It’s hard to truly understand someone, especially with all the noises in our own lives that drain our time and patience. If entrepreneurs have their one-liner pitch for their business idea, then why shouldn’t each of us have our own pitches? Something that describes ourselves - our motivations, intentions and our general way of life.

This is what we call a motto. “Italian for pledge, and motti when plural,” as says so on Wikipedia.

I’m pretty sure I derived parts of my motto from somewhere else, although I don’t remember it now. But this motto has been on the back of my mind for a while now, and it guides everything I do with an invisible hand. It goes as follows,

“Understand the past, plan for the future, and just survive in the present.”

The reason for the beginning and middle part is obvious. I won’t bore you by explaining it. The main idea is that the present as we perceive it really isn’t the present. There is a time lapse of when things are happening in reality and when we perceive reality. Putting science aside, the present happens too quickly for us to make good conscientious decisions all of the time.

In other words, don’t bet on making the right decision when you are suddenly given the opportunity, and withstand any troubles you face knowing that you have a solid plan, built on experience and knowledge. Survive the hurdles, and you will continue on your plan – better than what you were before.

Peter Kao

I read a lot of interesting crap on Digg.com, but this is one that I need to show you.

$700 Billion Bailout: How it Really Works

Peter Kao

UPDATE: Want to be convinced to vote? Watch this (made for US citizens but works just as well for us)

Today, I was talking to a friend of mine and I asked, “So, who are you going to vote for?” 

She said, “Obama.” 

The funny thing is, we were both on campus – in Canada. 

The point is that we focus so much on American politics (assuming you DO follow politics, if you don’t -YOU SHOULD) that we understand so little of our own.

I believe that more students like us will be driven to vote if we take more time to understand Canadian politics, and now you can do so easily using a web-app created for the 24-Hour Hacking Competition from Yahoo! Here’s the link: http://yahoo.summerhilldesign.com/index.php 

With this app, you can find every single incumbent Member of Parliament’s position on various topics. The UI is really well designed and makes learning about politics actually fun. Go check it out! 

REMEMBER TO VOTE ON: October 14, 2008 

Peter Kao

Yes, I've arrived

Just moved into Velocity, Canada’s first (that I know of) student incubator residence. I first wrote about it in January (see Velocity – The UW Student Residence for Undergraduate Entrepreneurs) and now I’m living in it.

At first glance, the Velocity building doesn’t look like a student residence at all, rather it looks like an University staff building, but upon entering you are presented with a nice slab of glass that lists impressive sounding areas of the residence. You also get a top-view glimpse of the Rogers Wireless Device Lab which, sadly, is still in construction. I can already imagine it looking stunning though.

Entrance Slab

Device Lab in Construction

The residence will have several rooms that are completely at our disposal. Rooms such as the Device Lab, Great Hall and Conference Room will help entrepreneurial students like me collaborate on projects without having to worry about space or technical limitations.

My only peeve are the old-fashioned rooms and how everything is laid out. Don’t get me wrong, the rooms look nice and habitable. It’s decently sized as well. It’s only the old wooden cabinents and tables and the un-usable layout of the plugs that bother me. First off, the ethernet jack is at least 2 meters away from the today, so you’ll need an extra long ethernet cable to access the LAN line. The other thing is that when sitting down at the table, you irresistibly feel like you’re in a prison cell. There are no windows visible. Maybe it’s just the layout of my room, so let me know if yours is fine, but from what I’ve seen from my friends a lot of the rooms feel very secluded. These problems are small and won’t be a bother once you get used to the room, but I thought I would lay it out for those interested in joining us next term.

My Room! MH-225a

My Room (again)! MH-225a

Door Room Vanity

Here are some more pictures:

My Cheesy Looking Room Door

Sexiest Looking Kitchen I've seen on Rez

And here’s a video showcasing the world’s most advance window at Velocity! It’s a rod attached to a window…

The people are nice, the facilities look nice (though some are still in construction) and the energy is superb. Can’t wait till we have our first Velocity meeting tonight!

PS: News is that we’ll be hooking up an XBOX 360, PS3 and Wii on the big screen TV in the lounge! Man, how are we going to get work done in this place?

Peter Kao

Finally! I’m part of Impact, which is of course Canada’s largest student-run entrepreneurship group.

After they wow’d me at the Leadership Conference in 2007, I’ve been wanting to join a group that shares the same goal of helping fellow entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneur with all things surrounding entrepreneurship and start ups.

I’m proud to be part of the team and I can’t wait to help out on the side of marketing!

Peter Kao

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… I: wait… L: wait… C: wait… SD: wait…