From Grumpy's Garage

Image credit: Google Gemini 2.0 Flash Ever wish you had superpowers? Me? I can fly 3000 miles in about six hours. I can push two tons of steel up a hill with one hand behind my back. I can cast my voice and picture around the world  faster  than the speed of sound. I can make a glass orb glow so brightly that it can illuminate a room bright enough to read. (Brighter, if I was so inclined, but I am the master of my powers.) How? I command a few pieces of technology. I can buy a plane ticket to New York and be there tonight. I can turn an ignition and drive a car up the hill. I can pull out my phone and Hangout with people in Hyderabad. I can flip a light switch. And I don't have to be bitten by a spider, drink the potion, or expose myself to radiation to do it. 250 years ago the superpowers that were all the rage included crossing oceans without getting (very) wet or propelling a chunk of iron or lead across the commons at half the speed of sound. The very newest superpower was...

I'm looking forward to Monday morning. I know that many people don't. They drag themselves out of bed, get a cup of coffee, put on their longest face, and groan at anyone who says, "Good morning!" when they get to work. But I really am looking forward to getting to work on Monday. In fact, I think I'll get their a couple of hours early. I'll be teaching ("facilitating" in Google lingo) a two-hour workshop on "personal branding", based on the notion that everyone sends a message about their work ethic and their value to the workplace. Tom  Peters pioneered the idea in a story for Fast Company, The Brand Called You , back in 1997. More  recently, Dan Schwabel (and others) have taken up the message in stories like Personal Branding 101: How to Discover and Create Your Brand , published at Mashable.com in 2009. Yesterday, I was reviewing the slides and facilitator notes to refresh my memory for the class. Someone, probably the program manager w...

July was a little overwhelming, but awesome, all the same. The first week was dominated by the  Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival , where I finally realized the dream of exhibiting my own wooden boat there while being a member and volunteer. I spent the mornings skippering Public Sail cruises on Lake Union aboard the sharpie Colleen Wagner, then lounged in the shade of Ladybug's boom awning while people admired her and asked questions. I decided not to hang around for the Captain's Circle members-only fireworks party. It was a great long weekend. The following week, the Haney family flew down to the southern California coast for my sister's wedding.  I now have a new brother-in-law. He brings a pretty cool family with him. Then I had a few days to make some final preparations on Ladybug before the big trip up to Port Townsend for the second annual Pocket Yacht Paloooza . Next time, I will check the tide tables before I leave.  I spent too much time mot...