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Archive for the year 2005

I Dance, Therefore I Am…..

I have ALWAYS loved this saying……I Dance, Therefore I Am. Almost as much as I love Dance as if No one was watching……I subscribe to both. What a beautiful write, a beautiful read. In Wired (yes Wired….), they quote Kafka in a letter he wrote to Milena: “One can think about someone far away and one can hold on to someone nearby; everything else is beyond human power. Writing letters, on the other hand, means exposing oneself to the ghosts, who are greedily waiting precisely for that. Written kisses never arrive at their destination; the ghosts drink them up along the way.” How beautiful — and sad is that? Thanks for including it in the piece, but then I lose connection on the reference to this ghostliness reference, which “is also the hazard of computing…” Yet, sadly another part of me relates more than I want it to……. But then he brings me back. I like this guy. He weaves Brian Eno into the picture who was quoted in Wired in 1995 as saying, “Do you know what I hate about computers? The problem with computers is that there is not enough Africa in them.…

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The Birdhouses Chronicles

I’ve been thinking about the country a lot lately……my grandad used to build birdhouses – is this why I picked up the book? Could it be the season of jolly, which often reminds me about silent time on country lanes (and trips to the sea)?? Author Cathleen Miller exchange San Francisco living for a rural life in an old Pennsylvania house. Read tales about things we don’t consider on a daily basis. Although I have had similar experiences in the past, you wouldn’t know it seeing me on my sister’s upstate NY farm a couple of months ago….. She talks about “keeping the wood-and-coal furnace stoked on frigid mornings, to burying the previous owner’s shag carpeting, to staring down a wild mink.” Check it out.

A Chat with Ory Okolloh

I decided to interview Ory Okolloh from Nairobi who recently spent a few years in the states studying at Harvard. I met her at PopTech in Maine this fall, where she spoke with several other Africans on a panel…..it was close to her final days in the states. She originally came to the U.S. to attend university and ‘become a lawyer.’ Overall, she found it to be a positive experience and says with a smile – “the American dream is alive and well….” I asked her what she learned from her time here that she didn’t think she would and her response was interesting, but not surprising. Says Ory, “I learned to appreciate the things that I took for granted about Kenya, such as the food and the great Nairobi weather. (poor girl was stuck in Boston during her stint – a drastic weather shift)….She also learned to appreciate the value of nurturing and mentoring others… “What’s most important is having people surrounding you who really believe in you. Finally, I discovered I was black…race had never been part of my experience in Kenya so I had to learn…

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Bernal Heights View

The view of San Francisco from the Bernal Heights hill on a November weekend morning.

ACG Event: Journey to an IPO

ACG Boston is hosting an early morning discussion on taking a Journey to an IPO, on November 17 at the Boston Harbor Hotel, starting at 7:15 am. Co-founder and CEO of Unica’s Yuchun Lee will be the main speaker. They recently completed an IPO in August of 2005. Topic points will include:
Why chose a private equity partner
Signs of when a company is ready to go public
The impact of Sarbanes Oxley on management during the process
The decision to delay the IPO and why

Union Square Aggression

I was warned that begging for money was prevalent in San Francisco but I never expected it to be so invasive. I tend to avoid Union Square and frankly, have only been there twice since I moved here — and never at night, until recently. I couldn’t walk two blocks without people aggressively asking for money. By the time I reached my car, we had encountered close to ten people, who wouldn’t move out of our path until we gave in or darted for cover – my car. And when we didn’t oblige 9 out of the 10 cases, they simply did not go away. Intense. I’ve lived in a lot of places, but never quite experienced this level of aggression among the homeless.

Forrester: Managing Workforce Change

Forrester Research is holding a press event tomorrow in Boston that will address Businesses At Risk: Managing The Changing Workforce, starting at 1:00 pm at the Westin Copley Place on Huntington Avenue. THE WHAT
Businesses are at risk at both ends of the workforce spectrum. The US could face labor and skills shortages of crisis proportions as 76 million baby boomers retire throughout the next two decades, leaving prospective and unfilled positions in all industries. The incoming workforce will not only expect technology to help make up for a lack of skills and experience, but also rely on it personally and professionally. According to Forrester, many business are in denial about and unprepared to manage the extremes of the changing workforce. Panelists include:
· Connie Moore, Vice President, Research Director, Forrester Research · Cynthia Heckmann, Deputy CIO, Government Accountability Office (GAO) · Lisa Tondreau, Partner, Human Capital Management Americas Leader, IBM Business Consulting Services · John F. Rockart, Senior Lecturer Emeritus, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Academic Vice President of the Society for Information Systems Topics of discussion include:
· How the public sector and IT industry are dealing with the double whammy…

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TechCitizenship Event in Boston

Mass High Tech is presenting the upcoming 2005 TechCitizenship Event in Boston at the Museum of Science on Friday, November 18 from 7:30-9:30 am. CEOs will talk about how corporate giving builds morale, encourages employee retention and bolsters the bottom line. Those on this year’s list include: Arch Chemicals Inc.
Atlantic Associates
Biogen Idec
Boston Scientific
Cisco Systems
Genzyme Corp.
GTECH Corp.
Hit Catcher Inc.
IBM Corp.
iCorps Technologies Inc.
InterNoded Inc.
Keane Inc.
Mercury Computer Systems Inc.
Millipore Corp.
New Tilt Inc.
PTC
MathWorks Inc.

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