Sugar Paper on Design Sponge

The wonderful ladies of Sugar Paper were featured on Design Sponge today. I've been meaning to write more about them and I will write a bigger piece soon, with their help. But I thought you should discover the magic of Sugar Paper sooner, rather than later.



By the way, don't underestimate the influence of Murphy, the dog pictured below. I think the place would go to pieces without her. :)

Lost Finale Recap

If you are as crazy about Lost as I am, check out this great recap by Cynthia Littleton.

Bonus Song: M. Ward

Image via WikipediaLoving M. Ward's Transfiguration as I finish up the work day. If you are still working, turn this tune on. I'm right there with you. Here's to a good weekend that hopefully will start shortly.

M. Ward - Transfiguration, No. 1
mellow

M. Ward - Helicopter
this one is a little faster

Friday Chill Music (May 30, 2008)

Image via WikipediaFriday Chill Music is here folks. Looking forward to a great weekend.

Jens Lekman - A Postcard To Nina
Great song, listen to the lyrics closely. He's a great storyteller and it's a funny story.

The Watson Twins - Just Like Heaven (The Cure Cover)
I'm a sucker for interesting covers and this one qualifies. You know the Watson Twins from their work with Jenny Lewis, but they're here singing it up by themselves.

Ryan Adams - Enemy Fire
Continuing my Ryan Adams binge and not regretting it one bit. this song is from SXSW in late 90's/early 2000 when he burst onto the scene.

Have a great Friday.

Inflation Ouch

I'm always baffled when I read that inflation is under control because the CPI reported a moderate increase. The CPI is a complete sham and Bill Gross, the Founder of PIMCO, the world's largest Bond Manager exposes the different shams that conspire to hold it down.

Even more baffling is when the Fed talks about how "Core CPI" which takes out Food and Energy costs, only the two most important things we spend money on, is under control. Well this type of stuff is finally starting to be exposed. On Wednesday, Dow Chemical, the world's largest chemical maker announced across the board 20% price increases on everything they make. Then they pointed the finger at Washington.

Consumers hit hard in recent months by sharply higher prices for gasoline and food should prepare to start paying more for various household items following Dow Chemical Co.'s decision to raise its prices by up to 20 percent to offset the soaring cost of energy.

The company, which announced the price increases Wednesday, took the unusual step of directing blame at the nation's energy policy makers.

"For years, Washington has failed to address the issue of rising energy costs and, as a result, the country now faces a true energy crisis, one that is causing serious harm to America's manufacturing sector and all consumers of energy," Andrew Liveris, Dow Chemical's chairman and chief executive, said in a written statement.

Ridiculous

Okay, this is just getting ridiculous:



Here is the time before, a way harder question. Who is this woman?

Cornell

Chris Cornell doing Billie Jean...

Ugly Stat

Found an ugly stat the other day concerning people's retirement:

According to a new survey from AARP, one in four middle-aged (45+) and older workers say they postponed plans to retire due to economic conditions. Almost 25% of people aged 45-to-64 surveyed said they are prematurely taking money out of their 401(k) and other investments.

Admittedly, we don't know what the baseline is, but I it still seems like a sign that things aren't so great and people are postponing dealing with their finances.

From Marketwatch

Kellogg & Pearl Jam

"Kellogg and Pearl Jam" - that is how the email subject matter read. A prospective Kellogg student named Himadri emailed me after stumbling upon the blog. He was wondering what advice I would give a prospective student. I have to hand it to him, he knows how to get my attention. He even included his favorite song: Breath.

My advice is to be persistent with admissions, don't stress about any one part of your application too much (people gravitate to GMAT because it's numerically measurable), and make sure you have a good story for your essays and interviews.

Once you get in, the advice is easy...Accept.

Kenny Kellogg Community - fill in your one piece of advice below. Himadri and others will be waiting.

Don't forget your favorite PJ song. Right now, mine is Come Back.

The Onion on Twitter

Courtesy of Ken Rice. Ladies and gentleman, you know you've made it when you are being mocked by the Onion.

Non Profit Internet Radio: KEXP

I reconnected with old friend, Stu Nagae recently. Stu and I joined H&Q in the same 1999 Analyst class and we found ourselves sharing an office for the first few months. He's a terrific guy and we got along great. Unfortunately, he moved to Seattle about 5 years ago and we lost track of each other.

