what de rass?

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2011-09-11T03:56:00.002-04:00

Finally.

Living where I live gives me a lot of options for ways to spend my (limited) free time. On Saturday, 16 July, I spent some of that time (just under 2 hours) at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland watching this classic American film.

I will say this...it is an interesting picture.

For one, I definitely gained an appreciation for diamonds from watching it. I know that whenever it is replayed in theaters, people must flock to their closest Tiffany & Co. store over the course of the following week. I know I started looking for one (and though I didn't find it at first through lazy searching, I found it was closer to me than the De Beers store I eventually found). One morning soon, I look forward to having breakfast at Tiffany's. There is just something inspirational and powerful about diamonds, on this point I can agree with Holly.

Audrey Hepburn killed it in her role as Holly Golightly. It has been a while since a female character caused both feelings of distaste and disrespect concomitant with feelings of remorse and pity. Holly is truly someone we should feel sorry for as much as we despise her. She's a completely reprehensible character and yet you can empathize with how she got to where she is. Or at least I can, but I'm weird for a guy. Holly truly is the incarnation of everything that is "wrong" with American women.

What really came up for me was the idea that I've known so many women who are real Holly Golightlys. Women who use men in myriad ways, and I'm sure in some cases, its not a conscious decision to do so. (In most cases, however, it's damn well conscious!) Women who get themselves into these difficult situations due to their having used men, and then wonder why the men feel misled, betrayed, used, abused, and angry. Really? You thought there were no consequences to your behavior? That all of this stuff he bought you, and all of the places he took you, and YOU allowed him to feel like he was successfully buying the pussy. Then when you reneged on the implied agreement (money, things, trips in exchange for sex), you honestly can't see why he's upset? Or even worse, you run from him, the situation and yourself?

As a wise man (aka Buckaroo Banzai) once said "No matter where YOU go, there YOU are." As our "heroine" finds out in the movie, you can't run from yourself. No matter how long and hard and far you run, you can't escape yourself. Remember this, ladies. That face you see in the mirror, and the (mis)deeds that come with it, will be with you forever.

So here we are in a world filled with Holly Golightlys, desperately seeking love, attention, and respect yet so empty, unfulfilled, and lonely with no idea how to obtain that which they seek. Maybe seek isn't the best word, because their behavior can hardly be called seeking. Yearning may be accurate. However, they have no idea how to reciprocate - for whatever reasons - and thus they deprive themselves of opportunities to obtain that which they really want. Its arguable whether they even know what they really want. I'd surmise that these Hollys living amongst us actually have no idea what they want from life, what they want from a relationship, nor what they need from a partner. They don't know themselves, and all of their seeking is with the goal of learning - from someone else! - who they are and awhat they want.

Seeking to find out who you are from someone else is pretty pathetic and is doomed to fail.

All that said, Breakfast at Tiffany's really got me thinking about my past relationships (litany of FAIL that they are) as well as attempts at creating a new one. It was then, after realizing how many of Holly's behaviors are vividly apparent in many of the women I've met while dating, that I became quite sad. If you're a relationship-minded Black man such as I am, and the majority of the Black women you encounter appear to think as Holly did, then you realize that your chances of having a marriage and building a family with a modern day Black woman are pretty grim.

Damn.

MY Goals for 2011

2011-05-16T02:12:00.001-04:00

2010 was a HELL of year for me, that's for sure. I didn't achieve any of my 2010 goals, as I spent the year fighting my Sickle Cell and my inherently self-destructive ways. (While I've FINALLY defeated the Sickle Cell crisis originally brought on during the blizzards of early 2010, I have only recently gotten rid of another ulcer on my right foot.)

I think I've made some progress on the self-destruction front, but it's a constant battle. Especially now that I've been left by my girlfriend, maintaining focus through the mourning and pain takes serious intellectual effort. I'd planned to propose to her this year, and now I can remove that personal goal from my list. :( That's another blog post for another day.

Anyway, below you will find a very short, focused list of things to do in 2011.

UPDATE: I removed the professional goals because they are not in alignment with where I am going professionally anymore. I am refocusing, refining and narrowing my goals. There may be more that get the ax.

Basic --

Personal: Visit Aruba for at least 5 days flying first class both ways by 31 Dec 2011.
~~Personal: Propose marriage to my girlfriend by 31 Dec 2011.~~

Business: Completely unwind my real estate partnership by 31 Jul 2011.
Business: Generate $500 in monthly gross revenue by 30 Sep 2011.

Financial: Achieve $110,000 net worth by 30 Sep 2011.
Financial: Save $30,000 in emergency funds by 31 Dec 2011.

~~Professional: To be known in the DevOps community alongside such luminaries as Stephen Nelson-Smith, Theo Schlossnagle, John Allspaw, Jesse Robbins, and Adam Jacob by 31 Dec 2011.~~

Fitness: Deadlift 200 lbs by 31 Dec 2011.
Fitness: Achieve 9% body fat by 31 Dec 2011.

