Guitar Monster Unleashed!

I have to apologize to the world for what I have done. I have created a monster, although indirectly, but still. My actions led to the creation of a beast so unbelievable, so fearsome, so fierce and fiery that words fail me. A few weeks back I showed Guitar Hero on the PlayStation 2 to The Motorcycling Couple. We had a nice evening playing it and they caught the fire. Later that week they went out and bought the game.

Now, they have had many visitors, almost all of whom have tried to play the game. Even a mother tried. Really, there are no limits to the magnetism of the game. The Motorcycling Couple showed the game one time to H-P, who went out and bought right away not only Guitar Hero the game with the guitar controller, but also the whole PlayStation 2!

Yesterday, we met H-P at The Motorcycling Couple's. He managed to play all songs on the "Hard" difficulty setting. The notes and chords fly towards you unbelievably fast in the end and you need to use five buttons with your four fingers. Like the game said "his legendary performance will be talked about for years."

I do apologize for setting this guitar monster loose!

Busy Forevermore

I've been making a lot of sales calls for my upcoming visit to Finland and today I bumped into the worst phone call. I think it will be hard for anybody to break this record.

The transcript of the call:
A voice answers with some background noises.
I introduce myself and why I'm calling. I refer to the email, which contained enough information about my training offer to consider in piece and which had my contact details, and which I had sent a week earlier. I was calling because I hadn't heard anything. I was calling as promised.
Right in the middle of my introduction, the voice on the other end says very quickly "Noo, I'm already busy enough!" and hangs up.
That's it. 23 seconds. A record.

Classic mistakes busyness makes you do: You don't have time to read your emails. You don't have time for "unnecessary" phone calls. You apparently don't have any time to decline the offer via email, which would have stopped me from calling in the first place. No time in a week! You don't have even a minute on the phone to explain why you don't want a training. A training that would possibly help you out of the busyness.

When you're overly busy, you have to protect yourself from everything new. Because you don't have any time to really consider the offers, accepting one might very well be a bad decision. To not make bad decisions, you always say "no." Saying always "no" is bound to be a bad decision some of the time. You pass many genuinely good opportunities just because you cannot use your consideration, because you have no time.

Bygones.

Tequila dilemma

Over the years there's been this dilemma of different procedures to drink tequila. In my opinion the right order is: salt-tequila-lemon, but there are people who claim it to be: salt-lemon-tequila or even tequila-salt-lemon.

In all of these cases you lick the back of your hand or moisturise it with the lemon. But never ever had I seen what I witnessed yesterday: You lick your hand - you pour your tequila on your hand... and on the table... then you realise it wasn't the salt you were pouring - you drink what's left of the tequila - you eat the lemon.


Thank you H and S for a great night out, and especially H - thanks for the laughter. The next tequila is on me!

What a Week!

It's been a terrific week. The work is going great, I received feedback on my writing, I have acquired customers, the weather was sunny and warm, most everything seemed to go well. The nice thing about having things to do, is the purpose they give you. During the summer, I focused on writing my book and at times it seemed futile. There is no certainty that anybody will print and publish it in the end. So the endeavour is all mine. Most of the time I can handle it, but sometimes, just sometimes, it seems that it can all be a waste of time. On the other hand, if I don't write my book now, I might never know if I'm up to it or not.

So I stick to my chosen path and navigate my way. Last week I concentrated on client acquisition and next week is so planned, too. On the weekend I try to relax and work on my writing, watch a little TV, maybe play some board games. Every day I read, too. I'm currently reading Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince and Other Stories", Edward de Bono's "Teach Yourself to Think", Gerald M.Weinberg's "More Secrets of Consulting", Mike Carey's "Hellblazer: Stations of the Cross" and Vikas Swarup's "Q&A". I try to have a lot of variety in my reading. There's a children's storybook, a self-help book, a work-related masterpiece, a comic and an entertaining novel.

To crown it all, I put Alan Moore's signature on my wall!

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Suomennos: Tosi kiva viikko ollut. Listasin myös kirjat, joita tällä hetkellä luen.

A Quick One

Just a quick post in between supposed-phone-calls-turning-into-leaving-a-no-news-message-on-an-answering-machine-type thingies. I've been busy arranging the trip to Finland and Tampere, lately. Everything's fine, at least until I receive feedback on the chapter of my book. The review is due today, and I'm about to start my collection rounds. From the people in Bochum I collect the material myself, from others I'm expecting post any day now.

Received a new USB headset and managed to get it to work with Skype. It should lessen the amount of people who ask where I'm calling from, a barrel? The echo should now be less dominant and it should make calling less disturbing too. Also the new headset is not as hot as my headphones I used before. They are really good headphones exactly because they have the cup-like structure which envelopes the ears totally. I cannot hear anything else but what keeps pouring in from the headphones.

