See what the polls don't show

This link was fascinating. It shows breakdowns by income, ethnictity, region and even job type of who supports which candidate. I was a little surprised by some of the results and not surprised by most of the results. Hillary never looked so dominating

http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/info-flash08.html?project=DEMOPOLL1207&party=rep&sortBy=3

Four Corners to Florida

Explanation of the title: In 2007 I reached what effectively are the four corners of the U.S.A- Boston (June), Seattle+Vancouver B.C (July), San Diego (October), Florida (December).

So I took what originally was a day trip (turned overnighter) because I wanted to complete travel to the largest cities in each section of the country (NW, NE, SW, SE). Fort Lauderdale has really cool sand on the beach. It was almost 80 degrees and very humid at 6 in the morning (thats right 6am and in December)-- but the winds made it feel refreshing.

The whole place is so tropical teaming with bright verdant foliage and huge trees with sprawling branches and heavy leaf structure. On one street down by coconut grove in Miami the the green plants and trees encompassed the road in an almost surreal way.

I walked through little Havana, the shops along the street along with the pastries and vibrance of the culture reminded of Brazil more than I ever seen in the states.

That area is refreshing and one my favorite places I have ever been. I can't wait to go back

Times Square

I think its funny how much I feed off the energy and enjoy the atmosphere in Times Square. It seems most true New Yorkers and seasoned visitors of New York will not normally deign to grace the square with their presence and will generally avoid it when the tourists are there (which is nearly always). Most of the stores and restaurants target a very suburban not too savvy tourist.

But I had my radio show in High School (89.3 KASB Bellevue), I studied T.V production and how advertising and commercials and brand promotion worked. Plus I grew up listening to my older siblings play the music and talk about Broadway shows.

I guess all the lights and T.V screens synergize into an epicenter of media that fascinates me. Atleast it did when I first saw it in January and it did last weekend.

Juicy Review

I tried the Tangerine Juice from Trader Joes today. It is quite tartful, and with 23 grams of sugar per serving is exquisitely sweet. At $2.99 a bottle is cheaper than most other juices they sell. But really, with as much sugar as it has (as most Trader Joes juice products do) doesn't it essentially dilute the purpose of getting a non-concentrate juice when it has tons of sugar in it?

The carrot juice is very good too. But don't drink too much- there may be some harmful side effects for excessive consumption.

Lame phone calls

I was pranked called last night. Someone called and didn't say anything around 11:30. I heard a girls voice in the background as I said hello about 4 times. Really only a few people have my new number so there is only a few it could be.
For reals though, call up someone and don't say anything? What happened to creativity. They didn't even shield there number so I called back and the girl said hello and then hung up, lame. They (I could here two girls giggling each time in the background) called back with a disquised number 2 minutes later and connected me to some girls voice mail, I hung up in boredom as I heard "Hi you've reached Jessica..."
I have done some prank calling, the least you can do is make it entertaining enough to keep it going. No dialouge? Just silence and giggling? I would be ashamed if I were entertained by that. Prank calls are for talking, I would not even dignify those calls by calling them worthy of being prank calls.

Death to YouTube

Ok, just because you figured out how to push record on some crappy cellphone video recorder and you want to impress friends that you were at some show by placing some horrible sounding video which documents your presence at the venue, does not-repeat- does not mean you should upload that 30 second or one minute piece of the song onto youtube.

Bad quality on youtube will lead to lower expectations and hence cause a slow death to youtube.

Probably never will

So you get through Airport Security having de-shoed, placed your laptop in a separate crate, put every remotely liquid related item in a tiny plastic bag and on occasion frisked by a TSA agent. Then they pull out some item like deodorant and tell you its a whole ounce to heavy and ask in a polite and calm tone "would you like to go back and check it with your luggage, and come back through?". Are they joking? Seriously they can't seriously be asking that question. It took a significant amount of time and emotional energy to just get through that line, and they think you might consider going through again and waiting behind another person who doesn't understand which metallic objects will set off the alarm?

I've never seen anyone actually go back and check the item the TSA agent said couldn't go through, probably never will.

P.S In Bon Voyage Charlie Brown, all they took off to go through airport security was their watches, what a time.

So Old Navy

I guess the main downside to buying clothes at Navy is somewhat awkward feeling you experience as you go to a crowded area and you can sense its obvious to everyone around that you actually shop at Old Navy...

Most frequented sites

Due to their utility along with the ease and beneficial nature of repeat use these are most most used/favorite sites: Gmail, facebook, youtube, Blogger, google.com/news.

These fairly common for a lot of people which are around the same age group which I currently reside. Only I don't have a MySpace page (actually I do, I just never really used it), and I don't use hotmail.

Also I really like what YouTube has done a lot-- I think my appreciation for what they have accomplished with that format is exceptionally high.

New Cell Phones

Its can be a bit of a hassle learning all the new buttons of a new phone and even more so if you switch phone companies. It takes extra time to do anything.

