Convention

Television drama, whether about zombies or being lost on an island or trapped under a dome or in a world where electricity is non-existent, typically boils down to this: How people behave under extreme circumstances. Everything else is a matter of strange curiosity, though flesh eating zombies offer a more interesting back-drop than, say, having to fix a flat tire, even if every scene foreshadowed some alternate use for the tire iron ;-) Most of the time, the punch line in these dramas pertains to the ‘surprising’ things that people do, which they have always had the capacity to do, were it not for a moral compass, the confines of society, and, perhaps, the risk of incarceration. When these things go away, so do the inhibitions that safeguard us.

We all know that these inhibitions are not concrete – given the daily murders, rapes, robberies, etc – but we may not fully realize the extent of our interdependence, or, perhaps, how we take it for granted. There is an old joke about an out of town businessman that hires a taxi at night to get to a destination in a rural area. The taxi driver speeds through two consecutive red lights, leaving the passenger with an unsettling feeling, but then the driver stops at a green light and looks to the left intently. The passenger asks "why did you run through the last two red lights and stop at this green light?". The driver responds "my brother takes this cross road to get home". 

Thus, it is only through convention that we can rely on one another for our mutual safety and well being, and we should not mistake our safety or success as anything less than this interdependence that we have come to rely on so indifferently at times. 

The Enlightenment of Surprise

That surprising moment when you think you are adjusting the volume in your rental car via the steering wheel controls, but you are, instead, increasing the speed on the cruise control :-) ... It is these moments, where the mind is faced with the unexpected, when enlightenment can be achieved, very much like when, upon having a nice, relaxing cup of tea with the Zen master, he tosses you through a window and starts beating you mercilessly with a stick ... It is typically only in moments of surprise where the observer can be separated from the observed.

The Asymmetry of Chance

I am struck by the asymmetry of chance: the intellectual genius born in a third world country that lives and dies in obscurity for want of the logistics required to realize their potential; the intellectual idiot that lands their own reality show in the US, and sits on a 14 carat gold toilet seat, self assured of their mastery of the world. In reality, a world out of balance.

The Long Fast

The Long Fast -- Every day I have two major hurdles to clear: (1) limit myself to 1 cup of coffee, (2) get through the 'long fast', which is, essentially, that period of time between 7am, when I have my breakfast, and 9pm, when I have my dinner, with 1-2 hours at the gym between 7pm and 9pm. It is an interesting everyday challenge. One that - surprisingly - is rather easy to do, once you clear the afternoon hunger. It has allowed me to drop 40lbs without losing _any_ strength in the gym (not that I am really that strong in the gym, mind you). I would encourage anyone who is trying to lose weight or trying to effect more personal control in their lives to give _something_ like this a shot. It eliminates the burden of having to make good food choices in the middle of a hectic day, since you are making no food choices. The upside is mental _and_ physical homeostasis

Film Review: Prisoner

Prisoner: A superb, gritty film that depicts the out of bounds, immoral lengths people will go to in support of the moral imperative to save loved ones. It also has more than a hint of the pros and cons of following one's intuition -- it wins the day and destroys lives at the same time. Not sure if the movie was based on a book, but if it was, then I imagine that the book must be a page-turner. As with End of Watch, this movie is proof positive that Jake Gyllenhaal excels in good guy roles (e.g. Cop roles) that bleed over into bad guy behavior.

Planning versus Execution

Every day for all if us there is the struggle when things do not turn out the way we want them to: "Am I failing to execute a successful plan? Or am I successfully executing a failed plan?" Drawing the wrong conclusion can lead to unnecessary thrashing in planning or methods or both, so take a step back before engaging in the corporate equivalent of a 're-org'.

Love the Man, Hate the Methods

For those of us that have trouble with our parents, mine primarily being with my father, there comes a time when, after the stigma of youth, you realize that some of your best, inherent qualities are derived from these very parents (or parent) even as these very qualities in them served as the basis for the underlying issues. A good friend of mine - Jim De Geus - once said, in reference to a difficult uncle, I believe, "love the man, hate the methods". This is so insightful, as it is so useful to make the distinction between who people are and what they do. As surely as wolves are not inherently evil, even as they tear little baby bunnies to pieces, it is probably the case that most of the people we would deem as evil or feel justified in hating, are, in fact, as noble and pure as wolves in a pack, but are driven to do 'bad' things by the need to survive, the pressures of life and the inability to see their 'bad' behavior vis a vis others. This view is, I think, the only view that allows me to acknowledge that I love my father. 

IVs, Samurais and A Way of Life

I recall reading an article in HBR about how Stephen Spear went into a hospital that was experiencing 20-30 deaths per year from IV-related infections, and how, just by changing methods and procedures, as well as creating a more expository form of tracking and signaling IV usage, he reduced this number to ZERO. I was reminded of this article while watching The Last Samurai (with Tom Cruise) the other day, wherein he wrote an entry in his journal about how his 'captors' were a strange and beautiful people, and how, from morning to night, they dedicated themselves to the perfection of everything they did. In this world of bureaucracy, technology and infrastructure, I believe that one's own personal commitment to the perfection of everything they do, and the constant examination of the methods, tools and results is, indeed, the most gratifying way of life, despite the fact that, at the end of the day, in this world, it will all still be erased :-( ... though the experience of living this kind of life might very well come with us when we leave :-)