Office Dinosaur

Seniority vs. Ranking

When a decision needs to be made a specialist is usually called in. If you need something important to be done you most often look to your best human asset to complete the task. When rewards are to be given it is most often the best in a field that receives the accolades. So who is the best? When you have multiple employees, crossing differing backgrounds, generations and experience levels, who is your top choice? These questions can have different answers depending on your field, the situation, the timing or the makeup of the team. Yet what it usually boils down to is a choice between someone who is the most senior in a position and the number one performer in a position.
Seniority has been a strong factor in decisions across the globe for centuries. The term “elders” most likely took on more meaning then simply “elderly” due to the perceived superior experience in any field due primarily to their sheer longevity. Some cultures revere their elders , others put them in homes and visit them on weekends or holidays. At times it maybe more about respect than knowledge but more often most people who have been in a position for longer do have greater experience and knowledge to draw a conclusion from. It's that pesky "draw a conclusion" part that I think is the biggest pitfall to assuming that seniority equals success. It takes a mind and the ability to make the right choices, not just know the consequences or the possible results of each.
This is where the number one performer steps to the plate. #1 is the individual who just kicks butt! The go-getter, the one who'll ask for challenges and solve them successfully. When someone in the office is "shining" it is most often the #1, no matter the topic. Smart or shrewd, ballsy or adventurous, call it whatever you want they always seem to average out to success in the end. It is in that "average" though that some dirty spots may hide. While you may see and focus and remember their tremendous trophies, shadowed along the way their exist some spectacular failures. The challenge in selecting the #1 for your champion is that you're "pretty sure" they'll end up with success, just not sure why. Their lacking experience inevitably leads to the discussion of luck.
Choosing between our two individuals can be difficult and annoying to others when they lose out and feel slighted. If you're the office dinosaur you can't believe it when Chuck the new guy gets a promotion. Suzy from sales is invited on the annual trip with the boss instead of you only because you think she's hot, meanwhile you're blinded to the fact that her numbers outranked your's for three consecutive quarters. Conversely, the new wonder kid can't believe that Stan gets the corner office with his drab style and monotonous mindset, thinking it's only because he's got tenure.
Both have a point and both are being ninnies (thanks Matt, I'll borrow that!) So select wisely, it may be your saving grace or your last mistake as a manager or boss. Good luck.

Wireless Internet Thief

Wireless Internet for free:

Here's a concept that clearly needs to be an issue in our upcoming presidential debates. Everyone of us (that has a laptop) has wondered around town, perhaps even in their car, looking for an open signal to tap into the Internet (not saying I've done this, I just know a friend who did once =). Now some say this is illegal, stealing someone else's' Internet. Seriously? I'm stealing it from you? People are being charged with actual crimes for this! Maybe if I set up a relay and took it constantly then I'd be stealing, but to do it once in awhile, while you're sitting in Britania Arms and there is this guys wireless from an office across the street (this is how I may be writing this right now), this is stealing? I think not. Have we gone to that point where we covet things so tightly that we kill the sense of community from everything?
True there are reasons to not let someone piggyback:

• they could decrease your bandwidth - i.e. exit you off the Internet highway and onto a small one lane dirt road.
• they could hack your system if it is connected as well
  
• they could set up a porn ring and use your i.p. address as the base camp for that operation.
• they could enjoy the Internet

Other than that last reason, most of these NEVER happen, or so minimally that you'd never really notice. So why all the fuss?

I say let's be giving and let everyone use the Internet all over. Businesses should understand that people now are more likely to come there if they can get access. Although this is by no means a condoning of bad behavior with respect to courtesy in a public place (a whole other topic for a post.) Let's just get over ourselves and how much we need to have everything and no one can share.
NE

Bad Drivers

Can I please become a CHP officer for a day, a week? I wouldn’t spend my time tracking down speeders (unless they were seriously reckless), I’d drive around and give people fat tickets for being oblivious. That should be Sesame Street’s word for the day, oblivious. People drive around in their cocoon of a car without regard for the others on the road; be it bicycles, motorcycles, pedestrians or even cars. I’ve seen cars merge without the driver even looking at the lane they are going into. I’ve seen people on cell phones driving 20 mph slower than the flow of traffic and they are sitting in the fast lane, 6 or 7 cars lined up behind them with everyone passing on the right.

I think when it comes to bad drivers there are 4 main types:

• “The Elderly”. Sorry but it’s so true. These can be the most difficult to accept because you know you can’t be upset with them, they don’t even know what they are doing! (note: elderly is your own definition – what you consider elderly I may not) And there are some really great drivers in this age demographic, clearly you can see the bad driver name is a generalization.

• “The Slow-Reactors”. These are the people who don’t see the backup behind them for about 2-5 miles. To their credit when they finally see that they need to move over, they do, even if it is a very slow reaction. They see it. They think about it. They put on their blinker. They wait. They look. They begin the lane change and then they finally move over (this process took about ½ mile to ¾ mile.)

• “The Jerks”. These are the drivers that feel it is their God given right to set the speed limit. If the speed limit is 55, then they are going to go 55 in the fast lane and you just shouldn’t be driving faster than that so slow down. They don’t care that there is room in the lane to the right and that the law says, ”Slower traffic keep right.” Like I said, Jerks!

• “The Idiots". Folks, here are are real winners! Drivers who have don't have a clue of what is going on in the lanes around them. It is an absolute wonder that they make it to each of their destinations without hitting something. They stay in the fast lane until ¼ mile from their exit, where they suddenly realize that they need to be 3 lanes over and so they just go. These are the auto pilots who can have a conversation with someone in the seat next to them and actually forget that they are the ones driving! (I've been the passenger in a car where this situation played out – freakin’ scary!)
  

So what is it about an automobile that gives people the right to be bad drivers. Does no one care about those around them? If this situation does not improve, the CHP will be receiving my application.

Drive safe.

San Francisco

Took a trip to the city and there are a couple of things about city life that really stick with me. It has some similarities to Vegas where you say, "Great place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there." But here the saying would be more like, "Great place to live for a year or two but you wouldn't want to settle down there."

The city has a very romantic appeal. Walking through Union Square (our destination), seeing the historic trolley car turned by hand at the end of Powell, sitting at a street corner bistro watching the tourists go by. These are the subtle joys of the city that rekindle the nostalgia within us all, longing for some touch to the past. There are places in the city where if you put everything in black and white (because there wasn't color until 1941... I know, read it on wikipedia), then you could step back in time to a simpler place with nickel sodas and paperboys with funny looking baseball caps.
In stark contrast to its' historical backdrops is the ultra-modern society living amongst the Victorians. Cell phones, iPods, all kinds of digital stimuli to distract, entertain and baby-sit the masses. San Francisco is my image of a modern historical city. And what’s with all the Christian protests going on!? It seemed like every corner there were a group of people trying to show the benefits of a relationship with God. The hard part with their bombarding approach is that it has the feeling of shoving something down your throat. This commentary has no insight into my own beliefs, I’m merely speaking to the efficacy of the style.
Ok, enough for today. Watch the Tour, it’s on “Versus” network – it used to be OLN. My new favorite this year is Cadel Evans. He’s got the team to support him and I don’t think anyone can match his desire.