restaurant reviews get own blog

I have moved the restaurant reviews. You can now find them on their own blog at http://JacksonvilleRestaurants.blogspot.com.

All the restaurant reviews that used to be found here are now there.

green slime and you (thoughts on giving speeches)

I began my public speaking career in the early 1980s. I was an ACM National Lecturer, National Toastmaster, Chairman of the ACM-SIG/BDP (ACM Special Interest Group on Business DP) and gave speeches to a variety of business groups from lawyers to computer professionals. In my 11 years as a consultant and division president for Gartner Inc., I was consistently one of the highest rated speakers at their various international conferences.

Here are the lessons that I learn which helped me become successful as a public speaker.

• Keep it simple. Make only one or two points in your speech.
• 50% of the speech should relate your personal experiences.
• Use humor.
• MOST IMPORTANT: Use an analogy to help solidify your point.

This last point really made my speaking career successful!

Flashback.

Sometime in the 1970s I saw a movie about a spy, very much like James Bond. I just can't remember his name. The movie was pivotal in my success in communicating big business and technology ideas to average, non-technical people. This technique is, perhaps, something they can benefit you.

At one point in the movie, Evil Company CEO gets up to give a speech. What shows on the projector is a Chinese dragon eating his own tale. Evil CEO starts his speech, not by talking about a business topic, but about the dragon eating his tail -- and why. Needless to say, his already is, at first, perplexed.

After the tail eating story, Evil CEO starts talking about the business, and tying the business points, point by point, to the story of the tail eating dragon.

Brilliant. So brilliant, it's the only thing out of the movie that I can remember with any clarity. I adopted this technique for most of my public speaking engagements.

The "bucket of green slime".

For several years during the 1980s, I gave what became known as the "Green Slime Speech." At the beginning of the speech, I told the story of the volvox colony. Volvox are one-celled microorganisms that have a nasty habit of turning water into a brownish green sludge. However, given the right provocation, enough time, and the right temperature, the green sludge condenses itself into a multicellular colony of creatures in which the individual one celled animals take on particular roles based on where they end up living in the colony (such as living on the outer perimeter versus the central core of the colony).

The yucky, green water turned crystal clear with one clump of jellylike stuff in the corner.

What could a bucket of green slime possibly have to do with high-tech anything, particularly computer software? Nothing actually. It was an analogy.

Most projects, in that day and age, were late! Late projects are like a bucket of green slime. They are messy, smell pretty bad and generally leave a bad taste in your mouth, just like the green slimy water.

However, given some time, organization, and management principles, projects could be organized and controlled, much like the organized volvox colony that congealed with the right provocation, and left the water clear.

I actually used the green slime analogy in several different speeches, and was even written up in one trade magazine, praising up my green slime analogy.

My speeches, today, always feature an analogy (it's now my trademark) and they are always highly memorable. That's what you want! You want people to remember two things: 1) you; 2) what you said. Thought provoking analogies do that.

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Note: Since I began giving speeches featuring the volvox colony, the scientific classification for living organisms has changed. Volvox used to be an animal containing a chloroplast. Now, it appears to be a plant with a flagellum similar to microscopic animals. Oh well. The story still works and life goes on!

Osama Bin Laden dead (Video of President's speech at end of post)

I don't generally make very many political or world events commentaries in this blog. However, this is one time that I will.

It is never right to rejoice in the death of another human being. But, it is certainly right to rejoice in the fact that Osama Bin Laden will no longer be able to bomb our buildings, kill or injure our sons and daughters and, in general, wreak global havoc. This is certainly one death that I will not mourn.

Like so many others, I remember exactly where I was and exactly what I was doing when the airplanes plowed into New York's World Trade Center and Washington's Pentagon. I was getting dressed for work, watching the TV in Stamford, Connecticut. I could not believe what I was seeing. I was supposed to be in Manhattan the very next day. This was nuts. Insane.

My son, Christopher, was due to be sworn in as a United States Marine. His Marine recruiter picked him up at the house just the night before. He was eager to serve his country. His induction into the Marines was delayed by a week because of the catastrophe. we spend a terrible day worrying about him, knowing that he was flying. Was he on one of those planes? Needless to say, we were relieved when we heard from him.