Stretch --

Business: Generate $15000 in monthly gross revenue by 31 Dec 2011.

Financial: Save $50,000 in emergency funds by 31 Dec 2011.

~~Professional: To be the LEAD infrastructure engineer for a company delivering its service via the Internet by 31 Dec 2011.~~

Fitness: Ride (snowboard) a black trail by 31 Dec 2011.
Fitness: Deadlift 300 lbs by 31 Dec 2011.
Fitness: Achieve 8.5% body fat by 31 Dec 2011.

Private Equity Roll-Up of Open Source Security Companies

2010-02-20T05:13:00.000-05:00

I was looking around at local companies and somehow tripped over the website for Zenoss, the company which backs and provides community leadership for the open source monitoring software. Unbeknown to me, Zenoss is headquartered in Annapolis, MD, which is right in my backyard.

Kooky.

Having noticed this, I thought to follow up on SourceFire, the poster child for these kinds of companies. You know, the ones who seek to be like Red Hat but for open source software targeting a specific computer security discipline. SourceFire, based in Columbia, MD, is another local company, and probably the biggest and most well known. This is likely due to the fact that they are now public.

For those who don't know, SourceFire backs Snort, the very well known and popular intrusion detection and prevention software originally written by Marty Roesch. SourceFire is the company that Roesch founded to provide support, service and consulting for the otherwise free Snort, and he's still CTO. SourceFire has been held up as a model for this type of company. I would imagine that Tenable Network Security and Zenoss probably modeled themselves on SourceFire to some degree. (Of course, I could be mistaken, as I'm not familiar with the founding history of either company.)

Tenable is also local to the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Tenable is the home of Nessus, the well known and popular open source vulnerability scanning tool. Tenable, like SourceFire, calls Columbia, MD home. I'm guessing that there may be a few other such companies in this region, some better known than others but focused on the same product market(s).

Now, does anyone else see the pattern here? Open source software. Security a strong theme, but an exclusive one. In any case, all of these tools are infrastructure oriented, being focused on managing systems and networks in an operational, production context. All 3 companies are a stone's throw from Washington, DC. All are small. While Tenable and Zenoss appear to be privately held, SourceFire has been public since 2007 and has a market capitalization of $648M. Both SourceFire and Zenoss have taken institutional venture funding, while Tenable appears to have been funded internally and then from cash flow. All of them make software which, independently, are components of a complete systems and network management infrastructure. To my eyes, each company's offerings are complementary to the other's.

So, thinking about this, it occurred to me...

How come some private equity shop hasn't thought of rolling up these 3 companies? Obviously there has to be a business case for doing so. However, the logic is clear. Complementary businesses. All 3 are geographically close to each other, which means easy to manage and keep your eyes on. Redundant functions such as HR, sales, and general administrative which could all be trimmed or eliminated. Consolidation of physical space into 1 or 2 locations, for more cost savings. More integration and cross-pollination of the software products themselves, even possibly bundling. Each company would widen their potential customer base, gaining access to the non-shared customers of the other firms. There really would be some synergy here, and that's before looking at the possible benefits of change in management. Of course, the investors in Zenoss would also see an exit, and in today's venture environment, liquidity events are to be prized. I'm not sure any of those investors are Tier 1 so any win they could get would be great for them in terms of mindshare, liquidity, and marketing.

SourceFire appears unlikely to go for such a deal, of course, considering that they turned down an acquisition offer when they were 1/3 of the size (in terms of market cap). However, there may be some other companies which could get rolled up with Zenoss and Tenable while the acquirer bides his time, waiting for the right moment to strike.

The other thing, which just popped into my weary mind, is that SourceFire could BE the acquirer. That could be useful. It appears that they have some degree of financial success. Some size might be helpful in some cases, such as allowing them to put more resources behind their open source projects and reduce costs/administrative overheard (the same benefits a PE shop would seek). Maybe this is in SourceFire's future? Who knows what they're planning now, but it seems almost absurd not to look at this.

Anyway, it would be funny to see the DC metro area and mid-Atlantic region become an open source software powerhouse through this maneuver. In the past, I've argued that the Federal Government sucks all of the air out of the room when it comes to innovation and entrepreneurialism in DC. However, this is exactly the kind of strategic move that is required to comfort entrepreneurs that they can: [1] build a successful and viable technology business in this region; [2] find the kind of investors willing to back them in this region; and [3] have a liquidity event, which inspires both other investors and entrepreneurs to pursue a startup. Finally, this shows the DC metro area as a hotbed of technology and innovation, instead of just the home to the Beltway Bandits and other companies feeding from the US Federal Government teet. THAT is something I believe to be desperately required for this region.

Anyway, now you see what kind of random thoughts I have when I'm bored. Have a good one, my peoples! I'm going to bed.

Real Estate Shadow Inventory

2010-01-11T02:04:00.002-05:00

Who didn't see this coming?

