proof that californians can't drive in the rain

Last week we had our first major rain of the year. Below is a Google map of the San Francisco Bay Area with the traffic warnings enabled. As you can see, this proves that Californians can't drive in the rain.

Thanks to my brother Drew for sending this.

Click to see the bigger version.

back to school

Well, all the fun I mentioned previously had to eventually come to an end. I started school two weeks ago and probably never dreaded anything so much in my life.

My advice to anyone going to school while working full time -- do not take time off (from school.) If you're partway through your program (like I was) and decide to take a quarter off of school for good reason (such as having a baby) then be warned. Returning after that long break will be difficult.

You will get addicted to the freedom associated with not having a commitment like school. Over the summer, I relished my time after work. It felt so nice to simply come home from work and be able to spend time with Danielle and Luca. I had time to relax. I had time to make dinner. I had time to watch movies. I had time to do lots of stuff. It felt great!

But all of that is gone now. Although I'm only in class two nights a week, it still takes it's toll on my ability to relax. Because even on non-school nights, if I come home and decide to watch a movie, go out for dinner, play with Luca, or play Wii, in the back of my mind there is still this voice making me feel guilty because I'm not doing my homework or studying. Being in school ruins my ability to ever completely, totally relax.

So this is why I was dreading going back to my MBA program. And in fact, I seriously considered dropping out. But since I'm already done with 3 quarters, and the long term upside of an MBA is pretty high, I decided I might as well suck it up for another two years.

Perhaps during that time I'll find a way to quash that little voice making me feel guilty when I'm having fun.

boating with keith and bill

Whoa, I've neglected this blog for nearly a month. Sorry about that. Honestly, I was having too much fun! There were four solid weekends of jam-packed fun activities.

1st weekend - Pebble Beach Car Show
2nd weekend - Keith arrived from New Zealand & we went to Monterey (golfing, etc)
3rd weekend - Hanging out with Keith in SF & Burlingame (boating, fishing, sight seeing, and visiting Ian & Linda)
4th weekend - Celebrating our anniversary and Danielle's birthday

From 2009 Boating with Bill

Having my brother-in-law in town from New Zealand was surely the highlight. We had such an awesome time. I keep thinking that even though I've only met Keith twice, I feel like I've known him my whole life. We enjoy doing lots of the same things and generally just get along really well. We have fun whether we're out golfing or just sitting back having a beer at home.

While he was in town, we did a bunch of stuff including spending a day in San Francisco. However, the highlight had to be going fishing with my friend Bill on his boat. Sadly, we didn't catch many fish...in fact Keith (who is an avid fisherman in New Zealand) was the only one to catch anything. First, he caught a little crab who had grabbed onto his line. Then, he caught a shark! I'm not kidding, it was probably 2-3 feet long. I tried to get the camera but just as Keith was pulling him into the boat, he wiggled and unhooked himself to get free. This was a good thing though since we'd planned to release him anyway but none of us wanted to get the hook out of his mouth...so he saved us the trouble.

Most of the day fishing involved drinking beer and taking pictures. The weather was amazing; it must have been close to 90 degrees that weekend in San Francisco, which is unheard of. We were comfortable even without shirts on the boat, although the water did get somewhat rough when we attempted to head out to Alcatraz. (Ultimately, we turned back to the safety of Treasure Island.) We were glad to have Bill as our captain since he's an accomplished sailor.

From 2009 Boating with Bill

One of the highlights for me was getting to see the new Bay Bridge construction up-close. We went under it a couple times and snapped some great pictures of this engineering marvel. I think it's pretty cool that I'm getting to see this built during my lifetime, considering that it'll be around for a long time. It's sort of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see such a major construction project completed. And it reminds me of those old photos of the Golden Gate Bridge under construction, and how odd the bay looked without a bridge there. Although, the construction of the Golden Gate may have been more amazing to watch, considering the technology of the time.

All in all, a great 4 weekends in a row!

Oh and by the way, I realized I like boats almost as much as I like cars but I don't think I'm ready to deal with how much maintenance would be involved in owning one.

Click here for the full gallery from the boating trip.

my weekend at the pebble beach concours d'elegance

From 2009 Pebble Beach Concours

For an automobile enthusiast like myself, last weekend was like living in a fantasy world. I took Friday off work to head down to Monterey for the annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. I had never been to it before but had always wanted to. So of course I had pretty high expectations and the entire weekend over-delivered.
Rather than give a full play-by-play, I'll recap a few highlights from each day.

Friday

• Met up with my friend Bill and attended the RM auction preview and saw countless amazing cars including a couple of Millers.
  
• Snuck into the auction at Quail Lodge, again saw amazing vehicles...too many to list.
  
