August 2004 Archives

1. You work for the client, not the consulting firm.  No matter who cuts the payroll check, the client is the one paying for your services.  Do the right thing for the client, not the consulting firm (or anyone else).
2. Your network of consultants is your most important asset.
3. Consultants should keep a blacklist of firms and other consultants that should be avoided, and why.  Share this list with your network of consultants but not to the general public.
4. Do not make negative comments about another consultant within ear shot of an employee of a client, and especially around the sales and marketing people of a consulting firm.  Negative comments are fine between consultants, but, keep it “in the family”.  But, never break rule # 1.  When dealing with non-consultants, do like your mom always told you, “if you don’t have anything nice to say about someone, don’t say anything at all”.
5. When your consulting firm takes you out to lunch, remember, you are really the one buying lunch.  It is coming out of the consulting firm’s cut out of your rate, so just pretend you are picking up the check.  Would you really want to pay to have lunch with this person?  The same thing holds true for all events and gifts you may get from the consulting firm.
6. Avoid giving consulting firms information on possible leads without first getting everything in writing (especially your commission).  And even then, the contract usually isn’t worth the paper it is written on.  Don’t expect to get any money for info on leads, so be careful who you give them out to.
7. When referring another consultant to a consulting firm, expect a finder’s fee.  $2 per hour is the minimum that they should offer.  Flat fees typically benefit the consulting firm not you, so try to avoid them.  Remember, your finder’s fee is coming out of the consultant’s pocket.  So if the consultant is part of your network, you should waive the fee.  Your network keeps you employed.
8. If you didn’t negotiate your rate starting at the consulting firms billing rate to the client don’t try to find out what it is, unless you are prepared for the consequences.   That knowledge will usually just make you disgruntled.
9. Never tell the client what the consulting firm is paying you.  If they need to know, it is up to the firm to disclose that info (see rules #1 and #8).
10. Avoid professional days.  You don’t bill for hours you don’t work, so you shouldn’t work for hours that you don’t bill.  A good project plan, with a budget to match it, is a must.  Unless of course you created the project plan, then you should live with the mess that you created.

There are but a select few shirts in my wardrobe that sport them, but the ones that do are quickly becoming favorites. For I am here today, in the year 2004, to salute the single most groundbreaking development in garment history — the breast pocket.

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline are hoping the new mansion they've just purchased will be ready in time for their wedding. It could take a while, because it takes a long time to weld together a hundred trailer homes.

Every since "The Lord of the Rings", epic fantasy novels have been high on the bestseller list. Every thought of writing one? WELL HERE'S HOW.

Invite 5 friends to Gmail

Think of gravatar.com as a dictionary that associates email addresses and avatar images. When you leave a comment on a weblog and provide your email address, the weblog can use your email address to look up your avatar. Since the dictionary is available to anyone, a single avatar image can represent you across many different weblogs.

Herbal Energy Drink, originally uploaded by dominikschwind.

In Amsterdam I didn't expect anything else. :)

Perspective?, originally uploaded by dominikschwind.

I spend my last weekend up north. First I was visiting my friend Giacomo, who was kind enough to take me in after we found that Aachen doesn't have any proper bridge to sleep under. After a big family party for my aunt's birthday I went to Amsterdam on sunday with my youngest sister and our parents.
Amsterdam is pretty much what I thought it would be, just even more so. The houses are picturesque, (as you can see on the photo) the Magic Mushroom stores are colourful and yes, the women in the windows are plentyful.
I didn't quite get to check out the finer details of the town, given the fact that I only had one day and was there with my family, but it sure makes me know that I want to go there again.

And on the way back I bought a lot of Belgian beer.

Chinese has a reputation as one of the world's hardest languages, but Beijing is hoping a slick new primer will get foreigners ready to at least greet locals with a friendly "ni hao!" when they come to town for the 2008 Olympics.

And don't spend your time lookin' around For something you want that can't be found When you find out you can live without it And go along not thinkin' about it

Well, one thing you do learn in school. And that is getting around with tricks and cheating and begging for attention. You learn to quietly cope with stress. You learn to give sane reactions to insane circumstances. Maybe it's a good preparation for an insane society. Or maybe it's just what makes our society insane in the first place.

Sex videos of socialite Paris Hilton are reportedly among items stolen in a raid on her Los Angeles home last week. Stills and video clips of her with former lover, ex-Backstreet Boy star Nick Carter were among the haul of jewellery and other personal effects. Police believe the raid was not a forced entry, but carried out by someone with a spare key. The Hilton Hotels' heiress recently had to endure the embarrassment of sex videos of her romps with a former boyfriend aired on the internet. "She's bracing herself for further embarrassment," said a source close to the 23-year-old. Despite her outrage over the tapes scandal, the millionairess has agreed to sell them, sharing the profits with her ex, reports the News of the World.

now her friends are chip trendy

• Bart's book report
• George's press conference

The tutorials don't tell you how to create effects in Photoshop, Flash or CSS. This is about the essential, timeless skills: how to make sense, how to put together a design that is appealing to use as well as to look at.