I really wonder how long it will take everyone to figure out that the only solution to this debt is for lenders to reduce it. Modifications which lead to re-default are not solutions. The outstanding loan balances WILL have to be decreased, either through (correct) modifications, foreclosure, or some other action. The debt simply cannot be paid off at existing levels.

Sheesh!

MY Goals for 2010

2009-12-29T15:14:00.002-05:00

Posting them here for all to see, and hold me accountable for. The pursuit starts RIGHT NOW!!

I think this is a simpler set of goals to pursue for the coming year. I like it. Simple. Concise. Focused. I think this list fits well with my recently passed theme and possibility of clearing. Getting the "stuff" out of my space and life has given me room to create my EXACTLY as I want to live it. (Thanks, hard drive crash, for helping me find clarity!)

The 2009 list was a bit...long. Nothing wrong with that, but I like the feeling of the 2010 list. The feeling of clarity fits my "doing what matters" attitude perfectly. It's a doable list, but it contains challenge as well. I think 2010 will be an amazing year, and it starts NOW. So go get yours already!

Cheers!

Basic --

Personal: Upgrade RHCE certification by 30 Mar 2010.
Personal: Obtain pistol by 30 Jun 2010.
Personal: Achieve VCP certification by 30 Jun 2010.
Personal: Visit Aruba for 10 days flying first class both ways by 30 Sep 2010.

Business: Completely unwind my real estate partnership by 30 Jun 2010.
Business: Generate $500 in monthly gross revenue by 30 Mar 2010.

Financial: Achieve $90,000 net worth by 30 Mar 2010.
Financial: Save $30,000 in emergency funds by 30 Jun 2010.

Fitness: Bench press 250 lbs by 18 Jul 2010.
Fitness: Achieve 8% body fat by 31 Dec 2010.

Stretch --

Personal: Retire by 18 July 2010!!!

Business: Generate $15000 in monthly gross revenue by 18 July 2010.

Financial: Save $50,000 in emergency funds by 31 Dec 2010.

Fitness: Ride a black trail by 31 Dec 2010.
Fitness: Deadlift 300 lbs by 31 Dec 2010.

Sun + Oracle and Misguided EU Policy

2009-12-27T02:23:00.005-05:00

I originally wrote this to the Bloomberg reporter who wrote a piece about Oracle's attempt to purchase Sun Microsystems. I hope to go into more detail here than I did in that e-mail, just to lay out the case for myself. I believe the EU Competition Commission has made inaccurate and misdirected (although not misguided) claims about the impact that Oracle ownership of MySQL will have on the database market. Feel free to let me know what you think. I want to use this to solidify my thinking on the subject.

Oracle's best argument is easy. While I doubt they will argue this publicly, it is well known in MySQL circles that they already did things which might have been said to hurt MySQL. In doing so, they may have hurt MySQL but they plantedseeds for the continued expansion and growth of the relational database market when dissatisfied users of MySQL turn(ed) to other products.

The most important thing Oracle did which eventually strengthened MySQL was buying InnoDB. InnoDB is the "engine" which actually stores the data in a MySQLdatabase. With MySQL, engines are pluggable, meaning you can replace one engine with another as your requirements change. The engine manages the on-disk storage format, in various file formats, of the data stored in the database. Engines provide the core functionality of the database, things such as ACID compliance, transactions, and other features that make a database a database. MySQL's default engine is MyISAM but the most popular engine with power users is InnoDB. InnoDB's features are what make MySQL similar to (but hardly as powerful as) Oracle. In the 4+ years since Oracle bought InnoDB, they have let it languish, and it has been eclipsed by other storage engines.

Oracle's failure to innovate with InnoDB led to the Maria and XtraDB projects. XtraDB is a direct fork of InnoDB. The same would happen if they tried to kill MySQL. Users concerned with this change in affairs would begin adapting the last version of MySQL for their own purposes. Since the source code is open, they already have the power and freedom to do this. This negates the EU's argument that forking is insignificant. Many significant open source projects are the result of forking, a well known example of which is the OpenBSD operating system which was forked from the NetBSD project.

Wait! MySQL has already been forked!!

Drizzle, which is also open source, is a fork of MySQL due to MySQL's (and now Sun's) slow progress in giving customers what they have asked for in MySQL. MySQL/Sun was lambasted for taking so long to release the 5.x series of MySQL. Even the founder of MySQL, Monty Widenius, publicly disparaged Sun and the actual software release for its bugginess, slowness and the long time required to ship it. (He did this while still employed by Sun.) While the 5.x series of MySQL has improved, there are still features which people will have to wait until the 6.x series to see them ship in MySQL. These are features available in other commercial and open source databases.

Then factor in the outside contributions to MySQL from Facebook and Google, among others. Don't forget Percona, the creators of XtraDB (and founded by former MySQL employees). All of these companies - today - have contributed software to the MySQL project, some of which has made it into the shipping product but much which has not. While they use MySQL because it fits their needs, there are other products which they are likely evaluating, products which seek to displace MySQL or otherwise address perceived MySQL shortcomings.

