Making Priorities

Over the holidays I spent some time reflecting on my 2010 and what my priorities should be for 2011 - both personal and professional. One glaring takeaway was that I have not given enough of myself (in money, time, or effort) to charities, non-profit institutions, or general community development. Begin 2011.

One of the most memorable points expressed in Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, a great narrative of John Wood's experience starting Room To Read, was that giving-back requires there to be disparity between people; well-off folks are able to provide money, people with extra time (but maybe not money) can lend a helping hand, and individuals with unique skill-sets and time can volunteer their services to some charitable organizations that are desperately in need but can't afford. As a single, unleveraged, mid-twenty something professional, I should probably be touching on all three rails.

Providing money is the simplest and quickest way to give back. It's also an interesting exercise in that you can vote with your dollars to what organizations are pursuing initiatives that you think will have most impact towards causes most important to you. For 2010, I monetarily supported:

Room to Read [link]:
John's organization and narrative sure made an impression on me. They build libraries & provide scholarships to improve literacy & gender equality in education across many impoverished nations in Southeast Asia & Africa.

Wikimedia foundation [link]:
Anybody who has visited Wikipedia has seen the major work of this foundation. While I consistently turn to Wikipedia for general knowledge and information (always very useful), some parts of their long term strategy make me nervous (e.g. I don't see a clear action plan to address plateaued activity and low global presence). I also think that much of their strategic language has a little too much hearts and flowers instead of a good old Porter force or two.

That said, the free, unbiased dissemination of information is imperative to a world of unencumbered and barrier-less education - something that needs to be a reality.

Engineers without boarders [link]:

Just like doctors without borders, engineers without borders has the promise to solve core infrastructure problems in underdeveloped areas of the world. Increasingly it seems that jump-starting a developing area with basic human needs will require jump-starting some basic engineering problems; enter folks who have real talent. I'll pay for lunch & transport.

Kiva [link]:

Kiva is a micro-lending shell site. Basically, they funnel money (e.g. $25) raised from online users/donors to various micro-lending field managers* in impoverished areas of the world to help entrepreneurs get access to credit that they otherwise would not have. Kiva makes it quasi-personable by allowing you to choose which entrepreneurs and field managers to invest in. As entrepreneurs pay back their loan, you can redeploy those funds to new entrepreneurs. 

It's a neat idea, but there is no opportunity for profit here and this is not tax-deductible as 100% of your contributed funds could theoretically be recovered (however unlikely). Also, in many impoverished areas, interest rates are offensively high (by western standards), but are still the best these guys would get otherwise.

* Field managers are local lenders; e.g. a small bank in some town in Sudan.

Adopt-a-classroom [link]:

For some direct impact, Adopt-A-Classroom allows you to donate money directly to a specific school teacher or classroom to be used for school supplies, etc. It's quite nice when you have a few teacher friends who are hell bent on binders, buckets, organizers, and labels. :)

NAMI [link]:

A good friend of mine sponsored a team walk earlier this year as his family was acutely impacted by the tribulations of mental illness. Great event, genuine folks running it, glad to be able to support a friend's family.

Monetary support is just one of the three rails I mentioned; the other two will take time and consistent effort to follow through on. I've already started putting out feelers for a healthy year, but need to get in a rhythm to contribute both time and skill. 

As a note to myself, 80 percent of life is showing up. Pick something that you're passionate about and find out what you can do to help. It's not called sacrifice because it's easy and painless. You make time for what's important.

Why this generation will be better than the last

In the last few months I've been caught up in a back-and-forth conversation with an unnamed member of the baby-boomer generation. One line summary: they're convinced that my generation (Y, the boomer-echo) will not be able to live a better life than the generation prior. I emphatically disagree.

While they've been right calling out the economic headwind we'll face, the trials and tribulations of the geopolitical climate (terrorism included), and all of the legacy issues left to our generation by those prior (fiscal responsibility in government, moving to a preventative and distributed healthcare model rather than one that's curative and centralized*, addiction to oil and global warming, etc.), I'm still optimistic. There's obviously no shortage of problems, so why the optimism?

Well, I think that part of the disagreement is a definitional issue on what constitutes a 'better life' and the other is a fundamental yet underestimated trend well underway - specifically related to technology and the internet.

