Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.
I just walked outside my company's new office building to grab some lunch, and saw this car charging at a public automobile charging station (here in Portland, OR). In light of my last post on finding power in the airport, this brings a whole new issue to mind - I think having a car that's run out of juice could be much worse than having a laptop or cell phone that's run down!
The other day, when I wrote about the Samsung power trees in Newark Airport, my friend Kevin sent me a link to a Wiki page created by Jeff Sanquist that is devoted to sharing things like power outlets, wifi availability and other travel amenities at various airports.
This looks like a great resource for planning ahead or finding the resources when you need them (you can even look this up on your phone or PDA if you aren’t connected).
If you have any other resources to share, let me know or leave a comment. And, if you’re so inclined – add your own discoveries to the wiki.
Read More
In the Newark airport a few days ago, I found a place where power grows on trees. It seems Samsung is beginning to install free charging stations in various places, including the Newark airport (this one is near gates 132 & 133 in Terminal C).
I like this idea because it seems it is often hard to find the power oasis in the midst of the airport power desert. I often see travellers wandering the concourses, looking for a place to plug in - frustrated that they are all taken. This approach provides a number of convenient outlets to help travelers (and keep people from unplugging ATM's and other councourse appliances - yes, I have seen that).
Hopefully, this kind of power tree will become more popular - there is an advertisement and a sample of a cool new Samsung phone in the "trunk" of the tree, so they are getting some good branding from this effort.
Oh - and another thing - if you find this (or any outlet) in an airport, it's highly likely there won't be any available sockets. My solution? I travel with a handy travel powerstrip (click here to see my review). This approach makes it easy - I just ask someone if they are willing to share using my powerstrip. I generally find someone who's willing to do that.
Read MoreThough I've been a bit quiet on the blog due to some time-consuming projects lately, I've had a bit of travel time to get caught up on podcasts. One of them was very illuminating, as it has to do with the economy and does a great job of explaining how the current financial chaos happened. The explanation was on a program called "This American Life," and the episode was number 355, "The Giant Pool of Money." 
You can download a transcript
, or buy the audio podcast for 95 cents (I think the podcast is much more captivating, but the written transcript is pretty good).
The story gets into some of the "behind the scenes" machinations of the credit crisis, and clearly shows the value of business controls. If better controls had been in place, we'd have been able to avoid this crisis. And by "controls" I'm not necessarily talking about regulations - just added business scrutiny and business rules to detect and manage risk.
The root of the problem
In plowing through all the data about what led to this problem, it seems the culprit is something I have written about before: lack of "Tone at the Top." If you're unfamiliar with this notion, "tone at the top" is the tone set by the leadership of any entity. Tone at the top is communicated through policies, principles and, most importantly, actions taken by management. As you might imagine, it also has a huge influence on how the organization will behave - people will often get away with inappropriate actions if they can do it without any negative consequences.
Many of these financial organizations seemed willing to suspend business rigor and accept things that, in retrospect, should have set of lots of common sense alarm bells. They often felt they were doing things "in the name of competition," or for other rationales that (on the surface) seem reasonable. But the bottom line is their management allowed significant business changes without demanding a thorough analysis of the risk involved. And now we're all paying the price for weak tone at the top.
Check out the piece by This American Life, and see if you agree. And by the way - some of the things you'll hear will astonish you at how insane and irresponsible they seem.
Note: You can subscribe to "This American Life" for free on iTunes, but they only keep the most recent episode up there at any given time.
Del.icio.us tags: financial crisis, This American Life, Dwayne Melancon, Tone At The Top
Read MoreA couple of weeks ago, I wrote about UBrand - a small business that makes semi-permanent markers that you can use to personalize your luggage, electronics, or just about anything you can stick things to. I mentioned that it provides a good way to make your luggage stand out from the crowd so you can spot it easier.
Well, I just got some UBrand letters and an icon and have applied them to some of my stuff, so I thought I'd post a couple of pictures here and let you know what I think. My first impressions were great - the UBrand stickers look like very high quality items, and they come in a professional package. I decided to put them to use right away.
Luggage marking
My first markup was to apply my initials to my suitcase. I picked a spot for the letters, tested the spacing, then peeled the backing from the letters and stuck them on. That's pretty much it - very simple. The letters feel like they are firmly stuck, and they have a nice depth to them. Since I have white letters on a black bag (my tried & true Briggs & Riley 22" Expandable carry-on) I can easily spot my bag. This came in handy this evening when I was trying to help the bellman find my bag in the bag check room - I just told him to look for the bag with the big, white "DAM" blocks on the side, and he found it right away. Click the thumbnail at right for a bigger picture.
Laptop marking
My other label (a cool, stylized icon of the Earth) was destined for my laptop. Just like luggage, many laptops look alike and I want mine to stand out at the security checkpoint to avoid any mixups.
I have been using bumper stickers but they sometimes tear or get worn. I now have the earth icon applied to my laptop and I think it looks pretty cool. I also feel like the UBrand sticker will last longer than a bumper sticker. Click the thumbnail at left for a bigger picture.
Summary
The bottom line? I think these will be great to personalize my stuff. I also think these will make nice gifts for my traveling friends this holiday season. They have an ever-growing selection of emblems in the UBrand store, and can even make custom ones (in quantity) if you want to provide branded stickers to your customer. Way cool.
Related items
Del.icio.us tags: ubrand, travel tips, Dwayne Melancon, gadgets, luggage
Read More