Colbert is Awesome: Anniversary

Yesterday marked the 2-year-anniversary of Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner. If you haven't seen / heard / read it I strongly urge you to catch up on it. Find the video here and a transcript here.

I still can't believe he had the guts to say that stuff with the President sitting right there. And I still can't believe that he got invited at all. Further proof that sometimes the stars do align and make beautiful things happen. Even Justice Scalia didn't seem so bad when he actually laughed out lout at jokes at his expense (sadly, he may have been the only one in that room to do so, though).

Word of the Day: Awareness

Awareness. A word I've officially come to loathe. The straw that broke the camel's back was reading about this video to raise awareness of the death of the honeybee. Yes, the extinction of the honeybee would be an ecological desaster for us since we depend on them to fertilize our fruit trees. And yes, what's happening in Darfur is horrible. And yes, childhood obesity is a big issue. So are the dangerous of nicotine and melting glaciers.

Thing is, I'm pretty sure that all of those are problems can not be solved by raising "awareness". We've been asked to be "aware" of so many things today that their importance is somewhat diluted and you forget to actually do something about it (if you even can, which in most cases is not at all clear).

It's like watching the news - another bomb in Iraq? Nothing new, NEXT. I really do have to wonder if maybe we would care a bit more if we were a bit less "aware".

Born To Sell?

I am of the firm belief that good salespeople are born, not trained. This occurs to me every time I see an obviously trained, not born salesperson, tipically male, in his twenties. You know the type, straight off the training where he did everything just right and where he was brainwashed into believing that he'll be awesome and as long as he just keeps prospective customers firmly in the clutches of a sales pitch and wears a suit, he'll earn unimaginable piles of money.

And then, out on the street, he's pushy, tries too hard and makes people extremely uncomfortable. And he doesn't notice or doesn't understand why. And he probably has the highest rate of customers revoking a contract after he badgered them into signing something.

Apparently, the most fundamental truth is not taught in these sales trainings: the person you want to sell something to has to actually find you somewhat likeable. Otherwise it's not going to happen, even if they need / want your product.

I, by the way, would not make a good salesperson. Talking someone into buying something they don't need? Or something they could get cheaper or in better quality elsewhere? Nah, I think I'd always end up telling them my honest opinion, which in the sales business probably isn't the best policy...

Sleeping Patterns

Ever since my aforementioned three - day - bender celebration, my sleeping patterns have grown increasingly less discernible, to the point where I'd hesitate calling them "patterns". Somehow this does not make thesis prepping (i.e. reading longwinded text books) any easier.

In completely unrelated (and I know, very belated) matters, when Nathan Lane first mentioned this on The Daily Show I thought he had simply made up a very elaborate joke for his appearance on the show. Imagine my surprise when I discovered this was not the case. A Nazi - Guard - In - Concentration - Camp - Fetish? Really? Whatever floats your boat, I guess...

By the way, have I mentioned how much Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf reminds me of my Godmother? Trust me, this does very little to endear her to me.

Also, my mum had another birthday last week. She does this every year! I'm sure it's just a ruse to get me to buy her nice presents and I fall for it every time. At least she does the same for me every year in September (I guess one might argue that on that very first occasion in 1983 she did a lot more than get me presents, so we're even).

Thank The Gods, It's Back!

Battlestar Galactica is back, since April 4th! Final season, unfortunately, but still very nice to have this excellent show back on the air. So say we all.

By the way, I signed and mailed my job contract yesterday. Unfortunately for some reason that doesn't mean that my thesis is magically finished now. Frack.

Good News

Aena went out and got herself a job! Starting in early June I'll delve deep into the world of Corporate Tax (I swear that's more interesting than it sounds)!

Of course I celebrated for three days because that's the right thing to do.Peace out.

Slut / Easter

The band, not the derogatory word for promiscuous people. They played a concert last Friday at the Abart in Zurich, and I thought it was great. It was really nice to re-discover them, since I had only listened to them during a brief period in '05 or so.

Apart from that I spent the weekend in a friend's cottage up on the mountain in the canton of Appenzell. In the spirit of the region we killed a bottle of Appenzeller and generally had a good time, including taking a bath out in the snow in an old bathtub with water heated up by a huge ass fire beneath the tub and getting an early start into the BBQ-ing season (outside. in the snow fall. in the dark. yes) .