young astronauts?

space. i've kinda always wanted to go.

unlike the generation before, i didn't have a Cold War, Space Race, and/or Moonshot to inspire me. there was (science) fiction, which i suppose resulted from these more significant events. regardless, the effect of space on who i've become has been substantial. though i'm still coming to terms with what it means for me (if anything) as a grown-up.

here's a random story of that journey, with some sort of point/realization at the end, i promise.


a long time ago...

my parents took me to see Star Wars at the local drive-in. i was a baby, so while i really have no recollection of this, it's worth mentioning. the following years (ages 2-6) i did venture to a galaxy far, far away countless times - albeit on VHS. X-wing fighters, the princess in space, death stars (2), droids, wookies and lightsabers set my imagination alight. i DO remember seeing Return of the Jedi at our local dollar theatre, while Empire would not tint my outlook that "the world is a series of down-notes" until much, much later. but the damage had been done. space WAS the place. the force would be with me, always.

my mom was actually a science teacher, and her best friend worked in the science/computer lab. by the time i was in 2nd grade (age 7), i was playing during/after school with toy rockets - not the spaceships that powered my imaginary adventures, but  the kind that actually shoot towards the sky via chemical propulsion. at school, i remember the big day we gathered to watch a teacher blast off into space, only to leave in tears after the Challenger exploded into so many pieces. regardless, i stayed immersed in fancies of flight - whether it be of the real, paper, and/or foam variety (i also happened to obsess over legos, comics, and ninja turtles...but those are entirely separate posts). i joined the "Young Astronauts" club, eventually went to Space Camp, and i quickly knew my way around the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum via frequent summer DC trips (one of which involved my visiting grandparents getting an in-depth tour). the real reason the Fantastic Four was 100-times cooler than Batman or Spider-Man? they spent pretty much all their time in space or other dimensions, and they got their powers from cosmic rays. clearly the only way for me to get super powers (a priority at the time) was to get to space - i wasn't getting anywhere near radioactive spiders or gamma bombs. by the time Star Trek: the Next Generation debuted (age 8), space had me, hook line, and sinker.

yea i know, i was becoming quite the weirdo. don't get me started on my blue-green glasses.


Raketenwissenschaft.
it took me a bit too long to realize what a dork i was (age 9). my childhood best friend actually had to confront me with this fact, which sparked far too many years of "how do i fit in?" self-obsession. it wasn't until i quit "trying" (embracing my inner nerd) that i achieved moderate success here. but throughout this adolescent/teenage ordeal, my imaginations and thoughts of space provided an easy-enough escape. out there things were bigger, more important concerns than how well you dressed or played sports (both of which i was particularly lacking).

the real reason i speak German fluently proficiently? i often tell people that my teacher's daughter was cute, but i didn't meet her until high school (though our assistant teacher the year before was easy on the eyes). given this post, you can probably surmise that the German-thing started much, much earlier, prior to any cute "academic influences." in fifth grade (age 10), we had the opportunity to start taking a language. Spanish seemed to easy (my love of Mexican food was not a big enough influence at the time). all the super-nerds were taking Latin (eventually helpful for their SATs?). i really have no idea why anyone would take French (girls were also not as much a concern at this age, nor was the prospect of working at a French yogurt company). but you know where all of the American rocket technology came from? ZE GERMANS. Werner Von Braun, to be specific (never mind the fact that he was first a nazi scientist who reigned fire on the England from above).

so clearly, in my space-addled mind, speaking the language of the original rocketeers (technically, that might have been the Chinese, since they discovered/invented gunpowder) was the most sure-fire way to get a job at NASA later on in life. with a few other friends (whose motivations for the language escapes me), we stuck with it well into and through our teenage years. along the way, i through myself into visual art (i blame comic books), and finished high school at a "math & science" school, where among my fellow nerds, your placement in physics and calculus gave you some status. i got a little better at sports and dressing along the way (relative to my math-and-science classmates), but not by much.



becoming a "grown up"

soon enough, high school came to a close, and it was now time to go to college. i certainly wasn't going to fulfill parentally-mandated stereotypes and become a doctor. and said-parents were certainly not going to let their son study art (my other teenage obsession, competing with emo music and cute girls). so (computer) engineering would become the great compromise. as computers were becoming the next "hot thing" in 90s, and i knew a thing or two more than my elders, they reluctantly went along with such pursuits. but even then, in the back of my (german-speaking, awkward teen) mind, did any of this have to do with space anymore? while i did spend a lot of late nights working on physics/calculus problems watching TNG reruns, the fast-encroaching real world was slowly eroding my passion for space. besides, college was also where my interest in (live) rock music, travel, and yes, girls caught on more.

