January 18, 2010
A short, but important, interruption to my blogging break for the benefit of the earthquake victims in Haiti. The Entrepreneur’s Foundation of Central Texas is coordinating a fund raising effort among technology entrepreneur’s to raise money for the victims in Haiti. Even if you aren’t a technology entrepreneur or don’t work for a technology company, you can donate! 
The Austin Startup blog did a great post about this today is copied below.
Austin Tech Leaders Create Matching HelpHaiti Fund
“If you haven’t yet donated to help out the victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, or even if you have and can offer a little bit more, Austin Ventures and the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Central Texas are providing a way to double your donation. They are calling upon Central Texas tech companies, their employees and friends to provide assistance to the rescue efforts in Haiti, and have established a $600,000 High-Tech HelpHaiti Fund to match donations.
You can donate at a website set up by the Entrepreneurs Foundation at http://www.GiveToAustin.org/HelpHaiti. The $600,000 contributed to match the contributions has been donated by Austin Ventures, Donna & Philip Berber, Dave & Isabel Welland, MFI Foundation, the Garber Family, Silicon Labs and the Entrepreneurs Foundation.
“The Austin entrepreneurial community is a tightly-knit group from which we all benefit. It is important that we use this great bond to mobilize and help others in time of need. The tragedy in Haiti is one of these times for us to step up,” said Phil Siegel of Austin Ventures, who is also chairing the committee to distribute the donations. Also serving on the committee are MFI Foundation’s Lynn Meredith, Glimmer of Hope Founder, Philip Berber, Silicon Labs founder Dave Welland and Eugene Sepulveda, CEO of the Entrepreneurs Foundation.
The committee has already wired $250,000 to two groups that are assisting directly with the efforts in Haiti, choosing to immediately donate what they could now rather than waiting to match the contributions of the Tech community. Austin Startup encourages all of Austin’s entrepreneurs and members of the tech community to give to the HelpHaiti fund in whatever amount you can.
Additional information is available at http://www.GiveToAustin.org/HelpHaiti and by emailing HelpHaiti@GiveToAustin.org.”
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January 1, 2010
Last night, December 31, 2009, we had a blue moon. Most years have 12 full moons but every 2 to 3 years we have an extra full moon and it’s called a blue moon. We saw it coming back from the airport after a really nice visit with my cousin and her family. On the way out, after getting up at 3:30 a.m. to make a flight that was 3 hours delayed, we ended up being almost 7 hours late getting to our final destination because of an issue we had leaving Austin having to do with de-icing our plane. Just before they had us get off the plane to wait it out, my son said loudly “I knew we should have flown Southwest!” which caused all the people around us to laugh. He doesn’t even have to try to be funny…this wonderful kid of mine. This was the first time I traveled by myself by plane with the kids, and they did really well. I told them how happy I was with them because despite the delays, it was one of the least stressful times traveling with 2 kids that I’ve ever had. We even had a 4 hour layover in Memphis, TN and by a stroke of luck some of my long time family friends who live there (who I hadn’t even told we were flying through Memphis because we were only supposed to be there for 45 minutes) interrupted their plans to come hang out with us for a couple of hours at the airport! I was so happy to see them…kind of like seeing land when you’ve been lost at sea for a while.
My favorite aunt and uncle (we spent summers and other times with them growing up) were supposed to have left earlier in the day from my cousin’s place, but they waited for us before driving back to their city a couple of hours away. I was so grateful that they waited…kind of felt like a pilgrim lost in a fog coming home.
So back to the blue moon. It’s a rare event and thanks to Erin, who picked us up at the airport, it was probably the first time in my life that I was aware we were having one. He had seen something about it on CNN, so I looked it up on my trusty iPhone. The moon last night was uncharacteristically huge and bright and to me seemed full of hope and promise. I started singing the song Blue Moon by Ella Fitzgerald (lyrics) and thought about the upcoming new year and new decade that was upon us. Although I was invited to a friend’s New Year’s eve party, I was so tired I called it a night at 10:30 p.m. Lame I know, but I figured it was best to start the new year rested so I could think about whether I should make some new year’s resolutions.
So today is the first day of the new year and last year I made non-resolutions: “So my non-resolutions for 2009 are to sing more, laugh more, write more, make more funny faces at my kids, be less repressed, empower people, unashamedly love people, continue to take yoga, find a purple hat (any suggestions?), make some life changing decisions (I already got my hair cut short), and move the ball forward one day at a time on Babble Soft and at ATI.” The funny thing is that I think I achieved all of those to varying degrees with various outcomes and some I didn’t even do consciously (a higher power at work). I guess I should be careful what I non-resolute!
