Over the past 15 years I have sued MOT a few times, and negotiated many exit packages for MOT employees. In that same time period, I have dealt with probably 25% of the Fortune 500 doing similar deals. I must say that when it comes to handing out cash, MOT is one sweet target. MOT also always had (and probably still has) more human deadwood than any other firm I've ever come across. One of the problems at MOT is the terminal influence on corporate culture by HR. I mention all of this as a kind of reinforcement for my urge to short MOT during its temporary uptrend with the Droid announcement. And it will be temporary, because nothing, and I mean nothing, can turn around the decades of terminal decisions made at MOT, to wit:
allowing Nokia to get the original AT&T Wireless business
putting HR in charge of corporate culture
having a CTO who was stone deaf to technology trends (Padmasree)
being unable or unwilling to recognize the corporate arrogance within the company
refusing to give customers what they want
All the technology in the world, and MOT has mountains of it, cannot stop the downhill slide at MOT. It's just a matter of time.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Eighty Two: Back in Office
After five days away, including the weekend, arrived back in office this past Thursday. By the end of the day yesterday, it felt like I had been chained to my desk for a full week, not the paltry two days I actually was there. Real estate, bankruptcy, business formations, personal injury, divorce, Budget collections, not to mention personal portfolio management concumed all of my available time for business.
Then there was the Michael Breslin funeral, a very sad and sobering affair. While I am not personally close to the family, I do have connections and interests to wit: The decedent, Michael, who I never met, was the subject of a several conversations between Mike (the grandfather) and myself. Mike and I talked about both Michael and my son, Andy. Mike and I have been acquaintances in AA for almost twenty years, and he has been a frequent attendee at the Blahs (the Thursday night men's group I co-founded with Jack Hall) for the last couple of years. Michael's father, John, and I have also crossed paths for fifteen years in business and AA. And of course there is Sandi, Michael's mother, who has been performing (extremely well) of counsel duties for my firm. Whether she will continue in that role is uncertain.
Tonight we have a dinner party to attend at Vijitha and Svetlana's.
Then there was the Michael Breslin funeral, a very sad and sobering affair. While I am not personally close to the family, I do have connections and interests to wit: The decedent, Michael, who I never met, was the subject of a several conversations between Mike (the grandfather) and myself. Mike and I talked about both Michael and my son, Andy. Mike and I have been acquaintances in AA for almost twenty years, and he has been a frequent attendee at the Blahs (the Thursday night men's group I co-founded with Jack Hall) for the last couple of years. Michael's father, John, and I have also crossed paths for fifteen years in business and AA. And of course there is Sandi, Michael's mother, who has been performing (extremely well) of counsel duties for my firm. Whether she will continue in that role is uncertain.
Tonight we have a dinner party to attend at Vijitha and Svetlana's.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Eighty One: Solitary Meetings
15F at 6AM at Ham Lake.
Did the Hazelden 24 Hour a Day reading, now trying to do some honest self-appraisal regarding my current contribution to AA. The reading itself advises newcomers to get past the assimilation stage and into Twelve Step work as soon as they are ready. In my case that was about 4 to 6 months into the program. By that time I was secretary of the Monday night meeting at St. Mark's in Barrington Hills, and sponsoring at least two guys I can remember (Tom M. and Keith W.). I must give credit to my sponsor at that time (Vince O.) for pushing my into those activities. Of course the opportunities also came along because I was totally immersed in the program, going to as many as 10 meeting per week.
But I digress. The point of this was to evaluate what I am doing NOW to contribute to the program that gave me the life I have today, and allowed me to appreciate and be grateful for all the wonderful folks who have helped me to have an abundant life, to wit: Mom and Dad; Claudia, Andy and Peter; Judy and Larry; Aunt Helen; Kurt, Al and Horst; and over the years in AA (in no particular order), Vince, Mike, Larry, Dane, Joe, Jack B, Doug, Al, Tom R, Hank, Jim, Jack H, Kevin, Ken, and others too many to recall at one time. And the result of that evaluation is not enough. As occurs to me so often when I am up here at the lake, I need to start a local AA meeting, but it is not prudent to do so until I can attend it regularly. And therein lies another blog entry.
Did the Hazelden 24 Hour a Day reading, now trying to do some honest self-appraisal regarding my current contribution to AA. The reading itself advises newcomers to get past the assimilation stage and into Twelve Step work as soon as they are ready. In my case that was about 4 to 6 months into the program. By that time I was secretary of the Monday night meeting at St. Mark's in Barrington Hills, and sponsoring at least two guys I can remember (Tom M. and Keith W.). I must give credit to my sponsor at that time (Vince O.) for pushing my into those activities. Of course the opportunities also came along because I was totally immersed in the program, going to as many as 10 meeting per week.
But I digress. The point of this was to evaluate what I am doing NOW to contribute to the program that gave me the life I have today, and allowed me to appreciate and be grateful for all the wonderful folks who have helped me to have an abundant life, to wit: Mom and Dad; Claudia, Andy and Peter; Judy and Larry; Aunt Helen; Kurt, Al and Horst; and over the years in AA (in no particular order), Vince, Mike, Larry, Dane, Joe, Jack B, Doug, Al, Tom R, Hank, Jim, Jack H, Kevin, Ken, and others too many to recall at one time. And the result of that evaluation is not enough. As occurs to me so often when I am up here at the lake, I need to start a local AA meeting, but it is not prudent to do so until I can attend it regularly. And therein lies another blog entry.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Eighty: Pontoon
Columbus Day. 26F, party cloudy, light wind, 40% waning crescent moon at 5.30AM at Ham Lake (not the town close to the Twin Cities, but just the lake southwest of Akeley and southeast of Nevis).
