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un-branding and de-branding the branded

2007-07-29T16:35:14Z

Originally published at Булшит Chronicle. Please leave any comments there.

It will very soon happen that people will get bored of “brand”. Any brand at all and in general of the word.

All branded will become so unwelcoming that the word itself will evoke nausea. There are 2 words that eagerly come to mind and that I would even more eagerly forget about: ‘brand’ and ‘positioning’. Don’t you already hate them?

Meanwhile it is high time to et up an un-branded company without any positioning and taboo the employees from using these words. The company that would make ’stealth’ products without a hint for the name. Good quality, different price range. The shop front will be decorated with the “The Shop” sign, all of the products will carry their own names ‘pants’, ‘jeans’, ‘blouse, etc. and NO LOGO anywhere in visibility. That would make our world a better place and the first company to open an un-branded store will enjoy the success equal to that of the Lumiere first moving pictures.

night express

2007-07-26T09:30:41Z

Originally published at Булшит Chronicle. Please leave any comments there.

Coming back from work late last night (after a day of turmoil rather than work) I took a metro at 1 a.m. and it was perhaps the last train going my way. Passengers were scarce and the few that rode with me were mostly sleeping leaning back in their seats. The entire atmosphere was of a train going through the endless tunnel into nothing and at times it felt as if it was not going to stop.

By the way, thanks to help of a friend, I managed to get the glimpse of the ad I told about in the last post:

take a nap at work

2007-07-05T10:19:40Z

Originally published at Булшит Chronicle. Please leave any comments there.

Scientists have proved that no matter how long you sleep on the weekend, you are not able to catch up for the entire week. Perhaps the weekend hours don’t count on the sleeping schedule - the week and the weekend are completely different in their structure and in the way our brain works. Therefore, having slept in on the weekend until 4 p.m. would not make you a wonder boy during the week when you don’t sleep enough. Instead it will be more like drinking coffee and not feeling anything. The eyes are just closing by themselves every time you have a spare moment and take your thoughts away from work. Even worse it can get and you’ll be falling asleep while doing something.

One is for sure - reading in this state is quite impossible. Coffee doesn’t help either- just makes you full, without the required consequences.

Sad story. Better sleep at night or have a nap during the day the way Japanese do.

5mins of quality time

2007-07-04T07:18:41Z

Originally published at Булшит Chronicle. Please leave any comments there.

Every morning I spend 7 minutes on my way from the metro station to the final destination - the workplace - thinking about things which could improve the business or maybe life. Hence the time is converted into quality time and already brings its benefits.

Communism still exists

2007-07-02T09:54:11Z

Originally published at Булшит Chronicle. Please leave any comments there.

Last night I was awakened at 4:17 a.m. by a neighbour from the apartment below mine. The elderly man said he had a leak in his toilet and bathroom. A few drops were falling off the ceiling converting into a puddle on the floor, which made him a bit disappointed at this hour of the night. He looked as if he hadn’t slept at all and I really don’t know if he was. Maybe he doesn’t sleep at all.

What the hell, I just turned off everything I had which could be turned off and headed to his apartment to check out the damage. To my fortune, there wasn’t much to see and to damage. I don’t remember the rest as I went straight up to my apartment to sleep.

Early in the morning I called up the “dezhurnaja” which apparently works 24/7 and explained the situation. I forgot to ask how much it would cost me, but prepared some 300 rubles. When the “engineer” (that’s how he called himself) - a shabby-looking, unshaven man with a look of “last-night-drinking” on his face - came over, he looked at the leak (which by his arrival I had figured out), gave me the advice - “change the thing” - and left without taking any money (!!!). I mean, it was only a consultation, a bad one (except that now I know where the shop for equipment is) but in Europe you’d have to pay for him coming to your apartment and the price would be higher than 300 rubles - that’s for sure.

There are still things for free despite the saying that “the only free thing is the cheese in the mousetrap”.

Good luck to me to fix the leak!

oh’s vlog

2007-07-01T06:47:47Z

Originally published at Булшит Chronicle. Please leave any comments there.

It is interesting how many people are becoming their own actors and directors of their personal under-5-minute films. You take a camera (webcam, phone cam, anything that records the moving picture) and look into it saying words, doing whatever you like. There is a places (now it is more like places) to post it and make available to others as well as to those ppl who are looking for talents.

Becoming an actor has never been easier. You want to be one? I have a camera, come over and I’ll be your director and producer.

Google mapping

2007-06-30T10:20:52Z

Originally published at Булшит Chronicle. Please leave any comments there.

We all agree that Google has changed our lives or at least patterns of question-solving when these arise. Sounds cheesy, but what do you do once you have a question? You “google” for it and get an answer! After all, the service does have satisfying results and a search through Gmail messages is way faster than the search of emails on the machine (be it Thunderbird or even less so - Outlook).

Not so long ago, Google Maps service was enhanced by the feature of marking spots on the map, sticking pins and assigning a few lines of text + photos. So now, having visited the place, you just add up the info you have to the custom-made map of the world and either share it with the rest or keep it private as an album with memories.

Alternatively, you may find the best route to the desired place, mark those which you’d like to visit and start on your journey.

Now, I have also added a few stops on my personal route around the tow, marking places which I want to go to and I’ve shared the information with my friends so they could join me. But more importantly, I have set up a map of offices of the organization I work at with contact information and once the route planner and traffic functions are available for European region and Russia, there will be an easy way of getting the directions and planning your visit to our offices.

ESTMA Office Web

The thing that’s left is to add the link to the website or your e-mail signature and your clients are exposed to all of you.

Series 100 Portable Typing Machine

2007-06-29T04:50:46Z

Originally published at Булшит Chronicle. Please leave any comments there.

I’ve recently become the owner of this lovely gadget from the not-so-distant past.

GDR made Series 100 portable typing machine.

It has all the features which Word has with tabulations, indents, double-space, etc. The only difference being that all the buttons are located on the front as well as side pannels and some of them need to be pushed simultaneously to reach the desired effect. A bit more complicated, perhaps, than the computer version, but the sound it makes discounts all the drawbacks of user-friendliness.

Now I have the possibility to leave notes to someone just by typing them and the “monitor” will not turn off and will stay where it had been left.

It came with a whole set of documents (manual, guarantee, etc.) but without the front cover (which makes it look even more old fashioned) and with a couple of buttons missing (at least from comparing to the manual).

It cost me a box of candy for $5.

PPS

unfortunately the only smiley one can type on it looks something like :-+