One of my friends, Julie Fergerson, who happens to be a leading expert in identity theft, got me a purple hat. I transferred majority ownership in Babble Soft to my fabulous partner, Nicole Johnson, who I finally got to meet in person while visiting my cousin because she lives in the same city. My cousin had met her before I did. Nicole also runs the Baby Sleep Site and our online meeting has got to be a case study (GigaOm) in successful partnerships between two people who have never met in person. It was like we were old friends catching up when we met with our kids at a nearby mall. As far as writing more, I didn’t write more on the blog, but I wrote song lyrics and did a lot of personal journaling (I’m already on my second spiral notebook). My daughter likes to hang out with me when I write in the mornings and, of course, add her personal touch to my pages. Maybe she’s a budding writer despite not being able to even read yet…
So I think I’ll stick with most of the same non-resolutions for 2010 and maybe add something about making upward progress in my career and doing more cardio exercise. I’m not planning to eat black eyed peas or kiribath (rice cooked in coconut milk – yummy), a Sri Lankan new year’s tradition for auspicious occasions, so I’m throwing caution to the superstitious winds and hoping for the best.
And in case you are wondering why the title of this post includes the words “It’s Complicated.“ Well it’s because I saw the movie today with my movie buddies Michelle Ewalt (a great business/life transitions coach) and Cindy S. (she’s an offline kind of gal). We see a lot of movies together and our next one might be Sherlock Holmes. It’s Complicated was hilarious and included fabulous actors and actresses including Meryl Streep, Steve Martin (so cute & funny), and Alec Baldwin. It was much better than the Alvin and the Chipmunks – The Squeakquel movie my cousin and I suffered gladly sat through for the kids. While watching “It’s Complicated,” I kept thinking, while laughing out loud, that although my life seems complicated, thank God it’s not as complicated as that!
Happy 2010 everyone…
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December 22, 2009
I couldn’t end the year without at least one more post! It has been quite a year, and I needed to take a break so that my off blog/real life wouldn’t bleed too heavily into my online blog life as it seemed to start to do. For those of you who are writers, you know how hard it is not to let your real life affect your writing even if it’s only subtly profound. For those of you who are writers (or creative people), you know how hard it can be not to write. It’s like holding back the tears or your laughter when you want to cry an ocean or laugh uncontrollably.
Not only did I cut down on blogging (although I am the main blogger for the Austin Technology Incubator blog in case you really miss my blogging), but I also significantly cut down my twitter usage (probably by 90%) so I tweet maybe once every couple of weeks but they haven’t been very inspiring ones. However, I do find myself on facebook every couple of weeks which is up from every few months. Maybe 2010 will be the year twitter and facebook figure out a winning business model?!
I hope to be blogging more in the new year about one of my next entrepreneurial endeavors which currently involves music. In lieu of blogging, I have been singing more. I continue to take voice lessons from my great voice coach, Gene Raymond at Octave Higher. He is so encouraging, and I know my voice and singing confidence have improved significantly since I started taking lessons from him some 6+ months ago. Singing is such a personal journey that to find someone you feel safe enough to miss a note, croak, or fall flat occasionally is priceless.
I was introduced to Gene by Scarlett (who is featured on his home page), who I met when taking the Landmark Forum. Being involved in Landmark was the beginning of me finding my inner voice and facing my fears, and I wrote about the forums in a couple of posts called A Transformation In Process and Who I Was Being Was Not Exactly Who I Am. I also took a course recommended by one of my business advisers/mentors and his wife called The Search Within, which was much more music, heart, and soul based, that totally knocked my emotional socks off! As I re-read those posts, I am reminded of how much has changed in my life since a year ago this month when I took the first course. As a child who experiences growing pains, the pains are just as real when you are an adult but it’s not in your bones…it’s in your mind, heart, and soul. There are too many changes to list here, but suffice it to say I will be heading in new directions in 2010!
So you’ll probably see more entrepreMusings about my musical endeavors next year and maybe more purple hat wearing. I’ve been writing lyrics and Gene introduced me to another student of his who plays guitar and wants to collaborate in songwriting. To me, lyric writing usually comes easy although I have no idea if they are any good or not. I’ve never written music but according to Gene and the guitar player, the lyrics are the hardest part and to me the instrumental is the hardest part. I don’t know how to play an instrument so if the easy parts for them are the instruments, then we just might create something!
My boss introduced me to a fabulous musical guy called The Fat Man who hosts jam sessions from time to time. Oh how fun and uplifting they are! I feel so honored that they include me. I can’t always keep up because my voice is comfortable in certain vocal ranges and they play some songs in keys that don’t work for me as well as play songs that I don’t know…like for example written by the Rolling Stones. I can imagine some of you rolling your eyes.
Anyway, that’s a long winded way to say Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! May the entrepreneurial road(s) for you and/or your loved ones lead you to peace, love, and success. May you find an IDEA that is worth fighting for as much as this mother fought for the life of her successful son who is 27 years old and should have died 26 years ago.
“To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must cultivate our personal life; and to cultivate our personal life, we must first set our hearts right.”
–Confucius
from Jeffrey Fry’s Potent Quotables
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November 26, 2009
I’m interrupting my blogging break to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I have so much to be thankful for, and I hope all my readers feel the same. Here’s a short list:
- My wonderful, beautiful, healthy kids
- My health
- My family
- My precious, caring friends
- My job
- Living in Austin where the weather these days is pretty nice
- And many more things too numerous to list here
May you all be living the life of your dreams or at least like most of us working towards it… 
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Posted by Aruni
10:51 am •
holiday •
November 4, 2009
I’m seriously considering a very long blogging break while I figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Or shall I say what I want this blog to be as it grows up. The posts have been kind of random lately…a bit out of focus like I feel these days.
