Where's William?

Considering insurance

2009-12-01T18:44:00.000-08:00

Travel Considerations Provided by the Following...
by Ryan
Guest Post

Traveling for any reason is a gamble, especially when you face the reality that your at-home insurance [might not] touch the medical costs you incur abroad. Much of the headache of the gamble can be mitigated by travel insurance.

Travel insurance can cover everything. It can be your medical and dental insurance, your life and accidental death insurance, and your car insurance, all wrapped in one. It even allows for the possibility of trip cancellation and interruption. Also, most travel insurance plans allot tens of thousands of dollars for emergency medical expenses, and hundreds of thousands of dollars for emergency medical transportation. This could be the difference between third-world care in Indonesia and first-world care in Singapore. More importantly, many in-state health plans don't cover injuries and illnesses abroad. Other pluses include accidental death coverage and repatriation of remains. Finally, car insurance: you may be a safe driver, but you haven't seen how some people drive abroad!

Other considerations include: coverage of local ambulance services, repatriation of remains (in the event of accidental death), and emergency reunion with relatives. Travelguard, Travelex, and HCC Medical Insurance Services all offer comprehensive coverage options that are as flexible as your budget.

Considering your health

2009-11-29T10:34:00.000-08:00

Travel Considerations Provided by the Following...
by Ryan
Guest Post

The inevitable happened. William, who has been traveling to and from Mexico of late, brought back the most obvious stowaway: swine flu. It's made the rounds in the house, but we've survived and managed not to spread it any farther.

Though we in the U.S. have had our brush with swine flu, many of us have largely put it behind us. We understand its severity and that we all know someone who's been affected by it--and survived without too much worry. Online, you'll find articles (like this and this) calling this the year of the 2009 flu pandemic. But personally, I'm not too worried about it. Initially, people speculated that swine flu would rival huge-scale and deadly pandemics like the Spanish Flu of 1918, the Asian Flu of 1957, or the Hong Kong Flu of 1968 (overview here). It doesn't appear to be the case anymore. People get sick, then go on with their lives.

How is it we've gone from crazy to carefree?

My answer is, the same way we forget that malaria, AIDS, cholera, and rabies continue all over the world, largely unnoticed by us. Whatever we have to say about our health care (and recent months have proven that many of us have a lot to say about it, whether we understand it or not), Americans are generally healthy. We fret over the common cold more than malaria, contracting cancer than AIDS. Diabetes and heart disease are more real evils to us than are famine and pestilence.

Changing locales, however, means changing perspectives. Malaria is rampant in many parts of the developing world. Missions to Sub-Saharan Africa to battle poverty inevitably bring AIDS to the forefront. Prepare yourself for the ailments of your destination, rather than those of your origin.

Visit a travel clinic, such as King County's. Travel clinics are often more prepared for travel questions and concerns than your general practitioner. They also usually have vaccines on hand and can write prescriptions for drugs important to travel. For more information about travel ailments, preventative measures and medicines against them--including where and how to get them while abroad--visit the CDC website.

Immunizations, Vaccinations

Get immunized and vaccinated before you go abroad. Shell out the dough and embrace your right to be healthy all over the world. Here's one preventative measure--a kind of prepaid insurance plan--that could save your life.

The vaccines may be costly, but they are most certainly worth it. The rabies vaccine is hundreds of dollars, yet few places in the world are rabies-free. The vaccine allows an infected person more time to get to a facility with the proper treatment. The cost more than makes up for the discomfort, subsequent cost of care, and is worth the extra time it would take to get to a hospital with the cure. [I got it when traveling to places in Africa with lots of animals and little medical care. --William]

It's also important to allow enough time before travel for multiple immunization/vaccination shots, which is the case for the Hepatitis vaccination series. Equally important is the fact that some of these shots cannot be taken one after the other; there is a necessary window between doses of the HepB vaccine, for instance.

Prescriptions

Travel clinicians can prescribe drugs, such as ciprofloxacin for traveler's diarrhea or acetazolamide for altitude sickness--among others. Your general practitioner can prescribe the same drugs, but they don't always have the right information about a location at their fingertips. Patronize your local travel clinic, because they often suffer from budget cutbacks, though they often offer cheaper services than your own GP. In the event that you run out of a drug abroad, it's possible to get a replacement in-country. Do some research beforehand though. Fake drugs can be found everywhere.

Considering the place

2009-10-31T01:17:00.000-07:00

Travel Considerations Provided by the Following...
by Ryan
Guest Post

When traveling abroad, your first course of action is to visit the U.S. Department of State travel page. It has important information about visa requirements and travel advisories, and lets you register your travel itinerary with them.

Visa Requirements

American travelers are lucky. Many countries around the world have friendly, diplomatic relations with us and will happily take our money. High-frequency travel destinations (Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand--and many places in Europe, thanks to the Schengen Agreement) have lax visa requirements for American visitors in town for a bit. For everywhere else, there's the Bureau of Consular Affairs.

There are gray areas. Online, you'll see it's "easy" to secure a short-term visa in Indonesia. Compared to Japan and Thailand, however, getting an Indonesian visa is not easy. You wait in one line to pay for it. Then you wait in another huge line that take up ninety percent of airport's international receiving room to pick it up. No air-conditioning, no ventilation. Two hours later, you leave the airport, sticky with sweat, visas in hand.

Of course, you can always secure a visa for many places in advance online.

Travel Advisories

Check out any international travel advisories before you leave home. It will prepare you for the unknown. Tourist havens aren't exempt; anyone who's had her purse or his wallet stolen knows. Moreover, criminals are often unique to an area. For example, in many places it's best to arrange a cab, e.g. through a hotel, rather than hail one off a street. In Indonesia, you may pay too much. In seedier parts of Mexico, it could cost you your life.

Register Your Itinerary

This may seem a little too "Big Brother" for you, but how else will anyone know you were kidnapped and imprisoned in North Korea? Bill Clinton won't know where to rescue you from. Register your itinerary online, and you'll be in a better position, should you get in hot water.

And leave the recreational drugs at home. Singapore would imprison you for even having illegal drugs in your system, let alone on your person. Would you trust an OTC detox kit to save you from prison abroad?

Considering travel (2009-08-19/10-17)

2009-10-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

Ryan has traveled with me to 10 countries in 6 years (Canada, Mexico, France, England, Germany, China, New Zealand, Indonesia, Thailand, and Japan), and has blogged about Paris. As I have traveled alone for work recently, Ryan has written a series of guest blog posts on items to consider before traveling.

Travel Considerations Provided by the Following...
by Ryan
Guest Posts

William has been traveling a lot lately, first for fun, now for work. With little notice, he flies off to Sacramento, CA, USA, or Chihuahua, CH, Mexico. He hopes one day to be sent on assignments in South America--Argentina or Chile--or Europe--especially Spain or Italy, both of which we missed when we were in Paris, France, for ten weeks in the Fall of 2006.
Because of this, we've come up with a kind of regimen for travel. He hates packing, so I often help him, or he waits till the day of to do it. We try to set things in order so that I'll at least have an idea of how things should look when he gets back. Though he drags his feet sometimes, the one thing he doesn't procrastinate about is investigating his destination.
It behooves the healthy world-traveler like William to sit down for a little pre-travel planning. It's one thing to bum around the US--where the laws are familiar and people speak English. Not so abroad, even as close as Mexico. Many people assume that, if American tourists are mucking about, the place must be safe. But you might want exercise a little more precaution...

These guest blogposts will address three areas of particular import for the new and seasoned frequent-flyer--tips to lubricate the often sticky wheels that get you to and from your destination safely. They concern the following: first and foremost, the place you'll be spending all your time at; your health; and finally, as a less than obvious extension of the former, travel insurance--which will preserve your well being as well as your wallet. Finally, I'll give an example of when all three concerns came into play: my and William's trip around China in the Spring of 2008.

Christchurch (2009-05-18)

2009-05-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

After a day of mostly sitting in airports and airplanes, I was anxious to walk, especially since that is one this trip's priorities. Ryan and I roughly followed, in reverse, the walking tour of Christchurch from Insight Guides New Zealand Step by Step, taking extra time in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. The garden and surrounding area feel like part of an English city.

New Zealand (2009-05-18)

2009-05-17T17:31:00.001-07:00

After a full day of traveling we find ourselves visitors somewhere new. The day was a 2:37 flight to Los Angeles, 5:13 in LAX, a 12:45 flight to Aukland, 2:45 in Aukland going through biosecurity and customs, and a 1:20 flight to Christchurch. Traveling took care of Saturday and the International Date Line took care of Sunday, so Ryan and I arrive Monday the farthest south (approximately 43°32' S) we have ever been, in New Zealand on a new continent (Zealandia in Australasia). The Boeing 747-400 was empty enough to permit sleeping across seats, so we end up with enough energy to walk Christchurch Monday afternoon.

Buying tickets (2009-05-07/08)

2009-05-13T06:35:00.000-07:00

Furlough travel plans led me to once again purchase international flights leaving 2009-05-16 and returning 2009-07-01. Here's the itinerary:

New Zealand (Christchurch to Aukland) 2009-05-18/30
Indonesia (Denpasar, Bali) 2009-05-30/06-13
Thailand (Bangkok) 2009-06-13/23
Japan (Tokyo) 2009-06-23/07-01

A Circle Pacific ticket appears twice as expensive, so these are changeable (for a fee) and refundable flights, in case we want to go to China or return to the US.

Planning contigencies (2009-05-06)

2009-05-10T14:28:00.001-07:00

There's the chance of work in China, but I'm going traveling on furlough. It appears it's possible to obtain a Chinese business visa in Hong Kong, where an American citizen can visit for 90 days without a visa. I liked Hong Kong, so a trip there is a contingency plan in case of work in China.

Planning travel (2009-05-01/05)

2009-05-10T14:24:00.001-07:00

There's time to travel. Once again the questions are "Where should William go?" and "What should William do?"

Where Should William Go?

I've been to Asia (China) since I last asked these questions on my blog. The continents (besides Antarctica) that I haven't visited are South America (though of course I live in the Americas) and Australia (though I have been to Oceania, which includes Australasia). If I went to South America I'd want to practice Spanish. I'm resuming Mandarin, so Australasia seems good.

In fact, it might be fun to circle the pacific (see "Part II of the Vision" and "How do you arrange your flights?" on The Art of Non-Conformity). Previous comments recommended New Zealand, Thailand, and Japan. I've found friends and friends of friends recommend Bali.

What Should William Do?

Below are my travel priorities:

Photograph wildlife. Since fantasy was an early inspiration to travel, why not photograph a dragon? Another possibility is kiwi-spotting in Trounson Kauri Park.
Walk. While it's almost winter in New Zealand, there might be great walks.
See mountains. The Lord of the Rings movies suggest beautiful mountains in New Zealand. In addition, Ryan offered to climb Mount Fuji to persuade me to visit Japan.
Visit forests.
Sail.
Visit ruins.
See castles.

That's a lot to cover! Aside from living in Paris, my longest trip to date was one month in east Africa. I'd like to travel longer than a month this time.

[Resized photograph.]

Planning furlough (2009-04-27/30)

2009-05-10T14:11:00.000-07:00

Despite the prospect of work in China, there is currently little coaching or development management for me. Consequently my company sent me on furlough. The finances suggest the furlough could stop in 30 to 60 days; sales staff suggest it will stop sooner. Since I've saved (expenses and taxes at home average 52% of income), this seems like an opportunity to both help my employer and to travel while I'm still brave enough to do it. I think it is more likely than not that there will be work when I return.

[Resized photograph.]

Resuming Mandarin (2009-05-03)

2009-05-07T10:48:00.001-07:00

It's a coin toss whether I will return to China this summer--this time with a business visa for coaching, consulting, or development. My employer might have an opportunity, and might send me. Asking simple questions before a Friday social (你想喝葡萄酒吗/Nǐ xiǎng hē pútáojiǔ ma/Do you want to drink wine?) suggests my rudimentary Mandarin study makes me the best non-native speaker in the office. I would enjoy traveling China again, and I need work, so I have resumed studying in hope of temporarily relocating there.

Imagining financial planning (2008-08-06)

2008-08-06T22:37:00.000-07:00

Another life I imagine might be some sort of a financial planner. Clearly I like to play with numbers, and review personal finance books (e.g., illustrating compound interest and the cost of current gratification, or explaining stocks and bonds). While I'd like further education, I already have some competence with finance, following this advice:

Simplify by donating or selling unneeded items.
Maintain a used car as long as possible (e.g., by minimizing driving).
Have no debt--in fact, through budgeting save an emergency fund for one year's expenses.
Save and research for major purchases (including SIFF and travel).
Pay bills online automatically.
Almost always pay the full balance on credit cards selected for their features.
Regularly review three free credit reports.
Contribute to an (Roth or traditional) IRA.
Use savings to defer income in order to start a business.
Research and purchase auto, dental, disability, liability, life, medical, renter's, and vision insurance, combining when possible.
Have an estate plan.
Set up a 401(k) and fully fund it.
Periodically review asset allocation.
Have written goals and milestones for net worth and retirement.

While I'm not (yet) a millionaire, I would be interested in coaching others in Seattle, particularly those starting out in technical fields.

[Corrected wording.]

Imagining travel writing (2008-08-02)

2008-08-02T23:00:00.000-07:00

Although it is probably more efficient to make needed money with another interest and take time to travel, I sometimes wonder what life would be like as a freelance travel writer and photographer. It's fun to imagine other lives.

I would continue my quest to visit every continent (except Antarctica), and then visit various regions within each continent. Without worrying about other income, I would also travel more slowly, writing each day--rather than recording only a small portion of the trip afterwards (like China, Paris, Hawai`i, east Africa, or the perimeter of the USA) or not at all (like Germany, Los Cabos, Banff National Park, or Honduras). That way I would finish my recollections before my next trip began! (For example, I don't remember which cathedral in Germany I was in when I took this natural light photograph.)

[Edited link.]

Hiking Boulder River (2008-07-26)

2008-07-27T10:38:00.000-07:00

For me, July 2008 has included three short hikes a short drive from Seattle:

St. Edward's Park with graduate school colleagues on ---05,
Cougar Mountain (though I considered Ebeys Landing) with friends on ---12, and
Boulder River with my dad on ---26.

A couple of these let me spend part of a day in the forest--one of my goals for this year. Only on the most recent hike did I remember my camera. I'm enjoying the exercise.

Building SF ATIS (2003-06-07/2004-03-24)

2008-07-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

Sending the final invoice this month for maintenance of the real-time Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) Web site for the San Francisco Bay area has me reflecting on my company's past projects to discern what I would like to do next. I liked managing a team to build the site using repeatable processes. I contributed by implementing the site's driving times calculations in SQL and VBScript, writing an SQL test suite, and configuring Big Brother monitoring. Often I reviewed code and design documentation. In fact, some days I mostly made decisions. The result was an accessible and easy-to-use map and text system capable of delivering a million page views per day via (BIG-IP) load-balancing two three-server stacks.

I'm proud of our ability to rapidly reach this result within a fixed fee and schedule. Our team took less time to revise the requirements and build the site than the previous company had taken to produce the requirements--and did so in the remaining budget!

Seeing Forbidden City (2008-05-14)

2008-05-27T18:11:00.000-07:00

Walking around in the summer warmth of the famous Forbidden City, taking photographs of the red buildings, I feel the elation of a first meeting with someone beautiful. Forbidden City is a fling, however, as I doubt I could live in Běijīng knowing that the sky is not misty but smoggy.

There are surprisingly few people in Forbidden City in the early morning as we work our way south to Tiān'ānmén Square. The crowds arrive later and travel north. We hear Spanish in the gift shop and chat with a traveler from Spain.

After Forbidden City, Tiān'ānmén Square, and a disappointing lunch, jet lag lures us into a nap before a Peking Roast Duck dinner at Quanjude. A friend of a friend who is in Běijīng working for Microsoft meets us. The duck there is delicious.

[Added more links.]

Arriving in Běijīng (2008-05-13)

2008-05-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

May 12 we were in the United States of America, and May 13 we were in the People's Republic of China for three weeks of vacation (with no visa trouble). Two airplanes and a taxi brought us to Běijīng, to Xiyuan Villa. On the way the language around us changed from English to Japanese (changing planes in Tokyo) to Mandarin.

Běijīng smells burnt. That's my first impression as I sit in the speeding taxi. It's an official Běijīng taxi, from the taxi stand rather than the salesman inside, but still it has no seat belts. The impression of burning stays with me for a week. The back of my throat and my eyes burn. A business associate later says he smokes only in Běijīng. Since he's going to inhale smoke anyway, he says, it might as well taste good. He also doubts the seat belts would save me from anything.

[Added explanatory links.]

Leaving Feistel (2008-05-12)

2008-05-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

We once again left our cat with a friend while traveling, this time for three weeks instead of two months.

Walking around Seattle (2008-04-22/05-10)

2008-05-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

After 226 days of walking entered in Walker Tracker, on April 21 the Omron Health Management Software, while receiving data (using a USB cable from the pedometer to the PC), began reporting "The data transfer failed." I hoped it would eventually download--perhaps after the offending day's data had left the device's memory--but now my Omron HJ-720ITC pedometer has begun showing days with zero steps. Like others who have posted elsewhere, I am "disappointed" at the device failure. "For me the selling point was the USB connection," wrote one reviewer (see Google cache). I'll switch pedometers to resume tracking.

Getting immunized downtown (2008-05-06)

2008-05-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

While I was entering Tarangire National Park (March 14, 2000), a tsetse fly bit the back of my hand. Fearing further bites, when I reached the porch of my ridge tent I took off my shirt to spray it with Permethrin--and a tsetse fly bit my back.

Later that day I developed diarrhea and a moderate fever. As my temperature rose I worried I would become delirious and no one would discover my condition. This was one of three times in Africa that I wished I had a traveling companion.

My fever stopped rising and finally dropped, I got some rest, and my driver checked with me the next morning. The following day I was well and resumed my safari, taking photographs of elephants and afternoon storms.

This illustrates part of my philosophy of travel. I take whatever precautions are possible, accept that traveling has risks, and then forget my worries and focus on enjoying the experience.

Some precautions are medications and vaccinations for vaccine-preventable diseases. Last year I wrote about anti-malarial medication, mosquito avoidance, and a red colobus monkey. Vaccinations include routine vaccinations like MMR, polio, and Tdap, as well as vaccinations like hepatitis (A and B), rabies, and typhoid.

When I went to Africa, I was watching wild animals, so I received rabies vaccinations. For our trip to China, there wasn't time for the series, and we anticipated less time outdoors. For similar reasons we didn't get the Japanese encephalitis vaccinations. In addition, there are shortages of both of those vaccines. We'll avoid malaria-risk areas of China as well. We did go to King County Downtown Public Health Center Travel Clinic to update routine vaccinations and get hepatitis and typhoid vaccinations. Finally, Ryan is spraying our clothing with Permethrin. At least this time I'm not traveling alone.

Buying Northwest Tickets (2008-04-30)

2008-05-08T11:27:00.000-07:00

At the end of April I bought us tickets to China using Expedia Travel. We depart Seattle May 12, arriving in Tokyo on May 13 and proceeding on to Běijīng. We depart Hong Kong June 2 for Seattle (via Tokyo again). We're excited to again venture abroad to somewhere new . It's been nearly two years since we purchased our last international flights to Paris. I hope they honor our visas because I'm looking forward to learning Mandarin and seeing tourist sights (e.g., palaces and temples)!