Don't let the EU argument mislead you. The EU will try to make a point that these MySQL patches that Google and others have released are not for the layman to use. A novice could not apply these patches to MySQL's source code and get a product as full featured as Oracle. This is true. However, a layman is not likely to use MySQL in the first place. A layman is not likely to use Linux, the most popular platform for deploying MySQL. This point, should the EU pull it out, is moot. The people who do use MySQL are VERY likely to apply these patches. A representative example of this type of power user is SmugMug, an online photo sharing service for professionals. SmugMug is famous for their technical acumen, and thus having the ears of technology vendors because of their scale, their technical demands and the fact that they are a paying customer. However, SmugMug's technical staff get their hands dirty with the code in order to squeeze every bit of performance and functionality out of MySQL. THESE types of customers have no problem applying patches to the MySQL source code and recompiling it. That is the Internet ethos at work.

The founder of MySQL, Michael "Monty Widenius", founded the MariaDB project.

Now we come to the point about the future of the relational data model in the modern, Internet-connected world. Relational database management systems (RDBMSes) are well known but that doesn't mean they are the "best" solution to every data problem. The world has seen the emergence of many types of data management systems designed to address specific problems, many of those problems being with scale and performance (Those are 2 different but related concepts.) There are in-memory databases, streaming databases and column oriented databases. Both of the companies referenced here were started by one of the pioneers in the RDBMS world, Mike Stonebraker. This is not a niche.

There are also simpler database systems designed to address specific data management problems of scale, but stripping away a lot of the complexity inherent in RDBMSes. One of the big concepts now is key-value stores, such as Redis, Tokyo Cabinet, Memcached, Mnesia and Amazon's SimpleDB. You have wide-column stores like Google's BigTable (Google only), Hypertable and HBase (both modeled on BigTable) and Cassandra, given to us by Facebook.

There are document oriented databases such as CouchDB and MongoDB. Let's also not forget eventually consistent key-value stores like Amazon's dynamo, LinkedIn's Project Voldemort and dynomite.

That seems like a lot of data storage choice to me. Some of it is traditional RDBMS, like MySQL, while some of it is implementation of cutting edge concepts in data storage. All of the projects are addressing particular issues that people have in real world usage. Some use SQL as their query language, while some have other methods. So the loss of MySQL would not be a huge loss in a very real sense. There are plenty of other options, just in the open source world.

We still have classic, open source RDBMSes which already compete with MySQL, including Stonebraker's PostgreSQL. Firebird. Then there are commercial RDBMSes on the market. Sybase has SQL Anywhere. Informix is still shipped by IBM, as is DB2. (I totally forgot about DB2.) Even Drizzle, which is a stripped down MySQL, is still a relational database, just stripped of much of MySQL 5.x's bloat.

As for the business of open source, we've already mentioned InnoDB. Let's not forget that Oracle also owns Berkeley DB via their acquisition of Sleepycat Software. Berkeley DB was and still is open source, available online for free downloads. Keep in mind that if Oracle tried to do anything to the actual code of any open source project code it owns, there would be mass downloads and forking of the last open versions of the code. This is what happened with SSH when Tatu Ylonen - the inventor of SSH - changed the license terms on versions after 1.2.12. The OpenBSD project forked that version into OpenSSH, which is far more popular now. While SSH Communications makes a business in providing a commercial SSH software suite, The OpenSSH project ships more SSH code and has more code in people's hands, being used daily. Even Sun integrated OpenSSH into Solaris back in the days of Solaris 9, giving the world SunSSH.

Oracle does have economic interest in MySQL if this merger goes through no matter what happens to MySQL itself due to owning InnoDB. MySQL/Sun dual licenses the MySQL software. This is the same business model that Sleepycat Software, the creators of Berkeley DB, has. Sleepycat is now owned by Oracle. MySQL/Sun customers who have paid for MySQL, either in the form of support contracts or consulting, will then look to Oracle to provide those services. That's real money, even if it is a pittance to Oracle as a percentage of their gross revenues. That's customer goodwill. That's potential upgrades to Oracle's core database product. So there is a certain amount of harm to itself that Oracle will seek to avoid once it owns MySQL.

Also keep in mind that Oracle has been a player in open source for a while, especially as they entered into the Linux market. Oracle is the biggest backer of Btrfs, a Linux filesystem under active development. This filesystem is seen as Linux's best shot at competing with the features of Sun's ZFS. The code is open, so if Oracle decided to no longer support Btrfs in favor of ZFS (which is a core part of Sun's Solaris and OpenSolaris operating systems), there is already a community around it which could keep Btrfs alive. Much the same could, and likely would, happen if Oracle ceased active involvement in MySQL or moved to close the code.

Oracle may eventually represent a threat to MySQL. However, the biggest threat due to Oracle's presence in the MySQL ecosystem is the indirect threat of Oracle being out innovated, out maneuvered, and whether intentional or not, allowing MySQL to atrophy. While there will be others who pick up the MySQL mantle, many have already moved on to projects and products that better suit their uses than MySQL does. Better than MySQL has for some time. As the owner of MySQL, it is in Oracle's interest to avoid that outcome, at least for a little while.

