Every so often I catch myself walking quickly, with a purpose, with a place to be or a thought on my mind.
Then, I slow down and I cut my pace in half. Immediately, I feel myself relax.
I need to figure out how to do that while I’m sitting at work with my mind revving 🙂
The end of the snowboarding season always reminds me of the way you feel the day after Christmas as a kid. You know it’s over and even though people tell you it’ll be back next year, it doesn’t make you feel any better. I’ll get over it in a few weeks when the weather warms up and I remember all the awesome things you can do in the summer.
Still, I’m in that bummed-out phase and I’ll be there for another week or so. In the meantime, I find myself watching snowboarding YouTube clips from my favorite snowboarding YouTuber and re-watching Breckenridge’s promotional clips from the days when I was there.
What an incredible winter! Here’s my highlights.
The instructors took all of us to a blue run and asked us to mimic their medium-sized dynamic carves for about 50 yards. One-by-one, everyone showed their rendition. No one looked great. I went down, got low, and made my turns just the way I wanted. As we all met up on the side of the slopes, I heard the instructors switching me to the top level lesson and all those double-black-diamond-talking riders got demoted to the mid-level class. Justice!
I was so excited. All the work I’ve put toward my carving over the past years felt like it was finally validated. I’ve done something right on our humble 200-foot Michigan slopes! I’m riding near a level 7 on a scale of 10. When we asked our instructor what it takes to get to level 10, he said riding switch down double blacks. I’ll be happy if I solidly place myself in level 8 any time down the road. 🙂
All and all, a good year, but I think I could have worked more on switch and airs instead of spending so much time on my regular riding.
Game plan for next year:
Photos of the season:
I don’t take much time or attention away from snowboarding to take pictures, but here’s a few moments I captured.
It was absolutely down pouring at A-Basin when I arrived. I’ve never been in snow falling that heavily 🙂 By the time you got back up to the top of a run, it was refreshed with new powder for you!
When I think about technology’s progress, I marvel at how many things have become easier over the years. Gone are the command prompts of DOS and now even my grandma is a proficient tablet user. You no longer need a smart young nephew or a snarky, ponytailed friend to get your computer or wifi network up and running.
Progress is incredible, even when it takes 25 to 30 years to alleviate frustrations with technology.
There’s one holdout though and that’s the password. You would think after all this time with billions of people plugged in that we would have a better solution for passwords. I won’t go into the reasons why memorizing and typing your password is still with us today, but I’ll tell you how I go about managing my passwords.
In light of the recent Russian hacking of 1+ billion usernames and passwords combos, you may want to rethink how you create and manage your passwords.
That’s all I have. Two strong passwords. I use one password for my e-mail and the other for my password manager – LastPass.
Having a strong password on your e-mail account is essential because hackers who compromise your e-mail can initiate password resets for most of your online accounts. For example, a hacker might go to your banking website, type in your e-mail and ask the bank to send a password reset to your e-mail. Then, they happily log into your e-mail, complete the password reset using their own password, and voilà, they have access to your bank and you do not. Now, most banks have sophisticated programming that can prevent this kind of attack, but many sites do not.
Consider the case of Mat Honan from Wired magazine who had his digital life torched in less than an hour. Hackers managed to daisy-chain through his accounts (Twitter, Apple, Google accounts), using access to his e-mail account in order to gain access to the rest – “one ring to rule them all” is echoing through my mind.
Not only did they gain control of his accounts, but they were also able to wipe his iPhone, iPad, and MacBook clean of data using Apple’s remote wipe feature. The ability to remotely wipe your device might sound like a dangerous feature to offer, but it’s there to protect you in the event of theft. Sadly, in this case, it was used to destroy his personal property. Imagine losing your family photos and videos that you thought were safely stored on your phone or PC.
Besides protecting my e-mail with a strong password, I use a different complex password to protect my password manager – LastPass. LastPass creates and stores random, complex passwords for all of my sites. I honestly cannot tell you the password to any of my banking accounts. They’re long, cryptic, and would probably even give the NSA some trouble in cracking. LastPass knows them all and dutifully fills them in for me when I visit a website.
