A couple of weeks ago I did a post about the late, great Boston Globe columnist George Frazier that mentioned his affection for that mysterious quality of duende. The main example used in it was that Ted Williams had it, even while striking out, but Stan Musial didn't have it, even when hitting a homerun.
That's a pretty good example, but probably a bit dated for somebody stumbling across this blog.
Let's try here to give some hopefully more current examples of duende, a la George Frazier...
Red Sox DH David Ortiz has it. Sox outfielder J.D. Drew doesn't have it. (Big Papi misplaced it for a period time a couple of years ago, but managed to get it back... a rarity.)
Staying with baseball for another moment, pitcher John Lackey sorely lacks duende. Second baseman Dustin Pedroia has duende to spare.
The Amazon Kindle e-reader has duende. The Amazon Kindle apps for other devices does not.
Boston Mayor Tom Menino and New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg do not have duende. The 1960's/70's mayors of Boston and New York, Kevin White and John Lindsay, had it.
Katie Couric had duende for a few minutes at the start of her career on the Today Show. It had long deserted her by the end of her run there. It never made an appearance with her on the CBS Evening News. It won't rejoin her next year on her new talk show.
The Apple iPad -- much to my dismay -- has duende. Alas, the new HP TouchPad does not.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Video: The Dunes of Revere?
To anyone of a certain age, "The Dunes of Revere" sounds like the name of a honky tonk restaurant or bar that could have existed during the '60's and 70's amid the last few amusement rides along Revere Beach (just a few miles away from downtown Boston).
Actually, I don't know if there is a name for the strip of beach shown in the video has a name... but "The Dunes" seemed fitting.
Watch for a segment in the clip that shows a sign explaining that the strip of beach is fenced off and restricted to provide a nesting area for small beach birds.
BTW, Revere claims to be the first public beach in the U.S. and has rich history dating back to the late 1800's Learn more here.
Actually, I don't know if there is a name for the strip of beach shown in the video has a name... but "The Dunes" seemed fitting.
Watch for a segment in the clip that shows a sign explaining that the strip of beach is fenced off and restricted to provide a nesting area for small beach birds.
BTW, Revere claims to be the first public beach in the U.S. and has rich history dating back to the late 1800's Learn more here.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Prioritizing, Mentoring, and Empathy
One of Adam Bryant's recent Corner Office columns in the Sunday New York Times had some interesting words -- some things to ponder -- from Kathy Button Bell, vice president and chief marketing officer of Emerson, the manufacturing and technology company.
Prioritizing
"... you prioritize better as you get older, and you realize that time can also be your friend. Some things actually simply will go away, and you have to get smarter and smarter to know which ones are which. I think I do a much better job of saying: “You know what? Let that sit.”"
Mentoring
"I think it’s true of everyone when they’re younger, but I see it especially in this younger generation, who seem worried about, “I need the list of things I need to do to get promoted.” I would never have asked for that. Maybe I should have, but I would never have asked for it. They often come to you with their little list because they want to know how they’re going to be measured. I think mentoring people past their lists is where you want to go."
Empathy
"... Lots of very smart people lack empathy. They’re able to test their way through life and get A’s. No one tests you on empathy."
Learn more at... http://s.nyt.com/u/8Dqj
Prioritizing
"... you prioritize better as you get older, and you realize that time can also be your friend. Some things actually simply will go away, and you have to get smarter and smarter to know which ones are which. I think I do a much better job of saying: “You know what? Let that sit.”"
Mentoring
"I think it’s true of everyone when they’re younger, but I see it especially in this younger generation, who seem worried about, “I need the list of things I need to do to get promoted.” I would never have asked for that. Maybe I should have, but I would never have asked for it. They often come to you with their little list because they want to know how they’re going to be measured. I think mentoring people past their lists is where you want to go."
Empathy
"... Lots of very smart people lack empathy. They’re able to test their way through life and get A’s. No one tests you on empathy."
Learn more at... http://s.nyt.com/u/8Dqj
Video: Boston Public Library - Inside the McKim Building
The McKim building dates back to the late 1800's and is a little-realized gem hiding in Boston's Back Bay.
