Nerd Cruise

While I will definitely be partaking in crazy cruise excursions such as ziplining and dog sledding when I go to Alaska in June, I am also looking forward to geeking out in a part of the world I've never experienced.  

For my fellow cruisemates, here are some things to check out, monitor and watch for while vacationing.

Aurora borealis sightings

My name is Laura and I will be your Space Weather Girl!  This is not peak season for the Northern Lights, but I am very excited to announce that it looks like we might have significant solar storms during the last part of our trip, resulting in visible northern lights, otherwise known as the aurora borealis. 

Here are some links for monitoring as it gets closer:
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots/kp_3d.html
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/Alaska/2013/06/04
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/weekly/27DO.txt

International Space Station sightings
While not unique to Alaska, we will get more than the usual number of opportunities to see the ISS as it whirs around the earth every 90 minutes. 
The ISS can easily be seen with the naked eye on a clear night, and is the brightest thing in the sky besides the sun and the moon.  Here are the times when we are most likely to be milling about the ship and open to an ISS sighting: 

Here's a complete list of all 33 potential opportunities to see the ISS during our Alaskan adventure:

Not going to be in Alaska?  
Find your sightings here: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/
Or, sign up for alerts here: http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/


Whale and other Wildlife Watching
There is a strong likelihood we will be able to catch a glimpse of some magnificent whales right from our cruiseship!  While I couldn't find anything specific to the humpback whales we are likely to see, I was able to find some live tracking data on bowhead whales, below.

from http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=marinemammalprogram.bowhead


This link has some great info on other creatures to watch for: http://www.nps.gov/glba/planyourvisit/spotting-wildlife-from-cruise-ships.htm 


Webcams: http://www.kinyradio.com/webcams.html


Happy Sightings! 

Let's make it official

If you follow me on Facebook then you probably already know my big news of the day. I've been working on resolving the conflict between my head and my heart. The man I previously referred to as Dear John, for fear of breaking his heart, has made me his girlfriend. I'm still nervous, but it's entirely me freaking about having someone so wonderful want me the way he does. So I'm still proceeding with caution, but cautiously optimistic. 

It's crazy that a heart can be so indifferent when the head knows it's so right. Now that I've accepted the relationship, it does feel right. If I had made him wait, I think I would have continued being conflicted, so I'm relieved that I was smarter than that. 
 
I suppose my heart's turnaround started last night when he was my +1 at a rather unconventional baby shower featuring the UFC fight as the main event. It was the first time I put him in the situation where he was clearly with me among people he didn't know. It was like a dress rehearsal or a test drive. And it was great. Not only does he go out of his ways to do little things for me, he makes it look effortless (and trust me, I know I'm hard to please). 

Jaiman and I only met a couple weeks ago, and we don't have a single picture together. That'll have to change of course. But we've spent a lot of time together, we've talked a lot and we text when we're apart. I thought about making it official last night, and I almost did because even more frightening than the uncertainty of dating him was the thought of losing him, but decided to give it a little more time.
Well this morning he brought it up, and I knew I had to say yes. It went like this:

J: "We've been seeing a lot of each other lately. Does that mean we're together?"
me: "Do you want to be?"
J: (honestly I don't recall what he said here, but it was an affirmative answer... I was busy freaking out in my head)
me: "Then let's do it, let's make it official."

Since that moment, I've been convincing myself more and more that I made the right decision. My roommate, who has been rooting for Jaiman all along, made the most convincing argument: he's everything I want. My reluctance to dive into a relationship has prevented me from even admitting to Jaiman that many of the things he's done and he's talked about play right into incredibly selfish fantasies I've had about Mr. Perfect. I won't say he's Mr. Perfect, at least not yet, but he's certainly better than anything I've had in a long, long time, and its incredible to me how good of a fit he is for me. 

So the bad news is I will no longer be going on silly, crazy dates with randos. But this comes at a great time so I can now focus this blog on my endeavors to become a social media ninja, successful entrepreneur, world traveler, etc. Stay tuned!

My boys bring all the milkshakes to the yard

I've been hesitant to write much about my love life as of late, partially because nothing too hilarious or ridiculous has happened.  But I do feel compelled to write an update as to where things stand.  Swing dancing has made itself a bigger part of my life than it ever was before, and as such, I've been meeting more people through swing dance activities.  I met an older guy who I really enjoyed dancing with, and could tell instantly that he was interested in me.  Let's call him Ted, because he's a bit like a giant teddy bear that I like to hug.  Unfortunately, he's going through a divorce that just began, and I've already dating someone through a divorce and I would really rather not go through that again.  Maybe if the guy was so over-the-top my dream man I would change my story, but that certainly is not the case.  Still, I've told him that I'd like to stay friends and do things with him, and he took that okay but still treats me a little like he's pursuing more.  That's fine with me, by the way, because I've gotten my feelings out on the table.  

So there's this other guy I met swing dancing.  He's young, 23.  He's very sweet, VERY physically affectionate and cuddly, and great in so many ways.  He appreciates the geek in me.  He, too, made it pretty damn obvious very quickly that he was into me.  It was nice, though, because we took it slow at first.  Texting, meeting up, a first date, movie night, video game night, brewery outing, having wine and cheese.  That doesn't usually happen with me.  He's physically attractive and easy to talk to.  He may not be the best swing dancer on the floor, but he seems to be a quick learner and an eager one.  There is really nothing wrong with this boy.  

Yet, I'm not jumping for joy.  I don't know what it is; I keep taking inventory of what I want compared to what he can offer, and he seems to fulfill my highest priorities fully, and my middle and low priorities at least partially.  I should be ecstatic.  But for some reason I have this strange boredom with it.  Maybe because it was too easy.  Maybe, as I've imagined myself saying to him many times, it just takes me a long time to warm up to somebody new.  I can't put my finger on it, but the feeling I get is something like when you've eaten the same meal for four days straight; you know it still tastes good but you're bored.  That's the feeling, but it doesn't make sense in my head.  He's physically nothing like anyone I've ever dated before.  It's been a long time since I've dated a band geek.  He's a dancer, which is different than the last few serious boyfriends I've had.  He does live at home like my ex- did, but he's moved out once before, and he's so much younger that I can't really compare where my ex- was in life to where he is.  He's still in school, so living at home does not make him a slacker.  He's responsible.  He pays for things without giving me an option, which is really smooth.  I am really stumped.  He's totally awesome, and I just feel luke warm about him.  Sure, he smothers me a little, but I feel empowered to push him away a little if I need to.  Other than that, I am totally comfortable around him.  My head says I could fall in love with him.  My heart says it could pass.  I'm going to call him Dear John, because I'm afraid I'm going to break his heart.  

