Today, I updated my blog roll with blogs I often read. These include:
Kindredist - I meet Amy just a few months ago when I first moved to Michigan and I'm already a big fan. A great host and wonderful friend.
Voices of Reason - Ayn Rand Center for Individual Right's official blog. Always hard hitting commentary that is spot on philosophically.
The Little Things - I first heard of Amy Mossoff's blog from a number of other parents blogging. Her focus on the little things in life remind me to be cognizant of all the good in my life.
Spark a Synapse - A scientist who covers a host of topics including nutrition, ecology, farming, and government meddling in these affairs.
3.31.2009
3.25.2009
Let's count to 10
1 - of me
2 - kids to chase around the house
3 - days till our club's field trip to Pure Visibility (and till Edison hour)
4 - weeks till the end of the semester
5 - emails waiting in my inbox
6 - times I stopped to check Facebook since I started this post
7 - days till I have to finish my conference paper
8 - chicken nuggets I ate for dinner tonight
9 - months since of my wife starting blaming me for the bulge in her belly
10 - days till the baby arrives (hopefully)
Maybe I should stop writing this message and get some work done.
2 - kids to chase around the house
3 - days till our club's field trip to Pure Visibility (and till Edison hour)
4 - weeks till the end of the semester
5 - emails waiting in my inbox
6 - times I stopped to check Facebook since I started this post
7 - days till I have to finish my conference paper
8 - chicken nuggets I ate for dinner tonight
9 - months since of my wife starting blaming me for the bulge in her belly
10 - days till the baby arrives (hopefully)
Maybe I should stop writing this message and get some work done.
3.23.2009
6 degrees of separation
My wife (1) has a friend (2) who is a nurse. This friend of my wife forwarded her a link of a blog of a physician (3). This physician's blog had a link to none other than Paul Hsieh's (4) FIRM. I meet Paul's wife, Diana (5), at a camp we both worked at a few years ago. So I'm less than 6 degrees of separation from my wife :)
On the serious side:
The best news is that the medical community is paying attention to Paul's articles (whether or not they agree with him is another matter). But its extremely encouraging to witness the spread of his work. Objectivism can make great inroads into our culture with more activists like Paul. Go Paul!
On the serious side:
The best news is that the medical community is paying attention to Paul's articles (whether or not they agree with him is another matter). But its extremely encouraging to witness the spread of his work. Objectivism can make great inroads into our culture with more activists like Paul. Go Paul!
3.17.2009
Parenting as managing
Apparently, my post on productivity with kids has become the all time favorite for my blog (Thanks for all the plugs). So I though I might follow it up by digging a little deeper into the idea of parent as manager.
Let me start with a quote from my favorite writer in management. In his chapter on Motivating for Peak Performance in The Practice of Management, Drucker discusses how motivation through fear is not effective in industrial society.
Many years ago, while working at a camp, I was pushing canoes into the lake when one of the campers, a petite 6 year old girl offered to help. These canoes, partially buried in the sand, were not trivial in launching. I stood back, a bit amused by her offer, but willing to let her try. And I watched in amazement as she dug her heals into the ground, threw her entire weight into the canoe, and pushed something twice her weight out of the wet sand into the water.
You would think that after witnessing this girl do such a thing, I would be better at not underestimating my kids abilities. Yet, I am still amazed over and over again what new skills my kids have learned.
Last week, my 3 year old came up stairs with two vitamins in his hand and said, "Here sister, I got you a vitamin." Apparently, he climbed up into one of our cabinets, opened up the vitamin bottle (I thought they were supposed to be child proof?), and removed two vitamins for himself and his sister.
Never underestimate!
Careful placement also entails observing and responding to your child's needs and personality in appropriate ways. My son for instance is a people person. He loves (demands?) to work and play with other people. Often times it doesn't even matter if you are playing with him, just as long as you are in the room. At school, he sometimes gets frustrated when the other kids want to do their own thing and don't want to play with him. My daughter, on the other hand, has no problem doing her own thing.
Working within their personality, it is much easier to establish a positive approach to parenting that encourages them to become the adult they want to be. I would not push my son into solitary activities as it would be pure torture for him. However, my daughter may easy enjoy those types of activities.
The second criteria, high standards of performance, does not mean that standards must be set by the parent. It does not mean drilling a child on his multiplication tables or belittling them if they do not succeed. What it does refer to, however, is that as parents, we should encourage our children to perform to the best of their abilities. Whether it is doing chores, interacting with playmates, practicing an instrument, building a lego castle, riding their bikes, learning their letters, or anything else, high standards should guide the effort.
