Seriously; this is just insane…I’d like to see a face-off between these guys and military sharp shooters.
Opinions And Ramblings By Adam Kmiec On All Things Media
Monthly Archives: May 2008
The Master Casters Are Amazing
The team at Colle+McVoy along with the support of our client RBFF found some of the world’s best casters and pushed them to the limits. The tricks and techniques are literally straight out of someone’s crazy fishing dream. Check out this one where Gary Hain shows some Penn and Teller like accuracy.
You have to admit, that after seeing this video you totally want to learn how to do it. I swear, I never knew the “casting” done by anglers could be do freaking cool. Serious kudos to the team for coming up with the great idea and obviously thanks to our client for supporting a very non-traditional idea.
There’s a whole pipeline of great videos like this that we’ll be sharing very soon.
The Breakthrough Company
I generally try to read a few books at a time. My former manager Kevin Doohan recommended that I juggle a “business” book with a easier/more enjoyable read. I’ve taken his advice to heart. I’m just about done with, “Men in Black: How the Supreme Court is Destroying America” which I received as a gift from my dad. While I’m nearly done with that back, I did just finish reading, “The Breakthrough Company” by Keith McFarland.
Christine Fruechte, our CEO & President, shared her copy with me and asked me to give it a read. I’ve read Blue Ocean and Good to Great, both of which are similar to Breakthrough Company. This isn’t overly surprising when you consider that Keith is quite tight with Mr. Jim Collins. It’s an interesting read and something I recommend to anyone trying to figure out how to win and make changes. As noted here, this quote gives a great overview of the book’s main point, “When a leadership team realizes that strategy is really the single most important opportunity for learning within a company, it is free to drop some of the more cumbersome trappings of traditional strategic planning.” Personally my favorite concept that McFarland shares is that leaders need to CROWN THE COMPANY instead of themselves.
Think about it. We’ve all been at companies where we fundamentally believe the upper 10% are more interested in giving themselves fancy titles and larger bonuses instead of doing good by the company. The concept of crowning the company is all about putting the company first and yourself second. Not a bad philosophy at all.
Give it a read.
Microsoft Windows 7
Microsoft Windows 7 is due to ship in 2010. Gosh, 2010, that just sounds cool. Ok, anyhow, CrunchGear offered us some images of what Windows 7 could look like. Keep in mind the operating system is still in development and obviously changes could happen between now and then. That said, it looks damn cool.
Memorial Day 2008 Continued
Memorial Day was a blast. We ate some great food and enjoyed the some-what chilly weather. As you can see Cora really enjoyed herself. I really liked watching her pick up and throw the baseball. I tell ya, the girl has 1 heck of an arm for a 13 month old.
Memorial Day 2008
I love Memorial Day. It’s the unofficial start of the BBQ season. Memorial Day basically says, “Yes, it’s ok to do nothing, until the day after Labor Day, except eat MEAT that’s been carefully grilled.”
There’s a smell that comes from cooking on a grill that you just can’t replicate in the kitchen. It’s almost primal in nature. Like moths to a flame, the smell draws people in and once they’ve arrived you’ll see smiles all around.
We didn’t host Memorial Day this year. We picked up the brats and let Cheryl’s parents do the cooking. If you ask me, that’s a smart move, since that means they’ll be doing the clean up as well 
Cora was too young (just over a month old) to really enjoy Memorial Day last year, but we made up for it this year. Check out the photos covering her 2nd Memorial Day experience.
Cora Shopping At Target (Day Before Memorial Day)
A Wise Selection; Johnsonville Brats
Clearly Those Brats Are Hers
No Seriously, Those Are Her Brats
As a Matter of Fact, Let Me Try to Eat Them Now
Love My iPod; Thanks For Reminding Me
Indeed It IS Time For Brats
We’ll Boil Them in Beer First…
…Then We’ll Grill Them
Almost Done
Now, That’s What I’m Talking About
Cora’s Ready to Eat
We Gave Her a Tiny Taste; Now Using Sign Language She’s Saying “More”
Yes, Chow Down
All in all a great day. In addition to cooking and eating, we made time to visit the park, where Cora enjoyed the swing, throwing the baseball, and the slides. Pictures of those activities can be found here.
Don’t Let Your Kids Get Fat
Fantastic article from the Washington Post on how obesity can harms a child’s body. The graphics are clear, ease to understand, and frightening. Check out a screen grab of the Flash experience below. I had to shrink it down to fit, but you can visit the article page for the full size experience.
Strange Shirt for Marissa
Cheryl and I were out shopping yesterday and stumbled upon this strange T-shirt. I have no idea what it means, but it made us both laugh. We have a really great friend named Marissa, lives in Council Bluffs. As you could imagine when we saw this shirt we instantly thought of her.
Hillary vs. Obama Social Media
I’m pro-Hillary and anti-Obama. I’m anti-Obama to the point that I’ll vote McCain if the choices are Obama and McCain. Those feelings aside, I stumbled upon something very interesting today. It’s been said many times by the media (who have a crush on Obama) that he’s done a great job mobilizing the young and well educated. It doesn’t take a genius to know that today’s youth and the well educated are online big time.
I was checking out the Twitter profiles for Hillary and Obama today. Something really jumped out at me that showed with crystal clarity the difference between how they’ve approached those two targets. As of today, Hillary has 4,019 followers and Obama has 33,069 followers. That in its own right says a lot, but that’s not the big stat.
The big stat is that Obama is following 33,960 people and Hillary is following 0. Literally 0. That’s not an “o” that’s a ZERO. As we look at engaging people and carrying on the conversation, how can you possibly do that if you are following no one? Think about it. For each person you follow, you can engage them at almost a 1 to 1 level. Those people have followers who can see the conversation taking place and might just end up following Hillary directly.
To me, this sums up the problem with Hillary’s campaign.
My Love Hate Relationship With Lost
I love the show Lost. I hate the show Lost. Lost, is a great show. It keeps you engaged, makes you want to learn about the characters, and keeps you coming back. The writing is top shelf, the music scripted just so, and the cinematography is perfect. That said, I hate the show. Up until this season (season 4) the show had opened up too many questions, but was never providing any answers. Each episode just left you hanging. If you thought the Sopranos ending was bad, well imagine getting that feeling EVERY week.
Cheryl and I solved the cliff hanger problem temporarily. Following the conclusion of season 1, we started Tivo-ing every episode and then watching them all back to back. By watching them back to back we don’t have to wait till the next episode for answers, we can just watch the next episode. Well, this weekend we watched all of season 4′s episodes, except for the season finale. The season finale is on next week.
My buddy Jason Striegel had promised me, we’d finally get some answers in season 4; and boy was he right. I don’t want to spoil anything for people who haven’t watched the season yet. However, if you are on the fence, pissed off with a lack of answers, or simply tired of getting mind-screwed by producer J.J. Abrams please watch season 4. Season 4 is what the previous 3 seasons should have been. It should be about Questions, that actually get answered.
One of my favorite little discoveries since I started watching season 4, was this site. It offers up a Lost theory on Time Travel. I agree with 99% of what he believes and after reading his article, I finally feel like I understand things on the show. Now that I understand more, I’m back in love with Lost.