique tanginess going on. I woke up today thinking about it. I'm going to have some on a burrito. For breakfast. Right now.One thing: it's not spicy enough. (Nothing is every spicy enough for me.) But that's easily remedied by stirring in a little hot sauce.Trader Joe's is like Apple -- it's one of those brands that inspires rabid customer loyalty. I've always been curious about why this is, and maybe I'll get some answers soon. One of the teams in my brand management class will be studying the Trader Joe's brand this quarter.Tags: Habanero and lime salsa Trader Joe's brand More About: Marketing , Reviews , Brand , Delight
Snow! Or rain?
2008-01-06 21:58:00 It sounds like it's raining hard outside my window. There's a hypnotic sound of raindrops echoing up from my apartment building's mini-courtyard area.But out my window, I see big, fluffy snowflakes drifting towards the ground.Odd.Tags: Seattle snow rain More About: Rain , Snow
Zeppercise
2007-12-17 21:02:00 My sister recently penned an award-winning post: Zeppercise. Please enjoy.
Bye bye, Comcast
2007-12-06 06:57:00 I've been curious about Clearwire for a while now, and finally I've decided to give it a shot. Comcast has always seemed to have issues in my building, and after my Internet connection was out for three days last week, I'd had enough. So I'm up and running on my new Clearwire modem tonight -- it was very easy to set up and I'm not finding that the download speed is slower than Comcast. Actually, I'm finding the opposite: I'm able to watch episodes of The Office on NBC.com without a hitch, whereas with Comcast, my connection constantly blinked out.Tags: Comcast Clearwire
Here I am!
2007-12-06 06:48:00 Hello. It's been a while! The first quarter of my final year in the UW MBA program has been a busy one. I've taken classes that have been time-consuming and challenging (but in a good way), spent a lot of time doing MBAA (student government) work, and over the past month, I've focused considerable energy on the job search. I should -- fingers crossed -- have an offer for a post-graduation job in the near future. If so, I'll have more free time during the next two quarters.Which would be nice, I must admit. :)
Healia's new Facebook application
2007-08-30 19:56:00 Healia, where I've been interning this summer, has just launched a Facebook application: the Healia Health Challenge.The game tests your general health knowledge with questions that cover nutrition, anatomy, and STDs, among other things. It starts you off as a pre-med student, and if you rack up enough points, you get promoted all the way up to Chief of Medicine.It's definitely been a lot of fun to work on this as a group over the past few months. If you have a Facebook account, please give it a shot and let me know what you think. And if you like it, please feel free to pass it on. :)Tags: internship Healia Facebook application health More About: Application , Heal
This is fun
2007-08-28 22:08:00 Warning: there is insta-audio in the above-linked website, which I hate. Still, though, its build-your-own avatar tool is quite fun.
I've jumped onto YouTube
2007-08-13 19:20:00 I was with my family visiting my cousin over the weekend; she lives near Port Angeles, WA. My sister Bethany I and availed ourselves of her trampoline. This little video -- in all its jerky and grainy glory -- is actually the first I've ever uploaded to YouTube. It's a remarkably easy process. I thought there would be some difficulty with the 3g2 video format that my phone uses, but there wasn't any problem; everything gets converted.Tags: YouTube trampoline 3g2 video format More About: Youtube
Yellow house
2007-08-10 15:35:00 My appreciation of music has always been deeply egotistical. I don't pay any attention to lyrics because I frankly don't care about the meaning the artist is attempting to convey. I care only about the meaning that I create -- arbitrarily and subjectively, yes, I admit -- as I hear the music.For me, Belle and Sebastian = my swirling sunny emotions in the summer of 1999. Camper Van Beethoven = driving back from my Dairy Queen job, night-time, humming merrily along to myself, high school 1990. I'm not so interested in the technical facts about these bands.Unsurprisingly, then, I've long been a fan of music with lyrics difficult to decipher: R.E.M., The Cocteau Twins, and so on. I'm also quite partial to music without any lyrics at all. This is the sort of music I can easily tack my memories to and claim as my own.Grizzly Bear's critically acclaimed 2006 release, Yellow House , is such an album. Since I first started listening to it a few weeks ago, it has become ever more entert... More About: Reviews , Lyrics , Meaning , Memories
Fun with the Feedburner Headline Animator
2007-08-09 21:27:00 I don't post for a week and all of a sudden I post three times in a day. I know, I know, I'm rebelling against blogging best practices. So be it. I just used the Feedburner headline animator to make a nifty little widget that displays the latest posts from the Healia Blog:↑ Grab this Headline Animator Fun stuff! Tags: Feedburner Headline Animator Healia widget More About: Widget , Blogging
