Ideeahs

I awoke this past night to the smell of smoke. It may have been a coincidence or it could have some automatic instinct that awakes animals when a potential danger is lurking. Regardless, I woke up. I did not panic though and I made an assumption that this was somehow related to the fires burning four hundred kilometres north of Montreal. There are over fifty already burning in the Province of Quebec, nine of which are out of control. For the next few hours of sleep I awoke regularly - I can't tell you at what interval as the alarm clock is on my wife's side of the bed and, unless I put on my specs, I can't see the green numbers. Since I had not heard that smoke might make its way this far south I was not prepared for this and, therefore, I did not sleep well for the rest of the night. Something in the back of my mind made me wonder whether this was some other fire, closer to our home. Maybe a house in the neighbourhood? The alarm went off at 6:30 A.M. and the ne...

Businesses are under pressure. Pressure, from their customers, for quality and price and pressure, from their investors, for revenue and profit. With the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico we have another example of how it is one of these two pressures that unfortunately always wins out in the end - the investors and the drive for revenue and profit. The New York Times is reporting this morning that internal BP documents show that it had been aware of problems with the Deepwater Horizon rig for at least a few months (and up to eleven months) prior to the blowout. According to one expert in the field, given the hints of a problem that were so apparent, the right thing to do would have been to shutdown the operation until one could figure out the causes or the solution. Of course that was not done. Why is that? The answer seems obvious though it is not explicitly mentioned in the article - revenue. We, the consumers and the customers of BP, do not have enough clout.  We are...

My eyes are closed and I am seeing red. I decide to have a look outside. I can't open my eyes fully. Through a pair of slits I see that the sun is bright. Its rays are sparkling through the leaves of the branches hanging over me. I am lying on our hammock strung between and apple and an ash tree. On my belly lies the book I am reading (blink, by Malcolm Gladwell) and my iPod Nano. I am listening to Coldplay's Viva la Vida album. I need to close my eyes again and so, once again, my world becomes red. Sometimes it darkens as a cloud passes between the sun and my position. For the most part, though, all is red. I can feel the heat of the sun on my chin and on the left side of my nose. My forehead also feels the heat of that closest of the stars. Minute beads of sweat are forming below my nose. This is life. Live life. The moment. Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

It may be because I am more attuned to these kinds of people now.  It may be because one tends to hang around people that share similar thoughts and experiences.  Or, it may just be that there is something fundamental going on.  Irrespective of the reason I have met yet another person this week that has taken time off of work.  I don't mean a two or three week vacation.  I mean months. This week I also came across an article on the Harvard Business Review website .  The article is about an advertising agency that asks their clients what their "Holy S#!t" number is.  By that they mean a number that truly has an impact on their world, their customers and ultimately their bottom line.  Ultimately their bottom line.  This is an important distinction.  Not directly - ultimately. Numbers that directly measure revenue are boring.  % of sales increase.  Cost of goods sold.  Profit margins.  Market penetration %.  B_O...

We are in the middle of the first heat wave of 2010 with temperatures in the 30s Celsius and humidex readings into the upper 30s.  Today's forecast calls for 38 degree weather.  It has been a long time since I felt that kind of heat. A few days ago I had a feeling that I had not felt in twenty or so years.  I went to the local park to shoot some hoops with my son.  The basketball court is newly resurfaced with black asphalt.  Consequently it absorbs just about all of the sun's energy that has made it through the atmosphere.  It is a hot place to hang out much less play a sport. Just walking onto the court meant that your armpits got moist.  It felt like I was walking into a bathroom a few minutes after someone had finished their shower.  Not quite the kind of humidity that allows you to right your name on a mirror - but close.  As we started passing the ball around and shooting some hoops the sweat beads started forming.  On my arms,...

This has been the kind of week where society's dependence on technology has become apparent to me.  I, for one, have become addicted to technology.  I know that this is the case because over the last few weeks I have become increasingly annoyed with the internet outages I was experiencing a few times a day.  It all peaked on Wednesday when they became persistent.  Thursday I was offline all day. Coincidentally, my mother in-law also suffered an outage to her internet connectivity this week.  In her case it was a trojan that made it on to her computer system.  It slowed the performance down terribly and kept redirecting her web browser to various advert and dubious websites.  It took me most of the day Tuesday to resolve her problem. Some time ago I heard an interesting anecdote about a airline traveller who goes from bliss to pissed-off in a matter of minutes.  He discovers, upon boarding, that his airplane is equipped with in-flight internet...

Well, my first book, "Avoiding the Blues', is one step closer to being published.  The proof copy is on its way, the Createspace webpage is up and running.  Have a look ( link ).  I am looking forward to seeing what may come of this.  I will keep everyone posted as I make my way through the final steps.  FYI that it will also be available on all (or so I am led to believe) Amazon websites. Stay tuned! Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!

I do not like waiting - never have.  As I reach the final chapter, or pages, of a book I suddenly feel an urge to finish the book as soon as possible.  As a child I hated waiting for the final days before the start of vacation.  I wanted it to start here and now - still do.  These days, as I await the first printed copy of my first book - Avoiding the Blues - I am growing impatient.  When will it arrive?  Why is it taking so long?  Simultaneously I am awaiting news on a job.  Again, I wonder what is taking so long. Waiting opens up a door in my brain.  Through the door walks an interesting character that never stops talking.  This dude instills doubt, worry and angst.  This person tells me to stop being so positive, that lots can still go wrong, that the deal is not done until the deal is signed, that if I get excited and hopeful I may come crashing down when the news, or result, of the waiting is not as I had hoped. The result...

