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Wise Words - Cube1986

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Media and definitions

Now don't get me wrong I am happy that the US election panned out as it did, I was very much an Obama man. However one thing I cant get behind is the general media's attitude that the election of an African American president shows that the US has turned a major corner.

Pundits will often cite the "crushing", "landslide" victory that Obama enjoyed once the votes had been counted, and I suppose the electoral college system in the US goes a long way to make the vote often appear more one-sided that in it should. Obama received 53(ish)% percent of the overall vote, now I dont know how the average person would define a landslide, but for me that just doesn't cut the mustard.

Almost half of the US voting population do not want to see Mr. Obama in the Whitehouse, and these nice folk will be gunning for him (hopefully not in the literal sense, but I wouldn't doubt it) for the entire duration of his time as the "Commander in chief".

Say it all you like but 53% does not a landslide make... thats all I have to say about that

30 years on

This week I witnessed a colleagues 30th work anniversary (right term?). This is quite an accomplishment and from the multiple "can you beleive it" conversations going on around the office I gather it is extremely rare that someone completes such a long stint with one employer.

There was of course the standard issue cake, speech and handing over of a nice watch, and it was quite nice to see how proud the man was of being, as the MD put it, "woven into the fabric of our company".

My favorite part of the proceedings was the employee's recount of what working in the pharmaceutical industry was like all those decades ago.

I suppose for people of my generation it can be easy to forget that until relatively recently there was no internet, there were no computers, no emails, no excel spreadsheets... (that last one could be a good thing).

I can imagine that working without these things must have been an entirely different ball game, a very papery ball game. In the days when email was a few decades away, and computer based documents were unthinkable, paper must have been king and thats something I just cant imagine.

All this thinking about how weird and tough it must have been back then, made me appreciate (in an odd way) the current bains of my daily life, things like Microsoft Excel, email, Powerpoint, because I know that having to perform these functions in an analouge way would be an insane operation. By using excel spreadsheets I have the power to perform various statistcal analyses that would be totally impracticle to try on paper (I have horrible thoughts of sitting infront of graph paper with a pencil and ruler). By using a simple database program managers can check sales of every pharmaceutical product, in every County, by using video conferencing an employee in Ireland can talk with an employee in America in real time...

While all this may seem boring to the average person I do find the changes that have occured between Mr.30ths first day and today to be fairly amazing.

30 years... It's a long way off, what will things be like then?

You know a political campaign has been a success when...

Well I suppose you know it has been a success when you have been elected, but during a walk around Buffalo, NY, I found the scene pictured above. The Obama "change" had spread beyond the electorate to the extent where little kids with chalk were inspired by the possibility of a change of direction for the US.

I am very happy that Mr. Obama prevailed in the election, however I see two major challenges for the new President.

1. He only won 53% of the "popular vote", meaning 47% of the country aren't so happy to have Obama in the Whitehouse, these nice folk will be trying to shoot him down (hopefully not literally) every step of the way.
2. Even with his fans the expectations of what he will deliver are unbelievably high, even if he performs adequately, or indeed above average, this will probably be viewed as "not good enough".

Interesting times ahead.

Golf Sale?

From what I gather, selection of actors for ads is a fairly extensive process which takes days if not weeks, or maybe even months. Take for example the "I'm a pc, I'm a mac ad", it just wouldn't have worked unless those actors suited the role, and were dressed in a way that would best convey the message.

I was taking a stroll through Grafton street and came across the "oh so regular" regular feature of Grafton street, a gang of homeless looking folk holding up signs for various shops which reside down some side street.

The fine gentleman in the blue jacket, with his hood up, is holding up a sign for... a golf shop. Now I may not be an expert in advertising, but I am a person with reasonable intellect, does this person really convey what the golf shop want people to think about their shop? For me, I would be afraid it is some sort of trick to lure me down a lane (which it might be).