See a bit of what you're missing inside the McKim...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNI1das-ZsQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
See a bit of what you're missing inside the McKim...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNI1das-ZsQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Friday, July 15, 2011
Duende: Frazier at 100
Boston newspaper columnist George Frazier would have been 100 years old last month. To mark the occasion, The Boston Globe ran a great Op-Ed piece. Check out the entire story here.
Here are a few telling exceprts from the piece...
"Immortality in a business as ephemeral as daily journalism is nigh-on impossible, but every city has a newspaper guy who will be forever identified with that city. H.L. Mencken in Baltimore, Jimmy Breslin in New York, Mike Royko in Chicago, Herb Caen in San Francisco. Frazier, born in Southie 100 years ago last week, is that guy for Boston."
"Why Frazier? Like other writers before me, I’ll lean on Frazier to explain. His signature, and most popular, essays through the years were the ones about duende, that special force or characteristic that makes someone or something irresistibly attractive. “So difficult to define, “ he wrote, “but when it is there it is unmistakable, inspiring our awe, quickening our memory. To observe someone who has it is to feel icy fingers running up and down our spine.’’
Duende, he explained, was what Ted Williams had, even when he was striking out, yet Stan Musial lacked, even while hitting a home run."
"He would be unimaginably huge today. The blogosphere would send his every column around the globe a thousand times over, and cable television would scramble for his services, coveting his wit, his eloquence, and his comfort with controversy, not to mention his natty dress and his theatrical mien.
No one would be more at home in the Internet... And he would have only tweeted if he’d come up with the idea himself, before some editor told him he had to do it.
Yet it’s easy to imagine George Frazier on Twitter, isn’t it? He would have loved the challenge of framing a thought in 140 characters. No one would have done it better; think of all the one-liners in those “Another Man’s Poison’’ columns — “Whenever I take the train to New York, I consider the trip a success if I get there while my suit’s still in style’’ — 140 characters or less, all of them."
-------------------------------------------------
Check out some Frazier excerpts and quotes, including one about duende, here.
Here are a few telling exceprts from the piece...
"Immortality in a business as ephemeral as daily journalism is nigh-on impossible, but every city has a newspaper guy who will be forever identified with that city. H.L. Mencken in Baltimore, Jimmy Breslin in New York, Mike Royko in Chicago, Herb Caen in San Francisco. Frazier, born in Southie 100 years ago last week, is that guy for Boston."
"Why Frazier? Like other writers before me, I’ll lean on Frazier to explain. His signature, and most popular, essays through the years were the ones about duende, that special force or characteristic that makes someone or something irresistibly attractive. “So difficult to define, “ he wrote, “but when it is there it is unmistakable, inspiring our awe, quickening our memory. To observe someone who has it is to feel icy fingers running up and down our spine.’’
Duende, he explained, was what Ted Williams had, even when he was striking out, yet Stan Musial lacked, even while hitting a home run."
"He would be unimaginably huge today. The blogosphere would send his every column around the globe a thousand times over, and cable television would scramble for his services, coveting his wit, his eloquence, and his comfort with controversy, not to mention his natty dress and his theatrical mien.
No one would be more at home in the Internet... And he would have only tweeted if he’d come up with the idea himself, before some editor told him he had to do it.
Yet it’s easy to imagine George Frazier on Twitter, isn’t it? He would have loved the challenge of framing a thought in 140 characters. No one would have done it better; think of all the one-liners in those “Another Man’s Poison’’ columns — “Whenever I take the train to New York, I consider the trip a success if I get there while my suit’s still in style’’ — 140 characters or less, all of them."
-------------------------------------------------
Check out some Frazier excerpts and quotes, including one about duende, here.
Veeck's 4th Commandment: Never Hire a Coat-Holder
A post with a baseball connection for All-Star week...
Baseball Hall of Fame owner Bill Veeck was a real character, but that's for another post... or two... or twenty two. This post is to share Veeck's commandments for his professional life, which I first heard twenty years ago when he was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame.
My favorites (in the form which I originally heard them) are...
http://ballplayers.mikehuntoon.com/owners/veecks-hof-speech/
Baseball Hall of Fame owner Bill Veeck was a real character, but that's for another post... or two... or twenty two. This post is to share Veeck's commandments for his professional life, which I first heard twenty years ago when he was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame.