But atleast it saves time as you don't have to scroll past as many people (who you don't really call anyway) in your phone directory, simply because you haven't bothered to add them yet.

N-O-S-T-A-L-G-I-A

2 years before I was born Bon Voyage Charlie Brown came out. I remember watching this all the time when I was 6-9 years old. Watching brought me back to those times when I watched it and feeling a curiosity for going to Europe and having adventures like Charlie Brown and his whole peanuts gang did.

It would be amazing to have a dog half as witty and smart-alecy as Snoopie. Here is how slick that dog is: A) Snoopie rides first class on the flight to London while the rest ride in coach B) He has a membership card to Wimbeldon (which he gets kicked out of!) C) He drives the rented car with everyone inside D) He goes to and hangs out at the Pub late at night when he is supposed to be on guard dog duty. He is not limited in his experiences by his status as a dog, go figure.

I didn't understand it when I was a kid but this cartoon has a sweet love story. Charlie gets a letter from a girl named Violet asking him to stay at her Chateau in France. Charlie Brown's Grandfather met Violet's Grandmother when he was stationed there in World War I. They had a crush on each other and wrote letters for a while until they stopped writing got married and had families. But she never forgot the charming American. Sigh... Wish I was charming like that.

The movie has some funny parts. I tried finding this movie before and it was very rare. Luckily my cubical neighbor at work brought it in after I mentioned it a few weeks ago.

Ferret Surprise

Sleeping on a couch at my friends condo on Lake Michigan was great until I woke up around 3:30. They had told me just before I went to bad that they had two ferrets who slept under the chair in the room, but that I would be fine if I zipped up my bag because they like to crawl into things. So I zipped up my bag and fell asleep for a few hours.

I don't what it is that makes me a little nervous about Ferrets, maybe how they wander around and stick there bodies nose first into anything object they are able to, or I was scared they might nibble on me as I slept? But When I awoke I could here them wandering around the room energetically. I thought if I held still they would ignore me. After I shuffled my feet and arms several times to stop them climbing up the couch I got up. With intense curiosity kept crawling towards me and since I've never even held a Ferret I wasn't really comfortable doing so now. I turned on a light and they followed around the apartment through the kitchen and dining room area. One was albino and the other brown with a stripe and together made a tag team cornering me as I backed away from them around the apartment. The more I moved away the more interested they seemed to become. The albino ferret had red eyes so I don't think he had good vision since he would pause a little as he came close and wouldn't stop until I brushed a pillow at him.

Finally as the sunrose I came up with a plan. There was no cage, but I figured I could lure them in the bathroom and they would be fine for a couple of hours as I caught up on lost sleep. I used a stick and lured them in seperately. It took awhile but after about 10 minutes both were inside the bathroom and made little noise.

Chicago's Millenial park is pretty cool and the city skyline deserves some eyetime.

How British

I am minus $300, minus one blackberry and plus one trip to London than I was 6 days ago. The weather in London is similar to my native Seattle only a little warmer and less drizzly.

I was really impressed with how nice and informative most Londoners were to me as a tourist--( I mean they get millions of us a year, so you wouldn't be surprised if they got a bit jaded). They seemed enthusiastic in answering even no brainer questions like which "This (the house of parliment isn't Big Ben is it?...oh just around the corner...(duh)"

Leicester square has a cool vibe and nightlife scene. The china town of London is quite a bit cleaner and brighter than China town/NY.

Its always best in my opinion to learn and visit places with someone who lives locally-- So when I saw the Thames river for the first time it really was impressed firmly in my mind how filthy that river can be as my friend Nick (who I stayed with) took a big spit right into the river!!

The first 6 months of this year I was in NY doing an internship at the U.N. While there I came up with this concept (in March 2007 blog entries) that people move around city to city or country to country and usually stay in neighborhoods they lived in previously (ie similar levels of education, economics, culture etc.). And I we saw another case in point as Nick and I left the library of the London School of Economics we bumped into 2 people who also interned at the U.N during the same period earlier this year!! At first everyone was surprised, but aftwerwards not so much since really people with similar interests, goals and connections who bumped into each other once have a fair chance of bumping into each other again before too long.

Hyde Park is really nice the autumn leaves were coming out really well. I met a nice girl from Canada who went to school in London and works in Hong Kong who gave me directions how to get to Victoria Station. And it was funny that almost everyone else I met had no idea which buses or tubes (subways) went to Victoria station or anywhere else! It's like "I don't know how to get anywhere in this city, I just live here", but they were nice about there ignorance.

I firmly believe that London (and probably most of Europoe) has the best drinkable yogurts. I bought 4 or 5 of them in one night, thats how good the blackcherry flavor was!

I also lost my blackberry so I have no cool digital photos to download here., just plain stuff off the internet..

Yosemite at Last

In three and a half words I describe the place as Pristine, Majestic and awe-inspiring.

