The First Seven Years

July 11 was the day I landed on this continent - seven years ago. Before arriving, I had corresponded with a friend who had done a stint at Tech and was in NY at the time. "Which you must visit". Who would guess that I would have exactly two months before the skyline would change forever? Anyhow, I've met more than one Rachel and Leah - not an important fact, but I just mention that because of my choice of title.

Would I have done anything differently? Plenty. First, my approach was wrong. When I got here, I expected a wholehearted reception into something I felt deprived off in India - wireless systems. I felt I could leave the analog stuff behind. What I've since learned - you enjoy what you you're good at. I should have built on my knowledge and kept my eyes open for opportunities. Then, don't gamble. When I had saved up $10k of my own money in 2003, I went into stocks and lost a whole bunch. At that time I realized how well spent it would have been on trying to acquire hard to find knowledge by attending specialized courses. And, what about the vacations I could have taken. No, what I should have done was immediately sharpen my saws and practise what I already knew. In my profession, numbers are everything - knowing how to extract the numbers that matter is a big deal. That's the "tools" part. You can be a great architect, but, without someone who knows the tools - to do the building, you're never leaving the desk. In my profession, architect and mason are one. I should have set up my tool suite as soon as I could, and the ideas would have come for the designs. Then, I could have published my way to greener pastures in no time.

And the hardest one, planning is everything - one hour of planning is worth three hours of execution. EXPECT THE BEST ALWAYS - because that decides your attitude. BUT, always plan for the worst. And, you'll be the more confident knowing that you have every scenario covered. Offer to work for free - with the intention of learning. When you're scouting new opportunities, don't make the approach looking for what they can give you - first think about what you can offer. YOu're obviously doing it to learn something new. If you're in the university trying to earn income - you better have a serious talk with someone. If you play your cards right, you have a chance to meet great people in a laid back setting, have a great gym, look at cute girls all the time and learn. Do it wrong and you'll be running from pillar to post wondering why it's all happening to you.

Plan, plan, plan. Know that you have a hard time getting to an 8 O'clock class and plan for that. SAving is important. But, if you can get extra value from an extra $100 a month invested smartly, consider that money well spent. If you start off $5k extra when you leave school, who's going to dispute the couple of grand you invested in being more productive?

Plan, plan, plan. Visualize scenarios ahead of time - that way, you will be able to seize opportunities when they arise. If you don't, you'll realize hours or days later what the person actually had in mind. For example, if you have a meeting with a professor whose research interests you, spend some time the evening before thinking about what you plan to ask and what his responses might be.

Make use of your mentors and advisors. I just realize now that it's not a pleasant prospect for me to sit down and think about how the next couple of years might turn out. But, that's what I must do. And, quite honestly, I've never done that before in my life. But, if I had done that 7 years ago.... foooh.

Use tools! Who said laptops are for geeks? Maybe you don't need one. Maybe you can keep your data online in your email account or on your blog. But, find out what's available and how it can benefit you. The return I've got from the $1k I invested in my desktop has been atleast 10x if not more. Same for my car which cost me $3.4k. One tool that I didn't know about was dashboarding - which I've recently started using. Know how comforting it is to have vital information available readily on the dashboard of your car? Likewise, you should use tools - wall planner, Excel spreadsheet, whatever works for you to keep an eye on the important goings-on in your life. Is there going to be an important meeting on Wednesday? How about you try to get ready on Monday and, while trying to get ready find the ten key questions that you can try to get answered on Tuesday? I used to be a huge fan of text-journaling, but now I'm into spreadsheets.

Summing up very quickly my advice to the next generation of grad students : manage your energy religiously - spend what you need to - if you need a parking permit, think about it, good food, energy drinks, carry a bottle of cold water always,...
Start looking for jobs and internships from day one! Things happen in cycles and it's a good idea to be ready when the tide turns. There are easily 30 companies out there, each one doing something that you'll find interesting. Keep your eyes open, read Yahoo and watch for press releases. When you see a name, try first.last@company.com and say you like what they're doing; are they looking for people? I once got an all-expenses paid trip to California this way. They later said I wasn't a close enough match, but they folded up a year later anyway:)

Above all, be grateful. You live in a time of unbelievable opportunity. This has come about because of the organized effort of great people, and great vision. Realize that and resolve to always play by the rules. You count on other people. Make sure that you will always be someone who can be counted on. Volunteer your time and skills - think of it as sacred. Appreciate the love and help you give and receive. The best to you all and god bless all of you.