I was having lunch with one of my advisers today who always pumps me up. He’s almost 70 years old and calls himself a recycled dad because he has grand kids older than his youngest kids. I like him a lot because he’s used to working with strong, smart, professional women. In the company he founded some 30 years ago when it wasn’t cool to hire women in senior positions, he had the most on his team. He always jokes that he knows that women are the ones who get things done. I think he grew up with 4 sisters. He told me no matter what happens that I should be confident in 3 things about myself. I told him I’ll put those 3 things on a note on the mirror or at least repeat them to myself. It’s nice to have people believe in you! He also said something like don’t worry about how things didn’t work out, just change your perspective and move forward.
I think I’ve mentioned that I’m interested in the bioscience/health care field, and I’m figuring out how I can use my current job to find opportunities to learn more about those industries. I’m also enjoying my time singing and learning more about singing. I wonder if I can combine some sort of music with biotech and create an interesting business…
So while I make some decisions, I’ll leave you with a post by Seth Godin and some song lyrics by Bob Dylan that my friend Robb Lanum has been sending out the last several weeks on our email club. I know Robb via his cousin Jay, who is married to Sandy (link to her photo site). Oh the things that get written on that email club…I hope never see the light of day. At least I’m never planning to run for political office! I never listened to Bob Dylan growing up and don’t really know much about him but Robb has been randomly sending out these lyrics and they have been strangely poignant.
I hope you all will still be here when I get back.
Make a decision – by Seth Godin
It doesn’t have to be a wise decision or a perfect one. Just make one.
In fact, make several. Make more decisions could be your three word mantra.
No decision is a decision as well, the decision not to decide. Not deciding is usually the wrong decision. If you are the go-to person, the one who can decide, you’ll make more of a difference. It doesn’t matter so much that you’re right, it matters that you decided.
Of course it’s risky and painful. That’s why it’s a rare and valuable skill.
Summer Days – Bob Dylan 2001
Summer days, summer nights are gone
Summer days and the summer nights are gone
I know a place where there’s still somethin’ going on
I got a house on a hill, I got hogs all out in the mud
I got a house on a hill, I got hogs out lying in the mud
Got a long haired woman, she got royal Indian blood
Everybody get ready – lift up your glasses and sing
Everybody get ready to lift up your glasses and sing
Well, I’m standin’ on the table, I’m proposing a toast to the King
Well I’m drivin’ in the flats in a Cadillac car
The girls all say, “You’re a worn out star”
My pockets are loaded and I’m spending every dime
How can you say you love someone else when you notice me all the time?
Well, the fog’s so thick you can’t spy the land
The fog is so thick that you can’t even spy the land
What good are you anyway, if you can’t stand up to some old businessman?
Wedding bells ringin’, the choir is beginning to sing
Yes, the wedding bells are ringing and the choir is beginning to sing
What looks good in the day, at night is another thing
She’s looking into my eyes, she’s holding my hand
She’s looking into my eyes, she’s holding my hand
She says, “You can’t repeat the past.” I say, “You can’t? What do you mean you can’t? Of course you can.”
Where do you come from? Where do you go?
Sorry that is nothin’ you would need to know
Well, my back has been to the wall for so long, it seems like it’s stuck
Why don’t you break my heart one more time just for good luck
I got eight carburetors, boys I’m using ‘em all
Well, I got eight carburetors and boys, I’m using ‘em all
I’m short on gas, my motor’s starting to stall
My dogs are barking, there must be someone around
My dogs are barking, there must be someone around
I got my hammer ringin’, pretty baby, but the nails ain’t goin’ down
You got something to say, speak or hold your peace
Well, you got something to say, speak now or hold your peace
If it’s information you want you can go get it from the police
Politician got on his jogging shoes
He must be running for office, got no time to lose
He been suckin’ the blood out of the genius of generosity
You been rolling your eyes – you been teasing me
Standing by God’s river, my soul is beginnin’ to shake
Standing by God’s river, my soul is beginnin’ to shake
I’m countin’ on you love, to give me a break
Well, I’m leaving in the morning as soon as the dark clouds lift
Yes, I’m leaving in the morning just as soon as the dark clouds lift
Gonna break the roof in – set fire to the place as a parting gift
Summer days, summer nights are gone
Summer days, summer nights are gone
I know a place where there’s still somethin’ going on
Spirit on the Water – Bob Dylan 2006
Spirit on the water
Darkness on the face of the deep
I keep thinking about you babe
And I can’t hardly sleep
I’m traveling by land
Traveling through the dawn of day
You’re always on my mind
I can’t stay away
I’d forgotten about you
Then you turned up again
I always knew
We were meant to be more than friends
When you are near
It’s just as plain as it can be
I’m wild about you, gal
You ought to be a fool about me
Can’t explain
The sources of this hidden pain
You burned your way into my heart
And you got the key to my brain
I’ve been trampling through mud
Praying to the powers above
I’m sweating blood
You got a face that begs for love
Life without you
Doesn’t mean a thing to me
If I can’t have you,
I’ll throw my love into the deep blue sea
Sometimes I wonder
Why you can’t treat me right
You do good all day
Then you do wrong all night
When you’re with me
I’m a thousand times happier than I could ever say
What does it matter
What price I pay?
