THE DREAM IN ACTION

Map from 10/24/07 – fires were still growing

My family is safe and away from danger from the San Diego wildfires.  Thank you to all of those who were concerned. Please pray for all those who were affected whether it was a lost home or just a few days of missed work or school.  It was a terrible tragedy but it was wonderful to see San Diegan’s unite to help anyone who was in need.  At one point police had to turn away people who wanted to donate at Qualcomm Stadium…that is the love of God.

These are statistics about the fires from Wildfires 2007 – San Diego Union Tribune Fire Blog.

Given the recent kudos I gave to Google, you could probably have guessed that I am in full support of the recent discussion between Verizon and Google regarding a mobile phone partnership.  Verizon is in deliberations about carrying a mobile phone that would be customized to Google’s soon to come mobile OS.  Verizon, the second largest mobile phone provider and Google, the largest internet company would make an awesome team, in my opinion.  With Google’s focus on usability and Verizon’s great mobile service and phone design this is one of the few combinations that have the potential to be a legitimate competitor to the Apple and AT&T (iPod) combo (a true force).

Gmail, hands down the best internet based email provider, is stepping it up yet another notch.  They will be adding an easy to use contact manager, more keyboard short-cuts and a quicker way to search for and pull messages which will speed up the performance of the tool. Phenomenal.

On the Gmail blog they state:

“Even on a fast Internet connection, it can take a second to request and render a new web page, and when you read a lot of mail, these seconds can accumulate to hours waiting for email to load. We’ve spent a lot of time profiling all parts of the application, shaving milliseconds off wherever we can.

Some of the most common actions should be faster now. For instance, we prefetch messages in the current view, so when you open an email your browser doesn’t have to talk to Google’s server; it just displays the message. These techniques really shine on newer browsers and computers. Using an alpha version of Safari 3 on a MacBook, we’re seeing sub-200ms times when opening messages–pretty quick.”

As a very happy Gmail user I’m pleased to see that Google is not only dominating in developing new technologies and free web based products (Gmaps, Gdocs, Gcal) but they are also focussed on improving what already exists. They pay attention to the small things too! Well done Google.

Today I read in the Wall Street Journal about the increasing cost of babysitting. The avg. cost of babysitting has rising 39% percent over the last 5 years, much faster than the general inflation rate.  The cost of a babysitter is not something I hope to have to worry about for some time but it got me thinking… 

A few weeks ago I was reading an article in Fast Company Magazine about how it is increasingly difficult for employers to hirer and retain young employees.  The article discussed how young employees ranked more vacation time as the most important benefit they look for, this also got me thinking…

Out of my closest 6 friends in Chicago, 6 out of 6 of us have taken international vacations less than a year out of college.  These were expensive vacations to the other sides of the world and although the value of a dollar becomes more and more clear, the value of our time and the value of experiences seems to be winning out.

These articles and this fact have really got me thinking about the truth behind the mantra “time is money”.  What is the value of time? Just how much money should you get for your time?  How has that ratio changed in recent years?  Well, I’d argue that the time to money ratio has increased a great deal over the last 5-10 years.  The youth of yesterday is entering the workforce and this demographic considers their time and their out of work experiences (like travel) very valuable. 

Employers are finding it tougher to retain young employees and finding it very effective to reward with more vacation because this generation has realized that there is more to life that “work”. It’s cliché but there is a whole world out there and we want to see it!  Babysitters are demanding more money because unless they get paid good money they’d rather be with their friends and family, adding to there lives with great, memorable experiences.  My friends and I are traveling because we realize that there is no better time than NOW to do these things.  Eventually you have to get serious with life, but eventually is not right now.  You better get those experiences while you can because soon those spur of the moment decisions aren’t yours to make.  I’m not saying that life becomes un-fun or less sporadic, it just becomes a bit tougher to have those experiences.

So, get after it, get out there, enjoy now as much as you can.  Travel, take time off work, enjoy very little responsibility because like I said before, it doesn’t last forever.

If you are familiar with Lifehack.com’s “Mind Hack” posts this is the first Mind Hack post for ActionsTalk.com.  I hope that this changes the way that you approach decision making and benefits you in you career and your life.

