Nowhere Man Returns!

Did you ever notice how the timing of certain events seems too weird to be true? I just finished watching the last episode of Nowhere Man, finally obtaining closure (well, some at least) to a quest I unknowingly began my first year of graduate school at Ohio State. I was able to obtain the entire series from someone who had recorded the show onto videotapes when it originally aired. I went that route after finding out that there was no official planned DVD release for Nowhere Man. As it turns out, after I finished watching the last episode this evening, I did a web search and discovered that the official 9 DVD box set was just released this Tuesday! I may have to buy it, just for nostalgia's sake, and to hear the additional commentaries, see deleted scenes, etc. It's available at a discount from Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BC8SXS/102-5930742-1215361?v=glance&n=130&v=glance

Here are a couple other coincidences: Two months ago I saw Bruce Greenwood in I, Robot, a movie which I never planned to watch, based on the reviews of others, but happened upon while flipping channels in the hotel on a trip to Cincinnati. In addition, after watching a particular episode of Nowhere Man (An Enemy Within) which prominently featured a female actor (Maria Bello) who befriends Tom Veil, I saw her in the trailer for a movie that had just been released (A History of Violence).

I'm starting to wonder if "they" wanted me to see these things. Okay, well, not really, but it's fun to think about coincidences, randomness, and unexplained events now and then.

Mia and Microsoft Word

Here are excerpts from Mia’s first two Word documents. She "wrote"
both of these at 6 months of age.

Document 1:

444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444
444444444444 c CG B ad54zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzhghtter

Document 2:

CSAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa A
vf vcjy ttttttttttttttttttttttttttt af jhmnb t n gc bmjg n/. b yhfgz csf b v
tchb mg yb nb. 5z X CDYUTUUUUUUUUUUT5UF vcgnfbv wsg b lm
okyhjm bk,vt45w5kj, t td bu.l , ugjghnb8j7 yughjm dsatv c bvgft63bvgfcy
bbbbbbbbbbbfce jhbbunj6t yhvvv c`

Well, that’s it for now. Maybe we’ll put some video clips on this blog at some point…

Christmas in Albany

It's amazing that the only precipitation we've seen in upstate New York during our visit is rain! The last two visits dumped several feet of snow on us, but temperatures have been in the upper 30s this time. Mia did very well on her first two airline flights. We're hoping she does as well this evening during our return. Mia enjoyed opening some of her presents, and she really liked eating carrots (as you can see in the photo). Well, that's all I have time for right now. I'll write more when I return.

Ridin' The Metro

I'm in DC for a seminar/training, and it's snowing, with 3-5 inches expected. This is when it's really nice to have underground (mostly) public transportation, so I'm glad to be on the Metro. I'm headed back to Vienna, where my sister, brother-in-law, their dog, and their unborn baby boy live.

So far the AMA seminar is interesting, and the participants come from many different companies and positions within them. I'm having fun, but I miss my Mia and Nadya.

The commute is easier than I thought it would be, although that's due in large part to my sister's willingness to get up at 6:45am to take me to the Metro station (so I could avoid walking to a bus stop, waiting in the cold for the bus, etc.). Have I mentioned that my sister's really cool. Sure, I'd never have said that 20 years ago, but it's true.

The early bird catches the...videophone?

Well, I'm at Best Buy standing in line at 6:10am (the correct line, according to the Best Buy employee) to purchase videophones and a DVD recorder. There are separate lines for each product, with larger $ purchases having smaller lines, and one large mass frenzy up front. I'm still in line, and it's 6:28, 6:38, 6:48, 6:58...This is the first time I've gotten up this early to shop after Thanksgiving, and it may be the last.

Well it was slow, but at least they had all the advertised items. I'm outta here! It's 7:08am, and I must now journey onward to Circuit City for a great deal on memory stick media and JVC digital tapes...Circuit City seems almost as crowded as Best Buy, but the lines are much shorter here. I got in line at 7:20am, and I'm exiting the store at 7:35am. Now I'm making a quick stop at Staples, then MacDonald's, then Home Depot, and finally Home Zottoli!