Often, children adopt their own high standards when playing that often amaze adults. With other tasks, like chores, part of the job of a parent as manager is to ensure the jobs are completed to a set of standards. The point of standards, however, is not that they are intrinsic to the job or in any way disassociated from the end product. Rather, standards are a way of objectively identifying what should be done, with a direct tie to reality as the judge.
Well, this post is already longer than I originally intended, so I'll save the other two criteria for a later post.
Let me start with a quote from my favorite writer in management. In his chapter on Motivating for Peak Performance in The Practice of Management, Drucker discusses how motivation through fear is not effective in industrial society.
"Responsibility - not satisfaction - is the only thing that will serve."And in the next paragraph he adds:
"One can be satisfied with what somebody else is doing; but to perform one has to take responsibility for one's own actions and their impact. To perform, one has, in fact to be dissatisfied, to want to do better."The managers job, in short, is to encourage employees to take responsibility for their job. For an employee to take responsibility for their job, a manager must construct an environment where the employee is not meet with road blocks but with opportunities to excel. Drucker lists four ways to empower the "responsible worker".
"They are - careful placement, high standards of performance, providing the worker with the information needed to control himself, and with opportunities for participation that will give him a managerial vision. All four are necessary"As a parent interested in raising a "responsible" child, I find our job is essentially the same. Take for instance, the first criteria. Careful placement of your child entails guiding your child to find the goals that will best challenge his abilities by avoiding goals that are too difficult or are too simplistic. I would not enroll my 3 year old in a calculus class because it is well beyond his abilities. I would also not set a goal for him to crawl, as he mastered that years ago. Finding age-appropriate games, activities, and studies may sound intuitive to most parents, yet I've found I often underestimate what children can accomplish.
Many years ago, while working at a camp, I was pushing canoes into the lake when one of the campers, a petite 6 year old girl offered to help. These canoes, partially buried in the sand, were not trivial in launching. I stood back, a bit amused by her offer, but willing to let her try. And I watched in amazement as she dug her heals into the ground, threw her entire weight into the canoe, and pushed something twice her weight out of the wet sand into the water.
You would think that after witnessing this girl do such a thing, I would be better at not underestimating my kids abilities. Yet, I am still amazed over and over again what new skills my kids have learned.
Last week, my 3 year old came up stairs with two vitamins in his hand and said, "Here sister, I got you a vitamin." Apparently, he climbed up into one of our cabinets, opened up the vitamin bottle (I thought they were supposed to be child proof?), and removed two vitamins for himself and his sister.
Never underestimate!
Careful placement also entails observing and responding to your child's needs and personality in appropriate ways. My son for instance is a people person. He loves (demands?) to work and play with other people. Often times it doesn't even matter if you are playing with him, just as long as you are in the room. At school, he sometimes gets frustrated when the other kids want to do their own thing and don't want to play with him. My daughter, on the other hand, has no problem doing her own thing.
Working within their personality, it is much easier to establish a positive approach to parenting that encourages them to become the adult they want to be. I would not push my son into solitary activities as it would be pure torture for him. However, my daughter may easy enjoy those types of activities.
The second criteria, high standards of performance, does not mean that standards must be set by the parent. It does not mean drilling a child on his multiplication tables or belittling them if they do not succeed. What it does refer to, however, is that as parents, we should encourage our children to perform to the best of their abilities. Whether it is doing chores, interacting with playmates, practicing an instrument, building a lego castle, riding their bikes, learning their letters, or anything else, high standards should guide the effort.
Often, children adopt their own high standards when playing that often amaze adults. With other tasks, like chores, part of the job of a parent as manager is to ensure the jobs are completed to a set of standards. The point of standards, however, is not that they are intrinsic to the job or in any way disassociated from the end product. Rather, standards are a way of objectively identifying what should be done, with a direct tie to reality as the judge.
Well, this post is already longer than I originally intended, so I'll save the other two criteria for a later post.
3.11.2009
Facedown
Well, its official. I'm hooked on Facebook. And it only took a month. Here are the reasons why:
In just 6 weeks, I've been able to get in touch with over 75 friends, many of whom I haven't talked to in years, including a number of high school classmates, former co-workers, and former campers (from my days at Camp Indecon). Surprisingly, many people my age and older are on Facebook. It is not just for college kids any more.