The Competition Commission's fears are overblown. Right now, the EU is headed toward destroying a competitor to HP and IBM -- thus, reducing competition in the systems market -- by holding up the Oracle acquisition of Sun. That's the real risk here. Sun is losing $100M USD per quarter, according to Larry Ellison. What does the competitive landscape gain if Sun dies? MySQL will still be open source, still be popular, and will still lose ground (slowly) to other competitors for other reasons. The EU will achieve none of its stated goals, so the real question is, are the goals it ostensibly claims it's real goals?

Doing What Matters

2009-12-17T03:35:00.002-05:00

After a conversation with a good friend about some of the goal-achieving tactics I've employed in the past, I realized "this is some good stuff!" So I figured I'd share it here. As always, your mileage may vary. All of these ideas or concepts are things I have recently implemented as part of my career development and progression. Some of them find their origins in Earl Nightingale's "The Strangest Secret" and other metaphysics sources. (The term "self-help" is pejorative, inaccurate and unhelpful.) Anyway, feel free to let me know if you try this techniques and how well it works for you. I expect this to be the first in a series of thoughts on goals and careers.

The first and most important piece of "advice" I gave my friend was to only work on things that matter.

Now, the idea of "what matters" is subjective. Hell, Seth Godin and his merry band of co-conspirators just released an e-book on this very topic. While this book may enumerate and describe what topics or ideas these (rather well known and even influential) people consider to matter NOW, the fact is that this IS a subjective idea. What matters to anyone - what is important to that person - varies with the person. In the context of one's career, what matters is probably what matters to your boss, or your boss' boss, or similar decision makers within the organization. In this context, these are the people whose idea of "what matters" we will discuss.

It's not hard to find out what matters to these people, the ones who constitute the management hierarchy into which you ultimately report. Start with your immediate supervisor and if necessary, work your way up. And just what do you do to find out "what matters" to them? You ask, of course.

Generally, your job is to make your boss look good to his boss. Simple, eh? Unless you and your boss have an adversarial relationship, helping your boss get ahead is a standard way of increasing your standing with and within the organization. This plays back into the concept of "you can have everything in life that you want if you're willing to help enough other people get what they want first".

The next way to determine what matters is to look at your goals. Most organizations, especially large ones, have an annual (or more frequent) process of establishing goals for each employee. The only connection to this process may occur once per year, when the goals for the year (or the coming year) are established and agreed to between the employee and his (her) immediate manager. In some organizations, there may be regular (semi-annual or quarterly) checkups on the progress toward the goals. Whatever the case, there will usually be some organizationally determined goals as well as some self-determined goals. These organizationally determined goals are "what matters" to the hierarchy above and including your manager.

Once you have determined what matters to your boss and his management chain, do your best to give it to them. (Oh come on! You can't tell me you didn't see THAT coming!)

Let me describe how I took this on. Some of you may be saying that you can't just do "what matters", but that you have do whatever your management throws at you. They say jump and your response is supposed to be "how high!", right? I beg to differ. I never said any of this stuff would be easy to do, and you may have to start slowly with it so as to not attract to much attention to the unimportant bullshit you are now not doing (or avoiding). However, the best part about the stuff which doesn't matter is that because it doesn't matter, few people will be paying it any attention. They will be focused on the stuff that does matter.

(Yet another way to identify those things - ideas, projects, customers, or "work" in general - that do matter is to observe where the attention is directed by management and others.)

For example, there is a particular class of problem that I used to deal with on a regular basis at my job. The fact that I kept dealing with this problem over and over, with no end in sight, frustrated the hell out of me. Then I began collaborating with someone in another group on an unrelated project, and through this collaboration I saw an opportunity to correct this "problem". After weeks of discussion (some of it heated), cajoling, presenting evidence, and otherwise attempting to make a case for fixing this "problem", I realized that my collaborator - someone with both the responsibility AND authority to resolve this problem permanently - had no intention of doing so. It wasn't and isn't important to him. Thus, it likely did not make the radar of his management, and so forth and so on. At this point, I chose to stop attempting to resolve or fix this "problem". In fact, I chose to completely ignore this problem. It stopped existing in my world. I literally do not even "see" these issues during the course of my regular duties.

In the moment that I made the aforementioned choice, my stress and frustration vanished. I now had significantly more time to pour into other projects, which I subsequently did with almost immediate results. In the span of approximately 6 weeks, I accomplished 3 of the 5 personal goals I had agreed to with my direct superior. (A fourth had been accomplished months prior.) I went from 20% completion to 80% completion in a matter of weeks, on goals which had stopped me cold for 2 straight years. With 2 weeks left in the year, I am 95% complete. I will reach 100% by year's end, and I imagine I will be on the only person reporting to my manager who will reach that milestone.