Recently when I was in Chicago I saw a homeless man, wearing old shabby clothes, holding up a sign for a shop which sold "Luxury mens suits", I know that the advertisement may be cheap, but I would predict that it drives exactly ZERO customers to your fine suit shop, therefore although you may be paying them a meagre $5, that's five big ones down the drain.

So to those who favour "advertisement via big sign held by a homeless person" I say: Is this really the way you want people to view your business?

Airport security - dont bother asking

I used to like flying, I used to like it alot.
I suppose a great deal of my enjoyment was based on the fact that flying was like a real life google earth (I have called it this on multiple occasions).
Times have changed... the novelty I once enjoyed has been replaced with complete loathing for the amount of my life that is wasted in queues for queues, and spent answering absurdly stupid questions. Questions such as "did you pack your bags yourself" are surely unneeded, I think the late George Carlin put it very well when talking about the question "have your bags been in your possession the whole time"

No. Usually the night before I travel – just as the moon is rising – I place my suitcases out on the streetcorner and leave them there, unattended, for several hours. Just for good luck.

The one that really gets me is the set of questions they see fit to ask you on the USA visa waiver form, the little green form that no one can ever figure out how to complete (In Dublin airport they now have people dedicated to telling you how, nice design eh?).
The questions that are most ridiculous are to be found on the back of the form.
The first question regarding communicable diseases is fair enough, however if you were afflicted with yellow fever, and you really wanted to get into the USA would you really tell them? My personal favourite is:
"Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage; or in terrorist activities; or genocide; or between 1933 and 1945 were you involved, in any way, in persecutions associated with Nazi Germany or its allies?"
Again, this may indeed be information that the US government would like to know, but do they truly believe that any person who fits this bill will ever tick "yes"?

Questions like these are a stupid waste of time, I would assume that no sane person who actually wanted to enter the US would ever tick yes to any of these questions, if you know you will be lied to, don't bother asking, and let me get on my damn plane

2 Weeks, 3 cities

2 weeks and 3 cities later I am back, what a long 2 weeks (in a good way) perhaps the key to maintenance of sanity during employment? I thought I was on a roll there with a few comeback posts but this holiday has thrown things off a bit, posts should be a little more regular now I wont be spending all of my internet time researching a holiday...

Stay tuned.

From top: Boston, Chicago, Buffalo/Niagara falls

Shwarzenegger school of economics

Understanding that you would believe me when I put this quote up I have also included a video for your viewing pleasure

On the subject of pharmacies...

At the moment there are circa 1500 pharmacies around Ireland, and if you were to take a stroll around any mid sized town in the country I can guarantee with a certain degree of safety that you will see at least four pharmacies there, I would know, I have done it.

Abbeyfeale, Newcastle west, Castlecomer, Douglas... all areas that I have never heard of in my life (until recently) and all of them with four pharmacies.
The weirdest bit about it is that they often locate very close to one another, within a literal stones throw.

Apart from establishments that sell another type of drug... pubs, there is no other category of shop that have such a presence (could you imagine there being four barbers in one village?), I suppose the fact that four pharmacies can co-exist in a one horse town points to the fact that they are obviously making huge profits, if not it would be safe to say that they wouldn't be there. As I found out recently pharmacists are most certainly not in the business for the love of the patients.

On a quest to cut back on Health care expenditure the Irish government have tried to cut down the amount they pay to pharmacists for dispensing drugs to those with medical cards, and as soon as they announced this proposal, which to be honest would help the country in many ways, the pharmacists went into a state of rebellion, according to them this was grossly "unfair".

Well a group of pharmacists took the Health department to the high court over this... and by some absurd oddity won the case... so it looks like the government wont be making those savings after all... And whats more is allows this ridiculous extortionate situation to continue.

Some time soon I hope that the "four pharmacies to each village" situation will be broken, I hope that pharmacists begin to make normal profits, and the industry becomes as competitive and fair as any other.