They brag about your sugar
Brag about it all over town
Put some sugar in my bowl
I feel like laying down
I’m pale as a ghost
Holding a blossom on a stem
You ever seen a ghost? No
But you have heard of them
I see you there
I’m blinded by the colors I see
I take good care
Of what belongs to me
I hear your name
Ringing up and down the line
I’m saying it plain
These ties are strong enough to bind
Your sweet voice
Calls out from some old familiar shrine
I got no choice
Can’t believe these things would ever fade from your mind
I could live forever
With you perfectly
You don’t ever
Have to make a fuss over me
From East to West
Ever since the world began
I’m only in it for the best
I want to be with you any way I can
I been in a brawl
Now I’m feeling the wall
I’m going away baby
I won’t be back ‘til fall
High on the hill
You can carry all my thoughts with you
You’ve numbed my will
This love could tear me in two
I wanna be with you in paradise
And it seems so unfair
I can’t go to paradise no more
I killed a man back there
You think I’m over the hill
You think I’m past my prime
Let me see what you got
We can have a whoppin’ good time
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October 31, 2009
I remember Halloween being one of my favorite holiday’s of the year as a kid and even as I got older. This year my son dressed up as a scary skeleton, my daughter dressed up as a princess, and I dressed up in an Egyptian princess (Queen Nefertiti) costume I’ve had laying around for probably 8 years from a Halloween party we had at the house. I think I surprised a few people who came to the door.
In the last few years, I haven’t been that motivated to put on the costume while their dad took them out around the neighborhood. So I usually greeted people in my blue jeans and sweatshirt. This year I went around the neighborhood with my daughter after my son had gotten his fill and decided he’d rather stay at home with his dad watching the UT Longhorn football game.
In the ghoulish, scary days of Halloween and other such stuff that can cause some nervousness, here’s a quote from Jeffrey Fry’s email list.
“We were not created to be eaten by anxiety, but to walk erect, free, unafraid in a world where there is work to do, truth to seek, love to give and win.”
– Joseph Ford Newton
Now we have to figure out what to do with all this Halloween candy! We still have some left over from last year as we dole it out slowly throughout the year. I told the kids that we’ll have to throw out the old stuff to make room for the new.
Happy Halloween!!
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Posted by Aruni
8:04 pm •
Just For Fun •
October 28, 2009
This post called About Laughter came to me while I was in the shower the other day. I guess I was thinking about About Sleep, About Writing and About Car Paint when the word “laughter” popped into my head and then a blog post started forming.
Laughter is the best medicine is an age old saying and according to: Laughter is the ‘best medicine for your heart on the University of Maryland Medical Center, Laughter is the Best Medicine on HelpGuide.org, and Laughter is the Best Medicine on Science Daily, laughter can help prevent heart attacks, help the terminally ill, create great working environments, make your employees think you are more effective, relieve stress & anxiety, etc. A good laugh probably activates some feel good stuff (e.g., endorphins) in your body.
I have some funny people in my family. My late grandfather had this mix of British and Sri Lankan humor that had a high occurrence of bathroom (or lack thereof) references. Us kids thought it was gross and funny at the same time. Even after he had a sextuple bypass at the Cleveland Clinic as well as on his death bed a decade or so later, he was still being funny and irreverent about life and religion. I never could figure out if he was agnostic or not because he would quote the Bible, know hymns by heart, and later in the day make some funny derogatory remark about God, religion and some of his hyper religious relatives. My mother has a similar sense of humor. She also makes up words and describes people in caricature-ally true and funny ways. She even has animal nicknames for all of us kids. Sri Lanka was a British colony for quite some time and had a strong British influence for decades afterward and if you’ve ever watched Monty Python or Blackadder you know what I mean.
I also work with some funny people and a day doesn’t usually go by without a laugh or two or three. Our office manager and I have a similar sense of humor, so she and I send some pretty funny emails around that others can’t keep up with sometimes. We find many of the same things funny and find ourselves laughing at the dumbest of things. We also sometimes cross some lines but fortunately we work in a laid back environment. I have to say that I have met at least one of my 2009 non-resolutions which is to laugh more. I feel like I have laughed a lot more this year than in past years.
When I interned in college, I worked with a great bunch of interns and we were all in stitches often. That’s where I met my friend who I went to the beach with back in June. He, I, and others in our group would come up with practical jokes, say the weirdest things and email about roller coasters and bowling and how they related to life and certain parts of life that most people aren’t comfortable talking about. I remember laughing so much that summer.
Laughter is so important and can help through even the toughest of times. We just can’t take things too seriously in life, start-ups, and margarita’s. Maybe one day I’ll feel comfortable enough to show more of my humor on this blog, but I’m just not sure people will get it and then I’ll feel more stupid than I sometimes do!
An entrepreneurial endeavor without fun, social time, and laughter is not a place I want to be. To me any good company culture has to include smiles, jokes, and many LOL’s.
Now go make someone laugh and if you find yourself laughing until your belly hurts, you can tell people you exercised and did some sit-ups/crunches too!
