My Life is Dale

What I do instead of college

2011-11-09T15:13:00.001-08:00

Here's what some educational deviants do with their time when not in college.

Today, I flew to Los Angeles, Chicago, and back to San Francisco.

Why, you ask?

I don't quite have an airplane fetish. But almost. I flew to Chicago for an hour today for the sole purpose of gaining miles.

You see, I had 33,789 miles on American Airlines. Those miles are of almost no use to me since I now fly exclusively on United since I will be hitting 1K (the top-tier stats) later this year. Being 1K on United means free international upgrades, free checked bags, free lounge access, and countless other perks.

Now on American 40,000 is enough for a free ticket to Europe -- and that's actually useful. Last week I saw that American was running a double mileage promo from San Francisco and Los Angeles to Chicago. So that means the 1857 miles between O'hare and SFO and LAX will be doubled.

Let's do the math:

((1857 + 1912) * 2) + 377 + 33789 = over 40,000 = free ticket to europe.

For the flight to Chicago I paid $136.79.

Not bad for a free ticket to Europe, eh?

If you want to take a dive down the rabbit hole of mileage running, check out FlyerTalk.com.

Fabulous ideas coming from #mobydick at Stanford. Thank you @benhuh @starkness @tonyklai

2011-07-29T16:14:00.001-07:00

My parents about to drink gold-filtered water.

2011-07-04T16:41:00.001-07:00

@DaleJStephens

2011-06-29T00:58:00.001-07:00

I'm trying coke for the first time. @danrthompson would be proud of me.

2011-06-24T08:00:00.001-07:00

Madrid rocks. Free wifi and city wide street art. Beautiful open and collaborative art and innovation space downtown

2011-06-23T05:16:00.001-07:00

@DaleJStephens panel

2011-06-15T23:48:00.001-07:00

Outlining my book with post-its (thanks for the idea @rosical!)

2011-06-09T09:24:00.001-07:00

@aronsolomon hyper island Ny

2011-06-04T11:19:00.001-07:00

#greenroom

2011-06-03T06:33:00.001-07:00

@aronsolomon I took your suggestion

2011-05-24T10:20:00.001-07:00

Just passed one of Google's self-driving cars.

2011-05-23T22:45:00.001-07:00

Religious belief is now following me on Twitter. I'm not sure how I feel about this.

2011-04-06T18:15:00.001-07:00

@devondundee for you

2011-04-03T09:38:00.001-07:00

Pain au chocolat!

2011-03-26T01:23:00.001-07:00

Help Dale ride the Startup Bus to #SXSWi!

2011-02-27T20:11:00.001-08:00

I decided on Friday that I'm going to South by Southwest (SXSWi) Interactive in Austin, Texas next week.

Why am I going?

1) I was accepted to ride the Startup Bus, a 48-hour startup competition.

2) I hope to find potential cofounders to work on a project that provides online certification in lieu of a college degree.

I'm raising fund to help offset the cost of riding the bus, sleeping in Austin, and perhaps buying a SXSW ticket.

What is StartupBus?

StartupBus is a startup competition on wheels. A bunch of brillaint strangers board buses in major U.S. cities and, over the course of a 48-hour journey to the SXSW Interactive conference in Austin, TX, conceive and build a tech startup. Once in Austin the teams present their concepts and demos to entrepreneurs, investors, and StartupBus alumni (“buspreneurs”). You can find out more at http://startupbus.com!

I leave on the Startup Bus from Chicago on March 8th!

What do you need $$ for?

I booked my flight fro LIT to MDW and AUS to LIT using a free ticket -- so my transportation is covered. My projected costs for the trip are:

-$200 Startup Bus participant fee

-$100 Food in Austin

-$200 Lodging for four nights in Austin on AirBNB

-$750 SXSWi Badge**

**optional

That's a grand total of $1250 including SXSWi badge. The badge is not imperative -- it'll still be an awesome journey without a SXSWi badge, but being able to attend the SXSWi session would be amazing.

