Dear Mike,
After watching your interview on 60 Minutes last night, I realized that you and I are cut from the same cloth. I am a 59 year old gay man in my 40th year of living with AIDS. That is not one of our similarities. I was very fortunate in my youth to have first generation born in America Parents who instilled in my the importance of 'giving back'. I am the youngest of 3 and the only one of their children to 'Trick or Treat for UNICEF' with my little orange coin bank instead of a bag full candy. I didn't mind since I knew there would be bags of leftover candy(my favorites) waiting at home. The point is that my dad and his dad worked their collective butts off to give our family a pretty darn good life. Dad was the ballsiest business man I had ever heard of. He would give something a go if he thought he had a good idea, and my mom kept reminding him that he had 3 children in Ivy League Schools and a home and the other things in our lives that kept his speculating within reason. One of his best ideas was the TV rental business. He knew that there were relatively large luxury items in people's lives that were outside the reach of many salaries, and that things like color TVs for a weekend or on the installment plan were affordable. So, he ran himself silly keeping those things working properly in the age of the vacuum tubes. Solid state would have been a real boon to him. He also had this crazy idea, after spending a weekend with my brother and me 'cleaning out the garage to make some room for 'things'. At the weekend's end - it was very neatly arranged, rid of dirt and leaves and cobwebs, but full to the gills with mom's car nestled in a cubby of boxes that were molded to her car. A light bulb went off and 'Ya know, I want to build a bunch of 'garages' and store rooms that are rent able for people's stuff. This was a bit before 'self storage existed', and he had acquired 2 parcels of land that never were used as he was diagnosed with lung cancer. I was in college - and came home for the last 'thanksgiving' we celebrated as a family, and he passed away. In 1994, when I worked in AI for the first time, a good friend and CFA and I started to attempt a very simple version of what you have created in the 'Bloomberg Desktop', when I was suddenly forced to enter the hospital for an extended time and the project petered out. Bummer. Your product is absolutely beautiful in my eyes. I have been a geek from way back, and the brief glance I got on 60 minutes told me how complex and the effort needed to create something that not only integrated or normalized so many disparate data sources, but did so in a fluid, readable elegant way.
I was very lucky in my early career life to be exposed to a wide range of industries as my first of many IT jobs was in Technical Consulting for Pilot executive software. This was at the time that execs were putting computers on their desks for the first time. Many of them had no idea what they did or how to work them, and my role was to learn their business and teach them how direct real time access to their balance sheet or p/l statement with drill down to the supporting line item data could help them. Many of these guys (they were all men at the time), especially in the utilities and older lines of business were used to calling Helen or Irene on their intercom and telling them to call bob in their office and for him to bring that 'Monday' report with him. Look, you have one of the most comprehensive, elegant solutions to data access on your desk, so imagine the flood of 'aha' moments I saw on a regular basis.
Now to the reason I am writing. Mike, I have spent the better part of the last 15 years in Cedars Sinai having surgery on my spine. These are all efforts to ameliorate the legacy I bear of a clinical trial at the NIH in 1987 that tested a potential anti - HIV medication. My best friend Jack and I heard Bob Gallo speak about HIV and his speech ended with a plea for volunteers for testing out various potential medications, so the next morning we hopped in the car and drove out to Bethesda. I am the sole survivor to date from my study cohort, as the drug was very toxic, in fact I was paralyzed for my last week in the study, and told that my immune system had attacked my cartilage and tried to destroy it. What no one knew at that time is that it had done a lot of damage and continued to do so even after I stopped the drug. I had been an avid athlete all my life and in 2003, as my persistent back and joint pain had reached a point that walking was becoming an issue. Many spine operations later, my surgeon made an error that took a lot from me including my deteriorating ability to walk without a rollator - the 4 wheeled walkers we see today.
I am writing about empathy and my project - AdvanceAbilities.com. I have always helped someone who I thought needed assistance with a door or what have you, but until I had to schlep that walker everywhere I went from wake up to sleep time, I never understood what being disabled meant - not at all. The slowing down that my illness forced on me was the greatest gift I ever received as it opened my eyes to the reason that the big guy upstairs has kept me around while so many of my friends have died. I have made it my mission through my brand new non-profit venture to make lives better for disabled people - with a focus on disabled seniors as so many have been unfairly 'kicked to the curb' and invalidated when inside they have so much to give.
I have had great success at engaging various experts and talented makers and artists in my efforts to actually travel the nation in an RV like Bus to interview and record all who will allow us to and tell the story of disability in America. We are also, using user input not design engineer on a budget to refine our designs and starting with the rollator - create the first user designed device that meets their needs not the revenue needs of some corporate wonk. I believe in many corporations - just not the device makers because of the crap they put on the market and have the nerve to charge money for.
I would love a few minutes of your time - in person - to describe how this is going to work and get any ideas of how to do it in a better way. Of course, I am in fundraising mode and would love, if you believe in what we are doing, a grant for the company.
Please let me know your thoughts. Mike you seem like a heck of a guy, and I hope that I can make our paths cross sometime soon.
Best,
Jim Chud - My dad was 'Chudnofsky' but we were always Chud.