I wanted to visit Yosemite for a long time-- to take a pilgramige to stand in awe of the towering granite walls of Half Dome and El Capitan (the steep rock faces you see in pictures). My friend Michael and I hit the main portions of the park which are home to the picturesque vignettes featured in many photographs. The serenity of the whole area is preserved with conservation efforts including hybrid buses which transport visitors around the park for free and thus decreasing carbon fuel emmissions. The air was fresh and water in the streams and rivers was crystal clear.

People were so nice to us that day:

1) After ripping out the gas pump hose (because the nozzle was still attached) the owner of the Qwiky Mart, said it was ok, and we went on.

2) Another hiker gave us instructions up a trail and advised we take water-- we didn't have any so he just gave us some!

3) AND WE EACH FOUND FIVE DOLLARS!!! just kidding but that would have funny.

My Rating for Yosemite: 10

Benefits of Contrarianism--Reading?

There are major disadvantages of constantly going against the grain. It may just be a reluctance to accept the outcomes of decisions others have made if you don't feel personally involved in the decision or recognized/respected by those who made the decision.
Or maybe you just want to go explore where other have not or will not go. You can miss out on a lot by venturing off, working in the small startup opposed to the fortune 500 company.
But really, I love how when I am around people who don't read, I read more. When I am around other people read, a read a little less, because I just end up talking to the people. Interesting books probably make interesting people-- So if you like being the contrarian and want to read more-- surround yourself with people who hardly read, lonely- but interesting--

Gmail

Gmail increase in value as more of your friends use it. I recieved an invite to join in early 2005. Now a lot of people have it, but some don't, and I don't always understand why-- its so useful.

Time after Time

I have thought a lot about time lately. I listened to a scholar on NPR who was held in Iran for 8 months. She was in her 60's I believe, and said she wasn't mad about the experience, just mad at the lost time, she explained that 8 months is a long time for an a person of her age.

Really, I contend its a long time for any time of life. You only have so many hours and days and weeks to learn the right lessons, read the right books, meet the right people and ultimately make the best choices which will in theory grant to each what they want. And so much of time is travelling to work or school or waiting for our next job or class to start or to move to a new location.

And then there is the constant concern of not having done the right things in the past tense and trying to make up for lost time. Also there is the mental blockage we apply to many experiences in my life. College has to be done by the time I'm 22, my Master 24 full time job at 25. I have to make X amount by the time I'm 30 or live in a house. Own my own company by 40 or run for President before 60, or whatever.

And in the meantime while everything is speeding up; individually and collectively time slips away- too the point which some distract themselves with music, movies or whatever, and a few even console themselves by blogging it out.

Sometimes I think those who deserve more time, seem to be short of it, and those who don't appreciate it have plenty of it.

How much do we really read?

Fascinating short article on a survey of how much we read. One fourth of the people hadn't read a book in the past year, wow. Over the past 12 months I have only read 6-7 books, which puts me in the average of people who had read something (avg. 7). The demographics were interesting as also was placement of fault for people not reading; T.V, internet and movies. Plus last year there were 3.1 Billion books sold, just enough for all of us on the planet to share with a friend, chuckle.

A Biography of Presidential Repore

Interestingly enough none of Thedore Roosevelt's close friends and associates actually called him "T.R" mainly the public and other associations of this nature. And also the toy dolls called "Teddy Bear" grew out of a cartoonists impressions of T.R on a bear hunting trip, with the bear given a smily friendly face, which sooner thereafter inspired a toy maker. Amazing huh?

The author Edmund Morris wrote this book (he also did the authorized biography of Ronald Reagan, "Dutch). He is a gifted scholar born in Nairobi with a precise skill with language and vocabulary (a great book to improve your vocab and thinking skills).


Here are some highlights and lessons I picked up:

Arguably the Best Political Mind to sit in the White House: Whether it was carefully convincing certain cabinet members to stay, avoiding a near war with Germany in absolute secrecy from the public, arbitrating between the mine owners and miners in an economy crippling strike, orchestrating the political and military pieces for Panama to secede from Columbia and in turn purchase the land for the Canal-- T.R consistently astonished even his harshesed critics and kept most of the people quite pleased with the outcomes of major initiatives. He read the public as well as individuals accurately and knew how to influence (& occasionally manipulate) the parties to achieve the desired results.

Renewal through Vacations: It seemed like every few weeks or months Teddy needed to get out of Washington to hunt some bears in Colorado or head to his summer home on Long Island or take a horse ride in the countryside around DC. It appears that while being President he still made ample time to get out of Washington and into the woods for hunting or to visit people small towns on the western frontier where he was hugely popular. He found a gifted and famous scientist to accompany him in Yosemite Valley for four days. His love for the outdoors was fuel to expand much of the then existing national park system closer to what we have today.

