The pain and reality of air travel. Or…people are lazy, inconsiderate idiots.
Posted on January 4, 2009
Filed Under Column, For Sale, Main | 2 Comments
Traveling is a severe pain, or so implied a piece I heard on the radio last week. After flying on a connecting flight to Jacksonville this weekend, I have to agree.
Aside from having to deal with passengers around you - regardless of your travel mode - you’re now subject to the crappy policies that airlines, trains and even buses have put in place.
Under the guise of offering more options to its customers, United Airlines has instituted a slew of seating upgrades and check-in choices. Essentially, if you don’t pay extra money, you’re jammed into a seat behind the wings and surrounded by other cattle.
On my recent flight to Washington Dulles Airport, the aircraft was packed with people from row 13 back and only five people sat in seats forward of that section. You know why? Because it cost about $40 or more to move up into an exit row or to be in the front section of the plane.
Does this make any sense? I’m not an engineer or a pilot, but I can’t imagine that putting 80% or more of your passengers at the back of the plane might make it hard to handle in the air, on landing and even during take-off. Sure, you want the nose of the plane light so it can get up in the air, but you don’t want the freaking thing popping a wheelie all the time because everyone is stuffed in the back.
Further, this attitude of classism (and yes, airlines are one of the few firms that continue this practice) makes everyone on board edgy. Will the guy next to you dash forward during flight to bogart a good seat? Will the flight attendants have the cajonés to stop the interloper?
What about the exit row. I’m pretty provincial, but I’m also fair in my assessment of danger. On my last flight, I was temped to alert the staff that the guy they just approved for exit row status didn’t even speak English. Makes me feel safe.
Maybe during a burning, catastrophic wreck we’ll have time to find someone to translate the crew’s instructions to this man who couldn’t understand the staff when they said to him three times, “please put your tray table up, sir.”
Perhaps the problem is with the staff. Do they even care anymore. All I’ve overheard from flight attendants are complaints about this passenger or that one. And how many flights they’ve had to work without a break. Are pilots in the same boat…err plane?
Is the guy at the front of my aircraft working on more than a few hours sleep?
These worries might be better placed on a talk-radio program or my Worries blog, and as I finalize this column a few days later my fear has been dulled slightly.
I wonder if it will return unbidden as I hop on a couple more planes today and jet toward Las Vegas. Likely surrounded by inconsiderate boobs, illiterate (by American standards) passengers, and questionably committed flight staff.
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Share ThisNew Year, Same Thinking. Do you take advantage of your time?
Posted on January 1, 2009
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New Year’s Day has always been my Everest, my college diploma, my driver’s test. It exists in memory as the day when I emerge better than the challenges before me…victorious.
While the day is a temporal rebirth - at least for those who follow Julian calendars - it’s also the first test of the year. How did you emerge from the previous year? What were your first words, views, thoughts, interactions each new year?
Over the years, I’ve subscribed to my father’s belief that the early bird gets the worm, the best choice of bagels, the quiet bathroom and the best sections of the newspaper. I’ve also believed correctly that dashing around the world before others are up is a fine way to get better breakfast service, see wildlife and take amazing photos of the virgin snow or uncrowded attractions.
During college I treated weekend days like New Year’s morning. While classmates were snuggled in their beds or strewn on couches across campus, I was up and out. A deserted campus is a marvelous thing.The air is sweeter, the coffee shop staff is friendlier and the city sounds (I went to school in the heart of Boston) are muffled by their infrequency.
Put yourself anywhere on New Year’s Day and see how getting up early might help you get ahead. OK, not the Post Office, but nearly anywhere else.
Disney World - first in line on an uncrowded morning.
Ski slopes - more runs before 11 than most people can do in a regular day.
The ocean - perfect kayaking, fishing and drifting before the morons take to the water.
Any major metropolitan city - the aforementioned peace, quiet and privilege of being first in line for everything.