After watching your interview on 60 Minutes last night, I realized that you and I are cut from the same cloth. I am a 59 year old gay man in my 40th year of living with AIDS. That is not one of our similarities. I was very fortunate in my youth to have first generation born in America Parents who instilled in my the importance of 'giving back'. I am the youngest of 3 and the only one of their children to 'Trick or Treat for UNICEF' with my little orange coin bank instead of a bag full candy. I didn't mind since I knew there would be bags of leftover candy(my favorites) waiting at home. The point is that my dad and his dad worked their collective butts off to give our family a pretty darn good life. Dad was the ballsiest business man I had ever heard of. He would give something a go if he thought he had a good idea, and my mom kept reminding him that he had 3 children in Ivy League Schools and a home and the other things in our lives that kept his speculating within reason. One of his best ideas was the TV rental business. He knew that there were relatively large luxury items in people's lives that were outside the reach of many salaries, and that things like color TVs for a weekend or on the installment plan were affordable. So, he ran himself silly keeping those things working properly in the age of the vacuum tubes. Solid state would have been a real boon to him. He also had this crazy idea, after spending a weekend with my brother and me 'cleaning out the garage to make some room for 'things'. At the weekend's end - it was very neatly arranged, rid of dirt and leaves and cobwebs, but full to the gills with mom's car nestled in a cubby of boxes that were molded to her car. A light bulb went off and 'Ya know, I want to build a bunch of 'garages' and store rooms that are rent able for people's stuff. This was a bit before 'self storage existed', and he had acquired 2 parcels of land that never were used as he was diagnosed with lung cancer. I was in college - and came home for the last 'thanksgiving' we celebrated as a family, and he passed away. In 1994, when I worked in AI for the first time, a good friend and CFA and I started to attempt a very simple version of what you have created in the 'Bloomberg Desktop', when I was suddenly forced to enter the hospital for an extended time and the project petered out. Bummer. Your product is absolutely beautiful in my eyes. I have been a geek from way back, and the brief glance I got on 60 minutes told me how complex and the effort needed to create something that not only integrated or normalized so many disparate data sources, but did so in a fluid, readable elegant way.
I was very lucky in my early career life to be exposed to a wide range of industries as my first of many IT jobs was in Technical Consulting for Pilot executive software. This was at the time that execs were putting computers on their desks for the first time. Many of them had no idea what they did or how to work them, and my role was to learn their business and teach them how direct real time access to their balance sheet or p/l statement with drill down to the supporting line item data could help them. Many of these guys (they were all men at the time), especially in the utilities and older lines of business were used to calling Helen or Irene on their intercom and telling them to call bob in their office and for him to bring that 'Monday' report with him. Look, you have one of the most comprehensive, elegant solutions to data access on your desk, so imagine the flood of 'aha' moments I saw on a regular basis.
Now to the reason I am writing. Mike, I have spent the better part of the last 15 years in Cedars Sinai having surgery on my spine. These are all efforts to ameliorate the legacy I bear of a clinical trial at the NIH in 1987 that tested a potential anti - HIV medication. My best friend Jack and I heard Bob Gallo speak about HIV and his speech ended with a plea for volunteers for testing out various potential medications, so the next morning we hopped in the car and drove out to Bethesda. I am the sole survivor to date from my study cohort, as the drug was very toxic, in fact I was paralyzed for my last week in the study, and told that my immune system had attacked my cartilage and tried to destroy it. What no one knew at that time is that it had done a lot of damage and continued to do so even after I stopped the drug. I had been an avid athlete all my life and in 2003, as my persistent back and joint pain had reached a point that walking was becoming an issue. Many spine operations later, my surgeon made an error that took a lot from me including my deteriorating ability to walk without a rollator - the 4 wheeled walkers we see today.
I am writing about empathy and my project - AdvanceAbilities.com. I have always helped someone who I thought needed assistance with a door or what have you, but until I had to schlep that walker everywhere I went from wake up to sleep time, I never understood what being disabled meant - not at all. The slowing down that my illness forced on me was the greatest gift I ever received as it opened my eyes to the reason that the big guy upstairs has kept me around while so many of my friends have died. I have made it my mission through my brand new non-profit venture to make lives better for disabled people - with a focus on disabled seniors as so many have been unfairly 'kicked to the curb' and invalidated when inside they have so much to give.
I have had great success at engaging various experts and talented makers and artists in my efforts to actually travel the nation in an RV like Bus to interview and record all who will allow us to and tell the story of disability in America. We are also, using user input not design engineer on a budget to refine our designs and starting with the rollator - create the first user designed device that meets their needs not the revenue needs of some corporate wonk. I believe in many corporations - just not the device makers because of the crap they put on the market and have the nerve to charge money for.
I would love a few minutes of your time - in person - to describe how this is going to work and get any ideas of how to do it in a better way. Of course, I am in fundraising mode and would love, if you believe in what we are doing, a grant for the company.
Please let me know your thoughts. Mike you seem like a heck of a guy, and I hope that I can make our paths cross sometime soon.
Best,
Jim Chud - My dad was 'Chudnofsky' but we were always Chud.
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