Mayor Koch: One of the Greatest New Yorkers

The passing of former New York Mayor Ed Koch led us to create a new label on our blog: great people.  Mayor Koch was one of the greatest New Yorkers, in a city of great New Yorkers!  This quote by Ed Koch, himself, says it all:

 "I think my personality was helpful in this job. I always had a great sense of humor, though I am also pretty reserved personally. I mean, I don't go to chichi parties; never did. I don't like going to dinners other than small dinners at the homes of people. But I realized that if I was to harness the energies of the people of the city of New York and give them back their pride, I would have to become bigger than life. And I did."

It's always good to have a sense of humor...  Rest in peace.

CNN reports:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/01/us/ed-koch-obit/ 

Oddball Interview Questions

Here are some interesting interview questions compiled by Glassdoor.com.

...Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions for 2012:

1. “If you were to get rid of one state in the U.S., which would it be and why?” — asked at Forrester Research, research associate candidate

2. “How many cows are in Canada?” — asked at Google, local data quality evaluator candidate

3. “How many quarters would you need to reach the height of the Empire State building?” — asked at JetBlue, pricing/revenue management analyst candidate

4. “A penguin walks through that door right now wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why is he here?” — asked at Clark Construction Group, office engineer candidate

5. “What songs best describes your work ethic?” — asked at Dell, consumer sales candidate

6. “Jeff Bezos walks into your office and says you can have a million dollars to launch your best entrepreneurial idea. What is it?” — asked at Amazon, product development

7. “What do you think about when you are alone in your car?” — asked at Gallup, associate analyst candidate

8. “How would you rate your memory?” — asked at Marriott, front desk associate candidate

9. “Name 3 previous Nobel Prize Winners.” — asked at BenefitsCONNECT, office manager candidate

Read more here:

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/blog/2013/01/top-25-oddball-job-interview.html

Steve Carrell's Words of Wisdom for Princeton Grads

Be kind, make someone laugh and don't take yourself too seriously, Carell told Princeton seniors.

In his Class Day address, actor and comedian Steve Carell gave the graduating seniors a lighthearted scolding for relying too heavily on technologies like texting and tweeting in favor of personal interactions. "You are young," he told the students. "And because of that, you are wrong." 

When comedian Steve Carell went to college, girls rejected him in person.

Carell was once on track to attend law school. But the 1984 Denison University graduate became stumped while filling out his application to Stanford Law School. The essay question read:  "Why do you want to be an attorney?”

“I really had no idea,” Carell told Princeton’s graduating seniors. “It sounded good. My parents had worked extraordinarily hard to give me a great education, and I felt that I owed them some sort of valid career choice.

"So I sat down with my folks, and asked them what they thought, and they proceeded to give me the best advice that I had ever received, or would ever receive. Their words were profound, wise, and they completely altered the rest of my life.

“They said something like ‘blah, blah, blah, follow your dreams, blah, blah, blah.’ I don’t remember exactly what it was, but I didn’t go to law school.”

Read more here:

http://haddonfield.patch.com/articles/steve-carell-tells-princeton-seniors-dont-take-yourselves-too-seriously-c01f00b7#photo-10184501

Credits: 

Princeton University, Office of Communications, David Kelly Crow

Haddonfield Sun

Humor and Parenting

Line of the day (from a parent on motivating children to take ownership and be responsible / proactive):

"Do you think Christopher Columbus' parents nagged him to discover America?"  

from the TV Show "The Middle."

On parenting: it's always good to keep your sense of humor!

Humor: Check this video out...

"The best medicine is laughter..."  It's always good to have a sense of humor!

Check this out...  

Tom Mabe: Eavesdropping
Tags: Tom Mabe: Eavesdropping, CMT