brainmower

2010 52 books January recap

Four weeks in and I'm at 2.5 books for my goal of 52 books in 2010. My pace has slowed because the current book I'm reading, Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, is so good I am rereading each chapter. I am also attempting to apply some of the lessons to my business which is basically amounting to homework. It's a process which does not allow me to consume 100 pages in a sitting. I read about 30 pages and then need to think about it for a few hours. I don't plan to "go back" to make up time. 52 b...

52 books for 2010

Inspired by this blog post about How to read a book a week in 2010 I've decided to take the challenge. I'll track my progress in this blog post. Duct Tape Marketing Review: Great book on building a marketing plan. Just like it says, very practical and effective. Marketing always has a certain pop psychology aspect. This book delves into that gray area only when necessary. Instead the book focuses on actionable steps for any sized business. I enjoyed this book very much. Rating: 4.5 o...

Picasa for photos

Google's photo application Picasa is blowing my mind.I dumped years of photos into Picasa and it began scanning the pictures to find faces. This capability is not new, but I was surprised at how well the application works. It accurately identified people in my photo albums even if the photos were years, or even decades apart. As an example, here are two photos of my Grandfather that Picasa correctly identified. The first photo is from 1943 and the second photo was taken in the early 90's...

Life in SoCal

Bright sunshine and pouring rain. Posted via email from stuarthall's posterous

Choosing 3 words for 2010

I don't do resolutions. However, this year I read Chris Brogan's 3 words and despite my best efforts, the 3 words idea would not leave my head. So, I did my 3 words for 2010 on the company blog. My 3 words are not a resolution, they are guideposts. Resolutions mean you're resolving something, which means there was a problem. I don't believe that resolutions are a once a year opportunity to create a better "you". But I do believe that three words can keep you grounded to what's important and who...

Sunrise in San Diego

Posted via email from stuarthall's posterous

Football is over

Yeah, yeah, there's still the playoffs, whatever.The Bears are done. That's when Football ends for me.The most tragic part of this season is that the Bears played well the last two games. Possibly well enough on offense that people will forget the horrendous offensive play calling and complete misuse of offensive talent throughout most of the year. I blame one person for the Bears' problems this year and it's not Jay Cutler: it's Ron Turner, the offensive coordinator. The Bea...

Virtual Assistants

I signed up for www.AskSunday.com, a virtual assistant service.AskSunday has a call center in India that acts as your personal assistant, making calls or setting up services.My first two requests involved customer service issues for Microsoft and TiVO. I imagine they also have call centers in India. I just hired a person in India to call other people in India on my behalf. I wonder if that will qualify for a discount. Posted via email from stuarthall's posterous