Decision making is one of the most important skills an individual can learn.  People say that life is just a series of decisions and they’re right!  Every situation you encounter in life is going to present a different set of opportunities and your ability to decipher what the right decision is can literally make or break you.  This applies to ones personal life as well as ones career.  My method of decision making is very helpful but a little different than most peoples.  It is very common to just list the pros and cons and whichever list is longer go with that choice.  We’ll I go a step further and I apply a weight or a degree of importance to each pro and each con. Then I add the numbers up and that is my choice.  It is a very simple and logical way to help you make up your mind with big decisions.  For this example I will use the decision to move away from San Diego (awesome) and come to Chicago (pretty sweet). 

First the PROS… (Always start positive):

·         Friends  weight: (9)

·         Girlfriend (9)

·         Job opportunities (6)

·         Great social life (4)

·         New experiences (8)

·         Challenge & Out of comfort zone (4) – yes this is a positive

Total: 40

Then the CONS…

·         No more surfing (4)

·         Away from Family (7)

·         The slight (very slight) possibility that I would ever life in SD again (10)

·         Leaving SD friends (8)

·         Leaving a solid network of job opps (2)

·         Chi-towns beach vs. beaches in SD (3)

Total: 34

40 points to move to Chicago, 34 to stay in San Diego…thus, my decision to move to

Jott.com“gott” me very excited. It is a start up that allows you to voice record messages and send them as text messages to the people in your contact list.  It took me about 10 minutes to set up the account and it took me about 5 more minutes to set up the ability to Jott directly in my Google Calendar.  The Google Calendar is not a standard Jott functionality but developed by the use of Jott’s API by Grinn.  Once you have your Jott account set-up and you have the GCal functionality set up it is very easy to use. You just call the Jott number 1-866-JOTT123 and it asks you who you would like to Jott, you reply and the Jott recording says “Got it” or “Repeat”.  Then you hear a tone and you say something like “Pick-up dry cleaning, Wednesday at 5:30pm” and it automatically posts to your GCal.  Think about how often you want to add an event or to-do to your calendar and you are not in front of your computer…Often enough? Thought so.  This is one of the more practical start-ups that I’ve seen recently. Give it a shot and let me know here at ActionsTalk what you think.  With all of that said, it does scare me that I’ll become reliant upon these types of new services and all of the sudden there will be a monthly fee.  But for now, they are free and their making my life a “Lott” more convenient. 

To install the GCal functionality click here.

Cha-Ching…

Today it was announced that Microsoft is to invest $240 million in Facebook and expand their existing relationship into international markets.  The $240 million is less than a 2% stake in Facebook.  I just wonder what Zuckerberg and pals are going to do with the other 98%?  Read more at TechCrunch.

This city (NYC) truly is a great example of what we as humans are capable of accomplishing. There are dreams walking these streets. There are dreamers walking these streets.  New York City is truly an incubator for hopes and dreams.  The “American Dream” as cliche as it may sound thrives in New York City.  The United States is undoubtedly the nation of opportunity and equality.  Not everyone has the same experiences but everyone has the same equal opportunity. There are countless stories that display the success of this nation in helping anyone and providing literally any American citizen the hope and opportunity to live out there dreams. 

 I’m in New York this week on business and will bring you many pictures of the city in a post forthcoming.

Addition to this post 10/30/07:

I would like to take back a portion of this post and clarify.  A reader made critic of this post (offline) that my claim that everyone has “the same equal opportunity” is a false claim.  After some thought and review of the wording of this post I agree with the readers critic.  Not everyone in the United States has the same equal opportunity.  Things like location of birth, parents financial and social status, and ethnicity are just a few things that can make ones opportunites not equal to anothers.  However, I would like to say that I honestly believe that everyone in the US has the opportunity to succeed.  The American dream does live and especially in a place like New York City. Everyone will face different challenges, different speed bumps but this country gives everyone the tools and freedom to chase that dream and make it come true. 

Every American has the opportunity to ‘Live the Dream’.

So, looking back at the Homecoming weekend, it was pretty much perfect.  Had the opportunity to see some bro’s that I’d not seen a quite some time, didn’t think about work for a second, and for a minute or two there I really thought I was back in college. Everything that I went there to do, I accomplished.  Miami of Ohio has never failed to show me a fantastic time and this visit was just more of the same…the dream in action.

