THINK AT JOE'S

595 Calories of Goodness

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:17:00 +0000

I admit it ... I love Milk Duds. I can't really explain why; I just do.

Maybe it's the sinfully-gooey caramel that covers my teeth after the duds themselves are gone. Maybe it's the fact that they are so perfectly sized. Maybe it's the way the candy shakes in the box with its hollow thud sounds.

All I know is today they saved me. I ended up working through lunch and didn't have anything at the office to beat back my upset stomach ... except a 5 OZ box of Milk Duds. So today I'm happy to admit that I'm thankful for those delicious, sticky, yummy bites of chocolate-covered caramel. And for those of you out there who agree with me (you know who you are), I stand with each of you expressing my shared love for the candy.

Does the past ever fade?

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:12:00 +0000

I sometimes find myself trapped in the most inexplicably vivid flashbacks from my youth. Teenage years in Europe -- if you didn't live it, you wouldn't understand it. And I often want to spend time with those who've lived the life but have nobody local with whom I can relate. For example, if you don't know where this picture was taken, then not to be rude, but I'm probably not interested in a discussion of the good ol' days:

Alpine-rich camping in Kandersteg, Switzerland; sport-centered winters in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany; crazy-long train rides to Warsaw, Poland; pseudo-educational experiences in The Hague, Netherlands; late-night clubbing in Frankfurt, Germany; randomly-fun shopping in London, England ...

... is it wrong for me to wish that I could forget it all?

I've Tasted Summer ...

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:53:00 +0000

... and boy was it sweet!

For those of you in the audience who have been living on another planet, Chick-fil-A has their new peach milkshake available for your own guilty enjoyment. I'm sure it's loaded with calories and generally bad for you, me, and the rest of America's overweight population, but really ... the taste of summer is sometimes just too sweet to resist.

On a side note, Chick-fil-A is one of those good ol' southern companies that originated in Georgia in the early 1960s and still sticks to its guns by closing their stores on Sundays so employees can have their "day of rest." So peach milkshakes aside, I am also an ardent supporter of their respect for the Sabbath.

Ingenuity at Work

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 23:15:00 +0000

Here's my beautiful wife cutting onions on Thanksgiving morning and using her noggin' to cut down on the tears. Yes ... those are swimming goggles. I have to admit, I just LOVE her ingenuity!

Accountability?

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:51:00 +0000

That about sums up the so-called current economic crisis.

Stop and Smell the Beans

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:26:00 +0000

My friend and I stopped by Central Market today after lunch to get some bread and butter for the office. While we were walking through the store, I couldn't help but notice all of the unique offerings that were literally staring at me from the crammed shelf space. Finding items like Frostie sodas and U-bet flavored syrups always makes me happy. Maybe it's because seeing those offerings reaffirms the fact that there's always room for the "little guy."

Anyways, as we were walking toward the bread section, my nose caught scent of coffee beans in whole-bean format. While I don't drink coffee (you can read why here), I absolutely love the smell of coffee beans. And today one bean, in particular, drew me in for the sniff -- a Texas pecan blend. Incredible smell!

So there I was, haunched over the barrel of beans with my head inside and my nose within prime smelling distance of 6 inches or less, when my friend alerts me to the fact that I look rather silly. Oh really? Oh well.

Review : Smart & Gets Things Done

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:23:00 +0000

I just finished a quick read titled, "Smart and Gets Things Done" that reaffirmed many of the things I currently believe and introduced a few new points to ponder as I move forward in my pursuit to make the future better -- wherever I end up. After sharing my CliffsNotes version with a trusted co-worker, he pressured me to share my review via this platform. In fact, he went so far as to say that I wouldn't be "hard-core" if I didn't, so, to avoid being viewed as soft, here it is ... enjoy:

1. The process of hiring great technical talent is an elimination course (p. Introduction X).

2. From the very beginning, we were always totally convinced that our number one priority was hiring great people, even before we knew what kind of software we would make. (p. Introduction XIV).

3. The common belief is that when you're building a software company, the goal is to find a neat idea that solves some problem which hasn't been solved before, implement it, and make a fortune. We'll call this the build-a-better-mousetrap belief. But the real goal for software companies should be converting capital into software that works (p. 1).