• Watched a 1937 Bugatti get bid up to $5.1 million and still not meet it's reserve price.
  
• Got to touch an Auto Union formula car valued at over $8 million.
  
• Saw a McLaren Mercedes SLR for the first time just driving down the street.
  
• Found out I don't mind being stuck in traffic when every 3rd car is a Ferrari or Porsche.
  
• Learned how to tell if a classic Bugatti is a replica.
  
• Nearly collided with Jay Leno.
  
• Talked to some guy about his Lotus Elise, sat in it, and I'm now thinking about buying one.
  
• Went back to the RM auction that evening and had dinner at Britannia Arms. (Amazed by how much money is sitting the room at these auctions!)

Saturday
Saturday was our day at the race track (Laguna Seca).

• Bill secured a Porsche 356 Speedster for us to drive all weekend.
  
• Saw $100,000+ cars (owned by spectators) parked in the dirt parking lot.
  
• Watched VIPs bypass traffic and come to the track by helicopter.
  
• Felt happy to see people actually racing these vintage cars.
  
• Learned lots about old cars from Bill.
  
• Realized that vintage racing is cool and these guys actually drive pretty hard!
  
• Watched a guy crash a classic Ferrari Testa Rossa worth probably $10million.
  
• Fell in love with some vintage Porsches
  
• Attended the IDEO party at Montrio and talked cars with some cool folks (and great designers) thanks to an invite I got on Facebook.
  
• Went back to the RM auction again!

Sunday
On Sunday we spent the entire day at the Pebble Beach Concours.

• Saw beautiful corporate displays from Tesla, Spyker, and Ferrari.
  
• Compared the new Ferrari California to the original (same type of car used in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.)
  
• Talked to the Lotus factory rep about the new Evora and the Elise.
  
• Checked out the concept car display on the Pebble Beach putting green.
  
• Saw my first Bugatti Veyron in person (actually I saw 4 of them.)
  
• Found an old Bugatti kid's pedal car for Luca (if it weren't $15,000.)
  
• Realized that Pebble Beach is a nice, scenic place for a car show.
  
• Admired the architecture (and location) of this guy's house.
  
• Saw more vintage Ferraris than I could have imagined!
  
• Saw more vintage Bentleys than I could have imagined!
  
• Saw more vintage Bugattis than I could have imagined!
  
• Continued to learn a lot about the history of these cars from Bill (who is old enough to be very familiar with them.)
  
• Felt like a part of "high society" for the day (people really get decked out for this show, women with hats and fur and gloves and all that.)
  
• Saw some celebrities: Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Edward Hermann, and two dudes that looked like German rock stars (or maybe porn stars.)
  
• Watched Jerry Seinfeld drive one of his racing Porsches and saw the another one in the parking lot (parked illegally of course!)
  
• Decided if I get a vintage car, I need to dress in vintage style like these guys.
  
• Was "wowed" by the attention to detail and interesting engineering on many of these old cars (like how the wheel weights get attached to wire wheels or the finish of the dashboard and gauges.)
  

Click here for my full photo gallery from the weekend.

From 2009 Pebble Beach Concours

follow up on work-life balance

I happened to read this on Wired.com today and thought it was worth posting a link as a follow up to my comments about work-life balance. From the article:

"If you rabidly focus on work, in the long run, you'll be unhappy. Ran Kivetz, a professor of business at Columbia University, recently conducted a series of experiments that identified a paradox in our behavior: Doing the "right" thing—putting our responsibilities ahead of momentary pleasures—often leaves us unhappy down the road. When we skip a vacation to work overtime or pass up that awesome vintage Porsche for a used minivan—sure, we pat ourselves on the back for a week or two. But as the years go by, we invariably regret our monkishness and wish we'd enjoyed ourselves more."

Check out the full list of New Rules of How to Behave for Highly Evolved Humans

having a good work-life balance has nothing to do with your job

The other day I was having lunch with someone who complained about not having a good work-life balance because of their demanding job. But I didn't quite know how to tell the person that the problem isn't their job, the problem is them.

Having a good work-life balance is something entirely within your control. Either achieving this balance is important to you or it isn't. And for those people who make it a priority, well guess what...they tend to have a good work-life balance. They're happier and less stressed. And this is all because they took control.

I think a lot of people put in long hours for a couple of reasons:

• They have too much work. This can be solved by learning how to tactfully say "No" when new projects come along.
  
• They can't prioritize the work they have. Learning how to figure out what's important is a valuable skill. I like the 3 MIT method.
  
• They want to "get caught up" on their work. Some people even take this a step further and try to "get ahead". But guess what, there is always more work waiting for you. Even if you finish everything on your To Do list, someone is bound to give you more. So just remember, work will still be waiting for you the next morning whether you go home at 5pm or 10pm.
  
