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And another birthday comes. Those who know me well will understand that my favourite recording artist, Todd Rundgren, who is 61, and I share a birthday on June 22nd so the video makes perfect sense - but what makes even more sense is the choice of song selection - and those who know the concept of Peter Pan will appreci
ate it for sure. "I know a place where dreams are born and time is never planned. It's not on any chart, you must find it in your heart - Never-never-land." It's the way I want to feel about this birthday. a) Earlier in the week I found myself sitting with a man who is 54, just a year older than I, and he was rather insistant in telling me that I needed to understand that age was working against me in the employment market and that I needed to lower my standards and expectations - to basically learn to shovel shit and be happy about it. Not the kind of man who takes to discourse and debate well, I decided not to argue with him and just let the comment pass. b) Days later Mads Monsen and I would finish the layouts for our public service campaign and realize we had a real winner - an original idea that is impeccably executed and will not only bring smiles to a lot of faces, but hopefully save a few lives on the roads here in Vietnam. This made me smile and realize that the man I had spoken with earlier was incorrect. Good. c) The term Brand Provocateur showed up again this week in the blog of Mary van de Wiel, a New York marketing consultant and we had a nice meeting over the sharing of an idea. Once our public service campaign gets out I'll have some more illumination on brand provocateuring or is that provocateering? d) Along with a birthday, a few new blog stats: (one) Our Technorati ranking is up to #342,000 and while that may not immediately sound like a best-seller, it is in the top .3% of blogs worldwide so some growth comes along with age. (two) Likewise our subscriber base on Feedburner passed 100 and that's another milestone. Thanks readers. Those are the birthday presents you really don't expect. e) On a totally different front, my old friend Hugh MacLeod released his book "Ignore Everybody", which debuted at #11 on the Wall Street Journal's business book list and has been consistently in the top 100 on Amazon. Congrats Hugh. f) This week also marks my first trip out of town in quite some time and I am way looking forward to it. The plan is to hit the central highlands town of Dalat and stay in an old refurbished French Villa, eat well and maybe do a wine tour or two. Download time. Saigon's "oldest digital man", needs a bit of that. g) A Vietnamese party at the street restaurant near my home hits like a flash flood. 10 motorbikes show up with two people on each bike. The revelers are all in their early 20s and seem to have come from an office of some sort. Arranging the folding tables around to make a long line, the staff braces for the onslaught and starts dragging out cases of beer. As the party goers arrange themselves it reminds me of a high school dance - girls all on one end of the table, boys on the other - so that there is virtually no interaction between the sexes, save for the waves of Mokt, Hai, Ba, Yo! chants (Which means - one, two, three, Go!) as they hoist their glasses in a birthday toast to the birthday boy, another guy. After 90 minutes and the complete destruction of any number of hotpots and beers, the whole things dissipates almost more quickly than it had assembled and they are gone. h) On Friday my Dad turned 80 and I'm very happy that he's in good health and living well. For his birthday he was planning to attend the reunion of all his old Navy pals from the destroyer the USS Dashiel in the Korean war. They call it the Tin Can Reunion. Pretty cool. i) So another year passes with small fanfare. I'm doing a much better job in being selective in my work and personal associations, and basically surrounding myself with healthy, positive influences. The blog has become not only a refuge but an outlet for which I feel an appropriate amount of responsibility to my growing list of readers and friends. Thank you all. You're the best birthday gift I could possibly have.
