Should I start bossing around?

Success in Belgium often is measured by how many people you can boss around. This may be a metric if you studied business school, but I have found it strange when you are an engineer. The engineering school barely could sneek in a class of macro economics. And boy-o-boy was that a succesful and well attended class. Forget about any business or management classes. So, to measure the success of an engineer based upon how many people work for you doesn't make much sense to me. As Rummy would state: that's the old world [1] (hierarchical system).

At the age of 30, I value an interesting job that allows for lots of new experiences and technologies much higher than jumping on the management train. At least for now. Sure, I'll take the lead of a project any time (aka project manager). But I am not ready yet for becoming a 'people manager'. And that's just the way Sun works. You are either a people manager or an individual contributor.

Last week, I got a new manager - a current colleague who chooses to become people manager. My current manager got promoted to director and got a bunch more people reporting to him. For the first time in my almost six years at Sun Microsystems, my manager will be local near the Menlo Park campus (aka "Sun Quentin", named after its resemblance to the big buildings of San Francisco high security state prison San Quentin).

My former managers were all located in Burlington, Massachusetts. This setup required some adjustments. Formost, you have to be able to work very independently. Not only were they located across country, I barely got to see them or talk to them: no casual chit-chat in the hallway or near the water cooler. One had to be proactive and schedule (briefing) time, but it always felt more official than a chat in the hallway. In addition, my managers have been quiet hands-off. Besides setting the overall goals, it was up to us to fill in the blanks and to define the individual projects. It was as if I had my one person shop set up within Sun. So I adapted. And once you got the hang of it, it is actually quiet a nice setup. This might change now. My new manager is only two offices away. Staff meetings will be in person and no longer on the phone. Bye bye emailing and checking out the stock market while the meeting dragged on. Hopefully, this won't change to much my style of working. While change is inevitable, being able to work in a flexible work environment has always been one of the major attractions to work at Sun. I believe it has played a big role in the overall success of Sun. On that note: as we launched the new kick-ass Solaris 10 operating environment yesterday at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, SUNW broke the $5 barrier.

AM Radio: Talk Radio

Last week, I said farewell to my pumpkin mobile: a poppy orange coloured 1965 V8 289cu Ford Mustang coupe. A splendid muscle car. It was actually the first car I ever bought myself.

It is currently making its way to Southern California to be boarded on a cargo ship to Europe. Its new owner lives in Belgium and you might see it zooming by on the Belgian roads. I always tried to keep the car in as much as original state as possible. It still has the original engine, original transmission and original, working AM Radio. While FM radio had been invented by Edwin Amstrong in 1933, FM radios were not found commonly in cars of this generation. Most cars were equipment with sqeeky AM radios. When you driver underneath a bridge, the radio signal gets distorted. AM radios also ment long antennas and one had to watch out when driving into a garage (see how the antenna doesn't fit on the picture above).

At first, I wondered what to listen to on the AM band? Should I install a CD player underneath the seat? I drove around for awhile with a portable cassette player in the car to listen to my tapes, but that was really a hasle. I hardly listened to AM radio, until a friend told me she got addicted to Talk Radio and no longer listens to any of the music stations. And thus, for the last ten years later, I am a proud member of the cult of liberal (and on rare occasion conservative) talk radio listeners. While on Belgian radio you listen to music and little info segments (with the hourly newscast and one time evening behind-the-news segment), you do not find the all-day all-night discussion radio stations. I am a regular listener of KGO AM810 in San Francisco. My favorite talk show host has to be liberterian Gene Burns (lots of common sense and a great debater). While talk radio is predominantly on the AM band, you do find them also on FM radio. A great example is CarTalk which leaves politics outside and enters the garage.

I wonder if AM Talk Radio even has a slight chance to survive in Belgium? Probably not. Here's why:
(1) With exception of those betting on horses, very few people even know the AM band.
(2) There are few AM radio stations. The fact that Belgium is only a little country sure comes into play. AM Radio, by its nature, spans a much longer distance. On a good summer evening, KGO in San Francisco can be heard from Seattle to Baja in Mexico (and I don't mean via internet radio).
(3) Even though, on average, Belgians are more in touch with the news, the world and politics, you do not hear them talking about it all the time. The exception is 'The Seventh Day', a political debate program on Sunday morning. I believe Belgians do not feel as strong about an issue as the talk show listeners do. On many topics such as abortion, gay marriage, immigration, gun control, the US are very polarized, along the lines of "You are with them or against them." There is no middle ground. You therefor tend to have very strong opinions who will call into the talk shows.

On the other hand, maybe an FM sports talk radio, such as KNBR AM860 might work well in Belgium, covering national but also the local sports. Mmh? Let me get back to you on this.

FM Radio

In my teenage years in Belgium I discovered Studio Brussel, on 100.9FM in the province of Antwerp. Studio Brussel is an alternative radio station in the most broad sense of the word: new-wave, hard rock, (neo)-punk, techno and world music. Studio Brussel always seemed to be 'out there', introducing you to new artists and bands, to new styles, without becoming a popularity contest. The fact that they originally launched under the umbrella of the national radio station (and thus sponsored by the government I assume) made them a lot more independent. Go check Studio Brussel out as they stream live to the internet; you'll hear what I am talking about.