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October 24, 2009
I interviewed Sandi Aitken (pdf) for The University of Texas at Austin’s alumni magazine, The Alcalde, for an article that was published in the Sep/Oct 2006 issue. My writing partner, Pam Losefksy, and I pulled these articles together a while back and you can see them on the Success Profiles page of this blog. You can see the full article on Sandi by clicking HERE (pdf). I haven’t connected with Sandi since the interview so I’m not even sure if she’s still at Freescale, but here’s an overview:
Sandi was/is a benefits manager for Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. in Austin. Previously she was Director of Wellness and work/life programs for Motorola and health and fitness coordinator for Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. She was also health and fitness program coordinator, director of nursing, critical care instructor, and director of the cardiac rehab and pulmonary education center for St. David’s Community Hospital. She was awarded Texas Nurse of the Year and held a Chair position for the Seton Cove board of directors. She received her MS from UT Austin in Nursing.
She shares:
Success has a lot to do with being true to your life’s purpose, vision, and goals. Often, that means running counter to what our culture’s definition of success is, because so often in our society, success is defined by your material worth or the initials behind your name. Making money is important on a certain level, but what’s really important is to know your heart, to find your passion. Shakespeare wrote, “To thine own self be true.” Like so many things in life, it seems so simple, but there’s probably nothing harder to do.
She goes on to say:
Finding that alignment between your head and your heart, while at the same time not getting caught up in external pressures, is critical.
Oh, if everyone could be true to themselves, what a world this would be. But as Sandi noted it is so hard to do because being true to ourselves doesn’t always go over well with other people in our lives. Aligning head and heart is something I struggle with as do many others because what your heart/passion wants you to do in your career and life doesn’t always mesh up with what is practical given life’s responsibilities and other people’s expectations.
I’m working on trying to mesh some of my passion/heart’s desires with life’s practicalities. Today I scheduled a make-up voice lesson with my voice instructor, Gene Raymond, who I really enjoy working with, and brought the kids with me. I’ve brought them to a lesson once before. I bring them coloring books and they color without fussing at all. I think they think it is funny to hear mommy sing scales and do vocal exercises. Some of the vocal exercises are quite funny.
A few of the songs I’m working on right now are Killing Me Softly With His Song (Roberta Flack), Play Me (Neil Diamond – changing the ’she’s’ to ‘he’s’), and The Rose (Bette Midler). I have the opportunity to take a lesson with a teacher at a level higher than Gene in this particular style of coaching called Speech Level Singing in a couple of weeks. This teacher has sung with Bette Midler and trained several American Idol singers. I’m looking forward to it and hoping I don’t choke!
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October 22, 2009
Now for the third post in the “About” series. The first was About Writing and the second was About Car Paint. This one is About Sleep or the lack thereof.
Sleep is so important but for entrepreneurs and parents it’s often hard to come by…and not from lack of trying. I consider my two kids two little ventures and I often say, I’ve now been involved in 4 start-ups, 2 being my kids. Kids are unique and require special attention and you definitely don’t want to screw them up. You can’t file bankruptcy on, sell, or shut down your kids!
There’s the physical sleep deprivation that comes from the newborn days and even as they grow older and wake up with a bad dream or just like us they sometimes can’t sleep. I’m a light sleeper so when they come to my bed I usually can’t get back to sleep very easily. There’s also the mental sleep deprivation that comes from trying to make sure you keep everything straight while your mind is exhausted from thinking about all the things you need to do.
I know many an entrepreneur even without kids who does not sleep well because they have so many things to think about from money to employees to product development, etc. Now add worrying about your kids on top of that and it can be overwhelming on little sleep. I see how tired some of the entrepreneurs are sometimes in the companies we have at the Austin Technology Incubator. I sometimes want to tell them to take several deep breaths, take a walk, or take a break. But most entrepreneurs (myself included) don’t hear that kind of advice. I also see how elated they are win they get a big win which makes up for the long periods of time of spotty sleep.
I’ve seen entrepreneur’s mess up meetings with investors or customers when they haven’t had enough sleep because the words they mean to say don’t always come out coherently. I know I certainly mix up words when the neurons aren’t firing correctly when I haven’t had good sleep.
The entrepreneurs and people I know who sleep well usually feel good about where they are in life, their company is doing well, or they are taking some serious drugs! I’m actually amazed at how many people these days take sleep medication. It’s actually quite common in my peer group and comes up often in conversation as we all try to manage the tons of responsibilities and information that comes our way.
I’m more amazed at how well many of us keep it together on such little sleep and present to the world an image held together sometimes with invisible glue, coffee, Red Bull, fake smiles & laughter, and quite often fear.
I wonder how much more productive we would be if we were all forced to take a nap just like babies and little kids do? Or if we could go to bed when our kids go to bed around 8:00 or 8:30 p.m. and somehow by some miracle not wake up until 6:00 a.m. ish the next day.
It’s too bad there aren’t adult sleep sites like there are great baby sleep sites! I wonder if there are positioners, pacifiers, or people who can rock adults to sleep.
Ah to sleep, perchance to dream...
