The zoomr founder has a live video feed up on ustream.tv of the line in Palo Alto. You should be able to see it below. HT: techcrunch
Fascinating. If you go directly to the site you’ll see people connecting in to the chat from all over the world.
There was an article in the Mercury news yesterday about how some people were being paid $1500 to wait in line. Not a bad way to make a little extra.
Update 12pm: I’m not really a gadget person. Will this extra $500 plus data charges improve my quality of life? They have some interviews with some interesting web innovators. They just interviewed Ward Cunningham the inventor of the wiki.
While I was talking with a family member on my wife’s side the other day it occurred to me that the meaning of gainful employment has changed drastically in just a few generations. This is especially true for many immigrant families. For some these changes still remain to be realized. That side of the story is sobering.
He was telling me what it was like for his father growing up in China (my wife’s family is from Hong Kong). He told me how his father had to flee his parents in order to survive. His parents told him to leave because they were afraid that if he stayed he might die of starvation. After he left and returned some years later, he was able to find his mom, but discovered that his dad had probably died from starvation or malnutrition. He also told me about how his father had been sold as a servant after he was forced to leave his family.
As we were talking it occurred to me that for his father, gainful employment was about survival. You didn’t work to find meaning or satisfaction. You worked to survive and you probably worked really hard.
Gainful employment is different today for most Americans. For anyone reading this blog, you are probably in a place where you are not working to survive. Your next paycheck will probably not determine whether you live or die (or someone in your family).
I consider myself fortunate to be able to ask deeper questions about the meaning of work. I have a choice. I hope within my lifetime, more of my neighbors will have the freedom and standard of living to be in the same position.
Personal finances with Mint?
I found Mint today while doing a search for finance on SimpleSpark. I have been searching for some time trying to find a good application for tracking our finances. I try to track every penny we spend, so it is important to me that it is simple, intuitive, and provides some analysis so I can get the bigger picture of our spending.
The best solution I have been able to come up with is PearBudget. It works well, but it is lacking a couple features that keep it from the I-won’t-use-anything-else category. I got my hopes up today when I found Mint. I have no idea what their interface looks like or what features they have, but so far, it seems like they have great potential when it comes to philosophical connection. They seem to be not just about simplifying finances, but simplifying your life. Check out their blog.
Their office is just down the street from me. Do you guys want a local interview?
Tags: finance, frugality, simplicity, mint
It occurred to me lately that the way I have been reading the bible doesn’t connect with who I am as a person and the ways in which I learn. I think this comes from the way we tend to read or study the bible in community. We tend to look at scripture one verse, one section, or one chapter at a time.
A related thought that keeps coming up is that the bible is not a collection of timeless truths or nuggets of wisdom. Although such things can be found in scripture, I think it is much more. It is about a story. A story of love, history, and the interaction between God and his people.
I have been longing lately to read scripture looking at the people, places and conflicts. Isn’t this what great stories are about in the first place? You don’t read the Brothers Karamozov or War and Peace sentence by sentence and follow all of the cross references (partly because there aren’t any cross references). You read them for the story– the drama, the characters, the time and the place. It takes you somewhere. You engage your imagination.
Similarly, I think if I read the scriptures for it’s verses, sections, and chapters, I’m missing something. I’m not engaging my imagination. I’m not considering the people, the relationships, the conflicts and the story. I’m missing the deeper message. Maybe I’m missing the point.
This reminds me that maybe the Kingdom of God is more like a cosmic story than an ethical framework or set of intellectual propositions. And maybe reading the scriptures as a story helps you to find a greater understanding of the story that is yet but not yet. A story where God is involved and still has characters, places, and conflict– the stuff that makes up our daily lives.
I keep trying to come up with an analogy for how we engage with the story through the scriptures. Reading the scriptures as verses, chapters and cross references may be like trying to convert it from an analog to a digital signal with low resolution or only a few bits. Reading it as a story is like taking in the music and feeling it. Like finding the rhythm and dancing to it.
Tags: spirituality, bible
The prosumer– The first time I heard it was in the video below. HT: Bob Carlton.
At ReIMAGINE we encourage our constituents to not just consume our events, ideas, and learning labs, but to actively participate and collaborate with us. Hopefully we are encouraging ownership by cultivating the collaboration and conversation. Is this a prosumer culture?
Two other fascinating forums/events are the SuperHappyDevHouse–a monthly Bay Area hacking/productivity/party– and coworking–a community/collaboration space for developers and designers.
If you’ve seen the video check out the related TechCruch article about Virtual Goods: The next big business model.
St. Vincent’s
On Monday, Dad took me up to St. Vincent’s in the Riverside area of Jacksonville. Mom was treated at the Mary Virginia Terry Cancer Center at St. Vincent’s.
The first thing I noticed when we entered the office in the cancer center was how full it was. I don’t think there was an empty seat in what I think is the largest reception area I have seen.
It was a moving visit for both of us. The staff recognized Dad immediately. The receptionist came out from around the counter to give him a hug as soon as she saw him. Dad took me up there to show me the room where Mom received her chemo treatments over the last few years. After we talked to the receptionist for a few minutes, Dad led me back to the room where chemo is administered.
