Bless me father for I have sinned….

Finally I bought a pair of M-Audio AV40. My cheapie Altec Lansing 2.1 I bought two years ago is not that bad, but the quality is below my Altec 621 back at home. I’m not really an audiophile( and I don’t know if this is just self-justification) but this speakers are good. The vocals are much much clearer. Its only a 2.0 setup(no subwoofer) but I’m not really into gaming nowadays.

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I was putting-off buying these speakers until June. Stress though has a strange way of overriding my Scrooge persona. Even though I have a dinner to attend, I made a trip to the store to buy these sweet pair of speakers.

After running the JPMorgan Run (5.6km) I almost had my knees busted again. Its not really painful. It could have been if I did not walk the last 500m(or more).  My time is not so decent. I ran it for 40 minutes. I was gunning for at least 35 minutes. I did run the 10km for 1hr and 9 minutes. 

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One thing that I like about long distance running is that you don’t have to compete that much with other people. You compete with yourself. You train your mind to reach a goal. To run without stopping is psychological( assuming you are physically fit of course). 

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You can cheat on running. But it will always come back for you.

I like this tagline by New Balance. Saw this on the MRT some months ago.

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I bought an Apple Airport Express. Now I can play my MP3s wirelessly. The easiest solution would be to use quality earphones. But I don’t like airphones that much. Creative has those wireless solutions. But you need to have a PCMCIA slot. 

It’s currently hooked to a cheapie 2.1 Altec Lansing setup. Once I get some funds I will hook it to something better.

My boss got annoyed using my teammates keyboard(the so called recession keyboards.. the cheapest you can buy) that he replaced two of my teammates keyboard with an Apple keyboard. He did not replace mine.  I’m already using a Microsoft natural keyboard. 

I tried the Apple keyboard. Can’t use it. Too small for me. 

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For the nth time our project plan changed. Tasks were reassigned here and there. Some of the design tasks are moved later in the project timeline. I was already done with them though. Talk about cowboy project management.

Hope is not a Strategy

After reading those economics and behavioral economics books, I ventured into a sales book, Hope is not a Strategy. Its my first time reading sales book. This book is less than 200 pages so I was not expecting to learn the science of sales. I was just curious when I saw this book in the bookstore. My previous manager likes to say “Hope is not a strategy” whenever we start our replies during standup with “I hope( I can finish this task by blah blah)”.

I am less than halfway through this book. I already learned that there different kinds of salesman. There is teller type(level 0). This type of salesman will go through with you the whole product line in their catalogue but does not know anything other than what is written there. 

There is also the farmer. The farmer is in-charge of repeat sales. Those who stays within the account for repeat business. Opposite of the farmer is the hunter. The hunter is the special forces of the sales world. They are like challenges, think fast and their sole purpose is too win accounts. 

Business developers on the other hand develops demand rather than responds to demand. They create opportunities by creating the needs.  

The last type is the Industry Network Consultant. These type of salesmen work on only one industry sometimes on only one account, regardless of their employer. People in that industry know them. They have the connections already. They may change who they work for. But they will still sell on the same industry or organization.

This will not be in my list of favorite books. But this is a good read especially if you want to know some interesting things about sales.