The image below shows a gap in our world.  See it? There is a continent without any red dots.  Africa.  Access to Internet. Take a look at another picture now (source: www.darksky.org): There is a continent with few lights at night.  Africa.  Access to electricity.  (More here ) And yet another map  (source: www.worldmapper.org): See the red sliver?  Africa.  Proportion of worldwide wealth. Is there a link between the three? Electrical power permits access to the internet and communication links which in turn give Africa a chance to compete in global markets.  In turn Africans would gain access to knowledge, an ability to share ideas, and read stories and thoughts from around the the world.  Communication is empowering. In a few weeks billions of faces will orient themselves to the southern hemisphere and to Africa's southern-most nation.  Only South Africa had a chance at pulling of the hosting of a World Cup - and...

As the days and weeks go by without a solution to the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico my opinions surrounding this latest disaster facing Earth are crystallizing.  I have read articles which have underplayed the oil spill by stating that hurricane Katrina had greater negative impact.  What a bunch of BS. Admittedly, Katrina was a terrible natural disaster.  Approximately 1850 people lost their lives and the damage estimates have been calculated at $81 billion.  But it was a natural disaster.  Of course, man made it worse by building cities in flood plains, below sea-level and not maintaining the protective dykes.  Had man not tried to control the flow of water in the area much less people would have died as the concentration of population would have been lower. The day after the hurricane passed nature was already back in equilibrium and in its more familiar calm steady-state.  For humans the calm would take months and years (and for some it likely ...

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a thin line , one hundred kilometres thick, that permits life on earth.  Last week, sitting on seat 13A inside an Air Canada Embraer 190 jet ten kilometres up, I thought about an even thinner line. We were flying on a clear, blue-sky day.  At our cruising altitude I could see as far away as 360 kilometres.  A perfect day for flying.  From the ground the sky must have looked beautiful and appeared calm.  Much like I had thirty years prior, children might have been gazing up and seen the white condensation trail left behind by the metal bird I was in.  It all looked so effortless. Inside the cabin the illusion of calm was shattered.  The fasten seat belt sign was on (they always are these days) and cabin service had been interrupted.  We were asked to remain seated.  The winds were strong.  I could feel the plane pitching, rolling and yawing.  It is this last movement, the yawing, that I have a...

The good old dandelion has been on my mind over the last few weeks.  The different ways that we treat this particular flowering plant are at odds with one another. On the one hand I have spent hours pulling them out of my lawn.  I have even gone to Canadian Tire (a chain of hardware stores here in Canada) to buy a tool specifically designed to yank them - twice!   (The first one I bought broke after two dandelion-pulls.)  My wife has sprayed white vinegar on our patio tiles to ensure that they die and stop popping up in the cracks between the concrete tiles. The dandelion fight is a never ending battle and new yellow flowers are continuously popping up.  According to some, lawns have become uglier over recent years as people have struggled to keep the nasty plant out of their lawns due to the banning of those convenient herbicides (with good reason I must say). On the other hand, driving in the country-side, I have often found them beautiful.  Fields,...

It is 14:59 - nope, correction, it is 15:59. I did not adjust my MacBook's clock to the Atlantic time zone. The wind is blowing down from the west-northwest. Veil after veil of rain, pushed along by the wind, are hitting the side of the 120 year-old wood-shingled home and past the window I am looking out of. The fields are wet. If I was in Montreal I would be happy. My manicured lawn and tiny vegetable garden would have received the water they need. But I am not in a suburb of a large city. I am a fifteen minute drive from New Ross, Nova Scotia in an area that has, for all of its existence, been dependent on the weather and nature for its economic survival - not just for its pleasure. This is an area whose economic basis is farming. A great friend of mine has decided to establish himself here. Since I have been here, he and I have been wondering whether the weather would hold up long enough to allow us to prepare his four acres for planting. To ensure that it is eff...

I was handed a copy of Seth Godin's latest book, Linchpin, yesterday. Last night, even though I was exhausted, it kept me awake. This morning I have devoured more of it. And now I have two emotions that both are leading to the same reaction. One is a sense of panic. I feel like I need to get " Avoiding the Blues " out now! The world that Seth describes is the one I describe in my book. I completely relate and feel almost like my book should be an annex to his - a bonus book for readers of Linchpin. There is a connection. I need to publish it now! Second is a sense of excitement. Gosh, I have the same ideas as Seth and he can make a killing spreading his ideas of self brand, ingenuity, uniqueness, etc. I can relate. I have lived this. I feel it, it is running through my veins and I need to get the word out. I am excited about the possibility of helping people with my book. What are the possibilities? Doesn't matter. It just feels right. I need t...

For the next ten days or so I will have limited access to high-speed internet and therefore I am going on an Ideeahs sabbatical.  Well, I am sure I will continue to have lots of thoughts but I will not be able to share them as regularly. I will be stepping back in time to a slower medium.  One that requires more thought due to the unavailability of that oh-so-useful delete key.  One that means that there is an assured delay before publishing. Good old pen and paper. Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!