• They have a uniquely demanding job. I'm sure there are some jobs that do simply require unbelievably long hours. But these are usually also jobs with specific deadlines. A lawyer preparing for a big case certainly will need to do everything possible to prepare before their first day in court.
  
• They want to look like a hard worker. Be warned though, long hours don't indicate hard work. Sure, some managers will think "Wow, look at Dave, he's really busting his butt lately on this project. Great job!" but other managers might thing "Wow, I can't believe Dave is having to spend so long on this project. Doesn't he know how what he's doing or how to manage his time?"
  
• They want to be successful. More frequently managers are judging people based on their performance and results rather than the effort they put in. Long hours won't pay off if you still produce mediocre results. Now, if you can produce stellar results by working long hours then that's a different story. But try to produce stellar results working "normal" hours if you can.
• People expect you to reply to emails within 5 hours. Whatever the number is maybe your company has a culture of speed where people think that you have to reply to emails quickly. Well it's in your control to change that expectation. Sure, if you have always responded to emails in the evening in the past then people will expect you to continue doing that. Setting expectations is key. If people know you don't check emails in the evening, they won't expect a reply until the next day. And if something is really important, someone will call you.

Ok, now your convinced and having a healthy work-life balance is suddenly a priority for you. So how do you go about getting it? Here are a handful of suggestions that I've seen work:

1. Set boundaries. Don't let people schedule you for meetings outside of the hours from 9-5pm. If someone schedules a 7am or 7pm meeting, politely decline.
   
2. Have a good system such as GTD. If you have everything you need to do recorded in a trusted system then it's easier to unplug at the end of the day and not stress-out thinking about all the things you need to do. You know that when you get back to work and look at your To Do list that it's complete and you know exactly what you need to work on.
   
3. Avoid working at home. I think a lot of people fall into the trap of doing work at home. With laptops, broadband, VPNs, and Blackberries, it's too easy to "just check a couple emails" while you're at home. I say resist the temptation. When you get home, don't work. If you have too much work to do, then stay at the office and do it. Go home after it's done. Once you start working at home in the evenings or on the weekends, it's a difficult habit to break.
   
4. Have commitments outside of work. Sign up for a class, join a sports team, make dinner plans, just do something that meets on a regular schedule that you'll feel bad about missing. By having a commitment outside of work, you're more likely to hold yourself accountable for getting out of the office at a reasonable time. Another benefit of this is that you will find that you're more productive during the hours that you're at work. And by filling your time outside of work with other activities you'll have less down-time to "just check email for a minute."
   
5. Get into a routine. You've probably noticed certain people who leave the office at the same time everyday. Having a set schedule can be a good way to get your work-life balance under control. This ties in to the point above about having somewhere you need to go, but even if you don't then you should try to leave at around the same time everyday. I'm not suggesting you sit around and watch the clock but knowing that you plan to leave at 6:00 will force you to make the best use of your time up until then. Usually we all have too much to do in a given day but shortening the amount of time we give ourselves to do it forces us to be more efficient.
   

I'm sure there are many more good tips people use for maintaining work-life balance. If you have a suggestion, leave it in the comments.

segmentation of people by work habits

I previously wrote about how marketing is really the study of stereotypes and I wanted to explore that idea a little further. Another thing I learned in my marketing class was about market segmentation and that can be applied to just about anything. Specifically, I was thinking about the dynamics of working in a group. Whether it be a group project for school or at work, choosing group members who are in the same segment as you will reduce tension and improve your working relationships.

From what I've observed, there are four segments of students/workers.

The Idiot Slacker - This type of person is both lazy and dumb. They don't try very hard but it's almost irrelevant because they simply don't have the mental capacity to perform at the level required. They are by far the worst type of people to have in your group because they provide no value.

The "A for Effort" Person - This person isn't too bright but they sure do work hard. They are willing to dedicate time and effort to a project but their intellectual contributions to the group are low. These people aren't bad to have in your group because you can help get them up to speed and they're willing to learn.

The Brainiac Slacker - This person is smart, but they are also somewhat lazy. (I tend worry that I'm in this group.) These people are typically characterized by their desire to be very efficient in their work and only put in the minimum effort to get a good result. The always look for the easiest solutions. Luckily, since they're smart they can use this to their advantage and they usually don't need to put in too much effort. These folks don't have a lot of patience for those who slow down the group if they don't understand or can't do things as quickly.

The Overachievers - These people are both smart and hard working. They make up the majority of the people in MBA programs or at top employers. Since they're bright, they understand complex topics quickly and are willing to go the extra mile to produce stellar work even if that means working 80 hour weeks or meeting with a school project group 7 days a week. Their standards are exceptionally high and they push others in the group to meet those same high standards.

