:Blog o’ Doom

Following on the heals of my Egypt trip was a weekend in the amazing city of Istanbul. At long last, my story and my pictures are here for you to enjoy!

My non-stop traveling is over. I’ve been to 20 cities in 13 countries this year alone – not including Switzerland or the US. Now I can finally start catching up on trip pictures and write-ups. Here’s the 2nd trip I did this year: the infamous Egypt!

I’m sitting in this “how to give and get feedback” class.

Within the first 5 minutes, the instructor, after talking about positive feedback says, “Negative feedback is more personal, it’s more about the person themselves.”

What?

So if I go “this piece of your work is good” that’s about your work, but if I say “this piece of your work is bad” that’s about you? Really?

Let me be really blunt here: if this is how you interpret these statements YOU ARE STUPID (that is intended to be personal).

Was that negative enough for ya?

If I say “This patch is a big honking piece of shit.” it means… you made a bad fucking patch. Smart people make bad patches too. It’s not a reflection of your intelligence, so get over yourself. If I wanted to say, “man, all your patches are all horrible, you must be retarded,” then I could say something like that.

Most. Ridiculous. Assumption. Ever.

Edit: (Left meeting, published post, coming back this evening to finish): This holds true for more than technical arguments. Saying “that was a retarded decision” does not imply, in any way, that your are retarded. Smart people make bad choices, and such a statement simply informs you my opinion of a particular decision is that it was very bad. That’s it. Stop taking things personally people. Period.

I know, I know… the blog’s been quiet lately. Where’s the anger, the vitriol, the hate?

In January of this year I started a long string of travels that will end in June. As such, I just haven’t had time to be angry at stuff, and it’s hard to be angry when you’re wondering through, say, Venice.

Anyway, my first destination was into the world of the ancients: Athens Greece!

The review is finally up! I’m only three months behind, but to be honest, with the amount I’m traveling I suspect I’ll fall more behind, not less.

… is apparently an interesting country.

Head over to this Boing Boing story and watch the video, but try not to read the headline or story text: BB story. And come back here when you’re done.

OK, watched it?

Sure?

Turns out, she’s an actress hired by the Danish government. That video is supposed to show that Denmark is an open-minded place where there are not reservations about sex and such. Is that the message you get when you watch it? Because it’s certainly not the message I get!

As it turns out, I’ll be in Denmark in April… but rest assured I’d planned the the trip before I”d seen the video. =)