Think Gum and 'context based' memory

I came across something on the news that made me reflect back to this post about my creative flow. A former Cal student (and current Stanford grad student) has invented a product called "Think Gum," which promises to help boost the brain activity of those who chew it.

One important element of the way that the gum works is called "context-dependent memory". The following is quoted from the Think Gum website:

One principle this functional gum relies on is called, “context-dependent memory.” This is the idea that if you learn something in the presence of a certain stimuli then when you are in the presence of the same stimuli later, your memory of what you learned will be stoked. A good example of this phenomenon is the aroma of pumpkin pie. The smell makes people happy, relaxed and just plain gushy inside. However, smell doesn’t “do” anything to you. It simply elicits the good thanksgiving memories that are ever so closely linked with the scent of pumpkin pie.

I think this is an excellent explanation to why music and the rhythm in my head coincides with when I'm successfully writing or taking an exam. Because I often study with music I'm building a "memory track" for the studied material and the tunes. Cool, explanation, eh?

Paddle for Life

Some classmates and I are helping to support a local event that raises money for cancer research and support for cancer survivors. Please watch the following video to learn more about Paddle for Life. Show your support by making a contribution towards this great cause and by forwarding this to your friends!

Departing for Shanghai

(From the events of March 22, 2008)

Ok, I've clearly overpacked. It has been a couple of months since I've been on a plane and I've loss the packing skills that I honed while I lived in Los Angeles (where I was probably averaged two or three round trips a month).

For a seven day trip to Shanghai, I had clearly packed too much. Even though the Haas sponsored trips included formal corporate visits (and the requisite business suits) I think taking three business suits may have been too much. My overpacking nature is confirmed when I see my classmate Michael who has packed everything he needs for the week into two small carry on bags. Doh.

Although I like to think of myself as low-maintenance, I had a couple of luxuries that probably could have been left at home. My brand new USB bluetooth adapter and headset for Skype in China was only used once and my new Motorola Q9c was basically an overpriced brick in Shanghai (thanks, Sprint). Although being without a cell was liberating for a week -- it made coordinating and finding my peers (via SMS) much more challenging. Carrying my laptop for the lectures was necessary but still a cumbersome load.

The flight to Shanghai went relatively without incident. I picked the seat 59F from the chart at SeatGuru.com, a site that shows the best and worst seats on any particular commercial plane. My seat which was toward the back had some additional room between the seat and the window and is a favorite because it is in a row that only has two seats (one less person to get through on the way to the bathroom). The problem with this plane was that the movie monitors weren't mounted on the headrests but instead on the old-school projection system.

When you're stuck in the back corner it can be tough to get a good view. I was going to throw something at the woman who decided to stand up to watch the most suspenseful parts of No Country for Old Men. Unfortunately, she was no where to be found when Alvin and the Chipmunks were on.

The food on the flight wasn't bad -- we had an entree of chicken and rice, a 'cup of noodles' snack (oddly small with weird tofu stuff) and a hot turkey cheese sandwich (although some of the paper got stuck to the hard bread). My can of Sprite Zero that was bottled in Hong Kong inspired the soft drink from my Competitive Strategy class. It is always fun when you see instances of case work in real life.

Tips to remember for future flights:

• If someone has their window open and the sun is at full intensity (no cloud cover), politely ask them to close their shade. Ignoring the sun by covering your face with a blanket should only be attempted when window shade is broken and all other seats are taken.
  
• Bring disposable reading material - airport magazines are for suckers (unless you are Tommy Lasorda, in which case airport magazines are awesome)
  
• Swollen feet don't slide easily into leather slip on shoes (especially when you are scrambling to get off a plane).
  
• Noise reduction headphones are no good if you leave them at home.

Channeling some creative energy

So I'm behind on a couple of week's of blog posts. It appears that I haven't had a chance to recap my Spring Break trip to Shanghai, China nor the transformation of Cal Basketball. More on those subjects in future posts but I want to touch on my personal creativity tonight.

In a recent class we were asked to think about the times of the day where we are most productive or creative. Although getting up in the morning has never been my strong suit, I feel like I'm often most productive between the hours of 7-10 am. For some reason I always seem to 'charge it' (a Feliton saying) once my blood gets rushing. Whether it is knocking out errands on a weekend or getting my work to-do list-- I always feel like I've got the most energy in the morning.

I've never been particularly good at cramming or working deep into the night. I've been known to sleep soundly through allocated 'study' time. If I've got a deadline, I've got to have some hours in the morning to whip things together. There's nothing like a deadline and adrenaline to crack a bad case of writer's block, right?

