I really hope that a PR guy did NOT put this in his boss’s talking points: “It’s like the new Coke. This is a rebranding effort,” said Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform. “The feng shui people believe you need to take the roof off buildings to allow bad chi to escape. Let’s hope this helps.”

He was referring to the decision to remove a little red schoolhouse that had adorned the entrance to the U.S. Department of Education building in Washington, DC.

Wow.

The reason, I think, people start their own business is because they are not satisfied. The thing that keeps a business owner going is that he or she is never satisfied. All in all, not very satisfying.
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I got to exist for Father’s Day, I mean really, truly exist. My teen daughter suggested that she and I have a picture taken together.
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Sometimes, people I deal with in business take our dealings personally. The old saying, “It’s not personal, it’s business,” is an old saying for a reason.
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I’ve said it many times before: read biographies not business books. I’m now reading, Cheever: a life, by Blake Bailey. It’s a deep and fascinating exploration of how one man — the writer John Cheever — never wavered in pursuit of what he wanted to be despite severe external and internal barriers.

This week’s recommended reading from your friends at Blogenberg…

• These Five DIY Publishers are helping the print industry change with the times.
• Serious Eats covers the coffee wars and, get this, McDonald’s has taken over the #2 spot behind Starbucks, unseating Dunkin Donuts.
• Bill Drayton discusses the past and future of social entrepreneurship.
• The Salvation Army in Portland, ME has launched a creative ad campaign.
• The Social Media Subcouncil blog asks what are rules of engagement for government on Twitter.
• Rather than show animals in their replicated, unspoiled natural habitat, the Shönbrunn Zoo in Vienna is taking a different approach.

In the county where I live, they keep putting up more and more of those cameras that catch you speeding. From my perspective, it just makes speeding less safe. Instead of keeping my eyes on the road, now I also have to be looking at the side of the road for cameras.
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My 15-year-old daughter doesn’t appreciate all my teachable moments. Her and a friend of hers were in the backseat of the car. I was driving. They were talking about a girl who got an infection that could be transmitted sexually, as well as through other means. (Knowing the girl in question it’s was almost surely via other means.)

“That’s why you have to realize that condoms don’t protect against all diseases,” I said. “They make it less likely you’d get a sexually transmitted disease, but for some diseases, it’s still possible to get them.”

In the mirror I could see that my daughter’s friend was actually paying attention.

In the mirror I could also see that my daughter wanted to jump out of the moving car.

This week’s recommended reading from your friends at Blogenberg…

• Franki Durbin explains why it’s so vitally important to proofread multiple times your written work.
• Seek, an Australian job search site, has found a way to capitalize on the sluggish economy - match volunteers with non-profits looking to make a difference.
• Todd Defren discusses the difference between strategy and tactics and why it’s important to remember the former even in tough economic times.
• Does this article from The Economist change your mind about box wine?
• Ad Age reports that The New York Times views its survival as relying on seeing online “readers” as something more.
• Questions about its credibility aside, BNET points out the interesting question raised a recent climate change study: who pays?
• We here at Blogenberg love burgers, one of us consuming hand-made burgers burned over fire during a semi-weekly Burger Night with friends (insert Tim Taylor grunt here). Little did we know that several items commonly found in your kitchen can be used to sculpt the perfect burger for your burger night. Grill responsibly (and often)!

This is the second of an irregular series of reports from our reporter, who is embedded at the Blogenberg home during three long weeks of Blogenberg being a single father:

SOMEWHERE IN THE BLOGENBERG HOME (June 9): Blogenberg has been sick for two days but still trudging to the office. The freezer is not working properly so Blogenberg must either defrost it or eat two weeks worth of food tonight. He is sleeping each night next to an ever-expanding pile of clean laundry.

“At least the laundry is clean,” this reporter helpfully offered.

Blogenberg then punched this reporter.

It is this reporter’s opinion that Blogenberg may not survive another eight days.

This morning I posted about never throwing employees under the bus. I wrote, “Sometimes a client complains to me about something an employee did or failed to do.” Wow, sounds like I just threw my employees under the bus, doesn’t it?

I have great staff. Like their boss, on occasion they make mistakes. Like writing that line, instead of writing, more accurately: “Sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes I could blame staff. But I never do. I take responsibility and apologize.”

Now if I could just figure out who is posting, pretending to be Blogenberg?

Here’s a rule for any boss: never, never throw your employees under the bus. My employees occasionally do things that frustrate me. (I’m certain it never ever happens in reverse, though.) Sometimes a client complains to me about something an employee did or failed to do. I never blame the employee. I apologize and take responsibility. Doing anything else leaves the client thinking I’m small-minded and employees feeling, well, thrown under the bus. All criticism of employees is kept solely in-house because it’s hard for my employees to help us make money if they are stuck under a bus.

My daughter and I wandered Georgetown the other day — dinner and shopping! I’ve noted before she is very pretty and looks 18 or 19, not the 15 that she is. Here’s what happened.

She was offered a job. This is about the 4th time this has happened. The trendy clothing stores that cater to youth and young adults love to hire very pretty girls. Guys buy more from pretty girls. Other girls follow the style guide set by pretty girls. My daughter always says thanks but no thanks; though she never points out she’s only 15.

A guy on the street asked me, “What’s your secret? How’d you get such a pretty girl?” I responded, “She’s my daughter.” He tripped over himself apologizing.

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I’ve commented before that, in my view, the one single piece of legislation that has had the greatest social impact is Title IX. In just about one generation, the relationship between girls and sports, and society and female athletes got turned on its head. This past week, my 21-year-old son and I really got into the college women’s softball World Series, every game of which was aired on ESPN. It’s a cool sport: fast action, short games. Just perfect for my attention span.

This week’s recommended reading from your friends at Blogenberg…

• Jeff Jarvis makes clear that “news matters more than what delivers it.”
• Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, explains how he tracks his time.
• Dave Fleet invites us to rethink influencers.
• Forbes identifies trendsetters in industrial design.
• Designers at IDEO imagined the future of journalism.
• Washingtonian covers the Washington Tech Titan party.