Reinke Faces Life

Why I Do Not Do Link Exchanges
Des Walsh
Posted in July 17th, 2007

http://www.thinkinghomebusiness.com/2007/07/17/why-i-dont-do-link-exchanges

***Begin Quote***

There must still be some courses or e-books where people new to blogging are told to email other bloggers and suggest or request an exchange of links. I don’t know what other explanation there would be for the emails I get on a fairly regular basis, out of the blue, from people I don’t know, wanting me to exchange links.

***End Quote***

me2

“I wouldn’t be a member of any club that would have me as a member” Groucho Marx

I don’t do Link Exchanges.

(No one has ever asked me!)

;-)

Just seems … … so conspiratorial … … so yucky.

I put sites in my rolls that I think are worth your time.

Now, if some one would send me a stack of hundreds, then I’d link to them. Never said I couldn’t be bought. But, I’ve never made a dime blogging. I just do it for the sense of moral superiority. :-) (As Rooster C. Leghorn cartoon character of my yuth says “That’s a joke, son.”)

# # # # #

From an email to a fellow alum

***Begin Quote***

>i changed my email address

Sigh, I’ve ranted about having your own email address in your own domain.

http://tinyurl.com/2huxna

What happens if people don’t get the message of the shift.

I’ve even suggested for those, that want their email at their ISP account, that they should still use their own domain and just forward the email where ever they want it.

For one particularly clueless soul, I set up his domain (and this is all sanitized so as not to embarrass anyone) as “clueless.com” with an email address of “soul @ clueless.com”. That was forwarded to “clueless soul @ gmail.com” for backup ‘n’ recovery purposes as well as their excellent spam filters. The gmail account was forwarded to the ISP where he wanted it. The return address on the gmail and the ISP account were set to his domain. So his “email address” never changes no matter how many times he changes ISPs. If he accidently deletes a message he has the gmail account to recover it from. If his ISP goes off line or their email stops working, he can fall back to gmail. And, if his ISP is bought by someone else and he is forced to change his ISP email address, it’s no big deal. Another benefit I just thought of his that he can use gmail’s filters to squelch someone.

And, he never has to worry about someone having an old email address.

***End Quote***

In my mind, it’s impossible to communicate the change to everyone who has your old email address. It may have been given to them by someone else.

Here’s my little scenario, like the economist’s island. Jane has Mary’s email address written in Jane’s address book. Jane give it to Marge who puts it in her address book. Mary changes her address and updates Jane. Marge runs into Jane’s bestest friend in college Sue who has lost touch with Mary but would love to get in touch. Marge gives Mary’s old address to Sue who sends an email that bounces. Silly? Yes!

You don’t know all the people who have your old email addresses. And, yes, there may be ways around it.

Manhattan College gave all alumni a “lifetime” email address. But, after a few years, a few changes in vendors, guess what? Yup, you should have asked who’s life time!

You can have your own domain and email for $12/year. If you’re not strapped for money, you can have your website that includes the domain and email, for $50/year.

Your ISP’s email is a trap to lock you in to their service. It can leave you high and dry at the most inopportune times. And, you can be forced to change if they get bought out or go out. Why risk it?

Your employer’s should never be used for personal purposes. Aside from morality, there are practical reasons. The average employee changes jobs every five years. In some industries, in some types of jobs, the average is 30 months. You should have your own email address for even quasi-business purposes like LinkedIn or external connections.

For example, I use a different formation of my name @ my domain for my outside business uses and forward that to my employer’s email address. It permits quick screening so that it doesn’t get lost in the morass of inside mail. I use yet another formulation for the quasi business uses. And, I assign different names to different purposes.

It just gives you a ton of flexibility at a very modest cost.

Seem obvious to me!

# # # # #

One of my older relatives was driving to a party where they had been before last year. For a variety of reasons, they didn’t have the address or their usual tools. And, got confused and got lost. They drove around looking for my car. After a while they got really confused.

So went to a relative’s house, where a young whippersnapper, looked up the name on the net, mapquested it, and led them over. Great save.

