@sssantosha

QUAIL!

I’ve been living with my partner for over a year now and am finally feeling settled. For me, settling in tends to look a bit like farming. We live in San Francisco. Houses are usually pretty small. Yards (when you have them) are also pretty small. So, when I was looking at what kinds of livestock would make sense, my choices were limited. Goats (as much as I adore them) were out of the question. I considered chickens, but they are potentially loud. Not very neighbor-friendly. Quail seemed the perfect choice: they require little space, they’re quiet, they’re fairly low maintenance…

To begin with, I needed a hutch. We had leftover plywood sheets and 2x4’s from another project. I followed this plan and ended up with this:

The puppy adores his quail friends.

While we initially lined the hutch with newspaper, we quickly removed it. After quickly skimming the Sports section, they ate it. They now have pine shavings. The internet has told me that cedar shavings are a terrible idea for quail, but that pine is fine.

Did you know that quail can learn to drink from rabbit waterers? They can! And they can’t poop in them!

Our first quail egg. I was so proud.

Planning to do something like this yourself? Protip: Don't get sketchy same-day mystery quail delivered to your home from the back of some random guy’s minivan. I did this. I do not recommend it. I love my quail, but egg production has been low because they are significantly older than they were represented to be. We’re getting chicks next time! After a delicious quail dinner!

“Job-Hopping” in Silicon Valley

Written for and originally posted at Mighty Spring.

My father spent a decade working at Mariani, beginning in their finance department and working his way up through the organization to become the Chief Financial Officer. They make dried fruit and I grew up knowing more about food processing and Just In Time manufacturing practices than any of the other kids in my class. When talking to him about my career path, he wonders why I don’t ever stay with the same company for more than a few years.

While previous generations expected a long tenure in the same place with regularly-spaced rungs bringing them higher up the corporate ladder, that is often no longer the case. Shorter tenures and horizontal moves have become the new normal.

This post will discuss the relative costs and benefits of both approaches - along with how to mitigate the difficulties associated with each.

First - what are the benefits and disadvantages of a long tenure and vertical career movement?

Working at the same company for at least 4 years gives you the opportunity to experience the long-term effects of business and development decisions made early on. This puts you in a better position for mentorship and acquiring a deep domain knowledge.

With longer tenure also comes the expectation of promotion. While this can be a good thing, promotion can take you out of your skill strength. The Peter Principle, a management theory which suggests that organizations risk filling management roles with people who are incompetent if they promote those who are performing well, was initially introduced as a joke but has been proven to be true. Studies have shown that promoting individuals within a company completely at random results in greater organizational efficiency. Pursue a shift from individual contributor to management because you want to manage - not just because that’s what you feel you should probably be doing next.

So, what about shorter stints and lateral career moves?

Lateral movements have their own unique benefits: building breadth of experience, being able to identify the commonalities between seemingly unconnected spaces, and a better understanding of a broader range of possible markets and users. You end up working with different teams of people, experiencing different management styles, and different approaches to a wider variety of problems.

You may be concerned that lateral movement can look like job-hopping, but “job-hopping” isn’t uncommon in the San Francisco Bay Area. A study by MIT found “higher rates of job-hopping for college-educated men in Silicon Valley’s computer industry than in computer clusters located out of the state.” How are shorter tenures interpreted by the people reviewing resumes?

“Context is everything. Silicon Valley isn’t the only place with unstable employers; somebody who likes working for startups is going to bounce around a lot between stable gigs. Look at the employers: staying no more than six months at, say, Apple, Bank of America, and Carnegie-Melon University is far more ominous than brief stays at Frank’s ConsultantTeria, BadlyExecutedIdea.com, and OurInvestorsBonedUs.org.” BlairHippo

The startup lifecycle can be brief - and even if a startup does well different kinds of people are needed in the early stages of quick builds and grand ideas than in the later stages of small tweaks and optimizations.

“Most of us have grown up assuming that career success is vertical. […] The problem with this powerful paradigm is that today’s work is no longer divided up into small tasks that require higher and higher layers of management to put together. Instead most work is accomplished through horizontal processes that cut across different functions, geographies, and specialties. Therefore real success comes less from controlling people that report to you, and more from the ability to align stakeholders who surround you.”

“Your Career Needs to be Horizontal,” Harvard Business Review

Mighty Spring is building tools to help you map your career path, whatever direction you decide to take it.

Hacking the New Year’s Resolution: Microtasking and Social Accountability

Originally posted on Medium for Mighty Spring.

This year was different. I just started a new job that I am incredibly happy in. I have a comfortable self-care routine — both physical and mental. I recently celebrated the first year of a fulfilling relationship. I am near completion of an art project that has dragged on for almost three years. I have accomplished more of my resolutions in 2013 than in previous years through a combination of careful goal construction, regular tracking, and social accountability.

