Not Heading to Mexico and DARE does not work

Tonight I was reading about a recent bloodbath/massacre in the Mexico/United States border town of Sonora.

Sadly, 21 people butchered each other over drugs. Is this really a place that I want to be spending precious vacation time?

The War on Drugs has been at the core of what was my formative years. I recall the DARE program and the positive message of hope that the teachers and friendly police officers were trying to instill.

Conversely I also remember that I would not sign the pledge to not do drugs. This is fifth grade we are talking about, but I knew from that very young age that there was no way in hell that I would go through life without a beer.

The pledge they make you sign basically states:

“Taking a Stand Against Drug Abuse”
I know who I am and I know that I want to stay healthy and happy.
I can stand up for myself and stick to my decision to live a drug-free life.
I can ask for support from my family, friends, teachers and even the police.
I pledge to say “No” to offers to use drugs and alcohol.
I can help others say “No” to drugs and alcohol.

Also, I knew even at a young age that there would be a high probability that at some point I might want to try out pot.

It was a futile exercise to get a roomful of impressionable young kids to sign a stupid pledge. I bet $100 that if we surveyed all the kids from my Fifth grade classroom (who signed the pledge to not drink alcohol) that more than 75 % of them knowingly drank an alcoholic beverage in the last five years and that 50% of them have tried marijuana at some point in their lives. 

Unfortunately, the DARE program does not preach the principle of moderation. All things in moderation can be an okay thing. A glass or two of red wine will not kill you, two-three bottles in a row however, is not very healthy.

DARE should have really been a moderation crash-course.

Do not eat McDonald’s everyday, you will get fat and die of heart disease.

Don’t drink soda all the time. Coke, Pepsi and other sugary drinks will rot your teeth and increase the need for health care.

It seems now, looking back on it, that moderation and instilling a middle-of-the-road mentality is where the US Government can get the most bang for the buck.

We now have a program that cost billions of dollars over the last 25 years, with little to no results. The US Surgeon General even deemed the program a failure.

The good intentions of the educational outfit should have added some helpful language, such as:

“I won’t do this or that, until I can make a reasonable and informed decision for myself regarding the pro’s and con’s of each drug.”

“I promise not to use drugs, unless it is legally prescribed by a doctor or a licensed bartender…” 

“I won’t use drugs like nicotine or barbiturates until I am of legal age”

Oh well, Happy Fourth of July.

Be Safe.

Lake Tahoe for the Fourth of July

The Hansen Report is beginning to look like a travel blog. But like the post from earlier today, I am announcing my family vacation. Thats right, the family is meeting up in Tahoe for a fun-filled affair.

Not looking forward to the 7am flight from JFK to SFO this Friday or the ensuing drive up to Tahoe. Nevertheless, having a beautiful lake and the entire Hansen posse together is well worth the travel and hassle.

Hope to get some sun, swimming and boating in while I get in some hikes and family time.

Heading to Lebanon and Syria (in one month)

My misses and myself will be taking a wonderful trip to Beirut and surrounding areas at the end of July and into the first week of August.

Its been a while since we last went on a trip, so this should be a wonderful treat. Probably worth tweeting about.

The Middle East is an oft misunderstood region of the world by the West. We seldom take the time to read between the lines coined by the Fourth Estate, instead we are lazy and many Americans believe the rhetoric they read regarding the Muslim faith.

My last great trip in an Arab country was through Turkey along my way to the Republic of Georgia. Before this trip, which was completed in 2006, I spent a summer working in Turkey on an archaeological site.

I look forward to this immensely and am certain it will be epic. There are too many places in the region that I want to explore, visit and learn about. I fear that 9 days will give me a taste, but not a full helping of Beirut, Damascus and other cities in the area.

Given a good itinerary I hope to walk through the ruins of Palmyra and put some of my Ancient Studies degree to work. It would equally be great to speak with young entrepreneurs along the way and see what the tech scene is all about.

Living in New York City and the Bay Area has led me to believe that I am very spoiled by the number of innovative people/companies in my presence. There are emerging disruptive technologies coming out of the woodwork as the essence of a company can be boiled down to a couple of programmers with great vision and execution.

Cycle Messenger World Championships Guatemala 2010

CMWC Guatemala from Lucas on Vimeo.

Come race, ride, and relax for less!
Find out more at www.cmwcguatemala.com
Video by www.lucasbrunelle.com

Check out this teaser video that Lucas Brunelle cooked up.

It looks like this summer is going to be sizzling fun for anyone traveling down to Central America for the CMWC’s being held in Guatemala. I have a bunch of friends heading South. Not sure if I can make it, but it would be a blast for sure.

It was (is) Fathers Day

Dad, you know who you are.

