Author Archive

Bye Bye Baseball Cards

By From https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/ • Mar 30th, 2019 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

Fred Lynn baseball card

A couple of years ago I occupied myself while Michelle was recovering from cancer treatment by finally organizing the 5000 odd baseball cards I had in boxes in the closet. At the time I thought I was just making use of the downtime to downsize a bit since we were …



Facebook is Finally Dead To Me

By From https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/ • Mar 24th, 2019 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

Sometime in the last week or so Facebook has killed the one feature I rely on to use it. As I’ve documented here previously, I unfollowed everybody on Facebook a couple of years ago. It renders my Facebook wall useless. Many days the only updates on my wall are a …



Facebook is Finally Dead To Me

By From https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/ • Mar 24th, 2019 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

Sometime in the last week or so Facebook has killed the one feature I rely on to use it. As I’ve documented here previously, I unfollowed everybody on Facebook a couple of years ago. It renders my Facebook wall useless. Many days the only updates on my wall are a …



The Epic Puerto Rico Vacation Post II

By From https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/ • Mar 10th, 2019 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

As I start this post I’m on JetBlue flying home from our second vacation to Puerto Rico. An island that I think is the Dominican Republic is visible out my window. Nothing about this week changed how I feel about Puerto Rico. A couple more years to build up savings …



It won’t be a five minute interruption

By From https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/ • Feb 27th, 2019 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

Professor Gloria Mark ran a study to determine the impact of the constant stream of interruptions that we call work in 2019. On any given day I’ve got emails, phone calls, text messages, Slack messages, Zoom calls, Google Drive notifications, and Jira or Confluence notifications that can demand my attention …



Nobody Cares About Your Content

By From https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/ • Feb 21st, 2019 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

I don’t produce content. Nobody cares about content.

  • I write stories.

  • I share photos.

  • I rant

  • I make a point

  • I try to be funny

  • And yeah, occasionally I even troll.

So please don’t invite me to consume, share, or otherwise interact with your content. I don’t care about content …



Personal Branding is BS

By From https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/ • Feb 18th, 2019 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

Brands are imaginary constructs. Proctor and Gamble has 32 laundry detergents that have mostly the same chemicals in them. Branding is how they convince you to pay more for Tide. Branding is why you pay $3 for a coffee at Starbucks when the $1 coffee at Wawa is actually better …



Becoming by Michelle Obama

By From https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/ • Feb 13th, 2019 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

I’m pretty sure “write a book immediately upon leaving the White House” is in the First Lady contract. This is the first edition I’ve read though. The title comes from the construct of the book. The first third is her story – becoming Michelle Robinson. The middle third is the story …



Digital Minimalism

By From https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/ • Feb 11th, 2019 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

This interview with Cal Newport about his new book Digital Minimalism is really interesting. I really want to believe we are at a tipping point where people start to push back against the encroachment of digital technology in our lives.

He makes an interesting analogy between the tech world and …



Welcome to Walgreens

By From https://odonnellweb.com/pelican/ • Feb 7th, 2019 • Category: Blog Entries.Local

Am I the only person that gets annoyed by the employees at Walgreens (and I think CVS does it too) shouting “Welcome to Walgreens” at you as you enter the store? I’m not a monster, so if somebody greets me I feel obligated to acknowledge them. And that means I …