4. ... design adds value faster than it adds cost (p. 4).

5. Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later (p. 10).

6. You can't afford to be number two, or to have a "good enough" product. It has to be remarkably good, by which I mean so good that people remark about it (p. 17).

7. THE PLAN: Best Working Conditions --> Best Programmers --> Best Software --> Profit!

8. The great software developers, indeed, the best people in every field, are quite simply never on the market (p. 20).

9. Think about where the people you want to hire are hanging out (p. 23).

10. One good way to snag the great people who are never on the job market is to get them before they even realize there is a job market: when they're in college (p. 25).

11. There's a strong culture in Silicon Valley that requires you to jam a lot of programmers into a big open space, despite a preponderance of evidence that giving them private offices is far more productive (p. 43).

12. You're not going to get great developers if you don't respect them (p. 52).

13. Who wants to work at a company where jerks are tolerated (p. 53)?

14. Basically, if you're going to hire smart people, you're going to have to let them apply their skills to their work. Managers can advise, which they're welcome to do, but they must be extremely careful to avoid having their "advice" interpreted as a command, since on any given technical issue it's likely that management knows less than workers in the trenches, especially, as I said, if you're hiring good people. Developers want to be hired for their skills, and treated as experts, and allowed to make decisions within their own realm of expertise (p. 54-55).

15. [Programmers] don't care about money, actually, unless you're screwing up on other things. If you start to hear complaints about salaries where you never heard them before, that's usually a sign that people aren't really loving their job (p. 63).

16. It is really, really important to remember that these categories – Passion, Pickiness, English, Brains, Selectivity, Hard-Core, and Diversity – are not hiring criteria (p. 74).

17. For someone who is basically a good software developer, learning another programming language is just not going to be a big deal. In two weeks, they'll be pretty productive (p. 80).

18. People who are Smart but don't Get Things Done often have PhDs and work in big companies where nobody listens to them because they are completely impractical. They would rather mull over something academic about a problem than ship on time. These people can be identified because they love to point out the theoretical similarity between two widely divergent concepts (p. 97).

19. People who Get Things Done but are not Smart will do stupid things, seemingly without thinking about them, and somebody else will have to come clean up their mess later. This makes them net liabilities to the company because not only do they fail to contribute, but they soak up good people's time (p. 98).

20. How do you detect Smart in an interview? The first good sign is that you don't have to explain things over and over again. The conversation just flows (p. 98).

21. The second worst kind of interviewer is the Quiz Show Interviewer. This is the kind of person who thinks smart means "knows a lot of facts." They just ask a bunch of trivia questions about programming and give points for correct answers (p. 99).

22. ... software teams want to hire people with aptitude, not a particular skill set (p. 99).

23. You see, if you can't whiz through the easy stuff at 100 mph, you're never gonna get the advanced stuff (p. 108).

24. I want my ER doctor to understand anatomy, even if all she has to do is put the computerized defibrillator nodes on my chest and push the big red button, and I want programmers to know programming down to the CPU level, even if Ruby on Rails does read your mind and build a complete Web 2.0 social collaborative networking site for you with just three clicks of the mouse (p. 111).

25. In the past, I've used "impossible questions," also known as "back of the envelope questions." A classic example of this is "How many piano tuners are there in Seattle?" The candidate won't know the answer, but smart candidates won't give up, and they'll be happy to try and estimate a reasonable number for you (p. 115).

Love at First Sight

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:25:00 +0000

Okay ... check this baby out:

I first saw this bicycle at one of our local REI stores, and after reading reviews (here and here), I'm pretty much totally and completely head over heals for Electra's Amsterdam Classic. The gee whiz features on this bicycle include:

Nexus internal 3-speed hub
Coaster brake (keep things simple)
Aluminum frame
Fully-enclosed metal chaincover
Generator LED front and rear lights
Full fenders (with mud flap up front)
Rear rack
Coat/skirt guard over the rear wheel

Now I need to break the news to my wife that there's going to be another addition to our family -- the Amsterdam Classic.

