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Today is: [ Year 2003 ][ Year 2004 ][ Year 2005 ][ Year 2006 ][ Year 2008 ][ My Research Journal ][ Back to JimFurey.com ] Where did the year go? I can't believe that I've only written one other journal entry here. I guess I got a little soured by news stories about how your life isn't so private by journal entries, and what happened to them because of it. I know it would be stupid to put down every iota of my personal life here. But I did want to hit my highlights in life. Still, I reserved myself in writing what's going on. I didn't want 50 people writing and saying "So, you got a new TV, eh?" And I'd say "And who are you again?" I guess in the smallest way I know what celebrities go through. So I started writing more about what I accomplished mentally and emotionally rather than in possessions or more personal life stuff. What I got surprised at was my "stats" page. It's something that my server has to show how many people visit the web site. I used to get an average of 63 to 97 visits a day! Almost 100 people a day visiting my web site. But what surprised me the most was when I stopped writing journal entries for a while how much visits would go down. I haven't written in a while and visits were down to an 11 month low of only 60 visits a day in September. There are some things in my life I'm going to keep private, but let me tell you of some good things that have happened to me. I hope some of my mental "discoveries" will help those reading as well. One thing I've learned is that it makes a world (literally) of difference if you're with the right person romantically. I've had some bad luck in the past choosing the wrong person to be with, but Cees is really one of the best influences I've ever had. Always helpful, kind, understanding and she doesn't "drain the system". Meaning she doesn't take and take and not give back like some people I was involved with. She adds to that system. So my advice to anyone is find someone who makes you feel like they're adding to your life positively. It's what will help you find your center easier. Everyone has bad days. Here are some of my own examples over the last 6 months: I've had occasions where someone in front of me at the drive though took so long to decide that my engine started over heating. And then when I finally got out of line, some other guy cut diagonally across all the parking spaces just so he'd be ahead of me. My apartment complex sends me a notice that my lease is up in 2 days and I either need to renew my lease or give 30 days notice. How can I give 30 days notice if I only just got their notice? It took me 2 years to fix the air conditioning in my car. My blood pressure and cholesterol are too high. Some design problems at work seem reoccurring and unending. I've been so tired that I get to work and then notice I forgot to shave or brush my teeth. Projects seem to become "multi-year" long projects. I accidentally delete a very important program I wanted to watch that I had recorded. Some times I just get a lack of motivation for long periods because things taking so long to accomplish. The post office "misplaces" my package. But here are some of my own examples of good fortune in the past 6 months: At work, I've now invented things that have given work 2 patents. (2 patents to my name!) and I was made "Man of the Year" at the company annual dinner. I got some of my own projects done, found a mechanic who fixed my car for one third the price the local Honda dealer quoted me, negotiated a $44 reduction in monthly rent, spent time with my sister-in-law, contacted old high school friends and stayed in touch, learned to play golf more, saw my brother again and he paid for the hotel, took a great 1 day trip to Las Vegas with my wife to go to a Star Trek convention and had my picture taken with some stars, and I've also seen a really marked improvement on the way I handle life and problems. I've got a lot more patience and wisdom thanks largely to my sweet wife. So here's some of my conclusions: 1.) Progress is a slow donkey ride up the walls of the Grand Canyon. Patience required. 2.) Life is not fair, no one ever said it would be, but you can make it better by thinking better of yourself and others. 3.) Your life can advance positively when you: a.) Use random acts of kindness towards others. b.) Use determination and persistence. c.) Reward yourself for having item "b" above with a great dinner out when things are at their worst. And: d.) Just do your best. That's the best you can do. Don't go overboard if things don't always work the way you envision. After all, you're doing your best. Life, relationships and goals take time to “settle in”. Like a house that puts out a few creaks as it ages. In my experience, I’ve known some bumps in in the road, but that doesn't mean you won't get to your destination. The road is still good.  It's more than obvious that I haven't written in a long time. There's actually quite a bit going on but some of it I'll have to keep to myself for now and others worry me. But I decided to do something different. Instead of crowd this journal with my political views, I'm going to have links in my entries. I'd rather keep this journal to just events and goals and accomplishments. But what I think politically is also important. So here's my very first: "Soapbox Moment". Ok, off the soap box and more onto my trip. I went to Stanford University last week to check out a technology called "power over air" at the "Cool Products Expo" by a company called Powercast. This company uses RF transmitters and receivers to change RF energy to electricity. Very tiny power and not very useful for our purposes. But what really drew me to this expo was that there was going to be many top of the line electric cars. The one that really caught my eye was the VentureOne by Venture Vehicles. Very cool looking! Watch the video on their web site. I look a picture of it and I was happy to see it. But, when I went inside to talk to someone about it, they seemed very disorganized. You have to remember, most of this expo (I think) was intended to "inspire" young college students. They were having a problem with their stand up plasma monitor and I actually helped fix it, but when I asked the guy I helped if this was available in the U.S. yet, he just said "No" and dismissed me. Sorry I didn't show you my press card or let you know I own the premier site for information in the most wealthiest section of California. Opps. That was a definite turn off. That and the above $40,000 price. Can't anyone make a cool electric car for less than $20,000? I missed seeing the Tesla Motors car at the L.A. Auto show, so it was great to finally see it. Of course I also took my own picture of it too. Unfortunately also an expensive $92,000 car. As I talked to the person there, I had heard they had sold all 100 of their "signature cars" that went for $100,000. And I asked when they were going to make more. He told me that they hadn't "delivered" any and were intending to produce even the Lotus mad body themselves. "Hadn't produced any?" I didn't say that, but it was screaming in my head. Gee, I want to have a company like that where I can take in $10 million in orders and not sell anything. How do I get that? Two disappointment down, one to go. The last of the Big Three that were there was the X1 prototype by Wrightspeed Inc. This has been around for a few years now. When's the "production" going to happen? Well, it's a formula 1 looking kind of thing. (Check the picture here of it.) And you'll also see Ian Wright on the left. (Wright on the left, I like that.) Well, as they say on their web site "It is not a production car, and never will be. It’s a proof-of-concept vehicle that will lead to a production car in the future." Well, we're not going to have a future if someone's not going to build it! They've been saying the production model will be coming "soon" for some time. I got the impression that Ian just likes to show it off. Ok, congrats. Now really knock my socks off and make something people who aren't millionaires can buy. That would impress me. The only car that came even close to saving us all was the odd looking and lonely Corbin Sparrow of which I'm sorry to say I didn't get a clear picture of, but you can see how they kept it out of the "expensive tent" by the little green edge of it on the left in this picture. Well, I guess Detroit can relax for another year. Producing electric cars is mostly led by investment capitalists and not dreamers or there'd be cheap ones by now. I'll actually make a report of all electric cars on my business web site later. I'll post a link when that article's done. One other great curiosity is from a company named NeuroSky. They have this very cool device that looks like something out of Star Trek that you wear on your head, and it reads your alpha waves. They then translate this into a game that you can "move" things with you mind. I tried it and it really does work! $5000 for the software and $25 for the hardware? I'll take the hardware and figure it out! I might try playing with it some day. So that's my trip. Until next time, |