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There are certain people in your life you can have conversations with unfiltered. I mean unfiltered like you can tell them something that you trust would get a deep and honest response. You know that they will take you seriously and respect you. I am lucky to have a few people in my life that I can trust with that level of access to what I am thinking and feeling.

When I talk to these folks these conversations are always the best because you learn the most from them. There is a deep admiration between two parties. Sometimes, this takes the time to develop and sometimes it is just an instant.

I have been trying to open up my trust circle more lately. You can see how they react to that first bout of trust and then you can decide to let them in a piece by piece.

I have always struggled with self-confidence and self-esteem all my life. I won’t get into the gory details here but trust is always I hard thing for me to give people. Access is even harder. I often think of this quote. “There must be, not a balance of power, but a community of power.” I am grateful for my community of power. I am grateful for all that I have shared and learned with them.

Last night was my 33rd birthday. I wanted to do something that get me away from a device and the news. There has been so much going on the last two weeks that it has been overwhelming. I needed to disconnect for a few hours. What better way than a musical. La La Land just got nominated for a ton of oscars and it has been on my watch list.

From, the opening credits to the end this movie simply just put a smile on my face. I will try to avoid spoilers in this post but just a warning in case I do let something slip. The movies core theme is about following your dreams and go for it.

I am going to try and go on a journey here. But, the news is grim for whatever side of the spectrum you support. But, the message in the film is just promoting doing your dreams and following that. Making sacrifices and helping each other to get that point. Some of the most powerful moments in the movie when the two characters where encouraging and support each other.

It got me thinking about the people in my life and the places that I want to hit and the impact that I want to leave. It also got me thinking that whenever we are honest with what we want and are not afraid to work together and not afraid. There is nothing that can stop us.

Convenience is going to be a powerful thing in our lives going forward. If a company can make something easier for you and can help you accomplish a task quickly, you might overlook some issues with the company. For example, just think about any free app that you use. We give something to get something; it always happens that way.

Amazon is just one of those companies that continue to fascinate me. They have some brilliant hardware products (Fire TV and Echo) and some forgettable ones like their attempt at a phone.

But lately, they have been releasing things under their own brand. For example, I have some AmazonBasics batteries and ear buds. Usually, it has always been just some basic necessities. Snacks

Amazon now has their own brand of snack foods. I decided to order a bag just for the hell of it. I used AmazonFresh grocery services to order the bag.

I wanted to try the product for a few things. Was this something that Amazon is going to get into? Are they going to offer their own products? Or is this much more like how Walmart and Target offer their own brand of foods as well?

But, the interesting thing is that Amazon has so much data on what people are searching for and what people are getting primed that they decided to sell popcorn and chips. Secret Weapon Alexa

Alexa dominated the holiday season and the news coverage at CES this year. I feel like the sales numbers of the Echo Dot were huge over the holiday season. Amazon is also more open with the Alexa technology.

I am curious to see what Amazon is going to do with all of those Alexas out there. I just hope it’s more than just chips.

If you spent any time online today you saw that today was the Women's March on Washington. The protests were spread across the whole country and across the entire globe. I was home watching some news clips and some video from the rally and it was one of the most incredible demonstrations that I can remember ever seeing.

I regret not being out there today and marching. I was once arrested during a political event and I have been honest I was a little gun shy to do something again. It was under the George W Bush Presidency.

But, I was watching the coverage and I just started to cry.

What Is Accurate

I was always a political person and always liked to stay onto of what is going on. I got wind of a press conference and went looking for a video. Maybe, they are announcing interesting events for the first few weeks. Nope, it was 95% about how the media lied about how many people went to the inauguration.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foaDT2JalB8]

This didn’t feel like a clearing up a mistake. This was an assault. It was so combative. It was so angry in tone. This is the first full day and we are complaining about people tweet photos.

The next four year is going to be about what people consider to be truth and what gets doctored up. You would think in an age we would have all of these channels. That truth would be so hard to come by

Friday at noon, the world might just change. We have not had an event like this in nearly eight years. No matter who the person is these are moments that don’t happen very often in the world. A new president will be sworn in and the world will be watching.

Politics has been one of those taboo subjects that people hate getting into. Have you ever had a conversation with a person who you adored and then they told you about how they feel and how they vote and you look at them a little differently after.

This past 18 month has been hard on a lot of people. It was an election that felt harder than most to navigate. A lot of tough conversations were had between people and it just felt so intense during these last 18 months.

As we sit on the even of the next President. I think there are some important topics that we face and there are some issues that if we don’t pay attention to could cost us in the long wrong.

Privacy

Privacy is something that we need to talk about and bring back into the mainstream. We need to demand that we have a better level of privacy from the tools that we use on a daily basis and from the companies that we trust with using their stuff. I know the old saying is that nothing is for free and that you are giving something to get something.

