This is what it feels like.

There’s been a lot of discussion regarding where entrepreneurs come from, how they acquire their skills and the nature of the drive that powers them. I believe there is a whole gamut of possibilities, with a place for all. That said, I believe in the core entrepreneur; the one driven from the day they were born to create and build.

Imagine you’re one of the fastest track runners among anyone you’ve ever met. You don’t set records, you’re a ways away from the Olympics, but every time you set foot on the track, you’re a force to be reckoned with.

Now imagine walking up to the starting block. A crowd of people in the stands, waiting and watching. Your competitors start to size you up as you do the same. Feel that adrenaline pumping through your veins? You’re given the sign to get set; your mind focuses on the track ahead. You carefully put your foot in position as every muscle in your body starts to charge with potential energy.

Now really imagine your mind and body at this very instant. The race car driver staring at the light tree, waiting for green, the student about to glimpse at a final exam, the boy who’s about to ask out the girl he’s crazy about. We’ve all had these moments. The world slows down, our hearts speed up, electricity starts to flow through our chest, and for a moment you’re nearly paralyzed with anticipation.

Take that feeling, that paralyzing sensation flowing through your body and multiply it times 10. Now imagine that sensation for every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day. The insatiable drive to jump out of the gates with every ounce of your being. Anything less and you wouldn’t deserve your place at the starting line.

Some days, most days, this is my gift. Some days, those few days, it’s a curse. I’m sure there are many kinds of entrepreneurs; some who studied it, some who discovered and embraced it, and even those who fake it for potential riches. However, I can’t imagine anyone learning, let alone consciously embracing what I consider my entrepreneurial drive. You simply need to be born with it.

With my company, I spend every waking moment preparing to jump off the line. That line may be a meeting that needs to go perfectly, a design that has to snap, or a feature introduction that changes our future. Every moment of every day is another opportunity to go at with full force.

This is what it feels like to be an entrepreneur. I live my life as such, not just my business.

(I’m back in the blogging game Exactly 3 years since my last post!)

The Power of Perspective

Each one of us gets up every morning. As the sun peaks over the horizon, most of us start to open our eyes. As we fall faster and faster out of dream and more and more into reality, our perspective takes over.

Every single bit of our experience is intrinsic only to one person, one brain, one moment, one perspective. It is the categorical differentiator that no one can deny us (yet).  With this “gift”, if you’re inclined to call it that, we can explore the world around us.

The world doesn’t happen around us simply to be observed, but on that same token, from your perspective the world you see exists in that way only to you. It is, in a sense, your own world. Standing in an open meadow before a wonderful vista may be a beautiful picturesque scene to one of us. To another, however, the meadow may be a collection of  interesting flowers and grasses with relationships between insects both on the ground and in the air. Another person may see the action of the clouds, the effect of wind,  and the atmospheric and scientific effects in the immediate area.

What some fail to realize after hearing all these perspectives is that they can exist in the same moment. The world gives us no clue as to who is looking upon it and how; that is the beauty of our ability to perceive it.

What is the self?

It occurred to me, that in order to investigate the very core of someone else’s being, you had to be innately aware of the nature of your own. What exactly is me? What is my biological reaction? What are my societally induced habits?

Where do “I” end and where does mother nature kick in? If I’m not aware of this, if you’re not aware of this, then any exploration is naught.

Sony Playstation 3s are saving humanity?

http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=osstats

It looks like the distributed computing power of the PS3 with Folding @ Home, the Stanford run program researching protein folding, is about to reach a Petaflop. 1 quadrillion operations per second. The fastest supercomputer in the world just barely peaked at 1 petaflop.

As I write this the PS3 has probably eclipsed the 1 petaflop mark with Floating @ Home. Thats with the power of all other systems currently working for Folding @ Home, which is about 200 Teraflops (1/10th of a petaflop).

Currently 27000 PS3′s producing more than 600 teraflops of distributed power. Just imagine when 10% of currently sold PS3′s start running it, thats 200,000.

An new era of computing power for the research of disease is upon us. No longer are high level government institution the sole proprietors of tremendous processing potential.

Folding @ Home

Just sit down and listen

I look at the world and I see stimulus and response. Different degrees, different forms, different mechanisms, however, all reactions. To rise above this, as humans we start to understand patterns. Some are small like knowing that after a green light comes yellow for a brief period, then finally red and one can assume through past experience that after every green light is a yellow and a red. A small simple pattern in life.

In the social sphere we have the same stimulus and response reactions. I say “fuck you” with a straight face and you’ll respond with offense at my rude comment. This is a simplified observation because ideas such as tone and context always come into play. However, are there patterns we can observe in the social sphere? What’s the yellow before red in a conversation? What’s the power of knowing before that red light ever hits you? Read on and I hope to explore that…

A little love for the car…

Certainly not the direction I want this blog to go in. But due to the lack of female distraction in my life these days, i’m forced to revert to the 2nd best thing (well maybe better) in my life. Not to say women are the only source of commentary, but for now i’m on spring break from analysis 101. I was surprised to see my first YouTube video with 6800 views and 15 comments. I was inspired to film a follow up video for the S65.

Freshly detailed, freshly refilled with Motul 300V 5W40 kick ass oil and 76 100 octane. This car is a rumbling god, hehe:

*updated 4/21/07 with a better video

Sometimes I love Los Angeles (Courtesy of British Petroleum and Mercedes Benz)

Only in a city like Los Angeles, and truly only in a place like West LA can you pull off such an elegant message. I must admit i felt a tad embarrassed pulling into LA’s only green gas station. I’m guessing the lower burning temp of ethanol and consequent loss in HP (horsepower) will be tariff enough for my experience.

An average of 6-9 mpg in the city + 7.6% Ethanol Enhanced Gasoline + BP Green gas station + $180k S65 AMG v12 BiTurbo with 600+HP = Yes LA rocks (and to think I’m a liberal)

Corner of Robertson and Olympic: Gas was $3.33 ($3.65 in Brentwood) for premium, $3.13 for standard when cheapest around is 3.11 (so not too bad??) 7.6% Ethanol in the 91 octane.

Nice perk are the women employed by BP to educate you on the “green building” nature of the station. (After the Jump) They hand out some literature, as well as a postcard that is biodegradable and has flower seeds in it. (So if you throw it away on your way home, well you’re actually doing something good when you litter???)

The Inaugural Blog – Opening the Window

I’m Alexander Huf. My friends call me Alex and most call me “Huf”. I’m 21 years old and I’ve spent the better part of the last 5 years learning to love the art of analysis.

People amaze me. Their habits, their flaws, their motivations and their emotions. When I say I have learned to love analysis, I refer to the analysis of people.

I’ve recognized that to observe and dissect the actions of people, one must target one of two approaches. First, there is the personal psychological approach, generally associated with the clinical method. Through interaction and further discovery of someone’s story, one can then start to shape an impression of who someone is.

The second approach, however, is one that interests me equally if not more than the personal. This is the pattern recognition approach. Watching someones every move for expression of something. It does not require personal discussion, rather personal inspection through inference and deduction.