Problems arise when you have different segments working together. For example, the brainiac slackers don't like to work with the idiots or the "A for efforts" because they don't have the patience for them. But they also don't like to work with the overachievers because they don't want to put in all the extra work. The overachievers are frustrated by the both the brainiac and idiot slackers because they feel like they aren't trying very hard. But they are typically aligned with the "A for efforts" because both types are willing to put in a lot of time on the project. The "A for efforts" typically get frustrated because they're trying so hard but are often being disregarded by the smarter people in the group. And nobody really likes working with the idiot slackers but they don't really care because they're happy to coast by on everyone else's work.

That's my simplistic view of the different types of people you might encounter when working on a group project. My recommendation is to try to find people similar to yourself.

my neighbor - the library

I live very close to the local library. In fact, I'm right across the street. But I've never really paid much attention to this. With all the information available on the internet it seems weird to walk into a library for a physical book. But back when I was studying for a statistics waiver exam, I did just that. The fact that I taught myself statistics well enough to pass the exam was a lesson in the power of the information held in our libraries.

And if I could teach myself statistics from a book I found at the library, what else could I learn?

Then I started thinking about just how much information is contained in that building across the street. I don't think I can quantify it. The information is so convenient. It's almost as convenient as the internet (due to my close proximity) and there is something very rewarding about finding information in a physical book. Information written in books has a sort of credibility that's hard to replicate on the internet. And the best part is that this information is free! There are no subscriptions, dues, or internet service provider monthly fees. Anyone can walk into a library and learn (provided they know how to read) about any subject they want.

I should use the library more often when I want to learn about a new subject.

passive versus active computer usage

I typically classify my computer usage into two categories. Either it's "active" or "passive." One isn't necessarily better than the other but I find active computer use more rewarding. But unfortunately I've been doing a lot more passive use lately.

Passive computer use - There are a lot of activities that fall into this category and I'd argue that it's how the majority of people who use computers outside of work actually use them. (I'm excluding work here because presumably people do something useful when they use a computer at work!) Some examples of passive computer use are: watching videos, reading blogs, reading news, researching a topic you're interested in, chatting with your friends, looking at photos, playing video games, listening to music, checking your friend's facebook status, well..you get the idea. For the most part, it's a one way flow of information from the computer (or internet) to you. In many ways, it's similar to sitting down in front of the TV, browsing a magazine, or reading a book. For most people, it's an enjoyable activity. When people talk about "surfing the web" I usually think of this type of passive computer use. As I mentioned, I've been doing a lot of this lately which is why my blog hasn't been updated much.

There isn't anything wrong with passive computer use just like there isn't anything wrong with watching TV or reading books/magazines. It's a great way to learn new skills or get exposed to new ideas. I often feel like a sponge when I'm in this mode, soaking up information as quickly as possible.

Active computer use - The key characteristic of active computer use is the creation of something. No longer is the information travelling in only one direction (from the internet/book/tv to your brain). With active computer use you are transmitting information out of your head and to others. Some examples are: writing a blog post, uploading pictures to Flickr, creating a website, contributing your expertise to a wikipedia article, or even leaving a comment on a forum, blog, or news article. But they don't have to be strictly related to the internet (although that is probably the most common way of sharing information.) It could be using your computer to write a report, design a building, or make a music playlist. I categorize all of the activities that involve "doing" or "creating" into this active computer use category. There is something you can point to at the end and say "I made that" no matter how minor.

For some reason, I tend to get enjoyment from active computer use. (Well, I enjoy both but creating something is more rewarding.) The trouble is that it's more time consuming. It takes time and thought to sit down and write a blog post, edit and share photography, or upload a homemade video. But the satisfaction comes from interacting with others and seeing their reaction to your work. Even if it's as simple as seeing that your YouTube video had 1,000 views. I also think the active use helps you grow. Instead of just taking in information, you are combining and mixing all of your knowledge and experience to produce something unique. This forces you to think for yourself rather than simply consume to what's already out there.

welcome little luca!

I have a good excuse for neglecting this blog the past week or so. My son, Luca Vincent Chiaro, was born on 6/12/2009! Mom and baby are doing great and we're slowly getting adjusted to having another person around.

I don't intend to blog too much about Luca on here since my wife has a "baby blog" setup already, which we can use as an outlet for cute photos, funny stories, and that sort of stuff. But I will keep blogging about whatever else and I'm sure there will be some posts in the future reflecting on parenthood.

The baby blog can be found at littlemiracleoflife.blogspot.com. It's a private blog so please email me or leave a note in the comments if you'd like access. All friends and family are welcome!