I’ve been putting a lot of thought into this recently. The other day I was explaining to my room mate what I had to do to change my driver’s license over to a New York one. Somehow we got to talking about being an organ donor.
I have moved a lot over the past six or seven years. I headed off to college in a different state, after graduation I moved to another state to take a job, then I moved to New York. Every state handles the organ donor question differently. At the end of the process in New York they ask you to check a box on a form you have to sign, indicating if you would like to be an organ donor or not. The phrasing of this question is significant.
I would be really interested to see the different rates of sign ups by state and by how this question is posed. I would guess the conversion rates vary wildly from places where you have to just check a box versus places where the back of your license just says to sign it if you’re interested.
Something to think about. How a question is phrased to someone has a significant impact on their response. Questions should always be worded in a way that will illicit the most desired response.
I was having a drink with a really successful fraternity alumnus the other night. I mentioned the almost cliche “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” He immediately told me I was wrong. He said it is actually “who you know will open doors and what you know will set your trajectory.” Definitely changed my thinking for the better. A small gem in a night full of incredibly helpful advice (and fun).
Update: I should add that I like this modified phrase much better because I would like to think my skills and experiences still count for something.
I haven’t made any updates for a while, so I’ll say this. I live in New York now and it is pretty great. If you’re ever in the city, definitely look me up.
Recently my life has become full of chicken and egg problems. The most pressing of which is my upcoming move to NYC and attempt to find a job there.
It works like this, to live in NYC you really need a job. The city is an incredibly expensive place to live. However, to get a job in NYC, you really need to live there. It is a lot easier to show up to an interview or meet with someone on short notice when you don’t have to travel half way across the country first. Which comes first? Hence the chicken and egg problem.
My solution is that no matter what I’m moving there in August. I’ve got a place to live lined up and have been saving money preparing to be unemployed for a bit. I’d rather take the leap and try to make a life in NYC and fail than spend my life wondering what it would have been like, but having never given it a shot.
Wish me luck and if you know any good leads, please contact me.
If you’ve found this post that means that you are probably going back through old posts. Keep in mind there is about a ten weeks gap between when this was posted and the next oldest post. For a little more of an explanation, see what I wrote here.
For some of the highlights, check out these past posts:
Say what you will about Kanye West and the things he has done in the past (Katrina rant, South Park Incident, Taylor Swift interruption), his new album is pretty damn awesome. It also looks like he has finally developed a self-depreciating sense of humor. He made the following tweet the other day.
For archive purposes, here is how I ranked the films I saw in 2010:
Loved
The Kids Are All Right
Black Swan
The Social Network
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
A Prophet (2009)
The Art of the Steal (2009)
Inception
The Cove (2009)
Splice
Exit Through The Gift Shop
The Joneses
The Baader-Meinhof Complex (2008)
Kick-Ass
Enjoyed
Easy A
True Grit
The Town
Mother
Machete
Predators
Toy Story 3
A Single Man (2009)
Iron Man 2
Repo Men
Pandorum (2009)
Daybreakers
Crazy Heart
Liked More than Disliked
The American
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Salt
Knight and Day
Frozen
Chloe
The Wolfman
In The Loop
Barely Liked More than Disliked
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Book of Eli
The Road (2009)
Youth in Revolt
Hot Tub Time Machine
Disliked
I’m Still Here
She’s Out of Your League
Hated
I’m Still Here
Robin Hood
2012 (2009)
Clash of the Titans
Wish I Could Have that Part of my Life Back
What Just Happened (2008)
Something to think about:
(click to enlarge)
Late last night a new web service called About.Me launched. I’ve been in the beta for a few weeks. You can view my About.Me profile here. It needs a little work. Specifically I’m trying to find that perfect photo op to use as the background. You should sign up before this becomes really popular and a lot of the good urls are taken.
What I really like about this service is that it consolidates all of your social media outlets into one page with one easy url. Now all those places where you are prompted for a url you can direct users to your about.me page.
