a random sort of epiphany

You know that your job is your career is your life when you start using the methodology you use at work in your personal life.

Advice is officially useless to me unless you have some population-based data and statistical analysis to back it up.

the culture of exposure

I had a conversation once with someone who commented that Americans are very candid. It’s almost as if we lack the filter that separates what should be public and what should be private. The conversation was in reference to personal relationships, but it was a very good point from a societal perspective.

We are, as a nation, culture, society, very open and transparent. We have a history of it, from our governance and political systems, to our corporate responsibilities, to our international negotiations. And we take pride in this openness.

It’s not a surprise, then, that on social and cultural levels, we see the same degree of candidness. Americans love reality TV (though we aren’t the only ones), and we love the exposure of our celebrities. In fact, reality TV stars are the next generation of celebrity.

And we don’t just revel in others’ openness - we actively promote our own. We love to blog, we love facebook, we love putting our thoughts and ideas and opinions out there for the world to see. It’s not just about being well-known on tape, it’s about being famous online. Internet killed the video star.

In a recent New York Times Magazine article, Emily Gould talks about her own journey through public exposure 2.0, a sacrifice on the altar of oversharing. From her humble beginnings with her own blog (Emily Magazine), through her rise at Gawker, she makes insightful points about what it means to be be a celebrity, expose a celebrity, and expose herself.

While I am a fan of transparency, I do admit that I’m a little uneasy with how available we make our personal details. Madonna commented once that no one would ever be able to dig up dirty little secrets about you if you just told everyone everything. But information can be a powerful tool, and there is such a thing as saying too much.

But Madonna had a point. If you have no secrets, there is nothing with which you could be blackmailed. There is nothing you have to explain later, nothing you have to try and hide, nothing to be ashamed of. And if our cultural penchance for candidness and transparency continues to bleed into other aspects of society, then perhaps it is something to be actively pursued.

a few brief rants for the day

So I am now 30.5 years old.  That feels a little bit old.

I sold my car in March (and mailed my tags back to the DMV).  Today, the DMV mailed me a fine for letting my insurance coverage lapse.

I have an exam tomorrow covering more information than I can possibly learn in a lifetime.

It’s supposed to rain, and I forgot my umbrella.

I spent $50 at the dry cleaners. If I could sew, I’d hem my own pants.

For more uplifting news, why don’t you check out my blogroll?

pandas make you smile!

This should not be missed (sound on):

signs you might be a geek

I occurred to me today, as I forward a petition to add a “bike there” feature to google maps to my friends, that I might be something of a geek. I never really thought of myself as one, because I’m not all about the latest gadgets (no ipod for me!). But, there are certain things that will get my heart racing and my blood pumping… and it’s not a new pair of shoes. Just a few of those things:

1. Geocaching. This is my latest obsession. Never mind that I don’t yet own a GPS device, I’ve already mapped out all the local places that I’ll hit up as soon as I do. And, I just learned that my friend has a rather nice unit, so I might just show up at her door one Saturday morning and drag her out. For those who don’t know, geocaching is the 21st century’s version of a treasure hunt.

2. Google features. I await breathlessly for the latest Google application. Even better is a new feature on existing Google applications. Bliss. I really wished their April Fool’s Day 2008 gmail feature had been real. Currently, I have about 8 Google calendars keeping track of my life.

3. Special effects. I love good movies, especially those with twisty plots and in-depth characters. But even more, I love a big, blow-em-up action movie on the largest screen in the city on opening night. Bonus if it’s got CGI and a sci-fi storyline. I have seen the worst movies known to man.

4. Technobabble. I love geeky words. I especially love using them in everday speak, particularly when they make no sense.

This list could really go on, but I might have to stop here for now. 

weekend rewind: work edition

Some of my favorites from my work category:

It took me a while, but I learned that being frugal didn’t mean missing out.

Being happy at work means being in alignment with your principles.

And from around the web:

Penelope Trunk tells you to quit yer bitchin’.

JD reviews a great book.

Plonkee wants a promotion.