In Trumps America, this is a topic we are all going to find ourselves dealing with. High profile hacking seems to happen on a daily basis. It might have even changed the face of our election and our country. There have never been more talk about encryption.

We need Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple and countless others to stand up to abuses of power. They need to put our privacy forward. They can’t build in backdoors for the government. They need to be more transport when governments and law enforcement send requests.

Organizing

One of the most exciting things that I have been reading about over the next few days is all of the organizing that is taking place. We need to make sure that we are doing this and we are fighting for the things that we want and fighting for the things that we deserve. This upcoming weekend is going to be full of events across the country and in Washington. We need to rally together and not fighting. We need to be finding the common ground and those areas where we can push things forward. I don’t know why that become just a negative and a dirty thing. Some things need to change and some things need to get updated. People who want to change and experiment and help each other out are not the enemy.

If you are protesting make sure you do the research before you go. Make sure you tell people where you are going just in case. I can you what happened me some time. If you can’t make it out to a protest support people who are going even if they are not supporting the side you are on. Encourage and even offer to drop them off at the bus station. Dissent is good, a difference of opinion is good. We need to make sure that we are learning from each other and being open and honest and listening to each other.

Journalism

This is something that is going to be hard for some people. But, we need to support journalism and the people doing real news. I don’t how large that list is. But, we need to find and highlight the people that are doing good work and make sure that they are able to fight and be the voices for us.

These next four years is going to be a time when investigating reporting is going to be so critical in making sure that we find out what is going on in Washington.

Talking

If you can’t go out this weekend and get your voices out there and get with other like-minded people. Write a quick blog post or record a quick video. Now, do this but expect to get some vital and some really angry people out there. Brace yourself for that because that can intense make you not what to share your thoughts.

But, if you are honest and are not sharing wild things that some people thought were facts and just start and dialogue that is something that should be celebrated and that is something we can all rally behind.

We need more people in the shuffle and we need more people raising hell and getting involved with small local issues and the national ones. This is a good time for all us who might feel a lot of feels this weekend as we watch the transition of power. That we can run and that we can make a change and we can make an impact. It can just be in a youtube video or a medium post or it could be helping a local person run for Congress or running yourself for a local office.

The time is too important and things are moving too fast for us to waste time. We need you out there. If really don't want to do any of that. You can watch old episodes of the West Wing on Amazon Prime.

#A Day In VR

Do you have some of those friends that it is easier to talk to via text inside of see them in person? I took a look at a typical day for me and the interactions between people other than my wife are quite low. But, there is a number of people that I talk to each day and that I have relationships with and collaborate with on a high level.

I have a VR headset on my end table and I am currently home alone with my cats. As VR and AR start to get cheaper and more mainstream how does this technology effect are communications channels and relationship building that is already starting to dwindle.

Work

Let’s look at a average work day for an office worker. There are probably a number of phone calls, emails and meetings in the conference room.

Now, lets take a look at a meeting for example. You need a space to fit all of the people, you need a projector of some sort to look and reference data of some sort. Imagine a meeting where everyone is comfortable in there working environments. There is a space where you can pull up any type of file that you need. You can invite any number of people to the space. The space itself is flexible and bendable. Say you add a whiteboard to a wall and you have a powerpoint on another way.

Imagine how much more power and manfully a meeting can be. How much deeper you can go with the collaboration. Even something like just two people working on a design process or a sales pitch.

Being able to create offices and meeting space whenever they are need can help create a better remote environment and let people work in spaces wherever they feel comfortable.

Home

We are done with our work for the day and we want to go to the movies lets say. Imagine if you can assemble a group of people to enjoy a group moving watching together. You can have two options for streaming service. Something that mimics a movie theather everything is dark and you can still see your friends and still have a conversation while the film is playing or another mode where you can watch in silence put if someone pauses it pauses for everyone. You can even have integration with apps to order take and pizza before hand.

Say there is another scenario where the people you are with want to watch a movie and you want to watch a sports game. you can still be together watching these things with headsets on. That might be a cool concept for a mix reality headset. I could still watch TV with my wife but I see the NFL game and she can stream netflix.

Podcasting has achieved a new level this past year. The number of shows that started to become required listening keeps growing . My podcast app keeps

Podcasts become an important part of exploring new ideas and learning from a wide variety of resources. I don’t know if its just the form factor but I feel like I get so much out of the episodes.

I wanted to call out a few podcasts that I thought were really special. These were shows that helped me grow or expand in some way.

Homecoming

The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air)

Within the Wires

This Week In Startups

Reply All

Waking Up With Sam Harris

Being Boss

Shop Talk Show

The Tim Ferris Show

You Made It Weird

The James Altucher Show

MegaMaker

Science VS.

