One of the things I love about most of the jobs I've had is their international flavor. Working with and sometimes getting to meet colleagues from different countries. Of course, in person is always the best, but not possible for day-to-day work. Enter the international conference call. That's where things can get dicey. Depending on the time zone differences, you can sometimes end up with a break of dawn or burning the midnight oil call. Pick your poison...and hopefully not both on the same day.

Those who know me know I am NOT a morning person. I do my best thinking at 10 p.m., not 10 a.m. So it takes a lot of something extra to get me going in the morning. In the past, when I lived alone, this would consist of multiple alarms and sometimes blasting music so I wouldn't crawl back to bed instead of dialing in to my call. These days, with a family who needs their sleep, that is not a viable option.

So for the occasional times I need to get up and motivate without waking up the surrounding neighborhood, I came up with a quieter, but equally effective solution. Watch a video about something you love. Preferably one you haven't seen before. Preferably one with some music. Turned down low, of course. We're not barbarians here!

Here is a recent video that helped me make it to my 5 a.m. conference call with Portugal on time. The precision, the power, and the flow of this demonstration are beautiful to behold. Thank you, Matsuoka sensei and practice partner. I don't know you, but I'm a big fan of your video.

Domo arigato gozaimashita!

Next video next Saturday, 6:30 a.m.

I can usually get by with a bit of fiddling for most run-of-the-mill technology problems. Temperamental WiFi, sluggish laptop, or unreliable streaming devices. However, every once in a while a trial and error solution is not readily apparent. Like the time I unplugged the hotel alarm clock to move it and couldn't figure out how to reset the time. It was a fairly common iHome alarm clock that I've seen in plenty of hotels, but never had to adjust.

After a few head-scratching minutes, I threw my hands up and did a web search. David Levine is my hero! He's got a handy little blog post that helped me reset the clock in no time. And the infuriating part is, like a lot problems, once you know the solution, it seems soooo obvious.

Thanks, David for your EZPZ instructions!

P.S. Unfortunately, when it comes to home improvement I'm more like Tim Taylor (of Home Improvement) than Jonathan Scott (of The Property Brothers). My wife says I have an adversarial relationship with drywall and it's true! 

Next post next Saturday, 6:30 a.m.