Why they didn’t have my cell phone I forgot to ask. Calling Frau’s cellphone is a waste of effort. She hates it. (Yes, I made her get it.)

Lessons: Put a family phone book in the glove box of every elder driver’s car. That way, when they are in the car, they always have the [hone book with them.

Lesson: Have my cell phone on the public net. So if you know my shore house address. Divide these three numbers by the address and you’ll have my cell. 46,308 10,659 184,875l

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http://www.dailywritingtips.com/

Daily Writing Tips

***Begin Quote***

Whether you are an attorney, manager, student or blogger, writing skills are essential for your success. Considering the rise of the information age, they are even more important, as people are surrounded by e-mails, wikis, social networks and so on.

It can be difficult to hone one’s writing skills within this fast paced environment. To solve this problem we decided to create Daily Writing Tips, a blog where you will find simple yet effective tips to improve your writing.

***End Quote***

A great daily refresher to write better. … or gooderer (in the injineer’s dialect).

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http://changethis.com/35.05.Presentation
http://changethis.com/pdf/35.05.Presentation.pdf

Presentation Revolution: Changing the Way the World Does Presentations
By Scott B. Schwertly

***Begin Quote***

Today we live in a business culture that abuses the art and science of public speaking. We power up our PCs and present dull presentations to audiences who want to be inspired but never get fulfilled. Schwertly believes an effective presentation can change the world.

***End Quote***

Powerpoint in the Pentegon! Bad news. Power point in your pc prevents persuasion.

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http://changethis.com/35.04.Brainstorming
http://changethis.com/pdf/35.04.Brainstorming.pdf

10 Guidelines for Effective Brainstorming
By Randah Taher

*** begin quote ***

Brainstorming is a powerful tool, if used correctly, but just like any power tool, you must read the manual, follow instructions and use the thing correctly…or you’re wasting time. Randah Taher presents 10 guidelines to optimizing the power of brainstorming.

*** end quote ***

You have love it. But do you REALLY WANT disruptive ideas?

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The New ‘Age’ of Leadership: The Power and Practices of Maturity
By Harriet Rubin

What do Warren Buffett and Rupert Murdock have in common with Titian and Bach? Just as artistic skill is honed over years of hard work and many a masterpiece was created late in an artist’s life, these Late-Style leaders are rejuvenating leadership instead of handing off their power.

http://changethis.com/35.02.NewAge
http://changethis.com/pdf/35.02.NewAge.pdf

A New Angle on Adding Value
By Dominic Dodd and Ken Favaro

Most companies fail to add value to their business units. Typically, they end up choosing between improving performance vertically, by giving their business units greater autonomy, or doing so horizontally, by increasing centralization. To achieve greater performance, managers should focus on strengthening their company’s diagonal value.

http://changethis.com/35.01.NewAngle
http://changethis.com/pdf/35.01.NewAngle.pdf

FROM AN MLPF EMAIL EXCHANGE

***Begin Quote***

>What I thought was right yesterday might be wrong today. What I
>thought is wrong today would be right tomorrow. There is no
>(constant) right or wrong answer. It is all about feeling.

When I was in school, too long ago, the good sisters and brothers, beat into me, literally, that emotions, feelings, and opinions just get one into trouble. There are facts, which are usually rarely in dispute (i.e., that bomb killed those people). There are principles, which also are rarely in dispute (i.e., thou shalt not kill). And there are conclusions (i.e., that bombing was immoral).

I would gently disagree that what was “right” yesterday would be “wrong” today. We may find that our facts were in error. And, we should correct the results as best we can the results of our error ensuring that we don’t make that mistake again.

Unfortunately, like with the death penalty, it’s hard to “fix” that genre of deadly mistake.

As an injineer, I would NEVER tell a Philosopher they were “wrong”. Or, yell “barbara streisand”! I would say that we had differences in the input data, principles used, and results computed.

:-)
fjohn
the big fat old turkey hisself

***End Quote***

Unless one is mentally ill, one doesn’t deliberately make “mistakes”. Maybe it is my Catholic School upbringing, but I, like Plato, think there are absolutes. The most telling argument, I ever heard about, was from some writer, who described, a session, where he asked adversaries, to sit quietly with their eyes closed and “listen to their soul” tell them what is right and wrong.

