Jason is not always right

I am really, really excited about the Olympics right now.  And I am always really, really excited about basketball, and quoting Chris Sheridan in the article linked to below, “it’ll be the best Olympic basketball competition ever.” I totally agree.

Read the article linked to here at espn.com to hear the reasoning behind the above statement from someone who knows what they are talking about, but I will tell you why Sheridan is right.

Part of me (the ethnocentric American part) wants to see team USA win every game by 30.  No, most games by 30, some by 40 and I would love to see one 60+ point win.  The other part of me (globalist, underdog sympathizer) wants to see some good, close games.  We will see what version of me steps up in the next two weeks.  (I think I already know.)  Go USA:

Three reasons team USA will return with gold:

1) They have to.  They have to.  They have to.  No really, they have to win the gold medal.  Team USA has been nothing short of a national disgrace for the last 4 years.  On top of that, our apparent “problems” have been diagnosed and treated.  If we don’t win now there is no room for excuses like, “NBA ball is different than FIBA,” or “USA players don’t have the opportunity to play together as often as other national teams.  These problems have supposedly been remedied.  So if USA does not achieve gold, they achieve shame.  (At least from me.)

2)  This time around team USA is one thing that it was not last time around; Prepared.  Team USA is also cocky, brash and confident, (all-three perfected and proudly made in the USA,) but those are not new.  Preparation is a new.  This years team USA has been in it for three years.  Not as long as some other national teams, but 2 years and 9 months longer than previous teams.

3)  Uber embarrassment.  Team USA has been mired in embarrassment for the past four years, but this year it feels even heavier.  No excuses.  The best America has.  But no matter what anyone says, and no matter how cocky team USA is, they are reigning losers.  No one can argue that, because it is a fact.  That is embarrassing.  The entire world expects team USA to win, because they should, but that was the case four years ago, and we all know how that turned out.  Embarrassing.  Like I heard Kobe jokingly say, “if we don’t bring home the gold, I will have to become an Italian citizen and all the other guys will have to pick another country.”

GO USA!!! (Please, please, please don’t bring home bronze!)

Source: ESPN.com, Chris Sheridan

I have been told that a few of my recent posts have been more on the negative side of life, so here is a more light-hearted one.  Today’s post is about dreams…

A few years back, I was sitting with some of my roommates talking about the future and we starting talking about money.  I made the comment that I wanted to be so rich that I could eat beef jerky everyday.  What does this tell you about me?  1) I have simple dreams 2)  I love beef jerky and 3)  I don’t ever need to make THAT much money.

Sometimes when I am buying a high-priced item like a $1100 airline ticket to Taiwan, a new laptop computer, or even something smaller like new brakes for my motorcycle I think about the cost in terms of beef jerky.  A plane ticket, or 523 2oz individually packed Jack Links beef steak jerky, or 137 packages of Tillamook beef steak nuggets, teriyaki or original.  Mmmmm…  I wish I had some right now.

I figure I need about $1000 dollars a year for my jerky budget, to be content.  (Although I think I may die from heart failure first.)  That would make me happy.  (Jerky, not heart failure.)

Now you know what I want for my birthday

So I have no problem with being green.  Okay, that is a lie.  I have a lot of problems with how people “attempt” to be green, but overall I think I side with Captain Planet.  But there is a huge lingering problem with the whole thing, and it all boils down to this question:  What does green mean?

I am in the office chair manufacturing and design business, and in our industry “green” is in.  But it is new.  No one really knows what they are talking about when they say they attain this mystic goal.  If they do know what they are talking about, you can assume the person or people they are talking to really don’t know what they are talking about, or the definition of “green” is different for the both of them.  In our industry you are green if you are certified green.  But which certification?  There are a half dozen already floating around out there.  They all show that you are trying to be green, but do they really prove that you are green?  And what does that even mean?

To illustrate the point, I introduce the following excerpt from an article in the Taiwan Review on solar energy:

In February this year, Taiwanese company E-TON Solar completed installation of solar panels that provide power for London’s City Hall. The total installed capacity of E-TON’s panels now equals some 50,000 kilowatt hours each year–or 1.5 percent–of the building’s electrical needs. That may not sound like much, but it will prevent more than 28,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants from entering the atmosphere each year. Moreover, the project demonstrated the feasibility of retrofitting uniquely designed buildings with solar cells, a task that was not easy given the structure’s domed roof and “eyelash” shading system.

50,000 kilowatt hours each year equals 1.5% of the building out-put, correct?  So that means that 3,333,333 kilowatt hours of energy are consumed by that building every year.  And using solar panels is saving 50,000.  Great, I think…  Who in the world even knows what that means!  I am not stupid, but I guarantee the average American (British, Taiwanese etc…) does not have a clear grasp on what that number means.  Now to my favorite example.  The article goes on to explain that by saving 50,000 kilowatts of energy every year, although a mere 1.5% of the buildings consumption, 28,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels are spared from being spewed out into the atmosphere.  Now who, without lying can really say they have any idea what that means?!  28,000 kilograms eh?  I think I ate that much gummy candy back in high school, but I can’t remember.  I don’t think the labels were in kilograms back then.

My point (if there is one mixed in all the sarcasm of the above paragraph) is that if we are really going to make a difference (regular people that is) we need to be a) speaking the same language, and b) using metrics that make sense to the lay-person.