Now let’s shift that thinking. If we’re treating every day as New Year’s, how would your life be different? Would you become a walking commercial for the U.S. armed forces getting more done before 9AM yada yada yada? Or would you cherish your peace, strain your brain and work to make your world and that of others a better place?
The thought of saving time is so prevalent that drivers lose their patience if another car cuts them off. Waiting 15 minutes for a table is worse than having our fingernails pulled out. And if someone cuts in line anywhere it’s grounds for a lawsuit.
But then look around the world on any given day. Look in the morning. Look at those people. They’re often the ones who don’t lose it at minor infractions of the social code. They have a pace of life that’s constant and positive - for the most part.
It’s been said, by many people and most credited to Mahatma Ghandi, that there’s more to life than increasing its speed. Ironically, all of Ghandi’s writings are now in the public domain. They belong to anyone and nobody at the same time. All his work…is it for naught? Maybe not.
I believe that. I believe it’s not how much you get done, because that path could bury you under failed expectations, guilt and Xanax. No, it’s how much you enjoy whatever it is that you do.
That’s the path I choose to take whether I whittle away the hours in front of a computer screen, on a softball field, clipped into the cranks of my bike, or mindlessly staring at the hammock swaying in the breeze. I choose a path that will make me a person who can contribute an ear to others’ lives; who can be in the moment; who values the minutiae and the earth-shattering; and who understands it can all be gone the next day.
That next day, symbolically and literally, is today, tomorrow, next month, your birthday, July 4, equinoxes, high tides, snowstorms, births, deaths, hours, minutes, seconds and even New Year’s Day.
Don’t take a moment to think about that. Use one of the moments you’ve already got and emerge victorious from every new day you get.
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Share ThisWhat do you resolve? Resolutions on New Year’s Day 2009.
Posted on December 31, 2008
Filed Under Column, For Sale, Main | 1 Comment
[UPDATE - Just turned this into a podcast. Here's the sound file]
I just spent about 22 minutes taking headshots of myself for a speaking engagement I have in the middle of the month. None of the photos came out correctly because I’m hideous and my glasses kept reflecting the camera flash.
Therefore, I resolve to become better looking and to spend the extra money and get anti-glare coating the next time I buy glasses.
The candy from my Christmas stocking is almost gone because for the past few days I’ve been gulping down Dr. Pepper and shoving molded sugar treats into my face. This frequently affects my mood and my energy level and I don’t think it’s doing much for my svelteness.
Therefore, I resolve to put different items on my wish list and to at least look in the windows of a gym from time to time.
A recent trip to the laundry room revealed that I own 28 T-shirts, half of which are black. I dislike black T-shirts because I worry about my dry scalp and even dandruff. This worry is balanced by my willingness to be cool, and so many new technology concerns put their logos and taglines only on dark T-shirts.
Therefore, I shall rid myself of these dark shirts (except for the Apple ones) and breathe easier each time I dress myself.
When sitting around the house playing online poker, enjoying video games, watching TV shows that have built up on my DVR or clicking around the Internet on my laptop, I often feel tiny pangs of guilt for wasting time. This time consists of moments of my life that will never occur again, so I’m understandably distraught when these moments get ‘wasted’.
Therefore, I resolve to stop wasting time feeling guilt and spend more time enjoying whatever it is I’m doing - with whomever I’m doing it with. No more worrying that I’m missing out on something better or that I’ll be judged as a time waster.
Lastly, the holiday cards are still piling up in the mailbox. Little visual treats from friends all over the nation. Unfortunately, about 1/3 of the cards are coming from people to whom I forgot to send my holiday card. Overlooking them/taking them for granted was never in my plans and now I know why I have so many extra copies of my card sitting on my desk.
Therefore, I’ll be taking the addresses off the incoming cards and sending out my cards a little late. I’ll also endeavor to make 2009 a year where I take people as seriously as I’d like to be taken. It will make me practice being more attentive to those around me and it will probably make people like me even more - which is a win-win in my book.
What are your resolutions for 2009? Share them here in the comments.