I guess there was one funny situation I got myself into a couple weeks ago.  There was a swing dance workshop weekend with a 1950's Prom-style dance followed by an after party at one of the swing dancers' houses.  I had actually met Dear John at the workshop Saturday.  For the dance, I brought R, so he joked that I was his Prom date.  Ted showed up eventually, as did Dear John.  Mr. Suave, too, made an appearance, but he and I are quickly growing apart.  I guess it's a little odd to be at a dance with so many guys that like you, but so long as everyone was dancing and nobody was kissing (I had to mitigate some kissing from R), no harm, no foul.  Well, the first best thing was that when the last song came on, I saw Ted heading my way, and R heading my way.  Then Dear John popped up and grabbed me before the other two could get to me.  I felt like, you know, totally popular and like, loved, right?  After the dance, they usually play one or two silly pop songs that don't make any sense for swing dancers.  Following suit, they put on a funny song to dance to, and I immediately started jamming.  I ended up getting a little circle together with Ted and R, and thought it was funny that they were both trying to dance with me.  Writing it out, I guess it was significantly funny after all - because I haven't gotten to the the best part yet.  Ted wanted to follow someone to the after party because he didn't have GPS.  I told him R and I were going to my house to grab some alcohol and that he could follow us if he wanted.  So imagine my roommate's surprise when I walked in with R and Ted.  They were both very awkward and strange with my roommate and his girlfriend.  

Then the three of us went to the after party.  Having danced in workshops all day, my feet were aching, so I sat down smack in the middle of the big comfy couch.  R sat on one side of me, then Ted sat on the other side.  R got up to get me a drink, and Ted laid his head on my shoulder and snuggled with me.  He sat up again before R returned.  I'm not sure if this was intentional or coincidental.  R came back with the milkshakes, which I dosed with alcohol.  Then Ted got up to dance, and R rubbed my feet and kissed me.  Then R got up to dance and Ted sat back down next to me, saw my milkshake was empty and offered to get me another one.  I accepted, and he brought me one back.  Then R grabbed me for a dance while Ted was talking to someone.  When I sat back down again, Ted asked me to dance.  It was a little like volley-Laura.  

Volley-Laura can happen all night long with two guys I have close to zero interest in pursuing, doesn't matter to me in any serious sense, just comic relief.  Dear John is much more interesting.  In fact, we met up for swing dance last Thursday, and we've seen each other, either in public or at my place, every evening since then.  I almost saw R last night, and then he found himself a hot date while I was in a meeting (ok, full disclosure, I thought I had a meeting and I had the date wrong, so I wasn't actually in the meeting I thought I had - I guess I blew it because I could have seen R if I hadn't gone to the non-existent meeting - or did I?  We're talking about R, right?  Oi vey).  

There's just something about dancing with R that is much more comfortable and desirable than dancing with Dear John.  I don't know what it is, but I wish I could put those feelings towards the better man.  

The Powerful Potential of Pinterest

No matter how many social media platforms you have accounts on or are actively engaged on, you surely have at least heard mumblings of how social media is changing the way we interact, browse, work and live. And like all forms of social media, much like new technology, there is a lifecycle of early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. Some forms of new technology can be immediately useful to the very first users, while others require participation from other customers before it becomes useful. Social media, I'd argue, is rarely useful until everybody else is on it. Pinterest is perhaps the best exception to that rule.

Take the telephone for example (notSmart Phones, now, or even cell phones; I'm going way back to the original telephone): it had absolutely zero use to the very first user, because he had nobody to call. What a lonely set those first few customers must have been! But as the technology was adopted by more users, it became more and more useful. Then providers could improve upon the technology and add features, and make the service cheaper. Many new technologies had to be made flexible enough to accommodate the telephone system, because it became so critical to our lives.

The most exciting part of new technology, to me, isn't the technology itself, but the way it can be adapted to previously unthinkable applications. The Internet, as I saw it in my youthanyways, was a storage place for information, and an ugly one at that. But as it gained momentum, people started to figure out how to use it. TheSmart Phoneis another example; it didn't appeal to me at first, because the apps were mostlysub-parversions of websites, or clocks, or dumb games. Initially, app developers didn't see the big picture of how people could useSmart Phones, so apps didn't differentiate themselves from computer software. Now, there are apps that I feel like I couldn't live without; or would need a second, clunkier device in order to accomplish the same thing. The apps are quickly replacing clunky devices and computer software altogether.

I'm not sure if there is a name for this phenomenon: it's like there was a steady climb up a hill where nothing really made sense and didn't prove its worth, early adapters raved about its potential, they just didn't know what that potential really looked like, and then one day thelight bulbgoes on and suddenly we understand how to apply the technology to vastly change and improve our lives, usually in ways even the early adopters couldn't have imagined. I shirk away from calling this a tipping point, because I don't think it's the same thing that Malcolm Gladwell talked about in his book by that name. I'd venture to say its even beyond the "chasm" that Geoffrey Moore talks about in the life cycle of a product. Rather, it's like a moment of clarity that only comes after tons of people are using it poorly.

So what does all of this have to do with Pinterest? Well, Pinterest may not be new to many of you, and maybe you've steered clear of it because of what you've heard about it. Regardless, I think Pinterest has some seriously untapped potential that we have yet to see spread throughout its users.

Newbie Mistakes

I'll admit that as a new Pinterest user, realistically like a new user to any social media platform, I didn't know what I was doing when I started. You could even say I used it "wrong". The first board I created was for my Life List, which had previously existed in several forms, including a facebook app that disappeared into some cyber black hole, and luckily, it was also stored on my computer on a simple Excel worksheet. Being the Excel guru that I am, I happen to dislike the life list apps I've found because they aren't as clever or functional or useful as my Excel spreadsheet, with its filters and notes and dates and possible locations, came to be. Still, since I didn't know what to do with Pinterest, I decided to Pin my entire 147-item Life List into a designated board. I'll admit in hindsight it was a big waste of time. I get very little utility out of it being on Pinterest except for one aspect: visualization. That was what was missing from my Excel sheet! The exciting and sometimes comical images I picked to represent my life list goals has a profound impact on me when I see it. I still refer to my Excel list regularly, but when I tell others about my Life List, I show them my Pinterest board because it just looks so cool.