during a couple of summers i interned with a giant defense contractor, living in Huntsville, AL, the birthplace of the US space program (WVB FTW). every day i drove by a giant space shuttle and Saturn V rocket, which never got old. one of my first big projects - working on NASA web-training modules, while easy enough, was mind-numbing enough to scare me away from government work, much less a career as a computer engineer. the remote realities of space started to lose even more of it's luster (really George Lucas? Episode 1...Jar Jar?!?). returning to school, convinced that i wouldn't become an engineer, i toyed with other creative pursuits, started listening to more bands, meeting new girls, finished my engineering/german degrees, and eventually ran away to Europe for a short bit. space was the furthest thing from my mind. i eventually wound up lost in business school, stumbled into a career of (digital) marketing, and never really looked back. one positive thing for me leaving everything behind, and getting out of the south. i was traveling at warp speed into the personal unknown.


as of late.

i still don't know how or why i work in marketing. selling stuff isn't my forté. i just landed here. but i seem to do it well, and they pay me lots of money - which allows me to travel. there's something about the intersection of people (we call them consumers...how condescending is that?) and technology...that's the good stuff that excites me to come to work every day (other stuff has me hitting the snooze button, but again, that's antoher post). marketing/media tends to be at the front edge of these changing habits and practices...probably because we're trying to find new ways to break through the clutter, and make a buck. don't get me started on "media fragmentation." and the creative wizardy we love Don Draper for? it's even more relevant now than it ever was before, assuming the intentions are noble and not evil.

along the way, there have been many an occasional (sometimes obsessive) flirtation with Hubble, Mars, Asimov, Zahn, Branson, and yes, Battlestar Galactica (don't judge me). it doesn't really compare to the love of space from my youth, but the fire has always been kindled. after all, i'm a nerd at heart. though lately, there's been a bit of a re-awakening, from what seems like a far-too-long hibernation.

i recently started reading Neil deGrasse Tyson's Space Chronicles. for those of you that don't know Neil, he's the astrophysicist with the Hayden Planetarium at the NY Museum of Natural History, and is constantly on TV talking to the likes of Stewart, Maher, and others about why space matters. Neil's main literary premise (which this post parallels and supports), is that mere idea of space exploration is something that, since the 60's, has ignited the hearts and minds of people to pursue science, math, and yes, technology. how else are we going to get all the way up there?

but recent decades has seen the commoditization of space travel. no longer are we trying to go beyond our current reach (soulless satellites and probes do not count). the moon was supposed to be our first of many stops. instead, we chose to languish in low earth orbit. so our communal desire to explore "out there"was blunted.

sure, there were always few(er) inspired geeks/nerds like me, but we grew up, and found other, less meaningful pursuits. and yes, i won't argue against the fact that as a society, technology is still exploding, exponentially - but we've turned inward - focusing on digital and social technologies, which have been amazing at creating connections and access that never existed before, but are quickly devolving into a feedback-loop of self-fulfilling likes, check-ins, and status updates - on the web, on our phones, tablets and soon television (don't get me started on the inherent evils and ever-dumbing down that comes from that particular box that sucks the best of us in). so many of these eventually world-changing technologies were born out of space exploration - the need to do the impossible. we'll continue to innovate, but one of the key catalysts is quickly languishing. i can only reference my personal slumber as a relevant example.


in closing.
i like to think that

...i just don't know how to get there anymore.

Ísland (Iceland): volcanoes, glaciers, and a really long run-on sentence.

last weekend the Missus + i ventured north on a quick jaunt to Iceland. while we did not see the Northern Lights (cursed clouds!), it was overall, a fantastic trip. in summary:

...we had really short days,

...experienced cool architecture,

...tried to read unpronounceable things,

...felt sorry for the cold duckies,

...learned about volcanoes from an old guy,

...drove through lots of snow,

...rolled past landscapes from another planet (and really hairy horses),

...ate bacon-wrapped hot dogs (don't forget the fried onions!),

...sat under really big volcanoes (Eyjafjallajökull?),

...stood under freezing waterfalls (Skógafoss means "double rainbow" in Icelandic*),

*it doesn't.

