Moonwalking with Einstein

May 17, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

All the tech geeks that I follow on Twitter recommended this book towards the end of 2012.  And by tech geeks, I mean Bill Gates, Bill Gross, and a few others.  Everywhere I turned, I seemed to be hearing about this book on memory. After reading the Walter Isaacson biography on Einstein, I was really excited about it and probably told everyone I talked to about his ideas and his life.  Nicole’s mom must have thought that I would love to read more about Einstein (and even MORE if he was moonwalking), so she got me this book for my birthday in March.  Ironically, it doesn’t have anything to do with Einstein, but was a great and fascinating read!   I’d recommend it.

moonwalking

 

Quick summary.  Author, Joshua Foer is a writer and stumbles across the USA Memory Championships and covers the event for a magazine.  During his coverage, everyone tells him that he could compete in the events also if he only practiced the proper techniques.  Memorize a desk of cards quickly.  Learn random digits into the hundreds.  Memorize a list of faces and names into the hundreds.  Tasks that most of us would seem so daunting that we wouldn’t even attempt it or imagine it possible.

Josh spends a year researching memory and training his mind, finally landing himself in the finals of the USA Memory Championships one year later!  The book is about his journey and is not a “How-to” on memorizing.  It is really interesting and gives you the basics on operating your memory along the way.  His thesis is that you can be great at anything if you attack your mission with creativity, focus and enthusiasm.  Read the book, Bill Gates did, and I did!

Twitt
Filed Under: Books ·

New BIKE: Scattante XRL – Project

May 10, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

NEW BIKE: After the Ironman, I sold my Cervelo P2.  I knew I wouldn’t be doing an Ironman again in the next couple of years and didn’t feel right letting the bike collect dust in the back room.  Riding is still a blast, but may be more fun on a road bike!

Just picked up the Scattante XRL on special from performance bike.  It was on sale and I have a close friend (who is very fast) that rode a previous model for 5 years.  At least I know it won’t be the bike’s fault if it doesn’t go fast!

Also, I have never put together a complete bike before, so looking forward to learning some things.  Stay tuned!


2013-05-10 17.01.45

 

The frame is impressively light!!

Scattante

I am a fan of simplicity.  Aluminum frame with carbon fork.

2013-05-10 17.24.27

Twitt
Filed Under: Cool Projects · Tagged With: ,

10 Core Beliefs of Winners

April 16, 2013 by · 1 Comment

When I was about 11, my dad sent me to a sports coach who taught the fundamentals of being a great athlete. I never had a coach like this, who worked with the best athletes in the world and taught such a variety of subjects.  Philosophy of strength training, sports psychology, flexibility and coordination.  I only had about three sessions with the guy, and I don’t even remember his name, but I do remember some of the things that I learned.

At one session, he gave me a piece of paper with the 10 core beliefs that winners hold.  I kept the paper and stumbled upon it a couple of years ago.  Those beliefs came from a book by Dr. Walter Doyle Staples, “Think Like a Winner.”  In the book, Dr. Staples explains his research into which beliefs separate successful people from the pack.

These are the 10 core beliefs that winners hold.

  1. Winners are not born, they are made.
  1. The dominant force in your existence is the thinking you engage in.
  1. You are empowered to create your own reality.
  1. There is some benefit to be had from every adversity.
  1. Each one of your beliefs is a choice.
  1. You are never defeated until you accept defeat as a reality, and decide to stop trying.
  1. You already possess the ability to excel in at least one key area of your life.
  1. The only real limitations on what you can accomplish in your life are those you impose on your self.
  1. There can be no great success without great commitment.
  1. You need the support and cooperation of other people to achieve any worth while goal.

winner

 

 

Do your beliefs empower you or set limitations for you?  

Do you hold some of these beliefs?  

 

 

Twitt
Filed Under: Be Awesome, Uncategorized ·

Ben Franklin’s Guide to Self Improvement

March 21, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

I recently read Walter Isaacson’s biography on Ben Franklin.  One thing that jumped out at me was Franklin’s relentless pursuit of improvement.  He was constantly reading, thinking, writing and experimenting.  In his youth he developed a system to improve his character that included his desired 13 virtues.

ben_franklin

He found that trying to focus on all 13 virtues at once was challenging and developed a method for practicing all of them over time.  To do so, he would focus on one virtue per week for 13 weeks then repeat.  This would allow him to complete the cycle four times in one year.  Franklin also tracked his results on paper and then tablets so that he could be accountable to himself.

