relationship angst

the movie, "Gabrielle" captured the potential torment of two human spirits trapped in a relationship that shouldn't be...

Best pizza in SF...so FAR

Okay, I love New York Pizza. It's actually an obsession and a big Value of mine. So I am going to continue to blog about finding the best New York Pizza in San Francisco...

Right Now I am zeroed in on Victor's Pizza on Polk...

More to follow

bernanke will sing the blues, so go gold

I have said it before...I'll say it again, Bernanke, the fed chairman, is in a tight spot. It is very unlikely we are living during the time of a global depression, but then again why take a chance. What is more likely: that we have mastered financial markets to such a degree that unforeseen events will never occur leading to corrections in the system, or, we cannot account for everything and shocks to the system will still occur?

You pick...

and kids....don't forget about the wildcard from the sub-prime situation...

I'm not saying that the world is falling apart. I am not saying that the economy is crashing. I am not saying that civilization as we know it is at and end....There is not need to re-watch the 'Mad Max' series to get 'psyched up' for a post apocalyptic Mel movie...but I am saying think...

before you buy that next BMW you so want...

before you say, "Well I'll pay off the credit card next month..."

before you think, "My job is secure, I'm going to just buy this house even though it'll be stretch, a strain and a great stress to my life..."

before you proclaim, "Life is great and this is how things are always going to be..."

about simplifying your life...your desires and your wants...

common but not well understood

IQ tests become stupid after a certain age.

why?

I think after a certain age general knowledge and problem solving abilities become commonplace. Anything the test can test falls within the 'realm of the known' so you are measuring a person's potential for greatness within a box.

I think of the scene in the jerk when he's at the carnival...great scene...he has to guess your weight within a pound or two...if not you win a prize... the window from which you can pick your prize and the window keeps shrinking...

back to the action...here's the dialog:
-----------------------------------

"Now, what do I win?

           
Anything in this general area right in here.

           
Anything below the stereo and
on this side of the bicentennial glasses.

           
Anything between the ashtrays
and the thimble.

             
Anything in this three inches
right in here, in this area.

              
That includes the Chiclets,
but not the erasers."

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

So funny...I always loved that scene, but i've only seen it once...don't know why it has stuck?!

anyway...real IQ finds a prize you really want with new connections made with in the 'chicklet window'...to think creatively...IQ tests don't let you make new connections...you have to pick the chicklets...

that said the only way to do anything interesting is to make new connections between already existing concepts, ideas and values.

haunted housing

It's not even Halloween yet, but the housing market is scaring investors. And rightfully so...and maybe not scaring them enough. The Fed has ascertained that the sub-prime woes will not hurt the financial system. I find it hardly comforting that they have to tell me that. To me, it's kind of like when the plane is going down, things look bleak but you...without missing a beat...tell the child next to you that, "don't worry, everything is going to be okay."

I'm do not think that the housing market is going to suck the rest of the economy with it down the drain. But I do think that nobody really knows how this is going to play out. My bet is on things being a little worse than the rosiest scenario, but not as bad as the worst. There...did not clear things up for you...but...don't worry...Everything is going to be okay...

just keep it light...

Every notice people that are native to San Francisco pronounce it correctly...and that is 'Sar-AN-CIS-Co'...it's all one world...as opposed to the tourist barking out, "Yeah, we just spent one hell of a time over dere in FRISCO!..."'

Gotta make up some T-shirts for the tourists with the correct pronunciation...so I can stop that wincing pain that goes up my spine every time i hear it...

"honda civic $43,000 or OBO"

check out edmunds.com true cost to own to get an idea what you thought was your cheap car, you might be surprised.

I am reading a book now called 'live well on less than you think' and he hits on this. He does not advocate going totally carless, but dropping down to one car per household, while a burden, will save you a tonne of cash!

he also talks about generation xer's and their views, "...the Xer's have developed the art of the short career. they do something for five years and then go onto something else. That kind of flexibility his how Xers work. They don't believe in long-term commitments because their experiences growing up included watching mom and dad get a divorce, dad getting laid off [i watched this with my dad]...things don't last and you can't depend on them...they want to be flexible and reinvent themselves when they have to."

Well said! that about sums me up!

