Throwback Blog: I'm No Longer Nice

Blogger’s Note: Throwback blogs are blogs from my past. I start posting past blogs reflecting what I wrote. It's like my "A Second Look" blogs for which I give myself feedback.

Today's throwback blog is titled I'm No Longer Nice in Mar 2010. I was inspired to blog when all of my classmates liked our Financial Accounting II instructor except me during De Anza College Winter 2010 Quarter. They liked her because she taught straight from the book and she was nice. I said nice people are boring people. I believe successful people must be good people. Good people are strong people. Nice people finish last. Do you agree it's better to be a good person than a nice person? Read the throwback. You choose.

The end of Payroll Accounting class yesterday, I talked to two students about good and bad accounting instructors. We talked about my Financial Accounting II instructor. Everyone likes my Financial Accounting II instructor except me. Everyone likes her because she's nice. I agree she's nice. She teaches straight from the book. She wants all her students to pass her class.

Before yesterday, the top reason why I don't like her is because she teaches straight from the book. Even though my grade is an A, I don't recommend her. She makes sure her students know what's required for the mid-terms. In contrast, my Financial Accounting I instructor told stories. He was boring sometimes. He shared experiences. Grades are important for transfers, graduations, and sometimes jobs; however, there is more to life than grades.

I have a new top reason why I recommend avoiding her classes. She's nice. There's nothing wrong with nice people. I believe nice people are boring people. It's hard for me to get along with boring people. I don't like people being too polite, too thankful, too sorry, and asking too many questions. I don't like conversations on weather, what time it is, and topics that has nothing to do with the present moment. It's OK to change the subject. It's timing and discretion that dictates a change in subject.

Five years ago, I believed nice guys could finish first. Nice guys were awesome. I was a nice guy. I was polite. Two years ago, I wanted to be called a good guy. I wasn't a good guy. I still was a nice guy. Yesterday, I declared I'm no longer a good guy. I'm starting to understand and to learn what it takes to be a good guy.

Good guys are not boring guys. Good guys are not nice guys. Good guys are not the guys I described in the third paragraph. Good guys have fun. Good guys seek adventures. Good guys say jokes. (I need improvement on saying jokes. I'm still working on saying more funny jokes and less corny jokes.) Good guys show discretion. Good guys are action. Good guys are nasty, bittersweet, and can be bad asses. Good guys have balls. Sometimes we must be asshoes.

Furthermore, I have a better understanding why women hate nice guys. Women don't want polite guys; guys who say, act, and obey whatever his girls says or demands; and wimpy guys. Women don't want guys I described in the third paragraph. Women don't want guys who are plain and always being the usual.

No more Mr. Nice Guy. I'm a good guy.

Email: feedbackininblog@innovateinfinitely.com

Be Grateful Day

Today I count my blessings. I evaluate what I have. I make the best of my present situation. I make the best of my living arrangements. Don't complain. I continue to improve my situation for the future. I innovate my life to be stronger, smarter, kinder, and wiser infinitely.

*My Brain. My brain has been getting stronger. I'm learning new skills such as Oracle and Python. I'm reviewing existing skills such as Excel and SQL. I'm reading books. I continue to experience new experiences such as hiking new trails and visiting new cities.

*My Health. Strong bodies and strong minds complement each other. I'm the healthiest I've ever been in my life. I workout at the gym four to five days a week. I minimize eating processed foods and eating at restaurants. I'm not eating processed foods and eating at restaurants moderately. I minimize them. I also include my oral health. I brush my teeth two times a day. And I take care of my body showering, shaving, and grooming.

*Clothes. I'm grateful my small amount of clothes has been lasting since 2008. My clothes include t-shirts, gym clothes, and hiking clothes. I look forward to buy new clothes when I achieve my independence. My shoes for formal events, gym, and hiking are included.

*Phone. My phone complements my life which includes keeping in touch with my friends on social media or texting, music for cardio, music for sleep, emergency communication, and looking up information. I don't play mobile games regularly. My phone doesn't control my life. My phone is on my belt holster in the prescience of people.