Because of these connections, I am recapturing a bit of my youth. When I started my PhD program in 2004, I had to keep my head down and deeply focus on two things, my studies and my growing family. I became far more serious and gave far less effort into developing new friendships than I had previously in my life. In some ways, I lost the fun of my youth. Do not get me wrong, I love my family and have fun with my wife and kids. But it is a different kind of fun. I consiously choice to limit my friendships in favor of my two highest values.
As I started interacting with my old friends on Facebook, I realized what I was missing. It was my wickedly awesome sense of humor (that my kids are too young to get). Many thanks to Jobee, Ryan, and Collin (three of my best friends in high school) for helping me to get back my groove.
Some other things about Facebook:
I've played with a number of other Facebook apps, but I haven't found any one app that stands head and shoulders above the rest. I've tried the We're related, NetworkedBlogs, Where I've been, created a group, posted my blog with the notes feature. Mostly, they are a means of wasting time, with little to show for the effort.
All in all, Facebook rocks. As I refine my short-term goals, I'm sure Facebook will have a small place in the scheme of things, such as "Bringer of the Fun".
In just 6 weeks, I've been able to get in touch with over 75 friends, many of whom I haven't talked to in years, including a number of high school classmates, former co-workers, and former campers (from my days at Camp Indecon). Surprisingly, many people my age and older are on Facebook. It is not just for college kids any more.
Because of these connections, I am recapturing a bit of my youth. When I started my PhD program in 2004, I had to keep my head down and deeply focus on two things, my studies and my growing family. I became far more serious and gave far less effort into developing new friendships than I had previously in my life. In some ways, I lost the fun of my youth. Do not get me wrong, I love my family and have fun with my wife and kids. But it is a different kind of fun. I consiously choice to limit my friendships in favor of my two highest values.
As I started interacting with my old friends on Facebook, I realized what I was missing. It was my wickedly awesome sense of humor (that my kids are too young to get). Many thanks to Jobee, Ryan, and Collin (three of my best friends in high school) for helping me to get back my groove.
Some other things about Facebook:
I've played with a number of other Facebook apps, but I haven't found any one app that stands head and shoulders above the rest. I've tried the We're related, NetworkedBlogs, Where I've been, created a group, posted my blog with the notes feature. Mostly, they are a means of wasting time, with little to show for the effort.
All in all, Facebook rocks. As I refine my short-term goals, I'm sure Facebook will have a small place in the scheme of things, such as "Bringer of the Fun".
3.04.2009
Another sad day for the Internet
Apparently, Obama wants to further deny property rights, this time to the telecom companies that provide Internet access. Obama nominated Julius Genachowski to head the Federal Communications Commission.
Genachowski is a strong supporter of net neutrality. Net neutrality proponents demand that telecommunication companies not control what content flows through their lines. Even if excessive use of peer-to-peer transfers of illegal files overwhelms the network, telecom companies would be forbidden, according to net neutrality, to self-regulate the traffice to provide better service to the masses of other customers. This is a clear violation of individual rights. If the telecom companies cannot control their own property, what's the point? Yet sadly, Congress seems to have no intent on stopping the nomination.
Genachowski is a strong supporter of net neutrality. Net neutrality proponents demand that telecommunication companies not control what content flows through their lines. Even if excessive use of peer-to-peer transfers of illegal files overwhelms the network, telecom companies would be forbidden, according to net neutrality, to self-regulate the traffice to provide better service to the masses of other customers. This is a clear violation of individual rights. If the telecom companies cannot control their own property, what's the point? Yet sadly, Congress seems to have no intent on stopping the nomination.
3.03.2009
5 year goals
My last set of 5 year goals are complete - I have completed my PhD in MIS and started a career in academia. I have started a family which is nearly complete in size (1 more month, honey...you're almost there) and ahead of schedule (okay, so the pill doesn't always work).
Where will I go from here? I think its about time to start a new set of 5 year goals. Consider this my working list as I haven't put all thought into it that I want. If anyone has comments or suggestions, I would love to hear them.
First, I came up with a list of areas that I deemed worthy of my consideration.
Categories - professional, financial, friends/family, and health
Professional development:
First, become established in my career as an academic and market my knowledge. Becoming established in my career entails more than simply getting tenure. I should be well published and "known" for my research in business ethics and human computer interaction.
I should also have highly polished classes that provide a high bang for the buck. In other words, my classes should provide students with an excellent education in the subject matter in the most efficient manner I can create. Merely being good at my career is fine, but if no one knows about it, few opportunities will arise for furthering my career.
