Fire Someone Today: Fun Stuff Archives

February 14, 2007

Managing random information

I've spent every working day of my life sitting in front of a computer, and yet there is still a pad of Post-it notes next to my keyboard. Why? Why am I still using sticky pieces of paper and typing my voicemail messages into a Windows Notepad file?

Well, I run a software company, and it finally occurred to me that if I am missing a key software productivity tool, I of all people should be able to get it made. And so I did.

NoteScraps is the application I've been wanting for years. And it's awesome.

Posted by Bob Pritchett at 06:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 29, 2006

Masking tape - the perfect Christmas gift

This year I opened a package and found a roll of masking tape. It was the cheapest thing I received this year, but one of my favorite gifts.

While visiting one day, my mother overhead me rummaging through the kitchen drawer and lamenting that I never have any masking tape. And knowing that I would never remember to buy any (and that I don’t have the sense to keep a shopping list), she got me a roll.

The perfect gift isn’t something expensive. The perfect gift is one that says I was listening to you. (Not that it would be bad if you gave me something that you overheard me admiring that happened to be expensive… like a 63 foot yacht…)

Posted by Bob Pritchett at 11:29 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 03, 2006

Working away in the HOV lane

I love living in Bellingham, a smaller city north of Seattle, but I hate the 90 mile drive between the two. And, as often as I do it, there are good reasons why I should be doing it even more often.

Another local CEO recently hired a part-time driver and got a broadband wireless internet card. Now he sits in the back of his own car and does email and phone calls during the drive.

That sounds pretty good to me, but I don’t want the laptop on my lap; I like desks. So I looked around for mobile office solutions. I found the home made, the nicely done, and the one I would really like.

Posted by Bob Pritchett at 07:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 23, 2006

Market Poetry

Chapter 6 of Fire Someone Today opens with the line:

If there were a book of business poetry, it would be full of odes to cash.

I haven’t found the book yet, but I did get an email about the Market Poetry blog, "an attempt to (mis)apply literary creativity to investing."

(I like My First Real Estate Poem.)

Update: Check out The Wall Street Poet, who has penned The Wonderful Cash Poem.

Posted by Bob Pritchett at 05:00 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 17, 2006

Visiting Japan

I was in Japan on business recently, and I had a great time. The people were friendly and the food was great.

(I say that about everywhere I go, though. I am beginning to suspect that travelers’ reports of unfriendly locals and bad food reflect more on the dead palate and grumpy disposition of the traveler than on the varied destinations...)

Tokyo was full of interesting machines, unexpected automation, and clever ideas. Every day I encountered another great idea. And another Engrish sign.

A sliding tile puzzle with cars.

Aluminum bottles are everywhere.

Drain excess liquid and ice before throwing away your cup.

Why waste space on ramps when you can use a turntable and an elevator?

There is a 15 minute wait for a haircut.

Going "do not disturb" is push-button easy. And there's no need to open the door to check for the newspaper. An optical sensor detects when it is "deliverd" and flashes the message inside the room.

This is really maximizing your small building lot.

Be sure to pay the machine before moving your car.

Umbrella theft is a big problem in Japan.

Let's hope so.

Posted by Bob Pritchett at 06:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 10, 2006

Playing Berber or chump in the souks of Marrakech

I love Marrakech! I have been here for a few days, for an EO educational event, and it has been close to perfect. The people, the food, and the weather are all great. Moroccan mint tea, served here at every occasion, will soon be served at every occasion in my home, too.

The souks were incredible. These covered markets, which snake through endless narrow passageways, were filled with meat and produce and lamps and rugs and clothes and spices and all the other necessities of life.

Many stalls offered the same products. Identical Moroccan tea pots, wooden boxes, and cheap daggers were available every few meters, all sourced from some central factory-for-the-production-of-tourist-goods.