I say this is the "wrong" way to use Pinterest for several reasons. First, I had to seek out and find every image, many from Google because I couldn't find them on Pinterest itself. The value proposition, and indeed the addicting nature, of Pinterest is that users will discover things that others have posted. Thus, having my list already created, and choosing not to add to my list, means I was rejecting and ignoring Pinterest's most valuable features. What a shame. Second, Pinterest isn't really just about visualization; its about information, too. Most of my pins are merely images, with no valuable content behind them. Don't even bother clicking on them; they will lead you nowhere. Thus, my Life List board serves no higher purpose than a clever way to display inspiring images. Third, a Life List is, by nature, a checklist, whereas Pinterest is not. Thus, other than editing the pin, either by writing "DONE!" after the caption or moving it to a new "Completed Life List" board, there is no action I can take to check the box, because Pinterest wasn't meant to be a checklist.

Pinterest is perhaps best known for collecting DIY/craft ideas and recipes. I cook about once per year, so recipes are not of much interest to me, but I'd argue that they're not even all that useful to the most common pinner. I've seen some people with dozens of boards on just recipes; they'll have one for desserts and one for chicken entrees and one for mushroom soups. However, there is a kind of hoarding going on, and this worries me. With no barriers to "keeping" pins, like price or space, pinners tend to just pin everything they see, without actually curating or evaluating the value. It's a little bit like holding on to clothes you never wear. I see pins that capitalize on this by saying, "Pin now, read later."If you're not reading it now, and you're just pinning things that might be useful, you'll probably never return to read those pins that didn't pique your interest the first time around. You don't need to pin "10 Ways to Remove Grass Stains from Carpet" just because it seems like someday it could be useful. If the time ever comes that you need to remove grass stains from carpet, you can Google it, look it up on YouTube, or heck, search for it on Pinterest. If it seems pin-worthy to you, then read it over once before pinning, and you're likely to recall the solution if it ever becomes a need.

The hoarding effect has gotten so bad that people joke about it, "Look I finally used a recipe I found on Pinterest!" I think mindless hoarding is Pinterest abuse, and I'd strongly discourage it. Not only does it clog up your boards with recipes you'll never cook and links you'll never click, it clogs up my feed. So rule #1 against hoarding is, if its not worth reading the first time, it's not worth pinning. Rule #2 is, if you don't actually find yourself going back to reference certain boards, then those boards are hoard boards; they should be deleted and you should stop pinning those types of things.

That being said, I think there are still bigger and better applications of Pinterest that haven't been fully realized. I have been playing around with this, seeing what is useful and what is not. One such board is my "Companies / Websites to Watch" board. This is a home to the really exciting "next new thing" things that I see, can barely contain my excitement, and otherwise don't really know what to do with. I have yet to decide if this is really of value or not, because I don't find many times in my life where I am triggered to return to the board, like I do with my "Places to Try" boards. On the contrary, here are some useful ways in which I think more people should use Pinterest.

Reference Lists

What I realized is that Pinterest is a unique and incredibly functional way to organize thoughts, activities, desires, etc. Perhaps the most utilitarian use is creating a Wish List which you can then refer your friends and family to when it is birthday and/or Christmas time. The problem I faced pre-Pinterest was that I knew I wanted things that I wouldn't necessarily splurge on, but when my parents asked me for a list for Christmas, I drew a blank. Even when I managed a thought or two, they certainly weren't my biggest desires. Somehow I couldn't remember what it was I wanted most. Sure, I could have kept a list in OneNote (which I used to use) or Evernote (which I now use), but that list was tacky and became difficult to update because some items were bullets and some were pictures and some were links and it was just ugly. Sharing it was even harder, because if I updated it, then I'd have to send it out again. And if I ended up buying something from the list, I'd want to tell my parents to disregard that item. Pinterest is nice, because it is made up of links naturally, it can display prices, it maintains a consistent format, and it can be shared and updated with ease. And Pinterest is beautiful to look at!

Another great idea for Pinterest boards is the "Things to Do In..." or "Things to Try" concepts. How many times have you been sitting around with your significant other wondering where you should go to eat or what you should do? This is my remedy. When I see or hear about a cool local restaurant or venue, I pin it to my "Places to Try in Phoenix" board. That way, when the "what to do" question comes up, I have an immediate list of places I've already decided I want to check out. I do this for other cities, too, because chances are I'll forget all the cool things I've heard about by the time I actually get there. So as I'm planning my next Vegas trip, I can refer back to the accumulation of cool things to do in Vegas on my Pinterest board. FourSquare lets you create checklists, so I have used that from time to time if I'm mostly concerned about collecting a list of places to go in a different city; there are a number of drawbacks to using FourSquare, though, and perhaps the only benefit is the ability to link directly to a Nav app.

I'll submit a caveat here that I think is important. When creating Reference Lists, I find it helpful to be very specific. Not just, "Things I want to do someday", but "Things to do in Las Vegas for free" or "Places to Eat in the Phoenix area" or "Day trip ideas". The reason I find this helpful is because when a board is too generic, I start thumbing through it and get turned off by the things that don't apply to my specific situation. I might even walk away with less of an idea of what to do than when I started, because my board was too generic of a collection.

Another way I've used Pinterest is to pat myself on the back and remind myself of some of the extraordinary things I've done. Specifically, my "Hiking Conquests" board is made up of, as you might imagine, hikes that I have completed and thus want to remember. When you hike five or six places, you can probably remember them pretty well. But as you hike more and more places, you don't always remember them, and then you're talking to a fellow hiker new to the area, and you can't remember all the places you might recommend. Does it belong on Pinterest? Maybe not; an Untappd-like app specific for hiking might be cooler. FourSquare allows you to check in to hiking locations, but doesn't differentiate them from other check ins. Maybe if FourSquare grouped past check ins and saved them in a useful format, this could be the end-all solution. In themealtime, Pinterest is the best solution I have found for this purpose.

