Sunday, January 25, 2009

The HHG: Super Bowl XLIII

Heart: Well, look. I'm giving props to Kurt Warner, who's basically been the feel good story of the year, and in fact for his entire career in the NFL. The ultimate good guy, as well as THE player of the league when I started following football more closely. I'd love to see him winning another one.

Same goes for Larry Fitzgerald. If he's willing to renegotiate his contract to get his friend Anquan B. to stay with the team, he must be the most selfless player in the league. I wouldn't jump on his bandwagon yet, as other receivers are still more powerful, have more flair, etc. But he's the main dish on the Cardinals menu.

All in all, I feel that good guys should win this time around. Not to say that the Steelers aren't good guys, but in this case, the nod goes to the Cards.

Head: I really can't see that the Pittsburgh defense won't smash their way through the Arizona offensive line. And when that happens, the Cards are in trouble. When Philadelphia did that in the NFC Championship Game, Warner couldn't complete a single pass for a first down. Past that, Troy Polamalu seriously scares me. He is the ideal security blanket for a cover defense.

Defensively the Steelers can really shut down Arizona. The only thing that could possibly be Pittsburgh's downfall is if Fitzgerald jumps higher than the Steelers' secondary.

Gut: I'm feeling Pittsburgh. I'm liking the Cards. I know what happened last year between the Giants and the 'undefeated' Patriots, but that was a team with a lot of momentum, against a team with very little. This time around, I feel momentum is more or less equal, so I should simply go with the objectively better team.

So Pittsburgh will win it... probably.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Why Assumptions Are The Mother...

Picture this... you get posed a question, which requires you to answer quite quickly, but to which you lack full information to answer wholly. You'll have to make some assumptions to frame an answer.

Would you frame your answer as favorable as possible to the asking party by making the assumptions as favorable as possible? That pretty much constitutes lying, doesn't it? Or at the very least a delusion. The thing about assumptions is, that saying you assume something, doesn't make it so.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

What you need in consulting

It does take a special kind of person with a certain mentality to survive in consulting. It requires a person with the ability to work in ambiguous environments, who is professional, who has an understanding of organizing one's activities in effective and efficient ways, and the courage to make increasingly tougher decisions.

I'm sure my employer holds these characteristics true, but I do realize there are some small additions, which make my colleagues very different from others in consulting. And even when you're looking at my specific department, even the people there have a set of traits slightly different from the rest.

I'm quite sure consulting life is not cut out for everyone, and even some true-blooded consultants are not cut out for life at my employer. You need to be resilient, be able to voice your opinions, be flexible. The prevailing mentality is that giving up is not an option. Entrepreneurship is highly valued, as long as you have a good sales pitch. On the other hand hierarchy is held to strongly, and anything that threatens that hierarchy is frowned upon.

The benefits are obvious: an exciting environment that will give you many stories to tell on your high school reunion. The money ain't bad either. But I wouldn't just recommend Consultancy to anyone. You need to live and breathe consultancy.

Friday, January 02, 2009

In Other News...

Halfway across the world in the Middle East Israelis and Hamas are fighting again. Bombs and missles and all that shit. Global economies are in tatters, financial systems completely out of sync.

In other news however, there's boobies! And even better, the first thing people do after taking a look at the first newspaper of the year, is to call out a nationwide search.

Good thing people have got their priorities straight.