Getting Visas (2008-03-13)

2008-05-07T16:15:00.000-07:00

Learning Mandarin leaves me interested in traveling the PRC. We filled out the "Visa Application Form of the People’s Republic of China", listing as destinations Běijīng, Jǐnán, Shànghǎi, Hángzhōu, Xiàmén, Guǎngzhōu, Shēnzhèn, Hong Kong, and Aòmén (Macau).

On March 7 I relinquished two passports and US$300 cash to Holiday China China in Seattle. A week or so later I retrieved the passports with 12-month multiple-entry tourist (L) visas valid for 60 days each entry.

On March 27, according to the South China Morning Post (via a thread in Asia - North-East Asia Thorn Tree Travel Forum), the PRC stopped issuing multiple-entry visas, restricting travelers to single- or double-entry visas valid for 30 days. This is especially inconvenient for business travelers, one of whom started a blog. A business associate with an apartment in Běijīng wrote, "First time in 15 years I have worried about China immigration." Yesterday the PRC said the restrictions on visas are part of its Olympic security measures. I'm glad we applied early, though I'm slightly worried about third-hand rumors of multiple entry Chinese visas being canceled at the border.

Listening to Mandarin (2008-01-05/04-20)

2008-04-27T18:52:00.001-07:00

Today I am intrigued by juxtaposition of contrasts in spoken (and written) Chinese:

to ask, "Is it?" say shì bú shì (是不是), putting "is" next to "isn't";
to refer to "thing," say dōng xi (东西), putting "east" next to "west";
to ask, "How many?" say duō shao (多少), putting "many" next to "few"; and
to refer to "size", say dà xiǎo(大小), putting "big" next to "small."

Though not in this blog's goal list, "Chat in Mandarin" is my 2008 non-work mental challenge. I listen daily on my 30 GB iPod to Instant Immersion Mandarin Chinese or Pimsleur Chinese (Mandarin) I, usually while doing 30 minutes of moderate activity. I chose Mandarin because Asia would be new to me and because there are perhaps 1.05 billion speakers. It's the language with the most native speakers (followed by Spanish and English, which I already speak)--an order of magnitude more speakers than other Chinese languages like Cantonese.

I've written about mental self-improvement several times. Recent research into neuroplasticity suggests thinking, learning, and acting actually change the brain. One of the activities Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot: Unleashing Your Brain's Potential consequently encourages is memorization. Since Mandarin is not in the Indo-European language family like Spanish and English, it poses a memorization challenge for me (though thankfully not due to noun declensions or verb conjugations).

An additional memorization challenge is learning Chinese characters or hàn zì (汉字). In fact, some recommend against learning characters at first; others think writing is the main reason Chinese is so hard. (In contrast, to me the four tones don't sound hard so far.) I am studying an average of one simplified character and compound per day from Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters Volume 1: A Revolutionary New Way To Learn And Remember The 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters.

For flashcards I enter hàn zì into Zhongwen Development Tool (zdt)，a program discussed in Chinese forums that has a plug-in to search the CEDICT Chinese-English dictionary. I also downloaded a Pimsleur word list for zdt. The zdt stores hàn zì, pīnyīn romanization, and English definition. Other information (e.g., Learning Chinese Characters visual imagery), I enter into Mnemosyne.

Instant Immersion Mandarin Chinese came with Talk Now! Plus software from Eurotalk Interactive. However, both of the SourceForge programs (zdt and Mnemosyne), like the Pimsleur language learning system, use spaced repetition techniques (an idea I first encountered in Tony Buzan's Use Both Sides of Your Brain). Mnemosyne uses an early version of (and simpler interface to) the SuperMemo algorithm discussed in this month's Wired.

This juxtaposition of modern research and tools with an ancient language and writing may help my memory, but it also provides direction for travel. True immersion may be available in the People's Republic of China, where the official language is Standard Mandarin and the government uses simplified characters.

Reading Agile Software Development with Scrum (2007-12-17/2008-01-01)

2008-01-05T11:30:00.000-08:00

"Scrum is built on an empirical process control model which is radically different from the defined model that most processes and methodologies use."
--Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle, Agile Software Development with Scrum

This past month I attended a Seattle XP Users Group meeting, read Agile Software Development with Scrum (one of two books that are primary sources of information about Scrum), and toured SolutionsIQ (a Seattle-area Scrum training and consulting firm). I wanted to see how my company's experience with small teams compares with our colleagues' in the industry. We'd been using agile development methodologies and tools since before starting the company, due to reading Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change, Planning Extreme Programming, and similar books by Kent Beck and Martin Fowler.

Readers of this blog may recognize in agile development methodologies the management paradigms I profess. My management methods led my company to agile development methodologies like Scrum and Extreme Programming. My blog posts on management books provide the following principles:

Update opinions from observations. ("The Map is Not the Territory.")
Develop a culture of interdependence. ("Mature from Dependence to Independence to Interdependence," and "People are smarter than you think. Give them a chance to prove themselves.")
Prioritize what's important. ("Good is the Enemy of Best.")
Jointly determine the course. (See The 8th Habit.)
Set up and manage systems to stay on course. (See The 8th Habit.)
Focus talents on results, not methods, then get out of people's way and give help as requested. (See The 8th Habit.)
"Never automate something that can be eliminated, and never delegate something that can be automated or streamlined."

The principles above aren't articulated in industry terms, however. Specifically in software development these principles lead to the following practices:

Inspect results and update process.
Rely on people.
Work on highest priorities.
Teach self-managing teams.
Improve processes.
Remove impediments.
Automate testing.

These practices are agile:

Agile Software Development with Scrum emphasizes empirical process control.
Agile methods have a people-first orientation.
Product backlog and sprint backlog are prioritized.
Scrum uses self-managing teams.
Extreme Programming suggests various process improvements like spike solutions, coding standards, continuous integration.
A Scrum Master uses a daily stand-up meeting to learn impediments to remove them.
Extreme Programming emphasizes automated unit (and acceptance) tests.

I would list examples from our experience (e.g., engineering estimation, comparison to CMM Level 2 and key process areas, serving manufacturing clients, consensus decision-making) but this blog post is already long. However, I'll write that I'm pleased with how agile practice embodies good paradigms and principles.

[Updated FAQ link.]

Reviewing 2007 in Seattle (2007-12-31)

2007-12-31T08:57:00.000-08:00

I'm pleased with 2007 in Seattle, though I'll adjust my goals for 2008 in light of a review of the past year. While I had personal goals--some qualitative--, and even goals for how I help others, there are some quantitative goals I mentioned in this blog. Below is the year in numbers, Harper's Index style:

Total pages I read for "Where's William?" blog: 8,263
Number of books I wanted to blog in 2007: 50
Actual number of blog posts about books in 2007: 30
My blogged books score: 60%
Number of books I want to blog in 2008: 12
Six-hour days I wanted to spend in the forest in 2007: 6
Six-hour days I actually spent in the forest in 2007: 5
My outdoors score: 83%
Six-hour days I want to spend in the forest in 2008: 6
Pounds I wanted to lose upon returning from Paris: 15
Pounds I lost and kept off at first through workouts and frequent small healthy meals and later through walking: 17
My weight score: 113%
Body fat percentage I want to lose in 2008: 4%
Songs I wanted to perform on the guitar in 2007: 5
Songs I performed on the guitar in 2007: 0
My guitar score: 0%
Songs I want to perform on the guitar in 2008: 2
Maximum miles I wanted my car driven in 2007: 14,400
Actual miles my car was driven in 2007: 9,508
My mileage score: 151%
Maximum miles I want my car driven in 2008: 9,600
Days/week since 2007-09-06 I wanted 30 minutes of moderate activity: 5
Days/week since 2007-09-06 I did 30 minutes of moderate activity: 4.2
My walking score: 84%
Days/week I want 30 minutes of moderate activity in 2008: 5

Reading Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar (2007-12-25)

2007-12-30T16:18:00.000-08:00

A New York boy is being led through the swamps of Louisiana by his cousin. "Is it true that an alligator won't attack you if you carry a flashlight?" asks the city boy.
His cousin replies, "Depends on how fast you carry the flashlight."

--Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein, Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes

Confusing the cause of an alligator attack is an example of post hoc ergo propter hoc, a fallacy that Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar describes in chapter II, "Logic." (It is a minor spoiler to opine that the punchline of the best post hoc ergo propter hoc joke is, "'Schmuck, that's the way you wave a towel!'") Logic is one of ten topics in the book that together give an overview of the story of philosophy. Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein summarize major schools of thought in each topic, and illustrate them with interspersed jokes. I read their book--a gift from Ryan--on Christmas Day at our apartment and friends'. I found it funny, and finished wanting more details on some philosophers--or at least more jokes.

Reading The Four Pillars of Investing

2007-12-03T19:44:00.000-08:00

With relatively little effort, you can design and assemble an investment portfolio that, because of its wide diversification and minimal expense, will prove superior to most professionally managed accounts.

--William J. Bernstein, The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio

A neurologist from Oregon seems an unlikely candidate for financial author and theorist. Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that William J. Bernstein, Ph.D., M.D.--author of The Intelligent Asset Allocator: How to Build Your Portfolio to Maximize Returns and Minimize Risk and The Birth of Plenty : How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created--contrasts much of his financial advice with conventional wisdom. He writes, "Your social instincts will corrode your wealth by persuading you to own what everyone else in the market owns."

Of stockbrokers Bernstein writes, "He also occupies the lowest rung in the hierarchy of investment knowledge." Of the financial press he writes, "Ninety-nine percent of what you read about investing in magazines and newspapers, and 100% of what you hear on television is worse than worthless." U.S. stock returns are a "random walk" that no one can predict and few in the industry understand. (See the "drunkard's walk" in Conned Again, Watson!; this concept also inspired the title of Burton G. Malkiel's A Random Walk Down Wall Street, which I have borrowed from the Seattle Public Library or SPL.)

Perhaps some of Bernstein's assertions are not surprising: "Risk and return are inextricably enmeshed." While this stands in contrast to occasional low-risk, high-return offers, most readers know these to be too good to be true. Other authors, too, warn against overconfidence, Mistake 1 in Rational Investing in Irrational Times: How to Avoid the Costly Mistakes Even Smart People Make Today by Larry E. Swedroe (also out from the SPL). Edelman and Bernstein emphasize that "You are your own worst enemy."

However, unlike your coworker on the telephone daily with his broker (a broker who Bernstein writes "services his clients in the same way that Bonnie and Clyde serviced banks"), writers Edelman and Bernstein agree that "Stock picking and market timing are expensive, risky, and ultimately futile exercises." Edelman and Bernstein both follow modern portfolio theory; Bernstein especially believes the market is efficient. And in response to the high-fee funds recommended by your financial consultant, Bernstein warns, "The primary business of most mutual-fund companies is collecting assets, not managing money. Pay close attention to the ownership structure of your fund company and of the fees it charges."

Some authors--like Edelman--look at the 10.40% total return of the S&P Stock Index from January 1, 1926 to June 30, 2003 (while noting that past performance is no indication of future results). Bernstein, however, begins with Venetian prestiti prices from 1300 to 1500. "[T]he odds always favor data gathered over the longest time periods." He proceeds through economic history and then uses the Gordon equation to estimate the long-term expected return of the market as 6%.

Bernstein's combination of theory, history, psychology and business (the four pillars) is appealing to me because of its academic approach and statistical emphasis. The Four Pillars of Investing offers an intellectual investigation into the folksy advice to build portfolio income, written in an equally engaging style.

Reading Quantico (2007-11-14/17)

2007-11-18T11:03:00.000-08:00

"Goddamn it," the President said, "Did they give them to you without a subpoena?"....
Chao put on a stubborn look. "It is our job to find dangerous criminals. Would you have it any other way?"

--Greg Bear, Quantico

A friend who knew I had read local author Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio, Darwin's Children, and / offered another book after my appendectomy: Quantico. Like the Greg Bear books I've read, Quantico is still-relevant (copyright 2005, 2006) near-future hard science fiction. (The science is even more current than Quarantine.) Like the Darwin series, Quantico involves molecular biology; like /, significant events occur in Seattle and Washington (although some events take place at Quantico).

Quantico is a frightening techno-thriller set in the US after another attack similar to 9-11, intending to portray the dangers of bioterrorism like Amerithrax:

The biological weapons and process in this novel are possible, but not in the way I have described them. I have tried to persuade of the dangers without providing salient details.
The dangers are real, and immediate. Sober judgment, selflessness, nonpartisan planning, and sanity are the only solutions.

The story also includes a female president with a stand on violations of personal privacy as a strong part of her campaign. The tension between liberty and security is therefore part of the book. In the scene with the President and Chao, I also wondered why the FBI would not pursue a subpoena. (To their credit, several agents in the book express skepticism about information extracted via rendition or torture.)

Such famous quotes as, "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," and "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" show this tension is part of the history of the United States of America. Unfortunately, so is depopulation from imported infection--see Guns, Germs, and Steel.

Sometimes on issues with different but similarly important needs, debate becomes polarized around the conflicts between those needs. For example, economic growth and environmental health are in tension in environmentalism. In such cases one can sometimes search for solutions with synergy between the two needs, e.g., bright green environmentalism. This is the type of solution I support.

In Quantico, Bear uses his "powerful [imagination to]... conjure up not only possible methods of attack, but also ideas about how governments and individuals will respond and what kinds of high-tech tools could prevent attacks." Let us hope they respond in ways that enhance liberty rather than reduce it.

Reading Conned Again, Watson! (2007-10-24/28)

2007-11-05T19:10:00.000-08:00

We all lose time and money every day to bad decisions. Often, we are not even aware of it. We continue in blissful ignorance, happy in the illusion that our native common sense is doing a good job of guiding us.

--Colin Bruce, Conned Again, Watson! Cautionary Tales of Logic, Math, and Probability

In my apartment the week following my emergency appendectomy, sometimes I had the energy to read (as opposed to only energy enough to watch Battlestar Galactica). As a break from personal finance books, I read entertaining Sherlock Holmes tales that were also instructional. Like Blink, Bruce's book is ultimately about decision-making. Conned Again, Watson! incorporates paradoxes and problems into nearly every chapter:

"The Case of the Unfortunate Businessman" discusses the "cab driver's fallacy", the prior investment fallacy, and the fallacy of mistaking relative for absolute savings. It begins with a scam modeled after The Big Con.
"The Case of the Gambling Nobleman" discusses the gambler's fallacy and the Martingale betting system.
"The Case of the Surprise Heir" includes the birthday paradox.
"The Case of the Ancient Mariner" connects the drunkard's walk to Pascal's triangle, and both to the normal distribution.
"The Case of the Unmarked Graves" illustrates both the Monty Hall problem (using probability trees) and the Wason test .
"The Case of the Martian Invasion" explores permutations in Bible codes and failure rates.
"Three Cases of Unfair Preferment" includes one with nontransitive dice.
"The Execution of Andrews" discusses the conditional probability fallacy using contingency tables.
"Three Cases of Relative Honor" describes game theory games similar to the Prisoner's Dilemma, including one similar to Arthur Conan Doyle's in "The Adventure of the Final Problem."
"The Case of the Poor Observer" discusses the problem of drawing conclusions from limited observations.
"The Case of the Perfect Accountant" mentions Benford's law.
"Three Cases of Good Intentions" discusses the theory of double-blind medical trials.

Rereading The Truth About Money Parts 2-5 (2007-10-11/)

2007-10-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

Many people fail to save because they simply don't want to stop spending. Fine. Keep spending. In fact, I want you to.
Just change what you spend your money on:
Instead of buying a bottle of ketchup, buy Heinz stock.

--Ric Edelman, The Truth About Money

Like Kiyosaki, Edelman writes, "instead of buying things that later will have no value (like an empty ketchup bottle or a vacation), or virtually no value (like costume jewelry, clothing, or furniture), make sure the things you buy will retain and even grow in value." What are these things? Unlike a bottle of ketchup, there's no grocery store for investments. Parts 2 through 5 of The Truth About Money explain things that retain or grow in value, with many examples, graphs, and stories. (The cover is right that it's "personal finance that's fun to read!") This grocery store of investments has aisles for cash equivalents, income-producing investments, growth investments, and packaged products:

Cash Equivalents have little or no default risk. They can mature in more than one year--e.g., some bank certificates of deposit or commercial paper, U.S. EE Savings Bonds, U.S. Treasury Notes, and U.S. Treasury Bonds--or less than one year--e.g., checking accounts, savings accounts, money market funds, some certificates of deposit, and U.S. Treasury Bills. Ric recommends having six to twelve months' expenses available in less than one year, but otherwise avoiding cash equivalents because inflation erases their returns. Some cash equivalents have surrender charges and tax penalties--e.g., life insurance cash value or fixed annuities. These are not appropriate for cash reserves.
Income-producing investments are subject to default risk (indicated by the bond rating), event risk, and interest rate risk--which one can reduce by holding to maturity or hedging (e.g., with gold). Ric recommends favoring total return rather than rate or even yield. The Truth About Money discusses these income-producing investments:

U.S. Government Securities include--in addition to cash equivalents--Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, Sallie Mae, and Freddie Mac. A GNMA repays principal as well as interest, and can prepay in 12-15 years instead 30 years.
Municipal Bonds may be (currently) income-tax-free, but Ric disputes the relevance of this--and the wisdom of insuring them. In addition, municipal bonds are often callable.
Ric recommends against Zero Coupon Bonds because they give low returns, lack payment before possible default, incur taxes on phantom income, and are callable. He also discourages taking physical possession of their certificates.

Investments that confer ownership or equity instead of (or in addition to) income rely on growth for their value. The Truth About Money discusses these growth investments:

Stocks grow in value, generate income, have returns that beat inflation, and have tax advantages (tax on capital gains is less than the tax on income or interest, tax isn't due until sale, and heirs don't pay capital gains tax). One can purchase stocks through brokerage firms, discount brokers, or dividend reinvestment plans. Although buying international stock adds currency risk exposure, Ric observes that the international stocks and companies are increasing in value.
Real Estate investing adds diversity--but also hassle. For real estate investment Ric recommends lots of cash, for reserves and purchases.
Collectibles don't make good investments due to the possibility of fraud or damage, and inability or unwillingness to sell.
Hedge Positions could help insure against inflation (e.g., gold), deflation (e.g., bonds, dividend-paying stocks, and cash), recession (e.g., oil and gas, minerals, forest products), lack of confidence (e.g., real estate, gold, and precious metals), collapse of the dollar (e.g., foreign stocks and currencies), and stock market crash (e.g., selling short or options trading like covered call writing).

