New Year’s Adjustments
The other night I posted the following on Facebook:
I’m not much into new years resolutions. I believe any time is a good time for a resolution. As for me I’m always trying to be a better father, husband, son and friend. I may not be perfect in any of those roles but life isn’t about perfect. Just trying to be the best you can be.
Though my sister sister noted that I left brother off of my list I got some positive feedback for this statement (curiously, most of it was offline). Obviously I assured my sister that the omission of brother was purely inadvertent but it’s interesting to note I haven’t heard from her since she left her comment.
Usually when I write something like this on Facebook it’s the product of prior reflection. And though this falls into that category the feedback I received made me reflect even more on the subject after I posted it (which I rarely do).
It’s true that I don’t believe in new year’s resolutions. In fact I don’t really believe in resolutions. The word resolution sounds very strong to me. If I need to make a resolution about an area of my life then that area of my life must be really messed up. Though I’m far from perfect I like to think that the various areas of my life are not sufficiently unruly to necessitate a resolution to bring it under control.
I prefer the term adjustments. And life is full of them. As mentioned in the Facebook status I’m always trying to be better in the different areas of my life including, but not limited to, the areas I listed (just ask my sister). For example, perhaps the biggest adjustment I made in 2011, adjusting my diet so as to take off a few extra pounds while not depriving myself of any of the foods I like, was made in May.
Anyway, my point is this: regardless of the calendar any day is a good day to make an adjustment (or resolution or whatever) in your life. Whether it’s trying to shed a few pounds or read more or learn to code just get started. Don’t wait for a birthday, anniversary or New Year’s Day. Once you’ve decided to do it just get started. After all, you can’t improve anything until you get started.
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Don’t Email Me At Work!
I’ve written before about my pet peeve about recruiters calling me at work. But this morning I think I may have found something that irks me more: poorly written recruiting emails in my work inbox.
This morning I received the following missive:
It is my hope that this finds you well. The reason for this message is that my firm was recently entrusted to conduct a search for an exceptional QA Manager in the (location withheld) area. Our client is very stable, offers strong benefits and is just started to assemble a new digital platform team. This QA Manager position is one of the first positions to be hired for the group and will have tremendous input to the direction of the team and product development cycle.
Your name has come up as someone knowledgeable in this area that would be able to point me to qualified QA professionals. So, I am contacting you to engage your help. If you know of qualified QA professional I would love to speak with them. My services are free for recruits and candidates.
Please feel free to forward this communication to any of you colleagues and/or to connect via Linkedin. All Inquires are confidential and (company name withheld) will never forward information without the individual’s express prior approval.
Best regards,
(name withheld)
There is so much wrong with this email that I don’t know where to begin. I’ll start with the obvious: do I really want an email like this going through the corporate email system of my current employer? I’m sure I’m not alone when I answer this question in the negative. I understand you’re trying to reach out to people any way you can to fill a position but whatever source you got my work email address from must also have my personal email address which is far more easily found and listed as my primary email address on LinkedIn.
Next is the actual language of the email. “It is my hope that this finds you well” is a very odd opening since the word “this” is vague. It should be “It is my hope that this email finds you well” or “It is my hope that this message finds you well”. (In fact, you don’t really care how well I am as long as I can help you fill a position.)
Perhaps that’s nitpicking and, when taken alone, that sentence would be acceptable. But there are other problems in the email as well. “Our client is very stable, offers strong benefits and is just started to assemble a new digital platform team.” Really? “…is just started to assemble”? It should be “starting” not “started”.
And “So, I am contacting you to engage your help.”. No comma is necessary in this sentence. I would even leave out the word “So” and start the sentence “I am contacting you..”.
How about “If you know of qualified QA professional…”? It’s either “If you know of a qualified QA professional…” or “If you know of qualified QA professionals…”.
Ok. Perhaps I’m still nitpicking. But the second paragraph is where things got interesting for me in terms of content. Apparently my name has come up as someone who may “be able to point me to qualified QA professionals”. Though I’m flattered that I’m being asked for recommendations (it shows reverence to my experience in the field) it seemed by the first paragraph that the author was actually interested in me. But no, he’s writing me to ask me if I can recommend someone else. Am I not good enough for you? What if I were interested in the position? Would you not accept my application? If you’re going to email me then pitch to me. If you’d like to cover your bases then add a line that requests recommendations should I not be interested.
To recap, when sending me a recruiting email please observe the following rules:
1 – Send the email to my personal email address and not my work email address.
2 – Pitch to me not to people I may know.