It might sound scary to some people to let a password manager control all of your passwords. No system is without risk however. I see a bigger risk in using weak, but memorable passwords for my online accounts. Or worse yet, writing them down and keeping them under my keyboard or tucked away in my wallet. No one reading this does that, right? Good.
For my e-mail and my password manager, I rely on a trick that’s served me well for several years now.
I use song lyrics.
They’re easy to remember, long, and with some punctuation marks, random capitalization, you should come up with highly secure, yet memorable passwords.
Here’s an example: “Mary had a little lamb, Little lamb, Little lamb!”
According to HowSecureIsMyPassword.net, that password would take an average desktop computer 488 quattuorvigintillion years to crack. (I’m going to spend the rest of the day mastering the pronunciation of quattuorvigintillion.)
Most e-mail providers and password manager applications allow you to create passwords like this with spaces. Don’t underestimate the power of spaces in your passwords. They are a character and they add to the complexity of any password.
You may think it would be annoying to type in such a long password, but in my experience it’s not that bad. My fingers are used to typing sentences and words. They even seem to move faster when I’m typing a song lyric instead of the nonsense of a password. Plus, I kind of sing it in my head, which is fun. Just don’t whistle or sing it out loud. 🙂
Two-factor authentication is a must for any online account that offers the service, especially your e-mail and banking accounts.
What two-factor authentication does is it sends a secret code to your mobile device which must be entered along with your password on a given website. You don’t have to receive and enter a code every time you login – sites have a way to remember you – but they will ask for codes again after a certain number of days or when you (or someone evil) tries to log in using an unfamiliar computer.
There’s very little annoyance involved with this extra step. The peace of mind alone is worth it.
If you haven’t used two-factor before, check out this video from Google.
Note: Two-factor also goes by 2-step and multi-factor authentication.
Passwords are annoying for most users and things are not likely to change any time soon. So we have to change.
Start by creating a highly secure password for your e-mail. A compromised e-mail address can be all a hacker needs to hijack your digital life.
Then, become more familiar with password managers. Not only do these programs create and manage highly complex passwords for you, they also provide the ability to automatically log you into sites when they detect you’re on the login page. This feature alone has saved me countless hours over the years.
Finally, take some time to learn about two-factor authentication and enable it on all of your accounts. As you learn about two-factor, be sure that you understand the concept of backup codes. These are pre-determined, disposable codes that you can use in the event that you lose or are without your phone. Without these codes or your phone, you cannot access your account and going through a verification process to prove your identity could be a long and slow process.
What do you think of my approach? Am I missing anything or leaving a glaring secure hole?
I don’t know how it started. Maybe it was the clause in Google’s terms and conditions that gives them near ownership of the content you upload to Google Drive or those creepy targeted ads that follow you from one site to another, but a few months ago I went on a privacy kick.
In the past, I was one of the chorus who said, “I don’t have anything to hide, so… so what?” As advertisers and tech companies show more of their hand and expose how much they really know and profit from us, I realized I was giving them more value than their “free” services were returning to me.
As in any relationship, when you feel you’re giving more than you’re getting, it makes you feel like a bit of a fool.
So a month ago I started researching alternatives to Google’s products. For the most part, I’m Google-free. Here’s how I did it:
Google Search
(Alternative: DuckDuckGo)
vs 
This is the toughie. Google Search is a powerful, predictive solution. It literally completes your thoughts for you as you type them. It does that by learning from you as you search and custom baking results just for you. When you leave Google Search, it’s like losing that best friend who you don’t have to explain things to. They already know the story, your background, your quirks.
When I switched over to DuckDuckGo – a privacy obsessed alternative to Google Search – I had to start from scratch again. When I searched for something like “smoothie bar plymouth,” DuckDuckGo made its best guess and figured I was more likely to be looking for a smoothie in Plymouth, MA than Plymouth, MI. Granted, while Maui Wowi on Water Street in Plymouth, MA looks awesome, it isn’t going to satisfy my random, cold liquified fruit cravings.