Just as a real grocery store has prepared foods, the investment grocery store has packaged products--which are really investment companies. These make investments affordable, liquid, diversified, and professionally managed. Open-end or mutual funds have an annual expense ratio and a sales charge (front-end load, back-end load, level load, or no-load). The Truth About Money discusses these packaged products, beginning with six mutual fund types:

U.S. Government Securities Funds exist, despite the perception that mutual funds are mostly a method to invest in stocks. These include Ginnie Mae funds, zero-coupon funds, intermediate funds, short-term funds, and ultra-short funds. Related funds are adjustable rate mortgage funds and global government funds.
Municipal Bond Funds include money market funds, single-state funds (to avoid state income tax), Puerto Rico funds (to avoid all income taxes), insured muni funds, and high-yield muni funds.
High-Yield Corporate Bond Funds (in contrast with short-term and intermediate funds) invest in long-term speculative grade bonds. Investors thus face credit risk in addition to interest rate risk.
Balanced Funds invest in four asset classes: cash and cash equivalents, government securities, corporate bonds, and corporate stocks. There are related fund types: Asset Allocation Funds add other asset classes, Growth and Income funds limit asset classes to stock and bonds only, and Equity Income invest in stocks which pay dividends.
Stock Funds can focus on different categories of market capitalization, different sectors, or different indexes.
International Funds are open-end or mutual funds available in a variety of types: global funds, international funds, single nation funds, regional funds, or sector funds.
Closed-End Funds, while still investment companies, differ from open-end or mutual funds. Shares generally trade on a stock exchange rather directly with the fund.
Unit Investment Trusts are the third type of investment company different from open-end or closed-end funds. They have a fixed portfolio and definite maturity date.
Wrap Accounts are not investment companies but accounts that protect investors from unnecessary trading commissions. However, Ric lists "11 Reasons to Avoid Wrap Accounts."
Annuities are available from insurance companies. Variable annuities are securities products, however. They provide tax-deferred growth and guarantees against loss (in the form of living benefits and death benefits) at the cost of fees similar to mutual funds, plus contract fees and mortality charges.
Real Estate Limited Partnerships are companies that permit investing in real estate with less hassle (for the limited partners). The Tax Reform Act of 1986 retroactively classified their income as passive, so investors cannot deduct losses from active income.
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) are like Real Estate Limited Partnerships, except that they are publicly traded.

This ends the tour of the investment grocery store (complete with links to Wikipedia). See the book for more detail. And have fun shopping!

Rereading The Truth About Money Part 1 (2007-10-10)

2007-10-11T20:34:00.000-07:00

It is for all these reasons--to protect against risk; to eliminate debt; you're going to live a long time; to hand such major expenses as children, college costs and weddings; to buy cars and homes; to afford a comfortable retirement; to protect against long-term care costs; and to pass wealth to your heirs--that you need to create a financial plan.

--Ric Edelman, The Truth About Money

Part I of The Truth About Money, "Introduction to Financial Planning," discusses the reasons one needs and wants money. Chapter 1 then lists "The Four Obstacles to Building Wealth": procrastination, spending habits, inflation, and taxes.

Imagine a raise of $100 per month invested in stocks producing a combined 10% return. As Kiyosaki writes, buy an asset the produces portfolio income. Investing $100 per month from age 28 to age 65 (e.g., now until 2044) would be a total investment of $44,400. Compounding would make the investment worth almost $414,000.

This scenario enables calculating an example of the four obstacles Ric Edelman lists:

First, reducing the years of contribution from 37 to 25 (e.g., now until 2032) illustrates the effects of procrastination. If the same investment begins at age 40 instead of age 28, the total contributions decrease to $30,000, while the investment value at age 65 decreases to a little more than $123,000. This is almost $291,000 less than original scenario!
Imagine celebrating the raise by buying a Starbucks Grande Caffè Mocha on the way to work each day, except two vacation weeks. This spending habit could reduce the $100 raise by about $67, leaving $33 per month for investment. At age 65 there would be almost $135,000, or $279,000 less than the original scenario.
The preceding examples ignore inflation. If inflation were nominally 3% per year, $1.00 at age 28 would buy as much as $3.03 at age 65. So the $414,000 at age 65 would only buy as much as $137,000 did at age 28. Inflation would remove more than $277,000 of purchasing power.
Finally, consider taxes. A $100 raise could have a marginal tax rate of 33%. Kiyosaki notes the US government taxes earned income the most. This could reduce contributions to $67 per month, less than $30,000 total. At age 65--ignoring capital gains taxes--there would be almost $279,000. Withdrawing from the investment each year to pay capital gains tax, however, would reduce the value to about $203,000, or about $210,000 less than the original scenario.

In summary, the example effects of the four obstacles to wealth are as follows:

Twelve years of procrastination reduces the value of the sample investment by $291,000.
A workday mocha spending habit reduces the sample investment by $279,000.
Three percent inflation reduces the purchasing power of the sample investment by $277,000.
Income and capital gains taxes could reduce the value of the sample investment by $210,000.

The conclusions appear to be start now, buy assets instead of consumable expenses, invest to beat personal inflation, and take advantage of tax deferral. These are beyond the scope of this blog post, however.

(The remainder of this post explains calculation details: As an example--not an endorsement--, First American Mutual Funds FSKSX had a past performance of approximately 10%. The calculations use 9.569% compounded monthly, with no volatility for simplicity. Each scenario has additional assumptions:

The future value (37 years * 12 months/year =) 444 months later of a $100 per month annuity at (9.569%/year / 12 months/year = ) 0.7974 % per month is $413,890.79. The future value of the same annuity only (25 years * 12 months/year =) 300 months later is $123,333.15.
On Capitol Hill, Seattle, 8.9% sales tax makes a $2.95 mocha cost $3.21. Five mocha purchases per week for 50 weeks of the year is an average of 21 mocha purchases per month. The average cost is then $67.41 per month.
The inflation calculation assumes 0.25% per month, which is similar to current values but low considering long-term averages. The present value of a future sum of $413,890.79 at a rate of 0.25% per month for 444 months is $136,590.49.
A "regular" employee who earns $30,651 to $74,200 per year in Washington state would have no state income tax, but would pay 25% United States income tax plus 6.2% for Social Security plus 1.45% for Medicare. For that tax bracket capital gains taxes are 15%. The calculation assumes this applies to all the gains, which is the worst-case scenario--but still has less effect than the spending habit or procrastination example.)

Reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad (2007-10-07)

2007-10-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

If you want a lesson in confusion, simply look up the words "asset" and "liability" in the dictionary.... An asset is something that puts money in my pocket. A liability is something that takes money out of my pocket. This is really all you need to know. If you want to be rich, simply spend your life buying assets. If you want to be poor or middle class, spend your life buying liabilities.

Robert T. Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids about Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!

Being from a middle-class background, the subtitle of Rich Dad, Poor Dad caught my eye in the Barnes and Noble personal finance area Saturday. As several responses to Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight show, I like anecdotes. I read with interest Kiyosaki's contrast between his rich capitalist businessman dad and his poor socialist employee dad during his childhood in Hawai`i.

The folksy capitalist philosophy in Rich Dad, Poor Dad begins with an income statement and balance sheet. Kiyosaki simplifies each into two boxes with a line in the middle: for the income statement the line is horizontal, and for the balance sheet the line is vertical.

In the top of the income statement are earned income ("work for owner"), passive income, and portfolio income. In the bottom of the income statement are taxes ("work for government"), ownership-related expenses, and other expenses. Subsequent diagrams expand on portfolio income (dividends, interest, rental income, royalties), ownership-related expenses (mortgage payments, real property taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities), and other expenses (fixed expenses, food, clothing, fun).

In the left side of the balance sheet are assets which create income--your business, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, income-generating real estate, notes, and intellectual property. In the right side of the balance sheet are liabilities ("work for bank") which create expenses--consumer loans, credit cards, and mortgages.

Poor Dad says, "Go to school, get good grades, and find a safe secure job." In other words, concentrate on earned income in the top of the income sheet. Rich Dad says, "The rich don't work for money, they have their money work for them." In other words, concentrate on passive and portfolio income in the top of the income sheet--with passive income being faster. In the bottom of the income sheet, the government taxes earned income the most, and passive income the least.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad consequently characterizes classes using these boxes. The earned income of the poor pays expenses in the income statement and little affects the balance sheet. For the middle class, expenses and taxes rise with income in the income statement, as do liabilities incurred on the balance sheet. The income of the rich purchases income-producing assets, with less rise in expenses or liabilities. (For example, a corporation deducts expenses from income before taxation.) In this way they practice the "pay yourself first" advice of The Richest Man in Babylon.

The challenge is defining "your business." Kiyosaki writes, "If I have to work there, it's not a business. It becomes my job." Timothy Ferriss has similar suggestions for a "muse" in the "Income Autopilot" chapters in "Step III: A is Automation" of The 4-Hour Workweek.

The goal for both Ferriss and Kiyosaki is freedom. The latter explains his wants:

I want to be free to travel the world and live in the lifestyle I love. I want to be young when I do this. I want to simply be free. I want control over my time and my life. I want money to work for me.

Readers of this blog will recognize this desire to travel and live abroad.

[Added diagram and corrected word.]

Simplifying on Saturday (2007-10-06)

2007-10-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

I set aside days to reduce, organize, and save time. I want less clutter, and less to move if we live abroad. Between the winter solstice and the following new moon is one of the quarterly periods of Discardia, so I picked the first Saturday of the month.

This was similar to the three Saturdays in 2007-04-28/05-12. In April and May Ryan and I did "spring cleaning": cleaned carpets, framed prints, organized books, replaced lights, washed cupboards, and recycled as usual. This also including giving away books, clothes, and household items. This October Saturday we recycled, and cleaned and organized bathroom drawers, discarding unneeded items. Then we started walking.

Our Northgate neighborhood has a walk score of 75-- not as high as Jim's neighborhood. Nevertheless we were able to walk instead of drive to our errands: getting coffee (in personal cups), giving away household items (baskets, mugs, sweaters) at Value Village, recycling a mobile phone at Best Buy, and getting Ryan to work.

At the end of An Inconvenient Truth is "So here's what you can do personally to solve the climate crisis." Under "Get around on less" is "Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible." Under "Consume less, conserve more" are "Recycle" and "Carry your own refillable bottle for water and other beverages." I'm pleased to think this Saturday was healthy for my body (by exercising), my mind (by reducing clutter), and the environment (by driving less and recycling).

Reading Quarantine (2007-09-29)

2007-10-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

Given my enjoyment of speculative fiction, it makes sense to follow a science book with a science fiction book. While I make occasional references to fantasy, most of my speculative fiction reading is science fiction; the books I've read this year include /, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and The Diamond Age. (I recommended in their reviews the following science fiction books: Xenocide, Children of the Mind, A Deepness in the Sky, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Number of the Beast, Animal Farm, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, The Left Hand of Darkness, Nineteen Eight-Four, and Cryptonomicon).

I didn't follow An Inconvenient Truth with a rereading of Dune, Dune Messiah, and Children of Dune. However, The Universe in a Nutshell discusses such science fiction topics as time travel (albeit concluding with Hawking's Chronology Protection Conjecture). Consequently I followed it with the Greg Egan's novel Quarantine.

The Universe in a Nutshell discusses the uncertainty principle often, including Feynman's multiple histories idea. Stephen Hawking explains the wave function as "a number at each point of space that gives the probability that the particle is to be found at that position." He discusses particle motion as a sum over multiple histories. In addition, he notes that "[t]he anthropic principle says that the universe has to be more or less as we see it, because if it were different, there wouldn't be anyone here to observe it."

These ideas appear in Quarantine. In Quarantine, Earth after the year 2034 is surrounded by a bubble preventing observation outside the solar system. Afterward researchers develop a mental device to inhibit wave function collapse. While the device operates, the first-person protagonist plays with probable histories, all the while wondering which history will happen, and which version of himself will observe the results.

The setting of Quarantine relies to some degree on the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, with reference to other interpretations. The many worlds interpretation appears when the book's story line is several times inconsistent between periods in the protagonist prevents wave function collapse and subsequent events (e.g., a combination that is 1450045409 in one part of the narrative and ten nines in another). Even the Ensemble interpretation appears in name.

Greg Egan's plot is like a thought experiment, similar to Wigner's friend. As such it imagines how the quantum scales of books like The Universe in a Nutshell could affect observable life. In this way it is both entertaining and instructive.

Reading The Universe in a Nutshell (2007-09-14/18)

2007-09-23T15:16:00.000-07:00

I have several scientific friends so I like to stay informed of recent theories. My physics familiarity extends from Newtonian mechanics to special and general relativity, but not beyond--and there have been more theories since I was in school. Consequently I selected one of Stephen Hawking's latest books, The Universe in a Nutshell.

I find I prefer science I can observe. Quantum scales are too small and relativistic scales are too large for me to see. (Though Arthur Eddington has observed the effects of general relativity.) In most of my life--except perhaps the night sky--classical theory is fine.

Nevertheless The Universe in a Nutshell was entertaining. I'm caught up, and relieved that superstring theory--which I missed entirely--may be superseded by M-theory anyway. I now know a generalist's overview of theoretical physics.

Reading Blink (2007-09-04/13)

2007-09-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

Decisions are difficult. A good decision requires work; a bad decision brings consequences. More information sometimes helps, and--with the Internet--much information is available. However, consultant work gives me this perspective: more research delays a decision and increases its fee. Even if the decision is better as a result, the difference may be marginal and of less value than the lost time. During the delay no action is taken, which may have an opportunity cost. So I "sleep on it", stare out the window, or take a walk. I sometimes use these approaches--and my judgment--instead of additional information.

Malcolm Gladwell filled Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking with anecdotes and studies about the effect of additional information on decisions. Some people assume that additional information always improves thinking; Gladwell cites situations in which that is not the case. An example is classical music auditions, which were biased against women until held behind a screen. The additional visual information actually distracted from evaluating the performance.

In the Afterward, Blink asks "When to Blink--And When to Think." The initial answer comes from Ap Dijksterhuis' studies on "unconscious thought" (which BBC News and New Scientist have summarized): think about simple decisions, sleep on complex ones. However, further reflection leads Gladwell to two qualifications: unconscious thought requires training, and statistical summaries suggest significant factors.

Gladwell gives examples of effect on judgment, both good and bad. Training improves judgment in the battle of Chancellorsville and the Millennium Challenge 2002. Biases have a bad effect on decisions we make in the "blink of an eye"; examples are the shooting of Amadou Diallo and the results of an Implicit Association Test.

In addition to training, statistical summaries also improve decisions by suggesting significant factors. The Wages of Wins suggests it is difficult to estimate summaries from incomplete observations of small differences. A report from Cook County Hospital exemplifies how statistics can isolate the factors relevant to a decision.

Statistical summaries also have their role in my consulting. I just completed a project requiring analysis of millions of records I imported from daily data and queried for mapping and evaluation. I use statistics, training, and unconscious thinking to improve the speed of my decision-making.

Walking to Work (2006-10-26)

2007-09-20T16:57:00.000-07:00

Walking to the bus reminds me of my morning commute in Paris and renews my commitment to venture and work abroad again. In Paris Tuesdays through Thursdays we would awaken in Pigalle. Ryan went to school in Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Jean Claude went to work in Montmartre. I followed Jean Claude out onto Rue André Antoine, smelling the wet cobblestones as the street cleaners washed away the previous day. I heard the sounds of other pedestrian's shoes on the wet cobblestones and an occasional car vibrating along the street. The October air cooled me as I leaned into the steep hill and climbed. One morning in late October I took a photograph of the sunrise in Montmartre. Later on those weekdays I walked back down to Le Chao-Ba-Café for the afternoon sunlight.

On weekends--sometimes long weekends including Friday and Monday--Ryan and I would travel. We visited Montpellier, Nantes and Tours, Chamonix, Berlin, and London. We didn't visit Barcelona or Venice like we had hoped.

Memories and daydreams make me think of "Disappearing Act: How to Escape the Office", chapter 12 of The 4-Hour Workweek. A colleague who also develops software for Geographic information systems is currently in Turkey while his wife teaches. Perhaps I can do the same somewhere while Ryan teaches ESL.

Reading The Diamond Age (2007-08-26/09-03)

2007-09-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer has a future earth setting in which nanotechnology has significantly reduced scarcity but artificial intelligence has not been achieved. I enjoyed Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (especially its encryption themes, which are present as well in The Diamond Age) and decided to read another of his books.

The "Diamond Age" is due to molecular control of matter making diamond--with multiple productive properties--a common material. (Wikipedia attributes this idea to "It's a Small, Small, Small, Small World" by Ralph C. Merkle.) It is interesting that the social organization in the story still contains classes, even though matter compilers make clothing, food, and covering available to all. I like to imagine how a just society would work.

The lack of artificial intelligence appears reasonable. The actual achievements of AI have always fallen short of predictions. Alan Turing estimated that by the year 2000 machines would be able to fool 30 percent of human judges during a 5-minute Turing Test. In 1965 H. A. Simon wrote that "machines will be capable, within twenty years, of doing any work a man can do." In 1967 Marvin Minsky wrote, "Within a generation ... the problem of creating 'artificial intelligence' will substantially be solved." Clearly none of these predictions have appeared.

I look forward to seeing how these areas--nanotechnology, scarcity, justice, and artificial intelligence--develop during my lifetime. Perhaps I will see some possibilities fulfilled.

Walking (2007-09-07/14)

2007-09-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

Walking has long been and probably will continue to be important. For me it is part of a happy and healthy mobile lifestyle.

Walking was part of my life in various ways in the past. Summer visits to the houses of each set of grandparents involved a daily walk. During a few years of grade school I lived a block from public land in which I hiked and daydreamed short stories I would write. During high school I walked several miles to and from each Medford school I attended, each day choosing a different route than the previous. Later I again lived on the edge of public land. During undergraduate education I walked around Corvallis--especially the Oregon State University campus--alone or with friends, thinking or talking about life. During and after graduate school I similarly liked to walk the University of Washington campus.

My business partner recently revived his own childhood love of walking. A few years ago when my company moved to from the University District to Westlake, I encouraged walking to lunch in South Lake Union the way we had walked to lunch on The Ave. At most we would walk half a mile. Then he purchased a pedometer to compete with friends. Now he tracks his walks, totaling 10,000 steps per day, around the office and his neighborhood. He even ordered an Omron HJ-720ITC pedometer for me.

Consequently I have begun tracking my walking as well. I suspected I already met the guideline of 30 minutes of moderate activity 5 to 7 days per week, in walking to the bus, to coffee, to lunch (e.g., to Paddy Coynes in South Lake Union), and on the elliptical trainers (at the IMA). Now I am carrying a pedometer to verify that.

It is helpful to distinguish moderate activity like brisk walking from other steps. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cites publications suggesting that 30 to 60 minutes of activity broken into smaller segments of 10 or 15 minutes throughout the day has significant health benefits. The Omron HJ-720ITC has an aerobic step function that displays the minutes walked and number of steps walked at more than 60 steps per minute for more than 10 minutes continuously.

This past week provides me preliminary step estimates for moderate activity. Evidence suggests 30 minutes of moderate activity is equivalent to 3000 to 4000 (aerobic) steps, and that even sedentary adults accumulate 5000 (other) steps. I'm pleased that my average aerobic walking time was 35 minutes per day (3860 steps), but this week only three days had more than 30 minutes (3240 steps). Other (not aerobic) steps ranged from 3310 to 8740 with an average of 6480. An average day for me with 30 minutes of moderate activity therefore would have 9720 steps (though carrying a pedometer may have an effect like the Hawthorne effect). Perhaps I'll join 10,000 steps.

