New Sights And New Experiences

Blogger's Note: May is pic month. I'm catching up posting pics from my smart phone. Enjoy!

I was lucky I got a free bottle water using my intuition. New Mahjong sights a portable automatic table and English translation Japanese Riichi tiles. Another new sight was apartments and industrial buildings by the bay water. Also, I saw 116 minutes from the home dishwasher for the first time. All workers should read The Peter Principle to minimize incompetence and to maximize worker habits. The family ate at a new Chinese restaurant for the first time for which the inside included a big picture.

I Forgot The Pic On Apr 20, 2025

Blogger's Note: May is pic month. I'm catching up posting pics from my smart phone. Enjoy!

The gratuity debate continues indefinitely. Eye protection is important. I forgot the SD card broke pic for Apr 20, 2025. Life moves forward in heaven and in hell. People need to sleep more. Teamwork overrated? Smart phones at the restaurant table in 2014 and present. Coke is back at Costco. Support Pokemon books at the library.

Throwback Blog: Where Does Bad Management Come From?

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 Where Does Bad Management Come From? written on May 30, 2023. The answer is stress. The absolute answer is stress. The final answer is stress. Him or her must not do everything. He or she stresses out doing everything. Bad life choice. Doing everything is impossible.

I'm not a management consultant. I have no management experience. I speak from intuition. Bad management comes from stressed-out people. Bad management is the symptom from stressed-out people; in other words, stressed-out people cause bad managers.

Stress is one of many causes of bad managers. Another possibility is rough times outside the workplace. Bad managers dealing with family problems. Bad managers with chronic physical ailments. Bad managers tight on personal finances. Bad managers working too many hours. Long commutes, poor diets, lack of sleep, behind in responsibilities, and little leisure activities influence managers becoming bad. Outside influences can affect a bad manager such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, the economy, and politics.

The workers are the punching bag. The workers are the stress relief. The workers are the receiving end of the managers releasing their anger, stress, fatigue, etc. The workers' tolerance is limited. Give it time. The workers respond appropriately quitting, requesting transfers, decreasing quality work, and/or informing the higher up management.

Update On A Past Blog

It took me 2.33 years to proactively continue my financial education. I model financial education from one of my grandfathers in the blog My Two Grandfathers written on Jul 3, 2018.

Stupidity Stress In 1998

I remember one workday in my first job after I graduated from San Jose State University. I took a nap. There was nothing wrong with taking a nap. Everyone experiences an unusual stressful day. Management should allow naps.

However, the unusual stress causing my nap was unjustified. I remembered my stupidity. I was naive as a newly college graduate. My Research Analyst position was unstressful. I maintained a database. I created reports from the proprietary database. I completed special projects a college intern could understand. No Excel was required. No analysis needed. Further, I complained like an immature high school teenager.

There is no comparison between the stress in 1998 and the stress in 2026. The 1998 stress was Disneyland. In particular, the research analysts, business analysts, operations analysts, and data analysts industry Power BI, Tableau, SQL, databases, key performance indicators, text editors, Salesforce, artificial intelligence, dashboards, and programming languages either didn't exist or didn't require to fulfill the responsibilities in the late 1990s. Times have changed. All of the above are required to fulfill the responsibilities today.

Update On A Past Blog

The Riichi City latest promotion is Riichi City Date A Live V introducing Date A Tile Collab. The five questions asked to match a Date A Live V character are below. Each question should tell the Riichi player there are multiple ways to play and to win.

1. What's your mahjong playstyle?
2. What would you do when your hand is a mess?
3. What's your favorite way to win?
4. What's would you do if a discard completes your hand, but it's a low score?
5. What matter most in mahjong?

I included screenshots with my answers and the resulted character below.

The Data A Live V reminded me of two Mahjong Riichi blogs. I'm a beginner player on Nov 12, 2012 from the blog Let's Play Japanese Mahjong (Riichi). I included my Riichi Hands guide from my webpage. I'm an advanced player.

I shared Life Lessons Learned Playing Mahjong Riichi on Mar 18, 2016. Most of the lessons are true today. The lessons are applied either way from Riichi to life or from life to Riichi. One experienced Riichi player told me professions who place fourth two times in a row stop playing for the rest of the day.

Data Analyst Actually Data Entry Dream

I dreamed last night my first day on the job at my new company as a data analyst. The dream began at a signaled intersection on Interstate 880 between Junction 880-101 and Brokaw Road which doesn't exist in real life. I drove northbound from San Jose to Fremont. I waited for the green light driving my 2005 Toyota Camry. I accelerated at an easy slow pace. Traffic was light for a morning commute.

I exited Mowry Road in Fremont. I turned right. I realized I don't know the company location. I drove to a Chevron station to look up the address on my Samsung Galaxy S7.

I arrived at the freestanding Office and R&D two story building. The dream skipped to the main hallway where I met some coworkers. I already received my security ID badge. A manager walked with me to my workstation. I visited a coworker in a private office with no windows before my workstation. The private office contained all company video game magazines back issues. The coworker maintained multiple copies of most monthly back issues.

My work area was not a typical open office with cubicles. I met one co-worker nicknamed Si-Tiger pronounced Psy-tiger. My work area was a sectioned off partition along a wall. The drop ceiling was low--eight feet from the ground. There was a swinging door entering and exiting. The sheet rock was removed along the wall. No insulation. The wall studs could be seen.

My workstation desktop computer was like the late 1990s desktops. 21-inch gigantic heavy monitor. Windows 95 operating system. There was trouble with my emails. There were at least 200 emails unread.

The time was 11am. My training began. The same manager handed me a spiral notebook seen in schools and colleges. Each page contained four columns. Each row contained PC hardware specifications including hard drive size and RAM size. Each column and row represented one desktop PC for a total of four desktop PCs per row. The PC hardware specifications were year 2026 specifications and not 1990s specifications. My job was entering all specifications to the computer. I woke up.

Steve Jobs Quotes

Here are some quotes from the late co-founder of Apple.

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.

I say Microsoft and Google have a lot in common. Microsoft never had the humanities and the liberal arts in their DNA. It was a pure technology company. And they just didn't get it. Even when they saw the map, they couldn't even copy it well. How dumb do you have to be to not see it--once you see it, you know. But Google is the same way. They just don't get it.

