I've heard some people can do six months in one country and six months in the other. In fact, it works quite well: skip winter, skip really hot summers... If you're important enough to a lab or company that they'll let you do that, or you run your own business, then that's very doable.

Sometimes it's not about exploring the limits of what you can do for yourself, but rather finding out how you can improve as many people's lives as possible. In the process of finding out how to apply what you know to people's lives, you might find that you can go farther and faster than you imagined.

I like computer science, but I don't want only to do computer science. I want to help people learn life management and communication skills, and technology is just a way for me to do that.

Let's use a better example. You'd think biotechnology would be something needing millions of dollars in lab equipment, right? But technopreneur Maoi Arroyo's not in some comfy lab in MIT or Cambridge. She's out there, jumpstarting the Philippine biotech industry by helping people commercialize their discoveries—while remaining hooked into the global scene, jetsetting and making deals with people overseas. Not bad for someone in her twenties.

But technology and science are different, you might argue. Science is a pursuit of knowledge for knowledge's sake. Let's look at Kendra Castillo, taking up her master's in environmental management at UP. She may not have the supersensitive equipment or the finegrained meteorological data available in other countries, but there are _real_ questions still addressable by the lab she joined. The lack of resources forces her to be more resourceful and inventive. It's frustrating to deal with incomplete data and broken equipment, but that only opens up more questions to tackle through research.

The only limits are those we set ourselves. Sure, the Philippines may not have given us much. It may not give us opportunities to be highly paid for doing exactly what we do. But the secret to success is realizing that we _make_ our opportunities. We determine our future.

I want to make the Philippines better and I am willing to devote time and effort to doing this. Just words for now. I'm naive and idealistic, perhaps. But I know older, more accomplished people who are doing just that. They're bridging the divide through their efforts. They care about nationbuilding. Through their initiatives, they create jobs and wealth and _meaning_ for people who are just waiting for opportunities to come their way.

It's not too late to discover how you can make a difference. All you have to do is try.

On Technorati: philippines, soapbox, plans

コンピュータは非常に複雑な仕事を瞬時にすることができる。 Computers are capable of doing very complicated work in a split second.

I want to do Something Great. I'm crazy about helping people be all they can be. I want to help people regain control over their to-do lists, finances, and the rest of their lives. I want to help people share their passion and knowledge through better teaching and presentation skills.

Many of my friends also have great passions. Ranulf Goss wants to launch the Philippine PC game development industry. He founded Slycesoft and regularly gives inspirational talks at universities to encourage students to get into game development. Maoi Arroyo wants to jumpstart the Philippine biotech industry. She founded Hybridigm Consulting and also teaches people about entrepreneurship. Gabriel Narciso wants to build the nation. He does free-lance productivity coaching and organizational development for non-profits.

Here are some of the I've learned from them and from many other people I admire:

• Set audacious goals. In the book Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, James Collins and Jerry Porras talk about Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals. Visionary companies are passionate about goals that may seem too daring or even impossible, but they achieve them because they're
• Write down your goals and share them with as many people as you can. Constantly write down and review your goals. Talk about your goals with other people. As you share your goals, you'll not only learn more about yourself but also gain the insights of others.
• Surround yourself with people doing great things. Their passion will inspire you to work on your own goals, and you'll be surprised at how helpful your network can be. Steve Pavlina said that one of the best things you can do is look for a mentor. You'll learn a lot from mentors not only in your field but also elsewhere!
• Don't give up. You'll hear a lot of nos and you'll run into a lot of dead ends. Don't give up! Take criticism into consideration, but keep on going. You can do it!

そのコンピュータは最新式だ。 The computer is up to date.

On Technorati: passion, best, plans

Many of the forms we use haven't been shared with other people in the industry. I wonder when they're going to do another forms exchange to help other photographers learn how to manage their work? I really admire the way my mom keeps looking for ways to improve the workflow. Now we're getting client call reports from the account executives. Way cool!

I want to get into that sort of stuff. I want to learn how to identify the kind of information we need to capture and design the forms to make it easier for people to write things down. My mom's still working on finding a balance between asking for too little and too much information. People skip fields if the form asks for too much information. Hmm...

US laws say that blank forms aren't protected by copyright because the forms do not contain information in themselves. I wonder what our laws say? Anyway, this is cool stuff. I want to do things like the D.I.Y. Hipster PDA templates...

何社製のコンピューターをお使いですか。 What make of computer do you use?

On Technorati: plans, mom

UPDATE: Clair wrote:

I have seen some courses aside from the one you showed me. :) It looks very interesting. Very similar to what librarians do! *laugh* I really must take a break and re-assess my life.

冗談を言うほど賢いコンピューターがありえるだろうか。 Can there be a computer intelligent enough to tell a joke?