And another birthday comes. Those who know me well will understand that my favourite recording artist, Todd Rundgren, who is 61, and I share a birthday on June 22nd so the video makes perfect sense - but what makes even more sense is the choice of song selection - and those who know the concept of Peter Pan will appreci
ate it for sure. "I know a place where dreams are born and time is never planned. It's not on any chart, you must find it in your heart - Never-never-land." It's the way I want to feel about this birthday. a) Earlier in the week I found myself sitting with a man who is 54, just a year older than I, and he was rather insistant in telling me that I needed to understand that age was working against me in the employment market and that I needed to lower my standards and expectations - to basically learn to shovel shit and be happy about it. Not the kind of man who takes to discourse and debate well, I decided not to argue with him and just let the comment pass. b) Days later Mads Monsen and I would finish the layouts for our public service campaign and realize we had a real winner - an original idea that is impeccably executed and will not only bring smiles to a lot of faces, but hopefully save a few lives on the roads here in Vietnam. This made me smile and realize that the man I had spoken with earlier was incorrect. Good. c) The term Brand Provocateur showed up again this week in the blog of Mary van de Wiel, a New York marketing consultant and we had a nice meeting over the sharing of an idea. Once our public service campaign gets out I'll have some more illumination on brand provocateuring or is that provocateering? d) Along with a birthday, a few new blog stats: (one) Our Technorati ranking is up to #342,000 and while that may not immediately sound like a best-seller, it is in the top .3% of blogs worldwide so some growth comes along with age. (two) Likewise our subscriber base on Feedburner passed 100 and that's another milestone. Thanks readers. Those are the birthday presents you really don't expect. e) On a totally different front, my old friend Hugh MacLeod released his book "Ignore Everybody", which debuted at #11 on the Wall Street Journal's business book list and has been consistently in the top 100 on Amazon. Congrats Hugh. f) This week also marks my first trip out of town in quite some time and I am way looking forward to it. The plan is to hit the central highlands town of Dalat and stay in an old refurbished French Villa, eat well and maybe do a wine tour or two. Download time. Saigon's "oldest digital man", needs a bit of that. g) A Vietnamese party at the street restaurant near my home hits like a flash flood. 10 motorbikes show up with two people on each bike. The revelers are all in their early 20s and seem to have come from an office of some sort. Arranging the folding tables around to make a long line, the staff braces for the onslaught and starts dragging out cases of beer. As the party goers arrange themselves it reminds me of a high school dance - girls all on one end of the table, boys on the other - so that there is virtually no interaction between the sexes, save for the waves of Mokt, Hai, Ba, Yo! chants (Which means - one, two, three, Go!) as they hoist their glasses in a birthday toast to the birthday boy, another guy. After 90 minutes and the complete destruction of any number of hotpots and beers, the whole things dissipates almost more quickly than it had assembled and they are gone. h) On Friday my Dad turned 80 and I'm very happy that he's in good health and living well. For his birthday he was planning to attend the reunion of all his old Navy pals from the destroyer the USS Dashiel in the Korean war. They call it the Tin Can Reunion. Pretty cool. i) So another year passes with small fanfare. I'm doing a much better job in being selective in my work and personal associations, and basically surrounding myself with healthy, positive influences. The blog has become not only a refuge but an outlet for which I feel an appropriate amount of responsibility to my growing list of readers and friends. Thank you all. You're the best birthday gift I could possibly have.For more on the "Perspective" or "Little Things" series, click below:
A Birthday: Perspective XXI - The Little Things XIII
My Morning Wake-up Call: Perspective XX - The Little Things XII
We'll Have A Gay Old Time - Perspective XIX: The Little Things XII
"Rolled Foggy Disposed Ricepaper" - Perspective XVIII: The Little Things XI
Joyeux Noel - Perspective XVII: The Little Things X
Lunch With Obama - Perspective XVI: The Little Things IX
One Motley Crue On The Bus Today - Perspective XV: The Little Things VIII
Attraction vs. Conversion: How To Power Your Blog - Perspective XIV: The Little Things VII
A glass box full of deep fried chicken heads - Perspective XIII: The Little Things VI
Seoul Searching - Perspective XII
He Would Have Shot Me 40 Years Ago - Perspective XI: The Little Things V
Chomsky on Colour & Sleep - Perspective X: The Little Things IV.2
Running With Scizzors - Perspective IX: The Little Things IV
Henry Miler II - Perspective VIII : The Little Things III.1
Henry Miller - Perspective VII: The Little Things III
Big Brother - Perspective VI: The Little Things II
This Carnival of Life! - Perspective V
The Art Walk - Perspective IV: The Little Things
Bentley #5 - Perspective III.2
Bentley vs. Vespa - Perspective III.1
Bentleys Invade Vietnam - Perspective III
Death Of A Colleague - Perspective II
Perspective