Life is funny though and my good friend from Kellogg, Phil Preuss, was telling me a story a few months ago about his undergrad days at Stanford. And who did he mention? That's right, Stu. Turns out Phil and Stu were really good buddies back in the day. Yep, life is funny.

So I reconnected with Stu and among other things, he told me about an Internet Radio Non Profit he works with, called KEXP. It's fantastic. Check out their Live Performances link. I can't get enough of site.

Thanks a bunch, Stu. Here are some of my favorites.

KEXP: She & Him - I highly recommend You Really Got a Hold on Me.

KEXP: The Drive By Truckers

KEXP: My Morning Jacket

KEXP: Gomez

Search = Frequent Flyer Miles?

Microsoft is going to start paying people to Search on their platform. Seems like Search may be moving towards an Airline Frequent Flyer Miles incentive system. I'm all for that as a consumer (except that it will be one more large barrier for an upstart search provider).

However, I remember reading a while ago that Miles Programs are actually not that great for airlines. Although they help with loyalty, they're really costly. Everyone has to offer them because all the other providers do too. One more cost that is strangling airlines. Search is such a ridiculously profitable business that it's hard to imagine this being cost prohibitive, but I think moves like this are how a categories profitability get's chipped away at over time.

By the way, don't you just love the competition between Google and MSFT? Google is developing an online Office Suite that they give away to hurt Microsoft's cash cow Office Suite. MSFT turns around and starts paying people to use their search platform, hoping to inflict another cost on Google and hurt Google's cash cow.

I love capitalism.


the chart is a reblog from James Siminoff.

Haider on This American Life

Another great podcast from this American Life. This week's subject is Haider Hamsa of Iraq. When Haider was young, he worked for Irag's Ministry of Information which was essentially a propaganda arm. He spoke terrific English and it took him many places in Iraq and eventually the U.S. It's a great story and demonstrates the personal side of the War in Iraq really well.

Note from London

Thought this little note from my friend Grant Smith demonstrates why sharing music in a controlled and responsible manner should be encouraged.

From Grant Smith:

Ok... so... In case there was any questioning left about that CD you put together at the end of CPM last year, I'm now up to 6 CDs bought/acquired on the heels of it:

Navigators - Glory, Glory
John Meyer - Continuum
John Meyer - Room for Squares
Gomez - How We Operate
Wilco - AM
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

It's really not relevant to ask for more recommendations, when you already post them on your blog. But I figured I'd pass back the news.

Thanks for the kind words Grant.

By the way, I met Grant while studying in London in 06'. Of all the decisions I made while in MBA school at Kellogg, studying at London Business School for a quarter was one of the smartest. From a pure fun perspective, it was unbelievable, from an "eye opening" perspective it was equally valuable. I will never, ever forget my Negotiations class and all of the different culturally influenced styles and perspectives on truth and responsibility to the other party. Finally, I made friends like Grant who I plan on staying in touch with throughout life. Good stuff.

Reblog: Web Traffic

Love this chart. The web is changing again. Picked it up on a reblog from Bryc3.com. Also demonstrates the power of reblogging.

Friday Chill Music (May 23, 2008)

It's a holiday weekend and for some reason, cover songs just seem right for Chill Music Friday. Enjoy.

Jack Johnson and G. Love - Holiday - (Madonna Cover)
I'm crazy about Madonna and i'm not going to apologize for it.

Jack Johnson, Zach Gill, Eddie Vedder, Boom Gasp… I Shall Be Released (Dylan cover)
The Band is such a great band. Love this cover.

Wilco - (Don't Fear) the Reaper (Live) (Blue Oyster Cult cover)
Saw Wilco play this in 04'. Loved it.

Bonus:
Jeff Tweedy doing the Ruling Class. Not a true cover. (Note: It's a satire of religion so don't take it too seriously.)

Head Shot

My roommate, Corynn, forwarded this onto me. I'm a sucker for this type of humor. Enjoy

Webb of Fresh Air

Really enjoyed this Fresh Air Podcast on Jim Webb. He's the senator from Virginia who barely beat an incumbent Republican Senator in 06'. It was a really nasty campaign and a few racial slurs by his opponent helped turn the race in Webb's favor . He's a measured person who clearly loves the U.S., respects serving in the Military, wants to see the troops taken care of and I really liked his views on the big picture. He describes himself as a Reagan Democrat, very interesting.

