This is a brief overview of the history of Rand and PeopleCount, and a table of contents.

The beginning of history

I grew up in Seattle, very bright but very shy. Unknown to me, I had suffered a traumatic rejection one day when I was 4, soon after the birth of my younger brother. My young mind decided I was unwanted. My brain quickly repressed the hurt into a secret embarrassment that outwardly looked like shyness. I focused on school. Good grades came easily.

Eventually, I stumbled into Stanford. In 1980 I finished almost all of my BS in applied math. In 1982 I finished my math degree and most of my master’s degree in Computer Science and joined the working world in Silicon Valley. A couple of years later, I found a fascinating 4-day course that opened up the world of inner assumptions. When I saw how I had lived a life built on a 4-year-old’s mistake, the world opened up.

After shyness, adult life began

I worked at a number of interesting jobs. Computer science is a heady world, full of difficult thought problems. A lot of it I loved. In 1988, I handed in the final project to complete the master’s degree, and met a cute young woman and fell in love. In 1990 we married and bought a condo. Two years later we had our first son. Three years later we bought a house with a second son on the way.

Family life

Raising them was an adventure, but took a toll on my marriage. It soured. After about 15 years, I remembered that course from 1985. The company had flourished. I took another. Life brightened. I continued to take courses. Some were intensive weekends. One was 4 weekends in a month. Most were ten 3-hour evening sessions over the course of 13-18 weeks. Life grew rosy, except for work, which soured. I wanted more from life.

A new look at life

About 4 years later, in 2011 I took a big course with the intention of finding a new career. It was four 3-day weekends over the course of a year, looking at human life in a whole new way. It included meeting with other students every week and creating an autobiography to see how I had put myself together. And out of that, a question emerged. I investigated. Out of that, PeopleCount emerged.

1- My youth, up until about age 30. I was lonely and miserable, but bright. After college, I began to escape the limits of my personality in Landmark courses, and achieved enlightenment through Siddha Yoga.

2- My adulthood, until about age 54. Marriage, job, two sons, returning to Landmark.

3- Tackling politics, in 2011 at age 54 (where the story of PeopleCount begins)

4- Looking for a solution, in 2011

5- Finding a solution, in 2011

6- The rest I’ll write after it’s built, as time permits

Note: In late 2012, when PeopleCount was incorporated and the website was built, I engaged with a marketing firm to help. With them, I began blogging a few times per week. In 2015, when I tried again, a marketing coach convinced me to keep blogging, and generate 400 posts! So I’ve been writing a lot, often struggling to come up with things to write about! While PeopleCount isn’t that complex, politics is, and there are many, many ways to think about politics, ourselves, and possibilities.

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