J's Blog!

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."   —  Ralph Waldo Emerson It's over. My mind is disjointed in a multitude of ways. Initially, the feeling was: to what end did I pursue this endeavor? I worked so hard, built this team and product, so why did I "give up" so quickly? I feel relieved, yet wistful, with a tinge of sadness. The sentiment fits in somewhere between a breakup and a graduation, both with a journey and the anticipation for something more. Yet, that "expected thing" never materialized, but a warm and fuzzy feeling of understanding and gratitude became the takeaway from this grand adventure. Invisible reader, what would you rather do: carry on with an endeavor you've strived so hard to create and grow even though progress has been halted, or devote your resources elsewhere so that you can start anew? In the startup world, the denizens hail the ideology of "fail fast," so that o...

Thanksgiving is less than a week away, and even though I am unemployed, I have plenty to be thankful for. While I won't get into the specifics of my gratitude yet, I want to relay a short, but meaningful experience I had today. With my Toastmasters group, I volunteered to pack boxes of food for the needy in an assembly line. My experience included the adrenaline rush that comes from working under pressure - two straight hours of fast-paced can-placing, box-taping action. Hardcore, considering that the speed required one to think on his or her feet (when items required placement reorganization) and quick adaptability (when processes were modified). I worked at the end of the assembly line and strategically used my arms and hands to fold box tabs. With an average rate of one second per folded box, I worked cohesively with those wielding tape dispensers. In this experience, feelings can express my residual excitement, but only concepts can express a few of the ideas running through my...