Wednesday, February 27, 2013

And then there's reality

Not exactly work life balance, but I've definitely mastered the bowl-of-cheez-its-on-a-beanbag balance at le Goog.
The title of the article pretty much sums it up: 'In this corner there's Sheryl Sandberg.  In this corner there's Anne-Marie Slaughter.  And then there's reality.'  I agree with the spirit of the article, but found it a little over aggressive in pushing its point that all women will "have it all" differently.  I think there are merits to both Sandberg and Slaughter's camps; I find myself modeling off both of them in different aspects of my career, and I do this without necessarily aspiring to be exactly like them.

But I can agree to this -

Every woman I know who feels like she “has it all” — and there are many — has done it in a unique way.

We all have our own unique journey.  That is truth.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Stand wide and tall

I just watched this talk by social psychologist from Amy Cuddy on Body Language - her study on how your body language can change your mindset is so compelling, and the talk is moving and practical beyond 'sit up straight more'.  If you ever feel like a fraud sometimes, like you're "not supposed to be here" (story of my life), this is well worth watching through to the end.

Guess I'll be doing some wonder woman poses on my way out the door tomorrow morning!  Via swissmiss.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Day ends

The end of the day is nice, I think of this quote.  Here's a picture and a song.
The 'blue hour' as the Germans call it, from my window.

Now let's listen to Toto - how can you not love this song when you're winding down from a long day?  (or actually, at any time?)  It strikes the perfect balance of giving you your energy back while also making you want to lie down daydream about sailing away somewhere.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Twenty Nine

My happy desk at work.  Yeah, that's a Ralph / Psyduck (my inner Pokemon) and some water balloons blown up with various degrees of success.  I can't explain the unicorn though.

"Let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final." Rilke

And what a beautiful and terrifying year it has been.  This was last year.  Every year tops the one prior - and not just because the above doesn't capture the salted caramel brownies, the sweetest cards and the most awesome and thoughtfully picked blender (been gagging to have one!) in the world; but because it just gets better.

Am reminded of how incredibly blessed I am today!  Let's all just keep going.

Monday, February 18, 2013

No woods, but a bridge

Another long weekend ('Merica, you're killing me over here!) there was everything from MOMA to bagels and the longest bus ride ever.  It was the kind of weekend that was so good I didn't think to take enough photos, but I did manage to take some snaps of a cycle my brother and I did from San Francisco to Old Mill Park.

Our intention was to get to Muir Woods but my fear of fast cycling and all traffic in general meant we couldn't get there and back in time to catch the last ferry from Sausalito - hehe sorry Alex!  However, we did get to cycle over the beautiful iconic bridge (yes!), the park had some pretty impressive baby redwoods and on the way back I was ballsy enough to cycle down Market St in the dark, so I'm chalking this up as a win.
On the golden bike path.
After we made it over.  I was nervously contemplating the next leg onto Sausalito (downhill scares me more than up).
Amazing how the landscape changed over the course of the cycle.
Baby redwoods - and not-so-baby brother!  It was at this point when we realised we weren't going to make it to the woods  :(
It should be noted that I was so terrified at the beginning of the ride I actually insisted we walk our bikes the whole way from Union Square down to the Embarcadero, so this is a good reminder that if you really want to do something that you're terrible at, you'll get better at and less scared of it over time.

A happy, short week to those in the US!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Dog city (literally)

Since moving here, I haven't stopped referencing this article when people ask me how I'm finding it - it totally nails San Francisco living and they had me at 'It gets cold at 4pm' (which is why I'm addicted to wearing my puffer vest).  Another point that is totally spot on is that this city is 'extremely pro-dog' - furry faces wherever you turn, they even have dog yoga at work!  Ok, so that's not technically the city and I also work for a ridiculous company, but you get the idea.  My pets growing up ranged from hermit crabs, goldfish and a whole series of yabbies, so it's safe to say I'm not really a dog person, but I've seen so many adorable furry faces around the place that I at least wanted to capture a couple of favourites I've seen around town.
This little guy was sitting around in the Burberry store at Union Square, just chilling with his owner who happened to have the coolest shoes.
Ok so I don't even know what kind of dog this is because I asked her more about her shoes than him, but just look at him!
I found this fluffy friend calmly catching the Muni into town.  Pretty sure he is more seasoned at it than I am and never stands at the wrong stop or loses his Clipper card.
His owner was the nicest man, this was actually his old dog - someone he met at the park happened to film him and put it on YouTube!  Glad I'm not the only creepster sticking cameras in his dogs' face.
So cute right!  I'm still not quite prepared to get my own, but after I met that little guy on the bus I did change my screensaver to this adorable pug.  Dog, screensaver, same same really.

Woof!  Happy Wednesday!

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Not because they are easy

Something (?) shooting through the sky, taken from my living room as the sun went down.
The term 'moon shots' is currently going around at work (see this interview with Larry) - driving home this notion of going after the moon rather than working towards small, incremental changes in your work.  Work is a struggle at the moment, but this related quote from JFK is inspiring.  We choose to pursue what we do, because it is hard.

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon, we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

I just realised how 'rah rah America' this post could come off haha - it's not that at all, am more just reminding myself of why we all sometimes take on the tougher challenges.  We may not get written up in the paper for it, but I know we all have our own 'moons' that we go after.

Hope you have a great week!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

On listening

A quiet coffee over conversation on a friend's back steps.
“The best way to honor someone who has said something smart and useful is to say something back that is smart and useful. The other way to honor them is to go do something with what you learned.  Good listeners get what they deserve–better speakers.”

From Seth Godin.  Applies both in and out of work, but made me think that I especially need to stop trying to multitask during meetings, and either just go and be present or skip it out.  Speaking of which, these 9 tips for shorter and better meetings hits me hard too!  Been trying #2 especially in this last week, and it's really working.