Anyone remember that book?

So, “be still” and know.

There are absolutes.

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FROM A POST ON MLPF

***Begin Quote***

>Seeking Strong Webinar Presenter for “Linkedin For Beginners”
>The webinar should be on the order of 10-45 minutes in length
>If interested, please contact me ASAP.

Vincent:

Ahh, as with most “opportunities”, this interesting gem piqued my interest. I’ve never “done” a webinar. Don’t know the first thing about them, so that would make it a perfect opportunity to learn. (How’s that for the supreme egotistical over-confidence. You want qualifications? We don’t need no stinking qualifications!) If I can challenge a fellow turkey and he starts learning Japanese. I can be challenged too. At least webinar is spelled in English.

You didn’t give the key piece of info. Like most people who want help, job interviews, or other given “opportunities” to jump in quicksand, I find you never get the real scoop until you’re in up to your neck, or if you happen to ask before jumping (i.e., Is that quicksand deep?).

So, when is this “due”?

If you say December 2007, I’ll take a swing at it. If you say June 30th, I’ll politely decline. In between is negotiable, say with three “get out of moderation” cards. Or, coffee with Des Walsh. Or, round trip first class airfare to Chicago to visit my adoring Turkeys. Or, just the right to brag “I bailed VW out of jail”.

Quid pro quo!

So when does this “gem” have to shine?

fjohn
the big fat old turkey hisself
who learned in the USAF NEVER volunteer or admit you went to college

***End Quote***

He didn’t need my help. Thankfully. I still have “learning about webinars” on my 2do list.

The productivity tip is that when you do ask for help, be specific.

I think you need to let the person know what is the deadline, budget, entrance / exit criteria (how does it start, and how will someone know it’s done). And, of course, the WIIFM. All up front. Pack it in to the request. Leave people with only one decision “y/n”. Don’t make them ask for more information. The natural reaction would be to skip it or do a Nancy Regan (i.e., just say no).

You know put the WIIFM (What’s in it for me?) first; the thing that makes them spring into “Action, Jackson”. It might get you to “yessir” much quicker!

# # # # #

In dealing with Frau Reinke’s medical problems, I wish I had kept a log book of all that went on. A school child’s “marble” book would have been all that was necessary to capture the information, events, dates, places, docs, and “stuff” that would be invaluable in retrospect.

Argh!

A moleskin pocket book and the discipline to keep annotating it would be a great asset.

You could use it as a source to transcribe into a “blog like” file. It’d be useful to keep all the experts honest and one’s own thoughts straight.

May it could be a private blog? Surely the technology is there for it.

Wish I have done it.

Maybe you can learn form my mistake?

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FROM AN EMAIL EXCHANGE

*** begin quote ***

Things are not as good as they seem to be. I have a lot of decisions to make.

*** end quote ***

But, then again, they are probably not as bad as they seem either.

The nice thing about old age is one has so much experience to work off of and use..

When you make decisions, first figure, using the metaphor of a boat, if they are above the waterline or below.

Above the waterline, be daring! Below, be cautious.

If you’re a wagering person, think of it as a coin flip (50/50) for ten bucks or ten thousand. For ten bucks, be daring and if you win send me my share. For ten thousand, be afraid. Be very afraid.

For above the waterline, decide quickly and move on. Below, take all the time you need to be sure you are making the best decision possible.

Do you have a life raft handy?

;-)

When I notarize stuff for people (mostly my Colleagues at work), I put their DL expiration in my Outlook calendar (minus one month). When it triggers, I send them an email. You can’t imagine how many people don’t know that. Surprised, they quick go renew. Just another value added service from your local nj notary. So don’t feel bad, lot’s of people do it. BTW I put my DL and Frau’s dates in my Outlook calendar as well. Passport dates, or anything that has an expiration.

http://news.office-watch.com/t/n.aspx?a=512

Using Gmail as your spam filter
Gmail has a good spam filter, you can use it for your own email accounts.

