Recent reads -- Focus on the Good Stuff

Focus on the Good Stuff
Mike Robbins

This was recommended by a neighbor who was the author's college roommate. I used to be enamored of these kinds of books (Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, etc.) but got a bit tired of them because they simply repeat what is painfully obvious.

Truth be told this one has the same challenges but I decided that the painfully obvious is something that we need to be reminded of all the time.

Much of the book concentrates on the value of your attitude but also the ability to be grateful for what you have. It also provides some interesting techniques for executing this on a daily basis.

The simple joys of simple technology, part II

Stumbled across Flightstats this week (in a roundup in the Wall Street Journal). It was ranked one of the best ways to track flight status. So I experimented with my Atlanta-New York flight, plugging in information two days ahead of time.

I can't complain much about it, other than all three alerts (two about slight delays leaving, one about arriving a few minutes late) were sent while I was in the air and thus unable to retrieve them. I suppose this is good for someone at home waiting for the flight to arrive (or a limo driver) but not necessarily for the passenger.

I did like the fact that it distinguishes between departure time (leaving the gate) and takeoff time (wheels up.) That's the first time I've seen that.

Overall, it's a pretty clever tool that I am going to try

Travels -- Atlanta

Truth be told, I didn't get to see much of it when I was there for three days this week. I can barely comment on the weather, other than what I saw out my window during countless PowerPoint presentations.

But one night we did journey to the new (relatively new) aquarium for dinner and a speech by Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics, who is doing some work with us on collaboration. I'm already a big fan of his ideas and overall view and came out even more convinced that his views are dead on. And if they're not dead on, they are at least inspiring.

Recent reads -- I'm A Stranger Here Myself

I'm A Stranger Here Myself
Bill Bryson

I've become a big fan of Bryson's, simply because I wish I could write as well as he does. My sense of humor matches his and his books cause me to laugh out loud (called "laugh out loud funny" in book reviews.)

Here he reflects on America after being away for 20 years and while some of the humor is a bit obvious he does capture some of the quirks of America while also expressing great reverence. I would do no justice trying to replicate some of his humor here.

You can knock off this book in a plane ride.

Missed opportunity

Last week the New York Times had an interesting article (online version archived) about a new test being given to immigrants. In my view they missed a great opportunity to mix the online world with the print world.

Halfway through the article I wondered how hard this test could be. (In all honesty I kept chuckling to myself that it couldn't be that hard but the reality is that I probably wouldn't do as well as I thought I could.) The article had a sidebar with a few sample questions but only a few. Why not something online with a more complete collection of questions?

The New York Times is actually one of the more progressive publications in terms of online presence so I am reluctant to be too harsh in my criticism. But how hard can it be to exploit online's advantages -- interactivity and no limit on space?