In addition to the health and happiness benefits of moderate activity, there are lifestyle benefits. Walking to and from the bus stop is part of a lifestyle in which I drive cars less and read more books on the bus. It is also part of a lifestyle in which I am fit enough for adventure.

Reading A Year of Adventures (2007-06-13/07-04)

2007-09-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

I feel wanderlust and want adventure. Needing some plan, I purchased 25: Wildlife Adventures and A Year of Adventures: Lonely Planet's Guide to Where, What And When to Do It. The second book has sections for four weeks per month; each quarter also has a section of sevens--seven continents, seven summits, seven natural wonders, seven heavenly objects--for the "missing week."

If, for example, you have time off in December or January, you can turn to those months in the book. In each weekly section are several activities appropriate to that time of the year. Under each activity title is country, type of activity, fitness or expertise level, an explanation as to why that week is the best time, and a description. The following are examples (in late December and early January) of warm activities not requiring expertise:

I found the entire book entertaining reading and read it straight through despite the arrangement. Many activities have seasons that span more than one month.

There's also a Web site with a search of G.A.P. adventures. For example, I searched for the following 15- to 20-day adventures between December 14 and January 8:

The question that accompanies "Where should William go?" is consequently, "What should William do?"

[Corrected punctuation.]

At Café on the Ave Reviewing Workouts (2007-09-06)

2007-09-06T11:38:00.000-07:00

Usually I come to Café on the Ave after cardiovascular exercise, so today I'm reviewing my workout performance, principles, goals, and strategy. I attempted 3 times per week (of 20 to 30 minutes with heart rate in target zone--for me, 125 to 145 beats per minute) and succeeded for the first four months of 2006. In May I went twice a week, and in recent months even less frequently, making the year-to-date average 2 times per week.

The "sharpen the saw" principle (that Ferriss borrows from Covey) for the physical dimension reminds me that I need to be healthy. I want the energy, relaxation, and satisfaction with being fit that working out gives me.

The American Heart Association has goals for moderate intensity activity, vigorous activity, and resistance training. The ranges for the first two categories are similar to corresponding exercise zones based on maximum heart rate.

Do 30 minutes of moderate activity 5 to 7 days per week. Moderate intensity is 40 or 50 to 60 percent of capacity, equivalent to a brisk walk.
Do 20 to 40 minutes of vigorous activity 3 to 5 days per week. Vigorous intensity is greater than 60 percent of capacity; 60 to 70 percent is "fat burn" while 70 to 80 percent is "cardio".
Do resistance training 2 or more days per week. This means 8 to 10 different exercises with 1 to 2 sets and 10 to 15 repetitions per exercise.

I suspect I already meet the first guideline, but a pedometer could verify that. The minimum for the second guideline was the attempt this year that I described above. I usually followed cardiovascular exercise with resistance training, but only 4 different exercises (and 3 sets of 10 to 15 repetitions). These can be additional goals for the remainder of the year.

How do I accomplish this? Ordinarily goals lead to tasks which I schedule, but I feel unmotivated now. Workout buddies help me because usually at least one person is motivated. However, my current workout buddy (Ryan) appears unmotivated as well. I want renewed motivation.

[Added graph and edited hyperlink.]

Reading The 4-Hour Workweek (2007-06-19/20)

2007-08-07T14:52:00.000-07:00

The 4-Hour Workweek borrows concepts from popular books like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Getting Things Done while adding an attitude of its own. This post compares and contrasts the time management advice of these three books:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (The 7 Habits) by Stephen R. Covey,
Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen, and
The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss.

The numbers below illustrate the areas of unique emphasis (1-3) as well as the areas of overlap (4-6) and an area all three books share (7).

The 7 Habits begins with principles and time management paradigms, and then proceeds to habits and time management tools. Previous posts have discussed some of these principles, but the concept most relevant to time management is Quadrant II. This concept affects the habits and tools Covey recommends.

Covey notes that activities vary in both importance and urgency. Classifying activities as "Urgent" or "Not Urgent" and "Important" or "Not Important" produces a time management matrix with four quadrants (illustrated both in The 7 Habits and in First Things First). Quadrant I is important and urgent, Quadrant II is important but not urgent, Quadrant III is urgent but not important, and Quadrant IV is neither important nor urgent.

The habit for time management is Habit 3, "Put First Things First". Habit 3 is based upon Habit 1, "Be Proactive," and--especially--Habit 2, "Begin with the End in Mind." "The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds," writes Covey. His time management advice is essentially, "Organize and execute around priorities." His top-down organization strategy begins with a mission statement, which defines roles, which have goals, which require plans, which become schedules.

Covey also classifies time management tools into four generations: notes and checklists (first generation); calendars and appointment books (second generation); and priorities, goals, and plans (third generation). His fourth generation time management shifts emphasis: from efficiency with things and time, to effectiveness with relationships and results. "Subordinate your schedule to a higher value," he writes.
GTD approaches time management from the bottom up rather than the top down like The 7 Habits. The GTD approach is to deal effectively with internal commitments using simple tools. The problem, writes Allen, is new demands and insufficient resources. His process is managing action; time, information, and priorities aren't changed by management.

Allen's tools are primarily notes, checklists, calendars, and appointment books--the first and second generations of Covey's classification. Similarly his plans are informal and focused on the Next Action.
The 4-Hour Workweek focuses on freedom, so its time management advice is in "Step II: E is for Elimination". Ferriss' question is, "How can one achieve the millionaire lifestyle of complete freedom without first having $1,000,000?"

Since The 4-Hour Workweek is about freedom, and Step II is Elimination, Ferriss calls his chapter 5 "The End of Time Management." The chapter begins, "Just a few words on time management: Forget all about it." His strategy follows from the Pareto principle and Parkinson's law: focus on the vital few by shortening work time. His "Questions and Actions" pages elaborate on this principle by clarifying what activities really get one closer to goals in contrast to activities fill time and help avoid more important (and anxiety-producing) activities.
While The 4-Hour Workweek focuses on freedom, both Covey's The 7 Habits and Allen's GTD focus on peace of mind. For Covey, "Peace of mind comes when your life is in harmony with true principles and values and in no other way." Allen promises relaxed, stress-free productivity, a "mind like water." However, their paths to peace differ.

Covey mentions crises more than stress. For Covey, crises are Quadrant I activities:
[Effective people] also shrink Quadrant I down to size by spending more time in Quadrant II. Quadrant II is the heart of effective personal management. It deals with things that are not urgent, but are important. It deals with things like building relationships, writing a personal mission statement, long-range planning, exercising, preventive maintenance, preparation--all those things we know we need to do, but somehow seldom get around to doing, because they aren't urgent.
For Allen, being stress-free also involves being prepared, but by being in control (see Ready for Anything as quoted in Wikipedia):
Get everything out of your head. Make decisions about actions required on stuff when it shows up — not when it blows up. Organize reminders of your projects and the next actions on them in appropriate categories. Keep your system current, complete, and reviewed sufficiently to trust your intuitive choices about what you're doing (and not doing) at any time.
Covey and Allen also both specifically address knowledge work. Covey's comments are in The 8th Habit.
Neither GTD nor The 4-Hour Workweek spend much time on principles and values compared to The 7 Habits . For Allen, values don't solve the problems of new demands and insufficient resources. For Ferriss, focus on values first requires free time.

Allen writes, "And what created most of the work that's on those [to do] lists in the first place? Our values!" Priorities are also less important than context, time available, and energy available:
"Setting priorities" in the traditional sense of focusing on your long-term goals and values, though obviously a necessary core focus, does not provide a practical framework for a vast majority of the decisions and tasks you must engage in day to day.
Ferriss, rather than beginning with "big questions" of principles and values, ends with them in chapter 15: "Filling the Void: Adding Life After Subtracting Work." This chapter proposes "the point of it all" as "life exists to be enjoyed and... the most important thing is to feel good about yourself.... to love, be loved, and never stop learning...." This discussion borrows from Covey without attribution, also calling learning "sharpening the saw," Covey's 7th habit.
While The 4-Hour Workweek leaves values to the end, it begins with imagination and goal-setting in "Step I: D is for Definition." Ferriss, like Covey, starts with imagining a motivating state, both "being" and "doing", and sets goals to reach that end result. Both warn against expending effort that doesn't achieve that end. Covey writes, "It's incredibly easy... to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it's leaning against the wrong wall." Ferriss, like Covey, contrasts effectiveness and efficiency:
Effectiveness is doing things that get you closer to your goals. Efficiency is performing a given task (whether important or not) in the most economical manner possible. Being efficient without being effective is the default mode....
In The 4-Hour Workweek, the end is a state of excitement in the next 6 to 12 months. In The 7 Habits, the end is a life mission centered on principles. Nevertheless both emphasize the need for a motivating vision of the future.
All three authors--Covey, Allen, and Ferriss--discuss delegation. Delegation is both a part of work flow and a way to empower.

Delegation plays a similar role in the work flow in both The 7 Habits and GTD. In The 7 Habits plans become either appointments to schedule or stewardship to delegate. In GTD, after determining the Next Action, the next part of the process is to do it (if it takes less than two minutes), delegate it (if someone else is the right person to do it), or defer it. Consistent with its pursuit of freedom, The 4-Hour Workweek has the following advice:
Delegation is to be used as a further step in reduction, not as an excuse to create more movement or add the unimportant.... Never automate something that can be eliminated, and never delegate something that can be automated or streamlined.
The 7 Habits and The 4-Hour Workweek also discuss empowerment. The 7 Habits likens empowerment to leverage, enabling a manager to invest a smaller amount of time with equivalent result--provided the person accepting the task takes stewardship of the desired results, within guidelines, and with accountability and consequences. Similarly, The 4-Hour Workweek emphasizes the time advantages of empowering others, and says, "People are smarter than you think. Give them a chance to prove themselves."

[Added anchor for subsequent post.]

Singing About Sailing (2007-07-14/17)

2007-07-20T14:05:00.000-07:00

Sunday I noticed that many of my recently-purchased songs mentioned sailing. Beginning with the songs iTunes says I play most, below are my favorites:

Blue October, "Into the Ocean", Foiled
Now waking to the sun I calculate what I had done
Like jumping from the bow (yeah)
Just to prove that I knew how (yeah)
It’s midnight’s late reminder of
The loss of her the one I love
My will to quickly end it all
Sat front row in my need to fall
Into the ocean end it all
Into the ocean end it all
"Into the Ocean" is the top of my list because I like the happy tune (despite the sad lyrics) and rapid verses. It's not merely the mention of flotsam and jetsam that leads me to like it.
Crosby, Stills & Nash, "Southern Cross", Daylight Again
When you see the Southern Cross for the first time,
You understand now why you came this way.
"Southern Cross" often goes through my mind while sailing, as my quote in an earlier post might suggest. Seeing the southern cross would be new and adventurous.
Fleetwood Mac, "Landslide", Fleetwood Mac
"Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?" is the only reference to sailing, but nevertheless "Landslide" is one of my melancholy favorites. I especially like the character of Stevie Nicks' voice.
Mark Knopfler, "Sailing To Philadelphia", Sailing To Philadelphia
Now hold your head up, Mason
See America lies there
The morning tide has raised
The capes of Delaware
Come up and feel the sun
A new morning is begun
Another day will make it clear
Why your stars should guide us here
I've mentioned my folk rock guitar interest, including Dire Straits, James Taylor, and Mark Knopfler. In addition to guitar, "Sailing To Philadelphia" includes both James Taylor and Mark Knopfler.
Christopher Cross, "Sailing", Christopher Cross
And if the wind is right
You can sail away
To find serenity
Oh the canvas can do miracles
Just you wait and see
The mellow music and lyrics of this song come to mind when there's little to do but enjoy the wind and water. A breeze and gentle rocking is relaxing.
Styx, "Come Sail Away", Come Sail Away - The Styx Anthology
Come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me
Like "Southern Cross", "Landslide", "Sailing", and "Cool Change", "Come Sail Away" is a sailing song of my childhood. It rocks.
Little River Band, "Cool Change", Little River Band: Greatest Hits (Expanded Edition)
Well I was born in the sign of water
And it's there that I feel my best
The albatross and the whales they are my brothers
It's kind of a special feeling
When you're out on the sea alone
Staring at the full moon, like a lover
I was actually born in a fire sign, and rarely go out to sea, or sail alone. However, I do find sailing produces a special feeling.

On the Seattle Times Front Page (2007-07-17)

2007-07-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

I am amused to learn from Allan and his friends that a photograph in a front page article of yesterday's Seattle Times shows his boat on the far right. The photographer confirmed taking the picture on July 10, so I was aboard--perhaps crouching on the starboard side--with the friends mentioned in my previous post. It appears the sailboats in the photograph are the "half fast" boats of second start positioning to cross the starting line between the committee boat and the duck.

Demonstrating Sailing on Duck Dodge (2007-07-10)

2007-07-17T10:34:00.000-07:00

Got out of town on a boat goin' to southern islands
Sailing a reach before a followin' sea
She was makin' for the trades on the outside
And the downhill run to Papeete

Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas
We got eighty feet of waterline, nicely making way
In a noisy bar in Avalon I tried to call you
But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away

--Crosby, Stills and Nash, "Southern Cross"

(Despite the lack of link, "making way" in "Southern Cross" is also a sailing term.) As my previous post on sailing may show, after the exhilaration of the wind in my hair and the bouncing bow beneath my feet, the next most enjoyable aspect of sailing may be explaining it, beginning with sailing terminology:

starboard and port,
fore and aft,
bow and stern,
beam,
mast,
boom,
lines (sheets--main and jib--, halyard, shrouds, stays, downhaul, cunningham),
parts of a sail (tack, clew, head, luff, leech, foot),
windward and leeward,
what to do when the skipper calls out "Ready about" and "Helm's a-lee", or "Ready to jibe" and "Jibe ho",
points of sail (close hauled, reach--close, beam, and broad--, running), etc.

The July 17, 2007 Seattle Times article on Duck Dodge suggests that this aspect of sailing fascinates observers as well. Like the June 6, 2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer article, the Times also mentions the "raft up" party afterwards (like what I wrote about last week).

At last week's Duck Dodge I spent most of my time instructing, since of Allan's usual crew I was the only one present. Allan filled the boat with friends from Banya 5, except for my guest J. Behmer and his friend. (I bring a guest each Tuesday, and whenever else we sail.) In the middle of a tack I announced, "I'm not usually this directive in social situations." My friend responded, "You, get me a beer! You, get some chips! You, make smalltalk!" pointing to a different crew member for each command.

(Switching from sailing geek to technology geek, I'll credit John with a photograph taken by his Treo and located precisely on the map of Lake Union using Allan's eTrex Vista® Cx.)

[Updated 2007-07-18 to remove redundant words.]

Remembering Le Chao-Ba-Café

2007-07-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

Schmap added Chao-Ba to its list of Vietnamese restaurants in Paris and received my permission to use our photograph of le café. Driving to the Seattle office, I miss my morning commute in Paris.

Listening to Podcasts, Reading Blogs, and Watching Photos (2007-02-08/07-13)

2007-07-13T07:27:00.000-07:00

I want to share below some Web sites I find entertaining, a mixture of links from artists and friends. The blogs and photostreams of friends broadcast parts of their lives. I read them daily between tasks (really when I want to procrastinate).

Noticing that Walt, Jeff, and others have blogrolls and del.icio.us bookmarks, I decided to share selections from my reading using my news aggregator. The result is "William's Blogroll" on the right of the Where's William? page, which leads to shared items (also available as a feed for those using a feed reader).

Below are a few of my favorite sites:

In Language Log linguists discuss language in the modern world--in news, in software, and on the Web.
Scott Adam's Dilbert comic strip is popular with white-collar workers.
xkcd is a "webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language" by Randall Munroe.
My London friend ketuzin is a student and amateur photographer.
My business partner Jim Benson writes about technological cooperation on the Web--and food and music.
The Open Source podcast is my most recent addition to my previous podcast listening.

Watching Ne le dis à personne (2007-06-01)

2007-07-11T07:34:00.000-07:00

In November while Ryan and I were in Paris, we noticed the release of Ne le dis à personne/Tell No One, a thriller based upon a novel. Upon our return to the States Ryan bought the novel No se lo digas a nadie, thinking it was a translation of the novel that formed the basis of the film in France. No se lo digas a nadie is indeed the basis for a movie--a different movie, No se lo digas a nadie/Don't Tell Anyone (which, like any movie mentioned in this blog, I had seen).

I'm glad we went to see Ne le dis à personne, as it was quite good. It had action, romance, and plot twists.

Watching Death at a Funeral (2007-06-01)

2007-07-10T07:18:00.000-07:00

A modern UK comedy, Death at a Funeral centers around sibling rivalry and secrets (almost) taken to the grave. Those familiar with "Firefly" and Serenity will recognize Alan Tudyk.

Watching Black Sheep (2007-05-31)

2007-07-09T16:36:00.000-07:00

The tagline, "Get ready for the Violence of the Lambs!" and the trailer tell the viewer what to expect from this New Zealand film: gory black comedy. A number of scenes are deliberately gross, with the camera panning across the bloody stumps of limbs chewed off by killer sheep. The comedy, of course, comes from the fact that it's sheep doing the killing. Surprisingly, I found Black Sheep more gory and less humorous than Fido.

Watching Ein Freund von mir (2007-05-31)

2007-07-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

After watching the trailer a friend in Berlin thought that A Friend of Mine/Ein Freund von mir would have no real story but nevertheless be humorous. Indeed, even though fast cars are part of the plot, so are conversations; the film is more striking for its tone than its sequence of events. It shows the development of friendship between two quirky characters, one of whom is played by Daniel Brühl. I'll recommend the film to my German friends.

Singing on Lake Union (2007-07-03)

2007-07-06T17:47:00.000-07:00

"If I had $1000000, I'd buy your love."--Barenaked Ladies, "If I Had $1000000"

It was Fourth of July Eve and the evening sun of northern latitudes was fading behind Queen Anne hill as I danced under a disco ball illuminated by a flashlight lashed to the mast. Under my sandaled feet the deck of the sailboat sloped towards port, not heeling in the wind but rather tipping under the weight of skippers and crew gathered there. Like me they had clambered across the rafted sailboats--lashed together (lines around cleats) for the party after sailing--to hear Gertrude's Hearse. Surely this crew of of S/V Distance was the most original in the Duck Dodge?

"If I had a million dollars" I sang in response to the lead singer's call, then listened, as Yusuf Kilgore played an electric guitar solo from a boatswain's chair suspended between mast and forestay of S/V Distance, or Keith Stone played saxophone from the roof of M/V Steel Drum. The movement of dancing, the fresh wind that had powered the earlier race, the red vodka Jell-O shot in my stomach, the enjoyment of the music, and the energy of the crowd all warmed me.

Receiving New T-Mobile MDA® (2007-06-27)

2007-07-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

T-Mobile shipped me via UPS a new MDA because within the one-year manufacturer warranty period the one I purchased began flickering and failing to find the network. I took pictures of the old MDA to show there were no cracks or water damage and sent it back.