Some other books i got at the library are: 'don't spend your raise', 'when you lose your job' (just in case....sticking with my generation x programming), 'six months off' (for if the last one happens..)...

and this one looks interesting: 'will work for food' about a 60 year old guy that gets fired from his job and is now homeless...takes place in contra costa county. he went there from San Francisco so people wouldn't recognize him as he panhandles...

at my last job i became friends with a guy that was homeless in Oakland for some time, about a year. He had a great saying, "keep it real". Meaning, don't get lost in all the BS that is out there. Great guy. He said, while he wouldn't want to be homeless again, that it was a great learning experience. I bet it was...

"I live at 222 Road Rage Drive..."

Being on a bike, can I get road rage? Although I don't get road rage, I find I have to bike aggressively sometimes in order to get where I am going...or cars will not let you in...out...or by...

It is speculated that road rage results from a sense of anonymous power from driving a car. I have heard of bikers at 'critical mass' smashing cars, particularly mini-vans, but I have never seen this. Although, in a large group, a sense of anonymous power could be sensed, even if on a bike. And the mini-van smashing incident would support the anonymous sense of power theory.

Critical mass is a good idea, but i think they need to develop a little more sensitivity to people in cars. I feel sorry for so many people locked in their cars...critical mass should show there are good alternatives to the car. Good, peaceful alternatives...

and they should also just let the mini-vans go in peace...

the future of idea management is non-profitable

non-profits are where the future of idea development lies, not the corporation. Resistance to a few benefiting off of the many will continue to pressure corporations. Recently the non-profit, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), has pressured Intel to start passing out laptops to kids in the developing countries of the world. It has brought Intel to the negotiating table. The two may work together.

I think this trend will continue. The pressure on corporations to become good corporate citizens also reflects this trend.

who killed the electric car?

I watched 'who killed the electric car'. A great movie and worth a watch. The EV1 that GM put out looked like a really neat car and the owners of the EV1 were really passionate about them. Some were even arrested in protesting the 'collecting' of their cars when GM killed the program. It was sad...the killing of an idea...but maybe good riddance because check out Tesla's cars...

But I wonder if Tesla is only 'allowed' to be in the marketplace because it's niche is so small? And that's why it has such a high priced car to limit it's mass market appeal? One has to wonder?

All of the policy and guidance shaping our markets (such as the success or failure of the electric car) and society as well as what our values are really gets set from the top down. And it's a shame that our leaders are really just self-promoters interested in making money whose values don't always reflect those of the community. I suppose one value that is universally accepted is that of money. So when money is most valued, those individuals who value it most will rise to the top.

Perhaps this can only last so long. I suppose Bush knew, as well as those that put him in power, that his popularity would dissipate, but that it doesn't matter. He did what he had to do...his job is done...

asset lite and a core

Jeff Skilling at Enron pushed for an 'asset light' concept for the company. While Enron ended up creating a new definition for "go big or go home", innovations that the company was responsible for and still in use today are not credited to the company. It's amazing to think that Enron was selected for six years in a row as the 'most innovative company' in the world by Fortune Magazine. I think the asset light theory truly is/was innovative, as long as it had a 'liability lite' side as well.

I think true happiness and freedom comes from not buying and identifying with the expensive house, the car, or the iphone...as my grandmother used to say, "Keep your Assets light, and your Dreams in sight."

In a totally different mode...i've joked that we need a peace corps type unit within the military which consists more of police and social enablers to go into Iraq...John Edwards has received some out of context 'slams' for his bumper sticker comment but his ideas seem very sound, which includes a 'Marshall Corps'....Read for yourself...

BBQ

Grilling...grills...BBQing (for a history of)...represents how we can take something as simple and as primitive as cooking meat via burning charcoal and elevating it to the 'realm of the expensive'.

I just grilled last night on a fold up grill bought at Lowes for under $10. A grill for under $10! amazing! (Which is cheaper than this grill cover...and my 'cheapgrill' can easily be clean up, folded up and stored away...not cluttering up my living space....)

And compare that to the price of this grill.

We take something simple, make it complex and expensive. We have to elevate everything to the "realm of the complicated". I think if we kept grilling, or transportation or life simple, we would then be saying to ourselves, "what else is there?" and have to come to terms with the simplicity of everything. And that everything boils down to a grilled piece of chicken is a grilled piece of chicken. So a lesson in 'applied philosophy' is keep life simple and pure....buy the ten buck grill and use your $689 saved to buy chicken for the next 10 years....

who needs a home?

Sometimes we have to question things that are given to us as 'givens'. I think home ownership is one. Here's an excerpt from a Forbes article:

Certainly there are plenty of stable, wealthy, well-educated places in Europe, at least, where homeownership is far rarer than it is in the U.S. Nearly 70% of all Americans own their own homes; only 34% of the Swiss do. Thriving cities like Hamburg, Amsterdam and Berlin have rates of ownership of just 20%, 16% and 11% respectively, according to the United Nations.

