Too logical to succeed

The wrangling over healthcare reform is enough to make anyone sick. It almost doesn't matter what's in those thousands of pages of proposed legislation, there are those who will oppose it, and the current administration, just, well, because.

But think about the premise: fixing a broken healthcare system to bring down costs, expand coverage, and improve quality. It makes sense to me, but then so did the metric system.

In 1975, Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act, declaring the metric system to be "the preferred system of weights and measures for U.S. trade and commerce."

I recently found a guide in my bookcase -- "Metrics Made Easy" -- that must have been written in an alternate universe. Some excerpts:

• "...change is occurring so rapidly that it seems unlikely any deadline for total conversion will have to be set."
• "Road signs showing metric distance units are now appearing, and towns that were once 50 miles away are now 80 kilometers away."
• "But regardless of when and where you begin to notice the change, one thing is certain. Metrication is coming to America."

That was written in 1976. And I'm still driving MPH, watching the pounds on my bathroom scale, and freezing when the temps hit 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

Metric was touted as simpler, easier, and more logical than the U.S. system. But the metric ship has sailed, and we missed the boat.

I'm just hoping the same doesn't happen with healthcare reform, because right now the debate is making me more than a little queasy.

Taking the plunge

This is the time of year for performance reviews and entertainment awards. It's a time to look back on 2009 and note what you've accomplished.

For all the projects I've written, clients I've gained or retained, and writings that have hit the mark, my reward is just: paid invoices and more work. Yet there is one thing I've done that continues to astound family, friends, and colleagues.

Planning began in 2009, with close collaboration of two others. We strategized, considered alternatives, and bolstered one another's confidence. Then, at 2:00 p.m. on New Year's Day, we raced into the icy waters of Lake George, N.Y., for the annual First Day Polar Plunge.

White snow. Blue feet. Chattering teeth. It was a blast.

As the guy in the video says: "Makes no sense at all, but it looks like fun." And you get bragging rights for life!

Seems like just yesterday

...that we were worried about Y2K. Was it really ten years ago?

What a decade it's been. From 9/11 to Afghanistan. iPods and smart phones are essentials. Reality TV has taken over the airwaves. The global economic meltdown, terrifying; the election of Barack Obama, amazing. Social networking replaced face-to-face contact with Facebook, Twitter, and Lifecasting. Hi-def became widespread, and TVs became flatter while DVRs replaced VCRs. Pluto is no longer a planet, and film actors are often not real actors (think CGI).

One fun way to review the decade is by watching Newsweek's The Decade in Seven Minutes.

'Tis the season

...for catalogs, that is. No matter how often people sound the death knell for paper, there will always be another catolog being stuffed into your mailbox. And another. And another. And another.

Just this morning, I was at the dentist's office when the receptionist was going through the mail. She counted five holiday catelogs. In one day. All from the same company.

So here's my present to you: Catalog Choice.

This Web site allows you to opt-out of paper catalogs; and it's not an all or none kind of thing. You get to specifiy which ones you don't want to receive. It takes a little prep work on your part, becuase you have to have the offending catalog handy (so you can enter the right codes), but it's well worth the effort.

Me? I'm a catalog shopper, but I also try to keep my stack to a manageable level. Catalog Choice helps make that happen.

Statistically important

If the 2009 World Series is any indication, sporting events are the main reason the field of statistics was invented.

Game 6: The two starting pitchers – Pedro Martinez for the Phillies and Andy Pettitte for the Yankees – are a combined 75 years old.

I’ve spent more-than-imaginable hours watching the Amtrak Acela series (also dubbed the Turnpike Tussle), and I’ve been astounded by the statistics announcers Joe Buck and Tim McCarver deem important for the TV audience to know.

When the Phillies left-handed-hitter Chase Utley hit two home runs off a left-handed pitcher, it was only the second time that’s ever happened. Babe Ruth did it first, in 1928.

I’ll give you that one. Apparently anything that compares with Babe Ruth is interesting to someone.

This is the 12th World Series that Joe Buck is calling, paired with Tim McCarver, who is analyzing a record 20th Series.

Now there are statistics on the guys announcing the statistics!?!

Sometimes I think they just make this stuff up.

This is the third time a World Series pitcher has started after only three days rest, a steady diet of Cheetos, and wearing women’s underwear.

OK. I made that up. But you get my point.

I don’t want to know every bit of data; I’m looking for insight. Tell me what’s relevant and why it matters. Otherwise, the announcers are just filling airtime until the next pitch. Oh yeah, that IS what they’re doing. Filling airtime. Trying to keep the TV audience from getting up for that next beer or bathroom visit.

As if that were even possible.

Go Phillies!

Marketing to "e"-verybody

It's a good thing I took a more generalized liberal-arts approach to studying communications than specializing in, say, marketing. Considering how social media continues to create new rules for reaching out and drawing in prospects, my book-learned marketing skills from college are now only quaint reminders of the way things used to be.

Yes, I've adapted to Web 2.0, social networks, and next-generation "e" everything. Still, the technology and its implications continue to leapfrog ahead.

Such was the premise of a recent humor article, Subject: Our Marketing Plan by Ellis Weiner, published in The New Yorker (Oct. 19, 2009). It spoofs the marketing plan of a book publisher, in the form of a letter to one of its authors.

My takeaway (besides the giggles): Not everything "e"-social is better. It's hard to imagine how technology can fully replace good old-fashioned social skills when it comes to touching hearts, engaging minds, building trust, and motivating people to take action.

At some point, it takes the personal touch of a real live person to make a difference.

The body beautiful

The Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue has nothing on The Body Issue of ESPN The Magazine. I view SI as soft porn, whereas ESPN actually honors athletes. The Body Issue celebrates the athletic form by showcasing bodies of every size and shape, and from just about every sport. They also tackle every aspect of physicality -- from hard bodies to injuries to virtual reality.

There's more to see on the Web site, with photo galleries and videos. I could have done without watching Blake "Bilko" Williams undergo ACL surgery. But that's just me; I happen to be squeamish about surgery.

Favorite images? It's hard to say. ESPN must have had an equally hard time, because it printed six different covers.

The one that arrived in my mailbox was arresting and effective in getting me to sit down and read the whole issue. Normally, I just hand it over to my husband. What I first saw was a beautiful model. Then I realized it was an athlete. Then I saw the prosthesis. There she was, Sarah Reinertsen, the first female above-knee amputee to become an Ironman, having completed the hardest triathlon there is -- in Kona, Hawaii. Her artificial leg was all she had on. It was all she needed.