I didn’t use to understand why some people would never be able to come to evening events. And even if I had understood, I didn’t have the empathy for what they were going through, usually as parents, but sometimes as caretakers of others, such as elderly parents. That’s changed for me big time .
Now that Maryam Ghaemmaghami Scoble and I have flipped roles (she works at VMware and I stay home with the kids, while trying to build a business that fits around them) I’ve had to turn down dozens of events, because I have kids to drop off in the morning, pick up in the afternoon, and do stuff with other times.
Oh, and it isn’t lost on me that most of the people who are dropping kids off, or picking them up, are either women or are grandparents, filling in for two-working-parent families, or single parent homes.
I never thought about it before, but now I’m thinking about our gender roles in a whole new way.
My partners and I are setting up our company around our lives, not the other way around. More about our new company March 1.
One of the things we want to do is put together industry events. Luckily VR most people can afford and use without having a room or a PC is coming so that we can jump into events virtually soon, no matter where or when they are (I often do phone calls in the evening, while the kids are goofing off or doing homework, or even after they go to sleep. Turns out my Tesla is noise proof, so I can use it as an office for doing such calls late into the night).
That said, I am soon going to do some mentoring meetings for spatial computing industry in San Francisco, and I’m thinking of making them late in the morning instead of at night for just these reasons.
Now, excuse me, gotta go wash the dishes and do the laundry before Maryam Ghaemmaghami Scoble notices I haven’t kept up on my side of the bargain.
Oh, some other learning? I need to focus more on my health. Sugar has turned into a poison in my life. It kicks my ass. I gave it up for more than a week, then had some today and boom, I was out for a nap and not a good one (my doctor is working with me on changing my diet). So far lost 10 lbs in less than two weeks just by changing diet. More to come on that front.
Change might have been forced on me, but it does give me so many gifts. Sorry to those I didn’t empathize with over the years.
Scobleizer 