Why should I help you?

I'll be forever indebted to you. No, really -- I don't forget random acts of kindness. I'll do my part for you -- whatever that may be. I'll also promote you, your company, cause, or organization on Twitter (and wherever else) and will publicly thank you. I can also run errands in Austin for you.

To donate online, click here!

If you're not comfortable using WePay to contribute, send me an email or give me a call! dalejstephens at gmail or 347 338 8742.

Then what?

I'll keep you posted via Twitter, Facebook, this site, and the StartupBus.com! If there's money leftover it'll be donated the Winters Friends of the Library or returned to you if you wish.

Thank you for your support!

The sky is green.

2011-02-24T16:05:00.003-08:00

The sky is green.

2011-02-24T16:05:00.001-08:00

Goals

2011-02-07T14:36:00.001-08:00

Here's my goal list for the year:

http://101in365.com/dalejstephens

My Thiel Fellowship Application Essays

2011-01-01T21:52:00.001-08:00

As many of you know, I recently applied for the Thiel Foundation's Twenty Under Twenty Fellowship.

This $100,000 grant will be awarded to twenty individuals under the age of twenty.

Below are the two essays I wrote for my application:

Tell us one thing about the world that you strongly believe is true but that most people think is not true.

I believe there is no God. Anyone with a love for objective truth must begin by believing there is no God and then look for evidence of God. One must search for some objective evidence of a supernatural power before proclaiming the existence of a deity. I have searched for evidence of God, but I’ve found none, so I have taken the logical leap of faith and definitively proclaimed my belief: I believe there is no God.

This proclamation characterizes every moment of my life. Instead of praying, I appreciate that which I already have and spend my time engaged in material improvement. Prayer, when a form of begging this invisible for more, seems rude. No God means that I have to be satisfied with my life and am thus predisposed to appreciate what I have. I’m not a glutton. I have ski slopes, sunsets, rainy days, and emoticons—and that’s got to be enough. The love of my friends and family is enough that I don’t need heaven. Praying for divine assistance is pointless. Instead of asking God for help, I take action. I needn’t pray for a 4.0 GPA when my time would be better spent studying. No God means I take action when I want to see results, and I get joy everyday.

Believing there is no God means I live by the words of Edith Piaf: Je ne regrette rien. Living with no regrets means I don’t have to worry about final judgment; instead I worry about doing the right thing. Since nothing I will ever say or do will change my actions and I cannot be forgiven, I must treat people right the first time around. I can only be forgiven by the kindness of humanity or the odd case of amnesia. That’s brilliant. Because I only have one shot at life, it makes me want to be more thoughtful. No God means I life every moment to the fullest, and I am forced to do the right thing on the first try—I have no second chances.

No God means that I can take risks without clearing every action with the divine. Instead of asking, “Is this okay, God?” when I choose which classes to take at college, I am empowered to make such decisions myself. This empowerment means that I must think analytically to decide for which risks the potential gain is worth more than the potential loss. Not asking God’s permission allows me to be adaptable and in control of my own destiny. This flexibility ability allows me to take advantage of opportunities that avail themselves with little warning: instead of waiting for divine assent, I make executive decisions. Believing there is no God allows to me to think independently and critically about my life.

Without God, I have no one to blame but myself. Instead of passing the buck to the supernatural, I take responsibility for my actions. I accept the consequences of my actions and analyze my mistakes. Because of I don’t subscribe to a divine authority, I have been forced to develop my own ethical guidelines. Thus, I am forced to think about the long-term consequences of my actions before I act. While no God means that I have no one to blame, it also means that I see positive actions as having worldly origins. Instead of giving God credit for fixing my broken arm, I credit doctors who performed the surgery. No God means I take responsibility for my actions, develop my own moral code, and appreciate the actions of others.

