Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenocerous

What would we do without YouTube! These guys are on this show on HBO called Flight of the Conchords about a band from New Zealand trying to make it in New York. It had me cracking up!




Here is the version from the show....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FArZxLj6DLk

The atmosphere.....

A strange thing happens to the atmosphere when you tell folks at a company that the current structure of the organization is too cost heavy and that lay-offs are coming, no matter how motivated and dedicated the workforce was previously. It is an interesting intellectual study.....


Initially, you get either the optimist or pessimist reaction. Some remain optimistic that the changes will not effect them, their group is really important to the well-being of the company. Or you get pessimists who are sure that fire and brimstone are coming any day now....


And then the rumors start.... When are you going to find out, how many people are going to be affected, when they are affected what does that mean? Do they leave immediately, or at a later time? What is the severance package? And all this has an impact on productivity. Some just walk around talking about it, others get heads down, either because they have dusted off their resume and have already started their job search, or because they are working hard to make whatever impression they can while it still makes a difference.


And when the employees have a date by which they will know, things get more and more tense as that date approaches. Everytime the EVP comes downstairs, he is watched to see where he goes and who's office he goes to, what mood he's in. And when rumors spread that the word on who is being cut is already known, just not being communicated yet, well then forget about it! And then when people, who are supposed to know, start asking questions about and wanting to know status about projects that they never cared about before or where never their responsibility, people start to get suspicious. Is this person going to be your new boss or is his existing group getting ready to take over the work of your group?

Can someone just drop the shoe so we can get this over with!?!?!?

My secret dream....

Many of you may not know, but I have a secret dream to be a ballroom dancer! Well, specifically, the latin dances (you can keep the fox trot, quick step and waltzes.) Which is why I was obsessed with "So You Think You Can Dance!" I mean, Dancing With the Stars had nothing on this show..... Yes, it is impressive to see what non-dancers can accomplish but to see established dancers in their own right grow into well-rounded professionals, masters all dance styles and being forced out of their comfort zones with awe-inspiring results is just the best!

And I mean, I have watched previous seasons, but this season was just the best. All the dancers are really great. And my favorite to win (Sabra, and she has only been dancing for 4 years!) actually won, but really, the amount of exposure they have all gotten on this show, I am sure that they will all have great careers. Mind you, these dancers are learning 3 or more routines a week with not more than 2-3 days to learn the routines. Here are some of my favorite Sabra moments!

Jazz routine with Nick - Eurhythmics


Hip Hop routine with Dominic - Ne-Yo


And this Pasa Doble with Nick is just crazy! I continue to be amazed by the ending.... (sorry for the crappy quality, I think you still get the idea)

Brand Loyalty

In Marketing 101, people learn that the whole point of marketing is to raise brand awareness and create brand loyalty for your products. (Sorry for going back to b-school on you folks..) So, I get the concept in theory. But it has never been enough to get me to pay more for an item just because of the brand. Marketers tell us that the improved quality, smell, taste, ease of use, cleaning power etc justify the additional price you would pay for the item. Some items are priced higher because of the status assoicated with having them. But I come from a line of bargain shoppers and label readers. It is very rare that I buy something just because of the brand. I have no problem buying a store brand. In fact, sometimes store brands are actually better! I will pay a premium for actual quality differences, but not implied ones (which means I will actually test/compare, weigh the pros and cons etc.) But the other day, I was presented with one of the most distinct brand loyatly questions i have ever confronted in my life as a purchaser or consumer of good and services.

I am looking to buy some new flooring for my rental unit. I wanted to get some nice neutral carpet tiles that I could install easily myself. I knew about this company called FLOR who make carpet tiles in all these cool patterns and colors so I was considering purchasing some of them.

They are even produced not too far from here so shipping time does not take long. However, I was looking back at an email I had gotten from the company and I noticed this little one line ad served up at the top of the mail message. As many of you may know, Google has made adserving a science. When you do searches, in the gel on the right hand side, they serve up related links that sponsors have paid for Google to present. They also apply this concept to email. If an email contains certain words or comes from a certain company, they can ad serve similar content right above the email message you are looking at. Anyway the add was for icarpettiles.com a company that sells small lots/leftovers/overstocks of carpet tiles online. And it is MUCH cheaper than FLOR, like 1/3 the price! I was concerned that this might be because you have to install them with carpet glue but they also have double-sided tape that you can use as well. It might not be as nice looking but, come on!, this is a rental property. It just needs to be something neutral.

So, this is a no brainer, right? But the cheaper ones online!....

