My daughter Annie is a consultant for a major firm and does a lot of traveling. She just posted this on her blog. Some good ideas!

The Consultant's Ultimate Playlist

When you spend a significant portion of your life traveling, as most consultants do, you begin to get really good at it. You know just how much time you need to pack (15 minutes) how much time it takes you to get from your apartment to airport security (25 minutes, plus 5 minutes to park) and the fastest way to get through security (place laptop in tray, load small under-seat bag, load overhead carry-on, de-belt/de-shoe and place these in front of your other items, minimizing time spent beltless/shoeless).

Possibly the most critical part of becoming an expert traveler is also the most secret: the Consultant’s Ultimate Playlist—these are the essential hits for the frequent traveler. Now this list is highly individualized and changes as often as Billboard’s Top 40, but I’ll let you in on some of my tunes that get me out of bed at 4:30 AM, to the airport by 6:00 AM and successfully on a plane before most people have their morning coffee. Here they are, in no specific order…

I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) – The Proclaimers

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go – Wham!

Surrender – Cheap Trick

Rich Girl – Hall and Oates

Born to be Wild -- Steppenwolf

Party in the USA – Miley Cyrus

I am a Passenger – Iggy Pop

Send Me on My Way – Rusted Root

Day Tripper – The Beatles

Start Me Up – Rolling Stones

The Distance – Cake

Magic Carpet Ride – Steppenwolf

20th Century Boy – Placebo

I Wanna be Sedated – The Ramones

If I Can Go – Angie Martinez

Little Red Corvette – Prince

Mint Car – The Cure

Ticket to Ride – The Beatles

"I can't imagine what that would be like." "I could never do that myself." "You're completely out of your mind."

Those, and other more creative and less printable comments, are what I usually hear when I tell folks that I rode my bicycle more than 600 miles through rain and frigid temperatures, climbing the equivalent of almost two Mt. Everests, and finaly broke a rib -- all in less than three days earlier this month.

Yet, there is a simple answer to what the experience of the Endless Mountains 1240K bike race around Pennsylvania was like. It was like life. And like most things in life, it had its set of lessons.

To read about them, see my report on my website, www.goodgroundconsulting.com (click on the Endless Mountains link in the lower right hand corner of the page).

Believe it or not, there is even a short music video of the race at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=MEyZk4mWq1s.

A short video of my sentiments about the race, while doing it, is at http://www.flickr.com/photos/wabeck/3986066874/in/set-72157622524721810/.

Enjoy it! I did!

Labels: bicycing, long distance cycling, ultramarathon cycling

Tomorrow, scores of ultra-long-distance cyclists from as far away as Brazil will gather in Quakerstown, PA for a 775-mile race around the entire eastern half of the state. The Endless Mountains 1240K not only features some 62,000 feet of climbing (more than twice Everest) but, because it is late in the season, much of the race will be in the dark.

I figure it will take me between 80 and 90 hours (the time limit is 93) to finish the race. Also, I think it’s a great way to exercise my 60-year-old knees and raise money to support Our Daily Bread Employment Center, Maryland’s largest soup kitchen, which I helped found almost three decades ago. For most of the folks the center helps, there is nowhere to go but up.

Some wonder what possesses somebody to ride a bike so far for so long. Same thing, I guess, as climbing mountains: seeing if you can do it!

The news that Walter Cronkite died today at the age of 92 more than marked the end of a man's life. It was the end of an era. For those of us who grew up with a daily diet of Walter, he represented what was great about the press -- and what seems to be a fading shadow now.

Walter was credible, straightforward, and transparently clear. He was not sexy or even cute. His haircut looked like what your barber might give you. He had a wonderful, unique voice that came straight from his heart. He was a strong man working for a strong, young news organization.

Today, as we watch venerable old journalistic institutions crumble and others pander to baser tastes in a desperate grab for viewers or readers, he is a reminder of the glory days of his craft. And, importantly, he should be an inspiration for what its future could be.

Back in the 50's, on the grainy little black and white sets, Walter's "You Are There" program would always end with him declaring "What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times ... and you were there."

We were there. We'd like to be there again.

Labels: cronkite, ggcb, journalism

In the world of ultra-distance cycling, the ultimate challenge is RAAM -- The Race Across America (www.raceacrossamerica.net). The race is happening now. Competitors are striving to cover more than 3,000 miles in less than 10 days, with some sleeping just an hour or so a day.

A new movie, "Bicycle Dreams" is a attempt to capture the super-human effort the race demands and the suffering -- and even death -- that comes with it. The movie has garnered several awards, including winning the Breckenridge Film Festival, but you're not likely to see it at the local theater. (You can see a trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1ZWZrKSxxs.)

The movie, which some might suggest would be more appropriately named "Bicycle Nightmares," is an amazing study in energy management. The competitors very consciously (and sometimes literally unconsciously) tap every energy source: physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual.

It is both brutally inspirational and startlingly instructive. On one hand, it makes the challenges that we mere mortals face seem almost trivial by comparison. On the other hand, as we watch the competitors barter their sanity, money, health and even lives for an insignificant prize, it forces us to ask ourselves the same question the producers repeatedly ask the racers: "Why?"

Labels: bicycling, endurange, energy, ggcb, RAAM

Marketing: it's not brain surgery. Or is it?

The fundamental purpose of marketing is to change people's minds. When you do that, you literally rewire the synapses inside their brains.

Okay, you don't use a scalpel or a laser, but you use something just a powerful: an idea. Only a few of us will go under the knife for brain surgery, but all of us have been rewired by the doctors of Madison Avenue and their esteemed colleagues in the media.

Do you feel thirsty when you see the Coke logo? Do you drive a little faster when the Porsche passes you? Do you fight the urge to say "super size me"?

Who put THAT stuff in your head?

Labels: ggcb, marketing

In 1952, Dr. Virginia Apgar invented the "Apgar Test" to evaluate the health of new born babies. Until then, doctors assumed that new-borns were in good health and sent them off the nurseries, where many died.

Dr. Apgar's test, which is free and easy to perform, measures five characteristics, which another doctor turned into a mnemonic that spells her name (Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, Respiration). It's estimated that tens of thousands of babies' lives are saved each year because doctors apply the test all over the world.

I am pleased to report that I have developed a similar test that you can apply to your shiny new website to see if it will survive in the cold cruel world of the web. I call it CIGAR:

• Content. Is there anything of value in your site?
• Interesting. Is there anything interesting -- to somebody other than you and your mother -- in your site?
• Grabby. What's in your site that will "grab" people and get them to come back for more?
• Attractive. Is your site easy and fun to look at, well designed without too much text on each page and plenty of pictures?
• Relevant. Is your site relevant to its target audience?

In other words, if you can't answer the question why somebody would hit your site, well, NO CIGAR.

Labels: apgar, CIGAR, ggcb, marketing, website design