Siliconchef by Brian Richardson

Today, Brian offers his tips for successfully handling an international conference call while working from home. More »

Sao Paulo, Brazil – June 15, 2010 – 4:22pm

The point of watching the game isn’t to see the game … it’s to see the fans. That’s my approach to watching today’s World Cup match with Brazil and North Korea. However, failure to plan means I’m watching it in a hotel bar, which isn’t exactly the height of local color.

Still, just seeing the fans in the street before the game tells me I’m not in Kansas anymore.

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So far, this quick little trip to Sao Paulo is starting out weird. Just getting into the taxi seems to be fraught with mishap.

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Yes, I’ve been out of touch lately. Work is only part of the reason. Hobbies have also contributed. But a lot of it is just needing time to decompress and think about what I want to be writing.

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How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you’re carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life. – George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, Up In The Air

Watching ‘Up In The Air’ on an international flight is a surreal experience. Living it for the rest of March is even stranger.

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Ever since one man decided he hates the US more than he loves his crotch, I’ve been sitting back and waiting for the stupidity of security theater to kick in as the TSA & DHS put more misguided policies in place to look busy while still missing the point about airline security.

The Dutch, up until today, said little. When they did speak today, they actually talked about doing something useful.

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It’s been a busy two weeks for me. International travel is old hat, so preparing for the almost-last-minute trip to Germany was no big deal.

The two product launches … those are new.

While in Germany, I’ll be pushing two new products I’ve been pseudo-managing for several months. One is being test marketed, the other is a full-blown new product announcement.

That full-blown product launch has been fun. I’ve helped see this thing from ideas & whiteboard drawings to prototypes to an actual introduction at a trade show. Lots of people at my company have worked on this, and it’s nice to help get their work into the market.

Most of what I work on is just a small part of another product, hidden under plastic and aluminum and a logo that isn’t on my business card. This is our idea … something more unique. It’s what engineers want to do, even if they have long since moved to marketing.

This has eaten part of my brain, put me away from my wife for a week (not to mention several late departures from work) and forced me to put other items on the back-burner. But it’s going to be worth it in the long run.