Why should I support my local community?

As much as I enjoy some of the opportunities that are available at Cedar Falls, why would I want to support a community that neglects to even understand what cultural diversity is? The majority of the people in this community drive gas guzzling vehicles, throw garbage on the road while driving, and pretend as if they run the world.

I’m sorry, but if you can’t think about the world first and then yourself, don’t bother asking me for cash.

The United Way has admirable principles, but the approach they take is simply ludicrous. For instance, United Way should solicit local community events for assistance and volunteers, rather than “contracting” with a Fortune 500 company and making ME feel as if I am obligated to donate.

The biggest bullshit was when we ALL were REQUIRED to attend a “United Way Rally” for one hour and listen to the propaganda driving the United Way. First off, if I want to donate, I’ll come to YOU! When I go to work, I am expected to and I am paid to work, not listen to why I should support my local community.

Fortune 500 = Role Models, right?

Shouldn’t a Fortune 500 company – especially a multi-national company – focus on the less fortunate across the globe? The company I work for has a fairly strong presence in India, what exactly is they company doing for them? Since we are more fortunate here in the US, why don’t we work on projects that support the local poor communities in India to ensure that they too have some basic amenities? I’m sure my company has projects in India, but what really irks me is the fact that we spend mandatory business time to discuss charitable events in the community and remain ignorant of charitable causes that affect billions worldwide.

The United Way can go and holler at other people. As for me, I’m not donating a single penny to Cedar Falls or any town in Iowa. I’ll go ahead and support a REAL charity that focuses on ensuring that every unfortunate soul has the most basic needs met, clean water

About a couple weeks ago I was reading one of my favorite tech blogs, TUAW, and came across an article talking about how to prepare for NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo is annual event in which writers across the globe are encouraged to write at least 50,000 words. And the rules are pretty simple

Rules for 2009 NaNoWriMo

• Write a 50,000-word (or longer!) novel, between November 1 and November 30.
• Start from scratch. None of your own previously written prose can be included in your NaNoWriMo draft (though outlines, character sketches, and research are all fine, as are citations from other people’s works).
• Write a novel. We define a novel as a lengthy work of fiction. If you consider the book you’re writing a novel, we consider it a novel too!
• Be the sole author of your novel. Apart from those citations mentioned two bullet-points up.
• Write more than one word repeated 50,000 times.
• Upload your novel for word-count validation to our site between November 25 and November 30.

The best part about NaNoWriMo is the fact that the competition stresses quantity over quality. Make no mistake about it. Writing 50,000 words in a month is a very daunting task. In other words, each competitor needs to average at least 1,667 (rounded) words per day.

Personally, I’ve never written a novel so I have very little idea what kind of water I’m wading into. At the same time, I’m not really interested in making a living writing novels. Rather, I am one of those people who always mentions writing a novel, but I simply never had the time. Since NaNoWriMo is fairly well-organized event, with a very high probability of a support group near your community, I figured this will be a great opportunity to finally write.

What do you win?

NOTHING! You don’t really win anything for accomplishing the goal of writing 50,000 words. I look at this event as running a marathon. Unless you train for a marathon professionally, it’s fairly unlikely that you will win. Most people participate in a marathon for a specific cause or for personal fulfillment. I’m doing NaNoWriMo 2009 for the latter.

Why do it?

Other than personal fulfillment, I strongly believe that every person has the ability to be creative. It is our responsibility to discover that creativity and use it for our benefit. I’m not saying that I’m the next Edgar Allan Poe or J.K. Rowling. However, like those two venerable authors, I wish to just write and write and see where the road takes me. Why not write a novel and share it with family and friends? Who knows, maybe my novel will be read by future family members.

What’s my approach?

Since this is my first time, my goal is to reach 50,000 words – regardless of the quality of the work. I’m expecting to make lots of mistakes and have a very unstructured and undisciplined novel. I’m so bad that I don’t even have an outline prepared. I’ve never been a fan of outlines since I’ve always felt that they hindered my own creativity. So, I’m taking the Nik approach and am going to write this novel on the fly. I know I have to average at least 1,667 words a day, but my goal will be to write almost twice that on weekends so that I can afford to ’slack’ off on the weekdays due to work.

