Todd Sattersten :: Astronaut Projects

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from all of us to all of you!

T, A, E, Z, & A

Quote of the Day

"There are two kinds of truths, small truth and great truth. You can recognize a small truth because its opposite is a falsehood. The opposite of a great truth is another truth" -Neils Bohr

Trying out Tumblr

Tumblr is an interesting site that pulls together information from the wide variety of sources where you may be storing it. You can take your flickr photos, twitter messages, blog posts, and del.icio.us links and put it in all one place.

I used to try and put everything up here. You can see by the lack of material that that strategy is not working.

For family and friends, you probably want to watch my tumblr site going forward. It will be a better source of information about what is going on with me and the family. If the experiment fails, I will direct everyone back here.

Time is Money

Isn't it a bit ironic how long it takes for the The Official U.S. Time website to load?

Think different.

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

-Apple Computer

Check out Zaadz newsletters, this was from Philosopher's Notes.

a really short moment

There is going to be a moment and
it is actually going to be a really short moment,
in relationship to all this other
garbage
yougottadotogettothepointyougettomake the stuff. 
But that is the thing that I kinda live for. 
It is like there is this one moment where
you
figure it out,
and you get it,
and you think it is going to be the best thing you have ever did.

And it is really really exciting
and I never get over it
and it hasn't changed in 34 years
and as long as you can feel that,
you can do it.

-Taken from and inspired by Paula Sher: Type is Image

[hat tip: Signal vs Noise]

Happy Groundhog's Day!

This continues to rank as my favorite holiday. There is something so pagen about worshipping a large rodent.

If you haven't heard, Phil says six more weeks of winter.

That conflicts with our local prognosticator here in Wisconsin. Jimmy the Groundhog says spring is on its way.

Wikipedia can catch you up on the history and tradition of GhD.

CNBC's Biggest Business Stories of 2005

1. Crisis and Recovery (Katrina)
2. Energy Crunch
3. Martha's Big Comeback
4. Fall of GM and Ford
5. Rise of Google

Only What Needs To Be Done...

Ivy Walker: How is it you are brave when all the rest of us shake in our boots?

Lucius Hunt: I don't worry about what will happen, only what needs to be done.

[The Village, M. Night Shyamalan]

inBubbleWrap

The new 800ceoread site inBubbleWrap is running in full swing.

This week is the grand opening and we are pulling out all the stops.

Today we are giving away the chance to spend a day with Ben and Jackie from Church of the Customer. You will get their undivided attention and help in develop your plan for customer evangelists.

We will have more cool things as the week goes on.

Mmmmm....

Cooking with Beer.

Need I say more...

[credit to coudal]

Home Soon

I am on my way home tomorrow from NYC.

It has been a great trip.

I have been able to meet Jory, Phoebe, and Arthur in person.

Nothing can replace meeting people in the flesh.

Citizan Journalism of Katrina

Alvaro was in New Orleans.

His photo album shows you the before, during and after of Katrina. Each photo has his commentary.

Worth checking out...

A Jury of Your Peers

"Whenever Merck was up there, it was like wah, wah, wah, " said juror John Ostrom, imitating the sounds of Charlie Brown's teacher makes in the television cartoon. "We didn't know what the heck they were talking about."

-Merck Loss Jolts Drug Giant, WSJ, 8/22/05

This quote really concerns me. The cornerstone of Merck's case was that the death of Robert Ernst was caused from arrhythmia, not a heart attack. Vioxx has been shown to cause problems with blood clotting, but there is not been any association with irregular hearbeats. Instead, the jury chose to focus on a potential coverup of concerns about the drug.

I know that communication requires two parties - one transmitting and one receiving. It is clearly possible that the lawyers did not structure message for the audience (the jury). What I am more concerned about is a jury ignoring scientific evidence, because they don't understand it. They deliberated on the case for a total of one hour.

Looking at the world...

This is just a great post from Mike at rohdesign.