...slid over LOTS of ice,

...hiked up a glacier (clamp-ons baby!),

...kept an eye on the mountains' trolls,

...shared a sunset from the top,

...drank (in healthy moderation),

...stewed in a blue lagoon,

...enjoyed some local Mexican food (of course),

...looked down on the colorful rooftops,

...shopped for comics in a Nordic flea-market,

...amused ourselves with the weird (sometimes break-dancy) statue-ry,

...resisted the urge to buy touristy things,

...tried to ignore the locals' quirky habits,

...dined on fancy-fresh seafood with our fellow Asians,

...avoided Vikings wherever possible,

...spent lots of time with my favorite person, 

...and after a few short days, reluctantly went home on an aero-plane.

i travel to lots of places, and usually wouldn't mind a return trip back. but often such re-adventures are foregone to make room for the other 157 countries left on my list. but i'll tell you, Iceland's so captivating, and SO close, i might just have to make a return trip in the near future (perhaps to hear some tunes?).

here's the complete photologue:

next stop? hopefully somewhere warmer. as long as it's cool.

Syria.

not a day goes by that we don't hear about Syria.

the noise is only getting louder.

i know, bad stuff happens in the world all the time (i am that jaded), but Syria has been striking a particular chord with me for weeks.

"to know somewhere, go somewhere." -me (i just made that up, should someone else claim it, i googled it and found nothing).

that's one of the reasons i'm addicted to travel. in April 2010 my buddy Will + I decided it would be a stop of our Middle East trip (we also spent some time in Jordan + Dubai). what i didn't know then is that it would be THE stop. i already wrote a more detailed post about this trip, photos and all (Syria is about halfway down).

i've been lots of places, but i've rarely met a people as friendly as those in Syria. while i didn't go as far as going into homes like my fellow backpacker pal from Korea, everywhere we encountered smiling, welcoming locals.

our driver Abraham and his Arabic pop music, the fresh fish guy (and his son) on the street, the weird gypsy lady and her outdoor pizza oven, the numerous hotel patrons with their boiled eggs and pita, the guys on the street handing us random candy, the Aleppo waiter bringing out ice cream for no reason, the crazy taxi driver(s), the rug salesman our age we spoke with at the bathes who was kinda ok with Israel, and of course, the many, many kids at the ruins asking me to have their picture with Will (tall white guy? he must be a European footballer!), etc. don't get me started on the food.

and now they're being shot at and shelled. by their president. and their army.

and nothing. is. happening.

so for some (obvious) reason, this has been particularly upsetting.

i get it, this isn't the first time this has happened in the world, and nor will it be the last. and big surprise, we do nothing, because this is "a (relatively) unique situation on the world stage."

i know the superheroes i grew up with had no such BS qualms.

Bashar al-Assad. you really suck.

seriously, go away already.

Iceland.

whose bright (pun intended) idea was it to head to a place with the word ICE in it's name in February?
...oh right, this guy (that's me).

we'll be back shortly. until then, enjoy this eponymous tune by my friends at Ozma.

clean gets the lady.

from the entire team here on the interwebs, this long-neglected gem should make sure you and yours have a very happy valentine's day.

you're welcome.

useful skills?

we all have skills.

most are common, some uncommon. some are completely awesome, others not so much. there are those found practical and used every day, while we wonder why we ever learned some in the first place.


most of mine are pretty rudimentary and lame. travelling far and wide, packing fast and light, speaking German (?), pretending i speak the local language, a commandingly fake interest in sports, large knowledge of comic books, a weird knowledge of 3 particular television shows (SBTB, SF, STTNG), using (+ cooking with) chopsticks, frying a mean omelet, driving stick, ironing shirts, cutting mixtapes, speedreading, picking up background music, sense of smell, eating fast, making drawrings, taking photos, and of course writing insanely awesome lists (and/or spreadsheets).

sure, there are others, but i like to keep a few tricks up my sleeve.

more importantly though, i've also put quite a bit of thought into those skills i've always WISHED i had. i'd like to share some of them with you, starting with the more benign, working our way towards the more...suspect. enjoy.

speaking Spanish.
it's the dominant language in ~1/3 of the world's landmass. i live in America (where it's pretty much language #2). i like Mexican food. i am brown. no habla escargo.