Another reason to check it out is because there are rumors that he is in the hunt for the Democratic Vice President nomination.

Reblog: Final Jeopardy

Just another reason why the Internets are so cool: A Daily Recap on Final Jeopardy.

Stop it!

Thanks Mike Walton for the Reblog.

P.S. Check out how much money the woman on May 22 made. Holy cow.

Trash

Most people who read this blog know I'm not crazy about what's going on in the financial world with all of the Fed's attempted bailouts. Here is a really good article from Gretchen Morgenson on what she is calling, "Trash for Treasuries."

Media as a Weapon

The Bay to Breakers spilled into my apartment last Sunday. Multiple crews converged after the race and we gorged on pizza and margaritas with Pearl Jam's Immagine DVD playing in the background. Since i was the only sober one (seriously), I'm probably the only one that noticed a little segment in the video with Eddie Vedder basically saying, "there are 100 people in the world who could solve all of the world's problems,..if we could just get them to talk. We should lock them in a room so they can actually talk to each other."

Naive? Maybe. But I'm a believer. So what are those 100 people doing right now? Well here's an example:

O'Reily and Olberman - two big TV personalities - are fighting over nothing of substance. Instead of talking about real issues like soldiers (think Colby Buzzell) getting pulled back into the war. Instead, their venom is spilling onto the lapels of the network presidents who only care about protecting their own reputation. Depressing.

I'll try to find the clip of Eddie talking about 100 people later. Until then, join Eddie in a little Throw Your Arms Around Me.

How the Sausage Get's Made

Image via WikipediaSeeing "how the sausage get's made" is one of my favorite business slang terms. It's typically used by outsiders (like me) who are visiting someone who knows what they are doing. It's a dead giveaway that you don't know what you are doing, an acknowledgement to that person really.

I love music but I'm the ultimate outsider, having never played an instrument. That's why I love columns like Andrew Bird's, which shows the art of making an album. That will be some mighty fine sausage.

Reblog: World Changing Voicemail

Reblogging an entry from Ask First, Shoot Questions Later.

I second the authors wish, that it would have been great to have heard that voice mail 8 years ago. Click through the TinyURL to get to the Blog post with the story behind it.

Amazon's Kindle

Mark Link stopped by Kenny Kellogg headquarters fresh from his graduation at Michigan's MBA program. Congrats Mark!

He brought his Amazon Kindle with him (pictured to the right). This is Amazon's attempt at a mobile book or paper reader. You download content to it wirelessly, and read it like a book. It's the size of a medium sized notebook. I have to say that it's pretty sharp (I sound like my dad). It's easy to use, the text looks good and it comes in a nice case.

I'll be asking for one this Christmas.

Goodman on the Business of TV

In recent years, I've found that I'm becoming increasingly interested in the business of things. As in, the business of Major League Baseball, or the NBA or NFL. TV is no different. I love my favorite shows like Lost, the Office and 30 Rock, but I also like getting a window into how the businesses operate.

Tim Goodman of the SF Chronicle has been writing an excellent series about the TV business. This isn't hardcore stuff, but it's really informative and has the Tim Goodman humor sprinkled in. He's using the "Upfronts" where TV execs show advertisers previews of their new show as a window into the business.

Here are a couple articles I like:

Upfronts, a season of decisions, decisions

Networks Hope to Do More with Less

Colby Buzzell: Return to Sender

This editorial on Iraq is written by a high school classmate of mine, Colby Buzzell. We played basketball together from about age 12 to 18. We reconnected when I saw he had become a writer, a fantastic writer, for Esquire Magazine. Here is a snippet of the article. Go read it now.

Every time when I hear about a soldier's death now - which is always reported very briefly - there always seems to be a short mention that it was the soldier's second or third deployment, and now my name might be among them.

Colby is a real person, with considerable talents and a lot to offer the world. He is getting recalled to Iraq and now risks becoming a statistic.

This has to stop.