I probably would have procrastinated the return even longer if it didn't irritate friends and significant others that they couldn't call me. I regularly use Skype from anywhere. In fact, I noticed a lot of redundancy among the mobile devices I've mentioned: Canon PowerShot SD600 Digital ELPH, Dell D820, and iPod nano. Out of curiosity, I took an inventory of the activities I can do with each device, and (except for the ELPH) the feature or software available for that activity.

[Updated to link to Google Docs & Spreadsheets instead of embedding table.]

Reading The Bridge of San Luis Rey (2007-06-29/07-02)

2007-07-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

"There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning."
--Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Hanging in our hallway is a painting from Peru of a hanging bridge, bequeathed to me by my maternal grandmother, along with The Bridge of San Luis Rey. I received these after January 2006 when she died in Panorama City Convalescent Center in Lacey after a period of ill health. Thornton Wilder writes, "Even memory is not necessary for love," but both love and memory of her still remain.

Reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (2007-05-24/06-17)

2007-07-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

Thing that got me was not her list of things she hated, since she was obviously crazy as a Cyborg, but fact that always somebody agreed with her prohibitions. Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws— always for other fellow. A murky part of us, something we had before we came down out of trees, and failed to shuck when we stood up. Because not one of those people said: "Please pass this so that I won't be able to do something I know I should stop." Nyet, tovarishchee, was always something they hated to see neighbors doing. Stop them "for their own good"—not because speaker claimed to be harmed by it.

--Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

I recall a time I looked through everything in the school library by Robert A. Heinlein. Although this blog only holds one such book review, I love speculative fiction--especially science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism. Nevertheless, I only really recall reading Stranger in a Strange Land and The Number of the Beast. I don't remember reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, even though I tend to remember social science fiction I read (e.g., Animal Farm, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, The Left Hand of Darkness, Nineteen Eight-Four).

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was published in 1967--the year of the Summer of Love--and mentions themes common in the hippie counterculture movement of the 1960s. Its society excites me and inspires my imagination. It appeals to my civil libertarian leanings. I want freedom from conventional careers, freedom to travel, freedom from relationship restrictions, etc.; and I believe in responsibility and the importance of individuals. Luna in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is among the societies in speculative fiction that seem desirable and viable to me. However, I don't know how our current societies would evolve into them.

Sailing on Lake Union (2007-06-26)

2007-06-30T22:10:00.001-07:00

Tuesday nights during the summer I'll often be with Allan's crew on his sailboat on Lake Union in Seattle, WA instead of elsewhere in the world. I love the wind and water; sailing is adventurous to me. This night stronger winds added exercise to my relaxation. As yet we've won no more black ducks, however.

Discussing How to Be An Adult (2007-06-28/29)

2007-06-29T23:17:00.000-07:00

I admire my older mentors for the grace and good humor with which they handle adversity, and the ease with which they handle responsibility. I know several others of similar age that react to emotional events the way I remember people reacting in high school. Did these others get stuck somewhere in the maturing process? What made my mentors keep maturing? I don't know. I imagine, however, that How to Be An Adult may be useful to those with the motivation toward maturity.

As a previous post sparked some discussion, I wanted to post more detail on this book. The previous post selected a specific aspect of the book (assertiveness), whereas this post will provide an overview of How to Be An Adult.

Paulist Press published How to Be an Adult: A Handbook for Psychological and Spiritual Integration. Shambhala published How to Be an Adult in Relationships: The Five Keys to Mindful Loving. These publishers may show the intellectual trend in David Richo's thinking. I have started How to Be an Adult in Relationships but do not find it as inspiring as How to Be an Adult.

How to Be an Adult has as its metaphor a heroic journey: a departure from containment in conditioned fear (by letting go of neurotic ego), a struggle to move out and to become unconditional and powerful (by building a healthy ego), and a return to wholeness as unconditionally loving (by releasing the spiritual self). The parts of the book are "Personal Work," "Relationship Issues," and "Integration"--and I understand the last part least. These parts, however, remind me of Stephen R. Covey's maturity continuum--from dependence to independence to interdependence--that I've mentioned several times. I end this post with a list of the issues these parts and chapters discuss:

Personal Work

Growing Pains and Growing Up
Assertiveness Skills
Challenges to Adulthood

Fear
Anger
Guilt

Values and Self-Esteem

Relationship Issues

Maintaining Personal Boundaries in Relationships
Intimacy

Integration

The Art of Flexible Integration
Befriending the Shadow
Dreams and Destiny: Seeing in the Dark
Ego/Self Axis: Where Psychology and Spirituality Meet
Unconditional Love

Rereading How to Be An Adult (2007-05-10/13)

2007-06-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

The art in assertiveness is to ask strongly for what you want and then to let go of it if the answer is No. You tread the fine line between consistent perseverance and the stubborn persistence that can feel to others like abuse. Passive people do not ask for what they want. Aggressive people demand (openly) or manipulate (secretly) to get what they want. Assertive people simply ask, without inhibition of themselves or pressure on others.

--David Richo, How to be An Adult

A copy David Richo's How to be An Adult: A Handbook on Psychological and Spiritual Integration (borrowed a decade ago from someone I no longer know) comes off my bookshelf every few years for my reading. The forward notes, "This book is written in a highly condensed way," and this density provides me greater understanding each read. David Richo frequently quotes thinkers such as Joseph Campbell, Teilhard de Chardin, Émile Durkheim, Meister Eckhart, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jung, Alice Miller, Virginia Satir, and Shakespeare (Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, etc.).

There are three parts to How to be An Adult: "Personal Work," "Relationship Issues," and "Integration". Within Part 1 is Chapter 2, "Assertiveness Skills". An earlier post quoted this book in a discussion of definitions of emotional and personal maturity. I think the "Helpful Principles" in Chapter 2; and the definitions (above) of assertiveness, passivity, and aggressiveness; are useful as well.

The first "Helpful Principle" is as follows:

Early in life, you may have learned that it is not legitimate to:
Show your real feelings
Give and receive openly
Ask for things directly
Tell your opinions
Take care of your own interests
Say No to what you do not want
Act as if you deserved abundance
These are injunctions against having power, and to the extent that we have internalized them, we have disabled ourselves and limited our adult capacities. Our journey to wholeness begins from just such a wounded place.

Since I want abundance, this is a good place to begin. Other principles strike me as useful:

"Check out your feelings, suspicions, or doubts with the people involved."
"Trying without doing is wishing rather than choosing."
"You can be informed by others' behavior rather than affected by it."

Finally, David Richo lists "Basic Rights of the Assertive Person". Some of these stand out to me:

"To say No or Maybe without pressure to decide in accord with someone else's timing."
"To be illogical in making decisions."
"To be free to explain your choices or not (includes not having to make excuses or give reasons when you say No)."

These stand out because I sometimes feel hurt when others exercise these rights. Perhaps--as is often the case--I don't really believe I have a right to delay, or make illogical or unexplained decisions, so insist others must be comprehensible. In most relationships, however, I try to practice assertion:

Be clear about your feelings, choices, and agenda
Ask for what you want
Take responsibility for your feelings and behavior

I think these skills are essential to mature adulthood.

Reading 25: Wildlife Adventures (2007-06-13)

2007-06-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to Wide World Books & Maps for ideas on where to travel next. My travel ideal has these characteristics:

It's new.
It's adventurous.

New

I like variety, so I want to go somewhere I haven't been before. Somewhere new has different meanings at different scales, however:

Considering supercontinents, I have been to Afro-Eurasia and the Americas. However, I have no desire to visit Antarctica, because extreme cold scares me. Consequently this scale is too big to help decide.
Considering continents, I have been to Africa, North America, Europe, and Oceania. This leaves Asia, South America, and Antarctica.
There are also vast regions I haven't visited within some continents I have:

In Africa I went to East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania), in Sub-Saharan Africa, so I haven't been to North Africa--or west, central, or south Africa within Sub-Saharan Africa.
In North America I've been to both North America (Canada, Mexico, and the United States) and Central America (only Honduras, though the plane landed in Belize), but not the Caribbean.
In Europe I've been to England, France, Germany, leaving southern Europe, the Iberian Peninsula, and eastern Europe (depending on how one divides Europe).
In Oceania I've been to Polynesia (Hawaiʻi), but not Australasia, Micronesia, or the south Pacific.

Adventurous

As a child, I read high fantasy authors like J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings), C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia), and Ursula K. Le Guin (Earthsea). As an adult, I find travel the closest experience to a quest. Elements encountered in a quest include castles, caverns, long distances, foreign languages, forests, mountains, oceans, ruins, sacred places, sailing, and wild animals. Examples in my travels are as follows:

watching wild animals (including black rhinoceros, lions, and wildebeest) in Ngorongoro Crater, on the Serengeti, or in the Tarangire River valley in Tanzania;
climbing Kilimanjaro;
swimming in the Indian Ocean in Kenya;
camping in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies;
weathering Hurricane Marty in Los Cabos;
driving the perimeter of the United States;
sleeping in a tree house in Georgia, United States;
walking through Carlsbad Caverns;
canoeing with alligators in Okefenokee Swamp;
backpacking across the Cascades to Holden Village;
exploring the ruins at Copán;
snorkeling with Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles in Kahalu'u;
touring the top of Mauna Kea;
seeing Stonehenge;
touring châteaux in the Loire Valley;
visiting Schloss Hohenschwangau and Schloss Neuschwanstein; and
entering cathedrals in England, France, and Germany.

This desire for more adventure travel led to the purchase of 25: Wildlife Adventures and A Year of Adventures: Lonely Planet's Guide to Where, What And When to Do It. In the first book I found I had been to 3 of the 25 places (Baja California, Tanzania, Florida) and experienced 5 of the 25 wildlife adventures (wildebeest migration, alligators, rhino, lions, turtles).

The question remains: Where should William go? I pose this question to the readers of this blog; recommend a place to go. While I'm asking a question of readers, I'll also ask: What should William blog? Of the score of examples above, only a half-dozen have posts.

[Update: I corrected the date to this year!]

Watching Fido (2007-05-30)

2007-05-31T13:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was seeking a break from serious conversation. What entertainment requires less energy than a zombie movie? Using online voucher redemption and Will Call--a combination almost as convenient as a pass--, I decided Wednesday afternoon to join friends at the Neptune Theatre for Fido that night. The crowd that appeared for this black comedy was almost like ones at Midnight Adrenaline films, or Paprika.

I was hoping for goofy fun, and I was not disappointed. Carrie-Anne Moss played her role well. The comedy--especially the Lassie allusions-- were so funny the audience laughed over many of the lines. I enjoyed the film.

Watching La Vida Homo (2007-05-27)

2007-05-31T12:29:00.001-07:00

Sunday night at the Egyptian I introduced new friends to other friends with tickets and we all watched a series of short films. I'll list them in order of my enjoyment, from the film I enjoyed most to the one I enjoyed least:

Cowboy Forever. I especially liked the scene in which their cowboy coworkers jokingly hold Jones down for a kiss from Govinda. Without requiring serious discussion they conveyed humorous awareness of the feelings involved.
Heartland. For a suspenseful moment in this short film it's not clear if the main characters will fight or kiss.
signage. There can be many reasons two people stay away from one another. This short shows the real reason isn't always the "obvious" one.
Kali Ma. This was entertaining enough for a longer running time, even if the plot was improbable.
Serene Hunter. Sometimes it's the pursuit that's fun.
41 Seconds. I liked the way this short film played with presentation on the screen.
I Just Wanted to Be Somebody. The photo for this film never appeared onscreen. Neither did Anita Bryant. Instead, we saw sheep shearing and what appeared to be a baby factory. I suspect there was a mistake in the reels and we watched the wrong film.

At Secret Festival #1 (2007-05-27)

2007-05-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

For reasons I can't discuss, the Secret Festival started me thinking about emotional immaturity and maturity. Signs that suggest emotional immaturity to me include lack of empathy, managing moods with substances, refusing to talk about feelings, and tolerating any behavior in others.

In contrast, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People quotes Hrand Saxenian's definition of emotional maturity: "the ability to express one's own feelings and convictions balanced with consideration for the thoughts and feelings of others." In 7 Habits this balance between courage and consideration is necessary for Habit 4: Think Win/Win. This habit helps move people from independence to interdependence. This is part of Stephen R. Covey's broader maturity continuum (not merely emotional maturity), from dependence to independence to interdependence.

In How to Be An Adult, David Richo writes, "Adults learn that separateness is not an abandonment but simply a human condition, the only condition from which a healthy relationship can grow. With boundaries come interdependence rather than dependency." In films and in life, I see the value of these definitions of emotional and personal maturity.

At Muk Gong Saturday Gala (2005-07-26)

2007-05-27T17:13:00.000-07:00

Two days after the Opening Night Gala we attended the first Saturday Gala, another film and reception. The film was Muk gong/A Battle of Wits and the reception was at the Hilton.

Although based upon a novel and manga, Muk gong was live action rather than anime (whereas Paprika was anime). I went expecting strategy and stunts, and was not disappointed. The score for films I liked versus films I disliked is 3 to 0.

At the reception our group of a half-dozen guys noticed a SIFF guest that one of our friends suggested had been in Paris, je t'aime, in the segment "Le Marais" directed by Gus Van Sant. I consulted the full cast and crew on the Internet Movie Database on my phone. Since Ryan was sure it wasn't Gaspard Ulliel, we decided it was Elias McConnell.

As he walked away for a cigarette break, I intercepted him and verified his identity. "This party is lame," he said, "there's no one my age." I pointed to two of our friends and said they were his age. "There are no girls my age," he amended. Nevertheless the five of us talked--about Portland, his past and present photography, his role in Elephant, his ongoing friendship with Gus Van Sant (and the roles Elias hopes to play), clubbing in Paris around the filming of Paris, je t'aime, and the Luxembourg filming of House of Boys--until it was time for our friends to leave the party.

Watching Paprika (2007-05-25)

2007-05-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

I vividly remember an experience from one summer in college. I was living with a friend's parents and working a night shift. Early one afternoon I awakened and walked sleepily into their dining room for breakfast. In their dining room I looked up and noticed that the walls were now covered in colorful Arabic tapestries. In fact, the walls were wider than before. It looked like I was inside a Bedouin tent. I placed my hand on my chin in thought, and then shook my finger at the tapestries. "This is a dream!" I said. Shortly afterward I truly awakened.

This experience of false awakening may be the closest experience I've had to reality testing lucid dreaming. As I mentioned before, I like stories and movies in which it is difficult to distinguish appearance and reality. The first film with a dream theme I remember seeing was Dreamscape, but I liked Richard Linklater's rotoscoped Waking Life better. In fact, I recommend Before Sunrise, Waking Life, Before Sunset, and A Scanner Darkly by Richard Linklater. As I noted elsewhere, the first three films in this list have a lot of conversation. The first three films also have Ethan Hawke as Jesse and Julie Delpy as Celine, although they have only a cameo appearance in Waking Life. (The relationship between Jesse and Celine in Before Sunrise and Before Sunset is one of the most realistic romances I've seen in film, including the awkward silences and conversational corrections that happen when two people are getting to know one another. Equally interesting is the decade between the two movies, in both reality and the lives of the characters.) Both Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly address the differences between perception and reality, Waking Life through conversation and A Scanner Darkly through action.

A Scanner Darkly is also the latest I've seen in a similar series of movies influenced by Philip K. Dick short stories or novels--a series that includes my favorite Blade Runner as well as Total Recall, Abre Los Ojos and Vanilla Sky, Minority Report, and Paycheck. Of the associated stories--Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, Ubik, Minority Report, Paycheck, and A Scanner Darkly--I remember reading all but Ubik.

False awakenings, lucid dreaming, difficulty distinguishing dreams and reality, animation (although not rotoscoping), and dreams driving reality--all these themes are present in Paprika as well. We saw this film--the second for us in SIFF 2007--at 21:30 at the Neptune Theatre with friends and what appeared to be anime fans. (I'm glad I got our tickets from Will Call before the printer broke!) While we enjoyed the film and the effects of dreaming, I was somewhat confused by multiple false awakenings and collective dreams.

At Opening Night Gala (2007-05-24)

2007-05-25T14:59:00.000-07:00

The SIFF Opening Night Gala is not merely a movie. It's an entire evening event, from disorganized line to interminable introduction to delightful screening to dancing reception.

Disorganized Line

The back of my Gala Pass says, "Passholders will be allowed preferred entrance into theaters up to 20 minutes prior to showtime, or until passholder allotment is reached." Usually this means separate pass holder's and ticket holder's lines, the former entering first. The staff at McCaw Hall were not aware of this convention, however.

As a group of pass holders gathered, I explained the existence of pass holders who hadn't upgraded to VIP to a half-dozen people: to McCaw Hall staff guarding the door upon my arrival, to SIFF staff directing foot traffic inside, to SIFF staff entering the building, to SIFF staff about to clear the area for ticket holders, to two McCaw Hall additional staff directing foot traffic inside. Finally feature programmer Maryna Ajaja approved our entrance.

Interminable Introduction

Once inside our friends guessed how long the introduction would require, from "Good Evening" to the dimming of the lights for the film. Would it be 13 minutes? 17 minutes? 20 minutes? In "The Price Is Right" format I chose 21 minutes, confident from previous opening night experience that the introduction would require more than 20 minutes. The proceedings began 15 minutes late and lasted longer than 35 minutes.

Surprisingly, parade of sponsors by Gary Tucker (Director of Communications and Community Programming) was one of the more enjoyable parts, complete with a picture of a cat with a bottle of vodka. In lolcat style Ryan and I were working on the caption "I Bought You Vodka, But I Drinked It" when a person behind us said, "I Can Has Vodka?". (Later "i'm in ur likker, drinkin ur vodka" occurred to me.)

Delightful Screening

SIFF opening night films often premier elsewhere; Son of Rambow showed at the Sundance Film Festival. This screening was a crowd-pleaser like The Notebook or The Illusionist rather than a surprise like Me and You and Everyone We Know.

It reminded me most of Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys from SIFF 2002, though not opening night. (As I mentioned previously, I met Jena Malone from The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys--and Saved!--when she was in town for Donnie Darko.) Both films contain animated sequences based sketches drawn by one of the film's characters. In Dangerous Lives the religious element is Catholic, while in Son of Rambow it's Plymouth Brethren. Dangerous Lives is set in the 1970s, while Son of Rambow is set in the 1980s. Dangerous Lives has mid-teen characters while Son of Rambow has early teen characters.

The improbable plot of Son of Rambow makes good comedy and tolerable sentimentality. The goings-on are goofy, especially with the addition of a French foreign exchange student. The sentimentality, most prominent in the blood brother scene and several rescue scenes, stands in the literary tradition of innocent romantic friendships among boys at English schools.

Dancing Reception

Finally, the evening ended with a reception. The reception was huge and included a dance area, long lines of food and drink, floors of different music, and films projected on the walls. We danced with friends into the night.

At SIFF Ticket Office (2007-05-24)

2007-05-25T10:21:00.000-07:00

Each year the start of the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is faster for me. Prior to this blog and in 2005 I purchased passes and tickets at the main box office. In 2006 I had purchased passes and tickets in advance and redeemed vouchers at the member box office. In 2007 I not only purchased passes and tickets in advance but I can also redeem the vouchers individually online. For my two Film Buff 20 Packs this means I don't have to determine all twenty screenings in advance. I've already redeemed 16 vouchers for 2 tickets each to 8 screenings; the tickets will be at Will Call. Consequently this year potential screenings are shared events in Google Calendar rather than public lists in Blogger.

