Day 0

It is a day I have been looking forward to for quite some time now. Months in fact, reaching another turning point in my professional career and my personal life. Few people know my true motivation for going to college and choosing business as a major. It all comes down to one simple reason, keeping options of available to me at all times. I’ve seen people in both my family and others who didn’t go to college and majored in some of your subject and were unable to gain any kind of traction in their careers. I promised myself many years ago, that this would not be me, I would do whatever is in my power to be independent or at least knowledgeable enough to not feel like a slave if the need to make such a change arose.

Sure, I know we’re experiencing what is probably the greatest recession since I was born. Then just as now, those who are persistent, those who are able to innovate themselves out of a downturn, those who are able to pool together their resources are the ones to emerge unscathed.

I would be lying if I said this did not remind me of the.com bubble of 2000 and the fallout post-September 2001. What I do know is that there are some great opportunities online. The number of options and convenience offered through this new Internet-based economy are aplenty. Companies are still making profits even if they aren’t quite what Wall Street expected them to be. I want to model myself after successful people in the world of Internet commerce.

Up until recently, I under estimated the significance of keeping one’s self busy and one’s mind active. I would idly sit in front of the computer without getting a single thing done. Today, I know better and have tools available to me to help prevent this from happening.

Short post, but it’s also 2:20am and I need sleep like no joke!

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By Elliot – August 2, 2009

Day -1

Today was a disaster and I wasn’t even there the whole day. Coworkers complaining constantly about one thing or another from one day to the next. We had to get two people from other locations to cover. I question whether they will ever be happy at this rate. One had to leave early because of what is probably best defined as irritable bowel syndrome. The other didn’t bother to look at her schedule and went over hours. As a result she had to leave early in order to avoid overtime. She friended me on facebook after I blocked her. I reluctantly agreed, then thought about the nature of our relationship and began to seriously question my decision. Why be friends with someone who either intentionally or unintentionally brings so much negative / hostile energy. That and essentially stalking everyone via their postings. The answer is simple. Peace.

I worked again with someone who seems like a promising replacement for me. She has experience in daycare and telling teenagers what to do in a restaurant. The people I’ve worked with need a serious reality check. I like to see tasks get completed, not deal with the petty squabbling they all have a bad reputation for. I thought I could deal with it and did for over a year, but after a while having someone constantly be a nuisance around you and have them worry about what everyone else is doing takes a toll. If I wanted to watch kids, I would have gotten a job in en elementary school. That is all I’m going to say about that.

One of our members was kind enough to bring in some gourmet pastries from Alpine Bakery. So fattening yet so delicious. I will definitely miss some of the familiar faces, but ultimately the decision to take the next step is mine. It always has been and my inner self tells me to hurry up and start doing what you enjoy before it’s too late.

Tim Ferris of Four Hour Workweek fame likes to say don’t be that fat bald guy in the BMW. It’s true though, people spend so much of their lives planning for retirement while true living during the healthiest days of their lives falls to the wayside. I’m not saying future planning doesn’t have a time and place, but are we as a society too fixated on impressing other that we don’t even like in the first place? We’ve trade freedom for a paycheck and justify being status quo. I may end up in the same place, but while I’m still young and able, I’m gonna fight like crazy to make sure it doesn’t happen to me.

Aflac contacted me about working for them. I looked at the evaluations people gave the company on glassdoor.com and must say I’m glad I didn’t waste my time with them for an interview. The commercials are cute yes, thank whoever they outsource their marketing to. The experience working there? Super low or nonexistant base salary and your weekly earnings are entirely based on commission. Not so bad if you are all pumped out about insurance. But let’s face it, unless your running a company and making tons of money in it, not exactly the most exciting thing to talk to strangers about. The people who can afford it have it already and those who need it most can’t afford it. That’s how I view it anyway.

Tomorrow I clear my desk, leave my badge and key at the credit union, in search of starting a new life. One door closes, a new one opens. Hello world. I’m ready to experience what you have to offer again.

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By Elliot – July 31, 2009

Day -2 & -3

No computer, was forced to live out my digital life entirely through my iPhone. Wasn’t all bad, gave me an excuse to clear out a drawer, but it did put a dampener on my efforts at keeping my writings up to date.

What did come to mind was the following. At least while I figure out my exact course of action, start to run my personal life like a business, or like a very wealthy person would.

