Little Brown Man in Gringo Land 10am Friday-Jonathan Davis

I enjoyed reading the article ‘Little Brown Man in Gringo Land’. Since the article discussed Mexican immigrants coming over to Texas to work during the early 20th century, I thought it to be rather interesting. In the article it said that “while other whites who employed Mexicans on farms and in industry argued that Mexicans were simply too inferior to represent a threat to white America”. Thankfully we have moved away from this but we still have an unsettling thought in this country of “illegal immigrants” taking away American jobs. Many of the jobs that the immigrants take now are ones that the middle class American feels that they are too good for. In other words they take the jobs that mainstream white America doesn’t want. Especially with regards to how they are viewed as being as Foley stated “a culturally and biologically inferior alien race”. 

 

The second part worth examining is the fact that even back then people “smuggled Mexicans across the boarder”. In not being too political, this issue of whether or not this is right still exists today. A more relevant example would be revolving around citizenship. There is a general idea that people born in America are automatically U.S. citizens. With that being said, people who might have come over as children are often deemed illegal over actions that they can’t control. They were simply following directions from their parents unaware of the future issues and implications that obedience might have. Just like those that immigrated without permission, should they be held accountable? I personally don’t have a fulfilling enough answer but might ponder it some more. One last thought, Native Americans were the first real settlers to America. Does that mean that when white-Europeans came over that they in fact were illegal? 

 

Fixing My Productivity System

After having a long conversation with a friend about being unproductive, I explained that I was weary of whether my own methods were still working or not. Using my method, I was doing twice the amount of work in order to go about planning tasks to do. This was not apparent to me until that conversation. Previous I would copy things from my calendar into my text document of things to do and then write out each day what my schedule was. Upon reflecting I felt that this was way to much work. 

  As I posted before I have been frustrated with my productivity. In part I was curious whether as above my methods were working along with the fact that I wake up early because that’s a large chunk of time I could use. Although I wasn’t sure what the right solution was, I knew that something must change. 

To do a recap, let me explain a bit about how my productivity methods were based. At the start of the school year I would enter all of the assignments due for the course that was on the syllabus on my Google Calendar. I posted each assignment as an all day event on my calendar and then added other things that would come up through the course of the semester. Once a week I would go into a text document, copy everything from that week in the calendar to the specific day and then use that as a basis of what I had to get done each day. I would then write down each task in my separate notebook, therefore doing this task twice. After realizing this was inefficient, I figured that switching to a digital system for a to-do list would be far easier then paper. I would use paper for capture and then add things at the end of the day. 

In case one didn’t know, I absolutely love routines and consistency. It’s a trait shared with people who also have executive functioning like I do. For quite a while I thought that my routines were awesome and that they were working. I realized a problem when recently a professor assigned an assignment last minute. My whole routine was thrown off and I was quite flustered to say the least. This assignment seemed to totally through off my whole day. 

Now I have set up my system like so. First is that I use as my to-do list Wunderlist for iPhone and Mac. Since this app syncs to both my computer and phone, everything updates really nicely. Throughout the day I constantly consult my to-do list and check things off as I go. For me I add dates for certain deadlines but not for all. Being able to not be as rigid in my scheduling I feel will be better in the long run and will be a good lesson to learn thankfully in college. My hope is that this system works and I’ll be sure to work out and post about various things I find with it.

Getting Back Into Routine

Lately I have been incredibly frustrated. In part because of being back-to-school for two weeks, my productivity level is not what I am happy with. I think in part this is because I have not been on a consistent sleep schedule. The other day I woke up at 4:30 AM which is my normal schedule. I was the most productive I have been in quite a long time. I got everything that I needed to get done by 8am. I did a little bit more till my 10am class that I had on the backend of my to-do list. In part I decided that my to-do list was too long and so I shortened it.

Although one might think that the schedule is a little unusual, I like it for a few reasons. For one is that people don’t bother you at 4:30am. to ensure people don’t bother me, I have my iPhone on airplane mode so I am not disturbed. I do need to work on making better use of my time and learning how to save the days in which I do not necessarily wake up as early as I want to while still being productive. Maybe it has to to with shortening my to do list on days like that just to ensure that I get things done.