Research

Ultimately, I think Pinterest works well as a collector of research. I still assert that you should be discriminatory about what you pin, and not just blindly post anything related to what you're looking for. Used properly, you can quickly accumulate a list of links that you found valuable on a specific topic. Why use Pinterest instead of a list in EverNote or Excel? Captioning, for one. I rarely remember the title of an article, and based on the title or the URL, I almost never remember what it was I found useful in it. Thus, with a regular set of links, I might be clicking all the way down the list until I find that one nugget I was looking for. Pinterest requires a description or caption, which prompts me to think what it is I want to say about it, thus capturing the main idea before I move on to the next source. Yes, a description or note about the value of an article could be captured in EverNote or Excel, but Pinterest requires something, which I think is of at least minor value. I think the big bang comes from that visualization I liked so much early on. While I might not remember titles or URLs, I do remember visuals. Any graphics that are displayed while reading an article get tied to the concepts, ideas and values of that article; even if they aren't obviously related. So by Pinterest purposefully requiring an image, I can utilize boards to quickly identify the link that I'm looking for.

I'll give you an example of such research. My "Genius Marketing Ideas" board is dedicated to out-of-the-box, never-woulda-thought-to-do-that marketing examples. This serves as inspiration whenever I am looking for a new angle in my marketing, whether it be for the non-profit I work with, a personal business, or a new startup. Some of them I found by chance on Pinterest or elsewhere on the Internet, and some of them I created a new pin for based on something I read in a book. My favorite of these is the hand-written board outside a cafe that says, "Come in and try the worst Thai tea that one guy on Yelp ever had in his life." I find this hilarious, because it is turning a negative review almost into a challenge, as if to say, "Really guy on Yelp? Is it that bad?" It almost puts him out there as a target to throw darts at. I could imagine that others would be more prone not only to try the tea, but to then go on to Yelp and disprove of the negative review, than they would if it just said, "Give us a review on Yelp!" It also hints at one of Cialdini's weapons of influence, authority; by admitting a very minor negative, namely, one guy didn't like one of their products, they actually increase their credibility as a coffee shop / cafe.

On the other hand, one major flaw I see in Pinterest is its increasing inability to identify images on websites that I'm trying to pin. I suppose this is because websites are becoming more sophisticated, with embedding or references that just didn't exist or weren't popularly used 15 years ago. So I can be starring at a page full of images, and Pinterest can't find one. Thus, I can't pin that page. I have a work around, it's more of a band-aid than a cure, and that is to take a screenshot and manually create a pin referencing the website in the caption. There is no link when done this way (sad face). This is both time-consuming and frustrating, and what's worse is that I cannot do this on my mobile phone, which is a major part of my pinning activities. If Pinterest would automatically take a Snippet and maintain the linking feature, instead of rejecting my ability to pin, that would solve a world of hurt in my pinning experience. Please, Pinterest, please! Read this and take action!

Enough about that. I mentioned earlier that one of the reasons my Life List was using Pinterest wrong was because I essentially rejected the Pinterest discovery process. But here's the problem: if nobody else is using Pinterest for research like I am, than the only things I can discover are recipes and crafts. Like the telephone back in the day, I need someone to call, or in this case, follow, to see what they're finding in their research on similar topics. To be fair, there are a few out there with boards of interest. Usually if I find a pin that I re-pin into one of my research boards, I'll review the entire board it came from, and if I find myself re-pinning once or twice more, I become a follower of that pinner. So I have a few people who help me discover, and I have hope that this number can grow. Just imagine if 7 followers/followees were researching the same narrow topic of collaborative innovations as I was. That would be some seriously powerful collaboration, by total strangers who could care less what the others do with the information.

So my challenge, then, is to figure out what Pinterest is really good for. Hoarding is silly; it's a powerful platform with tons of potential, and I just don't think it has reached that moment of clarity yet.

Why Self Driving Cars Are Coming Sooner Than You Think

No futuristic technology excites me more than the self driving car.  This desire to own one is purely selfish: (1) I hate driving, and I feel it is a waste of my time and energy.  It is also exhausting emotionally when some idiot almost hits me.  (2) It makes me nervous to have others drive me, be it taxi drivers or friends.  (3) I love the flexibility and convenience driving affords me, as opposed to public transportation and alternative modes of transportation.  (4) Being in a car in a populated area is the most dangerous thing most people do in their lifetimes, and most people do it every day.  It doesn't matter that I'm a safe driver; some idiot can hit me when I'm stopped with nowhere to go, and damage my personal property.  Even if its repaired, the car loses value.  Thus, I want all other drivers to own one, too.

So you can have your phablet or your 3D television, all I want for Christmas is an autonomous car.  Hell, I'd even give up my smart phone for a car that drives itself.  Maybe I'm one of the few in the early adopter stage; that wouldn't be a surprise to those who know I own the first Chevy Volt in Arizona.  Maybe I'm just lazy and want to make life even easier on me.  Either way, I want it.  But I won't be so naive to think that everyone will jump at the chance of buying one.  In fact, I don't even think the product life cycle of the self driving car is even worth talking about.  When you question whether or not car makers can make it and car buyers will buy it, I think you're missing a lot of the more important aspects of the discussion.   

The legislation that does exist today - primarily requiring an alert, responsible human driver - is ridiculous.  To that end, if that's the legislation that sticks, we will never get mainstream adoption.  The legislation is indicative of caution exerted around the unknown, which is understandable because we don't really have a solid, viable product in the consumer's hands to base it on yet.  I think what needs to happen is we need to flip it around.  Governments are interested in reducing car accidents and drunk driving.  Why not legislate that new cars have to be equipped with at least partially autonomous features?  The more cars that will avoid hitting things on the road, the less accidents we're likely to see, and the less lethal the remaining accidents should be.  To address the drunk driving issue, breathalzers could be installed and programmed to signal the car to take over the driving when the driver is blowing a high BAC.  Governments should be rallying behind the self-driving car, not putting up barriers.  

We know we can't always rely on government to do the right thing, so let's turn to the commercial world.  Taxis, limo services, shuttles and all sorts of transportation providers should be interested in self-driving cars.  The upfront cost may be astronomical to begin with, and some drivers are paid very poorly.  But there has got to be some length of time where the self-driving car makes economical sense over paying hourly wages, and that payback period will drop with large contracts and larger volumes in production.  

