My girlfriend just launched her new blog, and after all the work she’s put into piecing it together, it’s finally here.

The Sea Green Journal

I highly recommend that you check it out (not because I’m the boyfriend, but because it’s great and there’s a lot of awesome thingamabobs). You’ll learn about Interior Design, Food, and a lot of other things. And most importantly, she’ll take you to an awesome journey with Georgia, the prettiest and bestest dog in the world.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to subscribe and drop her a line.

The Sea Green Journal

—

Congratulations, my darLing.. Im sure your journal will be a hit. =]

Anyway, I saw this email that’s been floating around my workplace and I  just thought I’d like to share it here in my blog. It’s about the differences between Eastern and Western culture summarized in a few witty images.

As someone who has been (and still is) constantly exposed to the Eastern and Western culture, I can really relate and attest to the differences (both good and bad) of these speciously polarizing but apparently concordant ways of life.

I think one element that jumped-off at me was about how the two cultures view punctuality. I think they are very funny (and accurate) . Honestly, I find myself wavering between the two cultures in terms of my punctuality, but I think I’ve been leaning towards the East for quite some time now

Credits to Liu Young for these visual representations (he was born in China and educated in Germany).

Enjoy!

Blue: Western | Red: Eastern

Opinion

Way of Life

Punctuality

Contacts

Anger

Waiting in a Queue

Sundays on Road

Party

In the Restaurant

Travelling

Handling of Problems

Three Meals a Day

Transportation

Elderly Day to Day Life

Mood and Weather

The Boss 

What’s Trendy

This is a repost from Daniel Isenberg.  He is a Professor of Management Practice from Bobson College.

The original article is here.

——————–

Some of your friends are doing it. People who do it are in the front pages and web almost every day. Even President Obama is talking about it. So should you do it? Should you join the millions of people every year who take the plunge and start their first ventures? I’ve learned in my own years as an entrepreneur — and now an entrepreneurship professor — that there is a gut level “fit” for people who are potential entrepreneurs. There are strong internal drivers that compel people to create their own business. I’ve developed a 2–minute Isenberg Entrepreneur Test, below, to help you find out. Just answer yes or no. Be honest with yourself — remember from my last post: the worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves.

1. I don’t like being told what to do by people who are less capable than I am.
2. I like challenging myself.
3. I like to win.
4. I like being my own boss.
5. I always look for new and better ways to do things.
6. I like to question conventional wisdom.
7. I like to get people together in order to get things done.
8. People get excited by my ideas.
9. I am rarely satisfied or complacent.
10. I can’t sit still.
11. I can usually work my way out of a difficult situation.
12. I would rather fail at my own thing than succeed at someone else’s.
13. Whenever there is a problem, I am ready to jump right in.
14. I think old dogs can learn — even invent — new tricks.
15. Members of my family run their own businesses.
16. I have friends who run their own businesses.
17. I worked after school and during vacations when I was growing up.
18. I get an adrenaline rush from selling things.
19. I am exhilarated by achieving results.
20. I could have written a better test than Isenberg (and here is what I would change ….)

If you answered “yes” on 17 or more of these questions, look at your paycheck (if you are lucky enough to still get one). If the company that issued the check isn’t owned by you, it is time for some soul searching: Do you have debts to pay? Kids in college? Alimony? Want to take it easy? Maybe better to wait. Do you have a little extra cash in the bank and several credit cards? Do you have a spouse, partner, friends, or kids who will cheer you on? If so, start thinking about what kind of business you want to set up. It doesn’t matter what age you are: research by the Kauffman Foundation shows that more and more over–50s are setting up their own businesses. Talk to people who have made the plunge, learn how to plan and deliver a product or service, think about that small business you might buy, talk to people with whom you would like to work, and talk to customers.

“I like to take risks” is not on the list. People don’t choose to be entrepreneurs by opting for a riskier lifestyle. What they do, instead, is reframe the salary vs. entrepreneur choice as between two different sets of risk: the things they don’t like about having a steady job — such as the risk of boredom, working for a bad boss, lack of autonomy, lack of control over your fate, and getting laid off — and the things they fear about being an entrepreneur — possible failure, financial uncertainty, shame or embarrassment, and lost investment. In the end, people who are meant to be entrepreneurs believe that their own abilities (e.g. leadership, resourcefulness, pluck, hard work) or assets (e.g. money, intellectual property, information, access to customers) significantly mitigate the risks of entrepreneurship. Risk is ultimately a personal assessment: what is risky for me is not risky for you.

“I want to get rich” is not on the list either. All else being equal (and all else is rarely equal in the real world), on the average, people who set up their own businesses don’t make more money, although a few do succeed in grabbing the brass ring. But the “psychic benefits” — the challenge, autonomy, recognition, excitement, and creativity — make it all worthwhile.

“If I could do anything, I would…”

• Create technology that would change people’s lives
• Build a beautiful house for every family in the world
• Eliminate poverty, eliminate diseases, and get rid of pornography
• Provide everybody in the world the chance to fulfill their dreams
• Create a bridge from Michigan to Cebu, or perhaps a tunnel or a teleport machine…
• Have YFC/SFC household on the moon
• Learn the ability to walk on water so I can run around the world..
• Travel the solar system within 3 days, starting from the Sun, with a pit-stop at the rings of Saturn, and finally surfing around the outskirts of the milky way. Then I would fly back to Earth, rest for a few days, and Start making plans to travel to a different universe..
• Allow snow to fall in the Philippines (for a few days the most) so people there can finally experience their first snow
• Swim with a blue whale as he takes me around to the wonders of the ocean
• Travel the world with my wife
• If I could do anything, I would still read books, go to Grad school, and be able to learn and explore the fascinating world around us..
• If I could do anything, I would… Do more…

If you could do anything, what would you do?

UPDATE: Results are in. MIT Red Balloon Team has won the competition. Great effort! I’m curious to know how teams approached this problem.

If you have seen one, please let me (or our team) know!

This Saturday (December 5), DARPA, The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, will release 10 red balloons at fixed locations. The challenge is to FIND THEM. The first individual or group to locate all 10 balloons will receive a $40,000 cash prize. This task may be harder than it seems so we need a lot of help!

Join our team. Click here to join our Facebook group.

Pass it along! Tell your friends, your girlfriends, your girlfriends’ girlfriends, and your girlfriends’ girlfriends’ grandparents!

More information on the DARPA Network Challenge

After hours of scouring the Internet for a potential FREE solution (believe me, it’s not easy), I found the perfect tool for my task: Prism Video Converter for Windows.

It’s a multi-format video converter for Windows, and it’s FREE (for non-commercial use).

To anyone out there who may come across the same problem as I did, hopefully this blog entry will save you time.

Home Page: http://www.nchsoftware.com/prism/index.html
Direct download link: here