The book must be selling... both Amazon and Barnes/Noble have it back-ordered for two weeks. Several folk who have read it have submitted "nitpicky" (their term) improvements on factoids; but people seem to like it. The Forbes.com review by Geo Anders was especially nice.
Last night Jenny hosted her longtime women professionals group here; I did my flower arranging and had a ball doing it. Found three dozen long-stemmed David Austin roses at the Ladera Nursery; spectacular! if I do say so.
And then today all the gals went to a spa for mudbaths and facials and stuff, so I had a "free day". I climbed on a short stepladder to saw down a big limb on an oak tree in the "back forty" and just before I saw'd thru it, the ladder collapsed, and I tumbled like a hot rock. Ouch, as they say. After shrugging it off for about an hour, and then looking at it again (all swollen on my thigh, and throbbing), I thought, "well, maybe having it checked would be a good idea". But I forgot the book I wanted to read (you always have a long wait in the ER on Saturday, don't ask how I know this), so I came back home after getting halfway there, and got a book. Good thing, given the nearly three hour wait.
The really good news -- nothing broken, a massive hematoma, probably swell for another week, and I'll be "good as new" in less than a month, they averred. Dammitall, lots to do, but I am at the moment "taking it easy"
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
the book is finally done, wow!
Wow, a beautiful glossy black jacket, with a bold yellow starburst. "The HP Phenomenon: Innovation and Business Transformation", it says, by Charles H. House and Raymond L. Price.
I got to hold the book, in fact got ten free copies from Stanford University Press this week. They "flew" out the door, all gone already. Have to buy them now! It is thrilling to see your book in print, and the book jacket is indeed attractive (maybe it's like with your own child, they look SO precious to you even if to no one else). And I even saw it on a shelf, at the Stanford Bookstore, yesterday, the first day it was officially available through bookstores. Amazon had it last Tuesday. Stanford Bookstore ordered ten, had already sold seven. Hubba hubba.
Mike Malone tells me that this is the proudest moment for an author, to see it on a shelf. He also says the worst day of your life is to see it on the "remainder table". And the trick is how many days or weeks are in-between. My guess is it also matters which bookstores actually carry it. I know that Kepler's in Menlo Park is carrying it, and I might go down and photograph that for posterity today.
The best news is the book is rated # 9,082 this morning on Amazon popularity, better than Thursday's # 157,064. Hardly the Top Ten list, but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
I got to hold the book, in fact got ten free copies from Stanford University Press this week. They "flew" out the door, all gone already. Have to buy them now! It is thrilling to see your book in print, and the book jacket is indeed attractive (maybe it's like with your own child, they look SO precious to you even if to no one else). And I even saw it on a shelf, at the Stanford Bookstore, yesterday, the first day it was officially available through bookstores. Amazon had it last Tuesday. Stanford Bookstore ordered ten, had already sold seven. Hubba hubba.
Mike Malone tells me that this is the proudest moment for an author, to see it on a shelf. He also says the worst day of your life is to see it on the "remainder table". And the trick is how many days or weeks are in-between. My guess is it also matters which bookstores actually carry it. I know that Kepler's in Menlo Park is carrying it, and I might go down and photograph that for posterity today.
The best news is the book is rated # 9,082 this morning on Amazon popularity, better than Thursday's # 157,064. Hardly the Top Ten list, but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.
Monday, October 12, 2009
autumn is fast upon us
A "big blow" is apparently headed our way. Rain, from one to three inches, or maybe four to eight inches, and winds, gusting to 60 or 70 mph, should wreak havoc on our town tonight or tomorrow. And one neighbor is, predictably, out nailing down the new tar paper on the new roof in the making tonight at eight-thirty pm in the dark -- since we've heard about this storm for five or six days, one wonders why he didn't start nailing sooner.
We had a little contest between the landscapers and the builders over what needs protecting, and how best to do it. The net was I found myself out with a pickaxe and shovel, digging the trough surrounding the building deep enough to drain the puddling area next to the house. Lotsa fun, though I wasn't sure just why I was doing it...