Yesterday, Claudia went shopping/visiting with her friend, Mary Hanson Hammer Stilmacher. Evidently they went to the Brainerd area. I worked mainly outside bringing wood in for winter, clearing the area north of the garage for a possible parking area for the pontoon, and securing the doors on the Mule.
Today's big event is scheduled to be the arrival of our pontoon, due at noon. The seller, Ryan Restad, from Fargo, is bring the pontoon from a place called "Ice Cracking Lake," which is between Park Rapids and Detroit Lakes. Roger and Karen are here (Rog is retiring in a few weeks; more about that later), and I think Roger is more excited about P-Day than I am. We were at dinner at R&K's last night, and much of the conversation was about whether to put in the P today, despite for forecast of a high temp of 35F and snow. Consensus was "yes" but today could be a different story after seeing what is involved.
I had a dream last night about the P's arrival. Two couples, perhaps in their 60s, showed up towing the boat. None of them were friendly. The guy in charge (probably RR) was insistent on parking the pontoon at a storage facility, rather than at our house, or even launching it in the lake. I found later (in the dream) that this was all a plan to disguise the fact that the P didn't float. Hopefully, my habit of dreaming the future with mostly accurate foreseeability will not hold true to form.
Tonight or tomorrow we will have R&K over for pot roast. They are fantastic people, and we couldn't ask for better neighbors. As mentioned above, R is retiring soon from the USPS. Karen will work for perhaps another 3 years. In the meantime, they are planning to build a house on one of the lots south of us. Their first plan was to build immediately south of us. However, Claudia suggested that we buy the lot south of Roy's place, then swap with R&K so they could build there (their previous first choice). That way we could expand our lake property. The idea was met with some agreeable opinion.
Yesterday, Claudia went shopping/visiting with her friend, Mary Hanson Hammer Stilmacher. Evidently they went to the Brainerd area. I worked mainly outside bringing wood in for winter, clearing the area north of the garage for a possible parking area for the pontoon, and securing the doors on the Mule.
Today's big event is scheduled to be the arrival of our pontoon, due at noon. The seller, Ryan Restad, from Fargo, is bring the pontoon from a place called "Ice Cracking Lake," which is between Park Rapids and Detroit Lakes. Roger and Karen are here (Rog is retiring in a few weeks; more about that later), and I think Roger is more excited about P-Day than I am. We were at dinner at R&K's last night, and much of the conversation was about whether to put in the P today, despite for forecast of a high temp of 35F and snow. Consensus was "yes" but today could be a different story after seeing what is involved.
I had a dream last night about the P's arrival. Two couples, perhaps in their 60s, showed up towing the boat. None of them were friendly. The guy in charge (probably RR) was insistent on parking the pontoon at a storage facility, rather than at our house, or even launching it in the lake. I found later (in the dream) that this was all a plan to disguise the fact that the P didn't float. Hopefully, my habit of dreaming the future with mostly accurate foreseeability will not hold true to form.
Tonight or tomorrow we will have R&K over for pot roast. They are fantastic people, and we couldn't ask for better neighbors. As mentioned above, R is retiring soon from the USPS. Karen will work for perhaps another 3 years. In the meantime, they are planning to build a house on one of the lots south of us. Their first plan was to build immediately south of us. However, Claudia suggested that we buy the lot south of Roy's place, then swap with R&K so they could build there (their previous first choice). That way we could expand our lake property. The idea was met with some agreeable opinion.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Seventy Nine: Blog Change
Since no one apparently has ever read this Blog, I am going to change it from something which is written to be read, to something which I write simply to write. Also, it occurs to me that Google will almost certainly do a better job of filing and saving these thoughts than I can or will. Currently, I have journals, both electronic and handwritten, in several different locations. If anyone ever wanted to use these for whatever reason, I would be quite a chore to collect and organize them.
I am at Ham Lake, which is just outside of Nevis and Akeley, MN. This morning it is 28F at 6AM, and cloudy. Although earlier it must have been somewhat cloudless, because I was awakened at 4.40AM by the mooning in our bedroom window.
Compared to yesterday, this is starting out much better, weatherwise. Yesterday was 22F at 6AM with 25-30 mph winds. The night before that we had a snowstorm which left everything snow-covered. Lake is still open.
I just realized that yesterday was the fourteenth anniversary of Mom's date of death. One of the biggest regrets I have in my life, is not being a better son. Both of my parents were wonderful, and I failed to a large degree at both returning their love and affection, and also at developing the potential which they gave me. This is something to remember in my relationships with Andy and Pete. When I am gone from this earth, the only potential last effect of my existence will be the memories those boys have.
I am at Ham Lake, which is just outside of Nevis and Akeley, MN. This morning it is 28F at 6AM, and cloudy. Although earlier it must have been somewhat cloudless, because I was awakened at 4.40AM by the mooning in our bedroom window.
Compared to yesterday, this is starting out much better, weatherwise. Yesterday was 22F at 6AM with 25-30 mph winds. The night before that we had a snowstorm which left everything snow-covered. Lake is still open.
I just realized that yesterday was the fourteenth anniversary of Mom's date of death. One of the biggest regrets I have in my life, is not being a better son. Both of my parents were wonderful, and I failed to a large degree at both returning their love and affection, and also at developing the potential which they gave me. This is something to remember in my relationships with Andy and Pete. When I am gone from this earth, the only potential last effect of my existence will be the memories those boys have.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)