Rama Mamuaya

Some of you might not know that I actually got married a few weeks ago. Puspa, my girlfriend for the past 6 years, and I decided to get engaged last July and plans to be married by the end of 2011.

After a long painful wedding planning, it's finally done and we're officially married to each other. How does it feels? Well, I've been insanely in love with the same girl from the past 6 years so for me marriage is all about making a lifetime commitment with my wife. It's about making ourselves in love with each other, and I'm very excited about it.

Most people say it's going to be fun roller coaster ride. The fun, the boring, the joy, the grief, the happy, the sad, the healthy, the sick. There's no scientific reasons behind it. When you know what you want, you know what you want.

I want to thank all friends and family who helped us through all the process, who celebrated with us and for those best wishes given to us. We wish the best for you guys too.

Movember (a portmanteau of the slang word "mo" for moustache and "November") is an annual, month-long event involving the growing of moustaches/facial hair during the month of November. Source : Wikipedia

Last month was a life-changin month for me. By the help of my friends at US Embassy Jakarta, I've been given a chance to participate at a 2 weeks seminar program in US hosted by The East-West Center. The theme of the seminar : "The Future of Jobs: Innovation and Industrial Policy for Economic Growth".

It's definitely an topic that's dear to me and I feel that I will learn a ton from the seminar. As it turns out, it is. The seminar brought 7 young leaders from Asia countries : Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, India, Taiwan and also China; and also 3 young leaders from US : Arizona, California and Hawaii.

For two weeks, we dive into the in-depth analysis, discussions and debates on innovation, jobs and industrial policy in the US and from each of our country. But the most important thing is the things we can take from these countries to learn and hopefully bring back home in order to nurture innovation.

We've visited Honolulu and met with some government officials and researchers and talked about the relationship between US and China and how the job crisis in the US happened. A very-very mind-stretching discussion. After a week of intense discussion on government policy and US-Asia relationship, the seminar moved to the next town of Lowell, MA. Few people asked why, and apparently the answer is obvious (see what I did there?)

In the 1950s, Lowell was the center of industrial revolution in the US with its cotton mill industry. Huge business, huge support for the local economy until it vanishes into thin air. We visited local researchers and professors from Middlesex Community College and University of Massachusets to gain knowledge on how this industry started, bloom and the most important thing : how it failed. Epicly.

This gave us a good perspective on how we can contribute to today's growing industry in its relation with innovation.

The third city on our list was Boston, the home of some of the best education institution in the world. We've visited Harvard Business School and MIT, talked with the professors about economic challenges the US is currently facing, its relationship with China and of course the role of government and universities in spurring the technology industry. We had an amazingly good sessions!

Fourth city, the last city is the capital of United States, Washington, DC. Here, we were given a VIP tour of the Capitol Hill to show us the history of US and basically how regulations were made. We also met with several policy makers and discuss about their vision on innovation in its relation with job creation and US economy.

10 participants, 16 days, 4 cities. It was a life-changing experience for me, not only to gain an amazing amount of knowledge about innovation, industrial policy and creative economy, but also a chance to make friends with the brightest young minds of Asia. We had so much fun during the trip, had an amazing discussions, debates and also some fun times together as a group. For what we had during the trip, "fun" is totally an under-statement.

I went home a bit thinner (I lost 2 kg, not that I care though), with new knowledge and ideas, brushed up my English a bit better and also made friends for life. For this one in a lifetime chance, I would like to thank my friends at the US Embassy Jakarta, The East-West Center, all the people I met during the trip and of course to my fellow participants.

This has been a life-changing experience. A little taste of America ;)

Just to be honest, I have no thoughts on that particular issue, although I must say that it seems that the entrepreneurs are more bullish than I thought they would be. They don't really say it out loud, but the extracted idea from what they said was : being an entrepreneur is better than being an employee.

I really have something to say in this matter of Entrepreneurs vs Employees. Most entrepreneurs are bullish because they report to no one, they work for themselves, they took risks, and they have the smart people under their payroll and control. They're giving out salaries instead of living from salaries. 

I see entrepreneurship from a different angle. Entrepreneurship is not about founding and controlling a company or having stake from a company. It's not about not reporting to anyone and have no bosses up your ass. Entrepreneurship is not about controlling smart people and keeping them under your payroll.

It's an amazing feeling when you just stop whatever it is you're doing and look back through your whole life and re-live it for a minute. All the bitter sweet memories from the good old days : your mom telling you to study hard at school, hanging out with your dad, going crazy with highschool friends, reaching for your dreams at college, made good friends and best friends for life.

Met a girl, date her, fight with her and realizing that she's an important part of your life. Living that moment all in your mind for just one minute, just to see the whole journey. Where are you coming from and where are you going, where is life taking you. Just gathering all the most important people in your life, mom, dad, sisters, friends, best friends, girlfriends, your future wife.

Your kids, your future in-laws, your grand kids, your legacy, your name, your story. Life is beaufiful, but don't just live it. Make sure you enjoy every second of it, life is too short to spend it with the wrong people.

Enjoy life, live it, breathe it, write your story.

Happy birthday, me.

Almost all trending topic on Twitter is triggered by an offline event, mostly TV. This'll probably keep those 'internet kills tv' sayers calm for a while. I always believe that most people already left tv, and that's probably true but the rest of the internet market apprently still watch tv. This should be an opportunity for brands to leverage their tv campaign and engage with their customers via internet/social media. So far I've never seen any brand with marketing activities elegantly combine TVC and social media, but I'm sure things'll pick up :)

This might be the answer for those who seek answer on how _______ is popular in Indonesia. You can replace the _______ with Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and probably next, Quora. When a few people use a certain service, most of the people in the community (the influencers) will follow, start expanding and building their own network on the service. 

Dear RIM,