Creativity for me is a different story -- I think that I often associate the hours following work as my "thinking" time. I think that most of my most creative thoughts come to me when I'm alone with my thoughts and that a lot of my solo time is spent commuting to work or heading to class. This quiet time gives me a chance to be with my thoughts, evaluate the day and plan or the future. I think my frustrating N Judah street car rides have probably hurt my creativity in the past year. My creative focus is probably wasted on staying upright on the ride home.

Just one more note on this subject. My productive and creative "flow" has always been enhanced by music. When I'm feeling particularly inspired I've found my leg or knee bouncing -- usually to a tune or song that is in my head. One explanation may be that my brain works well with rhythms and when my mind has that rhythm -- everything seems to flow naturally. On a related note, most of this blog was brought to you with some help from John Legend and his Once AgainCD.

Back from Shanghai

Back from a week long study tour in Shanghai. I had a terrific trip and will be outlining all of the key observations and learnings on the blog soon. Stay tuned!

More on the Chinese consulate

An incident like this isn't going to make the lines at the consulate any slower. Now I know why they've got security staff and steel gates in place.

Chinese consulate attacked

This could be related to Tibet or human rights violations. Then again they might just be upset about the $130 charge for a visa.

Firefox for me?

I've been on the Internet for a while. I can remember back to 1993 when I got my first email account (it was a California Technology project email). I used the original Mosaic browser and had gotten used to using Fetch to grab information from electronic databases.

I had a love affair with Netscape. The stars scrolling above the 'N' logo was like magic to me as I spend my days writing HTML and experiencing the early web. I was sad to see the company's fall (at the hands of Microsoft) but I didn't hold it against IE for long.

I've been open to trying new browsers -- I used code from the Mozilla project before Firefox -- but I wasn't impressed by Firefox 2.0. I felt it was a memory hog and although I liked tabbed browsing everything seemed slow. I've been pretty happy with my IE 7 experience despite everything and my work systems are primarily IE based so its been my browser of choice.

But I'm willing to give Firefox another chance. We were lucky enough to have Asa Dotzler from the Firefox community visit us yesterday and I was really impressed by the way that the community has grown. I've been a big believer in the power of open source. Although I've never been a contributor to open source I'm going to look for ways to help out. Asa promises me a better product with more security. Time to give it a shot. At the moment I'm writing this entry on a ScribeFire plug-in (integrated into Firefox) and I'll report back and let you know how things are working.

My new baby...

As a late adopter (maybe an intermediate adopter is more appropriate), I'm usually a step behind with my gizmos and cell phones. I did recently take the plunge and get a 'smartphone' after a couple of years without one (although I was happy to give my old company their HUGE Blackberry back).


My new phone is the Motorola Q9C. Yes, I know I could have been trendy and gotten an iPhone but that would have meant changing networks and giving more of my hard earned money to Steve Jobs (for the record, I've never owned an Apple product and the iPod I owned was one manufacturered under license to HP) or I could have gotten a fancy touch screen HTC Touch. Palm was attractive to me but I worry about their long-term viability.

I went with the old standby, Motorola, and the Windows Mobile OS. It has been a dream so far. I've been able to check my personal mail, make calls and surf the Internet at great speeds. I've even found a great home screen for my phone.


So, what do I have running on it? Here's the list:
Skype (which works remarkably well)
Wall Street Journal news reader
Messenging application (AIM, MSN and YM)
Flash player (YouTube, anyone?)
MS Office suite

I even got my first Bluetooth headset for this phone. I'm fully committed to it! Now I just need a browser like Opera or Cellfire to speed up my experience and some MP3s to listen to on the device.

Sunrise in the Sunset

Seen outside my home on February 25th.

Gifts will get you the world

In my entreprenurship class last semester we had a guest speaker from the company Lexy. Although he couldn't tell us much about the product (stealth mode) it sounded interested and an innovative way to leverage the millions of cell phones around the U.S.

I sent him an email and asked to be a Beta tester for the service but nothing much came out of it. I tried it a couple of times but without a network of people to share it with some of the early collaborative features were kind of useless to me.

Out of the blue I get an email from Lexy asking for my home address because they wanted to send me a t-shirt. Look what arrived yesterday.

Talk about sweet! The package was sent priority mail and was nicely wrapped up for me. I was really impressed and immediately called the service to try it again. I shouldn't talk that much about the functions but you can find out more from Lexy.com (Beta site). Perhaps if this blog takes off I'll be getting a lot of other assorted schwag. One can only hope!

