I have been having a tough week. How can you tell? Well anyone who looks at my credit card statement would know. I have been doing some serious shopping this week (almost everyday).
For those of you who are interested here are some of the things I have bought:
Stila Foundation with SPF 30
Being someone with very fair skin I always try to wear moisturizer and skin care products with spf. I found this foundation at Sephora and the non-greasy aspect souned interesting. I have been wearing it every day this week and I just love it. The foundation has more coverage than Laura Mercier’s tinted moisturizer (the one I have been using–it has an SPF 20). I like the way it even outs my complexion and lasts for most of the day. If I was going out at night I would definitely reapply it though.
Tarte Cheek Stain in Dollface
I am a huge fan of cream blush. I put on some much blush sometimes I worry I could be mistaken for a Moulin Rouge dancer (without the fringe and sequins–at least most days!). I had long heard about Tarte cosmetics and how people would put the cheek stain on their eyes as eye shadow and lips as lipstick. I had never tried it though, but I figured with all the hype it was worth a shot. So far I really like it. I layer it on top of my foudation and it gives me a cute rosey glow. I have also been putting it on my lips too. In fact the other morning it reminded me of how much I miss lipstick. I use tons of lip gloss but sometimes I miss the sheer sexiness of applying a tube of lipstick. Sigh.
Another pair of Cole Haan pumps
After the first pair of these heels I bought at the Nordstrom sale I have been craving another. In fact I was just reading in US Weekly that Angelina Jolie has been wearing these all throughout her pregnancy because they are so comfortable (as if you needed another reason for comfy shoes). I got these in nude patent leather, 4 inch heels–so cute! I can’t wait to wear them with skirts and shorts this summer!
More La Mer moisturizer
I was running low, so I ordered some more. Pretty boring–but it was expensive! I have really dry skin so this works well for me, but I probably wouldn’t recommend it for people with oily skin (although they make a gel version that is supposed to work well for those folks, but I haven’t tried it). I swear putting this on a sunburn makes it heal twice as fast–and it was designed by a real rocket scientist (from JPL) so I know there is some science behind it (I like things with technology as opposed to some skincare regimens that involve honey, oatmeal, and olive oil).
Hanae Mori Butterfly Parfum
I have been on the search for a new scent. I used to wear Chanel Mademoiselle, then Chanel Chance, then Emporio Armani Diamonds, then Mariah Carey M (because it had marshmallow scent!), and then most recently Dolce and Gabbana The One (a gift from Garrett). While we were in Vegas we noticed that some of the dancers had great perfumers–they smell really good! So I have been on a mission for “Stripper Perfume” so to speak. Butterfly and Angel seemed to be the two that were most recommended to me, so I ordered both online. Angel smelled awful on me, but Butterfly was very nice. It still isn’t the exact scent that I was looking for, so I am still trolling for a new perfume, but for now I am really enjoying the freshness and feminine scent of Butterfly.
That is it so far, but there is still one more day left in the work week so I am sure I can find some more things to buy!
I came across this article which articulates some of the challenges of having a great, easy to use product, and an open platform where other can innovate on top of your technology (enabling all sorts of useful applications and if you monetize it correctly additional revenue streams).
When I was at Windows this was one of the problems in developing Windows 2000. We had opened up our platform to allow hardware vendors to write software and hardware. They were supposed to use our finite set of APIs to access things (such as writing to the registry), however since APIs were limited in early versions of windows, people would muck around the code and figure out how to achieve what they needed with their application (or sometimes were even given those instructions from Microsoft employees so we would have more hardware that was compatible with our operating system). This later lead to lets of problems because applications built on top of the OS could overwrite bits, leak memory, and other bad things all of which could cause things like the blue screen of death. Microsoft took control of this situation by creating more APIs, more documentation, and creating “trusted”software programs that assured a user the software they were about to install was a trusted application. At the time I worked in Windows (many years ago), one of the selling points (say above a Macintosh) was that it was compatible with so much software and hardware. This was because Windows (whether it meant to be or not) was largely an open platform.
Apple on the other hand is the King of User Experience. I use an Apple Powerbook and it seldom ever gets restarted. I rarely have a problem with any application I run. Apple is known for being a closed platform. Apple gives developers a finite set of APIs to work with–APIs that are well protected so they can ensure applications don’t affect the over all Apple experience. They are doing this with the iPhone now too. Developers sometimes complain that they are limited with what is possible on the Apple platform, but as a user I like the simplicity and consistency between applications I use and install.
