Exciting times and life is good...

Quick update for those of you interested.

I've had a fantastic last few weeks.

First of all, my dad's basketball team (and my former school's basketball team...and many of my closest friends' basketball team) is now in the Sweet Sixteen of the Division II NCAA Tournament. This is the first time Augustana College has done this since 1978-79.

We got into the 2nd Round courtesy of a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from my dear Montanian friend, Dave Foster. The court-storming and madly screaming celebration was a blast. And here's the video to prove it...



Then, we beat (technically "upset") the defending National Champion Winona State Warriors in another intense and completely awesome game. This is unbelievable and I'm very happy for myself, my friends, and my dad.

I also got to spend a bunch of time hanging out with my former roommate, and that's always a blast. Especially when his brother and his brother's friends are with us. It was random and funny and full of all kinds of delicious goodness.

I also saw Watchmen last week. I enjoyed it. I have a great many thoughts on it, but not being a movie reviewer, I'll refrain from sharing them. If you really would like to hear them, e-mail me and I'd be happy to share my thoughts in detail (bear in mind that I have read the book).

Also, we won the championship for our Adult Volleyball League two weekends ago. That was really fun too. And, in general, I had a great weekend with great friends the last two weekends in a row.

Finally, work is going very, very well right now. We're doing a ton of fun things and I'm really enjoying my duties as a writer and occassional project manager for Deep Bench. It's good working with my boss and enjoying what I do.

The bottom line is that life is good. I genuinely hope yours is too. And it it's not, come hang out with me and Hugh for a day. We'll up the happiness level in your life by a substantial amount, guaranteed.

Anyway, I'll be in Marshall on Tuesday to (hopefully) watch Augie make it to the Elite Eight and come out of this season with an unpredicted Regional Championship. And if it doesn't happen, I'll still have a great week anyway.

Why? Because I say I will. Take that, negativity!

Feelin' good, feelin' great...feelin' great, feelin' good, how are you?

FEAR THE FUTURE! (Or embrace it, Marvel Comics style...)

The future is coming! For some, that's common sense. For others, it's a terrifying concept. With a future full of Terminators and living on the moon and whatnot, the advances of technology will continue to blow our minds in ways both good and bad. Of course, the aforementioned advances won’t be happening for at least ten or eleven more years.

So what do we have until then? Well, digital reading devices for one. Unfortunately, some of the people most equipped to capitalize on this ever-growing reading medium fear digital reading devices as if a Kindle were a T-800.

"Watch out! - It's got a KINDLE!"

Not exactly sure what I mean by that?

Watch this video from DC Comics’ VP of Marketing, John Cunningham, to see his thoughts on where the technology of the future will be taking comic books. Here’s a spoiler – he thinks items like Amazon’s Kindle (or Kindle 2, now) could bring about the downfall of the comic book industry. Imagine the tragedy of losing Thor to the Ragnarök that is the Amazon Kindle...

Oh wait, it’s only DC that fears the future, not all comic book companies. Enter: Marvel Comics. Why? Because while DC talks about the terror of losing comic books to digital reading devices, Marvel spends its time preparing for the eventual digital revolution. Just take a look at their Marvel Digital Comics section to see for yourself. Or, if you want to read one for free, click here and give a comic a read.

Now, Marvel doesn’t have any comics ready for the Kindle 2 or anything like that as far as I know, and I shouldn’t get ahead of myself (or themselves, really). The point of this post isn’t that Marvel has digital comics. The point is that, while other companies are woefully unprepared for the trends of the future, Marvel has taken an approach that will certainly guide them along the right path on the road to the future.

Fifty years from now, when we’re all using digital reading devices (just like 15 years from now we’ll probably only be using MP3 players or whatever comes after them), I’m inclined to believe Marvel will have made that transition a little bit more smoothly than DC could ever hope to. They’re already halfway there, with a huge library of comics floating around in the digital realm, looking for a home more mobile than your desktop browser.

