Serge the Concierge

Losing Internet Connection...My 16 Year Old does not Understand Why?

Every so often as it did in the past few days, I lose my internet connection.

In our always on world, we somehow got used to the idea that internet access is like water.

You turn the faucet and there it is.

My 16 year old does not understand why it does not work when it happens.

Does not see any good reason for it except that his brother must have done something wrong.

I tried to explain to him that many things can fail or not work temporarily from servers to wires at the internet provider or routers and other boxes in our own place.
Could not quite get the message across.

Search for Losing Internet Connection on Google and you get a deluge of pages (1,410,000 pages the last time I checked).

Losing Internet Connection= Losing Patience

We forgot that sometimes you just have to sit back and wait.

Old Denver Airport Runway finds Second Life as Kitchen Countertops

In the Remake Remodel sphere, a couple of Denver based companies are finding a Second Life for concrete from the runway of the now defunct Stapleton Airport.
Immix turns it into countertops as for Recrete Materials they recycle it into new buildings and projects.

Calling itself the earth surface, PaperStone is described as (I quote) "made from cellulose fiber (paper) and a non-petroleum phenolic resin  derived in part from a natural phenolic oil in the shells of cashews."

Wonder where some of that recycled glass goes, look no further than Vetrazzo whose products are 85% made from it and turned into stylish kitchen tops.
These beer bottles you sipped on warm Summer days could turn into the Alehouse Amber surfaces (pictured below).

A few examples of how we can be earth friendly and practical at the same time for Green Day # 35

Related piece: Picnic and Party Plates that Don't Trash Nature thanks to 'VerTerra' 

Looking for New Work Pastures? Action beats Introspection suggests Herminia Ibarra Video

Aspiring to a change in work and career in her video Moving out to pastures new (FT), Herminia Ibarra shares some ideas.

What she lacks in passionate delivery and Chutzpah, she more than makes up with clear thoughts on the topic.

If there are 2 strong points she makes, it would be her opening statement that Action beats Introspection and her conclusion spelling Don't get stuck thinking you've got it all figured out...

A quick and to the point Monday Work Etiquette #45.

Last week: A Declaration of Independence from E-Mail by Luis Suarez

A Declaration of Independence from E-Mail by Luis Suarez

You might have read with interest as I did I Freed Myself From E-Mail’s Grip (NY Times, June 29).
I did not know its author Luis Suarez until then.
He confirms his Declaration of Independence from E-Mail via his blog ELSUA on July 4th.

He addresses head on the skepticism that greeted his strategic changes.
Top one seems to be that naysayers consider his choice of replacing e-mail by various online tools (and phone calls when it is best) as adding complexity rather than streamlining the process.

One paragraph explains his approach very clearly:

"For a good number of years most knowledge workers didn’t have the option, nor the choice, for good collaborative tools, but nowadays with the emergence of social software within the corporate world the choice is there. And we might as well make use of it, so just because folks may be sending an e-mail does not necessarily mean I would want to engage through e-mail as well. The choice is there. The choice is from both parties to negotiate & jointly decide what’s the best way of collaborating and sharing our knowledge not just amongst ourselves, but also with the rest of the corporation. And perhaps e-mail is not the best option here."

As for 'hanging out' in different social spaces, I found his comparison akin to a gardener planting the seeds for future harvests or in Luis words:

"All of those interactions I may be doing now are eventually going to pay off really really big time in its due time, when I am not there. When I am away, on holidays, on conference events, off sick, whatever. More than anything else because people from those social networks will help contribute and help me get those answers, without me even being there! Just like I have been doing myself for them when they were not there! That is the ultimate power of the social network!"

Most of my networking these days has its roots in my writing Serge the Concierge.

I admit that I have to tend more to my networks such as LinkedIn and CoWorking (Jelly).

Let's not forget the benefits of meeting people face to face at events such as South by Southwest Interactive.

What works for you?

Stirring the pot for Monday Work Etiquette #45

Related: Taming the Brain and Office Clutter: Online and with Simple Forms

When was the Last Time you Wrote a Letter, a Thank You Note?

That's the first thought that came to mind, a few weeks back when I wrote not one but two letters.
One was to my mother who is computer less and the other to one of my cousins who recently lost her mother.
Using pen and paper made me realize how few letters I have written and mailed in the past few years.
Even getting a Postcard from a distant locale might be nice from time to time.
A handwritten thank you note or request might carry more weight than an electronic message these days.

Clueless as to the proper way to couch your thoughts and words, The Morning News offered some How to Write a Thank You Note advice back in October of 2003.

On The Sideroad, Lidya Ramsey offers her 8 rules of Business Note Etiquette.
Number 5: Poor penmanship is no excuse unless your handwriting is totally illegible especially applies to me.

As she puts it: "The person who receives your note will appreciate your thoughtfulness and will not be grading your handwriting. If your penmanship does not meet your standards, it is never too late to improve. There are numerous resources at your library or on the Internet to teach you to write legibly".