A Fireside Chat

Maj. Gen. Mary L. Saunders

Incredible wit and pace that delivers a knockout punch. Here's a true leader. Ambition, mental toughness, priorities, all there. She started off talking about obstacles in her early life - why couldn't I have been born rich instead of just beautiful. Because if you're only beautiful, then you have to think about how to use it. And the thing about beauty is that it fades. Now, looking at her at 60, I don't know if she was beautiful as a young woman or not, but let's give her the benefit of doubt:)

Life is not fair. It just is.

Learn about culture. That helps working effectively.

Have goals. If you want a certain lifestyle, know what you're going to have to do to get it.

• Mentors are important in helping you achieve your goals. 
• Your mentor doesn't have to love you. 
• It's important to be in a job with metrics - that way, when you meet expectations, you can expect a reward - promotion, raise, etc. Otherwise, disappointment awaits.

I am an introvert - INTJ. I had to learn to succeed in spite of that. Someone told me - this is the USofA. You can't be a black female and be an introvert.

I can't not read. My teacher gave me 100 books to read in the summer. I did that and more.

Recommended reading

• Shifting
• Power of Focus
• The Alpha Male Syndrome
• Blue Ocean Strategy

Inspired by the life of Bessie Coleman. Black girl born to sharecroppers in the south. Wants to be a figher pilot. Good luck. But, learns just enough French to move to Europe and train in Europe. Now!

If she had to do it over - she would still have gone into the military, but she would have gotten out earlier and gone into the stock market. (that part, I confess, did come across as shallow)

Live and Let Live

Not done with wasting enough time, I watched Live and Let Die again yesterday. The only bond movie with some real romance. Why? Because it has the number one Bond girl of all time - Jane Seymour. I only wanted to see that one shot of her wince when Kanaga nicks Bond's arm before feeding him to the shark. There are tonnes of deadly shots of her of course. I'll leave you with what I consider the best. And of course, you never can tell about people in real life can you?:) Check this out. Also reading Wiki's page on her might dispell some notions.

Genius - by Rabinow

"I promised earlier in the story to give my definition of a genius. A genius is a person I meet at a cocktail party who asks me what I'm doing. I say that I build reading machines. The next question is, "What are reading machines?" I start to tell. Ten minutes after I start, my listener knows more about reading machines than I do. I have met such people. 

That's genius." Oversimple?

Rabinow poses this problem in his book (inventing for fun and profit) :

Two men are on a desert island and haven't drunk water for a while. After a rain, they find a glass bottle upright in the sand and full to the brim. It's irregular, so that there is no symmetry at all. How can they divider the water equally. No implements of any kind are needed. They could be stark naked, though that has nothing to do with it. It is important to know that it can be done.

He says it took him about one hour. How long did it take me? About 5 minutes - atleast - I think I've got it:) Let's see ... :)

Yup, it was right. And, my proposed solution to the case of the bottle being only partially full but the same problem being posed was also right. According to him, he would have offered me a job:)

Straight Talk - From John Train

That aspect of the herd instinct called groupthink is one of the strongest aspects in life. Groupthink rules the stock market. Every person has also experienced groupthink on the committee level. Mankind craves simple solutions to complicated problems.

The classic description of hubris leading to nemesis is "Quem vult perdere deus, prius dementat". Whom a God wishes to destroy, he first drives mad.

Disease is often underestimated - an invisible opponent. Dysentery killed far more Brits in Crimea than the Turks. Hypothermia killed more of Napoleon's soldiers than enemy action. So with the Companie des India settlers in Louisiana and de Lesseppes engineers in Panama.

Distance lends enchantment to the view.

The Latin American specialty is the predatory politician who has taken over the function previously performed by the anopheles mosquito.

How to kill a great city: Rent control. It induces low-skilled people to remain where there are few low-skilled jobs, which forces the highly-skilled people to live far away or perhaps leave. Then you bankrupt the landlords, often persons of modest means themselves, so that the buildings can't be maintained and often are lost. Mile upon mile of Harlem and the South Bronx have been burned out like German cities in World War II except that we have done it to ourselves. That, of course, shrinks the housing supply, raising the housing cost.