If you don't cannibalize yourself, someone else will.

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.

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.

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

Some people say, "Give the customers want they want." But that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said, "If I'd asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, 'A faster horse!'" People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page."

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.

Stay hungry, stay foolish.

The journey is the reward.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

The last quote is three paragraphs.

"I sort of look at us as two of the luckiest guys (Steve Jobs and Bill Gates) on the planet cause we found what we loved to do. And we were at the right place at the right time. We gotten to go to work every day with super bright people for 30 years, and do what we love doing. It's hard to be happier than that. Your family and that. What more can you ask for? So, I don't think about legacy that much. I just think about being able to get up every day and go in and hang around these great people and hopefully create something that other people will love as much as we do. And if we can do that, that's great.

"People say you have to have a lot of passion for what you're doing. And it's totally true. And the reason is because it's so hard that if you don't, any rational person would give up. It's really hard. And you have to do it over a sustained period of time. So if you don't love it, if you're not having fun doing it, you don't really love it, you're gonna give up. And that's what happens to most people actually. If you really look at the ones that ended up being successful *in air quotes* in the eyes of society, and the ones that didn't, oftentimes, it's the ones that are successful loved what they did so they can persevere when it got really tough, and the ones that didn't love it quit cause they're sane. Right? Who want to put up with this stuff if you don't love it. So, it's a lot of hard work. And it's a lot of worrying constantly. And if you don't love it, you're going to fail. So you gotta love it. You got to have passion. And I think that's the high order albeit.

"The second thing is you got be a really good talent scout. No matter how smart you are you need a team of great people. And you got to figure out how to size people up fairly quickly, make decisions without knowing people too well, and hire them, and see how you do and refine your intuition and be able to help build an organization that can eventually just build itself cause you need great people around you."

Throwback Blog: Higher Priority Job Hiring And Higher Weight Job Hiring

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 Higher Priority Job Hiring And Higher Weight Job Hiring written on Sep 10, 2017. The job hiring system is different in today's Information Age compared to past generations Generation X and Generation Y or Millennials. A nice job candidate with the attitude to learn is not going to be hired. I speak from experience many retail jobs the job candidate with good customer service experience only is not enough.

Discrimination was in the past yesterday. Discrimination is present today. The conversation on artificial intelligence eliminating jobs is rarely talked about in parties.

A casual conversation rarely talked about is the number of unemployed people. The number has been increasing. High school graduates, college graduates, recent laid-off workers, and long-term laid-off workers. The number of available workers is greater than the number of job openings. Job opportunities are few. People looking for jobs are many. More people are going to fail through no fault of their own.

A bottom line is high school students and/or college students who want a career in *fill in the blank* should have started training yesterday. The probability of finding a job increases the earlier the job candidate learns.

The old days a job candidate's desire, motivation, learning attitude, good communication skills, and friendliness were top qualities. They were the highest priorities. They weigh more. A job candidate's recent experience and relevant knowledge are top qualities today. The job hiring system today values the old days' qualities at the lower priority. The old days' qualities weigh less. Discrimination? My answer is yes. Discrimination has been happening for decades.

Moreover, managers and senior workers who "don't have time to train" prefer new hires with recent experience and relevant knowledge. What about your children when they're job searching after completing their education? Most of they can't find jobs because they don't have recent experience and relevant knowledge. Their potential managers and senior workers "don't have time to train." Managers and senior workers better train your children to avoid being discriminated like you're doing to job candidates who need a break.

I understand a common life quote "what goes around comes around." I also understand better some long-term unemployed quit job searching. Artificial Intelligence eliminates more jobs as time moves forward, anyways.

The job search system must be blamed. The job hiring process must be blamed. Some recruiters calling prospective candidates either don't read their resumes or don't understand their resumes content. They see key words on their resumes. They call the candidates or they email spam the candidates. Sometimes the calls or emails spam job openings are out of their metropolitan area. These recruiters are outside the United States almost all of the time.

It's very rare to find the 100% perfect job candidate. Most hiring managers believe their dreams come true. I see job openings. Time passes. I see the same job openings again as if the hiring manger rejected all of the potential job candidates. It happens to me when I reach the interview stage. Blame the system. Blame the process.

The Last Best Year 1999 Or 2007?

I'm an unprofessional anthropologist. I'm an unprofessional historian. I unprofessionally answer the question is either 1999 or 2007 the last best year? Here is a quick history of 1999 and 2007.

1999: NASA launched the Mars Polar Lander, President Bill Clinton was not convicted of impeachment, Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl, a hot air balloon circumnavigated planet Earth, Shakespeare In Love won Best Picture, the Melissa worm attacked the internet, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 10,000 and 11,000 for the first time, Kosovo War ended, Columbine High School shooting in Colorado, Napster was created, USA defeated China in the FIFA Women's World Cup, multiple earthquakes in Turkey, New York Yankees won the World Series, Exxon and Mobile merged, and Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned.

2007: iPhone debuted, Indianapolis Colts won the Super Bowl, Virginia Tech shooting killed 32 students, Nancy Pelosi became the first female speaker of the USA House of Representatives, British Prime Minister Tony Blair resigned, Bob Barker retired as host of The Price Is Right, European heat wave, The Departed won Best Picture, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 13,000 and 14,000 for the first time, San Francisco Giants Barry Bonds became the all time home runs leader, Southern California wildfires destroyed 1,600 structures, Boston Red Sox won the World Series, and Writers Guild Of America went on strike.

A criteria for the last best year is the highest number of winners. Success is maximized. The winners and the success are measured on a global scale. The chances people become instant winners are high just by participating. People apply for jobs, interview for jobs, and hire for jobs. Colleges accept many students. There are plenty of acceptances to programs. Consumers purchase homes, cars, and long-term durable goods. Banks give loans to entrepreneurs.

More opportunities. More openings. High enrollments. There are plenty of pie slices for everyone. Spend here, invest there, and gamble or bet on the opportunity. Reduce savings to earn more money. Money is plentiful attributed to the central banks such as the Federal Reserve, Bank Of England, Bank Of Japan, Bank Of Canada, European Central Bank, People's Bank of China, and the World Bank.

