Can't beat the internet speed here and the comfort and quiet in the top most floor of the library. Thank you Seattle & the public library system.
Friday, November 21, 2014
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Interesting article by Tricia Romano
I happen to see an article http://www.salon.com/2014/05/30/amazon_is_killing_my_sex_life_partner/ and actually read thru it and the comments on the article. It's not a new article and it actually recently made it into my FB feed since I just happen to indulge in it a little.
This is the problem which I have with the article, (and to a certain degree, the newer generation of journalists / social media genre of reporting) that it sounds pretty one sided. It wasn't a research type article, she did not interview a large enough sample of female participants or even better still interview many of these snobbish techie geeky guys, and it ends up that this article is more like a personal tirade against techie single men in Seattle and how they lack in social skills etc.
There are points to be taken, and it's not just the locals who are in tech but also with the South Asian geeks. I have observed a few of these more socially conservative south Asian men who try to fit into the North American lifestyle and have indulged in things that I do not care for, namely getting drunk and have their liquid encouragement to try their luck at hitting up a girl, and smoking marijuana to "gain weight" through munchies. This is definitely very narrow and targeted, observed specifically on 2 such individuals, and may not necessarily reflect overall. as one of the people mentioned, part of the problem is indeed the money factor and immaturity.
They definitely can use some social polishing up and dress a little better, pursue more fun things in life and getting a life outside of work, no doubt about that. A few of the people who contributed to the comments nailed it on the head that there are quite a few of them who are introverted and nerdy as such, and also due to what corporations do to people, to a certain degree a Seattle clique whereby the first few things people ask upon initial meeting is where did you go to school / what do you work as. Take it with a grain of salt, some people do ask that to judge, others take it as a gauge to see what / who they're dealing with and couldn't care more beyond what you do as your day job.
Yep you could say I am defending my fellow geeks, but I'm far from cookie cutter. I do indulge in the outdoors and bicycling and kayaking, but I don't take it that seriously until it gets old. Yes I have done the STP 4x, 2 days on a dual suspension mountain bike, I am passionate about bicycling but at the same time I would not overwhelm you about it unless if you show interest and are on the verge of taking up bicycling, be it casually, commuting or possibly getting all hardcore about it. I do have a personality & interests outside of tech, and as a matter of fact I'm almost tired of tech and looking into breaking out from the 8 -5 and start my own business. All these tech and requirements and experience can get overwhelming and can be about trumpet blowing.
Anyway, gone are the days of good journalism and to a certain degree we have traded that in for more of a 1 person crusade and tirade rather than a holistic and all encompassing approach to reporting about a subject that might actually be good and leave you thinking and saying "hmm that definitely was interesting and something to talk about". Rather than be like my blog posts... a 1 person tirade and complaining about things that I don't particularly favor.
This is the problem which I have with the article, (and to a certain degree, the newer generation of journalists / social media genre of reporting) that it sounds pretty one sided. It wasn't a research type article, she did not interview a large enough sample of female participants or even better still interview many of these snobbish techie geeky guys, and it ends up that this article is more like a personal tirade against techie single men in Seattle and how they lack in social skills etc.
There are points to be taken, and it's not just the locals who are in tech but also with the South Asian geeks. I have observed a few of these more socially conservative south Asian men who try to fit into the North American lifestyle and have indulged in things that I do not care for, namely getting drunk and have their liquid encouragement to try their luck at hitting up a girl, and smoking marijuana to "gain weight" through munchies. This is definitely very narrow and targeted, observed specifically on 2 such individuals, and may not necessarily reflect overall. as one of the people mentioned, part of the problem is indeed the money factor and immaturity.
They definitely can use some social polishing up and dress a little better, pursue more fun things in life and getting a life outside of work, no doubt about that. A few of the people who contributed to the comments nailed it on the head that there are quite a few of them who are introverted and nerdy as such, and also due to what corporations do to people, to a certain degree a Seattle clique whereby the first few things people ask upon initial meeting is where did you go to school / what do you work as. Take it with a grain of salt, some people do ask that to judge, others take it as a gauge to see what / who they're dealing with and couldn't care more beyond what you do as your day job.
Yep you could say I am defending my fellow geeks, but I'm far from cookie cutter. I do indulge in the outdoors and bicycling and kayaking, but I don't take it that seriously until it gets old. Yes I have done the STP 4x, 2 days on a dual suspension mountain bike, I am passionate about bicycling but at the same time I would not overwhelm you about it unless if you show interest and are on the verge of taking up bicycling, be it casually, commuting or possibly getting all hardcore about it. I do have a personality & interests outside of tech, and as a matter of fact I'm almost tired of tech and looking into breaking out from the 8 -5 and start my own business. All these tech and requirements and experience can get overwhelming and can be about trumpet blowing.