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October 19, 2009
This past weekend my car rolled over the 100,000 miles mark. When I bought the car 8 years ago, I never thought I’d have it this long. This is the longest that I’ve ever owned a car. I agonized over purchasing it 8 years ago because I wasn’t sure if I should spend the money and if I deserved to have my dream car (Lexus RX300) so relatively young in life. After too much over analyzing, which I’m famous for, I got it and have not regretted it once. I’m not too much into material things so my car was my one indulgence.
On the second day I owned it, I got hit on the side by a weary mom and I said a few choice curse words, which is rare for me. Since it wasn’t my fault, I didn’t have to freak out extra at the $4,500 of damage. Then I was thankful nothing happened to her or the baby she had in the back seat of her car. At the time I didn’t know I was just a couple of weeks away from getting pregnant myself. It was a big reminder that material things come and go…and get damaged so we shouldn’t get attached to them.
And now here it is 8 years, 2 kids, 3 jobs, several written articles, 381 blog posts, and one mid-life crisis later and the car has been solid (knock on wood).
My son knew I was waiting for the 100,000 mark and on the way back to Austin, he suddenly asked me how many miles there were and I looked down and saw 100,015 and realized it had hit the mark somewhere on the way back from church, which we only go to when we visit my friend. We had gone to the small town carnival the day before and her son and mine still had remnants of snakes painted on their cheeks making them the heathen boys in their Sunday kid’s class! My daughter had remnants of a rainbow on her cheek.
I was too busy chatting with my friend at the time to notice when it hit the 100,000 mile mark. I later thought how appropriate it was that I was with my best friend of 21 years…my longest friendship and my longest owned car. Not sure how the two relate but hey people force connections on things far less obvious.
I wonder for how many more miles I will own this car…
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Posted by Aruni
8:49 pm •
random stuff •
October 12, 2009
So back in late June, I announced that Babble Soft was looking for a new home, and I’m happy to report I found one and it’s really not that far from its current home.
I put some feelers out for interested parties and got some great leads and potential interest, but after a few weeks I realized I just didn’t have the time with a full time day job and kids to really do the sales effort well and even if a large company said they were interested it could be 6 to 9 months before they could actually do anything about it! And frankly, I didn’t have it in me with the other things I’m juggling to play the waiting game for an unknown outcome.
So my partner, Nicole Johnson, and I discussed possibilities. Nicole also runs Pick Nick’s Brain, a baby sleep consulting site. And like a true angel, she decided she could take it over and run with it! So a couple of weeks ago, we made it official! She will be running Babble Soft going forward. She’s an amazing individual who is also juggling many things, but she had maybe 2-3 less things on her plate to manage than I do right now, so the dream lives on!
I couldn’t think of a better person, who gets the vision (and who knows how to code!), to take our vision and grow it. And to think I’ve never even met her in person. I found her through a bunch of online connections and even wrote about finding a partner online for GigaOm. I couldn’t have wished for a better business partner. She adapted when the situation changed for me and for both of us. I’m hoping I meet her in person sometime soon.
I’m still a part owner so I’ll be continuing to support Nicole and talking up Babble Soft when and where I can, and I hope that many of you readers will too!
Now, I must take some extended time to decompress, sort a few things out, and figure out what my next entrepreneurial endeavor might be…possibly creating a music CD or writing a book! 
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Posted by Aruni
8:35 pm •
babble soft •
October 8, 2009
Some of you may recall that I accidentally published a version of this post a while back. In my blurry eyed state of doing too many things I hit the little blue button that said Publish instead of the black and white button that says Save Draft inside Wordpress. So here’s my next attempt to try to have it make more sense.
Everyone knows there is a physical difference between boys and girls, but I think not many (especially in the business world) understand the mental and emotional differences. Many studies have been done on the subject including ones done on the differences between male and female brains mentioned HERE, HERE, a psychological overview called Understanding The Difference Between Men and Women, and a 2007 one done by McKinsey & Company called Women Matter (pdf) that suggests that companies where women are strongly represented in senior management and on the board perform better than others.
McKinsey also did a report called Centered Leadership: How talented women thrive (you have to register to read the full report). My boss at ATI, who use to work at McKinsey, gave me a copy of that report late last year and a good overview is on a post on the glass hammer blog at Factors that Sustain Successful Women Leaders. When I first read the report I have to admit I was pretty cynical and felt like it was mostly taking a man’s perspective’s (i.e., researchers) to try to ‘explain women and their emotions.’ But a series of unexpected events happened in my life, combined with working at ATI, which was my first steady office job since having kids, that changed my mind. I happen to think men are just as emotional as women, they just express it differently which, of course, is more acceptable among other men.
As a woman who got her MBA and was founding CEO of a venture capital backed tech company, there always seemed to be an expectation that one had to be like a man to succeed, which was mentioned in the Women Matter report. Only 20% of my MBA class were women and I daresay less than 5% (that may be 1%) of technology company founding CEO’s are women. Many of those women dropped out of their careers for several years to have and rear children. I took years off from a high-paced job too but at the same time attempted to keep my knowledge up to date by teaching entrepreneurship at UT Austin and founding Babble Soft from my home office. My first company was a business-to-business company where you sell directly to businesses. Babble Soft is a business-to-consumer business where you sell directly to consumers. I now know a dangerous amount of how things work (or don’t work) in those vastly different kinds of business models.