Values and definitions - a 'better' life:

To be clear, what we're debating here is the perceived quality of life  (QoL) that generation Y will enjoy - not their standard of living (SoL).  Looking solely at the SoL seems a bit myopic as it focuses too much on materiality rather than happiness. To draw the distinction:

Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of living, which is based primarily on income. Instead, standard indicators of the quality of life include not only wealth and employment, but also the built environment, physical and mental health, education, recreation and leisure time, and social belonging. [source]

Given the economic climate that the previous generation enjoyed (which benefited from cheap [read: exploited] labor, reckless financing schemes, and unsustainable consumption patterns - particularly those supported by debt), it's probably a fair argument that generation Y won't see the same multiplier on their SoL as the boomers. It's very possible that those of us who were raised on the bubble will recede a little bit and those of us who slightly missed it will see marginal improvement. It's really the folks in the bottom 10% SoL that I would expect to see major gains over the next 10-50 years (based on the transparency provided by technological advancements).

While our SoL may not increase dramatically over the next 50 years, I adamantly believe that improving our QoL is well within our grasp (notably, measures of physical and mental health, education, and social belonging). Plus, maybe a little economic hardship isn't necessarily a bad thing for folks who may have lost sight of the things that truly matter in life (a slight to materialism... while my iPad sits next to my iMac... and I check a text on my iPhone... at my Eames desk). :-\

Technology and resources:
Regardless, the improvements-to-date and the potential of the world's technological infrastructure is, single-handedly, the biggest reason I'm bullish that generation Y will be able to improve their QoL as much if not more than our predecessors. The world of internet enabled devices is just leaving its nascent stages and as more information - be it status updates (traffic, health monitors, etc.), educational resources (a full suite of competing free online courses), real-time collaboration and crowd-sourced initiatives (the next wiki-[thing]... how about wiki-government?) - come online, the entire paradigm of how our world operates will shift from something offline that is often difficult and expensive to operate at scale, to something online that frequently only has limits as defined by us (e.g. privacy). Also, one of the beauties of technology is how quickly it acts; a behemoth billion dollar industry might get turned on its head in a matter of weeks.

Further, on the topic of social belonging, technologies now are allowing people to connect in ways that were not possible before; physical barriers are becoming less and less of a deterrent and folks are often finding their niches in geographically-unbound pockets; a need that may have otherwise gone unfulfilled. Well articulated here:

The very image of the lonesome blogger, or tweeter or Facebook stalker sitting at home in front of a screen, surrounded by discarded fast food artefacts, lends itself to a fast caricature of post-modern isolation. And yet, I think the opposite is true for most people.

The net and its various ways of connecting people is not driving us all apart. Quite the opposite. It’s creating virtual communities which can easily, and often do transform themselves into real world friendship circles or social networks, to use an uglier, more sociological term.

All of that said, it's not all hearts and flowers. While my generation will have a leg up on a plethora of different fronts (real-time information, improved transparency and communication, enabling more of the population to solve real problems at scale just to name a few), there are many new challenges that we face the prior generation did not (like an abundance of distractions).

In the end, let's hope that generation Y had enough pride and wherewithal instilled in them by their parents to see through short-term materialistic gains and work for the longer-term, more fulfilling, and often win-win goals.

* Alright, that might just be something I see as necessary; probably not an issue most people see as a red warning flag, but given the cost (both human and economic), it should be.

Housing

I'm going through a little roommate churn at the moment, so have naturally been looking at posts of all sorts (inside work and out). Came across a posting to buy an engineer-friendly house. Part of the description:

- fully wired with Cat-5 for networking/phone/sound throughout the house
(48 ports, not 5 or 6 like most places), as well as video wiring. That part
makes the house unique.

- Many lights are wired with X10 so that you can remotely control them from a computer.

Just a few more steps towards my Tony Stark man cave...

Thoughts on time

I'm not really sure when this started, but I've had a fascination with time lately; time as perpetuity, time as 25 years of my life behind me, and time as just another dimension that can be abstracted from the linearity it appears to have. You can't really control time, but you can account for it. Time is never something you can ever start or stop, but you can escape from it; you can jump to different parts of it; you can imagine paths it never took.

I guess my fascination really started after I realized that 3 years have passed since I've been living in San Francisco.....  and I'm 25 years old with no sign of slowing down. While this may seem overly dramatic to those of you further along the timeline than I, it's just startling to see how quickly I went from 20 to 25 and what that means for 25 to 30 or for 30 to 40.

Regardless, when I reflect on the abundance of memories I've had since being out here - the trips to Tahoe, the bad decisions after midnight that turn into great stories the next day, or even the excruciating traffic on the 101 - I'm nothing but smitten in those three years. They seem endlessly filled with great memories. But time does change. Each of those three years has been distinctly different from the one prior or the one after. While some might argue there have been a few constants (like working at Google, friends, etc.), slight differences in perspective or circumstance fundamentally change the entire equation.

