March 2008
6 posts
4 tags
The Disposable Business Plan
There’s a great article on Metropolis Magazine’s website about a new book by Dan Roam called The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. As the book’s promo page says, “Used properly, a simple drawing on a humble napkin is more powerful than Excel or PowerPoint.” In other words, a simple visual can be a powerful storytelling device,...
2 tags
A great March Madness story
The story of the 2008 NCAA men’s basketball tournament is definitely Davidson. But as exciting as the 10th-seeded Cinderella’s tale is, it’s not new. Remember George Mason in 2006? Or the original NCAA Cinderella squad, Villanova in 1985?
Don’t get me wrong, the basketball world won’t soon forget the heroics of Davidson’s baby-faced sophomore, Stephen Curry,...
4 tags
Oh, what a feeling!
Last week, my friend Eric was bumming. He had just found out that the undercarriage of his late-90s Toyota Tacoma was completely rusted out, and would not pass inspection. A car he thought had at least a couple years left on it was done. Totaled. Rust in peace.
Sure, he lives in New Hampshire, and there’s been a lot of salt and sand on the road in our near-record winter this year —...
3 tags
Paging Dr. Rug
I rented a Rug Doctor today to steam clean my carpets, which I’ve found is a good thing to do every once in a while if you are, like me, a dog owner. While enjoying the zen mindlessness of Rug Doctoring (not quite as blissful as the zen mindlessness of vacuuming, but close), I started thinking about where I rented my Rug Doctor: the grocery store.
Why rent an appliance where you buy your...
3 tags
Jared, 10 years later: When a story becomes a...
I’m guessing that even though I didn’t mention his last name, you knew exactly which Jared I meant: Jared Fogle, better known as Subway Jared, the guy who lost 245 pounds in a year thanks to what he called the “Subway Diet,” with a heavy dose of walking mixed in.
Jared’s fame began when his weight-loss story appeared in his college paper, the Indiana Daily Student....
1 tag
Getting Blogging, Again
We tried blogging once before, more than a year ago, and the experiment didn’t last long. The posts were too lengthy, and, looking back, not bloggy enough. (Of course, the definition of “bloggy” has evolved quite a bit in the last year or so; I’m using the 2008 definition here.) Since that attempt, when a blog seemed like a good idea, I’ve actually done a lot more...