From my perspective, the more you could act like a man without being too confrontational/aggressive the easier it was to navigate the world of high tech business. More than 90% of the time I was the only women in a room full of older, White men. Gail Evans, former VP at CNN, and author of Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman: What Men Know About Success that Women Need to Learn mentions that many men put women into one of 4 categories: Wife, Daughter, Mistress, or Mother. The best of these categories is, according to her is Daughter because men take on a more mentoring role. She also says there is no such thing as work/life balance. It’s all one life that you work and play in so trying to balance those two doesn’t really make sense!
I really enjoy working with men and women so I think that’s helped me break some barriers and fortunately 99% of the older, experienced men and women I’ve been around in business have been helpful. I have avoided most of the horror stories. I remember being amused at what some of the good ‘ole boys I ran across when I worked for an oil & gas company would say and do. I could usually tell if a guy was being malicious, sexist , disrespectful, or just joking around. It helps that I’ve had a lot of guy friends.
As I watch my two kids, an older boy and younger girl, the differences are fascinating and have been noticeable since birth. They are both wonderful in their own ways and some of the differences I’ve noticed is how they show their affection as well as how they assimilate information, hear you, and how they want to be heard.
I’ve noticed that boys in general like to show their affection in a more physical way by running in to you, talking about their bodily functions, wrestling, and being overall less aware that sitting on you is not always comfortable. But my son also wants his cuddle time and hopefully he’ll still want it for a few more years. He’ll sit close to me when he’s watching TV, give me a hug, or if he wakes up at night, he’ll want to lay in bed next to me for a little while. He much prefers throwing a football, playing soccer, playing video games, or watching TV than engaging in long conversations. I end up turning the TV or Wii game off when I really need him to listen to me though, which frustrates him.
My daughter shows her affection more through drawing things, sitting next to you, talking to you, hugs, saying she loves you, and generally being calmer. I think she’s a little bit more active than she would be because she has to keep up with her older brother, who encourages her to talk about bodily functions! But she wants you to be generally softer with her. Certain things seem to affect her much more strongly and she’ll get a bit more emotional and require much more talking with to get her out of a funk. But once you explain things to her and help her express her thoughts she’s usually fine. She’s still not big into long conversations either.
I’ve always found the world of human dynamics fascinating and have enjoyed the complexities of both men and women. Both genders have such great things to contribute to humanity and I think the best leaders take the time to understand that and play to the strengths of each gender and each person in particular. The greatest, well known leaders (political, military, and business) of the past had teams of 99% men on their team. The great leaders of the future should be aiming for a balance of men and women on their team, and they will hopefully take the extra time and effort to make sure each is supported to meet his/her goals.
Aren’t people wonderful?
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October 5, 2009
The following post was written by Jessica Hanover, Bioscience Director at the Austin Technology Incubator and originally posted on the ATI Blog.
When we found out that our friend and co-worker, Melissa Rabeaux, was diagnosed with breast cancer a few short months ago, we decided to do what we could to support her and other people less fortunate who are fighting breast cancer.
ATI formed a team called Tech Riders, to ride in the Texas Mamma Jamma race to raise money to help breast cancer patients. Below is a wonderful letter written by our very own Bioscience Director, Jessica Hanover. The team has raised over $6,000 and anything more is icing on the cake! Please check out the letter below and donate if you are able to a very good cause.
Thank you for your support for helping us support our friend in this ATI team endeavor!
Just a few months ago, the work we do with our cancer-focused startup companies at the Austin Technology Incubator took on a whole new meaning: our ATI colleague and friend Melissa Rabeaux was diagnosed with breast cancer. Our daily conversations, usually centered on CleanTX Forum and our upcoming Clean Energy Venture Summit, quickly turned to surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, nutrition and oncologists. It was startling and unsettling for us, to say the very least, to watch Melissa’s daily focus change so abruptly and critically.
We rallied around Melissa immediately as best we knew how, but we wanted to find a way to do even more, for Melissa and for the significant community of breast cancer patients right here in Austin. So, we took action, and on October 10, 2009, we will be participating as a team – Team Tech Riders – in a powerful grassroots event to help thousands of Texans diagnosed with breast cancer, and to honor Melissa as she recovers from her recent surgery and deals cancer a mighty blow.
With hundreds of people, we will bicycle up to 100 miles through beautiful Central Texas in the Inaugural Texas Mamma Jamma Ride. We’re raising money as a team, and the funds will provide direct care services through ten local non-profit agencies to Central Texans diagnosed with breast cancer. Simply put, your donation will save and improve the lives of thousands of Texas neighbors.
Our Team Tech Riders goal is to raise at least $5,000. So I ask that you donate to our team and make a difference for some wonderful people who really need us. Every dollar you can spare – whether it’s $75 or $10 or whatever you can give – will have a positive impact.
You can make a tax-deductible donation online to Team Tech Riders by simply clicking on the link at the bottom of this message. Or, if you prefer, you may write a check payable to “Texas Mamma Jamma Ride” and send it to us here: Team Tech Riders – ATI, 3925 W. Braker Lane, Austin, TX 78759.
