The Outliers Inn

Welp, to start-off the year, JP pulled a major boner. We got together for this session on January 8th and it was a pretty good session; that is, until JP realized he forgot to hit the "record" button at the end of the session when he went to turn the recording off… DOH!

So, you will understand the much deserved razzing at the beginning of the session as everyone takes turns bustin' on JP.

Mule starts us off with a prediction that the robotics team that he coaches will crush all the other teams on their way to victory in the Chesapeake District. But his other prediction (albeit, a prediction that affects very few people) is the number of companies that are going to be scratching their heads over the changes in how research and development investments and expenses are treated.

Peter joins us and shares that he has had a poor go of it fishing for carp, they aren't biting. JP asks if he eats the carp, and Peter shares his recipe. You clean the carp and wrap it around an ash stick and bake it in the oven for an hour. Then you throw the fish away and eat the stick.

A real trooper, Don joins us all the way from China where he is commissioning a machine for a customer and visiting other vendors while there. His big prediction is it will be the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens in the Superbowl, and that it will end in a tie; a claim he refused to abandon even though the Superbowl could never end in a tie.

So that means we have guests who are from scattered places across the globe. There is Stephane in France (where it was 1800h), Peter from the United Kingdom (where it was 1700h), Donna and JP in New York, Mule in Virginia (all from 1200h), and Don in China (where it was 0100h, the next day) on this session.

Stephane predicts that every session at The Outliers Inn will start with everyone reminding JP to hit the "record" button. He also muses what will happen when AI meets quantum computing; and this sets the subject thread for the rest of the session; predictions regarding AI and sharing hopes and dreams as well as the good, the bad, and the ugly.

JP shares that he predicts copywriters will be challenged to remain gainfully employed. He is already using ChatGPT to create or refine webpages and other marketing collateral. But is not satisfied the capabilities can replace a writer who has established a writing style (he calls it a writer's "voice"). And, of course, he is always wary of "deep fakes" in an age where people already don't trust what they are seeing in the news.

The discussion gets as varied as it is deep; deep what, is the question. Give a listen.

Oh, and assuming everything in play proceeds on its present trajectory and nothing new or major is introduced, JP boldly predicts Donald Trump will be re-elected President.

Give a listen!

Welcome to another episode of The Outliers Inn

With it being near the end of another year the theme of this episode is endings and beginnings where we will speak with our guests about what might have ended for them this past year and what they look forward to beginning in the next.

We have a few new guests at The Outliers Inn; in addition to the regular irregular Stéphane from Belgium and your cohosts JP and Mule, Donna from upstate New York and Peter from the UK have joined us. Unfortunately Don the beer man is on assignment in Milwaukee and will not be able to join us today.

The episode starts with a technical challenge with Mule dropping from the session. But as they say in theater the show must go on. So, JP begins the episode without him only to have mule rejoin a few minutes into the program.

JP shares some wisdom which he gained while seated at Bryant park in New York City having a legal beverage and listening to the music. While sitting there minding his own business a bird dropped a turd on his table. The wisdom is to refrain from looking up.

Donna shares a rather bold decision in leaving the comfort and security of a regular paycheck as a senior executive and starting her own ventures; with all the emotions that went into making that decision. And Mule shares his making a similar decision some years prior. Unlike JP who started his business when he had nothing to lose, both Donna and Mule started their businesses when they were well into adulthood and when the decision carried considerable risk.

Stéphane shared that he has moved into a senior leadership position with his company and is learning how to navigate the changes that come along with it. And JP and Stéphane shared with the guests their recent meet up in Strasbourg at the Christmas market and what a pleasure it was; and the hunt for the Strasbourg Glühwein mug.

Peter, being the only retiree on the show, is having a random wonder for what the German phrase for “Charcuterie Board” might be (it’s “Schneidebrett”. When pressed why, he shares that he is having a plate of German meats and was just wondering. He also shares how he has taken up fishing as a hobby and that he's getting more involved in the Boy Scouts. It keeps him busy and out of trouble.

All in, an enjoyable and fun conversation.

Give a listen!

So welcome back to The Outliers Inn!

In spite of the incredible odds that recent history has demonstrated, Mule finally gets the timing right and is able to join as the co-host. It's just as well, because Don, "The Beer Man" is MIA for today's episode.

