Animated Chalk Drawing

This is simply awesome, and wonderfully good.

http://wimp.com/brilliantshort/

Asymmetric Traffic

Has anyone else noticed that there is more traffic going to work in the morning than in the afternoon coming home from work?

I conclude that there are several people who work fewer hours than me. The other conclusion--that there are several people who work more hours than me--seems to be very unlikely. (I'm on the road going to work from 7 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., and coming home from 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.)

Suspicious

There's a middle-aged guy at work that keeps on walking around without carrying coffee, clipboard, laptop, paper, or even a pen. Come on, can't you make it less obvious? Sit at your desk and play computer games silently, or surf the web on company time.

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

As we reach the age that our parents made radical decisions in their lives, Lily and I are thinking about the power of the stories that we tell ourselves. These stories provide a frame, just like how the frames around a picture provide hard and concrete boundary to the story in the center. Unlike a picture frame, however, the stories we tell ourselves are not really fixed for all time. We can selectively remember only pieces of our history. This helps us to forget inconvenient truths, but it can potentially amplify the upper bounds of our lives by placing artificial goals beyond the reach of our current state.

As we think back on our parents and the decisions they made in their 30’s, it strikes me that the stories they created in that decade still affect them 3 decades later. Both Lily’s and my parents immigrated to this country, profoundly changing the lives of themselves and their children. Sacrifices were made to support the family. Dreams were given up. Some hurts never fully healed.

One parent thought of themselves as the middle child, struggling to earn a place of respect in the wider family. Another did a radical change to escape a difficult family situation. A third framed the situation as a struggle to be accepted into the host country, teaching the children to “consider how the Americans do it. Then go do that.”

30 years later, those stories still resonate in the minds of the first generation parents. They see careers less fulfilling in the States than if they had stayed in Taiwan. They see the successes of their children growing up to achieve the very best of the American society. They see further education they gave up for their family. They are hemmed in by the frugality necessary for the first 10 years in the United States—frugality that is no longer necessary and yet still has a permanent psychological weight on lives and choices.

As Lily and I grow into our 30’s and ponder the same questions our parents faced, we have to give care to the stories we tell ourselves. Are we from Albuquerque, or San Jose, or Los Angeles, or Taiwan? Are we middle class families that have climbed the social ladder successfully, or are we a family that is only now returning to a station in life that we had left 30 years ago? Are we frugal and tightfisted, or are we blessed and generous? Are we scared of the next 30 years of life, or are we eagerly looking forward to the glorious adventures ahead?

These stories that we tell ourselves this decade will profoundly stay with us even longer than the stories we formed in our 20’s.

I Really Should Grammar and Spell Check

For those of you who have known me a long time, I type relatively fast. I don't, however, know the English grammar as well as I should. When I go back and read my own work I shake my head sometimes. I was a copy editor for the high school newspaper. I should know better.

Women are Powerful

From the most recent Harvard Business Review. The market for women is twice the combined market of China and India. We should pay attention to them.

Want to buy a 787-8?

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Women represent the largest market opportunity in the world.

But despite women's dominant buying power, many companies continue to market mostly to men and fail to explore how they might meet women's needs.

Companies that can offer tailored products and services -- going beyond "make it pink" -- will be positioned to win when the economy begins to recover.

Women make the decision in the purchases of 94% of home furnishings…92% of vacations…91% of homes…60% of automobiles…51% of consumer electronics

• 19% of women think that money is the primary cause of arguments
• 39% work more than 40 hours per week
• 44% rarely or never feel powerful
• 66% believe their own hard work will help drive success

Reprint R0909D

From a Trunk to a Truck

When I left home and moved to college, all of my earthly possessions could fit into the trunk of a small 1991 Toyota Corolla. The passenger seats were all taken up by my family members. 15 plus years later I now live in a house. If I were to move again, I would need one of the largest U-Haul / Budget trucks available. Ah, a great American consumer has been born.