My Path 101 Personality Test Results

There are certainly a lot of places out on the web where you can take a personality test, but for the more serious ones (not the Superhero test), comparing results to others isn't always easy.

That's going to be our next update to the test... the ability to compare your results with other people.

For now, though, people have been sending me screenshots of their Path 101 personality test results and asking me what I got on mine, so I figured I'd share:

Interesting that I'm empathetic, but kind of emotionless.  "I understand your problems, but I just don't care about them."  :)

What did you get on your test?

Haven't taken it yet?  What are you waiting for?  A Beta?  :)

Maybe high gas costs aren't totally a bad thing

When I have a softball game in the city, and we're the home team, it is our (my) responsibility to bring the bases. I can't bike into the city with the bases on my bike because there's nowhere to put this unwieldy base bag. So, I usually bring the car in and put it in a garage. Sixteen bucks and wasted gas all to get a bag of bases to a softball game.

This morning, I gassed up, but had second thoughts because of the price of gas. I turned around and tooked the silly bag out of my trunk and lugged it to the subway. It's not heavy... just sort of awkward.

What I really need to do is to get a little luggage thing for the side or back of my bike. Then, I'd never have to bring the car in and I could maybe bring my favorite bat in as well.

I like the fact that I've been avoiding using the car lately. I'm going down to Philly on Thursday and might try to grab the train there, too.

Does anyone have any recommendations for good quality racks for carrying things on their bikes?

Cheesy

I went to the supermarket late this afternoon.  I thought about relationships...  and cheese.

The single Charlie has three types of cheese in the house: Extra sharp cheddar, pepper jack, and grated peccorino romano. 

I didn't have anyone to suggest any other types of cheese in the supermarket.  No one else was going to eat cheese in my apartment but me.... so I got the types I normally get.

In college, I went with someone I was dating to the Dominican Republic.  The resort we stayed in had an all you can eat place--and one whole table dedicated to cheese.  We started off our meals with whole platefuls of cheese.  It was a special bond. 

I would like someone else around to affect my cheese decisions--to spice things up a bit.  An ex used to bring baby bel paise into the house.  It was so conspicuous in my fridge--obviously not mine but a nice reminder of the presence of someone else around. 

Just added a Twitter counter to my blog? Are you following me?

Right now, I have 2653 RSS subscribers and 890 Twitter followers.

Assuming not every one of my Twitter followers follow my blog via RSS, I'm going to say that puts Twitter penetration in my blog audience at about 25%. 

If you're not on it, check it out, particularly if you just don't get it.

 

What's the point of it?  It's a short form conversation that's going on between blog posts.  Think if it this way:  It's the "hallway track" at a conference--when the best conversations are the ones had spontaneously over on the side, away from the main exhibit room.

So before you think about whether you want to publish when you brush your teeth to the world, think about it from the listening perspective.  You spend the time to read my blog, where the posts are often entirely too long--why not find out about what I'm thinking and who I'm talking to when I'm not blogging?

It's time to listen in on the hallway track.  I'm here on Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/ceonyc

DateMEme

Last week, when I posted my "Top 10 Reasons to Date an Entrepreneur" I got a response from someone who was actually interested in going on a date.

It's funny, because that wasn't the intended purpose of the post--it came out of a conversation I was having with someone about entrepreneurs and what working on a startup does to your personal life.  Then I realized, that in my 4+ years of blogging, that was the ONLY time I've ever been approached that way.  2,246 posts and, before that, not a single person has stepped forward and said, "Hey, you seem like the kinda guy I'd want to go out with."

Now, I suppose for half of that time, I've been seeing someone, but I don't think that's always been apparent.  Still, what about the other half??  Perhaps there's the fear of the spotlight--as if I blog all my dates here, which I obviously don't. 

The one thing I think I can say is that, while there's a lot of content here on this blog, it really does only present just a side of me.  I think a lot of blogs are like that--where the professional person comes off in such a way that might be different from the person you'd get to know if you knew them personally.   So, I thought it would be interesting to start a meme encouraging other bloggers to share a little something about who they are and what they want when it comes to their dating/relationship life.

So here are the rules:

Write 5 things about either a) what you value in a counterpart or b) what someone needs to know about your dating/relationship personality.

Then, link to 5 people of the OPPOSITE SEX that you want to see answer these questions (to ensure that it doesn't just look like a bunch of dudes trying to get a date.)  If you're already in a relationship, you can still answer of course.  This is more about getting to know a different side of you, or just getting to know you better.

Ok, here's mine:

1. Despite my strongly held opinions and outspoken nature, I'm actually quite openminded and really desire that in someone else.  I like new ideas and perspectives, and it is exactly this desire for feedback, pushback, etc. that helps me form such strong opinions--because I do feel like I do what I can to be surrounded by tire-kickers.
2. I'm much more of a 1 on 1 person than I am about big groups.  I'd rather get to know one person pretty deeply than meet 30 people and just get names and what they do for a living.
3. I want to meet someone who is passionate about something--anything.  It doesn't have to be their career (although if you're going to spend 8-12 hours a day at something, that might as well be it), but I just can't relate to people who can't get really really psyched about at least one thing in their lives.
4. I need someone with a calendar--someone who understands how to stick to some kind of schedule.  That's really different than someone who needs a routine.  Being spontaneous is fantastic, but I also can't deal with last minute cancelations or leaving things too up in the air.  I don't see my friends enough.  I don't see my family enough.  So, if you can't tell me whether or not you're free Saturday afternoon at least a few days in advance, don't expect me to cut out possible family time to leave it open for whenever you figure out where the wind will take you that day.
5. I take care of myself and find it difficult to date anyone who doesn't respect their own body.  I don't think I could date a smoker, and while you don't have to be a gym rat, getting some kind of exercise at least a couple of times a week shows that you care about yourself and your body--that you think enough of it to keep it up.   I do, however, love desert, so ice cream is a big exception to this--Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia... rrrrrggggg.

Ok, I'll tag Shri (even though she's married) , Rachel, Tik, Tara, and Whitney (although you can learn a lot about her here).   Funny, there were a couple of other women that I wanted to tag, but I knew they'd never repost this, because their blogs are solely professional.  I think that's very telling, because a lot of women don't even want to open that door at all and let all the crazies in.  :)

Making New Friends and Sharing

A lot of our best friends are just friends because they were there--just pure dumb luck. They were "there" the night you broke up with your college significant other and they stopped you as you were crying in the campus quad or some such story and they stuck. Such interactions were easier back in college as you lived out the most important times of your lives in close proximity to other people your age.

There are also the people who aren't necessarily your best friends, but who you just seem to spend a lot of time with: Co-workers, teammates, people you volunteer with. Again, it's all about the randomness of just being there.

Blogging and the web bring with it an interesting dimension, because the life that only a select few used to be privy to is now, more and more, being consumed by all--indiscriminately. You can't really treat any of your blog readers as special because they're all getting the same content. Sure, maybe you could direct message a Twitter friend, but building a really strong friendship 140 characters at a time isn't ideal either.

I recently shared something pretty sensitive with a slightly more professional friend that I don't get to see all the time and at first she was kind of taken aback. She didn't know what to do, because people don't usually just come out and share the information that I showed her. The fact of the matter was that it was one of the few important pieces of content I have that the rest of you don't get to see. Contrived, perhaps, but I showed her because I wanted to say, "Hey, listen, you're the kind of person I want to have in my life and life's just not naturally bringing us together in a friendship the way I want it to." That happens a lot and sometimes you just have to nudge things a little.