Tools

Being an engineer, I would not even dream of embarking on this path without having some tools to help me. Remember that article I mentioned earlier? There was a software mentioned in the article, Scrivener, that I am using to write my novel. It’s very powerful tool that allows me to break up my novel into chunks and then easily compiles those chunks into a manuscript. I would recommend any participant of NaNoWriMo to consider using software specifically designed for manuscript creations since word-processing suites are not as effective.

Apologies in advance

So here’s the problem. Due to my busy work schedule (working up to 11 hours a day) and attempting to write a novel, I will have very little time to devote to anything else. A general day in November will consist of going to work, coming home, eating, relaxing with Andrea, writing for a couple hours on my novel, and then going to bed. This leaves very little time for me to blog, but I will do my best to provide updates and maybe even install a widget that will automatically update my NaNoWriMo stats.

If you are participating in this year’s NaNoWriMo, send me a quick comment! I wish all the participants the best of luck and I am really looking forward to seeing how my novel turns out. And in case you haven’t figured it out, I still have not said what my novel is about. Shhh…

It’s a secret!

Photo credit: Richard Wiseman’s Blog

Asking questions is definitely not an easy task. I remember the days when I was practically embarrassed to ask questions on the grounds that my question would make me look like an idiot. It was so bad, that there was this one concept in chemistry class that I did not understand very well – entropy & enthalpy – that I failed to even ask my teaching assistant, my friends in class, and definitely the professor about it. Next thing I know, the concepts behind entropy and enthalpy are on the next exam and I totally end up failing the test.

Golden Rule: There is no stupid question

Most of us have heard the adage “there is no such thing as stupid questions” and I tend to believe in that statement strongly. The only ‘stupid’ act is the act of NOT asking a question. It appears to me that many of us have an innate fear of being laughed at. However, would you still have a fear of being laughed at if you did not ask a question?

Rule: Your peers are urging you to ask

Here’s a new concept: your peers are probably wanting to ask the same question as you. I have had several meetings where no one asked any question, but the moment I asked a question, many of my colleagues were chiming in with, “oh yeah, I was wondering about that too.” The fact is that your peers are literally urging you subconsciously to take the bold step of asking the question. They are praying that you will take the fall and get laughed at if your question is stupid.

So what’s the catch?

The catch is simple. If you ask a question that does not pertain to the topic at hand, then you pretty much are asking to be laughed at. And your question will undoubtedly be construed as a ‘stupid question.’

There are no stupid questions as long as your question is related to the topic at hand.

Photo Credit: M’s Primary Weblog

Have you heard of GTD?

GTD stands for Getting Things Done. It’s a fairly intuitive concept developed by David Allen. However, in its original form, GTD can be very cumbersome to understand and implement. Nevertheless, it does have a few core qualities that enable it to be a very efficient task management tool.

GTD is popular

GTD is a fairly new concept that’s been around for just over seven years. If you are an ardent follower of Lifehacker, Zen Habits, or other personal productivity blogs, you are undoubtedly familiar with GTD.

For many months, I have been resisting the need to use GTD since I’ve always felt that my own personal approach has been effective. Lately, I have been struggling to remember details that I initially thought were not necessary, but later turned out to be key bits of information for meetings or projects. Needless to say, this resulted in some frustration on my part and I want to rectify that. It was at this point that I became desperate for a solution and I decided it was time to try GTD for my own needs.

GTD is Flexible

The main selling point for me regarding GTD was its extremely flexible system. Rather than having to adhere to a particular system, I could adopt different parts of the system to suit my needs. That right there meant that I could reduce my learning curve, maintain the positive aspects of my own personal approach, and implement the benefits of GTD.

