Monday, March 9, 2009

Twilight

I finally saw the tween smash hit Twilight this past weekend.

Twilight is the first in a long line of movies based on the series of books by Stephenie Meyer. On one level, it is the story of a young vampire who falls for a girl.

On another level, it is about the terrible side effects of being a vegetarian. Meat eaters hate you, and you never feel fully satisfied. Which is why vegetarians often fall in love with the new girl in school and develop skin that looks like diamonds when exposed to sunlight. Which is something most guys would actually want because I guess that diamonds are better than acne.

What I found interesting about the movie is that the romance part is huge, perhaps even bigger than the action part. Really, it's more of a love story than anything else and so the movie seems to take the greatest care setting up the emotional bond between the two main characters. I suppose that because it is a series of books and there are plans for a series of movies, they felt they had to establish as much of that bond in the first movie as possible.

My prediction: You're going to see lots of guys dressed up as Edward Cullen at Halloween next year!

West Coast Weather

On the whole, I enjoy the weather on the West Coast. We don't have bad winters and the summers are nice and cool. People always talk about rain but the reality is that it doesn't bother you that much.

The problem is snow. And today I woke up to snow swirling outside my window. Actually, it looked like fireflies in the light coming from the street lamp outside my bedroom.

We also got some hail this weekend but here is a video I took at about 7am today on my way to work:



And here is the video I mentioned about the hail on the weekend:




Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Personal Statement

I was in class all weekend again. We had Leadership on Friday and Saturday, then International Trade on Sunday.

The Leadership class was great and my one piece of advice to any student (MBA or otherwise) is to take HR classes as they are some of the best and most useful classes you will ever take (along with classes about Intellectual Property).

Anyways, we were asked to create a Personal Statements for ourselves that would function to help guide us through the next 3-5 years of our lives. In case you haven't noticed, everything these days is about work/life balance and everything in life is connected. I think personal happiness and professional fulfillment go hand in hand and my personal goals for the next 3-5 years involve maximizing both of them.

I will say that I thought one of the example Personal Statements we were given was REALLY the best one for me and will most likely be using that one. I can't print it here (copyright) but I will post the one I wrote for myself. A few interesting points but here it is:

Danny Starr: Personal Statement

I will choose to live my life in any geographic location and not be afraid to consider new and exciting opportunities, no matter where they may take me.

My family, no matter how far they are, will always know what I am up to. I will talk to them regularly and use technology to make long distances shorter.

I will be an attentive and engaged uncle, brother and son. I will also be mindful of the community in which I live and devote time and energy each month to making it better.

My co-workers will understand that I value integrity because they will see that I embody this in my daily actions. I will work as hard, if not harder, at developing their careers as I have on my own.

I will not be afraid to make, stick buy and implement tough decisions. If those decisions are made by those above me, I will trust that they are in the best interests of the collective and not just the decision maker.

I will be more effective at work because I have taken that necessary time ensure that I am well rested and recharged.

All good things come from positivity and my own personal view of the world will reflect this so much so that those around me will feel the same hope for the future.