Rian J Stockbower

In honor of Thanksgiving…

1) The Internet

I know, I know, it sounds terribly trite, and I would have laughed at the idea of including it on this list, except my mom pointed something that I hadn't realized, but is absolutely true over the last year: I have access to huge stores of raw information and distilled knowledge that I've only begun tapping into.

Specifically I'm thinking of podcasts, especially from UChannel. The London School of Economics, The Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton, etc. (I mentioned it the other day, too.) TED talks (HD) are also great. I've also been reading many of the reports from the New America Foundation and the Brookings Institute — all of their materials are freely available. Some of it I agree with, some of it I don't, much of it I don't understand as well as I should like, but all of it informs my understanding of the world in a real, meaningful way.

Entertaining myself is easier with sites like Hulu as well. So while I'm online no more than I used to be, I'm using the web differently than I once did.

2) The economic downturn

This is a mixed bag for me because I'm not exactly cheerleading here for the economy to consider its slide. In reality, this is just me looking for a silver lining in a bad situation. As a student of economics, the downturn caused me to start asking questions about the nature of the world and the economy, and I never really stopped. I never reached a level of knowledge where I said "Okay! I'm good now." Each question is like a hydra: answer it and two more spring to take its place. Aside from my regular schoolwork, I'm spending anywhere from 2-4 hours a day just reading. Reading economists, the newspaper, in-depth publications from the aforementioned Brookings and New America, etc.

This, in turn, has allowed me to understand things we learn about in school at a deeper level. As a senior, it was ironic that I knew nothing about economics but somehow had senior status. That seemed wrong, but I worked hard before the financial turmoil hit to build some baseline associative learning pegs to build off of, and it's paid off in spades.

3) Academia

I'm a full time student again for the first time in a long time. I actually drive to school and sit in class, something I've not done since 2005. I actually go to classes, which is amazing. I have a good rapport with my professors, and my grades are good enough that I can skip the graduate application process and proceed right on to my Masters. This is truly an amazing accomplishment given just how abysmal my grades were in pharmacy school.

In addition, the Masters program has a study abroad option for a semester, which I will very likely take advantage of. The options are Mexico (meh) and Denmark (much more interesting). I would take a full load of classes while there, but the main appeal is spending a whole semester abroad.

4) Direction

I haven't known what I've wanted to do with my life for a while now, which has contributed in a real way to the lack of professional accomplishment in the last three years. I know what I want to do now, and I'm working to get there. I want to finish my BA this spring, which is going to happen. From there I want to finish my Masters right off, which will also happen, and spend some time abroad while doing so. This is also likely. From there I want to go to an Ivy League business school, preferably abroad. From there I want to make some significant money in either technology or working in the sustainable development industries. After that, I think I want to be a Senator.

Crazy? Maybe. We'll see. I haven't felt this energized in a long time, though.

Via Greg Mankiw: the Typealyzer:

• onthepharm.net: INTJ
• rianjs.net: INTP
• blatantconsumerist.com: ESTP
• polyscience.org: ISTJ

I ran a couple of queries on specific writing I've done, and again, it's all over the map. What I consider my "best" writing seems to go back and forth between INTJ, INTP, and ISTP. So again, no conclusions to be drawn. :p

Fun way to waste a few minutes.

(FWIW, actually doing a personality test tells me I'm an ENTJ; this is probably accurate, except that I know from reading the description that I waffle between Intuition and Extroversion in my thought processes.)

Back in January of 2007, I wrote a list of 52 things that I want to do before I die. To this day, it stands out as one of the most vividly-remembered things I've ever written. Turns out that writing a list of your life goals is actually pretty useful. It's sort of like writing a business plan for your life, and you might discover some things about yourself that you didn't know along the way.

[ All lists ]

