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November 08, 2011

Managing Conflicts

Had a dream last night that I was actually employed... somewhere... and suddenly realized that I'd scheduled conflicting meetings with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at 10am this Wednesday. Felt a little badass that I'd so quickly gotten to the point where I can meet with these kind of guys, but had no idea how to pull off telling one of them that I needed to reschedule with only twenty-four hours' notice.

In my dream I wake up and tell a classmate of mine about the problem, mentioning that I also feel marginally arrogant for the subject matter. To which she responds: "Oh, don't feel arrogant. Your conflict's between two businessmen who are both irrelevant today: one's retired and the other's dead."

Fair point. And also a lesson learned for the future -- whenever possible, always reschedule the dead guy.

Posted at 12:33 PM in Business, Friends, Random Crap, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Currently Reading

George R. R. Martin: A Dance With Dragons
Only finished the second chapter, but yeah, back in A Song of Ice And Fire. No idea how good this new fifth installment out of the alleged seven-book series will be, but hoping "really damn good" seeing as how the thing's 1,016 pages long and easily the largest hardcover book I've ever owned. This one may not make it back on the plane.
Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games
Went with some light reading for the first few weeks of summer after ordering a dozen or so books off Amazon.co.uk. This one turned out to be great -- the story of a girl in a far-future version of the US, where the regime requires 24 contestants between the ages of 12 and 18 to battle to the death every year until there's a lone survivor. The story's told through the viewpoint of "girl on fire" heroine, Katniss Everdeen, a skilled huntress from having to hunt to feed her family, and determined to survive. Not the deepest reading but you can burn through it in a day or two. Entertaining as hell. (****)
George R. R. Martin: A Feast For Crows (A Song Of Ice And Fire, Book 4)
Long and full of mud and sorrow. Still a great read full of great characters, but due to Martin's decision to split the stories of "Feast" and "Dance" into two separate books -- by character -- this one gets delegated to featuring all the less-loved folk, meaning there's no Jon, Dany, or especially Tyrion. Here's hoping the just-arrived #5 gets the momentum of the story established by #3 back on track. (***)
George R. R. Martin: A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3)
And on to the third one. Which despite the smaller form factor weighs in pretty hefty at almost 1,100 pages. Everything's burning, main characters are developing in new directions, the Kingslayer's on the move, the world's in turmoil, John Snow's in the thick of it, and Danny's on her way over with a few friends to wreck some shop. So glad it's winter break and there's a fireplace handy. (*****)
George R.R. Martin: A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2)
Ended up powering through the last 240 pages of A Game of Thrones this past Saturday and Sunday, found it almost physically impossible to put the thing down. Cannot wait to see how HBO's audiences react to a few of the major plot twists when the series premieres next year. Volume 2 picks up roughly at the exact same point the prior volume leaves off, and returns to the same mix of already-loved characters while adding in a good number more. Shit got real at the end of the last one. Can't wait to see how much further this one -- and the next four -- take this bizarrely familiar world. (*****)

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