The part that I liked was not that he searched for perfection, but that he developed this practical way to better himself over time.  If you implied such a system for a year with anything that you wanted to learn, you would certainly be better off than when you started.  Here is an example of the table he used to track his progress.  He would mark each day where the goal was missed.

ben_franklin_virtues

A couple thoughts:

  •  What do you want to be better at?
  • How can you track it over time and hold yourself accountable?
Twitt
Filed Under: Be Awesome, Uncategorized ·

St. Patrick’s Day – A Brief History

March 15, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

My birthday is on St. Patrick’s Day every year.  March 17th always.  It’s a fun birthday because everyone always wants to celebrate on your birthday!

ST-PATRICKS-DAY2

For the longest time, I didn’t know much about the true history of the holiday so I looked it up, and this is what I found.

Who is St. Patrick?

saint-patrick

A quick history:
St. Patrick was born in Britian (December 16, 385 AD) and kidnapped by pirates at the age of 16.  He was sold into slavery in Ireland and was held captive there until he escaped to Gaul (France) six years later.  When he finally returned home, he began studying at the church, and planned to return to Ireland in order to spread the Christian faith.  Patrick spent the next 30 years building churches in Ireland and planting the seeds of Roman Catholicism. It is believed that St. Patrick passed away on March 17th.

Cooler-than-Ice Facts about St. Patrick’s Day

  • Importance of the Shamrock: At first, the idea of the trinity was confusing to the pagans. However, St. Patrick cleverly used the shamrock to explain – “just as one shamrock has three leaves, God exists simultaneously as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

shamrock

  • Researchers recently found Guinness may be as effective as daily aspirin in reducing the blood clots that cause heart attacks
  • The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in 1762 in New York City. (This is the longest running civilian parade in the world.

Myth Busted?

The Legend:
Legend has it that St. Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland.

The Truth:
The snakes actually left Ireland when Chuck Norris took a mini-vacation there during the 3rd century BC.  Snakes were afraid of the vibrations produced by his walking, which measure on the Richter scale.

chucknorris_snakes

Or more likely…

The snake was a pagan religious symbol. These religions slowly disappeared from Ireland as St. Patrick built Christian churches all
over the island.

pagan-symbols-1

Twitt
Filed Under: Uncategorized ·

Do Your Decisions Ever Feel Clouded?

March 11, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

I am reading a fantastic book right now called “Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger.”  In this book, the author (Peter Bevelin) breaks down how our decision process literally evolved along with the human species.  In the first section of the book, he outlines 28 biases that might cause you to make a decision that contains bias.

seeking_wisdom_cover

One factor that he outlines (and I have noticed frequently impacts my decisions) is what he defines as “reciprocity.”  We tend to have a strong desire to reciprocate.  Nicole and I have been visiting open houses lately and without fail the real estate agent asks for our contact information so that she can follow up with some properties.  Each time before we enter the house, I tell Nicole that I am not going to give in and give this agent my email because they call me after trying to sell me houses I don’t wish to afford.  However, the moment always arises and I write down my email thinking, “they were nice enough to show me this house, the least I could do is give them my email address.”

This morning I read one of my favorite blogs in a new post by Mark Suster, a VC out of LA.  In his most recent post: Understanding the Consequences of the Business Decisions You Fudge On, he describes a decision that one of his CEO’s recently made that had poor consequences.  In this decision, Mark describes the CEO’s reason behind the decision.

“He said we couldn’t make a change yet. He was deeply committed to change. But this was too sensitive of a time. It might destabilize the team. It might affect fund raising. It would be yet another distraction for this fledgling CEO and he felt he needed to focus on biz dev, sales, marketing and fund raising.”

In this description, Mark doesn’t know it, but he describes several of Peter Bevelin’s reasons for making a decision influenced by human bias and poses the question:

“… are we merely buying off our own personal guilt from the economic and societal consequences of the hard choices we make? That’s the easy way out. We sleep better at night. It’s egocentric.”

If you come to decision points that seem cloudy, don’t worry, it’s normal.  Even the smartest people struggle to make the “best” decisions and their natural human biases get in the way.

I highly recommend Bevelin’s book as well as Suster’s blog.

 

 

 

Twitt
Filed Under: Books ·

Going Green at Lunch

March 6, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

Nicole and I have been bringing out lunch to work for some time after we identified that we could travel more by saving money on lunch. Plus, trying to eat healthy much less vegan at the local restaurant pretty much requires packing a lunch.

One thing that I disliked was all the plastic that I would throw away after taking my lunch to work. Ziplock for sandwich. Ziplock for almonds. Reused plastic bag from Target to carry everything in.  I knew these habits were not planet friendly, but making the habit change requires a concious effort just like anything else.

All reusable supplies!

