Perfection is Overrated

I’m not interested in perfection especially when it comes to people. Like the girl I had a crush on in high school who seemed entirely too perfect. Certainly too perfect to ever notice me.

Years later I found out out that she struggled through life like everyone else. That shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but she now seemed far more interesting.

Tonight over dinner my brother shared an experience with me about running a business. He probably doesn’t realize it, but I feel more connected to him than before. He’s always seems so calm, but underneath that exterior, he has the same questions I’ve had during my career.

Being perfect is boring.

Friends and family who go to great lengths to hide challenges and the rough spots end up with less intense relationships because it’s difficult to relate to perfection. And it’s exhausting keeping up the facade that nothing goes wrong.

As a young boy my father seemed perfect to me. I began to wonder if he’d ever made a mistake until I watched a cop pull him over for speeding in his Plymouth Duster, and he let a “damn” fly.

The wrapper of perfection was off, and I began relating to him as my father, imperfections and all, instead of the robo-dad.

I gravitate to bloggers who are not afraid to detail the bad with the good. I wish I was able to balance this better with my own blog, but I seldom feel like writing when a part of my life is spiraling down the drain.

Yet those are the times I should capture and share.

Family Vacation

This is the first family vacation we’ve taken where I haven’t had a boss breathing down my neck, waiting for my input on a critical matter such as the color of our new company shirts.

Or the bored coworker who adds me to the cc: line of every email so I know how hard he’s working in my absence.

Or the client who ignores my OOF and expects me to attend a meeting to discuss a project six months from now.

The most difficult part of this vacation was leaving our 11 year old boxer at home. She has a tumor above her right eye, and we know it will likely end her life. Before we left our home Kim and I gathered the kids and said a prayer asking God to comfort her.

It worked because our neighbors have provided her with excellent care. I know some may shrug, but we can’t wait to see her.

Spending 22 hours in a minivan with four children probably sounds like more nightmare than vacation to many. I knew it was time to pull over for a break when, after watching my 3-year old son toss his flip flops at his sister, I began reaching for my own shoes.

We spent the last week in St. George visiting with Kim’s family. As I sat in the van calling for the kids to get in their seats, I watched them hug their grandmother and grandfather, their arms forming a circle around their legs. Nobody wants to be the first to let go.

That’s the scene I’m replaying in my mind 14 hours later. It helps erase the memories of the arguments over the Nintendo. Or the “I have to go the bathroom” five minutes after the last stop.

One day I want to be the one the grandkids form the circle around.

Embracing Small

Why is it that many companies intentionally try to appear larger than they are? I’ve witnessed this at several companies, but one comes to mind because it was done in such a blatant manner.

I’m not talking about a small exaggeration now and then either. Our company website was an absolute work of fiction. We were a group of 35 working to support events around the globe. But after our manger got hold of the copy, that number nearly doubled. Suddenly, we were backed by a corporate behemoth with an unlimited army of skilled workers. The fabrications grew more outlandish as our workforce shrank in size to the point where the manager made “Baghdad Bob” appear credible.

It was a joke that undermined our credibility with our clients. Worse, it undermined what little trust the manager had earned with his employees. If he’d fabricate something so trivial, what else would he be willing to do?

Since starting Ox Consulting, I’ve wondered if our size would hinder our growth if potential clients pulled back the curtain only two find two people doing the work.

But over time, I’ve come to embrace our smallness. On a recent call, a new client was surprised to hear we would be the ones creating her website. At one point, she said, “I’m sure you’ll pass this on to your team who does the work.” I laughed and replied, “That would be us. We are team of two.”

She didn’t pack up and take her business elsewhere nor has anyone else.

I take my cars to a small repair shop to be serviced. The dealership is nearby, but I prefer the small shop because I can speak with the technician working on my car. When I recently had a set of brakes replaced the technician took the time to explain the difference in various brake pads and rotors. I’ve never experienced that level of engagement at the dealership.

Remaining small does have its drawbacks.

