Blahgorrhea

Today was a good food day. I went to a recommended tonkatsu place for lunch (Katsukura), on the 14th floor of a department store. They give you toasted sesame seeds in a mortar to crush up and mix with their special sauce. Barley in their rice added a nice texture, and their smoked tea had great undertones. This was probably the only pork dish I would like, though it was definitely fattier than I would have hoped for. Still it tasted good. I ordered the “extra special” cutlet, which was from some name brand pig. I wonder what the usual pig tastes like. This was another place that give you tons of food: cabbage, pickles (yum!), rice and soup accompany the pork. They offered free refills of the side dishes, but I had a hard enough time just finishing what I was served. [Continue reading…]

I arrived in Tokyo in a daze. Getting to the train and getting my ticket were easy (mainly because the people at the Japan Rail desk helped me), but once I stepped off they train, I was in a whole new world. People flew, no swarmed, past me as I wandered trying to find the transfer to my next line. I stood in a cloud of doubt on the rush hour crowded train, before disembarking at my stop. Hoping for signs for the correct exit, I got lucky and found myself at street level, immersed in a crisp night air filled with neon light energy and more swarms. [Continue reading…]

Why do we bring back souvenirs from vacations for people? A few sleepless nights before departing for Japan, I was running through a list of people it would be polite of me to bring back gifts for, and I thought how silly of a notion this is. Given the root of the word, French for “to remember,” it makes no sense to bring back gifts of remembrance from places that other people did not go to, and thus have no memories of. My apartment is filled with artwork, trinkets and tchotchkes from all over the world, but only the ones that I bought for myself carry real memories and thus higher value. Sure, it is cool that I have three iron stirrups from different countries in South America, but having never been to those places, they are merely objects taking up space in an already crammed room. [Continue reading…]

You may think that the life of the self-selected unemployed is glamorous and relaxing, but in actuality it has its own types of stress. Take today, for example. I woke up on the early side of 8:30 and after showering and grabbing some toast and OJ, went to go run a few errands. Turns out today is Veterans’ Day, and so the bank was closed. That is one more errand I have to push off until Monday. I came back home and although I have a bunch of household chores hanging over my head, I decided to head out to read at a cafe for a bit. The whole time I was there, I felt like I needed to get back so I could get more things done before leaving on vacation. So I rushed back home, looked up the Goodwill donation center and made two trips to drop off clothes and an old computer. Finally, with a feeling of, well, goodwill in my heart, I decided to treat myself to a burrito, before coming back home to more chores. [Continue reading…]

I am just like Larry Ellison. Well, to be more precise, I’m just as bad as Larry Ellison. Last Friday I stopped at Farley’s to get a cup of coffee before coming into work. Even though there were parking spots open on the opposite side of the street, I decided just to double park in the direction I was headed. I had done this many times before and thought that I would be fine for the few minutes it takes to get coffee: my hazard lights were on after all. Low and behold, as I walked out with my delicious cup of coffee, a police officer was writing a ticket. I verified that he was ticketing my car and accepted the ticket graciously when he handed it over, despite his pompous attitude. [Continue reading…]

I explored the concept of conviction and concluded that while I do have morals, I lack conviction, because I lack the undying passion necessary for it. For instance, I believe that biking to work, thus cutting back on driving and gas usage, would be better for the world (as well as my health and proverbial pocketbook). But I am lazy enough that I have only been able to bring myself to do so a few times since actually making the decision to bike more often. If I had conviction, I would bike to work every day. Since I don’t, is there a way to create conviction in myself? [Continue reading…]

In Good to Great, Jim Collins introduces the Hedgehog Concept as a key insight into taking a good company to greatness. The idea is to develop your strategy along three key dimensions and then to crystallize that into one concept that guides all efforts. The analogy to the hedgehog comes from an parable about a fox and a hedgehog in which the fox tries many different methods to catch the hedgehog. Each time the hedgehog just rolls himself into a tight ball of spikes, thwarting all the fox’s efforts. The hedgehog understands its one big thing and consistently applies it, achieving “greatness,” at least in the ongoing battle with the fox. What is interesting about this business concept is that it closely parallels individuals’ pursuits of their true calling, and thus their personal greatness. [Continue reading…]

I believe myself to be a man of values and principles. I like to think that I am upstanding and would always “do the right thing.” At the same time, I recognize that I am not so much a man of conviction. The way I see it, conviction is the constant application of beliefs over time, and while I do have beliefs, I often find that averting conflict comes before upholding my beliefs. I’m not referring to major questions of ethics, but instead I’m talking about the more banal, like deciding not to eat red meat. [Continue reading…]

Please forgive me for appearing snide, but this is just a fair observation about my life. I don’t consider myself rich, but I earn enough to be comfortable. I don’t think about when my next paycheck will arrive and how that money will be split up between rent and food, and I don’t wonder if I will have any left for entertainment. This style of living is in sharp contrast with a lot of Americans; according to AC Neilsen, 28% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Two of my good friends who own a house in San Rafael and just bought a Subaru Outback are definitely on the edge, as they put strong consideration into each purchase they make, trading off one purchasing decision for another. But I lead a different style of life, a style I call “living purchase to purchase.” [Continue reading…]

I don’t need the money. It’s not my thing. Don’t get me wrong - I do like money. But I don’t know that it’s ecologically appropriate to hoard millions and millions of dollars. We don’t need to have so much wealth concentrated in so few hands. Our culture needs to recognize that having $20 million in the bank is not an absolute requirement for being happy. We have got to be more attuned to the idea that the life experience has its own value.

Bill Strickland explaining his philosophy on salary.

This philosophy is amazing, because it truly addresses a problem in our culture and gives a solution as well. Bill Strickland is an incredibly successful social entrepreneur who could make a ton more money, but he takes a salary that gives him a comfortable life and leaves the rest of the money in his business doing good.