8.31.2005

Recipe of the Day - Chicken Satay Sandwich

1 1/2 pounds thin cut chicken breast meat (cutlets)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Grill seasoning (recommended: Grill Mates Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick) or coarse salt and pepper
3 rounded tablespoons chunky peanut butter
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce, Tamari, eyeball it
1/4 cup apple juice, eyeball it
2 teaspoons hot sauce, eyeball it
1 lime, juiced
1/4 seedless cucumber, thinly sliced lengthwise then cut into sticks
1 cup shredded carrots
2 cups shredded lettuce, iceberg or hearts of romaine
4 crusty rolls, keisers or subs, split

Heat a grill pan or large nonstick skillet to medium high to high heat. Coat chicken in oil and grill seasoning and cook 3 minutes on each side in 2 batches. Pile up meat and shred it with a sharp knife.

Place peanut butter in a medium, microwave safe bowl and soften in the microwave on high for 20 seconds. Whisk soy, apple juice, hot sauce and lime juice into peanut butter. Toss chicken with satay sauce. Combine shredded veggies. Place 1/4 of veggies on sandwich bottoms and top with 1/4 satay chicken mixture. Set the bun tops in place and serve or wrap for travel.

This Recipe came from Rachel '30 Minute' Ray on foodtv.com. I brought this to work and ate one then shared the rest. Everyone loved it.

Enjoy

8.23.2005

The Greatness of Ali G

Bodyguards tackle Ali G [link]

I don't know which is more bizarre...Ali G tackling Pam Anderson or Pam Anderson marrying her dogs?!?!

Gmail Anyone?

I'm sure that everyone in the world that wants a Gmail account already has one. If you still don't have one or whatever post a comment (including your email address) and it will be yours soon.

Man I have tired head today!

8.19.2005

Brian's Notes: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team


Man oh man am I tired of motivational books where managers 'trick' their reports into 'finding their cheese' or whatever. This book, however, was refreshing. Written by the same guy that did 'The Five Temptations of a CEO' (Patrick Lencioni), this book pretty much skips the fluff and gets to the point through a nice little parable about a startup company.

It's pretty funny to see the different personality types and how they interact (you'll find you self saying...'Oh yeah! That's me!' or 'Man, that sounds just like something so-and-so would say.' Anyway, here is the main gist.

Look at your team. The people you meet with on your level. If you're a chick on the executive team it would be your executive team. If you're just some dude in a department it's the people you meet with in the department. After looking at your team, are you moving in the same direction, toward one common goal?

Do you trust each other? (Are you willing to show where you're weak within the group)
Do you fear conflict? (Are you incapable of engaging in unfiltered straight-up debate)
Do you lack commitment? (Are you completely sold out to your agreements)
Do you hold each other accountable? (Are you able to call people on the carpet if they commit and don't follow through)
Do you pay attention to results? (Are you putting your individual needs (ego/recognition) ahead of the teams one common goal)

It all builds like the pyramid at the top (the only one I could find is built backwards...go figure).

Trust each other so you can have blunt debates so you can totally commit so you can hold each other accountable so you can pay attention to the common goal of the team!

Hope that was helpful...Go get the book or have your company/organization start a library where you could 'read up' on some books...even the one about Cheese.

8.17.2005

Tip Du Jour #2 - Fellowship One - People Search

The church my wife and I attend uses a Church Management Application called Fellowship One. I have learned a few tips and tricks from a few 'Portal Users'. For those of you that use this wonderful application, this tip is for you.

Alt-S

From anywhere in the portal you may access the People Search in the top left hand corner simply by holding the 'Alt' key and hitting 'S'. This is a pretty helpful short cut for those of you that do not enjoy using the ole' mouse.

Enjoy!

8.15.2005

My Google, My Google, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?!?!

What has happened to Google? I noticed this weekend that some of their searches have changed. You cannot look up stock quotes easily at this time. Previously you could put in the 3 or 4 letters that identify a company on NYSE or NASDAQ (i.e. AMR, GOOG) and Google would pull up the live stock quote and all the company information. Also, the 'movies 76210' function where you could see what is showing close to you at a glance is not working. I've been relying on this for awhile now and it's just gone...

I have noticed that you can now use other search engines via Google (look at the top of your search now).

I know you guys and gals lead the innovation pack but come on!!! When something is great why revert to good???

8.11.2005

Tip Du Jour #1 - Quick URL Entry

I don't know if I've told everyone what I do now at my job...since I left the hospital. I now work at a help desk for a startup company. There are two of us supporting our product for about 200 customers currently. People call or write us for tips using our product and along the way we find out little tips for using everyday software (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Word, Excel, etc.). So on Thursdays I've decided to start sharing an everyday tip.

Todays tip is for all you internet junkies.

Quick URL entry:

Try this out on your favorite web browser...mine's Mozilla's Firefox. Go to the address bar and type the word 'weather' (without the quotes). Now hold your CTRL key and hit enter. Voila!!! I'm not going to tell you what happens...just try it (you'll get the weather channels website).

8.10.2005

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

I love to read and was very excited when our SVP (senior vice president) offered up a copy of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Anyone else heard of it?

I'll let you know what I think...

Man, a baby is a lot of work...

8.05.2005

Jonathan Schwartz - Fast Company

Checkout this recent interview with President and COO of Sun Microsystems in Fast Company. [link] (If it asks for an access code: FCAUGHR)

The two quotes I have taken away from it are:

"When you do what you love, you can't lose."

This goes back to "Now, Discover Your Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham. Focus on your strengths instead of weaknesses and you'll end up enjoying what you do even more and be more productive!!! He's even written an article in this months issue. [link]

and

"You are not about to send fewer email messages, watch fewer movies, or download fewer songs. Demand is unceasing. It is up to us to meet it."

Take that and chew on it...If people really want your product (that's normally a good thing), what
are you doing to meet it? As Tom Peters says, "You can't shrink your way to greatness!"

8.03.2005

Hello

Man, after you have a baby everyone is picture crazy. I've played around with Hello since I started blogging but did not recognize the greatness of it until this past week! You can queue up pictures to send and it doesn't require an email to send them. I would highly suggest this wonderful tool especially if you have pictures to share with parents that don't live locally.

Oh yeah! Don't forget Picassa 2 to go with it. It will automatically index every picture on your computer and allow you to access Hello or Gmail to send them directly from Picassa. Or, select the pictures you like and have them printed via ShutterFly ($0.17 per picture and mailed within 2 days) or Wal-Mart ($0.20 pick up within an hour!!!) with the click of your mouse.

Did I mention that these programs are free?

But wait...there's more! If you still do not have a Gmail account and would like one, simply leave a comment (including your current email address) on this post!

8.02.2005

Bunny With a Pancake On His Head

One of the guys I work with (Mr. Jackson not Michael's father) was on the internet and was 404'd. This picture was on the page...I thought it was funny.

Then Nick found the origin of the picture. [link] Turns out this little bunny is an expert at balancing stuff on his head!!!

Not too witty today...sorry.