*Computers. I own a laptop and a desktop. My laptop is an HP Compaq 8510p I purchased in 2008 which runs great. My custom desktop was built in 2009 and upgraded in 2015 which also runs great. The hardware for both laptop and PC meets my computing needs. They're not fancy high-end. The DSL internet connection satisfies the household needs. We neither need high speed internet nor cable for TV and internet.

*Food. I admit the meals my household eat are boring. The positives are there's food on the table, food is healthy, and we eat healthy portions. I'm looking forward to improve my basic cooking skills.

*Shelter. The house has heating, air conditioning, and fans. Also, the house has a refrigerator, stove, microwave, running water, working toilets, lighting, furniture, and mattresses. And the house has fire extinguishers, candles, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, flashlights, and a first-aid kit.

*Wise Spending. I shop for goods on sale. I compare prices with competitors. I follow the resist the urge to splurge rule: wait 24 hours to splurge goods less than $100 and 48 hours to splurge goods $100 and greater. I'm not a hoarder.

*My Car. I take care of my 2005 Toyota Camry. I change the oil every 5,000 miles. I inspect the engine and tires when I fill up my car with Chevron gas. I purchase high end tires. I follow the routine maintenance schedule which includes changing filters and tire rotation.

*DVD. Everyone needs a distraction when life goes haywire. I own a small collection of DVD which follows my wise spending. My rule buying a DVD is I predict watching the DVD more than once. The DVD is not a watch once and then forget it like watching a movie once in a lifetime.

Email: feedbackininblog@innovateinfinitely.com

Be Strong To Be Sane

What is saving you from becoming insane? What is preventing you from becoming crazy? You're a good person. What does it take to not be a bad person? A TV show. A person. A hobby. A place in your city. There can be more than one item, person, activity, or place. My sanity is saved playing Mahjong (Riichi), working out at the gym, reading books, blogging, following sport headlines, and cooking currently. Also, I'm working hard to achieve my next big goal which is independence. I job search five days a week. I learn new job skills six days a week. I want to move out of the house. I want to live on my own. I want to control more of my life. I want to make more choices for myself. I want to live a good life consistently. I want to be more proactive. I want to meet new people. I want to make more friends. I'm not throwing away my life watching TV eight hours a day, drinking, playing video games, and being physically inactive.

In addition, I follow the philosophy of the late Steve Jobs. I blogged my Top Ten Steve Jobs Quotes. Two of my top ten quotes are the following: (1) Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma--which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. (2) The journey is the reward.

Stay busy. Boredom kills the life motivation to live. Strength, courage, intelligence, and motivation are required to be a sane human being. It's ironic working hard is required to stay busy. Be patient. Pace yourself. A person's motivation is more important than a person's knowledge. "I will" is more important than "I know."

Email: feedbackininblog@innovateinfinitely.com

Happy And Sad Beginning 2016 Summer

I was happy I have new outdoor equipment for my next adventure. I was sad the Golden State Warriors and the San Jose Sharks lost their championship games at their home stadiums. Keep cool watching videos indoors to avoid a head stroke and smoke polluting the air. My Safeway Club card helps me save on gas when I’m outdoors. Also, I know there are more off the counter foot products when I’m outdoors. If I need stronger medications, I go to a CVS Pharmacy in Target.





















Email: feedbackininblog@innovateinfinitely.com

Top Ten Steve Jobs Quotes

Steve Jobs was a genius. He changed the world. I recommend everyone read his biography written by Walter Isaacson. A person's life can change reading the biography with heart. Jobs told Isaacson he never worried about money. Jobs lived a simple life at Reed College and in India. Jobs became rich after Apple went public. Moreover, Jobs promised himself the money didn't ruin his life.