The saying goes, time is money. If you’re not productive or getting genuine satisfaction out of how you’re utilizing it, it is indeed being wasted. So I’m going to put myself in a few different workshops. There will be one every day for 5 days a week, three hours a day at my local library.

August 3-7 9:00 – 12:00 – Web Design Workshops.
8/3 – HTML 5 – Get more familiarized with content, tags, etc.
8/4 – CSS – Learning the basics of Cascading Style Sheets and benefits vs plain HTML. Using this knowledge to create a brand new layout for Project X and A 2.0.
8/5 CSS Part 2 – Advanced techniques – Format forms, create list-based navigation, do advanced page layouts, and create background effects.
8/6 – Python Day 1 – Introduction to Python, The Python Interpreter & Tools on Mac OS X, The Python Language
8/7 – Python Day 2 – Produce my first program.

The following week I’ll be sharpening my business skills. Each day putting in 3 hours going through textbooks and refreshing my mind. There are two ways people learn, by doing or reading about it. My learning style is a bit of both.

Each evening for the next week I’m focusing solely on purging excess belongings from my life. As Americans we are very material, but seriously how much stuff does a person need to hold onto.

The days are winding down for sure. Issues keep coming up at work that make me glad to be leaving. I don’t want to be a babysitter anymore, nor living far belong my potential. Once my skills are tweaked, I’d like to run my own company. Doing a combination of freelance writing, product training and consulting.

Today I did also did an exit interview at my job. Briefly spoke to the VP of HR about my reasons for leaving. Essentially boiling down to seeking out new opportunities. We were supposed to meet face to face but because of branch scheduling issues it never happened. The payroll manager briefly went over my accrued vacation time and the rest is history.

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By Elliot – July 31, 2009

Day -4

Got to work a few minutes late this morning, I was in charge of opening up the building. Not a big deal really. Work was steady though incredibly boring. Had coverage from another location to help out.

Some people stick to a 9-5 for the security of it all. Having to take care of children, pay for rent / mortgage. I am fortunate to not have to be a slave to a single company just to pay the bills. I still want to keep the momentum going though. A couple hundred take home each week doing part-time style projects while I get my gears going. I can’t come from a point of weakness here, playing into my strengths is the only way I’m going to really play this game and win it.

I did Strengths Finder 2.0’s survey and had my results compiled in this report. To summarize, my themes are Deliberative, Harmony, Futuristic, Relator, Ideation.

Each defines an aspect of my personality and explains choices I make on an ongoing basis. The Futuristic side of me “How far into the future can I think before my ideas start becoming vague or uninspiring?” made me realize that by staying at the credit union, I don’t have a real opportunity to shake things up. So much regulation, repetition. Another reason why I’m not too keen on working for the government. I don’t want to work somewhere dreams come to die. I’d much rather watch them flourish at Apple or Google in their corporate offices.

Harmony – I really do try to get along with my coworkers and not rock the boat. Some would describe that as being a pushover. To me it’s diplomatic. Easier to deal with a tolerable person than a hostile one. In other situations though, it seems like no matter what you do, you can’t win.

Deliberative – “You might take time to think through whatever you are
going to say or write before you begin. If you have identified your main theories or concepts, you might be able to express them with clarity and precision. By nature, you are choosy about the people you call “friend.” You make sure you know what makes an individual singular, distinct, or special.” I have discovered so many really talented people over the years, though most of them online. I clearly see traits that would make them an asset to any team.

Relator – “Chances are good that you are comfortable conversing with individuals who know exactly what they want to accomplish personally and/or professionally. You have an easy time
bonding with people who are open and honest about their goals. Perhaps you derive a bit of satisfaction from helping people design specific performance objectives for themselves.” That’s the consultant side of me at work. I want to help people become better at what they do.

Ideation – Chances are good that you often are the originator of fresh ideas for brand-new campaigns, business ventures, initiatives, or special events. Because of your strengths, you welcome opportunities to understand people one by one. You carefully examine each person’s
strengths, shortcomings, character, choice of friends, interests, goals, and history.”

