Got our first hail of the year today – pea sized, and not much (thankfully) – but it’s here.

New record for longest blog title I’ve ever had. I think.

First, the pros: it’s concise, finishing at a mere 91 numbered pages, including sample questions and the index.

Second, the cons: it’s 63 pages of bullet points with little-to-no explanation of terms, examples, etc.

William Manning appears to have done an admirable job of summing the salient terms and processes from the PMBOK in this absurdly-long-titled bookette.

I picked this book up recently to give an overview of the PMP exam, as I’ve been considering something of a career shift/growth move into project/product management from technical architecture and delivery. I now know that I know the vast majority of what is required for the exam, but not necessarily with the official terminology. That means I need to learn definitions and applications of terms.

I also need a “real” prep guide – one of those tomes that weighs-in closer to 500 or 800 pages, and not the mini guidette Manning has provided.

Is this a good book to get as a last-minute review of the PMP exam? I think so. Is it worth getting if you’ve never seen/done any form of PM-related work before? Absolutely not.

PMP Project Management Professional Exam Preparation Course in a Book for Passing the PMP Project Management Professional Exam. Now there’s a title.

The 50th Law

The greatest fear people have is that of being themselves. They want to be 50 Cent or someone else. They do what everyone else does even if it doesn’t fit where and who they are. But you get nowhere that way; your energy is weak and no one pays attention to you. You’re running away from the one thing that you own – what makes you different. I lost that fear. And once I felt the power that I had by showing the world I didn’t care about being like other people, I could never go back

–50 Cent, The 50th Law

Robert Greene’s book with 50 Cent was … different. Unlike his previous books I’ve read (33 Strategies, 48 Laws, Mastery, and The Art of Seduction), this book isn’t really written by him – and it’s not a Joost Elffers book. The copy I borrowed from my local library looks like a weird cross of a notebook and a Bible.

Should you read the book? I don’t think so. The whole of it is summed in the opening quote above – the rest of the several score pages just elaborate and/or ramble on the theme.

It’s marketed as a sequel to The 48 Laws of Power – it’s not. It ‘s a performance artist’s attempt to write-off his critics and push himself up in everyone’s estimation because hey: he wrote a book.

This morning I got stuck in an elevator for about 20 minutes during a power failure in the building.

The ironic part? It’s the elevator that my colleague and I had thought would be most likely to screw up because it makes funny noises, doesn’t always know what floor it’s on, etc.

Sigh.

In case you ever want to know, here are a couple pages that spell-out how to say “thank you” in hundreds of languages:

• http://www.deepestfeelings.com/holidays/thanksgiving/thank_you_in_many_languages.shtml
• http://www.etailersdigest.com/greetings/saythanks.htm

It seems something is amiss here at antipaucity.com – the CentOS Apache test page displays, when it should be displaying the main page of my blog 😐

Oddly enough, all direct links work fine.

If anyone has some thoughts, I’d appreciate any feedback!

I’m a huge fan of the Discovery Channel series, Cash Cab. While in New York this week, I kept looking for the elusive 1-in-13000 cabs that Ben Bailey drives, hoping for the opportunity to hop in and play the game.

Well, I didn’t have a chance to get in, but I saw the cab Tuesday night: a minivan complete with flashing ceiling, and Ben driving with his ear piece in place.

It’s obviously not as cool as being on the show, but still pretty exciting.