So on Tuesday, yeah just a couple days ago I got a call from Todd Baker. Todd is a producer of The Big Idea w/ Donny Deutsch. They had got our name from a friend through another friend, or something like that, and were interested in possibly having us participate in a segment on their show. I was skeptical, as I have learned to always be, but after today I am pretty sure they are serious. Todd flew in and spent 5 hours with a film crew at our office to do a background shoot, and we will be flying out on the 28th to film the real show. We will be participating in a up and coming elevator pitch. Pretty awesome. I will add more details as we learn them.

Every spring, without fail I see the same mania appear. Motorcycle riders (I did not call them motorcyclists for a reason, more on that in a sec) with no helmets. I live in Utah and in this state it is legal to ride without a helmet. Are all states this stupid? No. But a lot are.

One thing I can think of that is close in comparison is playing soccer in a live mine field in Cambodia. I think the rate of injury is probably close. Motorcycle accident survivors actually fare worse than mine victims with a higher rate of head and neck injuries. The majority of mine victims lose a leg, while motorcyclists end up with their brains all over the pavement.

What makes it even worse is that most of the riders in Utah are not motorcyclists, they are college aged kids like myself, who found-out that girls think motorcycles are cool, bought one and plopped their “dumb as they are” girlfriends on the back.

I have to make an admission before I finish: I have ridden a motorcycle without a helmet before. I absolutely love motorcycles (See my dream bike here) and regret to say I have been a complete moron before. But never again.

You have to go way back to read past ultimate loser profiles, but I could not help but write about this guy, an ultimate loser. I try no to write things like this because, well, it is not very nice to be so negative. But every once in a while I can not help it. Do I know the full story from both sides? No. Is there a possibility that I am making a premature judgment? I don’t care.

I read about this in the local papers back in January or February, but now that it has made it into the national media, I could not refrain myself. What really caught my attention was the title:

Lawsuit: “My Company Waterboarded Me!”

Is the slumping economy depressing your sales team’s spirits? Here’s an idea: Pump them up with a little waterboarding!

Read the entire article here: http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/22/smbusiness/just_add_water

This is an issue often discussed with friends, and too often experienced, that I really need to get off my chest!

The only reason for your existence is to serve passengers on the airplane in which you are stationed. You have certainly been selected for this position of employment because of your personal skill, ability to relate with people and your superb problem solving skills. Why then are you such a mean-spirited, crabby, selfish, condescending, hurried, bothered witch? Granted a good amount (I regret I can not even say the majority) of you are decently average people with people skills and a fake smile, but some of you are almost cartoonishly ridiculous in your interactions (if I even dare call them that) with customers.

The man in seat 13 C is not forcing you, against your will to be on the plane, it’s your job. Yet you still are determined to take out your anger on 13 C. You might have a crappy life, but don’t take it out on us. We can take our bad moods out on you because we have paid plenty for the right to do so.

Just like the kid at the fast-food restaurant who you feel like you are bothering by ordering, find a new job! Quit! Be unemployed for all I care. There is a skilled labor shortage in Brazil, India, China and half of Western Europe right now. I am sure some factory out side of Sao Paulo would love to hire you for $2.32 an hour. And think, you wouldn’t have to deal with all of those people “bothering” you for “no ice” with their diet coke, on the airplane. If you do go, please take a boat, just to avoid the miniscule chance that I have to sit next to you on the plane.

So maybe I owe Nancy a little apology. Mmmmm, no, I take that back.  I have a feeling this move was more political than a gesture of love.   But I do give here some respect for the following:The Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 (CSPA) was a bill sponsored by U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) which granted permanent residency to all Chinese nationals who arrived in the United States on or before April 11, 1990.[1] It made permanent a temporary ban on deportation of Chinese nationals, which President George H. W. Bush had created with Executive Order 12711.

One provision of the act was that permanent residency status granted to a Chinese national under the act would subtract from the immigration spaces available in later years. The stated purpose of the CSPA was to prevent political persecution of Chinese students in the aftermath of the Tiananmen protests of 1989.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Student_Protection_Act_of_1992

Yesterday BYU and Omniture sponsored what was being hailed as the worlds largest paper-rock-scissors tournament in the world. To the winner went $3,000, (Yes, US dollars) $1,500 to the runner-up and video cameras to 3rd and 4th place. Only in America, only in America. It must be fun to be able to sponsor an event like this just for the fun of it. I think activities like this go a long way in building a strong community.

Chad, Seatability’s director of business development, tried to tell me just how awesome he is at paper-rock-scissors and that if he wold have participated, he would have dominated. I refuse to believe that there is really any possible “skill” when it comes to a game like this. J-Dogs and Smart Cookie catered the event, and despite freezing, gusty wind, it looked like the event went pretty smoothly and was a lot of fun. Seatability was involved as a BYU student started business and supplied 110 chairs for the event.  I helped make the delivery and pick-up and had a couple Omniture green cookies, but did not participate.  Maybe next year…

I have been very aware of Crocs for quite some time. Probably ever since my twin brother came back from his travels somewhere wearing a hideous yellow pair. I had heard rumors that they were comfortable, but their repelling aesthetics blocked-off any positives associations in my brain.

I guess I have to thank my friend Rene Bocaya, who flew over from Manila to met me for a furniture exhibition in China last week. Rene is a Croc wearer who forgot his Crocs at home. We took a ride to a nearby mall just to replace his shoes for the 36 hours remaining in his visit. Such devotion peaked my interest. When I got back to Shanghai I skeptically tried them for myself and made the investment. My wife makes me take them off in the house or I think I would sleep in them. Do your feet a favor and get a pair. I a a true convert.

http://www.crocs.com/