Tea fueled musings and quantum cat

I drank chinese tea at dinner, and the caffeine is giving me insomnia.

Starcraft tournament with craft party this Friday at Minted beer o'clock!

Minted has taught me a lot about human relationships (along with startup and business learnings). I get along really smoothly with Melissa. Occasionally I start to get stressed at her, but she will reply with something honest yet calming, and the moment immediately blows over.

I also learned that if someone tries to help but cannot find a way to help, they will often then switch to sabotaging. Most sabotage came from a thwarted desire to help. Find a way for them to help, and the unhealthy channeling into sabotage will often stop.

I learned that much of conflict between two people is caused by a third person gossiping to one of them about the other. Two people can usually resolve many conflicts between them. But when their mind has been biased by another, it can only be undone with conscious effort or the passing of time.

I learned more deeply that perception is lagged. Back when I thought Google was fast-paced and so fun, the outside perception was "Does it make any technology except search? One-trick pony? Does it really make money?" A few years later, it felt slower-paced and less exhilarating to me, but that was actually the height of the external buzz when Google won "best place to work" repeatedly. Minted's growth is so exciting, and public buzz is following suit, with months of lag. It is fun to observe.

I learned that I can love my engineering team more every month, increasing over such a long time. They are so funny and endearing! Either I subconsciously hired partially for humor, or I find them more hilarious because they are dear to me. I keep trying to determine which one it is, and am not sure. I need to do some kind of blind test where I get printouts of their jokes vs a control group, and determine which jokes are funnier.

I learned that it is possible for two coworkers to become frustrated with each other, way past what I previously thought was the point of no return, and then for one heartfelt conversation to turn it around and make them get along better than ever.

I learned that users can be so kind and sweet.

I learned that it is very liberating to be able to be yourself at work and be accepted. Once I interrupted Melissa while she was giving a tour to an important interview candidate. She turned to me expectantly, thinking it was some dire site issue. I said "Sorry for interrupting but I need your RSVP for our chocolate factory tour!" Melissa laughed at me but accepted this impatience. It feels really nice to be accepted for your quirks, not in spite of them.

There are more learnings but now the tea caffeine is finally wearing off. Darn you, Chef Chu jasmine tea!