Back to calling. Enjoy your weekend!

It's raining

The rains started today. I have given up hope of summer, now. I'll probably go and buy me some new wheels for my inline skates. The current ones are completely worn after this summer.

You wouldn't believe how many phone calls I've made today without hesitation. I'm getting better at it. I still don't feel exactly comfortable about it, but setting clear times when to call and who helps. Tomorrow will be filled with calls, there are some calls scheduled for Wednesday and a couple for Thursday. Next week Monday I'll also spend on the phone.

Trip to Finland will most likely take place on week 42 and/or 43. Virpi's birthday happens to be 19th of October and she'd like to be in Finland celebrating this time. I've nothing against it. We'll see.

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Finished yesterday a book called "Anonymous Lawyer" by Jeremy Blachman. A very enjoyable and quick read. The book is written like a collection of blog posts and emails. Recommended.

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Suomennos: Syyssateet alkoivat. Puhelin kuumana on soiteltu ja Suomeen ollaan tulossa. Pysytellään Tampereen seudulla tällä tiukasti työmatkalla.

About Telephobia

I received some good comments on the post about Telephobia. Some think it is a symptom inflicting mostly men, but I'm not convinced. I like to talk on the phone with friends as much as the next girl, and I can certainly imagine females having trouble calling up unknown people. It's a theory, but it's not the whole story, I think.

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Here's a mail from Marko, who has been in sales his whole professional life. Excellent advice.

There are hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people in the world who sell for a living (or die trying), and among them there are as many people who have had the same disease in different forms. It is not that people would be afraid to meet people or talk to them or introduce themselves or their business, it is purely the fear that the opponent says "No."

I have trained many salesmen and I have some experience in this profession myself, and basically it is the same thing as you would go for the first time and ask a pretty girl to dance in the disco because she smiled once to you (later it turned out that your fly was undone), but you don't dare because you think she'd say "No."

There are some well-known terms in the world of sales, like "glue ass sales director" who drives all the way to the customer but won't step out of the car and go meet him. Also the term "handle fright" is the problem of many a peddler, you just can't pull on the door handle, it might be closed.

The fact that the internet has made communication easier, it has also made it easier to say "No" than face to face.

As a matter of fact, sales work only begins for real once the customer has said "No" for the first time. You must find out what caused the "No", did you have the wrong
-time
-product
-person, you called
-company
-time
-person, who decides
-year
-something else.

After you know which one causes the "No" you can act controllably and change it so that eventually the answer is a "Yes."

Typically people resort to gruesome acts in order to avoid hearing "No." They even clean the house and sacrifice precious time for too much thinking.

Realistically, on the other end there could also be a person who is slightly terrified when the phone rings and in panic just says "Yes" in order to get rid of you and your business.

There is no other cure for this than to create a connection and listen what the other person is saying to you. Then you can proceed with sophisticated conversation. What I'm saying is that if professionals have this problem, normal people are also entitled to it. On the other hand you shouldn't be too afraid of "No..."

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Suomennos: Ovatko miehet ainoita, jotka pelkäävät soittaa puhelimella? Telefoobikot, kertokaa kokemuksistanne!
Markon erinomainen kirjoitus aiheesta myynnin ammattilaisena:

Maailmassa on satoja tuhansia ja satoja tuhansia ihmisiä, jotka tekevät myyntityötä elääkseen (ja kuollakseen) ja heidän joukossaan on yhtä monta ihmistä, joilla on ollut aivan saman taudin eri ilmenemismuotoja. Kyse ei ole siitä, että ihmiset pelkäisivät tavata ihmisiä tai puhua heille tai esitellä itseeään tai asiaansa, vaan kyse on puhtaasti pelko siitä, että vastapuoli sanoo: "Ei."

Olen kouluttanut jonkin verran myyjiä ja kouliintunut itsekin jonkin verran tässä ammatissa ja perimmiltään kyse on samasta asiasta, kun hakisi diskossa ensimmäistä kertaa tanssimaan sitä mukavaa tyttöä, joka on kerran hymyillyt sinulle (jälkikäteen kävi ilmi, että viilut oli auki), mutta et uskalla kun se sanoo "Ei".

Myyntimaailmassa tunnetaan "Liimapersemyyntipäällikkö", joka ajaa autolla asiakkaalle asti, muttei nouse autosta ja mene tapaamaan tätä. Samoin termi "Ripakauhu" on monen myyntitykin ongelma, oven kahvaa ei voi vetää, jos se vaikka onkin kiinni.