Along with crushing my stated professional goals, I found time to focus on working with customers who matter. These are the customers who generate significant amounts of revenue for the company. I've received accolades from my colleagues who support our biggest customer, and those words of praise have been forwarded up the chain to my manager and his boss. I've made suggestions to my colleagues which have been picked up and championed by a counterpart of my direct manager. I've gotten my name in front of a wider audience of co-workers and colleagues. Basically, in the space I created by ruthlessly avoiding those things which don't matter, I have been able to gain visibility and recognition for my contribution to the organization's goals. My efforts have been directly responsible for generating new revenue with our biggest customer. I have been acknowledged, to my management hierarchy, by that customer's support personnel. All of this has occurred within the last 2 months, and most of it is due focusing on the stuff that matters while actively repelling the stuff which does not matter.

In light of my experience with doing what matters, and only what matters, I shared this advice with some of my former students as well. What spurred this move was coming across the following guest post on I Will Teach You To Be Rich. This post perfectly complemented the advice I gave my friend to focus on the stuff that matters, ignoring as much as possible the stuff that does not matter. In the space that is left by not working on the trivial bullshit (that passes for important), you have the freedom to create whatever you choose.

As I told my friend, a LOT of the stuff in our lives is unimportant and does not matter when it comes to getting what we say we want from life. Much of it is sold to us by the media. Much of it comes from our desire to be liked, accepted, or curry favor with others. Then there is the inability to say "no", for the same reasons. Cal Newport's guest blog post illustrates the power of using this word in the service of our own personal goals. Even stuff which is legitimately important to other people may not be important to YOU. Remember this. This does not invalidate the wants, needs or desires of other people, by no means. What it should do is help you be RUTHLESS in determining that which serves your goal -- that which matters to you -- so that you can act in accordance with those goals.

(For the love of God and all that is holy, PLEASE start saying "NO" to the people in your life who have shown you the regular disrespect of wasting your time. Time is the one resource you cannot get back, so optimal use of it is critical to this process. These people who rob you of your time may not have that intent, but the outcome they create is what their actions must be measured by. Theft of time is selfish, self-centered, egotistical and disrespectful. If anyone deserves to receive a NO, it is this "Time Bandit".)

Ultimately, this comes down to clarity. You cannot do that which matters (to you or anyone else) if you are unclear about what that is. Clarity is the root of all accomplishment. You MUST be absolutely clear about what your goal(s) is (are). To achieve this state of awareness requires a level of honesty with yourself that can only be described as being ruthless. Being honest on this level may hurt, because you may find out that things you created in your mind as important are not truly important to you. Maybe they were (are) important to your parents, your extended family, your spouse or significant other, your children, your co-workers or important to other random people in your life. Hell, they may be important to people who completely do not matter to you at all. However, these things may not be important to you. So be honest with and to yourself if you want clarity, and once you have clarity, execute RUTHLESSLY in congruence with that clarity. Also realize that what is important to you can, and will, change. This is fine. YOU have CHOICE in the matter. Once you have established the clarity about what you want, what matters and is important to you, then you must pursue that. If clarity leads to you to the realization that something different now matters to you, pursue that. Whatever you pursue, do so with the single minded focus and intention which can only be arrived at via clarity - of purpose, of need, of desire.

Now, I will say that being this ruthless about doing what matters may not always be fun. In fact, it likely will not be fun. However, it is absolutely critical to achieving the goals you have laid before you. In my personal life, in the pursuit of those things which matter, I have found myself surfing the Internet less, going to clubs and parties less (which I only did bi-weekly before), having a drink less, and even watching pr0n less. We manage to fill our time with all manner of things, activities and people which are not important to us. This is a bad habit that we must learn to break, and the way you break such a habit is to constantly exercise the muscle of breaking it. This is a process, a journey, yet the journey itself is not guaranteed to be fun. (The more worthwhile the goal, the less fun the journey probably should be. Take starting and finishing an undergraduate education, for example.) However, we are pursuing this goal for the sense of achievement that we believe comes with arriving at the ultimate destination, in whatever form that sense of achievement my manifest itself. Use the vision of that achievement, and how you will feel to reach it, to keep your head in the pursuit of the goal.

So, I'll conclude by saying "do what matters", where "what matters" is given by YOUR goals for yourself and your life. That's not to say that you should invalidate or disrespect that which is important to others. Just realize that you have no obligation to serve their goals. To do so is a choice that you make -- exercising free will -- but it is not an obligation. First, focus on gaining clarity around what matters to you. Second, execute every second, every minute, every hour, every day to create that which matters to you. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Do what matters. Fuck everything else.

Whatcha Say

2009-11-02T06:06:00.004-05:00

For some reason, I was briefly following the "debate" (if one can use that word) around this song "Whatcha Say" by this new R&B/pop artist kid named Jason Derulo. While this song is far from a classic - and likely will never achieve that status, as compared to say, any of the mid - late 1960s work from The Temptations - it's not a bad song. It's quite listenable, even for some of the naive lyrics. Here's the official video, in all of it's naive and child-like splendor, for those who have been blissfully unaware of the brouhaha.