It involves kids, zoos, and everyone's early fascination with the world.

Busy Two Weeks

Things are a little busy.

I was in NYC for the Book Expo America from Thursday through Sunday. I was with Jack representing 800-CEO-READ.

Yesterday, I had a big pitch with a local client.

This coming weekend, I am going to Chicago for the How Design Conference.

We also have a ton going on with More Space. I know it has been quiet, but you can expect to see alot in the next month.

More soon...

Comments Up

Because of the system problems I had last week, comments are not up and working. Sorry about that. We are working on it. Feel free to drop me a note.

It seems they are working. I updated to MT3.16, so bear with some possible growing pains

Tools of the Trade

You don't hear people talk much about what makes a good physical environment for doing business. And I mean everything from the chair you sit in to the lighting over your desk. I think it also includes things like the stapler you use and whether or not you have photos of the family.

I posted a couple of posts on the subject over on the BizLinkBlog. Kevin Kelly had great post on how to create marker boards walls and Mike at Rohndesign talks about his obsession with pens (the comments show it isn't just him).

So here is the potential meme:

Describe your office however you like. What the room like? What furniture do you have? What is sitting on your desk? What works and what doesn't. I think we take for granted this space that we spend alot of time in.

Here is my shot at it:

I work out of my house. My office is on the first floor of our home. It has a large window looking out onto the front yard. The opposite wall has a built-in bookcase nearly full (big surprise). The carpet is the same beige as most of the house and the walls are white. The final object of note is the large orange recliner in the corner where my black lab sleeps most of the day.

We have three tables that make up the work surfaces in the room. There is one in the middle of the room that I work from. It is covered with galleys, audiobooks (I just got a huge box from Random House), and magazines. The space left is just enough for my Powerbook and wireless mouse. I know I need to get a handle on the clutter.

The other two tables sit behind me in an L-shape. They hold three printers, the old PC, and more books, magazines and bills. I am thinking about removing two tables from the room because they pretty much act as clutter accumulators.

Outside of stamps and envelopes, I don't use much else. I keep a pen and notebook handy for taking notes on calls and keeps to-dos, but I am inconsistent with their use. The next personal book I am going to read is Getting Things Done. Too many people are talking about it to not check it out and try it out.

What is your space like?

NBC's The Office or The Importance of Telling a Good Story

I think telling good story is hard. Robots was bad because it was a poorly told story.

NBC's version of The Office I think is going to have the same problems. It was really hard to watch tonight. I know part of it is because I just got done watching the original. They are using alot of the material from the BBC version.

I really didn't laugh. As I was watching, I kept thinking there was no appreciation for timing of the jokes. The mock-doc is too produced. Too many tight shots were you miss how the other characters are reacting. They left no time for the romance to develop between Tim and Dawn. I seem to remember the first episode was pretty much David and in the new show they are too concerned about involving the whole cast right away.

Just watch this clip. You'll know why the original is brilliant.

I beg you to watch the original before you get turned off to the whole thing. I don't want you to say to yourself, "I don't know why everyone thinks this is so funny."

Enough said.

Your Morning Quote

"The average person puts only 25% of his energy into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%."

-Andrew Carnegie, American industrialist and philanthropist

[via zaadz]

Taking a trick from retail

I was intrigued by the price of theGM-Fiat break-up - $1.99 billion.

They must have thought that everyone would think they negotiated a really good deal.

