Pressing the Red Button

Sometimes things come to you in the middle of the night that can be life-changing. I don't know whether this is one of those things, but I guess we shall see.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was one of my favorite movies . . . not the version where Johnny Depp plays a very pedophile-like man in a purple suit, but the original with Gene Wilder . . . the one which, incidentally, was made merely to promote General Mills' "Wonka" candy bars.

I was thinking tonight about one of the final scenes, in which Wonka, Grandpa Joe and Charlie find themselves in the famed Great Glass Elevator. Wonka explains to Charlie that each of the black buttons takes the elevator to a different room in the factory and that, "Up until now, I've pushed them all, except one." He points to a red button at the top of the elevator.

Why did Wonka never push that red button? After a lifetime of accomplishment as the world's premier chocolateur, perhaps he felt there was too much at stake to push the red button? The red button was an unknown, with obvious risks which Mr. Wonka could not calculate.

Charlie, out of childish curiosity and naivety, fearlessly pushes that button. As the elevator takes off, a fearful look sweeps over his face as he realizes that he may have sent the trio on a path to certain doom . . . but at this point, there is no going back. It turns out well for Charlie and the movie ends with him, Grandpa Joe and Willy Wonka flying peacefully through the air over their hometown; his dreams came true, he is given the chocolate factory and everything he always wanted and he lives happily ever after.

Sometimes I wonder whether I should be pushing more red buttons. Some of the people I truly admire (Ashley Palar, Megan Tormey, Christian Schwärzler, Kristi Schipull, Tammy Kirchner and the entire Carpp family come to mind) fearlessly push the red buttons. On average, it has probably made their lives more rewarding.

I, on the other hand, have generally been the one to consider, ad-nasium, the positive and negative consequences of my actions and, on the whole, I think that I've made some very good calls. (See also: near-obsession with personal finance and avoiding lifestyle inflation.) However, there have been a number of red buttons which went untouched, which, in retrospect, I wish I had pushed.

Many a false step is made by standing still. Perhaps I need to start pressing some red buttons?

Two Families, Two Trans-Gender Children, Two Approaches

This story profiles two children, one on the east coast, one on the west who were born as (physically) boys, but believe that they are girls. While one family encourages their son's identification with the female gender by allowing him to wear dresses and enrolling him in school as a girl, the other family has chosen to systematically strip their son of his female play things and encourage him to identify with the male gender. Regardless of your opinions of this issue, this story provides a good window into what parents of trans-gender children (and trans-gender children) experience. The audio for this story is 22 minutes long, but definitely worth viewing.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90247842

Here are some NPR listener reactions to the above story. What are your reactions?

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90289426
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90327709

A Challenge for the Weekend

Here's a challenge for this weekend . . . or just for this evening. We've all got excessive stuff around that we should be getting rid of, so take ten minutes and find ten things around the house that you can throw out or donate.

Stuff I've been keeping around for what reason? I don't know:

SD West - Successful Entrepreneuers

I'm beginning to organize some of my notes from the SD West conference I attended a few weeks ago.

The title of one of my favorite sessions was "Do I have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneuer?"

Here are some highlights from my notes:

Almost all failures in small businesses are not due to technological reasons, but rather due to management, flawed execution or lack of customer focus.
This seems kind of counter-intuitive, but makes sense upon closer inspection. Engineers can dream up great gadgets and generally can produce a product, but if that product doesn't get out the door and purchased by customers, nothing happens. Look at the Apple Newton as an example . . . It was a great device, way ahead of its time, but it was not successful because people were not ready to buy it. You can make a great product, but without customers, you don't have a viable business.

The numbers in the business plan don't matter . . . much.
Venture Capitalists know that nothing will go according to plan, but they like to see that you are serious enough to actually sit down and think things out. It is not having the numbers correct that counts in your business plan, but rather the fact that you've put some thought into how you will run your company.

One of the most important things to do as an entrepreneur is to network.
Whether you're looking for VC funding, seeking business advice or looking for great engineers, building a large network of great people will allow you to have those resources available when you need them.

Successful entrepreneurs are generally younger, aggressive and enthusiastic.
Entrepreneurs must be able to attract great people. They must also inspire trust; VCs will ask if the people they're working with are believable. A slightly relevant quote: "Women have better bullshit meters because, let's face it, men bullshit all the time."

Hire slowly, fire quickly.
It takes a lot of great people to build a company, but one person can drag your organization down to failure. Carefully consider your personnel decisions and get rid of problems immediately.

Raise money on the front-side of a milestone.
Investors are much more likely to fund your venture if you need the money to reach a goal.

Finally, one of the VCs on the panel explained, slightly tongue-in-cheek, how he values companies:
He takes the number of engineers, times $250,000 . . . and subtracts $500,000 for each MBA.