Mule starts by sharing the reports of automobile break-ins throughout California are real. He was on assignment and went into a restaurant in a nice area of town and folks broke into his rental vehicle and stole his computer bag; notebook, phone, papers, all gone. … Note to self; avoid California.

JP shares a rather peculiar habit with his dog, a female mini-poodle. She has a favorite stuffed animal and which she likes to lay into in a very friendly sort of way. And she will lay into that stuffed animal until she has "friendly sort of way'd" all of the stuffing out of it. She has gone through four of the things so far, and JP keeps a safety stock at home just in case.

Mule shares that he has been car-shopping recently for his two grown daughters, but that he has also purchased an old 1989 Ford Taurus SHO; JP is not impressed. But Mule goes on to proclaim all of the virtues of the vehicle, including its high-output motor (even if packaged in a rather boring vehicle body) and how much he loves it. To each his own, eh?

One of the maintenance crew at The Outliers Inn recently totalled his Camry (there were no injuries other than pride). It's not so much that there was a lot of obvious damage, but the Camry was darn near 20+ years old and the repairs were more than the value of the vehicle.

But what was strange is that a new Camry was $28k while an used Camry that was four years old and had 60k+ miles on it was $21k. It begged the question (even if against conventional wisdom); why would a person buy a used car when a new was just a bit more?

Stephane also shares that he had some recent vehicle problems. And, unfortunately, the problems did not occur locally to his home, adding to the complexity of it getting repaired.

And he also shares that he will be visiting the States during the Christmas Season; stopping at sever cities on the East Coast; including Philadelphia. I hope he doesn't leave his belongings in the car and that he takes out the insurance.

Enjoy!

Give a listen!

So welcome back to The Outliers Inn!

As is getting to be habit, our co-host Mule has somehow managed to weasel his way out of working his shift with some lame excuse about a traffic jam around Washington DC. How a person can live so long there and not expect traffic; well, perhaps we pick that up another time. It is a good thing that my irregular regular, Don “the beer man” Burshnick is willing and able to work both sides of the bar.

JP Starts the conversation by sharing and experience from high school about returning from summer vacation. Inevitably the teacher would ask for a 500-word essay sharing what we did on our summer vacation. For me, I went fishing and I went swimming. Now I have to find another 494 words of blah-blah to get up to 500 words.

Maybe that’s why even today we feel we have to add a ton of words to a report to make it “credible” while knowing full well nobody will read after the first page (even if that) while simultaneously ensuring that the messaging in the document will be lost.

And JP and Don share their one thing in common this past summer was that they both had no summer vacation. Although JP won some good money in Saratoga betting on the ponies, he muses that he strung together a couple of days vacation here and there, but most people would simply call that the weekend.

Another regular at the Inn, Stephane, rejoins us. He shares with us that he and his family took summer vacation, and amongst other activities visited Pisa, Italy. His being from Belgium makes it sometimes difficult to understand him; which is why I added a picture of the Leaning Tower when he says “Pisa tour”. He also shares that the clutch in his car failed and that took three weeks to get the work done and it returned. But at least it was summer, and he could ride his bike to work.

And it was a real pleasure to welcome Bernard, a new guest, to The Outliers Inn. Bernard is from Indiana and works at a winery while going to school and raising a family. Even though Bernard has a lot going on, he managed to take a vacation with his family where they played games (including Fortnight) went to the beach, and visited other family members. So welcome to The Outliers Inn. Open up a legal beverage of your choice and enjoy your stay.

Give a listen!

Another episode of The Outliers Inn with "The Beer Man" joining JP and Mule as co-co-host. Maybe he will become a regular co-co-host (he's already an irregular regular guest here at The Outliers Inn.

After a brief acknowledgement that the Super Bowl was pretty entertaining, but nobody we know really cared who won, we get into more interesting topics.

JP shares his recent experiences visiting southern Africa for an assignment with him starting in Johannesburg (Jo'berg) and then going to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. He had been there many times before from around 1995(ish) through 2010(ish) and was looking very much forward to the return (JP simply loves southern Africa).

What he loves the most is that it provides a giant, and healthy, attitude adjustment. As he explains, people in G20 countries have a tendency to complain about every little thing (real or imagined) that might possibly go wrong. All you have to do is watch videos of "Karens" to know what we mean. But in southern Africa (and many other less developed locations), things not going right are the norm and folks celebrate when things go as they should.