Se, että Internet on tehnyt asioinnista helppoa ja kasvotonta, on myös toisaalta helpompi paikka sanoa "Ei" kun suoraan kasvotusten.

Itseasiassa kunnon myyntityö alkaa vasta sitten, kun asiakas on sanonut ensimmäisen kerran "Ei". Tällöin pitää selvittää mikä aiheuttaa "Ei":n, onko väärä:
- aika
- tuote
- henkilö, joka soittaa
- firma
- ajankohta
- henkilö, joka päättää
- vuosi
- joku muu

Kun tiedetään mihin asiaan toinen vastaa "Ei" , niin voidaan toimia hallitusti ja yrittää muuttaa tätä niin, että vastaus onkin lopulta "Kyllä".

Tyypillisimmillään ihmiset ajautuvat karmeisiin tekoihin vältellessään kuulemasta "Ei". He jopa siivoavat ja uhraaavt arvokasta aikaa liikaan miettimiseen.

Itseasiassa, toisessakin päässä saattaa olla henkilö, joka on lievästi kauhuissaan, kun puhelin soi ja voi hätäpäissään sanoa "Kyllä", päästäkseen eroon sinusta tai asiastasi.

Tällaiseen käyttäytymiseen ei ole olemassa muuta lääkettä, kuin se, että luo yhteyden ja kuuntelee, mitä toinen vastaa sinulle. Tästä pääsee eteenpäin sivistyneellä keskustelulla. Eli jos ammattilaisillakin on joskus ongelmia nostaa luuri, niin on tavallisillakin ihmisillä oikeus siihen. Toisaalta ei kannata pelätä "Ei":tä liikaa....

Chapter Review Started

Today I managed to deliver the last of the review packages. I printed out my Chapter 2 "Symptoms" for all reviewers and today I managed to give away the last one of them. All the reviewers should have their packages by now, some might still be in the postal system, but should be arriving any day now. The review deadline is 22-Sep-06, which is next week Friday. That should give enough time for everybody to read the chapter carefully and make some clear markings on it that will help me to improve it.

I'm also expecting some subjective criticism on the style and I want the reviewers to be brutally honest. If my writing is boring and unreadable, I want to know now. If you genuinely like it, I'd like to hear that, too.

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Suomennos: kirjani luku 'Oireita' on saatettu tarkistukseen. Odotan raakaa ja rehellistä palautetta.

Indian Summer, still

For the last week, the weather in Bochum has been beautiful and sunny. It hasn't rained, and at the moment there are even no clouds in the sky. I'm contemplating going out to town for a snack. We're also going to meet with the French guys for a few rounds of Mölkky and possibly Petanque.

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I bought in Leeds a book by Edward de Bono called "The Six Hats". Well, I actually bought three books by de Bono, but "The Six Hats" I've now read. It was a short introduction to the method of using different hats in meetings to find the best solution to a problem or a situation. The simple yet powerful idea of separating feelings from facts, negative judgment from positive judgment and judgment from movement or new ideas, is wonderful. With the method you can "let decisions make themselves". Nobody needs to make a decision, which is self-evident to all participants and the method helps lay out the facts, feelings, prejudices and creative ideas as a map that shows the best course of action to all. Highly recommended, especially if you experience currently difficult and everlasting meetings.

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Another book I just finished reading is called "Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour" by Kate Fox. The book is a little bit dry, but it is written by an English woman, so what do you expect. I did read the whole book, so it wasn't a total loss. There's a lot of repetition, which probably depends on the subject. The English do seem to operate according to a set of rules, which are relaxed only every now and then, and even then in moderation. The one thing I remember from the book is the saying that "instead of social skills the English have their homes". Interesting reading for any would-be sociologist or anthropologist.

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We'll live on the edge again! This is EXTREME! We might not be young but we can still rebel!
Against all common sense, we'll go and watch the original version (read: in English, no dubbing) of Miami Vice the movie in the late night show. the commercials start at 23:00 (11PM). I hope it is worth it.

---

Yesterday evening I received a rejection on my article. The reviewers found almost nothing worth of value in the writing, and I think I might have to agree with them. There was no message in the article, as it has always worked as an introduction to the "Tick-The-Code" Inspection method. The length of the article made me cut the inspection method from it and there was nothing left. The only message is that "if you're busy, the quality of your work suffers, and quality control is important". But I used a few thousand words to say it.
At first I was slightly taken aback, but on the other hand I was expecting to be rejected. I have to remember that it is the article they rejected, not me. And not my book, although i have an ominous feeling, because of a comment from a reviewer. He or she wrote that "there's a lot of fluff. Almost every other sentence is a reiteration of the previous sentence." I have noticed that before and I thought it was a good style. To say the same thing twice but with different words. To repeat the message dissimilarly. Maybe in a condenced article with no message, the style seemed irritating. Repeating a lot of nothing, would make me angry, too.
I just hope that my book has a message, or two! Then I probably can stick to my style.