Now, you may be wondering, “Why should I care about having comic books on a reading device I don’t even own?” That’s a good question. The point of my post is this: The future is coming, whether you want to accept it or not. If you’re a company that understands this fact, you’ll be in a good place down the line. If you’re a company that fears the oncoming technological advances of society, you’ll probably struggle as you get blown out of the water by those who do get it.

Be an innovator. Make change happen for you, rather than against you. Whether you work for a bank, a restaurant, a strategic marketing firm looking to help underdog small businesses reach their full potential, or a comic book company, be sure to keep your eye on the horizon for what could change your industry. Then, make it happen. I have no doubt it’s going to work for Marvel, and they will see plenty of benefit as a result.

It’s nice to know that, while Superman and Batman may be lost forever after the “dreaded” digital revolution that DC’s VPs apparently fear, the space kids of 2150 AD will be reading about Spider-Man and Captain America on their Mobile Hologram Projecto-Glasses or whatever reading devices space kids will have by then.

Seeing as every other invention from comic books comes true at some point or another, it makes sense that a comic book company would have the most insightful vision for the future. Doesn’t mean us normal people can’t come in with some foresight of our own along the way.


“Finally, robotic beings rule the world…the humans are dead…”

UPDATE - 5:09 p.m. CT: Of course, immediately following my posting of this post, I find that Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada has basically reflected my sentiments entirely. Click here to read his thoughts on the issue. While I can genuinely and honestly say that I had not yet read his analysis of the DC VP's opinion, it doesn't surprise me at all that he is optimistic about the future. Why not? Because Joe Q is awesome.

Pure awesomeness...

Apparently, the once-awesome embedded video has been removed from wherever it was living. That's unfortunate. For the record, what was once here WAS "Pure awesomeness..."

Now it's just pure nothingness...

Why Michael Cera could become my least favorite actor ever...

There are constant talks of Michael Cera not wanting to reprise his role as George Michael Bluth in the continuously-rumored Arrested Development movie.

Now, regardless of his status as an actor (having starred in and been in fairly successful films since leaving Arrested Development), I think that's pretty selfish of him. You know, seeing as he got his start on a TV show that the fans love with a passion and support wholeheartedly.

NOTE: I am well aware that I'm only giving my opinion/side of the story. I don't call him and chat regularly on the phone with him, so he could have a million valid reasons not to be in the movie that I don't know about. I just don't care. He's being selfish.

Anyway, my main thought for what his logic could be is this - perhaps he doesn't want to reassert any typecast he may have received as an awkward, geeky teenager. It's reasonable. Look what happened to Anthony Michael Hall.

However (and this portion of the blog is directed toward Mr. Cera), THE ONLY ROLES YOU'VE TAKEN SO FAR ARE AWKWARD, GEEKY TEENAGER ROLES!

I mean, honestly, if you haven't typecast yourself as awkward already, then reprising your most beloved role probably isn't going to make it any worse for you. I seriously can't see Michael Cera being anything besides an awkward kid other than the bad comic relief in an awful action film (just kidding, Surf Ninjas, you know I love you), or his other choice of going the creepy, stalker/murderer route in some suspense thriller. And that's fine, but at least be in an Arrested Development movie before you start creeping everybody out.

Bottom line - I'm probably wrong. I don't know all the details. I do know that I want Michael Cera to play George Michael in an Arrested Development movie. I also know that I don't want anyone else to play that role. If this is simply a matter of him being selfish, then I'm disappointed. And if he chooses not to do it, I'll say this - when I'm a famous movie producer or director, I don't intend to let him act in any of my films. So yeah...take that Michael Cera!


"Hey, whatcha tryin' ta say to me?"

Way to win, Coach!...You're fired!

A Girls high school basketball team beat an opponent 100-0 last week.

Let me repeat that: A Girls high school basketball team beat an opponent 100-0 last week.

As a result of this situation and the outrage it caused amongst the opposing team’s players and fans (as well as home crowd parents and fans), the coach of the winning team was asked to apologize.

He refused. And then he was fired.

