Mostly Matt

Sporting events are fun to attend, especially playoff games where there’s a lot of energy in the crowd. What’s not fun, however, is when idiots like this Angels fan decide it would be a good idea to get blackout drunk and jump in the waterfall at Angels Stadium.

[Note: Naturally, the day after I posted this, MLB took down all video clips of this guy. I guess they want this kind of behavior to continue! Here's a picture instead or see a more thorough recap.]

You hear about stories like this every year and it never seems to stop. I feel sorry for the real fans that have to deal with people like this. After spending hundreds of dollars on hard-to-obtain tickets and overpriced beer, it would be nice to have the promise of a great fan experience. A colleague of mine recently blogged about the topic of sporting event drunkenness at college football games. I totally agree with putting unique measures in place, such as the rules the University of Minnesota recently implemented at football games, and keeping the drunks at home.

About a year ago, I did some comparison shopping between DISH Network and DIRECTV’s satellite TV offerings before I ended up choosing DISH. Ever since then, I’ve been receiving direct mail pieces from DIRECTV at least once every two weeks promoting their services and trying to convince me to sign up with them. They send the same exact letter and inserts with every mailing. It goes directly from my mailbox to my trash can without a second look. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re like the vast majority of Twitter users and only using the default twitter.com to manage your tweets, you’re missing out on some excellent web apps that will help you organize Twitter better and be more productive. Time for you to take it to the next level.

Twitter web apps have come a long way this year and are only getting better. Create groups of friends, set up keyword searches to find new and interesting people, manage multiple accounts and sort all of this information across columns and tabs. Here are a few great web-based apps that you can access from any computer – no download required. Read the rest of this entry »

Although they’ve only been around for about five years, social networking sites like Facebook or LinkedIn have become life changers. People that you, in the past, might’ve lost contact with forever are suddenly in your news feed everyday talking about their kids and careers, posting pictures and sending you quizzes.

Ask yourself how your life would be different now if you had Facebook 20 years ago. What if you friended every person you met along the way? Would you have made different life decisions? Would you have gone to a different college, moved to another country or even married somebody else?

Or maybe nothing would’ve changed. After all, even with Facebook you have to work on friendships and relationships to keep them alive. You can’t just send a buddy a gift in Mafia Wars and expect to be the best man at his wedding. At some point, you have to pick up the phone.

What do you think – would this be a butterfly effect that alters the course of history or am I over-analyzing things again?

I’ve heard that it takes 21 days to make or break a habit. Start an exercise plan, quit smoking or get more fiber in your diet — keep up your positive behavior for just a few weeks and you’ll be much more likely to stay with it beyond that.

The tough part is turning that short-term habit into a lifetime obsession. Read the rest of this entry »

Independence Day. What a perfect day to pay tribute to one of my favorite patriotic movies, Forrest Gump. You can’t help but feel a sense of patriotism watching this epic film supported by an amazing soundtrack. The best scene in the movie, of course, is the one where Forrest runs across America for three years and builds a large following of equally psychotic runners. Even though it’s completely unrealistic, I still watch in awe every time and wished it was possible. I even try to do the math in my head. Read the rest of this entry »

Over time, I’ve really come to enjoy the writings of Malcolm Gladwell, a staff writer for The New Yorker and bestselling author of The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers. I have my favorite ESPN columnist, Bill Simmons a.k.a. The Sports Guy, to thank for introducing me to Gladwell in several of his columns. Gladwell is one of those authors that makes you use every part of your brain and changes the way you think about anything and everything. He challenges every social norm and constantly wonders why things are the way they are.

image by gladwell.com

For example, in a brilliant piece titled “How David Beats Goliath,” Gladwell questions why underdogs in basketball games don’t use the full court press more often considering its high level of success. The full court press evens the playing field more and makes it a game of effort rather than a game of ability. Read the rest of this entry »

As I registered for the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon this week, right before it sold out, I thought “What am I getting myself into?” I’ve only recently started running again and my distance base isn’t very high. The race isn’t until October 4, but the huge unknown is how my legs will hold up under the rigors of running those mega miles.

But you know what? It doesn’t matter. I have confidence I can not only do it, but also get a respectable time in the process. My goal? A Boston Marathon qualifying time of 3 hours, 10 minutes. That sounds crazy, but five years ago when I first tried to get into training for a marathon (before the injuries), I thought that time didn’t sound tough at all. My mind is in 2004 and my body is in 2009. What’s wrong with that?

A coworker of mine recently expressed concern over privacy on Facebook. I found it surprising that she lets her kids use Twitter, which has virtually no privacy, but not Facebook. After thinking about it some more, I can now understand why. It’s all about expectations when you start using a new social network. On Twitter, you’re expected to provide very little about yourself — name, picture, location, website and short bio. Many don’t even reveal their true identity.

Facebook, on the other hand, is largely driven by peer pressure. Pressure to post lots of personal information, phone numbers, pictures, etc. Friends old and new want to find you and learn more about your life. Therefore, even though Facebook has great privacy controls, protecting yourself and your family can be a little scary without following a couple quick tips. Read the rest of this entry »

A coworker casually threw this quote out the other day: “Some people don’t play nice in the sandbox.” It was funny at the time, but then I started to think about how it basically explains all the difficult interactions I’ve had with people throughout my life. You know, the power hungry colleague or the condescending acquaintance that infects a circle of friends. They’re out to make your life miserable, but who cares in a sandbox. Just take your toys, move to another corner and don’t let them kick sand in your face.