Matias was institutionalized after trying to set a car on fire with his children inside in Pennsylvania, police said. Family members said it was only after one of his sons said goodbye to his sister that Matias changed his mind and decided not to torch the car.

It was not clear why he continued to have visitation rights.

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Blogged with Flock

Blogged with Flock

There's a man sitting across from me reading "The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God". This small paperback has a picture of some little figure, perhaps the distant cousin of a WeeMee, shooting himself in the head with the bullet exiting out the top in a small burst of splat. So, if I seem distracted this morning, its because I'm keeping a close eye on that guy for sudden movements.

There's a short girl standing next to me reading a a magazine article about traumatic brian injury. Very few other people are reading. I'd love to see an analysis of time of day, whether a person is reading, catching up on zzz's, playing video games or listening to their iPod or some combo.

This train is unquestionably a zzz train. I'd say that 60% of the people in this train have their eyes closed. It's 7:20AM and I'm on my way to Fordham to teach class. There's a banana in my tummy, but I'll def need my MetRx shake when I get back to the office at 10:30AM.

I gotta remember to tell my students to allow anonymous comments on their blogs.

There are two City Year girls on the train. They're in there big red winter coats. Those coats look pricey. I wonder what percentage of City Year donations go to buy coats for volunteers. Couldn't they just get hats? I never see them actually working or sponsoring anything...just collecting money. What does City Year do anyway? If my kid ever wanted to stand on the street and collect money for charity, I'd hand them a donation that covers there summer (if I had it) and tell them to go be an intern in a program management or policy making department within a non-profit or government sponsored social program. I think that's where you make a much bigger impact, especially since most donations come from corporations anyway.

I just switched to the 6 train at Union Square... I plenty of time to get to Grand Central. Look, there are Dominican Academy girls on this train...haha. DA!

Girls from DA were the first girls you met in Regis because we had a joint fundraiser with them in October... a Walk-a-Thon around the Upper East Side and the park, which basically meant that everyone in Regis dated a DA girl in freshman year. But I was cool because my DA girl was a sophomore. She taught me who the Ramones were. I feel like I told this story before.

This guy just walked onto the train. He's a dead ringer for Chin Ming Wang...and he's wearing a Yankee cap. Only... he's obviously a high school student.

I kinda feel like we have bigger fish to fry.  At least this model is pretty well covered up.  If I had a daughter, I'd rather her look at ads like this in Times Square than ads of half-naked women in sexually suggestive poses.  Isn't that a much worse objectification of women?

I dunno about you, if this ad makes you want to shoot things at women's crotches, I sort of feel like maybe you had some issues before you saw it.  Me personally, it makes me wish for snow.

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You know what the Fake Reach is... You've either done it or expected someone to do it.

You're out at lunch with Bill Gates. He invited you to join him to get your expertise on social media. The bill comes.

You do the Fake Reach.

You have absolutely no intention to contribute any money to this meal and all social ettiquette rules dictate that he should treat. Still, you don't want to seem too entitled or expectant, so you fake willingness to pay just to acknowledge their gesture of paying.

You wait for them to waive you off...

"No, no... I got it."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, my pleasure..."

"Oh, thanks...I got it next time."

Ever been on the other side of a date where you knew you were paying or being paid for and the Fake Reach was used?

Giselle sneaks away from Tom Brady to go to lunch with you and the bill comes for your meals. Does Giselle even carry money? What would be the point? Does she need to pay anywhere for anything?

Still, she's gotta do the Fake Reach. Lord knows, given some of the outfits she wears, where she'd even reach, but still, she's gotta reach. Otherwise, in my book, she's definitely not worth the second date. :)

My friend just had a baby... a completely unexpected baby as of about three months before she was born.  The details of how a baby can be unexpected so far along are unimportant.  The most important thing is that I witnessed a couple so singularly focused on this new little person that it really affected me.  This couple isn't married and they haven't been dating much more than a year or so, but now they're a family.

They're a family because they all chose to be so.  Well, the baby didn't choose, but knowing the parents, I'm pretty confident she would have made the same chose.

Does this couple know every last little detail about each other?  Nope.

Do they know all of their roommate idiosyncrasies, like whether there's drinking from the carton or balls of hair left in the shower?  Doubtful.