Building up relationships and trust is easier than you think because of online tools, but building that small set of just a handful of people you can really reach out to and depend on is almost harder because of online tools. How do you demarcate the special folks when everyone else in the world gets to see most of what they do anyway? It's like creating a VIP section in a theater that only goes 5 rows deep and is completely in the round.

So, at least for a moment, I found a way and formed a new bond based on exclusivity... so just keep in mind that as much as you all think you know about what goes on in the other side of the blog, someone got to see something different that I don't think I want to share here. My world isn't totally flat... yet.

People over entertainment

I'm often at a loss to figure out plans for hanging out. It's not like I don't have interests--I have a ton. It's that finding the right people to hangout with make up 99% of what makes an activity fun for me. The right people, to me, make or break an event.

Therefore, I don't tend to have thoughts like, "I really want to pick up and travel somewhere" or "I reallt want to go dancing." That being said, I'll show up to just about anything, given the right crowd--dodgeball, semi-pro pillow fights, the Philharmonic, a jazz club or a philosophy talk. I'm kind of like that with Church. The community has always been more important to me than the building, so when I was on campus at Fordham, I went weekly, but now I don't really go because I'm not as connected to my local Brooklyn parish. I simply don't hangout there much and most of my friends live in the city.

So, should you ever hangout with me, while I'll always be up for doing something interesting, it doesn't much matter as long as the company is good. One of my favorite nights ever was when I hungout with a friend at the fountains of Columbus Circle. We met there, and didn't move...talked for hours, and that was it--highly entertaining for me.

Something in the Air

Your coat and hat are gone
I really can't look at your little empty shelf
A ragged teddy bear
It feels like we never had a chance
Don't look me in the eye

We lay in each others arms
But the room is just an empty space
I guess we lived it out
Something in the air
We smiled too fast
then can't think of a thing to say

Lived with the best times
Left with the worst
I've danced with you too long
Nothing left to say

Let's take what we can
I know you hold your head up high
We've raced for the last time
A place of no return

And there's something in the air
Something in my eye
I've danced with you too long
Something in the air
Something in my eye

Abracadoo - I lose you
We can't avoid the clash
The big mistake
Now we're gonna pay and pay
The sentence of our lives
Can't believe I'm asking you to go

We used what we could
To get the things we want
But we lost each other on the way
I guess you know I never wanted
anyone more than you

Lived all our best times
Left with the worst
I've danced with you to long
Say what you will

But there's something in the air
Raced for the last time
Well I know you hold your head up high
There's nothing we have to say
There's nothing in my eyes
But there's something in the air
Something in my eye
I've danced with you too long
There's something I have to say
There's something in the air
Something in my eye
I've danced with you too long

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Going to California: ERE Expo in San Diego until Wednesday, Bay Area Thursday to Monday

I'm headed out to the ERE Expo in San Diego--I got a very exciting invitation to be a part of their startup panel along with Benjamin Yoskovitz (Standout Jobs), Clint Heiden (VisualCV), and Dan Arkind (JobScore).  What's so cool about our panel is that we all represent different aspects of the job process...

You will be able to discover a career on Path 101, present yourself well with a Visual CV, engage with a company and apply through Standout Jobs and then hopefully make your way through the company's recruiting process, which might be managed by JobScore.  Nice!

Since I was out there anyway, it was startup cashflow-friendly to swing by the Bay Area and stay with friends.  Given the success of our first "Entrepreneurship Listening Tour" we decided to get in touch with a bunch of experienced people to get some feedback and to get on the Bay Area VC radar for later this year.

We're pretty booked during our days, but we'd love to catch up with and meet a lot of people.  On Thursday afternoon, we'll be co-working out of Citizen Space, and then heading out later to 21st Amendment.  Come work with us (or eat/drink with us)!   Tell us you're coming out that night here!

If there's anyone you really think we should meet--smart VC's, entrepreneurs, developers, please let us know.  E-mail us at us@path101.com or follow us on Twitter (@ceonyc and @alexlines). 

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Wannabes vs. Thinktheyares

I'm a wannabe.

I wannabe a successful entrepreneur.  My definition of success is making a big positive impact on a lot of people's lives.  If I accomplish that, I'm sure the money will come, but in the words of Zuck, "I'm not really focused on that right now."

I wannabe a better person tomorrow than I was yesterday.

I wannabe someone that inspires others to go after what they really want.

Being called a wannabe isn't that bad.

However, I heard the term used to describe a local outspoken entrepreneur in a less than endearing way and I didn't quite see it as accurate.  The reason why this person rubbed others the wrong way wasn't because they were a wannabe--because that's not so bad.

It was because they were a "thinktheyare". 

There are definitely too many of those around for my taste.  The last thing in the world I think anyone could accuse me of is being a thinktheyare, because it's so incredibly important to give credit to the people around me and I feel like I'm incredibly fortunate to have such great people around me.  Anytime anyone tries to throw credit my way for something, I try hard to figure out who else helped get me somewhere, because I don't think I'm much more than someone who has a great circle around them.

When word of mouth is faster and cheaper than it ever has been before, the self-marketers really come out in full force.  Sometimes, it's tough to really figure out who's legit and who's just blowing smoke. 

But it's pretty clear to me who is a "thinktheyare" and I'll tell you that there's usually a strong correlation between being a thinktheyare and a smoke blower.  

Here are some easy ways to spoke a thinktheyare:

1. They like to tout the fact that they are the "only" or "first" person to do something.
2. It's never clear exactly what they did and where they did it.  You've often never heard of the companies they've worked with, or they namedrop with companies, but the exact role and what they accomplished is often unclear.
3. Thinktheyares are often attracted to or try to create artificial scarcity.  If they see something as being exclusive, even if it seems pointless as to the advantages of exclusivity in that situation, they're on it. 
4. They need to get their name attached to everything and they try to make everything "bigger". 
5. They speak at a lot of events, but when you ask startup pros who they'd want to do a particular job, the thinktheyare is never at the top of anyone's list for whatever their supposed expertise is.
6. They have a lot of "associations" with people... but as for strong two-way connections, the jury is out.
7. Thinktheyare's often feign help.  They tell you they'll hook you up with something, but it either never quite comes through or seems to come with some kind of unforseen string attached.

So, you should strive to be a wannabe.  Everyone should wannabe something and hopefully, actually be in the process of being that...   but just don't be a thinkyouare, because, well, you just aren't, whatever it is.

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She might be blogging...

"I had been living this life for 27 years, and bits and pieces of me were all over the place, in many different people. I was, and still am, a chameleon, a changer, a morpher. Always a work in progress, and drawn toward newness like a crow toward shiny objects.

In the words of someone else who said it best.. “I am a mover of in betweens. I slip among classifications like water in cupped palms, leaving bits of myself behind. I am quick and deft… I am a chameleon. And the best chameleon has no center, no truer sense of self than what he is in the instant.” (Andrew Pham, Catfish and Mandala)"

My new favorite blogger.

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We all have stuff

For the last few days, I've been thinking about a professional acquaintence turned new friend... They have a family member with a serious health issue, which happens to everyone at some point or another.

