“At most companies, going AWOL during daylight hours would be grounds for a pink slip. Not at Best Buy. The nation’s leading electronics retailer has embarked on a radical–if risky–experiment to transform a culture once known for killer hours and herd-riding bosses. The endeavor, called ROWE, for “results-only work environment,” seeks to demolish decades-old business dogma that equates physical presence with productivity. The goal at Best Buy is to judge performance on output instead of hours.” -Business Week

That last sentence is the one that makes me jump with glee. “Performance based on output instead of hours” is something freelance and .com peeps have known for years. It has taken some serious rogues to make an environment like this thrive at a corporate headquarters set up to work in the old system. Here’s to Best Buy paving the way for a more distributed form of productivity.

For some more thoughts on this check out an old post from last spring.

Via: Web Worker Daily

*While I feel like I have tremendous freedom in what I do at my current employer, I am however tethered to my behemoth of a G5, 20 inch and 17 inch screens in order to get my work done. Hopefully the tethered aspect might be changing soon…. :)

So when I read the news a couple of months ago that the company was up for sale I just about went into panic mode thinking that we needed to raid every store in the Lawrence (and maybe KC) that sold the notebooks and buy enough last forever (okay so at least for another year). However, it appears that the new company (a french one mind you) is serious about continuing the brand and the quality of the notebooks. Considering Société générale (the aforementioned French company) purchased the company for about $76,590,000 (around 60,000,000 euros).

Hopefully said french company realizes that the reason consumers love these notebooks is not because they are cheap, but because they are premium products. They cost anywhere from 10 to 20 bucks, but it is well worth it in that they are not only great to write in but make you feel good while writing. Maybe it is just some hipster-persona-poser thing but I feel like I write or come up with better ideas when sipping a cup of coffee and writing in such a beautiful notebook. I just can’t help it.

Here is a picture of the exterior of my small notebook as well as a sample page. The page interestingly enough was my checklist for setting up this weblog. Oh, analog and digital.

I can’t stress enough how great these notebooks are for writing, doodling, planning, scheduling or just jotting down ideas and concept for future use. So here’s to the frenchmen/women who purchased one of my favorite companies, and lets hope they understand the brand enough to not screw it up.

Big increases in immigration since 1990 have not hurt employment prospects for American workers, says a study released Thursday.

Kochhar cautioned that immigration could affect job markets in some local areas, but the study found no national trends supporting a link. States with big increases in immigration were just as likely to have low unemployment as states with little immigration, he said. -SFGate

While the information comes from the Pew Hispanic Research Center, which could definitely have an effect on the results of the study, I tend to trust their data. I used the PHRC as a source for market research while studying a line of dry Hispanic sauce mixes for a company in college. The research pointed to the fact that the product would fail, and I haven’t seen it in stores for well over a year. You do the math.

I found Pew to be a very reliable source and hopefully this info about immigration isn’t tainted by the fact that it comes from a “Hispanic research center.”

Via: SFGate

This is about the only place I purchase music these days, including new/used records and cds. If you live in Lawrence or the surrounding area I suggest you check out the store and be sure to say hi to the cats while you’re there.

Read the full article here.

I don’t know, maybe I’m just getting old…’cause I’d rather keep track of my friends via blogs. If for no other reason than that blogs provide a little more context than a list of my friends favorite TV shows or movies. Sure, facebook is great for keeping track of acquaintances but I’d rather read what’s up with my real friends. Then again, if they are in fact “real” friends shouldn’t I know what is going on in their lives regardless of whether they have a weblog? Ouch, my head hurts.

Back to the topic at hand…the screenshot at right. I applaud the savvy campaign intern who suggested placing an ad on facebook for his candidate, heck I probably would have done the same thing. So I guess I’m not upset with the particular campaign just the fact that I have to see an ad for a gubernatorial candidate while I check out my friends party picks.

On the other hand facebook is free, and is supported by advertising…so why should I care where the ads come from when I get to use a great service for free. Or more importantly, would I be as annoyed by the ad if it was for a democratic candidate. I don’t know. I guess I’m just annoyed at the presumption that facebook is a good place to advertise for political parties. But it is…I would totally advise a candidate to buy some ads…I guess what I don’t want is politicians being able to buy actual profiles on the site. Then i think it has crossed the line.

I was super pumped when Apple started advertising and created its own company page on facebook in order to create a facebook presence for collegiate Macs and iPod users. I thought it was genius and quickly shot off and email to one of my bosses and applauded him for getting us (Apple) onto facebook. So why does a little ad for a gubernatorial candidate bother me…I mean, he’s probably not going to win anyway, people love Sebelius (the current gov) so what’s my problem? More importantly why does a political candidate buying a page on facebook bother me, when I’m almost certain that Apple is paying facebook for the space?* It doesn’t bother me that Apple is paying for the space…why does the political candidate bother me?

Maybe I’m just turning into an elitist who is nothing more than a hypocrite. I sure hope not.

Oh and I blacked out the candidates name in order to avoid any problems associated with supporting, or rather not supporting, the candidate. Leave your thoughts in the comments or trackbacks and let me know what you think about this stuff. Have a great weekend everybody!

