Cafe Murray

Test of Animoto Video

Hey Stop Bothering ME!

I find it hard to believe but some say in today's business world we are interrupted or distracted by email or phone calls every three minutes, and that it can take as much as 30 minutes to get back on track after the event. With those kinds of numbers how do we get anything done?? These interuptions and the constant flow of multiple sources of information are making it harder for us to focus and deeply consider issues we are working on. Oddly enough Microsoft, Google and Intel have launched the Information Overload Research Group Hey aren't they the guys that got us into this mess, and profit from our staying deeply embedded in the problem? But some simple solutions may be available. A Google engineer recently created "Email Addict" which lets users turn off their gMail inbox for 15-minute stretches, reducing the number of interruptions in his day. We all know that technology is a huge productivity enhancer, and we can get alot done. But does it help us think? A research company called Basex estimates that we think, really sit down and deeply think only 10% each day. More than 25% of our day is spent dealing with emails, instant messages, RSS, Twitter and phone calls. Less than 25% of our day finds us doing research, going to meetings and writing emails. Toss in lunch and a few bathroom breaks and it's time to go home. Some companies are trying to help create some balance. The boss at Federated Media has a "Take 48" policy, which translates to no email over the weekend. IBM has tried to reduce interruptions with "Think Fridays" and Intel has tried "zero-mail Fridays". Some colleges are shutting down WiFi within classrooms because students are spending so much time online, distracted from the lectures. It's not unusall to find business meetings where, just like six-guns in the old west, participants are told to leave their Blackberry's at the door when entering. And of course they are writing books on the subject. The people who need these books are the ones who are going to have the toughest time focusing and getting through them.... - "Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age" by Maggie Jackson. "The way we live is eroding our capacity for deep, sustained , perceptive attention - the building block of intimacy, wisdom, and cultural progress." And they are writing articles like this one in Atlantic Magazine: "I Google Making Us Stupid?" "What the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. Is this really a disaster??? Maybe this is just another change in the way we think? Maybe the authors of the above articles are just looking at it from an "older" frame of reference... Maybe this new flood of info into our lives will result in us reaching the next level of... of... What ever....

Being Cool = Steve McQueen

So what made Steve McQueen so cool? What still makes him look so together even when is movies are over 40 years old? It's because he was cool, especially when it came to fashion.

• Don't over do it... He always was wearing less than everyone else around him. Less is more. During the making of the 1973 movie Papillon he told Dustin Hoffman "Less, man, less." "Toss that shit out, you don't need it. Keep it simple." Other cowboys wore fringe, he wore a simple shirt.
• Do you have a good watch? You need a good, expensive, watch. Leave the Swatch at home, pass on the plastic time-piece.  TAG Heuer produces the Monaco based on a watch Steve McQueen wore during his movie The Thomas Crown Affair. It was his personal watch he wore when the costume department couldn't find something appropriate for the millionaire character. He later billed the producer of the movie $250 for use of his watch.
• Simple Cut and Shave. A simple clean haircut, nicely trimmed.
• Let others break new fashion ground. McQueen often dressed very far behind the times when compared to other characters in his movies. Sticking with classic looks rather than the latest fad. In the movie "The Hunter" his costar tries to get him to change his short hair, sneakers and army-surplus jacket, he says "New things are no good."
• Get comfortable. Wear your clothes and get comfortable with them. Suits and or shorts. The more you wear your wardrobe the more at ease you will feel in them. Next time wear that suit to the movies...