Let's not forget individual consumers who are unable to drive.  This can include the legally blind, the physically handicapped and the elderly.  I'm not saying they're going to shell out a bunch of money themselves, but there are probably grants, charitable support or other funding opportunities to help get them in self-driving cars to empower them to live with more freedom and flexibility.  Disabled military veterans, specifically, have several organizations and grants to support them in civilian life.  Even where there are no available government monies or charities, these kinds of a causes could be crowdfunding-worthy.  

Finally, insurance companies will want their drivers in autonomous cars.  There is huge potential for insurers to give discounts or even potentially subsidize the cost of an autonomous car, knowing their risk is much lower and that the more autonomous cars on the road, the less likely others are to have accidents.  They could give insured drivers the option of replacing their totaled cars with less expensive cars equipped with self-driving capabilities.  

The electric car is great, but it is not a good model to compare future demand for self-driving cars to.  The benefits of the electric car are mostly idealized: reducing dependency on gasoline from overseas, reducing pollution, paying less per mile, not having to go to the gas station.  These points are hard to defend, when it takes sometimes dirty energy to create the electricity, same of creating the car itself, and the cost of the cars make them less than economical.  Cool, yes, but economically sound and environmentally neutral, no.  The self-driving car, on the other hand, has much more tangible benefits.  People who can't drive can use them to reap the benefits of driving, the safety of the autonomous car's passengers and drivers around it is increased, and intoxicated drivers can get home safely without requiring a cab, to name a few.  Thus, the only main stakeholders for the growth of electric cars are the consumers, while the adoption of the autonomous car benefits almost everyone on the road, plus insurers, governments and people who are prevented from driving.  This is the angle that should be taken when discussing the feasibility of self-driving cars in the foreseeable future.  

Poison

I realize that I've left some gapping holes in my blogged stories about my single life.  One of them is in regards to a group I refer to as the Poisonous Group.  Centered around my former roommate, Karen, the Poisonous Group had all sorts of bad drama seeping into it and flowing through it.  It was a tight little incestuous group of friends that had come together and bonded through random meetings.  I'll go as far back as I can to explain how it came together, and how it fell apart.  

I had one long-term boyfriend in college, and when that relationship ended, I was lost.  I can't even recall how it came to be that I reconnected with Karen, and old co-worker from our college days, but that was the start of the the Poisonous Group.  She was living with an apparent slob, but they through some wicked cool parties.  I was invited to one such party, a Masquerade.  One thing you need to know about Karen before our story begins, is that she was a computer science major, a programmer, and that her and I bonded over bad puns and nerdy humor.  It was true in college, and continued to be true as the Poison blossomed in our lives.  But the Poison also took our nerdy humor and twisted it to a very dark and un-PC place. You'll see what I mean.  

There I was at the Masquerade party, definitely over my ex-, whom I had been planning to dump for months prior, and ready to start living again!  That is when I met Hill Billy, as I will call him, a tall, lanky friend of Karen's who was all sorts of hick and hilariousness.  Hill Billy and I hit it off pretty quickly, me being attracted to his 6'5" stature, and him being attracted to my fabulousness.  There was a black guy at the party, too, I'll call him Bock, and I point out that he's black because that's a critical piece of the comedy that followed.  You see, it was well-established, in all fun, that Bock was the "token black guy" of the group.  I was comfortable with Bock, we had had some good conversations, and he showed some interest in me, although I didn't like the way he pursued me, so I blew him off a couple times in favor of Hill Billy.  The only problem with Hill Billy was that he smoked - bleh!  I would have to ask him to get a mint, and in my head I was plotting how I would wean him off cigarettes for good.  

Anyways, I was having a good time, and had several drinks, when my blurry vision indicated to my head that Bock had just walked through the door again.  For some reason, at that precise moment, I was wanting Bock's attention, so I cried his name out in excitement, "Bock! Bock!  You're here!  Hi Bock!"  The guy looked at me like I was a lunatic for a moment, as I ran up to him for a hug.  A few steps away, I realized he was definitely a black guy, but he was most definitely NOT Bock.  I was horrified with embarrassment, but I couldn't stop my momentum, and I ended up crashing into him anyways.  I did not know this guy, and now I just called him Bock, whom he would certainly find out was another black guy, and basically jumped on him.  As if reading my thoughts, Hill Billy came out of nowhere and exclaimed mockingly, "Just because he's black, doesn't mean he's Bock!  Not all black guys are named Bock, Laura!"  When I pulled myself together, I explained to the newcomer that I really did think he was Bock, not just because he's black but because he had the same build and the same kind of dress, and that I was really drunk.  I apologized profusely, and luckily, he had a good sense of humor about it.  Hill Billy explained that Bock was our token black guy, and that was why it was confusing because we don't have any other black friends that come around normally.  When we were all laughing about it, I told the newcomer that I would call him Bock II, and hugged him before parting ways.  A few minutes later, the real Bock walked in and I checked myself to make sure I was seeing correctly, then ran up to him and told him about Bock II.  We found Bock II and I introduced them, and then they both sandwiched me in a big squeezy hug.  I was thrilled, for the obvious reason: I was part of a "Laureo".  That's an Oreo with a Laura in the middle.  Karen loved it, and I loved my Bocks.  

The real Bock made another move on me, but Hill Billy came to my rescue, and after Bock witnessed Hill Billy sneaking a kiss, he backed off a bit.  Hill Billy and I dated on and off; it was difficult because he lives so stinking far away, and he never had gas and he never had money to put gas in his car.  Such a whiner!  I would get so frustrated with him: the only reason I couldn't have his arms around me some nights was because he didn't have a stinking $20 to put stupid gas in his crappy car.  I debated giving him an "emergency twenty" to only use when I wanted to see him and he needed gas; that would solve the problem, right?  Except that giving him money so he could come over felt a little too much like paying for sex, and I just couldn't get over that.  

Another guy I met at the Masquerade party was Flipflopper.  I can't remember much about him from that night, all that remains is an image of him, so tough looking, such an asshole on the outside, while playing beer pong so expertly.  I got to know him better a few weeks after that party.  Karen and I, her roommate and her roommate's boyfriend, were all going rock climbing.  As we pulled into the parking lot, Flipflopper came charging at us, and the car stopped, recognizing him as a friend.  Flipflopper crowded in the back seat with me, and immediately started picking a fight.  Little did I know, then, that that would be a theme in an ongoing relationship.  Sheesh!  