riding a motorcycle.
everyone in Vietnam, India, and Latin America can do it, so why shouldn't  i? this is one step above being able to drive stick. you can get around on the cheap and on the quick, period. where state helmet laws do not apply, darwin's laws do, so vehicular skull protection is a mandatory.

playing guitar.
the most practical, introductory musical tool (beyond our whistling or the tambourine, which  require pitch and/or rhythm). sure, the piano is a more common musical denominator, but is not very portable. the drums travel more easily, but doesn't really stand on their own musically. playing Rock Band guitar on hard/expert just isn't good enough anymore. the real thing looks way cool(-er than air guitar), and with the right axe, and amp, sounds cool. plus, then i could get that awesome lighting bolt guitar strap.

picking locks.
you'll never need to carry keys again. plus, you can get in and out of a jam like a ninja (without the smoke bombs, shurikens, or blades of death). i dunno, batman and all his buddies can do it, so why shouldn't i?

some runner-ups (that DON'T quite make the cut)? lip-reading. sign language. sleight of hand. magic. juggling. describing faces. CPR. backflips. base-jumping. climbing. hunting. darts. skateboarding. mad rhymes, yo.

==
i guess i could be more like Mark Z (less like Skee Low), choosing to master one a year. hm. he might just be onto something.

but you're probably asking yourself, "self, why would anyone require any/all of these skills?"

i've got 4 (compound) words for you:

undercover mariachi-band jewel-heist getaway.

you're welcome.

flying people.

want.

...wondering why i didn't come up with this first?

Weezer. on a BOAT.

several months ago, as i was rocking out to one of my long-time favorite bands in the kitchen (not the garage), i decided to consult said band's official interwebbery to catch the latest album/tour news, only to discover this beautiful event was going down on the high seas.

that's right. WEEZER. on a cruise. AND Ozma (another great band i like). AND some other likely-to-be-good bands that were too cool for me to have heard of before (future bragging points!).


i was sold. now i just had to find someone to go with me.


the wife was a pretty immediate "ehhhh" (not good enough if you're going to get ON A BOAT with ~17 bands rocking out). 
...most others asked had "better things to do." 


losers.


fortunately, my tried-and-true travel buddy Will (of Antarctic, Argentine, and Middle-East fame) was game. what's great about Will is that he's ready-and-willing to go to most of the crazy places i get it in my head that i must go (but my wife and/or other friends). what's not-so-great (sadly and truthfully) is that our travels are progressively getting tamer in our my old age (it's a state of mind that Will has not yet "settled down" on). regardless, i'm pretty sure we'll be going to the Mall of America next year (assuming the Dandy Warhols are playing there, because honestly, what can i say? heroin is so passe).


but let's get back to it. 


4 days of rock. on a boat. up close and personal. with drinks. in the sun. throw in  some random towel animals, and that's about as good as it gets. here are some pictures (unfortunately, the fancy-awesome dSLR was NOT brought along, so i had to make do with a point-and-shoot).

net - i got to see Weezer THREE times. i got to see Ozma THREE times. and i discovered quite a few other new bands (the Nervous Wreckords, the Antlers, Wavves, Free Energy, Yuck, and Sleeper Agent are all now in regular rotation to be rocking in my ear-holes). and then most of said bands were frequently seen just hanging around the boat lounging, drinking, gambling, playing basketball, shuffleboard, and of course eating. 


what made the show(s) even better was that it was like a music festival, but significantly less crowded, well, it was on a boat. the screaming hordes of fans weren't bad, quite nice, actually. there was always a great view of the band (whether right up on the stage, sitting at the bar, or atop a giant water slide with a view of the blue blue ocean). and there was usually a waiter walking around to offer you a drink.


we even met some cool German people (wie geht's Martin + Rebecca?!?). and then there was everyone else...with their mostly amusing styles of dress, tattoos, or were just plain weird. it never got old seeing people walking around in their robes all day, but it was quite weird seeing them with their Mexican wrestler masks AND their robes. all in all, everyone was well-behaved.


