A Product of Contemplation

Ooooh, a quarter!

ccannaley — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:28:55 +0000

So I found a quarter lying on the ground today. After depositing it in my pocket I started thinking…

If you found some money, what amount would it need to be before you would feel compelled to locate its owner?
Why?
Would your efforts have a positive correlation to the amount? i.e. as the amount goes up your effort goes up.
Would your answer (of how much?) change if you saw the person who dropped it? e.g. Warren Buffet vs. single mom w/ 3 kids.

(Dirt) Water Boarding

ccannaley — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 00:59:06 +0000

It’s 8:58am, you have ½ cup of very good coffee sitting in front of you but you know that it won’t be enough to get you through the morning. Your next cup will need to come from your office break room. What comes out of the pot there is coffee in the technical sense, but it tastes like it was filtered through a dirty diaper and then left in a bucket of pennies for a day or two. Do you…

Go on enjoying the last half of your Rwanda Blue Bourbon oblivious to the fact that what lies ahead will leave you half blind and smelling burnt toast for the rest of the day?
Mix a cup of the break room swill with your remaining cup to dilute the taste? This option will probably result in several minutes of intermittent laughing and crying, however a hug from a coworker and a fist full of Abilify should have you straightened out by lunch time.
Set your good cup aside and consume (as quickly as possible while plugging your nose and staring at a picture of a loved one) the break room dirt water knowing that Your Boy Blue will be waiting for you on the other side albeit literally and figuratively cold and bitter?

What do you do?

A thought…

ccannaley — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 23:50:45 +0000

If you find yourself waiting until late in the day to take a lunch break, because when you get back there will be very little day left, you hate your job. Quit, and find something you love to do.

You do what for fun?

ccannaley — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:01:06 +0000

I read an Article in Forbes recently that ran through a list of the world’s most dangerous sports. None of them are particularly surprising (cave diving, base jumping, street luge, etc.) but after reading “Shadow Divers” (by Robert Kurson) I believe I’ll move wreck diving to the top of the list and simultaneously vow never to attempt it myself. Kurson’s book retells the tale of a group of East Coast wreck divers who discover and, after years of trial and tribulation, identify a German U-boat that sank off the coast of New Jersey during World War II.

The book does a fantastic job bringing the reader face to face with the divers, and an equally fantastic job in its attempt to recreate the people and events surrounding the sinking of the u-boat itself. However it’s the author’s description of the dangers of wreck diving that really gets the blood flowing. Take your pick: You can run out of air and drown, you can become disoriented in swirling silt and drown, you can become stuck on or under some piece of debris and drown, you can succumb to the effects of narcosis and drown, your equipment can fail and you drown, you can encounter an ocean predator and drown (or be eaten), or you can surface too quickly and suffer from decompression sickness which, according to several divers interviewed for the book, will make you wish you had drowned.

As long as you’re not squeamish, and even if you are, this is an incredibly compelling read. For me, it was the type of book that traveled with me to the bathroom and sat open on the steering wheel as I crept through rush hour traffic. Shadow Divers is equal parts history and adventure. Even if you’re not necessarily interested in one, there’s plenty of the other to keep you flipping the pages to the very end.

Acai (pronounced Ah-Sigh-EE) Berry saves children from burning orphanage.

ccannaley — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:23:06 +0000

In a feet of daring, the likes of which have not been seen since a Tahitian Noni lifted a dump truck off of a box of puppies in 2006, an Acai (pronounced Ah-KYE) Berry stormed multiple times into a burning orphanage to save the lives of 13 legless, sightless orphans. Onlookers stood frozen in awe as the Acai (pronounced Ah-SEE) Berry repeatedly risked flesh and pulp to bring each of the orphans safely out of the burning building, while simultaneously giving their skin a healthier more youthful appearance.

After laying each of the orphans gently on the ground, the Acai (pronounced Ah-Tar-EE) Berry squirted a small amount of its precious juice into the eyes of each of the orphans, miraculously restoring their sight. The Acai (pronounced ACK!-eye) Berry then went on to rub itself against the orphan’s legs/nubs, causing them to spontaneously regenerate. An eye witness reported that the children also appeared to immediately have increased energy and improved circulation.

When asked to comment, the Acai (pronounced Ah-O’Kay) Berry simply said, “I’m just a humble Acai (pronounced Ak-EEEEEE!) Berry trying to make my way in the world, enhancing mental health and improving digestion along the way.” The Acai (pronounced Mmm-Kay?) Berry was then asked about a potential run for the presidency in 2012. The Berry responded by saying, “If my presence in the oval office can bring improved sleep and stronger immune systems to the people of this great country, then that is an option I need to strongly consider.” Tom Cruise will present the Berry with the key to the city in a ceremony tomorrow at City Hall. Lady Gaga is expected to attend.

Hey, Prius!

ccannaley — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:48:29 +0000

I performed a small social experiment today in the spirit of Larry David. In an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, he decided to wave at random people driving the same type of car he was. Today I did the same to see if same car owners do indeed share a special bond.

9:07 am ….. Passed a gold 2nd generation Prius doing highway speed. I waved but the person driving was carrying on a conversation with the passenger and didn’t notice me. However, a young person in a child seat in the back did wave back. Nice. Let’s call that 1 for 1.

1:02 pm ….. Pulled up along side a silver 2nd generation Prius at a stop light. I smiled and waved and got no response from the middle age woman driving. Very disappointing. I made eye contact and everything. 1 for 2.

1:27pm ….. Passed a red 2nd generation Prius going the opposite direction at about 35 mph. I waved frantically (knowing the encounter would be brief) but again got no response from the driver. I know he saw me, but my heart wants to believe otherwise for fear of being broken. 1 for 3.

An experiment using only three subjects certainly doesn’t provide sufficient feedback to make a claim about its validity. However, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t dissapointed with the results. While the first encounter of the day ended with success (although I’m sure the kid didn’t know why he was waving) the rest of the day was upsetting to say the least.

I expected the common cause of the Prius owner to offset peoples skeptical nature but was left wanting. Tomorrow however is another day.

Buffett’s Black Magic

ccannaley — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 04:32:59 +0000

That’s the only explanation I can think of. I’ve been reading the newest book about the gazillionaire investor titled “Snowball,” and the only thing I can figure is that at a young age, Warren met a strange figure at a crossroads somewhere near Omaha and exchanged his soul for the ability to make large sums of money. Actually I kid, it becomes clear quite quickly that he did it/does it by following a couple simple rules. The first is probably the most important; he’s greedy when others are fearful, and he’s fearful when others are greedy. Brilliant. Combine that with the desire and ability to learn, down to the core, everything about a business before he invests in it, and you have a recipe for success. It’s easy to come to the conclusion that he was born to invest money but with that natural ability came a great deal of hard work and sacrifice. “Snowball,” if you have the means, (quoting Ferris Bueller) I highly recommend you pick it up.

A thought about thoughts…

ccannaley — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:51:14 +0000

I find myself, on occasion, stumbling upon a thought or idea that makes me stop and think to myself, ”boy, I should really write that down.” This type of inspiration generally occurs at the wrong place and the wrong time so instead of writing it down, I generally forget (almost instantly) what it was, and get on with whatever it was I was doing to begin with. This blog is my feeble attempt to harness those thoughts and ideas in one place. I expect that hindsight will prove these random thoughts to be mostly useless but on the off chance that one actually has some type of real world application, here it will be, for all of us to laugh at together.