Read Read Read: After he had been President for about a year the President of Columbia University asked for a list of some of the books he had read during his presidency. He sent back about a page worth of titles of European and World History, Greek Philosophy, various works of poetry contemporary and old, and many other titles on a variety of subjects with an apparent focus on history, philosphy and literature. How he made time to for all this as President is mystery to myself, maybe the vacationing and time in the rail cars helped.

These are just a few lessons I gleaned. The book never really gets too dry, Teddy is so focused on power and always on the go that his presidency never really gets boring. All the inside information and inner working of the White house with regards to International policy may cause a reader to 're-think' some of our country's involvement with other countries.

YouTube Debate

This is a pretty interesting exchange for the 3 top Democratic Candidates during the YouTube debate. Not talking to countries I guess can be like giving someone the silent treatment or as Dwight from the Office would say: Shunning Someone, and it undoubtedly can affect the neglected party. Obama seems to be very much for talking with leaders while Hillary attempts to build as much distance with the potential implications of such meetings with foreign leaders. This next clip is pretty rich, candidates are asked to say something like and dislike about the candidate to their left...yeh, almost unanimously ignored (or don't answer seriously) second half of the question where the are supposed to list off something they dislike about the candidate to their left and resort to "I love you guys" type generalites. Hillary's laugh in response to Edward's saying "he's not sure" about her coat sounds like true from the gut laugh that I am not sure she lets out in public (or maybe even private) too often.

North to Canada--

Ok this is another slightly repetitive travelogue type entry (I should just be a traveling journalist, haha), so if don't like these just take a glance and move on... Vancouver B.C has a very international feel to it and tons and tons of Sushi places. A lot of cities have concentrated areas within the city such as Chinatown or Korean town, Vancouver has that but also has many stores and restaurants spread across the city. Crossing the bridge into the main downtown area with all the condos and buildings with the mountains to the foreground gave it the look somewhat a kin to Hong Kong I thought (never been there, seen pictures only).

Ate some cheap sushi, which is seriously all over and walked around broadway and passed through downtown and gastown which is the oldest part of the city which grew rapidly around a single pub. The port feel is similar to Seattle with all the huge cranes for loading the ocean liners at the port. It would be good to see more of this place and walk around the streets- it is fairly compact in the downtown area and definitely resonates a feeling of vibrance.

Surprise Opening Act

I went to a show with Jeremy Enigk the former lead singer of Sunny Day Real Estate (very well known in the Seattle music scene). The show was really good. I really like it when artists who have gone solo are still willing to throw in a few songs from their previous projects from which they gained most of their original fans. When my friend Brock and I were entering the club I noticed the opening act listed was fronted by a guy I went to elementary school with, we talked a little after his set. Funny little coincidence, made the whole show a little more interesting, you never know who and when you are going to run in to people.

Bostonia

My friend Dave Gleave and I were in Boston on July 3rd. You can definitely see a lot of stuff in a day in Boston. The liberty trail downtown takes you through many historical and revolutionary war era sites. The weather was a very smooth 71 degrees with some breeze, nice. Bunker Hill had a huge monument, and I was taken back by the pervasivity of churches, Bostons Puritanical roots are abundantly evident today. In Cambridge people were nice and the Harvard campus very well maintained. Boston seemed like a very clean city with very clean public transportation (bus and rail)

Romney in New York!

I volunteered for two Romney campaign fundraisers today downtown at the Intercontinental Hotel in Downtown on 48th and Lexington (close to Grand Central). The first event was primarily big doners featuring a photo with Gov. Romney for donors of the maximum $2300 legally allowed to the Romney Campaign. I stood at one of the main entrances directing people to wait in line for a photo with Gov. Romney. Mitt does exude strong charisma and ere of optimism particularly evident as experienced businessmen wore grins of joy as they exited their photo with Mitt. In his 5-10 opening speech (sprinkled with some thoughtful humor) he sounded very confident.

I handled the microphone for the brief Q&A with the big donors. The questions were well informed and incited interesting and fairly in depth response about topics such as China in the 21st century, Culture Preservation and of course immigration. Romney advocated increased spending for by the federal government beyond $1 Billion, and in a few comments he was supportive of improving marketing our country and its people to the rest of the world. He also gave strong emphasis to getting the best people to work on projects who would most likely disagree and argue to arrive at the best possible outcome.

I was fascinated in his remark that people expect constant campaigning to be wearisome and exhausting for incessant meetings and speeches (his 8th meeting that day), he said he is energized from all the people he meets and when he gets to the hotel late he reads for a couple hours to wind down- (I've had similar thoughts in my limited campaigning experiences in college). That nightly routine is believable listening to his citing of various books and articles in his speech often with a sensitive disclaimer "not sure if you happened to have read this...". He made some good case points (success stories such as the 2002 Olympics and Healthcare in Massachussets) for his campaign and demonstrated a wide breadth of knowledge.

On a side note the food was superb. I ate so much fresh tasting jumbo shrimp and mini open faced salami sandwhiches with cheese it took care of dinner and most of breakfast!

