Category: Uncategorized

just thinking out loud, Uncategorized 0 comments on My urban jungle

My urban jungle

Micky and I are taking the week off to do tasks around the house to prepare for the baby. And before I started today’s adventures, I decided to sit at the back window and watch the backyard.

There’s a male hummingbird who lives in a tree two houses down. He loves our yard. He zips in and out. Always at the speed of sight. When the sun hits him just right, his red neck shines in the light like a neon Las Vegas sign. 

The bees agave made for themselves a home. They’re carrying in pollen, drinking the sugar water, and building their combs. 

A family of turtle doves sits at the base of the hive. I don’t know if they’re waiting for drops of honey or errant bees to make a snack out of. Either way they sing while they wait, and the harmony is beautiful. 

Spiders build webs. 

Along the fence evidence of skunks, rats, and raccoons are many and evident.

The artichoke plants are larger than life, with small artichoke hearts starting to make their way into the world. The grasses are growing. The bushes are blooming. The lemons ripen. 

Out of my window, in area code 94122, I have my own urban jungle. And a little sunshine to go with it. 

Becoming a PM, Uncategorized 2 comments on Accountability requires humility

Accountability requires humility

A big area of improvement for any product manager is demonstrating that they can be more accountable for a larger and larger scope.

First I think demonstrating that you can properly own a product is hard enough. Customer development, documentation, was it the right feature, should we kill it. All of these are not easy to get right.

Then add building and selling a road map to the mix. Vision statements, frameworks in which to make decisions, making long term bets. That doesn’t make it any easier. And you have to keep getting better at the first set of things.

And now, it’s all about doing the above  while putting together a series of large bets. Based on market analysis, competitive analysis, willingness to pay from the customer, intuition about what’s next, and how willing you are to fire your present to invest in your future.

The only way to do it is to admit you don’t know what you’re doing, and start to climb.

But I think that realizing that humility comes with this climb is something people forget. Humility to say, “I did that wrong. I own it. Let’s try again”. Humility to admit, “I don’t know what that is or how to do it. How can we figure it out?”.

I think companies need it as they grow up. People need it as they advance in their careers, and paths in life.

I also think it’s rare to see, hard to appreciate, and oftentimes a victim of finger pointing, and infighting.

So the question I need to solve is how do I create a culture of accountability (not hard) with humility (very hard)?

I’d love any ideas because I’m pretty close to all out.

New Year Resolutions, Uncategorized 0 comments on Thank you Live to Fail!

Thank you Live to Fail!

Today is the last day of my 12-week LTF program.

Back in January, I saw on Hulu that DailyBurn were doing a month free. I thought, why not. Let’s go for it. They took me through an awesome on boarding flow, and then suggested that I do LTF with Ben Booker for the next 12 weeks.

Holy smokes it’s been fantastic. Weight training 4 days per week. Cardio 2 days per week. A box. 2 sets of dumb bells. And I’ve lost weight, gained muscle mass. Gotten stronger. Feel more fit.

The jokes were cheesy the first time, but hearing them every week for 12-weeks almost made them funny. The cast of characters got into with the lead trainer which was encouraging, and actually helped come back daily. It was quick. High impact.

It’s a truly awesome program.

If you’re disciplined enough to work out on your own, then I would highly encourage you try out DailyBurn. And if your profile gives you the chance to choose Live To Fail (LTF), do it. You’ll enjoy the ride!

Adventures in beekeeping, Uncategorized 0 comments on ‘Twas the night before Bee-mas 

‘Twas the night before Bee-mas 

and all through the night. I’m slaving away on one last project. I started it last weekend, and I’m inches away from finished. Over the course of the week I’ve learned that:

  1. I’m so glad that Davis Drive Middle School had wood shop, and I spent 3 years there with Mr. Boyle
  2. I can’t cut anything in a straight line
  3. It’s as expensive to rent as it is to buy a circular saw
  4. The kids love DIY

However, my drill has run out of power, and so it will wait til morning. 

Pictures below of the bee stand. It turns out that you need to add elevation to a bee hive. Otherwise skunks, raccoons, and mice will get in too easily. 

This way when they try, the angry daughters will come out and sting!

And the girls all show up tomorrow. I’ll have them all in and setup by the late afternoon. 

And the great experiment will officially commence. 

Here goes nothing!

So far on the list of honey receivers in order are:

  • Amelia and Luka 
  • My mom and brother
  • Fabienne (I need your address)

If anyone else wants some (assuming I don’t mess it all up), then let me know. They told us to expect honey by July. It will be a Independence Day treat for all!

I don’t know if it’s legal to ship internationally. I’ll find out. If so, throw my dad, uncle, aunt, and Aydin as line 4. 

   

  

           

Fatherhood, Uncategorized 0 comments on First fake sick day

First fake sick day

Amelia got us good today. She coughed herself sick, and then had a slight fever. She acted very whiny and tired. And then as soon as we said she didn’t have to go to school she was back to 95% (she is a tiny bit under the weather), and we knew we’d been played. 

Damn those 3.5 year olds are good. 

Check out the play dough sculpture we made: 

Lesson learned. You may have gamed us this time my darling, but just you wait 🙂 

New Year Resolutions, Uncategorized 6 comments on It’s all about perspective 

It’s all about perspective 

Three graphs, and three very different stories. 

Here is graph #1:  

It’s not bad. The highest weight is 199. The lowest weight is 187. And I feel really good that heading into April that I’ll solidly be in the 180s. That downward slope feels wonderful, and looks ok I’m the mirror too. This graph makes me smile. 

And then there’s graph #2: 

Now there’s a bigger gap. The slope isn’t as steep. But there’s a goal there, and one that can be reached. Generally neutral from an emotional point of view. 

But then there’s graph #3: 

There’s almost no slope. The goal doesn’t feel good enough. And the emotions clearly drop to frustrated and demotivated. 

It’s all about perspective…

 

Adventures in beekeeping, Uncategorized 2 comments on Beekeeping update

Beekeeping update

The bees are ordered!

They arrive on April 11. There will be a queen, and her newly adopted family of 10k bees. 

I have 2 more frames to paint. I have an entire stand to build. And then the infrastructure to support the bees will be finished. 

This weekend, I got to go to a local community garden, and actually open a box. It’s amazing. This box had, according to the beekeeper, 40k bees. They’re everywhere, and yet 10 feet away you wouldn’t even know a hive existed. I think that’s evolution at its best. It behooves the bees to disappear into the background, and they’re good at it.

When I saw this army of bees though tending to the brood, eggs laid, new bees eating their way out (e.g. Being born), it was just awesome.

I’m glad I got a suit for the kids because getting them involved is going to be a blast!

It will be 3 – 6 weeks for the bees to acclimate. Then a few weeks more until we have a full honey box. So by 4th of July I’m hoping we can celebrate with some great honey based dishes. 

It’s all very exciting!

Fatherhood, Uncategorized 0 comments on It’s ok to be afraid… Why not?

It’s ok to be afraid… Why not?

Amelia had the preschool bungalow assembly today. It consisted of each class singing a song, and then the whole preschool singing one song together.

Check out the video here: Amelia’s PS3 assembly song

At Pizza Friday that evening (where we went to Delfina – #mickyfail), I asked Amelia about the performance, and she said,

Well. I was scared, but I kept singing, and everything was ok

and I thought to myself how grown up that analysis sounded.
It was spot on to what happened where in the first song she looked at her older friend Naomi to help her, and then did really wonderfully by herself on the second song.

That was just a lovely moment.

Amelia's PS3 assembly group song
Amelia’s PS3 assembly group song