We did our rock climbing, and then we went to the pool hall in the same parking lot; that was what Flipflopper was doing anyways, he wasn't rock climbing.  Flipflopper and I fought all night, a love/hate thing.  Karen eventually had a more serious fight with someone, and we had to leave.  

I had a small dinner party / game night at my house, inviting Karen and some other friends.  Karen didn't tell me she had a dog, nor did she ask if she could bring her dog, but somehow it seemed perfectly natural for her to show up at my house with a blonde Chihuahua in her hand.  The dog's name was Penny, and Penny was dressed up in a pink, black and white sweater for the occasion.  I don't often dress my Chiweiner up, but Carly just so happened to be wearing a pink, black and white sweater that matched all too perfectly.  It was freaky.  Not only that, but the dogs instantly clicked, even though neither usually gets along with other dogs right away.  The humans were playing cards when I looked over at my couch and spotted Carly and Penny curled up together like they had always been BFFs or sisters.  Between their size, attitudes, and matching sweaters, their chemistry was surreal.

When Karen's lease was up, her and her roommate decided to split ways.  I was alone in my house now, my ex- having moved out abruptly after hearing me on the phone with Hill Billy.  So I invited Karen to come live with me.  I sold some of my furniture in a garage sale in order to make room for her stuff, and Penny and Carly were united as partners in crime full time. 

While Hill Billy and I were on the rocks, Karen introduced to me a free dating site online.  We turned into something of a way to get out of taking care of ourselves; when we wanted to eat dinner but didn't feel like buying anything or cooking, we'd go on the site and work on convincing guys to pick us up, take us to dinner, only to be ditched once we were through.  This exercise actually landed me an attractive guy, I'll call Slender.  I didn't ditch him after dinner, because he had a lot going for him.  He was a programmer, so good pay, smart, and good looking, not too tall, but slightly taller than me which is worlds better than not as tall as me, in my book.  By this time, Karen and I told each other pretty much everything, and we even shared boy toys when necessary.  So Slender took us both out for drinks one night.  Then I had to go out of town for work, and while I was away, I got a message from Slender that he was more interested in Karen than he was me.  When I asked her about it, she said he had messaged her on facebook but that she turned him down, and she had no interest in Slender. 

Karen started dating a guy she met on the dating site.  I never got to meet him though; the relationship went that fast.  Between my travel schedule and Karen's late night dating habits, he had bit her in the butt, literally, before I got around to meeting him, and she decided that butt biting crossed a line.  I remember the break-up well, we were in the parking lot at Salty Senoritas after having drinks, just the two of us, and I was urging her to move on from him and come out dancing with me at the club.  She didn't want to cheat on him, so she was trying to figure out how to arrange to see him so she could break up with him.  Noble, maybe, but he was still a butt biter, I reminded her.  I finally convinced her to break up with on the phone, but when she called, she got his voice mail and hung up.  I told her, fine, if he's going to ignore her calls, she could break up with him over voice mail.  Karen pondered it, but with my encouragement, and her strong desire to go find a new man that night at the club, she broke up with him in the most hilarious way over voice mail, citing "ass hole biting" as the final straw.  

We went to the club, but other than a few kinda sorta whatevers, didn't really find what we were looking for.  Karen was down, I mean really down, and regretting breaking up with the butt biter.  Then, my friend Rick texted me, inviting me out to drinks with some friends.  I whisked her away to join Rick.  That was the night we met The Beast.  The Beast was one of Rick's friends, although I had never met him before.  He was hilarious, and cool, and a programmer, not unlike a lot of the company I was keeping.  I really liked him, and I think he really liked me, at least an initial attraction.  But Karen and I did the girl thing and went to the bathroom to chat, and she told me she liked him.  I had a choice: I could play every woman for herself, or I could relent and let her get the rebound attention she craved.  I am sometimes too good of a friend, I think.  I told her that I had seen him checking her out, and that she should go for it.  When we returned to the group, I backed off of The Beast, and Rick suddenly became a little possessive of me, putting his arm around me like I was his girlfriend.  Maybe the guys had their own relationship talk while we were away.  Whatever was happening, this was not going my way.  

The night drew on, and it was about time for bars to close.  Seeing Karen and The Beast not quite finished with one another, I proposed an afterparty at our house.  The Beast, Rick, and two other guys ended up coming home with us.  Karen and I were so proud of ourselves!  We brought home TWO guys each.  After peppermint shots in the kitchen (it was around Christmas time), some humiliating attempts at playing the didjeridoo, and Karen showing off some of her Kenpo moves, there was a lull in the action.  Karen then blabbed about how HUGE my king sized bed was, and that we should all pile in there for a group spoon!  This, of course, seemed like a fantastic idea, and the six of us climbed into the king bed, Karen and I in the middle, with two guys on either side of us, all facing in one direction.  There was some groping and, "Who's touching me?" jokes, and we were laughing and teasing and acting all sorts of awkward and silly.  Then Karen instructed us to flip around, so that the other side got groped - pay back time!  The Beast eventually went to bed with Karen, two of the other guys went and slept on the couch and floor, and Rick stayed in bed with me.  Karen came back into the room to tell Rick not to take advantage of me; only partially joking I think.  

It was New Year's Eve, and Karen and I were going to a party hosted by some more of Rick's friends.  The Beast and Rick were our dates, even though I had tried to make it clear to Rick that I was going with him as a friend, for Karen's sake.  The guys dressed all dapper and we wore dresses and the four of us went to Elephant Bar before the party.  We had a splendid time, although Rick was once again acting possessive of me.  Meanwhile, I was still crushing on The Beast, and regretting that I had let Karen nab him away from me that first night.  When we got to the party, I was texting another guy I was interested in, another friend of Karen's I had met at the Masquerade party, we'll call him Gatsby because he looks a little like Leonardo DiCaprio and acts the part of The Great Gatsby to a tee.  Gatsby was, needless to say, very good looking, and had shown remote interest in me.  I was very hopeful he would come to the party and kiss me at midnight, but when he got there, he was obviously troubled with some girl problems, and not very flirtacious at all.  At least not with me.  Gatsby soon found himself in a deep conversation with some chick, and I was a little bit bugged out for having invited him only to be ditched for that wench.  Drama, right?  Well, one of the hosts, oh what to call him, I guess Dapper, he was a friend of Rick's, and he was also very good looking.  And very single.  I had met him on a few occasions, but always when I was not so single, and he had always admired my breasts.  If I could just get near him for midnight...  