 I will say that I have made a rule with myself to not check email during the day. I now check it once at 3:30pm or so and then respond to emails around 5pm. This keeps me from living in my inbox the whole day since I have other things I need to get done. I would like to attribute some of this in part to a program called Inbox Pause for Chrome. The concept is similar to the title in which all the messages that would normally go into my inbox instead go into a special folder. I then unpause my inbox when I check my email around 3:30pm or so and it releases all of the messages into my inbox. This way I deal with emails on my terms and not other people’s. To cover my own butt though, I have enabled certain emails to be forwarded to a separate inbox that gets notifications to my phone. This allows me to specify certain people I want to ensure I get emails from.

 For this coming week, I want to be more productive. To narrow this thought down, I want to get on a more consistent sleep schedule.

No Social Media For One Year

If you haven’t noticed before, I like doing certain experiments to learn more about myself and to play around with whether certain things are necessary. Since I recently deleted my Facebook, I have become frustrated with Google Plus. From these two instances, I have decided to not use social media for an entire year. I know this might seem slightly radical in that many people my age become encapsulated in their own social media use. I think of it more as a personal challenge.

I am definitely looking forward to gaining time back from when I would normally browse Facebook and Google Plus. Looking forward I feel that I will have a new sense of appreciation for the actual world versus the world that people like to put on as a mask of sorts.

I’ll be sure to update as to how this goes but I’m excited for promising future.

Not Reading Google Reader For One Month

For the next month, I will not be checking my Google Reader subscriptions. This is a personal experiment that I developed based on the thought that I consume information a lot more than I create. In other words, my input is greater then my output.

I think that for me this will be somewhat difficult because I tend to compulsively check my Google Reader subscriptions whenever I am at a computer. I think that by not doing so I will have the more time on my hands. The joy of not worrying for a whole month what is happening from various websites that I subscribe to will allow me to carry on my own pursuits.

I will be sure to post a followup of how going a month without checking my Google Reader benefited me or changed me.

Creating vs. Comsuming

Lately, several questions have formed in my head awaiting a justified answer. There is a part of me that is coming to the realization that I consume a lot of information. Even though I do enjoy lots of what I read, I still sift through endless amounts to pick out the various bits of information that I find worthwhile. This takes lots of time and energy on my day when I could be doing things that are more creative and productive.

Based on this, I began to think about why I consume more then I create. In other words I receive lots of information. From various RSS feeds of blogs that I follow, Flickr contacts, and online reading, I spend a lot of time looking at other people and their work. For myself, I feel that time would be better spent creating.

When coming up with some ideas of what direction I would go in with this post, I brainstormed in my moleskin notebook some of the questions or points I would like to adhere to. I then narrowed it down to three key questions:

Why consume when you can create?
What is the point of consuming?
Why not spend time creating?

On that same page in my notebook, I decided to brainstorm the ideas of creating vs consuming.

There are many reasons for why we as people decide to consume. We love reading various things on the web and other tidbits of information. We also use consumption as a way to take a break from our daily lives. This can often be in the form of understanding something that we did not know previous.

I then thought of reasons why I consume so much information. For one I am able to learn from others. At times I would browse Facebook to see what fun things other people are doing.

Other times I consume because I wanted a good laugh or something amazing to watch. Quite possibly this could be because of trying to disregard the worries in my own life by reading or looking at something produced by other people.

I then began to think of creating. This for me is far more personal. When it comes to creating, to me it is spending time working on something that is worth talking about. In order to do this we oftentimes have to ignore what others are doing. This is not to say that others work is not interesting or necessary important, but not essential. By focusing on what we want to accomplish by not worrying about what other people are doing can make us better in our creative work.

Being able to create allows for us to develop more of an imagination. As something long-term to think about, creating allows us to leave a legacy behind for after we eventually die. It also allows for plenty of room for growth. In turn this pushes us to get better and better with our work.

Would you rather spend more time creating or consuming?
Which would you rather leave behind for your children or members of the next generation?

Recently Quit Facebook

Recently, I decided to delete my Facebook account. To me, it is amazing now at college how many kids at school seem to be constantly checking on it. I was eating dinner a few weeks ago and three of my friends were checking their phones with Facebook up while sitting with me. I thought that this was very rude and a sad reflection of what some people (especially younger) have become. Entranced by those who aren’t present, not being happy with being mindful of others. There is also a great amount of Facebook browsing while in class from what I have noticed.