In other news, I was recently awarded a Fulbright fellowship to Mongolia.  I’m really quite excited by this - I would probably go in February or March of 2009.  So, if random posts about Mongolia start popping up, you’ll know why!

a little something about karma

Last Wednesday, I posted about a great NGO in Cambodia. That night, I decided to go to my climbing gym, where I was going to meet a friend. To get there, I take the yellow line train past several stops, and then I switch to the blue line train, and get off at the second stop (it happens to be the second to last stop). To take metro in DC, it is most convenient to carry a Smartrip card, which you just wave over the sensor to get in and out of the system. I keep mine in my wallet.

On this particular night, I took out my wallet, swiped my card, and proceeded down to the train. At my switching stop, I got off, and waited for the blue line. Got to my final destination, came out to the turnstile, and proceeded to pull out my wallet.

Except I didn’t have my wallet. At some point during this ride, I lost my wallet. Normally, I put it back in my bag or in my coat pocket, but this time I did neither. Now, without my wallet, I can’t get out of the metro system as you have to swipe the Smartrip card again. But more importantly, losing a wallet really sucks. You have to cancel credit cards (that someone is probably using), debit cards, and other cards. You have to get everything replaced (getting a new drivers license in DC is a terrible process). Not to mention that you are now out whatever amount of cash you have in your possession.

So I went to the station manager and explained my problem. He called the blue line train conductor, who said he would do the walkthrough when he reached the last stop. I mentioned that I was also on the yellow line, so he called the end station of the yellow line. Lo and behold, the station manager at that end was in possession of my wallet. So, I hopped back on the train and made my way down to that station to pick up my wallet.

So here is where a little good karma earlier in my day helped me out. Not only is that other station quite close, but amazingly, some kind soul had actually had the compassion to turn my wallet in. When I got there, the station manager handed it to me and asked me to check it. I looked and all my cards were in there. The only thing missing was $4 in cash (which happened to be all I was carrying) - we’ll call it a finders’ fee. After all, it’s good to still be a little humble, despite how great my karma might be.

a brief hiatus

So I’m finally taking my vacation and will likely not be on the internet very much.  See you when I return!

weekend check-in

So I’m at the end of the term and things are a bit busy right now.  I’m also heading overseas for a week or so, so there won’t be much posting for a bit.  But things will be back on track when I return!

In the meantime, this past week saw a few changes.  The biggest is that I sold my car!  Finally.   I got a pretty decent price for it, and of course, the bulk of that is being funneled into paying off some debt (some of it went towards an unexpected plumbing expense).  The next two months will see some serious downward movement in my debt chart.

I’ve been doing great with my March goals, and still keeping up with my February ones.  I’m still managing to wake up on the relatively early side, and I’m keeping up with climbing and even yoga.  And I’ve eaten some minimal crap in the past 9 days (a reese’s pb cup and a couple of girl scout cookies).

Sadly, I won’t have a thesis topic by my deadline.  But, I’m still hoping to have one by the end of the month.  I did finish one proposal, so when I return from my trip hopefully I will get the other one done.   And I’ll be on my way to getting in my vacation in only a few days…  Life is good!

weekend check-in

So it’s already Monday, but better late than never.  The past week has been incredibly busy, so I apologize for the slowdown in posting.  I will be better soon!

I spent the week in class or at work, so there is really not much of interest.  I did, however, make it to both yoga and the climbing gym this weekend, which I’m quite happy about (having not done either in about 3 weeks).  Other than that, not much to report.

I did manage to read a few other blogs this week, so I wanted to highlight a few posts that I particularly enjoyed.

Patrick at Cash Money Life discussed choosing between right and easy.  We’ve all been in these situations before - how did you respond?

Heidi at Banker Girl makes a distinction between broke and poor.   It’s easy, when we’re saddled by debt and yet another credit card bill, to think of ourselves as downtrodden.  But at least we have a means to access the basics in life.

Leo at Zen Habits explains why you should love your enemy.  I found this to be a powerful post, and the comments are even more inspiring.