Rant over

Dell and some "Cop on"

Well today is a very momentous occasion, today saw the arrival of my first new laptop since my first ever computer that I got allll those years ago (3) for the start of college. At less than half the price, but more than twice the power, I am a happy man and it now means that I can lay my old computer to rest in the laptop graveyard... its been sick for quite some time now.

What I couldnt help noticing is how stylish my new computer is in comparitive terms to my old Dell, I mean look at the picture above, makes you jealous... right... (probably not). My old dell purchased in 2005 looked like laptops did in 1985, and I would attribute most of that to the fact that until relatively recently Dell didn't consider itself to have much competition.
... Well the other companies caught up and soon surpassed poor old Dell on design, and even price, but now through some inivative (copying of) design (from apple) development and quick "copping on" Dell have managed to come up with some great machines, with fun features such as coloured panelling general sleek design and I now have a laptop I can be proud of...

Sarah Palin... is not smart

I must say that I am quite amazed that any nominee would be stupid enough to choose Sarah "20 months governer of Alaska" Palin as their VP candidate. I could go on and on about how stupid she really is... but I decided I would just copy and paste a section of her most recent TV interview.

Talking about the proposed financial bailout package in the US:

"ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh -- it's got to be all about job creation too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So healthcare reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, um, scary thing, but 1 in 5 jobs being created in the trade sector today. We've got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that."

Nice

Make sure it works

Alot of companies (esp pharma companies) like to give away pens, post-its, notepads and other branded items so that you recall their products and brand. This is all well and good, and I'm sure it is reasonably effective, however... if the item you are giving away doesn't work properly then this creates a rather shoddy image of the brand in question.

I bring this up because recently I was subject to such an incident. While staying at a well known Hotel in Galway (which by the way has nothing to do with the Radisson Galway that is pictured above) I decided to take a pen, as I knew I would be needing one later that day while interviewing pharmacists. Later that afternoon I took out my hotel pen, clicked on the top of it and... disaster. The front of the pen ejected off in an extremely comical fashion launching bit of plastic and a spring all over the shop floor of a local chemist... needless to say they weren't impressed... neither was I...

Excess Baggage

A disturbing fact came to my attention while browsing through the business section of the Irish Times last week. It seems that the nice folk who put bags on planes for Aer Lingus get paid... wait for it... Seventy thousand euro...

I understand that having your bags reach the intended destination is fairly important, but I would imagine that the act of "baggage handling" is not so complex or taxing as to deserve such a ridiculously high salary.

and now that Aer Lingus have decided its time to cut costs in the interest of long term existence, the nice baggage handlers have decided to kick up an Almighty fuss, with talk of strikes etc.

The news of Alitalias financial woes shocked many, but like Aer Lingus it is that fact that mismanagement under state ownership has brought about ridiculous situations like baggage handlers on 70k.

in other news, I have began to practice moving heavy bags around my house, soon I will have a valuable qualification!

Meetings, Meetings, Meetings

Through personal experience this week I have decided that business meetings should be strictly policed by a large man with a stick who holds up a clock and MAKES you stop in your tracks without rambling on.. and on... and on.

I witnessed the "And I just have one more point" approach the other day where a certain individual (who I actually really like in day to day interactions) managed to make "just one more point" an incredible six times. Whats more, the content of what they were saying really only had relevance to about 2 out of the other 9 people in attendance.

I consider it to be a totally wasted hour of my life... 2.6% of my workweek...

Keep it short and sweet, get in contact with the people you need to afterward... but don't waste my life

Experience is... 2

Two posts down I put up a quote from a man named Randy Pausch, which said that "experience is what you get, when you didnt get what you wanted". When I put this quote up I meant to add a slight amendment to the wording, however I didnt...

I think that the thought he is trying to express is better expressed by saying that experience is what you get when you didnt get what you EXPECTED, because in reality it is not only negative circumstances that produce brilliant experiences...

Tales from the road

Well its been a along time since I last posted anything on this little blog of mine but I thought it was about time that I broke the silence with a tale from my new job.