What REALLY makes the song is the "hook", a sample of the chant by Imogen Heap from her 2005 track "Hide and Seek". (The "hook" would be the chorus, for those who don't speak R&B or hip-hop). If you're not familiar with the song (and I wasn't either before all of this), go view the video NOW!!! I'll wait.

(Additionally, if you have some time right now, check out this live performance of "Hide and Seek" as well. If not, then watch it later when you do have time.)

Now that you're back...

So, there's this debate raging by people who have no understanding of how music licensing works around the use of this sample. I don't know why. First, music licensing is considered Byzantine and archaic by people IN the music industry, and rightfully so. Second, most people don't ever bother to really learn anything about a topic before they go arguing their weakly formed points, and we see the results of such verbal diarrhea all over the Internet. Simply put, Imogen had to approve the sample in the first place, and further, she will be paid for the sample anytime the song is played. If the sample was stolen, then the lawyers will have field day over that, especially if Imogen does not own the rights herself. (However, from my brief reading of the history of the production of "Speak for Yourself", she likely owns all the rights.) This is the magic of music rights. Anyone interested should probably Google or Bing! the terms "performance rights" and "rights clearance". I'm sure that would make for an interesting night of reading!

Truly, I believe the use of this sample will broaden Imogen Heap's audience. I don't know if the phrase "little known" was appropriate before "Whatcha Say" was released, but I know that I was not familiar with her work until I wandered into this whole sampling debate. I would imagine Imogen will gain some new fans - like myself - as well as some new venues for the performance of her work. Either way, it's a win for Imogen.

More critically, I believe that this is a great example of the innovation vs. invention debate. Yes, Imogen can be said to have "invented" the 3 bars which Jason Derulo's producer sampled for this song. (I'm only going to speak as to the 3 bars of the hook, and not any other sampling from "Hide and Seek".) However, it is that producer's (J. R. Rotem, if I have my name correct) reworking of those 3 bars, and the music around them, that represents innovation. In the end, we have created a new work of art which stands on the shoulders of an earlier work of art. This is the very definition of innovation, and I think most creative people would agree that this is the heart of human progress in almost any endeavor. (Newton surely believed this.)

There is a massively overused quote, (mis-)attributed (?) to Pablo Picasso, which says "Good artists borrow, great artists steal". Now, I'm not sure if this attribution is correct, and that's an argument for another time (and site). However, I agree that most people miss the real meaning of this quote. As Ms. Esaak at about.com says, it's not about the talentless taking the prior art of the talents, misappropriating it, and being recognized, feted and paid for doing so. NO!!! That would be criminal!!! What this quote IS saying is that a great artist - one who is classically trained, has a foundation in the theory and technique or their art, and appreciates and knows the history of their art - can build upon the works of others, either via inspiration or selective and limited re-use (fair use) to create something new. I think only a small segment of the population of the world would even recognize that Jason Derulo's song samples Imogen Heap, or even that the words were the same. (A sad commentary on how many people move outside their comfort zones artistically, musically, etc. more than anything.) However, listening to those 2 songs shows that they are both very different from each other, united only in theme (failed relationships and cheating). Each artist took their inspiration, wherever it came from, and ran with it.

For some reason, I honestly think that a properly rehearsed and timed duet between Derulo and Heap would work magically. Imogen's tempo from "Hide and Seek" would have to be sped up, and the tempo of "Whatcha Say" would have to be slowed down, but I would personally LOVE to see these 2 perform "Whatcha Say" live with Imogen singing the hook. THAT would be brilliant! Probably far from likely, but brilliant nonetheless. I think it is in both artists interests to arrange such a duet as quickly as possible, preferably live and with the largest audience they can muster.

Anyway, I have no idea why I felt compelled to speak on this issue, but there! I'll end by saying that "Whatcha Say" makes me think of Black college football. I think it's the brass and drum arrangements. It takes me back to MEAC football games past. If that doesn't speak to the differences in the 2 musical pieces, I don't know what does. I can't listen to "Whatcha Say" without being transported to Howard University's Homecoming or the "Battle of the Bands". It's kooky, but that's the power of music. (I admit that I may be really fuggin' weird in that regard, too.) That's what drew ME in to the song in the first place, the hook grabbed me, and the lyrics touched me (given that it can be said I have lived through a situation similar to the one described by Derulo's lyrics). And that's what makes any discussion of theft by Jason Derulo and J. R. Rotem completely absurd. Their inspiration was drawn from many sources (Imogen Heap among them), and in the end, they created some beautiful (if not classic) music.

Peace.

Another Real Estate WTF?

2009-10-03T00:32:00.003-04:00

I sure wish someone could explain to me just how this is supposed to be positive for the real estate market (commercial and residential) in Prince George's County, MD.

You know, the Homebuilder-Realtor-Mortgage Banker Industrial Complex is determined to sink this economy, I swear!

FML!

Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!

2008-09-03T05:41:00.000-04:00

Couldn't have said it better!