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Share ThisSoftwariness. A response to Alex Payne.
Posted on December 25, 2008
Filed Under Column, For Sale, Main, Non-Fiction | 3 Comments
As the world of computing changes, those of us who use computers in our personal and professional lives are faced with a variety of choices. Aside from the platform we use - Macintosh is my choice, but you’re free to use Linux or Windows - there’s a slew of software created to help us work more efficiently or to entertain us.
Alex Payne created a blog post that gave us a list of the software he spent money on but no longer uses. He said he’s not so big on comments - and doesn’t allow them on his blog - so I’m going to comment here on some of his software choices and then give you a few of the greatest applications I’ve got running on my Macbook and iPhone.
Here we go…
Acquisition. The file-sharing software is a godsend. Payne says that he has some regret at this purchase. I think it’s still very useful - but I have yet to upgrade to the pro version. It’s great for finding music, software trial versions and other data online.
Chax. Really useful iChat application and well worth whatever you decide to donate. Payne didn’t like it. I think it gives you more functionality than iChat alone. I like it.
CS3. Can’t live without it. With Photoshop full version, Dreamweaver and InDesign, there’s nothing I can’t do to make my publications, Websites and photos look better.
Pages. This writing program comes with the Apple iWork suite which is well worth the cash. I think I paid $80 for it and I hardly ever use Numbers, but Pages is more versatile than MS Word and allows me to do everything I need to do with words. Seeing that writing is my job, that’s pretty important.
Cyberduck. I’m doing a lot of Web work these days and being able to FTP files is important. Cyberduck is a donation application and I’ve given my share of cash and gotten it back in spades. The program works fast and is always being updated.
Audio HiJack Pro. Fantastic for podcasting and manipulating any sound you put into your Mac. I use it to record and route sound via Skype interviews and Garageband recordings. I think it was about $30. Would gladly pay twice that.
Toast Titanium. Just the best disk-burning software around. Well worth the cash and also an application that’s always being improved.
SuperDuper. If you don’t back up your hard drive regularly, you’re an idiot. SuperDuper is the fantastic utility that can be used for free to do this crucial work. The paid version gives you even more functionality and is definitely worth the $30 I think I paid.
MacSpeech Dictate. I’m only a few days into reviewing this software for a publication, but I’m floored at how easy this software is to use. It’s speech recognition for the Mac that puts everything else I’ve tried to shame. It took me a grand total of nine minutes to train the program and get it to recognize my third-party microphone. Now I’m using it to operate iChat, ‘write’ documents in NotePad and in Pages, and navigate around my Mac. It even allowed me to open a few different apps like GarageBand, iCal and Safari. Retail price on it is $199, and well worth the investment if you’re looking for an easy way to speak your documents and save on typing.
Lastly, let’s talk iPhone. I have purchased one iPhone application. There isn’t anything I’ve found - save a Halloween application written by a friend of mine - that I can see paying money for in the iTunes Application Store. People are paying for a ‘Pull My Finger’ app. C’mon.
So if you’re looking to beef up your Macintosh application list, take a look at my choices. And if you’ve got favorites of your own, leave your comments right here…I welcome them.
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Share ThisThe problem(s) with written communication.
Posted on December 23, 2008
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Any writer will tell you that they’ve been misunderstood at some point - perhaps many points - during their career. These misunderstandings occur when readers fail to read and subsequently project their feelings, misperceptions, fears and biases on the words in front of them.
Take a piece I recently wrote about Heifer International. The piece appeared in a publication (Bowlofcheese.com) known to often contain sarcastic essays. In fact, the subhead on that site says, “Not so gentle ramblings about the inane and the insane.”
If you read that subhead do you really think you’re going to get The New Yorker?
Further, if you saw some of the content in that column you’d be hard-pressed to really think the writer (me) was serious. Here are the closing paragraphs of that piece…
If I buy a pig and want to give it as a gift, Hickory Farms ensures that tasty pig parts get to my recipient. Not Heifer International. That’s crap. I might as well just buy one of those African children that Sally Struthers sells on late-night television.
