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Category: Hamster Wheel

Tired

The hamster wheel is starting to spin faster, with less steps to hang on to. I mean, shit, it's only a spreadsheet. Can you imagine taking over the world? I'm trying very hard to convince myself that anything other than aiming for total world dominance, is boring.

The Wheel

Hafa Adai, early morning greetings from Guam. Time for a power nap before heading back into the grind.

Ich bin running on three hours of sleep and nothing in my stomach. A mother would be pretty upset.

There's a big chunk of tri-tip waiting to get rock-salted and thrown on the grill, but I need the help of 3 hungry appetites to weather the challenge. No takers yet though, everyone's too busy running faster in their hamster wheel of perpetual slavery, loneliness, white collar pain and cubicle torture. Yes. Me too.

My hands are cold.

The real world needs less paperwork.

Zippo

Everything can be done quicker, better, faster. At least there is always something better to aspire to. Boredom can be a bigger problem...

Content is always king. Information is the driver of processes, and more importantly, the driver of value. All other enablers (i.e. technology) should be transparent to ants marching, and the amount of human interaction for processes that only require pure logic (yes, no, if, else) should be kept at a minimum. Value is lost when time is dedicated to monkey work, especially when manual processes expose you to the risk of human error. Design the process well. Do it once, and do it right. Then you can allocate scarce valuable resources in performing higher level tasks, and assessment of (more) accurate data. Let value be the goal, and the method in which to achieve success and sustain it.

Life is not rocket science. Break it down, piece by piece, and conquer.

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Perhaps the biggest advantage of a small organization is the speed it can maneuver and respond to its operating environment. Provided it has the aptitude and resources to make intelligent decisions to anticipate changes in the market, it can work its small size to its advantage against the bigger players in the industry. While it may not enjoy deeper pockets or expertise as bigger companies, as long as it streamlines and allocates its resources effectively, the player who can provide the best value to the consumer will always come out the winner.

When the market fails, there is no room for error. But the biggest error you can make, is to not even try.

So the whole family (sort of) is now in Las Vegas to attend the SEMA convention, which is basically heaven for anyone remotely interested in anything automotive. This is pretty much the most productive year I've attended. It used to be a shiny-cars and hot-chicks kind of deal, but I have graduated to actually talking to exhibitors and trying to find software solutions for the Family Empire. My sister and I have also between attending the free seminars that range from inventory management, small business IT, and online marketing presented by leaders of their respective fields. The last seminar we attended was chaired by execs from eBay Motors, Amazon, Google, Activant, etc! This is a pretty damn good deal for the $15 registration fee that we paid!

Rambling mode on. So it's a cut throat market, and everyone's out to make a buck. I used to subscribe to the school of modesty, and self-deprecation. "Set expectations low, and perform high." Never acknowledge your talent, because there seems to be greater satisfaction when it comes unsolicited from a third party. There are, however, some potential drawbacks to this approach if it starts to manifest itself internally. To guise yourself from others through modesty, may be a formidable plan of attack, but be sure to always keep in mind what is real, and believe the truth in what you can do. It's easy to get swayed into the cop-out that you cannot do something, when all you need to do is to take that first step and make the effort to make it happen. It's easy to follow the crowd of lemmings and go with the flow. And this fear of 'failure' (that can present itself in many forms), marks the difference of those successful, and those who are not. And no matter how intelligent you are, no matter how much you understand it better than the monkey next to you, what stays in your mind as ideas can never be as real as the actions you put to follow the idea through.

There are constant disconnects between what I believe in, and the life I am stuck with. Each day is another opportunity to weed them out. Nothing that a few beers can't fix. :)

Sleepy Nickel

Sleepy eyes rest on a tired smile
Trying to get out of the dizzying tumble
of a hamster wheel that answers no questions
Just an endless pitter patter
of stuff to do
Dues to pay
Things to consider
but it's really up to you,
to decide what to do.

I'm sleepy. Hopping on a plane soon, for a slew of work and other trips. Need to finish packing. I'll be doing six point-to-point legs on this trip. Sigh.

In a few hours I head back out to the madness of Manila.

Guam was pretty good for understanding the rotations of my new hamster wheel. I think it would've been nice to stay a bit longer and indoctrinate myself deeper into the operational nuances of what put me through school and food on our tables, but I'll need to get moving to get an understanding of the bigger picture. Can't stagnate, and can't move too fast either. All that is the balance, that we keep ourselves perched precariously on.

Here's something I came across on the intarweb that I found really interesting. African-American Photographs (Snapshots and Portraits).

Greetings from the airport hallows of Saipan!

Such a small island.

Yet I would say it would deserve more than the 10 hours I spent here today, which is what happens with the 'first-flight-in-last-flight-out' procedure.

I'm mooching off the free WiFi here at the airport lounge, waiting for my flight to board. I am in dire need of a sedative to ease the pain in my stomach, which is probably a direct result of drinking for 9 hours non-stop yesterday with no decent meals in between. I feel like heaving my innards out into a cold and insensitive porcelain bowl.

Meanwhile, I have an hour to burn before my flight to Guam. And the beginnings of helping take over the world through the family empire will soon begin. Here we go, Batman.

From: Gopez, Lovine (10020)
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 2:31 PM
To: NA Protiviti - Los Angeles
Subject: Thank You

All,

It is with great regret that I inform you, today is my last day with Protiviti.

It is never an easy decision to transition away from a place that you consider to be your second home. I have decided to pursue other opportunities with my family, but look forward to hearing of the firm's success as it continues to evolve. The past 2 ½ years were filled with many shared accomplishments and forged friendships, and I continue to count my blessings for these opportunities that I cannot take for granted. I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude for being part of a wonderful and amazing team.

Please keep in touch! Thank you!

Lovine Gopez

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