Finding the right GTD system

Due to its flexibility, I knew that I can count on the Internet to have numerous resources on how millions of people across the globe use GTD. What really surprised me is the fact that so many people are actually using GTD in their day to day lives. Surprisingly, however, I was able to quickly find a GTD modification that really matched my needs. The GTD derivative that I am using is known as the Hyalineskies GTD System (HGS). Essentially, HGS is a ‘mashup’ of the Pig-Pog System and a conventional GTD system.

How do you know?

The question is, “How do I know what is the right GTD system to choose?” Frankly, the answer may not be very pleasing. Here’s a quick – and dirty – process that I followed:

• Write down what you would like to track
• Compare your needs with the solutions found in a traditional GTD
• Compare your needs with the solutions found in a GTD hack
• Choose the one that requires the least amount of modification

In my opinion, the most important step is the first one. It is virtually impossible to select a GTD system without truly knowing your own needs first. Nevertheless, you also have to understand and accept the fact that there may not be a system that is simply ‘perfect’ for your needs. Regardless of what system you select, some changes may be required so that the system works for you.

I made changes too!

Although the HGS is a fantastic system, I modified it to meet my needs. For instance, I did not bother with recording iterations since most of my tasks are completed fairly quickly. The ones that are not completed are instantly at the top of my list. The ‘projects’ section for me is still empty since I only plan on including projects that really require significant time from me. An advantage that I have at work is that my company has an online (intranet only) system that tracks various projects of which I am responsible for. Therefore, it doesn’t necessarily make sense for me to track ‘actual projects’ but rather convert tasks that are not being completed into ‘projects’.

Your current system may work

Before you try GTD, take a look at your current task management solution. If it is working for you, there may not be a need for you to try something new. As with any new system, GTD may or may not work for you and there is a learning curve associated with GTD. However, if you do try GTD, take the necessary steps to ensure that you give it your best shot.

Image source: arellis49 on Flickr

Now that I have been employed at John Deere for over a year, I am finally starting to realize why most people at my factory are not very well organized. Although many of them have unique excuses, I’ve boiled the root cause down to three factors:

1. Poorly defined tasks
2. Lack of consistent reviewing
3. Not developing an execution strategy

Define your tasks clearly

I am extremely impressed that many people in my team use Outlook to maintain a tasklist and attempt to stay organized. However, upon further investigation, I realized that the tasks they had written down were poorly worded and/or defined.

Poorly Defined: Call John Doe
Well Defined: Call John at 1230 pm to discuss paint quality issues

Rather than having a very broadly worded task, you now have a task that has a set deadline and a defined subject matter.

Why is the subject matter important?

The subject matter is key to knowing what the task is about and to aid in preparatory work, if necessary. Frequently, many folks have their tasks written down, but do not know what the task is really about or even how to prepare for it. This is another matter that I will discuss later.

Review Your Tasks Regularly

How can you expect to accomplish your tasks without reviewing them regularly? This should be an easy concept to remember and master, but I am simply astounded to see how many people fail to review their tasklist regularly.

Reviewing your tasklist should not be a tedious task. Rather, reviewing daily or even weekly provides a “big picture” perspective to your tasks. I review my tasks daily and weekly and here’s how I do it

1. Review the tasks I wrote throughout the day at the end of my work day. I make necessary notes on any open tasks that I have yet to do and ‘push’ the tasks onto the next day.
2. At the end of the week, I review all the tasks that I have completed and have left open. Those that are open are immediately highlighted and I write down any necessary notes on those tasks. If a task is past due, I highlight it and immediately set it as a high priority task for the following week or workday.
3. The tasks that I have completed are reviewed to ensure that they truly are complete and are not awaiting follow-ups. If they are, then the follow-up itself becomes a new task.

This approach helps me to manage my tasks from a high-level perspective while ensuring that no task is overlooked or forgotten.

Know What To Do Before You Do

One of life’s golden rules – as according to me – is develop a plan for what you want to accomplish. Think about it. If you are planning to go on a trip, you will spend some time planning what you will do, prepare a budget, and understand what you can and cannot see on the trip. This is all done prior to you leaving for the trip itself. A similar approach should be followed for every task on your tasklist.