Don't I Wish

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:41:00 +0000

Disillusioned with Politics

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:38:00 +0000

When I was a boy, I was taught that America's government is an amazing entity that works diligently for its citizens. The famous Schoolhouse Rock episode “How a Bill Becomes a Law” comes to mind. The point that was not communicated effectively is that even though the government might be ideal, the people administering its affairs are far from it. After being overwhelmed with the recent scandals associated with elected officials in America's Congress, I now feel completely disillusioned. Shame on those who rise to power and then exercise that power unrighteously. Section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants speaks to this issue: "We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion." My father used to tell me that power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. The older I get, the more I believe this is true.

Front Yards : A Suburban Requisite

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 21:15:00 +0000

A few days ago our hired lawn crew arrived on schedule and hurriedly whisked through the chores associated with keeping our lawn manicured. They mowed, they edged, they swept ... and I wept. Okay, okay ... I didn't truly weep, but every time they arrive, I do feel a little sick knowing that I'm paying for a resource that, when considered objectively, is a complete and total waste.

Some of you might be thinking, "Hey ... stop whining about paying to have the lawn mowed and save that money by mowing it yourself." For those who are thinking along those lines, I present the economic concept of "opportunity cost." Because I value opportunities that I'd be forced to forgo if I were to take care of my own lawn, I choose to pay someone else to do it instead. Don't you just love economics? Back to lawns, though.

I actually don't mind my backyard, even though it doesn't get the regular use that it should. You can blame that on the Texas heat. It's the front yard, though, that I really despise. To put it bluntly, front yards are dumb. I would submit that front yards are a waste for so many reasons. For example, in most in suburban neighborhoods, you will rarely see people actually enjoying their front yards. Instead, most people typically choose to hide behind privacy fences in their backyards ... closing off their world to neighbors and potential friends.

The fact that people don't really use front yards, though, doesn't stop people from maintaining them. My relationship with my front yard actually resembles a dependent type of host/parasite relationship. I water it, fertilize it, weed it, and mow it ... but it honestly gives me nothing of value in return. So, why do I continue to maintain it? Because it's there, I guess. Isn't that the reason we all deal with our front yards?

What's YOUR Walk Score?

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:51:00 +0000

Brian Hall clued me in on an interesting "walkable" resource the other day called Walk Score. In addition to interactive mapping that provides a "walk score" from 0 to 100 based on an address, the website only has four sections that provide content. Those are: Why Walking Matters, Walkable Neighborhoods, How It Works, How It Doesn't Work.

The most important thing about Walk Score is that visitors to the website can calculate the walkability of their neighborhood by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. Unfortunately, there are a few factors that contribute to walkability that are not part of Walk Score's algorithm (something that's admitted on their website): street width, block length, freeways, public transit, safety, aesthetics, and pedestrian-friendly design. Overall, though, Walk Score does a GREAT job of evaluating the walkability of an area.

So ... what's your walk score? The score for my address is 46 out of 100 -- slightly below average, I guess. To find yours, visit Walk Score, enter your address information, and then leave your score in the comments section below.

Brot, ECHTES Brot!

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 02:34:00 +0000

Truth be told, I'm a bread snob. Why do I tell you that? I've found it best to embrace such truths like badges of honor as opposed to hiding them like unsightly wounds.

Every time we head down the bread isle at the supermarket, I get that "throw up in your mouth" feeling when I see all of the "sponge bread" that litters the shelves. You know what I'm talking about ... plain ol' white bread that's devoid of nutritional, aesthetic, or relative moral value.

My personal disdain for the likes of the Wonder Bread genre of mass-produced breads knows no end. Therefore, I usually abstain from said bread and either fork out substantial cash for decent bread at stores like Central Market or, when I'm feeling really adventurous, I take a stab at baking the breads I love.

Pictured below is the result of my second attempt at making Laugenbrötchen ... the famous "lye roll" (or pretzel roll) that's found throughout Germany. To my surprise, today's batch turned out really well and passed the kids' taste test.

Seeing my children eat real bread makes the two and half hour preparation time worth it. Now I need to learn how to make the Dampfnudel! Down with Wonder Bread ... long live echtes Brot!

Video: New Urbanism

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 03:54:00 +0000

The following segment was broadcast on CBS' Sunday Morning program back in May 20, 2007. It highlights a couple of the communities that have become tangible references for the movement called New Urbanism. The CBS segment is well done and appears to be relatively free of bias. Imagine that. Anyways, at a quick six and a half minutes, it's worth your time.

