A lifestyle blog of Silicon Valley nerd and part-time Travel Journalist
We were watching some TV shows that were recorded earlier this year and were amazed at how what used to seem normal seems so strange today. “Look, those people are standing right next to strangers like it was a normal thing to do!” A worldwide pandemic can change things very quickly. I live in Silicon …
I have worked at home for myself or remotely for other companies for most of the last couple of decades. This seems like a good time to document what I have learned over that time. Here are some tips to increase your productivity while you work at home. Have a schedule Just because you’re able …
I think there may be something wrong with me. Working in Silicon Valley for these many years seems to have warped me. I just announced that I am leaving my current day job PayNearMe.com to work for myself. My intention was to work on some of my own projects like BloggerBridge.com and support myself as …
It has been a bad week for product design in the Christensen household. FirstTech Credit Union Our credit union has been marketing their new iPhone app that will allow us to deposit checks remotely by taking a picture of them. What a great idea. I had a check that I wanted to deposit so …
My new employer, PayNearMe, had an investment from True Ventures. One of the interesting programs True runs is a two day educational program once a year called True University. The 250 students at TrueU come from the 70+ startup companies that have had investment from True. There are 39 classes led by 52 instructors over the …
My friend Margit is a teacher. Her Facebook wall had the following update recently: Note to student: “Thank you for submitting your paper. Unfortunately, I am unable to access your work. It appears there has been an error in the file upload. Please submit a new copy of your paper before [deadline]. I look forward …
I have an office with my name on the door just like my father used to have. My office is 2,700 miles from my house or the length of the longest non-stop flight in the continental United States. With that kind of commute, you might understand why I am only working from that office one …
Accomplishment I remember how proud we were the day we moved into our new offices. I walked around with Peter the CEO of Talk City and there was a sense of accomplishment. The tallest building in the Pruneyard is visible for miles and was, we were told, the tallest building between San Francisco and Los …
As an engineer by training I have had a love / hate relationship with sales people. “Why can’t they just sell the product we have instead of some product we don’t yet have” was a constant lament. Don’t get me wrong, my father was a salesman and was, in fact, the top salesman for his …
Running an online community is like throwing a party. That’s what Jenna Woodul LiveWorld’s Chief Community Officer told me sometime in the 1990s. I have always liked the analogy. I attended my first meeting of a particular meetup group recently. I arrived with my artichoke dip and entered into a house full of strangers. I …