3 – Always proofread (or better still have someone else proofread) your message. The last thing any potential candidate wants to see in a recruiting email are spelling mistakes and language miscues. A pitch email is akin to a first interview. It’s your chance to make an impression. A poorly written pitch will make a bad first impression and make me less likely to want to apply for the position for which you are recruiting and more likely to rant about it in a blog post like this.
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Wonderful “Smile”
When I first read Lewis Shiner’s Glimpses (Paperback
Anyone who has read Glimpses can tell you that I approached it on the wrong premise. This book was nothing like The Hacker Files. It was a deeply intense account of a middle aged man as he deals with the death of his father, a marriage that is in trouble and a middle aged crisis with the help of Jim Morrison of The Doors, Jimi Hendrix and Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. Both of my parents were still alive, I was a single 20-something and all I knew about Morrison, Hendrix and The Beach Boys were some of their bigger hits. I had nothing in common with main character of this book and was out of touch with the subject matter and themes.
But when I finished reading it I found myself deeply affected by the book. I learned things about myself, the need to be introspective and to carefully weigh every decision I make in life. I also learned a lot about Morrison, Hendrix and Wilson.
One of the settings in the book was the failed recording sessions for The Beach Boys’ Smile. The Boys were coming off of the ground breaking Pet Sounds album and Brian’s mind was bringing him to higher song writing aspirations. The result was a group of songs that was slammed by their record company who wanted more hits than this record would ever hope to produce. (The only song the average person would know from these sessions would be Good Vibrations, a bonafide hit for sure but the record company was looking for more than a one hit album.) Smile was more of a concept album. It was not to be taken one song at a time but as a whole. The record company’s reaction pushed Brian deeper into a depression that would take many years to come out of.
And so in 2004, roughly 10 years after reading the book, when Brian Wilson released a newly recorded version of what his vision of Smile was (CD
Imagine my excitement when I learned of the impending release of the original Smile session recordings (5 CDs
My expctations had now been set by Brian Wilson himself (not Shiner) and once again I was not disappointed. And this time I was able to listen to some of the demos and other sessions so I could get even closer to the scene.
I won’t compare Wilson’s version to this one. Wilson’s version was completely finished and this obviously was not. I will say that I prefer Wilson’s version of some of the tracks but this version of the others. Both are definitely worth a listen. The lyrics are wonderful, the sound is authentic and the emotion is real. In all Smile, no matter which of the two versions you listen to, is a wonderfully creative work and highly recommended.
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How To Fix Nintendo DSi L and R Buttons
My son’s been having a problem with his Nintendo DSi. The L and R buttons (also known as shoulder buttons) seem to intermittently fail. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.
This is not the first time he’s had an issue with the DSi. While it was under warranty he did something that would be called stupid if someone my age did it but innocent and cute for a kid his age. Since it was under warranty I was able to send it back to Nintendo for repair with minimal cost.
Because of what he previously did (which I will not reveal here) and the fact that the unit was no longer under warranty I kept telling him that I couldn’t send it for repair and he’d have to learn to take better care of his stuff.
Earlier this week I spotted him using my daughter’s DSi to play one of his games. When I asked him why he wasn’t using his own he said because this was a game that absolutely needed the shoulder buttons. So I set off on a search to see if I could find a way to fix it.
My first inclination was to open the unit and re-seat the buttons. So I got out my screwdrivers and started to loosen the first screw. But before I got too far I thought I’d do some checking online to see if anyone else had done this before. I’d hate to open it up and see that I can’t fix it the way I thought or it goes back together in a different way than I thought. It’s a good thing I thought to do this because the solution was much simpler than I would have thought.
The solution I found works under the assumption that the buttons and contacts are in proper position but that dirt has somehow worked its way between the contacts so as to render the buttons not functional. The solution is odd but it worked for me. Here it is:
- Wrap your lips around the buttons to form a seal around the shell that surrounds them. The whole button as well as the gap between the button and the shell should be inside the seal.
- Blow as hard as you can.
Though it sounds (and looks) odd the idea here is simple: blow the dirt off the contacts. Thankfully it worked for me and my son was able to use his own DSi again. Maybe it’ll work for you too.
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Lexus Ads Insensitive?
Every year Lexus, the luxury car division of Toyota, runs a holiday ad campaign for their December to Remember event. The basic premise of the commercials is someone gives a car with a giant red ribbon bow on top to a loved one for the holidays. When this started several years ago it didn’t bother me. But in the last few years, with the economy on the brink of collapse, its gotten under my skin. Especially this year, with the Occupy
What do you think?
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