7:15pm Sunday, January 15th

I write this as I sit in my dark office. The sounds of the NFL playoffs are in the background. I am using them as a distraction at the moment. This week, I started to feel it. I wanted this year to be different. This was going to be big year for me. I started writing down all my goals. I started doing all the things that I wanted to do. But, I have been off to a rough start to my ambitious year. Life gets in the way and I started to get depressed. I started to get depressed that I was feeling lazy.

So, naturally I decided to go on Medium and get inspired and there was a ton of great content. But, it did nothing for me except just upset me more.

I end up going to bed every night not feeling like I have done enough and have not gotten that something that is inside of me out there into the world. Be that a blog post, a design or something. I feel like I don’t empty the tank every day. I talk myself out of doing the things that I want to do most of the time.

Writing

I took a nearly 5 year hiatus from writing. I ran a blog for a number of years and after awhile the vitalness of the online world got to me I think. I got tired of people telling me that I don’t write well or that my opinions are not valid.

So, I just stopped and didn’t go back to it. Until about two years ago, and I started experimenting. I know what my weakness are and I am going to keep working on them but I am going to get help to make sure this is something that I can rectify.

Naturally, I wanted to start a blog again. Years, ago I was writing music reviews. But, I wanted to do something different and I want to do something that would get me more fired up. The music was perfect for me 10 years ago.

But, today I wanted to do something that involved technology. I think that these next 10 years are going to be the most revolutionary of my life time. This is going to start the next wave of technology that is going to affect our lives. But, this is going to affect our lives in some real and substantial ways. One idea, I thought would be some option pieces talking about the journey we are taking getting to the Fourth Wave. Thoughts on VR, self driving cars and IOT. I wanted it to be a deep dive into the technology that is going to change our lives in the future.

Remember, that time you opened your first smartphone and that first day with that product. How you were just scratching the surface and figure out how this thing is going to fit into your life. You knew it was something different and you knew it was not just a random gadget. I didn’t want to necessarily make it about reviews. But, I want it to just be discussions about high level topics.

Daily

I always wanted to do a Daily blog. This is just one of those ideas that I haven’t been able to forget. There is something amazing to me about people who publish every day and have enough thoughts to publish. I thought it could be my playground to talk about the things I am getting into and the things that are exciting to me. IT could be just be the lab for everything else.

Podcasting

As a kid as I was a giant introvert and never wanted to talk to anyone. If I was in a log cabin with just a laptop, kindle and a dog I think that I would be ok. The stories we have with us all are powerful and can change lives and can change opinions. I love the idea of being a storyteller. I like the power that you can have as a storyteller. You can create these giant worlds that are form just your head.

Audio storytelling is something that I have been obsessed with lately. There is a different power to it. There is a different set of emotions that you can covey and you can tell some different kind of stories.

I tried to record some episodes but they were a bit of a stream of me talking. I didn’t make a good enough outline and I didn’t do a good enough of job recording. I just recorded for just to do mostly. Then I just stopped. Because, I was scared. I was scared to have people hearing me talk. It is dumb I know.

But, I would like to record more episodes this year as well as released two fiction podcasts that I have been writing some dialogue for.

As 2015 came to light, I noticed a few things that kept happening to me. I kept failing to do any of the goals that set out to accomplish. Every December, I start to prepare for the coming year and try to set out a set of goals. I break them up into three sections: Professional, Personal, and Wild.

The professional ones are pretty self-explanatory as is the Personal ones. Things such as get a raise, go to the gym, are common things that pop up. I wanted to make a third list of just things that are out there and things that seemed to be borderline unattainable, but I was just getting nowhere. I wanted to do something that would change my habits and maybe even room a few bad ones in the process.

I found that I have a lot of problems breaking my routines and I get into these cycles where the bad habits and everything just take over. There is comfort in the predictable sometimes. Starting Small

My goal was to start with one thing that I always had a problem with, which is breaking down my goals into small pieces. I wanted to do something that would be small enough such that it would make me do things that made me act every day. I knew if I did something once a week or once a month, I would ever forget or would take too long to find out results from it.

Recaps of Some Past Experiments: https://medium.com/@siwicadilly/30-days-no-tv-d8ee77a5a03d#.uhn64otct https://medium.com/@siwicadilly/one-month-without-meat-96d60e59971#.rtr0728nc What I Learned

The first thing that surprised me was that it was a lot of fun to carry out some of the experiments. IT allowed me to find that thing that works well in my life and it made me take some chances. I think that was the important part of all of these experiments. I am a guy who loves routine and time, and just loves a clean schedule. But, having to make myself more uncomfortable every day, I was ready to try different things and would embrace things that would come at me instead of being terrified.

I wanted to get in on the end of the year review. So, I decided to list out some of the stuff that I did this year that I was proud of.

• 52 Stories Publish on Medium

• 57 Posts On Person Blog

• 5 Episodes of Podcast Released

• 1 Class Launched On Skillshare

• 1 Android App Launched

• 1 Facebook Bot Launched

• 10 Month Challenges Completed

• 15 Books Read/Listened