I was struck because, when I spoke to this person, she was more concerned with letting me get back to my business than what was going on in her life. I couldn't do it. I couldn't say, "Hey, um, yeah... sorry about your sick uncle...I gotta go return some important e-mail."

E-mail! "F" e-mail.

If it's important, they'll call. People don't call anymore. You know why? It's never important...not as important as a friend with a really serious problem.

I have another friend who recently busted a wheel on her car swirving out of the way of a pothole. It was raining and late at night. Rather than call anyone for help, she slept in the car in a parking lot until morning and then called a tow truck.

Have we gotten so low in our expectations of people? Have we gotten so self absorbed that we give off the impression that we can't be bothered with any kind of personal inconvenience?

At the end of the day, I want to deal with people who not only think I can make money for or with them but who care about me as a person. Our monthly board meetings include a few minutes for "How are you guys doing?" To me, that's almost the most important part of the meeting, because we're building applications for people, leveraging people, empowering people...if our own people aren't doing so well, it is highly unlikely our people centric application will amount to much.

After four years of blogging, blogging is...

On Friday, I hit four years of blogging.

To be honest, I'm not sure what to say about it. 

For the first time, I sort of feel like marking blogging anniversaries is like marking the day you first started talking to people.

Sure, it's a transformative and pivotal event in your life that changes the way you relate to other people--but imagine the alternative.

I used to say that blogging isn't for everyone.  Now, I think that blogging like I do isn't for everyone.  You don't have to talk about yourself, or blog everyday, or post pictures. 

But, to me, there are a few things about blogging that I just can't see people going without, because blogging is... 

...writing practice, and since most people can't write particularly well or just can always get better, is worth it to build that skill.

...a way for people who share interests to find you.

...a way for you to find others who share interests with you.

...a way to get feedback on your half-baked ideas.

...a way to differentiate yourself in a competitive job environment, because a resume sucks as a means of describing your depth of character, experience, and thoughtfulness.

...a way to sharpen your thinking by forcing yourself to make sense of streams of disconnected thoughts.

...a way to remember where you were and what you were thinking at any given time.

...a low maintenance way for acquaintances to keep up with what you're doing.

...an open, inviting way to communicate that says, "I want people to interact with and engage me."

...a way to contribute your best thinking at the time to the world, instead of keeping it all to yourself, or even worse, behind the locked doors of subscriptions, members only, or just hidden away in library stacks.

So, write about whatever's on your mind.  You shouldn't care about now many people read or how often you post, or even what your is called. 

Just whatever you do, don't stop communicating.  Here's to another four years of all this...

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Dear Peter Kalikow, MTA: Wait for me, dammit!

This morning, my local R train arrived at 59th Street in Brooklyn just as an N train sat waiting on the express side. As the R train slowed to open its doors, the N train started up and took off, much to the shagrin of all of the R train passengers who wanted to transfer to the express. The N was not full and this is the second time this has happened to me in a week. I've been riding the subway almost everyday since I was 14 and if I had a dollar for everytime this happened to me, across multiple lines, I wouldn't be concerned about another fare hike.

Customers on the R train into Bay Ridge suffer some of the worst service the system has to offer because of the infrequency of service after rush hour. I've spent significant time waiting on that same 59th St. platform waiting for a local R to take me home after 8PM. Given that, the MTA should be doing everything it can to minimize wait times and passenger frustration on that line. I don't expect extra trains, but if a connecting express train is already in the station, it should never leave while a local is just seconds away from closing its doors.

This also leads to passenger frustration and stress, which I'm sure is positively correlated with incidence of violence, accidents, mistreatment of MTA employees. This makes what probably amounts to a 30 second tradeoff seem very worth it for all involved.

I'm asking that an express or connecting train never leave a station while another train is entering the other side with passengers waiting to connect.

Thank you for your consideration.

Charles E. O'Donnell
MTA Passenger, NYC + NYS Taxpayer

Take note: I don't

My college notebooks are pretty consistant...  pages and pages of a lesson title across the top of the page, and then... nothing.  All blank.  Page after page.  No notes.

In fact, I rarely ever take notes.  If I'm on an informational phonecall doing research, that's one thing, but for most meetings, don't expect to see a pen and paper in my hand.  It's just not the most effective way for me to retain knowledge.

Does that mean I don't care what you have to say?  Hardly!  It means I'm really listening intently, and completely focused on not just recording what you're talking about, but actually trying to understand it... seeing the forest, not just counting trees.  I'm trying to build a system of understanding in my head that not only helps me put the facts you're giving me into context, but will help me filter and interpret new facts that will be sure to come down the pipeline going forward--all based on what I'm learning from you.

And that's the most important thing for me.  We suffer from information overload.  I don't need more information... I need context and filters.  I need you to help me build a method and system for understanding what I need to understand... not more lists.  Because if I record your list, I'm sure to get another list from someone else, and see a list online, and before I know it, I have a list of everything--a universal set.  That won't do be any good.

I used to laugh when teachers would put up new math problems in class and call on someone in class to answer.  Those students would immediately go flipping through their notes.  Sorry, this isn't a problem you've seen before.  This is something entirely new that you're expected to answer given what you've LEARNED. 

You're not synthesizing!    You don't have this particular problem in your notes.  You're expected to actually think about it, and for many people, that doesn't happen through notetaking, but they're all taught to do that.  Take notes.  That's the way we all learn, right?

A lot of times, if I've been talking to someone and they're taking notes, I stop them.  The kinds of things you often take notes about can be looked up, while actual understanding isn't easily recalled.  This is especially the case in a hyperconnected, hyperpublished world, where all my brain needs to remember is that you mentioned a "search guy at New York Times" and it will take me two seconds to look up his information on LinkedIn and remember the name. 

If you didn't see the forest the first time, you're hardly going to be able to piece together the whole thing from the three trees you took notes on... and that's usually what notes wind up being:  A piecemeal, incomplete account of information completely without context.  Often times, this information often becomes self reinforcing and you can get led down a wrong path from it.  For example, if you're an entrepreneur and we're having a conversation about fundraising, I might rattle off a few of the kinds of angels I know that might invest in your company given what little I know about it, but maybe I don't really know enough.  You write these names down and then follow up by asking me for introductions to these people.  My assumption is that you've done your homework and figured out whether these folks are a good fit for your business.  Your assumption, however, was that I fully understood the nature of your business and suggested the best three angels for you. 

On the other hand, if there was some consistency in why I was naming particular angels, and you understood enough of that to ask a question like, "Are you naming those guys because they're all in NYC or they're all likely to do deals in the music space, because I don't plan on keeping the company here" then we can narrow down exactly who might be a good fit.  If you're just sitting there recording everything I say, you might miss that. 

Of course, everyone learns and listens differently.  Alex is a notetaker.  He's got a nice leatherbound book where he furiously records notes, thoughts, lists, etc.  That works for him.  Brad works the same way and he's extremely organized about it.  I often wondered if it was about creating a physical reference to go back to or helping to commit important facts to memory--or whether it was something completely different...  some kind of internal blog of thoughts born from the meeting itself.   Fred, however, I've never seen take a pad to a meeting.  He learns by interacting, by poking holes, poking bears...  He's a tinkerer.  He'll never remember the three companies you said you were in contract with, but he'll think more about why those companies are a good fit for you.  The next time you talk to him, he'll name you six companies you should try to do deals with--the three companies you already gave him and the three that are next highest on your list that you never ever mentioned.  