Anyway, gone are the days of good journalism and to a certain degree we have traded that in for more of a 1 person crusade and tirade rather than a holistic and all encompassing approach to reporting about a subject that might actually be good and leave you thinking and saying "hmm that definitely was interesting and something to talk about". Rather than be like my blog posts... a 1 person tirade and complaining about things that I don't particularly favor.
Movie review: This Is Where I Leave You
It was a really good movie, very well cast for the roles and my favorite character was Philip Altman, the youngest sibling, played by Adam Driver. I am the youngest in the family so that would definitely explain why I'd relate the most with his character.
The movie starts out with the setting of typical modern day, North American, dysfunctional family, where there was a death in the family and many of the siblings aren't necessarily as close as they used to be growing up. The focus is somewhat on the main character Judd Altman played by Jason Bateman who is a radio show producer who finds out 2 tragic news whereby his dad passed away and that his employer, the D.J. personality was having an affair with his wife, on their 3rd anniversary day.
So then comes the fun part, like a Big Brother reality show where the family and some in laws are grouped together under the same roof which they grew up in, rekindling fond and no so fond memories and themselves just being the way that they are. the matriarch of the family, Hillary Altman enforces the Jewish tradition of Shiva for 7 days and they are forced to sit down low in observance and to grief and reflect.
Talk about communication and expectations, hesitations, being authentic about yourself and your thoughts etc. I truly feel that as humans, we sugar coat too much, hide behind words and what we truly mean and have our actions be unaligned with what we say or truly mean to do.
Ok just stopping here, lost the inspiration to write more about the movie, go watch it, it's good.
The movie starts out with the setting of typical modern day, North American, dysfunctional family, where there was a death in the family and many of the siblings aren't necessarily as close as they used to be growing up. The focus is somewhat on the main character Judd Altman played by Jason Bateman who is a radio show producer who finds out 2 tragic news whereby his dad passed away and that his employer, the D.J. personality was having an affair with his wife, on their 3rd anniversary day.
So then comes the fun part, like a Big Brother reality show where the family and some in laws are grouped together under the same roof which they grew up in, rekindling fond and no so fond memories and themselves just being the way that they are. the matriarch of the family, Hillary Altman enforces the Jewish tradition of Shiva for 7 days and they are forced to sit down low in observance and to grief and reflect.
Talk about communication and expectations, hesitations, being authentic about yourself and your thoughts etc. I truly feel that as humans, we sugar coat too much, hide behind words and what we truly mean and have our actions be unaligned with what we say or truly mean to do.
Ok just stopping here, lost the inspiration to write more about the movie, go watch it, it's good.
You cannot afford to be technologically challenged in this day and age
Call it a generation gap and just a difference in how a geek's mind works or more like someone who's more technologically inclined, but I'm comfortable trying out new gadgetry and fully embrace "to the cloud" or having things virtual.
Just can't put into words the level of frustration when people express their fear of things being stored online and the what if power goes out, I want a physical fax machine bla bla bla. So to put things into perspective, yes online things can get hacked and we definitely should take caution with regards to what can / should be stored online and definitely have multiple local backups.
So maybe on a different perspective, this is more of a frustration rather than technological ineptness, since I'd like to think that I do keep up with open source and things that are low to no cost when it comes to getting work done. Along with that line of thought, I am partially at fault also when I communicate poorly and in my mind I think and assume that I am communicating things well enough and I assume too much that people are familiar with how things work like Open Office, Google drive and Google Docs and Sheets, and the Office Online.
It's interesting because I did see someone post that they were looking for writing opportunities and is frustrated that they are not interested in learning online writing tools like wordpress and other online social media outlets. Not to diss the typewriter, I think it is an awesome classic tool which I would like to have one to play with, but this is very similar to Gone Girl where both of the title characters lost their newspaper journalist / article writer positions due to the burst of online media and news reporting, hence resulting in layoffs at the newspaper.
So maybe on a different perspective, this is more of a frustration rather than technological ineptness, since I'd like to think that I do keep up with open source and things that are low to no cost when it comes to getting work done. Along with that line of thought, I am partially at fault also when I communicate poorly and in my mind I think and assume that I am communicating things well enough and I assume too much that people are familiar with how things work like Open Office, Google drive and Google Docs and Sheets, and the Office Online.
It's interesting because I did see someone post that they were looking for writing opportunities and is frustrated that they are not interested in learning online writing tools like wordpress and other online social media outlets. Not to diss the typewriter, I think it is an awesome classic tool which I would like to have one to play with, but this is very similar to Gone Girl where both of the title characters lost their newspaper journalist / article writer positions due to the burst of online media and news reporting, hence resulting in layoffs at the newspaper.
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