Blog Entries by Michael Melcher

Keeping An Eye On My Mind

Posted November 29, 2009 | 08:49 PM (EST)


I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love for the second time. Here's something I can say about Elizabeth Gilbert, the author: as a writer, she is the real deal. Her book is extremely entertaining, artfully written (I sometimes reread paragraphs just to experience her cleverness with words again) and, on top...

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Ugly Betty's Best Action Hero

Posted November 17, 2009 | 10:15 PM (EST)


I love the show Ugly Betty. There are lots of pleasant aspects about this show but the one that is most meaningful to me is the character Justin, Betty's 14-year old nephew. Justin is portrayed brilliantly by Mark Indelicato.

Justin is the first obviously gay kid I have seen...

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Does Endlessly Searching Mean Never Satisfied?

Posted November 8, 2009 | 01:52 PM (EST)


What's an ENFJ? Me, for one. One characteristic of ENFJs, and NF types in general, is that we are always searching. This urge can help us to make a positive impact on the world, and it can also make us crazy and ineffectual. A yearning to make life better can...

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Seven Ways To Be Happy in a Smoking Country

7 Comments | Posted September 16, 2009 | 10:29 PM (EST)


I don't like it when people smoke around me. I don't like breathing cigarette smoke, I don't like getting it on my clothes, hair and skin, and perhaps more than anything else I don't like the inherent civic rudeness of public smoking - the idea that someone can contaminate...

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Recession Reading for Kids and Families

Posted February 28, 2009 | 03:09 PM (EST)


When I was a kid in the early 70s I had an unusually good grasp of the Great Depression, at least compared with the average 8-year old. Part of this knowledge came from my parents, who were children during the Depression, but most of it came from the books I...

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Barack Obama, Introspective ENTP?

Posted January 24, 2009 | 11:42 PM (EST)


For the past 18 months, I've been obsessing about Barack Obama's Myers-Briggs type. He's not easily reducible to any pat description. President Obama (have I mentioned how much I love saying, "President Obama?") is no cliché. But I'll try to deduce his type anyway.

According to the theory behind...

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Ready to be Loyal?

Posted October 29, 2008 | 05:04 PM (EST)


Fingers crossed, we're going to win on November 4th. It's possible that Barack Obama will start his term in office with majorities in the House and Senate, and perhaps even a filibuster-proof majority. The likelihood of this is underscored by the shrill, panicky articles about the threat of a Democratic...

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Sarah Palin and the Republicans' Favorite Sport: Extreme Affirmative Action!

Posted September 3, 2008 | 10:06 PM (EST)


Usually, Republicans hate affirmative action. A core Republican message is that they are the sole protectors of embattled white men against the forces of entitled minorities and aggressive women unfairly going after their turf. This message is picked up and amplified by Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, and the like.

...
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Mamma Mia: America's First Great Bollywood Musical

Posted July 19, 2008 | 03:24 PM (EST)


Have you ever seen a Bollywood musical? I have viewed a few over the years. Though I tried mightily, I could not really get into them. There are songs, there are dances, there are wet sari scenes. Sadly, though, I have never managed to feel the POW! that hundreds...

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Is W a T or an F?

Posted May 5, 2008 | 11:49 PM (EST)


After seven years in office our current president is still somewhat of a cipher. What exactly goes on in his head? What does he believe in his heart of hearts? And what's his Myers-Briggs type?

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is the world's most widely used personality sorter. It's a basic...

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The Trouble with Vision: Obama, Clinton and America's Sensing Majority

Posted February 1, 2008 | 05:47 PM (EST)


Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are so different-so say their supporters, and so say political commentators. The nature of their differences depends on whom you ask. Does America want a candidate who is visionary and inclusive, rather than polarizing and compromised? Or does America want a candidate who is experienced...

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Hillary Clinton: Misunderstood INTJ

Posted December 11, 2007 | 12:58 PM (EST)


Hillary Clinton is an introvert. I'm quite sure about this. My best guess is that, in Myers-Briggs terms, she is an INTJ (details below). This explains a lot about how the world regards her and why the press seems to find her so problematic.

Let me start backwards. In yesterday's...

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When It's Okay Not to Network With Ivanka Trump

Posted November 12, 2007 | 12:59 PM (EST)


A couple of months ago I sat behind Ivanka Trump on a flight from Newark to Hong Kong.

At the time, I didn't realize that the tallish blonde person in front of me was the daughter of The Donald. She seemed nice enough, pretty smart, a little chatty on...

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Have You Been Upgraded to the Valley Wing (and Not Realized It)?

Posted October 14, 2007 | 08:27 PM (EST)


When I was checking into the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore a few weeks ago, I asked the front-desk person, "Is it possible to get a room with one king-size bed rather than two double beds?" I get kind of creeped out sleeping by myself in rooms with two beds.

...
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P's Have More Fun

Posted October 8, 2007 | 04:21 PM (EST)


Are you familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator? It's a personality assessment instrument that's based on the theories of Karl Jung, and it has pretty much permeated the professional world. This is the instrument that measures you on the parameters of introvert/extravert, intuitive/sensing, feeling/thinking and perceiving/judging.

I personally love...

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Create a Right-Brain File

Posted October 3, 2007 | 02:42 PM (EST)


When people come to me to figure out what to do with the rest of their lives, they typically arrive with one of two mindsets. Either they have lots of ideas, and don't know how to figure out which one they should pursue; or they don't have any ideas at...

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What I Learned from Madeleine L'Engle

Posted September 8, 2007 | 05:05 PM (EST)


Here's what I learned from reading the obituary of Madeline L'Engle, the author of A Wrinkle in Time, who recently passed away at age 88: she didn't write this massively bestselling book until after she was 40. In fact, in her thirties her writing career was going so badly that...

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Dare to be Peppy

Posted August 25, 2007 | 03:10 PM (EST)


When I was in business school, my friend Polly and I decided to name ourselves the two peppiest people at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

We did this not because of our inherent Pollyanna natures or our uncritical admiration for all thing b-school; quite the opposite. We made...

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How to Achieve Career Happiness by Being Gay on the Inside

Posted August 17, 2007 | 03:50 PM (EST)


One of my clients works for a big, fancy firm. It's the kind of firm that people who went to Harvard go to if they want even more Harvard in their life.

This particular client has dreams besides being one of a thousand employees of a highly branded business, but...

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Extraverts Can Be Great Writers, Too!

Posted June 24, 2007 | 09:56 PM (EST)


People know me as an extraverted person. I get energized by being around people and doing things in the world. When I think of my favorite foreign trips, I inevitably imagine myself walking in large exotic public spaces surrounded by throngs of people. Once in college I talked for eight...

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