The above happened in both 1999 and 2007. An economic catastrophe happened their following years. The dot-com bubble burst in 2000 resulted in a recession. The real estate bubble burst in 2008 resulted in The Great Recession. Maybe 2019 was the last best year. The COVID-19 global pandemic in 2020 resulted in a recession and an inflation.

What is the last best year for the world? There are multiple answers and explanations because they depend on the perspectives.

Update On A Past Blog

I want to add two more bad advice, bad lessons, or bad teachings to the Top Ten Bad Advice, Bad Lessons, Or Bad Teachings blog written on Wed Feb 4, 2026. The first is calling out my parents. I connect the dots backwards as I age. I acquire more knowledge, more wisdom, and more experience. The three convince me my parents gave me bad advice, bad lessons, or bad teachings. Do they mean well for which they didn't want me to be a bad adult? Yes. Do they try to be the best parents they can be? No. I forgave them decades ago on the day I realized I must grow up on Sat Oct 4, 2008.

The second is learning Riichi or Japanese Mahjong. I quit learning Riichi in 2007. I'm lucky I relearned Riichi in 2009. The reasons I quit Riichi in 2007 were bad lessons and bad resources. The books I read were terrible. The online resources were confusing. Fortunately, there are more good books and better online resources today. I consider myself an advanced level Riichi player.

Some Endings Are A Relief

I remember my junior year and senior year attending San Jose State University. I felt relief when I completed my last final exam of the semester. The relief feeling was the same for a good semester and for a bad semester. All semester obligations completed. The stress was removed. The tension was gone. The brain relaxed. Freedom. My post-semester activity was shopping later in the day after the last final. In particular, I completed my Christmas shopping after the fall semesters. The mandatory stores were Valley Fair shopping mall in Santa Clara, CA; Fry's Electronics; and Barnes & Noble.

There was no post-quarter activity after I completed a quarter when I went back to school at De Anza College. There was no relief. There was no post-quarter activity. Stress and tension were mild compared to San Jose State University. I was in my mid 30's with life experience, maturity, and not repeating my mistakes as a second-time college student.

I digress. The end eventually happens. It's over. Finish. Complete. Victory or defeat. Win or loss. It's the end. Take time off. Stop. Take a breath. Evaluate. Debrief. Reflect. Think of the positives. Think of the negatives. Strengthen the accomplishments. Correct the mistakes. Resume life or continue living life when the break is over. It's the life system.

Top Ten Bad Advice, Bad Lessons, Or Bad Teachings

Everyone receives bad information. Everyone is taught bad knowledge. There are professionals with questionable advice. There are adults with false encouragement. One former hygienist taught me to angle my toothbrush to brush both the teeth and gums. Incorrect teaching. Adults told me to attend my high school prom to avoid regret in my adulthood. There is no regret I missed my junior year and my senior year high school proms. Here are the top ten bad false information:

10. Whistle With Dry Mouth. I was taught to whistle with a dry month in fourth grade. I self-taught how to whistle with a wet mouth in 2017.

9. Freeway driving is like driving on the expressway without signal lights. The speed difference between a freeway and an expressway is the only counterargument to prove the previous sentence is false.

8. Broiling Without Cooking Oil. It's doable. The truth is use cooking oil to broil food in the oven.

7. Education Equals Success. Education is a factor. Motivation is more important to be successful compared to education. Timing, luck, chance, and opportunity are factors to be considered.

6. Remedies To Cure My Sickness. The following doesn't work: vitamin C tablets, garlic tablets, gargle with salt water, Ricola cough drops, drink plenty of water, yogurt, orange juice, green tea, and ginger ale. The following does work: Coke, chocolate, and Breathe Right Nasal Strips.

5. Water, Milk, And Green Tea. Drinking eight glasses of water, two glasses of milk a day, and green tea to maintain a healthy lifestyle are false.

4. Eat In Moderation. Okay to eat junk food is false. One cheat day a week is false. There is no eat in moderation and there is no cheat day for professional athletes. Minimize eating junk food is true.

3. English 1B Teaching Writing. My professor taught me to write like a newspaper journalist using many paragraphs. I'm not a journalist. 100% false.

2. Excel Training. The senior research analyst taught me Excel at my second job. Everything was wrong. The teaching was wrong Excel.

1. The Shawshank Redemption movie is boring. A friend watched the movie when it was released in 1994. He told me to skip the movie because he didn't understand the point. I watched the movie in Sep 2019. The Shawshank Redemption is number 1 in IMDb's Top 250 Movies.

Permanent Changes Due To COVID-19 Is Another Change Reference Point In Time

California Governor Gavin Newsom shut down California 2,107 days ago on Tue Mar 17, 2020. People reference many permanent changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 permanently changed *fill in the blank*. Schools. Colleges. Job searching. The hiring process. Work environment. Shopping. Contracts. Human relations. Governments. The financial system. Entertainment. Professional sports. Technology.

There are many historical reference points changing everything. The points I know are the following: the airplane, World War II, President Richard Nixon got the USA off the gold standard, the internet, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and COVID-19. There are more historical reference points changes coming soon.

A common knowledge is time changes everything--almost everything. The typical life is the same. A person is born. His or her parents raise their baby. Go to school. Graduate high school. Some graduate college or a trade school. Get a job. Get married. Raise a family. Retire. Death. Repeat. The circle of life.

However, the world changes. Humanitity changes. They are guaranteed. Generations change. Out with the old. In with the new. Let's hope future generations change for the better. Systems change. Processes change. Rules change. Opinions change. Time will tell the change is good or the change is bad. We connect the dots backwards. Forecasting or predicting is bullshit. The forecaster or predictor must sell with confidence to make it come true. Time is the ultimate judge.

Highlight and Favorite 2024 Tweets On X

Here are my 15+5=20 highlight Tweets on X and 4 favorite Favorites Tweets on X in 2024. The goals delaying one year are relearning from my mistakes, reinforcing my lessons, reminding myself my moments, refreshing acquired knowledge, rediscovering new wisdom, and sharing changes. Follow me @inin61. Enjoy!

