Well, I'm ready to reveal the first piece of iTest news as we quickly approach the launch of the 2007 iTest:
The 2007 iTest will feature yet another side contest this year. This time, its a "make your own video" contest, whereas in previous years, we've had contests to design logos and capture still pictures.
The 2007 iTest Video Contest will be centered around the song "Typical" by Mute Math (couldn't possibly be a better fit, could it?) as individual students or teams of students will document iTest teams competing in the 2007 iTest on video to this piece of music. Video submissions will be a maximum of a minute and a half in length and will focus on the bolded piece of the song below.
More details to come in a detailed explanation on the iTest blog (blog.theitest.com).
If you haven't heard this song, go download it. Mute Math's self-titled album is one of my favorite albums of the year. As judging by the music video for "Typical," posted on YouTube, this is definitely not your usual rock band.
The song is very uplifting and this upcoming video contest concept fits with my agenda of "crowdsourcing" marketing material for the iTest to use in future proposals. It's bewildering that this song hasn't been grabbed by some marketeer out working at a big company and integrated it into a marketing campaign. Or better yet, it'd actually be a perfect song for a recruiting/HR piece. The commercialism of the song is just a byproduct of its strong production, strong lyrics, and EXTREMELY strong musical performance (incredible drumming and bass complement; vocals are like a young Peter Gabriel)...
So, maybe I'll be tired of the tune after watching a bunch of video iTest submissions, but I doubt it.
"Typical" - Mute Math
Come on, can I dream for one day?
There's nothing that can't be done.
How long should it take somebody
before they can be someone?
Cause I know there's got to be another level
somewhere closer to the other side.
And I'm feeling like its now or never...
can I break the spell of the typical?
Now I've lived through my share of misfortune,
and I've worked in the blazing sun.
But how long should it take somebody
before they can be someone?
Cause I know there's got to be another level
somewhere closer to the other side.
And I'm feeling like its now or never...
can I break the spell of the typical?
Because it's dragging me down...
I'd like to know about when...
when does it all turn around?
Yeah I know there's got to be another level
somewhere closer to the other side.
And I'm feeling like its now or never...
can I break the spell of the typical?
Break the spell (of the typical)
Break the spell (of the typical)
Can I break the spell
of the typical?
Great song.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Principal author of the inaugural 2007 iTest Tournament of Champions and of this year's 2007 iTest, Mathew Crawford has a blog over on LiveJournal that requires a password to view. He made one recent post visible publicly though, regarding an interesting incident he went through recently involving credit scores, an unpaid bill, and the type of clerical errors that occur on a daily basis but end up wreaking havoc on undeserving individuals down the line. Very interesting reading.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Tonight's dinner/event with Jeff Fisher and the other Titans coaches more than lived up to the hype. It was an incredible event that I'll probably remember for the rest of my life.
First, I arrived at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel with my coworker whom I invited (for free, in return for him doing a good bit of graphic design work for the iTest, and then sold the other two passes I had from winning the eBay auction) around 5:30, when the opening reception wasn't scheduled to begin until 6. We were almost the first people into the event, which had already been set up with autographed memorabilia tables and photo area, and the wait staff was busy getting ready to host the dinner in the main ballroom.
Around 6, the reception began, and something interesting started happening - the executive director of the Charles Davis Foundation, the beneficiary of all money raised tonight at this event, started bringing various guests of honor over to introduce to me, as if I was some big shot. This was very strange, but I definitely enjoyed it! This happened because of the overall amount of money spent on getting the four tickets ... never mind the fact that I made more than my share back in selling two of them off. Very nice!
Got pictures taken with the entire Titans coaching staff, which will be physically mailed to me sometime in the next 30 days. Again, very nice.