Yesterday Ryan and I still visited the Pacific Place ticket office for my SIFF Gala Pass photograph and our Secret Festival passes--and to avoid the $3.50 service fee on Web purchases for which I can't use my vouchers. While we were there they printed Ryan's Opening Night Gala and Closing Night Gala tickets. Next year I may send in a digital photograph in advance as well and avoid the wait.

Eating Like a Thin Hobbit

2007-05-14T10:56:00.000-07:00

Aragorn: Gentlemen, we do not stop till nightfall.
Pippin: What about breakfast?
Aragorn: You've already had it.
Pippin: We've had one, yes. What about second breakfast?
[Aragorn turns and walks off in disgust]
Merry: I don't think he knows about second breakfast, Pip.
Pippin: What about elevenses? Luncheon? Afternoon tea? Dinner? Supper? He knows about them, doesn't he?
Merry: I wouldn't count on it.

--The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Lately I eat frequent small meals--a sort of hobbit diet, except perhaps smaller portions and healthier food choices. I find that the Seattle restaurants we frequent serve meals literally twice the amount I eat in one sitting. I'm glad that restaurants in Seattle, unlike restaurants in Paris, will provide a doggy bag.

I've heard from my doctor and read that frequent small meals aid alertness, improve digestion, increase metabolism, lower cholesterol, maintain weight, and--more important to me--reduce heartburn from large meals and reactive hypoglycemia from blood glucose and insulin variation. Consequently I think my half-meals and snacks throughout the day at home and the office are healthy.

Reading The Pearl (2007-05-07/09)

2007-05-10T06:41:00.000-07:00

"I know," said Kino.... "The loss of the pearl was a punishment visited on those who tried to leave their station. And the Father made it clear that each man and woman is like a soldier sent by God to guard some part of the castle of the Universe. And some are in the ramparts and some far deep in the darkness of the walls. But each one must remain faithful to his post and must not go running about, else the castle is in danger from the assaults of Hell."

--John Steinbeck, The Pearl

A couple of years ago my birthday wish list included "Perl references, like... CGI Programming with Perl." At my birthday party a friend gave me a Steinbeck Centennial Edition of The Pearl, partly in jest. The Pearl is a fable based upon a story Steinbeck heard in 1940 when traveling in the Sea of Cortez.

Three different reviews treat The Pearl as novella version of the fable of the boy with the filberts, or the monkey with his hand in the jar. First, the Penguin Books jacket says, "For Steinbeck, Kino and his wife illustrate the fall from innocence of people who believe wealth erases all problems." Second, Wikipedia summarizes the book as telling "the story of a poor Mexican diver who finds a magnificent pearl which he hopes will improve his family's life; however, he finds that his new wealth brings only corruption of the soul and the blinding luxuries of 'civilized' life." This review calls Kino a "greedy psychopath" and a "greedy sociopath." Finally, an About.com review states that Steinbeck "made the story into a parable, warning his readers of the corrupting influences of wealth." All three emphasize Kino's obsession, greed, and insanity.

(To contradict these reviews I must fill this post with spoilers.)

While greed may lead to trouble, the protagonist, Kino is guilty of nothing more than wanting a better life for himself and his family. Below are his plans for the wealth of the pearl:

"We will be married--in the church."
"We will have new clothes."
"A rifle," he said. "Perhaps a rifle."
"My son will go to school."

It is important to note that Kino receives none of these "blinding luxuries of 'civilized' life," a phrase I can only write with irony.

In his quest for a better life for himself and his family, Kino takes the following actions:

He requests the aid of a doctor in healing his son.
He works as a pearl-diver, diving for pearls and attempting to sell the pearl he finds.
He chases a thief out of his house.
He refuses to be cheated by a pearl-buyer cartel.
He defends himself when attacked in the dark.
He flees with his family to protect them from harm.
He stops the trackers who would kill his family.

These actions do not represent corruption of the soul; they are neither psychopathic nor sociopathic. If Kino shows a fatal flaw in keeping the pearl, it is his refusal to accept economic, racial, and social injustice. It is other men--corrupt men with religious, economic, or political power--that are characterized by lack of empathy or conscience, and poor impulse control or manipulative behaviors:

A greedy doctor refuses to treat Kino's baby's scorpion bite when Kino cannot pay.
A patronizing priest requests a contribution to the church.
The same doctor poisons the baby in an attempt to extract payment from Kino.
A thief--informed by the doctor--attempts to steal the pearl in the night.
Pearl buyers collude to keep the price of the pearl low.
A robber attacks Kino in the dark; another damages his canoe.
An arsonist burns down the hut in which the family lives.
Trackers attempt to hunt down Kino and his family.

These behaviors--not Kino's--are the ones violating social rules and norms and showing indifference to the rights and feelings of others.

Kino and his wife fall from innocence not in the sense that they are corrupted by wealth, but in the sense that they are the victims of the corruption and greed of others. Which others are corrupted by Kino's new-found wealth? It is not his brother and sister-in-law, nor even his friends and neighbors. It is the rich and powerful in the town, those who already have more than Kino.

In Steinbeck's story, "Don't leave your station," is spoken by the rich to the poor, the powerful to the weak, the educated to the uneducated, the European to the native. It is advice designed to protect the wealth, power, and advantages of those who have them. To call Kino "greedy" is thus to speak with the voice of the oppressor. Instead of a parable about greed, I see this as a story about the injustice experienced when the oppressed attempt to better their lives.

Reading Travels with Charley (2007-05-02/07)

2007-05-02T08:52:00.000-07:00

Montana has a spell on me. It is grandeur and warmth. If Montana had a seacoast, or if I could live away from the sea, I would instantly move there and petition for admission. Of all the states it is my favorite and my love.

--John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley in Search of America

"In... 1960, John Steinbeck and his poodle, Charley, embarked on a journey across America." Starting in New York he drove counter-clockwise around the United States in a three-quarter-ton pickup-truck with a camper top. Avoiding main thoroughfares he visited nearly forty states, with a stop in Seattle. Among other places, he visited the Badlands, Montana, California, Texas, New Orleans (witnessing an event in the history of desegregation), and then drove quickly through Virginia and back home to New York.

In 1962, my father, after reading Travels with Charley, went to graduate school in Montana. His future wife had refused to marry him until she finished her undergraduate degree, so he decided to study pharmacy in the meantime. In the middle of winter, he found the deep dark nights, white-out blizzard days, and forty below temperatures depressing. So he took a bus to Portland, Oregon, arriving with $50. He bought a newspaper and called a telephone number he saw in a classified advertisement. "Is that room for rent still available? If you pick me up at the bus station I'll rent it."

In 1995 I embarked on a journey across America. Starting in Portland, Oregon I drove clockwise around the United States in an orange 1976 Volkswagen Westfalia. Avoiding main thoroughfares I visited thirty-eight states, with a stop in New York. Among other places, I visited Montana, the Badlands, New Orleans (requiring repair for the Westfalia while leaving town), Texas, California, then drove quickly up the coast to my new home in Seattle.

In 2007, after reading Travels with Charley, I called my father to see if I remembered his story correctly. He was surprised at my memory of the detail. Both Travels with Charley and my father's own story were told to me in a memorable, conversational way.

Reading The 8th Habit (2007-03-26/04-26)

2007-04-30T13:15:00.000-07:00

Hopefully you're beginning to see how the 8th Habit--Find Your Voice and Inspire Others to Find Theirs--is another way of saying, "Use the empowering knowledge worker, whole-person model. Apply the 7 Habits (personal greatness), the 4 Roles of Leadership (leadership greatness) and the 6 principles or drivers to execution (organizational greatness) to that model."

--Stephen R. Covey, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

"Why is the eighth habit longer than the first seven combined?" is a question I heard more than once while reading The 8th Habit. As the quote shows, The 8th Habit applies the seven habits to personal and interpersonal life in "Knowledge Worker Age," and then extends their paradigms into leadership and organizational greatness. Along the way Covey's writing references a confusing number of lists and research.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People proceeds from "private victory" to "public victory." Private victory is essentially making and keeping promises, implemented in the first three habits. Public victory is essentially involving others in the problem and working out the solution together, implemented in the next three habits. Habit 7 (Sharpen the Saw) "embodies all the other habits. It is the habit of continuous improvement...."

To elaborate on the habit of self-improvement for a healthy balanced life (an aim I mentioned in a previous book review), Covey identifies four dimensions: physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual. He identifies example activities for each dimension that build a person's productive capacity: exercise, nutrition, and stress management (for body); reading, visualizing, planning, and writing (for mind); service, empathy, synergy, and developing intrinsic security (for heart); and value clarification and commitment, and study and meditation (for spirit).

In Covey's First Things First these dimensions find expression in the subtitle: "To Live, To Love, To Learn, To Leave a Legacy." In The 8th Habit these four dimensions are the "whole person paradigm". The process of "finding your voice" involves answering questions along these dimensions: What drives your economic engine? What can you be the best in the world at? What are you deeply passionate about? What does your conscience counsel?

The entire eighth habit is "find your voice and inspire others to find theirs." Consequently the book proceeds from personal greatness to leadership greatness. From mental vision, physical (or economic) discipline, emotional passion, and spiritual conscience arise Covey's "4 Roles of Leadership": pathfinding, aligning, empowering, and modeling. These roles lead to these leadership activities:

Jointly determine the course.
Set up and manage systems to stay on course.
Focus talents on results, not methods, then get out of people's way and give help as requested.
Set a good example.

To the discussion of personal and leadership effectiveness, The 8th Habit adds survey results on organizational effectiveness. Covey's survey results suggest that organizations fail in "focus and execution," particularly these areas of execution: clarity, commitment, translation, enabling, synergy, and accountability. Organizational greatness comes from closing these execution gaps.

As its length suggests, there is more material in The 8th Habit than can be easily evaluated and applied after one reading. In fact, Covey suggests it as a yearlong personal growth and development program. Time will tell whether the eighth habit is as memorable as the seven habits were.

Avoiding HFCS (2007-01/04)

2007-04-23T22:50:00.000-07:00

Although my weight has dropped more than a pound per week in the last three months, I consider myself to be "eating healthy" and exercising rather than "on a diet." I have attempted to add foods to my diet rather than to avoid foods. I consume more fatty fish, walnuts, flaxseeds, green leafy vegetables, olive oil, fruits, and red wine. I also eat more often (albeit smaller meals).

However, there are a few large exceptions, ingredients I avoid in foods. These include caffeine after noon, trans fats ("there is no safe level"), and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Avoiding these requires reading nutritional labels--a surprising number of foods (especially breads) contain HFCS. When my avoidance of HFCS brings questions, I generally summarize by saying that it's an unnatural (highly processed) result of political pressure. This article explains more fully.

Rereading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (2007-03-24/04-21)

2007-04-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

Suppose you were to come upon someone in the woods working feverishly to saw down a tree.
"What are you doing?" you ask.
"Can't you see?" comes the impatient reply. "I'm sawing down this tree."
"You look exhausted!" you exclaim. "How long have you been at it?"
"Over five hours," he returns, "and I'm beat! This is hard work."
"Well, why don't you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen that saw?" you inquire. "I'm sure it would go a lot faster."
"I don't have time to sharpen the saw," the man says emphatically. "I'm too busy sawing!"

--Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Last year a friend sent me an email message with this request: "I'm looking for advice on how to become a better contractor/consultant/professional. Any books you would recommend?" Early this year I told him in reply that if he read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People I would re-read it and discuss it with him. As I've made reference in this blog to maturing beyond dependence, putting "first things first", and "sharpening the saw" both mentally and physically; it is appropriate to review this book and present its habits.

Book Review

A list of the seven habits is easy to find, so this review focuses on the underlying principles. (Indeed, being principle-centered rather than tribe- or work-centered is the most significant contrast I see between the writings of Covey and Immelman.) Consequently I have selected a half-dozen of the principles I have found corroborated in other reading and have attempted to practice in my pursuit of a balanced, effective life.

The Map is Not the Territory

The book 7 Habits begins with a discussion of paradigms or patterns of thought. Covey writes that paradigm "was originally a scientific term"; this is probably a reference to The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn. Revolutionary changes occur in thought when paradigms shift.

A consequence of this concept is that when one's observations of the territory (reality) differ from the map one holds (one's patterns of thought), one has the opportunity to update the map. This is my pursuit of truth; I want to frequently update my mental maps to better anticipate consequences.

Mature from Dependence to Independence to Interdependence

The seven habits progress from dependence to independence to interdependence. Emotional, mental, physical, or spiritual dependence is a sign of immaturity in the respective area. However, independence is not complete maturity. Maturity is ultimately in relation to others, and consequently is interdependent. (I have often heard the pre/trans fallacy of conflating dependent and interdependent concepts.) In interdependent relating the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Nevertheless, independence precedes interdependence; dependent people are limited in their ability to constructively relate to others.

There is a Gap Between Stimulus and Response

The concepts of free will and responsibility are important to maturity. I endeavor to explain my actions based upon my values and my evaluation of the situation--not as a result of my environment. This is the meaning of "proactive."

Wisdom Anticipates Consequences

Realizing that one can choose a response to a stimulus is part of maturity; another part is realizing that one can not choose consequences. Consequences are a natural result of choices. This is the concept of cause and effect. Covey writes, "When we pick up one end of the stick, we pick up the other," but I don't think that aphorism conveys the idea well. "Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap," perhaps conveys it better. One of my personal measures of wisdom is the length of time considered when evaluating the consequences of one's actions.

Trust Requires Trustworthiness

One of the consequences to consider in choosing is trust. Jim comments that in Immelman's book trust results from an external event, a plot contrivance. Similarly contrived are trust exercises in which participants fall back into the waiting arms of other participants. These approaches assume low trust is more a result of suspicion than a result of untrustworthiness. The solution is then a technique rather than character.

In my experience, however, making and keeping promises is challenging. Breaking one's word depletes the "emotional bank account" of the relationship, in Covey's metaphor.

Good is the Enemy of Best

At work I sometimes say, "When everything is a priority, nothing is." It is better--after consulting the mental map and considering the long-term (particularly relational) consequences of one's choices--to prioritize what's important. Covey distinguishes between importance and urgency, dividing time into four quadrants depending on low or high urgency or importance. Quadrant II, important but not urgent, often has the highest-leverage activities. In Quadrant II are the "Sharpen the Saw" activities illustrated by the quote beginning this post.

The 7 Habits, particularly First Things First, then suggest scheduling one's priorities. If space is limited, put in the rocks, then the pebbles, and finally the sand; doing the reverse uses more space. Similarly, since time is limited, find a time for the "big things" and let the "small things" fill the moments between.

The Seven Habits Paradigm

How does one act on these principles? The book suggests developing the following habits:

Be Proactive
Begin with the End in Mind
Put First Things First
Think Win/Win
Seek First to Understand... Then to be Understood
Synergize
Sharpen the Saw

[Added anchors for subsequent posts.]

Reading An Inconvenient Truth (2007-04-03/08)

2007-04-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

In 1995/1997, when my graduate research on rainfall predictors for reservoir models required analysis of climate data, friends would frequently request my opinion on global warming. I would reply that there was too much natural variability for me to conclude there was a warming trend.

Global warming wasn't directly related to my research--and my research, as it happened, wasn't directly related to my life. Therefore I was recently interested to see the scientific consensus and new information in the decade since I encountered climate data. Like my friend who wanted footnotes to the nightly news, I wanted footnotes for the film An Inconvenient Truth. I wanted to check the scales of graphs shown in the film (Are they logarithmic?) and the sources for the quotations (Are they peer-reviewed?). Consequently I purchased the book.

The book presents status of the scientific consensus as it appears in the popular press in a style similar to Harper's Index:

Number of peer-reviewed articles dealing with "climate change" published in scientific journals during the previous 10 years: 928
Percentage of articles in doubt as to the cause of global warming: 0%
Articles in the popular press about global warming during the previous 14 years: 636
Percentage of articles in doubt as to the cause of global warming: 53%

Those who have read Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions will be aware that there are sociological forces at work in scientific consensus. Nevertheless, I suggest we should act upon the best available information, and apply the precautionary principle when future consequences are severe. I also note that the graphs throughout the book suggest ongoing global warming in the decade since I paid attention to climate data.

Of course, there are debates in scientific circles on particular points that the book and film present only in the form of a summary conclusion. The aim of book and film appears to be to present the basic scientific facts in a visual and memorable fashion. The complexity of the relevant thermodynamics is hidden behind the full color and large type.

At the end of the book there is a call to action, particularly to reduce carbon emissions. One of the ways is to "get around on less." Driving less is already one of my 2007 goals, as I noted when writing about simplicity and time savings.

Another of my goals related to An Inconvenient Truth is to spend six days in forest or wilderness. Several of the autobiographical sketches interspersed throughout the book and film show Al Gore's very personal appreciation for the environment. This, and his motivation for public service, have increased my respect for Al Gore while reading this book.

Reading Catch-22 (2007-03-16/28)

2007-03-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

Joseph Heller's Catch-22 appears to illustrate the insanity of war. Many have warned about the perverse incentives war creates--Dwight D. Eisenhower's farewell address (with its warnings about the military-industrial complex) and M. Scott Peck's People of the Lie (with its analysis of the My Lai Massacre and comments on standing armies) come to my mind. Catch-22 illustrates it with mostly-humorous stories of contradiction.

I wish, however, that the fictional stories of wartime insanity hadn't totaled 453 pages in my paperback copy. I had been reading it since finishing Don't Let's Go to Dogs Tonight, and I became bored with the theme. The book club for which I read Invisible Man selected Catch-22 to "fulfill my hipster quotient." Unfortunately I finished Catch-22 in Colorado Springs and so missed the monthly meeting to discuss a book.

In Colorado Springs (2007-03-26/30)

2007-03-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

As we drove past the "Garden of the Gods" exit sign on I-25 in Colorado Springs, CO, my business partner asked, "What's in Garden of the Gods?" "Rocks," I replied.

During March 26-29 we had travel days and three days of meetings with a client to improve our communication and teamwork, as well as address upcoming project milestones. On the last day of meetings one of our client's staff drove me through Garden of the Gods to see the rocks myself.

At the IMA (2007-01-03/03-25)

2007-03-25T17:25:00.000-07:00

As I sit in a University District cafe, my Remember the Milk list tells me that I've gone 35 times this year--roughly three times per week--to University of Washington's Intramural Activities Building. The $50 per quarter is a good investment! I want to maintain a healthy cholesterol and weight--and have a flat stomach--, so Ryan and I (and often friends) spend 20 to 30 minutes on the elliptical machines and then do some free weight lifting with our arms. Afterward I usually feel energetic.

On the Lower Route from Marangu to Kibo (2000-03-08/11)

2007-03-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

After reviewing a book set in Africa, I began recording in this blog stories of my trip there, especially of my climb of Mount Kilimanjaro, and the people I met along the trail. Below is an outline of these events, from Marangu to Kibo.

