Trololo Cat

If you have not seen the original Trololo video, you do not deserve to live.

Mass Customization Of Email

With all the tools that spammers and mass marketers have at their disposal, you would think that they would be better focused on mass customization of their emails. I received a thank you email from Hilton after my recent stay in the UK. The email started out with:

“We’re so glad you’ve recently enjoyed the special treatment Hilton HHonors® guests receive at Hilton hotels.”

This really irks me since they had given away my room, despite my honorary Gold status. I had to take a Taxi to the next Hilton property after a grueling international trip. I ate some disgusting pizza with Tuna fish on it, since the kitchen was closed. The room was terrible and had a lumpy mattress. So if by “special treatment” you mean “being treated like a stray dog”, then yes, I did have to enjoy that. I am pretty sure I do not ever again want to be a Hilton HHonors guest!

Since Hilton has my email address, it would have been nice to receive a personal apology. At a minimum, if you are going to email your customers, you should at the very least check to make sure that there were no issues before sending out a “Thank you, please come again” message. The benefit of having all these computers is that you can analyze client data and send relevant information to improve your loyalty and customer experience. Lastly, the email did not even contain a survey link where I could give them some honest feedback about the service that I received.

Protip: Presentation Titles

Although I have been giving presentations for years, I am constantly improving my own presentation skills. Similar to stand-up comedy, presentations tend to get better the more times you rehearse the material. Getting constructive feedback is critical. Sponsor feedback is essential for presenting a good final consulting deck.

My boss (and mentor) Ed Murphy had a great tip for me about the titles of presentations. It might be common sense, but I thought it was good advice and worth sharing. Ed thought that the title of the slide should really tell the story on the slide, since the deck has to tell a story. For example, if you have a slide titled “Sales Results”, then it might be better to title it “Sales declined dramatically in Q4″, or whatever the real story is.

If you’re going to take the story metaphor further, then the plot should also include a reflection point to make it a complete story. You can sequence a bunch of facts together, but there needs to be a “so what does this all mean?” moment in the deck.

Don’t Be An IT Consultant

I finally made it, safely, to Bracknell. I had a 4 hour delay from Boston due to a volcano eruption in Iceland. When I finally got to Reykjavik, the mechanics union went on strike. After 9 hours of waiting, they finally let us board. The story I heard is that the parliament stepped in to resolve the situation. I finally made it to Heathrow, where it was a zoo trying to get through immigration. Once I was through immigration, I had a great limo driver who took me to the Hilton St. Anne’s Manor. (I am a Marriott Platinum member, but I decided to try the Hilton Gold status that was conferred upon me. And besides, it is close to our office and a co-worker recommended it.) I learned my lesson though, because they bumped me for someone more important.

They put me in a cab to the other Hilton here, Hilton Bracknell. They gave me a choice of a free room upgrade or wireless, so I picked the wireless. Oh, I ordered in a pepperoni pizza, and they sent over a pepperoni, tuna, ham, olive, green and yellow pepper pizza. The diet coke I ordered turned out to be a regular coke and I’m too tired to complain.

To anyone who is considering a career in IT Consulting, I say forget it. It is better to be an I-banker. Or a hotelier. Or a CPG manager. You’ll have a better commute.

Quincy Ek Review

So my first beer was a good experiment, but I did make some mistakes.

The taste of the beer was somewhat cidery and with a strong green apple note. I have been reading How to Brew by John Palmer, and that indicates that I had excess Acetaldehyde. I believe that the reason for this is because the yeast that came with the kit might have been old, since I did follow the 2-2-2 rule for this beer. One reason I believe this is because there was little or no Krausen in the fermenter. Looking into the fermenter for my new batch, I can see that there is a thick layer of Krausen already.

Because of the weak yeast, the sugar I added to the bottles to carbonate my brew wasn’t converted into carbon dioxide. I did not put enough sugar in to begin with, but had I put more in, I believe that it would have just exaggerated the sugary, cidery taste.

In order to correct this in my next batch, I will make sure to re-hydrate the yeast (and perhaps make a yeast starter.) Also, I found a calculator when it comes to bottling, so that I can add the correct amount of sugar to the bottles.

Quincy Ek Photos

Here are some photographs of Quincy Ek, my first homebrew.

These will be ready to drink this weekend. I definitely had some issues when it came to carbonation, but I found a nice calculator online that should help me avoid these in the future.

I opened up a few last week, and I have found that they have a distinct and pleasant apricot taste.

USPS Tracking

I’m waiting for a USPS package that was shipped to me from Hawaii. I requested that the package be shipped to me in mid-January (1/15). I’ll update this post as I wait for the package. I think it is being sent by mule.

Delivered, March 08, 2010, 3:38 pm, QUINCY, MA 02170 Notice Left, March 06, 2010, 10:01 am, QUINCY, MA 02170
Out for Delivery or Available at PO Box, March 06, 2010, 9:10 am, QUINCY, MA 02170
Sorting Complete, March 06, 2010, 8:40 am, QUINCY, MA 02170
Arrival at Post Office, March 06, 2010, 8:04 am, QUINCY, MA 02170
Processed through Sort Facility, March 05, 2010, 11:47 am, SPRINGFIELD, MA 01152
Processed through Sort Facility, March 02, 2010, 8:37 am, BELL, CA 90201
Processed through Sort Facility, March 01, 2010, 1:09 pm, RICHMOND, CA 94804
Processed through Sort Facility, February 11, 2010, 5:13 am, HONOLULU, HI 96820
Acceptance, February 01, 2010, 12:39 pm, KAILUA KONA, HI 96740