The Way We Eat

I've gotten into the habit of listening to audio books while going to the gym. Rather than watching Larry King, I have decided to fill my head with business, cultural and social knowledge. In every case, it keeps me from overhearing the other peoples' often times disturbing conversations.

My most recent book was "The Way We Eat" by Peter Singer and Jim Mason. Here's the summary (taken from Amazon.com):

Ethicist Singer and co-author Mason (Animal Factories) document corporate deception, widespread waste and desensitization to inhumane practices in this consideration of ethical eating. (Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.)

While I think that the book is a rather radical and somewhat biased account of the food industry, I forced myself to listen to the whole thing. I do, however, think that it made many points about the food industry were quite important. Most importantly, we don't often think about the consequences for the animals we eat; we don't have an appreciation that some cow led a (generally) uncomfortable life, under unnatural conditions, to produce our McDonald's hamburger. I think that, being more aware of the facts presented in this book, I can make more ethical and sustainable food choices.

That said, I am going to be changing the way I eat slightly:

Z'Marik's is a (mostly) vegetarian restaurant in the Des Moines, Iowa. Their spicy peanut dish is to die for and can easily provide two small meals for $6.00. Generally, my lunch has consisted of a turkey sandwich at Big Sky Bread in Urbandale. While I would love to say I'm going "cold turkey" (har har har!) I don't think that I want to go without meat occasionally, but I can start eating at Z'Marik's more often.

I am going to continue to eat eggs, although, I'll be trying to eat eggs labeled as "cage free." While this simply means that hens will be closely confined in large warehouses, rather than cages, this is quite a bit less cruel (although far from idea.) I don't think that I'm quire ready to eat only free-range eggs because of the huge cost, but I can make an incremental step forward here. Likewise, when I do eat meat, I'll try to eat less red meat and more chicken . . . and probably less meat in general.

Now, this is the part that I love . . . I get to eat more fruits and veggies. I love raw fruits and vegetables . . . baby carrots, apples, bananas, spinach, tomatoes. Hurrah!

When reasonable, I am going to be more conscious of where my food is coming from. Given the choice between apples from New Zealand and Washington, I'll buy from Washington. (Unless, of course, it is a Red Delicious apple. Those things came with school lunches and I really hate those.) Transporting food comes at a huge environmental cost, so I'll try to mitigate this by buying more local.

So, Rebecca and Liz, now that you are both smiling, I'll treat you both to lunch at Z'Marik's the next time you're in town.

Silly Spark Quizes

Silly SparkQuizes . . .

You are an Administrator!

(Submissive Extroverted Concrete Thinker)

You are an ADMINISTRATOR (SECT)— detail-oriented and organized. You're an extrovert, but you lack the over-aggressive tendencies of obnoxious go-getters. Very nice. However, you probably like getting up in other people's business— living through them a little... dude, sometimes you just gotta let it ride. Don't be such a busy-body.

Anyway, you're an excellent manager, of both yourself and other people. That's because you prefer thinking concretely rather than creatively, and you'd rather follow what your mind tells you than your heart— people respect this, but it can make them mad when their appeals to love and kindness fall on deaf, deaf ears. Try to have a heart sometimes.

15% in Love!

Is it a bird? A plane? Is it a boy? A girl? Is it love, or is it lust? Ah, you. You are that rare mix of sensitive and sensual, romantic and randy, pride and prejudice, etc. When you see your crush, you waffle like a Belgian, unsure of whether you'd rather paint their toes or suck on their toes. Poets have long been puzzled by your kind. You'll never fall for robots or nymphos, but you will suffer longs bouts of marriage.

It all adds up... we feel 24% certain that you are...

A Woman!

Compared to others...

85% more male than you — 4% like you — 11% more female than you

How do we know? Well, deep down, your gender affects everything about you, from your favorite number to your views on Canada. Many women who took the test think and act just like you, as you can see from the graph above.

Statistically speaking, you are a woman—whether you know it or not.

Fun with AIM Away Messages

(22:48:56) aaronhurd: HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!!!!! HANDS TO THE SKY!!!!!
(22:49:03) victim_grl2000 : you'll have to speak up, I'm wearing a towel
(22:49:11) aaronhurd: . . . not anymore
(22:49:13) aaronhurd: :-P


(22:52:16) aaronhurd: 0xBAAAAAAA
(22:49:03) tux9483 : counting digital sheep
(22:52:34) aaronhurd: 0xBAAAAAAB
(22:52:38) aaronhurd: 0xBAAAAAAC
(22:52:42) aaronhurd: 0xBAAAAAAD
(22:52:47) aaronhurd: 0xBAAAAAAE
(22:52:53) aaronhurd: 0xBAAAAAAF
(22:52:58) aaronhurd: 0xBAAAAAB0
(22:53:05) aaronhurd: 0xBAAAAAB1
(22:53:11) aaronhurd: 0xBAAAAAB2
(22:53:14) aaronhurd: 0xBAAAAAB3