Tibetan monks creating a intricate mandala that they will soon wipe away and throw into a nearby river.
No matter your worldview, I think we can all agree that 2016 was a defining and likely transitional year in the United States of America. From politics (Clinton vs. Trump, moderates being squashed between the extreme “right” and the extreme “left,” to the passing of iconic celebrities (Prince, Carrie Fisher, George Michael, etc.), to radical, miserably unhappy short-sighted people, countries & groups (ISIS, Turkey, Syria, Russia), to witnessing some of the most generous acts of kindness towards refugees and others humanity has ever seen. Plus some pretty good comedy and music about all of the above!
I’m putting “changing the world” on pause for a bit to spend most of my energy on my kids, doing a good job at work, and keeping sane by spending time with my numerous great friends. Maybe if others did the same, we’d have less crazy, upset people in this world! #veryblessed
Life can be is challenging, and I’m grateful that I can randomly write my not so insightful thoughts on this blog. I’m grateful for good health, family, friends, an awesome job, as well as for cute animal photos and videos.
I’m not into new year resolutions any more, but I am into moving in a meandering, yet at the same time vague direction toward some positive outcomes. So, I’d like to make a point of having more music in my life by listening to more, writing lyrics, and creating melodies for at least one new song to complement the two already out there posted here and here.
And, of course, I’
m going to try to eat healthier, exercise more, and lose a few pounds without giving up red wine, whisky, chocolate, cheese, peanuts, chips, or queso. 😀
Here’s to us all getting better at playing the crazy cards life deals us as well as continuing to learn & grow from the harrowing, yet joyful game of life.
Bring it on 2017…but please use wise and kind judgement when doing so!
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: blogging,
holiday,
Just For Fun |
Comments Off on Goodbye 2016. Welcome 2017!
I think many of us are very blessed to be when and where we are right now in the timeline of human existence. There are others of us who still seem to be living in the dark ages of hate and anger. And sadly, many still living in poverty, financially and/or emotionally. I wish for them and us the continued light of compassion, understanding, and psychic freedom that has helped humanity get through dark times before. May we continue to arrive on the other side of turmoil & change more enlightened and connected than before.
I think Thanksgiving is one of the best US holidays because it forces us to pause from our busy lives and take time to be grateful for the many things we have such as health, happiness, people who love us, people we love, physical & spiritual wealth, friends, family, and comfortable homes no matter what they may look like. There are others who have far less (like the boy in the photo), and ironically they might feel and act more thankful than we do sometimes.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone around the world!
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: holiday |
Tags: giving thanks,
thanksgiving |
1 Comment »
Happy New Year! I thought I’d get a new post out before the 15th of January, but here we are half way through the first month of 2015!
My boss shared this link: The 7 Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs (Tenacity, Passion, Tolerance of Ambiguity, Vision, Self-belief, Flexibility, and Rule-breaking) with our team a while back. I was surprised that they said most entrepreneurs weren’t neurotic. I’ve met more than a few neurotic entrepreneurs and have felt like one myself at times…maybe they define it differently than I have seen others exhibit it.
There are so many moving parts to a new business that I think it helps to be able to multitask, but sometimes it hurts a business too. A friend sent me the article below about the Supertasker test that helps you figure out if you are one of the 2% of the people in the world who can actually multitask vs. ineffectively task switch. It made me wonder who those supertaskers were and if they could do the same thing they were able to do with two kids in the back seat asking you every 5 minutes to look at something, change the radio station, or telling their sibling to quit making some noise or the other. 🙂 Check out these articles:
Only 2% of People Can Multitask Successfully [INFOGRAPHIC] – Mashable
Take The ‘Supertasker’ Test To See If You’re A Genius – lifehacker
Is Your Brain Multitasking – Psychology Today
How (and Why) to Stop Multitasking – Harvard Business Review
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: entrepreneurship,
FYI,
holiday,
working mom,
working mother |
Tags: happy new year,
harvard business review,
lifehacker,
mashable,
multitasking,
psychology today,
supertasker |
Comments Off on Entrepreneurial Traits and Multi-tasking
I wonder why we don’t celebrate Boxing Day (aka St. Stephen’s Day) here in the US? It seems like a mighty fine holiday to me! The weeks leading up to the holidays seemed extra busy this year, so I had to take “holiday card” off the list of things to do this year.