Until next time, courage.

*This is speculation as I looked back at my email conversations about Apple and facebook and no one ever implied that Apple is paying for space. However, it is consistent with facebook’s current advertising based business model.

If you can’t see the picture very well, I apologize. I was taking the picture on a whim, out of the car window at a stoplight. Basically the ad says “blogging delivered” with an at&t logo and some very Web 2.0 colors and fonts. While I agree with Seth Gunderson in regards to the unintended message the ad is sending, I do think they are kind of cool ads…if you are smart enough to understand that at&t is not making, or helping you create a weblog.

Most people in Hutchinson, however, are not. A billboard on the northern end of the Hutchinson downtown is not the place for this type of ad. 99.9999999 percent of people that drive by that billboard have absolutely no idea what in the world “blogging” means, and unfortunately could care less. Some kids might associate it with the dreaded myspace or xanga, but this is the worst ad placement I have ever seen.

The media buyer for this account should be fired. Now. Okay, maybe that was a little harsh. At the very least they should stop and maybe do a little bit of research about the target market in this area. Just slapping the latest national campaign from the mothership on a billboard downtown does not translate into new sales. If anything he/she just alienated a ton of potential internet users because they have no idea what “blogging” is and the interwebs are obviously to complicated for them…or so they think. This is just silly…but it definitely made me laugh over and over again.

*I do not endorse Johnson’s Music as I am far and away a fan of Dave down at Keller’s Instrument Repair.

Update: I also wanted to post a direct link to Seth’s mockups of other ads that at&t might be interested in using. These are fantastic.

Recently the sensor on my clutch went out and it caused my truck to act like it wasn’t receiving any power. I jumped the truck, took it over to Don’s and they had it fixed within a day. It was a relatively cheap repair and I figured I was on my way to at least a couple months of problem free driving. Until around 4 days later when a simple bushing on my clutch gave out. I was able to make a make-shift-Macgyver style repair and limped across town to Don’s. I left my keys, a simple note saying that I was back already and what the problem was…and then hoped it wouldn’t be too much money.

The next day I received a phone call from Mike, whom I’ve reasoned to be the owner/manager, letting me know that they had fixed the truck. The best part? They weren’t going to charge me for the repair. Not because it had been their fault, but that they appreciated me as a repeat customer. How cool is that! When I went to pick up my truck later that evening, the receipt explained the repair and included the following note:

“Checked and replaced the master cylinder pushrod bushing. This was not removed or disturbed during switch replacement, we replaced at no charge as goodwill.”

Sure it was just a super cheap plastic part that probably only took a couple of minutes to install, however, I couldn’t be more beholden to these people. They have worked on my automobiles for the past 4 years, and have always been pleasant, honest people to do business with. Since I believe that one good deed deserves another, I figured I would return the favor by writing up a post and giving them a little Google Juice.

So, if you need any repairs on your vehicle I highly recommend Don’s Auto Center in Lawrence, KS.

Yesterday was the girlfriend’s birthday so she got to choose our dinner destination. While we have traditionally avoided Milton’s as a nice meal destination and favored it as our breakfast place, but Teressa had heard through the grapevine that they had a new menu worth checking out. So we went downtown, got a seated immediately, and were served by one of our favorite waitresses there. After we split an appetizer and had a few drinks (it was her 21 b-day), our entrees arrived and they were nothing short of wonderful. I’d almost go so far and say it was the best dinner we’ve ever had in Lawrence in our almost 3 years of dating.

Plus the dinner menu is fairly inexpensive. As I said, we had drinks, an appetizer, two great entrees and dessert, and including a good tip the night came to just under 50 bucks. That is pretty damn good if you ask me. Plus Teressa loved every minute of it which made it all the more wonderful.

Long story short, if you are looking for a place to take someone out for a meal, Milton’s is more than just great coffee and breakfast. Check it out before everyone else finds out!

p.s. I hand picked some flowers from Owens for her b-day as well and they went over great. So if you are looking for good flowers they have you covered.

“We communicate so quickly, and so pervasively that your brain simply can’t understand it. We know that multi-tasking isn’t truly multitasking, and that our brains can only consciously process things sequentially. But our brains have learned how to switch between communication platforms so quickly and efficiently it doesn’t really matter. We know this scares you.” -Dave Morin

I don’t know about you, my dear readers, but I relish our relatively new found forms of communication. Dave has made some great points in this post and I can’t wait to read the follow ups.

NovelNovel.com is a site where you can purchase old books (with interesting covers) that have had their contents removed, and replaced with quality blank notebook pages. While this is in no way a new idea, the selection of books they have acquired are nothing short of hilarious and contain such great titles as The Power of Oil, Teamwork, and Tons of Fun: Training Elephants.

Even though I have completely fallen in love with my moleskine notebook (a valentine’s day gift from the gf), I am very tempted to make my next notebook one from these folks. Who doesn’t want their next notebook to have Police State as a cover?

Anyway, these are some nice people trying to make use of our heritage of hilarious books…so show them some love.

Until next time…courage.