30 seconds before midnight, Dapper started the countdown, with a lady friend in his arm.  I looked around desperately, first for Gatsby, and then for, well anybody.  With 10 seconds left, I felt an arm around my waist, and looked over to see Rick closing in on me.  That was it.  I was done.  I pushed him away and said just one word, "No."  Dapper saw me at the last moment, frowned, and then was pulled into a kiss by his lady friend.  Karen and The Beast were making out on the couch.  It seemed like the whole world was kissing someone, except Rick and I, and there I was, arms folded, pouting like a little child.  What had I done?  Rick and I had been best friends for years, and I always sensed that he wanted to be more than friends.  A few of my ex's had been his friends, and I knew he could easily feel that it was his turn, that he had done so much for me we might as well...  I couldn't though.  All I wanted was for the kissing around us to stop, to escape that horrifying moment.  

When it was over, I left the room and went outside.  There was a guy out there who was arguing with his boyfriend, and when his boyfriend left, even though I had no idea who he was, I started to console him, because it made me feel better.  "Men, am I right?"  He laughed, and we struck up a relaxing conversation, and I gave him all the relationship advice I could.  He was comforted, and I felt good about comforting him.  Dapper found me and asked me why I had pushed Rick away.  I didn't want to tell him it was because he was the one I wanted, or Gatsby, or The Beast, or anyone in that room except Rick.  I felt terrible, but I just told him I was uncomfortable and that I didn't want Rick like that.  He said he understood, and that I should probably talk to Rick about it.  I didn't have much of a choice, Rick came out to the patio then, and Dapper and the gay guy left us alone.  

Rick and I got passed it, and stayed friends.  Meanwhile, The Beast and Karen had really hit it off.  The Beast took both Karen and I out for dates, he rubbed my back after rubbing hers, and he poured wine for Karen and I while we sat around and drank together.  We joked that because Karen and I were so close, dating one of us was dating both of us, and The Beast made that come to fruition; The Beast and I even kissed a few times, with Karen's encouragement.  But at the end of the day, The Beast went into Karen's room, and I went to bed alone (most of the time).  We had our group spoons from time to time, especially when Hill Billy came around.  I had tried to call up Dapper and Gatsby, but they showed no interest anymore.  I even hit up Slender again, just to see, but he was burnt out on us.  I was lonely, even with Karen and The Beast in my house, or maybe because they were there.  

It turned out, Karen and The Beast both worked at the same company - both were programmers - but they worked in different divisions.  Still, they were able to go out to lunch a lot together, with several of Karen's teammates, including her boss.  She knew I was lonely, and that Rick would not do, and so she started having me join them for lunch and setting me up with guys from her work.  First, there was Out There.  I call him as such, because he had some real odd philosophies on life.  He is, for example, terrified of the cracks in dry dirt and mud.  He wasn't ugly, he was a little taller than me, fit, and he was a programmer.  I wasn't madly in love with him, but I gave it a shot with him.  The four of us, The Beast, Out There, Karen and I, decided one weekend to go to The Renaissance Festival.  

Now, when I go to Ren Fest, I pretty much plan on staying all day.  It's expensive, but the admission ticket is pricey so you kinda want to get your money's worth.  Plus, there's so much to do and see, and the best part is the joust at the end, so how could you not stay all day?  Well, The Beast and Karen were both in agreement, but Out There for some reason thought that we'd leave around noon.  Umm, no, that is the wrong way to do Ren Fest.  Love always, me.  So against his will, we stayed all day, through the joust.  He was grumpy and standoffish at times, but there were moments when he took my hand, or put his arm around me, knowing that we were being set up.  There was a weird moment, though, when The Beast had left to get us drinks, and Out There not only ignored me, but cozied up next to Karen like they were the ones being set up.  When The Beast came back, Out There made no effort to move away, so The Beast had no choice but to sit next to me.  We were watching the belly dancers, and they were terrific, but the tension in the air was think.  After a few moments, The Beast asked me if I knew what was going on with them, and I shook my head, as bewildered as he was that this guy would openly flirt with Karen in front of her boyfriend, and that she would let him.  After the show, we got a chance to meet the belly dancers and they gave us all a little lesson in belly dancing.  We stood around in a big circle with them and tried it, and that seemed to dissolve the tension; The Beast reclaimed Karen, but Out There never once got close to me again.  

When we got back to our house, however, things got worse.  Out There continued hitting on Karen in front of The Beast, and Karen did nothing to stop it.  The Beast got angry, threatening, yelling, and eventually stormed out before there was a physical confrontation.  The Beast totally could have taken Out There, but why should he when Karen was basking in the flirtations?  I think that's what made The Beast really mad; Karen kept blowing it off like it was nothing, even though it was clearly making her boyfriend angry.  After The Beast left, I tried to make Out There leave, but he said he was too tired and he would just crash here with Karen.  Trying to watch out for Karen, I guess, or for The Beast, I insisted that the two of them sleep with me in my big king bed.  They declined, however, and I'm pretty sure they banged that night.  So not cool.  

Karen didn't break up with The Beast right away, but she did go on dates with Out There.  Then Out There went a little crazy, pushed everyone in his life out, and changed his name.  He got fired a week or so later.  I'm not sure if that was just going to happen because he was, after all, Out There, or if Karen did that to him.  Or something worse.  Either way, I saw him as scum and wouldn't miss him.  

Karen by now had dragged me into kenpo with her; her boss had given us a couple private lessons, since he was now a brown belt.  Igor was also in kenpo with us, and The Beast joined soon after I did.  Around this time, The Midget Saga happened, and you can read all about that in my posts about it.  

