1000

Thanks to my mom, my mother-in-law, and my reluctant, proof-reading wife for pushing the blog to over 1000 views. 

Just kidding about my wife, she's my biggest fan.

If I had a dime for every car I junked I'd have 20 cents

I have gotten good at being the last owner of cars.  The car doc came back with a grim prognosis for the Pathfinder.  It will soon make it's way to "car heaven."  The "end of the road."  The "final chapter."  Etc.

The first car I junked was some kind of British Ford that I can't recall.  It was a four door and huge for British roads.  One day I had to drop the Group Commander and the Group Command Chief at the airport in south London.  The Commander was my bosses' boss.  A big deal (incidentally, I saw him this week at the Pentagon but didn't say hi due to the story that follows...).  It happened to be the hottest day of the year in England.  And the same day my a/c went out...  As a young Lieutenant I engaged in the most serious, deep-thoughted, professional, conversation I had ever had to distract my poor boss from the sweltering heat.  The Chief, at the start, gave up and fell asleep--or passed out--in the back seat.  Thankfully we arrived at the airport on time, despite a miserable delay in traffic cooking in the heat.  After dropping them off the a/c magically came back on and I turned the car for home.  30 miles south of the house the engine exploded and I pulled over with a huge smile on my face.  "Thank goodness I got them down there on time..." I thought.  That's how my first car made it to the junkyard. 

The second car was another Ford.  A Mondeo I think.  British car.  I bought it for 1,000 bucks.  The license plate kept falling off the back so I duct taped it.  I would have to periodically reapply tape, no big deal.  This car actually worked ok.  Unfortunatly the British are extremely strict with vehicle inspections and the duct taped plates, among other small problems, just wasn't going to fly on Her Majesty's royal roads.  So this one got junked too.

The third car was another Ford (maybe I should I try another company....).  I bought the Taurus from my in-laws.  It had low miles and ran great (right up until it didn't...).  A certain unnamed driver in my household, who wasn't me and we don't have kids, did some significant "redecorating" to the rear passenger door.  In fairness DC driving is brutal so it wasn't unexpected.  But, despite the cosmetics, we planned to keep this car for a long time.  One day, the same driver who "redecorated" the door, was driving along a bridge in DC and the freeze plugs gave out.  The engine was shot.  Instead of junking this car our pastor suggested we give it to a college kid who put in a new engine for himself.  So I guess technically I wasn't the last owner on this one. 

And now car number four, my Pathfinder.  No great story with this one.  It's just old and too expensive to repair. 

While I don't enjoy driving cheap cars we have made the sacrifice so our "redecorating" driver can get some serious higher education.  And all the trips to the junkyard have been worth it to see her go to school. 

What "junkyard" tales do you have?

Takeways from Steve Coll's Ghost Wars

Just finished Ghost Wars by Steve Coll.  The book covers the wars in Afghanistan from 1980 to 2001.  And those Pullitzer prize guys are pretty smart because this was a good book.  If you are looking for an in depth summary of the wars this is a good book.  If you don't have 6 weeks to plow through it the "can't-do-the-book-justice" highlights are below.

The big players in Afghanistsan in the 80s were the USSR, the Pakistanis, Americans, and Saudis.  Here's a short summary of the geopolitics in the 80s:

-The Soviets wanted to both prop up the communist government in AFG and expand their influence in the oil-rich Middle East.  The USSR is a land power and like all land powers it is highly insecure about it's borders.  So the buffer states are key pieces of terrain for them. 

-Pakistan didn't want the Soviets so close and it needed resources to fight India in Kashmir.

-The US just wanted to kill Soviets.

-The Saudi wanted to expand their influence in the Islamic world.  So they sent money and fighters and built religious madrasas in the region. 

After the Soviet invasion, Pakistan, the US, and the Saudi interest coaleseced into a loose "alliance" that supported mujahadeen factions.  This is were it gets complicated.   Pakistan picked mujadeen commanders they thought they could control in the interests of Pakistan.  US policy, in retrospect, naively allowed Pakistan to divvy out support to the commanders.  This prevented some of the more "moderate" commanders from gaining significant power in the conflict.  The Saudis poured money and volunteers into the fight as well.  Many of the madrasas supported by the Saudis began to radiclize based on teachings of a few key Islamic scholars of the day.  This is when a wealthy young sheik named Osama Bin-Laden (UBL) entered the fray.  The result was a guerrilla war fought by a shifting array of factions that eventually expelled the Soviets.