I’ve heard that the way you choose to spend the moment the year changes says something about how you will choose to spend your year. I planned for this year to be one of growth, intention, and personal progress. So, instead of the usual loud music and blinky lights, I wanted to clear the mental slate. I spent the evening of December 31st at the Center for Transformative Change. As midnight approached, I sat in meditation with a diverse group of people focusing on what we wanted to release from the year we were about to leave behind.

I had already made plans with a close friend to map out goals together on New Year’s Day. Matt Bell is a person I admire. He has launched two computer vision startups, is committed to personal development, and has a strong history of follow through.

We spent an hour writing out what we wanted to accomplish for the year. After deciding on goals, I grouped each under one of three categories:Personal, Interpersonal/Social, and Professional. After organizing, I tasked myself with breaking each goal down into microtasks, and noted everything in a Google spreadsheet. To avoid overload, I assigned myself to hit at least three of these microtasks a week in each supercategory and note how it was completed. In addition to being effective tracking mechanism, it felt good to read through all the entries and see the regular progress I was making.

Creating these microtasks was key. Goals are big and can be overly general. For example, one of my goals was to be more social. “To be more social” is a worthy goal, but vague and poorly defined. What is “more social?” How do I know if I have succeeded? I decided the best way to track and measure success was to first analyze my underlying intentions around increased social activity, and then construct discrete microtasks that could be completed on a weekly basis that clearly supported what I hoped to accomplish:

I wanted to increase my social network — so I tasked myself with attending at least one event per week where I did not know at least 50% of the attendees. I attended salons and learned about Effective Altruism. I attended the BIL Conference and met people building hackerspaces in conflict zones.

I wanted to be a better support to my friends — so I tasked myself with actively helping at least two people every week. Now, instead of scrolling through News Feed looking at pictures of what my friends were having for dinner I found myself hunting for opportunities to help so I could meet my weekly quota. I helped a friend launch her social media career, leading to her increased financial stability. I registered as a volunteer doula. I colored hair. I moved a lot of furniture.

Once I had all of my goals mapped, microtasks created, and everything set up for tracking, I shared spreadsheet access with Matt. This kept me honest and on track. Quarterly, in-person status updates were scheduled to assess progress. We collaboratively restructured and reassigned microtasks as improvements became habits and priorities shifted. Check-ins helped to maintain motivation to make the most of the entire year.

My goals for 2013 were intentionally modest: take better care of myself, connect more with people around me, and work towards professional growth. Now that this has worked, I plan for 2014 to be much more ambitious.

Open Source Soylent - Day 2

Still alive. Cheerful. Not hungry. Walked over 7 miles yesterday.

After finishing my 2,000 calories of jarred brown sludge last night I was worried that I was still hungry. Sitting with the feeling, I realized it was not so much hunger as just not being *full*. Slept well. Woke up refreshed. Had coffee, had a mug of Soylent and felt good. Went on a walk.

Realizing how much meals add structure to my day - scheduling, motivation, and a reward for task completion. Planning to break up the day with short walks and outings instead.

Open Source Soylent - Day 1

When I first heard about Soylent, I was skeptical. I like to cook. I like to eat out with friends. I like to chew. Then I found out my girlfriend had ordered a week’s supply and I started thinking about the idea of Soylent more logically. I like to cook - but not every day. I like to eat out with friends - but I tend to eat out by myself far more often (because I am avoiding cooking). I like to chew, but whatever. It would be nice to know that I am consistently getting all the things I need into my body on a daily basis instead of attempting to eat a variety of things and actually just defaulting to the same things over and over again, most likely nutritionally failing. So I ordered a week’s supply, too. Just to try it out.

And then I got an email saying that I wouldn’t get my supply until December or January. And I am a very impatient person. So I found a well-researched open source recipe and made a week’s supply. And now I have to eat it.

All the ingredients for all the stuff my body needs for a week:

A day’s supply, all weighed into a bowl:

Mixed with water and olive oil. Into the fridge overnight to help deactivate the phytic acid in the oat flour:

My first cup of the morning:

It tastes like faintly chocolatey muffin batter. Sweet, but not too sweet. Once I started thinking of it as something I might lick off a beater instead of a smoothie I was fine.

Feeling slightly more alert than usual, but it’s probably psychosomatic. No stomach troubles. No nausea. No hunger.

Implantable Tech for the Lost and Clueless

I got it in my head that I was going to permanently solve the problem of losing my Clipper Card by copying its data to an implantable RFID chip - just like the ones they’ve been chipping pets with for years - and injecting it under the skin of my left hand. Why not? I got a book. I got an RFID read/write scanner. Now it appears that the Clipper Card is a bit of a special case and I am sad.

The chip that Clipper uses is in the Mifare family, which means the chips I’m considering should be okay (I think?), but instead of the standard 13.56MHz that most proximity cards use, Clipper uses 35MHz. It might be hard to get access to the equipment to properly read it. In researching software I can use with the scanner I have I was also told that Clipper uses a secure key on each card that makes them very difficult to clone. But then I also read this. So doable, but hard, and I’m wondering if it’s worth it just for the novelty of being able to fistbump my way onto BART.

