Fun With Conference Calls

My company uses a conference call system for our meetings. Everyone dials in from their desks to an 800 number. Then they enter a "conference code" for the meeting, usually the telephone # of the meeting organizer. The robot voice then asks you for your name and to press the # sign. The robot dosen't care who you are, and it does not announce you to the group. As soon as everyone is in the meeting, we all have to identify ourselves again. In one of my "rage against technology" moments, I started making up names to identify myself with. It is extra fun because two of my staff share my office and there is an unending stream of people who drop by to talk to me each day, usually during meetings. If I can be a small source of amusement in an otherwise dreary and mundane work existence, then I have fulfilled a small part of my purpose here on the planet.

Here are some of the names I have used:

President George W. Bush (in Bush accent)
President William Jefferson (Bubba) Clinton (in Clinton Accent)
Zaphod Beeblebrox
Gandalf the Grey
Zippy the Pinhead
Arrr, Blackbeard the Pirate (in Pirate accent)
Bond, James Bond
My boss
My boss's boss

It is my unending hope, that someday there will be a reason and a way to go back and review the tapes of everyone logging into the call. I just wonder how long it will take for them to realize it was me.

So this week when you are back to the daily grind, impersonate someone famous in you conference calls and smile to your self in satisfaction that you can have some fun (albeit, very little) at work.

Fun Quiz

We all secretly desire to be someone heroic. Even the heroic amongst us (firefighters, police officers and soldiers) would like to be more like the TV and Movie heros. Here is a little quiz to help you find out which fictional hero you would be most like.

http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=92013

And my results - which I whole heartedly agree with:

You scored as William
Wallace. The great Scottish warrior William Wallace led his people against their English
oppressors in a campaign that won independence for Scotland and immortalized him in the
hearts of his countrymen. With his warrior's heart, tactician's mind, and poet's soul,
Wallace was a brilliant leader. He just wanted to live a simple life on his farm, but he
gave it up to help his country in its time of need.

Here is the list of the other heros I am most like based on my personality. I good bunch I might say!

William Wallace		92%
James Bond, Agent 007		67%
Indiana Jones		63%
Maximus		54%
The Amazing Spider-Man		50%
The Terminator		50%
Lara Croft		50%
Captain Jack Sparrow		42%
Batman, the Dark Knight		42%
El Zorro		38%
Neo, the"One"		38%

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v.2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

Cheese Loving Cat

There is nothing, our dairy-obsessed cat, Emily, will not do for cheese. When our 2 year old dropped cheese into the rabbit's cage, Emily put aside her fear of the bunny (who is really a piranha with soft fur and big ears) to climb into the cage and eat the cheese. As you can see, Cinnamon Bun (yes, that is his name) was too stunned to do anything but watch.

Business Meetings in the 21st Century

I have just finished listening to Keith Ferrazzi's wonderful book on business and life "Never Eat Alone". One of things I found interesting about it, is the way he is moving away from the traditional business meeting over meals that is so common in our society today. Keith will often take prosepective employees, friends and clients on a run, to a gym or to his favorite workout location, Barry's Bootcamp. He feels that doing business during a workout is a much more personal way of getting to know the people his dealing with.

Currently, I work as an I.T. manager. This means I rarely have the time to workout, however, my weight is not a problem since skipped meals are frequent. Lunch is something users go on, right after they call the help desk to report a problem, so that when a tech gets there, no one is around to explain the problem (see also other things users do that I.T guys don't: "Leave work on time", "Vacation")

As I continue to move up the corporate ladder, I am definitely going to try and put this idea into practice. More importantly, I need to get into shape. It would be a sad, sad time for me, if I went to meet with a client and had to run anything more than my mouth.

Check out a New York Times article on this new phenomenon:

http://tinyurl.com/avlte

You can visit Keith Ferrazzi's blog at : http://nevereatalone.typepad.com/blog/

Princess on A Pony!

This weekend my family were guests of friends of ours at their horse farm in New Jersey. We had a wonderful time, but the biggest surprise of all was my baby daughter's blossoming horse obsession. I expected that, at best, she would be shy and, at worst, totally petrified. Boy was I wrong! She loved it! She followed the miniature horses around their field making sure she petted every one and she had several rides. Towards the end of the evening when her siblings were riding and she was waiting, she kept yelling to them to "Get off HER horse". I guess I should not be surprised, my wife spent a good part of her child hood riding and my eldest daughter has always loved horses as well. Almost as impressive as the baby's comfort with the horses, was that of all of my boys, who without hesitation saddled up, climbed on and went for a ride. Kyle, my eldest, who has alreay flown planes, wanted to ride by himself after just a few minutes in the saddle. It was a great weekend and I am very thankful to our friends for the opportunity and the hospitality.

More GTD Resources

For more reading about "Getting Things Done" please check out the following blogs:

http://www.davidco.com/blogs/david/ - David Allen's Blog

http://www.davidco.com/blogs/jason/ - Jason Womack's "In The Life" Blog.

http://www.davidco.com/blogs/kelly/ - Kelly Forrister's "Simply Kelly" Blog.

Jason and Kelly are coaches at the David Allen Company. All three of the Blogs are about their life and how GTD helps with their extremely busy schedule.

For more great tips and tricks, please also see the David Allen Comany forums:
http://www.davidco.com/forum/

The David Allen Newsletter can be subscribed to at: http://www.davidco.com/productivity_principles.php

And finally David has written a series of excellent tips that you should check out:
http://www.davidco.com/tips_tools.php

Good luck in "Getting Things Done"

Hospital Waiting Room

I spent the better part of yesterday waiting in a hospital waiting room. My poor wife was undergoing a procedure in the short stay surgical unit. There probably isn't a worse place to be for everyone involved, except in the surgical unit itself as the patient. I am not a people watcher and I think I rank pretty low on the "Emotional IQ" scale, however, I did take good notice of everyone there. There was another gentleman who, like me, was trying to work as a distraction, he really wasn't doing any better than I was. An older gentleman, waiting for his wife, nervous about her outcome. A mother waiting for her daughter. Another mother with a bored teen-aged son. It was obvious that at his age he could not understand the seriousness of everyone there, and has not developed the ability to focus his attention into situationally-appropriate behaviour. We all sat around making small-talk about the big news issue of the day. We live outside of Philly, so it was the Terrell Owens situation. We waited and waited. All things being equal, we were not there long, just over an hour for most of us, but it did seem like forever. It was a good day for everyone there. All of our loved ones had successful outcomes from their surgeries, while certainly everyone's lives are a little different from what happened that day, I am thankful that God was watching over everyone there.

Death by Soda

I recently gave up drinking soda, (again). This time I finally have managed to make it through the withdrawl and then the cravings to have it with some of my favorite soda-necessary foods, ie: Pizza, Burger King. I have not had any in a month and my resolve becomes stronger every day.

I used to drink a lot in a day, not as much as many people I know, however. I was always certain it would be the death of me one day, and my body was rebelling quite a bit, telling me that this was not what it wanted.

Now there is a website that will tell you if soda will be the death of you. From the pull-down menu you put in your choice of caffinated poison, then enter your body weight. It will tell you how many sodas you need consume, in a short period, before you will self-terminate.

While I don't think I ever came close. I would need to drink 325 cans of Cherry Coke at once, there are a few people who will be getting warning emails from me because, they are in the ballpark.

Check it out at: http://www.energyfiend.com/death-by-caffeine/

Make mine water! Bottoms up!