I learned that I need to spend more time on thinking about the message, before starting to crank out the words. The cranking out I seem to have in control, but the message department needs polishing. Excellent.

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Suomennos: Bochumissa hellettä, palan täällä parvekkeella. Sain luetuksi kirjan kuudesta hatusta ja englantilaisten erikoisuuksista. Ensimmäinen artikkeliehdotukseni tuli hylättynä takaisin. Aion ottaa siitä opikseni.

Telephobia

Heard in an Avoiders Anonymous meeting:
Man: "Hello, my name is Miska, ..uhm.. and I'm an avoider!"
All: "Hello, Miska!"
Chairman: "What do you avoid, Miska?"
Miska: "I avoid the telephone. Whenever I need to make an important telephone call, I procrastinate. Sometimes I invent reasons why I can't call right then. Excuses, really. Like the other day, I wanted to call Finland and it was to a firm I hadn't been in contact before. I sat down at my desk with my telephone at 10AM and I told myself that soon they are going out to lunch in Finland. What if I disturb somebody and make them uncomfortable at the other end?"
Chairman: "What else?"
Miska: "What would I say, how would I introduce myself. I'm not a salesman, you know. Neither do I want to be one!"
Chairman: "What did you do?"
Miska: "Instead of calling, I started cleaning the house. It was crazy. I would rather vacuum the whole apartment than make one lousy phone call. That's what I'm afraid, you know. Making a lousy phone call. Not being able to turn the conversation to my subject."
Chairman: "How long did this take?"
Miska: "Well, the vacuuming maybe an hour, but then it was time for lunch. Once I almost called, it was really close. I had my finger on the button, I was just one press away from dialing. Luckily, or unfortunately, at that moment I received a new email, which distracted me enough."
Chairman: "Did you call at all?"
Miska: "No, by the time I had poured myself a glass of water and adjusted my mind, I thought the people in Finland would be going home already. There is one hour time difference. It is driving me nuts!"
Man from the crowd: "THAT'S not avoidance! You're not an AVOIDER! He's an impostor!"
Miska: "What?"
All: "WHAT?"
Man from the crowd: "I'm a psychologist. The symptoms indicate a bad case of telephobia!"
Chairman: "Telewhat?"
Psychologist: "Telephobia is the illogical and terrible fear of telephones. The sufferers usually cannot make any phone calls and pay the price for that."
Chairman: "How?"
Psychologist: "Well, think about it. Telephobics cannot order pizza or reserve tickets to events. It is terrible. "
Chairman: "Is there a cure?"
Psychologist: "Not exactly a cure, but the internet has helped many telephobics to get their lives back, as ironic as that sounds. Although in the most extreme case, the telephobic cannot connect to the internet, because his modem needs to make a call."
All: "Ooh, how irritating!"
---
Miska: "..And that's where I woke up. What do you make of it, Doctor?"
Doctor: "Interesting. Do you have any other phobias? Arachnophobia, claustrophobia, agoraphobia, vertigo?"
Miska: "Not that I know of, but now that you mention I kind of feel dizzy lying on the couch at this height and closed in, like the ceiling is gonna come crashing down and reveal that I am under clear blue skies on wide open spaces and there are spiders attacking from all sides. Oh, no, I'm gonna be sick!"
Doctor: "NOT ON THE FLOOR ...oh, I can buy a need carpet."

Symptoms about to end

Today I attacked the last third of Chapter 2 "Symptoms". It looks like I'll have it ready for review by tomorrow.

Items handled this evening were all under the heading "Suboptimal coding standards" and included "too vague rules", "too stylistic" and "too extensive". This last third seems to be least affected by the change in point-of-view I made in this second draft version.

The book has in total 40 thousand words, which would make it probably a 100-page book. I should point out that Chapter 2 has almost tripled in size in this second round. I don't think that will happen for all chapters, but 3 "Root Causes" and 6 "Benefits" might behave similarly. Chapter 1 is actually missing altogether. I only have a Preface and I'm not sure I'll keep it. It is the oldest relic of writing in this book and it seems like I now have a better grasp of the the whole thing and could better explain and introduce it. Probably I should.

I'll need to write some kind of instruction on how to read the book I guess. Instructions like, which chapter contains what and who is each chapter meant for and most useful. It seems to be common practice. Strange isn't it? Books meant for educated professionals need to have reading instructions in them, while practically anybody else can just pick up a novel and read it with enjoyment.