But this little person just seem to make all that insignificant  Maybe you're a match on paper, maybe you're not.  Bottom line is that you've got two people dedicated to figuring it out for the sake of another.

When I think of it that way, it doesn't seem like such a stretch to think that two people should be able to figure things out if they just do it for the sake of each other.  Love shouldn't be so hard and there's certainly too much stuff we let get in the way of it.

It seems like most of us clutter up our minds and our hearts with truly insignificant crap.  We're not good at reduction.  We can always think of more things to worry about, to ponder, to get excited about, but how often do we focus on less things?

This couple now has one thing to think about, and all of the sudden, their life, rather than being complicated by this beautiful baby, now seems so simple. 

They don't need a 72-point eHarmony diagnostic to tell them if they're a match.  They don't need to treat the other person like a discounted cash flow model--calculating whether or not they'll be able to support them in the lifestyle and social status that they're accustomed to.  They don't need congressional approval from the congress of friends in their life--mostly temporary people who have a nearly non-existent stake in the outcome of their lives and who probably won't be around for half of it.

We live in an age where information, in addition to informing us, pollutes us.  We're paralyzed by fear.  Rather than look at our own job security, we watch the unemployment number.  Rather than look at our own budget, we watch the housing foreclosure numbers.  We're so focused on staying at home to watch the consumer confidence index, rather than going out and buying the things we can afford that we really want.  And if we can't afford them, we spend too much time watching what other people have to appreciate the things we do have.

Its funny, too, when you think about what people choose to optimize for.  A lot of people decide that they'd rather be focused on careers rather than family.  Given the empirical evidence, I'd say that you have a lot better shot at reaching happiness through living for others than living for your job.  (Of course, I of all people still think its extremely worth it to also focus on reaching happiness in your job, but there's got to be some kind of priorities.)

So what's truly important to you in your life?  How long is that list?

I'd say that if your list is any more than about two or three things, its too damn long.  Focus, people! 

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Blogged with Flock

I don't often need to blow my nose, because I never get sick. If I get the sniffles once every two years, its a lot. I'm pretty sure I didn't get sick in 2007, so when I found myself a little congested last night I figured I was due. I feel just fine, though.

Anyway, anytime I blow my nose, I think of my grandfather. He got Lou Gerhig's disease (ALS) when I was in high school and had very quickly lost the ability to lift his arms at all. That meant that noseblowing was out of the question....so when I went over to his house to help out, I always had to help him blow his nose. He'd yell at me because, instead of just putting the tissue to his nose, I'd squeeze it, like most of us do. Of course, squeezing makes no sense because if you're trying to clear your nose, closing off your nostrils only impedes the process.

Anyway, I don't squeeze my nose when I blow, or at least, try not to... but everytime I do, I think of my grandfather.

We made a set of videos to give our various perspectives on Path 101.  You should definitely check them out on the Path 101 blog.

I had a little fun, though, and decided to make Christopher Walken our Path 101 spokesman:

Thanks Marc!

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I made a last minute trip up to Boston to go see Mere (@ptrain) because we hadn't seen each other in a while. We weren't planning on seeing each other after Christmas and we were both insanely busy, but I made time to go up anyway.

So, when she brought up the fact that I wasn't doing some of the little things, like asking her how her day was enough or wishing her good luck on her finals, I was kind of thrown. In typical male fashion, my first response was, "But I drove all the way up here!" and "But you don't even care about your grades...you're not going to law school...you don't need the ranking!"

I totally didn't get it... not until I compared it to my own experience with our angels, who are pretty good at this kind of thing. A week or two ago, Pete and Josh just "checked in" to see how we were... not to pressure us, but just to see if there was anything they could do for us and just to catch up. When the Silicon Alley list came out, I got a note from Fred saying that he was more excited that I got on it than being on it himself.

Little emails...they just take two seconds to write, but sometimes they feel just as important as any money we got from these folks, introduction they could make, or strategy they could advise on.

When you're in any kind of relationship, be it dating or an investment, its easy to mark time with big events--board meetings, anniversaries, vacations, launches... but what does the relationship feed on in between? Neither startup life, or, in my case, long distance relationship life, is easy. Sometimes you need a little quick fix to keep you going... cheap love.