Zach Braff on Writing

This is off the very popular Garden State Blog by actor Zach Braff (Scrubs, Garden State):

So, first of all- thank you all from all over the world for all the wonderful things you've been posting about GS, Scrubs, yourselves etc. I feel so lucky to be able to have this direct line of communication with my fans. I love it when you guys share personal stories from your own lives. So many of you ask me about writing, just skim through the comments and you'll see thousands of stories to write about. All I did was sit down and write about what I was feeling in my own life. What bothers you, what makes you laugh, what do you obsess about, what makes your stomach turn, what do you lust over? - just sit down and write about those things. That's what's universally interesting; those are the kinds of movies I like to go see: regular people in real life situations, dealing with emotions and worries I can relate to. Also, think about starting very simply; don't overwhelm yourself trying to think about the whole movie; write a scene between two people, then write what happens after that, then what happens after that. Don't get boggled down worrying about outlines and rules, just tell a bunch of stories that happen to the same group of people. And try (for lack of a better expression) keeping it real. There's a saying I really like to think about when I'm writing: "Don't do that, they do that in movies." Anytime I find myself writing something that feels nowhere close to reality, I try to stop and reign it back to what's true for me. Blah, blah, blah. I just wanted to offer up a couple of thoughts since so many have you have asked about it.

Thanks to Halley for reminding me of his blog and pulling this piece out.

Here was my thought in July.

Be Yourself

"Get rid of your fear of failure, your tensions about succeeding, you will be yourself. Relaxed. You wouldn’t be driving with your brakes on. That’s what would happen."

- Anthony de Mello, 20th century Jesuit priest from Awareness

[from this morning's zaadz wisdom e-newsletter]

Did anyone notice...

Did anyone notice the constitutional lawyer in The West Wing tonight (played by Christopher Lloyd) sounded like he was named Lawrence Lessig. I can't find anywhere to confirm that.

Hmmm..

An New National Holiday

I could not agree more:

When you think about the Super Bowl -- it's hard not to, this week -- you have to wonder whether maybe it's time that we formally recognized it for what it is: a national holiday. Switch the game to Monday (Americans have become conditioned to watching football on Monday night) and make it a three-day weekend. Congress could pass the usual proclamations, the Postal Service could design a commemorative stamp, and the president could issue a pronouncement about what this day means to the American spirit...

-"An Idea Whose Time Has Come" by Geoffrey Norman, WSJ W13, Feb. 4th, 2005 [sub. needed]

Happy Groundhog's Day!!!

Happy Groundhog's Day!!!

Phil says 6 more weeks of winter.

I have been a big fan of this holiday for some time. I just love the idea that we pull a large rodent out of a hole, see if he casts a shadow, and then decide what is going to happen with the weather for the next month. Could we come up with anything more arbitrary? I have to get to Punxsutawney one of these years to see the event for myself.

This article from MSNBC has the lowdown on this year's festivities with a little history sprinkled in.

I have been trying to get to groundhog.org (the official site of Punxsutawney Phil) all morning, but the site seems to be down. This is the wrong morning to have trouble with the website.

I need to keep my Apprentice predictions to myself.

I told my wife I was going to root for contestant Todd on the new season The Apprentice, namesake and all.

That was short-lived. He was voted off tonight.

I guess I will start over next week.

Things you didn't know about Marquette University

I am again drawing from a college alumni magazine for a post. I graduated from Marquette University here in Milwaukee in 2002 with my MBA. You might know MU for its basketball program under Al McGuire and more recently and currently Tom Creen.

Here are the things you probably don't know:

• The campus has the 16th century Joan of Arc Chapel - "The Chapel is, to our knowledge, the only medieval structure in the entire Western Hemisphere dedicated to its original purpose: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam."
• The Raynor Memorial Libraries Special Collections and University Archives is home to the original manuscripts of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
• Matt Lesko is a 1965 graduate of the School of Business Administration. Lesko is the guy you always see on wearing the question mark suits and selling manuals on how the government will give you grants to start companies and buy real estate. He has published 70 books, two of them New York Times bestsellers.

Thunder in January?!

It is a little odd here right now.

Today is January 12th and my house is shaking from the thunder booming outside. There is some nice lightning strikes to boot.

Looks like the rain will have the snow melted by morning...

Fans Shovel Their Shrine

The Green Bay Packers put a call out for volunteers to help shove show at Lambeau Field.

300 people showed up the next morning.

The Packers have the best fans in the world.

