A retrospective of Patterson’s work will be held fr0m November 6, 2010 through January 30, 2001 at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, TX.  The exhibition seeks to establish Patterson as an integral player in contemporary American art. Click here  for further information.

‘Cross Country’…clever title. 

Patterson’s beloved hero, Alex Cross, is off to solve a murder again. 

Wait, let me start again…

I love James Patterson.  I can’t get enough of his books.  After spending 4 years at University reading (or should I say, ‘fighting with’) all genres of difficult, I really looked forward to settling down with something cozy and comfortable.

I am a little ashamed to admit that I had forgotten about James Patterson.  Reading wasn’t on my ‘fun’ list anymore;  but when I was in the airport waiting for a plane to take me on my honeymoon, I saw ‘Cross Country’ and thought, ‘Oh yes, that’s exactly what I need.’

Alex Cross is off to solve another murder.   After retiring a few times and being dragged back in; he’s back, attempting to solve the most grisly murders of his career.

Cross suspects a group of Africans from Nigeria of the murders of entire families in the DC area.  Dismemberments, torture, and blood everywhere.  But the thing that makes the murders even more gruesome is that the suspects are young boys.

Cross locks horns with the FBI, and then the CIA.  Finally, he decides to fly to Nigeria himself to find the elusive gang leader called Tiger.

Ok, this is where Patterson lost me.  Why in the world would Cross go to Africa?  And what exactly did he expect to do accomplish there?  Was he honestly going to slap some cuffs on the guy in the middle of his home country, read him Miranda and perhaps add on a little, ‘by the power vested in me by the District of Columbia…’?

That sort of investigation, I found, was unrealistic.  No government would allow someone to just jump their border, arrest someone for a crime committed in another country without going through the proper diplimatic channels of extradition.

What’s amusing at this point in the book, is that I, the reader, am not the only one telling Cross to get back to the States where he belongs.  Every single character he knows or comes in contact with tells him to go home.  Nobody, (and after a quick thumb through again to make sure I’m right), I can’t find a single character who agrees that Cross should be in Nigeria.

Well, he nearly gets killed.  Then, nearly gets killed again.  Then he gets arrested.  Then the woman who is helping him (and do I sense a little bit of naughty  lust here?) finds her own family maimed and murdered. 

I’ll stop here because I don’t want to ruin any more of the book if you decide to read this.  But I have to say…very disappointed.  What happened to one of my favourite sleuths of all time?  What have you done to him, Mr Patterson?

My review:  leave it be.  Let your memory of Alex Cross be the greatness he has always been.  Avoid this book.

Mehul ran a GREAT marathon this morning!  Colby and I saw him first at about mile 8.5, and then we met up with Laura, Bones, Patterson and Lee and caught him at mile 15 for the ocean of awesome zone before seeing him again at about 25.5.  Super impressed with his time – what a great day and a great run!  Awesome job Mehul!!

Got back from Philly with just enough time to spare to drive strait down to Dullus to pick Nick up from his flight home from the west coast – AND watched New Moon tonight.  What a crazy great day!

I didn’t forget, even if AP did. Enjoy.

And since I’m all about stabilized videos: Bigfoot!

The next few weeks sees me almost without a break and includes recording both Moby and John Mayer at the Hard Rock Cafe for Q Radio, nipping off to Spain with the Abubilla project, taking part in research for an independent research organisation and also the config and setup of a new rig for a London based producer, including a few days setup at Air. No days off at all for about 3 weeks. About time as well.

The following eaudio titles have recently been added to our OverDrive – eMedia Catalog. To access go directly to the eMedia Catalog or click on the links below.  The Library Catalog will not have the records for several weeks.

Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist by Liz Kessler

Ford County: Stories by John Grisham

Wrecker: Isaac Bell Series, Book 2 by Clive Cussler

Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi

Breathless by Dean Koontz

Kindred in Death: In Death Series, Book 29 by J.D. Robb

Alex Cross: Alex Cross Series, Book 16 by James Patterson

Wishin’ and Hopin’: A Christmas Story Wally Lamb

Cemetery recorded and photographed by Sarah Frances Patterson Bastien and Paul Bastien January 2000

Milton Quadrangle:  LOCATION: The cemetery is located  about one and one third miles NE of Milton, TN., and about one half mile from the road on a private farm access road. Seek permission before going to cemetery. The cemetery is located next to where an abandoned church (probably Presbyterian) once stood. Some of the foundation of the church remains. It is not known when the church was moved but the last recorded stone is dated 1871. The cemetery is not fenced and is in poor condition with mature trees standing among the stones.  The standing stones appeared to have been reset so they may not be in their original position. Other stones could be buried but since no attempt was made to locate others, the five standing stones are all that were recorded.