for your viewing (and listening) entertainment, i took some videos. first up, here's Weezer performing Radiohead's "Paranoid Android":

and just for giggles, in the next video below, pay close attention to the dancing kid in the background (at the top) as Ozma rocked out (image is grainy because i was filming the screen). it made for a really strange (albeit hilarious) juxtaposition, especially towards the end, where Ozma is playing the ever-heart-wrenching "Battlescars":

halfway through the journey, we made a brief stop in Cozumel. saw some Mayan Ruins, some ridiculously large Iguanas, cool kite surfers, chips, salsa, and cerveza on the beach. but most importantly, 10 TACOS FOR 40 PESOS. God bless the Mexican people and their delicious, delicious cuisine. so here are those pictures.

so that's a wrap. there are now FOUR reasons you might get Raman on a boat:
1. to go to Antarctica with Russian sailors.
2. to get to a rain forest in the south China Sea.
3. to get married in international waters (and see Alaska along the way).
      and now,
4. to rock out to one of my favorite bands. =w===
...sadly, Radiohead will never sell out to this extent. and the (good) Beatles are dead. 


so remember, while you take your car to work. i take my board. and when you're out of fuel? i'm still afloat.

next stop, ICELAND.

on death (and life).

a family member passed away last week.


as it was happening. it didn't really seem to affect me. this was an aunt of mine, my mom's eldest sister. she was in the UK, and beyond a few forced/awkward Skype calls (when visiting my mom), i honestly had not made the effort. i only really got to know her as a kid, on the occasional visits across the pond. ~20 years ago she was diagnosed with MS, and it slowly began to affect her mobility, getting significantly worse these past few years. when news of her worsening condition became dire, my mother was quickly on plane. not two days later after she passed away. beyond the relief of her pain being over, and a deep sympathy for my mom, her other sister, and my grandfather - i didn't feel much inside for my now-deceased aunt, and i wasn't sure if this was OK or not.


maybe it's because this isn't the first time i've had to directly dealt with death. i would imagine we all have. 


as a kid, a schoolmate was killed by a drunk driver. the trip to the funeral home gave me some bad dreams. i now only remember all the baseball cards his friends had put in his casket. but i didn't really understand/process what had happened.


over the next few years (my childhood), a lot of my father's family in India would pass away - many uncles i had only met as a six-year-old kid. it was still so distant. i always wondered why i couldn't see my dad express more as all the people i saw on TV. it wasn't until i was in college and his mother (my paternal grandmother) pass away that i saw the affect everything had had on him - the guilt of not being there, of not doing enough. it's not often one sees a parent break down. it leaves an effect on you. compassion for what they've done and sacrificed, and also a glimpse into realizing that we're all human.


around the same time, as a young doctor, my sister had to deal with some pretty horrible things. we don't talk about it often, but it reminds me that the worst we have to offer is closer than you think.


as a young adult (2004), one of my best friends i grew up with took his life. that was a pivotal point for me - shaping the way i view a lot of things, as well as interactions with a lot of people, for better and worse. i try not to think about it as much anymore, but i realized long ago how futile that is. i would be lying if i said my thoughts don't stray there once every few days, especially given all that he gave me that i clearly could not reciprocate. at that particular funeral, my dad, being "experienced" in death, said something that's stuck with me. "people say the pain will go away. that's a lie. you just get used to it." my dad was right.


a year later, another kid i knew from childhood (nowhere near as close) also took his life. it turns out he had MS, and it had only recently began to manifest itself. the issue of choice came to mind, in light of his condition. i did not go to the funeral. every time i see his parents, i feel like saying something, but i haven't. and now it's just to awkward. the elephant in the room is still there, but the moment has passed.


in more recent years (2008?), the one uncle with whom i was always closest (my mom's younger brother) was diagnosed with a rare nerve cancer. he was a smart, well-off guy, so he fought it as best he could. but his sheer intelligence gave him a hubris and confidence that eventually caught up with him. the effects are still felt in my family - his children, his parents, his remaining sisters. i still catch myself at family gatherings expecting to see him there, or to say something funny. i want to see myself as successful as he was professionally, while avoiding a lot of his personal mistakes. 


not 3 days after moving to NY (early 2009), my maternal grandmother passed away. i was actually ready for this one, and she had a life well-lived. so the grieving process actually made sense. but i still catch my grandfather crying when he lets himself stop to remember her, and can't help but find myself at a loss for words.


last year one of my wife's close friends (and her husband) was killed in a car accident. i had just met them at their wedding months earlier. we got the news as we were preparing to go to another wedding, where my wife was to be a bridesmaid with her. it was an odd shadow cast. such a random thing striking at such a random moment gave pause to the fact that it can happen to any of us. it's only a matter of (bad) luck. but i don't believe in luck, much less anything, so i guess it's only a matter of time.


