Ponderings 2/19/12

1. I am always confused what to do when  you are walking with someone and there are 2 doors top open right after each other. If the person opens the door for me am I supposed to return the favor on the 2nd door?
My style is to continue walking and hold the door after I walk through rather than open the door for people.

2. Chewing nuts or chips with head phones on quickly makes you learn how to chew quietly.

3. Do you really trust the people sitting in the emergency row of an airplane to get those doors open for you?

4. There is no better way to bond with people than a good old fashioned retreat. I think more companies should steal the science camp idea from elementary school and implement a mandatory week long camp. I also really want to go to science camp again.

5. I find it weird that most of us still use business cards. There should just be a cross platform mobile app which instantly shares contact details sending an email to both parties so you remember the contact you just added.

6. I hate holidays that not every company celebrates. 

Ponderings 2/12/12

1. There needs to be an easy to install and cheap system for your house so that a cell phone app can be able to automatically check the following.
     A. Lights are off
     B. Garage is closed
     C. Doors are locked
     D. Appliances are off (Stove, Iron, etc. )
This would really help lower the number of times people return back to a house to triple check that something was turned off.

2A. While cleaning my desk at home, I  realized that some of my former essentials no longer need prime desk real estate. My stapler, ruler, eraser, calculator, and Chinese finger traps have all been bumped to a drawer.

2B. While cleaning my desk I wanted to plug in the Vacuum Cleaner, and it took 10 minutes to untangle and figure out which wire corresponded to my desk lamp.

2C. Moral of the story: Never clean your desk.

3. After every NFL season, it is always shocking how much extra time I have on Sundays.

4. Jeremy Lin needs a signature move so people can start "Linning".

5. ESPN started HoopIdea for people to think about ideas to improve  the NBA game. Here are my suggestions:

• Expand the sidelines to increase the spacing and pace of the game. 
• Decrease the shot clock to 20. 
• Introduce the 4 point shot from behind half court. 
• Reinstate the 5 second call so players keep passing and trying to move the ball and cannot stall. 
• The last team to score each quarter gets ball to start the next quarter. 

My favorite suggestion from ESPN was the ability to decline free throws when you are fouled. So you always have the option to take the ball out. I think it would need some additional rules in the final minutes but it is intriguing and would stop teams from being able to intentionally foul.  

Ponderings 2/5/12

1.  I love watching the announcers struggle saying Metta World Peace. They want to say Ron Artest so bad, so pause, and then finally say World Peace.
1B. I was waiting for Metta World Peace to show up at the end of the Superbowl halftime show.

2. There needs to be an easy way to book flights with friends. When a friend is booking, they should see landing times that match their other friends and get suggestions for ideal itineraries. A well designed site could easily replace the hurdle of 50 emails to organize an entire group itinerary. It also could allow one person to book the correct flights but allow each individual to pay.

3. I don't trust hand sanitizer. I don't think it kills 99.99% of the germs.

4. I hate burning my tongue but I love having hot beverages and food. They should make cheap coffee stirrer thermometers so you can easily check the temperature of your hot food or beverage.

5. I always wonder if it is really worth spending the money for a Superbowl commercial? This year it is $3.5 million for a 30 second slot.  The only ads that should feel ok about the 3.5 millions are:
A. M&Ms - brown M&M
B. Sketchers - Dog Sprinting.
C. E-trade- Speed Dating
D. Oikos yogurt - Head butting.
E. CareerBuilder - Monkeys.

6. It is really hard to watch a game when either team doing well makes you feel bad.