Big Pools of Money

If you are a looking for a one stop source on the Mortgage Crisis, then look no farther than this Podcast by This American Life. It's called Big Pools of Money and it's stunningly well done. They absolutely nailed everything, including the source of the problems, your friend Alan Greenspan who decided to push interest rates down to nothing and make people take unnatural risks.

Listen to this because 1) it's good history and entertaining, 2) it will help you understand where we are going with interest rates pushed down and commodity prices spiraling out of control, and 3) understanding how the global financial system works could help you from making a disastrous financial mistake sometime down the road.

We seem to have an out of control bubble every 3-4 years nowadays, so you need to know how to spot them, because the Fed doesn't.

Reblog: Gun Safety

Funny gun anecdote and picture from Hegarty here.

Bonus Song: Kingpin

I freaking love this song. If singing along with this, especially the end, doesn't make you feel good, I'm not sure we can be blog friends anymore.

Wilco - Kingpin

"How can I..."

Friday Chill Music (May 16, 2008)

Thanks for tuning into Chill Music Friday again.

Neko Case - In California
Beautiful week in San Francisco. Seems fitting that we celebrate California a bit on this edition of Friday Chill Music.

Jens Lekman - You Can Call Me Al (Paul Simon cover)
I'm becoming a big fan of Jens Lekman. He's covering one of my favorite Paul Simon tunes here. Good stuff.

Jack Johnson - Monsoon
Been listening to the new Jack Johnson album a ton. Really smooth. He's incorporated some new instruments and it's a bit of a different sound for him. Check it out.

Satellite

Thought this was a pretty epic satellite picture of Chile. Paul Kedrosky highlighted it on his blog. While you ponder this image, listen to this song:

Eddie Vedder - Satellite (live in Berkeley 4/7/08)

With Great Power

Really enjoyed podcast episode titled With Great Power from This American Life. Actually, I really liked the first two storylines and didn't understand what was going on with #3.

Great podcast if you are a subscriber.

Reblog: Anger Management

Reblogging Marc Andreessen's post on Bill O'Riley's blowup back in the day. Scariness.

In the Cannes

If you want to follow along with Laura Kreitler on her last great Kellogg adventure, check out her new Tumblr Blog, "In the Cannes." She's taking 17 days off of school to participate in a work study program at the Cannes Film Festival. Laura is intensely interested in media and directed a lot of videos for Kellogg's Special K event. She's a fun person with a great sense of humor. Can't wait to follow along.

El Jobso on Dell

Fake Steve Jobs is one of the best blogs out there. He breaks down the problem Dell finds itself in, and he does it with humor. Check it out.

Mixed in with the humor are great points, like this one:

"They said we were suicidal, ridiculous, old-fashioned, hubristic, doomed. The effort cost us huge amounts of time and money and was far from a sure bet. But my feeling is if you don't dare bet on yourself and your own people, you shouldn't be in business."

-- El Jobso (Fake Steve Jobs)

MagnetX Mother's Day

Went to my Grandma's on Sunday for Mother's Day and had a great day. Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out!

We played this game MagnetX marketed by Psyx Games. It was developed by two guys in Tracy, CA. It's pretty slick looking and fun. Essentially, you try to place a magnet on the board without causing the magnets to all crash together. It's pretty hard to get past 6 or 7 and you are playing it against people. The Wikipedia entry has a better description of the rules.

My uncle said the guy who developed this still works at his hot dog stand in front of the Tracy Home Depot. Crazy stuff. I'd recommend it and will buy one.

I love hearing these "little guy" success stories. I hope you do too.

Going Dutch

I always thought Dutch Evans, aka Greg Yeadon, would have been the best Sportscenter anchor because of his quirky humor and snappy wit. It seems like he's going more the direction of a marketing genius. Oh well, the world needs those too.

Two cool posts by Dutch.

Dutch Shopping

When Consumers find out Your Company Has No Soul

Kevin Clugage on Oracle's Big Stage

Oracle made a big technology announcement the other day. Basically they've created some really cool software that what people "in the business" call Service Oriented Architecture. Really neat stuff. My man Kevin Clugage was the guy on stage running the demo and answering technical questions in front of a packed crowd. Kevin and I have been friends since our fraternity days at CAL. Glad to see he is doing so well in his career.