Highlights

Jan 26: Just RT: Commentator Dave Ross shared his only collaboration with the late Charles Osgood on Apr 1992. The topic was Earth Day. They sang a song as world leaders. "There's a hole in the ozone . . . Link.

Jan 29: We work, when we come home, we work some more.

Feb 26: A life wisdom is never give up. A person is one away from success. . . Pic.

Feb 26: . . . On the other hand, sometimes giving up is the correct choice. Quit while ahead. Quit before crap happens. Pic.

Mar 23: You can bring a horse to the river. You can't make the horse drink.

Mar 30: @fermatslibrary, Newton's Laws 1st: An object at rest stays at rest an object in motion stays in motion. 2nd: Force = Mass×Acceleration. The more you push the faster you'll go. 3rd: For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. A rocket can lift off by expelling gas downward. Pic.

Apr 15: YouTube video brief explanation of black holes. Earth is the size of a grape. Sun is the size of an elephant. Distance between grape and elephant is four soccer fields. Black holes are stars at their end of life exploding as supernovas. Link.

Apr 15: Many black holes are smaller than a grain of sand. A singularity is something in the middle. A singularity is the mass. The black sphere around the singularity is the event horizon. Anything inside the event horizon turns into spaghetti noodles.

Apr 24: A woman happily in love, she burns the souffle. A woman unhappily in love, she forgets to turn on the oven. --Baron St. Fontanel, Sabrina (1954)

May 23: @espn, The NCAA and its leagues are moving forward with a multibillion-dollar settlement agreement that will allow schools to directly pay players for the first time in the history of college sports. Link.

Jun 20: Weaponized incompetence. Weaponized ignorance. The Office Of Strategic Service (OSS) was the US intelligence agency during WW2. The OSS published a sabotage manual in Jan 1944. Declassified in Feb 1963. Download the .pdf file Link.

Jun 20: Examples of office sabotage: 1 Insist on doing everything through "channels." Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions. 2 In making work assignments, always sign out the unimportant jobs first. See that the import jobs are assigned to inefficient

Jun 20: workers . . . . 3 Hold conferences when there is more, critical work to be done. 4 Spread disturbing rumors that sound like inside dope. 5 Be as irritable and quarrelsome as possible, without getting yourself into trouble.

Aug 10: @NBCSports, SPLASH AFTER SPLASH AFTER SPLASH AFTER SPLASH! Steph Curry couldn't miss in the final minutes! #ParisOlympics Link.

Sep 19: @Dodgers, HISTORY! SHOHEI OHTANI IS THE ONLY MEMBER OF THE 50/50 CLUB. Link.

Sep 28: A Freakonomics podcast talked about multitasking. Almost all of us don't multitask. We prioritize. We switch attention between tasks. An air traffic controller is an example of a multitasker. Link.

Sep 30: @NBCSGiants, BREAKING: The Giants have parted ways with president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi after six years and replaced him with franchise icon Buster Posey (via @PavlovicNBCS) Link.

Oct 08: I live near a laundromat. I exchanged two $1 bills for eight quarters. It took me decades to realize I could get quarters at a laundromat instead of buying something at a retail store.

Dec 04: A good lie is say "grandma's homemade secret recipe" or "grandpa's hearty secret recipe."

Dec 30: The excuses are justified.

Favorite Favorites

Feb 20: @SexWithEmily, Fun fact about condoms, they slip more frequently than they break! Use lube: counterintuitive though it may seem, it helps prevent the condom from "catching" on skin and coming off. Happy #NationalCondomWeek!

Apr 16: @Variety, #SNL star Heidi Gardner will "never be able to shake looking over my shoulder and seeing what I saw" during the "Beavis and Butt-Head” sketch that made her break. "I left the stage a little bit in shock. Then the anxiety set in and I was like, 'Oh my God, was that okay?' I had some friends in my dressing room, and they were like, 'Of course, it was okay.' So many other writers and cast members came up and said, 'Good job.' I’m like, 'What? I actually didn’t do my job' . . . It's really hard for me to give myself any sort of credit because I didn't do the job." Read more here: Link.

Aug 10: @NBCSAuthentic, Steph took his iconic celebration to the global stage after his dagger three against France Link.

Sep 23: @abc7newsbayarea, With the A's down to just three games left to play in Oakland, team owner John Fisher finally addressed and apologized on Monday for the team's departure from Oakland. Sports Director @LarryBeilABC7 gives his passionate reaction to the letter. Link.

Do You Fully Understand?

I wrote a blog on you're smarter than you think. I also wrote the converse some people are not as smart as you think. Here is a deeper blog. Do you fully understand yourself? Do you comprehend what you're doing? I believe there are more people than you think who don't know what's going on? I share three examples from the late Steve Jobs. Jobs said on 60 Minutes Overtime, "I say Microsoft and Google have a lot in common. Microsoft never had the humanities and the liberal arts in their DNA. It was a pure technology company. And they just didn't get it. Even when they saw the map, they couldn't even copy it well. How dumb do you have to be to not see it--once you see it, you know. But Google is the same way. They just don't get it."

Jobs hated PowerPoint slides. Programmer Tony Fadell presented iPod proposals in Apr 2001. Fadell learned a lesson saying, "Steve prefers to be in the moment, talking things through. He once told me, 'If you need [PowerPoint] slides, it shows you don't know what you're talking about.'"

There was a meeting discussing music copyright protection digital music with Apple and three music company executives in Jan 2002. Jobs interrupted the meeting after the fourth slide saying, "You have your heads up your asses." The presenter responded, "You're right. We don't know what to do. You need to help us figure it out."

Management is a good example such as the pointy haired boss from the Dilbert comic strip. Executives are another good example. Can a CEO describe the company's products and/or services? The managers saying they don't know from the movie Margin Call is a good portrayal many managers don't understand. There are professional sports players who underperform. Don't be surprised if these people bullshit their responsibilities. Few succeed. Sometimes their luck compensates for their stupidity.

Update On A Past Blog

Here are the blogs I mentioned above for further reading. The You're Smarter Than You Think blog was written on Nov 7, 2018. I wrote the some people are not as smart as you think blog Where Is The Intelligence? on Aug 24, 2019.