One Shot!

I won a great game of chess over the weekend. Although it took me awhile to put the king into checkmate so I ended up wiping out nearly all the pieces of the opponent. The funniest part was my opponent made a silly mistake that would forfeit the king and then I asked if she was sure about her move, and she then looked at the board more carefully and took some more time and then made a move that would still allow her to lose her Queen!!

Sometimes when you get a chance to correct a mistake, you only get one shot!

Phila DC

I went to Philadelphia and DC last week. First time in Philly, lots of cool history since it was the biggest city in the revoltionary war period. This picture is me behind constitution hall where the constitution of signed. I stayed in Fairfax county which is a pretty pleasant and relaxing place in my opinion. I really just loved being away from the city for a bit and being surrounded by trees. For me the trees and all the outdoor stuff really just gets the imagination going in very exhilerating ways.

But I probably speak for most in saying that toll roads have got to go.

Geographic Predictors

Ok- another potentially cool idea- ready for thesis writing. What if you could "Predict the locations of the next technological innovations and breakthroughs?". It's so fascinating if you think that Sillicon valley is home to so many innovative companies (Google + Apple just to name a couple of recent hyberbolic examples of what many associate with innovation) and also some of the best weather in the country (warm, sunny, mild coastal climate).

So Why?

Are people who invent and create stuff magnetically drawn to certain creative poles ? Really what is most interesting is what are the other politcal, cultural, business and legal (to name several) conditions in certain areas. For so many thousands of years China came of with so many inventions before modernized equivalent came to fruition in other parts of the globe. Something has to be different in more than just the climate.

Some countries produce way more patents every year than others. And what if historical data (economic, educational, scientific was used to extrapolate and predict what areas of the world most closely resemble those which have in the past fostered so much growth in new ideas, inventions, innovations. Using varied forecasting techniques predictions could be made on where money should be invested years before its too late too make 'lots' of money.

Taking a broader perspective you could attempt to predict where the next dictator or bloody riot would take place. You could also predict which Universities will pump out the best graduates each year by automatically updating the most current campus information and not simply what some tradition tells employers where to hire. I realize various attempts have been made with different types of outcome predictors- but compiling this information on a global scale constantly updated would be amazing. I think I should talked to some programmers, economists, and scientists from across the fields- this would be incredible.

Easy Friends

Since being at the United Nations in January, meeting people has been, well... let's say interesting. People always conciously or not calculate how much how time effort or thought they wish to devote towards a new aquientance they meet through a friend, at a party, social gathering or randomly on the street. In New York for most young college educated people the questioning goes something like:

1) Where are you from?
2) How long have you been here? and
3) What do you do?

This is the clincher for many in deciding whether than can really relate to this person, or have any interest at all with further association.
I've noticed that certain places seem to get people excited and they really seem to care about knowing you as more than a forgotten name, based simply off of whether what you do is exciting, lucrative, or otherwise intersting to them.
I've noticed the U.N more often than not fits the bill of prestigous and intriguing place for many people, and people want to be your friend.

JetBlue CEO voted out

I have basically loved the whole concept of JetBlue since the first time I flew on a commercial airline in 1995- 5 years before JetBlue made their first flight-. I always thought service could be more meaningful and the whole experience of flying should be fun. In Fall of 2003 I found out about JetBlue from a news special I saw in Business class, I was totally taken back. There was a certain excitement and enthusiasm about the flying with great service, nice seats and T.V's all standardized for a low cost. It was like the airline I had been imagining should exist.

Behind most of what JetBlue is today are many great planners, advertisers, and people who implemented the venture, but the most significant portion of what created JetBlue is the founder and now former CEO David Neeleman. His whole persona and track record convinced investors this idea would fly, and it has been largely very successful since its inception.

It's amazing how big ideas come to fruition. It makes you wonder what you are really capable of, and more importantly gives some inspiration to find out.

Pears are GREAT

Yesterday I bought some of the best pears I have ever tasted. So soft and juicy- with just the right 'pear taste'. Ripe pears are so good- It's really a shame that only a few species of pears are actually edible. I highly recommend pears.

True Reality

We live in reality. Or atleast the one 'we think' we are in. There is a varying but constant distance between:

1) The true reality

2) The reality we are cognizant of

3) The reality we hope for

and finally

4) The reality that will be

Friction generates as the differences among these four definitions of reality emerge.

The largest type of internal conflicts occur I believe when the true reality (1) collides (sometimes crashes) into the reality we have knowledge of and are cognizant (2) which may drastically alter (or shatter) the reality we hope for. We may feel so secure in what we know (2), and the real danger is when we arrogantly assume that our reality (2) is true reality (1). If we don't give place in our mind for more than what we know, we can hardly improve the reality we hope for(3), and limit our personal influence on true reality (1) and the reality that will be (4).

The most soul rattling occurance of these clashes occur between number 3 and 4 realities when the reality we hope for is extinguished by reality of what must unavoidably be.