Daily one-minute webcast of Seattle business news
2007-08-09 18:27:00 The Puget Sound Business Journal now offers a daily one-minute online video summary of local business news.I keep tabs on national and international business news by reading the Wall Street Journal every morning on the bus. But I haven't been covering local business news too closely lately, so I'm happy to see a quick and easy way to do this.Tags: Seattle business news online video Puget Sound Business Journal More About: News , Daily , Online Video
Linkalicious: 8/9/07
2007-08-09 17:40:00 Dear readers, here are some interesting tidbits, hastily proffered. More substantial posts coming your way soon.In strict botanical parlance, bananas are berries -- but strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries are not.Google's Chinese name is "Gu Ge," which translates to "harvest song." This is a bit more appealing than the translation of Google's English name: old hound.A people-search engine called Spock is currently in beta. Among other things, it's an interesting new way to manage one's online identity. Let me know if you'd like an invite.TV's really all about the ads -- particularly on a new site that NBC will be launching, called Didja.com. This site will offer visitors nothing but ads, both classic and contemporary.Tags: Linkalicious Spock Didja.com banana berry berries Gu Ge More About: Kali
I'm not a woman
2007-08-02 19:34:00 But Gmail seems to think that I am. These are the ads currently popping up for me (the topmost ad is particularly disturbing, is it not?):Why am I seeing these? I'm not sure. I guess there's not enough manly talk in my emails. A year ago, I wondered here whether other people were as curious about Gmail ads as me. Interestingly, 88% of poll respondents said that they, too, discuss Gmail ads with their friends. Tags: Gmail online advertising ads More About: Marketing , Online Advertising , Woman , A Woman
Appaholic: facilitating obsession with Facebook statistics
2007-08-02 01:05:00 If you're curious about which Facebook applications are hot (or cold) at the moment, Appaholic is worth exploring. It displays statistics on Facebook applications, updated hourly. The Viral Dashboard page is interesting, but I was confused by it at first. The site FAQ doesn't explain this, but the applications are ranked by "% change" -- percentage change in users from yesterday to today. So this list is not based on the total number of Facebook users who have installed that particular application. Because the appaholic rank list is based on daily percentage growth, it changes frequently. At the bottom of the list are applications that are, for whatever reason, quickly shedding users. In the rapidly-growing universe of Facebook applications, these negative-growth applications might have been at the top of the list not too long ago. Tags: Appaholic Facebook application statistics percentage growth users rank More About: Rank , Obsession , Statistics , Growth
Picnik
2007-07-31 17:50:00 A few days ago, I read about Picnik in a recent Mossberg column (sub req'd). It's an uncharacteristically glowing review with nary a negative word:Picnik has a beautiful and responsive user interface .... If you want to see how good a Web application can be, take Picnik for a spin.Intrigued, I hastened to check it out for myself. It didn't take me long to acquiesce (always loved that word) to Mossberg's assessment. It is indeed a beaut. And there's a fetching sense of humor sprinkled throughout, like in the loading screen (pictured above) -- "floating kites .... laying a blanket... warming breeze..."Oh, so what Picnik actually does? (Guess I haven't mentioned that yet.) It's a web-based photo-editing program. It does the simple stuff -- crops, resizings, etc -- quickly and painlessly. I definitely recommend giving it a spin.Check out their blog, too -- in a fun touch, they ask folks to help them come up with a name for the premium version, which is coming soon. Tags: Picnik ... More About: Reviews
Mysteries of the bus
2007-07-30 18:45:00 As I boarded the bus the other morning, I saw the scene at left: a woman seated with a "Congrats!" balloon so large that she had to turn her face to the side to make room for it. I wondered: did someone give her this balloon -- was this burdensome prize hers? Or was she bringing it to work, to give to someone else?What do you think?She gave the balloon to someone else, after the bus ride.Someone (husband?) gave it to her that morning.A stranger randomly gave her the balloon as she boarded the bus.It's hers; she just carries it around as an accessory. pollcode.com free pollsSpeaking of the bus, as the Seattle Weekly has recently pointed out, bus drivers have a tough job.Tags: bus driver balloon mystery Seattle More About: Teri , The Bus , Erie , Myst
Can The Simpsons improve your mental health?