Anyway, we'll see. We'd get those "huge storm" predictions in Deer Valley, and the clouds would scud through with hardly a trace of moisture. Then, with no warning, we'd have a Big One. Must be fun to be a weather predictor.
We had a little contest between the landscapers and the builders over what needs protecting, and how best to do it. The net was I found myself out with a pickaxe and shovel, digging the trough surrounding the building deep enough to drain the puddling area next to the house. Lotsa fun, though I wasn't sure just why I was doing it...
Anyway, we'll see. We'd get those "huge storm" predictions in Deer Valley, and the clouds would scud through with hardly a trace of moisture. Then, with no warning, we'd have a Big One. Must be fun to be a weather predictor.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Naked, Drunk and Writing
Title of a new book, getting rave reviews! I like the idea, sort of how it worked to do the HP book, so there are those who think she has the right notion. But in a world where many (most?) observers are predicting the End of the Book, why would anyone try more writing?
And Google's new proposal makes sure that the consuming public does well, if not authors. But then have you weighed a recent copy of Business Week alongside an issue from a decade earlier? For grins, I compared and found today the issue is about 76 pp. vs. 180 pp. ten years ago. Missing a lot of ads is the first observation. Missing judicious reporters might be another sign.
But, writing is a lonely pursuit anyway. I think you mostly write for yourself, and then if you are lucky, someone else might read it as well. If you are really lucky, a dialogue might start. Note how many rejoinders are in this blog, for example. Tom Peters, with the most popular business book of all time -- six million copies in two years -- got 36 letters, only eight of which asked deeper questions. His cryptic comment -- "I did better than one in a million!"
Get Naked and Drunk sounds actually more like a Jimmy Buffet theme. Sounds good to me
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Greetings from the House House
Well, it finally happened today. The final inspection -- FINAL INSPECTION! -- for our modest abode in Menlo Park occurred today. All the lights work, all the utilities are safely connected, there are stairs or deck landings outside every door, and unbelievably, we are now free to begin to get an actual mortgage.
The saga has been lengthy, almost entirely due to the crazy bank mania of the past year. From having one appraisal to needing three, from having a local appraiser to requiring one "untainted" by local knowledge and probable collusion with a lender, from "work in progress" funds to everything must be done to qualify for the funds you need to finish...
This would make a book nearly as good as "Marley and me" but I don't have the heart to write it. Instead, I picked up a copy of "Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary" by Bert Patenaude that came out yesterday. It is gripping, and certainly reveals that we mostly live mundane lives compared with someone of his visibilty and stature.
"May you live in interesting times"
The saga has been lengthy, almost entirely due to the crazy bank mania of the past year. From having one appraisal to needing three, from having a local appraiser to requiring one "untainted" by local knowledge and probable collusion with a lender, from "work in progress" funds to everything must be done to qualify for the funds you need to finish...
This would make a book nearly as good as "Marley and me" but I don't have the heart to write it. Instead, I picked up a copy of "Trotsky: Downfall of a Revolutionary" by Bert Patenaude that came out yesterday. It is gripping, and certainly reveals that we mostly live mundane lives compared with someone of his visibilty and stature.
"May you live in interesting times"
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Eyes are pretty valuable
I had a chance yesterday to benefit from new modern technology. Jenny had eye surgery at five years old to correct a problem -- back then, it was a very invasive process. I had 162 "shots" at 380 milliwatts for 30 milliseconds each, delivered by a 3x3 matrix argon laser "gun" to spotweld a retinal tear. Love the precision!
The release form you sign says "there may be a slight amount of pain". That was certainly true, in fact, they overdelivered on that one! I was quite relieved when the final shot had been fired, and I certainly am not eager to repeat the experiment soon.
On the other hand, I was quite lucky compared to some other friends. One good friend recently endured a fully detached retinal event, while enbound for a trek in Africa. It happened on a street, inexplicably, in London. Needless to say, their trip was interrupted, but so was his life, for the next six months, as he struggles to regain full eyesight. And he is lucky as well. He is regaining his sight.