Parkinson's Mature Wit

Thought I should go in chronological order, so even though I readily took to "In-Laws and Out-Laws", I started "The Law and the Profits" in earnest. Deals with the drier subject of taxation, but is still written in such a mature style as to be palatable. These stuck in me :

Page 56:

The effect of piling war taxes upon this peacetime level of exaction was to mean the eventual ruin of the class upon which Britain relied for leadership. It was to mean the collapse of the British Empire; a collapse which many of Mr. Lloyd George's supporters would rather welcome than otherwise. It was to mean a great deal more than was immediately foreseen.

Page 83: (quoting Thomas Jefferson) :

I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared....To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with public debt.... We must make our choice between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude.

... If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labor and in our amusements.... If we can prevent the Governement from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.

Page 90:

Territories fulfilling these basic conditions (for tax-avoidance) are relatively few, and of these few the majority, perhaps, have their drawbacks of their own such as earthquakes, communists, cockroaches, colonial officials, centipedes, fevers, sociologists and snakes. Even the most apparently idyllic island can become the target for missionary activity or ballistic missiles.

Speaking of how useless it is for government to prescribe what scientists should research :

Page 129:

It may seem logical that the government which provides the money should decide how it is to be spend. But, for it to insist on this right of control is very much as if the patient were to instruct his medical adviser, saying, 'Since I am to pay the bill, it is for me to decide what the symptoms indicate and what the treatment should be.' To this policy, one objection (of several) is that it means paying the doctor for nothing.

Then, talking about how the government press generates pressure upon the research machine, some fictitious conversations:

page 131:

'is that Dr Thoroughgood? Smoothleigh here, of Information. Can you tell me, approximately, when your space ship (R.100 shall we call it"?) will be completed?'

'Good heavens, no. There are all sorts of problems and difficulties.'

'Do you mean that progress has been disappointing and that the project may have to be abandoned - or else given to some other team?'

'Certainly not. Our progress has been very satisfactory.'

'When did the work begin then?'

'The decision to go ahead was taken by the Minister in April, 1950.'

'And what was the estimate then of the time required for completion?'

'Very roughly, ten years.'

'So that, with satisfactory progress, completion should be in 1960?'

'One can't be as precise as that. It was only a rough estimate.'

'But to exceed it by (say) five years would surely mean that the progress has been disappointing?'

'Oh., I shouldn't say that. Besides, we won't take as long as that. Three years extra at the outside and possibly less.'

'So we might hope for completion in 1962.'

'I suppose so.'

'Very well then. May I issue a press release to that effect.'

'Not as a firm commitment.'

'But as a reasonable expectation.'

'Well, yes. If you think it is essential.'

'It will certainly be useful. It is public money that is being spent, you know. People like to know how it is being spent.'

'All right. Say that we hope for completion in 1962.'

'Early in the year?'

'How should I know? Say, by November.'


Then, at the end of 1961...

'Now, about November 15,' says the Information Officer. 'I understand that the Minister is to be there for the launching. The reception afterwards has all been arranged but there is a problem about the massed bands. Will the music be audible above the rocket noises? Oh, and another thing: I have managed to get you a seat on the platform, at the end of the fifth row. That was difficult enough, and when it came to a seat for your wife - well, frankly, it couldn't be done. I did my best, but - there it is. I do hope she won't mind?'

'But look, Smoothleigh, we never guaranteed completion by November 15. As likely as not, the space ship will be incomplete.'

'Really, Thoroughgood, I hardly know whether to take you seriously. The whole thing is arranged now. Do you realize what a postponement will mean? What a blow to our prestige? And do you realize what it will mean if the Russians have their space ship launched before ours?'

'Do you realize what it will mean if the space ship rises a hundred feet in the air and then comes down on the platform?'

'Pessimist! Your team can do it if they really try. We all have the utmost confidence in you. And if you really have your doubts - well, a seat in the fifth row may have its attractions. Ha!'

'I shan't want the blasted seat. If everything depends on our success, there is only one place for me.'

'What do you mean?'

'I shall be in the confounded ship itself. Good day and be damned to you.'

(splendid. ja?)

