Personal

 by Brendon J. Wilson

Oh, I’ve Wasted My Life!

I read about Evan Williams (CEO of Pyra Labs, creator of Blogger) making the decision to leave Blogger/Google and move on. It was the most depressing thing I’d ever read.

From Evan’s site:

Six years is a long time. Or a little. Depending. For me, it’s a little under 20% of this life on Earth.

For the math-challenged in my audience: that’s a little over 30. This guy is only a little older than me (and he’s also a Tragically Hip fan). And undoubtedly quite well off after the IPO of Google. And a founder in a company that has played a core role in developing and nurturing a new wave of a democratizing technology that is set to be (if it isn’t already) The Next Big Thing. It’s The Next Big Thing, and he’s already Been There and Done That, made his money and is moving on.

What the hell have I been doing with my time?

Last week, I had coffee with an enthusiastic entrepreneur looking to change the world. He’s twenty-five. He grew up in India, worked in Australia, and, at the age of 21, was the youngest executive at News Corp.

What the hell have I been doing with my time?

Four years ago at FC 2000 I met Max Levchin. He was CTO of a new little startup called PayPal – PayPal was bought by eBay for $1.5 billion in a stock swap.

WHAT THE HELL HAVE I BEEN DOING WITH MY TIME?!?

I spend my days working, making money, paying bills, and trying to learn what I think I need to learn for whatever the future holds. Don’t get me wrong, I like my job and I’m learning a lot – but is it the right stuff? Do I have the Right Stuff? I come home to try to figure out what I want to do, where the opportunities are, and What Matters. Working on something that Matters is of central importance to me. I go to tech events to chat and network, but I’m growing increasingly uncertain that there’s much point if I haven’t figured out what I want to work on. Nothing’s popping out at me. I grow increasingly uncertain.

What have I been doing with my time?

My biggest fear is that somewhere down the road, I’m going to turn around and ask myself this same question and be equally unsatisfied with the answer: Life happens – but is this it? Oh, I’ve wasted my life!

in Entrepreneurship / Personal 14 comments
 by Brendon J. Wilson

DMV-Brand Glue

I thought the previous experience with the DMV was the most aggravating experience I’d ever have to endure. I was wrong. Why? Because I got a letter today from the DMV today requesting more information to support my previous car registration application. For the third time. Since January.

When I first arrived in California, I dutifully attempted to register my car at the California DMV. California requires you to register your car within 20 days of arrival – something that is impossible to do given the DMV’s totally inconvenient hours of operations. Nevertheless, Ashley and I trudged into the DMV, armed with our vehicle, proof of vehicle ownership, smog certificate, proof of identity, proof of compliance with US safety standards, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. After filling out the paperwork and letting a DMV employee verify the car’s VIN (vehicle identification number), we got our new California plates and were done. A few days later we got our temporary registration sticker in the mail. Easy, right? A little too easy…

A few weeks later, it started.

We got a letter in the mail from the DMV stating that we had failed to provide proof that the car was compliant with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and US EPA emission regulations. Despite the fact that we had provided them with the requisite letter from Toyota, as instructed. Oh, and we also forgot to provide a smog certificate – except that we had provided it to them in person, as instructed. Oh, and that we needed to provide a Customs form that showed that the car had passed Customs inspection – despite the fact that we drove into California, and had been told by a US Customs officer no such declaration would be necessary.

Fine. We gathered up the paperwork required. I even went out the SFO to get US Customs to provide the required Customs declaration – even though they didn’t know what form was required, why the DMV would require that form, and lost our application for that form. But we got it all together and sent it in.

A few weeks later, we got another letter. This time, the DMV required our VIN to be verified by a peace officer – despite the fact that they already had the VIN in their computer, and that it had been put there by a DMV employee. I took a quick trip to the Mountain View Police Department, interrupted a police officer from doing real work, got the form filled out, and sent the paperwork back to the DMV. Again.

Then today, we got another letter from the DMV. This time, the DMV wants the original application for vehicle registration. The original registration that we handed to the DMV employee, and that got returned to us with our temporary registration sticker? The same.

This is ridiculous. California is struggling to recover from crippling debt, debt that has required a $15 billion bond offering to keep the state afloat. I think I now understand the source of the problem – then again, it’s the same problem everywhere. Extremely Stupid Bureaucracy™: the glue that holds together the gears of our economy.

in Personal 2 comments