Archive: Feb 2007

This is hilarious!

_{Cartoon via: Michael}

Original cartoon from Russell’s Teapot

Shashi does a nice job. It takes him a couple of moments to settle down, but then he throws out a couple of zingers. Ah, Shashi, it would have been good to have you as the Secretary General!

And, no, I don’t know Shashi… but I still choose to refer to him by his first name. I find him sexier if I call him Shashi.

And Stephen, keep up the India focus – we like, we like!

_{Video via: SAJA}

On Valentine’s Day, you can determine if you have “true romance and poetry” in your soul. Ready? Look at the Google logo on the left. Do you see the L?

According to Google’s Doodle creator, he didn’t forget the letter, the stem is supposed to be the L. If you don’t see it, don’t worry – most of the world is with you. If you do see it, congratulations.

And to all – I hope you helped the economy with cards, flowers and chocolate. Happy V-Day folks!

And thanks for the mid-day entertainment, Googe!

There are quite a few eBayers who are blogging. Some still work there, some are happily enjoying retirement and some others still (ahem) are figuring out new avatars.

eBay was a phenomenal experience for all of us who were there. It would be great to stay connected with other bloggers from eBay.

So I put together a quick “eBay Blogs” wiki. If you are a current or former eBayer (eBay, PayPal or Skype) from any of our the global offices, please feel free to add your name to the list.

Would be great to see you all there!

When I had a Blackberry through work, it synced seamlessly over an Exchange Server and so Contacts and Calendar were always in sync. Today, my cell phone syncs with my computer, but either bluetooth or connected, so I must be proactive about it.

What doesn’t sync is my home phone. We have one phone number that we moved to Vonage about three years ago (we were early adopters and paid the price with sometimes crappy connections). We have two hand sets – a base station and a little stand alone one. Neither syncs with my computer.

So, anytime I use the home phone, I need to look up a number on my computer. I’ve saved the most frequently called numbers, but it required manual entry. Not that this is a huge deal, but why don’t home phones sync? Because you are at home and it is easy to look up a number? But a lot of people just use their cell phones because everything is in there…

Is the technology so different that they can’t sync? What if the phone was merely a dumb client that accessed an online address db such as Plaxo? And for extra, bonus points, what would be *really* cool if when you picked up the phone, you entered a quick two digit ID that told the phone which user it was and then you could access your own address book and another user could access his/her own address book.

I know some of the Skype phones that you plug into your computer do this, but what if your phone plugs into the internet anyway (like Vonage)…

Does anyone know of such a device?

Two very dear, wonderful former colleagues recently started blogging.

Michael is one the smartest folks around. And he’s funny and eclectic and I love to hear his thoughts. Now I can. This post on the big consumer tech trends he foresees is a must read. It is a touch weighted towards ecommerce, but that’s the world we know! But it’s not just tech – there tons of thoughts on reality TV, the state of the world and of course, the bizarre.

Michael had a great trip blog when he went off to Italy in 2005 and he’s imported those posts, but he’s basically been blogging under the radar for a few months. I don’t know whether to be mad that he didn’t tell me or just be thankful he’s started blogging… Okay, I’ll opt for the latter! 🙂

Lynn, besides also being one of the smartest folks around, is definitely the most driven person on the planet. After years of consuming Cheetos and Coke and working twenty hours a day, she’s decided to run a triathlon! Her training update posts are the most hilarious things you’ll ever read. Here’s a sample:

Kevin and I have an exercise bike in our house, so 2 to 3 times a week I try to do what is called spinning for an hour. It is where the resistance is fairly light, but you try and keep the RPM�s in the high 90�s and low 100�s. Well I have my first funny story. The first time I did this I of course wanted to excel. So I�m peddling extremely hard getting my entire body into the exercise. When I got done, both my left foot and back were hurting. Well it turned out that my back was bleeding from what would amount to a �rug burn�. I had been moving my back so vigorously back and forth across the back of the bike that I scrapped off the skin. Then on my foot, I hadn�t worn socks or shoes and the black plastic strap, dug into my skin and split the top of my foot. Since then I wear shoes and socks J

Welcome Lynn and MD – life is more fun with both of you blogging!

Sometime last year, I went with friends to see the Bodies Exhibit in South Side Street Seaport. Amazing.

Using a special technique, they get rid of all tissue and fill every cell with a polymer that replaces the muscles and the bone and everything. What’s amazing is that every part of the human body right there for you to see.

The exhibition is huge – you can see the details of all major muscles groups, every major organ (in healthy and decayed state – the smoker lung was frightening), and how all the organs are aligned. For example, imagine a large opening in a human being that allowed you to see their lungs, kidneys, liver, stomach and intestines – that’s exactly what you see, without any blood or gore. They show bodies in motion – throwing a ball or doing an activity and show you which muscles, tendons and ligaments are in play. So cool.

There’s also a room where you can see a fetus develop from a week old. Given the sensitivity of the subject (these are, after all, real fetuses that have been through their preservation process), they make it really easy to skip the room, should you wish. They even show you blood vessels – there was a human-size example of just blood vessels to show you how they are distributed across the body.

All of it is real – no “models” anywhere. If I had seen this when I was in school, it would have taken Biology to a whole new level. If you aren’t super-squeamish, definitely go see this (details of tickets and dates on their website).