So, I have to work a little harder with DuckDuckGo and write complete queries that include the exact location or extra keywords. It reminded me that I used to work that hard before Google became so smart. I did it before; I can do it again.
Google Mail
(Alternative: Zoho Mail + my own domain from GoDaddy)
vs 
+ 
Of all of Google’s products, I thought Gmail was going to be the hardest to leave. It turned out to be the easiest.
Zoho Mail is a slick alternative to Gmail. It’s interface – although not as fancy as Google’s – is just as functional. In fact, I like it better than Gmail after a month of use.
While I do miss the way Gmail displays previous conversations, I love how Zoho opens new e-mails in their own tab and allows me to open multiple e-mails at once and then bounce between tabs. It’s easier than the disconnection you feel as you open one e-mail and then have to close it entirely to switch back to a draft you were writing.
Zoho gives me Mail, Calendar, and Contacts (along with ActiveSync so it plays well with my phone) for only $2/month (10GB of storage). They migrated my nearly 10 years of Gmail e-mails with ease, so I didn’t lose any of my e-mail history. I’m an e-mail pack rat. I admit it.
While you can get a @zoho.com address, I already had a domain ($8/year) purchased through GoDaddy. I followed Zoho’s how-to guides and had GoDaddy routing incoming mgrabowski.com e-mails to Zoho’s servers in less than 30 minutes.
I’m so satisfied that I cannot imagine returning to Gmail again.
Google Maps
(Alternative: None)
I tried. I really tried. Waze. Scout. Even MapQuest. Google Maps has maps down cold.
This is mainly due to their great directory of businesses and attractions. A few weeks ago I was out at the Nichols Arboretum in Ann Arbor with a friend. She was pretty sure how to get there, but I tried my alternative map apps as a backup, just in case.
Only Google Maps and Waze (admitedly, owned by Google) had any idea what or where the Nichols Arboretum might be. MapQuest suggested that I might want to navigate to Arboretum in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. When I asked it for a route and time estimate, it apologized and said it couldn’t figure that out. This frustrated me even more than the suggestion that I navigate to South Africa because now I really wanted to know how long it would take to journey by ferry, car, and foot to the southern tip of Africa.
Google Maps returns enough value to me for the location information I share with them. I’ll stick with it until the alternatives get better.
Google Chrome
(Alternative: Dolphin for mobile, Mozilla Firefox for desktop)
vs 
vs 
I’m struggling to replace Chrome. Firefox on the desktop feels slower than Chrome and it likes to crash on me (both probably due to a few buggy plugins). Dolphin is fine on mobile, but I miss the sync functionality of Chrome that allowed my bookmarks to live across multiple platforms (except iOS).
I’m still working on this one, but I think I’m going to ditch Dolphin for Firefox mobile. If only Firefox had an iOS app, but given iOS’ design, Mozilla says it has no plans to deliver an app.
Google Drive
(Alternative: Dropbox)
vs 
I know I could take some privacy flack for this one given concerns about Dropbox’s security and the appointment of Condolezza Rice to their board of directors earlier this year.
After reading their terms and conditions, I’m ok with using Dropbox for right now. Dropbox doesn’t claim any rights to use my content, whereas Google says:
When you upload, submit, store, send or receive content to or through our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. (as of 07/03/2014)
That line just creeps me out.
Google Play Music
(Alternative: None)
For those who love music and haven’t tried Google Play Music, you are missing out. Google Play Music allows you to upload your entire MP3 collection to the cloud (well, technically only 20,000 songs) and then stream your music to any desktop or Android device. Your whole music collection follows you, in your car, in the park, at the coffee shop, and you can even download offline copies of your songs so you can listen without a data connection.
Like Maps, the design and incomparable functions of Google Play Music makes me willing to volunteer my personal information in exchange for the free service. Somewhere they are building a lucrative advertising profile for 30-something-year-olds who live in Southeastern Michigan, search for snowboarding and rock climbing videos on YouTube, and have excellent musical taste. I can live with that.