Past Lesson Blogs

Today's blog is an update on a past blog.

Update On A Past Blog

Here are 31 blogs with the word "lesson" in the blog title sorted by date in descending order from Dec 31, 2024 and earlier. Choose any blog to review and/or to relearn past lessons.

1. Grown Up Lessons In Second Grade Completing A Word Search written on Oct 22, 2024. Some assignments can't be completed for whatever reasons. People do cheat. And don't take everything seriously.

2. Reading Books Reinforce Centuries Life Lessons written on May 7, 2024. A pic blog from books Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw, Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, All The President's Men by Carl Berstein and Bob Woodward, and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Humans deserve kindness. A person realizes life becomes a joke the longer he or she lives. 99.9% of young people are not going to change the world. The word "rat" can be used in joke, metaphors, and anecdotes. Always verify. Give it time; for instance, it was inevitable Richard Nixon resigned. Every human being has at least one redeeming quality.

3. Throwback Blog: The Lesson To Be Successful Rarely Taught written on Feb 28, 2024. I repost timing, luck, opportunity, and chance blog from Sep 12, 2018.

4. A Lesson From The Rich People written on Jun 27, 2023. Understand the true meaning of work more and play less.

5. Life Lessons And Reminders written on May 21, 2022. A pic blog which includes two pages from the book Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden. Remember standard procedures. Narratives can change in minutes.

6. Three Grown-Up Lessons I Didn't Learn When I Was A Child written on Apr 17, 2022. The first lesson is nobody is perfect. The second lesson is actors and actresses don't make one movie and one television show for their entire careers. The third lesson is families change.

7. High School R.O.T.C. Leadership Lesson Another Viewpoint By Rank written on Oct 24, 2020. I rank the leadership attributes and leadership skills by importance.

8. Top Ten Lessons I Learned The Hard Way written on Jun 23, 2019. Never stop meeting new people is number one. Don't take life for granted is number three. Grow up is number four. Earn it is number six. Take care of your body inside and outside equally is number eight. Timing and luck are factors is number ten. These are my favorites.

9. The Lesson To Be Successful Rarely Taught written on Sep 12, 2018. If I can teach timing, luck, opportunity, and chance, then I'm a millionaire.

10. Another Lesson From Never Stop Growing Up Regardless When It Started written on Sep 5, 2018. People come and go in our lives. One reason is we change. People naturally grow apart.

11. Relevant Life Lessons And Trends written on May 23, 2018. Another pic blog. Active parents raise active children.

12. Throwback Blog: Top Ten Life Lessons From The Beatles written on Oct 30, 2017. I repost the Beatles blog from Jul 1, 2015.

13. Never Stop Learning Lesson Emphasized Because One Of The Shermans Past Away written on May 5, 2017. A lesson I repeat. Never stop learning. Innovate infinitely.

14. Top Ten Life Lessons I Learned Watching Sports written on Nov 5, 2016. Support, good coaching, consistency, be professional, and a strong core are some of the lessons.

15. A Lesson From My Bad Years written on Nov 1, 2016. I share a lesson from my bad years in 2002, 2007, 2008, 2013, and 2014.

16. Life Lessons Learned Playing Mahjong Riichi written on Mar 18, 2016. Skip all the lessons except the last lesson which is luck is part of the game. I'm an advanced mahjong player. My luck is terrible.

17. Life Lessons From Space Brothers written on Aug 17, 2015. My number two all-time favorite anime series. The lessons are part of my Inspiration Cheer Up life wisdom.

18. Top Ten Life Lessons From The Beatles written on Jul 1, 2015. Ten Beatles song titles are life lessons: Let It Be, Get Back, I've Got A Feeling, The Long And Winding Road, We Can Work It Out, Carry That Weight, Something, Here Comes The Sun, You're Going to Lose That Girl, and Getting Better.

19. Top Ten Lessons I Learned Working At My Last Job written on Nov 16, 2014. I worked at a retail startup selling wine. Shipping and receiving require training. There is no such thing as 100% customer service.

20. Top Ten Lessons I Learned Incorrectly written on Jul 28, 2014. I'm happy I corrected these lessons. They're no longer part of my life.

21. Top Ten Lessons My Parents Failed To Teach Me written on May 2, 2013. Parents raising children existed for centuries. Parents raising children exist in today's modern world. Unfortunately, some parents make the same mistakes my parents made when they raised me.

New parents remember some of these lessons from my top ten: communicate with your children, don't take life for granted, be mature, learn how to cook, read, and don't ignore problems hoping they disappear.

22. A Life Lesson I Learned Gangnam Style written on Aug 29, 2012. Ignore the lesson. I communicated incorrectly.

23. Lessons From My Office Space written on Jun 17, 2012. The first mistake was I didn't talk and socialize with my co-workers. The second mistake was I didn't realize people supported me in my second company. I believed I was lonely. I believed I was on my own. I had to be strong. I was a coward.

24. Life Lessons I Learned From Alex Smith written on Feb 15, 2012. The fifth lesson summarized Alex Smith's NFL career. Smith experienced bad luck and bad timing. I add a seventh lesson which is grit. Continue grinding. There was no reason to quit.

25. Another Lesson I Learned From My Grandparents written on Oct 15, 2010. My grandparents failed to meet new people and make new friends. People come and go. It's important to be surrounded with people. Make sure the people are good.

26. Derek Paravicini Teaches A Lesson On Life written on Apr 2, 2010. Begin in a friendly way.

27. A Lesson Learned Tonight written on Feb 2, 2010. There are no guarantees in life.

28. A Lesson From The Ants written on Dec 19, 2009. Don't make the same mistake twice.

29. A Lesson On Life Yesterday written on May 5, 2007. It was a reality check. Times have changed in the workplace from my parent's generation and the years before the Great Recession. Workers were on their own to solve problems. Everyone was too busy.

30. One Lesson Of Life Cosplaying written on Aug 28, 2006. The one lesson was don't rush. Take it slow. I add a second lesson of life cosplaying worth repeating is never stop meeting new people.

31. $100.00 Lesson written on Jan 24, 2006. Read the expiration dates for all rebates.