_{Photo source: Seattle Times}

A friend forwarded me a email on these marzipan babies.

“Thought you’d be as fascinated with these as I was. These are made with marzipan (almond paste and egg white)……. really unbelievable! While some of the faces may look “crafted” rather than “real”, every detail is amazing, and the rest looks VERY real. And whats more…. you could eat them (not that you would!).”

Hard to believe, huh? That’s because they are not made of marzipan at all. They are actually sculptures made by Camille Allen.

Whenever you get one of these forwards that seem bizarre, you can check it out on this very cool site. It focuses on debunking urban myths and also those really annoying email forwards for fake causes. Then there are those email forwards that threaten you if you don’t forward them… one of my pet peeves. But that’s another story and enough fodder for another post entirely!

Another benefit of changing tracks, working from home and being all creative?

— Not having to actually leave the house in the freezing cold if you don’t want to! Yay!

New York has been insanely cold and it is worse since I just spent a few weeks in glorious Madras. 12 degrees is just too much for someone who grew up dealing with a low of 70 degrees!

Note: I changed the title of the post from “Benefits of being unemployed” since I found that people were actually landing on that post by searching for unemployment benefits on Google. Don’t want to mislead the poor folks.

Being a professional woman is all about making choices. Really hard choices. Choices that are gut wrenching. When I was in b-school, there were tons of talks about being a woman in the corporate world – the choices, the tradeoffs, the support systems. I didn’t go to any of them. Not one. I was a member of the Women’s Student Association, but that was for the great exam prepnotes they provided! (which was also the reason many men were members of the WSA).

I didn’t go to any of them because in my youthful naivety, I was convinced that men and women are treated equally and all you had to do is perform to be rewarded. Forget all the special treatment for women – I don’t need it. I don’t want it. I want to be measured by the same yardstick as my male counterparts. Period.

My early career validating that thought process. After a year in the wilderness of consulting, I settled into the technology world in California. I loved it. I was measured by my output. I was motivated to work for hours on end. Sixty hour weeks? Pah, that’s nothing. It was all consuming – constant adrenaline, constant craziness, meetings, product reviews, launches. I didn’t go to a doctor for years. I didn’t go to a dentist until it was a crisis. There was just no time. Ninety hour weeks? Bring it on.

And honestly, I loved it. And I patted myself on the back for not wasting time in school attending speeches where people would have taught me about the tough choices women make.

And then, it slowly started to change. The big 3-0 was looming large. The pressure to get married appeared. Got married. To someone who lived 3000 miles away in NYC. Now what? The WSA and all the speakers I spurned laughed in my face, that’s what.

My buddy, Tough Choices, appeared and would not leave. Commuting 3000 miles was no fun. Turning down opportunities in California was seriously no fun. Bringing that angst into the relationship was absolutely no fun. After several years of moving between coasts, of tear filled ruminations on priorities, of turning down offers to relocate globally, of fearing being branded as not being that interested in work, I was more than ready to admit that yes, women do have it harder.

I am not saying that they have it harder at work itself. I don’t think they are judged any more or less harshly than men. It is the added responsibilities outside work that make it hard. Being a good wife, of making sure there’s food in the fridge (when I was single, I could just eat cereal if I wanted!), investing in a relationship, living on the same coast to ensure that you have a shot at a family one day. Usually, the woman picks up those things in a relationship.

It was very hard. AND it was very hard with a supremely supportive husband (who never suggested I quit and adjusted around my crazy schedule) and a fabulously supportive company that allowed me to work from NY for large chunks of time. A company where bosses flexed for me and the CEO shared the tough choices she had to make.

After three years of wearing myself ragged, I finally sat down and prioritized what was important in my life. When trying to make a decision, I take it to the extreme – so there is only black and white, no gray. I had two options… What if I was CEO of a large successful company (assuming I could get there), but had no family and no kids. Would that be okay? Absolutely not. What if I could never, ever be the CEO of a large successful company, but I had a family and kids. Well… yes, that would be fine. Not ideal but fine. And definitely better than option one. I had my answer on what I valued more, if I absolutely had to choose.

To me, Indra Nooyi and Meg Whitman are women who actually have it all. But the reality is that they didn’t have it all at the same time. They had to prioritize. They had their kids, potentially putting their careers on hold, and then they charged ahead. I can’t imagine how much effort doing both took — I am in awe of their energy and drive and passion.

But there have to have been tradeoffs. Painful tradeoffs we don’t see. Tradeoffs that kept them in the industries they love, in roles that were moving ever upward. It is a strong woman who can make those tradeoffs in a way that works for everyone involved. These ladies have my respect – not only for their professional accomplishments, but also for the very hard personal challenges they’ve wrestled with.

My soul searching led to a redefinition of what’s important to me and clarified how I wanted to prioritize my life. It also led me rediscover my passion for the creative side of things and film – an entirely new direction. One that will hopefully let me accomplish my professional goals and my personal goals.

And I’ve come to believe this:

Women can have it all. They just can’t have it all at the same time.

Let’s hope it is true!

If you are interested, here’s a link to an interview with Indra Nooyi. She’s a great role model, and I am (very pleasantly) stunned with the honesty of her responses. The personal section starts here.

Link to Indra’s interview via Nilu.