For example most people hope to be healthy and live a relatively long and happy life. This can be shattered from discovering a health ailment or terminal illness or cancer in the younger portion of life.

So this really, really is reality, really.

Another day another Doctorate

While interning at the U.N I've been getting all sorts of ideas that have good potential to become a Master's or Doctoral Thesis and I even got a few people who agreed. I wondered for a briefly if I should start selling them because it seems many graduate students hit a mental barrier in coming up with and choosing a thesis to write about. Here is just one idea- A detailed study of the tansfer of power from royalty to society.

This idea would basically look at the differences in countries that transformed themselves from a Monarchy to a Democracy. Obviuously some countries have done this far more effectively which tend to correlate with a happier and more empowered people. Assuming the role of governments is to help provide some order and benefit to the populace this would look at general quality of life indicators before and after in countries like Spain, the Ukraine, Canada or others. It would at macroeconomic indicators of growth compared to disimilar parts of the world.

The idea could be huge (ie a long book) and you could also cross-analyze dictatorships with theocracies, socialist societies with more capatilistic natured countries. You could even do a comparitive analyses within the country's demographics and geographic regions to unlock what types of governments are seen as more favorable to different peoples. Fascinating- and hopefully not too boring.

Passing intelligence

We benefit or hinder those in our close proximity. Both the good and the bad can be passed on through absorption in social, genetic and in familial relationships. However some skills transfer better than others. Well duh, but how does this apply?

Does having a friend who is fluent in a language you are not benefit you at all be it a foreign language, a programming language, legal jargon or whatever. Not really, unless it allows you to unlock a door previously shut by your own lack of knowledge. But if a parent has that capacity they may have passed that same capacity onto you as well. Some aptitudes can be passed on from close relatives- but not always- So a parent who has certain skills, knowledge or abilities may be a positive point but not always.

Really I think our closest colleagues have a powerful impact on how well and how much we learn. The influence of our colleagues sets much of our expectations and probably often determines how high and fast each member flies. Since most people are neither the fastest or the slowest but in "the middle" (of the bell curve) most will gauge their expectations to the closest visable realization of their groups definition of "success". Just like in a race most are faster than the slowest runner yet slower than the faster runner. Moral here: Be your best- Aim high, and of course be a fast runner!

Rainy Sunday thought

It's been dark and rainy all day here in New York. I was thinking about some goals in life and then this thought hit me: "What talents, gifts, abilities do we now posses which are currently dormant because we don't have the wisdom to see or use them, or possibly we are aware of them but don't take the intitiative or time to develop them".

I believe our potential are not as limited as we often may think. I think we very often remember when we learn new things or aquire new skills- there remains a greater portion of unused potential, ideas, knowledge or whatever that we have not tapped into yet.

I believe ideas fed by action create more and better ideas which can be put into action as well, and thus the process continues.

Mr. Jorgensen goes to Washington

I went to Washington D.C last easter weekend. Although it snowed a little bit it, the main sites around the Washington Monument were great and I saw some of the Cherry Blossoms still in bloom. There are quotes everywhere from former presidents, some much more inspiring than others. From Roosevelt there was a quote about not letting your fears of today determine your future, and from Jefferson there was a quote about maintaining the right to freedom of mind and thought. It's good stuff- I like Washington.

Percentages of life

Ok my roomate said this would be a hit. I noticed I've lived 1% of my life in New York- so I added up all the months of my life and time spent in each location. And so these are the locations of my life with percentage thereof. I don't think these percentages correlate with actual influence each location had, but who knows? (Each is listed with months and then percentage)

Total Months: 302

Location:
Brazil (Mainly Northeastern)
24 months
8%
Seattle, Washington
200 months
66%
Rexburg, Idaho
40 months
13%
California (half Bay Area, half Southern Ca)
8 months
3%
New York
3 months
1%
Denver
27 months
9%

Free thinkin

Which regions and re'li'gions of the world allow most freedom to think? Do these areas correspond to high levels of entrepreneurism? Living for 1% (3 months) of my life in this interational hub called New York and spending most of my waking hours at the U.N learning about all kinds of different countries culture, politics and history has caused me to wonder about this.

No big idea or concept yet- I was just fascinated this morning contemplating different regions of the world which are predominantly various branches of Animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Confuscism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism- I was so fasinated I scribbled ideas onto paper for about 10 minutes. It would very naive to assume religion has and does affect heavily regions of this planet.

Comparisons

I met Richard Bushman yesterday. He gave a lecture to the J. Reuban Clarke Law Society New York Chapter. He is a proffesor emeritus at Columbia University here in New York. He has a written a bunch of books, including "A rough stone Rolling" which is cultural biography of Joseph Smith. He lectured on the law in the United States during the lifetime of Joseph Smith giving a number of insightful details of the history of law in this country.

