Entries from June 2006 ↓

I performed a test of Odeo’s podcasting tool today with Max. Specifically I wanted to see how their phone-podcasting tool worked so that I can use it for recording various phone interviews I perform. I’ve got one tomorrow on hurricane protection for my blog abigwind.com with a VP of Engineering over at a well known public safety organization. Should be fun for Julian the Cub Reporter.

Here’s a link to play the mp3 file of my podcast in your browser. You can also right click on the link and download the mp3 for your iPod or other mp3 player. One last option: You can also click on the ODEO link to go to their site and listen there. My ODEO phone podcast test

powered by ODEO

You can also subscribe to my RSS feed and play this podcast directly from iTunes or another audio enabled RSS tool by clicking on the RSS link on the footer of my blog.

Shannon and I have written some posts about interruption science, a fascinating new field of study where the work we perform on computers, and specifically how we react when we’re interrupted while using a computer is analyzed in an effort to better understand how to become more productive. IM’s, e-mails, phone calls, people showing up in your office, and kids trying to get your attention, the dog whining at the door are all examples of interruptions that can get you off track from the task at hand.

Key in the articles we’ve read is the element of interruptions that we inflict on ourselves, and the ones we go seeking. Experts point out that there are more and more interruption junkies emerging in our information society and that a certain amount of that is natural and healthy. One of the joys of smoking is the smoking break – a structured mind break that helps clear the mind and separate one mental stream from the next. When I still smoked cigars I found that taking my smoke break allowed me to put things in perspective and better see the big picture. The key of studying all this I guess is to sort out what we think of as useful interruptions and avoidable and unproductive interruptions.

Why am I writing this? Mostly because I’m trying to pay attention to my own work style. In a typical day I find myself jumping around between watching the kids, writing stories for our blogs, researching, making lists of things I need to do, running errands, exercising, eating, thinking about myriad topics, and interacting with my family and friends. But what about when I’m just working alone (not that this happens very often). I find that when I’m just working alone with NO ONE to interrupt me, that I move pretty quickly between vastly different subjects and activities on my computer. The good side is that I gain a sense of perspective and possibility. On the other hand I don’t complete tasks very efficiently because I’m just taking in bits of data and letting that lead me to the next think that I read, write or act on. I started out working on my computer at 6AM this morning and it’s now 8:20AM. Over two hours of largely uninterrupted quality time with myself. What have I accomplished? I’ve begun writing a hypothetical forward thinking article for EXCELER8ion. I have no idea how long it will take to finish but it has the potential to be good. I have researched a lot of information because of that article such as The Semantic Web, also known as web 3.0. Just now, I remembered that I had to find a way to tape record my phone interview for by blog about hurricane protection. I also had that thought 10 minutes ago because Shannon called me to let me know that she arrived safely in Tampa. She was thinking about how I could work around watching the kids and interviewing an engineer tomorrow morning for a hurricane post I’m writing. This reminded me that I have a task on my to-do list to find the method or tool I’ll use tomorrow to record that interview. During our call this caused me to open up a browser tab and type in a key word search about recording phone calls but I just left the browser tab open as a reminder. This caused me to want to document a story about interruption science on my personal blog julians.name. When Shannon’s call came in, the source of my original interruption, I was writing that EXCELER8ion article on the future of web recruiting. Now John just woke up. He’s eating last night’s popcorn at 8:26AM because if I argue with him about eating a proper breakfast at this very moment I won’t get this post done and I’ll be further behind on all the ‘stuff’ that I need to do today.

I want to find the best way to work efficiently because like everyone else in this information society I have just so much time in each day. I need to be able to research and write way more content than I currently produce in a shorter period of time and it can’t just be junk. I can’t loose quality. I need to improve how I care for the kids at the same time. I need to keep this house in order because it comes apart at the seems in less than one hour.  I really need to improve my writing quality while also dramatically reducing the time it takes to produce stories. I have eight blogs to produce content for and if I use a best practice of publishing 2-3 posts a day on each blog that’s 24-36 posts a day. I’m currently able to produce 1-2 on average. That’s a big delta. That means I’m going to keep studying how to be more efficient and how to ACT more productively. Wish me luck. It’s a laugher eh?

My old friend Craig Voight forwarded this funny video to me and I wanted to make sure you saw a copy. Let me know if you like it.

!vb:dm,299881!

Just a quick word about a nice web tool that Shannon found recently.  In our business projects for EXCELER8, especially when supporting business blogging, we come across the need to have simple web-based applications to support various end-user blog editing.  Picture editing, image optimization, ftp, etc. You’d be surprised to see how hard it is to find some applications in a web-based thin client. One of the things we needed for a recent project for business blogging at a large company was a web-based FTP tool. Why would you need a free web-based FTP tool when your client is a major international company? Because getting the access permissions to install an FTP client on your client’s computer requires a trip to the dark side (The IT department).  In this case it would have meant letting IT in on the secret project. And that just couldn’t happen because it would mean a multi-month delay.  Yes, I do hate self important, big company IT people who have the need to control everything despite lacking the business acumen to accompany their technical skill-set. But never mind that.

Here’s a link to the FTP tool, net2ftp.com

I love to run and rather than succumb to the monotony of the gym I like to run varied routes around my house. My favorite is one I call the ‘Powerline’ which is a 5 mile trek that switches between sidewalk, road running and cross country (that’s the powerline part where my dirt trail follows a huge highway of powerlines connecting two major roads). It’s always a challenge to run here in South Florida in the summer given the heat index that we experience. Even at night it’s really warm – though the absence of the glaring sun is literally the difference between night and day as far as running endurance and difficulty go.