We must carefully select the clients we work with. That means occasionally turning down projects. We know what size projects we can knock out of the park, and those tend to be smaller ones we can complete in days instead of months. Clients who are thrilled with their new site tend to tell their friends which leads to more projects. If you’re merely satisfied with a product, do you tell anyone? I don’t.

A larger company can absorb the occasional high maintenance client. That’s not the case with us where one such client can bring all projects to a screeching halt.

I assumed we were in the business of creating customized websites for small businesses. That’s actually the easy part.

We are in the listening business.
We are in the bounce your crazy ideas off us business.
We are in the help me overcome my fear of writing business.

But more than anything, we are in the pat on the back, keep going, you can do it business.

Writings for iPad

Sometimes I come across something so simple or so elegant or so dang fun to use that I have to share it.

Imagine the bloated Microsoft Word product for a moment with the ribbon, endless options and sluggish performance many of us have grown accustomed to. Using Word to create a simple text document is akin to removing a sliver with a battle ax.

Writings for the iPad is the polar opposite of Word. It’s simple, elegant and actually fun to use which isn’t an adjective often used to describe a text editor.

It might be the best 99 cents you’ll spend if you own an iPad and your editing needs are simple. I use Writings to jot down notes and create blog posts like you’re reading now. It also syncs to Dropbox.

Check out the video here for a quick demo and link to download.

Capturing Thoughts

When I purchased an iPad I figured it would encourage me to write more often. That hasn’t been the case in the first couple of months of ownership because, as good as the onscreen keyboard is, it’s still too frustrating to write more than a sentence or two.

If the iPhone’s onscreen keyboard is too small the iPad’s is too large. I make fewer typing mistakes on the iPad, but it comes at the cost of speed. With the iPhone I felt as though my typing speed and accuracy improved the more I used it. That’s not been the case with the iPad where no improvement in either area has been made.

I held off on purchasing a Bluetooth keyboard from Apple because I didn’t want to turn my iPad into a laptop with removable screen.

But I wanted to write more, and that wasn’t happening. So here I am typing out my thoughts on a new Apple Bluetooth keyboard and loving it.

I learned to type in 7th grade, but I didn’t learn to write until I was living in Germany. For the first time, I had to write instead of picking up a phone to share my experiences with my family and friends. More importantly, I learned to share how I felt through writing.

Back then, an idea would hit, and I’d grab a notebook and jot it down. Today, I reach for my keyboard when the same thing happens.

It’s not easy to explain, but my keyboard works at the same speed as my mind. I’m able to capture my thoughts through my fingers, and it all happens at the right pace. I’ve read about experienced writers who began using a typewriter and couldn’t migrate to a computer for the same reason.

I’m not an experienced writer, but I can’t imagine moving away from a keyboard to a more modern technology such as voice recognition to capture my thoughts.

Could it be the most important skill I learned in school was how to type?

Trust Issues With The GPS

“Only 799 miles to go”, I said as I looked at Kim who was already giving me the “shut up and drive” look.

I started off our trip to Utah giving mileage updates. Every few miles.

The Magellan calculated 804 miles from our home to Utah which I sort of trust. But it also says the trip should take about twelve hours which means the engineers at Magellan must not travel with children.

And yet I have only myself to blame.

I’ve lived in Seattle for seventeen years. In that time I’ve made the Seattle to Utah trip at least twenty times. One might assume I know the shortest route between these two points.

And yet when the GPS told me to turn right I turned to Kim and said, “Screw it, I’m taking a left.”

That ill-advised left added at least another hour to the trip as we backtracked through towns I’ve never heard of. Kim made sure to read the town names aloud so we’d all know that maybe my directional instincts are not as powerful as a network of global satellites.

The problem comes down to the fact that I don’t trust my GPS. Each year I read about the driver who blindly followed the polite GPS voice right into a lake and drowned. And each time I see a makeshift memorial near a body of water I think to myself, “Another death by GPS.”