On Technorati: presentation, plans

What does it mean to be more productive? I love reading about productivity tools and tips. I could spend hours just going through the discussions at http://www.43folders.com . However, all of this has to translate into concrete benefits. How can I improve my productivity? Improvements include:

• Keeping better track of tasks
• Keeping my goals firmly in mind
• Making it easier for me to work on something than to procrastinate
• Finding ways to see the big picture

Why do I want to be more productive? Well, I've got my Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals:

• Get people hooked on computing by offering highly individualized, experiential learning characterized not only by strong technical content but also excellent delivery.
• Help people totally rock through personal information management. I want to listen to people describe how they plan and how they want to plan, and I want to help them figure out how to support those methods through software or whatever.

With my BHAGs firmly in mind and a critical approach to trying out new tools, I've found that I can successfully resist the urge to migrate everything to the whizzy new PIM app of the day. This is important; otherwise I'd spend forever playing around with this stuff. I still love finding out how other people are doing things, though! =)

今日この番組でハッカーの問題をクローズアップするんだって。 This program is going to focus on computer hacking issues today.

On Technorati: productivity, plans

- Revolutionize computer science education by making it highly

individualized and experiential. - Become a world-famous expert on creating systems for planning one's life. Instead of pushing a particular methodology, I'd like to work with people's current ways of planning, suggesting improvements and software/hardware to support their life.

I'm at the 1st Philippine Blogging Summit right now with my BHAGs firmly in mind. It's _amazing._

The first person I talked to was J. Angelo Racoma, an old friend from my BBSing days. After chatting about blogging, talk turned to what we're both up to. He told me about his work at http://i.ph . I told him about my BHAGs.

It turned out that his wife is into tutoring, and one of the things they're planning to do in the future is set up a tutoring portal to help students, parents and tutors find each other. Neato. That looks like a great fit for what I want to do. =)

As I explained my BHAG for teaching and training to him, I realized that one of the things I really, really, really care about is quality assurance for teachers and tutors. I firmly believe that it's not just about technical knowledge, but it's also about teaching and communication skills. I don't think we're paying enough attention to that, and I think that's a compelling sales point.

I also got to meet Gabriel Narciso. He started by asking me if I was still into open source. Of course! He then asked me if there was a native version of OpenOffice.org for Mac OS X. I remember OpenOffice.org used to support the Mac, so I should be able to find one. =) Good deed! I told _him_ about my BHAGs too. It turned out that he used to work at Franklin-Covey (as in, _the_ Franklin Covey franchise in the Philippines!), and is now into executive coaching.

Wow!

Let's say that again. Wow!

_That's_ why you should practice talking about your BHAGs until you can squeeze it into a small-talk conversation. Joey Gurango told us how wannabe entrepreneurs would give him two-inch-thick business proposals and expect him to have the time or interest in reading them. He said that's entirely the wrong way to do that. You start with your 90-second elevator pitch. You get people interested. Then you go for your executive summary—the shorter, the better. You get people hooked. When you get them hooked, _then_ you hit them with the business proposal.

BHAGs work the same way. Refine them until you get a sound bite. Say it with confidence and passion. Get them hooked. Explain the rest over lunch another day!

コンピューターが使えたらもっとお金をもらえるかもしれないのに。 They might pay me more if I could use a computer.

On Technorati: blogging, events, plans, passion

Built to Last – Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
Jerry Porras and James C. Collins, 1994.

Here are some links for more information:

http://www.inspired.co.nz/Reading%20Room/Built_To_Last.htm
Book review / executive summary

Big Hairy and Audacious Goals for Business! (interview)
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/earth/stories/s218498.htm

"We found that visionary companies often set these incredibly challenging goals."

Goal Setting with Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs)
http://www.cool2serve.org/tools/pdf/BHAGs.pdf
A workshop outline—great idea for training

My BHAGs are:

• Revolutionize computer science education by making it highly individualized and experiential.
• Become a world-famous expert on creating systems for planning one's life. Instead of pushing a particular methodology, I'd like to work with people's current ways of planning, suggesting improvements and software/hardware to support their life.

What are yours?

昨日は、私のコンピューターが故障していたのです。 My computer was down yesterday.

On Technorati: passion, plans

The best way to get me to work on these things would be for me to get annoyed with them.

The best way for me to get annoyed with these things would be for me to have to do them.

So that can be my summer job. If my mom doesn't mind having me underfoot, I will work for Adphoto. First, I need to hack scheduling. In the process, I'll probably also tweak office communication. When I'm not scheduling things or improving the scheduling infrastructure, I can work on making the website more informative.

Sounds like a good plan.

On Technorati: plans