Also, when I meet someone for the first time, to me, it's about relationship building, not one way downloading. People aren't information stores to be downloaded.  In my mind, and for the way I work, they're applications to be interacted with.  I'd rather build a relationship with you where I understand your interests, your market, your ideas--what you bring to the table-- nd you learn the same about me, see how passionate I am, etc...  just two people talking shop and getting to know each other.  It's all about leaving markers for me.  I'll mark in my head what kinds of information I can rely on you for later, but not necessarily the details of what information that was, because I want to make it a great conversation so that we want to chat again. 

To be honest, if this is a one shot deal and I have to quickly get from you what I can because you don't have the interest in continuing this, I'm really not interested.  There are so many people out there with great experience that I believe you can get a lot further by focusing on the ones that like you, believe in you, and share your vision. 

At the end of the day, we all have different styles and different methods of dealing with information that work for us.  It's a bad move to interpret someone else's style in the context of your own and make assumptions about what it means.  I don't have a notepad.  I'm not good with notes.  I find them distracting, they never really get processed and organized--they're not going to do either of us any good, so trust me, you don't want me taking them.  I'll do the extra research immediately after a meeting to recreate a good portion of the lists you mentioned by connecting, tagging, discovering, etc. in exchange for being able to see the bigger picture behind what you were talking about.  If you can do both, great.

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Snow in Beantown

Boston got 7 inches of snow this morning, but it was light and fluffy when it first fell.  I was able to clean my car out pretty quickly with just a broom.  I had a little help from a Harvard facilities plow as well.

Supposedly, its going to turn to rain, so I should be able to get home ok tonight.

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What is your world view?

What is Your World View? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Cultural Creative Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational. Cultural Creative 88% Existentialist 63% Postmodernist 63% Modernist 56% Idealist 56% Materialist 50% Romanticist 31% Fundamentalist 25%

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Thanks, Again

I'm just going to update last year's Thanksgiving post, because, thankfully, a lot of the same things I was grateful for last year are still around, but I do have some notable new additions, of course.

In my family, Thanksgiving is pretty much about eating...    but we're Italian, so that's to be expected.  Still, it's nice to actually stop stuffing your face for a second and think about what you're thankful for.   Here's my list.   If you blog a list of what you're thankful for, tag it "thanksgivinglist" on del.icio.us...    I'd love to see what everyone else appreciates...  and when you write the list, don't forget to tell others to tag it as well.

1. Most importantly, I'm thankful for my family...  My parents, my grandmothers (both 90 in February), and my brothers and nieces.  It hasn't been an easy year for everyone, but we're all still here and getting by.



2. I'm thankful that Shri introduced me to Mere (@ptrain)--the needle in the proverbial haystack.  I wish she was closer, but what can ya' do?  I look forward to her entry into the blog world come winter break and her entry into my world at some undetermined point in the future.  :)
   
3. I'm thankful to be working on Path 101-- a project I am incredibly passionate about.  I had no idea this was what I'd be doing a year ago, which shows you how unpredictable life can be, but I'm very fortunate to have the support of enough people who believe in me to help me and Alex get this off the ground.  I'm also very thankful for having convinced found Alex and convinced him to join in the first place--we make a great team.
   
4. I'm thankful for great friends--some really special people in my life.  My schedule is always crazy, but a handful of people have managed to hold on for the ride...   some are new and some are old, and some are old friends that have become new in a way... coming back from college or grad school to continue and strengthen friendships from the past...     To Brian, Suzie, Allison, Deirdre, Pastore, Ryan, Tommy, MaryAnn... thanks for sticking around.  I'm also thankful for my friend Amy and her new little girl.
   




 


5. I'm thankful for my health...  no major softball, kayaking, dodgeball, football, biking, skiing, or driving injuries quite yet...    *knocks on wood*.  Speaking of which, I'm thankful for my various dodgeball and softball teams...  Dodge This! is moving on to its seventh or eight season, I lost count, and although we had a Mets-like slide this year, Four of Us Had Lyme Disease is still together after five seasons of its own.
6. I'm thankful for the Downtown Boathouse... not just the buildings
   or the activities, but for the community.  It's my second home five
   months out of the year and I've made some terriffic friends through
   it.  More importantly, it's given me a new appreciation for the
   conservation of nature in this city and a new perspective on New York.





7. I'm thankful for this city...   the only place I've ever really wanted to live and ever have.  There's no place like it anywhere else, and I couldn't ask for anything more than to always be able to put a roof over my head here and to be happy with my life here.





8. I'm thankful for the success of nextNY....  or rather...  I'm thankful that it's success has enabled me to meet so many fantastic people that I can relate to and who have a vested interested in developing the NYC technology community.  That's really what has been the most fun for me...    the people are great and my new geek friends are too many to name.
   
9. And lastly...  I'm thankful for this blog.  Seriously.  Blogging has led me to three jobs (because I'm pretty sure I'd still be looking for a tech partner if I wasn't a blogger), two relationships (directly or indirectly), an adjunct gig, countless connections with really interesting people, on time furniture delivery and an elementary school reunion.  It's been a great sounding board for my ideas and a lightning rod for people with similar interests.  Thanks for reading... thanks for commenting, thanks for sharing on your own blogs and linking over...    Your attention is much appreciated.

Blogged with Flock

My Friend Amy's Beautiful Baby

Her name is... either Lola Violet or Amelia Violet.  It's still up in the air.

Blogged with Flock

My Leisurely Nine Hour Drive to Boston

TheDay.com - On I-95, A Deadly Day

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon answering e-mails, managing the sending of documents around back and forth to our lawyer about our financing, and speaking with some folks from a university career office.

I did this all from my car, on my phone, parked, engine off, in the middle of I-95, miles behind an accident that blocked traffic in all directions and stuffed up a good portion of the roads in Connecticut.  It was one of the most utterly ridiculous driving experiences of my life.  Wherever you went, there were cars, cars, and more cars, and backwoods Connecticut roads that couldn't handle the backup.  Eventually, I made my way up Rt. 85 up to I-84 and over to Boston, but stop and go most of the way.  I'm finally glad that's over.

Still, I fared better than the folks involved in this terrible accident.

Blogged with Flock

Subway Thumbings

One of my least favorite things in this whole world is a shower on a cold morning. It doesn't warm me up at all... it just makes me wish I stayed under the covers where I was protected, warm, and most importantly, dry.

Getting on the train this morning, I saw a kid with a Student Metrocard. Kids have it easy these days. If you went to high school in Manhattan, you'll remember trying to get the attention of the token booth clerk to buzz that special gate. She saw the long line of students, but it didn't matter. You still had to wait in line after all those people bought their metrocards.

I think I played my best game of dodgeball last night with the nextNY team.

Shoulda been Mets-Red Sox.

Angel financing is clearly an exercise in herding cats.

While I'll grant that I don't like showers in the morning, I will grant that a post workout morning shower makes me feel fantastic. I wish you all could feel like I do now, Frampton style.

These two girls next to me are whispering about my phone. The amount of hardware and accessories the average teenage girl from Brooklyn carries around is getting out of hand. Somewhere in late 2006, we hit a turning point where phones became so slim, while the size of big hoop earring stayed constant, allowing phones to actually pass through the earrings of their owners.

