… because, somebody once told me “the most successful people in the world are the ones that made the most mistakes.” You’re always going to be engaging in new situations in life, and unless you’re an expert at everything, you’re going to screw up at some point, but that’s okay. Just face it. Go into situations acknowledging that messing up is a possibility. You also have to remember that some mistakes are worse than others. Because if you go into new situations knowing that messing up is a possibility then you stand a much better chance to learn from it and come out of it stronger than you were before.
Make mistakes
December 16th, 2008I moved!
December 8th, 2008That’s right, after only about 2 months of living at the last apartment, I’ve found a new place to hang my hat, kick back and work some more after the time at the office is done. All things considered it’s definitely an upgrade in space and situation. The previous lady I was living with, Susan, was really nice and welcoming, but as we both knew would come, I felt that I needed to find a place with someone more my age. Plus, it totally doesn’t suck that this place is last than a mile down the road from work which means it’s just down the road from an Apple store, a Borders, tons of coffee shops, restaurants, and about as much excitement as can be found in Palo Alto.
Lucky for me I was having a brew with a co-worker on my team and her boyfriend when I met another co-worker that happened to be moving out to our office in Dublin and needed somebody to take over his lease. It’s definitely a decent place that just needed a little TLC when I moved in and I’ve quickly gotten settled in to try and make it my own. My roommate is an engineer at facebook by the name of Eric. He’s from the east coast (Vermont) as well so it’s cool that he can appreciate humidity and the warmth of the Atlantic ocean.
Overall it’s not a huge upgrade but nevertheless it’s still a step forward and I’m really glad I took it. I’ll be taking some photos and video pretty soon to give all of you a better understanding of where I’m running around these days. For now, think of it as the closest duplicate of Park Ave. Where Rollins is, we have Standford, where Sakura Sushi is, there’s Facebook (well, one of the 10 or o buildings) and then on the opposite end of the strip is where I live. So there’s a lot going on in a small area.
Email me if you want the new address to mail me some cookies or notes about how much you miss and love me :)
Cheers!
Edison “I love the cold weather” Cruz
“Life is beautiful”
December 4th, 2008This is my second attempt at writing this because I want to keep this short and simple, because the point is very simple. I jumped on the CalTrain one Saturday a couple weeks ago. Zone 3 to Zone 1. San Francisco. I just finished a week that had brought a lot of frustration and I needed to distract myself.
I rushed to get on the train, and this one was different than the rest I was used to. I didn’t get my own seat on the second level, like usual, where I could just silently sit and gaze out the window then inevitably fall asleep. This time the train was cramped and the air was thick with a very somber mood. Down the isle from me there was a woman who had obviously suffered very serious burns to her face & arms and right across from me there were two older men. One with such drastic curvature to his back that he needed a walker to get around and the other with a cane and the appearance of somebody who had seen everything in this world.
After several stops, the older gentleman with the walker got up and bade his friend adieu. As the train continued, the other older gentleman began to get curious as to how far we were from his stop in San Francisco. He asked me for the time, I told him and explained how many stops it would be until we reached our destination.
Identifying with his inexperience with the area, I asked him where he was from. He explained that he was on his way to see some of his family. He then explained that he was old, and with a very proud, dignified voice he said it made him feel like a man to be able to get around on his own, even if he did need a cane. It made me smile. I hope to carry myself with that much pride and self-respect when I am his age. What he said next though, is the point of this story. He said “you know, these (pointing to his legs) don’t always work very well, no… and this (pointing to his groin), eh, it doesn’t work so well anymore either, but you know what? Life is beautiful.” “Yeah?” I replied. “Yes, life is beautiful. Look at everything around us. There’s so much to enjoy and appreciate on God’s green earth. Life is beautiful.”
Those words have resonated with me ever since. No matter what is wrong, no matter what seems impossible to overcome, just remember, life is beautiful.
“Just doing my job”
November 27th, 2008
“What a bogus excuse.
If you take a job, you’ve bought into what the company does. You’re responsible.
If you work for a company headed off a cliff, hey, you’re going too. The fact that you’re just doing your job doesn’t make unemployment any better. And if the company is hurting people or the world you operate in, it doesn’t matter who told you to do it, you still did it.
It’s not just your job. It’s a big part of your life. And you’re way smarter than you’re giving yourself credit for. Speak up, change things or get out. Whining later is a low-return strategy.
Sorry for the rant. Been getting a lot of email this week from people explaining why they work for companies doing dumb things.”
-by Seth Godin
This piece is short and sweet, but it’s so true. My entire adult life (which granted, isn’t that long) I’ve thought of work this way. Why? Because it’s true! Whether you’re in college and spend 15 to 30 hours a week at a job or you’re all grown up and spend 40 or 50+ hours a week there, just like the people you associate with, the work you do, the company you affiliate yourself with helps define who you are. This is one of the single biggest reasons why I’m so incredibly picky about where I want to work. Even if I had a position with Company A and Company B offered me the same job, paying more money and better benefits, etc., but Company B really wasn’t accomplishing things that are worthwhile to me in the grand scheme of things, I’d stay at Company A.
The point is pretty straightforward. Everything you do defines who you are. And if the reason that you keep the job that you have is only money, I would say, there’s a lot of inferences that could be made there. Think about it.
On a final note, Seth Godin is an incredible writer and prominent influence on my business and life outlooks. I’d definitely recommend checking out his blog. His writings can be applied to business, life, and anything else you can imagine. I hope at least a couple of you take the chance to read some of his work.
Thanks for being part of this,
Edison
Facebook Connect + EdisonCruz.com
November 18th, 2008So there’s something incredibly cool that I’m really happy to have been able to integrate on this site. Like most blogs, under each post there’s a place where you can put in your information and leave a comment, but what’s even cooler is a little thing called Facebook Connect. So next time you go to comment on one of my posts (and you’ll see this being used on a lot of other websites pretty soon) there’ll be a small, blue Facebook button that says ‘Connect’:
When you click on that, you’ll be be presented with a box where you can login with your Facebook login information or if you’re already logged into Facebook it’ll just ask you if you’d like to link it to this site. It’ll look like this:
Once you’ve logged in, your Facebook profile picture will appear by your post and if you so choose, once you’ve commented on my blog, the activity will show up in your Facebook News Feed! Pretty cool, huh?
If you have any question on how it works, you always know you can ask me. If you want to learn more about Facebook Connect just go to http://developers.facebook.com/connect.php.
Cheers!
Edison
