my2cents

A friend of mine started learning and practicing “nuad boran“, traditional Thai massage, a while ago. In order to get the best possible courses and the most authentic teachers she spent a few weeks in Thailand twice.

I had the pleasure of serving as one of her “practice objects” i.e. she needed human dummies on which she could practice her new techniques. I was immediately fascinated and impressed. It can give you so much more and it feels so much more complete than an ordinary massage.

Meanwhile she opened her own massage business. Check her out: http://www.mynuad.ch/

Once a year or so my wife and I take a day off to go shopping in Konstanz. Usually we start this day by having a small breakfast in the train’s restaurant car on the way from Zurich to Germany.

Once in Konstanz one shop we always spend a considerable amout of time in is Jeans-in. In fact, for my wife this shop is the top reason for even going to Konstanz. The jeans expertise of that one sales girl is amazing. She only has to give your body a quick glance to pick several jeans models that fit you.

This time we discovered that they started selling Kuyichi jeans. And they sell it big times. Kuyichi is cool not only because of their style and quality but because they’re organic and the company sets high standards in terms of sustainability. We like “green” stuff…because it’s the only option for our planet’s future.

One shop we only recently discovered is Cha Cha. They’ve got pretty cool stuff, especially for women. It’s there that we learned about the Swiss brand Alprausch. My wife bought one of their cardigan-style vests and I also picked a stylish Skunkfunk top.

It’s not that The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni provides any new aspects to team building….wait, there’s more…it’s not that Lencioni provides any new aspects, yet it’s the clarity and simplicity with which the material is presented that makes this book a must-read. And no, I don’t mean a must-read for the manager caste. In fact, I truly believe that any member of a team no matter what role she fulfills will find the material worthwhile.

I read 3/4 of the book in one evening. It’s an easy read because the story revolves around a fictitious yet realistic case of a CEO and her dysfunctional team. I found myself constantly relating the events in the story to my own experiences at work.

The strategies presented in the book appeal to me so strongly because it all seems common sense. It’s not rocket science – at least not on paper. Yet, imperfect as we are, we seem to constantly fall back to behavioral patterns that only bring misery.
I’m a big fan of agile development and Scrum in particular. It’s easy to build a bridge between Scrum and Lencioni’s methods. I guess I love them for the same reason.

In a previous post I wrote about a situation I witnessed where kids were being shoved back and forth between mon/dad on weekends. Earlier I also once wrote that I listen to American country music more and more. The below lyrics from the song “Every other weekend” by Reba McEntire and Kenny Chesney combine both subjects in a tragic way:

(Reba)
Every Other Friday
It’s toys and clothes and backpacks
Is everybody in?
Ok lets go see dad
Same time in the same spot
Corner of the same old parking lot
Half the hugs and kisses
There are always sad
We trade a couple words and looks and kids again
Every Other Weekend

(Kenny)
Every Other Weekend
Very few exceptions
I pick up the love we made in both my arms
It’s movies on the sofa
Grilled cheese and cut the crust off
“But that’s not the way mom makes it daddy” breaks my heart
I miss everything I use to have with her again
Every Other Weekend

(Kenny)
But I can’t tell her I love her

(Reba)
I can’t tell him I love him

(Kenny)
Cause there’s too many questions and

(Both)
Ears in the car

(Reba)
So I don’t tell him I miss him

(Kenny)
I don’t tell her I need her

(Both)
She’s(He’s) over me, that’s where we are

(Kenny)
So we’re as close as we might ever be again

(Both)
Every Other Weekend

(Reba)
Every Other Saturday
First thing in the mornin’
I turn the TV on to make the quiet go away
I know why, but I don’t know why
We ever let this happen
Fallin’ for forever was a big mistake
There’s so much not to do, and all day not to do it in
Every Other Weekend

(Kenny)
Every Other Sunday
I empty out my backseat
While my children hug their mother in the parking lot
We don’t touch
We don’t talk much
Maybe goodbye to each other
Then she drives away with every piece of heart I’ve got
I reconvince myself we did the right thing
Every Other Weekend