So I follow my Magellan just enough to get pointed in the right direction, but not enough that it saves me time or an ounce of grief. I’ll follow the sultry voice like a lemming from my home to the freeway making every right and left turn as if my driver’s license was on the line.

But put me in a city I’ve never been to and I’m muting the GPS, cranking the Zep and proclaiming, “Stand back, I’ve got this one!”

Less than 400 miles from our home, we pulled off the freeway and into the parking lot of Best Western. I called the reservation line and was thrilled to hear they had a room for us. I must have been tired because, when asked how many children I have I replied, “Three”.

For the next twenty minutes our four children debated who had been booted from the family.

Feeling Alive Again

With one hand on the black leather covered steering wheel, I jumped from station to station, searching for one that wasn’t dissecting the O.J. Simpson trial.

Most FM stations were little more than white noise as I traversed through the canyons leading out of Ogden and into Evanston. Eventually I’d give up and pop in my Counting Crows cassette.

Other than a few stretches of rock and river, much of the surroundings are barren land that once served as farm land. Dilapidated farms dot the landscape like road markers.

My first job out of college resulted in moving to Rock Springs for four months. I was married, but I’d be living on my own while my spouse finished up schooling in Salt Lake City.

A few friends and family advised me to refuse the transfer or find another job assuming it would take a toll on my marriage. What they didn’t know was my marriage was already teetering on the brink of failure.

Maybe that’s why I felt good about my decision to leave my friends, family and spouse to live on my own for a while. I knew it would be the final nail in the marriage coffin.

I learned more about myself during those four months than the previous four years in college. I dove into my job like I’d never done before. I spent my evenings reading about computers and the internet. I made new friends who didn’t see the baggage I’d been carrying around for years.

It was a fresh start. Slowly I was beginning to feel alive again.

One night a few of my coworkers invited me to go to a club with them. When we arrived, I realized that a club in Rock Springs is a neighborhood dive bar anywhere else. I don’t know if I’d ever stepped foot in a bar until that night.

At least I was around friends for a couple of hours. One ordered a burger for me that arrived with a bowl of brown gravy. It’s worth a trip to Rock Springs if only for this burger. And, honestly, only for this burger.

Country music blared over the speakers. I felt far outside my comfort zone and was about to excuse myself for the evening when a coworker grabbed my arm and dragged me to the dance floor. Others filed in around us until the floor was packed.

I tried not to smile, but I was having fun for the first time in a long time. My partner leaned towards me and whispered, “You’re gonna be OK.”

Seventeen years later those words still stand as some of the kindest ever directed towards me.

What Accomplishment Are You Most Proud Of?

By referral from a friend, I got a call from the HR manager at a large Seattle based company that’s not Microsoft or Boeing. Or Starbucks. Although, working for Starbucks could be fun, I don’t think I could attain the required level of jauntiness each morning.

She asked if I’d be interested in a number of open positions with her company. After she explained the positions I told her I was interested.

The hiring manager emailed me two job descriptions. I prepared for the interview as best I could which wasn’t difficult because I’ve been a customer of this company for many years and am familiar with many of their products and services.

The first few interviews would take place over the phone, and I had my first one last week. I kept my answers short since I couldn’t count on nonverbal cues to assist me there. Most questions were the open ended scenario type. For example, “You recognize a business opportunity that would drive significant revenue. How do you pitch it to your boss?”

And then the interviewer tosses in a few hurdles as I explain my plan. But nothing too intense.

I felt the interview was going well, as best I could tell. But I’ve been hired after what I thought to be a poor interview and been passed over after feeling confident I rocked it.

And then she asked me a question that caught me off guard a bit: “What is the accomplishment you’re most proud of?”

I know the game. This is where I’m supposed to spout of a well rehearsed tale of how I took the reigns of the over-budget software project and gently guided it to completion. Or how I flew across the country to placate an important and upset client thereby saving the account and our quarterly bonuses.

I had a list of inflated stories to tell recruiters right out of college so surely I’d have a collection of real-world Superman stories to tell fifteen years later. Certainly they’d be right there on the tip of my tongue.