But when the Soviets left the fighting didn't stop.  After the withdrawal the US simply lost interest in the region.  Pakistan, however, was still keenly interested in placing a "pro-Pakistan" government in place.  To that end it pushed various mujahadeen commanders to continue fighting for power.  The war intensified.  Eventually Pakistan funded an extreme Islamist group known as the Taliban who successfully controlled several major cities.  UBL tapped into this new rising entity and quickly established his organization, Al Qaeda, as a solid Taliban ally in the ongoing war (several mujahadeen commanders continued to fight throughout the early 2000s).  Of course UBL had bigger aspirations and used the resources and safe haven he had built in Afghanistan to eventually launch 9/11.

Just before September 11, 2001 Al Qaeda used a suicide bomber disguised as a reporter to kill a prominent mujahadeen commander named Massoud.  Massoud was ardently anti-Taliban and perhaps Afghanistan's last hope for unified "moderate" government.  When Hamid Karzai, then a small anti-Taliban leader, heard of Massoud's death his first words were, "What an unlucky country."  Indeed.

4 Ways to Survive Pentagon Culture Shock

                               

 
I went into the Pentagon for the first time yesterday.  Like going to another country, there was some culture shock.  Here's some Pentagon survival tips from one traveler to another. 

1 - Call everyone "sir" or "ma'am" because they probably are.  I saw more Generals in my first two hours at the Pentagon than I have seen in my whole career.  A four star here a three star there.  No big deal.

2 - Take a map and hire a river guide.   You wouldn't go on an expedition up the Amazon river without a river guide.  That place is huge and confusing.

3 - Be ready for less personal space.  The Pentagon is like a crowded third world country.  There's people everywhere.  In the rest of the Air Force a  "full bird" Colonel might have his own office and even a secretary.  In the Pentagon they cram four or five together around a couple of tiny desks and make them all share a phone.

4 - If you see a young Captain walking around be sure to say hello.  Because the only Captain in the Pentagon is probably me...

They took my blackberry!

In DC mid-level bureaucrats can be easily identified by their furious typing on government issued Blackberries.  I proudly displayed my DC bureaucratic status symbol until I had to give up the phone two months ago when I went on the road.  Now I am back in DC waiting for my next "job" to start.   

Without my government cell phone or significant job responsibilities I've had a lot of mental down time.  This is much to the chagrin of my wife who is still fully engrossed in PHD school and has to field questions like "hey what do you think about current Pakistani policy in the Pashtun tribal areas of Waziristan?"  Or "did you know the Ford Shelby Mustang has 663 horsepower, comes in dark blue, and is only $65,000 bran new?"  To which she patiently responds, "That's great honey and when are you starting your new job again?"  So I've come up with a few guidlines for family survial of "transition" down time.

- Use the slow time to think about strategic life decisions.  This can vary from family to family, but for me it's questions like "where do we want to live when we retire?" 

- Read a good book (or two...).  My views on reading are already laid out here.  Downtime is great for this.

- Clean your house.  I haven't been too serious about this one but my intentions are good...

- Try a new restraurant.  Again, good intentions, but no results on this one. 

- Collect the lessons learned from your previous job and make plans for applying those at your new job.  Every transition is an opportunity to start over and improve on your previous success (or learn from failure!). 

- Explore your city.  Since my wife is in school and I don't have a job, I drop her off and then go find something to do until she is done.  The American History Museum in downtown DC got a few visits from me when we were doing this.

- Relax.  You'll have plenty of stress later to make up for it...

Transitions can be tough but if you find ways to channel your mental (or in my case restless) energy you can benefit from the downtime.  Here's to the future.

How do you spend your transition downtime?

DC made me a terrible driver

The problem with Washington DC is that there is traffic everywhere all the time.  We have been stuck in a miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic at 2 am before.  Consequently I have become a terrible driver.  I used to respect speed limits and stop signs.  I don't anymore.  There was a time when I thought tailgating was dangerous.  And while the physics hasn't changed I sure have (the guy going 55 in the left lane this morning found that out today...).

Not only has DC traffic eroded my otherwise pleasant driving bent, the military has now sent me to two aggressive driving courses.  The coolest driving technique so far (besides the j-turn of course!) is "two foot driving."  I don't mean "two foot" as in 24 inches but as in right leg and left leg.  You put your right foot on the gas, accelerate to speed and then put your left foot on the brake to modulate your distance from the other car.  Works great for fast convoys in a combat zone...and for tailgating in DC...  I can just hear my dad in the background talking about how hard that is on the brakes.  And don't worry mom, I don't do it much!