In the main ballroom, once it was time for the actual dinner, I found myself sitting right next to Jeff Fisher at a large enough table where several side conversations were going on the whole time, freeing me to pretty much talk to the coach for the majority of the next 45 minutes. Items I asked him about included:
- his thoughts on fantasy football (likes it for the attention it brings to the NFL, but doesn't participate)
- his thoughts on Pac Man Jones (unfortunate set of circumstances but unlikely to play for Titans again, although he's likely to play in the NFL again at some point)
- his thoughts on switching Michael Griffin back to safety (not a good idea because Griffin's footwork and speed are ideal for the cornerback position, and Calvin Lowry is poised for a breakout year in the safety position within the defense)
- his thoughts on areas of improvement for the next year (third down completion percentage has to improve, overall points production needs to significantly increase, Keith Bulluck needs to contribute more within the defense)
- his thoughts regarding the Titans' rumored trade for Chicago Bears DE Alex Brown (much closer to occurring than I realized)
- which coach he likes beating the most (Tom Coughlin, Brian Billick, and Jack Del Rio are all prime candidates, and Coach Fisher rued not being able to close out the victory at Baltimore last year but agreed that Brian Billick knew he was outplayed)
- his contractual status (very close to a LARGE extension that will enable him to keep his core coaching staff together for the next few years while the Titans rack up wins and compete deep into the playoffs)
Prior to this event, I had taken it upon myself to do a little bit of basic statistical modeling to play around with how many wins I thought the Titans would get this season, based on my expectations of the team and the other teams within their division and on their schedule. (I came out to 10-6 on the year, making the playoffs, though this deviates significantly from most mainstream opinions that the Titans will be 8-8 or worse.) But my predictions were pretty detailed and covered a lot of ground, though fitting on a single piece of paper. I had a bunch of copies of my predictions with me, and I gave one to Coach Fisher during this period of time, saying "I had something to give him" ... he stopped completely talking to anyone, and spent the next 4-5 minutes reading this sheet of paper in silence, and actually appeared to really take an interest in them. We discussed the core prediction that the team would go 10-6, and then the most interesting thing of all happened: he asked me to get a pen and write down my name, phone number, and other info on the sheet of paper so he could "reference it later." I still have no idea what he meant, but I obviously had no problem giving him my info! :) At the end of the night, as I was preparing to leave, I thanked him again for being part of the fundraiser and he thanked me again by name, saying once again he would "reference my notes" later...
Don't know what the outcome of all that will be, but the bottom line is that this event was just unbelievable. After the dinner, all the Titans coaches had a roundtable discussion where they talked about old stories and the upcoming season, using a lot of particular examples that they asked not be repeated anywhere (for some obvious reasons, like discussing one particular former player's penchant for having lots of women in his hotel rooms, and one team's ownership group that's running their NFL franchise into the ground, among other stories). Very fun just to sit there and soak it all in.
All in all, very much worth the time and money spent on getting the passes to the event and to sit at Jeff Fisher's table. The man is just as personable and friendly as I expected, based on seeing him in the media and in press conferences, which in hindsight is probably rare. Great coach and great asset to Nashville ... I hope we lock him up for a lot of money for a long, long time.
Now time for bed ... and dreaming about another Titans Super Bowl ... later.
First, I arrived at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel with my coworker whom I invited (for free, in return for him doing a good bit of graphic design work for the iTest, and then sold the other two passes I had from winning the eBay auction) around 5:30, when the opening reception wasn't scheduled to begin until 6. We were almost the first people into the event, which had already been set up with autographed memorabilia tables and photo area, and the wait staff was busy getting ready to host the dinner in the main ballroom.
Around 6, the reception began, and something interesting started happening - the executive director of the Charles Davis Foundation, the beneficiary of all money raised tonight at this event, started bringing various guests of honor over to introduce to me, as if I was some big shot. This was very strange, but I definitely enjoyed it! This happened because of the overall amount of money spent on getting the four tickets ... never mind the fact that I made more than my share back in selling two of them off. Very nice!
Got pictures taken with the entire Titans coaching staff, which will be physically mailed to me sometime in the next 30 days. Again, very nice.