Along the way, via the too lengthy diagnostic process -- four visits to four different docs at four facilities, escalating the specialties as we went -- I was entranced by the OCT machines that could build a "depth profile" of the layers of cells underneath the retina. This fabulous technology is an outgrowth of recent work at the MIT Media Lab, plus early work by Marvin Minsky at Harvard nearly fifty years ago. It is part sonar, part time-domain reflectometry, and way cool for its diagnostic ability for macular degenrative disease and macular "pucker", both of which I am currently experiencing as well.
Fearsome words to some, including me, but tell you what -- they're just aging issues, and as the doc said, "you are balding too, and you don't call that an illness"...
So, recuperating today -- slept an amazing twelve or thirteen hours, but certainly privileged.
The release form you sign says "there may be a slight amount of pain". That was certainly true, in fact, they overdelivered on that one! I was quite relieved when the final shot had been fired, and I certainly am not eager to repeat the experiment soon.
On the other hand, I was quite lucky compared to some other friends. One good friend recently endured a fully detached retinal event, while enbound for a trek in Africa. It happened on a street, inexplicably, in London. Needless to say, their trip was interrupted, but so was his life, for the next six months, as he struggles to regain full eyesight. And he is lucky as well. He is regaining his sight.
Along the way, via the too lengthy diagnostic process -- four visits to four different docs at four facilities, escalating the specialties as we went -- I was entranced by the OCT machines that could build a "depth profile" of the layers of cells underneath the retina. This fabulous technology is an outgrowth of recent work at the MIT Media Lab, plus early work by Marvin Minsky at Harvard nearly fifty years ago. It is part sonar, part time-domain reflectometry, and way cool for its diagnostic ability for macular degenrative disease and macular "pucker", both of which I am currently experiencing as well.
Fearsome words to some, including me, but tell you what -- they're just aging issues, and as the doc said, "you are balding too, and you don't call that an illness"...
So, recuperating today -- slept an amazing twelve or thirteen hours, but certainly privileged.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Multiple Generations for Twitter and Facebook
Michael Wesch is currently on a Skype connection into our MediaX Social Media Collaboratory workshop being taught by Howard Rheingold
(see http://mediax.stsnford.edu/WSI/collaboratory.html )
Wesch has some YouTube clips -- the one I think everyone should watch (and many have, with some 10 million downloads to date) is called "The Machine is Us/ing Us"
Compelling stuff, re why MediaX exists, and what we might profitably study. The OLPC project is a good example, but there are many, many things -- the use of checkout counter automatic cameras which might have an infinite focal plane, the use of in-home monitors for medical aid that might get the oldster committed to an institution earlier than might be desired/apropos, etc.
Where does this go? Is there a predictable endpoint? How many generations of Media Users will we have (our grandkids are adept at things we scarcely imagine, let alone adopt and use. Today the fourteen year olds know MUCH more than the nineteen year olds seemingly; the eleven year olds are excellent at stuff the fourteen years old have not yet learned. And if you're (gasp) over thirty, Jerry Rubin called it at Berkeley (tho he borrowed the phrase from Jack Weinberger apparently) -- never trust anyone over thirty!
(see http://mediax.stsnford.edu/WSI/collaboratory.html )
Wesch has some YouTube clips -- the one I think everyone should watch (and many have, with some 10 million downloads to date) is called "The Machine is Us/ing Us"
Compelling stuff, re why MediaX exists, and what we might profitably study. The OLPC project is a good example, but there are many, many things -- the use of checkout counter automatic cameras which might have an infinite focal plane, the use of in-home monitors for medical aid that might get the oldster committed to an institution earlier than might be desired/apropos, etc.
Where does this go? Is there a predictable endpoint? How many generations of Media Users will we have (our grandkids are adept at things we scarcely imagine, let alone adopt and use. Today the fourteen year olds know MUCH more than the nineteen year olds seemingly; the eleven year olds are excellent at stuff the fourteen years old have not yet learned. And if you're (gasp) over thirty, Jerry Rubin called it at Berkeley (tho he borrowed the phrase from Jack Weinberger apparently) -- never trust anyone over thirty!
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