I spoke with him for a moment afterwards. I explained to him an article I wrote for a Pre-Law Review less than a year ago comparing and contrasting Slavery with Illegal Immigration (I guess it might benefit to explain what I said so I might blog that out later). I asked if any of his colleagues had proposed similar ideas, or if he saw comparisons, and most importantly perhaps if he thought people would even care about that concept. He responded to those questions: No, Yes, Yes. So it probably a fair and interesting comparison to make- between slavery and illegal immigration. I will have to blog more on this later

Only 405 pages to go!

Just finished the prologue of "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond. It's about essentially why some societies conquered others- very summarized that is. I still am not sure what it will be like. But so far it has got me thinking, about a lot of things derived from his main thesis.

Amazing Lectures

I am fascinated by these Stanford Lectures. Two of them I have heard (Google, eHarmony) are great. I learned that 200 people are married each day that met on eharmony, and that they have rejected 1.5 million people for things like being married 3 times. And now I know most of Googles ideas come from everyone at their company. Google News came from a worker who after 9/11 became a news junky and everyday looked at his favorite 15 news sources, and one day he decided to sort them. If you like fresh innovation and achievement, you gotta check these out!

http://edcorner.stanford.edu/podcasts.html

Sticking to Strengths to Look Smart

If you always particpate and work with things and people you are naturally good with, it is easy to lead in then you look smart. Stepping outside of this zone however, is an increased risk to trip, fall and look dumb to everyone. Why? because you are not sticking to your strenghts. I think we should generally stick to our strengths- it gives more opportunity to excell and lead in our area of choice. Stepping outside our 'comfort zone' of things were naturally good at can do even more to enhance our strengths. This could be analagous to excercising your heart- this improves all other areas of your physical health. Our how climbing a mountain makes living in a valley seem easier.

I love Kimchi

I vistited New York's lovely Korea town off 34th st yesterday with two fellow interns. I had not eaten Korean food in a while. The scents in the restaurant took me back to my high school friend Peter Park's house where I ate Korean food many times. I ate a piece of the pepper aftern my intern friend Ella said they were not supposed to be too hot. My second bite burst tears out of my eyes-and as I write this I feel it a little bit again- and my mouth felt on fire for about 5 minutes. But the pepper taught me a lesson, it's like it screamed at me: "Wake up!, you don't wander through life quietly, there's a world to be experienced!". So that's my new motto and I owe it all to that pepper/Korean food. And the Kimchi was great

Wikipedia- The Modern Expert

Wikipedia is in my opinion an amazing academic, intellectual, social phenomenon. I used it first in 2005, it wasn't exactly new then(created in 2001) and is improves everyday. It contains a plethora of information-significant stuff to insignificant- on an incredible of amount of ever expanding topics. If this had been here sooner we could have all spent so much time finding out insightful details about the lives of our favorite music stars, some city like Valparaiso Chile that you've barely even heard of. And best of all: correct information about historical events or people which the people who lived through it or already know about it are too biased or their memory does not serve them properly to actually relate it themselves. Note: Picture is a snowflake uplclose compliments of wikipedia.

Some people critique Wikipedia (just as they did the internet circa mid to late 90's) for its authenticity because literally 'anyone' can add or edit an entry. Misinformation on the site, is I believe limited and much less than people suppose for two reasons.
1) It's updated frequently-by good sources. (I once made a posting before lunch and when I returned it had been improved with more info).
2) It's difficult to miseducate people on topics on which you are ignorant.

So it's still good to double check sources for research. But Wikipedia gives further illimunination that we know more collectively than individually.

Little Italy- Everyone getting older

Little Italy is really little. The restaurants are bright, the foods delicious, and you definitely pay for it. I went on Saturday, the bread was so good. Having good bread when you first sit down is a great thing for the customers. And the restaurant can get away with putting less food in the entree dishes. 3 groups were sung happy birthday while we were there; seems like a place where people enjoy getting older in style.

Moving All Over and Never Leaving Home!

I was listening to my friend Nick(he's sitting on the right) speak with an acquaintance on the phone when they discovered they each lived in New Canaan Connecticut and the same area of Surrey England. Coincidence? Yeh a little, however under closer examination maybe not. Why not?

Well it really seems that people most often live in places based on 1) What they can afford and perhaps slightly more important 2) What they are comfortable with. A kid growing up in a suburb of Atlanta is probably more likely to live -if he moves- in a suburb of Chicago or Denver or San Francisco or wherever which will probably have a similar demographic makeup as the one he grew up in. People from rural small towns in the inner mountain west often eventually stay in rural areas with towns with similar population sizes.

This is definitely not always the case, but I believe is more common than not. Often people in socio economic brackets keep some distance from each other, so it is easier to bounce around the world in the hot spots and bump into the same faces.

Obviously changing countries or states or areas within states where the economies is significantly different has a huge affect. The point here is that often when people move address and actual city or town name changes, but the city or town itself doesn’t. The Wall Street Journal lists every Sunday the property value in select zip codes across the country. You meet people from those places and find out where they have lived, their friends they see on the weekends, often their extended families live in those same select zip codes. It’s easy to change locations, but with respect to the values and standards and way of life that emanates each city; we generally stay close to home.