Financial:
With EMU providing a large chunk of cash to a retirement account, my next most important financial goal is to start a business or two. My wife and I have talked about several business opportunities. In 5 years, it is certainly doable to start at least 1 business. Several ideas we have discussed include real estate management, a kids' culinary school franchise, and a camp for objectivist kids, as I've talked about before. I may also do some consulting to help fund business development.
Friends/family:
My wife and I have started reading about Positive Discipline and trying to approach parenting in a bit more productive manner by actively re-evaluating our parenting styles and making it consistent with the values of reason, purpose, and self-esteem. While I have no specific 5 year goals for parenting, I do plan on continuing to improve my approach to parenting so that my children develop healthy virtues in a loving and nurturing environment.
With our move to Michigan, we have few friends nearby. In order to see them more often, we need to plan more mutual vacations so that we can enjoy visiting with them, but not miss out on fun vacations. Any suggestions for family friendly vacations?
Health:
Over the past few years, I've lost my habit of working out on a regular basis. It was easy to maintain workout routines without children...not so much anymore. We also sold our weight bench and treadmill. Maybe its time to buy new ones. But what I really would like to do is experiment more with my diet and exercise routines to find something that maximizes my energy levels, physical strength, mental agility, and general health. For this goal I need to spend more time researching and writing specific plans. I've already bought some diet books recommended to me by some friends of mine - Good Calories, Bad Calories
and Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
.
Within 5 years, I want to be in better condition than I was in high school. Strangely enough (at least to people who know me back then), that does not necessarily include endurance. See, I used to run cross country and participate in triathlons. While I still think triathlons are fun and may do them again, that is not my first objective. I'm looking for more core strength and practical conditioning for everyday living. I want dexterity and agility. I want to be able to keep up with my kids when we play whatever sport they are interested in.
Well, I think that's about it for my goals. Like I said, this is a work in progress and I welcome input.
Where will I go from here? I think its about time to start a new set of 5 year goals. Consider this my working list as I haven't put all thought into it that I want. If anyone has comments or suggestions, I would love to hear them.
First, I came up with a list of areas that I deemed worthy of my consideration.
Categories - professional, financial, friends/family, and health
Professional development:
First, become established in my career as an academic and market my knowledge. Becoming established in my career entails more than simply getting tenure. I should be well published and "known" for my research in business ethics and human computer interaction.
I should also have highly polished classes that provide a high bang for the buck. In other words, my classes should provide students with an excellent education in the subject matter in the most efficient manner I can create. Merely being good at my career is fine, but if no one knows about it, few opportunities will arise for furthering my career.
Financial:
With EMU providing a large chunk of cash to a retirement account, my next most important financial goal is to start a business or two. My wife and I have talked about several business opportunities. In 5 years, it is certainly doable to start at least 1 business. Several ideas we have discussed include real estate management, a kids' culinary school franchise, and a camp for objectivist kids, as I've talked about before. I may also do some consulting to help fund business development.
Friends/family:
My wife and I have started reading about Positive Discipline and trying to approach parenting in a bit more productive manner by actively re-evaluating our parenting styles and making it consistent with the values of reason, purpose, and self-esteem. While I have no specific 5 year goals for parenting, I do plan on continuing to improve my approach to parenting so that my children develop healthy virtues in a loving and nurturing environment.
With our move to Michigan, we have few friends nearby. In order to see them more often, we need to plan more mutual vacations so that we can enjoy visiting with them, but not miss out on fun vacations. Any suggestions for family friendly vacations?
Health:
Over the past few years, I've lost my habit of working out on a regular basis. It was easy to maintain workout routines without children...not so much anymore. We also sold our weight bench and treadmill. Maybe its time to buy new ones. But what I really would like to do is experiment more with my diet and exercise routines to find something that maximizes my energy levels, physical strength, mental agility, and general health. For this goal I need to spend more time researching and writing specific plans. I've already bought some diet books recommended to me by some friends of mine - Good Calories, Bad Calories
and Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. Within 5 years, I want to be in better condition than I was in high school. Strangely enough (at least to people who know me back then), that does not necessarily include endurance. See, I used to run cross country and participate in triathlons. While I still think triathlons are fun and may do them again, that is not my first objective. I'm looking for more core strength and practical conditioning for everyday living. I want dexterity and agility. I want to be able to keep up with my kids when we play whatever sport they are interested in.
Well, I think that's about it for my goals. Like I said, this is a work in progress and I welcome input.
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