REI bike class

Love the REI...did you know they are offering bike maintenance classes?

the right book

I keep looking for books on 'surviving and thriving without a job'. There is the classic, 'how to survive without a salary' that I have read a few times. But I am looking for something updated. With real life stories. With real hints, tips and tricks of staying ahead of the curve ball without a job. I am thinking of finding people living this life, get their stories, adventures and methods for living 'outside of the system'. I think I will write it just for myself, now that I think about it...as a guide...get buy in from the experts who are living this life now...

make it a free on line resource...

This link comes from a great reader of the blog: about freeganism

sit back, relax and watch your quality of life drift away...ahhhhhh

The very thing that makes India-China such a powerful economic force, their massive pools of cheap labor, is going to make their transition as burgeoning first world nations very interesting to watch.

As Americans, we benefit in being a relatively small population relative to the worlds population in terms of economic well being. Only very few can have such a high quality of life. We have had that benefit as a result of the scales being tilted in our favor in the last 50 years. That's not right, but it what has been and it what is. And it is what we have gotten used to.

Now those economic benefits are flowing away from our shoes, we will most definitely see a waning of our quality of life in terms of economic measures. But in terms of real quality of life...in not driving a car quality of life...we are just seeing the potential of what can be.

As a foot note, look at a recent businessweek publication on the real cost of outsourcing and the new ground we are breaking in measuring economic data...

I Tuned Out

Okay, my music purchased from itunes did not carry over. Guess what? I'm still smiling with insignia...

pod break

Okay, the fifth or sixth ipod i got from the apple store to replace my long ago defunct Ipod...went defunt. I gladly moved onto a cheap non Ipod mp3 player by Insignia which is the best buy brand. I have not had it long enough to proclaim my love it it...not just yet. But so far I am highly smitten with it. This is why:

1- it's cheap...coming in under 60 bucks you aren't sweating Ibullets at the check-out (and I made the purchase with a gift card i got from my computer purchase a few months back so it was a token to buy),
2-it's very light, but still has a screen,
3-it has a replaceable battery,
4-i'm out of the itunes prison...

I thought it was going to be a real pain, but it was painless. AAC was converted no problem. So were itunes songs which I didn't think was possible. I made the switch even thinking I was going to lose songs I purchased on Itunes, which was a non-issue...

I am going to go out on an Ilimb and say the Iphone is going to be a bust. A big bust! Not initially. Early adopters will go out in droves to buy the thing, but in this case it's going to be painful to be an early adopter.

I think the consolidation and 'centralization' of your mp3 player, phone and hand held device is a bad idea. If your device goes down (take note...my Ipod did)...then you are not only out your mp3 player, you are without communication, your phone, and you are dead in the water with your files saved on your hand held device. And your wallet is broken as well...because you paid an arm and a leg for the thing in the first place. The thing doesn't even have to get busted...it just has to be misplaced...

No...the future...is seperate devices, but devices that can 'talk' to each other so your devices 'back each' other up. You have an 'ecosystem' (trying to bring that word back to the business world) of devices with no central device that you can't do without.

"Forgot your phone?" no worries, your mp3 player will play backup until you get your phone back...

"sat on your mp3 player?!" No problem...your phone has your fav songs...

Palm is moving in this direction with it's new foleo...

devices need to help one another...not compete with one another...just like their owners...

a biking society?

Until today I've always been disgruntled how we are such a 'car society. But today i thought, "today is the best time ever to become a biker as a main means of transportation!".

Sure we are dependent on the car today. But 150 years ago we were depended upon the horse and carriage. Not the bicycle. And asphalt makes for a great biking surface. I think we still may yet become a biking society. All of the pieces are there. Groups like the San Francisco Bike Coalition are making life in SF better for the biker...

I believe things will get better...look at GM...

Heck, my girlfriend is even thinking of trading in her car for a gem car since her commute is only 7 miles. On days when we have a trip that's been planned we can rent an appropriate vehicle for that trip...a SUV...a Truck...something with 4 wheel drive...

She excitedly biked to work one day. I am having to tell her to take it slow...so if my girlfriend, a lifelong car driver can think this way, then things are getting better I think...

cheap light

I want to get a rechargeable light for my bike and found this site on building your own...

and another cool site on how to make a new bike for a hundred bucks..