In lieu of a festive blog post, here are some interesting reads:
Women at Work: A Guide for Men – The Wall Street Journal – This is a very good article about women in business!
Time’s Up for ‘Timeout’ – The Atlantic
A progressive group of neurology researchers wants to redefine “discipline.” Decisions about parenting affect not only children’s minds, but those of adults as well.
The meritocracy trap – Seth Godin
A Meditation on the Art of Not Trying – The Wall Street Journal
Finding the Right Metaphor for Your Presentation – Harvard Business Review
A Mark of a Loving Person Is Courtesy – The 5 Love Languages Blog
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: entrepreneur,
entrepreneurship,
FYI,
holiday |
Tags: business writing,
harvard business review,
seth godin,
Women at Work |
1 Comment »
Yes, the elephants did strike back! The trip was amazing and despite me thinking I might have time to type up some blog posts on the plane, sleep, kids, and other distractions (free movies) got in the way.
I think we took close to 900 photos in the many cities and tourist sites that we went to on the island. The kid’s impressed me with their ability to tolerate the long travel and long days with different eating schedules. I guess that means it was the perfect age for them to go!
Last Friday I hosted a slideshow for the folks where I work (Querium). Lots of people showed up in person and virtually (via http://join.me). They said they enjoyed it and didn’t confess to being bored. 🙂 My boss was able to “mirror” my iPhone on his Mac and hook it to a projector so I could flip through the photos for everyone to see. It was pretty cool!
Now I have tons of new photos to use in my TBD future blog posts and for my kids to use in finally finishing up the YouTube videos of my two songs!
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: FYI,
holiday,
Just For Fun,
travel |
Tags: elephants,
sri lanka |
Comments Off on A Trip of a Lifetime – Sri Lanka
![IMG_0635[1]](http://entrepremusing.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IMG_06351-e1406489465294-225x300.jpg)
Phone booths in Dubai
The title of this post comes from my son with affirmation from my daughter. We are on a journey back to my homeland and plan to see and ride an elephant or two. As usual, life has been busy and all the blog post ideas that fleet across my mind, never end up making it into a proper post. I’m hoping that while we are on numerous airplanes and airports that I will have a few moments to write up some posts to share after we return.
I’m writing this post from the Dubai airport in a lounge that has WiFi included. Thank goodness for WiFi and modern technology!
We are on our way to my birthplace: Sri Lanka. I’m such an American now (and I never knew the language) that they will view us as tourists. It’s been 19 years since I’ve been there and that was when my grandfather passed away. I still miss him to this day! He was such a brilliant, unique, and funny individual whose humanity I only came to know about and understand as I got older and after he was gone so I never had the opportunity to talk with him about so many things I wanted to.
This is the first time my kids have traveled this far away from their home and so far they have been amazing travelers!
One of my next posts should include a photo of an elephant. The photo in this post is of a high tech phone booth in the very modern looking airport in Dubai.
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: FYI,
holiday,
Just For Fun,
travel |
Tags: Dubai,
sri lanka |
4 Comments »
¡Feliz Año Nuevo 2014! Another year has passed and boy/girl what an entrepreneurial year it has been! I’ve been trying to figure out how to fix the spam (stupidity) hack that someone has done to my email feed, but after checking feedburner, feedblitz, WordPress, and staring into space, a solution/fix hasn’t surfaced. Thank you to all of you who replied to my email feed noticing the insertion of random, annoying spam ads. The emailed version of this post may have spam inserted, so please don’t click on the spam links…unless of course you are “looking for a good time via potency drugs.” Fortunately, the post itself as it shows up on my blog and the RSS feed do not have spam links, just the email feed and I have no idea why!
