A Golf Blog

MRI Hell

And to think that I thought all MRI Technologists did was say OK, up on the table. Think again.

While your there, check out the Worst Jobs in Science.

Pink Flamingos

Two pink flamingos arrived yesterday from the good folks at The Collector Connection. I’ve challenged my work team to come up with catchy names – one for the good flamingo (is molded in a heads-up position) and one for the not-so-good flamingo (is molded in a heads-down position like it’s getting ready to stick its head in the sand).

After naming the birds, the Labs team at Sabre will launch a PR campaign so as many employees as possible will recognize them. From there, we’re planning on a highly subjective recognition campaign for everyone at Sabre – do something significantly good and get flamingo’d – or something dumb and get flamingo’d. We’ll have to be careful with “something dumb” – we don’t want this to be hurtful.

By the way, in case you’re wondering – these are the original Don Featherstone Pink Flamingos, not some cheap cheesy knock off.

Let Them Eat Web Pages

Wade Roush at Technology Review is getting a lot of heat for his post on the new Department of Labor web site for homeless people. “It doesn’t give any suggestions as to how the homeless – few of whom presumably, own computers – are supposed to get to the site in the first place.”

One commenter called the DOL “Department of Laughs” and Brenda Roberts, a librarian in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada thought it was “both mistaken and arrogant.”

Green Building

I work in what’s called a Green Building – it’s environmentally safe and good for the community. Features like no lights (except for small security spots) between 7am and 7pm. But, if you’re in early or working late, there is a web page on our Intranet that allows you to override the settings. I couldn’t find it this morning so I called our facilities help desk and they got the lights on within 2 or 3 minutes.

We also have retracting sun shades on all the windows – they’re on rollers and when there’s direct sunlight on the windows, they automatically roll down. One of the features that took some getting used to are the waterless urinals.

It really is a very comfortable place. Covered parking during the Texas summers is a huge boost. No more burnt skin from overheated seats.

Vocation Vacation

Not all meetings are a waste of time. I heard about this web site at a meeting yesterday and thought it was worth a mention. The premise is simple enough – before pulling the trigger on a career change, go to VocationVacation and see if they have something you’re interested in. It's like trying before buying.

Become a horse trainer, a fishing outfitter, brew master, florist and more. Looked kind of pricey but probably worth the spend to avoid a career change misfire.

American Airlines Is In A Pickle

Dave Lieber had a piece in the Argyle American about how American Airlines was going to get employees to pay more attention to customer service.

Seems that some American executives watched a customer service training video that detailed the “Give them the pickle” strategy that basically said if a customer asks for another pickle, give it to them. So, American is running with the idea. Get recognized by a customer, get a pickle.

The “Pickle” is a 4 foot long, blow up, pool toy. When Dave asked a flight attendant on a recent trip what she thought of the idea, she said “I just want the money”.

Mark Cuban

On Microsoft, Dividends and Stock Buybacks

Blogging: A World Stuck on Itself

Venture capitalist David Hornik warns that the Web logging world is inadvertently getting caught up in a trap of its own design.

Measured by Weight, Not Volume

I opened this can of coffee the other day. I suppose I should not be complaining because de-caffeinated coffee is really not coffee, it’s a coffee taste substitute. What really riled me was how far 11 ounces was from being a full can.

At some point, the same can held 16 ounces and when it did, it was full. So, rather than shrink the size of the can to fit the amount of product, all that happens is the silk screened weight on the can changes.

And did you know that to boost sales of it’s toothpaste, a major conglomerate simply made the dispensing hole in the tube bigger. Ingenious, huh?

I, for one, am certainly glad that over time, coffee cans will remain uniform in size.

The Ketchup Wars Continue

Bush Country Ketchup co-founder and volunteer press secretary for a Congressional candidate, Patrick Spero, sent me an email after my post about W Ketchup. You’ll recall that W Ketchup is marketed to people who “don’t support democrats”. Well, Bush Country Ketchup is touted as “the official ketchup of right-thinking Americans”.

Patrick’s slogan is “Making sure Kerry won’t ketchup to W.

Although their ketchup costs a little more that W Ketchup, Spero invites people to “judge form themselves which ketchup is truly conservative and dedicated to the president.

Full article here.