Patron edition!

I am absolutely rushing through this today because I don't want to be on my laptop AT ALL. I struggled all week at being focused and I have an inkling that what I need is to put on some loud music and rearrange things. I get mind clutter, cleaning helps sometimes. I hate cleaning, but sometimes the mood is there – I have to harness this.

What are you up to this weekend?

Maybe I'm feb

the underside of an iceberg from Tobias Friedrich

The other day, I was wrapping up a meeting, and I said something along the lines of "I'm glad we have some runway on this thing because I'm scatter-brained this week, and I can't seem to get anything done." A colleague responded, "Well, it's February. I forgive myself for everything in February. This month is just so useless."

Ok, well I'm done with this month. I'm ready for spring. To be outside. Is it February that made my burnout index off-base? Or does this kind of tool even work for someone like me?

I was interviewed about the Red Hat / Greenpeace collaboration by Diginomica last week. This week I had a chat with a journalist from ComputerWeekly, which just...well it was the first IT focused, weekly magazine in 1966, and I'm a nerd. Anyway, I was grinning on the inside about that.

I took some business advice and started a Media Kit page on my website. I'm trying to change my feelings about self promotion (it makes me feel icky). Here, buy my book to read in this stupid, cold, dreary, dumb February month*.

* Dear Australia & New Zealand readers, I know you're there and I'm jealous of your life right now. Anyone else in the southern hemisphere? South America or Africa? Y'all there?

Maybe I'm a bot

Wes Anderson directs commercials with robots too.

Charles Portis died. Everyone says True Grit is the masterpiece, but my favorite Portis book was Dog of the South. I haven't been reading novels lately, though I did start Donna Tartt's the Secret History. I tore through the Goldfinch last year (or the year before?), but I have no interest in seeing Hollywood's rendition. Edward Norton's version of Motherless Brooklyn though? Yes, please. If you want to read Lethem, though, don't forget Chronic City and Fortress of Solitude. All three books are great.

Let's end this thing with some tips on changing behaviors or habits with commitment contracts and your exclusive Freshly Brewed Thoughts sample scripts for if you got fired and are at a job interview:

"Actually, I was fired. My job was being advertised as a higher level, so I decided to demand a promotion. I hadn't even had a basic raise for over 5 years. I had a yearly increase in responsibility and my institutional knowledge was more and more robust, but they decided I wasn't next-level material. I didn't feel that my questions on the matter were answered appropriately, and I guess I poked the bear with my demands. I learned a lot about loyalty and also labour laws. Really, I'm glad I stood up for myself and don't regret any of it for a second."

"I was fired because my boss thought that my harassment complaint against his friend and colleague would be uncomfortable for the company. The incident was recorded, but I couldn't afford a lawyer, so I just let it all go. They made the right call, knowing that I didn't have the power to stop them."

"They let me go because I threw a five gallon bucket of mayonnaise on a customer. Frankly, they did the right thing. My hands smelled like mayo for three weeks, and I realized that it was because I constantly had my hands in mayonnaise. It's an amazing feeling to have come out the other side of lingering mayonnaise smell."

Maybe I need help?

I have one of those Macbook Pros with the crap keyboards. I don't get it fixed because I would have to give my computer up for a couple weeks, and I dunno how to do that. My down arrow doesn't work. My left cmd key falls off completely.

For YEARS I've been thinking about buying a new machine, but I can never decide on one, and so, maybe I need some help.

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