Q: What is your great opportunity Ryan…

A: Well, I can’t go into it in detail… for very un-obvious reasons, how every I think that if a person our age is presented a great opportunity it is foolish for that person to not take FULL advantage of it…

I’ll expand on this later, when I feel comfortable…

I understand this is a vague and somewhat awkward post, but you’ll understand soon enough.

The only thing I can say now is if a person is in the position I am in (youth) that person always needs to remember to keep their eyes and options open… chat soon…

Yesterday was Blog Action Day.  An organized effort by over 15,000 bloggers to discuss different ways to give back to Mother Earth.  It was a day to post  something related to giving back to the environment and being “green”.  Obviously, I missed it.  I was a day late but I’m still going to try and make up for it.  First, my excuse for missing the day: I lost my wallet on the train yesterday morning and spend almost half of my work day trying to cancel and re-order credit cards and identification cards and posting quite honestly completely slipped my mind.  Then at about 7:15p last evening I received a phone call from a good Samaritan, the man who found my wallet and decided to do the right and noble thing of returning it.  I love that man.

So the topic of my Blog Action Day post is this: Giving back to the environment doesn’t just mean screaming “save the whales” at a gas station.  You don’t have to protest, drive a hybrid, or only ride your bike to work in order to give back to your environment.  The man who did the right thing yesterday and gave back to man kind (in this case myself) was most definitely giving back to his environment.  Humans are the most influential beings on this planet as far as the environment goes.  We are the beings that can protect our mother earth and we are the beings that could potentially ruin her.  I honestly believe that by spreading the kind of love, care, and respect that the good Samaritan showed me yesterday we can and will have a lasting effect, and in turn greatly benefit the planet on which we live.  By having and acting upon a mutual respect for one another you will undoubtedly have a great affect on your environment.

So, in conclusion, I would just like to thank the good Samaritan who returned my wallet. You’ve saved me much stress and worry.  I gave the man all the money I had on me at the time ($27) as a display of my gratitude and it was very well worth it.  As a word of encouragement to all of you readers, follow this mans lead, give back to human kind, show mutual respect, add value to your environment.  He saved me a great bit of trouble and all he had to do was think about someone else before himself (luckily in this case I benefited greatly). 

Do the right thing, give back to your environment, give back to man kind, change the world.  Happy (belated) Blog Action day.

If it takes more than this poster to motivate you, try this…

Yossi Vardi, (an original investor in ICQ) quoted a Theodore Roosevelt speech from 1910 in a discussion held a TechCrunch40 last month to draw a parallel to today’s entrepreneur.

            “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Michael Arrington had some very inspiring words regarding entrepreneurship on his blog TechCrunch and he also discussed when Vardi gave the speech here.  If you’d like to see the entire speech you can read it here.

Homecoming weekend is very appropriately named.  After four short years in college I think most of all feel a sense of comfort, a “hominess” toward the place we called college, and rightfully so.  Let’s be honest…it’s not like our lifestyle was difficult in any sense of the word.  Over the last 2 years of college I held a job, belonged to a Fraternity and participated in a student foundation, and all the while maintained a pretty reasonable GPA.  Even with all those things college was and will always be remembered an easy, enjoyable, and exciting time in my life.  I was living the dream and nobody could stop me.

 So this weekend is Homecoming, and for my college that means nothing more than alumnus return to fall back into the their habits of old.  I won’t bore you with how many beers will be consumed or any of those trivial details (although a lot of beers will be consumed), but I will tell you that I’m expecting a fantastic weekend in college.  The weather forecast is great and frankly, I deserve it.

Updates on the weekend forthcoming.

Apples new version of the MAC OS version 10.5 called “Leopard” is due for release this month.  It looks like the release will occur sometime around the 26^th of October.  This is definitely a huge factor in waiting to buy a new machine.  If you’ve followed ActionsTalk you probably know that I’ll be buying a MAC in the next couple of months and this release of Leopard throws a bit of a kink in the decision.  Do you wait until Apple works out the kinks with Leopard before purchasing a machine with Leopard installed.  Apple’s already proven to the consumer that they don’t hesitate to release a product before all the “worms” are worked out right? (iPhone)  They’ve made it difficult to justify the immediate post release purchase, poor move Steve (Jobs).  Maybe however, if I rush to the store the day of release I can pay more and two weeks later receive an Apple store credit!  Let me know if you have an opinion on the decision to buy a MAC with the old OS, rush to get the new one, or give if a few month to iron out the kinks. Thanks!