There is one ray of hope in this terrible driving scenario.  Our Honda only has four cylinders and the Nissan literally has parts rattle off when it gets over 65 mph.

All this driving training had me looking at sports cars online this weekend.  Assuming funding was unlimted I would go with the Mustang Shelby.  But I guess I'll have to settle for an MRAP (photo below) until then.  It's basically an armored dump truck chassis with a weapon mount on top.  While the sun roofs on both my cars could be used as a weapon mounts I haven't rigged them up for DC interstate traffic yet. 

 


What's your ride of choice?

Maximize Your Personal Growth Part 2

 "Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers." -Harry Truman

There are two inputs that determine your personal growth.  Input #1 is present circumstance and input #2 is reading. 

My first commander got me into reading.  I was a freshly minted Second Lieutenant at my first base in England, and I was so new I couldn't find my butt with both hands.  He called me into his office, an intimidating thing at the time, and tossed me a thick book on leadership.  Inside he wrote "Welcome to the team and your 'continuing' education.  I look forward to watching you come into your own over the next year."  Thanks to his mentorship I have been a serious reader ever since that meeting.  Here's how you can get serious about reading:

- Start with topics you are interested in learning about.  For me topics are military or finance related (in fact I don't stray far from those two...).  Whatever you pick it would be useful to do at least some reading related to your industry.   Leadership reading is a great place to start if you can't think of anything else.  John Maxwell's The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You is a quick read to get you in the grove.  Marriage and family are also good starting topics.

- Reading ground rule: fiction books don't count.  Most fiction is written for entertainment, not growth.  As cool as Harry Potter novels are, they won't help you do your job better or be a better parent (unless you are reading them as bed time stories I guess...) or a better spouse.  Non-fiction is the category of choice for serious growth. 

- So you have your topic, how do you narrow it down to a specfic book? You can start by asking a friend or a mentor if they recommend any books or authors.  If you stay in a topic long enough your favorite authors will reference other authors and that helps regenerate your reading lists.  The point is to start reading something worthwhile as soon as possible. 

- Don't get bogged down.  If you pick something up and you just don't like it, toss it aside and try something else.  There is no law against unfinished reading.  Sometimes you get everything you need from a book in the first few chapters, and it's not worth reading the rest.  The goal of a good reading program is to continually consume worthwhile content. 

- Don't neglect biographies and autobiographies.  I try to read one or two per year.  Bios are good for getting perspectives on current events and brushing up on your history.  A biography should remind you that "there is nothing new under the sun."

- How much should you read?  The general consensus seems to be one non-fiction book a month.  That's 10 or 12 more books in a year than your peers are reading.  For the truly committed, cut out an hour of TV per day and you can cover much more reading ground.

- Useful reading gear for your electronic warfare suite: electronic reading devices. I do all my reading on an "old" Kindle.  Yes, the books are more expensive on Amazon than if you had the hard copy delivered.  But I find I am able to "consume" many more books on the Kindle than if I had them mailed.  The Kindle keeps my wish list organized so if I get bored with a book I just download another one.  And I can "carry" as many books as I want vs trying to cram a bunch hardbacks into my backpack everywhere I go.  Thankfully, my wife graciously allows me to spend lavishly on books, so tread carefully if your spouse is not so generous! 

How do you decide what to read?  If you need any suggestions leave a note.

4 Lessons from my year-long failed stock picking experiment

This time last year I started stock picking as a quasi-serious hobby.  I put a few thousand bucks into ten picks to see what would happen.  Picking through the carnage of this failed experiment I picked up a few good lessons. 

If you've ever needed a cheap way to induce sleep pick up the most recent SEC filing of your favorite publicly traded company.  You are in for hundreds of pages of sheer boredom about the guts of your company.  Some people read these documents religiously and manage to make millions/billions from the information inside.  I read them and lost money... 

1- Don't confuse investing with guessing.  I thought I was being pretty clever by reading the filings of these companies and I fooled myself into thinking I was investing when I was really just guessing.  I found out later that the pros put in thousands of hours anayliszing single companies.  Not to mention going to all the industry conferences and playing golf with the CEOs.  On average I only made it up to 5 or 10 hours of study on my picks.  Gamblers guess, investors are in for the long haul. 