What was different, though, from the bazaars in so many other places I’ve visited was the amount of hand production happening right in the shop. In many stalls, just two or three meters square, craftsmen were cutting fabric and sewing, stamping intricate patterns onto metal boxes, and building beautiful furniture. I saw a vendor staining glass for Moroccan lamps while his neighbor hand-bent sheet metal into ductwork. I saw a teenaged boy hand carving twin bed frames (stacked six high) in a shop just large enough to hold them.

Larger scale operations, like dying wool in big cauldrons, were just around the corner and down the quieter alleys. Donkey-drawn carts provide just-in-time inventory control for the tiny factories, moving raw materials and finished goods in and out.

For fresh poultry, you can’t beat having the butcher in arms-reach of both the live chickens (in cages on the wall behind him) and the customers (across the chopping board in front of him).

Haggling is a way of life in the souks, and I gave it my best effort. I escaped a rug merchant without buying, despite the mint tea and full court press. I think I paid more than I could have for an unusual tea pot, but (by walking away) I got an antique wall hanging down from $1,200 to $100. I too was told that I trade like a Berber.

Well, I think it was an antique. Maybe they faked the weathering. Maybe I am not like a Berber. Maybe I am like a chump.

I am happy with what I paid for everything I bought. I would pay those prices at home for those items, and a quick search of the Internet doesn’t show any better price on comparable items. But the process made me suspicious. What if my good friend across the table, who closed our deal with an elaborate hand-shaking, heart-touching ritual, isn’t just a good salesperson? What if he’s a good liar?

I know it’s the culture. I know it’s a sport. But haggling wore me out. It took forever, and whatever extra margin the salesman may have squeezed from me, he was the loser in the end. Because he had no clue how much stuff I liked in his large shop.

Once I saw that he would not quote a price for anything (“we’ll put it on the table and discuss one price for everything when you are done shopping”) I refrained from expressing interest in any large item. I might have bought that large lamp or mirror (or carpet!), and been willing to ship it home, but I had no idea of the true value and no easy way to discover it. If the tea pot goes for 50% of starting price, and the wall hanging for 8%, how do I find out if I can even afford a lamp or mirror or carpet? I can live with paying 10, 20, or even 50% too much on something small, but I won’t risk it on something big.

A business speaker I once heard said that even in the US everything is negotiable. It may be true, but I am glad that I don’t have to spend half an hour bargaining for everything I buy. I like my souvenirs, and the stories I now have to go with them. But the best transaction of my day was the no hassle, no haggle, ice-cold, fixed-price Diet Coke I bought for sixty cents.

(Should I have paid 40 cents?)

Posted by Bob Pritchett at 05:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

April 07, 2006

Bursting with flavor

Freeze with care.

Posted by Bob Pritchett at 05:00 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

February 19, 2006

90 year old professor reveals secret to building a great blog

Jim Davila recounts a conversation with University of St. Andrews Professor of Biblical Criticism Emeritus, Professor Robert McL Wilson, at an event Saturday celebrating Wilson's 90th birthday. The nonagenarian honoree let slip the secret to both scholarly recognition and building a great blog:

"The best way to get scholarly recognition [is] to publish something that's almost right but is just wrong enough to make people want to argue with you."

Posted by Bob Pritchett at 02:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 26, 2006

Web keyboard

What? No https://www.firesomeonetoday.com key?

Posted by Bob Pritchett at 04:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 09, 2006

Life in the alley is getting boring

Bellingham, Washington is no metropolis. The "bad part" of downtown is a corner, not a neighborhood. Still, all too often we would open the back door into the alley behind our office and find something unpleasant: graffiti, trash, broken glass, or fluids of indeterminate origin.

Building codes forced us to recess doorways as part of some remodeling, creating quiet little alcoves for crime, passion, and slumber out of rain and sight.

Last year we installed a surveillance camera over the backdoor in hopes of making our little nook just a little less attractive. It worked: the very first night we captured this scene (Windows Media), in which four smokers discover the new camera and decide to move along.

In the days that followed we were entertained and outraged at our video dailies, but after installing better lights and some signs announcing the presence of the cameras the footage became pretty boring. We like it that way.