And I’ve got to say, I disagree with the school’s decision to fire him. I had this discussion with my roommates the other night and I’ve had the discussion with other people since then, and I honestly do not think the man deserved to be fired. In fact, I don’t think he even deserved to have an apology demanded of him by his own school. I hate to break it to the world, but what happened at that game is a little something I like to call REAL LIFE.

Before continuing, I’d like to at least present two different news stories covering the issue. I don’t expect you to read them, but understand that I’m not just making an ignorant post here. I’ve done some research into the issue and have a relative grasp of the situation.

LINK ONE: (I feel like this story is one of the most comprehensive analyses I've read so far).
LINK TWO: (This is an interview with a different coach who has been criticized in the past for dominating games and he shares his thoughts on what the 100-0 coach could have done differently).

Moving along. I understand the arguments. The winning girls didn’t need to be pressing, they didn’t need to be “shooting threes” when they were up 80-0. They should have toned it down and gone easy on the girls who were losing. They shouldn’t have played their hardest. They shouldn’t have given everything they could to be the best team they could, and they shouldn’t have played as hard as they could to improve their game and become the best players they could be. They should have performed worse because the opponent wasn’t at their level. In a game that both coaches agreed to play, the girls on the court who were winning should have been asked not to play to the best of their ability…because they were winning.

See where I’m going with this?

Tell me: if you own a business in America today, and you managed to be the most powerful giant in your particular industry, would you ever…EVER...give less than your best effort to create a better product, improve your current designs, and make your company a better company for your future and your employees’ futures?

No. If you did, do you know what you’d be? A company that never lived up to its potential. You’d be a company that had the potential to do great things and instead played down to a lower level because the competition was unable to keep up. Now, in regard to that statement, I understand that Microsoft and other monopolies (potential or legitimate) in history would be a great example of having to tone down their work in order to be “fair.” But that’s over an extended period of time, not one instance (such as this game).

If two companies were competing to make the best, most powerful, most innovative, most ____________ (fill in the blank) product, wouldn’t you want those two companies to give everything they could to make that one specific product? And if one of those company’s products just happened to completely blow the other company’s product out of the water, wouldn’t you be more likely to choose the product that dominated? Imagine this scenario with medicine. If two companies competed to make an effective cure for cancer in pill form, and one of the companies created a pill that obliterated cancer entirely while the second company only had a minimal impact on cancer, which one would you choose for yourself or a loved one with cancer?

And how would you feel if the company that could have made a perfect cancer cure didn’t give its best and ended up only making a pill that works at 80% or 90% efficiency? Would you feel like you’d been cheated? Would you feel like they should have done more to make it perfect?

Let’s look at it from another angle. People may think this is a drastic step, but for the sake of expressing my point, I’m going to throw it out here.

If you were in a war, human against human, in full-fledged, life or death competition, would you ever expect your general to tell you to lighten up just because you were winning? If you were a better trained army that performed its duties flawlessly, would you ever expect your general to say “Hey ladies and gentlemen…we’re really winning this thing, so let’s tone it down a little bit. Sure some of us may suffer as a result, some of us might be killed for not trying as hard as we could, but this is such a dominant fight in our favor that we should let up and allow them to take a few of our fellow soldiers down because right now this is just unfair.”

I would hope not.

Yes, I understand this was not a “war.” It was neither a real-life war nor a fictional pharmaceutical battle between two organizations looking to make a good product. But you know what? Those are real-life situations that could happen in the “real world.” And, considering sports are often considered to help build “real-life” skills like teamwork and leadership, why wouldn’t we admit that what happened in that game is a reflection of things that actually could happen in real-life?

Best Buy’s leadership would never say to Circuit City’s management, “We’re sorry you’re going out of business…we’ll go ahead and let up on our sales and our efforts a little bit to make sure you guys can make a few extra bucks before you go.”

The reason they would never say that is because THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENS IN REAL LIFE.