At least with those kids you get a photo and sometimes a letter. With this crock of an animal giving program you don’t even get a feather or a snout necklace to memorialize the animal you’ve purchased.
I might not have grown up on a farm, but I can tell when someone’s shoveling manure. And Heifer International has crapped on my gift-giving plans for this holiday season.
The real difficulty - or challenge - lies in a writer’s quest to compete with short attention spans, increasingly visual information exchange and the dumbing down of society as a whole.
Don’t think this is true, go read some smart stuff and then get back to me with your comments. I suggest Chris Brogan, The Daily Kos, Sree Sreenivasan, Balloon Juice, and Slate.
Feel free to share your smarties here in the comments. I promise you I’ll take the time to read them.
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Share ThisSynchronicity is finally my bailiwick. Timing the trends correctly.
Posted on December 22, 2008
Filed Under Main, New Media Friday | Leave a Comment
As I look around me, the social media space is developing as the news media space is deconstructing itself. For the first time in many years I’m on the wave instead of behind it.
Don’t believe me? Here are the trends, opportunities and situations I’ve barely missed for one reason or another. Now I feel as if I’ve caught up and dashed ahead of the crowd. Timing IS everything.
1978-81ish - A scrawny and sickly Jeff Cutler is diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. Had this boy remained healthy for a couple more years he might have more intestines and a slightly better quality of life.
1986 - Jeff Cutler tries out for the college baseball team. Although Cutler runs a 4.8 40-yard dash (that used to be fast in the 80s), the team is already chock full of outfielders. Cutler goes on to star as a cheerleader at the school.
1992 - A fast but undersized Jeff Cutler (see Crohn’s issue above) is invited to a Major League Baseball tryout. He’s demolished in the 60-yard dash by steroid-enhanced 18-year-olds. The Boston Herald devotes an entire Sunday newspaper page to Cutler’s plight.
1997 - Along with two college friends, Jeff starts a Website ‘Rehabilitation’ firm. The company, ConceptClub, flounders for a bit and Cutler accepts a buyout of minimal proportion. ConceptClub morphs into ConceptHost and is providing a nice living these days for one of the founders.
1999 - Cutler enters the dot-com fray only to see it turn into a dot-bomb fiasco. After a quick stint with Fidelity Investments as an Online Editor, he moves to TimeTo.com and is the first one fired as they burn through hundreds of thousands of dollars in beanbag chairs, Sprint PCS cell phones and free breakfasts.
2005 - In the midst of a storied career as a journalist, Jeff ramps up his column-writing efforts and reaches prominence in two short years. Just in time for the papers with whom he’s writing to cancel their Freelance Opinion Column budgets. Hopes for syndication are also diminished as the blogosphere erupts with talking head-esque writing from every corner of the globe.
2007 - After fine-tuning his craft, Cutler matches his writing to the needs of an anxious and hungry editorial base. His features are purchased faster than ever and his work is appearing Internationally…until newsrooms begin to slash staff because of revenue cuts. Cutler gets kill-fee checks like never before and has to begin competing with ‘citizen journalists’ for inches and pay.
2008-09 - The Social Media space welcomes Jeff with open arms. An experienced journalist and writer, Jeff also knows how to connect with people using social media tools and techniques. With the advantage of 20 years in journalism, he brings a unique value to publications anxious to put more content online. These companies are looking for traditionally trained journalists for content and Jeff is poised to assist these firms. Further, every company in the world is now drooling over the possible upside to having a social media presence. Jeff Cutler offers these companies the services of a professional blogger with the skills of a pro reporter and writer.
Stay tuned to see how this chapter turns out. I’ve already been contacted by dozens of companies who are interested in hiring me to write their blogs and report - impartially - on their company. And as you know, I’m covering the Consumer Electronics Show #CES09 in Las Vegas for both traditional and new media outlets.
Got any leads you want to share or stories of your own success? Share them in the comments.
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