Archive for the 'Questioning Things' Category

Questioning Things: Vol. V

Published by Jarred on April 27, 2008 in Questioning Things and Random. Comments

I have been thankful to finally have a full weekend at home, after much traveling both for fun and for work in recent weeks. I’ve mostly been sleeping and hanging around the apartment, but on Friday night I got a chance to do something I have been craving for a long, long time: I dragged my drums into our living room and played music with my roommate and three other friends.

I try to play by myself several nights a week (I have an electronic set in my apartment so I don’t wake the neighbors), drumming along with music from my iPod through headphones. My roommate and I have recorded a song or two together, but it’s been a while since we’ve both had time to get together and create. He and those friends have come over several times before to jam on their guitars, but it’s always seemed like too much of a hassle to pull out the drums.

Friday night, though, I decided I didn’t want to be frustrated like that anymore. Damn the risk of complaints from the neighbors! The result was a night of therapeutic, beautiful, glorious music-making.

And so, with that intro, I have a few questions for you to ponder and answer this week:

  1. Do you have a hobby or other activity that, because of work or other circumstances, you aren’t able to do as often as you like? What is it? What’s holding you back?
  2. Are there any hobbies or activities that you know you love, but whether because of time or location or something else, you’ve simply let them fade away completely? As opposed to question #1, these would be activities you haven’t done in years, as opposed to activities you do occasionally.
  3. If you had to give up your job and choose one of your hobbies or activities to pursue full-time, what would it be? How would go about growing your expertise in it? How would you monetize it?

I’ll ring in with my answers a little later, but I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments!

Image used under a Creative Commons license courtesy of Flickr user || edmar ||.

Questioning Things: Vol. IV

Published by Taylor on April 18, 2008 in Computing, Questioning Things and Sociology. Comments

internet reasonThis survey–from a British marketing firm–determines your “internet age.” Surmising that the web is roughly 16 years old, it’s a 0-16 scale. According to the survey, I’m 11 in internet years. I’m happy to report that internet 5th grade is awesome, though only slightly less awkward than the real thing.

But the survey is largely a waste of time, and will tell you what you already know: you use the web for many things, and you’ve done so for at least a few years. You are, after all, reading a blog (congrats and thank you). So, instead, let me try a different set of questions. If you want (and you ask nicely) I will arbitrarily assign an “internet age” to each of you based on your comments. It’ll be much more fun this way, trust me.

  1. Have you ever used a search engine, social networking site, or other online resource to find information about someone you have not met, only to draw conclusions (based on the information you encounter) that proved to be wildly off-base
  2. Have you changed your online behavior in the past year in order to protect your real world reputation?  How?
  3. Search for your name on Google or another search engine (if your name is…I don’t know, Eric Smith or something…this might not be fruitful):
    1. What’s the funniest entry that appears; one that has nothing to do with you?
    2. What’s the most embarrassing item from your past that appears?
    3. Of the links to your name, is there anything you’re particularly proud of?

So, let’s hear your answers.  My answers after the break…

Continue reading ‘Questioning Things: Vol. IV’

Questioning Things: Vol. III

Published by Jarred on April 10, 2008 in Questioning Things. Comments

I’m headed to Seattle this weekend, visiting a friend and checking out the Seeds of Compassion conference where appearances will be made by both Dave Matthews and the Dalai Lama. Simultaneously. Having a “conversation.” Take a few seconds to envision that.

Got it? Good.

It’s going to be a) amazing, b) hilarious, or c) both. Especially with what’s been going on recently with regards to Tibet and China, I’m sure I’ll have some good posting material upon my return.

To occupy your end-of-week and weekend thoughts, I wanted to pose an open-ended question and let you comment away with your thoughts and feelings. So, as the French say, “on y va.” Let’s go.