My favorites (in the form which I originally heard them) are...
- Take your work very seriously. Give your all. Go for broke.
- Surround yourself with similarly dedicated soul-mates of whom you can ask “why?” And “why not?” Naturally, they may ask the same of you! Never hire a coat-holder.
- In your hiring be color-blind, gender-blind, age-and-experience blind. You never worked for Bill Veeck; you worked with him.
- Cherish the moment, commit it to memory.
http://ballplayers.mikehuntoon.com/owners/veecks-hof-speech/
Guilty, as Charged...!!!
A recent NY Times story explored the cases for and against the liberal use of non-standard punctuation in electronic communications.
All I can say is, "Guilty, as charged, Your Honor", and throw myself on the mercy of the court.
Check it out at...
http://mobile.nytimes.com/article;jsessionid=6141E4B9C198A993FE24390CB206AA83.w6?a=811592&single=1&f=35
All I can say is, "Guilty, as charged, Your Honor", and throw myself on the mercy of the court.
Check it out at...
http://mobile.nytimes.com/article;jsessionid=6141E4B9C198A993FE24390CB206AA83.w6?a=811592&single=1&f=35
Friday, July 8, 2011
TED Ties One On?
Who (or what) is TED? More on that later, but for now...
For most my adult life I had an annoying little problem -- I could never keep my left shoe tied! No matter what kind of shoe/sneaker I wore, with whatever style/type of lace, it would untie itself every few minutes.
Lots of people gave me advice and tips... all to no avail.
About 5 years ago I Googled shoelace tieing and came up with a website that gave me a solution that has largely solved the problem.
As it turns out, it wasn't the type of shoe, lacing, or knot I was using, but rather how I started tying the knot itself! All I had to do was to reverse how (left/right-wise) I started my knot. The method I used -- and many of you probably use -- was actually creating a knot that would self-untie with the normal motion and pressure of walking.
The connection with TED (actually the TEDTalks video clips on the Web) is that they recently posted a brief clip from 2005 of a fun talk/presentation of how the badly-started knot fails... and how to tell at a glance if you're at risk of becoming untied.
Check it out at...
Terry Moore: How to tie your shoes | Video on TED.com
Learn out more about TED and TEDTalks at...
http://www.ted.com/pages/about
For most my adult life I had an annoying little problem -- I could never keep my left shoe tied! No matter what kind of shoe/sneaker I wore, with whatever style/type of lace, it would untie itself every few minutes.
Lots of people gave me advice and tips... all to no avail.
About 5 years ago I Googled shoelace tieing and came up with a website that gave me a solution that has largely solved the problem.
As it turns out, it wasn't the type of shoe, lacing, or knot I was using, but rather how I started tying the knot itself! All I had to do was to reverse how (left/right-wise) I started my knot. The method I used -- and many of you probably use -- was actually creating a knot that would self-untie with the normal motion and pressure of walking.
The connection with TED (actually the TEDTalks video clips on the Web) is that they recently posted a brief clip from 2005 of a fun talk/presentation of how the badly-started knot fails... and how to tell at a glance if you're at risk of becoming untied.
Check it out at...
Terry Moore: How to tie your shoes | Video on TED.com
Learn out more about TED and TEDTalks at...
http://www.ted.com/pages/about
It Keeps on Ticking!
Dan Pink video interview from MIX TV (management exchange.com) about what makes people tick at work...
http://www.managementexchange.com/video/dan-pink-what-makes-people-tick-work
Learn more about Dan Pink...
http://www.danpink.com/about
http://www.managementexchange.com/video/dan-pink-what-makes-people-tick-work
Learn more about Dan Pink...
http://www.danpink.com/about
Back in the Real World...
(Some context... From 1979 - 2004 my worklife involved significant amounts of travel via car or airplane. Since 2004, except for a few trips for meetings or training, I've worked from a cubicle, or sometimes in a public wifi hotspot.)
Transporting your personal laptop around (packing and unpacking it several times a day) ain't a whole lot of fun and the machine itself takes a hell of a beating. (Hello second laptop... or maybe even a tablet?)
What I did was to inexpensively get myself back to where I needed to be with with regard to some basic tech/work tools.