Thank you in advance for your great generosity. Breast cancer affects everyone, and this fact has really hit home for us here at ATI. We’ve chosen to ride for all of Austin’s patients, and in honor of one very special person in particular, and we need your help.
With much appreciation,
Team Tech Riders
http://www.mammajammaride.org/site/TR/Events/General?team_id=1310&pg=team&fr_id=1040
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Posted by Aruni
9:30 am •
charities •
October 4, 2009
The following was originally posted by Laura Benold, marketing associate at the Austin Technology Incbutor (ATI), where I work, on the ATI Blog.
The third annual Clean Energy Venture Summit: Bringing the Smart Grid to Life is scheduled for October 14 and 15, 2009 at the AT&T Executive Center in Austin, Texas. The Clean Energy Venture Summit (CEVS) will focus on technology related to the Pecan Street Project (PSP), the largest clean energy laboratory in the United States and a place where researchers and entrepreneurs can develop and test their technology on the grid.
The day-long summit on October 15 will include a competition of 20-30 early stage clean energy companies in five focus areas: distributed generation and renewable energy, energy efficiency, transportation and storage, demand management and miscellaneous. From each area, the strongest company will emerge and compete to win overall. We summit organizers will pre-screen participating companies based on innovation, overall market opportunity, stage of development, intellectual property position, resource requirements, environmental impact and potential return on investment.
CEVS also presents an opportunity for networking and software companies, including wireless mesh companies, broadband power line companies, energy dashboard web interface makers and software systems developers.
In addition, CEVS will host an invitation-only, pre-conference event called the Smart Grid Showcase on October 14 for CEI-accredited investors and sponsors to get a behind-the-scenes look at the Smart Grid agenda from the Austin Energy technology pathway. The University of Texas at Austin Office of Technology and Commercialization will introduce presentations by key university researchers who will highlight clean energy and wireless solutions for distributed generation and renewable energy.
For more information or to attend at the great price of only $100, check out the Clean Energy Venture Summit site. The Who’s Who in Clean Energy will be there! We’re bringing the Smart Grid to life!
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Posted by Aruni
3:20 pm •
conferences •
October 3, 2009
I think I’ll do a few posts starting with the word “About” just for the fun of it. My last post was called About Writing. I’m writing about car paint now because of an unusual series of events that have taken place that led to a better than expected outcome. A few weeks ago I was rear-ended. Fortunately I was at a stand still and he thought I had moved on so he was also starting from a stand still, but he bumped into me twice. He followed me into a nearby parking lot and we exchanged phone numbers. The damage seemed so mild that I figured we’d take care of it without getting insurance involved. I was a little shaken up, but he was so nice and apologetic. He also happened to do body & paint work on the side!
I called him to set something up and he was working at a moving company. I called him later when I knew what weekend day would work for me and it turned out he had left that company and is going to start at a mobile paint and dent fixing company next week. He loves to paint cars! How fortunate for me.
In the meantime, I was trying to park in a downtown parking garage and went in the wrong side – the employee parking side instead of the visitor side. I figured that out too late when there were a couple of cars already behind me. I tried to back up and happened to misjudge the angle and scraped the passenger side car door against a brick wall that had yellow paint.
So he came out this weekend buffed out the back fender, removed the yellow paint from my scratch, and touched up the entire car with paint he had personally mixed to match the car. I paid him $40 for the touch-up even though he only asked for $30. The car still needs work and the damage I did myself resulted in a dent on the side panel that will probably cost about $600 to fix right but at least there’s no more yellow paint on my car and hopefully in the light of day (it was raining so we were in the garage) it will still look better than it did. He warned me that it might not look as good as he would like in the light of day and sunlight.
Anyway, I was really impressed with this 22 year old guy who said this was his very first accident of his life. Hard to believe that a 22 year old guy exists who hasn’t an accident, but he seemed genuine and so thrilled about his new job at this fantastic paint and dent place that would give him a guaranteed good salary, 401k, benefits, and would even pay for Lasik surgery if he wanted it. He seemed so excited about the opportunity to do what he apparently loved to do: paint cars. He was very well mannered and called me “Ma’am” and spoke about being raised to do a job right. I learned a little bit about him while holding the flashlight so he could do the touch-up. I learned about where he was from, where his mom lived, how he learned to paint, who taught him to paint, paint fumes, acetone, his ‘ex-lady’s’ driving challenges, and other such things.
It’s always nice to run across people who follow through on what they say. He could have easily blown me off and not returned my phone calls. He could have not accepted his role in the situation and moved on with his life, but he didn’t. We didn’t exchange insurance cards because to me the damage was so minor and many people take care of things like this without getting insurance involved. He could have just disappeared or given me a wrong phone number, but he didn’t. I have a feeling this guy will do really well at his new company with the kind of personable, customer service attitude he has.
So I guess in a weird sort of way a not-so-great thing (i.e., getting rear ended) ended up in a situation that was less of a pain than it could have been. Well that’s of course assuming I don’t have long term brain damage, but if I do that’s probably just from living life and having kids. Now I have to decide whether I want to fix the dent and scrapes since I hope to be able to sell my 8 year old car, which has almost 100,000 miles on it, next year…
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Posted by Aruni
2:48 pm •
random stuff •