But all is not lost. This is where the peculiar nature of time comes in. So many memories - flashbacks to a previous time - carry sentiments vivid enough that they'll make you smile or laugh out loud, even if years have passed. Whether it's a shared cocktail on the beaches of Cabo with my family, or the sight of a friend huddled up on the couch with a 7-iron and a bottle of wine watching Glee, time holds no power over me from zipping through the past and reliving those experiences.

Rather than an inflexible object for which you have no control, time is really something you can browse through, jump to certain parts, relive others. You are still you throughout time. That doesn't change. Sure, what you are doing, who you are with, where you are - that all can change. But at the most basic level you're just at another point in time. You're still connected to all of the people of your past, even if it's only through these flashbacks into the past. Time and distance don't separate people. People separate people.

Even the future is an accessible piece of time. While it may not be the future that will happen, it certainly is a future that could happen. Even the paths of the past that did not come to pass are available to a wandering mind.

Time to go enjoy my Saturday night.

Really?

This may just be funny to me, but it seems a little early to be talking about unprecedented declines.... Accurate - yes, but.....

Article.

November

November is a great month; football on the weekends, a holiday focused on eating, the demise of Midwest weather (and not being a part of it), and a feel-good reason to grow a mustache. Along with millions of 'Mo Bros and Sistas' around the world, I've been letting my upper lip get a little furry for the month to raise awareness and funds for the prostate cancer foundation and the Lance Armstrong foundation.

A Mo Bro starts Movember – the month formerly known as November – clean shaven, and grows a moustache all month long, garnering support from friends and family in the form of donations. What’s more, a Mo Bro is a walking billboard for the cause as his new look opens the door for him to talk about cancers affecting men – making the moustache a symbol, much like the pink ribbon is for breast cancer.

If you feel inclined, please donate here. Not only will I match whatever you donate, but Google will then match whatever I raise (up to $3k). That means that every dollar from you turns into four for the cause - all tax deductible.

Make some moves.

The Knack

Happiness index

I saw my first pointer to Facebook's new 'Gross National Happiness' index - fascinating stuff. Not all too surprising that people are the least happy during the week and happiest on the weekend. Makes you wonder why most spend 5 days out of 7 unhappy.

Forwards

Update: Looks like you can find many more of these at http://www.ruminations.com/site/

A friend forwarded me a collection of thoughts from people my age - picked out a few that resonated:

------------------------------------------------

Random thoughts from people our age...

-I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

-More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

-Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

-I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

-Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?

-Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

-There is a great need for sarcasm font.

-Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first saw it.

-How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

-I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

- I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

-The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.

- A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to the spread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.

- Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

- I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

- Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

- Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

- How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

- Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10 second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

-What would happen if I hired two private investigators to follow each other?

- While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

- Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

- I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

-Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

- Bad decisions make good stories

-Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

-If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

-Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

-You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

-There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

-I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

- "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

-I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

-I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

-When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

-I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

-Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

-I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

-My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World - John Wood

I finished reading this piece by John Wood a few weeks back - an easy read, but definitely carries a lot of rhetorical questions. As a little background, John is the founder and executive chairman of Room to Read - a non-profit whose mission is to partner with local communities in the developing world to bring quality education to their children. Prior to starting Room to Read, John was a senior executive at Microsoft who liked to escape from the 80 hour weeks every now and then to backpack across the globe.

During one such trek in Nepal, John "visited several local schools and was amazed by the warmth and enthusiasm of the students and teachers, but also saddened by the shocking lack of resources." Shortly after, room to read was born.

There were a few comments/points that John made which really resonated with me:

1. His choices and path in life are very admirable - which should be a given. That said, it's not for everybody. And that's okay. Not everybody needs to drop everything and pursue something the way he has. If they did, he wouldn't have any funding. :) But to pursue something so holistically and to live with so much passion is an absolute must - regardless of what you're doing.
   
   
2. Starting Room to Read was not a conscious decision - at least in the form it ended up in. Originally he simply set out to make a one-time donation to create a single library for a school, but over time it got bigger and bigger and he just went with the momentum.
   
   
3. A core part of his message was that he developed the necessary skill sets to succeed with Room to Read while he was working in the private sector - at Microsoft in particular. Said differently, until you think you can actually make contact, there isn't strong logic to step up to the plate.
   
   
4. Partially contrasting the above statement, Thomas Edison once said "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed up in overalls and looks like hard work."

Overall this was a good read. It's not very long, but it's also more of a documentary-esque read. Not gonna lie, it brought out a tear or two and several solid laughs while on the bus to and from work.

Recommended.