We started picking up these reusable bags from races that we did – no extra cost.  Now, we have enough that Nicole uses them for groceries too.  Then, we got some plastic tupperware for our sandwiches and salads (not sure this is the best because it is still plastic, but at least we wash the tupperware and have been reusing the same set for 2 years).  Then, we got some glass tupperware that is microwave friendly for soups and stews.

 

Finally, I started using a mug for my morning coffee at work and an alluminum bottle for water during the day.

I was using almost totally reusable tools at work.  The last peice was utensils.  I was still using plastic spoons and forks at the office.

Plastic Spoon

 

Now that I have my utensils at work, I feel like I have made some progress on the habit change.  Here’s a little clip from Jack Johnson reminding you to use re-usable water bottles.

Twitt
Filed Under: Be Awesome ·

Eating Your Way to Costa Rica!

February 28, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

I have always had a frugal side to me.  When I first graduated college and got a job, I was making only $900/month.  Talk about not getting your monies worth on an education.  It didn’t matter, I had a great gig working in the athletic department of my alma mater – UC Davis.  My friend Greg and I definitely couldn’t affort to buy lunch out so we developed a habit of bringing lunch to work so that we could survive the month finanically.  Eventually, I got a job that paid more money but the habit stuck!

Zopilote Surf Camp

Saving $5/day on lunch, every day ($5 x 5 days/week x 47 work weeks) saves you $1,175 in a year!  And chances are if you bring your lunch, you will save more than that…

Considering flights to Costa Rica are around $650 and the cost of living there is fairly cheap, bringing my lunch to work every day allowed me to eat my way to Costa Rica a couple times over.

Check out my favorite Surf Camp – Zopilote here.  Start bringing your lunch to work and join me next year on a warm water surfing adventure!

 

 

Twitt
Filed Under: Uncategorized ·

P90x is Chest & Back Tomorrow and so am I!

February 18, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

It’s been almost a year since I touched a weight or did any consistent core strength exercises and honestly, my body started breaking down as I put in training miles for the last marathon.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the feeling, so getting back in the gym (living room) and committing to p90x for my third trip through the program.  My cardio vascular fitness is fine, however strength is lacking at the moment.  It’s been two marathons, a half Ironman and a full Ironman since last connecting with Tony Horton, so definitely looking forward to tomorrow morning!  Almost 7 pull-ups on the fit test today…

Wall sit test!

Wall sit test!

I won’t be following the traditional diet plan this round as Nicole and I are on a mostly vegan diet.  Looking forward to seeing how this feels and if any supplements will be needed.  I will, however, be cutting out alcohol and coffee for the full period and processed sugar for at least the first 30 days.  We’ll have to see how far Nicole makes it with that commitment!  Oh coffee, I will miss you…

Quick stats before embarking:

Weight: 196.6
Chest: 39
Waist: 32.75
Hips: 40.5
Thighs: 22
Biceps: 13.5

Pull ups: 6.5
Push ups: 35
Wall sits: 1:29
Curls: 25 lbs 20 reps
In n outs: 40

 

Twitt
Filed Under: P90X ·

Lance Armstrong: The Oprah Interview – On His Own Terms

January 14, 2013 by · 1 Comment

Oprah and Lance Armstrong: The Worldwide Exclusive — First Look

Cyclist Lance Armstrong speaks exclusively with Oprah in his first no-holds-barred interview addressing the alleged doping scandal, years of accusations of cheating, and charges of lying about the use of performance-enhancing drugs throughout his storied career.

Find out more about this worldwide exclusive

Watch Oprah’s interview with Lance Armstrong on Thursday, January 17, from 9 to 10:30 p.m. ET/PT on OWN. The interview will be simultaneously streamed LIVE worldwide on Oprah.com and Facebook.com/owntv.

Lance On His Own Terms:

Lance Armstrong will testify this week, but he will do it on his own terms, he will not be under oath and he will choose his cross examiner.  Oprah Winfrey is world famous when it comes to celebrity interviews and rehabbing reputations.  This Thursday, we hope she will ask Lance Armstrong the tough questions.

This set-up is text book Lance.  He has never played by anyone else’s rules, why start now?

Here are 10 Questions that Oprah should ask.
Why Lance Didn’t Fight the USADA:

By skipping the fight with the USADA, Lance saved himself millions and now has the ability to hold court of pulic opinion on his own terms with his choice of cross examiners.

What’s Next:

We know almost everyone in cycling cheated at this point, but Lance was the biggest jerk about cheating and he really hurt people’s lives and families because they wanted to tell the truth.  Will he take responsibility and apologize? Will he try to make things whole for those that he hurt?  His actions will speak louder than his words.  Looking forward to watching this play out…

Twitt
Filed Under: Uncategorized ·
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