Concerning the Patterson family, John Patterson was the father of Robert Wilson Patterson. Samuel was the son of Robert Wilson Patterson. The infant daughter was the child of John Patterson’s daughter, Rebecca and her husband, AS (Alexander Smith) Dickson. The Patterson stones were professionally cut but the Farr stone seemed to be of fieldstone and was extremely difficult to read. The cemetery may not be in existence for many more years. The stones are currently very hard to read and it will not take much more weathering to completely erase the names and dates.

John Patterson d. Nov. 15, 1837 age 71 yrs., 7 months and 27 days (John Peter Patterson, son of Samuel Patterson and Martha Ramsey – born 19 Mar 1766)
Samuel R. Patterson
Feb. 12, 1852
Oct. 16, 1871
Inscription: "Sammy We Miss Thee Everywhere"
Robert Wilson Patterson
b. Nov 10, 1816
d. Sept. 13, 1867
Inscription: "He Was An Honest Man, The Noblest Work Of God"
Infant daughter of
AS and Rebecca Dickson
d. Oct. 30, 1837
age 8 days
William W. Farr
January 18, 1837 – Nov. 1847

This is David Bastien, the ggg-grandson of John Patterson and the  gg-grandson of Robert Wilson Patterson,  both of whom are buried in the old cemetery.

The New York Times has an interesting article about how same-sex marriage has worked in the Netherlands.It has been legal since 2001 here, so there is enough time to see what impact it had on society. First of all there is no evidence that same-sex marriage changed how heterosexuals saw their marriage, an argument often used by anti-gay people in the U.S. I talked to my parents about this and they could not understand how people could say that in the U.S. Those people must not be secure about their own marriage was what my mother said, my parents were really stunned about this argument. The only thing that has changed in the Netherlands is how straight people see gay couples. They encourage gay couples to get married and think they should get married now that they have the opportunity. Unfortunately some states in the U.S are more than 20 years behind.

For the second time a promised marriage equality vote was not held in Albany New York yesterday. This summer it was promised by Patterson and senate and last week as well, but it has been postponed until 16/17 november. The Senate promised (again) they would vote on it this year. I am starting to have my doubts, they are so flaky over there.

According to some statistics it will only be a matter of time though before there is gay marriage in the U.S. Younger people 18-29 are in all but 12 states already in favor of gay marriage. In states like Massachusetts, Vermont and Rhode Island those younger people are in favor between 70-75 %. People over 65 are only for 30-35% in favor of it. In the worst states like Utah, Mississippi and Alabama there is still a long way to go though. Young people favor gay marriage 30% and 65+ favor it with only 10%.

Well the 2009 elections are over, and while I only focused a little of my attention on those ads, the passing of election day marks a low tide mark in the off-year.  I’ll continue to post at least once a week, more if I see things of interest that I want to pass along.

Still, with 2009 in the rear view mirror, the 2010 elections are now in our sights along with the health care fight, and the probably climate bill coming up at the end of the year, so there will be political ads out there to discuss.

Take for example this ad from embattled Governor of New York, David Patterson:

Patterson also has another ad running. What I like about both ads is that they don’t pussyfoot around with Patterson’s situation. He’s made mistakes, he’s been heavily criticized, he’s unpopular right now — you can ignore those problems, try to dance around them with your advertising or face them, head on.  I prefer the later approach, which is why I like these ads.

First of all in this ad, “Some Say,” I find Patterson appealing, surprisingly quietly confident and well spoken.  Maybe he conveys these qualities all the time, but in my limited expose to him, I’ve never thought of him as such, more of a walking train wreck.  I appreciate how he tries to turn his negative (people say he shouldn’t run for governor) into a strength — strength of character, strength of leadership.

In that way, it reminds of me of the Inhofe spot I posted about, “One man in America.”

Secondly, it seems honest.  He’s not defensive or aggressively pushing back, just talking to voters calmly, humbly, but also with a strength that’s appealing.