==
since my mother's recent return from England to see her sister one last time, she brought a number of photos back. she asked me to sort through all of them. it's only in the act of going through these, on late nights, early mornings, and long plane rides - that i've begun to feel regret. not just for the loss of my aunt, but for not having made more of an effort in these past years. i take some comfort in knowing that she was surrounded by family that loved and cared for her in England. but the more i recall her personality, i sense that as an adult, i would have found a kindred spirit in her hilarious sarcasm, broader optmism, surprising creativity, and silly organizing tendencies. but maybe i'm just projecting as i stare at all of these damn pictures.



her funeral and cremation was earlier today.

i tell myself that death is part of life. it is. 


i tell myself that it's all balanced by new life - all the babies my friends keep having (most importantly my sister's new son). but then i remember that we're all getting older, and life is getting harder. aunts, uncles, fathers, mothers, in-laws, friends, mentors. it's only a matter of time. so sieze the dium or whatever. 


that doesn't make it easier. 


i just wish i wasn't getting used to it.

so, it's no surprise that i'm a fan of Google's forays into advertising. the latest addition for their new flagship phone, the Galaxy Nexus, is no exception.

uncle.

Nikhil David Sehgal Fleming.

let the uncle nerd-spoiling-his-nephew begin...

a failing minority in the democracy of ideas.

i've been noticing a trend that has always existed, and will likely always continue to exist (that doesn't mean i have to like it):

businesses cater to massive trends, and seem to rarely be incentivized to innovate, and create better products/services for people who would consume them.

to be clear - i'm not saying companies don't innovate, i'm just saying their method of doing so is often slow-moving, and not always rewarded/prioritized.

let me give you 3 not-so-quick examples:

#1. UPS

i buy a LOT of stuff online. comic books, electronics, clothing, and most recently a pretty awesome winter coat. Amazon is my ecommerce venue of choice, so many of these items are shipped UPS, which as you know, often requires a signature. as i no longer work from home, i often do the yellow-paper dance with which we are all undoubtedly familiar. 

there's a yellow slip of paper on your front door saying you missed the delivery. you can either pick it up directly from UPS (which i do in the case of expensive electronics or other awesome toys), or sign a sheet of paper to leave it at your front door. 

first, how ridiculous is it that i order something to ship to me, but i am willing to go pick it up?  in most cases, i sign the sheet of paper, and the package arrives the next day. hooray for a stupid one-day delay! 

i've often wondered WHY, when ordering my goods, i can't just tell UPS in advance that they have my authorization to just leave it at my door. it certainly would save them from having to make the extra trip, and i'd get my package of awesomeness sooner.

so, yesterday i got an email from Amazon (yay) saying my new winter coat had shipped. sweet. i checked the tracking # online, and saw it would be arriving the next day. on the UPS website, i also noticed some callouts for "UPS My Choice." sounds interesting, a service that allows me to receive alerts and tell UPS to just leave the box at my door (no dance needed!)

after a confusing sign-up process (and i'm a digital geek, so you know the user experience sucked) where i gave my entire family history to UPS, i found out i had to PAY a premium to opt into the desired no-dance service of them just leaving the damned box. no way, i already just bought an expensive coat, and have an Amazon prime account. 

instead, this morning i decided to be coy, and left a note for UPS on my door with my name, my signature, and my authorization to leave the package (including the shipper AND tracking #). alas, i arrived home to a yellow slip which i signed as i shed a tear. 

honestly, i'm tempted to call/email UPS and tell them about my consumer frustration. why isn't their service free? why isn't a letter i post (or potentially even a form letter i can print from their website) good enough? i'm ceding their liability of a lost package! and it saves them money from having to make an extra trip! 

honestly, i work at a major corporation, so i have some idea for why nothing is changing. "enough people haven't complained about it," "it's not a big enough opportunity." at the end of the day it would make consumers happy, and frankly, give them a key innovation/point of differentiation. every day they DON'T do something is a day someone else can figure it out (eg, Amazon).

next example.