But they weren’t.

So I gave what felt was the honest answer: “The accomplishment I’m most proud of being the father of four children and, with my spouse, raising them to be cheerful, confident and productive adults one day.”

As those words escaped my lips, I immediately thought, “Oh crap,what did I just do?”

I don’t know what answer the interviewer expected, but if the silence on the line is any indication, I don’t believe it was the answer I gave. And that’s OK, because it’s the truth. Because I’m done answering interview questions with hyperbolized answers even if that means I don’t make it past the phone interview stage.

When I interviewed for my first job at Microsoft, I’d been prepped by a squad of handlers who wanted to see me join their team. I’d memorized all the requisite buzzwords and knew what questions to expect. Of course, I nailed the eight interviews only to land in a position I dreaded.

So I may not get this job at this large Seattle company with great benefits and well prepared interviewers.

But I’ll still be Superman at home.

At least until the next time my son conks me on the head with a Nintendo controller.

How Does Spotify Compare to Rdio and Slacker?

After taking Europe by storm, Spotify is finally available to American music fans.

Reviews have generally been positive from people like Louis Gray who has a way of gaining early access to the hot new services. He covers the features of Spotify in far more detail than what I’m going to do here, given I’ve only used it for two days.

I’ve used a number a streaming music services including Pandora, Rdio, and Slacker. I’ve also used Grooveshark, and Zune Pass to a lesser extent. Although all these products have overlapping features, they have their own take on the how we’ll be listening to music today and into the future.

I shunned streaming music services for years for the most part because I have a large collection of music that includes hundreds of CDs I’ve painstaking ripped using Exact Audio Copy and the LAME Alt Preset Standard. Over the past few years, I’ve managed my music collection in iTunes which continues to frustrate me. iTunes just feels kludgy and slow. If I didn’t own an iPhone or iPad I’d return to a more powerful music management solution like MediaMonkey.

Rdio ($4.99 or $9.99/month)

About a year ago, I signed up for Rdio which allowed me to use iTunes primarily as a podcast and apps manager. Rdio is primarily a web application that’s the best looking music service I’ve used. I use Rdio to create playlists consisting mostly of songs I don’t own mixed with some I do. I can then access these playlists when I’m at work or on my iPad or iPhone. Rdio feels modern and fresh and fun to use. Great detail was paid to design.

Rdio is a great option for those who place a high value on simplicity. It does take some time to manually create playlists, but Rdio makes it easy to see what your friends are listening to and share playlists. It even suggests users with similar music tastes can lead to discovering new music.

Rdio is the product I recommend to most people. The $4.99 plan gives you unlimited web streaming whereas you’ll need the $9.99 to stream or save music to mobile devices for offline use.

Pros: Elegant, , no software to install, fun to use, excellent social features.
Cons: Time consuming playlist creation, no dedicated iPad app, some buffering.

Spotify (Free, $4.99 or $9.99)

If you know how to use iTunes you’ll feel right at home with Spotify. It looks as though someone took iTunes and applied a darker theme to it. The first thing I noticed about Spotify was the lack of buffering. Click on a song and it begins immediately as if it were stored locally. Impressive.

Upon install, Spotify automatically cloned the handful of playlists I have in iTunes. This is a nice feature because it gives the new user a place to start. Otherwise it would have felt empty and cold compared to the colorful and inviting Rdio. But dig a little deeper and there’s a lot to like here.

Creating a playlist or adding to one feels more intuitive compared to Rdio. I found it easy to drag songs into playlists as one does with iTunes. Right click on any song and Spotify gives you a link to share that song with anyone. Very slick.

Type in an artist or song into the search bar and you’ll be listening in seconds. Spotify touts a song library of over 13 million songs compared to 8.5 million for Rdio. One feature audiophiles will appreciate is the high quality streams available to Premium subscribers. When I wear my Grado headphones I can tell a difference.

Had Spotify arrived a year ago, I’d probably be singing its praises more than I do today. But Spotify is a very solid product that many will love. It’s also backed by a lot of VC cash so you know it won’t disappear anytime soon.