Too GOOD to be TRUE

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 02:56:00 +0000

I've been thinking about one of those "warnings" that most of us learn in our youth. Unlike The Five P's, this one wasn't taught to me by my father; instead, my mother gets the credit for this one:

If it sounds too good to be true ... it probably is.

Some learn to follow this statement early in life while others never learn to follow it. Let me be honest by saying that my learning and abiding to this maxim has created a monster of sorts. I tend to be hyper-critical of "opportunities," but I would rather be critical and safe than overly-trusting and unsafe. How about you?

I suppose I could relate this to finances or, in particular, those "golden investments" that are pitched as "once in a lifetime opportunities." For example, if someone waltzes into your life and promises easy returns that beat some of the smartest investors alive (e.g., Buffet, Icahn, and Soros), then your warning flags should probably shoot sky high.

I could also apply this to the shallow promises associated with living the suburban dream. For example, Realtors never pitch the arduously long commutes or the inherent isolation associated with living in the outer rings of sprawl; instead, they always talk about how perfect life can be in subdivisions with romanticized, phony-sounding names like Pheasant Mill Crossing.

Instead of associating this life lesson to a particular topic, I'll simply leave it be and let you, the reader, figure out how you can apply it to your own life. I don't necessarily subscribe to the "defense wins championships" mantra in every situation; however, I do believe that a good defense is a practical requirement before a strong offense can be assembled. Some might call this living life under the guidance of, "Better safe than sorry." I just call it smart.

Thanks, mom, for teaching me this.

Reading : Suburban Nation

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:32:00 +0000

Hooray for me ... I got a new book from Amazon.com. Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking: "Amazon.com isn't a 'local' business, Joe." I know that I should shop local, but when it comes to books, I just haven't found a better shopping experience -- anywhere.

Anyways, the book I'm reading is called Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream. You might notice that this book falls in line with the other texts listed on the left side of this blog. (You get bonus points if you figured it out before I told you.) Interesting chapter headings include:

What is Sprawl, and Why?
The House that Sprawl Built
The American Transportation Mess
Sprawl and the Developer
The Victims of Sprawl
How to Make a Town

When I finish my reading, I promise to provide an objective review of the book. Please ... try your best to maintain your excitement.

Why I hate CARS

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 18:27:00 +0000

I have to be honest with you ... I hate cars. There, I said it. Yes, cars can be "sexy" and "cool," but so can crack cocaine or being a member of a gang. Just because something is "sexy" or "cool" doesn't make it good, right? My reason for loathing cars boils down to four main points. In general, cars are:

Loud
Dirty
Dangerous
Inefficient

What's most unfortunate is that for most us in America, cars are a necessary evil. I can't even begin to imagine asking my family of five with three kids ages five and under to walk two miles to the store. Yes, I know that some kids in Africa walk even further to get to the community well to retrieve water, but that's an unfair comparison on so many levels.

I'll discuss each of these four points in greater detail in the very near future ...

Happy Fourth of July!

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 18:24:00 +0000

Independence Day ... the day we celebrate "the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from Great Britain" (source). Of course, I seriously doubt if most people celebrating this "day off from work" really know what this day is all about. Oh well. At least there are lots of pretty fireworks to appreciate. (ooh ... ahh) Regardless of how you choose to celebrate, I hope you enjoy(ed) your Fourth of July!

Scooters = Cool

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 20:00:00 +0000

It's been almost two years since I purchased my Honda Metropolitan, and I've never (not even once) been disappointed with my decision. It came with a few bruises on it (scrapes, dents, etc.), but it's still a lovely piece of machinery. It gets 110 (plus) mpg, and if I'm going downhill with a relatively strong wind behind me, I can get it up to 40 mph. Yeah ... it's a rocket.

So, why do I think my scooter is cool? Here's seven reasons:

It's fun to feel the wind in your face
There's no gear shifting required
You can smell the world around you
It's footprint is small
I can park it like a bike (close to buildings)
Seeing me (6'4" tall) on it makes people smile
When I fill 'er up, it costs less than $3.00

I understand that scooters aren't practical for everyone, especially for those who live 30 (plus) miles from work; however, if you're lucky like me, and live within a decent commuting distance, then perhaps you might want to consider owning one -- an amazing alternative to the traditional automobile.