The last week and a bit has been spent on the road around Ireland attending various meetings and more recently interviewing pharmacists about how they view the wholesaler service etc. For these interviews I tag along with a Sales rep who visits the doctors in the area, and I go and visit the pharmacies nearby.

One of the more interesting places I visited last week was a small town called Ballyduff, Kerry. We pulled in on Monday morning at 11am, having finished my pharmacy call I had to wait around for my colleague who was going to be taking a good bit longer. Scanning around the village I saw a nice friendly looking pub and decided I'd pop in for a nice cup of coffee. I walked up to the door, opened it and was slightly shocked... to say the least. It seems that Monday mornings are fair game for drinking down in Ballyduff, and it seemed that the drinking session of the century was in full swing. People were drinking, shouting and about to start fighting... it really was quite an impressive sight. Upon my opening of the door, the place fell silent, and literally everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at me, in my suit and tie, looking distinctly out of place. In return I looked around the bar slowly in a state of semi horror, gave a little wave and left...

Just goes to show you, what might be normal where you live - not drinking at 11am - may be the norm elsewhere, also, don't go to Ballyduff in a suit.

Experience is

Welling up with wisdom

Cutting costs (and customers)

I must say that I am surprised that in these apocolyptic "recessionary... times" that budget airlines are reacting in the way that they are. A quick browse of the business pages will tell you all about how airlines plan on cutting costs, eliminating unprofitable routes, cutting out the frills and also grounding planes during the winter months etc... This is all wrong.

What they need to do is cut fuel costs, my somewhat controversial suggestion is that they just don't let their more husky customers on board... I said it was controversial, but hey, we have an environment to go saving AND costs to cut.
However, in all seriousness if an airline lowered the weight of its average passenger, through enforcing restrictions, by say 7kg (just a bit more than a stone), and assuming a plane holds 200 passengers that would mean having 1400kgs less to be lugging through the air. This is not only alot of saved fuel, but also means that certain customers wont be taking up one and a half seats... bad personal experience here

If car insurance companies can have women only clientele, surely airlines can have fit passengers only...

Educating Edward

Not too long ago the results for my college degree were released, as it transpired I missed out on the top grade available by about 1 or 2% overall, which I must say is a bit annoying to say the least. When I saw the results I just sat and stared (and listened to supertramp) at the computer screen and decided to feel incredibly sorry for myself for quite some time. During this time however it gave me an opportunity to really think about the importance of it all.

Did the fact that the number on the screen was slightly smaller than one I wanted to see make a monumental difference? Did it affect all the great things I got out of my time in college?

The next morning when the initial wallowing in self pity had worn out I decided that the grade itself was of practically no consequence, and in reality I had got a first class time out of college.
Some of my friends however have not taken so kindly to their grades and to this day feel hard done by and even worse genuinely believe that by not achieving a 1st class honours have wasted 3 years of their lives. This however, (for them) could be fairly accurate.

As I said about the recent case competition I attended, if your single purpose of attending was to win (or get a 1st class honours), and you end up coming 2nd, then to you the whole thing has been a pointless waste of time. Once you recognise that grades/rank/etc are only a PART of college, you can enjoy the journey, get involved outside of coursework and get the full benefit from the experience.

The whole grade fiasco reminded me of the movie “Educating Rita” which I saw recently. There is a brilliant scene near the end of the movie where Rita, having transformed from a working class woman to student of English literature, announces to her lecturer that she doesn’t need him anymore, “I don’t need you, I know what wine to buy, what clothes to wear, what plays to see, what papers and books to read and I can do it without you”. The lecturer (played very well by Michael Caine) responds brilliantly with “Is that all you wanted… Have you come all this way for so very very little?”. I like to think that the lecturers remark is applicable to grades from college too, not that I am saying that barely scraping by is ok, but once you are above a certain point, the grade itself becomes rather arbitrary.