During my current work hiatus, and being released (perhaps temporarily) from the bonds of cubicle life, I've had to reconnect with some of the technology about which one can say "I really don't need to worry about that..." when spending your workday in a cube.
Cell Phone (No driving and using the phone... parked phone use only)
- Ear buds with a microphone... may cut it for a taking an occasional conference call from outside the cube/office, but not for much else.
- Built-in Speakerphone... seriously lacking for anything beyond a brief hit and run call with the wife.
- One Phone/Number (...we cut the cord on the land line years ago!)... doesn't work well when trying to keep some separation between your regular personal business and job search-related activities. Also, I need to have a plain old backup phone number and voicemail now that I don't have a company-provided phone.
Transporting your personal laptop around (packing and unpacking it several times a day) ain't a whole lot of fun and the machine itself takes a hell of a beating. (Hello second laptop... or maybe even a tablet?)
So, in the words of Karl Malden touting American Express, "What will you do?... What will you do?"
What I did was to inexpensively get myself back to where I needed to be with with regard to some basic tech/work tools.
Visor-mounted Bluetooth Speaker for cell phone... I scrounged online for a Jabra model (probably a closeout) which solved my ear bud/microphone/speakerphone woes very nicely. A vast improvement in comfort and sound quality.
Tablet PC... A "work in progress" with some encouraging signs. I found an already inexpensive, refurbished Android OS-based e-reader whose software had been upgraded to make the it a low-level tablet. Its kinda sluggish and quirky, but functional enough to hold me until I take delivery of a HP TouchPad. (Side benefit: I now have some experience with the Android OS to go along with my Microsoft Windows, HP/Palm WebOS and a smidgen of Linux experience.)
Cell Phone... Picked a nice little QWERTY TracFone (with automatic free "double minutes") to use as the backup to my existing Palm Pre2 and for use in separating my job search phone activity from my personal phone activity.
Now, where did I put my Cyberguys catalog? I think I need some gadgets/accessories to go along with all of these new tools.
Now, where did I put my Cyberguys catalog? I think I need some gadgets/accessories to go along with all of these new tools.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Who Was Your Best Boss?
Recently, a fella named David Witt posted a good item on the Blanchard LeaderChat forum about identifying what made your best boss memorable and special. Check out the link below...
Trust, Caring and Connectedness: Who Was Your Best Boss—a creative exercise and reminder
Trust, Caring and Connectedness: Who Was Your Best Boss—a creative exercise and reminder
Downhill All the Way!
Check out my slideshow video of the Soap Box Derby races held in Arlington, MA on June 4...
Stacks of Wax?
The following is an updated re-post of an item I placed another blog in 2009.
-----------------------------------------------------
During the past week of Jacko-mania, some of the talk in my office strayed from him and his music over to the whole Berry Gordy/Motown thing.
Motown was great, but what about the other large chunks of music in the past 50 years that came out of Ahmet Ertegun's Atlantic Records and from the Memphis folks at Stax Records?
... And there's also Tom Dowd who engineered or produced much of the well-known product from both Atlantic and Stax!
Find out more...
Atlantic Records
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/atlantic_stub.html
http://atlanticrecords.com/the-stacks/time-capsule/
Stax Records
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034410/plotsummary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stax_Records
Tom Dowd
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/producer-tom-dowd-dies-20021028
http://www.thelanguageofmusic.com/
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=tom+dowd+and+the+language+of+music&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=0PtNSsrAH5yqtgfCw62zBA&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4#
-----------------------------------------------------
During the past week of Jacko-mania, some of the talk in my office strayed from him and his music over to the whole Berry Gordy/Motown thing.
Motown was great, but what about the other large chunks of music in the past 50 years that came out of Ahmet Ertegun's Atlantic Records and from the Memphis folks at Stax Records?
... And there's also Tom Dowd who engineered or produced much of the well-known product from both Atlantic and Stax!
Find out more...
Atlantic Records
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/atlantic_stub.html
http://atlanticrecords.com/the-stacks/time-capsule/
Stax Records
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034410/plotsummary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stax_Records
Tom Dowd
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/producer-tom-dowd-dies-20021028
http://www.thelanguageofmusic.com/
http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=tom+dowd+and+the+language+of+music&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=0PtNSsrAH5yqtgfCw62zBA&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4#
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