Its weird how text messages somehow pass through subway walls. I just learned that Brian Oberkirch read a book. Brian's going to hook me up at the Future of Web Apps conference in February, right Brian?

I'm wearing dark jeans and my black hoodie. When I put the hood up, where do you think the polls would wind up on the "Is this guy more likely to mug you or launch a startup?"

I think Facebook may be a bubble unto itself. Is that possible? Can you have a localized bubble? I'll write more on that later.

Mangoes are good eats, but picking mango strands out of your front teeth is a chore. We have seedless watermelons...can someone invent mangoes crumb up instead of shred?

There don't seem to be any movies out there that I want to see, nor have their been for a while.

I'm going applepicking tomorrow.

Wallstripped: The $15,000 Quote

Don't blink...I'm live on this morning's Wallstrip!

Subway Thumbing

The guy who just walked into the car has personal space issues...as in...he's in mine.  Push off a little, buddy.  Plenty of room in this car.  Ah, nice.  Today's the first day of normal express trains in Brooklyn.  If Chris Angel, Mindfreak, was Mexican, he'd be the guy behind me.  N train arriving.  Time to switch.  I'm not really into sitting on the train in.  I'll be sitting all day.  I don't need to be sedentary for another 45 minutes.  We havent left the station yet.  The train is silent.  No a/c, no motor noises.  No announcements.  Just the deep voice of the conductor, not over the PA system, but outside  the doors on the platform talking to a customor.  Its the last two weeks in August and the trains are showing it.  Pretty empty.  I could still sit if I wanted to.  I need to break today up into bite sized chunks, so I can be really efficient.  I have a Facebook app to finish the spec for (consulting project) and I need to finish up the syllabus for my class, which starts two weeks from Thursday actually.  I need to move to another car...or I'll be soaked by the time I get to work.  Perhaps that's why this car is so empty.  I wonder if it is every car. Yup. Every car.  Dammit.  What are Windorphins?  I guess this is effective advertising, because now I'm curious and I want to go to their site. Ok, I felt a little bead of sweat roll down my back.  Its hot in here. Its official.  There's now a guy lying down asleep on the floor of the car at the end.  I dont think he was there when I walked in.  No one around him seems the least bit troubled by it.  Some guy went over to him and nudged him.  He's awake.  This little girl sitting by me has an old school baby doll with a plastic head.  Someone has played tic tac toe on the baby's head in blue ball point pen, several times.  Man its hot in here.  When I commutted to high school, you could open up window vents on the B trains. This baby has a thumb sucking feature and eyes that roll back.  The kid has just discovered a hole in the back of the baby's pink onesie, which she conveys to her mom in spanish. Ah...there is a window vent.  I didnt notice that before.  I just went over to open it.  Funny enough, it requires two people to open it because of where the latches are.  This guy next to it was all to happy to oblidge, as if he'd been scoping aid for the last few minutes himself.  Finally,the car just got noticeably cooler.  Did I do that with the window?  If we elected a mayor of this car, I'm sure I'd win. Me and my Passenger of Action campaign would handily defeat the dude who kicked the sleeper.

Six months ago today...

I just got this note from Mere...

6 months ago today that you sent this email... to my spam folder, of course, but I got it within a few days. I remember it well; I was sitting in the library, prepping for our afternoon negotiation class, and definitely smiled in amusement at the total randomness of it. :)

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Charlie O'Donnell [mailto:codonnell@oddcast.com]
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 8:37 AM
Subject: [POSSIBLE SPAM] Shrimatch.com

 

Hi Meredith,

 

     Shri tells me that you're planning on coming to New York and that I should look you up.  She's proven to be a wise resource when to comes to career matters for me...this is her first attempt to diversify into the social vertical.  I have to admit, I'm a bit curious to see if her expertise carries over.  :)

     I don't know how much she has told you about me, but basically, I'm a born and bred New Yorker that has wound up in a product manager role by way of finance and venture capital.  I also teach an undergrad class on how techology is  changing business.

     Drop me a line anytime... Hopefully, we can make schedules mesh when you're here.

 

Charlie

Bay Ridge Tornado was six blocks from my apartment

It's been confirmed:  A tornado touched down in Bay Ridge on 68th Street between 3rd and 4th avenues.

Not only is this six blocks from my house, but that's the block I always park my car on when there's Thursday/Friday alternate side parking in effect on my street, because that's a Monday/Tuesday block.

The storm was so strong that it woke me up out of bed (I'm a very heavy sleeper) at about 5:45AM.  That's when I sent this twit:

"Crackle crackle KA-BOOM... Wow, that one was close...and loud.  Now that's some thunder and lightning! Woke me up."

Little did I know that a goddamn tornado would touch down about a half hour later just a few blocks away.

One doesn't usually expect this kind of behavior from the sky in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

Yesterday's Bike Tour

I had a meeting with my friend Angela who runs Sarah Lawrence's career counseling office yesterday morning and decided to bike up to Bronxville.  Later on that day, I had to be back down to Fordham Lincoln Center, and then on the Upper East Side for dinner.  In total, I did about 60 miles.

The early morning bike up to Bronxville was quite nice, although Kimball Avenue in Yonkers is a steep uphill climb at parts.  There was one glitch, though.  I got another flat... this time at 8:15, before bike shops are open, around 14th and the East River.  Instead of twiddling my thumbs, I decided to hop on the subway with the bike up to the Upper East Side to the bike shop on 88th/Lex to make up for lost time and catch them right at opening.

I was leisurely taking photos on the way up, but cut that short when the flat held me up.  Still, I got some cool photos along the way:

Pugsley's is a Fordham favorite and I was dying for a chicken roll, but I forgot they were closed for the summer, so I headed out to Arthur Ave to Full Moon...

Birthday Steak... Suggestions?

My best friend Brian, who I know since t-ball the summer before first grade, and I take each other out to steak for our respective birthdays and also job promotions and such--a tradition we've been doing for the last few years.   

So far, between us, we've been to the following places:

1. Del Frisco
2. Ben Benson
3. Ruth's Chris (Charlie)
4. Morton's (Charlie)
5. Sparks (Charlie)
6. Smith and Wollensky's (Brian)
7. Strip House
8. Gallaghers (Charlie)
9. Angelo and Maxie's (Charlie)
10. Peter Lugars
11. Palm
12. Old Homestead
13. Michael Jordan's (lunch)
14. Wolfgang's

We're looking to go somewhere Friday that we've both never been...  suggestions on short order?

Don't go without healthcare, because...

... don't let coverage lapse because the companies use that as an excuse to jack up the already insane rates.

And health status has nothing to do with it, you WILL get hit with a softball ricocheting off a mustang while you're kayaking, approximately three days after you let coverage lapse.  All while a cat sits at Chelsea Piers saying "I HAS YOUR INSURANCE SIRTIFICAT RITE HERE".

--Hilarious e-mail from Ed Costello

Breaking open Experiential Learning: An opportunity?

On Monday, two people asked me what I *really* wanted to do, and both times what I can up with was to be the head of Career Services for Fordham.  (At Fordham just because that's my alma mater and the school I have the closest connection to... not because it needs the most help... seems that most schools are on par with each other in this area.)