It's worth noting that I found this clip via the Feeddo Blog. Feedo was started by a guy named Edwin Khodabakchian who is the visionary behind this piece of Oracle Software. Oracle bought his company a while back. Feeddo looks like it's going to be it's own very cool piece of software.

Potenco

One of my favorite things about interviewing people for a new position is asking them, "What industry or company do you think is the next big thing, and why?" While interviewing at Kellogg, very, very few potential employers asked me this question. I wish they would have cause I would have given them an earful. One of the reasons I interned at Becton Dickinson is cause Jim Down actually asked that question. It was a great indication of what was important to him and it worked out really well. He's one of my favorite bosses ever.

Anywhoo, I've been interviewing some folks lately and the most creative answer I got was Potenco. It's a mobile power generator. You pull a string and it builds up electricity. It can be used to power mobile phones or computers in really tough environments.

Great idea that could change a lot of lives.

Favors

I really liked this post by Seth Godin:

Just about a year ago, I published The Dip.

It turned out to be one of my most successful books. Perhaps you have a copy--which I appreciate more than you can guess. Now, here's the favor:

A year later, would you mind sharing your copy? Take it off the shelf and loan it to someone. Someone at work or in your family, perhaps. If I could double the number of people who read the book, it would be pretty cool.

This is how I feel every time someone tells me they read this blog or passes it onto a friend. Thanks!

Friday Chill Music (May 8, 2008)

Once I find an artist I really like, I love to go through their back catalog. It's amazing what you can find on their first or second record, before they were an overnight success on their 3rd or 4th record. I've been doing that a bit with Jeff Tweedy and stumbled upon a couple great songs from Being There. Here is my favorite new discovery.

Jeff Tweedy And Jay Bennett (Wilco) - The Lonely One

I've been listening to a ton of Bon Iver lately. Skinny Love is incredible, but you probably knew that. Here is another one I really like.

Bon Iver - Blindsided

Finally, I keep linking to a new Counting Crows song every week. It's a great album. I've had a soft spot in my heart for them for a long time. Among other memories related to their music, I remember having my best CAL lacrosse game of the year (yes, I played Lacrosse at CAL. I used to be fast, believe it or not) and a few buddies and I hiked behind the Greek Theater with a large malt beverage each and listened to the Crows' concert for free, just outside the Greek. Great night with Mercer and Becker. Anywhoo, here is another song of theirs off the new album I like.

Counting Crows - Washington Square (live on WXPN/World Cafe)


Bonus:
Here is a great Old School Crows song.

CountingCrows - Round Here

Scary

Very scary from Hillary...Found at Fake Steve Jobs.

"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on. There was just an AP article posted that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me. There's a pattern emerging here."

Reblog Mike Walton: John Mayer

Amazing video from John Mayer. This is a reblog from Mike Walton (who writes a great blog that should be read).

My favorite line: “Get me the guy who plays whistle on Paradise City.”

"This is Going to be Huge"

Stop what you are doing right now and click on ManBabies.com. Thanks for passing this on goes to Matt Belloni.

Irony?

I always get confused with the definition of irony. is this it?

A reblog from Walton's Tumblr.

A Company I Admire: Threadless

Matt Ziser showed me Threadless a few years ago while I lived in Chicago. I've loved the concept ever since. It's a site that allows users to submit t-shirt designs. The community then votes on them. The designs with the highest votes get turned into t-shirts and sold from the Threadless site and store. Elegant and efficient business model that is all based on participation. Here's a video interview with the owners of the company.



This video comes from a blog called Horse, Pig, Cow.

Sedaris Letting Go

Nice article in the New Yorker by David Sedaris on giving up smoking. There's a mix of humor, sadness and it drives to the author's realization about what quitting smoking is all about.

Typical Sedaris. Typically great.

Sports Guy & Prop Betting

Scotty Fausel sent in this interesting video from ESPN's Sports Guy on Prop Betting. It's interesting if you enjoy the Sports Book in Vegas. Basically he goes behind the scenes to learn how they design the special bets that are popular for events like the Super Bowl.



If you like that one, you'll probably also dig the Sports Guy's Video on former CAL Hoopster, Rod Benson.