Conclusion
It’s not easy to give up on the convenience of Google. They make great products that can become an integral part of your digital life.
But you have to ask yourself a simple question: Am I getting a fair shake for what I give X company?
The film Terms and Conditions May Apply (available on Netflix streaming) estimates that Google makes about $500/year from monetizing your personal data. Their services can be pretty awesome, but I don’t feel they are worth $500 to me.
As I moved away from Google, I was reminded of how the internet felt before Google, Facebook, and Amazon captured their respective corners of the internet. We used to string together various applications and different companies to meet our needs. My e-mail used to be stored on local servers at my ISP. My web searches entailed visiting Lycos, Altavista and Yahoo! to find the best results. I would go directly to CDNow and then Amazon to compare prices.
The know the idea of using multiple search engines for a single search result seems insane nowadays and it is. Although I wouldn’t go back to those days, I do ask myself whether convenience is worth giving most of my business or personal data to one company. Is that really the best thing for our economy and the internet? It’s not.
If we all sign up for Google or become Amazon Prime customers, what happens to that small start-up that has a cool service, but doesn’t have the war chest to compete with the big guys? The internet and our economy thrives on competition. It’s capitalism at its finest. Comcast is about to find that out later today after doubling my bill in an area where AT&T U-Verse has a comparable service at half the price.
If you walk away with one idea from this post, just realize that your personal data is a commodity. When you hand it over, place a value on it and expect something in return. And don’t be afraid to pack up and take your business elsewhere. It’s not as scary out there as you may think and you might even find a better product. At a minimum, you may be doing the internet and our economy some good.
Years ago after Peace Corps, I made a promise to never become callous when it came to beggars. I told myself, even if you don’t feel like giving something, give just a little. I did this because I felt if I always tried to decide whether the person deserved it or if my donation would have an unintended effect, I would eventually seize up and stop caring at all. Better to err on the side of being taken advantage of, I figured, rather than to close my heart and pass up everyone.
In recent years, I’ve definitely been hit or miss. I’d say I give to 60% of beggars or those looking for donations, including some college girls in Ann Arbor this past winter who I’m convinced used it to fund a roaring kegger. So what.
My mind shifted yesterday when I gave a bit to a guy on an expressway ramp and I’m recommitting myself to giving a little whenever I come across someone who is asking. I can hear all of my friends and family lining up right now to ask. 🙂 You’re excluded, unless I find you with a sign on a city corner, which I hope I never do.
I’m doing this because at a minimum everyone deserves to be acknowledged, to know that they exist, to not be obviously ignored and walked past. We all know the feeling of doing that.
So what I’m doing is simple. If I have a dollar in my wallet, I’m going to give it. I’m going to make eye contact, say hi and hang in there. That’s it.
It’s just a dollar. Inflation has pretty much made it worthless. If you’re gainfully employed, think about how many beggars you come across in a year. I’m sure it varies, but for me I’d put my yearly giving expense at about $30 – 40 dollars. That’s not much.
When I don’t have a dollar handy, I’m going say hi and explain that I don’t have enough on me. If bothered or harassed, I’m sure I can fall back on my Peace Corps experience of just saying the same thing over and over – “I already have one, thank you” (for insistent sellers) or “Sorry (brother/sister/mother/father), there’s nothing right now” (for beggars).
This reminds me that I was voted “Most Likely To Be Talking to a Stranger” when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Madagascar. I miss those chats. I was always fascinated by the conversations that followed when the person abandoned their original intentions and we just started talking.
This post is partially inspired by the blog zenhabits.net. A common theme there is that when you’re going to make a change in life, broadcast it to foster a sense of accountability. If you haven’t checked out that blog yet, you definitely should.
Few experiences in my life have taught me more than the first time I went rock climbing.
On a warm Colorado day in 1999, I received my first quick lessons on tying knots and a run down of the commands I would repeat to let my partner know I was ready to climb. As a healthy, invincible high schooler, I was pretty sure this was going to be cake. I readied myself – “Belay on? Belay is on.” – and latched onto the limestone face of a beginner’s route – “Climbing. Climb away!”
