Apr 3, 2013

Today I was going through airport security with my wife.  I got randomly selected for a screening, which consisted of wiping my hands with a cottonish fabric and sending it through the scanner that detects explosives or something like that.  After the screening, I commented to my wife, “so don’t all the terrorists know to not go to the gun range or...

Jun 13, 2011

I have some favorite phrases that I’ve been picking up for years. “Eh, voila!” universal for “eh, voila!” “Ah, asodeska” Japanese for “I understand”  (sp?) “Bo ko dien” is Taiwanese for highly unlikely or that’s ridiculous. (sp?) “Oh shiitake” (shitzu is also appropriate), is...

Feb 14, 2011

So, when I get on a plane, I often have a newspaper with me.  Whether you are on a plane, train, or anywhere with close quarters with other people, there is a bit of etiquette involved, and a standard trick that frequent travellers are supposed to know about.  Adherence with this trick is unfortunately minimal however.  The trick is as follows:  Take the...

Nov 8, 2010

When we talk about the impact of HR activities on our business’s operational production, we don’t usually think that there is a direct correlation.  In fact, some of our activities probably do have a relatively high correlation effect on business outcomes that we might be surprised about.  In defining correlation, we usually think about it on a –1 to +1...

Oct 4, 2010

We bought my wife a new bike this weekend.  She is not usually a bike rider, and the last time I took her out riding with me, she swore never to go riding with me ever again.  I suppose that one does not necessarily realize this if one does not have sufficient self awareness or awareness of the surroundings when in college, but it’s been about 15...

Jul 14, 2010

I write this in the usual place – the airplane.  I’m in a window seat, so I’m only surrounded on three sides.  The guy in front of me has decided that all the stuff he does not want should not go in front of him, but that “out of sight, out of mind” is a good solution as he shoves the stuff under his seat at my legs.  I was about to start throwing...

Jun 23, 2010

I love tennis.  I prefer to watch it than to play as I’m not really very good, and I seem to have a bum shoulder.  Each year, my wife and I record the coverage of every grand slam, and to be honest, we have missed the once omni-presence of Rafael Nadal in all the finals.  Watching Nadal play was always a demonstration of power, command and grace.  The man...

Data Encryption with business intelligence and reports has always been a problem.  Users are constantly requesting reports, and once data is in someone’s hands, it’s almost impossible to control data dissemination and what I’ll call data diaspora.  One must admit, especially in large organizations, that trying to put controls from a procedural...

I’m sitting on a plane (delayed of course for 4 hours) thinking about the people around me.  I have the fabulous exit row seat on the A319 where there is no seat in front of me.  The guy in the middle next to me is great.  He’s not a talker, he’s slim, does not intrude on my space at all, and basically minds his own business and his own space.  (My...