Always in Motion

Gulati, Richa. “Their Double Life: Some take the plunge, while others learn to slash.” Little India. Feb. 2008: 31.
Richa Gulati’s web site (click on “Articles” to read other articles)

While waiting to meet a friend for lunch at my favorite restaurant, Bombay Cafe in Fairfax, Virginia, I found myself intrigued by this article in Little India magazine.

What in the world is a “slasher?” It’s someone who has dual careers. Richa Gulati writes about many interesting people “leading a double life” as, for example, lawyer/writer, doctor/journalist, businessman/actor. The term “slasher” comes from the slash in each career description.

Probably Marci Alboher first coined this term in her book One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success (Business Plus: 23 Feb. 2007). She says that “slashers are a personality type” who participate in diverse activities throughout their lives (Gulati, “Their Double Life”).

Richa Gulati writes about how Indian Americans have to deal with family pressure to pursue conventional education and careers. To enter better schools, they are also introduced to the arts and other more expressive pursuits at a young age. So they get a taste of “the other side” early on.

This well-written article works through the many issues we all deal with nowadays as we have to invest so much in our careers. Yet quite a few of us, once we’re “there,” still feel unfulfilled after investing so much time and effort.

Richa Gulati discusses some practical tips as to how you can implement your own dual career track by consulting and identifying blocks of free time when you could, say, write or take a course in acting.

She also points out that if you decide to pursue dual careers, you may have to give up the competitive “fast track.” However, some likely payoffs are a broader perspective and avoiding career burnout.

This is an enjoyable article well worth reading. Read Richa Gulati’s full article.

McBride, Sarah and Kane, Yukari Iwatani. “As Toshiba Surrenders, What’s Next for DVDs?” Wall Street Journal. 19 Feb. 2008: B1.

Sony’s Blu-Ray high-definition DVD format has won the “most expensive format battle since the VHS videocassette format trumped Sony’s Betamax in the 1980s” (McBride and Kane, “As Toshiba Surrenders, What’s Next for DVDs?”).

After Warner Bros., Best Buy and Wal-Mart said that they would only back high-definition movies formatted in the Blu-Ray technology, Toshiba has decided it will no longer produce its HD DVD formatted discs.

Toshiba will keep supporting their HD DVD players, which cost much less than the Blu-Ray players. Perhaps the lower prices of the Toshiba HD DVD players caused the Blu-Ray players’ ticket prices to lower over time.

Consumers who have invested in the HD DVD formatted movies over the years fought back with an online petition that drew 30,000 signatures, but to no avail. Understandably, quite a few people are upset at their investment in a disappearing technology.

Read the full Wall Street Journal online article.

Alicia Keys singing “No One” on YouTube.com
Alicia Keys singing “Like You’ll Never See Me Again” on YouTube.com
Bono & Alicia Keys, “Don’t Give Up Africa” on YouTube.com (live version)
Alicia Keys’ Web Site: http://www.aliciakeys.com
CD: As I Am

When it comes to music, I’m a hopeless pop-culture junkie. If you play a song twenty times every day on the radio, it’s embedded in my subconscious and, yes, I have to own it. I guess I’m a music marketer’s dream.

So I bought Alicia Keys’ CD, “As I Am” because I’ve heard and like the big hit song “No One” so much.

I didn’t expect the pleasant surprise that this CD has a lot of depth to it. I find myself listening to it over and over again. I really like this CD because it’s soft and tough at the same time. There’s a lot of variety — in words, moods and music — on this one. It’s rich.

I’m still exploring Alicia Keys’ music and want to hear more of her work. I know now I have to buy her older CD “The Diary of Alicia Keys,” a top-seller, which I almost bought once before.

According to Wikipedia, Alicia Keys turned down Columbia University to pursue her music career after graduating from the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan. She grew up in Harlem and is now 27 or 28 years old.

Alicia Keys is very prolific. She’s acted on television and has recorded several CDs. She is a songwriter and author.

Alicia Keys is a spokesperson and co-founder of the non-profit organization Keep A Child Alive, which provides HIV/AIDS medicines to families in Africa. Hear Bono and Alicia Keys perform “Don’t Give Up Africa” on YouTube.com (live version).

Rihanna, “Don’t Stop the Music” on YouTube.com
Rihanna and Jay-Z, “Umbrella” on YouTube.com
CD: Good Girl Gone Bad
Rihanna’s Web Site: http://www.rihannanow.com

I like Rihanna’s dramatic hairstyle almost as much as her big hit “Don’t Stop the Music.” Happily my officemates were out the first day I listened to this CD so I played “Don’t Stop the Music” about a dozen times straight in a row. It just makes you want to L-E-A-P out of that office chair and dance amidst the desks. Maybe not great for productivity, but I was much more JOYFUL while working.

Finally I’m exploring the rest of the CD after getting over my obsession with that one infectious song. I also like “Umbrella” and “Shut Up and Drive.” The first day I was listening to this CD I was at my desk working, looked up all of a sudden and said to my officemate, “Is she saying ‘Rehab?’” Sure enough, that’s the name of another song.

Rihanna turned all of twenty years old on February 20, 2008, three days ago. According to Wikipedia, she is from Barbados. She got her big break when, at age fifteen, she met music producer Evan Rogers and soon afterward, on Jay-Z’s recommendation, signed with Def Jam Records.