Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Ingress to a rant of unemployment to the fate of humanity

Been pretty busy with both work and a new little game call ingress www.ingress.com and it's been interesting & fun. Very addictive, good for making you walk (or bike) a lot more to get to portals to play the game and discover interesting local art and facts about your surroundings and new places.

It's almost like geocaching but with a more geeky and nerdy side to things. when I first started out, the past weekend it was a learning curve about what the game was and what I should do, getting all proud that I got to establish 2 new local portals which were nearby and interesting enough (George the Giraffe & the Dick's Burger & Fries drive in at Lake City) and then getting all pissed that the "enemy faction" took over those portals and it kinda keeps going back and forth. I had to do a reality & addiction check to make sure that I wasn't getting way to involved into it as it is just a game.

Not really resigned but pretty much I'll just play it more casually and not achieve some crazy geek or nerd status like overcompensating for something else hah! It's just a game, pretty fun one too.

Pineapple seems to be growing, no signs of prominent roots yet but it does take about 3 weeks for anything visible to happen.

Work front, well just bored of what I'm doing, definitely need a change in career / company and in a more fostering environment and learn new things. getting jaded and tired to be truthful.

Many times I try really hard to just be in the moment and not harbor ill thoughts, it is hard but my gripe with unemployment or maybe more like people who choose not to better themselves. The communists kinda had it right that it is illegal to be unemployed. Of course from my understanding, the end result is that people are forced to be employed or work at jobs which they do not desire.

I truly believe that colleges and the government need to pay attention to the job market and know what's growing and what is not and don't simply give degrees to fields which are not in demand. It may be harsh, but at the rate that humanity is growing, it is not sustainable. We as a human race DO NOT need to breed like rabbits. resources are finite, we should not squander it as a species and result in a permanently damaged ecosystem. We do not need more human beings, when will humanity start realizing this?

In that mindset, consider this situation. A dual income family is now down to single income, home is financed under one of the spouses who is a somewhat high earner and in general will not lose the house. The spouse who is not working has the flexibility of job hunting and not worrying about food not utilities nor house mortgage repayment. I definitely understand that looking for a job is a full time gig and filing for unemployment is no fun. I hate to play devil's advocate to say that if you can't make in this world, you deserve to wither off and die from the gene pool, but truth be told that is how nature operates and the human condition perverts this law of nature by prolonging life that was never really meant to be. The angst that I feel about this situation is that:

1) Insanity is when you keep repeating what you do, hoping to see a different result

2) Robert Kiyosaki said that those who are in the "E" Employee quadrant who do not see the light, will always remain in the E quadrant... begging an employer for a paycheck and benefits. Until the day they realize the laws of money has changed and that they need to get into business tax bracket, that is when you will truly enjoy financial freedom.

I feel jaded and burnt out that I am pretty much living form paycheck to paycheck, while, it may seem, no effort is put on others to learn lesson #2 and realize that they need to get into business. I feel like I am doing the whole "if you want to get things done, do it yourself" as I am part of a 2 person team in my LLC, and seems like I am spearheading all the work and not much is done from the other business partner. There's a lot of talk but no solid action, and the other party is not putting words into action nor taking a priority in what I think is important in life.

Anyway I'll definitely have to find a solution and forge and force my way through by hook or by crook if need be to get my LLC off the ground. Fingers are crossed. I'm gonna treat this post as the "write the angry letter on the piece of paper and then burn it off" and move on to a new day and live for today and forget all things that bring me down and handle it day by day.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

My new happy place

So I have discovered, or should I say rediscovered my passion for kite flying.

Surprisingly sometimes the simplest of kites, like those in the shape of a delta (triangle) and regular diamond shaped ones flew perfectly and required very little wind force and flew steadily. The delta which I have is a Spiderman kite, about 3 feet wing span with 2 awesome red streamers / tail requires little to no effort.



My company's CES launch advertisement kite had a false start and didn't fly as high and had a weird spinning effect. That was soon rectified once I moved the cross stem to bend downward, so a downward concave and it started behaving nicely.



It's almost been a year since we purchased the Minion Kite from Costco on a whim and finally got a chance to fly it in Cannon Beach OR and it was really fun. It flew pretty high and definitely attracted a few children's attention. I'm actually surprised why I don't see more of them in the sky but I guess it's because mainstream kite enthusiasts aren't that much into branded things / kites associated with movie characters.



At Cannon Beach we visited an awesome kite shop there: The Kite Factory 339 North Fir St Cannon Beach, OR 97110, run by a total hippie free spirit man which was fun to talk to and very knowledgeable about kites, with VERY flexible hours and and we ended up buying a nice box kite. When we first drove by we saw it was open and as soon as we did a u-turn to go check it out it was closed. As soon as we started peeking in and tried the door, he ran to the reopen the store from inside and welcomed us in. he said that business was slow so he just closed up and was going to go get a beer.

Still trying to get a feel of the kite as it does require 7 mph minimum sustained winds and seems like it flies pretty well. I flew it at Magnuson Park for a bit at kite hill and it was a bit crowded. I hope to find a spot where it's open and not as crowded so I can have more airspace. Only regret is that it doesn't have awesome streamers on it which would make it look pretty cool once airborne. It's also feature in the top most picture with Spiderman.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Social media etiquette & overshare nation

A very interesting thing happened recently, I was added to a google plus circle related to these people https://www.youtube.com/user/jhousevlogs. Something very similar happened in the past when a Rabin Biswas (a blogger from India) did the same thing.

