2013 World Series Run

I’ve grown up a St. Louis Cardinals fan, so I’ve been playing close attention to their World Series run. Unfortunately, the game just ended and the Red Sox won the series. But I could tell the Cards were out of it about three games ago.

Watching the games, you could see how hard the Red Sox were playing – running hard and beating out throws to first, diving for line drives, and showing a genuine passion and enthusiasm for the games. I just didn’t see the same fire and heart displayed by the cardinals. I got frustrated every time I saw someone trotting down to first base because they hit one on the infield. It was obvious to me (and I think to others), that the Red Sox wanted it more.

I hope it’s because the Cardinals are mostly a younger bunch of guys (compared to when they won the World Series just 2 years ago), and their nerves got the best of them. But whether you’re playing baseball, or doing something else, never underestimate the power of illustrating passion and heart.

Seattle’s Best Coffee

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, partially because it’s hard to find time to write things long enough to justify putting them here.  I’ve spent most of my posting short thoughts to Twitter and Facebook.  I’m going to try to remember to continue to post short thoughts there (@kkozlen) as well as a short expansion on those thoughts here.  So, here’s my first thought…

Is Seattle’s Best Coffee really the best coffee to come out of Seattle?  It’s a proper name, not a description of the product, but how many people really know that?

For a short while, we had both Seattle’s Best and Starbucks where I work, and I think I prefer Starbucks, which is also a Seattle based company.

Just because you name something, doesn’t make it so.

Cinco de Mayo

A friend passed this along and I thought it was great…

Celebrating a victory over the French is like celebrating a nap.

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!

Travel Observations

I’ve been traveling an incredible amount these last 9 days and I’ve made a few observations on my 18 flights on 3 different airlines…

– While I appreciate the satellite radio on United Airlines, they probably should avoid hits like, “It’s the end of the world as we know it.”. Another odd selection – “Country Roads” by John Denver.

– If someone passed gas on a crowded flight, they should be thrown off mid-flight.

– If the previous does happen, turn the little air blower on your face on full blast.

– Similarly, using the bathroom on a flight less than 45 minutes in length should be prohibited.

– If your stop/layover is less than 8 hours long, they send your bags on to the next destination… Even if you need your clothes for the hotel on your 7 hour layover.

– Delta and Northwest Airlines said they merged, but really haven’t… Other than when you think you’re flying one, you could be flying the other.

– Reclining your seat should be done slowly… You just took 8-10 inches of someone’s precious little personal space away… Ease into it.

– If you’re unlucky enough to get stuck in the middle seat, you deserve to use both armrests.

– If you’re walking through the terminal with you Bluetooth headset, you just look like a crazy person talking to themselves. Don’t be surprised when security is alerted.

– There’s a fine line between people watching in the terminal and being the spooky guy in the corner eyeing everyone walking by.

– Does the Homeland Security threat level ever drop to green? I think not.

These are just a few of the thing I picked up during my crazy travels… Feel free to add to the list if you have any interesting travel observations.

The Dyson Ball

I was just watching a commercial I’ve seen a hundred times for the Dyson Ball vaccuum cleaner. The suave guy with the accent talks about how a vaccuum with regular wheels can’t turn like his invention with the ball. However, it got me wondering,do you still get those little “just vaccuumed” lines on the carpet caused by the wheels? Those little lines on the carpet give me such satisfaction after vaccuuming.

Winnie the Pooh

I sat down tonight to watch Christmas movies with the kids – we’ve been enjoying ABC Family’s 25 days of Christmas. Tonight we watched Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too. I never noticed it growing up, but all the characters on Winnie the Pooh sound and act like they’re 80 years old.

Oil industry full of gas

Earlier this summer, I distinctly remember seeing gas reach over the $4/gallon mark. It was everywhere on the news and suddenly every news channel was interview CEOs from companies such as Exxon/Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, etc. These CEOs attempted justify the high costs we see at the pump – along with their billions of dollars in profits. They showed how the high cost of crude oil was driving prices up. In fact, at the time we were paying a little over $4/gallon, the price of crude oil jumped to $147 a barrel. OK, I understand, gas and oil is in high demand because of growth in places like China and India so we’re all paying more. What I don’t get is that this week, crude oil has fall to below $70/barrel (a 53% drop from it’s high on July 11) and yet the price at the pump has only fallen to about $2.85/gallon – that’s only a 29% drop in prices at the pump. So what’s happening with the 24% gap in the change in prices… my guess, it’ll finally push the big 3 I mentioned above (all Fortune 5 companies) a little closer to hitting a collective 100 Billion in profits. Happy driving!

NORM!

I was riding my bike to work today and took notice of a few of the political banners people are starting to put in their front yards. Of course I passed Obama and McCain signs, but one sign caught my eye – George Wendt for McLean County Board. I remembered that the actor that played Norm on Cheers was named George Wendt, and was from Illinois (Chicago). How great would that be to have him as a county board member? County board meetings could be at the bar, with a special place saved for George Wendt.

Unfortunately, as I suspected, it’s not the same George Wendt… however, the county board member looks like he could be the father of the actor. What do you think?

McLean Country Board Member

Norm from Cheers

Privacy Please

I’m in New York City this weekend for a project for work surrounding the Major League Baseball All-Star game. As I was getting ready to settle in for the night, I happened to notice that instead of a “Do Not Disturb” sign, this hotel has a sign that says, “Privacy Please.” I get the Do Not Disturb – don’t knock, bother, etc. However, aren’t you asking for privacy the second you close your door? Therefore, you wouldn’t really need a sign that says “Privacy Please.” It just seems unnecessary. I do have to mention my favorite hotel door sign… At an Embassy Suites, the sign to hang on your door says, “There’s a really good reason not to knock right now.” That I can appreciate.

My Friends Can’t Read

I had to write a quick blog about this… A couple of weeks ago, I added a new application to my Facebook page called Visual Bookshelf. It lets me enter what I’ve read, or am reading, review things I’ve read, and even shows a graphic of the cover of the book.

The funny part is that underneath what you’ve read it says, “Kevin’s Friends who Read,” and it shows only 10 friends (out of the 97 friends I currently have in Facebook). So, according to Facebook, only about 10% of my friends can read… I guess that shows you the riff-raff I associate with.

Recruiting Quality Talent

Random thought… If your company says it’s interested in recruiting quality talent, does that mean you should be worried?  When it comes to things like sales, they say it’s always easier to keep a good customer than it is to get anew one… shouldn’t companies be focused on retaining quality talent, or maybe they’re just sending a subtle message that your not the quality they want.  Just a random thought.