In the main ballroom, once it was time for the actual dinner, I found myself sitting right next to Jeff Fisher at a large enough table where several side conversations were going on the whole time, freeing me to pretty much talk to the coach for the majority of the next 45 minutes. Items I asked him about included:
- his thoughts on fantasy football (likes it for the attention it brings to the NFL, but doesn't participate)
- his thoughts on Pac Man Jones (unfortunate set of circumstances but unlikely to play for Titans again, although he's likely to play in the NFL again at some point)
- his thoughts on switching Michael Griffin back to safety (not a good idea because Griffin's footwork and speed are ideal for the cornerback position, and Calvin Lowry is poised for a breakout year in the safety position within the defense)
- his thoughts on areas of improvement for the next year (third down completion percentage has to improve, overall points production needs to significantly increase, Keith Bulluck needs to contribute more within the defense)
- his thoughts regarding the Titans' rumored trade for Chicago Bears DE Alex Brown (much closer to occurring than I realized)
- which coach he likes beating the most (Tom Coughlin, Brian Billick, and Jack Del Rio are all prime candidates, and Coach Fisher rued not being able to close out the victory at Baltimore last year but agreed that Brian Billick knew he was outplayed)
- his contractual status (very close to a LARGE extension that will enable him to keep his core coaching staff together for the next few years while the Titans rack up wins and compete deep into the playoffs)
Prior to this event, I had taken it upon myself to do a little bit of basic statistical modeling to play around with how many wins I thought the Titans would get this season, based on my expectations of the team and the other teams within their division and on their schedule. (I came out to 10-6 on the year, making the playoffs, though this deviates significantly from most mainstream opinions that the Titans will be 8-8 or worse.) But my predictions were pretty detailed and covered a lot of ground, though fitting on a single piece of paper. I had a bunch of copies of my predictions with me, and I gave one to Coach Fisher during this period of time, saying "I had something to give him" ... he stopped completely talking to anyone, and spent the next 4-5 minutes reading this sheet of paper in silence, and actually appeared to really take an interest in them. We discussed the core prediction that the team would go 10-6, and then the most interesting thing of all happened: he asked me to get a pen and write down my name, phone number, and other info on the sheet of paper so he could "reference it later." I still have no idea what he meant, but I obviously had no problem giving him my info! :) At the end of the night, as I was preparing to leave, I thanked him again for being part of the fundraiser and he thanked me again by name, saying once again he would "reference my notes" later...
Don't know what the outcome of all that will be, but the bottom line is that this event was just unbelievable. After the dinner, all the Titans coaches had a roundtable discussion where they talked about old stories and the upcoming season, using a lot of particular examples that they asked not be repeated anywhere (for some obvious reasons, like discussing one particular former player's penchant for having lots of women in his hotel rooms, and one team's ownership group that's running their NFL franchise into the ground, among other stories). Very fun just to sit there and soak it all in.
All in all, very much worth the time and money spent on getting the passes to the event and to sit at Jeff Fisher's table. The man is just as personable and friendly as I expected, based on seeing him in the media and in press conferences, which in hindsight is probably rare. Great coach and great asset to Nashville ... I hope we lock him up for a lot of money for a long, long time.
Now time for bed ... and dreaming about another Titans Super Bowl ... later.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
I've posted about them here before, but Black Lab is one of my favorite bands ... and, as it happens, they've decided to re-create the Transformers theme song entirely on their own, and set it to footage from the movie. Check it out here ... Mute Math's version takes the song in a different direction, but Black Lab rekindles the original version's feel, and does it well, I might add!
Rapidly moving in on closing on our first home on July 31...and rapidly losing my mind over the number of tasks, some mundane and some major, that have to be completed by then.
Navigating a mountain of mortgage documents.
Moving money around.
Re-routing our newspaper and magazine subscriptions, as well as everything else mail-wise you can imagine.
Changing personal and business tax records within the state to reflect the new address.
Negotiating the final punchlist of items the seller will fix prior to close.
Figuring out all the ways in and out of the neighborhood and driving around the area.
Packing.
Arranging for various work going on in the house prior to moving in.
Determining what work might occur inside and outside the house over the next six months, and planning for how to begin setting that money aside.
MOVING.
We're fortunate that a number of factors are in our favor with this move, and this entire process could be significantly even more complex than it already is. Still...its a grind.
A lot more on this whole "house thing" to come, post-close.
Navigating a mountain of mortgage documents.
