4 posts from March 2008

Had a deep, socio-political conversation over coffee with a good friend since college and whom I only got to see now after 3 years. It was one of those conversations were it didn't end up with bitterness  because we didn't argued over the presidential nominees.

Case 1 :
When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface). To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million.

They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.
And what did the Russians do...?? They used a pencil.

Case 2 :
One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soapbox, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soapbox that was empty.

Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly! Line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soapbox went through the assembly line empty.

Management asked its engineers to solve the problem.

Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soapboxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a whoopee amount to do so.

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc., but instead came out with another solution.

He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line.

He switched the fan on, and as each soapbox passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Morals

Always look for simple solutions.

Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problems.

Always Focus on solutions & not on problems.

This made my day.

I mean, I really could care less about what celebrities do in their free time, like, say, not breastfeeding babies but yeah, nowhere in the URL will you see anything about Jessica Alba.  (I just had to check it out, my friend said.)  But lo and behold – the elevator pops open and Jessica Alba pops out singing the first lines to the song.  (Talk about a cameo.)

So yeah, after Good Luck Chuck, the Invisible Woman’s lip-syncing to an elaborately choreographed/directed Panic! At the Disco’s “Nine in the Afternoon,” along with the office people.  And if I thought “Casual Fridays” is the definition of a laid-back environment, then apparently we’re missing out on office-wide lip-syncing sessions(including the whiteboard!), kiddie pools and cute guys.

Well to me, what looks like a premeditated music video might’ve been a just another day in the office for these guys.  (Can I work there?)

Well, for now, they’re leading in the “Best Group Lip Dub” – and I’m guessing it’s hard to beat someone at their own game, but with the inclusion of Jessica and the other cute employees – I folded.  I voted for ‘em.

When we were kids, the old folks used to say that the first pimple is a sign of our first crush.  It seemed adorable when we have it during our teens, but when we get into the adult years, it can get irritating.

  

It is bad enough to develop pimples during those awkward adolescent years.  For some, depending on their hormones, they still do develop pimples even at later years.  Though pimples seem simple and normal, it is irritating and stressful.

What makes this small skin blockage most troublesome is WHERE and WHEN it occurs.

The worst areas to have that big, red pimple has got to be the face.  No amount of concealer of makeup can make this "thing" disappear or at least appear as though it was never there.  When it also appears makes one's day the worst.  It's like fate is making a big joke when you suddenly develop a pimple the morning you're about to go on a or say a speech or just feel happy to be alive.

Surely, you don't want to have that big, round, swelling pimple on these areas on your face:

1.  On the middle of your forehead

What makes it worse is most of us have that unbreakable habit of unconsciously touching our foreheads most of the time.  This constant hand contact will only make the pimple swell more and thus more painful to bear.
 

2.  On the tip of your nose

It's bad enough that we have the endless blackheads and whiteheads on our noses, but pimples as well? It's like it's the only thing that others will see in you.

3.  Inside your nose

This is especially bad when you pick your nose and thought it was just a dirt inside and you try to get it out and then it bleeds and it becomes bigger and might lead to infections. So if you feel something painful inside your nose, have it checked by your physician.

4,  On the middle of your chin

It's a hassle to have a big pimple on this part fo the face as it can get worse especially for those who have that uncontrollable urge to touch their chins.  It can get more swelled up once we try to  prick it.

5.  In between your eyebrows

Admit it, we look silly when we have a pimple right in between our eyebrows.  There are times that this occurs after we our eyebrows plucked ot shaved.  So, better sterilize those blades and tweezers

Do you have your worst pimple experiences? One person in this online competition site cited that having a pimple at your behind is one of the worst times to have a pimple. Well, I never had that nor do I dream to have one.

There are people who develop pimples and have them for a longer time than others. Worse, when we have that big, swelling pimple, it's the only thing that people notice in us and it lasts for a number of days.  But thankfully, there are a lot of ways of treating pimples  and basically the most natural is to get just let it be and don't prick it as it will bleed and will eventually turn to a scar, and who wants one?

Can't help for my first post but to try and make sense of what's happening in the government now.

Seems that more and more politicians are admitting publicly that they have commited affairs while still married.  Take for example New York Governor Spitzer, who just admitted he cheated on his wife by alledgedly spending $80,000 on high-priced escort girls  Kwame Kilpatrick, mayor of Detroit, told his constituents that he had an affair with his chief-of-staff, and who could forget New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey's public confession that he had an affair with a gay man?

I am not judging them based on their extra-marital affairs.  But what I pity is that they needed to have their wives right beside them when they admitted tha affair. Spitzer had his wife right over his shoulders when he made the admission, Kilpatrick was holding his wife's hand in the church when he made the public confession and McGreevy had to tag along his wife when he made the announcement?  Don't they have respect for themselves and mostly, for their wives?

And based on CNN contributor Roland Martin's opinion, why did the wives let themselves be dragged to the humiliation? Is it a defense mechanism for them? A way to realize that it's actually happening? Or a role they have to play as political wives.

And most of them are still in power.  So, the one thing I can draw from these is that to save your political influence, admit your cheating ways, have your spouse all glammed up and say sorry to them in front of the world thus promoting a family value; family will always be family.

Sad, but true.