I’ve always had dogs at home. I’ve now been in the States for about 9 years and haven’t had a dog here. Initially it was because of school, but now it’s simply because I just hate the idea of scooping poop! So I’ve been thinking about an automated pooper scooper! Should be to complex to build actually.Would just take a little clever engineering and it could even be made cheap. And no, I’m not considering putting a microprocessor in there (well, okay, maybe…)

I’ve now been throwing this idea around for a while. To basically have a self contained device that you can cary with you when accompany your favorite K9 companion on his quest to fulfill mother nature’s call. And then when the jobs done, you just place this device over it and sucks up all the crap (literally) on it’s own into a disposable bag. Then you get home or wherever else you like to dump the do-do… and you press a button and the device drops out the bag and is ready for it’s next use!

Now the pre-requisites are that it has to be a completely self-cleaning device. No cleaning required. Maybe the bags could be setup in such a way that any this that would stand a chance of getting dirty is covered by the bag and just gets thrown away! Flush! Of course then it would be logical to extend it by adding an little deodorant container which is also available at the press of a button to eliminate any odors while you carry the precious cargo to its docking station.

Hmm… maybe one of these days I’ll just have to flesh out the design fully before I get a dog! I’m sure there’s a market though!

I read/saw a psychology study once which discussed the role of first impressions on interview situations. The study basically showed that within the first few seconds of the candidate entering the interview room, the interviewer already had developed an impression of the candidate. I don’t remember for sure what the result was with regards to the interviewers impression of the candidate at the end of the interview, but that is not important here. The reason I brough this up is because, it made me realize the importance of first impressions both in professional and personal situations.

This all ties in with each persons own expectations. When one meet someone new, one immediately builds a mental image of this person in our head. And the rest of the time that we spend interacting with this person, we’re always trying to either fit the externally perceivable characteristics of this person into our mental image or hopefully in more cases than the latter, adjusting our mental image of the person. This need not even be a person, the same could even apply to an object.

What that leads to though is that very often first impressions and the mental image that we may construct of a person or an object may not be what the person or the object really is. And I guess that is really the key point I wanted to point out. I guess I can actually think of instances in which I have been a victim of my own mental imagesof other people. I can remember atleast two if not more instances of when I saw some of the people who were to be my classmates in grad school, I created a mental image of them which was not even close to what those people turned out to be. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to pierce the veil of my own creation to take the time to get to know these people, who thereafter became some of my best friends. But then there may be contless other cases in which I may not have been so fortunate.

I wonder how many interactions between people have fallen victim to first impressions where people do not take the time to get to know an individual. Instead of taking their own mental image as a raw heap of clay which needs to be scuplted into form using the interactions with a person, they cast their mental image in concrete based on an inadequate and superficial first impression.

As it is in most such cases, this facet of human behavior much like any other has no simple explanation, no simple solution. The awareness that things may not always be what they seem is critical. So first impressions count, but refining those first impressions and moulding them to take a more accurate form is probably more important.

More and more I seem to be running into situations where what I would like myself to do is different from what I would like to be doing. Or better put, I find myself in situations where I want to be someone who acts differently, and more often than not find myself not acting at all. I’ve always maintained that making decisions is simple… as long as you can be courageous enough to accept whatever decision you make and then move on. There is no looking back. There are no what ifs and there are no regrets.

But is that really possible? There always are what-ifs and there always are situations in which we choose the path that life takes. Even though the Gita talks about Karma and not actually worrying about the result; what I don’t get is, how do you choose what Karma you do without considering the results? In some cases it may be possible to just do what is right, what is ethical and what is moral, but what about all those cases when things are not so clear. Do you not consider the outcome of the alternatives before coming to a decision? Is it wrong to consider the outcome?

Big questions, but lets bring it down to basics. Fear plays an important part in our lives. At every stage there is fear of being ashamed, embarassed, fear of falling from grace so to speak, fear of the unknown and fear of rejection. I’m not sure how some people have the gall to do things with an air on nonchalance. Sometimes I wish I could. Sometimes I wish I could genuinely be more impulsive enough to not consider the outcomes, or better said, not be as risk averse. There is always a risk. But there are some of us who let the fear of taking a risk take precedence over taking a chance. Sounds really odd as an entrepreneur to be saying this, but I guess I will bolster that statement by saying that risk comes in different shapes sizes and forms. And some of us may be more comfortable taking risks of different kinds….

I would be hypocritical if I do not point out that one of the quptes I think of nearly every day is that ‘You miss 100% of the shots you do not take;’ i.e. there is not chance of succeeding if you just don’t try right? Logical. Yes. Completely. But does it being logical make it completely trivial to imbibe in out daily actions. I think not. Because as a human, the fear doesn’t go away. And that fear of failure often causes us to not take the steps which would be essential for ensuring even a modicum of success.

And then there is regret. Fear causes us to not take a chance and then regret comes along and makes it worse. Because hindsight is 20/20. Because I can sit here and write about regret. The regret which comes immediately after the fear prevents you from taking a chance. Because you know, that you had your chance, and you blew it and you don’t know if the same chance will come your way ever again.

In one of the books I read recently (probably one by Irvin Yalom) the character of Neitzsche says something along the lines that when Pandora’s box was opened, there was one final evil which did not come out — Hope. Hope is that evil which come after regret. Hope that things change and somewhat magically become better… or that opportunity which you regret blowing because of fear re-presents itself for a second chance. But do things change on their own? Or does every change require an agent for the change. A protagonist who causes change.

This is something that I’ve thought about for a long time with conflicting thoughts… from the time that I read the conflicting statements in my years of learning Sanskrit. On one hand there is Thad yatha bhavitavyam, thad bhavatu and on the otherhand there is Nayamatma balheenein labhya. On one hand there is the emphasis on doing and the importance of action and on the other hand there are innumerable independent variables which we cannot control.

Logically, I would think that hope stems from the independent variables. And action determines what happens with those variables we can control.

Anyhow, to make a long story short, at this time I think it may be better to attack the fear. To eliminate regret by overcoming fear; or at least acknowledging the existence of fear and evaluating the root of the fear. Is the outcome really that bad. What do you/I really have to lose? More power to those who can do that and for myself… the lesson of the day is definitely…. Carpe Diem.

:note to self. Mad Mex. H.