While I am writing this post, I’m listening to final mixes of two of my songs: Save Me From Myself and Soul Escape. Pretty soon you can sing them in your shower without worries of copyright violations! 🙂 It’s been close to a 3 year process to get to this point, but I can check “having a professional song produced” off my list soon…
Just like Fred Wilson, I am Unresolved this year, and I couldn’t feel happier about it. When you think about it, it’s almost kind of stupid to make resolutions when so much of life is out of your freaking control. Sure, I can eat better, exercise, laugh more, cry more, make sure I have the best career ever, piss off more people, etc. but it seems to me it’s best to just “Go With The Flow,” be as honest as you can be, and “Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You.” Why humans don’t get this simplicity (see Scott Adams’ article below) after thousands of years is perplexing. We must be a slow species that likes to complicate things.
But in other good reads:
The Non-Movie Version of Entrepreneurship – Francine Hardaway
How to Burst the “Filter Bubble” that Protects Us from Opposing Views – MIT Technology Review
Changing What You Do Versus Changing How You Think – IttyBiz
Simplifiers and Optimizers – BoingBoing by Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert
Rethinking the Job Search – Scott Uhrig of White Rock Partners (also relevant to Sales and Fundraising)
I Don’t Need To Search Anymore – gaping void
The care and feeding (and shunning) of vampires – Seth Godin
To copy what I posted on facebook: “Happy New Year! May 2014 be full of love, laughter, joy, and mind blowing (lovely) adventures with good health and peace mixed in for good luck!“
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: entrepreneurship,
holiday,
Just For Fun,
music |
Tags: 2014,
facebook,
francine hardaway,
fred wilson,
gaping void,
happy new year,
song producing,
songwriting,
unresolved |
1 Comment »
Happy Independence Day for those of you in the United States of America. I am thankful to be living in a country that has given us so much opportunity. I’m grateful for those who fought and sacrificed for our way of life. I know I’ve been able to do things personally and professionally (entrepreneurial-ly speaking) that would have been 10 times harder, if not impossible elsewhere.
Happy Birthday America! I hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July.
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: holiday |
Tags: 4th of July,
independence day |
Comments Off on Happy 4th of July – 2013
Happy New Year! From what I’ve observed at this point in my life, it seems to me that there really is no telling what awaits around the corner with regards to jobs, kids, health, love, or whatever, so I’ve given up on resolutions for the time being. We are living in interesting times, and I have been fortunate/unfortunate enough to experience many things…some of my choosing and most not of my choosing. Maybe I will live long enough and happen upon the right muse(s) along the way to enable me to write more about it…
So in 2013 I’ll just do my best to breathe deep, laugh with my kids, and spend time with people who support/love me & my kids (i.e., no fair weather friends or family). I’ll continue to do my best at whatever I’m attempting to do and support others even if I find myself in less than ideal circumstances or around negative people, which seems to be happening less and less. I also will continue to come to grips with the reality of my busy life (e.g., it took me close to 5 days to actually finish writing this short post because of work, facebook, watching TV, words with friends, going to the movies, spending time with real offline friends, downtime, and kid stuff!). 🙂
May you experience the most peace, love, and joy possible in 2013!
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: blogging,
holiday,
working mom,
working mother |
Tags: breathing deep,
facebook,
happy new year,
offline friends,
words with friends |
4 Comments »
Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Joyful Kwanzaa. I hope everyone had a very Happy Holiday season and was able to spend time with people who you like and love and who like and love you right back.
Our Christmas was really nice and peaceful. Lots of great presents under a small tree. Tasty lunch at a Japanese restaurant. An afternoon of putting legos and other toys together, followed by seeing Cirque du Soleil at the movie theater. I wasn’t sure if the kids would enjoy the show, but they did and were fascinated by the flexibility, strength, and costumes of the cast.
Happy Holidays!