(I wish I remembered the audio blog phone number, as it would have been fun to call this in)

A Mouse Tale

Today's interesting work event centered around two little mice who made their presence known during a morning meeting in our server room. No one knows how they managed to make their way into our server room, but I'm sure the mice appreciated the extra warm climate. That is, until we made the decision to remove them from the building and put them out in the harsh elements. The way we figure it, their parents had left them to fend for themselves, and the long weekend trapped in the server room was likely to kill them. Plus, if the facilities staff found them, they would likely kill them in some sort of inhumane way. So, we figured at least they had a chance to survive if we let them go outside.

A Ride on a Philosophical Bus

Well, I was talking with a coworker this afternoon and in the conversation I remembered an interesting element of my undergraduate philosophy of law class. It concerns Joel Feinberg's depiction of a hypothetical ride on a bus, during which the reader is asked to put themselves in the role of the bus rider, as progressively more offensive activities occur.

The point of the scenarios is that the individuals entering the bus, while being potentially offensive, are not harming (at least not physically) you. The question is whether some experiences can be so unpleasant that we will provide legal protection against them, even if it means limiting someone's freedom. Each person draws their "line in the sand" at a different point. Go ahead and see for yourselves.

Scenic Train Rides

Well, I just saw part of a public access television show regarding scenic train rides in the Northeast. Last week, I had happened upon a similar broadcast about a multi-day/night train ride in the West, with stops in Salt Lake City and Yellowstone National Park. I always liked trains as a child, and it seems I still like them as a 32 year old child.

A Historic Day

Well, not exactly. I did, however, get a comment approved so that it now resides on the Dilbert blog (see link on right side of page). The comment is reproduced below:

Along the lines of the "Hi Dick" comment, individuals sometimes come into the men's room with reading material. Although they often go to the stalls, they sometimes go to the urinals. It's in the latter instance that I find myself resisting the urge to say, "Can I hold something (or that) for you?". Posted by: Z-Man November 05, 2005 at 04:54 PM

Mia Tries Rice Cereal

Here's Mia eating rice cereal. She seemed to like it, and she spent some time holding the spoon herself.

OSU Recruitment Paper at Amazon?!?!

Well, it appears that Amazon.com somehow got a working paper that I had written, based on my masters thesis at OSU.

In Books

Recruitment source research: Current status and future directions (Working paper series) by Michael Andrew Zottoli ; Unknown Binding Out of Print--Limited Availability*
See more information about this product. * Price and availability are subject to change.
If you have questions about Amazon.com, please visit our Help Department
Amazon.comEarth's Biggest SelectionFind, Discover, and Buy Virtually Anythinghttp://www.amazon.com

My Infinity Squared Counterpart

I just did a brief search and Kevin is apparently well represented in blogs.

For 18 months, Kevin Kniffin, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin, tracked the social interactions of a university crew team, about 50 men and women who rowed together in groups of four or eight. Dr. Kniffin said he was still analyzing his research notes. But a preliminary finding, he said, was that gossip levels peaked when the team included a slacker, a young man who regularly missed practices or showed up late. Fellow crew members joked about the slacker's sex life behind his back and made cruel cracks about his character and manhood, in part because the man's shortcoming reflected badly on the entire team."As soon as this guy left the team, the people were back to talking about radio, food, politics, weather, those sorts of things," Dr. Kniffin said. "There was very little negative gossip."

E-Learning Take 3

Listing of several articles in Training & Development.
The Powell article on E-Learning is worth at least a
skim read. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4467/

E-Learning Take 2

http://www.hezel.com/strategies/spring2002/cost_effective.htm

Mia Halloween Pics

Here are a couple pictures of our little "frog" on Halloween. She was at least as interested in the candy as her mom and dad.

E-Learning Effectiveness Information

http://www.astd.org/ASTD/Templates/OneBox.aspx?NRMODE=Published&NRORIGINALURL=%2FASTD%2FResources%2Felearning_community%2Feffect.htm&NRNODEGUID=%7B93219D66-5A09-459F-967C-0B806EA79EAB%7D&NRCACHEHINT=NoModifyGuest