The next guy Karen set me up with was Unsocial.  Unsocial literally had a social disorder of some kind, but I didn't find that out until we were more seriously entwined.  I should also mention that there was a friend in this group named Igor.  I had known Igor briefly in college, Igor had also been at the Masquerade party (who hadn't been?), and Igor worked with Karen and Unsocial.  Unsocial, I learned, had just split from his fiancee.  Like, a week ago.  Six year relationship down the drain, within days of me meeting him.  I was certain he was in no shape to be looking for any kind of relationship other than a rebound, but he insisted he was okay.  I'm getting ahead of myself though.  When Karen first showed me a picture of Unsocial, and described him, well, his picture was terrible, he was unattractive, and I pictured him as a super nerdy 40-year-old virgin guy.  I literally thought he was a virgin.  I expected him to be all nerd.  I was not all that excited about meeting him.  In fact, Karen had to lure me to the bar that night by letting me know another guy I had taken interest in would be there.  The guy I was interested in actually was a virgin, or "still carried a V card" as he put it.  But Karen sat Unsocial right next to me, and we actually hit it off, even with V-card guy on the other side of me.  Igor was there, and had set me up for perhaps the greatest one liner in my life.  He said was talking about drink choices, and casually said, "Well, you are what you drink!"  Without missing a beat, I grabbed my glass of Cabernet sauvignon, and turned to Unsocial, "Then I must be a cab, so I can take you home!"  Unsocial and undoubtedly the whole table caught on fire with laughter, and I was really very proud of myself.  I had no idea where that had come from, but it was right on point.  And take him home, I did.  

Karen and I took The Beast and Unsocial home, and we had another one of our now-famous group spoons in my bed.  When The Beast and Karen passed out, Unsocial and I were just getting started making out.  He took off his shirt, and before we got any further, I got up, pulled him by the hand and led him into the guest bedroom.  We spent a glorious night there, and I determined that no, he was definitely not a virgin.  When we went into my room in the morning to pick up our clothes that had been left behind, Karen stirred and woke to see us, partially dressed.  She asked enthusiastically, "Huh, did you guys... spend the night together."  Unsocial and I looked at each, smiled, and said yes.  

Unsocial himself had some interesting philosophies on life.  Intangible assets, he believed, should not be sold for money; things that could be digitally reproduced like music, movies and software.  I found this interesting, especially since he was a programmer.  I would think he would want to be paid for his work.  He also despised musicals, because he believed they had some kind of an identity crisis: they are neither a play depicting a realistic scenario, because its impossible for a random group of strangers to break out into a coordinated song and dance, nor are they a concert which is all about the music.  This was a bit of a problem for me, because, I love musicals, and I thoroughly wanted in a boyfriend someone to go with me to see them all, if possible.  But he was much more attractive then the initial picture I had seen of him, he had a very nice body, was surprisingly stylish, and so smart.  Within a week, we had spent several nights together in my bed, and he had talked to me at length about the various books on my bookshelf, most of them he had read and then some.  I fell for him hard, and within another week, we made it official.  I had a boyfriend!  

It was during our relationship that I had learned he was on the autism spectrum.  We'd be out with our friends and he would just completely shut down emotionally, detaching himself from the group, ignoring us, refusing to talk.  Being a very social person myself, an extreme extrovert, I tried to wrap my head around this.  We talked at length about it, but I never could figure it out.  He pressed me to simply just accept that it will happen, and that when that happens, it is time for him and I to go.  I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I felt like he was worth it.

We didn't date long, though.  I had to go to the dentist for a root canal and crown.  Unsocial had promised to come over after work and take care of me.  I learned a very important life lesson about communicating that day, but because I had failed to communicate why it was so necessary that he come to take care for me, and because he was being anti-social that day, he didn't come.  The problem was that Karen was out that evening, and I was so drugged up I couldn't be trusted behind the wheel, and I didn't really have anything in the house that I could eat.  I was counting on having someone be able to take me somewhere to eat.  I was so pissed at him, that I kicked off a text fight, which I normally don't do.  The next day he texted me something about how we had to talk, and I texted back that if he was going to break up with me, might as well do it over text.  So he did.  It was a deeply passionate relationship, and it crashed and burned just as hard and fast as it had started.  

Unsocial and I talked in person within a week, and he explained in the vaguest of terms how he needed to be free to do things that were not good, and he didn't want to hurt me.  I figured this just meant that I had been right about him needing a rebound, but no matter what I said, he would not admit that was the case.  This went on for weeks, and I clung to the idea that once he got it out of his system, we could get back together.  

Meanwhile, Karen tried to cheer me up by setting me up with another co-worker of hers.  Monkey was a muscular and slightly older man, with a charmingly oversized nose and chin, and a very odd sense of humor.  I knew Karen had something up her sleeve without her even telling me, and when I saw Monkey in the dojo, something about the way he looked at me, I knew I was to be set up with him.  Even without knowing he was a friend or co-worker of Karen's, I could feel him evaluating me in his mind, undressing me with his eyes as he pretended to concentrate on his private kenpo lesson.  After his lesson, sure enough, Karen introduced me to Monkey.  

I resisted Monkey at first; he was handsome but his humor took some getting used to, and he wasn't Unsocial.  I met Karen and her co-workers for lunch one day, sitting at a table with both Unsocial and Monkey, and the conversation consisted primarily of Monkey comparing himself to Unsocial, and trying to convince me that he was the perfect replacement for Unsocial.  In any other context, this would be embarrassing, absurd, and crazy, but this was kind of how the Poisonous Group was; we had no filter, no social etiquette, and no shame.  Unsocial wanted me to be over him, for my own sake supposedly, so he encouraged me to consider Monkey, and agreed with Monkey's points about how he would adequately fill the void left by Unsocial.  It should have been totally awkward, but instead, I saw it as sweet, and I allowed myself to be wooed by Monkey's words.  Our relationship moved slowly, I was still getting over Unsocial, afterall, but Monkey took full responsibility for my happiness for a while, and it was nice to feel taken care of.  

Well, Monkey's sense of humor has a way of going too far.  We had some disagreements, and I eventually threw him out of my house and ended it.  I think it was around this time that Karen confided in me: she had slept with her boss.  Multiple times.  And he was married.  And her boss.  And now a black belt in our dojo.  And she got an STD from him.  Awesome.  I asked her if she was going to end it, and she negated the idea.  He was a twin, and she was talking to his brother in hopes of having a threesome.  Some revelations came with this news: this may be why we got free private lessons from him, and much more sinister, this may be why Out There lost his job.  

Through all these twists and turns, break-ups, odd things happening, kenpo was perhaps one of the only consistent things in our lives at this point.  For better or for worse, we'd all meet in the dojo for our kenpo classes.  This meant that I had to see two of my now ex's on a regular basis, and knew that Karen was actively sleeping with two others.  We made jokes about how many guys we could sleep with in kenpo.  That was the kind of sick humor we had.  I don't think everyone in the group was bad, but Karen certainly was, and her poison infected everyone around her.