Do Everything One At A Time Is A Strength

Slow down. Relax. Take a breath. Forget multi-tasking. Do everything one at a time. Multi-task one at a time. Be productive rationally. Haste makes waste. Quiet down everyone. Stop panicking. Everything is going to be completed one at a time. Hang on for a second. All tasks are completed in time. Be patient.

Update On A Past Blog

The blog Connecting My Dots Backwards written on Oct 13, 2011 the title is misleading. The blog detailed the immediate changes when I realized I must grow up on Sat Oct 4, 2008. Any previous blogs on growing up should reference the Connecting My Dots Backwards blog.

Two Business Lessons I Learned At Cisco

I share two business lessons which were business skills I learned when I worked at Cisco. I didn't learn them in college. I didn't learn them when I worked in the commercial real estate industry after I graduated college. It was an example of learning on the job.

The senior manager was gracious to teach me tables. Report data on tables. Don't use bullets. Don't write long sentences. Don't create boring charts. Use tables. There are column headers. There are row labels. Place the data matching the column headers and the row labels. Most readers don't have the time to read the specific details. Most readers don't want to move their eyes multiples times looking at multiple charts. Most readers want the summary. Most readers want the bottom line. Easy. Simple. Precise.

My department manager taught me to fidget the numbers. The company's fiscal quarter ended. There were deals which closed at the next fiscal quarter. My department manager told me to include those deals in the fiscal quarter ended. Manipulate the department quarterly report. Divisions and departments fought against each other for funding from senior executives. Include everything now. Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. It was my first real experience with business politics.

Update On A Past Blog

The world can reduce the number of Same Shit. Different Day. Everything Happens. by being more honest. The blog focused on people reading and listening to daily events. The update focuses on people's character, behavior, attitude, qualities, and attributes. More people tell the truth. Lower the same shit. Express sincerely. End the cliques. I wrote the blog on Jul 28, 2021.

Professional Knowledge Shared As Common Knowledge

Here are knowledge from professionals in their fields people should know. The information can be false. Some professionals may not do. The reader should do their due diligence to verify. Source: What's a "secret" from your profession that everyone should probably know? from Reddit.

1. Financial institutions use older versions of Excel.

2. Document everything.

3. Daycare teachers clean toys and equipment.

4. Gloves are not necessary to handle old books, rare books, and special collection books. Clean and dry hands are the best. Wearing gloves are more likely to rip a page because the person can't feel them well compared with bare hands. There are exceptions such as handling artifacts, moldy items, toxic books, and photographs.

5. Bibles are not rare. The Bible is the most printed book in the world.

6. You need two coats of paint.

7. Bacteria and microbes as a whole are small cells or capsules. They are bad at sticking to random solid objects by themselves. It's like hanging on a rocky hillside with your hands. Water from above hits you. You're going to be flushed down wherever the water goes. A simple water rinse can remove 99% of the bacteria.

8. There are corrupt employers who don't pay their workers, close the business, and reopen under a different name. They fraudulently transfer all their assets under another person's name.

9. Dog and cats need rabies vaccine because rabies is transmissible to humans. Also, pets can have fleas regardless of being indoor pets or outdoor pets. Fleas can be anywhere. And a local veterinarian likely doesn't see wildlife and reptiles.

10. Generally speaking, retail stores don't hide stuff in the back. We want to sell. If it's in the back, it doesn't sell. Everything we sell is out.

11. Fire sprinklers go off where the actual fire is. Not all fire sprinklers go off like in the movies. The water is gross and stinky. A properly maintained sprinkler system is flushed.

12. Most modern homes or residential construction are built with the cheapest ingredients. They may not last more than 30 years without exterior refurbishing. Further, never buy a new home for which the buyer picks a floor plan A, B, C, D, or . . . . 90% of these new homes are made from shitty materials. Buy an actual quality custom home.

13. Dental professionals can't always tell if you floss or not. However, if the dental profession flosses the patient and bleeding occurs, then he or she can tell.

14. If you have the feeling of a medical life threatening emergency, then go to the emergency room.

15. Abusive parents are more common than you think. They include the nicest neighbors and volunteers. Child Protective Services can't catch everyone. There are mental abuse, emotional abuse, and psychological abuse.

16. IT Googles all day. We're better at Googling than other people.

17. Architects say 50% of major home remodels the couple divorces.

18. Financial institutions software security is outdated.

19. Tugboat pilots are bored. They look at their phones 95% of the time.

20. College students should attend classes even if you don't pay attention. Students can accidentally learn. Also, attend class, read the chapters, do the homework, and show up at the office hours. Students are more likely to earn an A or a B.

21. You don't have to top off freon every year for the air conditioner.

22. Buy the cheapest cemetery vault. All vaults are not 100% waterproof.

23. Patients should ask for an itemized bill because it can lower the cost. Hospitals avoid adding unnecessary fees. There are programs to lower medical bills.

24. The majority of children sex crimes are family members. Neighbors, family friends, and pastors are included.

25. Family and relationship therapists' solution for 50% of their clients: just go get a divorce already.

Throwback Blog: Follow The Money

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 Follow The Money written on Sep 19, 2019. A person choosing a career can follow the money to find the popular careers today. The popular careers don't necessarily mean a high paying career. Anyone can make six digits or seven digits being a salesperson. Two letters are needed to update the blog in today's Information Age. The two letters are A and I--AI or Artificial Intelligence. A salesperson doesn't need specialized skills, knowledge, education, and experience.

I digress. Companies pay big salaries to people who meet the challenges of complex skills, knowledge, education, and experience in their industries.

I add the education system is the same: four years high school, two years associate's degree, four years bachelor's degree, and additional two years or four years for advanced degrees.

Deep Throat from the movie All The President's Men told Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to follow the money trail to solve the Watergate scandal. The follow the money thinking applies to careers.

Many of today's career challenges are skills, knowledge, education, and experience. We live in the information age. More careers require advance skills, technical training, indefinite education or self-training, longer hours, and more experience. More industries are complex, complicated, and difficult. Reference materials, books, notes, YouTube, and Google are required to research, to look up information, and to refresh our skills. Companies pay high salaries to workers who are strong, gritty, intelligent, motivated, and devoted to long hours. Companies pay high salaries to workers with highly demanded experience, best trained, and strong skills.