More Gas

Scott Barrett and I were talking about how expensive gas is these days as a follow up to my blog post on it a while back. He sent me an email with a bunch of funny gas related cartoons and pics. I thought this one seemed especially appropriate because Scott just got engaged. We'll have to where Dre, his fiancee, registers. :)

Feist on Colbert

Let's just say I'm a pretty big fan of Feist. Colbert did a great interview with her last week. She's really funny and even left Colbert speechless a couple times. Check it out.



If you enjoyed the video, you'll dig here performing "I Feel It All."



Great Colbert episode!

Little Tells

Found this chart on James Siminoff's blog. Siminoff is the CEO of Simulscribe, now called PhoneTag. It takes your voice messages and translates them into SMS or email messages. A few friends use it and love it. I've been meaning to sign up. I'll do that and let you know how it goes.

In the mean time, definitely read his blog. He has viewpoints ranging on running a startup to just plain business sense. I loved the observation he made below on this chart that was in the wall street journal:

The % of Americans working in finance is at the highest point since the Great Depression.

Not a comforting thought for someone like me who works in finance.

I always try to pay attention to little tells like this. I remember reading in early 2000 that the Technology and Communications Industries made up a record % of the S&P 500 stock market index. That is one small tell I wish I would have acted on.

Tapping into Moms

Lauren Novita sent in this great article about mom's working. The point of the article is that there is a huge pool of women who are super smart and can make a big impact in your business, and they're relatively cheap. You just need to be a little flexible.

I saw this work with my own, baby eyes. My mom started working with Elegant Clutter when my brother and I were super young. She found the perfect business for her, bought in at the ground floor and the rest is small business history.

I'm sure there are a lot of other really cool stories like this out there. Send them in.

M&A Tutorial Courtesy of Andreessen

We all know that Microsoft walked in the Yahoo deal but late last week, before the outcome was known, Marc Andreessen wrote an amazing M&A tutorial. It's one of the best I've ever seen and used the deal to provide context. Many of the people who read this blog are recent MBA's and would probably benefit from reading this article. For better or worse, a lot of these mechanics are not taught in school. We're just lucky that people like Andreessen, the Co-Founder of Netscape and Opsware, cover these things in a forum that week can participate in.

Jenny's Acid Tongue

Came across this Jenny Lewis song. It's a new one called Acid Tongue. I haven't seen it on one of her albums yet, but I could be mistaken.

Reblog: Fed Opens Yahoo Lending Facility

Loved this little blog note. Turns out the Fed is going to try to bailout Yahoo Shareholders now that the share price is going to take a big hit on Monday. :)

"In response to recent events Federal Reserve Board voted unanimously to authorize the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to create Yahoo Lending Facility (YLF) to avoid significant stock market distruption and to support Yahoo! Inc shares. Yahoo! Inc and its authorized agents will be able to borrow from the facility to support stock price.

This facility will be available for business on Monday, May 5. It will be in place for at least six months and may be extended as conditions warrant. The interest rate charged on the credit will be the same as the primary credit rate, or discount rate, at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

In addition, Yahoo! Inc shareholders who are unable to sell their shares at or above Friday, May 2 closing price, will be able to swap Yahoo! shares for the US Treasuries at the set price of $29.70 per share."

Killion: Giants' Lewis changed by a tragedy - San Jose Mercury News

Killion: Giants' Lewis changed by a tragedy - San Jose Mercury News

Sad but interesting story on Giant's Left Fielder Fred Lewis in the Mercury News. Heartbreaker but worth the read.

Reblog: Man in the Sand

Reblogging Gust Funnel's recommendation on the Man in the Sand DVD. I really enjoyed it too. Mermaid Avenue was introduced to me by Bryan Kenna and Matt Ziser and both discs are two of my favorites. I gravitate to more of the Wilco songs on the album, partly because of the style and partly because of the subject matter that Tweedy preferred vs. what Billy Bragg liked. However, the discs are "must owns."

Enjoy the DVD and buy the albums. Here are a few of my favorites:

Billy Bragg & Wilco - Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key

Billy Bragg & Wilco - At My Window Sad And Lonely

Sunken Treasures

Fantastic article on deep sea treasure hunting by John Colapinto in the New Yorker. The article is titled Secrets of the Deep and if you find sunken Spanish Galleons and the hunt for their treasure, you'll like this article.

Unfortunately it's only an abstract sample so hopefully you can find the full version somewhere.