I do have several reasons for deleting my Facebook but personally it started with one. When I walk into a room, I don’t want to know what has happened to everyone from Facebook. Otherwise there wouldn’t be much to talk about. I would rather learn about people and find out by asking what is new in their life then finding out through Facebook.

The people that I have mentioned it to do not understand why I did it. I have several reasons as to why. For one, I got tired of people’s posts. Several people that I have accepted friend requests from have the preachy mentality in which they seem to think that it’s only there way. I had become so frustrated by people’s ignorance when saying certain statements. Some might say, just go ahead and delete people. Facebook does not have good ways at mass deleting people, go figure. There were many people that I would want to delete simply because they annoyed me but it would be to big of a pain in the ass to delete all of them.

Personally Facebook had become a huge distraction. When I was supposed to be doing work, I would waste it away and wonder how I let that time escape me. The compulsion to check was just too much.

Now without Facebook I have noticed that I have more time to do the things I want to.

Does anybody have a similar experience?

Computer-less Vacation

I recently just got back from a week long vacation that was filled with skiing in Lake Tahoe and then playing golf in San Diego. My friend asked me to come along since his brother had a lacrosse tournament and he wanted a friend with him.

One thing was very different about this vacation in that I decided not to bring my computer. This is really unlike me. I have been known to be immersed by my computer spending countless hours staring at the screen, surfing the web, and not being present in the vacation itself. I decided before the trip that I would bring my Moleskine notebook along in order to write down ideas in my head as well as a list of things that I wanted to look up on the Internet when I got back.

Although I was really excited to vacation, I had two main worries. The first was how would I deal with my two friends and their dad being on the Internet? The second was that I was expecting an important e-mail during this time and wanted to make sure I would get it.

Along with these worries, I packed four books to read during the trip since I knew that there would be down time. Most of my reading while at school is academic or something quick like a magazine article. The books I brought were pleasure books, fairly easy-to-read but still worthwhile so as to get me away from the deep thinking that I tend to do when reading books on my own.

The reason for not bringing my computer was more of a personal detox from my computer before college starts up again for the semester. I had spent lots of time on it and just needed a break.

As I logged out of my e-mail and shut down my computer for the last time before the trip all I could think of was what will happen if I don’t check my e-mail? I then told myself, if it is really that important they would call you. With that I went to sleep and then promptly got up ready to go on the trip while leaving my computer behind.

I will say that I have to make a slight confession, I did bring my iPod touch thinking that if need be I could use that for Internet use and that it would be good to enjoy music on the four hour flight out to Lake Tahoe.

During the trip I wrote down a little bit about how the detox went so that I could write this post when I got back. I have to admit, I did slip up once on the second day in using my friend’s computer and checking my e-mail. The e-mail that I had been expecting still did not come but I then promptly logged off and decided not to worry about it at all for the rest the trip. I thought about the fact that no matter if they respond, the e-mail could wait until after the trip was done.

Instead of being attached to my computer, I spent my time skiing the slopes of Lake Tahoe, playing golf, enjoying the company of my friends, and reading. I honestly can’t remember the last time that I was not encapsulated by a device on a vacation in recent memory.

It is so refreshing not worrying about email and just taking time for myself rather than being caught up in all the social media and consumption that I was so used to. It felt so great not really caring about what is happening in the news or what is going on in other parts the world. Although I did read a newspaper for a few days, this was just to start off my morning as a replacement for surfing the web aimlessly. I also had my cell phone on me but I made sure that I was being mindful of not checking my phone very often.

I did log in to my email a second time specifically to send my mom two Internet links that she needed but did not check my e-mail. Although I felt very tempted to, I decided against it since I knew it would create stress for my day that I just did not want.

There are a few things that I would like to mention in reflecting back on the trip. As I said before I truly enjoyed the time away from my computer. It is something that I am hoping to continue when I go back to school. Maybe after my classes Friday I can not use my computer or otherwise the internet until Saturday morning.

It also gave me time to realize that I need some time to myself rather then being fixated on a screen. I think during this time when I am not using my computer I will be more reliant on my moleskin notebook in order to write down ideas and plan my thoughts that come into my head.

