I get a lot of cold calls. Today I heard a voicemail from someone with whom I’ve never spoken at a consulting firm I’ve never heard of wanting to tell all about the “race horses” they have available at their firm.

Whenever I walk down this hallway, I always think “Alert Lobster.”

It lurks, just at the border of seen and unseen.

Words of wisdom which I mentally revisit from time to time:

Freddy, as a younger man, I was a sculptor, a painter, and a musician. There was just one problem: I wasn’t very good. As a matter of fact, I was dreadful. I finally came to the frustrating conclusion that I had taste and style, but not talent. I knew my limitations. We all have our limitations, Freddy. Fortunately, I discovered that taste and style were commodities that people desired. Freddy, what I am saying is: know your limitations. You are a moron.

I have a not-superfancy 21″ iMac at home. It’s got an old Dell 24″ DVI display attached with a Thunderbolt adapter. I’m generally a big fan of multiple displays on any computer I’m using, and this works out well when I want it, especially if I’m doing something with VMware Fusion that could use a full extra screen. But here’s the thing: In this particular setting, I don’t need or want the external display all the time. It’s connected via VGA to an old Mac mini that we occasionally use, which complicates things a bit more because of input switching. The display is from something like 2007, so it does nothing automatically.