Office Watch’s Email Essentials has picked up “my” tip on using GMail as a spam filter. Of course, they explain it much better than I do. I like to use TWO gmail ids.

ISP Id#1 -> Gmail#1 -> Gmail#2

ISP Id#2 -> Gmail#3 -> Gmail#2

But they explain it much better.

# # # # #

http://www.itsecurity.com/features/
25-common-email-security-mistakes-022807/

http://tinyurl.com/3brc5e

The 25 Most Common Mistakes in Email Security
25 tips to bring newbie Internet users up to speed so they stop comprimising (sic) your network security.

***Begin Quote***

1. Using just one email account.

Individuals new to email often think about their email account like they do their home address, you only have one home address, so you should only have one email. Instead, you should think about your email address like you do your keys, while it may be okay to use the same key for your front and your back door, having a single key open everything is both impractical and unsafe.

A good rule of thumb for the average email user is to keep a minimum of three email accounts. Your work account should be used exclusively for work-related conversations. Your second email account should be used for personal conversations and contacts, and your third email account should be used as a general catch-all for all hazardous behavior. That means that you should always sign up for newsletters and contests only through your third email account. Similarly, if you have to post your email account online, such as for your personal blog, you should only use your third email account (and post a web friendly form of it at that).

***End Quote***

I have 25 active email accounts.

Not counting “shadow accounts” at gmail. For me, a “shadow account” is one that received email from a real account, allows GMail to subtract all the spam, and then me to retrieve it into my email client. (Currently Outlook or its evil twin LookOut. But, eventually Thunderbird.)

I have one dedicated to just the financial aspects of my life. This makes any phishing attempt funny when the email comes in on the “wrong account”.

The accounts represent the various personas or purposes I have. I think it makes me more productive.

http://kentblumberg.typepad.com/
kent_blumberg/2007/05/leadership_less.html

Leadership lessons from movie director’s comments
Kent Blumberg

***Begin Quote***

>Keep the goal – and the customer – always in mind.
>And don’t break trust with your customers.

***End Quote***

I always enjoy Kent’s blog. That’s why it’s in my HOF roll on the side. (That’s probably a misnomer. Since there’s no “hall” and very little “fame” to be garnered here.)

I think the essence of this “tip” is to always be aware of lessons, where you find them, what you take them from then, and what you actually do with them. Many of the gurus always cite the need to obsess about the “Customer”.

A “Customer” may NOT be what you are thinking. Stretch you thinking. It can be a Colleague at work to whom you say “good job”. That’s a “Customer” for your leadership offering.

imho

http://www.legalandrew.com/2007/04/24/
get-your-motivation-moving-with-small-steps/

http://tinyurl.com/ytar45

Get Your Motivation Moving with Small Steps
productivity ideas, blog consulting – focused on the legal world
by Leagal Andrew aka andrew flusche

***Begin Quote***

Now think back to that nagging goal or project you’ve put off. Come up with one small step you can take within 24 hours. Don’t just put it on your trusty GTD action list. Go do it!

***End Quote***

Interesting productivity tip.

BTW in one of my projects at work a while ago, which wasn’t going well, the exasperated honcho directed me to assume the role of devil’s advocate. I was to, for every problem itemized, record who reported it (hurting) and who was to solve it (stuckee). Every day, I was to talk to every stuckee and get a status. BUT, not just any old status. The stuckee had to three choices:

* {#1} solved (which was to be immediately verified with the “hurter”;

* {#2} what was done in the last 24 hours to solve the problem and what would be done in the next 24 hours to solve the problem; OR

* {#3} a project plan to get to the solution.

Anything else, was to be escalated to him in real-time while the stuckee was on the phone.

Needless to say, stuff started being solved with AMAZING hustle.

For my part, every time one of these was “declared”, I just went to outlook and set up a five minute meeting at 730AM Eastern (I like to get an early start!) and sent it. People could propose a new time, which was fine with me.