Pros: High quality streaming, zero buffering, large library, free plan.
Cons: Requires software download, minimal social features, higher learning curve.

Slacker (Free, $3.99 or $9.99)

Rdio and Spotify garner most of the attention these days and rightfully so. Both services have a huge library of songs that nearly any casual music listener will enjoy. Rdio strips away complexity with it’s super easy to use web based service while Spotify goes out of its way to make the millions of iTunes users feel right at home. Both are very solid products that will find large bases of music fans.

But Slacker is a different beast, and it’s my favorite. Slacker has built a rabid following of fans since it arrived in 2004 by focusing on curated stations and music discovery. Sure, you can discover new music through friends on Rdio and Slacker, but they are minor features compared to Slacker’s approach.

With Slacker music discovery is at the heart of the service. Slacker presents the user with a list of genres ranging from Jazz to Rock to Country to Blues. Click on a genre such as Rock and you’ll see 17 stations to select from such as Classic Rock, 70’s Rock, Hard Rock and Southern Rock.

But the best part of Slacker is that each station has been curated by a Slacker DJ. I don’t know how Slacker does it, but it consistently plays great tunes while still introducing me to new tracks. It’s uncanny how well it does this. Rdio and Spotify are focused on playing music I already know and love. Slacker is that best friend in high school who couldn’t wait to share his favorite music with me by mixing tapes or burning CDs full of his favorite songs.

With Rdio and Spotify, I find myself listening to the same playlists over and over because I have to curate new tunes myself. Slacker does the work for me. Rdio and Spotify feel like music services created by business executives for more casual listeners. Slacker feels like it was created by music fanatics like myself who devour Rolling Stone, can explain why the Clash are better than U2, and can’t imagine going a day without listening to their favorite bands. In short, it’s for the music nut.

Which also means it’s not for everyone.

Both the web interface and Windows application feel outdated in comparison to anything out there besides Pandora. I should also mention that my two favorite bands are Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin and neither of them can be found on Rdio or Spotify due to licensing issues. But both are available on Slacker.

Pros: Uncanny music discovery, huge number of genres and music stations, gorgeous iPad app.
Cons: Outdated web and Windows app, no playlist sync, fewer features than others.

Conclusion

I’m excited to see new products and services push music into new directions and onto modern devices where they were unavailable or difficult to maintain not long ago. Although I don’t see myself paying for Spotify, the attentions it’s received is welcome news for all music services because it educates casual listeners on what services are available.

Slacker has become indispensible and well worth the cost of subscription. When I’m at my PC, it’s what I use 90% of the time. Rdio and Spotify aren’t left with much on my desktop, but I could see that percentage changing on my phone and tablet. All three services have iPhone apps. Only Slacker has a dedicated app for the iPad, and it’s gorgeous. It’s so much better than the Slacker desktop app or the web app.

I don’t believe that one music service will fill the needs of everyone. Spotify is the hottest product going today, but it’s not as enticing for people like me who value discovery over size of library. But that’s not a bad thing because healthy competition means competitive pricing and more choices for consumers.

If you haven’t already, give one or all three a try and let me know what you think.

The Lone Zip Tie

This is my Comcast cable box.

My neighbor ran over it. I called Comcast the next day to report the damage and schedule a repair.

A week later a van pulled up, and a guy jumped out to take a look. I went outside to speak with him and explain what happened.

“I don’t do replacements. I only do repairs.”

And repair he did. As you can see from the single zip tie.

Not two or three ties when one will clearly do the job. Call it good and move on to the next repair.

Three months have gone by. I smile each time I pull into my driveway and glance over at the leaning tower of Comcast. My internet service still works. So maybe the zip tie is doing it’s job.

I imagine the same person who would render such a repair isn’t someone who is going to call in a replacement box.

It may not be fair, but this sad looking cable box is what I now associate with the word, Comcast.

Update: @ComcastMark left a comment saying he could help initiate repairs.