I am not a solipsist. I appreciate, understand, and respect all different people from all different cultures. I believe that learning is infinite and that my personal enlightenment will never be complete. If I were to find positive evidence for the existence of God—or proof of an alternate truth for any belief I hold—my beliefs would change. Since I’m always eager to learn, I can accept others’ viewpoints, move beyond perceived differences, and truly communicate. My personal views do not interfere with professional relationships. Without God, everyone is equal and I can learn from all those around me. I can concentrate on human interaction, which in most situations is more important than a relationship with God. No God means that we can agree on reality without worrying about pleasing the metaphysical, making communication more effective.

I am an optimist. No God means that all the suffering I have seen in loved ones, and indeed all the suffering in the world, is not caused by some omnipotent deity who is “just testing” the human race, but is rather caused by worldly origins. This attribution to worldly origins means that we can identify the causes of suffering and make changes. Without God there is the possibility of less suffering in the future. I know that my actions, however small, are significant, and I am inspired to help the world. Instead of leaving the fate of the world to the hands of a deity, I can make the world that I know—here and now—a better place for us all to live.

Believing there is no God forces me to challenge the status quo, think innovatively, take measured risks, be adaptable, act logically, communicate effectively, and take responsibility for my actions. I am not constrained to thinking within a divine system of order: I can dream audaciously and flaunt non-conformity. No God leaves more room for belief in family, love, friends, truth, passion, the Internet and everything else on this earth.

How do you want to change the world?

On May 27^th 2008, a foggy Tuesday morning at the SFO Airport, I boarded American Airlines flight 24 to Paris. This was not my first trip to Europe, but this time I was flying solo. For the next five months, I would live with a host family in France, disconnected from my family.

A year later in June 2009, I was at UCLA participating in the Summer Business Institute. A major component of the program was the completion of a business plan and pitch deck in competition with other Southern California schools. Initially, I was stumped as to how I’d fill fifty pages about an imaginary business. Then I thought back to living in France and recalled that I had almost been prevented from going by the cost of plane tickets. The barrier to my global experience had been the cost of transportation. As I reflected on my time in France, I considered what I would have missed if I hadn’t been able to afford the flight. Whilst living in France, I discovered that the most valuable outcome of studying abroad was the introspective abilities I gained to analyze my own culture, society, and language. I learned more from my five months in France than from ten years of traditional education and returned with a global perspective on life.

The qualities I developed in France—flexibility, awareness, curiosity, responsibility, self-direction—are invaluable in today’s global world. No longer is it acceptable to understand the paradigm of a single country or speak one language; rather it is necessary to be bilingual and multicultural to succeed in the twenty-first century. Education must become global. I believe the best way to foster global human improvement is to encourage everyone to travel abroad, to experience cultures different from their own. The larger the cultural differences, the greater the learning potential. The barrier to this idealized vision of global education is not a lack of will to travel, but rather the means to do so. The cost of traveling internationally is not affordable for households who earn even the national median income of $44,389.

I encourage traveling abroad not only in furtherance of an idealized vision for world peace, but because I believe traveling abroad allows individuals to develop the skills necessary to succeed in today’s global environment. By empowering everyone to have international experiences, develop these skills, and change the world, human improvement will come about on a larger scale than if I were to act individually. The continued existence of the human race on planet earth requires the cooperation of all nations. Such international understanding will be impossible if today’s youth do not receive a global education. Narrow-mindedness caused by a lack of global experience is detrimental to nations. North Korea is an example of the damage isolationism brings: because its citizens are not free to travel, experience life abroad, and bring about domestic reforms, North Korea has pushed the world to the brink of war.

I want to change the world by creating a low-cost transatlantic airline, Eutopia Airways, allowing everyone the chance to travel abroad and gain a global perspective on life.