1. Fall in love and get married
2. Stay married
3. Have a son
4. Have a daughter
5. See them both become self-actualized, successful people at whatever they choose to do
6. Meet my grandchildren
7. Never stop moving towards self-actualization and always make forward progress in self-improvement
8. Own my own business
9. Start my own financially-successful website
10. Be out of debt by age 29
11. Have a net worth in excess of $1 million by age 30
12. Have a net worth in excess of $50 million by age 35
13. Have a net worth in excess of $1 billion by age 50
14. Be on the cover of a prominent business or news magazine
15. Write a book
16. Go to South Africa
17. Visit Egypt and the pyramids with Fabien
18. Own a collection of fine watches. (God I love watches!)
19. Go to a professional driving school
20. Drive an open-wheel (Indy) car
21. Design my own home and have it built for me.
22. Own a new Ferrari
23. Order and pick up a brand-new Porsche 911 Turbo in Europe
24. Participate in a Porsche event on two seperate continents
25. Buy a Dodge Viper for Rich. Just to say "Thank-you."
26. Visit Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand with my dad
27. Visit Antarctica
28. Visit Iceland
29. Visit Norway
30. Go on an African safari (non-hunting)
31. Get my SCUBA license in Guam and go diving with Nick there
32. Dive the Great Barrier Reef also with Nick
33. Go to China and see the Great Wall
34. Throw a huge birthday party for myself when I'm old since I've only had one in my life.
35. Get rid of the bittersweet feeling that the holidays brings by having my own family where we stay home and celebrate and people come to us, rather than having to figure out where I'm going on what day. Be the center rather than participate in other people's centers.
36. Own a beautiful home somewhere in New Hampshire
37. Contribute something meaningful to a great charity or organization
38. Take my grandmother to a Red Sox-Yankees game
39. Take my grandmother to a Red Sox World Series Game
40. Go to the summer Olympics in another country
41. Do something truly extravagant with my close friends, just for the hell of it.
42. Create a full college scholarship to a worthy institution based on need and merit that can only be won by a white male.*
43. See a Josh Groban-Charlotte Church duet. Live. Somewhere in the first five rows.
44. Start a news-media company
45. Start an angel/venture capital fund for startups
46. Retire and run my own (or someone else's) charity.
47. Have a library in my home.

* There are many scholarships for women and minorities. At this point in time, however, boys are the minority in college. Society may have forgotten about them, but I have not.

It's 12.01am on Mother's Day where you are, and I'd like to take a few minutes to share with you (and the rest of the world) why I think you're the best, despite the fact that we butt heads on a pretty regular basis. (Though maybe not quite as much as we used to.)

Given that you're in China right now on business, I can't exactly say "Good morning, happy mothers day!" when you wake up. I sent you a card, but I don't know if you got it. 7 seems like just as good an arbitrary number as 10 or 5, so here are my 7 reasons why I think you're the best. This is an entry that I've thought about doing, well since last Mother's Day. Neither of us knew then that you would be away at the time, so it seems somewhat fitting that I post this here now, since everyone says the Internet brings the world closer together.

I'm gonna do this David Letterman style:

7. You always finish what you start

I wish this was something that I made a habit of, but I don't, though I'm trying to get better at it. We both know that I battle with being consistent even now, but I think I'm getting better. You finished college even though you had me to take care of, and finances were very tight. You always make yourself do things, even though they might suck. Like the back yard. You got out of your comfort zone and climbed on that excavator last summer even though you didn't want to, and you taught yourself how to use it, because I was lazy and wanted to sleep for another hour. I'm sorry I didn't help you, that was pretty crappy of me.

6. You fought to get me a computer

You fought John to get me a computer, and a nasty fight it was. You fought for it because you knew I wanted one so badly, and because you thought it was important. This is one of the reasons I have the skills that I have today when it comes to software and technology in general. While I think that I would have developed these skills later, I developed them much younger than most. I could probably get a job just with what I know off the top of my head should everything else in my life fall to pieces, thanks in no small part to your doing something unpleasant.

5. You taught me the value of money

You always gave me an allowance, even when money was tight. You were downright stingy by most people's standards, for which I am also grateful. It was through this that I learned to save for what I wanted. Because of these early lessons, I didn't dig myself into massive amounts of debt like so many people my age do when they get credit cards. Beyond that, you sowed the very first seeds of what (I like to think) is my prodigious knowledge of money, the market, and the interconnectedness of the world today.

4. You pulled me out of private school

I disagreed with your decision then, but I am grateful for it today. I'm glad you decided to pull me out of the small private school when you did. It allowed me to see a much bigger world, and I am a better person today for it.

3. Because you push me even though I push back

You have the strength to tackle tough conversations about my academic progress and the debt I am accruing, even though I have a tendency to make these talks unpleasant because they mirror my own thoughts all too well. Don't stop; it helps having someone else come alongside you so you can lean on them a little bit.

2. You never let me watch TV

Except for that hour every week on Saturday morning where I could watch cartoons, I wasn't allowed to watch television. I hated it then, but I am grateful for it now. Instead of the tube, you made me read books instead. And read them I did. I can point to that specifically and say that that is what gives me my gift of writing today, and I am so very grateful for it.

1. For adopting me

Because without you, I probably wouldn't be here today.

I hope I have the strength and the wisdom to make the kinds of decisions for my children that you have made for me through the years.

Thank You. I love you.

Heh, I was out to lunch with my dad today, and a car pulled into the parking lot as we were about to leave. I informed the driver that his license plate was probably the coolest plate I'd ever seen. He was like "Thanks. It's nice you know what it means."

Heh. I snapped this pic with my camera phone: (Click for larger image.)

If you're a fan of classical music or choral music, you must listen to this piece of music from the Hannibal soundtrack. It's stunningly beautiful and unexpected.

Go on; I'll wait. You won't be disappointed. Except maybe when it ends.