Write this somewhere where you'll read it often.

"Don't ever get rid of a hard drive that you've used in the past."

The story goes some guy sold a laptop on eBay that was broken. But the hard drive was still good... and on it - old photos...

Naughty naughty naughty...

The web site that resulted...

This is a follow up to Frank Wolf's accusations to Lenovo for using their computers (Lenovo purchased IBM's PC division) to spy on the US government.

Maybe the government should be a little more careful in where the laptops end up - not where they originate. Why? Because 26,000,000 U.S veterans had their social security numbers and birth dates on a laptop and it was stolen from the home of a government computer analyst...

Click the image for the details from CNN.

Note to self: buy SBUX

Take a good look at this man. Why? Because he's a moron and the state of Virginia elected him to represent them. Why? Becuse they probably didn't realize he is a moron.

This morning I read about a Republican named Frank Wolf (the aforementioned moron) who expressed national security concerns about the government using Lenovo computers on the classified government network. To put this into context, Lenovo purchased IBM last year and although IBM still has 13% ownership, the Chinese government owns 28% of the computer manufacturer.

Here's a quote:

Mr Wolf, Republican chairman of the committee that oversees the department's funds, told reporters that China's spying efforts were "frightening".

It was "no secret that the US is a principal target of Chinese intelligence services", he said, adding: "No American government agency should want to purchase from them".

It's a computer... If you have concerns... have the IT department format the hard drive. Everybody knows that IBM laptops (now Lenovo) are the best on the market. Don't make the rest of the government use cheap plastic Dells or any other brand that's made in the US.

Even if you did buy a computer from Dell... parts inside are manufactured overseas. What are you going to do? Freak out about that too?

So I was on this web site where people were listing things that someone should have before they are 30. While it's certainly a way to measure your accomplishments by what you have, I thought it is more important to measure your accomplishments by what you have done to get what you have.

So I offered this list of things that I think pretty much applies to anyone interested in succeeding at work or in life in general.

1) It pays to be humble. Humbleness gets you farther than the King Kong beating of your chest.

2) Whatever it is that you do for work - realize that it doesn't just matter that you know how to do the job - you have to work well with the people who work for you, with you, and for. Sometimes being the social lubricant in the organization is more advantageous than being the cog in the machine.

3) If you're a manager or an employer, don't skimp on paying employees for doing a damn good job.

4) There will be times when someone says something that is incorrect. Before correcting them - think about whether or not you will make the situation worse by correcting them in public.

5) The customer is ALWAYS judging no matter how friendly they are being towards you. Always treat them with the same respect you treat all of your customers. If you were friends with them before they were a customer - it's ok to be a little lax. If they were customers first - they will always see you as a representative of the company you work for or own first.

6) Keep cash on the books as long as you can w/o incurring fees and don't let people who owe you money take their sweet time. The interest they are earning, is interest that you should be earning.

7) Don't ever hesitate to praise your employees or show them that you are excited about their accomplishments at work. Likewise with your children.

8) Learn the social graces of working in a group. If you don't have it - buy a book and read it. Really read it.

9) You don't always have to be the first car to the next red light. Women are rarely impressed when you slam their heads into the headrest and then smack their faces into the windshield.

10) The kind of girls that are impressed by revving your motor are not the kind of girls that you want to marry. In other words - those that are easily impressed are equally impressed with things of little value and of things of great value. Don't waste your life with an idiot.

11) Never think that the car you drive entirely defines you. It's the people who have a life when the ignition is off that really make the world go round.

12) Play opera/classical music in the morning, alternative/rock during the day, rap or techno at night.

13) Hold yourself to a higher standard. When you're at work, don't succumb to telling high school or college level humor. It makes you look ignorant and simple minded.

14) Keep religion out of the office. The moment you start talking about religion, you start alienating others around you.

15) Keep ethnic comments/references out of the office. Take the safe road and speak about things other than a minority's cultural background.

16) Read fewer fiction books and more non-fiction books or even auto biographies of your mentors.

17) Learn to articulate yourself in an educated manner but don't fill your sentences with so much bull that it sounds like you're trying.

18) Learn to type. If you're checking out my blog, this is ESPECIALLY important.

19) Develop your phone voice. Think Rico Suave but don't over do it to the point that the other party thinks you're hitting on her... or even worse - him.

20) Write a will. I already wrote mine last year when I went to Hong Kong... I told my parents to sell my house, use the proceeds to pay for my bro's med school bills and give my GS to him so he doesn't ever have to worry about having a good car.

Who says car guys just think about cars?

Check out this eloquent quote I found on clublexus.com:

No excuses, plain and simple. They are for the weak, and when you become weak the guy next to you whom is stronger is living the life you told yourself you deserved, so don't come up short now.

Speaking of Lexus automobiles, I found out that two of my friends actually work for the marketing company that markets Lexus in the US. Very cool.

Tomorrow I have a wedding to go to - well, technically today. And here I am at 2am downloading music, blogging, playing online poker, surfing the web, listening to tunes, etc... I feel like I'm in college all over again when I do these things.

My current favorite jam songs in the car:

All American Rejects - Move Along

Panic! At The Disco - I Write Sins Not Tragedies

Look at my god-son Moses!!

Wooooooo!

"Hi, I go to Harvard and I think I'm all great since I wrote this cool book called 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life'. Ummm, yeah, it's a book about umm-- oh just read 'The Princess Diaries' or 'Haroun and the Sea of Stories' or 'Second Helpings" or "Sloppy Firsts'.

Or, you can probably read my autobiography next year titled 'How Kaavya Viswanathan Plagiarized , Got Caught, and Lied About It'.

Oh, did I mention, I go to Harvard? I'm smart but I don't have a faint trace of integrity running through my veins?"

On another note... WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT??



That's hilarious, at the bottom it says "Presented by GMC". Great, not only can they not make a decent car, they have really suggestive banner ads.

Some impressive numbers...

It would bode well for companies here to realize how much business they can do in China.

An excerpt from the economist:

In the past three years, China has seen far more extensive use of the internet and the rapid development of groups that share views online that are by no means always the same as the party's. The numbers of internet-connected computers have more than doubled since the end of 2002, to 45.6m, and internet-users have risen by 75%, to 111m. China now has more internet-users than any country but America, and over half of them have broadband (up from 6.6% at the end of 2002). Users of instant computer-to-computer messaging systems have more than doubled, to 87m. Blogs—online personal diaries, scarcely heard of three years ago—now number more than 30m. And search engines receive over 360m requests a day.