The room was shaped like a number seven that has been laid down flat. With the exception of the nurse’s station, all of the walls are lined with chairs that recline and have small racks for IVs on the side. Dad was telling me that her treatments would last anywhere from one and a half hours to three hours. He would sit with her most of the time. Sometimes he would take a walk down to the first level and pick up a sandwich for the two of them to share. Her appointments were often scheduled for late in the morning so her treatment would often last through lunch.
He later asked me what I thought about the visit. I noticed that a lot of the patients receiving treatment where there by themselves. He noticed this as well. I was thankful that Mom and Dad had each other during these trips.
Tags: cancer, breastcancer
Mary Snyder
I’m sad to add a new post to my blog after so long with this news. My mom passed away on Monday May 7th at 1:45 pm eastern time. Her passing was related to her 3+ year long struggle with breast cancer. She fought hard and courageously. We are all very proud of her.
She was a wonderful woman. A loving wife, a caring mother and a devoted daughter. She leaves behind her husband, two sons Damon and Scot, and daughter Melissa.
In lieu of flowers, we are asking that donations be made to Community Hospice of North East Florida or St. Giles Presbyterian Church of Orange Park Florida. Community Hospice is a wonderful organization. Dad wanted to care for mom in the house and they did a great job helping to make that happen. My parents church, St. Giles, was tremendously helpful. Troy Lewis (the pastor) went out of his way to care for my parents and the family. He is living into his call and doing it well.
It was sad, but it was also beautiful to watch my dad love and care for my mom during this time. We celebrated with her, we mourned with her, and we will miss her.
Sometimes we want to break out apprenticeship to Jesus into two class. The first class followers are the seminarians, pastors, and missionaries. The second class is everyone else. Those that consider themselves second class see those they consider to be first class as being more spiritually mature and doing more for the kingdom of God.
Unfortunately, it seems that sometimes this thinking can have the consequence of leading us to believe that if only we go to seminary, become a pastor or a missionary, then all of the other struggles in our life will come together. Our relationship with our husband or wife will be healed, we will be freed of our destructive behavior, and we will have a greater capacity for love. Maybe our longing for greater wholeness begins when we surrender our personal kingdoms to the will of our creator.
We also need to be reminded that all work that is consistent with God’s vision creates value and furthers the kingdom. It can be the humble work of a janitor, the creative contribution of an artist, or the advocacy of a lawyer or social worker. This work isn’t limited to that performed by clergy or missionaries.
Related: A talk from Nancy Ortberg on the gift of work.
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The Companions
a Rough Draft of Life
Volume 2 February 2007
We have been settling in and getting used to living together as husband and wife. There is a lot to adjust to and I learn more about myself everyday as I work out what it means to love and care for Alice and partner with her in running a household and planning for the future.
We spent Christmas with Alice’s family at her uncle Johnson’s house in San Ramon. Christmas at the Chiu’s is always festive, joyful, and filled with wonderful kids. This year we had a lot of fun enjoying their house on Christmas eve and marveling at the new renovations they have done in the last few months. We are always impressed by how creatively and frugally Johnson is able to furnish their house using craigslist. This was also the first Christmas that Alice was able to spend with her mom and two sisters here in the U.S. Her mom and sisters are getting settled and adjusting to living here.
We celebrated Christmas with my family in mid January. While we were there, we took a day trip up to Savannah Georgia from Jacksonville. It is a town that holds a lot of family memories for the Snyder’s. My brother Scot lived, worked, and attended art school there in his twenties. We visited the famous Clary’s cafe and walked past the old apartment where Scot used to live while he studied there. We also dropped by to see the line at the new Lady and Son’s Cafe in the market area of downtown Savannah. We enjoyed the beautiful 18th and 19th century architecture as we walked and drove through the tree lined streets of the city. While we were there, we picked up a few real estate brochures (my mom likes to where ever she goes). After looking at a few ads we dreamed of finding one of the historical homes in San Francisco for the same price.
We quickly realized how dreamy we were when we returned to the Bay Area and started thinking through where we want to live and what we can afford. We have some tough decisions ahead, but we trust that God will provide for us as his vision for our family becomes more clear.
I’m excited about the work that we are doing with ReIMAGINE. I started co teaching a class at Menlo Park with Mark Scandrette called Rhythms in the Life of the Master. The class invites the participants to embrace their role as servants and healers and to see Jesus as a teacher and example for life. I’m really excited about developing the curriculum and partnering with Mark to teach. I’m also working with the team to redo the website and setup better infrastructure for communicating with our constituents.
Alice has been busy with her work at General Growth and is ramping up on developing her skills and her customer base as a Creative Memories consultant. She is really excited to start pursuing her dreams of using scrapbooking to help people tell and preserve their stories.
Please pray for a firm foundation to our marriage in this first year and that God will use us to become a tree where “the birds of the perched on it’s branches” as Jesus describes in the parable of the mustard seed. Please also pray for the resources, discipline, and fortitude to “plant” this mustard seed in the Bay Area.
Damon & Alice Snyder | www.damonsnyder.com | www.alicesnyder.com
Recent entries
- The Trade as One Story
- iPhone mania live in downtown Palo Alto
- Observation on how work has changed… for some
- Personal finances with Mint?
- Longing for a different view of scripture
- A few links in the collaboration/participation space
- St. Vincent’s
- Mary Snyder
- First and second class followers of Jesus
- The Snyder Family February Newletter
- Living expectantly