I woke up at Marangu Hotel to a beautiful sunrise. After we packed and ate a large breakfast, the staff gave us a briefing and assigned us our guides and porters. I had a team of four:

my porter,
my guide,
my guide's porter, and
our cook.

We got into the truck—my guides and porters climbed in back while the driver showed me to the passenger side of the cab. Then we were off to Marangu Gate. From Marangu Gate we climbed over several days to Mandara and Horombo.

From Horombo Hut to Kibo Hut, the moorland vegetation gave way to alpine desert. Most people put on jackets.

From some points on the climb from Horombo Hut, I could see Kibo Hut at the base of Kibo as a tiny metallic sliver in the distance. My picture of Kibo from one rise includes for scale people on the trail ahead.

At High Altitudes (2000-03-08/13)

2007-03-22T08:06:00.000-07:00

After reading a book with scenes in Africa, and another set in Africa, I decided to post memories and stories as well as photographs of my trip there. These are more stories of Kilimanjaro.

High altitude climbing is interesting. I have since decided (after climbing Mount Adams when I was out of shape) that I prefer streams and trees to rocks and snow. While the equatorial location of Mt. Kilimanjaro may make the temperature at higher elevations more like lower elevations elsewhere, I don't imagine there's any more oxygen.

A sign at Marangu Gate had some reference elevations. From Marangu Gate we climbed to our first stop, Mandara Hut. In regard to oxygen, I don't think anyone had too much difficulty at Marangu Gate (1 970 m, higher than Denver) or Mandara Hut (2 700 m), though the climb was tiring and the air noticeably thinner on the way.

Several people climbing Kilimanjaro at the same time I was—including two American doctors and some Austrian gentlemen—took Diamox to assist in acclimation. Ashley, a young woman who was part of a British couple climbing alongside me, starting taking it at Kibo Hut. Apparently it alters the oxygen dissociation curve so that hemoglobin will release oxygen more readily.

Additionally, many people—including me—stayed two days at Horombo Hut, taking an extra day to attempt to acclimatize. I'm told most people notice the effects of lack of oxygen due to altitude at around 3 000 m. Horombo Hut is at 3 720 m. After lunch there, we climbed up to the saddle between the two prominent volcanic peaks, Mawenzie and Kibo. On the way to the saddle, at 4 500 m, is Zebra rock.

While I was at Horombo Hut, one German young man was removed from Mt. Kilimanjaro in a stretcher, a victim of High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE), or fluid on the lungs. While some climbers asserted that they saw him alive at lower elevation, one American doctor also making the climb, who watched him pass in the stretcher, was convinced that he died before reaching the bottom. The Segmans, whom I met at Horombo Hut, corroborated this after returning to the park headquarters at Marangu Gate.

Apparently the young man had been sick at Horombo and Kibo Huts, and perhaps even at Mandara Hut. It may have been merely traveler's diarrhea, but dehydration might be deadly if one's body begins to retain water as in pulmonary edema.

While the climbers were abuzz with this news, I overheard one climber who reached Gilmans Point on the crater rim being asked if he had had any trouble. He said he had many symptoms: headache, dizziness, and hallucinations. I would not have persisted if I had experienced the latter, a symptom of High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE), or swelling of the brain.

They don't publicize the statistics, but my informal and anecdotal survey suggests that on the order of 1000's attempt Mt. Kili, 100's actually arrive at the crater rim, and 10's die. I heard that eight people died in December during the millennial climb. One woman died of HAPE on January 1, after she and her husband insisted on continuing to climb against their guide's recommendation.

Admiring the Active of All Ages (2000-03-07/08)

2007-03-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

After the stories of beasts, beatings, bribes, and bugs, I wanted to share more inspirational stories of east Africa. At Marangu Hotel I met Betty and Ruth. Betty Leavengood is a freelance writer from Arizona. (She is the author of Grand Canyon Women and Tucson Hiking Guide--in a second edition.) She and her friend, Ruth, were "the two mamas." ("Mama" is a respectful form of address for any women old enough to have children). Betty and Ruth climbed Mount Kilimanjaro at the same time I did--to more than 4 500 m at the saddle between Kibo and Mawenzi. I was able to take a picture at Mandara with Ruth on the left and Betty on the right.

Betty says, "We old folks should give you youngsters hope for your old age." They gave me hope, at least. After climbing Kilimanjaro, Ruth went to Haiti. Betty wrote:

My friend Ruth had a great time in Haiti. To her, having a great time means being dumped in the middle of nowhere by the jeep driver supposedly taking her to a hotel in another town. He got angry and left her and her daughter. They were rescued by a policeman.

At the time Betty was working on another book about Arizona's mountaintops. She also planned a backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon over Easter.

Wanting Longer in Africa (2000-03-06)

2007-03-19T21:38:00.000-07:00

This is another story of Africa in March 2000: My business partner and I worked together at a civil engineering consulting firm in Bellevue, WA, before we started our current software development company. I've long loved travel, and it was while working at the consulting firm that I took a month off to go to east Africa. We were working on a telecommunications project at the time, and a month was all we could spare--not the six weeks I wanted. (Unlike my trip to Paris, we didn't determine a way to work abroad.) On the fifth day of my trip I sent this email message:

It hasn't rained for the last two days. I booked a Mt. Kili climb and a safari. The rain won't stop the Land Rovers on the latter. I just hope that I can work a camera with the remaining arm and leg after I've paid for it. In anticipation of the rain, and because KLM lost my tent somewhere, and because the known trustworthy trip agent is high-end, I'm going on the hut/lodge variety, rather than the budget tent variety of trek.
Are you *sure* that an extra two weeks here would put our work behind? :-)

I came back to Bellevue as planned at the end of March. Upon returning to the office, I learned that there was a stop-work order on the telecommunications project!

Reading Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight (2007-03-04/15)

2007-03-16T18:14:00.000-07:00

He turned to me as if to say, "Hurry, boy, it's waiting there for you."--Toto, "Africa"

Book Review

Alexandra Fuller went to Africa in 1972 with her British parents. Her memoir, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight tells of 1976 to 2001 in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), Malawi, and Zambia. She shares these childhood stories in a series of overlapping vignettes. She writes of her mother, "hard-living, glamorous, intemperate, intelligent, racist." (The book's title comes from A.P. Herbert's lines, "Don't let's go to the dogs tonight,/For mother will be there.") She writes of her father, "taciturn and capable." Most of all, she writes "a love story for the continent."

Personal Memories

I went to Africa in March 2000 for the best vacation of my life. For a month I took photographs, mostly of wildlife, in Tanzania and Kenya. The best photographs are in an album, for reminiscing--or occasional sharing with guests, accompanied by narration. Some of these stories are already on the Web; some photographs and recollections are already in this blog; some I will start to share now.

Africa came to my attention when a friend and his wife moved to Nairobi for a research assistantship abroad. I asked myself, When would I know someone in Africa? Thinking it unlikely to happen again, I decided to visit. (As it happens, my friend's family is again in Africa, and another old friend is there as well.) When I thought of Africa, I thought of Isak Denisen's Out of Africa, Ernest Hemingway's The Snows of Kilimanjaro, and safaris in the Serengeti. As I researched my trip, I discovered that east Africa (Nairobi in Kenya, Arusha in Tanzania, and Masai Mara or Serengeti in both) was the location for almost all of my associations.

I had taken chloroquine for my 1992 trip to Honduras, so I was familiar with antimalarial medication. Chloroquine had been the worst-tasting medicine I'd ever taken; I couldn't throw the pills down my throat fast enough to avoid the aftertaste. Mefloquine was the medicine for east Africa, with its chloroquine-resistant strains of plasmodium. It tasted better but produced vivid dreams. My waking imagination of what the parasite would do inside my body was vivid as well, so I took the antimalarial anyway.

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight opens with descriptions of bugs, and indeed insects were a concern as I prepared for my trip. I asked a friend who grew up in Africa about mosquito netting. What was the best kind? He didn't know; his family never used it. Did he worry about malaria? They just caught it, and got sick periodically. I decided I couldn't afford an absence from work for malaria when I returned.

One of my first nights in Arusha I awoke under the mosquito netting provided over the bed by the YMCA at which I was staying. What had disturbed my sleep was the high-pitched whine of a mosquito's wings. Fearing a proboscis through the tiny holes, I curled myself into a ball so none of my body touched the netting, and went back to sleep.

"I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills," I remembered, both from the movie, and from a British woman's reading of the book by Karen Blixen née Dinesen. (I heard Karen Blixen read another of her stories on tape as well.) In Nairobi, my friends lived in the neighborhood "Karen", and one day we visited that farm.

Bribery and graft have a place in most people's stories of Africa. For me it started before I was officially in Tanzania. The fee for the visa was $20. I handed the guard $50, which he placed in a machine that purported to check for forgery. The machine "broke" and the border guard wrote me a receipt for $20. I thought, "I guess I just paid $20 for a visa and $30 for a bribe." I never argue with border guards; after all, I wasn't yet in the country.

When I wanted a topographic map of Mount Kenya (I love maps), I found they were only available from a Kenyan national agency directly. When leaving their offices in Nairobi, the guard asked for "chai". My friend and I pretended not to know the meaning of this slang for bribe.

Every building in Nairobi had a guard. Every apartment building, every house, every shop had a guard. (There were plenty of people: a drought had brought many rural residents to the capital.) Almost no one called the police. Those who did told stories, repeated by my friends, of the police requesting money to handle the matter. While I was in Nairobi, the news reported that a man stole a mango. The bystanders and vendor chased him down and beat him to death. Corruption and vigilante justice have their price: a death penalty seems steep for theft. This, and the crumbling infrastructure, place Nairobi at the bottom of my list of the world's cities. (Paris, of course, is at the top.)

The drought affected both the human and the animal populations of east Africa. Another news story while I was there told of a fight that broke out between villagers and monkeys when a water truck arrived at the village.

I was briefly chased by a monkey myself. In Mombasa they are pests, attracted to the rubbish of Kenyan tourists. After safely reaching my hut, I took a picture through the sliding glass door of the Procolobus badius on the porch.

[Corrected author's name.]

Listening to Melissa Etheridge (1991/2007)

2007-03-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

I don't care what they think.
I don't care what they say.
What do they know about this love, anyway?
--Melissa Etheridge, "Come to My Window"

Along with more than 50 other people at Pete's Oscar Party I heard "I Need To Wake Up" by Melissa Etheridge win at the 79th Academy® Awards. I had heard the song when I watched An Inconvenient Truth, but had forgotten. (Perhaps I had been too preoccupied with finding the footnotes to the science the film presented.)

Perhaps twice a decade I experience with someone what I describe, not as affection, not as being "in love", not as desire, not infatuation, not lust, but limerence. I experience limerence over an extended time as periods of pleasure and of pain that correspond with my internal perceptions and are inconsistent with my rational evaluation of the situation. (On one hand, for me infatuation is principally pleasurable and relatively short. On the other hand, being in love is consistent with my rational evaluation of the situation, and its pleasures and pains correspond to the events in our lives.) At its worst, I feel anxiety in the other's presence, watching them for small cues that--by giving them the benefit of the doubt--I can interpret positively. I think of the other daily, and even wake up in the early hours of the morning.

In moments like these I love to listen to Melissa Etheridge. Hearing her longing lets me relax. Why? Because her lyrics describe a life more obsessive than mine ever is, and I see myself as normal again. My favorite is her self-titled album. Songs titles like "Precious Pain," "Don't You Need," and "Watching You" convey the thrust of this album. The lyrics continue the theme:

"Don't you need? Don't you want?/Can't you taste it when you're alone?"
"Silence is the steel that pierces and cuts me to the bone./In dreams the hand that touches you is mine, and mine alone."
"If I can't love you/I don't want to love you./If I can't hold you/I don't want to be thinking of you."

At the Oscars I was happy to hear the passion is still present in Melissa Etheridge's voice, nearly two decades after her debut, and more than fifteen years since another passionate Melissa introduced me to her music.

Remembering Elephants (2000-03-14)

2007-03-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

Africa has been on my mind. Coincidentally, I just reviewed a book my business partner recently lent me; it had a few scenes on safari. I'm now beginning a book (Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight) a friend recently lent me; it's an African childhood.

I took the picture of the African Elephant--tembo to the East Africans who speak Swahili and Loxodonta africana to my Collins Guide to African Wildlife--while in a Land Rover in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania. The driver hired by Serengeti Select Safaris, Audex, said to the cow starting to cross the road, "Wait, Mama; let us pass." After the cow and her calves had crossed, we continued along the road. The "Mama," perhaps concerned about her young, trumpeted as we passed. As she was as large as the Land Rover, perhaps 3000 kg, and had tusks that curved forward, I had no wish to quarrel with her.

Reading Great Boss, Dead Boss (2007-02-23/03-03)

2007-03-03T17:18:00.000-08:00

"'...[O]nce you understand tribal behavior, it seems to be just about the only workable model for successful social interaction.'"--Ray Immelman, Great Boss, Dead Boss

Book Review

Great Boss, Dead Boss is a book on leadership. In its pages it presents a theory of motivation as well as the management conclusions that this theory implies. It does all this within the context of a narrative. The plot illustrates the principles and the characters exemplify the leadership the book proposes.

Motivation Theory

The concept I had not encountered before I saw Great Boss, Dead Boss recommended is in Tribal Dimension 1: "Individuals are socially, emotionally, and psychologically defined by their tribal membership." (The second half of this long post contains a complete listing of Immelman's tribal attributes and dimensions.) This paradigm purports to explain motivation better than previous models. "[M]any MBA programs are less than optimal in this area," says Butch, who is the voice of the author in the narrative. Butch says, "Indeed, tribes appear to be the oldest organizational form and still exist in this modern day and age. I came to realize how deeply ingrained it was in human behavior through my experience with tribes in Africa."

Immelman applies this tribal model to what is essentially a simplification of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, that individuals seek security and value. Where Maslow proposed psychological, safety, and love/belonging needs, Immelman proposes individual security, "Individuals act to reinforce their security when under threat." Where Maslow proposed esteem, Immelman proposes individual value, "Individuals act to reinforce their self-worth when their security is not under threat." Other authors summarize these needs as "security and significance" or "relationship and impact."

Great Boss, Dead Boss extends the pursuit of security and value to the tribe as the determiner of individuals. Consequently the remaining two tribal dimensions mirror individual needs: "Tribes act to secure their self-preservation if their security is under threat," and "Tribes act to reinforce their self-worth when their security is not under threat." The replacement for the pyramid is a progression from low tribal security and low individual security to high tribal value and high individual value.

Management Practice

In addition to the tribal dimensions, Immelman's tribal attributes contain many good management ideas. A tribe must have a mission: "A strong tribe has a credible, just cause for its continued existence," and "A strong tribe has clear external measures of success." I infer from remarks in the book and in reviews that mission statements have been so commonly poorly developed that there is credibility in calling them something else ("just cause", "measures of success") and contrasting them with mission statements.

Other tribal attributes show the wisdom of sharpening the saw. "A strong tribe celebrates and cares for the skills, tools, and implements required for its prosperity." Greg, the protagonist of the narrative, even demonstrates a "Character Ethic," concluding, " A strong tribe has a leader dedicated to the tribe's success. "

Much of the book, however, could foster what Stephen Covey labels a "Personality Ethic." Greg sets about to apply tribal attributes as human relations techniques, saying, "I'm going to make our common enemy as tangible as possible," and "By introducing symbols, we actually create tribes." These are implementations of tribal attributes 1 and 2.

Greg cynically accepts individuals in a state of dependence: "I concluded that individuals prefer to subordinate their desires to that of the group, rather than take an individual stand." The methods of meeting esteem needs depend on others above or below: "A strong tribe has a revered figurehead," and "A strong tribe knows how it compares to the 'untouchables.'"

Book Narrative

The narrative itself conveys a pursuit of esteem through division between inside and outside, above and below. True to the principle that, "A strong tribe develops its own unique language," the protagonist uses abbreviations (IS, IV, TS, TV) that outsiders would not understand.

The main characters appear motivated by fame, glory, and respect. The story begins with displays of power, executives whose conversations look to me something like, "Go here, do this, do that, satisfy the board, see my secretary, I'm all upset about money." The book's alternative is a tribal guru, an African big-game hunter who mentors through terse answers, silences, and sudden ends to conversations. The book perhaps conveys to management readers that managing a successful company is somehow analogous in adventure to actually going to Africa.

Perhaps as a reflection of the patriarchy typical of tribes, no major character is female. The women (and children) take a supporting role, providing their men with time to pursue business objectives, and with food.

Personal Reaction

Frankly I don't fit the world in Great Boss, Dead Boss. I'm not a joiner. When I read, "A strong tribe expects unquestioning loyalty," I fear the True Believer. I feel belonging to small social connections rather than large social groups. I have responsibilities in my role as business owner, but I value this as one role in a balanced, effective life. For the future of my corporation, I'd rather see us develop a culture of interdependence, following on individual independence, based on character and competence. I'd like confidence based upon achievement independent of enemies, outsiders, and subordinates. Will being a tribal leader aid my company in achieving this aim?

Tribal Attributes and Dimensions

Tribal Attributes

Great Boss, Dead Boss lists twenty-three attributes of a very strong, highly motivated tribe and its leader:

A strong tribe must have a common enemy.
A strong tribe has clearly defined symbols.
A strong tribe offers a superordinate identity to all sub-tribes.
A strong tribe has a credible, just cause for its continued existence.
A strong tribe has an accepted rite of passage.
A strong tribe has clear external measures of success.
A strong tribe understands and protects its source of power.
A strong tribe knows how it compares to the "untouchables."
The criteria for tribal membership are clear and credible.
Tribes communicate in a non-traditional, subjective, and intuitive manner.
A strong tribe develops its own unique language.
Tribal roles are fundamentally different from accepted functional roles.
Strong tribes record and celebrate significant events that reinforce their identity and value.
A strong tribe has a clearly defined and well-known justice mechanism.
A strong tribe has a clearly defined icon that embodies the tribal value.
A strong tribe has a walled city--a place of refuge where things of value to the tribe are kept.
A strong tribe possesses objects of value that embody the tribe's value.
A strong tribe has a revered figurehead.
A strong tribe celebrates and cares for the skills, tools, and implements required for its prosperity.
A strong tribe expects unquestioning loyalty.
A strong tribe has clearly defined roles, responsibilities, values, authority, power structure, and chain of command.
A strong tribe has a leader dedicated to the tribe's success.
Strong leaders have capable mentors whose psychological limits exceed their own.

Tribal Dimensions

The protagonist also examines five tribal dimensions:

Individuals are socially, emotionally, and psychologically defined by their tribal membership.
Individual Security (IS): Individuals act to reinforce their security when under threat.
Individual Value (IV): Individuals act to reinforce their self-worth when their security is not under threat.
Tribal Security (TS): Tribes act to secure their self-preservation if their security is under threat.
Tribal Value (TV): Tribes act to reinforce their self-worth when their security is not under threat.

[Added anchor for subsequent post.]

Considering Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films (2007-03-01/04-22)

2007-03-02T08:27:00.000-08:00

Films

What films shall I watch? In January I placed my online "Early Bird" order for Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) 2007, but that doesn't start until May 24. In the meantime, March 1 through April 22, there is a series of art house films acquired by Janus Films.