The issue of the encrypted key also has me asking this: why wouldn’t just copying all of the information on the card work? I can see why you would need to crack encryption if you wanted to be able to adjust the stored fare amount or trip history, but if you aren’t doing that…? Am I missing something?

God is dead. And we have killed him.

Nietzsche put these words in the mouth of a mad man. When I first heard them, I was going through my own “dark night of the soul” and interpreted them as a lament. The loss of a sense of reason and rightness in the world. Humanity plunged into chaos and darkness. Philosophy is wonderful for its ability to provide so many mirrors for so many inner conflicts.

Years later, I hear these same words and see something completely different. God is dead. God: the old grandfather who raised our parents and helped them reason out right from wrong. Instead of mourning the death, we would be better to collect and remember the lessons those who came before us learned from him and realize that, although many may be sad to let go, we have gained a lot from the relationship and have more than we need to move on.

We should hold a memorial service. Eulogize all the good things that the idea of a higher being has done for us. Politely gloss over the cranky, racist, discriminatory, outdated and old-fashioned parts of his personality. No need to bad-mouth the dead. Pull together the lessons we’ve learned. Just because God is gone does not mean that all the things we have taught ourselves using the idea of a diety dies with him. And we didn’t kill him. He lived a long and full life. We simply pulled the plug to finally let him move on.

Mormonism and Homosexuality

There has been press coverage recently about changes in the Mormon church. The church is claiming to be more friendly to gays and lesbians. They launched an attractive website with lots of well produced videos. I am glad that they are encouraging their members to be more accepting of homosexual people. However, church policies have not changed since I left over a decade ago and I want to make sure people know what those policies are:

It is okay to be attracted to the same gender, but you may not ever act upon it. Homosexuality is a trial God has given you to overcome. If you want to remain a member of the church you can try to fix yourself, or you can live a life of unpartnered celibacy with the understanding that you will be fixed in the afterlife. Either one is fine, but anything other than these two options is not okay and you will be excommunicated.

I left the Mormon church in 1999 when I was 19 years old. I was facing the possibility of excommunication (for reasons other than homosexuality), didn’t want to face that, and no longer felt like the Mormon church was right for me.

How to go about having your name officially removed from church records was not a process they covered in Sunday school, so all I had to go on was the random snippets of information I could find on the internet. I was told by angry ex-Mormons that I would likely need to threaten bad publicity if they did not comply with my request. So I did. I wanted the process to be as quick as possible.

It was a difficult thing to talk to my bishop about. He, of course, asked me why I wanted to leave. I told him that I no longer believed in what the church was teaching, in addition to feeling uncomfortable there because I was attracted to women. My bishop ended up being one of the first people I came out to. His response was that there was a program he could refer me to that would help me. I am glad I turned that down. I’ve heard aversion therapy is very unpleasant.

I used to be very angry at the Mormon church, but this all happened a long time ago, and I’ve gotten over it. I’m happy with my life. Leaving was the right choice for me - but many other people who “suffer” from what the church calls SSA or Same Sex Attraction want to stay. For people active in the Mormon church, it is much more than just a service you go to on Sundays. It is a complete community with a culture that touches every part of your life: what you eat, what you drink, how you dress, work, who your friends are, who you date… It can be very hard to leave all of that behind, especially if you don’t want to go.

I can’t ask the Mormon church to change what is a basic belief for them. However, I feel like they need to be very clear about exactly how supportive they are of homosexuality. Recent statements feel more like white-washing in response to social pressure than anything else.

Good Lard is Hard to Find

I’ve recently been accused, more than once, of being a hipster. I have always denied it. However, as I was purchasing local, organic, small-batch lard I realized there may be some truth in it.

Do you know how hard it is to find lard? Whole Foods doesn’t have it. They should. Lard is the newest superfood. After calling around my friend Charlie and I found some being sold by Marin Sun at the Rockridge Market Hall. Score! We were now ready to make rillettes: a French pork shoulder pate affectionately called “brown jam” by its fans. Mmmm… pork jam!

It’s not hard to make, it just takes a long time - and the effort totally pays off when you see how grossed out all your vegetarian housemates are by the jars of pork paste neatly lined up in the fridge when you’re done.

We used this recipe, and were very happy with the results.

Everything you need to make spreadable pig deliciousness.

In a pot. Is that a bike in the background? Maybe. Nuthin’ hipster about that.

Simmer FOR. EV. ER.

Mixify and add simmering liquid - chock-full of lardy goodness - back in.

Lick the beater. Charlie looks happy. The Marin Sun butcher liked his shirt. :o)

Put in jars, put jars in fridge, and enjoy on something bready the next day - and for many, many days thereafter. The recipe makes a lot.

::swoon::