He also added one more rule at the following week’s project meeting. When some problems didn’t “belong” to the stuckee, they could be relieved if the proposed replacement accepted the assignment. And, no throwing it over the transom. He officiated at the “wedding” (i.e., do you joe give this problem to sam? And, sam do you accept this problem from joe to have and to hold from this day forth?). If he was unavailable, I was allowed to sub in but I had to prepare a “wedding announcement” copying everyone involved. Needless to say, replacements were hard to find. The stuckee had to PROVE that it was the replacement’s problem.

Now those were some fun problems. Capacity, intermittent, bugs, blunders, suppliers mistakes, anything, and everything. As I recollect that when we shut the implementation down as completed, we had about 800 items all total led. MTTR was all over the place. But, there was a trail of “notes” about actions. The maintenance team used that as “as built” documentation.

I’ve never forgot that lesson. Attention and a 24 hour clock.

http://www.carolynnduncan.com/2007/04/27/
wow-weeblycom-is-a-sexy-business/

http://tinyurl.com/25en5r

Wow! Weebly.com Is a “Sexy Business”
Writing by olynnduncan on Friday, 27 of April , 2007 at 1:55 pm
the carolynn blog

***Begin Quote***

What options does a small business have to get an easy, cheap, non-blog web presence? Sans web skills? Good luck.

***End Quote***

May I call your attention to “Google Apps”?

http://www.google.com/a/smallbiz/

I used it to “throw up a business idea” quickly and cheaply. My expense was registering a few domain names.

(My hero is the fellow who made grazillions selling 5 biz ideas a day. He got it going and sold out. The inet model: get a spark, throw up something, hockey stick the popularity, and sell it off.)

You asked for alternatives. Google Apps is still free. But I have reservations in NOT paying the piper for an idea. Don’t think you want to be beholden to a free service? A cheap equivalent at reputable hosting service is chump change (under a hundred a year).

Just a thought.

ALSO: I looked a Weebly a while ago. I’m not sure you want to take the Weebly route, or for that matter the Google App one either.

Your time is valuable. You’ll spend a lot of it developing your “content”. Then it, and all the effort getting it right, is locked up on a free sites.

No, I have already paid tuition at that school. In my case, I developed a “good enough” site for my consulting business using a WSP’s free web site building tool. When I merged all my stuff on various WSPs to get control and save a lot of money (Some WSP prey on the novices and really stick it to them!), I paid special attention to my sites that were in some one’s proprietary format. (It was NOT HTML.) And, this one site built with their tool did have HTML that look moveable. And, it was. I moved it and everything was hunkey dory at the new site. Until I pulled the plug at the old site, and my modest effort was gone. Apparently, stuff pointed to the old WSP. Argh! Now, I don’t use the WSP tools. The WSP is paid for raw service. I build in NVU and such.

So, I’m not sure that “free” isn’t very very expensive.

From The Electronic Recruiting News In Email_070427

***Begin Quote***

It’s like being thirsty in the middle of the ocean for most people. The explosion of sources of information leaves a bewildering set of problems for disciplined professionals. They boil down to “what is the best way to spend my time?” Certainly, reading 500 blogs is not going to make you a successful recruiter. The right five, however, might.

***End Quote***

Where do you spend your time productively?

That’s a tough question. IMHO, we humans don’t even know where we spend our time. Unless you’re a lawyer with a sophisticated time tracking for billing purposes system, no one has accurate data to work from. Most systems I’ve seen and worked with are “time charging” mechanisms. They are really about charging your time to some project or other. The accuracy of that is suspect at best and a joke at worst.

So how do you measure your time spent?

I have a rut of things that I do on a daily basis so I know those. The rest is in the hands of the Universe.

But, it would be nice to know where one is “spending” their minutes (like a cell phone bill) and it would be nice to know the ROI on those minutes.

Periodically, when I feel I have “lost my way”, I reassess what I am doing. I dump some habits and try to start new ones. I use that aforementioned rut as my friend. Getting in a good rut is productive; a bad one disaster.

It’s a terrible paradigm. But I have no other. Maybe that’s what twitter could be?

On the ABOUT page, you can enter some thing and shazam it shows up in my email box. FWIW?

Of course I am interested in your thinking about email and your strategy for exploiting the opportunity it represents.