From a purely intellectual standpoint this is fine and dandy, but that’s not always where the magic happens. I got an email about a job posting for a customer service specialist that has a starting salary of 40k/yr. Tempting, but it would only serve as a lateral move. Deep down, I’d wonder if I had what it takes to either make it on my own or serve as the right hand man to someone running a small business. I can’t settle anymore. It will drive me nuts to not challenge my previous levels of thinking and forever live in the shadow of what might have been. To quote Captain Picard… ‘I will not sacrifice the Enterprise. We’ve made too many compromises already, too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no farther!’

I really want to dig deeper, but my hour is up. More tomorrow…

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By Elliot – July 29, 2009

Day -5

In five days I won’t have a job in the typical sense. It will be liberating, yet challenging to for the first time in a while be forced to come up with new ways of making a living for myself. I chose to log this in terms of negative to positive days because Day Zero is sort of the wakeup / no place to go but up day.

Day -5 Summary: I’m in a decent spot right now, have enough savings to last me for a couple months if necessary. Though a creature of abundance, I have worked too hard to suddenly squander my earnings away in what some would say is a foolish move.

A lot of people have asked what would drive me to do such a thing. Why would someone making 38k a year at a fairly low stress job suddenly chose to leave. There are a couple reasons.
•38k isn’t much in my area – I want to be able to live on my own eventually. The longer I stay with the current company, in several ways I become complacent. The banking sector has helped me meet several personal goals over the year and may continue doing so in the future, but right now I need more money. My fear is being 30 and being stuck. Not able to afford a house or apt of my own even if I wanted to. Getting a promotion was an option, but even then my salary increase would be marginal and deep down I knew I’d be settling for less than I was worth.
•Growth – I have an MBA, the job I do presently could be done with a high school degree. I don’t know any tellers or head tellers with masters degree. Most move onto other things. Though I went from part time to full time to a basic supervisory position, for the most part I’m doing the same job. Variety is minimal. I have worked with others in the company who had some type of variety. I interviewed for a completely different department close to 6 months ago and didn’t get the position. Also for reasons I prefer not to disclose, I wouldn’t be eligible for a transfer or promotion until next year. My ego was bruised and I didn’t want to beg for any favors.
•Lacking passion – For the last decade really I’ve been lacking hardcore passion in my jobs. Six years in the supermarket, and almost 4 in banking. Doing the same transactions day after day. It got boring. I reached the point where I didn’t want to do this for another 3 months, let alone 3 years. It was supposed to be a temporary job, until something better came along. The rest is history really.

I’m holding myself accountable. To what specifically? To making some kind of progress, whether it’s the process of seeking a job or developing skills that would better enable me to support myself / add value each day.

Heading to work in a few hours, may it be a fun day…

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By Elliot – July 27, 2009

My Life’s Purpose

Took me a while to discover it, but I think I’m closer to the answer.

“To live and grow consciously, becoming comfortable in my own skin, learning the lessons of past and present, acting in spite of fear, sharing love and respect for my partner, maintaining independence, and never forgetting that each day is a gift.”

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By Elliot – June 19, 2009

Mixing the Jelly

I’ve always been interested in people collaborating in new and innovative ways. First was through e-mail, then Internet relay chat, instant messaging and the list goes on… however, one key flaw that all of these have is that the real socialization aspect is not present. So all these people who are either telecommuting, or run a business completely out of their home are not getting the same level of high quality interaction that they may otherwise get in an office environment.

During February 2006 in New York City two guys decided to make a paradigm shift in the way people interact. They started a movement affectionately known as ‘Jelly’. they define it as casual co-working, a process in which people are invited to work from their home for the day. “We provide chairs and sofas, wireless internet, and interesting people to talk to, collaborate with, and bounce ideas off of.”

From my vantage point, jellies provide a unique sort of social interaction that is often missing in the day-to-day lives of intellectuals, designers, Internet groupies, developers and plenty more people. In an increasingly more competitive world, there is a strong need for people who are creative.Creativity is not something that can be pressured, but instead something that is extracted by way of the environment.

Where are these Jellies?

There are currently seven jellies in effect. They’re located in New York City, Austin Texas, Atlanta Georgia, Sydney Australia, Boston Massachusetts, Houston Texas, Philadelphia PA. Plenty more are on the way.

Where can I get more information?
Workatjelly.com has links to bunch of different articles and video on this new and exciting phenomenon.

Have you personally gone to one?
Nope, I deal with people all day 40 hours a week right now. My present job offers somewhat limited flexibility in that area.