So I think at the end of this rather unstructured rant, I am trying to say is that, by setting the wrong targets and awarding them a disproportionate weight, a person can preclude themselves from important aspects, experiences and outcomes of any activity…
Rant over… I think

One man's rubbish...

On one of my many long rambles around Toronto I went to a nice little place called Ireland Park down by Lake Ontario where I bumped into a pretty cool guy by the name of James. This nice fellow had possibly the best (may be exaggerating here) business idea ever.

It seems that when some people need to move house or liquidate an inherited house, that they are just too busy/lazy/distraught to sort through the bits and pieces throughout the house that have been accumulated over a lifetime and, well, just pay someone to come in and get rid of them, that's where James and his buddy come in.

The beauty of such an arrangement is that not only do they charge people for extracting the materials in question... but then proceed to sell anything on that could be of value rather than just dump it! This means that not only do they get even more money out of the job, but also reduce the costs that incur from dumping charges.

the example he gave me was of a home he recently "cleaned up on" where he found a rifle from the US Civil was which sold for $4,000... not too shabby to say the least.

Back in town

Unfortunately a combination of college exams and travels to New York and Toronto have seen posts on this little blog run very dry, however with exams out of the way and having returned to the country I hope to start writing alot more in the coming days.
Relevant personal news from over the past while...

1. Toronto is a very cool city
2. I will be officially employed as of this week with a pharmaceutical company
3. I am now a college graduate (with a 2.1 honours B.Comm)
   

Boring job, Interesting Location 2

I have always loved the pictures of these guys at work on the great skyscrapers in the US, but I still cant figure out whether they are smart for choosing such amazing locations for work, or stupid, seeing as death on the job is surely more likely!

Silly Coins: Cool but too big

While at my friends house during the week I noticed that he had somehow become the proud owner of both €10 and €20 COINS.

The €10 coin is about the size of a regular five cent coin and the €20 euro coin is about the size of a 1 cent coin (aka teeny tiny), however is it extremely cool due to that fact its made of 99.99% pure gold!

I did actually find these coins pretty cool until I had a little gander on Wikipedia and found that Austria have beaten us to the "novelty coin crown", it seems that last year the Austrian mint unleashed fifteen €100,000 coins upon the world... The picture below displays its true absurdity.

Fired...

Christian group to boycott... "Slutbucks"...

Seeing as I am short on time due to exams (last tomorrow!!!) and haven't talked about Starbucks for a while I thought I would copy and paste this press release from U.S. - based Christian group that call themselves "The Resistance".
Their little rant is in relation to the recent reintroduction of the old Starbucks logo on merchandise.

Starbucks has recently introduced a new version of their logo which features a topless mermaid with her legs spread, which has caused outrage from a nation wide Christian media watchdog organization. The Resistance, with has over 3000 members nationwide, is boycotting Starbucks across the country saying their new logo is inappropriate.

The Starbucks logo has a naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute, explains Mark Dice, founder of the group (Christian Watchdog). Need I say more? It's extremely poor taste, and the company might as well call themselves, Slutbucks.

Do mermaids even have legs? These guys have too much time on their hands.

No Comment

Memorable scene from the Global Business Case Competition 2008

Just do it...

Reminded me of some advice given by Grand Master Rowan over at the fortify blog, discussing a particularly novel presentation style:

Borrow liberally. If you have seen a good way of presenting an idea using this medium, borrow it, adapt it, use it. Sure, over a million people have seen this clip of Demetri on YouTube, but that leaves 5,999,000,000 on planet Earth who haven't

Smart as a Fox

Despite what I said about studying in the last post, study got a little more interesting today when a fox decided it would be a novel idea to set up camp right outside my window. After alot of banging on the window the fox gave me a look (see above photo) and proceeded to go back asleep. With that procrastination over I will now return to studying

Study is...

So boring I made this slide in powerpoint, took a photo of it and uploaded it, ahhhh procrastination