Some of my coworkers simply executed on tasks without fully understanding what they hope to accomplish and what they plan on doing if something goes wrong. Sure, you can’t prepare for every possible scenario, but it is always a good idea to know possible obstacles along the way.

Planning may seem to take time, but it really isn’t very complicated. The trick is simply knowing the end result that YOU want and what information you will NEED to get to the end result you are hoping for. There maybe some obstacles along the way that you did not account for, but that will always be the challenge. The key is to simply have a plan so that you know you are prepared to work through any challenges to meet your end result.

For the past several weeks, I have been reading “The Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco. I have to admit that this book has not been an inviting book. For the most part, the book gracefully alludes to complex plot lines, requires an intimate array of vocabulary assets, and exhaustive yet meticulous details surrounding the plot development.

Perhaps the most challenging aspects of this book is trying to decipher the cryptic and loquacious verbiage throughout the passages. As much as I pride myself of possessing a diverse vocabulary, I struggle with many of the words. Unfortunately, this struggle stems from the fact that I have not had challenging works to peruse due to my demanding work schedule.

Although I am nowhere near complete with the novel, I am impressed at how slow the plot tends to progress. Eco does not fail to impress with the enormous attention to detail, yet the book vaguely resembles the plot evolution found in the Sherlock Holmes series. Although the book is set in Medieval times, Eco ensures that the reader is keenly aware of the details and cannot mistake the livery surrounding the characters.

Here’s where I have my issue with the novel. The entire story, thus far, progresses with such grace at a sluggish pace that I am forced to read, in my opinion, frivolous details that do not necessarily have significant impact on the central characters. Essentially, these details serve to encourage the imagination to vividly recreate the vivacious and auspicious aura of the abbey and its monks.

But wait! There’s one more issue

The novel fails strongly to fully immerse the reader within the intricate dialogue by the extensive use of Latin. I’m no expert, but I am fairly certain that most readers across the globe are not familiar with Latin and will struggle understanding the ancient language. Furthermore, without immediate access to the Internet, it is virtually impossible to translate the Latin verbiage so that it may prove useful for the reader. This could and should have been remedied through the use of footnotes. Since the ‘manuscript’ has been edited – as mentioned in the prologue – it would be perfectly acceptable if footnotes were present at any point where Latin text was used.

As I continue to read the novel, I am attracted to its plot but disgusted with the extortionate amount of verbiage. Nevertheless, I am excited to discover how the mystery will illustrate how the erudite characters solve the unique mystery. Who knew how fun and painful reading an Eco book can be?

Get over

Why is driving at speed limit in the left lane acceptable? I always assumed that the left lane was for passing other vehicles. However, many drivers tend to just drive in the left lane and forget the other vehicles around them. This is a very dangerous situation. The last thing any driver should be doing while driving is not paying attention to the road. Furthermore, don’t these drivers know that driving in the left lane is illegal in many states?

Wolf Pack

Perhaps the most frustrating instance is when vehicles in both lanes (assuming only a right and left lanes) are going at the same speed. This is a common occurrence known as a ‘wolf pack’. I understand that there is a law against speeding, but there are also laws against wolf packs. Why not slow down and move over? Why do drivers simply act as if nothing is wrong? The worst part about this situation is that the offending parties are not even aware of what they are doing and their own surroundings.

Speeding up while another car tries to pass

This is another issue that I have with many drivers in Iowa (compared to drivers from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana). Whenever I try to pass a vehicle in the right lane, that driver has the audacity to speed up and actually prevent me from passing. Do these idiot drivers not realize how dangerous that is? What really bothers me is the glare they give me when I am passing. I’m sorry, but if you are going below speed limit in the left lane, I am going to pass you on the right lane and if you even dare to speed up, I will have no respect for the speed limit and I will cut you off very very sharply.

