If You’re Open to Growth, You Tend to Grow

This article was in my drafts folder and I just got around to reading it:

WHY do some people reach their creative potential in business while other equally talented peers don’t?

After three decades of painstaking research, the Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck believes that the answer to the puzzle lies in how people think about intelligence and talent. Those who believe they were born with all the smarts and gifts they’re ever going to have approach life with what she calls a “fixed mind-set.” Those who believe that their own abilities can expand over time, however, live with a “growth mind-set.”

Guess which ones prove to be most innovative over time.

Alaska fishing

It’s Wednesday afternoon — Steve, Deano, Paul and I just got back from a halibut fishing trip. Enjoying a few beers and good stories — and some amazing salmon toro (fatty belly area) and gohan (thanks Mark! and M and B for the delivery service!)

I’m late with pictures (sorry Linda, Cheryl), so here’s a few:

Update: added photo of Steve’s King salmon.

Turnagain Arm inlet view

Here is the picture I promised in Monday’s post as we drove along the Turnagain Arm inlet (click photo to enlarge).

Quote of the week

“Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.“

– Winston Churchill

In Alaska

We left Anchorage this morning and are now driving on Seward Highway along the Turnagain Arm inlet. Amazing views — we are surrounded by mountains, some with a lot of snow. Just took a picture with my Blackberry, so will try to post it later when I can get to a PC.

Off to Alaska

It’s 5:30am and we’re all at the Nakashima’s place. Trucks are all packed with our fishing gear and we’ll be heading to LAX in a few minutes.

The declining value of your college degree

I don’t think this is a secret, but a four-year college degree nowdays does not have the currency it used to have — although college grads still earn 75% more on average than those without one.

From today’s Wall Street Journal:

For decades, the typical college graduate’s wage rose well above inflation. But no longer. In the economic expansion that began in 2001 and now appears to be ending, the inflation-adjusted wages of the majority of U.S. workers didn’t grow, even among those who went to college.

College-educated workers are more plentiful, more commoditized and more subject to the downsizings that used to be the purview of blue-collar workers only. What employers want from workers nowadays is more narrow, more abstract and less easily learned in college.

Food weekend

This past weekend Harumi and I had two great meals, one at Torafuku with Mike and Janet, and a second one at Sanuki no Sato with mom and pop. Both were a lot of fun — and the bottle of Koshi no Kambai sake Mike and I shared wasn’t too bad either.

Funny story: Harumi heard Sanuki no Sato’s owner tell one of the waiters to inform customers that they were all out of the regular $23 rib eye steak, and all they had was the $45 Kobe beef steak. Sounded like he was joking … I think.

Some Torafuku food pictures:

What activation problems?

As most people in the civilized world knew, Apple launched their new 3G iPhone last Friday. The crush of new iPhone owners trying to activate their phones caused network gridlock. But, in spite of all that, Apple said it sold over 1 million iPhones in its first three days of release. According to their press release, it took the original iPhone 74 days to sell one million units.

Quote of the week

“No money, no honey.”

– Anonymous

4th of July weekend

I’m late posting this, but we spent 4th of July weekend in Mammoth. It was a last-minute decision, and we lucked out and were able to rent unit #48 at Sunrise condos, a few doors down from the Takata’s condo (ran into Mark, Linda, Michael & Brandon btw).

Didn’t do any fishing, we just hung out and relaxed, which was great. Some pictures:

The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating

Beets, my favorite (not!), was #1 on the list.

Also included: sardines, swiss chard (what’s that?), pumpkin seeds, and frozen blueberries.

Read the article from New York Times health blog, Well.

Quote of the week

“There is a wisdom of the head, and a wisdom of the heart.”

– Charles Dickens

Cooler days ahead

I talked to mom on the drive home today, and she said that the workers should be done today installing their new central air system. They just got the estimate last week, so I was surprised the job’s almost done. Mom said that they’re also replacing the central heating unit.

So it looks like mom and pop will be enjoying a nice cool summer.

“We’re not geniuses, we’re consistent”

$4+ per gallon gasoline has wiped out demand for big trucks and SUVs, leading to double-digit sales declines for the major car makers in June.

Honda, however, eked out a one percent sales gain.

Getting ready for Alaska

Mark e-mailed last Thursday telling us that we had 24 days until our Alaska fishing trip.

So, I thought I should start getting ready, and buy a reel. After consulting with Deano, and reading many positive reviews, I settled on the Abu Garcia C4.

Cabelas was backordered, so I bought it from the Bass Pro Shops web site.

In the end, I was lucky that Cabelas was backordered since their C4 model was a funny-looking blue color, which Steve would have ridiculed the whole trip.

A big thanks to Mark for all of his hard work planning the trip!