Shot, Stabbed, Punched, and Burned {Part 1}

When I was a kid my dad had tons of stories about crazy things that happened to him. I guess the thought never occurred to me that I would one day have crazy stories of my own. I was saving these stories for my memoirs but I guess they can be used more than once. Among other things I have been shot, stabbed, and burned - today part one: shot.

I've been shot at several times. One summer I was riding my bicycle through a bad neighborhood near Tampa Heights when some guys tried to take my bike away from me. When I wouldn't give it to me one pulled a gun and shot at me. (I don't know what kind of gun I would guess an air gun of some kind). When I was in seventh grade, a kid tried to slash the tires of the school bus we rode, I didn't say anything about it but he thought that myself and some friends were the ones that reported him. So on one of the last days of school he shot at us (I think his name was Jamie) as we came off the bus he shot at us with what looked like a rifle. I thought it was a pellet gun but later found out that he was arrested for armed robbery with a rifle so it could have been real.

When I was like 7 I was shot, and hit by a pellet, fire by a friend Michael. He was playing with his dad's pellet gun when he wasn't supposed to be so we never told anyone. When I was at Boy Scout camp the summer between 7th and 8th grade I went to Camp Daniel Boone in North Carolina. A lot of bad stuff happened on that trip (also saved one of my Scout leaders from going over a waterfall and either dying or getting seriously injured - but that's another story), I got shot by a .22 caliber rifle. The range master called the all clear and told us to go get our targets. The range wasn't full because it was only the boys who hadn't finished their qualifying shots, to qualify for your rifle shooting merit badge you needed two targets with a grouping in a nickle size and one with a dime, I was a terrible shot and had to keep coming back trying to qualify. One of the guys on the far end didn't hear the range master and fired a shot while I was trying to find my target. I was close to 100 yards away and it just nicked my right shoulder. I used to have a small scar to show people but you can't see it anymore.

Next time... Stabbed!

New Rules... for your E-Mail

I was listening to an interesting discussion last night on the ways that people are becoming overwhelmed by Email, and there are certain ways that people are discourteous to Email readers by being vague, run-on, or sending unnecessary replies. So, after much discussion 10 rules were created by Chris Anderson a TED curator:

1. Respect Recipients' Time
This is the fundamental rule. As the message sender, the onus is on YOU to minimize the time your email will take to process. Even if it means taking more time at your end before sending.

2. Short or Slow is not Rude
Let's mutually agree to cut each other some slack. Given the email load we're all facing, it's OK if replies take a while coming and if they don't give detailed responses to all your questions. No one wants to come over as brusque, so please don't take it personally. We just want our lives back!

3. Celebrate Clarity
Start with a subject line that clearly labels the topic, and maybe includes a status category [Info], [Action], [Time Sens] [Low Priority]. Use crisp, muddle-free sentences. If the email has to be longer than five sentences, make sure the first provides the basic reason for writing. Avoid strange fonts and colors.

4. Quash Open-Ended Questions
It is asking a lot to send someone an email with four long paragraphs of turgid text followed by "Thoughts?". Even well-intended-but-open questions like "How can I help?" may not be that helpful. Email generosity requires simplifying, easy-to-answer questions. "Can I help best by a) calling b) visiting or c) staying right out of it?!"

5. Slash Surplus cc's
cc's are like mating bunnies. For every recipient you add, you are dramatically multiplying total response time. Not to be done lightly! When there are multiple recipients, please don't default to 'Reply All'. Maybe you only need to cc a couple of people on the original thread. Or none.

6. Tighten the Thread
Some emails depend for their meaning on context. Which means it's usually right to include the thread being responded to. But it's rare that a thread should extend to more than 3 emails. Before sending, cut what's not relevant. Or consider making a phone call instead.

7. Attack Attachments
Don't use graphics files as logos or signatures that appear as attachments. Time is wasted trying to see if there's something to open. Even worse is sending text as an attachment when it could have been included in the body of the email.

8. Give these Gifts: EOM NNTR
If your email message can be expressed in half a dozen words, just put it in the subject line, followed by EOM (= End of Message). This saves the recipient having to actually open the message. Ending a note with "No need to respond" or NNTR, is a wonderful act of generosity. Many acronyms confuse as much as help, but these two are golden and deserve wide adoption.

9. Cut Contentless Responses
You don't need to reply to every email, especially not those that are themselves clear responses. An email saying "Thanks for your note. I'm in." does not need you to reply "Great." That just cost someone another 30 seconds.

10. Disconnect!
If we all agreed to spend less time doing email, we'd all get less email! Consider calendaring half-days at work where you can't go online. Or a commitment to email-free weekends. Or an 'auto-response' that references this charter. "

I tried to give you just the most important part of the discussion highlighting it so that we all can be a little more digitally considerate. If you wish to read more http://emailcharter.org/

It's Not all Politics

I will admit that I post my fair share of political opinions and messages on Facebook, not so much on Twitter or via e-mail. There are certain things that I feel appropriate and conform to proper social network etiquette in expressing political opinions, and there are times when it is not appropriate. Somethings are just funny:

DO NOT MAKE EVERYTHING POLITICAL

Sorry, but it is just annoying when someone posts a funny picture or a pretty harmless question and someone inevitably makes it political. This happened twice on Friday, one friend posted some "Fail" photos people basically doing dumb things and someone had to bring up politics / politicians. There was another where it was "If you could be anyone for a day, who and why" someone had to put Obama so could undue all the bad he has done... It sounded dumb for a number of reasons.

I am not sure if I totally believe the old adage there are certain things you do not discuss in polite conversation religion or politics. I will say that there are times when it is rude or uncalled for, and in the new age of social networking some people need to learn there are times and places for your opinion and there are most certainly times when it is not appropriate.