2- Complicated investments always sound like they have the potential to make you tons of money.  I found out the hard way they can also burn up your money pile faster than a drunk gambler on the Las Vegas strip.  I had read about some guys buying some "long options" and making lots money off the "leveraged" nature of call options.  So I bought 500 bucks worth of long options on a coal company that went bankrupt two weeks later...  Leverage cuts both ways!

3-  This was the biggest, most valuable lesson: time management. I learned a lot about reading company financials, which is a valuable skill.  But I learned that it's not my strong point.  It's more important to work on other strong points and build more on those.  Still not sure what these are for me but I know they are leadership/military/buisness/anaylsis related.  Bottom line, spend time on your strengths.

4-  If it sounds to good to be true...  While I was writing this post I had CNBC on in the background.  They had story about a schemer who ran a ponzi scheme.  They were interviewing a hair dresser who invested her entire life savings with the con artist crew and lost all her money.  It was terrible to see this poor woman.  Never trust anyone promising those returns and never put all your money into it.  If it sounds to go to be true...  This stock picking experiment was like that for me.  Fortunately I didn't put much money in so I was able to have fun trying out something new.

The experiment was not a total failure.  Some of the picks I made actually did quite well.  Unfortunatly it's easier to lose money than it is to pick winners!  But the biggest revelation came to me when I logged on to my "boring" investments.  Plain old run-of-mill mutual funds.  Year to date gains were upwards of 20%, a great return I hardly had to work for.  Will I stop picking stocks?  No, it's actually fun to do so I'll still do it a little.  Will I ever put a lot of money into it?  No.  Plain old mutual funds are a much better vehicle, espeically with a regular, monthly investment plan. 

Any stock picking horror stories out there?

5 Tips to Deal With Travel Burnout

As I wrap up 6 weeks worth of training courses I realized I hit the "I just want to go home now" point about a week ago.  For people who travel a lot they hit their threshold at about the same time the first TSA agent says "sir/ma'am step over here for your enhanced pat down."  Here's some thoughts on fighting the burnout.

#1: Always take the right gear.  Make sure your electronic warfare suite is good to go, smart phones, headphones, ipads, laptops etc.  If you're going camping disregard electronic advice and stock up on sleeping bags and extra socks.  Pack for expected conditions.  Having the right gear will keep you productive and comfortable even if you are away from your home base.

#2: Workout.  You won't be able to keep up your normal workout routine but doing something, even if it's quick, is worth the time.  I recruit other people to workout with me to stay motivated.  And saying "there is not gym here" is not an excuse.  You have a floor, you can do push-ups, squats, and burpees (Wikipedia it).  That's plenty. 

#3: Call home regularly.  Self-explanatory.

#4: Do something different.  Whether this is the mountains of Afghanistan or downtown New York, try and get out and do something you can't do at home.  Smoke some cigars with the guys on top of a mountain or check out the National Mall, whatever.  Every place has something you can't do at home.  Plus it'll make you sound interesting at your next cocktail party.  Helps with topics for #3 too. 

#5: Do something regular.  When I'm at home my wife and I eat out at Chipotle on weekends.   When I travel I eat at Chipotle to feel a little more at home.  In Iraq I had to replace Chipotle with "Chicken Sandwich Mondays" but the point is some measure of routine is healthy on long trips.  I've done some world travel but I still only pick vanilla ice cream and steak burritos.  Helps you feel at home even when you're not. 

What's your road warrior routine?

Why is Virginia Not as Cool as Texas?

Back in VA again.  Haven't had any energy since we've been in cultural briefings all weekend.  And it's cold again unlike the great weather in the great state of Texas...  BUT we have some range time scheduled this week so all is not grey.  I'll write again when the inspiration returns.

Thoughts the Size of Texas, or maybe just Texas thoughts...

Training has been busy here in Texas so my planned part 2 of "Maximize Your Personal Growth" is still in draft mode.  Here is Part 1.

In the meantime, thoughts on Texas:

-Texas has great weather.  It's November, it's still 80 degrees.  Awesome.
-Texas feels like a boom town.  People seem busy with this cool thing called jobs.  Unlike DC where everyone is busy with politics.
-Texans have tons of trucks.  And I rented a Ford Fiesta....dumb...
-Texans love sports.  I had forgotten this until I saw San Antonio Spurs emblems embedded in the sides of curbs in this whole neighborhood. Instead of house numbers on curbs, sports teams.  Neat idea.
-Emerging trend in the Hispanic community: females with dyed, bleach blonde hair.  Hadn't seen this before.
-Fiesta Texas (amusement park I used to go to as a kid) still looks like a lot of fun.