That's not really realistic, though, for a number of reasons.  First, I don't want to run the current implementation of career services at any university... The whole thing needs to be completely reinvented and its unlikely any university would allow that without a serious change in its approach.  Too harsh?  Take a poll of current students and graduates...ask them how helpful career services has been to them.  Ask graduates how satisfied they are with their current job and whether or not career services even helped them get a job in the first place.  Find out how many graduates undergo a complete career change within the first three years of graduating.  It's just a broken model.  A career staff of 5 can't help 2000 graduates all find their dream jobs without seriously scalable educational structures.

I have no doubt that the numbers are sorrowful, but I also have no doubt that most schools don't even come close to keeping these statistics.  I teach.  I talk to students all the time and right now, especially right now, they're overwhelmed by the task of career fulfillment.  I'll write more later on this, but its not a quality issue in career services personnel.  They're dedicated, hardworking people.  Its a structural issue with the way these groups interact with students, employers, alumni, and information technology that creates serious inefficiencies. 

You've got alumni with a tremendous knowledge base that goes relatively untapped.  Counselors get tasked with the impossible task of helping a student get into book publishing one day and mortgage backed securities trading the next.  Plus, you've got all these fantastic information and networking resources online like blogs and social networks that the students aren't being taught how to use professionally because most schools don't actually have a career class.

What I realized, though, is that the problems with this kind of education are not limited to the college career office.  In general, structures for industry specific learning, particularly when it comes from learning from the accumulated wisdom of successful and experienced professionals, is horribly inefficient.  This occurs to me when I compare the success of grassroots efforts like nextNY and BarCamp to the conference industry at large.  As nonprofit, community driven organizations, they are often able to attract better, or at least more passionate, participants than their pricey, more capital intensive counterparts in a more open and intimate setting.  Many times, conferences amount to members of a community paying hundreds of dollars to talk to themselves--a tax on poor self organization.  Plus, you often wind up with industry newcomers having the material go over their heads and veterans finding the content relatively pedestrian.  And don't even get me started on how hard it is to find the three people you absolutely should meet.

One of the issues with these grassroots organizations is that the second you turn on the money part, it needs structure, oversight, and it sort of loses its authenticity.

What of this all?  I dunno...  but what we have now in terms of how I connect with likeminded folks, or how someone learns about a career and makes contacts... is just poor.   The amount of work I need to do to accomplish anything the least bit efficient on this front is ridiculous.

The First Weekend of the Rest of My Life

One thing I'm going to really love about having a little bit of time is the opportunity to meet more people.  I'm a sponge for new people and their projects and being able to schedule things during the day is very exciting...  so these next two weeks before I go will be very busy.

However, I'm also making some time for play.   I spent a good chunk of this weekend dragging Mere around my life, which she was able to document.

Seems to me that any offspring would be genetically predisposed to large smiles...

Keeping a watchful eye over the kayakers...  and yes, that's my softball jersey.  No reason to change if I was just going to get it dirty later.

Concentration...

Samara almost got lapped...    but she did get on with a nice outfield single.

   

I think I can... I think I can...

Sweet action shots...  and yes, I totally popped the ball up to center, but it looked nice, no?

Four of Us Had Lyme Disease goes to 7-0, winning 21-12 even though we only had 8 people.

From Voki Product Manager to just one of many passionate Voki users... leaving Oddcast and looking for challenges, opportunities, and conversations

Softball is often a metaphor for life.

Seriously, hear me out.

I play on and manage two teams.  When it comes to writing up the lineups, I always pencil everyone else in at their positions first, and then play wherever we’re missing anyone.  Sometimes it means the outfield, sometimes first.  Last night, I found myself at shortstop for an inning.  I can pretty much hold my own almost anywhere in the field.

I’ve always been like that—playing where the team needed me.  I enjoy new challenges and try to take a very systematic and thoughtful approach.  I may not play the most graceful first base, for example, but I grew up watching my best friend playing it quite well and I’m always learning, taking notes…  studying the game.

So when I started at Oddcast about a year ago as Director of Consumer Products—Voki employee #1 (before it even had a name, and yes, the name is my doing, or my fault, depending on what you think of it)—I played the role of utility player for quite some time.  Sometimes it meant working on product specifications, other times consulting on design and UI, and then I also found myself in marketing and business meetings.  It was an exciting opportunity not only to cut my teeth on product work, but also participate in all of the various aspects of the operational side.

In time, we filled out the Voki team around me…  Business Development, Product, Marketing.  As we got closer to launch, internal folks started converging and helping to push things forward.  That was great for the product, but not as great for the larger opportunity that I wanted for my career.  Essentially, if we're keeping with my metaphor, I started to DH, since all of our positions in the field were being filled.  That may have been the most logical move for the team, but I knew deep down that I had the ability to make a bigger impact.

Was it a desired outcome?  To be honest, not really, but it’s also no one’s fault and there are no hard feelings.  I initiated the conversation about transition about a month and a half ago.  I thanked Adi, our founder, for believing in me enough to bring me here in the first place and providing a fantastic experience.  I talked about my desire to make the biggest impact possible in this social media/startup world we’re in and we came to the mutual conclusion that Voki was in good hands with the team we had put in place.  At that point, we set a timetable that would allow me to explore some other opportunities that came up without leaving the team shorthanded.  In fact, I will continue to work with Oddcast in a part time role over the next month or so and specifically focus on a couple of product and business development projects that I really want to see through to conclusion. 

In an organization moving from a service business to more of a product business, there are bound to be disagreements, changing roles, and tough decisions, but I have to say that, down to a person, I enjoyed working with and respect every single employee here at Oddcast. 

So, what’s next for me?   Well, I’m not completely done with the sports analogy.  Consider this my declaration of free agency.  There have been some very compelling opportunities that have come through the grapevine (it was hard to completely keep it a secret that I was leaving) and I’m going to explore those.  Frankly, I’m looking forward to having the time and the focus to give every opportunity I have its deserved attention.  Trying to think about the next job while still working is hard.  In the past, I took a weekend off before I started as an analyst at Union Square Ventures, and with Oddcast, I started working here on weekends even before I left USV.  I’m definitely not going to do that again! 

As you probably know from this blog, I have an exciting cross country trip planned for the first two and a half weeks of July and will take that time to think about what’s next and where I can make the most out of what I have to offer.

So what do I have to offer?

I’ve been exposed to quite a lot in a very short amount of time…  getting more involved in venture capital from the LP side in 2004—the beginning of what people consider to be Web 2.0, jumping to a top tier venture firm in 2005 and seeing just about everything in the space for a year and a half, and then rolling up my sleeves and launching a social web application at a portfolio company that has thousands of users after just a few weeks of its Alpha launch.  I’m extremely interested in product work, but also how the social media world has left a very thin line between product, marketing, and business development (see Facebook apps).  I’ve been a technically savvy non-developer since 1987, when my dad first game home with our PS/2, and while I understand and believe in the power of “Web 2.0”.  But, that goes for a lot of folks my age.  What I think separates me is that I also have my feet firmly grounded in a Finance major and Economics/Accounting minors and can help companies take a very rational and effective approach to social media, versus just playing “follow the buzz”. 

What could I do with all that?  Well, I’m willing to have a conversation with just about anyone in the space and I’m considering everything from being employee #2, employee #8, working at ad agencies, venture firms, incubators, big media companies and maybe even just teaching fulltime.  So, if you know of anyone interesting that I should be talking to, please, by all means feel free to make an introduction.  My e-mail is charlie (dot) odonnell (at) gmail.com.