But here is the dilemma... FLOR is owned by the Interface Flooring company, which is dedicated to promoting sustainability as part of it's business model. For those of you who don't know what sustainability is, and I didn't either until I ended up majoring in it in bschool, it is the concept that

Interface bases its sustainability plan on Seven Fronts through their Mission Zero effort:

Eliminate Waste: Eliminating all forms of waste in every area of business;
Benign Emissions: Eliminating toxic substances from products, vehicles and facilities;
Renewable Energy: Operating facilities with renewable energy sources – solar, wind, landfill gas, biomass and low impact hydroelectric;
Closing the Loop: Redesigning processes and products to close the technical loop using recovered and bio-based materials;
Resource-Efficient Transportation: Transporting people and products efficiently to reduce waste and emissions;
Sensitizing Stakeholders: Creating a culture that integrates sustainability principles and improves people’s lives and livelihoods;
Redesign Commerce: Creating a new business model that demonstrates and supports the value of sustainability-based commerce;

Traditionally, the carpet industry is one of the more environmentally taxing industries there is. Carpet fibers are spun out of petroluem and old carpets have a ridiculously long half life. By 2020, Interface has a mission to reduce it's negative environmental impact completely and this is reflected in the FLOR products. (You can read more about their sustainability mission here.)

FLOR tiles are not stuck to the ground. Rather, you lay them out and stick them to other tiles with these adhesive circles called FLOR Dots so there is no toxic glue or waste left behind. 1 dot goes in each corner of the tiles but because the entire layout is so large and you cut it to fit your space, the carpet doesn't move. The recycled content in their products has been increased to about 16%. Their R&R (return and recycle) will take back old and unused tiles to turn them into new carpet tiles, and they pay the shipping!

So it is a cool company that is in line with my value structure. And for the first time, I think I might buy something that costs much, much more because of the ideals the company. espouses....

So...

I just wanted to report that, after a momentary lapse, I am getting my swagger back! ;-) Thanks for all of you out that who reached out with words of support and encouragement!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my puppy's 1st birthday! Wow, Puppy! How does it feel??

Woof, woof.....woof, woof, woof, woof!

To celebrate she has a sleepover with a new doggie friend (unplanned but I will take the credit!), had a day at doggie day care, and then got a special bone cookie wishing her a Happy Birthday! Yummy!

Product plug!

I have discovered a cool new kitchen toy.... Actually, I discovered it when I was looking for a Father's Day gift and was so intrigued that I bought one for myself too. It is called the Cameron Stovetop Smoker pan and it is so cool!

So say you are craving the taste of smoked meat but are only cooking for one and/or don't want to heat up a whole grill to do it. (for smoking meats nothing compares with charcoal!) You just get out your smoker pan, add some of the special wood chips in the bottom, put your meat in, slap it on the stove and cook away.

I have cooked chicken breast a couple times with this, using hickory chips, and it is delicious! For some larger cuts you need to cook on the stove and finish in the oven but so far I am very happy with the results. Check out the rich color on this chicken breast I cooked!

Breathe.....

So I think I peaked on the stress-o-meter this morning.... And to top it all off I was working on this stupid portal that someone in our company bought and we are trying to repurpose to fit the needs of our group. And right about now I am about sure that the guy who was responsible for purchasing it had to have gotten a kickback because this thing defies logic. Nothing is intuitive. There are so many steps to accomplish a task it is crazy. And I am pretty good at this stuff. Top it off with my current state of mind and I just about went insane this morning!

Luckily there were people around to talk me off the ledge... thank god we are allowed to have IM at work! I talked by IM with a number of folks, including Naturally, Sofia and Brunsli, who gave me calming words of enthusiam and support.

Then, by this afternoon, I had reached this zen sort of calmness.... Stressing is not helping... Just do the stuff that you can do and then you just have to leave it up to the powers that be and wait....... So, I will try not to stress about the job before we find out the word..... I am supposed to find out more about this investment property deal next week and I have appointments lined up to see the apartment for the rest of this week. So, that is all I can do right now. Might as well think about other things...

Up in the air.....

So I am a Libra..... Libras like balance. Our sign is the scales! It has become very obvious to me that August is going to be a transitionary month for me. I was preparing to make a new step this month since things seemed pretty stable for me and since then, everything has been thrown into FLUX! None of the stable stuff is feeling very stable these days....

My job........ Found out there are layoffs imminent and the future of my group is in jeopardy right when we were hitting our stride

My house...... One of the great things about my house is that there is an apartment over the garage that I rent out. I found out that my great, quiet, pay rent on time tenants are not going to renew their lease! :-( So I have to look for new tenants and figure out how to get them in there without losing any rental income.

So then, on top of it, I have this investment property deal...... It is all stressing me out! The thing is, if everything works out well then I will be great. If everything turns out bad, then I will have a lot of challenges ahead of me. If it ends up somewhere in between, hopefully it will be the right combination.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!! (and toes too!)