Starbuck Observations

So I took some time out on Saturday to visit my local Starbucks. I figured it would be a chance to get some reading done and to absorb some of the 'power of Starbucks'. As someone who doesn't drink coffee, I do not have a daily latte habit (nevertheless, I waste my money buying tickets for Cal Basketball) so visiting SBUX is a rare treat for me (Treat times include: desperate for a clean bathroom, away from home with 30 minutes to spare, etc)

The Irving St Starbucks was definitely different. Located on a busy intersection off of 19th Avenue, the store picks up a lot of food traffic. During my visit there was a constant stream of people and the spectrum of people frequenting the Starbucks struck me as odd. Unlike other locations, there were literally people of every size, shape and color coming through the doors (the Sunset district is not generally that diverse). There were even some patrons who appeared destitute but had saved enough cash for a good cup of java (or maybe the transformative Starbucks "experience".)

I thought it was odd that this Starbucks had a set of bins dedicated for children. The colored bin was filled with coloring books, toys and other assorted kids products. Starbucks is often considered a haven for people -- a place that people can escape their daily stress. I thought it was funny that kids (often the source of much noise and stress) were embraced at this location.

My visit took place a couple of days after the well-publicized Starbucks 'shutdown' project and I think some of the after effects were still visible. The employees I saw were friendly and more importantly appeared to be having fun with one another. I witnessed several 'baristas' having whipped cream (within appropriate levels) fights and lots of friendly joking. I think the shutdown was a brilliant move. Shutting down for three hours gave the company a chance to celebrate the importance of their 'associates' (they aren't called employees at SBUX), they got some great media coverage (as every media outlet covered the news) and reinforced that they are a company that does business differently.

Although their growth has slowed recently and they've had some recent stumbles-- the company's unique culture still shines through. They did a nice job on my Vanilla Bean frappucino too.

Random moment of happiness

On Saturday night when I drove home from the gym, I saw a road sign that was a little different from the norm.

The sign read, "Happy Birthday Rochelle". I'm sure that some one's birthday was made a little brighter with that surprise.

Hope there weren't any consequences for the person who programmed the sign. :) As for random moments of happiness -- I'll share more about that perspective later.

Six word story

As an exercise in creativity and brevity -- famed writers like Hemingway have written six word stories. (Hemingway's -- "For sale: baby shoes, never worn") Here are some more examples (Smith Magazine / Wired)

In class we tried to come up with a six word story description of ourself. It isn't as easy as it looks. Below I've listed some attempts. I reserve the right to edit this list or to add new ones as I find inspiration.

Despite efforts, still searching for success (the one I came up with in class)
On journey to find Asian America
Applied fingerpainting to everything in life
Always ready for a laugh and smile

Quote in the Chronicle

The newspaper industry has seen difficult times with the growth of the Internet and online services. One of the few things that newspapers can offer is local coverage and a deep relationship with their readers.

I have been a participant of the SF Chronicle's Two Cents feature which collected opinions and feedback from readers on articles and subjects. It was a nice feature that allowed for real feedback before the widespread use of in page "comments" that are rage in web 2.0.

Interestingly enough, the Chronicle is using its comments feature to integrate feedback into its print editions. I left a comment about San Francisco's MUNI system and was surprised when a Chronicle editor asked if they could use it for publication. Papers may find using technology can help them become more relevant.

Here's the short blurb for your reading pleasure.

Director of Ideas... that would be cool on a business card

Saw this job posting today and thought this might be a fun job that involved creativity and innovation. On the other hand it could just be a fancy name for the advertising agency's 'creative director'. Wouldn't it be cool if the position was a different title for their 'strategy or innovation director'?

JOB OPENING: SVP IDEA DIRECTOR/SAN FRANCISCO, CA: Drive exploration of consumer insights - focus on the creation new, bleeding edge media ideas and approaches. talent@zenithoptimedia-na.com

My trip to the Chinese consulate (or what how could you improve the chinese consulate experience)

I'm off to Shanghai, China at the end of March for a school-sponsored trip. Imagine lots of lectures at the local Chinese business school mixed in with company tours and karaoke and big banquets. Sounds like a fun way to spend spring break, right? Look for entries from China soon.
In order to get to China though, I had to apply for a Visa through the local consulate office here in San Francisco. (Although I've been to China twice before I've never went through the visa application process myself). Because Monday was President's Day and the Chinese government doesn't fawn over American presidents-- the office was opened and I made the consul my first errand of a busy day.

When I arrived at 9:30 I figured that there would be a short line-- I was quite mistaken. I entered to find a room that was completely packed with people waiting their turn to drop off their visa applications or to pick up their visas. I picked up my number (distributed neatly by a computerized machine) and began to 'case' the joint.