Jobs told Isaacson his thoughts about growing old and the future months before Jobs was fired from Apple: Your thoughts construct patterns like scaffolding in your mind. You are really etching chemical patterns. In most cases, people get stuck in those patterns, just like grooves in a record, and they never get out of them. I'll always stay connected with Apple. I hope that throughout my life I'll sort of have the thread of my life and the thread of Apple weave in and out of each other, like a tapestry. There may be a few years when I'm not there, but I'll always come back. . . . If you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much. You have to be willing to take whatever you've done and whoever you were and throw them away. The more the outside world tries to reinforce an image of you, the harder it is to continue to be an artist, which is why a lot of times, artists have to say, "Bye, I have to go. I'm going crazy and I'm getting out of here." And they go and hibernate somewhere. Maybe later they re-emerge a little differently. (p 189-190)

Jobs was brave to destroy; in other words, out of the old and in with the new. Jobs accepted iPhones might cannibalize iPods or iPads might cannibalize laptops. "If you don't cannibalize yourself, someone else will," said Jobs. (p 408)

Listen to Jobs' commencement address at Stanford University in 2005 on YouTube: Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address. Some of the highlights include the following: (1) You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. (2) Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish. (3) Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.

I admit I cheated today's top ten. The quotes above are good top ten quotes. I want to mention all of his good quotes totaling greater than ten. Enough said. Here are the top ten Steve Jobs quotes:

10. Picasso had a saying--'good artists copy, great artists steal'--we have always been shameless . . . stealing great ideas.

9. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you, and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Um, once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.

8. Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.

7. When you grow up, you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life--and your life is just to live inside your world. Try not to bash into the walls too much, try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life.

6. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma--which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

5. Quality is much better than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.

4. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.

3. I began to realize that an intuitive understanding and consciousness was more significant than abstract thinking and intellectual logical analysis . . . intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect, in my opinion. That's had a big impact on my work.

2. You're born alone, you're going to die alone. And what exactly is it do you have to lose. There's nothing.

1. The journey is the reward.

Email: feedbackininblog@innovateinfinitely.com

Today I Want To Talk About Sleep

I slept well last night since Fri Jul 29. Three out of the last four nights I slept poorly. I slept poorly because the night was warm, too excited, bad mood, and concern for my future in the back of my mind. I turned on a desk fan to cool the room. I lost two hours of sleep waiting for the room to cool down.

I feel better today. My mood improved. I'm more focused. I'm more energized.

My sleep routine is sleeping eight hours. My sleeping environment ambient temperature must be cool. I fall asleep faster the colder the room. I listen to sleeping music on my smart phone. I set the sleep timer to two hours or two and a half hours. Sometimes I listen to sound effects instead. My favorite sound effects are rain, wind, and wind chimes. I wake up stretching my body on my mattress and when I stand up.

Sleep is important. Rest is important. It's not worth losing sleep for entertainment purposes. I practice my spiritually sleeping.

Email: feedbackininblog@innovateinfinitely.com

Your Life Map Is Full Of Colors, Scribbles, Eraser Marks

I had ideas how I lived my adult life when I was a child. I wanted to be a teacher when I was in grade school. I wanted to be a design engineer in junior high school. I wanted to be a math teacher when I was in high school. My first career after graduating from college the first time was in commercial real estate. I never thought I worked in commercial real estate for eight years. Further, I never thought of going back to college during the 2009 Great Recession. My two jobs after my second time in college didn't help me get a long-term job. I never thought I experience multiple times of long-term unemployment.

Adults tell kids to follow our dreams. Adults hold off telling kids dreams are hard to achieve. Hard work is required. Frustrations must be experienced. Be prepared to learn from mistakes. Challenges are really challenges not to be taken lightly. Be open for setbacks. Dreams are not achieved in a straight line. Some dreams die such that a new dream must be created. Maybe adults hold off because most adults never experienced the frustrations, challenges, and setbacks and/or don't know how to teach hard work. If a dream is too easy to achieve, then it probably is too easy.

My Map

I mapped my life like millions of other children when we were young. Did my map guide me from point A to point B or from childhood to present adulthood? No. My map has too many colors, scribbles, and eraser marks. I need another color to differentiate a change due to circumstances beyond my control. I need to scribble a different route because of an event. I need an eraser to stop because of a tragedy. I need a new pen to draw a new path.

We rarely get what we want. We make the best of the present situation. We find the joy in our current life. We continue to seek happiness because humans want to be happy. Be strong and be courageous to be happy. I'm still working hard to be happy. A life clique is true for today's blog: I hope for the best.

Email: feedbackininblog@innovateinfinitely.com