Thai Noodles

I ate some Thai yesterday with my fellow intern and friend Nick who is returning to London today. The restaurant "Republic" is on the northwest corner of Union Square next to the McDonald's. I got a safe dish, noodles and chicken, but I put lots of spicing in it so it got really hot towards the end. The service is friendly, but I was a little shocked when they sat us next to some total strangers (I looked at Nick and said "are they serious?" incredulously) on a long table-kind of cafeteria style. The food was fast, fresh and not too expensive. Combine those elements with a highly charged atmosphere and a restaurant I would definitely recommend checking out, especially if you like those clear noodles (which according to one source have little nutritional value).

Marc-h

I love the month of March, not only because my name is in it, but it also means winter will meet its demise soon.

Favorite Quote

"Genie, wake up and smell the hummus"

It's from Aladdin when the Genie is asked what he would wish for and he says freedom- and how great that is- and then he tells himself "who am I kidding...(quote)".

Life and Poverty

According to Statistics in the www.worldbank.com the life expectancy of high income countries is 79 years and a population growth rate of .7% annually. In low income countries the life expectancy is 59 years and growth rate of 1.8%. 1 Billion people live in high income countries and 2.3 billion in low income countries. These aren't exactly surprising- but just think what you could do with an extra 20 years of life?

Happy Carnaval

Happy Carnaval to everyone. This celebration in Brazil precedes Lent and continues until Tuesday Feb 20th.

Geography Moment- To make a bigger world

Croatia is situated in Southern Europe and is home of the necktie. The capital Zagreb is nicknamed 'little Vienna' and home to about 1 million of the nations 4.5million inhabitants. In June 1991 Croatia was separated from Yugosalvia and became a democratic Republic. It has long been a favorite tourist destination featuring the Dalmatian coast which was home to world explorer Marco Polo.

Singles Appreciation Day-Dark Chocolate

It seems like chocolate get cheaper the day after Valentines, as if to honor all the single people. And dark Chocolate (m&ms, hershey kisses) seems to be growing popularity. Maybe its my taste buds but it seems like a lot of this mainstreem dark chocolate has a bit more sugar and sweetness than dark chocolate normally contains.

What do you think? (post comment)

"No Marketable Skills"

My roomate has a friend who does pump up type enthusiasm motivational stuff for high level executives, according to him she lives in New Zealand and they fly her out to wherever so they can be excited about what they do for work. My roomate Jason told me she said "I have no marketable skills". That makes me wonder what marketable skills are, and what people are willing to do to have the motivation to use those 'marketable skills'. By marketable skills I guess this includes using Microsoft Office, proffesional writing, mathematical/statistical analysis or other skills along these lines. Having Marketable skills makes a big difference- but not all the difference.

I like New York

I like New York. It's full of tons of history and a lot of diversity in culture, the arts, business and international politics. As a city it has a lot to offer for singles, tourists and I guess everyone else.

Freakonomics

I am just over half way through the Book Freakonomics, I read in on the subway trains mostly now. It's at times very interesting, mainly from the story telling with real numbers and statistics to back up what you observe and could really only just speculate beyond, such as teachers cheating and the financial structure a crack dealing gang. If you're in to informationally rich stories and particularly like the subversive nature of getting the real facts, then you would enjoy this book.

Supply Side Climate Change

Ok, the stern report that came out last year which predicated a global increase in temperature and spoke of the economic implications of the increase.

I wonder about the Supply Chain side of the climate change. If the media forces are telling people the earth is heating up and the seasons are losing or increasing in severity, and people believe this to a point of changing there living habits, how does this change supply levels needed?

Will property values increase in some regions and decrease in others? If so, which regions will increase or decrease (summer condos in the Yukon?)? Will transportation become slower and more expensive from weather conditions or possible disaster increases? Will bottled water sell out earlier in the summer season, and cost more later?

Basically my point is there could be big business in preparing for the economic changes as a direct or indirect result of people becoming more aware of climate change/global warming and the implications thereof.

Some of my favorite sites right now

www.iht.com , www.paulallen.net , www.wikipedia.org/ , www.craigslist.com , www.news.google.com , and of course www.youtube.com

What the title really means

The title of this blog comes from an idea for for a book I had in January of 2005. I basically was fascinated with how we all view the same world and surroundings (variation with geography of course) but we often end up with very disparate interpretations of what's reality or what is important. Often what we feel on the inside seems extends to what we see around us. I only wrote or compiled 10 pages worth of quotes and analysis. It's still a great idea for a book (in my view of course) or discussion, and it's the title of my blog.

My First Blog Day

So, I have always thought blogging is pretty cool, and I can try it out. I have finally gotten around to setting one up. It was pretty simple