Today's musing: why, if computers can perform complicated calculations in the blink of an eye, do they take ten minutes to start up? Ten minutes must be an eternity - what are they doing?

Also, for some reason I couldn't stop thinking about an appraisal I had a B&Q.

It was a bad appraisal which immediately got me on the phone to recruitment agencies and resulted in me getting a job at Deloitte (and, incidentally, lost the Kingfisher group a resource that they had put about £150000 into in extra wages, training and so forth as I was on their hallowed Kingfisher Management Development Scheme). I had planned a range review for which I got a promotion, it was that good. Thing is, its implementation was completely ballsed up by store ops. So at my appraisal my manager conveniently forgot that she had raved about my range review and instead told me all the ways I had not done well.

Managers: please recognise that corporate life is all a load of nonsense and that you can avoid getting completely suckered into it, and spread a little happiness, by always giving good appraisals - especially when they're due. What do you have to lose? Defy the machine. Be nice. Be human. It makes a difference to people's lives. And at the very least, don't leave any bad feedback until a half hour review meeting. Consider yourself a failure if you haven't let on to your staff at the time that they are underperforming.

(Of course, if I hadn't been so appalled at that appraisal, and hadn't left, I may never have started Snowbooks. So all's well that ends well. Funny what you think about at 4am though.)