Moving money around.
Re-routing our newspaper and magazine subscriptions, as well as everything else mail-wise you can imagine.
Changing personal and business tax records within the state to reflect the new address.
Negotiating the final punchlist of items the seller will fix prior to close.
Figuring out all the ways in and out of the neighborhood and driving around the area.
Packing.
Arranging for various work going on in the house prior to moving in.
Determining what work might occur inside and outside the house over the next six months, and planning for how to begin setting that money aside.
MOVING.
We're fortunate that a number of factors are in our favor with this move, and this entire process could be significantly even more complex than it already is. Still...its a grind.
A lot more on this whole "house thing" to come, post-close.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Let me recap this week for you:
Sunday - get up around 6 AM to leave Gulf Shores, where I was on vacation with Lori, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. Mix in an hour of eating lunch with my parents in Birmingham, and we get back into Nashville at around 4 PM.
I had a flight to TX to catch at 6:45, so I had to hustle to get packed (again) and to the airport in time. Flight was delayed, and the subsequent connection flight was also delayed, and I get into my hotel room in Killeen, Texas, at 3:15 AM in the morning. Bad planning on my part turned into a disaster that didn't start the week off right at all.
Great week of training down here at Fort Hood, though. Got to co-teach a course to the fine folks running the military housing there, and it was both fun and rewarding. Maintenance guys, construction guys, and property managers all discussing and learning about how to be even better leaders, utilize various problem-solving tools to correct issues that arise, and in the end, achieve stronger results. Upon completion of the course, got certified as a teacher of the course as well. But the most enjoyable part was seeing a quality team of people function to such an extent that they become almost like their own family. Very strong culture there, similar to Beaufort.
I made the decision when I initially booked the trip to not rush to fly back on Friday, instead delaying flying back until Saturday. This was a great decision because as much as I am looking forward to getting back to Nashville, I came back to my hotel room on Friday completely exhausted.
The final bit of the course concluded around 2:30 on Friday, and I got back into the hotel room around 3. Sent a few emails, relaxed a little bit, and suddenly woke up at 1:30 in the morning! Went back to sleep and ended up getting 12 hours of sleep when it was all over. THAT'S what I'm talking about!
As is posted over on the iTest Blog, a lot is going on right now in preparation for the 2007 iTest in September. It's time to, once again, make that big summer push that's required to have a successful event in September. And this year, we may find ourselves stretched by both the 2007 iTest, the next iTest Tournament of Champions, the launch of the iTest CS, the iTest National Rankings (national high school individual math rankings we maintain from September to April), as well as running the website and handling our Problems of the Month.
We're about to realize the first step of the iTest's vision, which is to assemble a portfolio of academic experiences that we offer to high school students around the country. It might be small, but it's our starting point. I'm ready to dive back into it all, once again...
I posted a month or two ago about the opportunity to meet Jeff Fisher through an eBay auction. Well, as some of you know, I stayed up until 2 AM on the night that auction ended, and narrowly edged one other person up at that hour with me to win that auction. The event was extremely undervalued (in my opinion!) so I was happy to sneak away with the 4 passes to eat dinner with the man himself. He is one of my favorite people in the National Football League and a man that I respect both for his very apparent football genius as well as his high degree of skill as a motivator of people. I am very much looking forward to meeting him, and will, I'm sure, have something to say about the experience in this space after it happens later this month. I also have re-listed on eBay two of those spaces at the dinner, so hopefully some other big Titans fan will help me recoup the investment!
Also, the same week, the Simpsons movie lands in a movie that might significantly surpass whatever the highest grossing summer 2007 movie to-date is. The movie looks hilarious - Hetesh may come up that Thursday to see the opening night premiere with me, and anyone else getting in on that is welcome to...just drop me a line...
Finally, I'll conclude with mentioning that Lori and I are rapidly moving toward closing on a house on July 31, pending no major disasters until then. We'll be very close to Cool Springs (south of downtown Nashville) and in a house that should fit our needs over the next 10 years. I'll post more once it's all wrapped up, signed, sealed, and delivered...don't want to jinx it!