Many readers of this blog are in a similar place in their lives as me and Taylor. We’re recently graduated (though we’re approaching the one year mark — yikes!) and neophytes at a lot of grown-up things: working full-time, doing our own taxes, paying rent, etc. Others among you are a little further along and have years, if not decades, between you and your first days of freedom from academia.

Either way, I feel confident in predicting that since, say, the day you graduated from college and now, things haven’t gone exactly the way you’ve expected or hoped. You didn’t get that job you really wanted. You ended up in a city you never thought you’d end up in. You lost touch with friends more quickly than you had expected.

Or, on the plus side, you made tons of new friends in your new job and town really quickly. You fell in love with a job you thought would be temporary, and want to make it your career. You won the lottery. Good or bad, small or big, something up and disrupted your grand post-grad plans (try saying that ten times fast).

Enough with the examples, it’s time for you to speak up! Holla back with the changes you’ve experienced in your plans and dreams, for better or worse.

Image used under a Creative Commons license courtesy of Flickr user Shannon K.

Questioning Things: Vol. II

Published by Taylor on March 26, 2008 in Questioning Things. Comments

In the midst of March Madness, Jarred and I clearly can’t be trusted to update this blog at our usual pace.  So, once again, we’re turning things over to our readers.  We had great responses to the first edition of Questioning Things, so I’m going to give it another shot.  Each of the questions this week are inspired by a recent news story:

Emirates Air will offer in-flight showers for first class passengers flying from Dubai to New York in an Airbus A380.  Showers will cost $18,000 but that’s not the only price:

“in order to offer every first-class passenger a shower, the airline will have to add one metric tonne of water to its payload, dragging a carbon cost of around 50,000 lbs. per trip.”

Since the first class Airbus A380 experience is likely beyond our collective pay scale, let’s focus instead on a flight experience we can all relate to: coach.

  1. Have you ever accepted an airline voucher in exchange for giving up your seat on an overbooked flight?  Were you happy with your decision, or did it come back to bite you in the behind?
  2. What’s the worst food to be eating when unexpected turbulence rocks your tray table?
  3. Do you believe that airlines should refund passengers (or pay for overnight hotels) when flights are canceled due to weather?  What about maintenance?  Do you generally believe in some sort of “passenger bill of rights,” or do you think of air travel like Jerry Seinfeld thinks about produce: “Jerry: I don’t return fruit. Fruit’s a gamble. I know that going in.”
  4. What ridiculous amenity will a competing airline introduce to trump Emirates Air’s showers for first class passengers?
  5. What amenity will airlines take away from the dwindling coach service as fuel costs continue to rise and airline profits continue to shrink?  What do you anticipate paying for on your next flight that you’ve previously expected as part of your ticket?

My answers after the break; your answers (pretty please) in the comments.

Continue reading ‘Questioning Things: Vol. II’

Questioning Things, Vol. I

Published by Taylor on March 19, 2008 in Advertising, Consumer Behavior, Music, Questioning Things and Random. Comments

Welcome to a new weekly feature I’m calling “Questioning Things.” The first thing we’ll be questioning is the name of this feature. It’s the best I’ve got, but it’s kind of lame. ANYWAY.

Jarred and I feel like our readers are far more interesting than we are…and we want to hear your stories. So this is your turn: I’ll ask a few (hopefully provocative) questions, you’ll answer in the comments, and we’ll revel in our collective cleverness/hilarity/soul searching.

  1. What would it take for you to agree to watch two more minutes of commercials per hour of television (1 extra minute for a half-hour show)? Would it make a difference if every commercial caused you to laugh out loud? If every ad was personally targeted at your tastes and lifestyle?
  2. What line/phrase from a television show or movie do you use in real life? Is it common enough that people recognize the origin, or so obscure that it sounds to most people like your original phrase?
  3. If you could work a past summer job, but full-time and at your present salary, which job would you pick?
  4. Is there a musical instrument that–even with unlimited lessons–you don’t think you could master?

My answers after the break. Your answers in the comments (please?).

Continue reading ‘Questioning Things, Vol. I’