#2: Google Reader

this one is of a recent heartbreak (as i always have, and only now still kinda do, heart Google). 

do you use Gmail? it's great isn't it? those guys at Google sure are swell. one of the best known secrets about Google has always been Google Reader (you used to be able to click the "Reader" link at the top of your gmail to be able to discover it). VS constantly going to 20 million sites for information, you can have it all ported to you, on-demand, DVR style. that's basically how RSS works. 

but somehow the geeks at Google found a way to make it EVEN BETTER. just when this whole "social networking" thing was really taking off (back in the stone age, like 2007), they added their own "social features." if you used Google Reader, and say your gChat buddy Lindsay did too, man were you in for a treat. as Lindsay read to her heart's content on Google Reader, she could clicked "share" at the bottom of an article she read on say, "NY/Paris apartment design." this would add to a growing list of selected articles that Lindsay had read (and deemed share-worthy), that all her friends could see. 

so now, every morning i would go read my geeky Tech blog, my nerdy comic book blog (sharing articles i thought were cool along the way so my friends could see them), and THEN, see an ultra-cool list of curated content from my friend Lindsay, who is totally in the know about hip cool stuff i normally could not be bothered with. over time, this became my favorite part of Google Reader. learning about things via curated content from my diverse friends, and sharing my personal geekeries with them (to be clear, we're all geeks about something, this just allowed us to learn more about what our friends were geeks about).

"but Raman," you say, "you can already do that on Facebook/Google+/Twitter!" ahh yes and no, my dear reader (no pun intended). when you share something on Facebook, it goes into an immediate stream of thought (e.g, broadcast TV). when you would share something on Google Reader, it would gointo a nice little organized pile of content, organized by person. so if i'm not feeling like looking up hip urban stuff Lindsay has to share, i don't have to (though let's be honest, i'll eventually want to). instead i can go about reading my comic book blogs, OR even go read the best articles about hacking/MMORPGs from my buddy Josh (sorry, it just wasn't feeling like a Lindsay day). it was "on demand curated content" - enabled/discovered by social relationships. it's like a DVR. and we all love our DVRs, don't we?

so why am i harping on about something i love? if you can't already tell by my above use of the past tense, i'll break your heart now. Google decided to recently KILL the social features of Google Reader. now we are left with a simple RSS reader where your "shares" are not put into a nice little organized pile for your friends to read, but rather pushed out into a never-ending stream of content on, you guessed it, Google+. as you can imagine, there was a vocal minority of folks up in arms as this happened (i was one of them, i even emailed a # of my buddies at the big G). but Google stayed the course as they couldn't be bothered. i get it, i really do, that's what typical businesses do. but i always loved the fact that Google liked to "think different." but alas, as they pursue (one of) their clearly spoken agenda(s) to beat Facebook, they begin to slowly lose what was their edge, their inherent Googliness (eg, don't be evil)

my point is not just to whine about Google (well it is, a little), but to illustrate the broader idea here. it's not usually in the best interest for a company to (maintain) relevant innovation they might see from small groups of people (which is often an indicator of a moving trend), but rather to cater to the masses, and be vanilla like everyone else.

Yogurt

my final example is from an area for which i have an interesting, unique perspective. i'll keep it quick.

if you're an American, i bet you like, or have at least heard of Greek yogurt. it's all the rage. one of the fastest growing food segments in decades (ie, it's not just a trend). the big players in the battle for global yogurt domination, self-admittedly, missed the early window to get in on the action - and a handful of upstart companies beat them to the punch, taking the lunch money of the incumbents along the way. how did the big guys miss this? the amount of people using the product were too small. 

in my time spent amongst the world of delicious dairy snacks, i have easily seen 2-3 key opportunities/markets that are being missed. why are they not being addressed? the opportunity is too small. there aren't enough people buying there. chicken or the egg, i say. for all we know, it could be tomorrow's Greek.

knowing is half the (losing) battle.

i realize that big companies can't go chasing everything. you have to have focus. but perhaps it would behoove them to FOCUS a small (but significant) amount of their energies (resources, cash, etc) on keeping their ears to the ground to identify opportunities for innovation - especially sourced in the minorities - to ultimately "surprise and delight" the majorities. i used to work at a company that did this.

you know who also has consistently done this sort of thing well in recent decades? Apple. i know it's cliche to say (but cliches exist for a reason). you know why? 

because there was one guy in the minority, who had a majority share of voice.

i really wanna be that guy, but...

(sigh).