The electricity is on? Yay! The internet is working? Yay! It's better to drive on the roads than on the shoulder? Yay! Getting arrested for speeding and being able to give the policeman $5 to be let go? Well, that works out better in southern Africa. Call it a "facilitation fee".

Mule then shares his experiences with "The Peter Principle", where people get promoted to a level of incompetence. I am sure we have all seen it in action; some real rockstar (sales person, mechanic, whatever) get promoted to manage others in the hopes that the "magic dust" that makes him an expert gets sprinkled on those they will now manage. But the person is an expert at what they do, not being a manager. And unless taught those skills, will likely fail.

Don shares his latest concoctions that are brewing. Sam shares his experiences training others in Denmark and that he will be supporting an office in Hamburg, Germany.

And steve from southern California shares his love of golf and the work he is doing with a golf foundation and their work with youths, especially those who might not normally have the opportunity to be exposed to the game. To hear Steve describe it, the effort is a significant and impactful one that is responsible for millions of dollars in its programs; certainly not like something a person might expect from the local Kiwanis chapter.

And no visit to The Outliers Inn would be complete without Mule going into very great detail about the high school robot competition with which he has been involved for many years.

Give a listen!

What’s better than two hosts?  Why, three, of course!  Mule said he couldn’t make it, so JP drafted Don (who is an irregular regular and has stepped-in to the role of co-host in the past).  But, wouldn’t you know it, Mule was able to join.  So, we have a three-way!

The podcast starts as it normally does, with JP talking about air travel experiences and Mule talking about robots. 

As “process and systems guys”, air travel is always a source for some head-scratching and musing.  JP recounts a recent trip through Frankfurt where the “Gold Track” for security suddenly disappeared with the alternative being a 90 minute wait.  Not wanting to wait 90 minutes, JP made his own “Gold Track”.  Problem solved.

And Mule shares this year’s robot challenge and the operating parameters the robot must successfully complete.  He seems happy with the progress so far.

Wilson joins us next.  JP has known Wilson for well over a decade, having met at an industrial engineering conference.  Both JP and Wilson vividly remember the encounter.  Wilson came to JP at JP’s company booth and started complaining that his company lost the “focus”, and he needed to try to find a way to get the “focus” back.  He went on an on lamenting about the “focus”.  Except, with his heavy Brazilian accent, it didn’t sound like “focus”.

Next, we welcome Curtis from Charleston.  Being a fairly recently-minted entrepreneur who left the corporate world a few years ago to start his own consultancy, Curtis shares the challenges of balancing roles and responsibilities; of particular challenge is the “honey-do” list. 

And last, but not least, we welcome Stephane (another irregular regular, or is it regular irregular) to The Outliers Inn.  Other than JP sharing the story of his failed attempt to meet Stephane for some holiday cheer, Stephane shares his recent introduction to ChatGPT (an Artificial Intelligence content generation app).  Stephane then shares how an entire persona can be created out of thin air; pictures, video, resume, content that establishes the fictitious (or real) person as a “thought leader”.  He even has ChatGPT create a couple of posts for LinkedIn while talking about ChatGPT.

Come and give a listen.  We are sure you will enjoy this episode.

This episode of The Outliers Inn finds the hosts, JP and Mule, a bit dazed and confused from the very start; as in, who’s going to start?!

JP starts by sharing that the year went by in a flash because of engagements and travel and this has left him a bit Holi-DAZED coming into the end of the year. This includes having to fight the horde on Thanksgiving Sunday and spending his 60th birthday in an airport hotel awaiting a return to Frankfurt (but at least the good folks at Saison at Newark Airport made a kind birthday gesture). Mule shares that he won’t travel from Thanksgiving through the New Year unless a dire emergency.

The conversation turns from travel to that seasonal sport; gift shopping. JP postulates that “women shop, guys buy” going back to pre-history when the women foraged, and the men hunted. As such, JP has relied heavily (exclusively) on Amazon-Germany for his Holiday shopping (bonus that you can buy all manner of legal beverages on Amazon-Germany).

Come give a listen and enjoy a hot toddy as you do…

In this episode, JP is thankful to have a regular guest at The Outliers Inn, Don "Beer Man" Burshnick, able to step up and be the co-host on zero notice because Mule has forgotten (yet again) to be in a state of readiness to fulfill his hostly duties.

Thanks Beer Man!

