Joshua Go

I don't like it when freeways trick me. There's I-10 west into downtown LA, when it splits off to US-101 and I-5. Six lanes of I-10 turn into a single pathetic lane if you want to stay on it to keep going to Santa Monica. Most of the rest goes to US-101. Context over consistency, to serve the massive hordes going to Hollywood? Perhaps. But this is the mighty I-10 freeway, encompassing the width of the country and passing through Phoenix, San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, and Jacksonville. It's not some little country road in the middle of nowhere. Someone should tell this freeway, "Hey, you're not done yet. You reached LA, but the real end is Santa Monica." And then there's I-5 north to SR22 west in Santa Ana. When you're driving on I-5 and you choose the "Exit Only" lane to switch freeways, you should be rewarded for your dedication. But it is not like that at all. It really does mean "Exit Only" — and not to switch freeways. It t...

I'm a big fan of 37signals in general, but I remember a time when I went a little overboard with youthful zealotry for one of their philosophical tenets: meetings are toxic . Back then, my business partner Steve and I had just landed our first major client, and this client asked for a kick-off meeting. I curtly dismissed it, telling them I didn't need a meeting — leaving them baffled with my strange behavior (and Steve smacking his forehead). Since then, I've found kick-off meetings with partner companies and clients to be crucial for greasing the wheels of personal exchange. It gets people talking to each other, which is worth pursuing because cross-company communication is a tricky thing. Plus, the stakes are higher: if you have to coordinate with another company, chances are that you're working on something pretty important. I've found in the vast majority of cases that it doesn't take extensive preparation to the standard I would expect of myself if I were...

During the course of my two years attending Discovery Christian Church in Davis , I had the chance on several occasions to eat lunch with the pastors, namely Aaron Brockett and John Richert . I still remember the most surprising thing that Aaron ever mentioned to me. He said that a lot of the leaders at Discovery, himself and John included, were natural introverts. From the outside, it seemed that they were anything but. They greeted people left and right, confidently gave their sermons, and coordinated the big picture very smoothly. One of the things that caught my attention at the beginning, and subsequently hooked me in to attending regularly, was how the services on Sunday were so well-run. As for me, I have found that I am quite happy to be a follower, unless there is a leadership vacuum — either no leadership at all, or very poor leadership. To be fair, I've found that very poor leadership can come from both extroverts and introverts. In extroverts, the leadership pitfalls...

Open source has had its triumphs and failures. The most notable wins include Eclipse , Linux, Apache HTTP server , MySQL , and Mozilla Firefox. Developer tools and server software are generally areas of strength for open source. I wouldn't say that Mozilla Firefox is an anomaly. Rather, it shares something in common with developer tools and server software: the programmers who work on it are also its users. Unfortunately, this is not the case with the gaps that open source has so far failed to close. A friend of mine recently asked me about my choice of spreadsheet software. We talked about it for a bit, and agreed that OpenOffice.org Calc is still clunky. I suggested Gnumeric , but I don't really hear anything notable going on with it these days. In short, I don't see an Excel killer in either of these. It's not for lack of vision that these spreadsheet projects have stagnated. It's for lack of sustained passion and developer interest in making these products world...

For my morning workout, I switch between two different 24 Hour Fitness locations. One is right by where I live, in Irvine, California, where people tend to be either white or some kind of Asian. The other gym, near Long Beach in the city of Carson, is on my way to work. Most of the customers I see there are either black or Filipino. Each location plays different kinds of music. At my neighborhood 24 Hour Fitness, the music that's played is the angst-ridden punk and alternative that people have come to expect out of Orange County. (To be fair, I like a lot of the songs they play.) In Carson, it's a bigger gym with some sort of Magic Johnson approval. They make a big deal of being tied in with Magic Johnson, and his pictures are plastered over all four of the walls, on both floors. If I were Magic Johnson, I would be a little embarrassed to have so many pictures of me smiling statically at people as they work out. The music is hip hop and R&B. As both workout and leisure musi...

One my drive home from work each day, I see Mexican guys trying to sell flowers, standing on the curbs by freeway entrances and exits that have stoplights. After seeing them all week, I got to wondering whether any of them ever make a sale: I haven't seen anyone buy flowers yet. And I'm sure they make a sale here and there; otherwise they wouldn't come back. That got me to wondering whether there's some sort of demographic they target. Given that the particular time of day is when most people get off work and then sit in traffic, the cynic in me thinks that the buyers are probably making their purchases for reasons other than being considerate. A man doesn't have to plan the purchase of these flowers in advance, and even if he did, it's not guaranteed that the seller will be there. My hypothesis is that these traffic light flower vendors' target market is men whose wives or girlfriends are upset that they're coming home late from work, and these busy guy...