Think Again before buying Think Big

(I've posted this review on Amazon, but I doubt that it will see the light of day.)

Think Big! There! I just gave you the ENTIRE book for free. I’m not kidding.

The author Michael Port promotes thinking “big” as a way to create a worldwide revolution that will make everything politically correct. You will also benefit from this revolution by being blissfully happy and possibly even create some wealth along the way.

Mr. Port, born in 1970, missed the “worldwide revolution” of the late 60s and early 70s that promoted most of the same philosophy. He acknowledges the cubicle workplace, the cookie cutter suburban homes and the watch TV/go shopping lifestyle of America, but his sole recommendation for breaking out of that scenario is to “think big”.

The way he writes, I presume that at the end of this worldwide revolution that we will all be sitting around a campfire, singing Kum-ba-ya and making smores.

He uses the phrase “think big” over and over on every single page, which gets to be very tiresome in attempting to find any worthwhile content in this book. Occasionally he writes something along the lines of “Oh my! Did I just say that out loud?” Evidently as a former actor (you can look him up on www.imdb.com) he is still carrying around a lot of excess ego.

Mr. Port was born into wealth and he has wealth. So there’s no risk on his part in advocating that you change YOUR life by quitting your job, risking your money on starting a new business, or leaving your relationship. This is basically just another slick, well promoted happy talk book that does not move you forward with your life.

I received numerous blog recommendations for this book from Seth Godin and many others, which is usually a warning sign when the blogosphere promote one of their own as the next important person/book. So, against my better judgment, I bought the book.

I suppose that writing a negative review of this non-book is “thinking small”.

More gibberish

I earn my living as a consultant specialising in Microsoft technologies, mainly SharePoint, with an occasional foray into BizTalk.However I don't love or worship Microsoft, nor do I have any desire to be "certified" or become an MVP.I'm not a Microsoft fanboy. I'm a critical cynic that's often just outspoken.I got a call today from a recruiter saying I wasn't getting a job with one particular company because the guy I interviewed with felt that "I wasn't RESPECTFUL enough towards Microsoft!"
Sounds like an ass kissing company anyway so I probably wouldn't have fit in. Ha!

Redesign and the end of "Blah Blah"

I've given a lot of thought to the state of blogging and imho, it pretty much sucks.

We lack a deep knowledge about those whose blogs that we follow, with possibly a few rare exceptions.

So with that thought in mind, I plan to redesign my blog site and possibly even move it to a hosted scenario.

We'll see.

Stay tuned.

Susan Boyle - AMAZING!!

My God! It was so worth finding out and repeatedly viewing this video. There are multiple versions on YouTube, but this one is available for viewing in HQ. There is another one though that has the lyrics posted with it.

Please go view the entire clip if you haven't seen it. It is inspirational and totally amazing!

Makes me cry everytime I view it. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luRmM1J1sfg&feature=related

Magpie - viral marketing for Twitter

Here's a viral marketing service for Twitter that is very transparent if one follows thousands of other Tweeple: http://be-a-magpie.com/

Seesmic Desktop versus TweetDeck

Apologies to Loic Le Meur, but the current beta of Seesmic Desktop doesn't hold a candle to TweetDeck!

I had just heard a podcast raving about Seesmic while at the same time, the podcasters indicated that they based their rave review on other media sources! Hmm.. sounds a bit like PR BS to me.

No Twitter for Hitler - This video will make you laugh out loud.

OMG! This is the funniest video that only Twitter users can truly appreciate!!

http://www.twooting.com/members/twooting/videos/VIEW/00000008/No-Twitter-for-Hitler.html

Twitter performance

Obviously Twitter is on to a good thing, but they certainly need to build up their infrastructure as their performance is inconsistent and just plain sucks!

BumpTop - A new Windows UI

BumpTop is a new and at the moment free UI for Windows. Still requires a strong graphics card to take advantage of its interface though. They plan to charge $29 for a premium version of this UI one day, but for now it's free.

TwtrCon - A Twitter Mash Up

TwtrCon: http://twtrcon.com/
Twitter for Business Hotel Nikko, San Francisco May 31, 2009

You can attend for free if you get 10 other people to buy a ticket.

As I am about as social as the Unibomber, that isn't going to work for me.

Twitter and Marketing

Having way too much fun with Twitter, which comes as a surprise as I thought I would never use or find any value with the service.

My Twitter profile is at: http://twitpwr.com/profile/mdrips/

I also found this great free book on self marketing by Dan Schawbel:

http://danschawbel.com/bloggingyourbrand.pdf

If Fallout 3 doesn't start, try this

Turn off Skype. It will not start up if Skype is running.

Even so, be ready for random, patternless crashes. I can spend an entire evening on Fallout 3 without a crash or I can get a crash every 5 minutes. Weird.

Also if you decide to purchase and download the add-ons for Fallout 3, be prepared to continually download them and delete them until a copy actually arrives on your desk from Games For Windows Live. THEN once you actually have the files, you have to move them to the Data folder under Fallout 3. It's a real mess, trust me.

The add-ons are interesting and do give you some new weapons and armor.