Archive for the “Food for Thought” Category

My fiance’s grandfather just turned 86 years old this past weekend. A couple of weeks ago, he purchased a high def camcorder and he’s really excited about using it.

As it turns out, his current computer isn’t good enough to play back the videos the camera records. The solution?
A brand new dual core system with a 500gig drive and a 19″ flat panel display.

Here’s a man that was born in 1922. He witnessed many of the twentieth century inventions like the band-aid, frozen food, quartz watches, the aerosol can, bubble gum and electric shavers. He knew the world before scotch tape, radio, ballpoint pens, and the microwave were invented. Now he’s probably got more processing power on his desk than was existent in the whole world when he was born.

A Ford from the 1930s

When he was growing up, the main method of communitcation was the telegraph. He was in his 20s when television stations started rolling out. He was in his 30s when credit cards were introduced, and in his 40s when the handheld calculator was invented. Fast forward 30 more years and he was in his 70s when I started browsing a text based internet with a 2400 baud rate modem.

He witnessed the introduction of the rotary dial phone, and the growth of commercial flight in the 1930s. Pretty much any technology we have now, he lived without, saw the introduction of, and witnessed become mainstream.

Today, in 2008 he calls Guatemala to speak with family using Skype, and he gets his latin news online, using Firefox no less. He can record 20+ hours of high def footage on an internal hard drive on his new camcorder and produce a DVD in a matter of minutes.

Its amazing to think how drastic technology has changed during his life. I hope I’ll reach his age and be as healthy as he is. I wonder what tech toys I’ll be playing with then.

How much will technology change in the next 86 years?

Starting a company is like running the 100 meter dash blind folded. You don’t know if you’re opponents are behind you or ahead. You don’t even know if they exist.

One thing is for sure. You have to sprint as fast as you can.

On a scale from one to awesome. Where do you rate at what you do? Whether you’re a cashier, software developer, or high priced corporate lawyer, how good are you at what you do?

"Be Tom Cruise in Cocktail..."

I was at the grocery store today with my fiance and our grocery tab rang up to $60 and change. We handed the cashier a twenty dollar bill, $40 in fives, and the change.

Can you believe it took the cashier 3 tries to count it? After the final count she paused, stared at the money for a second, looked up and said “sixty?”. We confirmed it was $60 and the transaction was completed.

I know that’s a lot of fives, but you would think a cashier would know how to count money. That is after all, a pretty integral part of the job. I’m no linguist, but I’m pretty sure the word ‘cashier’ is somehow derived from the word ‘cash’.

If you’re going to do a job, you have to be simply amazing at it. I don’t think it matters what the job is. If you’re bored, find something to challenge you. Do the job faster, neater, with one arm behind your back. Just make sure you do it well.

Be Tom Cruise in Cocktail, Jack Bauer, or House. There’s no point in being mediocre. Be awesome.

“On a scale from one to awesome, I’m super-great.”-Strong Bad

Where are you?

I’m in the middle of watching season 1 of Jericho. In short, its about a small town trying to survive after a nuclear attack on the US. They have no outside resources or help.
So far, I see four or five heroes in this show that are called upon to deal with everything that happens to this town with a population of 5000.

I imagine(and hope) in real life, the ratio of helpers to those needing help would be much better.

In an event as extreme as this or a natural disaster, would you be helping or being helped?