The moral of the story is:

• Do NOT drive in the left lane if the right lane is free
• Do NOT drive at the same speed as the vehicle next to you, thus creating a ‘wolf pack’
• Do NOT speed up while another vehicle is attempting to pass you

I hope that is not too hard to follow!

Umberto Eco is by far a very learned individual who can vividly capture his intense skills into a meticulous and analytical work of literature.  I am currently reading one of his premier literature masterpieces, “The Name of the Rose.” This novel is a masterpiece of garrulousness and loquacious dialogue; in addition to being a meticulously prepared fiction that serves as a vivid portal into the historical era of piousness, but I digress.

A learned man, such as Umberto Eco himself, confounded my gallant thoughts last week by publishing his ideas on, “the lost art of handwriting.” With his inquisitive proclivities, Eco does not fail to mesmerize the reader with complaints of how modern audiences can no longer recall the artistic motions of writing.

Praise be to the Almighty Eco

I find it very disheartening to read that Eco feels that kids today cannot write as well as he could when he was their age. Most of my concerns stem from the fact that Eco fails to acknowledge the evolution of the mind, society, and the art of communication. The convoluted mindset bears witness to the following passage:

My generation was schooled in good handwriting, and we spent the first months of elementary school learning to make the strokes of letters. The exercise was later held to be obtuse and repressive but it taught us to keep our wrists steady as we used our pens to form letters rounded and plump on one side and finely drawn on the other. Well, not always – because the inkwells, with which we soiled our desks, notebooks, fingers and clothing, would often produce a foul sludge that stuck to the pen and took 10 minutes of mucky contortions to clean.

I can accept the fact that during his school years, Umberto’s education implemented a very focused approach to the development of handwriting abilities.  The fact remains that even today, teachers emphasize good handwriting abilities in the early years of students’ education. 

I remember in kindergarten through 5th grade, my teachers emphasized good penmanship and the curriculum forced us to know cursive handwriting. Although we mainly used pencils, I can relate to Eco’s claim that hands were messy by the end of the day. Although pencil “stains” can be removed easily, it was still a disgusting sight to see the pink on my hands transformed into an apprehensive shade of steel gray.

Now that Eco has praised himself, he moves on to state the root cause of the issue at hand. Surprisingly, we as a society often fail to understand the impact this culprit has had on our livelihoods. Rest assured that Eco does not fail to vividly bash this culprit.

Point the Ball at Fault

Are you ready for it? The culprit, and the entire point of Eco’s article, is the daunting ballpoint pen.

The crisis began with the advent of the ballpoint pen. Early ballpoints were also very messy and if, immediately after writing, you ran your finger over the last few words, a smudge inevitably appeared. And people no longer felt much interest in writing well, since handwriting, when produced with a ballpoint, even a clean one, no longer had soul, style or personality.

This is, perhaps, the most convoluted argument I have read all week. How can the ball point pen cause a crisis? The ballpoint pen, in my opinion, has allowed writers of all backgrounds the ability to write without concern to one’s mess.  In fact, the ballpoint pen allows writers to capture thoughts on paper first and then ‘fix’ their mistakes later.

Why should we regret the passing of good handwriting? The capacity to write well and quickly on a keyboard encourages rapid thought, and often (not always) the spell-checker will underline a misspelling.

Capturing rapid thoughts

The ability to capture rapid thoughts is actually a benevolence that we should treasure. The advent of blogs and the Internet in general are prime examples of how rapid thoughts can be transcribed and made public within a matter of minutes. Our ability to communicate with others has now reached global proportions at a speed that our forefathers could have only dreamed of. Furthermore, the art of rapidly capturing thoughts as led to the increased sales of books; revenue that I’m sure Eco enjoys.

How so? Comments on Amazon.com’s webpage for Eco’s books result in sales or no sales since anonymous persons around the world can share their thoughts efficiently. No longer do we have to wait days or weeks for reviews for products and services. Rather, we simply wait minutes and we can make informed decisions – or at least we’d like to think we made informed decisions.