I personally write a draft and then a clearer (neater?) second edition.

What is your solution?

Thanks to Lucy Kellaway for putting this on the front burner with Shock of BPC: before personal computers (FT, June 29, 2008)

That's it for Monday Work Etiquette #44

Last week: Rude Customers (Paris Hilton Syndrome)...Fire Them?

On Bees and Strawberries: Are both threatened? Time to Make a Buzz?

Carolyn Lochhead wonders "could strawberry ice cream disappear from our lives? What about vanilla Swiss almond?" in Un-busy bees a disaster for almost everyone (SF Gate, June 27).

She says that the people at Haagen-Dazs and other companies are alarmed at the "decline of honeybees and other pollinators of strawberry plants, almond trees and the rest of the roughly 90 percent of terrestrial plant life that needs pollination".
On the East Coast, she quotes Edward Flanagan, of Jasper Wyman & Son, a wild-blueberry grower in Maine who confirms "No bees, no blueberries".

Back in 1999, the NY State Agricultural Station at Cornell University explained that Honey Bees Deliver Beneficial Fungi to Strawberries and Increase Yield.
Rainy weather also added to delays in seasonal crops as Bainbridge Strawberries Slow to Hit the Stands highlights.

Melissa Waage on Switchboard (National Resources Defense Council) was one of the first to raise the bees and strawberries question (alarm?) in Does a world without honey bees mean a world without Haagen-Dazs? (February 26, 2008).
Jennifer Sass on the same Switchboard says That Bees need us to make a buzz for them! on June 27.
In a nutshell she reminds us that honeybees make the world go round.

What are your thoughts?
More alarmist news?

Wind and Solar Powered 'Charge Station' for your Mobile at Glastonbury Festival

For the second year in a row, Gotwind will provide a solar and wind powered Recharge Station for your mobile devices (commissioned by Orange) at the Glastonbury Festival (UK) on June 27 to 29.

The station generates enough power to charge as many as 100 phones per hour.
And it glows in the dark as their illustration shows.

As for the music, Johnny Sharp says I still love Glastonbury. Here's why.

The Guardian site also offers its Free Glastonbury Album which includes bands from as near by me as Yeasayer of Brooklyn (don't know them, they play on Sunday ) and as far as Australia with Operator Please.

Did notice that Lightspeed Champion which I saw in concert at South by Southwest plays on Friday.

More Batteries: Charge your Tech Toys (Mp3, Cell Phone, PDA) with Solar power by using Solio

Are you 'Distracted', Out of Focus? Maggie Jackson raises the red flag on Multi Tasking

Maggie Jackson describes our current world as an ADD (Attention Deficit Society) in her book Distracted subtitled The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age.

She worries as The Brian Lehrer Show put it that "today’s tendency to multi-tasking has us headed for a new Dark Ages, as human beings lose their ability to pay close attention".

The last part of the title might be too much gloom and doom, nevertheless she has a point. It seems that many of us confuse getting attention and making noise.

Can we ceaselessly twitter, comment on blogs, social networks and still have time for rest and reflection?

Should we sit at our computer eating junk food while catching up with the latest cooking trends?

The middle aged man that I am cannot help being concerned and sometimes irritated by mostly younger people constantly checking their instant messages and somehow unable to turn off their 'smart' phones.

How much connection is too much?

I suggested to a friend recently that in the not so distant future there might be a place for a trading scheme similar to carbon trading for pollution where those of us who are connected yet sensible could swap connection time for money with the addicted crowd.

What are your thoughts on the topic?

Check the Monsters & Critics Review.

Maggie Jackson also writes the Balancing Acts column for the Boston Globe.

Related: Twitter...Blackberries and the Age of Constant Interruption

Send your Name to the Moon as 'Serge the Concierge' just did...Thanks Nasa

Climb aboard the Lunar Renaissance Orbiter and Send Your Name to the Moon on the historic mission bringing NASA back to the moon.
It does not cost a penny all you have to do is sign up by June 27 and you are in as we just did for Serge the Concierge.

To give credit where it belongs "The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is built and managed by NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center for NASA. “Send Your Name to the Moon” is a partnership with NASA, the LRO Project, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and the Planetary Society"

Make your voice heard...We Think and Mass Creativity

The other night as I was driving home I had the chance to catch Peter Day's Interview of Charles Leadbeater (Global Business, BBC World)...

His new book, We Think explores 'the power of mass creativity', its benefits and shortcomings.
He does not want it to be confused with the mass production model of the industrial era.
On the positive side, he notes that "ideas take life when they are shared. That is why the web is such a potent platform for creativity and innovation", on the other hand "it leaves us more open to abuse and invasions of privacy" and "participation is not always a good thing: it can just create a cacophony".

Want to get a taste of the book, the first 3 Chapters are available for free in PDF form on the We Think Site.
It was shaped with the help of over 200 people via a Wiki page..

Food for thought on Monday Work Etiquette #42

Related: Power to the People, Electric Cars Now! from Finland