Meat Loaf Does Not Approve

I am sick today.
To cheer myself, all I wanted was to relive some classic 90's songs. Was particularly in the mood for that sepia stained video of Meat Loaf's, "I would do anything for love (but I won't do that)". YouTube Gods always come in handy for such urges.
The video appeared as captured (left). Now I am certainly not a Bieber-hater but was surprised by the intensity of my annoyance at this sliver of Bieberism outlining my epic Meat Loaf video. I tried to coax my eyes to focus on the video but failed. I then minimised the window so as to only expose myself to the aural elements of the song - a clever ploy that would undoubtedly shield me from any inadvertent glances at this baffling phenomenon of a 'child'. Yes, I have now been able to listen to the song I was after but not without the piercing unease of knowing what else is out there in my minimised window.
I don't know where you're going with this EMI but you really need to work on your customer segmentation models. Meat Loaf listening clients (or indeed any variety of grown-ups!) are unlikely to be appreciative of our boy wonder.

Rant over. Still sick.

What's In A Name?

Jeff Bezos, the man behind the largest online retail colossus on the planet urges companies to remember one vital business tip: always "obsess over customers". Our friendly, American, barista formerly known as Starbucks and now only illustrated by the iconic logo strongly subscribes to the same ideology. Consequently, my morning coffee and afternoon 'Frapp' routine has changed. I am now more than a scribble on a plastic cup. My existence has broadened from an earlier MCCF* or a GBA** to my true name. Well sort of.

I cheerily made my way into the welcoming world of the twin-tailed Siren (Mermaid in common parlance) and sure enough, swiftly at the heels of my order, I was asked for my name. Now, Anupriya is a rare mouthful even for an Indian name so I decisively settled on Anu also taking the time to smile and spell it out. I was delirious with relief that it would take a retail outlet quite a bit of effort to fudge that one up. I was wrong.

As the incriminating (though admittedly delicious!) pictures above demonstrate, my three letter abbreviated moniker was altered to ENO or perhaps, if we are more forgiving, ENU. I love my provider of coffee. I really do. However I struggle to reconcile myself with my new name that GSK uses to peddle "fast acting effervescent antacids" internationally.

Strike 1 dearly loved provider of all things caffeine.


Notes:

In all seriousness though, I get why Starbucks has a sudden interest in customer names. The marketing strategy of increasing customer engagement, one first-name at a time makes sense. One of the easiest rapport building strategies employed by retailers, using a customer's name undoubtedly personalises the transaction and the overall customer experience. I wonder how accurate is the quantification of the adverse coverage of misspelled names, annoyance of extra time spent at the tills, and curiously (thankfully rarely!) the outrage from some very guarded customers who, all said and done, just don't want to give away their identities.


*   Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino
**  Grande Black Americano

Remember, Remember...

Here are a few pictures from a major London (Southwark Park) Fireworks display. Results are from nothing more than my surgeon-steady hands and a trusty Nikon D40 with a Nikkor SWM 55-200mm lens (though ideally, I would've liked a tripod and a remote shutter release setup).

Yes, mainstream media continues to nudge me to temper my delight with a morbid awareness of the state of the Economy, potential Eurozone melt-down, the inconvenience experienced by the pets...

Is it acceptable to just savour the noise, smoke, colours and community and perhaps justify the event as being slightly deferred, significantly upscaled Diwali celebration?

An Im-perfect Circle?

Maybe not. A Googler and I once discussed the reasons and incentives for anyone wanting to explore the proposed social aspects (in making at the time) of big G's service in the face of the Book of Faces. My views were as grim on the idea then as they are now - not that I don't wish rainbow laced, sunny glow around any and all of Google endevours. I do. The company deserves it. It's the best at what they do. Unfortunately Social Networking isn't one of them.

Consider my investment in Facebook. I've been a member since when it first launched in the UK, in 2005 (only for Oxford and Cambridge before growing to about 30 Universities in that year). So I've been on it for more than 6 years now. I have more than 5,000 photos, a number of meticulously engineered 'limited views' friends lists with varying levels of permissions complexity. If I were to draw a Venn diagram of these lists and map common permissions, restrictions etc, I'd probably be drawing for a rather long time. Speaking of Venn diagrams, is that where you got your idea for Circles, Mr. Google?

Returning to the point I was making - why would I want to move the assets that I've accumulated for the best part of the decade, re-engineer all my 'Circles', and click twice when I spot something on the WWW (one for an FB 'Like' and another for a G+)?

Personally, I feel Google needs to invest in what it does best - Search. The Bings of the world have failed to even compare so why risk a narrower gap by getting distracted by a non-core area?

Really?

Recent personal failure # 1: Being environment friendly and ordering a small tube of hand cream online to save me a trip to the high street.

Recent personal failure # 2: Again, attempting to do my bit for the planet and switching to a 'green' tariff. (The heap alongside was just the introductory documentation).

Recent Species failure: Attempting to book a German hotel for an upcoming getaway and discovering my species is a disqualifier.

I did it! All 722 feet of it.

Some things are best not explicated in words. The highest free fall in the world at the mercy of an elastic band, in a foreign country may perhaps fall in that category. I'll therefore trust the video and some pictures of the jump to illustrate the sheer terror factor of this undertaking.


But first and foremost, I'd like to thank my supporters who were so generous with their donations that it helped me not only reach but beat the fund raising target for my chosen charity - Mind! Yes, the target was self-set really, but I'm sure, Mind, the people who are supported by their work and I are most thankful for whatever we've raised.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. I must warn you though that the video is not for the faint-hearted. A friend of mine famously claimed he was unable to keep his breakfast down after watching me jump. You've been warned.

Oh No...What Have I Done?

As a matter of principle, I don't queue for anything. I'm paying. The locus of control is with me.

Why would I wait in a line & be miserable for hours just to gain entry into a club to dance?

Why would I queue behind 15 people to get seated in a restaurant? It's London! Step away and you'll find 100 equally exciting/better culinary establishments.

So, even though I love everything Mr. Jobs throws at us, I would not, could not bear to park myself for hours outside an Apple/Phone store to get my hands on the iPhone 4 on June 24.

The stock levels have now risen. I marched with a smug grin to an impressive riverside store today and got myself an early Birthday present.

I had promised myself, I wouldn't go for it this time...

The retina display got me.

I give up. I choose the iPhone 4 over food, love and you.