2007-07-27 15:11:00 I was researching connections between The Simpsons and health for today's blog post on The Healia Blog, and I ran across this story:Simply acknowledging mental health on such a popular television show might help 'normalise' the illnesses, say Australian trainee psychiatrist Dr Hannah Mendelson and director/cinematographer Gil Poznanski from Melbourne.This idea is not without its detractors, however.I'm not sure what to think about this question. On the one hand, if something is suppressed and kept under the carpet, there's an argument for bringing it out into the light. On the other hand, it's possible to go too far and make people feel belittled. Has The Simpsons done that? I don't think so.After reading about the brilliant marketing campaign over the past few weeks (The Seattle Kwik-E-Mart is a sight to behold), I'm looking forward to watching the movie and seeing if it lives up to the hype. Tags: The Simpsons movie mental health More About: Health , Mental , Mental Health
Children of the 70s
2007-07-26 15:02:00 Born in '74 (me) and '76 (her), my sister Katy and I are children of the 70s. We wore the funny clothes. Everything was orange and brown and hazy and bellbottom-y.In honor of the strange decade of our birth, Katy has started writing The RollerBlog. In her words:This blog chronicles my journey into the decade of my birth, in which I will immerse myself in all things seventies. Movies , books, music, television, pop culture, and more await.Definitely take a look; her blog is a lot of fun. She's posted reviews of the film Silent Running, the discography of Yes, and a very...interesting...book called Half Past Human.Katy, I bid you a warm welcome to the world of blogging. :)A few more photos of us from the 70s:On the couch, when Katy was just a baby.Christmas! No, we weren't exactly wealthy.Halloween, With Grammy and Dad.Wheelbarrow ride.Tags: RollerBlog siblings sister 70s music movies culture seventies photos More About: Music , Children , Culture , Photos
Eavesdroppers
2007-07-25 18:17:00 I've been laughing (silently to myself) at overheard snippets of conversation for years, so I was immediately charmed by a blog I happened upon via BlogExplosion the other day: Eavesdroppers. Here, you can find a compendium of eavesdropped bits of conversation, compiled by three bloggers. One example:[Two middle-aged women are discussing their mothers.]Woman 1: I'm really thankful that my mother's mind is still good like it is.Woman 2: Yeah, that's great.Woman 1: She's still sharp for 78, aren't you Mom? Aren't you 78?"Mom": Umm... I don't know, I guess so.Tags: Eavesdroppers eavesdropping blog More About: Drop , Aves
Happy Harry Potter weekend
2007-07-24 15:04:00 Requisite note: no spoilers here!Prior to this past weekend -- Harry Potter Weekend , truly an international event -- I hadn't read any of the Harry Potter books. Now that the weekend's over, I've read fifty or so pages from the latest Harry Potter book. I was reading over the shoulder of a friend of mine, and I began to get a sense of what all the fuss is about. It's definitely an enjoyable read.My friend and I had been at the Harry Potter release party at University Bookstore on Friday night. I wasn't surprised by the throngs of kids in costume -- no, it was all the costumed adults, all quite earnest, who threw me for a loop. There was even a band there, playing Harry Potter-themed music and shouting out the countdown to midnight after every song. We'd had a few drinks beforehand, so it was all pretty amusing.Is this the biggest book event ever? Perhaps. I heard on a recent WSJ podcast that this was the biggest single product distribution for Amazon.com. Certainly, a ... More About: Happy
Your password: not a secret to Sprint customer service
2007-07-23 20:22:00 If you want to change your password at the Sprint Wireless site, you're informed of the following password stipulations:Must be 6 to 8 letters or numbers (A-Z and 0-9)Cannot include more than 3 repetitive digits (e.g. 111)Cannot be all or part of your social security number or Sprint PCS phone numberShould not be something easy to guess, such as your birthdate.Such extensive precautions should be reassuring. But when you call Sprint to resolve a billing issue, as I did recently (they have not yet received the check I sent two weeks ago), you are asked to give your password for verification purposes. And all those privacy precautions go out the window. When I called earlier today and the representative asked for my password, I said I'm uncomfortable giving that information and asked if there is another way to confirm my identity. She responded: "I'm looking at it anyway, so you might as well just tell me."Do you know of any other companies that routinely ask for your password? I d... More About: Business , Customer Service , Service , Customer
Cranes aplenty
2007-07-19 03:41:00 I snapped the photo at right with my phone as I walked across the I-405 overpass this evening. I was on my daily walk from work to the Bellevue Transit Center.As the profusion of cranes attest, construction is on a tear in Bellevue, WA, and has been for a while. There was even a tragic accident involving a crane last November.I'm reminded of all the cranes poking out of downtown Seattle during the Internet boom, eight years ago. At the time, friends and I jokingly envisioned "crane wars" wherein the slumbering mechanical giants would suddenly come to life and battle each other, a la Transformers.Although I confess the walk over the I-405 overpass is not in the least enjoyable -- motorists on the on-ramps actually seem to purposefully accelerate in an attempt to run over my fleeing pedestrian self -- I do sometimes see fun things nearby, like the geese on the sidewalk on Monday morning.Tags: cranes Bellevue construction 405 pedestrian traffic geese More About: Plenty , Lent , Cran
Why phone books will probably keep getting printed
More articles from this author:2007-07-18 17:38:00 I recently mused about phone books and why they seem to stack up unnecessarily in my apartment building lobby.Coincidentally enough, the Wall Street Journal printed an article about the businesses that publish phone books (sub req'd): R.H. Donnelley Corp. and Idearc Inc. These companies have an Internet presence, but that's not where they make their money:Donnelley, which operates dexknows.com, receives less than 2% of its revenue from the Internet, while Idearc, which owns superpages.com, receives about 9%.So despite the waste and the fact that so many people don't even crack them open, and despite the fact that Bill Gates recently said "yellow-page usage amongst people,...say, below 50, will drop to near zero over the next five years," physical phone books will probably continue to be printed for the forseeable future. Tags: paper phone book More About: Business , Books , Phone , E Book , Probably 1, 2, 3 |
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