Yesterday I had a spontaneous brainstorming session with the founders of Barcelona-based www.faircompanies.com. They shoot videos and write posts about sustainable products, companies, restaurants, etc.
We brainstormed about product flows and monetization possibilities, long term and short term plans and goals.
These kind of talks really inspire me and get me going.
Check out their website. It's a niche but definitely has a lot of potential. Finding your way around the site is not so easy as of now but a new version of the site is in the works.
Keep it going Kirsten and Nico!
Check out their post about San Francisco Brew Pub 'Magnolia'!
It's been beautiful here. Clear winter skies and lovely people around.
Here's the link to the full photo set.
Maybe it will help a little against the cold, but it definitely helps against the echoing sound in our place: a new jute rug on the front stairs, New York style, not waterfall.
It may not look it, but it's very soft to walk on and has thick cushioning underneath. It's now fun to run up and down the stairs in socks!
Here is the latest on our home - we have a new office. It's so great, it's so cosy, I actually prefer being here now to being in the living room. (Once that has more cosy elements, I will probably prefer being there again).
Unfortunately the 'before' pictuers are not very high resolution but you will see the difference anyhow.
Before:
After: (still missing the final electronic setup and maybe a couple more file cabinets)
On the bus the other day it crossed my mind that facebook and myspace and linkedin and yelp and xing and all of these networks where I am signed up online would not get to know if I died.
So what happens? Is that now the new responsibility of the relatives to deal with all these profiles, besides having to plan the funeral and all the other things one has to do? And how would my relatives know all the networks where I'm registered? And the passwords?
A potential future idea is to start an 'online undertaker' business, a service that helps you deal with the internet life of your deceased relatives. Maybe even offer a DVD with the online profiles for memory's sake?
I know, I know, it sounds very weird. But it sure will become more and more of and issue the more the internet becomes the center of our lives. And as I get older and older (and let's assume that e.g. facebook still exists in 50 years) I don't want to have dead people amongst my contacts and friends. But un-friending them does not seem right either. And what if they send an update from 'up there'? I know I will be using the internet when I will be a Senior so there had better be a clean solution until then.
Also website user numbers will raise higher and higher the older a company becomes, and no new company can compete with those numbers as the dead people will always be counted in. And will death metrics show up in Media Metrix in the future? How many females, males, how meany deceased? It's only fair, as the deceased were at one point users and did not choose to leave the service, instead just died.
So many questions, no answer from my side yet. The only thing I know now is I don't want to be the one building the online undertaker service, I am not much of an undertaker, not even online - - feel free to give me equity for stealing the idea though, if you do.
Now that I have permanent resident status I have started applying to find a new job.
Today I had my first job interview ever in the US. It went well but of course you never know.
One thing happened to me though: I started stuttering a little.
I was interviewed by a Brit. Does that still count as a US interview?
It's quite easy and I guess you already know it... I just got so sick of all the catalogues coming into our house of companies I don't even care for and/or have never even ordered from.
So I collected them for a couple days and started calling the numbers on the back and asked to be taken off the mailing list - done. Some of them even have a menu option where you can type in your customer number and ask to be removed.
Recently I got two magazine subscriptions under my new last name and all of a sudden I get all these hideous offers and catalogues so it's clear that magazine companies sell your address, which is quite off-putting.
One has to really work hard in this country to be green. And to not have to take the recycling down so often...
Persistence.
For lunch we went to Redwood City to spend time and food with Brian and Janet and their families and in the evening we went to Mick and Xochi's to eat even more and have a great time.
Brian stuffed his turkey with fresh rosemary and Mick and Xochi had a turducken, which is a chicken stuffed into a duck stuffed into a turkey. So much meat, but so good.
Activities and games:
Children's playground after lunch, swinging, sliding and climbing.
Rockband after dessert
Liar dice after dinner (so fun, I actually won once)
I got around doing my own turkey this year, even though I was up for the challenge.