Low-cost airlines exist both in the United States—Southwest and JetBlue—and in Europe—RyanAir and EasyJet, but there is no link between the two continents. Eutopia Airways will revolutionize international travel by providing a low-cost link between these continents. Due to existing demand, it is most feasible to begin servicing these continents, but I envision a low-cost airline network connecting the entire world. This is not impossible. Low-cost airlines have been successful domestically: Southwest has been profitable for 37 consecutive years. I will take the model Southwest has refined and apply it to the transatlantic marketplace. Airlines such as Southwest currently do not operate international flights because to do so their entire fleet and crew would have to obtain ETOPS Certification, a costly procedure. Since the majority of Southwest’s flights would remain domestic, this would be a waste of money. Eutopia will be able to operate low-cost international flights because Eutopia will only operate international flights: the cost of ETOPS will not be wasted on domestic flights.

I have developed a detailed plan for Eutopia over the last year, in consultation with aviation experts around the world. I’ve talked with Boeing’s Startup Airline Consultancy and exchanged emails with airport authorities (JFK, LGW, CDG, FRA). I’ve spoken with representatives from Row44 (inflight wifi) and consulted with Swissport about cargo costs. I’ve obtained quotes from catering services and software providers. I’ve corresponded with Southwest’s Director of Alliances, who confirmed their interest in codesharing, and visited Southwest Airlines Headquarters. This research has confirmed the feasibility of my plan.

Eutopia will use the tenets of the low-cost business model—flying a single aircraft family, utilizing secondary airports, and using a single-class seating arrangement. In addition to these operational advantages, Eutopia will provide excellent customer service: this is the differentiator that has propelled Southwest to international acclaim. Average fares on Eutopia—all fees included—are estimated to be about $450 roundtrip from New York to London, about 50% below average market prices. (The exact figure for current average fares is classified)

Starting an airline is neither the simplest way to change the world, nor is it the cheapest, but it will have the greatest impact. I believe that any other attempt to globalize education would only be temporary and superficial at best. The experiences one has and the skills one learns abroad are impossible to teach in the classroom. Education must become global in order to ensure the success of humanity in today’s interconnected world. I believe that by lowering the cost of international travel, everyone will have the chance to go abroad and gain a global perspective on life. Traveling abroad allows people to have international experiences, develop the skills necessary to succeed in our globalized world, and enables each to change the world in her or her own way. I intend to build the organization necessary to make this vision a reality.

Why was 2010 fire-truckin' brilliant for me?

2011-01-01T15:04:00.001-08:00

I've changed in the last year. Not intellectually. Not maturity-wise. Not because of college.

What marked the change was working for Zinch in San Francisco. Immersing myself in the startup community was the first time I'd ever found a group I could connect with socially and intellectually who were my own age. I had a blast.

More importantly, I made new friends whom I'm sure I'll know for life. I figured out what I want to do after college: I'll be going straight back to San Francisco and work for a startup. The entrepreneurs I met are some of smartest, passionate, and mature people I know. I'm humbled to be able to work amongst such amazing individuals.

The other big event in my life was going off to Hendrix College. I've enjoyed college, but I don't feel like my time in Arkansas has contributed to my transformation as much as my time in San Francisco did. If anything, college changed was the fact that I no longer live at home. I'd been away from my parents for four months in France, but I (and they) knew I'd be coming home following that sojourn.

When I left in August, I knew I wouldn't be coming back. I said goodbye to the town, people, and community I grew up in. Of course, I'm at my childhood home at the moment, but I no longer consider it home for I am only here for a temporary time--until January 18th.

2010 was a fire-truckin' brilliant!

And 2011 shall be better.

I look forward to finishing my first year of college and going back to work in San Francisco. I'll be abroad in Fall, though I'm not sure where I'll be yet. I'm excited to have the chance to live abroad again! Will I be in Ghana, Iceland, or Bulgaria?

On verra. (We'll see)

My (much needed) wool coat and scarf

2010-12-20T16:59:00.001-08:00

On the way to the California Academy of Sciences with Dad, Grandpa, and Aunt

2010-12-19T10:16:00.001-08:00

Arkansas, it's been a lovely four months, but I'm glad to be home California!

