1. don’t have premarital sex,
2. don’t kill the awful highschool kids who give them a hard time,
3. do their homework, and
4. live in a rainy, overcast po-dunk town outside of Seattle. 

Eternity in highschool? Kill me now. I’d be the vampire booking the first flight to Maui to spend a little time in the sunshine!
 
Eternity in college might work a little better for me.  But even then I probably wouldn’t want to do my homework after 25 years or so, and I’d reserve the right to kill anyone wearing patchouli.

Cecilia is an excellent animal companion: consistent, smart, sweet, fun, and compliant.  She’s also a beautiful and calm dog.  People regularly stop us and pet her and ask about her breed and racing history, so she’s opened up opportunities for me to speak with very interesting people. CC has been a wonderful addition to my life and I love her.

Greyhounds are a fantastic breed.  If you are considering adopting a dog, please consider adopting a former racing greyhound. Thousands of these fantastic dogs are put down every year after their racing career is over.  Give a greyhound a chance, and celebrate your own Gotcha Day!

In case you’re like me (as of yesterday), you may not understand what the heck a reverse merger is.  Basically it’s when a healthy, non-public company goes IPO by merging with an unhealthy “shell” company who’s already publicly traded. This enables the healthy company to raise capital through selling stock, quicker than if they were to use the traditional IPO route.  Here’s an explanation.

This opportunity capitalizes on my skills of assessing and executing complex corporate programs. I think I can bring a lot to this party.   I’m interested!

I think it is extraordinarily poignant observation and it works both on the positive and negative side of the spectrum.  I have seen a lot of adult suffering that is a result of “daddy issues” and I have also seen some heart-warmingly tender father/child relationships.

Positive self-esteem shows up in the world as a sense of being ‘comfortable’ as oneself, knowing that it is OK to lead and to follow, rejecting ideas and actions that won’t be beneficial long-term, having a healthy weight, and a healthy attitude towards sex.  It is a sense of self-worth and self-definition that gives a person the confidence to reject and steer clear of the negative undercurrent of humanity.

Negative self-esteem shows up in the world as constantly seeking affirmation (needing attention, needing to be liked), acting erratically toward authoritarian figures, being stuck short-term thinking, and struggling with weight and sexual dysfunction.  Questions emanating from deep-seated uncertainty about what do I deserve? and what can I expect from others? dominate thoughts and undercut the ability to do long-term goal-setting and imagine good things in the future.

Of course, those with poor father figures can, over time, work to correct the issues.  A methodical approach to self-reflection and growth can overcome an weak, absent, or an abusive father… but it can take years of work to lay a new foundation to a house that’s already inhabited.

You don’t need to be perfect in order to instill good self-esteem: you can be divorced, or have vices, troubles, or failures.  In fact, it’s probably better if you aren’t perfect: a big part of self-esteem is the ability to be able to move past your failures in life.  So if you have failures, be thoughtful and use these times as a teachable moment showing grace and good manners in the face of adversity.

Good fathers bestow positive self-esteem by being a good role models: living with integrity, being in harmony with themselves, accepting wins and losses, and engaging their sons and daughters in a way that is respectful and patient.

In anticipation of Fathers Day, I want to applaud my many friends who are good fathers and positive role models.  Keep up the good work.

Intuit: do you need some help?  I don’t know what the cause is for your website failures, but I’ll bet that the long-term solution to ensuring that this problem never happens again lies with re-invigorating your Application Migration program and getting all those programs quickly up and running in your new data center and investing in really robust DR along the way.

Ah yes, my fair city!

We had some very corrupt politicians a few years ago who voted themselves enormous pension benefits (that will actually pay them significantly MORE than they ever made while working) and they simultaneously underfunded the pension obligation bank accounts.  There was one feisty city attorney (Mike Aguirre)  who would have declared that ridiculous pension scheme unconstitutional, but he got smushed like a bug under the weight of all the people who had a vested interest in keeping the promises in place as long as possible.

It reminds me of a scene from Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand understood something very fundamental about the dark side of humanity. I have yet to determine if she was similarly prescient in her view that a form of virtuous selfishness will save the day.

San Diego has been flirting with the bankruptcy option for a long time, but every time it comes up the pillars of our community freak out on the local NPR station and at City Hall meetings and the recurring suggestion (non-resolution) seems to be to “order another audit review.”  I assume that they’re hoping that some rounding error will be identified and corrected which will result in billions of dollars being suddenly found. It’s all nonsense, of course: they are merely showboating and avoiding the difficult work of righting the situation.

In the meantime, we blithely stumble along in the sunshine.  We raise taxes on tourist-related services to get what we can from non-residents who have the audacity to want to share in our good climate.  And we hope for the best.  Sigh!

So, I pondered. Should I just keep working hard and try to climb a corporate ladder somewhere? Get another professional certification? Go for my MBA?  It was during this period of reflection that someone suggested I investigate something called The Aji Network.

It turns out that The Aji Network offers a Business Professional’s Course; a 2-year study of business philosophy – kind of an alternative MBA program.  Graduates of that program can move into LEIP, which stands for Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Power. Throughout the US, they host workshops. Plus, they’re just starting a web-based version of their methodology for professional reflection and growth called Aji Space, which also gets you access to the network of professionals who are Aji students.

As a result of my professional association with Aji, I’ve established a large number of new personal relationships with successful business leaders. I don’t just exchange business cards and rub shoulders with these folks. I am in regular conversations and study groups with Senior Executives of companies whose names you’d recognize (Fortune 50) and with some of the most talented and success-oriented entrepreneurs out there.  The members of Aji are all successful business people spanning a vast array of industries.

After five years of involvement, I am fully confident that I have the ability to design a career that suits me and will enable me to fulfill my ambitions. Since I established my own business along the way, I should mention that I’ve also been glad to have a network of smart, talented, and accomplished people to lean on for help and guidance as I find my entrepreneurial footing.

Today, I run my own successful technology consulting practice, advising corporations and venture capitalists on IT Risk Mitigation strategies. I have a strong professional identity befitting my role, professional accomplishments galore, and I am landing lucrative contracts from big-name clients.

Being a member of The Aji Network been a good decision for me, but you have to figure out what’s right for you. Regardless, my advice to everyone reading this is to invest in your career by being a part of powerful professional network.