Ok, so I am not doing so great on the “post more” resolution. But I am
working on it, I promise.
I’ve also read a bunch lately. I wanted to start with something easy so
I grabbed
Good
Grief which has been sitting on my shelf for several months. It was
as chick-litty as it looks but at least not superficial like some of the
other stuff out there so it was a good combination of easy reading but
not too unlikeable.
Then I moved on to The
Lovely Bones which I have purposely been putting off for years. I
hadn’t been prepared for the raw horror of it. And I knew it was a great
book but didn’t think I wanted to read it. So I finally did and it was
horrible. The book was very well written and I read it in one gulp.
However the story itself was as bone-chilling as I worried it would be
and I got as affected as I thought I would be. So much so that I had to
watch some really silly TV before I’d sleep at night so as to not go to
bed with the book in my mind. I know Alice Sebold has another great book
but until she stops writing about rape, I am not reading another one of
her stories.
Then I moved to my very trusted source of AskMe and as usual, they
didn’t let me down. I started with the recommendation of Christoper
Moore and the Palo Alto library had
A
Dirty Job
available immediately so I started with that. And I loved it. I
swallowed the whole book in a day! I loved the subject matter. I loved
his writing style. It was hilarious and I generally am not known for my
sense of humor! I have since checked out another Moore book and let’s
see if he’s consistent.
I have also checked out 32 other books that I am supposedly going to
read in the next three weeks. I figure if I read another three that will
be major progress.
“Isn’t that why you quit working at Goldman?”
Asks my innocent father when I tell him how busy my life has been with
work.
It is and it isn’t.
It has now been four months since I’ve started working at Google. Life’s
been hectic to say the least. However, it’s not the same kind of hectic
I had at my previous jobs. It’s tiring and at times overwhelming like
the other jobs were. But it’s also invigorating and exciting and
interesting and challenging. Basically, it meets all the criteria I had
when I was looking for a job. And then some…
So the last few months have been busy. When I’m not working or tired
from working, I generally try to hang out with David and Jake. I think
about writing often, but don’t actually get around to doing it. As is
the case with every year-end, I decided last week that writing more
often would be good for me. Taking photos more often would be good for
me. And reading more would be good for me. So I plan to do more of all
three. If you don’t see me writing for three consecutive days, feel free
to harass me.
All this ambition could be fueled by the almost ten days of
relatively lull activity that is sure to end within 24 hours but I am
still going to give it my best.
I have taken a ton of photos of David and some of Palo Alto. I have read
two books and making good progress on a third. I have even scrapbooked a
few pages. All in the last ten days. Let’s see how the next ten days work.
More to come later.
Another pre-work book I read was Now Discover Your Strengths. Recommended by many and an interesting read. Especially in this way:
This fixation with weakness is deeply rooted in out education and upbringing. We presented parents with this scenario: Say your child returns home with the following grades: and A in English, an A in social studies, a C in biology, and and F in algebra. Which of these grades would you spend the most time discussing with your son or daughter? Seventy-seven percent of parents chose to focus on the F in algebra, only 6 percent on the A in English, and an even more minuscule number, 1 percent, on the A in social studies. Obviously, the algebras grade requires some attention because to progress in school and secure a place at a college or university the child cannot to fail a subject. But the question was phrased carefully: Which of these grades would you spend the most time discussing with your son or daughter? Despite the demands of today’s education system, does the most time really deserve to be invested in the child’s weakness?
It’s quite amazing but totally accurate that we tend to concantrate on our weaknesses and how to make them better instead of using our strengths to circumvent the weaker areas.
Here are a few more I’ve read since I last posted:
Recommended by a friend: Paypal Wars was a very badly written but really interesting read. Quite interesting to see how many times they came close to closing up shop and how many stupid business decisions were made and how strongly they depended on paypal.
And, of course, The Long Tail. Interesting and thought-provoking read and worthwhile for anyone who doesn’t understand the difference between online and offline retail and the potential in both. There are many, many people in the world and their tastes and interests vary drastically.
So there are a few drafts I had left in my inbox before I started working at Google. I am going to try to post those (all have to do with books) first. I found out about Not Fade Away in someone’s blog and decided to pick it up. I read the whole book in one day and enjoyed it very much. Here are a few quotes that really spoke to me:
And this, unfortunately, brings me to one of the most excruciating incidents of my childhood – one of those awful moments, totally trivial in itself, that you literally spent your whole life getting over. I tell this story as a plea to parents, coaches, teachers: For God’s sake, be careful what you say when a child messes up!
This is one of my biggest pet-peeves. Parents who speak without thinking, parents who think their children have the same sensitivity level they have. Parents who scar you forever.
It would have been easy to finish that degree – easier than bolting. With the degree in hand, it would have been easier for me to land a job with one of the status quo watchdogs that with anybody else. Once I had the job, it would have been easier to amend my own beliefs that to change the organization.