I just don't get...

2008-08-04T06:49:00.002-04:00

...why there seems to be an entire swath of the Black American female population that persists in complaining about the dearth of "good Black men" while they continue to overlook perfectly good Black American males who would gladly date them (if not enter into long term relationships or even marry them). I do include myself in that group known as "good Black men". Its is not oxymoronic, and there are quite a few of us out there waiting to be discovered by Black American women.

These Black women will then complain vociferously when those same Black men proceed to enter into relationships with non-Black women, even when these Black women deemed these same Black men unworthy of their time.

WTF?

For all the sisters that fit this description (and there are many), consider this -- you had your chance and you screwed the pooch. (Pun intended.)

YOU blew it! So don't go putting it on these men that somehow they did something wrong. The brothers went and found women who were willing to work with them, grow with them, and experience life with them, while you, with your excessive demands, inflexibility and complaining attitude, were completely recalcitrant. Oftentimes, you were proud of being so difficult. So shut the fuck up, you spinsters! You got exactly what you deserved, but more importantly, you got exactly what you wanted.

Any loser who gives up an opportunity willingly abdicates the right to complain about their decision ex post facto. Accept responsibility for your actions, you whining child!

Anyway, this is just something that has been on my mind recently as I have tiptoed into the "dating scene" again. A conversation this past Friday finally spurred me to write this, and I'm sure I will write more on this subject in the future.

P.S.: For anyone who wants to complain, let it be known that I am Black, both of my parents are Black, and most of my good Black male friends have experienced this. I've even had conversations with my own father about my own sister and how she has pulled this stuff with her boyfriend. This phenomenon is experientially familiar to most (all?) Black men that I know.

Handicaps

2008-07-26T14:59:00.002-04:00

Having a conversation with a friend of mine, and we noticed a pattern (of sorts) with black women who attended Howard University. Why is it that these chicks who attended Howard, my alma mater, are damaged goods? Its starting to look like a huge liability to attempt to interact with women who attended Howard. I'd go so far as to say that they are handicapped, the same way you might call a paraplegic handicapped. While they may physically have all their abilities, and they (possibly) may not be mentally handicapped, the behavior I and others I know have experienced can really only be described as crippling, interpersonally and socially.

I'll speak more on a related topic later, but suffice it to say that large swaths of the female native black population of the US are best described as being handicapped. There's no better way to describe it.

Presidential Debates

2008-06-27T20:26:00.002-04:00

What is with this trend of having representatives from each candidate's camp do the debating. Huh? We've sunk to debating by proxy now? A debate via Twitter? I love Twitter but come on! At least the candidates should have to actually create the words that get Twittered.

I really have to wonder what's next? Will they start fielding robots to fight each other?

It'd be sad if it weren't so funny/ridiculous/absurd.

Strange

2008-06-27T20:14:00.003-04:00

This is purely an observation, but why does it seem that when I see Hispanic women, they fall in to 1 of 2 categories?

1. They are very slim, with very nice bodies, and have rugged faces. (Think Manuel Noriega.)

OR

2. They are big, as in being heavy, with softer, more delicate faces, actually feminine faces.

This is just what I notice. Rare is the Hispanic woman with both a soft face and a nice, curvy body who is not overweight (or even obese). Maybe this phenomenon only exists in Silver Spring and the DC metropolitan area. I don't know.

*shrug*

Just an observation.

Knowing

2008-06-22T15:26:00.002-04:00

The biggest impediment to learning is knowing.

When you already know everything there is to know about a subject, you close yourself off from discovering (or re-discovering, or uncovering) new things. Why should you be open to that stuff? You already know it!

This hurts us everywhere in our lives. Think about the damage caused when you know everything about your spouse? If there's nothing to learn, then you need to find a new challenge. I'm not saying its the only reason that people cheat, but I'm sure it plays its non-trivial part.

Learn more. Know less.

I Hate Punks

2008-06-21T23:23:00.001-04:00

Isn't that basically the definition of a politician?

Even more reason to GTFO of this nation.

Pan Fried, bitch!

2008-06-21T20:21:00.000-04:00

The title would be what I was thinking when I was sitting at the diner having breakfast this morning, and overhead a peculiar question.

This woman was sitting at the booth just across from me with her son. She was facing me. I'm guess mid-thirties to early forties, brown skinned Black woman. Fairly attractive, in all honesty. But then I heard it, as she was talking to the waitress...

"How are the pan fries?"

Huh?

You're at a diner. They call them "greasy spoons" for a reason. Just what are you expecting? Not that the food should be inedible but damn, that question made me think that she doesn't really eat at diners often, and maybe she shouldn't. It might just disappoint her.

I could imagine the cook saying "Uhhh, pan fried?" My personal response leans towards the title of this post.

Just sayin...

Not Just for Black Chicks

2008-06-21T20:17:00.000-04:00

While walking home this morning, I saw this white woman wearing essentially the AKA colors - salmon and green apple. It would appear to be just a natural color pairing for many women.