I'd like to see some good films by famous directors. At least one film by Bergman, Fellini, Kurosawa, and Truffaut might be good. Below are my top picks for each (with links to the films showing for each director, and to the Internet Movie Database description of the films):

I'm asking film buffs for recommendations so I can schedule. Which films shall I see?

Details

If you would like to join me, the films show at the Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, Seattle Center. (This hall was funded by Seattle in November, started in December, and completed in January.) There is a discount for SIFF members and students. For my top picks, below are the times that look good to me (with links to the schedule):

The Seventh Seal: 2007-03-23 21:30
La Strada: 2007-03-16 19:30
The Seven Samurai: 2007-04-21 19:30
The 400 Blows: 2007-03-02 19:00

Reading Invisible Man (2007-01-28/02-19)

2007-02-26T12:15:00.000-08:00

"My belated appreciation of the crude joke that had kept me running, was not enough."--Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

The narrator in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man lives through a seemingly surreal sequence of events. The nightmarish quality of the plot may have been ordinary for a black man in the United States before Rosa Parks refused to relinquish her seat. (The book's copyright is 1947.)

Invisible Man illustrates the power of society to define reality, "running" its members without their awareness. This cynical thesis has no relief in the pages of the story, as the narrator finds no escape other than to hibernate. "A hibernation is a covert preparation for an overt action."

The book club for which I read Invisible Man has suggested Catch-22 for their next meeting March 26. In the meantime, I have several books to read to meet the goal of blogging 50 books this year, especially since I read Invisible Man slowly, alternating with other media.

At Musée d'Orsay (2006-12-03)

2007-02-14T21:47:00.000-08:00

Before I recommended Versailles, I wrote my friend that I'd recommend Musée d'Orsay. We went there our last day in Paris, and I'm glad we didn't miss it.

In Versailles (2006-11-08)

2007-02-14T20:27:00.000-08:00

A friend asked, "If you had three days in Paris and its environs, and had never been there before, what would you go see?" I recommended the places pictured in the photographs quite close to Paris on the map of my geotagged photos--in Paris and Chartres. (I excepted ones idiosyncratic to my visit like M. Berger's salon where I lived or Le Chao-Ba-Café where I worked remotely.) However, since my European travelogue then ended with October 23, 2006, at Château d'Amboise, I wrote that I'd recommend a Paris location from second half of my visit there. My recommendation is Versailles, so I've uploaded these to my Flickr photos. In Versailles we saw these places:

Château de Versailles (although La Galerie des Glaces was under renovation),
Château de Versailles park and garden (although the Fountain of Apollo had construction around it),
Grand Trianon,
Petit Trianon, and
Petit hameau.

Watching Das Leben der Anderen/The Lives of Others (2007-02-11)

2007-02-14T17:02:00.000-08:00

Das Leben der Anderen/The Lives of Others contains both empathetic character development and entertaining plot twists. Set in East Germany before (and a little after) the fall of the Berlin Wall, the story follows the main characters, a Stasi officer and the playwright-and-actress couple he surveils, in a way that shows their humanity.

Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck said after a preview screening that the film has special meaning to many of those in Germany that viewed it or participated in its creation. In the cast one example is Sebastian Koch, who plays Georg Dreyman, the playwright: he experienced Stasi intimidation himself. In the crew another example is the property manager, who went to great lengths to assure the authenticity of the props in the film. In the audience many were reminded of their experiences in the GDR.

It sounded like Germany has some lack of constructive methods for its citizens to relate to former Stasi informants and officers, and to address the memory of the arrests, suicides, surveillance, and threats the film shows. Some Seattle audience members suggested the model of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. I was reminded of Red Dust. However, the goal of the TRC was truth rather than justice. It's possible that since the Stasi files are available for review by those who were surveillance targets, the truth is sufficiently available.

Das Leben der Anderen is an engaging film due not only to the people, place, and time it portrays, but also for the suspenseful sequence of events. I recommend those near Seattle's Harvard Exit Theatre go see it when it opens there February 16.

At Café on the Ave (2007-02-14)

2007-02-14T15:30:00.000-08:00

This popular cafe on University Way NE has WiFi (the key is on the receipt), many power outlets, cute baristas, good drinks, decent meals (the price buys generous helpings rather than gourmet food) and music (Washington band Death Cab for Cutie is playing now). Due to its proximity to UW students often occupy the four-person tables near the windows, but there are outlets elsewhere.

I "Sharpen the Saw" (as Stephen R. Covey writes) physically by getting my heart rate in the target zone three times a week--in addition to trying to eat healthy food. I use UW's IMA for this. Since other goals are to simplify my life by driving less and making transit time more tolerable, it makes sense to stay in the University District before or after my workout. Café on the Ave is a good place for me to work.

Wandering East Africa Years Ago (2000-03-01/31)

2007-02-14T12:59:00.000-08:00

Mulling over the truth of multitasking (2007-02-07)

2007-02-08T21:28:00.000-08:00

"It’s not a Papal Edict, people; it’s 180 seconds of caffeinated ranting."--Merlin Mann, Responses to "43F Podcast: The Myth of Multi-tasking"

The summary for one of the podcasts I listened to from 43 Folders yesterday says this:

“Multi-taskers” are really just splitting their time and attention into smaller slices than you; no one can really do more than one thing at a time.

The "myth" of multitasking, Merlin says, is as credible as the yeti. He elaborates with exaggerated examples and the alleged expectation that we should be "parallel processing computers."

This caffeinated rant is confused from beginning to end. To "discover" that multitasking is "actually just... splitting... into very small slices" is to "discover" what is in computing the definition of multitasking. As the Wikipedia entry states, "The act of reassigning a CPU from one task to another one is called a context switch. When context switches occur frequently enough the illusion of parallelism is achieved."

Nevertheless true parallel processing--not simply the illusion of parallelism produced by multitasking--is also possible for humans. This morning I washed dishes while participating in a Skype standing meeting. My hands didn't stop rinsing dishes while I listened; I did two tasks simultaneously by any reasonable and useful definition.

Merlin's rant sounds as though its intent is to soothe the self-esteem of those who can't switch contexts easily. I disagree with the assertions and want to clarify the concepts. I find far more useful Steve Pavlina's "Do It Now" distinction between tasks requiring high attention and tasks requiring low attention:

The idea of multitasking may seem to contradict the previous piece of advice to work all the time you work. But whereas the previous tip refers to high intensity work where you must concentrate all your mental resources in order to do the best job you can, this tip addresses low intensity work where you have plenty of capacity to do other things at the same time, like standing in line, cooking dinner, flying on a plane, or walking from point A to point B. Multitasking shouldn't be used where it will significantly degrade your performance on a crucial task, but it should be intelligently used to take advantage of excess capacity.

Reading, and Listening to Podcasts

2007-02-08T07:27:00.000-08:00

"Something was going on which I didn't get."--Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man

In the week and a half since my last blog post about a book, I've been reading Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man for a book club meeting February 19. I would probably not read this book if someone else hadn't selected it; it's not in my usual genres.

I find myself reading Invisible Man slowly because the narrator is frequently bewildered. If, in contrast, I understood the events he witnessed, this would be dramatic irony. Since I don't understand, either, it's simply confusing.

Savage Love Podcast

So sometimes I make transit time more tolerable by listening to podcasts instead of reading. I tried this several years ago with an MP3 player, and found the downloading and updating inconvenient. I tried again with a second-generation iPod nano, and the synchronizing is automatic, now that I use iTunes instead of WinAmp. I can listen in the car as well as on the bus, using a cassette tape adapter. On my iPod currently are .NET Rocks!, 43 Folders, AA Meeting: The Academy-Awards Related Obsessions of David Schmader (and Guests), and--because sex has always fascinated me--Dan Savage's explicit Savage Love sex advice podcasts. Several of these are Seattle locals.

Walking Ebeys Landing (2007-02-02)

2007-02-03T15:10:00.000-08:00

Reading The Omega Diet (2007-01-09/28)

2007-01-28T07:42:00.001-08:00

Everyone I know seems to have a different approach to nutrition: Atkins, Mediterranean, Nourishing Traditions, South Beach, etc. Each has a different approach to carbohydrates, monounsaturated fats, saturated fats, milk products, fiber, etc. Each cites research in a controversial field.

I need to have healthy diet and exercise (although there appears to be more consensus on the latter). I'd like to have the metabolism of my last decade. The various contrary opinions confuse me, however. Which diet would be best for me?

Imagining that it would be better to have some plan than none at all, I selected the diet in a book my doctor recommended to me during a recent routine checkup: The Omega Diet: The Lifesaving Nutritional Program Based on the Diet of the Island of Crete by Artemis P. Simopoulos, M.D. The American Heart Association Dietary Guidelines: Revision 2000 has some similarity to this diet.

The Omega Diet, based on the traditional diet of Crete, attempts to mimic the characteristics (particularly the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids) of the diet on which human beings evolved. Below are "The Seven Dietary Guidelines of The Omega Diet":

Eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as fatty fish (salmon, tuna, trout, herring, mackerel), walnuts, canola oil, flaxseeds, and green leafy vegetables. Or, if you prefer, take omega-3 supplements.
Use monounsaturated oils such as olive oil and canola oil as your primary fat.
Eat seven or more servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
Eat more vegetable protein, including peas, beans, and nuts.
Avoid saturated fat by choosing lean meat over fatty meat (if you eat meat) and low-fat over full-fat milk products.
Avoid oils that are high in omega-6 fatty acids, including corn, safflower, sunflower, soybean, and cottonseed oils.
Reduce your intake of trans-fatty acids by cutting back on margarine, vegetable shortening, commercial pastries, deep-fat friend food, and most prepared snacks, mixes, and convenience food.

I conclude with a sample day on the Omega Diet (not including healthy snacks ):

Breakfast

1 bagel
2 oz lox (cold-smoked salmon)
2 T low-fat cream cheese or 3 T low-fat cottage cheese
Tomatoes, sliced onions, or capers
8 oz. juice

approximate calories: 462

Lunch

2 cups vegetable soup
(Hot and Sour Soup)
5 crackers (nonfat or canola-based)
1 cup mixed green salad with 2 T olive oil vinaigrette

approximate calories: 427

Dinner

Lean burger
(5 oz. lean meat or veggie patty, 1 whole-wheat hamburger bun or roll, 1 T. canola oil mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato)
3/4 cups cooked carrots marinated in 1 T. olive oil vinaigrette (served cold)

approximate calories: 620

At Ancient Grounds (2007-01-24)

2007-01-24T19:37:00.000-08:00

If you want art, atmosphere, coffee, WiFi, or wine while you wait for your transfer bus, then I recommend a small shop called Ancient Grounds, 1220 First Ave. The walls have Japanese, Native American, and other art. The sound of running water emanates from fountains.

I found Ancient Grounds by looking on Plazes map for a coffee shop in Seattle near the buses on 1st Avenue and Columbia (four blocks away). I wanted a place to meet a friend today along his bus route from the University District to West Seattle. I enjoyed the atmosphere (and my soy hot chocolate with mint).

Reading The Laws of Simplicity (2007-01-20/21)

2007-01-21T15:17:00.000-08:00

In The Laws of Simplicity, John Maeda writes, "I originally conceived this book as a sort of Simplicity 101, to give readers an understanding of the foundation of simplicity as it relates to design, technology, business, and life." The laws of simplicity are in three clusters of three laws each. "Of the three clusters, basic simplicity (1 to 3) is immediately applicable to thinking about the design of a product or the layout of your living room." These are my initial thoughts on reading The Laws of Simplicity:

Reduce

Design

Insert WorkTray	Left
	Right
	Bottom
Delete WorkTray	Left
	Right
	Bottom

Expected Results

Business

Organize

Life

First Things First

boyfriend,
business owner,
citizen,
friend, and
self.

Time

Life

Saving time is thus the tradeoff between the quantitatively fast and the qualitatively fast:
How can you make the wait shorter? <---> How can you make the wait more tolerable?

blog 50 books

Watching Stranger Than Fiction (2007-01-12)

2007-01-21T08:34:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman
Yeah, I'm the taxman
--The Beatles, "Taxman"

Appropriate to my needed renewed empathy for those who aren't "neurotypical," the friend who showed us the existential comedy I Heart Huckabees recently invited us to see Stranger Than Fiction. After dinner in the nearly-empty Bambuza Vietnamese Bistro, we walked to Meridian 16 for the movie.

Will Ferrell describes his character, Harold Crick--an IRS auditor--, as "slightly OCD." If the distinction is "those with OCD know their behavior is problematic where the symptoms of OCPD are part of a person's personality," I would describe Harold as OCPD.

I like movies with multiple levels, stories within stories, and interaction between form and content, so I found the film enjoyable. It's "a movie about a guy who has a narrator." Especially entertaining were the numbers and thin white schematics in scenes emphasizing Harold's counting and alignment.

The appearance of Tony Hale ("Arrested Development") was amusing. The performance of Maggie Gyllenhaal--as the happy and lively love interest--was delightful. (I wonder, Did she give Ryan's message to Jake?)

Harold Crick's life looks boring. Nevertheless, he wants to live it. The movie centers on his efforts to do so despite his "imminent death."

Watching El Laberinto del Fauno/Pan's Labyrinth (2007-01-20)

2007-01-20T18:11:00.000-08:00

An old friend says he doesn't read fantasy because he read The Lord of the Rings and few--if any--authors match J.R.R. Tolkien's ability. While I'm not as exclusive in my reading of fantasy or other speculative fiction, reading the Inklings has led me to expect of fairy tales the feel of something real. Glimpsing and overhearing the wider world beyond the story are part of that feel.

Roger Ebert calls El Laberinto del Fauno "a fairy tale for grown-ups." Despite the young girl as a protagonist, the tale is definitely for grown-ups: the movie is gory. However, the fairy tale elements go no further than the story, and the realistic elements (1944 Spain) contain implausible evil. (Here's a minor spoiler: one character suffers puncture wounds to the back, chest, and face; drinks an overdose of a sleeping drug; and then chases and catches another character.) The evil was intentionally unpleasant, but a good tale would make the movie enjoyable. While I wanted to enjoy the fantasy, the fairy tale wasn't sufficiently coherent to make a movie I enjoyed.

Reading Garden State soundtrack (2007-01-19)

2007-01-19T20:52:00.000-08:00

Today the Music from the Motion Picture Garden State that I ordered arrived in my PO Box. I'm disappointed to see that most of the songs have chords more complicated than the starter guitar chords I'm learning (A, D, E, F, G, Am, Dm, Em, Fm, G7, A7, D7, E7, C, and C7). This quarter I again signed up for the "Beginning Guitar For Adults" group lesson taught by Jack Dowdell from Half Note Studio at UW Experimental College. It appears I need a lot of practice if I want to play songs from Garden State.

At least now I have the correct lyrics to "Fair" by Remy Zero, even if I don't understand them. I still like the sound of the song.

Hey, are you lonely? Summer gone so slowly.
We've found the ground, and that damage is done.
It's cold as you fade into the sun.
Where'd you go? To me.

But you're alive. Well, it's only fallen frames, they told me.
You stand out so loud, and so what if it is?
It's cold as you face into the wind.
And where'd it go? Tonight the sun shall see its light.

So what if you catch me? Where would we land?
In somebody's life for taking his hands.
Sing to me hope as she's thrown on the stand.
All of our work is rated again. Where to go?

And you were somehow the rain this thing could allow.
I've tried, but it's all wrong. You're so strong,
and as life and work, the choice took far too long.
Where'd it go? Tonight the sun shall see its light.

So what if you catch me? Where would we land?
In somebody's life for taking his hands.
Sing to me hope as she's thrown on the stand.
All of our work is rated again.

And I was sure you'd follow through.
My world was turned so blue. (My world was turned so thin.)
When you'd hide, your songs would die, so I'd hide yours with mine.
All my words were bound to fail. Well, I know you won't fail.
See, I can tell.

Where's William?

Considering insurance

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Considering your health

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Immunizations, Vaccinations

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Considering the place

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Considering travel (2009-08-19/10-17)

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Christchurch (2009-05-18)

New Zealand (2009-05-18)

Buying tickets (2009-05-07/08)

Planning contigencies (2009-05-06)

Planning travel (2009-05-01/05)

Where Should William Go?

What Should William Do?

Planning furlough (2009-04-27/30)

Resuming Mandarin (2009-05-03)

Imagining financial planning (2008-08-06)

Imagining travel writing (2008-08-02)

Hiking Boulder River (2008-07-26)

Building SF ATIS (2003-06-07/2004-03-24)

Seeing Forbidden City (2008-05-14)

Arriving in Běijīng (2008-05-13)

Leaving Feistel (2008-05-12)

Walking around Seattle (2008-04-22/05-10)

Getting immunized downtown (2008-05-06)

Buying Northwest Tickets (2008-04-30)

Getting Visas (2008-03-13)

Listening to Mandarin (2008-01-05/04-20)

Reading Agile Software Development with Scrum (2007-12-17/2008-01-01)

Reviewing 2007 in Seattle (2007-12-31)

Reading Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar (2007-12-25)

Reading The Four Pillars of Investing

Reading Quantico (2007-11-14/17)

Reading Conned Again, Watson! (2007-10-24/28)

Rereading The Truth About Money Parts 2-5 (2007-10-11/)

Rereading The Truth About Money Part 1 (2007-10-10)

Reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad (2007-10-07)

Simplifying on Saturday (2007-10-06)

Reading Quarantine (2007-09-29)

Reading The Universe in a Nutshell (2007-09-14/18)

Reading Blink (2007-09-04/13)

Walking to Work (2006-10-26)

Reading The Diamond Age (2007-08-26/09-03)

Walking (2007-09-07/14)

Reading A Year of Adventures (2007-06-13/07-04)

At Café on the Ave Reviewing Workouts (2007-09-06)

Reading The 4-Hour Workweek (2007-06-19/20)

Singing About Sailing (2007-07-14/17)

Blue October, "Into the Ocean", Foiled

Crosby, Stills & Nash, "Southern Cross", Daylight Again

Fleetwood Mac, "Landslide", Fleetwood Mac

Mark Knopfler, "Sailing To Philadelphia", Sailing To Philadelphia

Christopher Cross, "Sailing", Christopher Cross

Styx, "Come Sail Away", Come Sail Away - The Styx Anthology

Little River Band, "Cool Change", Little River Band: Greatest Hits (Expanded Edition)

On the Seattle Times Front Page (2007-07-17)

Demonstrating Sailing on Duck Dodge (2007-07-10)

Remembering Le Chao-Ba-Café

Listening to Podcasts, Reading Blogs, and Watching Photos (2007-02-08/07-13)

Watching Ne le dis à personne (2007-06-01)

Watching Death at a Funeral (2007-06-01)

Watching Black Sheep (2007-05-31)

Watching Ein Freund von mir (2007-05-31)

Singing on Lake Union (2007-07-03)

Receiving New T-Mobile MDA® (2007-06-27)

Reading The Bridge of San Luis Rey (2007-06-29/07-02)

Reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (2007-05-24/06-17)

Sailing on Lake Union (2007-06-26)

Discussing How to Be An Adult (2007-06-28/29)

Rereading How to Be An Adult (2007-05-10/13)

Reading 25: Wildlife Adventures (2007-06-13)

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