Now, at this point, most of you probably think I’m just a heartless jerk who doesn’t care about these poor girls and the fact that they lost 100-0, and if that’s what you think, I'm sorry, but I can deal with that. The truth of the matter is I’m not even saying that (if I were the coach) I would have done the same thing. I doubt I would have done the same thing. Not being in the situation, I’ll never know for sure. And, from what I've read, the winning team did some things it probably shouldn't have done. Not being there, this is simply my analysis of what I've read and what I've been able to determine from news reports. Bottom line, I don't know everything about the situation, and this is strictly my opinion.

But, what I do know is this. A basketball coach was fired for doing his job (winning a game) and then not apologizing for his win. I also know that the girls on his team who played their hearts out accomplished an amazing feat and, instead of being proud of their victory, they were made to feel ashamed of what they did. In fact, the leadership at their school tried to ask that their WIN be counted as a forfeit.

While I typically include lots of goofy links that are meant to be humorous, I feel pretty strongly on this subject. One of the reasons may be that my dad is a basketball coach himself and I can understand the pressure of always being expected to win and be successful as a coach. Maybe it’s because I’m tired of the world expecting everything to be fair for everyone at all times when the reality of life is that it’s rarely as fair and is never quite as ideal as our 3rd grade soccer leagues would like us to believe. Maybe it’s because I don’t believe a man or woman should feel guilty and be forced to apologize for doing his or her job to the best of his or her ability.

Regardless, I promise…PROMISE…I will be ready and willing to engage in a fair, intelligent conversation in the comments section of this post. I will not discount any commentary from anyone, whether I agree or disagree with anyone's opinion. I feel like this is one of those topics that should be discussed more in person than on paper or online, but I wanted to at least share my thoughts on the matter while it was fresh.

Finally, I’ll leave with two quotes from one of the articles linked to earlier in this post. The first is a quote from the winning school’s website posted by two members of the school’s Board of Trustees regarding their school’s “victory”:

“On Thursday, Covenant posted a statement on its Web site that said it "regrets... the outcome of the game with the Dallas Academy Varsity Girls Basketball team. It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christ-like [they are a Christian school] and honorable approach to competition." It was signed by Queal and Todd Doshier, chairman of the school's board of trustees.”

The second quote is in the same news story and comes from the coach who was fired because he didn’t apologize for his victory.

"I respectfully disagree with the apology, especially the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel 'embarrassed' or 'ashamed,' " part of the post says. "We played the game as it was meant to be played and would not intentionally run up the score on any opponent. Although a wide-margin victory is never evidence of compassion, my girls played with honor and integrity and showed respect to Dallas Academy."

Grimes also included the quarter-by-quarter scoring on his post: 35, 24, 29, 12.

At the end of his post on the Web site, which identifies him as co-founder of Flight Basketball, Grimes wrote, "So if I lose my job over these statements, I will walk away with my integrity."

Again, I welcome any and all comments and discussions on this story and I promise to be open-minded and willing to hear all sides of the discussion.

Why my hip-hop posse would be the greatest of all time...

My hip-hop posse would be comprised of this group of people. My reasons and logic are all explained along with each person's name. Needless to say, this would be a posse the likes of which had never been seen. I can't wait 'til I'm famous and can make *most* of this posse a reality. Scratch that. Make ALL of this posse a reality.

Rodrick Jackson
He was my best friend in high school who used to make killer beats on his desk with a pen and he's one of the funniest people I know. And he's a very good rapper.

My little brother
He's become somewhat of an eclectic hip-hop/rap listener (which would lead to some unique styles) and he has no problem being bluntly rude if he doesn't like something. He'd be helpful.

Miles Rausch
Mostly because he picked me to be part of his posse. And also because I think he'd do a very solid job of keeping me grounded and humble. And he could build my website.

Hugh Weber
Because he would be a great source of humor. And he would build a marketing strategy that would make me famous before I even released my first single.

Andrew Hewitt
He's a good friend, he's very funny, and he wouldn't be afraid to regulate if people had beef with my crew. And he would look hilarious as part of my rap posse.