Spell checker woes

This is a point I agree with. Our ability to rapidly capture thoughts has encouraged society to rely on imperfect technology to remind and replace our faults. We rely on spell checkers to camouflage our own deficiencies with words.

How is any of this the fault of ballpoint pens? If anything the ballpoint pen has allowed us to replicate writings and redo our writings with greater ease and efficiency. Not to mention with little mess at very low cost.

The three-page article pointed out that writing by hand obliges us to compose the phrase mentally before writing it down. Thanks to the resistance of pen and paper, it does make one slow down and think. Many writers, though accustomed to writing on the computer, would sometimes prefer even to impress letters on a clay tablet, just so they could think with greater calm.

And again, how is this the fault of ballpoint pens?

The Eco of Deaf Ears

In all honesty, I am very appalled at how miserably Umberto Eco has failed to realize his fallacy.  Although he claims that the ballpoint pen has led to the demise of the art of handwriting, he fails to support his argument with any real evidence. His masterpieces are meticulous in detail and plot construction, however, his article is the perfect example of how he has failed scientific theory. How can you accuse the ballpoint pen without supporting evidence? I would surmise that much of Eco’s claims are just conjectures and ignorant accusations.

Handwriting is a form of art and expression. Regardless of whatever writing utensil is used, the thoughts behind the words are illustrative of the author. Does it really matter if a child ‘prints’ his sentences rather than use cursive script? Probably not, since the ideas in the words he/she uses are far more important. If that were not the case, why am I reading a printed version of Eco’s book? Why not just send me the handwritten manuscript?

Umberto Eco is a brilliant author, but like many people before him, he has failed to comprehend the complexities of societal evolution. I believe that regardless of writing utensil used (e.g., ballpoint pen, fountain pen, keyboard), an individual has to train themselves to master the art of capturing thoughts. However, I’m not an expert since I have yet to write a masterpiece.

I’ll give Eco the benefit of the doubt. However, his echoes will fall on deaf ears since he has, in my eyes, fallen to the same level as those who are ignorant enough to claim that God created mankind.

The art of handwriting teaches us to control our hands and encourages hand-eye coordination.

And that is perhaps the only point that Eco makes that is absolutely true.

Music industry is dumb

It should come as no surprise to anyone that I am not a supporter of the music industry. The music industry has been trying to thwart digital piracy through lawsuits, scare tactics, new laws, and arcane DRM (digital rights management). Frankly put, the music industry will never succeed since it is virtually impossible to eliminate piracy through passionate ignorance. For instance, raising prices on individual songs will not translate into consumers jumping for joy and being supportive. Rather, increases in price simply lead to an increase in piracy. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, piracy can be reduced if the ‘opportunity’ cost of piracy is more than legal approaches.

Charge for samples

Before I digress, take a look at the new ‘charges‘ the supporters of the music industry are trying to push:

Songwriters, composers, and music publishers are making preparations to one day collect performance fees from Apple and other e-tailers for not just traditional music downloads but for downloads of films and TV shows as well. Those downloads contain music after all.

These groups even want compensation for iTunes’ 30-second song samples.

Are you kidding me? Why would you want to charge for a sample? I realize that the sample is a part of the artists’ work, but a sample is designed to let ME, the customer, decide if the artist’s work is worth purchasing. If I don’t like what I hear, then why would I want to buy the artist’s crap? And let’s not even start to talk about how most albums have only one or two good songs and the rest are garbage. Essentially, retailers will ask me to pay a “fee” of 30 cents to sample one song. And by the time I’m done sampling, I could have potentially just purchased the album.

So why do I say 30 cents? Do you honestly think that the music industry will settle for a small fee of just one penny per sample? Of course not! They are there to make money and by charging such a filthy “low” fee, they want to ensure that they make money whether you buy or not. How would you like to PAY to test-drive a car the next time you’re in the market for a new car? How would you like to pay to sample ice cream?

The music industry is run by a bunch of greedy bastards! Your thoughts?