My Mini Notebook

Well the budget says that 2009 will be time for a new laptop. 2008 was a new desktop which I have yet to build. I've been using IBM ThinkPad’s for years, my first was a model 560 running Win95. It ran great, and still does, but it has little RAM and small hard drive even after an upgrade. It had an external 3.5 diskette drive and an external CD/ROM drive. I'd pull it out to get the specs but I'm sitting on an airplane right now at 32k feet, flying at 539mph, three and a half hours into a flight to Honolulu Hawaii. Right now I'm using a ThinkPad X40, a great small format laptop. The 12" screen makes it easy to use while flying, right now the woman in front of me has her seat back fully reclined and the X40 top is opened fully and very usable. I got the extended battery when I purchased the unit and I'm glad I did. Within months after buying it my Wife was transferred to Honolulu so I've spent a lot of time on airplanes.... I purchased a docking station with my x40 that includes multiple I/O ports and a CD/DVD drive. A nice thing to have, but I don't use the docking station much. Only to load programs.... So back to the main question. What kind of laptop should I get next year? I'm not sure, I think I'll stick with this X40 for now and see if I can't upgrade the HD, or maybe just carry an external USB drive with me. But I'm really interested in these new laptop/mini computers.... - Asus Eee PC - Fujitsu Lifebook U810 - HP Mini-Note - Oqo PC - Lenovo IdeaPad U110 I would like: - 12-inch screen - 160gb drive - 1-2g memory - Extended Life Batteries - WiFi - Verizon High Speed Network - Enhanced Video Performance - CF and SD Memory Card Ports    

Wrigley Arabian Horse Ranch - © Photo By Murray

Read more about the famous Wrigley family's Arabian horse ranch on Catalina Island.  Click Here.

I Need A Bigger Monitor

The folks at Univ. of Utah have tested computer users to see if a larger monitor can help them work faster / better. Answer is... YES.... First get three computer workstations, one with an 18-inch screen, the second with a two 20-inch screens, the third with a single 24-inch display. Those using the 24" screen finished their assigned tasks 52% faster than the 18" users. The two displays at 20" users did 44% better than the 18". The study said that the larger monitor users could save 2.5 hours of time each day if you go strictly by the numbers, but it really isn't realistic. I suggest that since the single 24" monitor and the two 20" screens were almost equal in improvement, that you consider the kind of work you do.

Should I Do Better Work, Or Faster Work?

I think lots of us deal with this issue. Should I take the time and effort to put out a better product or should I just push it out? Is it more important to make the deadline and be on budget or should you turn out great results. But often times when you work is in the information industry it is part of larger body of work. Your contribution will most likely be absorbed into a massive project that a large group will produce. Hey Code Monkey. What about me? Can I get a pat on the back? Maybe that is part of the reason for the success of services like FaceBook and Twitter, where your able to measure your friends/followers, showing your stature in your community. Maybe I should change my career path. I've often told my wife I would like to build houses. Be a contractor, bringing together skilled professionals and actually have something physical when your done. I often wonder about the guys that built the Golden Gate Bridge or Hoover Dam. They must have been proud. "Hey kids, I helped build that bridge". Well let's hope management finds a way to deal with this, but as "teams" seem to be here to stay, maybe I'll find something else to define who I am. Maybe coach little league....

San Diego Harbor - © Photo By Murray

Can Parents Improve Their Kids Education?

Yes they can... Recent research points to parents expectations as a major factor in their child’s educational success. Insisting that your kids apply themselves fully at school and then following up seems to be the magic bullet. Make sure they do all their work to the best of their abilities and that they have support in that endeavor at home. It isn't teachers, unions, administrators or facilities that make your kids a success at school, it is what they do while not at school that really matters. And this approach is open to every income bracket. But will, can, parents do it? Recent research at the University of Michigan and Brigham Young discovered that parents would rather have their children’s teachers make their kids happy than teachers who push academic excellence. But why worry about school... Nielsen Media Research says that US kids aged 2-17 spend on average three hours a day watching TV. Now isn't that encouraging??? Maybe the fact that a study of middle-school students found a strong correlation between weekday TV viewing, video games and poor academic achievement. Surprised? And don't get me started about reading. Everything I've read indicates the amount of time kids spend reading continues to decline. So tell your kids that you know that they will do very well in school this year, and remind them of it often. Center every aspect of your homes activities around their success. Review their progress daily. You may also want to consider a few incentives for meeting expectations. "After" school activities should only be for kids that meet "during" school expectations. Don't let your kids, or yourself, develop the habit of being satisfied with just getting by.

Avalon Harbor on Catalina Island - © Photo By Murray