Some observations:
- About 40 mounted chairs in the main area of the room. These seats faced the electronic notification boards that alternated between instructions on the visa application process and status updates on what number was being called to which window.
- There was a separate area for picking up applications and filling them out (complete with applications in various languages). A tip for those of you are planning on applying for a visa-- download a PDF and do it at home first.
- There was a crowded information area which served dual duty as a passport photo station - There were about 9 windows, 2 dedicated for pickup and the others assigned for application drop-off.
- Office hours are from 9am to 3pm but between 12-1pm, the staff take a lunch break

All in all it took me an hour to drop off the application. I came across some other Haas students and was able to help them reduce their wait by submitting all of our applications together. The wait would have been 1.5 or 2 hrs for them. Interestingly, it only took 4 minutes to turn in our paperwork once we got the service window.

Understandably with the Summer Olympics in Beijing, there is probably abnormal demand for visas this year. There are vendors / travel agents who offer to assist in the visa processing system (a quick Google search shows the prices range from $20 to $150 for the convenience). Sounds like a business plan that I might have to explore some more.

***************
Some tips for improvement... (putting on my operations / innovation hat)
- Add a system for estimated wait time
- A television system (tourism clips, anyone?) to distract the room from the length of the wait
- Make a formal queue system for the 'free-for-all' information area
- Have a food/tea cart outside (they don't prohibit food inside the office but there were no nearby businesses)
- An online reservation system -- this has worked well for the DMV, I think it could also work well for the visa process. In many cases, acquiring a visa isn't a last minute thing.
- Creating a priority (premium priced) line -- wanna skip to the front of the line? Pay $50 and jump to the front of the line. Maybe they could use those funds to lower the average visa request ($130 now)
- Extending hours - I'm sure the consulate has statistics on the number of patrons served per hour-- but I think that expanding the business hours would probably shorten wait times.

As a final update, I picked up my visa 4 days after dropping off the application. I arrived twenty minutes before the 'lunch break' was over and got my number (not the one below but very similiar). The pickup line moved a lot faster so I was done after 40 minutes of patient waiting. Unfortunately for the people who were looking to drop off applications, there were only three windows open. I'd have to estimate that the majority of the room was looking at wait times of 2+ hours. Ouch!

I didn't have much interaction with the Falun Gong protestors as my goal was getting my visa approved with as little hassle as possible. :) That's the same reason I didn't take any pictures of the office. Photos and videos are strictly prohibited.

President's Day @ the airport

So I spent President's day at San Francisco International Airport trying to catch moments of 'happiness' in a mundane place (think baggage claim). Armed with cameras and a camcorder our team "attacked" the airport in the hopes of good grades and our own little piece of happiness.

After spending about 5 hours talking to people flying home though SFO we got our fair number of happy (back from a long weekend in Vegas), sad (bags from New Orleans were no where to be found) and indifferent (some baggage claim staff).

I think we did okay. My own personal happiness at the airport can be summed up by the following two pictures -- sitting on the baggage claim (and not getting yelled at) for the first time ever and running into my pal Howie in the International Terminal (what are the chances of running into someone I know-- pretty darned good with my network, apparently).

Fast Company's Most Innovative

In the past three years I've tried to pare down my magazine subscriptions but I still appreciate the value of Fast Company. The magazine generally does a great job of detailing the interaction between brand, innovation and management. As I read this month's issue on Friday I couldn't help but think about all of the stories that related to my strategy and marketing class.

This month's cover story is the magazine's list of most innovative firms with Google topping FC's list again. I think that by remaining 'open' and using a creative approach to challenges and opportunities -- innovative companies place themselves in the best possible position for success. Powerful companies will continue to be outmaneuvered by fleet competitors or humbled by industry changes (see Borland, Kodak). The best they can do is stay focused on their competitors and flexible through innovation to survive.

The article poses an interesting question for the Google team-- if you could do anything for the world at Google-- what would you do? We addressed that question during our Six Thinking Hats marketing exercise last week and I think it must be really excited to work at a place where making a difference is a priority. As an additional bonus the magazine featured a great photo of Cisco's director of user experience, Irene Au, covered with colored post-its. The effective practice of 'brainstorming via post-its' at its best.

Bittersweet Valentine's

I've only had a handful of meaningful Valentine's Day experiences but this year promises to be a meaningful one for years to come. Receiving this beautiful bouquet of flowers at work was certainly special but it only made me miss M even more.

I haven't written many entries here in the last few years but I think that this is the start of a new batch of entries. I've got several reasons for sharing what's on my mind and I think I've got some interesting thoughts to share. I hope you'll send me feedback along the way.

LinkedIn page for Gilbert Lee is movin' up

It appears that my LinkedIn page has moved to the first page of Google listings for Gilbert Lee. That places me around #10 on the Google chart so I've got some work to do. Do me a favor and link to this page. You'll increase my page rank!


Google search for 'Gilbert Lee'

******************
UPDATE - 4/13/08: LinkedIn page for Gilbert Lee is ranked #5 in Google search. Lovely.