--Get Your News from Multiple Sources--
http://news.google.com
The above website is an auto-magic amalgamator of online news sites. Based on the frequency or "excitement" about a particular story determines how high up in the listing the story will display. It is very interesting to see over the course of a day how the stories generally start in India or Australia, and as the sun moves through the time zones, next England and then finally the US and Canada pick up and expand on stories. You can also customize the new feeds to include highlights from specific countries (for example, you can add the top eight stories from New Zealand). I use this in combination with the next website as my morning news pages.
http://www.myway.com
MyWay is a free advertisement-free fast-loading and pretty much all-encompassing news portal. Where news.google.com is overwhelmingly complete, MyWay can be customized to show you the specific daily pieces of information that are of interest to you (such as your horoscope, local moon rising times, weather for whatever cities you specify, sports scores for specified teams, movies playing near you, etc.). There is also a handy feature that allows you to add your own specified newspapers, so that you can have a one-stop-shop to peruse the Manila Times, the Newfoundland Downhomer, and the Crain's Chicago Business (yes, I read all of these and about fifteen others).
If you want to get extra tricky and also have a safer Internet experience, you can stop using Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) and switch to either Mozilla Firefox or Opera. Both of those programs are more resistant to spyware and other nasties of the online experience, AND (the reason I am mentioning them here) they have tabbed-browsing. What this allows you to do, is to set up a bookmark "folder" and ask the program to open all of the websites in that folder at the same time, each one in its own tab (think recipe cards).
Why in the world do you need all of these news websites? Simple: perspective. Every news source is going to have its own bias. By reading more than one or two sources about a story, you can get a better sense of what really is going on. (Or, if you are completely cynical, you can get a sense of the many different biases about that particular story...)
The evening news in the US is very focused on sports, local murders, local current events, quick summaries of national events, and the weather (in that order of importance and time allocated). Notice anything missing? How about international news? For that, you will have to start looking for reputable international sources. Use the Internet to help balance out what the US media feeds to you. Think about how many recent stories have been big news everywhere outside of the US but the US media has not covered them. Oh that's right - you probably don't know about them if you are in the US...
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Friday, July 22, 2005
--Great Source of Software Support and Notices--
OFFICE Watch
Woody's newsletters (and there are many) are a great FREE source of software information about bugs, updates, new releases, policy changes, just about everything.
WOPR
Woody's free discussion forum (Woody's Office Portal = WOPR) is a huge source of help and support with software, computers, networking, and just about any annoying high-tech problem you might run into.
OFFICE Watch
Woody's newsletters (and there are many) are a great FREE source of software information about bugs, updates, new releases, policy changes, just about everything.
WOPR
Woody's free discussion forum (Woody's Office Portal = WOPR) is a huge source of help and support with software, computers, networking, and just about any annoying high-tech problem you might run into.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
--Fairness and Consistency in Communication Frequency--
There are many people in the business world who only communicate when they need something. While this might be efficient from their perspective, it does not build a good working relationship. Sometimes a nice informal "how's it going" e-mail even though you really don't have much else to say goes a long way to keeping the communication channels open.
A HUGE mistake is to ignore the other person for weeks or months on end, then all of a sudden send or leave several panic e-mails or voice-mails commanding a response immediately. Very, very uncool and rude.
The guideline I use, is I try to mirror the other person's frequency of communication, erroring on the side of communicating a little more often than the other person. However what I find this doing is surprising the other person that I dare ignore their random panic interactions.
How often should business people (who are supposedly working together) communicate? It depends, but I don't think once a month is unreasonable just to stay in touch. Again, it migth be in the form of a quick e-mail, e-mailing a website link that you think would be interesting to the other person, or perhaps even a quick voice-mail or phone call.
Speaking as a consultant that sometimes is "rented out" by others as a sub-contractor, I would strongly suggest some type of communication right before the engagement (to make sure everything is set up), perhaps a quick check in during the engagement (to make sure everything is going fine), and certainly a quick communication after the engagement (to get a debrief).
The bottom line is that if you use very infrequent communication attempts, then don't expect the other party to drop everything and jump when you need something. That is not playing fair.
There are many people in the business world who only communicate when they need something. While this might be efficient from their perspective, it does not build a good working relationship. Sometimes a nice informal "how's it going" e-mail even though you really don't have much else to say goes a long way to keeping the communication channels open.
A HUGE mistake is to ignore the other person for weeks or months on end, then all of a sudden send or leave several panic e-mails or voice-mails commanding a response immediately. Very, very uncool and rude.
The guideline I use, is I try to mirror the other person's frequency of communication, erroring on the side of communicating a little more often than the other person. However what I find this doing is surprising the other person that I dare ignore their random panic interactions.
How often should business people (who are supposedly working together) communicate? It depends, but I don't think once a month is unreasonable just to stay in touch. Again, it migth be in the form of a quick e-mail, e-mailing a website link that you think would be interesting to the other person, or perhaps even a quick voice-mail or phone call.
