TheMerrillShow

I’ve grown a fascination for Twitter; its means for a short status update enable the micro-publishing platform to be the pulse of the planet, and as a Taoist might look at it, to create a greater sense of oneness via increased perception.  I can see if the T is going to be late (@MBTANow), or what is coming out of conferences happening today (#ocon, #TED) - all in virtually real-time.

As a result, and the fact I’ve been working for a year now, I’m hardly blogging.  This, I intend to change.

Find me on Twitter (@mlamont) and expect a redesign of The Merrill Show that reflects my current web-related activities and a more Twitter-centric webpresence.

Wow, is it quiet in here…

In the time between grad school and finding full-time employment (fine, during grad school, too), I did a lot of online reading - and wow do I miss it.  Nowadays I get home from work, say hi to the family, do a few things, and then am tired enough to just go to bed… I find it strange that lately I just do not spend much time online.  And I find it a little saddening.

Granted, most of my time would be watching Google TechTalks, TED Talks, and see what’s new on PopURLs, but in doing so, I’d learn so much, tasting what’s fresh in new and exciting fields, or walking away with a neat tool I would eventually use.  There is just so much happening out there that not allotting time for browsing feels like a loss of… connection.

…and quiet is good.

This is why I enjoy Sundays - reading online is my version of reading the Sunday paper.  I guess in this sense, things don’t really change, but take on a different form.  I think I’ll formalize this as part of a weekly sabbatical custom.  Hopefully, it doesn’t always occur at the office, like today.

Quoting Obama at the Office

I was recently in a meeting where I gave an impromptu presentation of my research into the use of one of our databases with a rather unfriendly schema.  (I also got to show off the department wiki I made.  Her name is Viki.)  The goal was obtaining better ways of providing metrics.  When asked how this task was coming along, I said, “The database is not perfect, but it can be perfected.”

It was surprising to note the smiles and strangely comforted sighs… and especially where they were coming from.

Holy Crepe!

I recently discovered the Arrow Street Creperie between Harvard Square and Central Square on Mass Ave.  One of the reasons we moved to the BackBay was Le Marche at the Pru (now P. F. Chang’s), so it was a loss when it closed, and I’ve been looking for good sweet crepes since.  I had their “Extraordinaire”, which is fresh strawberries, fresh bananas, and either nutella or dark chocolate, and holy crepe am I going back there again.  Many times.

It’s a cute little location bordering Guffey Park… a little triangular sliver of land between Mass Ave. and Arrow street… there’s a smoothie place on the other side, some bookstores selling rare books, a church across the street, and every seating area seems to have its own character, but I guess it comes with the territory when it’s a tiny place to begin with.

They do savory & sweet crepes, and most are between $7 and $11, which may seem a little steep, but the ambiance and freshness make it well worth the cost.  They have a fan in me.

For one full day this weekend, I tried it out - for two reasons.

Near-sighted and building circuits

A co-worker has been doing it for over a year.  He builds circuits, but both contacts meant he had to keep himself a fair distance from the bread board, and to see his computer screen, contacts came in handy.  By only wearing one, he said, his brain adjusted so that whether he was looking far or close, that would come into focus on its own.  The only downside was a particular distance in between, where he would have to move the object farther or closer to see it right, but otherwise, he’s an evangelist.

Don’t drink and put fingers in your eyes

After a fun night, I was only able to take out one before fearing that I might be gauging out my cornea, so I gave up and went to bed.  Sunday morning meant rushing off to mass still feeling like a mess without time for remedial occular extraction.

Two-faced sight-seer

So there I was, in New York City, knowing I could see a car coming at me from the left, but praying nobody would mug me from the right.  My first name came out alright when signing off the tab, but that second lion in front of the Public Library would seem to disappear.

Actually, kids, don’t try this at home

Honestly, I could not tell if the headache was from this perceptual experiment or from the hangover, but after sharing the adventure with my visually half-enhanced co-worker, I found out his perscription was MUCH lower than mine.  Also, upon return to Boston (oh, sweet sweet Boston), I finally figured out how to remove these buggers without oozing aqeous humor.

Not having a clue and halving the view meant the city so nice (they named it twice) was an eye sore.

Today marks a milestone for Brandon T. Johnson, President & CEO of Boston Microfluidics.  His prototype works, and now, instant STD testing is a reality.  Congrats, buddy!  (want more?  use Google)

Oh, and on the way home, a car got stuck in the tracks on the outbound side of the Haverhill line.  We passed it with INCHES to spare.  Nobody got hurt.  Will post pics once I figure out how to get them off my phone.

Certified Knowledge Manager …ain’t cheap.

There is training in Washington DC to become a CKM.  Five days in a hotel, learn useful stuff, sign me up!  It’s expensive, though, and only after handing in the proposal paperwork had I learned that this was a bigger deal this year than in those past because the department budget had been slashed.  Bummer.

Be a player.  Be a team player.

Seven months into employment here, I couldn’t ask them to spend that portion of their year’s budget on me, so I pulled out, saying I’d look for something closer (save on travel and housing costs) and maybe cheaper.  I thanked the training institute representative, and shared this.

Some salesfolks are good.  They want your money.

That’s when he asked for what I was budgeting.  Then he said he could half the training cost, and I could do the first half online, attending the second half in DC, and STILL get the certification - this guy is good!  Alas, I had already pulled out the paperwork, and so close to the start of training, I was not about to restart the beaurocratic process and do the pre-course reading PLUS the first half of the course.

Communication.

Had shared what I wanted (certification)  and knew (budget was tight) with the rep, I may have been able to present something the company could more easily approve.  I’ll try again in a month.

It’s the simple things in life.