Sunday - get up around 6 AM to leave Gulf Shores, where I was on vacation with Lori, her sister, and her sister's boyfriend. Mix in an hour of eating lunch with my parents in Birmingham, and we get back into Nashville at around 4 PM.
I had a flight to TX to catch at 6:45, so I had to hustle to get packed (again) and to the airport in time. Flight was delayed, and the subsequent connection flight was also delayed, and I get into my hotel room in Killeen, Texas, at 3:15 AM in the morning. Bad planning on my part turned into a disaster that didn't start the week off right at all.
Great week of training down here at Fort Hood, though. Got to co-teach a course to the fine folks running the military housing there, and it was both fun and rewarding. Maintenance guys, construction guys, and property managers all discussing and learning about how to be even better leaders, utilize various problem-solving tools to correct issues that arise, and in the end, achieve stronger results. Upon completion of the course, got certified as a teacher of the course as well. But the most enjoyable part was seeing a quality team of people function to such an extent that they become almost like their own family. Very strong culture there, similar to Beaufort.
I made the decision when I initially booked the trip to not rush to fly back on Friday, instead delaying flying back until Saturday. This was a great decision because as much as I am looking forward to getting back to Nashville, I came back to my hotel room on Friday completely exhausted.
The final bit of the course concluded around 2:30 on Friday, and I got back into the hotel room around 3. Sent a few emails, relaxed a little bit, and suddenly woke up at 1:30 in the morning! Went back to sleep and ended up getting 12 hours of sleep when it was all over. THAT'S what I'm talking about!
As is posted over on the iTest Blog, a lot is going on right now in preparation for the 2007 iTest in September. It's time to, once again, make that big summer push that's required to have a successful event in September. And this year, we may find ourselves stretched by both the 2007 iTest, the next iTest Tournament of Champions, the launch of the iTest CS, the iTest National Rankings (national high school individual math rankings we maintain from September to April), as well as running the website and handling our Problems of the Month.
We're about to realize the first step of the iTest's vision, which is to assemble a portfolio of academic experiences that we offer to high school students around the country. It might be small, but it's our starting point. I'm ready to dive back into it all, once again...
I posted a month or two ago about the opportunity to meet Jeff Fisher through an eBay auction. Well, as some of you know, I stayed up until 2 AM on the night that auction ended, and narrowly edged one other person up at that hour with me to win that auction. The event was extremely undervalued (in my opinion!) so I was happy to sneak away with the 4 passes to eat dinner with the man himself. He is one of my favorite people in the National Football League and a man that I respect both for his very apparent football genius as well as his high degree of skill as a motivator of people. I am very much looking forward to meeting him, and will, I'm sure, have something to say about the experience in this space after it happens later this month. I also have re-listed on eBay two of those spaces at the dinner, so hopefully some other big Titans fan will help me recoup the investment!
Also, the same week, the Simpsons movie lands in a movie that might significantly surpass whatever the highest grossing summer 2007 movie to-date is. The movie looks hilarious - Hetesh may come up that Thursday to see the opening night premiere with me, and anyone else getting in on that is welcome to...just drop me a line...
Finally, I'll conclude with mentioning that Lori and I are rapidly moving toward closing on a house on July 31, pending no major disasters until then. We'll be very close to Cool Springs (south of downtown Nashville) and in a house that should fit our needs over the next 10 years. I'll post more once it's all wrapped up, signed, sealed, and delivered...don't want to jinx it!
Monday, July 09, 2007
Out here in Killeen, Texas, this week getting certified as an instructor for Lend Lease's "Team Leader" training...so not much time to blog. The training is based off of old TQM (total quality management) theory, and for me specifically, represents a chance just to sharpen my public speaking skills, so that's definitely a good thing.
Transformers: The Movie was very good, although I could've used more acknowledgment of the heritage of the franchise. For example, quite strangely, Mute Math's remake of the Transformers theme song did not play during the credits (the new, horrible Smashing Pumpkins single and some Disturbed song played instead). I agree with what one reviewer noted, that Michael Bay seemed rather disinterested in the history of the various robot characters in the movie - when you leave the movie, you have relatively little clue on the interactions of the Decepticons amongst themselves, and even less understanding of how both the Autobots and Decepticons interact with Cybertron (which isn't even named in the movie, I don't think). So could've been more in that department...but as has been noted everywhere, the action is simply groundbreaking in the movie and was very entertaining even for my non-Transformers fan watching with me (thanks, honey!)
