AccuWeather.com forecast video for the coming Snowpocalypse in the DC/Baltimore area shows meteorologist Jim Kosek freaking out a little about the storm. Oh boy.

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Google – Parisian Love	KGB
Monster.com – Fiddling Beaver	Cars.com – Timothy Richman

I think I liked the Google commercial the most but above are some of my other favorites.  How about you?

OK everyone, it is SuperBowl time and you know what that means…awesome commercials!  You can go to YouTube Ad Blitz 2010 during the game to view each commercial after it airs.  After the Super Bowl you can vote for your favorite ad and the winning ad will appear on YouTube’s homepage.

The documentary In the Shadow of the Moon came out in 2007.  I’ve always loved to watch the trailer when I need self motivation and it is a great team building tool.  Watch the above trailer and ask yourself how it applies to your life and career.  Below are some excerpts I’ve noted from the video:

• “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man of the moon, and returning him safely from space.” – John F Kennedy, Jr.
  • Individuals (and especially leaders) must provide vision, stretch goals, and those goals need to be time driven.  Sometimes the goals seem impossible, but everything is possible under the right circumstances.
• “And that was a bold move, it had some risky aspects to it. But it was a time when we made bold moves.”
  • My favorite quote of the trailer.  Think about what you really want to achieve in life and go for it no matter how big or small it may be.  Don’t let your fears define who you are.
• “I had a feeling the whole world was watching us. Not only do I have a lot of things I can do wrong, but the consequences should I do them wrong are be immediately obvious to 3 billion people.”
  • Make sure when you are doing something big in life to think things through so you can do your best when everyone is watching.
    
• “And then it dawned on me from an emotional point of view, that we are going to go to the moon.”
  • Don’t forget to enjoy life along the way.
• “People instead of saying “well you Americans did it”, everywhere they said “we did it…we the human race…we people did it…and I thought that was a beautiful thing.”
  • When you attempt big things in life it is great to have the support of others.  Don’t let people stop you from achieving your dream should they say you can’t accomplish something you want in life.  There is no “I” in TEAM.
• “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
  • What you do in life may seem small to you but everyone is capable of doing amazing things.  If you live life right you can not only do things that positively impact yourself, but also others.

I just got done reading an article from eChannelLine.com which discusses a recent Gartner report offering five key predictions for where social software is headed over the next several years:

• By 2014, social networking services will replace e-mail as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 percent of business users.
• By 2012, over 50 percent of enterprises will use activity streams that include microblogging, but stand-alone enterprise microblogging will have less than 5 percent penetration.
• Through 2012, over 70 percent of IT-dominated social media initiatives will fail.
• Within five years, 70 percent of collaboration and communications applications designed on PCs will be modeled after user experience lessons from smartphone collaboration applications.
• Through 2015, only 25 percent of enterprises will routinely utilize social network analysis to improve performance and productivity.

I went to the mall in San Francisco this afternoon to help my girlfriend pick out some outfits for work and was surprised at what Nordstroms is putting on mannequins these days.  What is going through retailer’s minds when they dress these mannequins?  Do retailers think this is what people want to buy and wear, or is their strategy simply a marketing gimmick?  The outfit on the right is half decent, but what is going on with the one on the left?

Even though outfits put on display can be outrageous, what people are actually buying these days tends to be pretty tame.  This topic led to an entire discussion on what the current state of fashion really is.  I think we are living in a time where people really do have a good sense of fashion, and I’d actually say people are dressing more “normal” than any point in the last 30 years.  I know we really can’t define normal but in 20 years if we look back at fashion’s current state will we be able to define it?  How would you describe our current state of fashion?

Everyone these days has their own email signature.  Email signatures are what the email tool of your choice leave at the bottom of every email, most of the time being your name and contact information.  The folks over at Smashing Magazine have a great article about the science behind the signature which I think everyone should take a look at if you are a geek like me who likes to see and analyze those different styles.

Why doesn’t the US get on the Metric system?  Source: http://matadorabroad.com/

I was talking with Scott at lunch yesterday about our normal random things and somehow we got on the subject of America’s infrastructure.  I was telling him I recently read a great article from Popular Science about renovating America’s infrastructure and wanted to share with everyone as well.  The following is an excerpt: “Chicago road crews are scrambling to fill 67,000 potholes a month. Communities in Pennsylvania rely on 100-year-old water pipes made of wood. Squirrels still cause widespread blackouts. The country’s 600,000 bridges, four million miles of roads, and 30,000 wastewater plants desperately need attention. The solution isn’t patches, it’s an overhaul. Soon roads and power lines will fix themselves, and we’ll mine energy from sewage. America’s 21st-century tune-up won’t happen overnight, but we could start reaping the benefits (faster broadband! cleaner water!) within the next few years.”  >> Read the full article