That's all for now.

- PL

Maximize Your Personal Growth Part 1

There are two inputs that determine your personal growth.  Input #1 is present circumstance and input #2 is reading.  In this post we'll talk about how to maximize input #1. 

Your present circumstances is your daily life.  Your routine, your job, your school, your friends, whatever.  It's broad.  This is life experience and it's happening to you right now.   So how do you maximize input #1?

- Turn off the TV.  TV is the biggest threat to your personal growth. You are not making yourself smarter or better by watching endless hours of American Idol.  TV turns your brain off, that's the opposite of growth.    Even if you just cut your TV time in half you'll free up tons of time for better pursuits. 

- If you have to watch TV, use a service like Netflix instead of cable.  The same show that would normally take you an hour to watch you can finish in 45 minutes because there are no obnoxious commercials.  That's a big time savings. 

- (Sub-TV watching point) Educational channels don't count towards personal growth input.  The amount of content in a 45 minute History Channel show can be read in much less time.  And TV shows don't have time to do a thorough review of the topic beyond the basics.  Educational channels are like diluted coffee, they fill up the cup but can't deliver the "wake-up punch."

- Push out of your comfort zone.  If you are scarred of taking on the project, or giving the presentation, or whatever, you need to do it.  If it feels just beyond your capabilities it's exactly right for you.  One of my first assignments felt that way.  Normally the job was done by someone with 10 years of experience in the career field and I had just two.  That challenged me to grow and grow quickly.  And it opened up doors for even more challenging work later.

- Don't try to lead a "balanced" life.  Instead go for focus.  The most successful people I know are not all that balanced but they are extremely focused.  They spend a lot of their time and energy on what they are good at.  Balance is usually an excuse for not working hard.  Balance is for people who hate what they are doing and just want to get home and watch TV.  Instead focus on what you're good at and what you love doing.  And by the way it's ok to be extremely focused on family instead of work.  The point is to intentionally pick your priorities.  Focus is better than balance when it comes to personal growth. 

- *Most important* Spend a lot of time with people smarter and better than you.  John Maxwell, the prominent leadership expert, commented recently on this (and by comment I mean wrote a book: The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential*).  He said if you are the smartest person in the room you can't grow.  Instead spend time in places where everyone else is smarter than you.  Your friends make a difference in your personal growth.  Choose wisely. 

*Haven't read the whole thing yet, but it's on my list. 

Thoughts on implementing any of the tips or personal growth in general?  And how about my cheesy growing tree picture at the top?

10,000 Hour Rule

I was cleaning out my email archive at work before my transfer to the Pentagon (a place no young Captain should ever have to tread! Fortunately I only have to be there a week before language school).  I had over 10,000 emails in my archives.  I have mastered the art of the one sentence email so it's not as a bad as it sounds.  The mass email download reminded me of a concept in Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers: The Story of Success.  The concept is the 10,000 hour rule. 

10,000 hours doing one thing, like say programming or performing music, puts you in the "world class" category with the likes of Bill Gates and the Beatles.  Unfortunately most people, including yours truly, quit long before reaching 10,000 hours of...well, anything except maybe TV watching.    And great innovators often have a "10,000 hour" skill level at moment in history when suddenly their skill is in great demand.  Bill Gates was one of the few people on earth with over 10,000 hours of programming experience right at the moment when demand for software was exploding. 

Language learning ties into the 10K rule.  The more hours you spend studying it the better you'll be.  My back-of-the-envelope calculations say that in my upcoming 4 months of language school I'll get 800 hours of study.  It's a start.   In language learning, there's also the "500 verb" rule.  500 basic verbs is enough to express most thoughts in a different language.  So if you can learn the basic 500 verbs in a language you can communicate well.  That's 31.25 verbs per week for 4 months.  But guess I should start with the Sanskrit alphabet, ouch....

I am still trying to figure out what I what I could spend 10,000 hours doing.  It's not writing email, as good as my one-liners are.  It's not singing either.  How about leadership?  How do you clock 10,000 hours of leadership?  

And if you have ever wondered why most players in the National Hockey League are born in January check out the rest of Gladwell's book.