Some of the most common industries with high salaries include engineers, programmers, medical, scientists, and business. The five industries are changing rapidly. The best way to monitor the changes is job searching. Job postings inform the latest skills and experience. Job postings are up-to-date compared to college career centers and career counselors. Follow the money to learn the education, skills, and experience required in today's evolving industries.

There are some industries salaries have stayed the same. The reason salaries have stayed the same is because nothing changed. The skills are mostly the same yesterday and today. No technical training or little technical training is required. There is no need for additional education. The hours are the same. Little past experience is necessary. Almost all retail jobs the pay is low. Retail jobs haven't evolved. Post office, waiting tables, cleaning, and bus drivers their pay is low.

College Majors Lower Chances For High Salaries

I don't know how students majoring in humanities, fine-arts, art, music, education, and social science earn high salaries. However, these students can think of ideas earning additional income related to their majors. Podcasting? YouTube? Streaming? Blogging? Write books? Earn an advanced degree? Double major selecting a second major in a technical field or a business field? Generations ago college students can make a living in any major. Today's generation the high salaries goes to people with the latest and greatest skills and experience--the latest and greatest everything.

The workforce is not dumb. The industries are hard.

Update On A Past Blog

I forgot to mention to do something, anything new for which I'm uncomfortable in Get Back To The Basics When In A Jam on Sep 11, 2019. My life is moving forward too slow. It's time to take action. The best way is go back to the past when my life moved forward faster. I'm uncomfortable safely. I'm uncomfortable intelligently.

Twenty Random Blogs Aug 2025

Blogger's note: I increase the number of random blogs from ten to twenty.

Here are twenty random blogs in order of randomly chosen. Duplicate blogs are allowed from past random blogs. There are no duplicates today. The previous random blogs are Ten Random Blogs Jul 2020 on Jul 31, 2020, Ten Random Blogs Aug 2021 on Aug 13, 2021, and Ten Random Blogs Apr 2023 on Apr 16, 2023. Update remarks are included.

1. Watch Wall Street (Sep 26, 2005). I shared my activities before and on Sep 26, 2005.

Update remark: Wall Street is one of my all time favorite movies.

2. Never Stop Learning Lesson Emphasized Because One Of The Shermans Past Away (May 05, 2017). The Shermans was a couple who lived in the neighborhood for decades. They moved to the eastern USA to be closer to their families. The husband past away. The wife passed away in Jul 2017.

The lessons I learned continue today. Never stop learning. Find new experiences to experience. Don't waste life watching television eight hours a day. Some seniors choose the sedentary life watching too much television.

Update remark: Rest in peace Bob and Alice.

3. Three Hours Of Me Time Weekdays (Feb 08, 2013). I wrote my life working Mon to Fri from 9am to 6pm. Wake up, go to work, work at the company building, go home, and sleep eight hours. Three hours of personal time remain. Repeat.

Update remark: No full time worker sleeps eight hours a night on weeknights. More workers lose concentration, act grumpy, feel weaker, and make more mistakes. No full time worker spares three hours of personal time. There are too many responsibilities in today's Information Age. A worker must complete an hour's work in 30 minutes.

A balanced life doesn't exist. The successful people don't live a balanced life to become successful.

4. Throwback Blog: I'm No Longer Nice (Aug 27, 2016). I reuploaded a previous blog be a good person. Don't be a nice person.

Update remark: I posted an I'm No Longer Nice blog update on Aug 21, 2025 Keep Going In Life. I added, "Being extra nice doesn't result in extra rewards. It's not aloofness does pay. It's niceness doesn't pay."

5. It's Okay To Live At Home (Jun 18, 2013). I wrote valid reasons sons and daughters live at home with their parents. Sons and daughters must not take for granted living at home. Sons and daughters must continue living their lives to the best of their abilities.

Update remark: The blog is 100% true today.

6. Shelter In-Place COVID-19 Blog February 2023 (Mar 05, 2023). California ended the pandemic state of emergency on Feb 28, 2023. It was the start of loosening restrictions and mask mandates.

Update remark: None.

7. Highlight and Favorite 2019 Tweets (Dec 30, 2020). My favorite Tweets in 2019. I share my top favorites:

Tweets

Jan 21: A conversation starter. Ask the question, "What keeps you busy?"

Jul 28: I'm not dumbing down. Never dumb down your life. Don't be an asshole for yourself. Don't let people drag you down. Nobody holds your back.

Jul 28: These people must leave your life. People come and go for good or for bad. Some people leave your life. New people enter your life.

Sep 22: I just finished watching The Shawshank Redemption. My high school and college friend watched the movie when it was released in theaters. It was the most boring movie he watched. He didn't understand the point. I avoided the movie.

Sep 22: I choose to watch the movie decades later. Good movie. Recommended. The movie is slow. I put the pieces together watching the movie without success.

Sep 22: My friend is correct up to the climax of the movie. It's the best full circle movie I have ever watched. Stick around. Don't give up. Have hope. The pieces are together. Good things can happen.

Sep 25: The female middle school student was wise beyond her years. RT @BoyYeetsWorld: one time in middle school i dated a girl for 4 days and when she broke up with me she posted on facebook sometimes your knight in shining armor is really just a loser in tinfoil and to this day that the sickest burn I've ever gotten.

Favorites

Apr 23: @NBCSSharks, BARCLAY GOODROW!!! Watch the Sharks winger's game-winning overtime goal to give San Jose an epic Game 7 victory. Pic Video.

May 12: @SportsCenter, KAWHI. GAME 7. FOR THE WIN. Pic Video.

May 12: @espn, Another look at Kawhi's Game 7 winner. Pic Video.

May 18: @SJEarthquakes, CHRIS WONDOLOWSKI. KING. #WondoWatched Pic Video.

Jun 13: @SportsCenter, Klay turning around in the tunnel and coming back out to shoot free throws had Oracle going nuts. Pic Video.

Jun 13: @BayAreaSportsHQ, This moment is an all-timer. Pic Video.