Initially, I didn’t have much trouble. My rested muscles helped me lurch up the rock, my lanky frame made me feel confident. About half way up the 60-foot route, I ran into a problem which seemed to have no immediate solution. I was stuck and couldn’t see a way forward.
I clutched the wall against the advice of my belayer on the ground who told me to let go and rest on the rope for a while. I couldn’t. Too many thoughts rushed through my head. “Did I tie the knot right? Will my harness hold? What if the rope snaps?”
Strength and confidence slipped away.
Noticing a bolt in the rock, I removed my right hand and hooked my index finger through its metal loop. It felt good and secure, but it was also a big mistake. My experienced belayer let me know that if I wanted to keep that finger, I would need to put it back on the rock. I guess having you finger in a metal bolt loop is a great way to detach important digits if you slip from the rock.
I returned my hand shyly to the rock face and gripped in again, but now my legs began to shake. Maybe I could just come down and try again later. This was my first time after all and I’m sure no one expected me to make it the entire way. While logical, this explanation didn’t inspire any sympathy from my belayer. He was from the school of not letting people back down unless they made it to the top or truly exhausted themselves. I was left with few choices.
So after several confirmations of whether he had me or not, I let go of the rock and sat back into my harness tentatively with my hands firmly around the rope. Deep breaths. This high up, you could see the valley below and I realized how quickly the ground descended just behind my belayer. It gave you a feeling of being much higher than you were.
I craned my neck up and along the rest of the route. It still looked daunting and unsolvable, but after a short time I let go of the rope and allowed my hands rest. With some encouraging words from below, I put my hands and feet back on the rock and scrambled up the rest of the route.
My memory doesn’t recall much from the moment when I reconnected with the rock and finished the route, but I do remember the equal parts of exhilaration and exhaustion that I felt back on the ground. My hands were so stressed from the experience that I couldn’t close them. I placed my palms out in front of me and sent silent commands for them to close. They did nothing but remain open.
Despite the exhaustion, I was giddy and couldn’t stop talking about the climb. My body and mind were pushed to new extremes and somehow came out the other end safe and stronger (although I needed 15 minutes of rest before I ascended my next route).
In a short period of time with the Colorado sun beating down on me, climbing forced me through through some of our deepest, contrasting human emotions: strength and weakness, confidence and humility, self-doubt and resiliency, fear and trust.
All of that in one short beginner’s route. I still think back to the first ascent on a regular basis. At work or in my personal life, it reminds me that solutions to problems aren’t always apparent. If you fail the first time, take a break, lean back on the rope and re-imagine a new approach.
Never underestimate the support of others. Although they can’t overcome the obstacle for you, their support is crucial in helping you find the solution.
Most of all, you have to push and challenge yourself to grow. Without challenges and failures, there would be no feeling of accomplishment.
When I was managing a bundle of client projects and working hard to keep my eye on some internal projects I wanted to participate in, I found it difficult to disconnect from my work at the end of the day.
Thoughts would race through my head as I exercised, as I made dinner, as I laid down to bed. “Tomorrow I need to talk to so and so. I need to remember to follow up on this or that. I need to propose this idea. And so on and so on.”
Somewhere in the mix of that period, I started doing something I call a braindump at the end of each day. Once I wrap up my work, I take out a piece of paper and I make a list of outstanding tasks and thoughts. Many of them are things I didn’t finish that day. Some are things that I want to make sure I start in the next few. Some are big projects, some are small reminders like thanking someone or taking a walk at lunch the next day.
With that list made, I turn it over and place it on my keyboard for the next morning.
What I found is that my mind would let go of those thoughts. They were on the paper, waiting for me. Sure, my brain would still churn some of these tasks in the background, but I felt like they cropped up in my active thought processes a lot less, especially as I was going to sleep.
Give it a try and see if it helps you let go of the day and recharge for the next one.
Add some checkboxes for extra points (they’re so cathartic to check off) 🙂