The music on the FM dial in California is much different. Morning programs are dominated by tag team shock jocks. The innocent ones play pranks on people and crack jokes. The more shocking ones elaborate on the human body in full detail. But overall, it is very much talk-talk-commercial-commercial-talk-talk and little music. While you can find FM radio stations from classic rock to elevator music, they all tend to stay within their genre and demographic. There's a classic music station, a music-for-the-single-desperate-women station , musica romantica and a headbangers-mullet station. All are however very predictable and repeat their playlists over and over. It's almost like you can see the big music corporations push the buttons: play Britney .. Brriiiittney!! or Kenny G. or Ozzy (he ain't dead yet you know). [Ah, the antics [1] [2] of them big music corporations deserve a full post later on.] College radio supposed to be much more balanced and experimental. However, the experimental typically also applies to their equipment and style.

Odd he? how radio can be of such poor content in the country with so many great artists. This brings me back to Studio Brussel: the right mix of music and personalities. It is still the most complete FM radio station I know. And now I will break for a commercial pitstop and steer your FM radio to either Free Speech Radio (KPFA) or National Public Radio (NPR) for a heatlhy dose of independence.

Do you like to drive in Samoan?

After using various forms of public (VTA) and alternative means of transportation (skateboard, rollerblades and a bicycle), it was time to purchase a car. After all, Car is King in California. Highways have eight or more lanes and there is an exit every mile. Bike lanes or sidewalks on the contrary are most often non existent. Many of the people I got to know by then, owned on average two cars, and often had one permanently stalled in the driveway. Americans love their cars. They love owning them, driving them and working on them. Since there is no mandatory yearly safety checkup, you encounter some real disasters on the freeways. One car was literaly kept together by tape. You will also encounter cars of every age. And nothing could be cooler than working on your American classic muscle car.Dealerships have made it very easy to buy a new car. You don't even have to put money on the table and off you are in the new 2005 model*.

Purchasing a car first ment time to get a California Drivers' License at the Department of Motor Vehicles ("the DMV"). While often ridiculed for the long lines and bureaucracy, the California DMV is currently a very modern and computerized department. Most paperwork can now be obtained and filed online.

Obtaining a Drivers' License was a bizarre experience. First of all, the theoretical exam is a walk in the park. However it can be very tricky. One question I still remember today: "If you get caught spraying graffiti, your drivers' license will be a) suspended b) suspended/delayed till you are at least 21 years old c) not affected."** What this had to do with being a safe driver and knowing the road rules, was a mystery to me. For a flavour of the current exams, check out some of the sample tests. As I paid the $12 registration fee, the office clerk asked me in which language did I want to take the test. "Huh? In which language? .. English", I said, "but what are my choices?" "I am glad you asked", he said, and rattled of a list of languages. Besides English, the basic Class C written driver license exam is also available in the following languages:

Amharic	Arabic	Armenian	Cambodian
Chinese	Croatian	French	German
Greek	Hebrew	Hindi	Hmong
Hungarian	Indonesian	Italian	Japanese
Korean	Laotian	Persian/Farsi	Polish
Portuguese	Punjabi	Romanian	Russian
Samoan	Spanish	Tagalog/Filipino	Thai
Tongan	Turkish	Vietnamese

Besides English, the basic Class C audio driver license exam is also available in the following languages:

Armenian	Chinese/Mandarin	Hindi	Hmong
Japanese	Korean	Portuguese	Punjabi
Russian	Spanish	Vietnamese

Since I had studied the Driver's handbook in English, I opted for English. But I found it bizarre that English is not a requirement to drive a car. Will the California Highway Patrol dispatch a translator when they pull a Laotian over, unable to speak a word of English?
Give me a break! As English is the official language, English should be the only language in which you can take the Drivers' Exam. And let's save a few trees and dollars translating and printing the Driver's handbooks and exams in the various languages. (Or at least add Dutch/Flemish.)

* It's somewhat a mystery to me that the 2005 model gets delivered to the show rooms by summer 2004. The 2005 model should arrive in January 2005.
** If I remember correctly, your drivers' license will be b) delayed/suspended till at least 21 years of age.

What race are you?

Last week, our little family expanded as we celebrated the birth of our daughter. The birth certificate application and several medical files required us to categorize her heritage. Is she black, caucasian, hispanic (if so, from where), indian or asian? We didn't know how to answer this question. I am not even sure I understand the definitions of each category. I am Belgian. My wife is from Argentina. And as for many Argentineans, her family tree extends to Europe. So, is my daughter caucasian, hispanic or both? Or, will she, as many Americans I met, go through live as a "percentage person": x% caucasian and y%hispanic? I suspect she won't be a percentage person, as she isn't part of the perfect 3-I's: she is neither Irish, nor Italian, nor Indian. The American Uber-person is 45% Italian, 45% Irish and 10% Cherokee, Apachian or any other native American nomad. Sure a little German sprinkled here or there doesn't hurt either. But Belgian or Argentinean? Unless it is a world cup soccer year, or you are sitting at a bbq table drinking beer, it doesn't count for any brownie points. We decided to enroll her into the caucasian program. I can't remember what we decided for my son, more than two years ago. Opportunisticaly, he might have been categorized as being hispanic. Even though California prohibited affirmative action in 1996, many other states and universities still favour affirmative action [1] [2]. In such case, we probably wanted to keep the door at least half open for him. I can not remember. Nevertheless, I feel strongly opposed to affirmative action (or any form of discrimination). The fact that such laws are still around in many states just shows that the United States are not the perfect melting pot we were taught about in secondary school. And that race is still a huge deal in day to day life of many Americans. I hope that neither my son nor daughter will ever have to pull out the race card.

flanders.california.usa - The Beginning

Nine years ago, I left my home in Flanders for the West coast of the United States. California and the Bay Area have been my new home ever since. I couldn't have landed in a more fun and interesting area of California. Sure, Los Angeles and San Diego are very nice places. And California is just as wacky of a state as the East coasters make you believe. However, it is San Francisco that has kept me here.