Thus, by increments so exquisitely gradual that they might have just passed unnoticed, I could have ended up being totally untrue to myself and living a life I hated. Twenty years later, I might have had a closet full of suits, a passport full of visas, and and irreparable feeling that I’d really blown it.
Another beautifully poignant point. It’s sad and amazing how quickly and quietly we lose control of our lives. How we wake up suddenly, years later, and we can’t remember why we are where we are and how we got there. How easy it is to take the next easy step without thinking why and whether it’s still a step on your eventual destination (assuming you still remember your eventual destination.)
It’s funny, in a way – our society warns us about the temptations of wealth and power, about the slender chances of a rich man getting into Heaven. But poverty has its pitfalls, too. Too little dough can erode a person’s ethics and values just as easily as too much.
We spent our last three nights in Istanbul, at the Bebek Hotel. Even
though it was unbearably hot, we took frequent walks and I kept wanting
to take snapshots of this amazing door. I finally remembered to bring my
camera and took this photo and another.
Alice is the nanny of one of my childhood friends. It’s been over 12
years since I last saw her, so as soon as I did, I snapped this shot.
You can see some of my other portraits from the Istanbul trip here.
I’ve noticed a few days ago that I am at my most thankful lately. I
absolutely adore my husband and my son. I am finally living somewhere I
love. I am surrounded by old and good friends. I am looking forward to a
wonderful new job. I love my new house. I am making tangible progress on
the driving thing. I can’t imagine my life getting much better than this.
Jake, David and I drove down to Big Sur last week for a day trip so I
could take my new 10-22mm lens for a test drive.
The trip to Turkey has been quite the growing experience for David. He’s
learned to go up and down staircases. He’s learned to play pee-a-boo. He
learned that when you run up and down a room with a metal grate, if you
fall, you hurt yourself pretty badly. He discovered playgrounds and slides.
He’s also started to exhibit a lot more toddler behavior. When you don’t
give him something he wants, he covers his face and turns his back to
you. He crunches up his eyebrows and gives you a look that defines
“That’s not fair!” He stomps his feet. He throws himself on the floor
and complains. He has adopted a variety of faces from “Oh, Come On!” to
“You’re Mean.”
Despite the recent behavior, he’s still pure joy to be with and poses
quite well.
Turkey is full of stray cats and dogs. This is even more true in the
island of Burgaz where we spend our summers. Since they are stray, many
of the cats are sick, mangy, and injured. They are still beautiful and I
couldn’t help but photograph many. You can find a few more: 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
and
7.
Many years ago, I wrote an entry about the
two-me’s.
Lately, the idea of the Ideal Self has been on my mind a lot. There have
been many occasions where I noticed that my ideas of who I hope to be in
a certain situation often get crushed by the real me.
The Ideal Me wants to be mature in a situation that might be chaotic and
frustrating but the Real Me gets annoyed, acts impatient or irrational.
The Ideal Me wants to explain things clearly and without placing blame
so we can have a productive conversation and resolve our differences,
yet the Real Me gets emotional and can’t think clearly. The Ideal Me
assumes the best and commits to situations where the Real Me freaks out
and makes things unpleasant without meaning to. The Ideal Me is kind and
compassionate regardless of how others treat me, but the Real Me gets
hurt and angry. The Ideal Me wants to make everyone happy but the Real
Me knows that’s impossible and often ends up upsetting everyone instead.
This has caused numerous problems in my personal life, in my work life,
in my friendships and relationships. Most significantly, it has made me
feel like I am continuously letting myself down.
After countless recent such events, I have realized that it’s time to
cut myself some slack and to start becoming more realistic about who I
am, what I can do and what I’d rather not. With a new job and a growing
family, time is quite rare. As I grow older and more responsible, I need
to learn to be who I am. I need to learn to graciously decline, even at
the cost of upsetting people I love. I know that, otherwise, they will
get much more upset when I do something to please them and end up
feeling resentful and frustrated. I need to learn that people get over
things relatively quickly and those who harbor resentment for not
getting their way aren’t worth dealing with.
I need to learn that there’s nothing wrong with the Real Me and that
when the Ideal Me starts taking over, I need to pay attention and make
sure that the Real Me can deliver the promises the Ideal Me makes.
 I actually read The Arithmetic
of Life before Hardboiled Wonderland but forgot to put it up. Found
this book on the recommendation of the O’Reilly
radar. Within a day, the book went from being around 300,000th on
Amazon’s rank to 3,000th. None of the bookstores around Palo Alto
carried it, so I used this occasion to enroll into the Palo Alto library
system and got the book within minutes and read it in hours. I found the
articles interesting and thought-provoking – albeit a bit repetitive.
The writer *really* hates the Congress and makes sure we know it often.
Overall, this book is a great read for those who say math isn’t useful
in their daily lives. The articles are short, easy to read, easy to
relate to and even entertaining.
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projects for twenty twenty-six
projects for twenty twenty-five
projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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