Hal Steger - A Man in a Million

What honesty! This guy deserves a medal:)

I once read a novel in which I remember "All of us have friends who are richer than us and they, you can be sure, have richer friends of their own."

Fascinating. Even deserves a mention on my blog. As you know, not everything I come across makes it there :)

He's done well - this update is from 2022 :

Four major hits

1. Co-founder/VP Marketing Rubric, pioneer of marketing automation, sold for $370M in 3 years
2. Sr. product marketer @ Uniface, leader of developer tools, sold for $433M in 3 years
3. Marketing and group product manager for #2 product @ Oracle (dev tools), product sales grew from $10M to $100M+ in <3 years
4. Pioneered personal clouds for smartphones, positioned company as leading white-label cloud provider and helped company acquire top customers in mobile

Presidian Lite Up Message Fan

Leaves some to be desired. Take the batteries out and you lose your messages unless you're quick to put in new batteries. Damn - I want to take the batteries out to keep the charge. Why not have a USB update available? Then it wouldn't be a $5 gadget would it?

I like the user interface. Takes me back to the days I put a 200 byte program on the boot sector of a disk for RKK's class. It would tell you what programs were on the disk and you would use the cursor keys to pick the one to run.

Simple improvement to be suggested here - how about some way to keep moving from one message to the other.

Construction is super simple - three contact buttons - button is conducting and shorts out an open - on one small board with three leads coming off it. How does that work? They have 4 resistors on the board. Does the microcontroller look at resistance or voltage? Hmmm... If it was voltage, wouldn't they need 4 leads atleast? Anyhow, here's the neat part. I can't even see the microcontroller. It looks like it's under the push button on/off switch.

This is terrific. First, you have to control the speed of the motor to be able to get the pulsing of the display right to get the message stationary in space.

Looking closely, it looks like the supply lead goes to the contact-button board, so there's probably a crude ADC looking at the other two leads. I think I could do better - how about just one lead - save on labour. And the resistors? You want as many components as possible to be the same so that your inventory is simple - and so the assemblers have less chance of messing up.

I wonder how I could hack the program on the MC? First, I'd have to get the switch off the MC, then find out the type, then order the development kit that goes with it - if I built my own board, I'd still need a socket.

Need to find the equivalent of ACK (Atlanta) in Dallas. They might make life easier.

Here's one no-brainer hack I should be able to do - put in a male power connector that sticks out on the outside and hooks into the power terminals on the inside so that I can leave it on my desk and power it off an AC adapter - so I don't have to worry about charging batteries.

Three Ways to become Successful - Fred Jones

• First, don't be afraid to get your hands dirty. Don't be afraid to work. Try lots of jobs. Work for nothing if you have to, but get the experience. You never know when what you have larned will come in handy.
• Second, you have to read. Find out what others know. You don't have to buy books. Use libraries! You can educate yourself by reading. All my life has been study and work. That's what I get fun out of.
• And third, you have to believe in yourself. If you think you are right about something, don't listen to others tell you you're wrong. Remember, nothing is impossible. Go ahead and prove you're right.

Fred Jones - Founder of Thermo King

Lorna Doone

Some passages I remember from the book I read more than 10 years ago:

For it strikes me that of all human dealings, satire is the very lowest, and most mean and common. It is the equivalent in words, for what bullying is in deeds; and no more bespeaks a clever man, than the other does a brave one. These two wretched tricks exalt a fool in his own low esteem but never in his neighbour's; for the deep common sense of our nature tells that no man of a genial heart, or of any spread of mind, can take pride in either. And though a good man may commit the one fault or the other, now and then, by way of outlet, he is sure to have compunctions soon, and to scorn himself more than the sufferer.

(page 40 of Squire Faggus Makes Some Lucky Hits)

Then (if you come to think again) lo - or I will not say lo! for no one can behold it - only feel, or but remember, what a real mother is. Ever loving, ever soft, ever turning sin to goodness, vices into virtues; blind to all nine-tenths of wrong; through a telescope beholding (though herself so nigh to them) faintest decimal of promise, even in her vilest child. Ready to thank God again, as when her babe was born to her; leaping (as at kingdom-come) at a wandering syllable of Gospel for her lost one.
All this our mother was to us, and even more than all of this ; and hence I felt a pride and joy in doing my sacred duty towards her, now that the weather compelled me

(page 8 of The Great Winter)