In my opinion, web services are the crux of the next generation of software–where you never install anything and everything runs seamlessly through your broadband connection. With this new technology and new paradigm for building software the whole open platform idea has a whole new life of its own. Amazon AWS opens up the basic things: computation power, storage, and messaging–what you need to build any web application. Increasingly more and more companies are building their software on services. Using Flex (the technology we use at my company for our front end development) one of the primary ways to power an application is web services based. So then as a business if your software is built this way, when do you open it up for innovation? How do you let users build on top of your platform so that is controlled and you still have a great user experience?
Facebook got lots of hype and developer fanfare over their open platform, but most of the applications annoy me–when I logon and see a bunch of junk. While I have a bunch of them installed on my profile, it was more because of apathy for removing them than the fact I actually use them. Facebook is a great distraction and I like the entertaining aspect of social networks, but I do not find the rate your friends, vote for who is most popular (maybe because I never was?), or kick your friends in the head applications all my friends seem to have installed. But with each of these applications people are spending more time on Facebook, and increased engagement means more money. So are they really wrong here?
So how do you get it right? I think the jury is still out. The debate is interesting though and definitely something I am thinking about a lot.
Here is the article: Pluggd Targets Brightcove With Delve Networks, A New Video Delivery Platform.
This is super exciting for our team, as we have been working so hard. But as with any launch, I have the feeling the hard work is just beginning. We changed our name (can I tell you how excited I am that our name is spelled correctly) and we are ready to revolutionize the world of video on the web.
Over the years I found it increasingly easy to get more done at work. I don’t know if I am alone in this, but I used to get very little done in the office. Even if I had a lot of work I would allow myself to be distracted or bored. Most of the time I would procrastinate until the last minute and then scramble to get all of my work done (and thankfully because I was smart and capable of working 24 hours straight I almost always did). So how did I get out of this cycle? I started setting goals.
At first it started with breaking down the task into little pieces. So if I had to write a document for example, I would first write an outline, this gave me the pieces I needed. Then I would use the outline to break the document into sections. Then I would set goals–on Monday I will do section 1, Tuesday section 2, etc. Although often times I wouldn’t go in order. I would work on the sections I liked first. So for example, if part of the document needed research and another section I already knew about, I would start with the section that would be the easiest to write. What I found was that once I had momentum and almost all the sections written it was easy to finish the other sections because I hated leaving work undone. It was like once I started the project, I just wanted to finish it.
Now I take this approach with every aspect of my life. I break things into small pieces (one look in my notebooks or desk you will find a whole slew of “to do” lists) and make lots of lists. They will have things like “book plane flight to LA”, or “drop off dry cleaning”, or “write email to EG”. Almost everything I do is written down. Even my blog entries. I think writing things down makes them more tangible and being able to cross things off the list always gives me a sense of accomplishment.
Some people blame procrastination on time management, other people say that procrastinators don’t start tasks because the tasks are overwhelming (too big), sometimes it is because that person is afraid of failure or don’t think they can do something perfect. I think all of those are possibilities for some. In fact, I think of myself as a perfectionist and certainly someone that allows large tasks to overwhelm me. I read a bunch of article on procrastination before writing this entry and many attribute it to psychological conditions where thinking about tasks as easy and manageable can help, as well as just change your frame of mind. This may very well be true, and perhaps my goal setting is how I do it. Regardless, though, I think that breaking things up into pieces and then tackling them one by one is a great way to just get more done–and who doesn’t want that?
So I have refrained from putting a lot of personal info up here, but since I haven’t been posting much the last few weeks I figured I should provide a bit of an explanation.
Next week, my company (Pluggd Inc.) is going to be making a major announcement. I am going to be in Los Angeles at the OnHollywood conference for our new product launch. Needless to say the preparation and work over the last few weeks has been keeping all of us really busy. I will definitely post an update as soon as I am back from the conference with all the details of what I have been working so hard on for the last several months (I think my friends have all given me a hard time that I never eat dinner anywhere other than at work!).
On a side note, I did get to go to Las Vegas. We had an absolute blast and I even ended up about $184 on my gambling. Next time I hope we have more time to gamble (as it was all we did was party and eat!).