I'm generally no good at cheap love in relationships. It feels too easy... a text message, a rote "How was your day?" I'm a big things kinda guy, but now I get it. You just want a ping every now and then just to let you know that the other person is still out there, still thinking about you, and still excited to be part of this relationship.

Send your significant other or angel investment some cheap love today!

• Both make a person look fake
• Both provide a physical advantage in the entertainment industry
• Both are tied to serious medical side effects
• Both are influencing younger and younger kids to have unhealthy self-images and seek out enhancement
• Both don't really fool anyone

And please, no jokes about stiff penalties.

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DailyIdea is a cool video blog run by some friends in Louisville.   One of their staff, Jason Falls, had a run-in with mall security and let 'em have it on their site.

Best quote:

"Interpersonal communications lies at the keystone of the consumer experience.  If applicants for jobs that interface with the public don't have that, don't hire them!

If you're interviewing someone for a low level job, here's a test.  Ask them this question:

"How are you?"

If they respond, "I'm fine, and you?" they're hired.

If they lapse into some saga about their ex-girlfriend, car trouble, or mild case of shingles, cut 'em loose.

"How are you?" is rhetorical.  No one cares how you are.  We just wanna know you're not a mouth breathing sociopath who's going to scare off our customers."

Here's the whole video:

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I'm wearing a big red and black SkySports winter coat because my old coat is still at Oddcast...left there one day that warmed up enough for me not to need a coat on the way home I guess. I haven't had the time to go over there and pick it up. Hopefully I will tomorrow. Still, this coat is the best shwag I ever got... It came from my friend Allison who works at Showtime. Thanks, Babe. You know, bald guys are really susceptable to weather. I hate to admit it, but I get pretty cold in the winter now.

I hate waiting on this platform. 59th Street in Brooklyn...it's cold and everyone's pissed because they're like 20 min into their commute from Bay Ridge and they've made it all of two or three stops. I have Christmas gift I can actually think of wanting this year...a good electric toothbrush...one with a water pic. I love the idea of a water pic.... I'm a flosser, but it just seems so archaic. I need more technology in my mouth. I wouldn't mind bike pedal clips, too.

Train's here. Time to look around me to see if anyone looks like they want to push me in front of it. I do a lot of little things like that to prepare for random acts of violence. When I walk home alone late at night, I also hold my keys in my hand with my biggest key wedged in between my fingers sticking out. So, don't ever sneak up on me late at night, because I'm quite likely to stab you in the throat with the ignition key from my Mustang. What a way to go, huh? I also sit in the back of planes if I can, so I have a fighting chance in a crash. The last row is the safest because you have a shot of that tail breaking off and throwing you from the burning wreckage. Yes, this is something I think about when buying a plane ticket.

I just noticed in a banner ad today that ATT is selling the double sliding phone that Helio had, only with WM6. Pretty slick. Who says people don't notice ads.

I think I should be able to keep a running list of the ads I've seen to go back to them later and give them a thumbs up or down like hot or not.

I'm going to hit the heavy bag in the gym again this morning. I've been getting into that lately and it's a lot of fun.

I miss softball. I think I need to hit the batting cages this week. I'd hit everyday if I could. The Mets used to have this commercial with Lenny Harris as he was chasing the career pinch hits record. He'd carry around a bat all day just saying, "I hope I get to pinch hit today."

I heard my high school girlfriend is getting married. I haven't talked to her in years. It would be fun to just grab coffee one of these days and laugh about how young we were....man, twelve years ago. I watched a video of my first communion over the weekend. Twenty-one years ago...jeez. I had such a crush on my second grade teacher that I invited her to my party...and she came! There she was, twenty-seven year old Laura Cimmino (in case she ever Googles herself), at a party with my family, neighbors, and a bunch of seven and eight year olds. She's a year younger there than I am now. Wow... Mrs. Cimmino is like 48 now. Oh, that's hard to believe. OK, on that note, I'm out of here.

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I'm currently getting digital radio silence from two people I really want to talk to, both of whom I've reached out to more than once.   I just don't get it.