(Kenny)
So I can’t tell her I love her

(Reba)
I can’t tell him I love him

(Kenny)
Cause there’s too many questions and

(Both)
Ears in the car

(Reba)
So I don’t tell him I miss him

(Kenny)
I don’t tell her I need her

(Both)
She’s(He’s) over me, that’s where we are

(Kenny)
So we’re as close as we might ever be again

(Both)
Every Other Weekend

(Kenny)
Yeah for fifteen minutes we’re a family again

(Reba)
God I wish that he was still with me again

(Both)
Every Other Weekend

I think the Japanese have a split relationship to closeness and private space. Some thoughts:

• It is rather uncommon for Japanese couples to openly demonstrate affection for each other in public. Teenagers walking hand-in-hand is about all you ever see – if at all. Of course, it’s a cultural “thing” that also manifests itself by not shaking hands for example. Maintaining private space is important.
• On most train/subway rides during rush hour that very private space is obscenely violated. You stand chest to back or back to back with total strangers. The fact that some men abuse this closeness to get their hands on “female body parts that are taboo for strangers” is only the sick culmination of this development (there are designated women-only coaches now).
• I recently visited a Toastmasters meeting in Fukuoka, Japan. One of the members, a young lady who works at Fukuoka’s international university, talked about her upcoming “Global Communication” speech. She complained about foreigners invading her private space when talking to her. Japanese keep a certain distance respecting each others private space even in a face to face conversation. That lady stated that foreigners often stood too close to her during a conversation or that they kept their face too close to hers. I can see that there’s indeed a need to talk about global communication. A very interesting observation; I wish I would still be around to hear her speech.
• Also in Japanese Onsens there isn’t much privacy. While men and women are separated (except for family onsens) everybody is naked in an onsen. After all, one of its main purposes was to clean your body. That was back then when one didn’t have running water and showers in each and every household. So, a few or a few dozen total strangers share the same cubicles to wash themselves and relax in the same couple of pools with hot water – all naked. Where’s the desire for private space here?

Up until now I was more or less convinced that electro magnetic fields/radiation (EMF/EMR) do no good to “living creatures” (humans, animals, plants). I couldn’t fully justify this believe with rational arguments only, though – bad for an engineer like myself. The internet is full of EMF/EMR articles for example at WHO, Wikipedia EMF, or Wikipedia EMR.

Living in Switzerland I’m not used to seeing a lot of electrical wiring hanging above people’s heads in cities. Most of it is nicely tucked away in underground channels and tubes. Whether they’re isolated is a different question of course. I want to believe so…

Should EMF/EMR indeed harm your body then why is life expectancy in Japan so high? Buildings in their cities span a tense net of wires that seem both chaotically arranged and unstable. Shouldn’t the Japanese all be fried alive with so much bad energy around them? Does the fact that they’re not suggest that EMF/EMR is harmless?

The following picture was taken from right outside my bedroom in Fukuoka, Japan …

Here’s a nice picture of how your brain can fool you when you’re dead tired.

In April a late software project forced me to work four weeks in a row without a single day off. Each day I spent some 11 – 13 hours “closing the feature gap”. Of course, more and more I felt like toast each night when I came home.
One night, just before inserting the tooth brush into my mouth I realized that I had applied the tooth paste on the wrong side of the brush. The plastic material is somewhat transparent…

You may or may not have followed the iPhone hype, but here’s a little story to indicate just how nuts and irrational the stock markets – or their players – act.

Introduction

When Apple launched the iPhone on Friday June 29th, 2007 their exclusive mobile network carrier AT&T was so overwhelmed with the number of registrations that a considerable number of customers suffered from long delays in the registration process of their mobile service contract. Meaning: by Monday night there were a lot of people who had bought the iPhone, but the mobile phone service was still not activated. Both AT&T and Apple refused to release any information as for how many units were sold during the first 2 days.

Showdown

This last Tuesday July 24th, 2007 AT&T announced their financial results for the last quarter. This time the whole world was watching as one expected them to announce how well the business with the iPhone had started. AT&T said they had activated 146’000 iPhone contracts during the first two days. So, they were talking about activated contracts while everybody was waiting for the number of units sold to be released.