2010-12-18T13:23:00.001-08:00

When I got off the plane on Wednesday at 2pm, I began sweating profusely in the California heat, largely due to the fact that I was wearing a heavy wool sweater and winter coat that I had donned that morning at 4am whilst shivering outside in the Arkansas winter.

I knew it would be warmer in California, but I'd forgotten just how warm it would be.

I seeing the friends and family that I love in the house I grew up in made me remember just how much I love California.

In San Francisco this morning, I walked into the Townsend building behind someone and they didn't hold the door for me. I was flabbergasted.

Might it be that I'm missing Arkansas?

Or then again, maybe not. After spending a day in the city with beloved friends and colleagues, I can honestly say San Francisco me manque. Yesterday reminded me of the grand times I had working at Zinch from February until August and the wonderful friends I made in the startup community.

I cannot wait to the back for summer.

In 2010, I . . .

2010-12-05T07:17:00.001-08:00

As the year comes to a close, I often think back and recall the major events that transpired. In many ways, 2010 was a year of firsts.

In 2010 for the first time I . . .

-Went to San Francisco alone

-Worked for an employer (Thanks Zinch!)

-Involved myself in entrepreneurship

-Graduated high school

-Matriculated at Hendrix College

-Drove more than five hours without parents in the car

-Went to Alaska

-Went to Texas

-Visited Southwest Airlines

. . . and countless others.

Soon 2011 will arrive and I shall start all this list all over again.

I cannot wait to be back in California to see family and friends. Wednesday the 15th will not be here soon enough.

Pickle in a Bag

2010-11-25T18:44:00.001-08:00

On the road to Fort Smith!

2010-11-23T12:09:00.001-08:00

Seeing the One Man Star Wars Trilogy. Would probably be better if I'd seen the films

2010-11-17T18:11:00.001-08:00

Age-based Inequities

2010-11-11T17:08:00.001-08:00

I surround myself with people for whom age is not issue, people who respect my opinion even though I am young (in human terms). Thus, it is not often that I have to deal with agism.
But I was reminded today that the world is still dominated by people who see age as an indicator of intellect and ignore the insights of young individuals.
I haven't had to deal with this in a long time; it came as shock. I've been muddling over what to do about it all day, and I decided to tell the world.
I'm not concerned in the long run since we, the youth of today, will be running the world soon enough.
I just hope that when we get to that when we get to that stage we remember to to respect the opinions of future youth.

Two months at college

2010-11-11T06:49:00.001-08:00

See the full gallery on posterous

5/6ths is gone--What Does the Last 1/6th Hold?

2010-10-31T20:35:00.001-07:00

Every November I realize that five sixths of the year has gone by, and I have to stop to ponder what I've done over the course of the year. And, for the last few years, I have been constantly confused that Daylight Savings Time now starts next weekend.

So, celebrate this week that there is one less hour of time difference between the United States and Europe. For me, this means it's time to call France.

I'm looking back at the bucket list I made up early in the year. I've started on (and completed) a few of my goals:

#10 Reform Education

-I'm doing my part: I worked for Zinch, and I am doing my best to better Hendrix. I also have a few things up my sleeve.

#12 and #13 Learn to Sing and Dance

-I took and dance class, did Shirttails, and joined show choir. One completed and the other in progress!

I worked on #29 Meet Herb Kelleher by visiting Southwest Airlines last month.

#40 Save a Life

-I think I accomplished this on our exciting drive to Dallas

And I think I've started on #38, Improving the Understanding of Atheism.

I feel good about what I've done with my life this year. I live everyday to the fullest and repeat the mantra "Je ne regrette rien!"

What can I still accomplish this year?

Well, I can complete #53, participate in #35, work on #6, and dominate #13.

The year is looking up! Curious what there are? Check out the full list at http://dalejstephens.com/ideas.