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Yesterday, we saw the movie "United 93". It is practically a documentary about one of the hi-jacked planes on 11-Sep-01 in America. Realism is a difficult genre, but the movie succeeds fairly well. It seemed that the movie shouldn't be critiqued at all but used as a method to grief, honor and remember. There was no extraneous patriotism or hostility in the film, unlike what I expect from the film "World Trade Center" starring Nicolas Cage, who seems to be in practically everything right now. According to Internet Movie Database, Cage made one film in 2004, two in 2005, three in 2006, has announced four films for 2007 and another four for 2008. To keep the increasing velocity of one more film each year, he should try to get into one more film appearing in 2008. And if he keeps it up long enough by year 2055 he'll appear in a new film every week!

I liked the film "Lady in the Water". I don't care what anybody says. It was scary, funny and tragic all at once. I liked especially the performance of stuttering Paul Giamatti. I liked him in "Sideways" and "American Splendor" before.

I did leave - lucky me!

As you still haven't heard from me after our trip to Yorkshire it's maybe time to let you know that I too did leave Royston Vasey and here I am writing the blog instead of doing all the other (more important?) stuff I should do today.

Now that I come to think of it, actually the trip to England didn't start that well.... it was all Royston Vasey from the very beginning.



We managed to take the bus to the railway station and catch our train. And then it began...

1. The doors in the train didn't work - we had to take our luggage and drag ourselves through many doors and seats and people just to get out.

2. The lift from the platform was kaput - we had to find the stairs somewhere.

3. The not-working-airport shuttle had been replaced with a bus. Well, this we knew already as it has been like that since May, but still at this point I said "what next, probably the lift at the airport is also out of order".

4. We looked up the nearest lift to get to the departures - "out of order".

5. At the airplane they had a lottery. We got number 9. And the winner was sitting right in front of us with the lucky number 10!

. . . .

After all this we arrived in Leeds safely, and that's what counts. The following night we did some bar-hopping. In three out of four places a member of staff managed to break a glass near to us. But as they say: "Sirpaleet tuovat onnea" - that's a Finnish phrase meaning 'shards are lucky' or 'shards bring luck'. Nobody seems to be familiar with this phrase in English, so if someone out there knows if there's a saying like that, please let me know.

And the visit to Leeds turned out to be fine. And we managed to leave - even the Royston Vasey!

Productive day

Today's program:
1. Meet with a tax counselor - tick
2. Finish second third of Chapter 2 - almost
3. See the movie "Lady in the Water" (late-night show at 23:00)

The second chapter "Symptoms" is getting out of hand. It used to be 11 printed pages (with double lines for comments), now I'm working through it and it contains 29 pages! Some of it really is new, parts I know I'll have to delete, but on the whole it is growing.

I found a nice working habit, in that I make a mind-map (actually several) about the subjects I want to write about. Then I make the mind-maps finer and finer until I reach almost the paragraph level. Then a leaf in a mind-map later becomes one or two paragraphs in the book. Important thing is that I think about ALL the things I want to say first, then try to restructure the mind-map so that it makes sense before I write any text. And still during writing I sometimes come up with new ideas I didn't think about that really should have been in the mind-map.

I'll try to archive the mind-maps and other working material, so that one day I possibly can share them with you. I think I will continue this habit on Chapters 3. "Root Causes" and Chapter 6. "Benefits".

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Ever since Sixth Sense, I've liked the works of M.Night Shyamalan. I own all his films (Unbreakable, Signs, The Village) on DVD. I really hope he's been able to make a good, surprising and possibly scary movie this time with "Lady in the Water". I like seeing people succeed.

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On the weekend we are planning a board game session, on-line after a long summer of not playing.

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Professionally, I've played with the idea of starting a newsletter. So far I haven't been able to convince myself that I could do it. On the other hand, deadlines would probably be good for me right now. Having to write by a certain time, having to come up with ideas that expand, would be excellent exercise, and it could even be useful and the real deal.

Guilty confession

I know, I should be writing my book, instead of surfing the internet or writing in this blog. I feel a little bit guilty sneaking out today, but I made some progress yesterday and finished outlining the best part of Chapter 2 (now called "Symptoms" instead of "Problems") today. Even though it is raining, we decided to go out and visit the Winzerfest (Winegrower Party). It is the last day, after all.

Maybe I'll get some time in the evening to finish the second third of Chapter 2. By Tuesday it might be in a shape to be reviewed by others. I'll be moving on to Chapters 3 (Root Causes) and 6 (Benefits) by then.