Robert Frost
His dope rhymes would make him an excellent ghostwriter if my creative juices took a hiatus.

Lindsay Fünke
Because she's a stone cold fox and she'd be all about my cash flow.

Bose: Rocking off faces (and gaining lifelong customers)...

Yesterday, my Bose in-ear headphones went bad on me. The reason I went expensive and bought Bose isn’t because I have the money to afford Bose ear-buds and simply thought it would make me look cool. I bought Bose ear-buds because, as far as I could tell, it is the only company I’ve seen that gives you a year-long warranty rather than 90 day warranty.

For some reason that I don’t understand, headphones and I don’t manage to have relationships longer than 3 or 4 months. Granted, I listen to music and wear my ear-buds just about 24-7 for any and all activities, but it’s not like I swing from chandeliers on them or anything. I did, however, save all of the original packaging and the receipt, assuming they would one day bite the dust on me.

Anyway, not surprisingly, they died after five months (a record headphone survival length in itself, which merits an award on Bose's part), and I decided to put my 1-year limited warranty to good use. Bear in mind that I subjected my ear buds to NONE of the warranty-violating conditions (water, insects, lightning, etc.). I think I just wear them too much. And if that’s wrong, I don’t wanna be right.

So I called the customer service number, expecting the typical 7 minute wait before even talking to someone who might be able to help me. After only two “Push 1 for English” and “Push 2 for headphone products” recordings, I was directed to the waiting queue and was told that all the representatives were on the line. Again, expecting to wait, I put my cell on speakerphone and popped open the Daily Jumble online.

Imagine my surprise when, before I had even started on today’s Jumble, the line started ringing and a representative was on the line. After explaining the situation, he asked for my name (bear in mind, this is still only 1:30 into my initial dialing of the Bose 1-800 number...that's not very long), and confirmed my information based on my registration from awhile ago (a point I’ll get to in a second). Regardless, by about 2 minutes and 15 seconds into the call, we were all squared away with the information exchange. Time for the arduous replacement discussion and warranty haggling...or so I thought.

*For the record, I regret not remembering the guy's name. I think I was still in a temporary state of shock at how efficiently things had been going, but if I could remember the guy’s name, I’d give him a mad shout out here: "Thanks _____________."

And why's that? Beause then, ___________ immediately said, “Mike, I’ll be sending you an e-mail with the information you need on how to send your ear-buds back in, and we will replace them for you and send the replacement ear-buds as quickly as we can.”

To which I almost choked on my gum and replied, “…wait…that’s it?”

“Yes. Just go ahead and follow the instructions in the e-mail, and you should be all set. Anything else I can help you with?”

“Uhhh…nope. Is that it? Because if that’s it, then you just totally rocked my face off” (and yes, I actually said those words to him).

“I'm glad we could help. If there’s nothing else I can do for you, thanks and have a great day.”

Let's recap: it took THREE TOTAL MINUTES. That’s it. No sneaky, “we’re not really responsible so we’ll use this loophole” attempt. No being transferred to four different customer service reps. No hassle, period. And it was probably the most pleasant customer service call I’ve ever had to make (I don’t even want to get started on my iPod Photo quadruple-replacement fiasco). I mean…it took three minutes.

Now, obviously I should clarify that previously registering my product clearly streamlined this process, but it doesn’t take away from the impact Bose’s customer service had on me in the situation. Something I expected to be a 20 minute ordeal (minimum) and overall frustrating experience was over before I knew it even started.

Consequently, it’s likely that every set of ear-buds or sound system I ever purchase will be Bose (possibly for the rest of my life). I’d say that’s probably not a bad deal for them. A little extra touch on customer service just got them a lifelong customer.

Has anybody else had a similar experience with other companies providing stellar customer service? What about their efforts did you appreciate? The person? The results? The efficiency? What about the flip side? Any miserable experience that lost a customer for a company or product? I’d love to hear your experiences and thoughts on the matter. Who knows…your comment could save me some hassle in the future. And that would be nice.