So, not quite the big-time foundation for a bunch of sequels that, say, Batman Begins was...but very solid nevertheless.
Also, changing subjects, here is an interesting article out of E3 this week. The Wii has had (and will continue to have, over the next few years) a tremendous impact on the evolution of the video game industry. Between Nintendo and Apple (in their respective tech sectors), there has never been more obvious examples that fearless innovation can pay off big.
EA CEO calls video games 'boring,' complicated
Riccitiello says sequel games often add little from previous versions
Reuters
Updated: 10:48 a.m. CT July 9, 2007
NEW YORK - Most video games are “boring” or too complicated, and game makers need to do more to appeal to casual players, according to the head of the world’s largest video game publisher, Electronic Arts Inc.
“We’re boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play,” EA Chief Executive John Riccitiello told the Wall Street Journal in a story posted on its Web site on Sunday.
Riccitiello became CEO at EA in April in his return to the game maker. EA’s former chief operating officer had left the company in 2004 to help found Elevation Partners, a media and entertainment buyout firm.
The video game executive criticized the industry for rolling out sequels to new games that add little from the previous version.
“For the most part, the industry has been rinse-and-repeat,” he was quoted as saying. “There’s been lots of product that looked like last year’s product, that looked a lot like the year before.”
The comments were made as the $30 billion video game industry prepares for its annual gathering, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, in Santa Monica, Calif. Anticipation is running high that cheaper hardware and a host of keenly awaited new games will fuel the strongest sales in years.
Transformers: The Movie was very good, although I could've used more acknowledgment of the heritage of the franchise. For example, quite strangely, Mute Math's remake of the Transformers theme song did not play during the credits (the new, horrible Smashing Pumpkins single and some Disturbed song played instead). I agree with what one reviewer noted, that Michael Bay seemed rather disinterested in the history of the various robot characters in the movie - when you leave the movie, you have relatively little clue on the interactions of the Decepticons amongst themselves, and even less understanding of how both the Autobots and Decepticons interact with Cybertron (which isn't even named in the movie, I don't think). So could've been more in that department...but as has been noted everywhere, the action is simply groundbreaking in the movie and was very entertaining even for my non-Transformers fan watching with me (thanks, honey!)
So, not quite the big-time foundation for a bunch of sequels that, say, Batman Begins was...but very solid nevertheless.
Also, changing subjects, here is an interesting article out of E3 this week. The Wii has had (and will continue to have, over the next few years) a tremendous impact on the evolution of the video game industry. Between Nintendo and Apple (in their respective tech sectors), there has never been more obvious examples that fearless innovation can pay off big.
EA CEO calls video games 'boring,' complicated
Riccitiello says sequel games often add little from previous versions
Reuters
Updated: 10:48 a.m. CT July 9, 2007
NEW YORK - Most video games are “boring” or too complicated, and game makers need to do more to appeal to casual players, according to the head of the world’s largest video game publisher, Electronic Arts Inc.
“We’re boring people to death and making games that are harder and harder to play,” EA Chief Executive John Riccitiello told the Wall Street Journal in a story posted on its Web site on Sunday.
Riccitiello became CEO at EA in April in his return to the game maker. EA’s former chief operating officer had left the company in 2004 to help found Elevation Partners, a media and entertainment buyout firm.
The video game executive criticized the industry for rolling out sequels to new games that add little from the previous version.
“For the most part, the industry has been rinse-and-repeat,” he was quoted as saying. “There’s been lots of product that looked like last year’s product, that looked a lot like the year before.”
The comments were made as the $30 billion video game industry prepares for its annual gathering, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, in Santa Monica, Calif. Anticipation is running high that cheaper hardware and a host of keenly awaited new games will fuel the strongest sales in years.
