Kareem Mayan's Weblog

"People are always ready to admit a man’s ability after he gets there."

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:30:20 -0800

““People are always ready to admit a man’s ability after he gets there.””

- Bob Edwards

“I need a plan.”

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:45:24 -0800

The hard part isn’t coming up with the plan. The hard part is bearing the stage of “No action” necessary so that the right amount of data can unfold. And then, when you know where you want to go, where you need to be, exactly how you’d like the change to manifest, the steps to getting there lay themselves out the way the Yellow Brick road revealed itself to Dorothy.

"Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they..."

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:01:43 -0800

“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.”

- Alan Keightly, via Maneesh

Steve Jobs liked my writing. I first helped him out on some of...

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:41:00 -0700

Steve Jobs liked my writing. I first helped him out on some of the wording of the original Apple II brochure, and then wrote user and technical manuals for the Apple II, Apple III, and Mac. He had me draft the 1984 Apple Newsweek Advertising Insert when he didn’t like the agency’s writing style (they ended up writing the final copy) and write the Letter to Shareholders in the award-winnng Apple 1984 Annual Report. But in February 1985 he asked me to take on a very small writing assignment, which nevertheless took weeks to get right. After reading the Walter Isaacson book this week I dug out my copy. It’s sad he fell short of the thirty more years.

From Chris Espinosa

"Imagine for a moment that the life you currently have is taken away from you. Everything in it –..."

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:22:36 -0700

“

Imagine for a moment that the life you currently have is taken away from you. Everything in it – gone. And then somehow, miraculously, it was granted back to you.

Now what would you do?

”

- Ann Mehl (an amazing read)

"The only real failure in life is the failure to try."

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:33:01 -0700

“The only real failure in life is the failure to try.”

- George Bernard Shaw, via Mike

"Will you look back on life and say, “I wish I had,” or “I’m glad I did”?"

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:15:27 -0700

“Will you look back on life and say, “I wish I had,” or “I’m glad I did”?”

- Zig Ziglar (via Mike)

"It isn’t the burdens of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of..."

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:37:00 -0700

“It isn’t the burdens of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow.”

- Robert J. Hasting (via Mike)

Amit is an amazing dude. If you’re on South Asian...

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:51:15 -0700

Amit is an amazing dude. If you’re on South Asian descent, please join the bone marrow registry (it takes a simple cheek swab).

superamit:

Two weeks ago I got a call from my doctor, who I’d gone to see the day before because I’d been feeling worn out and was losing weight, and wasn’t sure why.

He was brief: “Amit, you’ve got Acute Leukemia. You need to enter treatment right away.”

I was terrified. I packed a backpack full of clothes, went to the hospital as he’d instructed, and had transfusions through the night to allow me to take a flight home at 7am the next day. I Googled acute leukemia as I lay in my hospital bed, learning that if it hadn’t been caught, I’d have died within weeks.

—

I have a couple more months of chemo to go, then the next step is a bone marrow transplant. As Jay and Tony describe below, minorities are severely underrepresented in the bone marrow pool, and I need help.

A few ways to help:

If you’re South Asian, get a free test by mail. You rub your cheeks with a cotton swab and mail it back. It’s easy.

If you’re in NYC, you can go to this event my friends are putting on.

If you know any South Asians (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, or Sri Lanka), please point ‘em to the links above.

*NEW* Organize a donor drive near you (the most helpful thing you could possibly do!) email 100kcheecks@gmail.com. They’ll send you kits, flyers, tell you what to say, and make the whole process easy cheesy.

jayparkinsonmd:

My friend Amit Gupta founded my favorite photography site Photojojo. A few weeks ago, he was diagnosed with leukemia. Amit is one of the nicest, most genuine, most creative people you could ever meet. Prior to founding the awesome Photojojo, he also co-founded Jelly in 2006 in NYC, a coworking community, that’s now spread to 60 cities across the world and helped spark the coworking revolution. It looks like Amit will need a bone marrow transplant quite soon. We can help him with that.

tony b:

Unlike blood transfusions, finding a genetic match for bone marrow that his body will accept is no easy task. The national bone marrow registry has 9.5 million records on file, yet the chances of someone from South Asian descent of finding a match are only 1 in 20,000.

This is where we come in. We’re going to destroy those odds.

How? By finding and registering as many people of South Asian descent as we possibly can.

Tests are easy– a simple swab of the cheek. If you’re a match, the donation involves an outpatient procedure. It’s not fun, but it’s not dangerous either. And doing it could save a life.

We are encouraging anyone of South Asian descent to take a test to see if you’re a match.

You can get a free test by mail, or, if you’re in New York, you can join us Friday, October 14th for a special party to rally support.

We’ll have test kits on hand at the party, as well as music, booze, and maybe even a photo booth. It will, for the first time, combine a House 2.0-style party with a New Work City-style party, and if you’ve ever been to either, you know they are always something special.

Please spread the word and please do everything you can to help Amit beat leukemia. He’s a superstar.

Much thanks to Tony and pals for organizing this event, and EVERYONE who’s been tweeting and reblogging.

Please help get the word out any way you can. My life quite literally depends on it.

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 09:49:00 -0700

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

- Neale Donald Walsch (via Diva)

"Be like a duck. Remain calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath."

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:16:15 -0700

“Be like a duck. Remain calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath.”

- Michael Caine (via How do I become a hustler?)

"You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them."

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:39:26 -0700

“You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.”

- Michael Jordan

"Life is not about discovering our talents; it is about pushing our talents to the limit and..."

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 08:34:55 -0700

“Life is not about discovering our talents; it is about pushing our talents to the limit and discovering our genius.”

- Robert Brault

"If you wait to do everything until you’re sure it’s right, you’ll probably never..."

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 18:33:41 -0700

“If you wait to do everything until you’re sure it’s right, you’ll probably never do much of anything.”

- Win Borden

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered “Man. Because he...

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 08:53:33 -0700

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.” (via LeBibi)

"There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing..."

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 16:38:28 -0700

“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.”

- Ken Blanchard

"When I wake up in the morning, I feel just like any other insecure 24-year-old girl. Then I say,..."

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:45:01 -0700

““When I wake up in the morning, I feel just like any other insecure 24-year-old girl. Then I say, ‘Bitch, you’re Lady Gaga: You get up and walk the walk today.’””

- Lady Gaga (via Tara)

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware."

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 23:25:00 -0700

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.”

- Martin Buber

"Experience is the greatest teacher of all. Stop reading about or watching the world passively and..."

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 23:06:38 -0700

“Experience is the greatest teacher of all. Stop reading about or watching the world passively and start living it.”

- 29 life lessons learned in travelling the world for 8 years straight

"If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:59:38 -0700

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”

- John Wooden