Imagination Stage...

Mars Playmobil 107 poppetjes 2 (Photo credit: Henk-Jan van der Klis)Our kids are just at such a wonderful age right now. The three of them can play for hours all together using their imagination and a few props.

Massive forts in the basement out of chairs, pillows, blankets and whatever odds and ends are available.

Taking a set of foam blocks, combing it with some Playmobil figures and erecting elaborate housing structures and entire worlds within. Matching, organizing, debating, cooperating. When you step back and appreciate it, such a glorious thing to behold.

I love it so much.

Application to Date My Daughter…

I’m sure this will be a mobile app soon, but for now…problem solved!

4 Year Old Practical Joker…

The other day, I was home with Paco and Nadia. We were expecting a friend (one they both know) to stop by and pick up a package.

I ran downstairs and said to Paco “If David shows up, you can open the door for him.”

When I came upstairs, Paco was standing at the door.

“Is David here?” I asked.

“No,” he said, “but I heard a knock.”

We both walked away.

Then, we heard another knock, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nadia scampering into the other room, hide behind the couch and start laughing.

After I confronted her, she fessed up.

“I knocked on the door and was hiding!!!”

Pro-Semitic Poetry Slam

Got to love the Hebrew Mamita and her pro-Semitic slam poetry!

Please Turn Off Your Cell Phones…

As children have done for generations, ours put on a homemade “show” the other night. Full of dancing, tricks, and displays of talent, it was a wonderful experience.
There were tickets, souvenirs, and even a program.
My favorite part, however, was the beginning when they said “Welcome to our show. Please turn off your cell phones.”

Social Etiquette Question…

Your child is invited to a “joint” birthday party (no, there are no illegal drugs involved), rather 2 families are co-hosting.

Your child is friends with one of the kids. Doesn’t know the other kid. Do you have to give that kid a present?

What if your child knows the other kid, but isn’t friends w/him or her?

Does it matter if you have a relationship with the parents?

Deep Survival…Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why?

I am in the middle of a FANTASTIC book about the human spirit and psychology. It’s called Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why and the title doesn’t even do it justice.

It is one of those books that, as my brother Asher says, “makes you think about how you think” and it will really push you.

What I love about it is that the examples it gives (while focused on man vs. nature) apply very much to how we deal with extreme challenges in any part of our lives…job change, marriage, globalization, and more.

If you can become more aware of the way you think, you might be able to help adapt and thrive to new situations as they arise and avoid being blind to them because of previous paradigms.

Certainly the US Congress and American taxpayer could use this.

I highly recommend it. (Note: it is NOT a light read and will require some effort…but, like survival, it’s worth it.)

Gratitude for the little guys…

Every now and then I just take a deep breath and look at my kids. Really look at them…as people.

I am just so thankful for them.

The evolving ROI/benefit of domestic solar

If you are interested in saving the planet as well, here's the link to get an estimate for your own solar panels.
(full disclosure...if you do sign up via this link, we both get some $).

Background:

So, we’re up to a total of about 300 kWh over the 5 weeks of solar power.

Considering it’s been wintertime, a few really cloudy days and 1-2 days of snow, I’m excited.

It’s fun to watch and, truth be told, it just feels good.

When the sun is shining, I just think “excellent, generating some power.”

So, on the economic side, the first month, we came in below the guarantee production. I still paid my flat fee of $68 and asked about this.

The answer…which works for me, is that there is a “true up” period at the end of the year to account for the fluctuations.

They get the float on a bit of money. I’m ok with that, if it all works out over the long haul.

Living Life...with Cystic Fibrosis...

When I became friends with Chuck Fox in 7th grade, I learned  about Cystic Fibrosis for the first time.

He told me that "life expectancy was 27 years."

Well, as you can see in this inspiring article about him, not only has he blown that to bits, but he's done a whole lot more.

What an inspiration.

Why I Took the Job…Ships Burning

Many people have asked me, “Jeremy, you had a thriving consulting practice? Why would you give that up (and the benefits of self-employment) to go work for someone else?”

The answer: Because I was scared.

I wasn’t scared of failure or of not being able to generate enough business. After 3.5 years, I knew that I could make that happen.

No, what was scaring the daylights of me was that I would be able to generate enough business doing the same thing I had been doing.

It was a fear of a lack of ability to TRULY innovate in my offerings that motivated.

Ok, that’s not entirely true, as I was (and am) genuinely excited about the Sprinklr opportunity and the mission of the company.

But, what made me open to the possibility of joining was this nagging fear of staying relevant of staying on the cutting edge.

Between my reading of Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why and its discussion of how neural pathways become so ingrained as to become hindrances rather than helpers and an inspiring blog post by Rajesh Setty about how “most careers plateau at age 40,” I found myself in a predicament.

I knew I could keep going and do well for a while, but how long that while would be wasn’t clear.

What was clear was that…at some point…I would have to do something that “forced the change” and MADE me confront a new challenge, developing new skills, and building out new neural pathways.

This isn’t easy and it gets progressively more difficult as we age, but it’s precisely for that reason that I felt like I almost had to do it (again…it dovetailed nicely with the natural passion I felt for Sprinklr and the team).

Even though it appears he didn’t really do it, the notion of Cortes “burning the ships” has become an inspiring vision in my mind and among some of my friends as well.

Perhaps a better metaphor is that of Abraham living Haran and going “to the place I will show you” as led by God.

In both instances, the requirement is a willingness to leave behind what you are/know in order to arrive at what you can become.

But, you can’t do it halfway.

So, that fear…plus the awesome opportunity of raising my game by taking all that I’ve studied/done in the past 3.5 years and apply it in a petri dish led me to the conclusion that it just had to be done.