Comments for Living in the Gray

Comment on Dear Control Freaks of the World by hubby

hubby — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:56:56 +0000

Allison – while I agree that a FIFO based queue might technically result in O(n) it doesn’t manage customer perception of queue prioritization. Allowing a person the ‘option’ to control which queue they enter gives the illusion of best queue performance. This is mostly because of the psychological impact of being able to choose an outcome based on perceived queuing delays – not actual queuing delays.

In short, customers are dumb and McDonald’s inefficient queuing system capitalizes on this fact.

Comment on The First Wave by Jen

Jen — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:34:32 +0000

I’m very interested in your first-hand experience with this. I know people who have adopted, but not from the very beginning. I guess it takes a long time and there’s a lot of red tape for a very good reason, to protect the children, but I can see how frustrating it would be once you’ve opened your heart and mind to the possibility. Good luck & keep writing!

Comment on The First Wave by Allison

Allison — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:17:06 +0000

I’m really fascinated to hear about your journey in adoption, so don’t hesitate to post about it! I hope you get through the next bit of red tape without too much stickiness.

Comment on Dear Control Freaks of the World by Allison

Allison — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:14:50 +0000

I hate places with multiple line-ups. It’s provably faster for everyone to have a single line-up that feeds to multiple service points (like at the bank). Seriously, I had to write a computer program simulating the two models at university in some math or CS course that was covering queueing theory.

But I wouldn’t try to impose the single-line system at a place that was set up with multiple queues. I’d just quietly be annoyed at the stupidity of a known slower system.

Comment on Dear Control Freaks of the World by elle

elle — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:55:09 +0000

If your McDonald’s terrorist couldn’t stand the uncertainty of betting on the fastest line, they should have gone to Wendy’s where queuing is strictly enforced.

Comment on Dear Control Freaks of the World by Julia

Julia — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:53:52 +0000

*Likes post*

*Dislikes idiots at McDs*

P.S. I’ve met several Line-Nazi’s myself and have narrowly avoided hip-checking the line-hogger on my way past on more then one occasion. :p

Comment on Dear Control Freaks of the World by kate

kate — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:01:54 +0000

Yikes! Remind me to stay away from your McD’s…

Comment on Dear Control Freaks of the World by Greg

Greg — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:41:53 +0000

Jess told me about that. Too funny! I can’t believe the staff didn’t intervene…

Comment on Dear Chosen Child – Letter #1 by Jen & The Amazing Trips

Jen & The Amazing Trips — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:38:30 +0000

This is so beautiful. I’ve been talking with my husband, seriously, about adoption and I’ve decided I would absolutely LOVE to do it. But I’ll admit, the whole process seems so overwhelming to me. So it’s such an awesome thing to read your thoughts as you embark on this journey. I wish you all the best!

Comment on Dear Three Year Old by Dan

Dan — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:03:58 +0000

I’m writing this as you commented over on Xbox4NappyRashes site congratulating him on the birth of his daughter.

I am writing it here because this post is down the page a bit and i don’t want him to see it

A while ago, before Martin’s (xbox4nappyrash) wife got pregnant I promised I would post a youtube video of me singing “Yes” by Mcalomont & Butler whilst accompanying myself on the ukulele to celebrate the birth of their child.

This will not be a pretty sight as I can neither sing, nor really play the ukulele (this isn’t false modesty – I really can’t).

However what I thought might make it really cool would be instead of just a straight video I put together a montage of videos shot by readers of his blog all celebrating – i.e. dancing, sticking thumbs up, cheering, holding up signs, that sort of thing. It would have to be something that would work without sound as I would put my (awful) soundtrack over the top of it.

It would be great if you could participate. If you send me a short 5-15 second video clip (or at a push a photo, but a video would be much better) along with your name and blog then I’ll put it together with other submissions and get something ready for the end of the week. I think it would be a really nice thing to do for martin to show him and E how pleased we are for him. and Martin has been incredibly supportive of me and my various projects in the past.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. My email address is dghughes28@yahoo.co.uk

Thanks again.

Dan.

Comment on Dear Chosen Child – Letter #1 by Susan

Susan — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 02:23:33 +0000

This is beautiful. Very best wishes to all of you.

Comment on Dear Chosen Child – Letter #1 by Jen

Jen — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:05:59 +0000

Whenever, whoever your baby will be, they will be very, very lucky

Comment on Inside the Mind of a Three Year Old by Caroline

Caroline — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:25:38 +0000

Cute and witty! Fast learners those kids!
I hope you are over the blues.

Comment on Inside the Mind of a Three Year Old by anne nahm

anne nahm — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:53:28 +0000

lol! Take that, robots!

Comment on Inside the Mind of a Three Year Old by Lori Klassen

Lori Klassen — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:38:10 +0000

Ha! I like this very much. You can’t aruge with that.

Comment on Inside the Mind of a Three Year Old by Jen

Jen — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:59:38 +0000

I like it

Comment on Not That It Happened To Me Monday: The Internet Scam Edition by Elle

Elle — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:56:38 +0000

Miss you and your Shannonigans!

Comment on Inside the Mind of a Three Year Old by kate

kate — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:57:07 +0000

Kieran is Awesome!
My 5yo just did a unit in school about robots, so she would totally agree with him!
And Avery’s attitude…Ha!!!!

Comment on Inside the Mind of a Three Year Old by cassi

cassi — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:51:58 +0000

Oh that’s funny!

Comment on The Blues by Allison

Allison — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:55:49 +0000

Right now I’m longing for the luxury of being set up enough that I start to feel a bit homesick. Not that I want to feel homesick, but it will maybe mean a lot of our bureaucratic headaches will be over. The blues are in fact the first sign that you’re now “at home” in the new place. It’s been reassuring to hear how similar your experiences with long-distance moving have been!