Boo Tivo and your Olympics guide!

So- Alice has to ask me to enable the Tivo preferences so she can record the Olympics. Huh? So I log in and apparently I have to change my privacy options to enable this. Apparently this is part of the "guru guide" tools.

On one hand I can see this from the business side... smart to use such a stunt event to encourage use of this feature. On the other I hate having to give up personal usage stats (even though I understand it allows for better targeting / recommendations). But ultimately I assume Tivo is logging everything and my privacy is a myth anyway.

Ah… the day I had

Yesterday and most of this week were excellent examples of suckness but also plenty of good stuff happened and that the suckness was a good reminder that I have nothing but first world problems.

Case in point... yesterday was full of stress over an impending release and a bunch of dropped balls. Still... I was able to work from home, attended several conf calls, and still managed to squeeze in Korean BBQ for lunch where I burned myself on the pot while watching an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on my shiny new iPhone. Rough life, right?

So, at one point I was looking for a little humor and a sense that I'm not alone in this big world of Product Management pain. What did I do? Why, I googled "day in the life of a product manager" and came across more than a few gems. Check out this post from "The Cranky Product Manager" and you'll see the kind of mood I was in. ;-)

The nice thing was how the day ended. Release issues (the most important ones anyway) are nearly resolved with a light at the end of the tunnel and I was able to go to Gary Dillabough's going away party at eBay and see many of my favorite old time eBay folks.

Note for Hima and Ramya- I think I'm actually a hugger after all. Never fear- your protected status is still in place.

It was quite comforting in a way I really really needed yesterday to see good folks and wish Gary well. Two notes to Gary...

1. Thanks for telling the FAIM acquisition story. Even thought it hurts on some grand spiritual level for me to think about how close we were to being a Web 1.0 success story with your parting the number of people that even remember FAIM dropped to about what I can count on two hands and the number of execs who know it dropped to 2. I'm sure in 6 months they'll rebuild the large merchant strategy and not even realize what they've missed out on.


2. Keep me in mind in your future projects. I'd happily clean your pool.

Randy Pausch

I know many folks has already talked about this and a friend (who controls his online footprint so I'll leave it at that) at work keeps asking me when I'll watch. For me... things like this are for the weekend but just in case any of you haven't seen it, here is the email my friend sent me:

In case you never heard about the “last lecture” project- it was a series of lecture about what would you talk about if you had only one last lecture to do.
Many interesting lectures came out of it but Randy Pausch’s lecture became a must hear for everyone out there.

“On September 18, 2007, computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver a last lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” With slides of his CT scans beaming out to the audience, Randy told his audience about the cancer that is devouring his pancreas and that will claim his life in a matter of months. On the stage that day, Randy was youthful, energetic, handsome, often cheerfully, darkly funny. He seemed invincible. But this was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged.”

Randy’s lecture has become a phenomenon, celebrating the dreams we all strive to make realities. And now, in his book based on the now-famous lecture, Randy goes even deeper to inspire us all.
http://www.thelastlecture.com/
http://www.cmu.edu/uls/journeys/randy-pausch/index.html

Watch the lecture:
Short version (11min) : http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8577255250907450469
Full lecture (1:16 hr): http://youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Randy just passed away after a long fight with cancer. We wish his family the best in this tough time and hope they can take some comfort in how he lived and inspired people.

It was just a mission statement

Looking for a little inspiration in the middle of the weekend so I'm watching Jerry Maguire on the Roku.

Oy... just heard the line where Dorothy (Renee Zellweger in Jerry Maguire) talks about being the oldest 26 year old in America. 26? I can't believe I'm this far on the other side of 26.

Loving my iPhone

So many people have written much longer and better posts than I have the will to do. Suffice it to say that I love the iPhone with the exception of the battery life and the keyboard being worse than what I had on the Blackberry.

Best career advice ever…

This post idea was suggested by a friend...

So, a few years ago I went to a career management seminar sponsored by eBay. This was one of their "make sure all the resources know we care" initiatives. At one point the facilitator asked, "What's the best career advice you've ever received?" So I raised my hand and said, "I'm not sure this is actually good advice but I've been told that the best way to be is to keep my head down, work hard, and everything will take care of itself."

The facilitator shook his head and said, "No, that might actually be the worst advice ever. I hope you didn't listen to that advice."

The last non-special event where I will watch live TV

In early July I was sitting there watching TV with Alice and I have to tell you... I don't think I'm watching live TV again. Good lord... as if the commercials weren't painful enough the whole Bachelorette show is now one commercial mixed with little pregnant pauses and uncomfortable situations.

What do I want in a TV show (a short list anyway):

• fun or at least something with a story


• watch it when I want


• sometimes I want to take it with me (for the train or when I know I need to fill some time)

What don't I want:

• dramas or silly reality like the Bachelorette (older Real World seasons were better than this last round in Hollywood)


• shows where commercials are 75% of the show content (pick any number of examples from Idol to any special episode of a normal show)


• awkward and manufactured setups that show the worst parts of the people featured


• Pseudo-celebrities manufactured involving vapid nouveau riche socialites who want their faces on TV (just look at the new Bravo show Date my Ex or Real Housewives of NYC (my previous post on a new show idea)