Category
Work
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12.16.02On PhotoboothsThis morning I had to quickly get some passport pictures taken for a security pass. It was one of those "retake your pose again and again and again until you are happy" machines, so I thought I was safe - though I should have remembered the cardinal rules of photo-me booths: the customer will:a) never be happy and b) will always look like a pale, lopsided, spotty, fat, bad-haired version of themselves. Nevertheless... Pose One: Ok, here we go. Hmmm. Pretty OK, but everyone knows you can never use the first pose. That's like running on the first ball. The ...
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12.16.02A Definition of SelfA new media whore - noomeejahoor (pronounced as it is written) - is a person who works in the new media industry, and who has a passion for the potential of the medium, a taste for technology, a loathing for morons in suits, but an understanding that you sometimes have to play the game to make things work. A noomeejahoor is a person who gets excited when using whiteboard markers and doodling large in company, but feels ridiculous giving presentations in strategy meetings to people who don't Get It, a person who thrives and finds massive comfort, encouragement and ...
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12.08.02Little Miss MannersTell me, is it wrong to harbour a seething annoyance at a neighbouring colleague who has a persistant and irritating laugh, like a creaking door, which he uses not only when he finds something wildly amusing (and trust me, his amusement threshold is staggeringly low) but also when he wants to fill an unseemly gap in conversation?Example #1: Me: Oh, you're in late today...Him: Yes, I had to wait for someone to fix my boiler. Hehehehehehehe.Example #2: Woman: Did you have a good new year?Him: Yes, I went away. Hehehehehehe.Example #3: Him: Do you have a stapler?Bloke: Sure, here you ...
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12.08.02What’s in a Name?Two years ago, I went to the British Trade Travel fair at the NEC in Birmingham, for work. When I showed up at the door, the officious recptionist behind the desk made me fill in a registration form in block capitals - name, employer, phone number, all the usual stuff. I printed MEG PICKARD clearly, and handed her the form. She typed in the details, and then a few seconds later, the printer started whirring at the other end of the desk. After a moment, she passed me my name badge.Or rather, she passed me someone else's name badge. Someone ...
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12.08.02On ListsI used to keep lists of things to do. It started out as a practicality and transformed into a small-scale obsession. Every day I would jot down a couple of things to do, people to call, stuff to buy from the supermarket on the way home from work. I would use square post-it notes, stuck to the inside of my notebook at work, which I carried from meeting to meeting, adding the occasional note or extra task to the list as I became inspired.Soon, I'd graduated on to a permanent numbered list which sat propped up in front of my ...
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10.23.02You - yes you - at the back: you may not talk in classWelcome students of the university of Manitoba, who appear to be studying this site as part of some coursework. Why do I feel like I'm in a petri dish?That reminds me. Yesterday, on a mailing list, someone mentioned that the GBlogs portal had shut up shop. In the course of his question he said, "Does this signal the end of the 'community' project?"As an academic, supposedly researching blogging and bloggers in the UK for the last two years, I was disappointed to realise that the author had failed to grasp even the simplest concept - it wasn't a project. It ...
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10.16.02AcronymbleI'm sure someone, somewhere would be able to read something significant and/or concerning into a persisting subconscious substitution of the terms NDA and DNR."We've gotta get them to sign a DNR before we meet..." is a little drastic, even in today's cuthroat internet biz, while wondering if a patient has an NDA demonstrates that the doctors may have something to hide.Conclusion: either I spend too much time online, or I watch too much ER.
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10.09.02BotherationMisplaced apostrophe'sNuff said.NegativityRefusing to see the positive side in any situation, leaping down the throats of others because you happen to disagree with their view or values. Using harsh, excessively dismissive words and using long experience as a trump card. "You're wrong, only you don't know it because you haven't got the experience I do." Making people feel bad about their contributions, or about contributing in the first place, does not encourage repeat performance.BullyingEspecially harrassment campaigns which last years. What gives someone the right? Exhausting, depressing, irritating.SufficientismDoing just enough and no more, or enough to make something seem right, without ...
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09.30.02NumbRecently, I've been waking up with numb hands. I must have been sleeping in a strange position - they are tingly with pins and needles as if I'd squashed them or bent then under me in a position that would be impossibly uncomfortable in wakefulness.But since I'm asleep, I can't tell what I'm doing to correct it.A couple of years ago, my company encouraged everyone to see an ergonomics expert. She assessed my desk, sitting and standing postures, before telling me that I was basically fine, but did I by any chance sleep on my side? I confirmed this, and ...
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09.25.02Let them write about cakeI once attended an interview in which my fellow interviewer asked the hapless candidate a surprising question. After quizzing her about personal work qualities, experience of working within tight deadlines and what she thought she could bring to such a challenging role, he asked her whether a Jaffa Cake was, in fact, a cake or a biscuit.She launched into a response ("It's a biscuit, obviously"), and then pondered out loud at the name ("...of course it's called a cake...") which caused her to stumble and lapse into silence, unable to answer conclusively.The correct answer, of course (and you might want ...
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