Yesterday as I walked to campus to give a presentation, I was thinking about what I need in my life to be more successful.  I decided I should make a living document of my wish list for future reference for me and the generous gift givers in my life (read: mom+dad). Here we go.

• Bag.

Just about every week I find myself walking to campus with a suit on and wearing a backpack. This is an awkward combination as the suit gets rumpled by the back pack but I don’t have any other ways to carry my computer and a notebook.  I don’t want a Timbuk2 bag like half of Seattle uses (and my sister).  Although the functionality would serve my purpose, I think I would need a fixed-gear bike and large, black-rimmed glasses to rock the Timbuk2.  But I don’t know where that leaves me. I don’t want a full blown brief case because I am not ready to concede to that level of grownup-ness.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

• Suit.

As I mentioned above, I wear a suit often to events at school.  I have one suit and one sport coat, but I need (read: want) a couple more.  If I need to wear a suit two days in a  row and it gets dirty on the first day, I’m pretty much out of luck

• Shoes.

I could always use more dress shoes.  Also, I need to get some regular shoes to wear to school. It’s been a while since the last time I went shoe shopping

• Computer.

This one has much less precedence than the items listed above but I will include it for the sake of completeness.  I love my Dell, but I really want a 15″ Mac Book Pro to complement it.  1.they’re sexy,2.I want to learn to program in Objective-C for the iPhone this summer and I need an Intel-powered Mac to do so and 3.I enjoy learning new systems and have been sheltered from Apple computers my entire life

For Mina Yoo’s entrepreneurship 370 class, our group chose to do a study of Twenty20, a local company that makes wearable action sports cameras. Their products are becoming more popular and can often be seen in use on the slopes. Marc Barros, co-founder of the company, was kind enough to meet with us to answer some questions and agreed to let us use 2 of their ContourHD cameras for a month. We had a lot of fun using the cameras and getting footage to use in our presentation.

The cameras are very easy to use. The whole top of the camera is a sliding switch which makes it easy to toggle recording with thick ski gloves on. The laser alignment system allows you to twist the lens so it is horizontal relative to the ground. We were very impressed with the video quality, as it exceeded our expectations for the size of the camera.

Twenty20 lent us an attachment to use on bicycle handlebars but unfortunately, my road bike handle bars are far too thick to work with the device.

We used the goggle attachment as well as the flat surface mount and found both to work equally well. I have heard from someone in a lift line that the goggle mount produced sub-par results because the goggle strap would move and flex when he skied, and thus the video was shaky. However, my goggle strap was tight but comfortable and the video seemed to be steady relative to my helmet.

The camera connects to a computer using a standard mini-USB cable and shows up as removable storage. It is as simple as drag and drop from there.

The build quality was very solid. The camera is built of aluminum and has a solid feel to it. I was never concerned with hurting the cameras because I felt they could take a good beating if I were to fall.

Back of the ContourHD camera with the cover open

The usability of this camera is so simple, I can’t imagine the competing GoPro Hero could be a better option for the average action sports enthusiast looking to share his/her adventures. I would strongly recommend this product to anyone looking for a quality, simple solution to shoot POV HD vidio.

This week we had an interesting speaker come in to ENTRE 370 and I thought I’d share some notes. Paul Anderson has worked for Amazon and Microsoft in Human Resources and now owns his own career development firm, ProLango.  He gave a very good talk on Monday; in my opinion, the best speaker we have had all quarter.

Goal setting

All successful people can answer in great detail:

• What do I want?
• Why do I want it?
• How will I attain my goals?
• Whom do I need to know to attain these goals? (Or as Jack Rhodes would say, who needs to know me)

Goals should be

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Towards/ Timeline (include specific dates for milestones)

People are happy when they can align their goals with their core values

Building relationships

Steps to take when meeting a recruiter, potential employer, or anyone that you want to add to your network:

1. Build rapport (they like and trust you)
2. Ask questions
3. Find a need (What’s in it for them?)
4. Link you offer with their needs
5. Close the deal and handle objections

Then he expanded on building rapport.  Paul’s theory (and apparently it’s scientifically backed) states that you will connect with others subconsciously by mirroring their physical and tonal traits.

1. Physical Traits
   • Body language
   • Posture
   • Gestures
   • Facial Expressions
2. Tonality
   • Volume
   • Rate