The real eye-opener of the trip was how aware I was and mindful of what was going on, outside, and the change in scenery. It was rather funny because I pulled out a book from my bag on the flight over and sitting across from me was my friend’s father who was reading on his tablet. When he saw my book, he jokingly remarked ” it’s been a while since I’ve seen one of those, I can imagine opening pages and reading a book”. One of the advantages I found when reading was that I was able to read the book during takeoff and landing when everyone else was asked to turn off their electronic devices.

My two friends both would spend hours at a time stand at the screens of their iPhone’s were reading countless things. It was rather sad to see that there was a definite lull in conversation where they were entranced in their own devices rather than being present in interacting with me (who as to remind you came as a guest). The dad was on vacation from work and it was interesting to see that even though he was “on vacation” he was still answering e-mails from work while also spending lots of time on his tablet surfing the web and watching movies instead of being present.

On the car trips, I would look around and see all the sites to be seen rather than spending time on a device missing all the scenery. As for my friends, they missed out a lot by not being able to see the changing landscapes and beautiful areas. I cannot remember the last time that I had not been entranced in a device while on a road trip. It was really refreshing and something that I am longing to do again.

From the trip, it proved that I need time away from my devices. It was a wonderful experience not having to worry about my computer or email. When I came back from the trip and finally checked my email, I had 100 or so messages in my inbox and it took maybe a half hour to sort through and delete them. It was nice getting away from that prison of sorts. Separating myself from other people’s demands and incessant nagging and having time to myself versus thinking about what was waiting for me in my inbox was something I couldn’t put a value on. I only used my iPod touch once to look up a phone number I had saved the contacts. As for the books, I finished three out of the four I brought. This goes to show, I cannot wait for the next computer-less vacation!

Do I really need 12,000 songs?

A while back I decided to digitize my dad’s music collection. For some time I had over 24,000 songs.   I thought that having all the 200+ cd’s on an external drive would allow us as a family to share the music with one another effectively. This was unfortunately not the case. Despite my efforts, my parents could not comprehend the idea that all the music that they owned would be on a family iPod instead of still on cd’s. Fed up with this, I began to delete songs that I no longer listened to. Many of these songs were duplicates and more music then I could listen to in my entire lifetime.

Even now after deleting many duplicates, I still feel my iTunes library is still cumbersome. Having started this process about a year ago, my library sits to just under 12,000 songs, half of what it once was.  Although this amount of music is more manageable, I am still finding it overwhelming.

My eventual end for this project would be to get my music library to be under 2,000 songs. Even though I realize that this process will take quite a while, I hope to get down to 6,000 songs by the end of this year.  By doing so, I will be able to enjoy my music. More importantly the idea that I can relish in all the music I enjoy rather then having thousands upon thousands of songs I was not fond of.

So, do you really need all that music?

Meditation

Recently I have become interested in meditation. I never thought that I would have an interest in meditation. Through a wonderful conversation with a friend, he sensed that meditation could improve my life. The calmness and opportunity to gather my thoughts would help me long term. After hearing this, I have decided to pursue meditation.

Several reasons went into starting meditation. Over the past few days reflecting about my own life and how I can make it even better. I have determined that in my own life is a lot of stress. In a past post I recalled how often times I would stress over things that I should not worry about. Worrying does nothing to solve the issues at hand.

During my last two years during school, I have realized that I love having a life that is balanced. By being able to have a worthwhile balance of college and other pursuits, I will be able to satisfy both my parents and myself.

A universal concept of meditation is being connected with the world around you. In today’s society we associate connectedness with being able to access the internet constantly. It is through meditation that connectedness is viewed as being aware of one’s body, self, and the world around us.

After being introduced to the idea of meditation, I was sent a link to Google talk given by John Zinn.  I would highly encourage anybody interested to watch it. During the talk he concentrated on a few things.

He led the Google group in a meditation exercise that concentrating on breathing. It was remarkable to see an intelligent group of people as the Google workers meditating.

The central belief behind meditation is to clear the mind of any other thoughts. Since in society we are accustomed to having many things pop in our heads, focusing on one thing is not easy.

I am determined to focus on one thing at a time. I’ll be sure to let everyone know how my meditation is going.