In general I do not let inconsequential things like this get at me, and I'd like to think that it doesn't but there are times when I really wonder what goes on in the minds of these individuals.

I definitely understand the need to gather a large following, and may lead to Ad Sense income, or maybe get a gig for reality tv / starting and starring in their own little reality show in their own little world, or something more intangible like affirmation from people whom you will never meet in person, in real life and seeking the attention that they may be lacking.

My take on it is that:

1) Google and other social media need to fine tune their algorithm before suggesting candidates for people to add & to follow.

2) Professionalism, unfortunately a lot of it is not present on the internet, it's like a cold sales call and they would indiscriminately add you without thinking twice or even trying to get to know you.

So with that said, I looked at what was shared in jhousevlogs and it occurs to me that I have no interest whatsoever in what they're sharing. I do not know them, they do not know me and unless there's something that I had put in my Google plus profile which indicated that I'm interested in the intimate and private moments of a family, who has decided to over share cheesy moments, private intimate moments which are meant for close friends and family (unless it's all acting a facade just to drum up viewership), which doesn't help the earth in any way shape or form. I will not deny the fact that it is their prerogative and drive / their passion to share to the whole world about their daily private life, and like any television channel, I can choose to not partake or watch it, turn it off or to switch to something which actually enriches my own life.

But seriously, with technology nowadays, you never know who your real audience is. There are many people who probably can get detailed information as to where you are, when you post, and what you post, so I take no pity if you get robbed while on vacation because you had to instantaneously over share your life, your location and vacation dates & places. Don't blame the world or other human beings if you get a stalker or child molester or abductor who has been watching you and plotting and know where you are and what you do and are able to successfully target your children.

The internet has definitely helped science grow exponentially, knowledge (both legitimate and fake) to be widely disseminated easily, vocal & acting talents discovered, exposure of corporate wrongdoings and many good things, however, something as petty and as small as sharing your life to the world does not help make this a better planet. It actually does show how immature and small minded an individual is and self entitlement.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Absence from social media & human personality

So I took another plunge and stab at hiatus from Facebook specifically. Not that I have not done that before but this time I finally reached a point in my life where I need to focus on my small business start up and actually develop close friendships with a small group of friends who are like minded and chill.

A few friends are starting to surface with my hiatus, and I really do appreciate them and am looking forward to building stronger bonds with them. I have actually resorted to more email and text, though probably it should be more phone calls, going all old school. It would be a good thing because if I'm given a chance I'd rather email & text rather than call, so calls would be a good step forward to get more comfortable talking one on one.

Wow so I started writing this back in Feb 14 2014 and here I am full circle again on Oct 1 with the same effort. This time it'll be different because I think I'm done with Facebook for good. I was contemplating whether to cancel / close the account but many acquaintances & true friends are already on there so it doesn't make sense for me to have them move over to my professional FB page.

Before I left & signed out from FB and uninstalled FB app on my phone, I did put my email and phone should people want to contact me for help or invite events etc. I'll still keep that profile and check in once in a while just in case there are things that need my attention.

It is actually exciting to receive email / direct communication. I have been trying to do more phone calls, though being a Gen X kinda kid I do like texting also especially if it involves something that needs to be really accurate leaving nothing gray. Perhaps I have a bit of a complex / seeking affirmation thing and wanting people to pay attention to me but deep down there are disappointments like organizing events and then not getting an invite back to do stuff. I'm over and above that kind of drama, I'm cool to organize and if I don't get invited back, who cares. I'm just glad to have their company and to see them once in a while.

I'm beginning to realize how much FB dulls down the excitement of sharing personal experiences, makes interpersonal connections so much more loose and not as intimate. It dulls down the desire to actually meet in person to share ideas and just to talk and interact. It could be just me doing the over share and it's time for me to step back and actually share in person when I see my friends in person.

One of the main driving factors of my FB hiatus also is because of the lists that I have created and needing to decide who sees what, especially my wife. She complained that I was over sharing on my wall and that did tick me off quite a bit. If you think about it, I'll use the same analogy like tv channels: if you don't enjoy that programming, no one asked you to watch it, you have the right to change channels or turn the T.V. off completely. I did put her on a list so that she will not see / receive as much updates from my over share for the most part. But with that said, I'm going cold turkey on FB and it's been good. The same effort that I use for over share is now focused on things that I should be focusing on like my LLC and possibly even get into more of my hobbies which I call them as arrested development like writing, music and art, and even my career else computer programming just for fun.

I must be careful not to bite off more than I can chew though. Also on that same note, tapping into Landmark teachings, more often than not, it is a high lack of integrity / a lack of genuine connection to hide things behind a wall. With this blog, I'm bearing it all, it's open to public and I am making somewhat of a commitment to say what I have on my mind and speak it with integrity / truth. Something which always makes me think about that statement is the fact that if I can handle the truth. "A Few Good Men" movie scene comes into mind, but overall I think I'd say that I handle raw truth pretty well. I'd rather have someone say that they don't like something or communicate clearly what they desire rather than sugar coat and beat around the bush with what they actually mean.

Anyway, on this high note, I think this would be a good place to stop and make my peace until the next time I need to vent / write about things.