Which is more important, speed or prep?

Like almost anyone who spends any amount of time online, I recently had an idea for a web site (more on that at a later date). Having worked in marketing (of one form or another) for nearly all of my employed adulthood, and falling back on my college business courses, my first thought is to make a plan. A well-crafted strategy can be indispensable to endeavors in all sorts of industries. On the other hand, energy spent planning is energy diverted from building, as the chaps at 37 Signals wouldsay (though they’d say it more eloquently, I’m sure). 

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The only statistic that matters

Two weeks ago this Thursday I was laid off from my job. On the way home, I listened to smart people on NPR talking about the jobless rate and government bailouts. I’d like to say that I heard what they were discussing from a different perspective, as I drove home contemplating resume revisions and wondering how the unemployment process works. But really, I didn’t. Talking about people’s lives in the agregate is just plain hard to relate to. And smarter people than me think about these macroeconomic issues on a daily basis. I decided that all I could do was reach out to everyone I know, and most of the people they know, and do what I can to disunemploy myself. What’s your plan to get through this economic turmoil?

Selection Bias In Action

Saturday, for first post for National Blog Posting Month, I wrote a paragraph about installing a network printer on a Mac and a PC. I noticed a new (to me) feature here on WordPress.com to add a poll to a post. I like to play around with new features, so I added a one asking whether PCs or Macs were better (a poorly constructed poll, I admit). When I checked the poll, the next day, there were two votes: one for PC, one for Mac. Sunday a wrote a review of a an iPhone app that was linked by John Gruber over on daringfireball.net, a very popular Apple-focused blog. Today, there are 42 votes: 40 for Mac, one for PC and one for Neither.

Review: Sonos iPhone Application (Gallery)

Sonos System

Sonos, makers of a very cool, but quite expensive, multi-room, networked, eponymous music system with a cool full-color controller, have come out with a great new free iPhone app: Sonos Controller. As an owner of both a Sonos system and an iPhone, I have wanted this application since the iPhone 2.0 update was announced. And, after playing with it for a few days, I have to say the execution is pretty good. Though it looks different, the iPhone app has a workflow similar to both the click-wheel sporting controller and the desktop software.

Why I Use a Mac

I’m at my parents’ house this weekend for a little visit. While I was there my Dad and I decided to do some tweaking to their network set-up. After moving things around to our general satisfaction, we decided to get the network printer installed on his laptop. After about the fourth attempt, we found instructions on an Idaho State University tech support site on adding a network printer as if it were a local printer. So, after he started following those instructions, I pulled out my MacBook Pro, and in less time than it took him to find the right manufacturer in the list Windows makes you wade through, I was able to go to System Preferences>Print & Fax, click the plus sign icon under the list of printers and add the printer (which was the only printer listed in the add dialog).

A Post a Day for a Month

So, today begins National Blog Posting Month, or NaBloPoMo. People all over the web attempt to post once a day, including weekends, for the entire month of November. Inspired by Abi, I’ve just decided to try my hand at participating. We’ll see how it goes.