In the meantime, I do have a little bit of time on my hands, so if there are any interesting consulting projects or speaking engagements, I think it’s a great opportunity to get to know people I might want to work with and for others to get to know my capabilities.  I’ve had a unique opportunity to connect to so many great people… 3 great employers, 2,000 blog readers, 900+ nextNYers, 500+ LinkedIn connections… and I’ve learned such a great deal from them that I always enjoy sharing it, especially with relative newcomers to the social media space, which is why I teach at Fordham’s grad and undergrad programs as well.

In closing, I want to thank everyone at Oddcast for making my time here incredibly educational and helping to lay the groundwork to make Voki successful, particularly Oddcast’s founders Adi & Gil Sideman, Adam G., who Voki could not have come to fruition without and I learned a ton about the technical side of product management from, our tech “hat trick” in Sergey, Dave, and Jon, our VP of Biz Dev Shaival, Hannah the Instigator, Annette, Craig, Yuni, Daphne, James, Cory, Tony, Erez, Gally, Isak, Oren, and Riv. 

The Doghouse

You ever just complete drop the ball with something in the worst possible scenario, have no legitimate excuse for it, and of course, you do it for the second time with the only other person or group you've done it to before.

Brain, why do you mock me?

Ugh.

Roadtrippin'... Driving across the country in July and the app that could have helped me

I'm not much of a traveller, I'll admit that.  I can count the number of times I've been out of the country on one hand, and one of those times was Canada, so I'm not entirely sure that counts.  (Just a little good clean Canadian humor, eh... just kidding around.)

So, when the idea of a cross country road trip was proposed to me, I jumped at the idea.  Ok, so actually, I thought about it carefully, and created several maps and spreadsheets on it, but the jumping was there in spirit.

But, actually, the whole planning thing was not only a logistical pain in the butt, but I thought of lots of opportunities for web app to help me out.

So first off, here's the trip:  (PS... All these yellow markets aren't necessarily real stops... sometimes, I just had to make sure Google Maps put me on the right road so I had to enter somewhere random to force it.)

And here's a link to the real map...   

And then to our calendar.    It's quite ambitious...  and no, I'm not driving the 'Stang.  No interest in putting 4900 miles on it.  That's what rental cars are for.  Plus, we're only driving one way.

But what I really wanted was a great integration of a map and a calendar, one that took into consideration driving times.   On top of that, I wanted to layer on events and hotels... ones that took into consideration the time I was going to be there.  For example, by random chance, I stumbled upon a fair in St. Louis going on right around July 4th when I'm going to be there.  Also, it was a pretty manual process to match my driving and my calendar with the various baseball games that I wanted to see, because teams aren't always in town when you are.

Not only that, the group collaboration around this trip was very manual... mostly with passing links back and forth.   I wanted to give my co-pilot the opportunity to comment on various parts of the trip.   Plus, the collected wisdom of others came in handy.  We got advice from others to make sure we hit the South Dakota Badlands and exactly what time to hit them.  Now we know that, but what about others making that same trip.

So what I'm looking for is a Google Maps, Gcal, Travelocity, Yelp, Gchat, Wiki, Blogs, Flickr mashup for roadtrips.   That doesn't seem like it would be that hard to do.  :)

More Subway Thumbing

I'm listening to Silversun Pickups on the N train home  my blogging class.  I would have biked home, its a beautiful night, but I seemed to strain an abdominal muscle last week and nicely aggrevated it at the gym on Sunday, so I won't push it...at least not until my two softball games at the end of the week.

The train is a bit empty now...it's 10PM.  Ther girl down at the other end of my bench seat has a tattoo on the back of her neck.  I don't mess with neck tats.  Neck tats always trump arm tats.  I think the order, from most to least hardcore is face, neck, arm, back, leg. The guy across from her has no distraction devices... No iPod, no book, no nothing.  He's just sitting there, looking around, reading subway ads.   Nineteen people in this car... Six have iPods. Apparently, market penetration is like 30 percent, so we're a pretty average bunch. 

I hate typing on this Treo.  My thumbs keep bumping into each other.  Pacific Street.  One iPod on, one iPod off.  Equillibrium is maintained.  I wonder where everyone gets their music.  The girl across from me has abandoned her SAT Test Prep book for a paperback of "Starter Wife".  For some reason, it's got Deborah Messing on the cover.  Is this a movie coming out?  This N train is a fancy new one...with easy to read electronic displays of the wrong station coming up next.   36 Street.  Dragula by Rob Zombie.  I thought of naming my car Dragula, but what's really the point of a car name other than to... Ok, speaking of idiocy, the guy over in the next car just walked off the train with his bike and just biked down to the end of the platform. A subway platform is like the last place I'd bike around.  That's got all sorts of dangerous written all over it.  It is freezing in this car.  I seem to be sitting right under a vent.  Getting up... Train traffic ahead of us...at this
  time??  Liars...unless it's the money train or the garbage train.  Switching at 59th Street....Depeche Mode...World in My Eyes. If I had a hernia, it would be a big painful protrusion, right?  I wouldn't be able to stand up straight, right?  On the R train.  I don't envy suit wearers.

Kill Them with Kindness

I had an interesting encounter Saturday night.  I ran into friend of mine that I was once closer to, but  had long since told me that they didn't have enough time to still be my friend.  This person was at an alumni event.

When I saw her, I came up to her, gave her a big hug and asked about her life and what she was up to and shared my stories.  She had broken up with a boyfriend and I told her that she'd meet the right person someday. 

At one point, she stopped me and said, "Why are you being so nice to me?"

She knew she ditched me as a friend and she couldn't figure out why I was bothering to see how she was.  I just said simply, "What would be the point of being any other way?"

I wound up driving her and her friend back to Queens...  it was a beautiful night and I had the top down.   She was pretty worse for wear by the end of the night and I really didn't want our mutual friend to have to deal with dragging her around the subway.   Turns out that she lost her keys and I even had to turn around after driving 8 blocks away to help her look for them in the car and make sure she was ok.

Why bother?  Why not just ignore this person and let any negative feelings I had for them just fester...

And incredibly smart person summed this up better than I could:

"I just don't see the point in wasting time or energy on maintaining -- actively nurturing, in most cases -- sustained negativity toward someone or about something. It mostly harms YOU, makes YOU less happy, makes YOUR whole emotional world smaller, narrower, less enjoyable... and it definitely doesn't, as you point out, do anything to inspire better treatment from others either."

The fact that this former friend probably woke up maybe realizing that she had lost a good guy as a friend and probably didn't deserve the concern I showed her as a friend the night before is surely much more effective than whatever reaction she might have had to a dirty look or me telling her off.

And frankly, it felt very good to be the good person.  Not the bigger person, but just the good person all around.

Oddcast Office E-mail Hilarity

Officewide e-mail from our office manager...

From: Deborah L. [mailto:name@oddcast.com]
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 12:05 PM
To: nyoffice@oddcast.com
Subject: Cookies in the kitchen :)

Response from our CFO re: someone on her staff...

From: Gally P. [mailto:name@oddcast.com]
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 12:24 PM
To: 'Deborah L.'; nyoffice@oddcast.com
Subject: RE: Cookies in the kitchen :)

Except for the Peanut Butter one, which is in Riv

________________________________________

I just really hate the phone...