On a side note, what’s better than eating freshly baked corn bread straight from the pan?  Eating freshly baked corn bread straight from the pan while watching “24″.  If you see me during my morning commute tomorrow, ask for some!

Make connections.

Summers at BU meant summer classes (fitting the business administration minor into the biomedical engineering major in four years required it) and doing odd jobs, mainly moving furniture for $15/hour.  On two of those gigs, I ended up working with a good guy.  Things worked out well enough such that I got him to help me move out to Worcester for grad school.

Connections lead to referrals.

We got to talking about where we were in life and what we were working on.  I mentioned I wanted to spend more time on my website, and he recommended his buddy Eliot at OK|Public.  I’m still on the Level 1 package, which suits my needs perfectly, but the big thing that gets to me, besides how easy it was to set up, and how hard it is to turn down $3/month, is when I call/email/IM support, I get Eliot.

Referrals stem from good service.

Eliot is happy to talk to me, patient in answering my (many newbie) questions, and prompt - honestly, I can’t ask for more!

But then, he did more.

PayPal had a problem with my subscription, and then they cancelled it: technically, I now have no web hosting.  I had done other stuff recently via PayPal, so there shouldn’t've been any issues, but regardless, I talked to Eliot, he knows, is handling it, and I’m still online.  Now, this may not have been a big deal for him, but it is for me.  It’s partially the reason I haven’t updated: I’ve been holding my breath to see how this would pan out.

Good service feeds into a positive user experience, and fandom.

I am a fan of OK|Public.  Having listened (book on CD) to “The Dip” (future blog post) by Seth Godin, I can say, to me, OK|Public is the best in the world.  Having recently read Godin’s “Tribes” (another future blog post), I can say I am in their tribe.

If they sold T-shirts, I would buy one.

Oh, and I highly recommend them.

Unless you’re really cool/talented/good at snowboarding/skiing and do not end up spending appreciable amounts of time with your rear on the snow, do invest in snowpants.  All the cool kids are doing it.  You may think your jeans are good enough, but your derrier won’t be merrier when it’s wet for the rest of the day.

Lesson learned first hand.

Put your scarf in the foosball goal.

Then, get your opponent/date/nemesis to put their scarf in the other goal.

Then, play forever.

It is a great investment of four quarters.

For added fun, now throw in multiple balls.

Then, enjoy the chaos.

Taking the 8:14pm Commuter Rail from Lawrence to Boston is awesome.

Everyday, we hold our collective breath. We silently pray it is not TOO late: 15 minutes past time is about normal.  If it hits 25 minutes past time, we start to worry.  I have done this for over half a year, waiting mainly one stop inbound in Andover (I’m doing Lawrence during the cold weather becauses it has heated indoor waiting areas, whereas Andover’s station only has a roof), and the magic number is 35.

Everyday is a chance at adventure. At Andover station, if it running 35 minutes late, my experience has been it WILL be an hour late.  The Haverhill rail line shares one track in that area for inbound and outbound, so if my inbound ride does not show before this point, it has missed a window of opportunity and is forced to wait while two outbound trains flush out.  The waiting happens one of two ways.  It either hangs out just beyond Lawrence station, in teasingly plain view of the eager inbounders, or it arrives a good 40 minutes late to Lawrence, picks everybody up, and then rolls BACKWARDS to its waiting spot before eventually arriving in Andover, five minutes away, 25 minutes later.

Everyday, inbounders bond and friendships form. If it is an hour late, which happened once a fortnight during the fall, it was usually engine trouble.  A handful of times, the train would arrive without heat working and pitch dark.  Save for our cell phone lights, the relative quiet added to a strangely romantic ride back to Boston.  I meet and chat with young mothers, their kids, guys who talk to animals (they tell the best stories), folks who just got out of jail, working professionals, students who can juggle while riding their bike, technicians who just got on facebook, teenage couples going to a party, Celtics/Bruins/RedSox fans going to a game, flamenco-dancing flautist-equestrians.

Everyday, we say goodbye knowing tomorrow’s train will be late. We whine a little, we laugh at the newbies as they learn of the train’s characteristic tardiness on this line, at this time.  We have learned to deal with the reality - and our choice - of taking the train on that line, at that time.  Some use “don’t sweat the small stuff”, I use something else, from my Dad: “comes with the territory”.

Ever play Stratego?  After chess, it is my favorite board game.

Not to explain the whole game… but each player sets up four rows of pieces however she wishes.  This set up is known only to the player because all the pieces look the same from the opposing player’s view.  Different pieces move in different ways, they have different ranks, and when one piece challenges another for a square, the two battling pieces reveal themselves and the lower ranked piece is removed from the board.  The goal is to capture the opposing player’s flag.

In chess, all information is known.  There is no hiding, no bluffing.  Not so with Stratego; bluffing and deception are very much part of the game, something that would make “The Art of War” author Master Sun-Tzu proud.

I would play at a friend’s house and was so confident in my setup, I would show him my one setup and use it every game.  He had all information, I had some, and I think I still won a decent number of times.  I finally played his father with my fabled initial setup (he didn’t know what it was) and he took me to town.  Afterwards, he told me what he did and what I did:

• I moved most of my pieces through the game, such as to give some hint of what type they were and suggest where my flag was.
• He moved ONLY his first two rows, so I had no idea what half his force was, and was thus cautious in attacking.  I also had no clue as to his flag location.

It wasn’t bluffing.  It wasn’t deception.  It was plainly not sharing information - and it worked.  Coming from the world of chess where every piece is fully visible to all if you choose to look at the whole board and it’s purely a battle of wits, this particular Art of War is still something I am learning.

I prefer to act from full and objective information, and relish in finding/making such resources.