Jul 14: @SportsCenter, GAME. SET. MATCH. Novak Djokovic outlasts Roger Federer in an epic five-set #WimbledonFinal Pic Video.

Jul 14: @espn, Longest final in #Wimbledon history: 4 hours 55 minutes, 422 points, 68 games, 35 aces. Pic.

Aug 12: @SexWithEmily, As much as we like to beat around the bush, dropping hints to your partner is not the best way of communicating -- your chances of being understood are much higher when you are direct about what needs fixing. #sexwithemily #communicationisalubrication

Sep 14: @HistoryInPics, The Beatle's last live concerts—at Candlestick Park in San Francisco in 1966 and then on a London rooftop three years later—have gone down as some of the most significant events in pop music history. Collector Finds Rare Footage of The Beatles's Top of the Pops Performance in His Attic.

Nov 19: @WakeOfWeek, I will always root for this man because of the way he has handled himself in hard times -- from bad coaches to having a different offensive coordinator every year to losing his job to Kaep to... this. #AlexSmith @lizbsmith11. Alex Smith's wife celebrates ex-49er's recovery from ghastly leg injury in emotional Instagram post.

Dec 11: @espn, Bill Belichick has his players focused on the 53 players in their locker room, not on social media. Pic.

Dec 16: @NBCSGiants, So many memories. @PavlovicNBCS takes you back through all of the best -- and funniest -- moments from MadBum's legendary Giants career. Pic Article.

Update remark: The Shawshank Redemption is my all time favorite movie. The Shawshank Redemption is not a slow movie after many rewatches.

8. Quad 3 Of 4: My Favorite Shape (Oct 24, 2006). The circle is my favorite shape. "My anything, anytime, and anywhere are going to come full circle good or bad. I make sure I create good circles and I innovate the circles."

Update remark: None.

9. Intelligence May Change Your Daily Life Intelligently (Sep 09, 2015). Use intelligence as an adverb. Think intelligently, communicate intelligently, work intelligently, and make mistakes intelligently are some examples.

Update remark: None.

10. Top 2018 Pics (Dec 17, 2019). My favorite pics posted in 2018. I share my top favorites:

Update remark: None.

11. Thought Provoking Information (Sep 03, 2017). A pics blog. The pic which inspired the title is below.

Update remark: None

12. My First Pop Tart (Sep 12, 2007). I ate a pop tart for the first time in my life. It was strawberry and strawberry with icing.

Update remark: No more pop tarts in my diet. I rarely drink milk. I stopped eating oatmeal in 2018.

13. De Anza Week Nov 15, 2010 (Nov 18, 2010). I went back to school to earn an AA degree in Accounting. I blogged one week during Winter Quarter 2010 at De Anza College. The week consisted of students and instructors with too much on their minds and too fatigued.

Update remark: They were the same yesterday. They are the same today.

14. First Time I Saw A Restaurant Close On Tuesdays (Dec 09, 2018). I said it best. "2018 is over. I wanted to try a restaurant in another city for the first time. I was in the area on Tue Dec 4. The restaurant is closed on Tuesdays. Are you serious? The event summed my recent life. Bad luck. Bad timing." The blog continued expressing my frustration 2018 was the year everything went wrong.

Update remark: I have not experienced another 2018. I have not let life take control of me.

15. I Own 15 Pairs Of Shoes (Jan 28, 2021). I posted pics of my 15 pair of shoes. They include exercise, boots, formal, and casual outdoors.

Update remark: None

16. A Procedure To Stop Insanity (Sep 09, 2021). A life wisdom. Everyone is different. Everything is different. Birds of a feather flock together. Different folks for different strokes. There are matches. There are mismatches. A circle can't fit in a square peg.

Update remark: Live your life who, what, where, how, and I match who you are.

17. Lonely And Cheerful (Jul 24, 2007). I felt lonely and depressed in Jul 2007. I didn't feel cheerful. False optimism.

Update remark: The 2007 Summer Sabbatical failed. I did everything wrong. I admit I made a mistake. 2007 should have been one of the best years of my life. 2007 was one of the worst years of my life.

18. Throwback Blog: SOMT: Kodak Declares Bankruptcy (Sep 30, 2017). Toys R Us declared bankruptcy on Sep 19, 2017 which inspired the throwback blog on Kodak declared bankruptcy. The throwback blog was a brief explanation of the Kodak bankruptcy and my experiences using a film camera and a digital camera.

Update remark: Mismanagement, Amazon and Wal-Mart, and poor customer service are not the top reasons Toys R Us declared bankruptcy.

19. Work Mar 8, 2014 (Mar 08, 2014). I blogged the highlights when I worked in a retail start up. Dermatitis on my hands. Refusing a shipment. Both store locations short-handed. Purchased my first bottle of wine Raymond Cabernet Sauvignon "Generations" 2009. Wi-Fi problems.

Update remark: The dermatitis on my hands turned out to be a dirty workstation. I cleaned my workstation. No more dermatitis. I still own my Raymond wine bottle.

No smart person works in retail. Desperate smart people do work in retail.

20. Go To Sleep With A Smile (Oct 21, 2011). I was called for jury duty. I didn't get selected. The prospective jurors answering personal questions during the selection process convinced me my life is good. I sleep with a smile.

Update remark: Domestic violence can be a lifelong trauma. Some people you see when shopping are victims of crimes.

Wrong Stress

I remember I took a nap at my first job after I graduated from San Jose State University. I was a Research Analyst in a commercial real estate company. The job title was misleading. My job consisted of 90% data entry and 10% analysis. I took a nap because I was stressed out. The stress was neither good nor bad. The stress was menial, repetitive, and boring data entry.

The jobs after working in commercial real estate were legitimate stress. Quick timelines. Bad management; although, management was bad in commercial real estate, too. Poor instructions. Last minute changes. Delays beyond my control.

Stress is relative. Stress is a perspective. The best people minimize stress such as the common knowledge eat healthy, exercise, and sleep for eight hours. I admit I failed minimizing stress. Lessons learned afterwards.

Today's workplace is fast paced. Today's workplace never slows down. More knowledge, more technical skills, and more responsibilities are required for most occupations. The workplace decades ago was kiddie pace compared to today.