Don't get me wrong, I get a ton of e-mails from people and it is often the case that one slips past me and I don't notice it...  but if anyone ever follows up on it, I'll respond right away, usually with an apology.

The first case is someone who is pretty important and influential, but with whom I've corresponded before, always with a response, even if it took a little while.  I've sent them a number of notes related to Path 101, and even had one of my investors contact them about it--someone with whom this person knows pretty well.  Nothing...  nada.... zip.  They even wound up inviting my investor to some event and ignored the whole mention of the company.  It was actually sort of bizarre.  I mean, if you're not interested, you're not interested.  Just say it..  don't leave us scratching our heads.  It's really unfortunate, too, because I think this person could be a huge help to us and it turns out they're involved with another company we're interested in talking to as well (which I just found out yesterday via LinkedIn).  I was like, "Damn, if only so and so would get back to us, we could get an intro to them, too!" 

The other scenario is a younger front end developer who is clearly a ninja in the making.  She does a little bit of everything, has a great blog, and has a little bit of poking the bear in her, too.  I'm DYING to talk to her about joining.  She's clearly "out there" and so I tried Facebook, e-mail.. . I even complimented her Last.fm station, which I listened to one afternoon.  I'm not stalking... all this stuff is out on her blog...  but I've e-mailed twice to no avail.  Not even a peep.  Zip.  Nada.  Nothing.  *Scratches head.*

Again, a simple, "I'm not really looking to join or work for your company" would do.  But you know, I'd love to sit down with her as a relatively recent college grad just to hear what she thinks of the idea, too.  

Again, just don't get it.  Why put yourself out there if you're going to be completely unresponsive?  If you're busy, that's cool... just take two seconds to write back, "Hey, sorry, I'm really busy... can we talk another time?"

So, do I just keep at it until I get a Cease & Desist?  Do I call them out on their unresponsiveness?  I mean, at the moment, without a response, I have nothing... so what do I have to lose?  Should I just let it go? 

Maybe I should send them a Christopher Walken Voki.

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Please dig/tag/twit/reblog, etc: 

This just came in from my friend Grace...   feel free to leave a comment with a link to yourself and Grace will pick the best ones to forward to her friend:

All,

If you are on this list, it is because I have dated you and/or I think very highly of you. I believe that good people surround themselves with good people, and in truth, it is your friends that I am really after. Before I get ahead of myself, let me explain...

I have a very good friend who is single at the moment.  After a sting of pseudo relationships that haven't amounted to anything substantial, I've decided to intervene and scatter some seeds on her behalf.  (Call it naive, but I believe we are all connected and that the happiness of one person can, in some small way, benefit us all.  Plus it's just fun!)  Ok, back to my friend! I can't for the life of me figure out why this girl is single- she's funny, sharp, she's 31, she's hot and she has substance. She comes from a great family and has great teeth. She is endlessly entertaining and endearing.  She has fantastic fashion sense.  At the end of the day, I adore her and want to help her find "the one".

So this is where you come in. Do you have any friends who could potentially be "the one" for this fantastic woman? Now, some of you might be wondering, "Why not me?".  I don't want to set her up with you for one of the following reasons (it varies from person to person, but I'm sure you can figure out which category you fall into).

Reasons Why You Might not Qualify
1. I know you, and I don't think she would like you :)
2. We've dated and I'm not that generous
3. You already have a girlfriend or are married

Ok, but seriously, think about your friends, co-workers, and family members. Do you know any stand-up guys with good character who have their lives in order and are in a place (emotionally, logistically -she's in NY, and financially) to meet someone really great? If so, please let me know and I will send along her contact info. or something along those lines.  Tis the season folks, let's make this work!

Hope to hear from you!
<3,
Grace

PS-I'm not attaching a photo because I think it's unnecessary. She's hot. All my friends are hot. Get over it.
PPS-It's not me! Really...swear!
*Also, feel free to forward!*

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This is my website. If you don’t want to hire me for this transparency, maybe I don’t want to work for you. If you don’t want to date me for this exposure, maybe I don’t want to date you. And if you can’t handle this, there are millions of other sites you should probably be reading. Because anonymous just isn’t for me - I want you to know me and accept me and to support me. If not, find something else to read.

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