I had two conversations today with really fantastic and interesting people.  (No, I'm not buttering them up...I really think that.)  One of them took place in person over breakfast and the other was on the phone at the end of the day.  My behavior during each couldn't have been any more different.  In person, I'd like to think I have a clear train of thought, I'm focused, responsive.  Visual communication, to me, represents a safe set of boundries... you can't really go wandering off phyisically or mentally because you are bound by not only the propreity of locking up with someone face to face, but by the constraints of real observation.  There is a face in front of you...its a constant throughout your conversation and it acts as an anchor.  A good chunk of your brain focuses on that face and nothing else.  On the phone, you are cast off into the churning sea of the day's images and soundbites...unteathered by an opposing face, free to drift.  I feel like I make less sense when I can't look at a face.  My mouth is moving, but I hear myself drowning.  Someone throw me an eyebrow or a chin!  Anything to hold me in place!  Text is fine.  I've always loved text.  Even as far back as Prodigy chat rooms, I always found text to be a focused and expressive form of communication.  There are words on the screen and I'm supposed to look at them.  It's like a track...one of those hand trigger car racing games.  Very easy to play as long as you don't go too fast.  So, if you ever ask to get on the phone with me, just know that you're probably going to get the short end of the stick in terms of all the possible ways to communicate with me.

Hittin' the Road...

Just wanted to put it out there...  Plans are in the works for a cross country trip the first two weeks of July.   No, I probably won't be driving the 'Stang...   one because I don't want to put her through that, and two because I get such crappy gas mileage.  :)   Also, I plan on coming back and I'm going to just make this a one way drive.  So, I'll probably just be running a rental car into the ground instead.

So, if anyone has any suggestions on routes, stops, etc...   please feel free to tag them for me.

I bike through glass, nails, and razor blades...

I tagged some kind of a run flat, steelbelted James Bond bike tire system the other day and now I'm thinking I should seriously invest in that. This time, I'm on the subway again with a flat BACK tire. Goddammnit.

Nanatar: My Grandmother the Avatar

My 89 year old grandmother called me this morning and left a message.  GotVoice promptly e-mailed me an MP3 file of the message and then I made an avatar out of it.

The Times Square Shuttle Combine

One of my favorite things to do in the city is to enter the Times Square subway station on 42nd between 7th and Broadway and sprint to the waiting Shuttle train. On Tuesdays, I leave the office at 5:20 so I can catch the 5:35 Metro North Train to Fordham to teach class. Crossing from the bottom of the escalators to the Shuttle involves slipping through the fast moving crosscurrent of people exiting the back of the train. It makes me feel like a running back... not a power back, because I can't just plow through these people, but more like Barry Sanders...bobbing, weaving, highstepping... :)

You cannot stop me, you can only hope to contain me.

Today is going to be a great day

Shri knows why...  the rest of you, I'll tell some other day.  :)

My Perfect Day

I got into a good conversation with a friend the other day and we were talking about constructing a perfect day.  I think it says a lot about someone.  Here's what my perfect day would be like (within the limits of my normal experiences...  no hunting spider monkees in Fiji, b/c I've never been there and couldn't identify one if I saw it):

 

It is summer in New York City...  about 85 degrees with a light breeze.  I wake up at 8, pack my bag and jump in the car.  The top goes down and I drive into the city...  over the Brooklyn Bridge, across Chambers Street and up West St. to Pier 40.   I arrive a few minutes after the opening of the Downtown Boathouse and help get the kayaks out onto the dock.

The regulars start coming in one by one.   They get the little safety talk from Vincent, who is 90-something, and I help them get into their boats.  Every now and then, I go out for a paddle, knowing me to follow up a conversation with some pretty girl that started at the dock.  I'm just a social guy, you know.  :)   

The regular volunteers make their appearences throughout the day... some to stay, some just to say hello on their way uptown or out for the day.  Everyone who comes out of the water asks to stay in longer and all of the people who have never done this before can't believe it's free.  They linger to talk about the boats and the water and how much has changed about the West Side over the years.

Around noon, we get a pizza delivered.  We also get a surprise visit from a kayaking regular, who used to come down with her husband almost every weekend.  She brings in her arms a great excuse for not being down lately...

By 2:30, I start heading out with things in order and other volunteers around to cover the rest of the day.  I head uptown in the car to Central Park, luck out with a spot, and pop the trunk to break out my softball stuff.  Glove, bat and cleats in hand, I make my way to the Great Lawn's northern fields, 7 and 8, just beyond the oval.  Enclosed by a stadium of trees, it's a great place to play.  There are no sunbathers to get in the way, but you can see all those folks on the lawn enjoying themselves with frisbees and blankets.  But for now, it's gametime.

I'm playing on a team that has never come once came together... a mishmosh of people from various teams.   Ideally, I could recreate some of those last hardball games I played when I was 19...   with my best friend Brian closing out his pitching career and me behind the plate on the receiving end of the slowest, most frustrating curveballs you've ever seen...  but I'm trying to be realistic with this day, so instead we're playing softball and I'm bouncing from third, to outfield to first.  It doesn't matter where I play in the field, as long as I get to hit.  I lace six singles to center and right field on six consecutive pitches--the only six I see in the game, which I actually did once.   That's my kind of day at the plate.

Afterwards, I walk over to a NYSC on the West Side to shower up.   Back in the car, all the way back downtown to Battery Park for dinner at Southwest NY.  In all honesty, the food isn't even that great, but I just love sitting there after a long day in the sun, watching the sun go down.  I guess it would be a date...  someone I could share a great conversation with and feel comfortable and relaxed with... to just enjoy the moment.   I love that spot.

Ok, so I'm realizing that my perfect day has a lot of driving in it.  I don't mind it one bit, especially b/c there isn't any traffic in my perfect day.... but ridiculous as it may seem, it's back up to Central Park after dinner.  By now, they've cleared the softball fields and some good friends have secured a spot on the Great Lawn for the New York Philharmonic's Concert in the Park.  That's one of my favorite things to do all summer.  Nothing like fruit, cheese and cookies on a blanket with classical music, friends, and fireworks after.    Man, I love fireworks... 

And at the end of the day, it would be nice to wind up at home, turn to someone and say, "Wow, that was really a perfect day...   You know I had those six hits on consecutive pitches."

Public market, where have you gone?

The market crashed or something yesterday.... or so I heard.

It really is amazing how far I've gotten away from paying attention to public markets.   I'm a finance guy by background, and when I was in college, I rode the boom and bust like everyone else. 

But, when I graduated in 2001 and took a job in the private equity group at GM, I started to get away from it... focusing more on pricing multiples when we were doing buyouts than anything else.  By the time I got to an early stage VC firm, what the public market did from day to day was just a distant memory. 

Now that I'm on the product side...  who knows.  I just toss the max amount allowable (hey, its pretax, why wouldn't you?) into my 401k, set it and forget it.   I don't really believe I can "beat the markets" so I allocate based on risk tolerance.  I guess as a homeowner I'm investing more in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn real estate than anything else at the moment.

Following the public market, to me, is a fulltime job, and I just don't have the time anymore.  I pop on TraderMike every now and then just to see what he's up to, but man, that's a lot to keep up with.  Not for me, not anymore.  Sorry markets...   I'm on autopilot.