Bummer! And the crowd goes: what, only 146’000 iPhones sold? But analysts expected between 400’000 and 700’000… What happens to AAPL (the Apple stock symbol)? It plunges over 6%! For no reason. The only interest one should have in the figure announced by AT&T is to find out how big the discrepancy between activated contracts and units sold really is, which would show how big the mess that AT&T created with their activation delays is.

So, ok AAPL plunged for no good reason, but only one day after AT&T’s report Apple itself was reporting their quarter figures. This was yesterday afternoon Wednesday July 25th, 2007. Steve Jobs reported that they had sold 270’000 iPhones within the first 30 hours. Considerably less than what the overly enthusiastic analysts had hoped for, but still a fair number! More than that, Apple reported record high earnings. Now that’s a reason for a soaring share prices. APPL compensated for the stupid 6% fall with a 9% plus. Is all well that ends well? No!

Conclusion

Never trust a company’s share price, because it is irrational. Of course, it’s the pure ‘supply and demand’ principle that I love so much but with a group of people on the demand side that is, what, out of their minds

Ohhh, and lesson learned for Apple? Why did they allow AT&T to report on the number of activated contracts? They’re out of their minds, too. Wasn’t it obvious that the public would somehow not be able to comprehend the true meaning of those numbers? Even a stock market novice like myself could predict what would happen after AT&T’s report. I’m still shaking my head over this.

I’ve been listening to (American) Country music at www.181.fm through iTunes lately quite a bit. While I don’t share the overly religious, simplified, and USA-centered basis of most of the songs I still enjoy the music. I respect all the hard-working country folk most songs are dedicated to. Nonetheless, some songs can bring you close to tears because they’re so touchy – even if the artist seems to have fallen into almond paste (marzipan) when he wrote it. They ooze with pathos.

One such sweet piece is Tough by Craig Morgan. It’s an ode to strong women i.e. traditional women i.e. house wifes. Wonderful!

Artist: Craig Morgan
Song: Tough
Album: Little Bit of Life

She’s in the kitchen at the crack of dawn
Bacon’s on, coffee’s strong
Kids running wild, taking off their clothes
If she’s a nervous wreck, well it never shows
Takes one to football and one to dance
Hits the Y for aerobics class
Drops by the bank, stops at the store
Has on a smile when I walk through the door
The last to go to bed, she’ll be the first one up
And I thought I was tough

Chorus
She’s strong, pushes on, can’t slow her down
She can take anything life dishes out
There was a time
Back before she was mine
When I thought I was tough

We sat there five years ago
The doctors let us know, the test showed
She’d have to fight to live, I broke down and cried
She held me and said it’s gonna be alright
She wore that wig to church
Pink ribbon pinned there on her shirt
No room for fear, full of faith
Hands held high singing Amazing Grace
Never once complained, refusing to give up
And I thought I was tough

Chorus
She’s strong, pushes on, can’t slow her down
She can take anything life dishes out
There was a time
Back before she was mine
When I thought I was tough

She’s a gentle word, the sweetest kiss
A velvet touch against my skin
I’ve seen her cry, I’ve seen her break
But in my eyes, she’ll always be strong

There was a time
Back before she was mine
When I thought I was tough

You see, Descartes’ famous dictum “Cogito ergo sum” can be transformed into whatever expression suits you best.

I hate jogging. I find it boring and only jog from time to time because it’s one of the easiest and cheapest ways to stay fit with outdoor sports. Sometimes though I feel I have to go jogging. Certain conditions virtually drag me outside. Tonight it’s pouring like hell, and yes, it’s one of those conditions. I didn’t go jogging despite the heavy rain, but rather because of it. I makes me feel special. It’s that “what the hell…” feeling.

After five minutes my shoes are wet. So what! Then my Asics jacket. So what! Then my socks. Whatever! Finally, my underwear is soaking wet. Yuck, but what the f…! I keep running, feeling free. Warm rain (rain or water?) is running  down my back and it feels good. The summer rain is so heavy it feels like in a car wash or natural shower.

Never done that? You should try!