I’ve come to the conclusion, that despite handling prestigious amounts of the stuff. Stuff that varies in quality from vile trash to gems. I need a better mechanism.

It all ties into what platform are you using. Web-based uninstalled or client based or a mixture.

It all ties into creating a “brand”, spam, and throughput.

Argh.

Just as one can take too many feeds and be unable to “drink from the fire hose”, it is possible to be overwhelmed with email.

So how to handle it?

Do you use one email and deal with it? No, that single channel quickly hides the significant from the trivial in a mass of mess.

I think my strategy of using different emails or different purposes has allowed me to get to my current state. Unfortunately, I need more.

(1) I need conversations like I see in Gmail.

(2) I need Getting Things Done applied to email.

(3) I need Outlook email boxes galore?

Sigh. I don’t know what I need?

Here’s a recent feedback I sent to the WORDPRESS gang:

***Begin Quote***

I really have no problem this time EXCEPT I really don’t like PayPal. I’ve heard too many horror stories. So, how can I send you a check? I assume that credits don’t expire. I am really really interested in using my own domain name. But, I find all the posts about it confusing. I have the domain name www.reinkefaceslife.com at my WSP 1and1. I forwarded it to https://reinkefj.wordpress.com. It appears to do the same thing. But some how deep in my gut, I feel I am missing something and what you are offering is somehow some way better than what I am currently doing. Does that make any sense? fjohn

***End Quote***

So what is the difference between www.reinkefaceslife.com at 1and1 http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=9113251 and doing it with the WORDPRESS gang?

http://lifehacker.com/software/gmail-tips/
get-rss-feeds-from-your-gmail-labels-157701.php

http://tinyurl.com/358ebr

Get RSS feeds from your Gmail labels

***Begin Quote***

There are many emails which I passively consume: newsletters, job vacancies, forums, mailing lists (on which I lurk), banking alerts, blog comments, bug tracking, and so on. These emails may require action, but the action does not (usually) involve replying to the sender.

***End Quote***

Interesting. Use RSS to get BLOGS. Use FEEDBLITZ to transform RSS into EMAIL. This proposes to take an RSS feed of routine EMAIL from GMAIL label.

Hmmm, a new way to handle routine email.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/
obituaries/20cnd-backus.html

John W. Backus, 82, Fortran Developer, Dies
By STEVE LOHR
Published: March 19, 2007

John W. Backus, who assembled and led the I.B.M. team that created Fortran, the first widely used programming language, which helped open the door to modern computing, died on Saturday at his home in Ashland, Ore. He was 82.

http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2007/03/16/
how_to_grow_your_own.htm

http://tinyurl.com/2qzfl6

March 16, 2007
How To Grow Your Own Blog: Nine Tips For Would-Be Bloggers

Joshua Porter is the editor of Bokardo, a site about social web design. He is currently the Director of Web Development at User Interface Engineering, a behavioral research company based in North Andover, Massachusetts.

***Begin Quote***

How can it be true that if you were to start blogging someone would pay attention to your very own writing?

***End Quote***

It’s hard to believe that about 200 people read, or perhaps take in, my babblings. I don’t know if I would pay attention to me! But, I do know that blogging has consumed my attention space. In the sense that instead of trying to capture stuff on little pieces of paper, I use this blog. It serves me. Then, under the heading of repurposing, if you get some benefit from my rambles, then that’s very effective use of my time. If not, at least, I’ll remember what I took the time to post. But a blog without readers, like that proverbial tree, does it still make a sound?

http://www.d-n-i.net/lind/lind_3_14_07.htm

On War #209
March 14, 2007
Conversations
By William S. Lind

***Begin Quote***

Why does the American military so avoid informal conversations and require formal meetings and briefings? Because most of the time, the people who actually know the subject are of junior rank. Above them stands a vast pyramid of “managers,” who know little or nothing about the topic but want their “face time” as they buck for promotion. The only way they can get their time in the sun without egg on their faces is by hiding behind a formal, scripted briefing. At the end, they still have to drag up some captain or sergeant from the horse-holder ranks if questions are asked.

***End Quote***

Guess that puts the nail in the “meeting” coffin!

text