Author: spierzchala

At my last job, I moved desks a lot. Not because I was being shuffled from department to department, but because the company was in a constant state of flux, expanding with the Internet Bubble 1.0, and then collapsing on itself.
I often found interesting things when I took up residence at my new desk. Once, I found a huge group of files belonging to finance, detailing many contracts with clients. This lead me to have other concerns, but, oh well, no matter.
My best find is one that I carry to this day: a pen.
Not just any pen. A S.T. Dupont.
It’s engraved with a “sales club” outing date. You remember those? The boondoggles that sales gets as a reward for “good” performance? Well, this was part of the kit for one of those.
It’s black lacquer, heavy, and writes exquisitely. Why someone, even if they were let go and were angry at the company, would leave a work of art such as this behind is beyond me.
And I just rediscovered it at the bottom of my backpack. It feels exquisite sliding over the paper of my Moleskine.
Today is looking up.

Technorati: pens, Writing, gtd, moleskine

Remember my post on Multiple OSs on Intel Macs?
Well, guess eWeek has figured it out! [here]
<sigh>

Please read this. Then come back and ask me why I get upset when you say “free consulting” in my presence.

Lane Smith, the winner of the lifetime Dan Rather look-a-like contest, died Monday at age 69. I liked everything that he was in. With his senatorial baritone, and midwestern “aw shucks” attitude, he always made me smile. An inspired choice to play Perry White in the 1990’s series “Lois and Clark”.

Rick Segal and I have different, if not complementary perspectives on the United States. He is a US citizen living in Canada; I am a Canadian living in the US. I have met Rick in person, and he is an intelligent and insightful person to speak with.
Last night, he posted his reaction to the US Senate’s lack of unanimous support for the apology for lynching. [here]
This story hits home for me as well. I have chosen to live in this country. I know that as a guest, I should be quiet and not rock the boat. But when a situation such as this arises, along with the increasing levels of spitfire rhetoric and poisonous debate, I have to step back and ask: why?
For the most part, my life in the US has been one of comfort and ease. However, when I moved to the US in 1999, I was surprised at just how different two countries could be who looked so much alike.
Last year’s presidential campaign, the second one I have been through while here, further highlighted that the voices of moderation and rational thought are lost in the need to polarize and inflame.
But, as Rick says, at 32,000 feet, all of that is gone. There aren’t countries; or red states and blue states. Just the ever morphing tapestry of the world we live on. The hand of man can be seen from this height. Nature is still in control, shaping how man shapes the land.
We will come and go. We all die. But our legacy will be remembered, and, increasingly, recorded for all posterity.
Be true to yourself. Remember, the way history judges you is beyond your control.
David Janes is maintaining a list of the non-sponsoring Senators.

Tim Bray writes about Mukhtaran Bibi, a Pakistani woman who was sentenced by her tribal council to be gang-raped as punishment for a crime of honour. [here]
NPR had a great story on her on All Things Considered yesterday (audio here).
The US government continues to covet Pakistan as an ally. I agree that religious freedom is a must for any country; however, religious freedom is outweighed by the need to preserve the equality, dignity, and freedom of all individuals.
Update: Tom Watson has a great commentary on this.

Technorati: Pakistan, foreign affairs, diplomacy, Tim Bray, Mukhtaran Bibi

Another Canadian espousing Robertson screws. [here]
We will be send the team to ensure he stops trying to spread this virus to the US.

…and I have heard a rumour that David Allen is adding them to GTD, Merlin and Dave Winer are porting them to MacOSX, SOGrady is building them on Gentoo, and Scoble uses them on his tablet. Kathy Sierra is evangelizing how they make happier screwers (???) and Darren Rowse has pointed out how to optimize your layout to take advantage of Google ScrewSense.
Great. Thanks Seth. Now everyone will want Robertson Screws. One more thing Canadians will lose their exclusive superiority in. Losing hockey was bad enough. Now you want our screws.
Time to move back to Canada, where all cool things — including weather and excluding Nortel and Corel — start.
Seth Godin’s post
My Rant on the Cool Tools post

Technorati: tools, seth godin

The CBC is reporting that the Canadian Armed Forces has held its first official same-sex wedding between two members at a military base in Nova Scotia. [here]
This will send the religious right in the US into a complete conniption fit. I say so what. And congratulations to the happy couple!

Technorati: gay marriage, military, canada, canadian armed forces

Christopher Hawkins posts about the clients that need to be fired, and breaks them into 11 typologies. [here]
This post is in my clippings and I will likely read it again and again. I have seen them all. The question is, can you also apply these typologies to your managers?

Technorati: Consulting, Consultants, Management, Managing