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: holiday,
movie reviews |
Tags: cirque du soleil,
happy holidays,
kwanzaa,
legos,
merry christmas |
Comments Off on Happy Holidays – 2012
Another Thanksgiving in the US has passed. It’s nice to have a holiday to remind us to be thankful and grateful for the many positive things in our lives as well as for the challenges we have overcome. I was reviewing my past Thanksgiving posts and last year I wrote Thankful – 2011 (such an original title!) and included a photo of a dragon from my October 2011 trip to China. That trip was amazing, the memories wonderful, and I made some great new friends who I still hang out with.
I also wrote a post on Nov 30, 2008 called The Strength Of A Thought, and I still wonder the same about “thoughts” but have softened my query and am moving more toward observation/acceptance of my musing on that day: “So, how do we rule our thoughts instead of our thoughts ruling us? Or maybe the question is can we accomplish this in this lifetime? In this body? In this experience? Oh what power our thoughts have on the direction we step in our lives…whether it’s right, left, backward, straight, or directly into stardust…into our dreams.”
Reason for photo: The kids insisted on taking the cloud photo a few weeks back that I’m using in this post. My son felt quite certain that the middle cloud looked exactly like a dragon’s foot and my daughter agreed. I’m thankful for their vivid imaginations.
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: FYI,
holiday,
Just For Fun |
Tags: china,
dragon,
power of thoughts,
thanksgiving |
Comments Off on Thankful – 2012
Halloween is an interesting day that brings up memories from my youth through adulthood. I love that my kids are so excited about it and enjoy trick or treating. My son dressed up as a Jawa and my daughter as a Native American (that’s what it said on the package her costume came in). People kept calling her Pocahontas and she kept correcting them saying she was a Native American, not Pocahontas. 🙂
I used to love spreading out the candy I got on the floor of our living room when I was a kid. My favorite sweet things were pixie sticks (pure sugar). As a teenager, I enjoyed dressing up as a belly dancer wearing an army jacket. I had an absolute blast at our company Halloween party on the 25th of October. I dressed up as Uhura from Star Trek and there were many others dressed up as Star Trek characters so we could have easily formed a whole crew. I finally had to buy a new costume because for the past seemingly 10 years, I sometimes dressed up as an Egyptian princess. Anyway, I hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween.
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: FYI,
holiday |
Tags: halloween,
jawa,
native american,
pocahontas |
Comments Off on Happy Halloween – 2012
What a great country! What great opportunities await. What questions have you asked? What questions have you not asked? What help have you sought? What help have you given? How often have you expressed your gratitude? How many times have you forgiven yourself and others and reinvented yourself? Americans, what are you waiting for?
Happy Independence Day – July 4, 2012.
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: holiday |
Tags: 4th of July,
america,
independence day |
2 Comments »
To all you great father’s out there who are really involved in the lives of your kids, Happy Father’s Day to you! When father’s are involved in their children’s lives everyone, and I think even the dad’s themselves, are better off. Just like having a good mother, a good father is critical to a child’s well being. The same stuff holds true for great father’s that I mentioned in my almost record breaking viewed mother’s day post.
Much has changed in a father’s role over the last 50 years, and I think so far that change has been good!
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: dad,
father,
Father's Day,
holiday,
working dad,
working father |
Tags: Father's Day,
involved father,
mother's day |
6 Comments »
Memorial Day is a great day to remember the many freedoms we have because of those who volunteered or were drafted to fight for our American way of life. There are many around the world who cannot gather with their friends and family so freely, eat barbeque, drink beer (I’m not a beer drinker, but it’s fun watching others drink beer), watch the kids play, and just have a good time.
This weekend the kids and I got to spend time with some very long time friends who have been like family to me for close to 25 years now. Our kids have grown up together and someone this weekend called them “college cousins” which I thought was a very nice term given I met my best friend in college.
As much as we often struggle to pave the way for our kids, it’s nothing compared to those who have stood on the front lines to defend us the past hundreds of years. Thank you to those who have served so we can enjoy our freedom!
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: holiday,
travel |
Tags: barbecue,
beer,
college cousins,
memorial day |
5 Comments »
![IMG_0635[1]](http://entrepremusing.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IMG_06351-e1406489465294.jpg)
Recent Comments