Finally Feeling Better

The drugs are kicking in and I am feeling the best I have in three weeks. The only trouble I have now is that my cheek is swollen and it makes me look like I got in a barfight. The trouble is that I haven't felt well enough to even go to a bar.

Thanks to everyone who has sent along well wishes.

Colorado Rockies

I found some wifi here in Breckenridge at the Gourmet Cabby Internet Cafe.

I am still sick and haven't done any skiiing yet. I finally broke down and when to the doctor yesterday. I now have some antibiotics to treat what has now turned into a sinus infection. I hope to be better in a couple of days.

Enjoy the holiday week!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

It is most likely going to be quiet here over the next week. We are meeting my wife's family in Colorado for the holiday week. There is a rumor of wifi, but not in our condo. So, we'll see...

It has been a wonderful year. Thanks to all of you who have been reading. Thanks to everyone who made the Business Blog Book Tour a success.

There will be new stuff in the new year.

Also, if you haven't already, spend some time, put togther your Top 24, and send a link to me.

See you next year!

Music, but really Content

I just like this post. It capture a lot of great ideas. It is about the music industry, but it is also about passion and Generation C.

[via Scoble's Linkblog]

New Political Blog

The Onion talks about Bush's new blog.

[via Blog Herald]

Alphabet Images

I have had this sitting in my 'to-post' bin.

Virginia Beach teacher Leslie Law had her students photograph the alphabet as they saw it in their surroundings. I love the combination of learning and creativity.

Printing Money at Pixar

Pixar is the cover story in Wired Magazine this month. Like many of you, I have seen all of the films. The article does a great job of giving a look at the people behind the movies.

I was not familiar with the exact financial success of the digital animation house. The article states Pixar's five movies (Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo) have grossed $2.5 billion dollars. Those numbers make Pixar the most successful movie house of all time.

This section explains why Pixar and Disney had a falling out:

Since Toy Story, the fate of Disney and Pixar have been intertwined. Pixar makes the movies, and Disney distributes them; they cofinance the films and split the profits. But this January, when Pixar met with Disney to discuss their contract, an emboldened Steve Jobs decided to change the deal. He's angling for terms like those George Lucas brokered with 20th Century Fox for the Star Wars prequels: Pixar would finance its own films (with budgets around $80 million), take 100 percent of the profits, and pay Disney a distribution fee. Not surprisingly, Disney resisted. Each Pixar movie nets Disney an estimated $200 million, and under Jobs' proposed arrangement, the company would make less than half of that.

Go check out the new trailer for The Incredibles. They are going to have another hit.

Hi, everybody!

My referral log shows a lot of people coming over from the Marketing Sherpa Best Marketing Blog contest.

Just wanted to say hi to all the new visitors.

Hope you'll take a look around and enjoy what I have to offer. Maybe, you could subscribe to the RSS feed and we can continue this conversation.

Any which way, I am glad you had a chance to stop by.

Catching up

We were out of town for a week and a half visiting family in San Diego (the Wild Animal Park is a must) and Phoenix. I came back and need to get the BBBT going. I also have the other gig which is keeping me busy.

I will get back to posting here. I want to share stories from the trip and I am catching up on some reading, so there might be some things there.

What Copyrights?

Loic Le Meur talks about digital media and a copyright free future. I can see and feel the change. I just can't figure out what it is going to be like on the other side. I want to know where I should be.

The Page 23 Meme

I thought this was fun one to join in on.

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 23.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

The government, so overwhelmed by the scale of the movement, decided to let Christiania stand as a social experiement - Lonely Planet, Denmark

More on Christiania...

[via Crossroads Dispatches]

Carpe Diem

I am working on a proposal this morning and was looking for the Latin dummy text you always see in Microsoft documents.

Lorem Ipsum will auto-generate it for you. You also get a little history to boot.

Poker is Hot

They are talking about poker everywhere.