Speaking as a consultant that sometimes is "rented out" by others as a sub-contractor, I would strongly suggest some type of communication right before the engagement (to make sure everything is set up), perhaps a quick check in during the engagement (to make sure everything is going fine), and certainly a quick communication after the engagement (to get a debrief).
The bottom line is that if you use very infrequent communication attempts, then don't expect the other party to drop everything and jump when you need something. That is not playing fair.
--Energy Vampires and How to Remove Their Power--
An Energy Vampire is somebody who - whether consciously or unconsciously - sucks the life out of you just by "interacting" with you. I put interacting in quotes, because most times an Energy Vampire talks at you, not with you. Dr. Judith Orloff has gone so far as to break out the six types of Energy Vampires summarized here:
1. The Sob Sister - oh woe is me...
2. The Drama Queen - everything is a production
3. The Constant Talker - silence is intolerable to them
4. The Fixer Upper - you are expected to fix what is wrong with them
5. The Blamer - everyone else is to blame for their woes
6. The Jugular Fiend - everything is beyond their or your capabilities
How many people can you identify in which of the above categories? Do you feel drained after interacting with these people?
What to do about these negative people? While Dr. Orloff advocates "visualizing white light protecting you and insulating you from the negative person" there must be some more, errr, down-to-earth solutions, too. Here are a few:
1. Avoid these people - there is nothing wrong with spending time with just yourself, or (God forbid) POSITIVE friends. Just stop taking the Energy Vampire's phone calls. Smile, nod, and keep walking if you see them in person. Have a "I've gotta run" phrase ready if they try to engage you in person.
2. Limit contact - if you cannot avoid them completely, prefix any interaction with "I've only got a minute" and then cut them off after that minute. This approach can still leave you drained, and if you are sensitive, you might even feel worse because you feel like you have cut the person off (you have! and it is your right!).
3. Take a vacation from them - give yourself X amount of days to "recharge" and just avoid all contact completely for a set amount of time, for the sake of recharging your energy, sanity, and patience.
4. Use non-verbal communication - when interacting with them, only look into one of their eyes. Keep your body turned sideways towards them (so they are facing either your left or right shoulder). Cross your arms and imagine yourself as a "closed circuit." Heck, if you also want to imagine a white light protecting you, it can't hurt! Maybe for a bit of lightheartedness, imagine a roll of duct tape winding around and around their mouth...
There is nothing wrong with you looking out for your own well-being! If every time a certain person walked up to you and slapped you in the face, would you put up with that? Why then would you put up with someone energetically harming you?
There is a point when your attempts to help someone crosses the line to where the other person is just feeling off of your good will. This is evil and extremely self-absorbed on their part. Cut 'em loose! The only power an Energy Vampire has is the power you give them. Stop giving it to them!
An Energy Vampire is somebody who - whether consciously or unconsciously - sucks the life out of you just by "interacting" with you. I put interacting in quotes, because most times an Energy Vampire talks at you, not with you. Dr. Judith Orloff has gone so far as to break out the six types of Energy Vampires summarized here:
1. The Sob Sister - oh woe is me...
2. The Drama Queen - everything is a production
3. The Constant Talker - silence is intolerable to them
4. The Fixer Upper - you are expected to fix what is wrong with them
5. The Blamer - everyone else is to blame for their woes
6. The Jugular Fiend - everything is beyond their or your capabilities
How many people can you identify in which of the above categories? Do you feel drained after interacting with these people?
What to do about these negative people? While Dr. Orloff advocates "visualizing white light protecting you and insulating you from the negative person" there must be some more, errr, down-to-earth solutions, too. Here are a few:
1. Avoid these people - there is nothing wrong with spending time with just yourself, or (God forbid) POSITIVE friends. Just stop taking the Energy Vampire's phone calls. Smile, nod, and keep walking if you see them in person. Have a "I've gotta run" phrase ready if they try to engage you in person.
2. Limit contact - if you cannot avoid them completely, prefix any interaction with "I've only got a minute" and then cut them off after that minute. This approach can still leave you drained, and if you are sensitive, you might even feel worse because you feel like you have cut the person off (you have! and it is your right!).
3. Take a vacation from them - give yourself X amount of days to "recharge" and just avoid all contact completely for a set amount of time, for the sake of recharging your energy, sanity, and patience.
4. Use non-verbal communication - when interacting with them, only look into one of their eyes. Keep your body turned sideways towards them (so they are facing either your left or right shoulder). Cross your arms and imagine yourself as a "closed circuit." Heck, if you also want to imagine a white light protecting you, it can't hurt! Maybe for a bit of lightheartedness, imagine a roll of duct tape winding around and around their mouth...
There is nothing wrong with you looking out for your own well-being! If every time a certain person walked up to you and slapped you in the face, would you put up with that? Why then would you put up with someone energetically harming you?
There is a point when your attempts to help someone crosses the line to where the other person is just feeling off of your good will. This is evil and extremely self-absorbed on their part. Cut 'em loose! The only power an Energy Vampire has is the power you give them. Stop giving it to them!
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