My oldest daughter, Kimberly, was serving on the flight deck of USS Kittyhawk, based in Japan. She had entered the military one-year before my son. She was, in fact, in transit to the ship and head to rendezvous with it en route.

The world is a better place without Bin Laden. I won't mourn his death for a second.

But I will take the time to remember all the courageous young men and women who gave their lives, and to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the living who served to defend our country, our neighbors, and our freedoms.

God bless America.

how may I (not) help you?

I was in the biggest store in the world (no names...just guess). I was ready to check out. I had more stuff than was allowed in the express line, so I stood in the regular check out line. Some manager was standing there in a blue shirt (that's how I know she was a manager), holding a walkie-talkie that she wasn't using. My line ground to a halt. She just watched. And watched. And watched. And watched.

Meanwhile, there was an empty cash register in the next aisle. I happened to know there was a cash drawer in it because Walkie-talkie lady locked it when the cashier left.

Walkie-talkie lady watched, and watched. I think you get the picture. This went on for an interminable amount of time. People in line were fidgeting. Some of them were actually getting surly and making rude comments.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Walkie-talkie lady finally opened the other register and asked the next in line to come over to her. She was not particularly nice about it. I happen to be next in line, cane, limp and all. Fortunately, I named it over there. But not before nearly being run down by people from the end of my line practically trampling me. Clearly they saw I was in there. Clearly they knew I was in line. Clearly they saw I was disabled. Clearly they knew they were not next in line. The people behind me in the first line were cursing now! All walkie-talkie lady said to me, with my visible limp, was "Will you please move a little faster sir, or let those people behind you go."

I have this to say about that...

Stuff it walkie-talkie lady!

good food is heaven on earth.

I've decided to write about restaurants. I have decided to do so, not because I have any kind of expertise. In fact, my range of tastes is not all that wide. I am a meat and potatoes sort of guy. I just happen to like well prepared meat and a perfectly cooked potato.

I have another advantage. I have managed to eat in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, most of the Caribbean, all of Western Europe (except Andorra, Spain and Portugal) and Japan. I hate sushi, love chicken teriyaki, hate most fish and think that Cracker Jacks are nutritional.

I had eaten in many places which are lost in my brain since my stroke; however, those memories return to me with the right stimulus. Have a favorite restaurant? Let me know. Maybe I have been there. Maybe I'll go there.

press 1 for a schmuck. press 2 for some other schmuck. press 3 to be ignored

April Fools' Day was four days ago! It's over! Or so one would think. For some companies, where customers are concerned, every day is April Fools' Day. This next, true life story is in the "you just can't believe it" department.

I have decided that I hate corporate America. Nobody answers the phone anymore. Only machines work in the billing department.

I had insurance on my van with one of those online-only insurance companies. my car was stolen, totaled, and the driver was killed. that sucks to begin with. I bought my mother's car because she doesn't drive anymore. it is already insured. so I cancel the insurance on the van in December 2010. They continued billing me. come on. It's April 2011!

I finally got my refund on April 2. Then they billed me again on April 3!

I have spent hours on the telephone and even had to drive to the bank (on my dime no less) to resolve this. we will see if they reimburse me -- and when.

automation is good for business, especially if you don't give a damn about people and don't want to talk to those pesky customers anymore!

welcome to my humble little blog

Hi. Well, welcome to my blog. I've decided to start this blog so that I can keep all my various and sundry projects all in one place. You see, three years ago I had a stroke on the left side of my brain and it really screwed me up... big time. Among many other things, it screwed with my memory. So partly, this is to make up for my crappy memory! Also, despite all the other myriad of things I have done, the one constant is, I have always been a writer. I've been published. Lots. But always business books or in the business press.

I have always harbored a secret passion. I have always wanted to write a novel! So one of my posts-stroke objectives is to do that. that is a work in progress at CyberionaEmpire.blogspot.com. right now, I'm kind of stuck on the major conflict for the first book of the series. If you're interested in science-fiction/fantasy, I invite you to look and chime in if you if you have any brilliant ideas or me ... please!

there are more projects and more blogs, but that's enough for now! You're probably bored reading this anyhow! See you later.