This morning there was a segment on CBS Sunday Morning. The report was focusing on the World Poker Tour. Last year, the tour had $10 million in prize money. Tour organizers estimate prize money will be around $30 million this year and $50 million next year. The other number thrown out was that 50 million Americans play poker. Seems a little high.

They say the rise in poker's popularity is due to the card cam, which gives viewers the ability to see the players cards. Producers say it creates drama - you knowing player A should fold, because player B has a pair of aces.

The March issue of Fast Company has a one pager what business folks can learn from the poker world:

1. Bluff when you can, not when you have to.


2. Don't speak when you can nod


3. Always be willing to fold a strong hand


4. Always be willing to call with a weak hand


5. Patience is the highest virtue

Recommended books from the article include:
Play Poker Like the Pros by Phil Hellmuth Jr. (from one of the best on the tour)
The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky (cult classic)
Positively Fifth Street by James McManus (lit prof turned poker player talks history, strategy, and his run at the World Series of Poker)

There seems to be a thriving poker blog community. What first led me there was The Intrepid Card Player's take on United from this week's COTC. He lists a dozen poker blogs and that led me to a ton more. You are interested in checking out poker blogs Guinness and Poker seems to have a pretty complete list.

Business in France

I got into a conversation with a friend while I was in France. We were planning our next day's activities and without any strong plans, I thought we should put up a lemonade stand out in front of the house. He said we couldn't do that. I found that a bit odd.

That led into a hour-long conversation about business in France and US. The idea of the lemonade stand or the neighborhood kid mowing someone's lawn is completely foreign. That really made me wonder what was so different.

Here are a couple of things:

• All businesses need to go through some 20+ step governmental process before you can begin operating.


• The average person doesn't have the means of starting their own enterprise. That leaves banks as a main source of capital. Banks show a similar rigor in the approval process as those in the States.
  
• There isn't bankruptcy protection in France. If your business fails, the owner is personally responsible for the debt and will spend the rest of their life repaying it, if need be.

So, its hard to set-up, it is difficult to raise capital, and failure means a lifetime of repayment.

Laws and regulations do make a difference. I think we take for granted the entrepreneurial climate that exists in the U.S.

So much to say...

I am finally back and somewhat settled. The next week is going continue to be busy and posting might be a little light.

I thought I would throw out a bunch of random thoughts that have been bouncing around my head.

• There is a front page article in the WSJ today about Tupperware and the disasterous effect their partnership with Target has had on the mainstay independent sales reps.
• I really liked the New Economy cover article in this month's Fast Company. The article looks at a number of boom-created myths and revises them for the post-boom world.
• This issue of FC also highlights the winners of the Fast 50 competition. There were two winners from WI. The first was Rick Terrien of Universal Separators in Madison. The second is Father Bernard McCoy of Lasermonks.com in Sparta, WI. We had Father Bernard at a Company of Friends meeting in Milwaukee last month. Check out their Fast 50 entry and I strongly encourage checking out their site. The pricing for ink cartridges is 30% to 50% below retail and all the profits go to charities.
• With about two weeks left at the family business, I got a call from a company today that we did some work for last summer. They wanted us to make some more of the same parts and quote some other things. The total amount of business we did with them was about $1000 and we just received the fourth payment of $250. It took nine months to collect $1000. Do you think we are going to continue that relationship?
• My son turns one next Thursday
• My grandfather died last Wednesday. That added to the craziness of the past few days. He had been in very poor health over the last 18 months. For me, it was a blessing that he finally passed on. He was one of the nicest men you have ever met. He searched and found my first car for me - a 1978 sky blue Mercury Marquis. It is things like that which I will remember most about him.
• I still have to watch the two episodes of the Apprentice that I missed.
• My friends Cindy and Thibault are engaged to be married. They surprised us with the news during our trip to France. They had been holding out, so they could tell us in person. This means another trip back to France in August or September.
• I am going to make a concerted effort to learn French over the next six months.

A little about a lot...more on Friday.