The Blog Less Traveled

Here’s some interesting music if you’re ready for a change of pace. This music would probably fall under the genre of Electronic/Indie. I’ve been listening to a few new groups lately like Moby, Flow Machines and now, The Knife. The Knife are a musical duo from Sweden. The band consists of siblings Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer. To say they’re a little different would be an understatement. They pretty much shun most public appearances. Even when they win Grammys for their work, they don’t ever show up for the award presentations. They’re more or less anti-mainstream media and have their own record label, Rabid Records. The picture above is from an interview they did for a station in Stockholm, Sweden.

Below are three of my favorite songs from their albums. The links will take you to the YouTube versions of the songs. Be forewarned though. Some of the videos are pretty bizarre but worth a look. Enjoy.

1. Silent Shout

2. Pass This On

3. Marble House

For their official website, click here.

For their Wikipedia entry, click here.

I first came across the story of Leonard Abess in a Reader’s Digest article in their July 2009 magazine. He’s the CEO of the Miami-based City National Bank. When he recently sold his majority stake in the bank, he gave $60 million dollars of his profit to all of his current employees and retirees in the form of bonuses based on years served. The guy didn’t tell anyone about it. He didn’t publicize it in any way. He just did a great thing without looking for any pat on the back. Compared to all the self-centered and egotistical CEOs we seem to read about every day, Leonard Abess is a real hero – a decent man. This is the kind of guy I want to work for. He genuinely appreciates his employees and gave them a lot more than the typical lip service most bosses in his position do. In today’s business environment, he is a beacon of hope and someone that more bosses need to emulate. Obviously, not all bosses are in a position to give the type of monetary rewards that he did. However, there are a lot of ways that bosses can reward and recognize their employees. Simple things that employees can appreciate and feel good about.

Let’s hope that there are more bosses like Leonard Abess out there. Let’s hope that his good deed is an inspiration for more people in the business world. If you’re interested in reading more about this man, I included a link to one of the articles about him below.

For the Wharton article, click here.

Well, it’s been awhile since my last post. Lots of things have been going on in my life but they’re way too personal to discuss on this blog. Writing on the blog has certainly taken a back seat these past several months. I don’t know if I’ll get back into it or not, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

In another lame attempt to impress my lady friends, I give you my version of the omelette. This is my first omelette ever. Basically, it’s a four-egg omelette with cheese, tomatoes and olives. Yeah, I know. What’s with the olives? It’s the only thing I had in the refrigerator besides the cheese and tomatoes. Plus, I love olives, green or black. I figured these would give the omelette a little extra kick in taste. I have to admit, it wasn’t a bad tasting omelette. It was cooked just a little longer than I would have preferred but that was because I wasted a little time in getting the camera and taking the picture. All-in-all, it was pretty tasty and I’ll definitely do it again.

My cooking ability is still pretty pathetic. I’ve only done sunny-side-up eggs, scrambled eggs and now the infamous omelette. I can also cook pasta. That’s pretty much it besides heating TV dinners and vegetables in a microwave. Hey, at least I’m not starving!

Well, until next time folks, keep it tuned here for the next episode of the Kulinary King.