The Five P's

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:13:00 +0000

Growing up, I learned a few sayings from my father that I've kept with me throughout the years. One of those goes:

Learn the Five P's: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance
And another saying akin to that one goes:

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.
Ooh ... deep ... I know. Anyways, I was reading through the Project for Public Spaces website (http://www.pps.org/) and found something worth sharing. Here it is:

Now that's what I consider thought-provoking media. I'm not sure if planning communities around people is all that it takes to "get more people;" however, I do believe that the majority of urban planners are brainwashed into planning communities for the heartless, soulless masses of metal that race through widened streets. Fun.

If you're interested in learning what really works, then I highly recommend that you read City Comforts: How to Build and Urban Village. If you have even a slightest concern for the proper planning of communities, then READ THIS BOOK!

Economics 101

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:48:00 +0000

I find it rather amazing that so many of our nation's problems could be solved by strict attention to the principles taught in Economics 101. It's the rather elementary concepts like "Supply and Demand" that seem to allude our bureaucratic leaders. A recent example follows ...

Our representatives in the Senate were recently debating an immigration bill that ultimately (and thankfully) failed. This lame bill did all the right things that most bills in the Congress do: (1) place band-aids on festering wounds, (2) spend lots of money, and (3) avoid the real root of the problem. Politicians ... why, why, why are you so silly?

You see, illegal aliens aren't here in America (illegally) to loiter and relax; they'd starve to death if that's all they did. To the contrary, they're here to work and send a sizable portion of their earning back to their families in Mexico, Honduras, etc. via Western Union. Here's the deal though ... illegal aliens would not come to America if employers were required to unequivocally verify the legal working status of each prospective employee.

The demand for illegal alien labor is obviously large, so it seems obvious that the supply of illegal alien labor will follow. With that in mind, perhaps we shouldn't be worrying about all of these ill-placed band-aids. Instead, to counter the effects of this economic principle, we should focus on eliminating the demand for illegal labor. If the demand is effectively eliminated, the supply will dry up -- guaranteed. It's elementary my dear American.

I want to WALK

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:12:00 +0000

I really shouldn't complain. My family lives in a comfortable home in a really nice neighborhood that's close to a city park (with pool) and a top-rated elementary school. I work about three miles from my home, and on nice days, I can ride my 110 (plus) mile-per-gallon Honda Metropolitan to and from work. All in all, I really shouldn't complain. But alas ... I do. I wish I didn't have to ride anything to work. To be perfectly honest, I'd rather walk.

Call me crazy, but I'd rather walk to work, walk to lunch, and I'd prefer to walk to the store on my walk home to pick up those "Honey, could you pick up ..." items.

In my tiny suburb of Heidelberg, Germany, I remember being able to walk to various places like the ice skating rink (Eishalle), the local Italian ice cafe (Eiscafe), stores like Woolworth, the bread store (Bäckerei), the local meat market (Metzgerei), and so on, all without breaking a sweat or worrying about losing "time." Now I spend countless minutes per week on streets built for cars (not humans) scurrying about town as I try to complete the chores of the day. (sigh) What happened to human-scale communities? Well ... I have a few ideas, but I'll save those for another post.

What's all this about?

noreply@blogger.com (Joe) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:19:00 +0000

Okay ... so I'm behind the "power curve" when it comes to blogging. Who cares? This isn't being created for fame or fortune; nor does its birth stem from dreams of power or control. Instead, I've created this personal forum to serve as a canvas for my thoughts alone. Hence the name, "Think at Joe's." This is my place, not yours, and even though you don't own it, I welcome you to stay here as long as you like. I won't guarantee regular postings, but I will promise original content that means something to me, and hopefully it will become meaningful to you, too. Further, don't expect to see links to other blogs or endorsements for other writers, and don't look for advertising, either, because I liken ads in blogs to litter on streets. I might, however, link into Amazon.com to highlight books that I've read that I believe should be a part of your library, too. Short of being a manifesto, I just want to welcome you and invite you to read with an open mind as I present personal thoughts and observations about the world around me. Don't be scared ... just enjoy.