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By Elliot – April 1, 2008

Lilug Meet – Free Culture

After not attending a Long Island Linux User Group meeting in months, my friends encouraged me attend to this one. I have taken some notes of the event and posted them for the benefit of my readers. Hopefully you can make sense of my somewhat arcane notes.

Why do I support the free culture movement?
Simply put, when software is free, it encourages people to tinker and learn things they may have not done otherwise due to economic factors. As software is made freely available, it will be easier for individuals to learn and likewise contribute to our workforce.

On Music, I believe that if given the opportunity people will choose to support artists. Significant inroads have been made with the iTunes music store and offering music at 99 cents a song and more recently, giving users the option of downloading DRM-free music. Bands such as Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead have released their albums freely and given users the opportunity to pay what they feel is reasonable.

The movie industry has recently reported record profits, despite claims people are pirating left and right. I prefer the experience of watching a movie at home or a friend’s house instead of a theater. Call me old, but my last experience involved a bunch of kids making the most annoying noises you can imagine and nonstop talking. More movies should be released either streaming over the web at a low cost or for free with some advertisements thrown in. The typical $10 at the door system really doesn’t work for me and I’m sure a lot of other people feel the same way.

So back to notes on the meeting…
Free culture is actually two different things… The group, ‘Students for free culture’ and ‘free culture’
Presenter: G Parker Higgins
Free culture @ NYU
Free culture and free software : a new environmentalism

Students for free culture
• International organization, founded in 04
• Chapter-based, has over 30 chapters in high schools and colleges across the world

The group has four primary functions
• creating resources for chapters and public
• reaching out to student sand youth
• networking with groups
• issuing advocacy on behalf of chapters

• Free Culture @ New York University – An official club with a budget, primarily holding events on campus. Most of the events are open to the public.
• What kind of events– Held the first major DRM protest at the Apple Store over FairPlay and at Tower over Sony rootkits
• Held creative commons art show on campus and in second life
• Led national boycott of Regal cinemas what made it to Digg.com
• Host lectures that are available freely online

Definition of free cultural works
• Freedom to use and perform the work
• Freedom to study and apply information
• Freedom to redistribute copies
• Freedom to distribute derivative works

Objectives
• Promoting creativity in access and ability
• Fostering technological freedom
• Anti-DRM, support free software, oppose filtering, support net neutrality
• Founded by a group of student at Swarthmore college
• In 03 students posted 15k leaked internal Diebold e-mails and posted them to a school hosted server
• Diebold posted a DMCA takedown notice and sued the students
• Eventually the memos were allowed to be posted and the student

Lawrence Lessig – Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity
Richard Stallman – Free software, free society

Free software as an umbrella term
• Unite disparate groups with some common goals
• Common goals aren’t even necessarily known, but are achievable by a a large group much more than a single organization
Organizations in the free software movement
Long Island Linux User Group
EFF – Electronic Frontier Foundation
Creative Commons

Free Software Foundation
Public Knowledge
Downhill Battle

People having control over the free sharing of information is not a new phenomenon.
For centuries, the cost of reproduction has fallen, this is one dramatic stretch of it.
Today, distribution and collaborative development costs can be really low.

The fight will be easy
• Information wants to be free
• When people experience it, they want info to continue to be free
• Tech will continue to reduce the cost of reproduction
But not that easy…
• Industries that have business models in place don’t want anything to disrupt them, good or bad
• Record industry, movie industry, all rejected technologies that ultimately proved to be very beneficial to them
Why is it important?
• Any threat to fair use is a threat to free speech, not the least because of the chilling effects.
• Our media is highly dependent on fair use and open access.

People are always welcome at FC@NYU events. Subscribe to the listserv at www.freeculturenyu.com
- FreeCulture.org maintains an IRC channel at #freeculture on server irc.freenode.net

Questions / Comments
Attribution vs Derived works – A commonly discussed topic on the creative commons community listserv. The distinction is the same that applies to copyrights. If a copy is a derivative, you still have to attribute the original. There is a risk that something will be attributed to the maker.
What is the likelihood that 20 or 30 years down the future of the RIAA or other record labels taking into account the open source movement into their business models?
Every new medium has began by pirates. In many situations, companies held back technology out of fear. The same thing is happening to today with phone companies, high definition television on the Internet vs television, etc.
700MHz frequency. What will the outcome be? What is the FCC’s role in this.
August 2009

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