This is my blog post the morning after Father’s Day where I give my thanks.

So Thank you.

I did try calling today and I did leave a message on you cell phone. In a sick sense I feel like my blog post might reach you better or faster than my phone message.

The last few weeks have been quite erratic. However, all is well on the Eastern Front.

A couple of interesting/important memories will not escape my mind - one in particular is even better than the rest.

It would have to be your unwavering acceptance of me being who I am. We have not been the best to admit how things are, but you have always encouraged and supported me to follow my pursuits and dreams. You (and Mom) were all about me going to college and helping in every way possible. Equally you did not want me to take a career path that would make me miserable (thankfully I am not a lawyer, doctor or miserable).

Its not for me to say, “Hey Dad, Look at me know!” But the reality is that everything we dreamt about and discussed is coming true. I am a happy dude and I have led the life I have always wanted to lead. I am very grateful for your guidance over the last three decades. I am very privileged and lucky to have you for a Father.

I hope that David was a good travel companion on your most recent bike voyage. Be rest assured that at some point in the next few years I will accompany your motley crew.

Ride the Rockies

Love,

Kristian

Duncan Quinn: Extraordinaire Me

Today was my first day working with Duncan over at Duncan Quinn. My job description and what I am doing to help out with at the store are a closely guarded secret. Alas, I can tell you that I will be helping in both the front and backend of business operations.

Its been a great last two weeks getting to know the shop and figuring out how the business works properly (or at least trying to figure it all out). Soon I will be a master tailor (or at least good at measuring inseams).

Not sure which days I will be at the shop, but please come by if you happen to be in Nolita/Soho. The address is 8 Spring Street.

The clothes here rock and the DQ brand is blowing up. Many cool events, launches and ideas coming out of the joint. We will have a new sunglasses line coming out in the next month - details to follow.

There are two other stores in the US, one in Miami and one in Los Angeles. Check it.

Blackberry Applications Suck Big Time

It is with utter confusion and dismay that the Blackberry platform for applications is really letting me down. 

Here we are in the year 2010 with a quarter of a million iphone apps and blackberry has a couple thousand. Not only is this sad, but its depressing. How much longer has an incarnation of the blackberry been around versus the iPhone, Droid phones, Nokia???

Its kind of BS that BB has not done more to foster a better development community. I even called out Google’s SCVNGR on Twitter to ask why they didn’t have a BB app

- “We’re going to tackle blackberry as soon as we can”. Well, most things seem to be in the works for RIMM.

I wanted to be an early-adopter for Foursquare too, but that wasn’t going to be a reality until January of 2010 - a full year after it launched in beta for iphone users.

At what point do I switch over to Apple (or to a Droid)?

Cracking the whip on PHP

It is with some regret that it has taken me this long to see the greener side of things - thats right, programming. 

I have never claimed to be a tech guru or a developer. These have not been (and will probably never be) my strengths. Its not that I am incapable of coding, but rather I have never taken the time to sit down and learn. You can call me lazy and that would most likely best describe my overall feeling towards the task. 

Its a mentality that many non-programmers in the start-up scene must feel. Since I have never been the technical lead on a project I have always been the lame guy who lets somebody else deal with the details. Sure, I can write a business plan, work on excel sheets and talk with investors, but I have never been the guy who is testing code at 5am or checking that the servers are working properly. Systems architecture, LAMP, RoR, ASP, Python and all these other technical areas have been big no-no’s. 

The real question is not am I capable, but rather why have I not at least tried. If I have learned anything in the industry its that everything is worth trying. You can’t just sit back and wait for others to do everything for you. How many times have you heard someone utter “Thats what the CTO is for” or “Its broken and I have no idea how to fix it.” Its broken is a common utterance by non-tech founders in start-ups. They expect that someone can fix it, but since they are the non-tech founder its not really their job to figure it out. 

I am sure that Mark Zuckerberg could have sat in his dorm room and when http://thefacebook.com broke he could have said “somebody else please fix this”, but he didn’t. YouTube, Google, Flickr, Twitter, Foursquare all came out of founders who were in the business of solutions. Self-made solutions. Yes, everyone gets help and outside expertise from time to time, but its the core group of founders (who were hardcore coders) that saved the day. 

This post is not a proclamation that I will become the next Code Ninja, but its my attempt to give thanks to the countless (and for many thankless) hours that are spent producing solid code.

It is my hope to slowly, but surely become an imperfect study of php. Depending on how this goes I hope to apply this to my own site and those that I work on with friends and colleagues. With any hope I might be playing around with the Xcode SDK kit, FBML and open-APIs (twitter, foursquare, etc). 

Its my summer attempt at putting my best foot forward.