Beer Man, coming from a long line of early starters, shares that he is thankful for recently becoming a great grandfather. And JP is thankful his book has been very well recieved and the thoughts contained therein has resonated with his intended audience and has generated a lot of business; his 2022 has been his busiest ever and 2023 looks to be at least as busy.

But come to find out that Mule (who joined as a guest a bit later) was away hunting pheasant in the midwest United States. And fortunately, neither he nor anyone else in his party pulled a "Dick Cheney"; or worse, and "Alec Baldwin".

They did manage to get 190 birds. JP, not being against hunting, was nonetheless concerned because that seemed like an aweful lot of birds. But Mule went to explain that the birds are raised to be harvested in the hunt. So the population is sustained and not strained.

JP shares that this is similar to the practices in Southern Africa where the herd is managed and maintained for hunting and, without this industry, the animals would surely be in jeapardy.

Stephane joins the conversation and continues Mule's conversation regarding the drought conditions he saw while on the hunt. He shares that it has been a very challenging year for the farm industry because of the weather and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But he is thankful that his company is working hard and making progress to help farmers and their crops endure the increasingly unpredictable weather.

So come and give a listen!

Mule welcomes everyone to The Outliers Inn and introduces this episode's theme; harvest time. And he kicks-off the conversation by sharing what he is presently harvesting from his garden; including sunflowers.  Mule shares how there is some insect that infests the sunflowers and attacks the seeds so that they are empty.  Not to be outdone, JP shares that his sunflowers would be just a day or two from being ready to pick and squirrels would beat him to it; gorging themselves on the sunflowers.  JP also shares that the fruits in Europe are unusually tiny this year because of the draught that was experienced.

But the conversation soon turns to matters of business, and the harvesting of opportunities with companies wanting to pull in their numbers to end the year with a bang.

However, the business sowing, growing, and harvesting seasons do not (necessarily) follow that of crops.  Sometimes it can take moments, sometimes it can take years, for an opportunity sown to be harvested.  And also unlike crops, you have to sow many seeds all year long, every year, to have any yield whatsoever.

Sam joins us from Sweden and confesses he is a city-folk and the closest he comes to harvesting crops is going to the grocery store and filling a basket.  But like Mule and JP, he is always sowing the seeds of opportunity; with his preferred soil for planting being LinkedIn.

And Stephane rejoins us to share his thoughts on sowing and growing.  Being particularly close to the subject, he shares his thoughts on proper soil preparation and maintenance; which does not (necessarily) include spreading a liquid manure concoction over the fields.

It’s a good session with interesting conversations; even as we stretch and contort farming terminology to fit business.

Mule kicks of the conversation at The Outliers Inn with the season wrap of robots season. Kids being kids, they start off wearing their "Sunday best" and end-up dragging the duds through the grass playing frisbee after the official goings-on are done.

JP laments about how packed the flights are. But that there is an upside with his travels as the people along the route (flight attendants, restaurant personnel, and so on) have become familiar with his ways and see to it that all is good; and it is good.

JP also shares that he changed-out his old notebook for a latest and greatest; and how easy it was to make the change as compared to times past. But whereas JP has one notebook, Mule shares he has several and the challenges therein.

JP is the first to share a coincidence, combined with a life-hack. The life hack is that he introduces himself and chats folks up at the hotel bar. Because, drinking alone indicates a problem, but he is always sure to drink with someone else.

But the coincidence is that JP has loved space programs since Apollo and Skylab. He used to write NASA and IBM and get all sorts of cool pics, pamphlets, and patches. And while on a project in Denver, he met some NASA pilots who were on the SOFIA program and who were in Denver to train on the "vintage" 747 simulator.

Well, one thing led to another and the pilots invited JP to join them at the simulator the next day. Of course, JP messaged the client and let them know he was going to be late the next day and he "flew" the 747 out of SFO, towards the Golden Gate Bridge, out to Napa Valley, and then landed back at SFO. He was a happy guy.

Esther joins us and shares that she believes coincidences do not exist, but that things in life happen because they are meant to happen, there is always a reason; definitely in the "Gibbs Rule Nr.37, there is no such thing as coincidence."

Mule gets all scientific and etymological on us and postulates that a coincidence is a collision, and its rather difficult to put into words here; you gotta give a listen. And just when you think it can't get any deeper, Ester injects Carl Jung into the conversation.

Thankfully, Don brings us back to Earth and raises the most perplexing conundrum; there are 24 hours in a day, and 24 beers in a case - coincidence?