Do You Think ‘Mochi’ Is A Good Name For A Fat Pug?

I tried to do some writing at a café today with my fiancée — she had to write some paper for her Native American studies class, so we figured it was a nice idea. On our way there, she started complaining about how heavy her tote bag was. In her bag were her books and her laptop. (A Macbook Pro adds about 4.5 pounds to your bag.) It seems like a small amount, but to carry, say eight or nine pounds of material on one shoulder for a distance of up to 1.5 miles takes a toll on your shoulders. Hell, I feel my muscles burn when I carry my laundry bag across the street!

I asked her if she needed help carrying her bag. She said no. A little ways down the street, she said, “This bag is so heavy, I hate carrying this.” I assumed she wanted me to carry the bag, so I asked her again, but instead, she became upset with me. “No, I don’t want you carrying my bag,” she said.

A man standing in front of a barbershop greeted us hello.

The first café we tried was called Hungry Ghost. It was next to a Subway on Flatbush Avenue. No go. The tables were too small. We walked by Café Regular du Nord. Nope, just counterspace. We made it to Gorilla Coffee on the corner of Park Place. Finally! Places to sit. Once we sat down, though, we noticed there were no outlets to charge our computers. I figured, What the hell, we’re not going to sit around for two hours and write, so I ordered two large Americanos. (I believe this is why I’m still up at this hour.) But guess what! The internet didn’t work. Can you believe that nonsense? Was this some kind of joke being pulled on us? Three cafés and all basically struck out. We could’ve saved ourselves the trouble and stayed home, right? Ah, but thank goodness for Mobile Hotspots, because they came in handy this time.

I read a little bit more about Ray Dalio — apparently his fund lost a bunch of money. He says that there’s no safe place to put your money anymore. But what about the Fed? What about the rates? Tell us what you think is going to happen!

By the way, that MBA article I wrote, I don’t have an MBA. I’m probably never going to get an MBA. I don’t care if you have an MBA. That’s just the fact of it. I’m sorry if you haven’t found a job yet. Need some advice? Hook up with someone on LinkedIn. Try Meetup.com or Angel List. If you’re in New York City, subscribe to Gary’s Guide. Check out ER Accelerator, or even Founders At Fail. I don’t know, just meet as many people as you can. Tell you what, I’ll buy you frozen yogurt — which reminds me: we decided to get some frozen yogurt, so we walked up 5th Avenue in Park Slope.

Red Mango. Have you ever heard of such beautiful words come together? The marriage of two delicious words. Red and Mango. Self-serve. That’s another wonderful word. Another wonderful and beautiful combination of words: Rainbow cookies and mochi. Ah, but at this particular location, the rainbow cookies were cut up. Cut up! Who does this to rainbow cookies? Who cuts them up into bite-sized pieces? Tragic.

Walking home, I told Devon, when we adopt a dog, whenever that is, I’d like to name it Mochi, especially if it was a fat pug. She said that was cute. Mochi the fat fucking pug.

At the gym this morning, I wondered if I could email Ray Dalio and pick his brain about the work culture he was able to create. The idea that openness leads to creativity. This reminded me a lot of Larry Page, co-founder of Google. He advocated for an open work culture. Not just an open office, I think that came later, but I mean open criticisms and telling co-workers what you really think about their ideas. Did you know that? Google employees were encouraged to criticize your ideas. Strip it down, drill holes into it, and you’d have to take it all in. Leave your egos by the door, this is strictly a meeting about how valuable your ideas and creations are. Look at the two now. Ray Dalio is worth $15 billion. Larry Page is worth $29.2 billion. I mean, I’m not going to say their philosophies about aggressively critiquing and confronting their co-workers was the reason they became so successful, but in some weird way, it must’ve helped, right? Right?