The January issue of Fast Company lists the 10 Hot Jobs for 2007, and on the list is Web Designer. I also have experience with viral marketing, art direction, blogging and experience designing, so I am all over the hot map.

10 Hot Jobs for 2007

On a very full Metro ride into work this morning, the driver chided us riders in the typical fashion as he drove to the next stop.

Attention customers, when you hear the chimes the doors are closing, please do not block the doors, if you block the doors this train with be unloaded.

Every time I hear this threat, I recognize its futility. We, already on the train, are not blocking the doors, and have no motivation to do so. We, like he, wanted to see those doors close and move on with our trip.

The right audience is the people on the platform waiting to board, they are the ones who would be blocking the doors; however, addressing for them this is the wrong incentive. They selfishly are not concerned if the train de-boards. If they do not push their way onto the full train, then they are forced to wait for the next train. If the push on and cause the driver to unload, they, again, are forced to wait for the next train. But if they are able to squeeze on, and the doors still close, they get to ride this train, and get where they are going sooner.

In over a year of Metro riding, I have heard this threatening tactic again and again. Only once did I hear a driver give an incentive that actually made sense. Once, while at the station, a driver announced to those on the platform.

Attention passengers boarding this train, this train is full. There is another train directly behind this one. The sooner you let these doors close, the sooner that train can arrive to pick you up.

Surely enough, the people did not try to cram on, the doors closed and the train moved on without incident. Right audience, right incentive.

For almost six months now I have been striving to live by the time-management guidelines suggested by David Allen in Getting Things Done. Here are the basics for anyone who is unfamiliar.

The Basics of Getting Things Done

I always wanted to see Ice and Fire on the big screen since I read A Game of Thrones so many years ago. Instead, I will have to settle for the small screen, but I won’t have to be reduced to a single thread storyline. HBO is going to do a book a season, which should provide enough time to properly display the richness and complexity of these characters and their plotlines.

More info here at SciFi.com

On the yellow line Metro this week, I overheard a group of teens joking loudly. They were in good spirits, cracking jokes at each other and in the process incorporating the words f…k or a…hole into just about every sentence. Others on the train looked up from their papers or books scowling at such coarse language

I used to wonder what would happen if we abolished these swear words completely from the language. I found out on my latest trip to Quebec. In Montreal, the F word or A word go unused and would carry little offense, but be prepared to be reprimanded if you call someone an item from the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Yes, in the town where every street is Rue Saint-Something, the most offensive words are materials from the Catholic Mass. “Host” is an offensive term; “tabernacle” takes the place of the S-word; and “chalice” is equivocal to the F-bomb.

Think that sounds silly? Well, in Canada, using sexual and bodily words to insult would sound rather bizarre. Truthfully, the words are victims of the meaning put behind them. Curse words are only abominable when they are used to portray the full weight of insult and contempt that is associated with them; otherwise they are simply a lazy-man’s adjective.

And that’s how those kids on the yellow line were using them. There was no malice. The words bore no meaning. The only people who should really have been offended were Do tany linguists who happened to be on that train, who would take umbrage at the lazy use of the F-word or an A-word in place of any actual descriptive term.

Elvis’s birthday is coming up this weekend, which means it’s time for the annual Night of 101 Elvises this Saturday at Dr. Dremo’s in Arlington, VA. We went two years ago and thoroughly enjoyed the abundance of Elvis impersonators and their skills singing karaoke tunes of the King.

Every morning when I arrive at the office, I can always count on one email I look forward to: the funnies. I subscribed to uclick.com comics and for a menial fee I get all the comics I want (that they run) delivered to my inbox every day. Sadly, one of my favorite comics on my daily email has stopped arriving.

On December 30th, Foxtrot by Bill Amend went to Sunday-only publication. Sunday Foxtrot’s which are typically sans-words are very clever and well crafted, but it is the dailies that are sharp and on the pulse of what’s in that have been a reflection of the world, and a very funny one at that.

Foxtrot, you will be missed.