The visual style reinforces this message, not too flashy, simple clean, not too flashy.  There’s a subtle push in to him at the end, it brings the viewer closer to the subject.  Underscoring the tone of the spot, it doesn’t draw attention to itself, but it’s effective in reinforcing the emotional subtext of the spot: Patterson’s not flashy, he’s about the people, he’s appealing, he’s not trying to fool you but speaking plainly and honestly.

I wonder if Patterson’ blindness is a benefit in this situation.  He can’t read the spot off a prompter like most politicians would be forced to do.  He’s had to memorize it (so it seems), and I think because of that fact, he delivers the lines instead of repeats or reads them.  I’ll be interested to see if he can continue to deliver lines like this in future ads, but it’s obvious I was impressed with his performance (and make no mistake, any time a politician is talking into the camera it’s a performance, to quote Shakespeare, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts…”)

The second spot is a narrator driven bio, but echoes the same themes, he’s made mistakes, he’s put the people first, strength of character, leadership.

With the echoes of Corzine’s loss in the Jersey governor’s race, I can’t help but wonder if he could have turned things around if he had taken a similar approach.  It’s bold to put a candidate with a negative approval rating in the front of your spot.  Think about those Dodd spots from this summer. The Senator barely appears in them.

I think the Dodd/Corzine approach adds to the siege mentality, it’s a losing frame of mind, a defensive approach, that tries to ignore the elephant in the room rather than make the elephant a positive (who wouldn’t want an elephant to clean up all the peanuts) or at least admit what everyone else knows (there’s an elephant here, I know I brought it into this room, and I’m going to do everything I can to get it out — anyone have a mouse).

Politics like sports can’t be played not to lose, you always have to play to win.  You never worry about how many outs you need, only how many you have.  Don’t worry about your negatives, worry how to turn those negatives into positives.

Patterson is obviously playing to win here. And while he has hurdles to overcome — bad economy, a potential popular primary opponent (Cuomo), a tough economy and dysfunctional legislature, he’s off to a good start with these ads.

If I was giving this ad a grade it would probably be a B+/A-.  A solid A for messaging (form) and a B for function, it’s not innovative, but its professional and effective.

Happy Halloween!

Relaxing day today for the most part.  The 6 mile run this morning was not as enjoyable as it was last week.  Not sure if it’s due to the fact that I’ve been trying to do more hill workouts on the treadmill mid week, or if it’s because last week I took Friday off and yesterday I got stuck to the schedule and got a workout in (late albiet, but in!).  I guess we’ll see how next week goes.

The Huskers won against Baylor (! finally after the past two weeks of insanity), which set the day off on a good note.  Roasted some pumpkin seeds while Nick was at the airport picking up Nikhil….  made them in three flavors this year:  salted, curry, and smoked paprika.  Tried to brine them before roasting (based on this post I found last week), but I didn’t notice a difference at any rate. The flavored seeds were good, but I think good ol’ sea salt and olive oil is still my favorite.

And we were off to Patterson’s Happy 30th/Halloween festivities!  I’m still not a huge fan of our point and shoot camera, so the pictures taken on it were minimal, but alas – for your viewing enjoyment.  I do with we had a before picture of Julie as a bunch of grapes – what a brilliant costume!  Melanie may be posting more pictures at some point today – hers are sure to be more complete than ours!

Nick & Colleen as German Folk

Mehul & Liz as Cash for Clunkers

Hilary as Swine Flu, Christy as a Redskins Fan, Patterson & Lee as Star Trek folk

Greg as Dan Snyder, Nikhil as the Big Bad Wolf

Julie as a bunch of (here, deflated) grapes

Prayers & Music of G.I. Gurdjieff has just been released on CD. Recorded live in Baltimore and Washington D.C., this disc has some beautiful and seminal music on it. I was at both performances. The music is moving and spacious, and as author Mary Ellen Korman says, “with a special quality of attention that calls us to listen actively.”

My Life as a Realtor ~

Day 100:

Wow! I can’t believe I made it to Day 100!  Writing about my (Yawn!) Life as a Realtor has been fun.  Showing how multi-tasking my Life and Real Estate and how much I enjoy making this work and how I look forward to our market rebounding!! 