Cooling down. credit: Nigel Holmes

Like any runner, I’ve become pretty familiar with my endurance and energy and I like to monitor the factors that influence the overall quality and difficulty of my run. What’s the biggest influencer? In practical terms, time-of-day, because that’s what drives the temperature and the amount of direct sun I’m running in. What I’m amazed by is JUST how much difference the direct sun and temperature have on my level of exertion and endurance. During the winter where we see temps in the 70′s I can run at a pretty fast clip and reel out a 45 minute run without tremendous strain. I’ve come to adjust my expectations to run around 30 minutes before taking a break during the summer, and then I can usually only take another 10 minute stretch. During the heat of the day in the summer (vs. an early morning run), I’ll find myself really struggling to make even 25 minutes before stopping for a rest. On a percentage basis that’s a huge performance gap.

I came across a recent article in Spirit Magazine, Southwest Airlines in-flight magazine, about a couple of Stanford University researchers who came up with a way to rapidly cool an athletes body down. It’s called CoreControl RTX, for rapid thermal exchange aka ‘the glove’. Two Stanford biologists, H. Craig Heller and Dennis Grahn invented the device a few years ago and have now licensed the technology to a Michigan company called AVACore Technologies, a company that they are both major stakeholders in. The company they formed is charged with making the device commercially viable.

“The device invented by Grahn and his colleague, Stanford biology professor, H. Craig Heller, makes it possible to markedly enhance human physical performance by cooling the body core quickly, in 10 or 20 minutes. This temperature regulation allows athletes to recover from intense training and to increase their strength and endurance without using questionable supplements or anabolic steroids.” — author Heather Millar, Spirit Magazine

coreControl device by AVACore

Professional sports teams like the Oakland Raiders and fellow athletes all over the world are now using AVACore technology to give them an edge.

“Robert Weir, head coach of men’s track and field, gets ready for his strength-training regime by loading hundreds of pounds of weights onto both ends of a bar that rests in brackets at shoulder height. Weir moves under the bar, hoists it across his shoulders and does squats. With each repetition, his knees and hips fold until his thighs are parallel to the ground, then straighten—rep after rep with the equivalent of a baby elephant draped around his shoulders.

Like any athlete, Weir is well acquainted with his normal performance range. Like any athlete, Weir looks for an edge. A few years ago, he was intrigued when he heard about a device—that has been called at various times the RTX, Core Control or simply The Glove—invented by a pair of Stanford biologists. Using the device to lower his core body temperature between sets, he was able to lift 495 pounds in four sets of squats instead of his normal two. He usually does squats only on Mondays, but he decided to try a second series a few days later. That Friday, he was able to increase the weight to 545 pounds. “I was surprised the sets felt so good,” he says, but adds that the real test came the following Monday. Weir, 44, expected to see significant performance degradation due to the extra Friday workout. Not only did he not see the decay, he increased weight with every set. The RTX—for rapid thermal exchange—cooling device “is a very serious piece of equipment,” he says. “At my age, you don’t expect to be setting personal bests during workouts.” He trained with the cooling equipment for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and placed third in the discus. His oldest competitor was 15 years younger.” — author Eva Ciabattoni, Stanford Magazine

If you’re interested read more about their research here. 

My next move? Hand in ice bucket between laps or sets. Must try.

My Mum recently turned 64 and as I was thinking about her on her Birthday this year I did the normal calculation that you invariably do when we think of someone turning a year older. I realized that this was her 64th Birthday. As soon as that occurred to me Paul McCartney’s voice rang out in my head to the famous Beatles tune “When I’m Sixty-four.”

Fast forward a couple of weeks or so to today. As I opened up the Lifestyle section of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel this morning I saw a picture of the aging Beatle on the front page with the headline “McCartney’s ‘many years from now’ is now. In an article written by Mark Caro of the Chicago Tribune he wrote:

“Yes, the cultural alarm clock that Paul McCartney set 39 years ago is ringing. The man who sang When I’m Sixty-Four in 1967 turns 64 on Sunday” June 17, 2006. According to the article Paul actually wrote the song when he was about 16 years old – placing the date he penned the musical ditty in the 50′s.

Lately I’ve been listening to songs on VH1 and the realization of the songs being over 20 years old has made ME feel old. I wonder what I’ll feel like at 64? I hope I make it that long. Since my mum will be here on June 30th with my stepdad Neil I shall ask her how it feels

Peace out.

This is what happens when a Man watches the kids. To be fair, I didn’t dress them this way. I just LEFT them this way after they dressed themselves. Hey, it’s functional.

It’s not everyday that you wake up to news that Bill Gates is planning to retire in two years. The world of Bill and Microsoft, the popular subject of barbed and derisive comments for so long, is about to change forever. No matter if you hate Microsoft or not – you have to acknowledge the singular impact Bill and to a lesser extent his partner, Paul Allen, had on our world.  I don’t. If you have anything to do with computers, or any passion for computer hardware and software, then you have Bill Gates to thank for making this world what it is. Even if you’re not into computers you have Bill to thank for myriad changes that Microsoft brought to our world.  Over time, as Bill goes on to potentially become one of the greatest philanthropists of all time, the world will judge him as a visionary, even if that visionary appeared in geeks clothing, funny glasses and a none too manly voice. Thanks Bill.

Here’s a link to a video on CNET of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer announcing Bill’s retirement in 2008.