                                                                Patterson, NY Town Hall

Well, today, Thursday, was a good day.  One of my clients, who is purchasing his first home in Patterson, NY, met with his mortgage broker and contracts are awaiting his signature.  Another couple/clients of mine are in the process of negotiating on a beautiful home in Brewster, NY. And, a lovely couple, also purchasing their first home in Southbury, CT, are anxiously waiting for a commitment from their bank.  I have my fingers crossed!  Also, my clients/sellers and I are going out on Saturday to view a few homes in anticipation that they receive an offer soon – therefore allowing them to purchase soon!  Other clients are staying in touch via e-mail – inquiring on listings and waiting to hear if the tax credit will be extended.  Well, it looks like it will!  And not only for First-Time Home Buyers – more info will be announced and I can’t wait!

                                                 Views from Starr Ridge Road ~ Brewster, NY

I want to thank everyone for checking out Riskczar.com over the last few months. For those of you keeping score, here are the top ten most clicked posts at Riskczar.com (not including the page tabs at the top like the ERM Value$, Risk Quotes and About).

If you missed some of these,  here are the links once more.

Thanks,

Trevor Levine

1. http://riskczar.com/2009/09/10/case-study-erm-at-hydro-one/
2. http://riskczar.com/2009/09/10/a-bit-more-on-hydro-one/
3. http://riskczar.com/2009/09/07/chartis-risktech-100-top-technology-firms-in-risk-management/
4. http://riskczar.com/2009/09/04/pwc-asks-does-erm-matter/
5. http://riskczar.com/2009/09/09/monty-python-on-governance-risk-and-compliance/
6. http://riskczar.com/2009/09/28/review-of-stick-out-your-balance-sheet-and-cough/
7. http://riskczar.com/2009/09/08/spreadsheet-risks-a-comedy-of-errors/
8. http://riskczar.com/2009/09/09/h-felix-kloman-coso-erm-vs-anz-4360-deathmatch/
9. http://riskczar.com/2009/09/08/pwc-erm-for-educational-institutions/
10. http://riskczar.com/2009/08/19/zombie-risk/

Skrów walki Muhammada Ali z Floydem Pattersonem. Pojedynek odbył się 20 września 1972 roku.

Bestsellery w sklepie Pretorian – sprawdź teraz!

My Life as a Realtor ~

Day 90:

It’s Monday… and I have an inspection for my client who is interested in purchasing his very first home in Patterson, NY.  A lovely cape that has a ton of potential.

                                                             Putnam Lake – Patterson, NY

My Life as a Realtor ~

Day 89:

Sunday – rained – all day long!

Started my morning in Ridgefield, CT to show 2 homes…

                                         A rainy Ridgefield Sunday morning

                                                 Driving down Historic Main Street

                                          Lovely pond  views from one of the homes

Then we made our way into New York to view 6 more homes in Brewster…   Patterson…   Carmel…   and Mahopac.   And it rained the entire day!

I was reading this article from Gary W Patterson called, “Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Applied to Benefit Operations and Strategic Planning”. In it, Gary, a.k.a the FiscalDoctor™, addresses these five questions about ERM:
1. Does ERM focus only on money?
2. What activities does ERM involve?
3. What are ERM deliverables?
4. How do I know whether our ERM program is a success?
5. How does ERM fit into the goals and structure of the organization?

To see the entire article, click here. For this post, I only want to focus on the response to #4. How do I know whether our ERM program is a success?

Gary answers: “Determining whether an organization’s ERM program is a success is a judgment call. The judgment is based on the effectiveness of the eight ERM activities. Are the program deliverables and risk responses effective?”

While I agree there is some element of “judgment call”, we should be moving away from qualitative measures of success. With my ERM hat firmly on my head at all times, I am also able to squeeze my Six Sigma hat on my noggin. (Six Sigma is a methodology for process improvement with a focus on variability and measurement of defects.)  At the heart of every Six Sigma engagement, one measures the current state of a process or output, then makes the improvement, then measures the future state and the difference. Thus, no judgment call but quantified proof.

I submit for an ERM project, one merely has to define some current and future state measures, as this is the sort of thing that Board members or leaders will want to see to compliment the only measure they are likely to focus on: the tens of thousands of dollars spent on consultants with little to show for it in the short-term.

Some examples of measures include: the number of risks identified, key risk indicators defined, action plans outstanding and completed, people trained on ERM, articles published on the Intranet, etc. If you have any more ideas, please leave your comments below.

Perhaps as a profession, risk practitioners need to move more in this direction so our performance can be measured against something tangible, because as discussed in earlier posts, it is difficult to measure success as “nothing bad has happened”.