I went to WeMedia last week and I listened to Al Gore eulogize intelligent public discourse, especially in regards to politics.  He was dead on.

What do we talk about as a society?

Runaway brides.  A family of 18.  One missing white girl in Aruba.  iPods.

Once in a while a small group of us very loudly debates Iraq, gay rights, abortion or the death penalty...  once in a while.  But its far from mainstream.

Why?  Because we live in a culture of personal attacks.  Political discussion in our country today is devisive.  It doesn't seek solutions.  Ideas aren't exchanged... they're used to club others over the head.  Either you're red or blue.  You watch Fox or you read the Times.  Screaming ended Howard Dean's run for President.  Screaming.  We all scream.  Fuckin' screaming...   No, we don't want a screamer for President.  We pointed fingers and were agast.  In that world, what politician in their right mind would ever be transparent about their actual beliefs versus what a strategest told them pissed off the fewest people?

When's the last time you got into a political debate with someone where you actually felt like they a) were listening to your point b) were open enough to new ideas to actually have a change of changing their mind or c) didn't constantly bash you over the head with a canned comeback like, "but Kerry was a flip flopper" or "Bush is an idiot."

This has got to stop.  We're not getting anywhere.  I don't know if we just personalize everything to the point where we can't even think clearly or seek solutions but I think its choking our culture and dumbing us down.

It really came to a head for me personally on the issue of gay rights.  I'm quite sure what I'm about to write will anger somebody but that's kind of the point.  Instead of getting into an open, calm, exchange with me, I'm sure I'll just get called a name or just generally accussed.

One of my fundamental core philosophies is that everyone needs to make lifestyle decisions on their own, but moreover they need to accept that what's right for them isn't necessarily what's right for everyone.  In order to have your choices respected, you need to respect the decisions of others.  I learned that from a girl who does fetish modeling now.  Go figure.

That's how I feel about gay rights.  If two consenting adults want to get married, that's fine with me.  They should love each other and think it through, and not waste money on expensive food at the wedding that no one ever eats anyway.  I don't want to tell anyone who not to marry the same way I don't want to be told who not to marry.

Therefore, I disagree with the president...  the guy that I voted for.  The marriage amendment is ridiculous and I thought it was ridiculous when I voted for him.  I didn't vote on morals, though, the way some pundits tell me that we all voted.  I didn't believe that morals were on trial.  Maybe I'm just not politically savvy, but I honestly didn't believe that such an amendment would ever pass, so, to me, it was kind of a non-issue.  I also don't think Roe vs. Wade would ever get overturned either, regardless of how I feel about it.  (For the record, I'm against unwanted kids...  my personal preference for eliminating unwanted kids is through education, protection, etc...   my utopia is where no one gets an abortion because there are no unwanted pregnancies.  I wouldn't vote to overturn it, but I don't really like it... overturning doesn't solve the unwanted kid problem.)

HOWEVER, I don't support a national law allowing gay marriage either *correction:  I don't think a national law right now at this very second as the way to get to the goal of national support of gay marriage, because too many parts of this country just aren't ready for it*, and this is where its all going to break down.  This is the statement that will get people yelling at me and upset some people that I'm close to and some other people I'm really fond of.  What's going to happen is that their personal views are going to cloud their ability to actually listen to my reasoning, be open to my ideas, and respect them.  I'll just get lashouts and that doesn't accomplish jack.  That stifles me.  That makes me not want to discuss it and when we're not discussing it--not identifying causes, exchanging ideas, understanding we're just going to succumb to atrophy and apathy and move backwards as a society.

But, well, fuck it, here goes:   

I want to see gay marriage get nationally accepted, but in a peaceful way.  I hate division and that's why I hate politics.  I feel like the best way to do that is state by state.  I feel like, just a few years from now, all the "blue" states will have ok'd it... and that will be the tipping point, because of how interconnected our society is.  When half of the states are marrying gays, we'll see a gay marriage on television, just like when Ellen came out.  Remember, Ellen came out on TV just a few years ago and now?  Well, jeez, the whole damn country loves her and why not?  She's the blue fish in Finding Nemo... she speaks whale!  Put a really likeable gay married couple in a sitcom and boom, there go the rest of the dominoes.  Maybe it takes ten years... but what you won't have is bussing from the late 50's. 

I watch those videos of black teens getting bussed into white schools and the hate that it generated and I feel like that's what's going to happen with a federal mandate on gay marriage.  Do you think Arkansas is going to take well to federally legalized gay marriage?  Personally, I think they'll take better to it if it just kind of seeps unnoticed into their hyperconnected media culture without them realizing it.  Sure, ideally they'd all be ok with it on day one, but the reality is that they're not.  Why force them if they'll just get assimilated by the next generation of MySpacers, IMers--kids who have friends all over the world who grow up digitally tolerant/agnostic about such things. 

What sucks is that I've yet to be abliged in an intelligent exchange on this.  No one who believes in a federal gay marriage support law has been willing to just level with me, be open to my points and show/explain (not cry/yell) theirs.  And of course, it happens both ways.  Its not like people who are against it have been that open to sitting down and having a dialogue on it either.

Perhaps I'm wrong.  Perhaps I'm misguided.  I didn't say I was right.  I said this was what I believed, and as an analyst, I'm a truth seeker.  Show me where my logic is flawed, but don't cry out because of what I believe and refuse to engage me.  If you just say, "I can't believe you think like that, I can't even talk to you" what good does that to?  How does that solve anything?  Help me ask the right questions of myself and the world around me.

We're making it so that people are afraid to admit how they really feel.  They're afraid to say, "Hey, I'm wearing khaki's today, not because I'm anti-gay, but because I just don't want my clothing to become somebody else's political rallying tool, regardless of whether I agree with them or not."   

So, if you want to talk and discuss, feel free.  Let's share ideas... change/influence each other's perspective--something different than what goes on with most poltical blogs.  Most political blogs aren't true conversations, they're either love-ins for people who all think the same way or targets for people who disagree.  Where's the conversation there?  Do you spend more time debating others to affect them or debating internally with yourself because you're actually affected by what someone else said?

We might disagree, but if you can't respect the fact that we disagree, this isn't going to go anywhere...

Delivery Rivalry, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

USPS truck in front of our building...

Before the playoffs, I made some predictions.   Here's how they fared:

Padres vs. Cardinals:  Cardinals in 1.

The Cardinals are going to win the first game 23-1.  The Padres will concede the rest of the series and apoligize for even being in the playoffs with an 82-80 record. 

Result:  Amazingly enough, this actually happened.  I was spot on.

Astros and Braves:  Astros in 4.

The Braves, too, will apoligize for continuing to win the National League East.  Roger Clemens will nail Chipper Jones in the face intentially, ruining a division series perfect game but then get the next guy to preserve the no-hitter.  Clemens will use age and dementia as an excuse for the wayward 97MPH fastball.  Nobody buys it.  Doesn't matter...  everyone's tired of the Braves anyway.

Status: I called this one.  'Stros in four.  No face knocking, though, but Clemens did come up big in the last game, making up for his first effort.

Yanks and Angels:  Angels in 5. 

Garret Anderson will drive in 10 runs.  Still, he will be drafted in the 12th round of most fantasy leagues next year.  He will legally change his name to "No respect."  Arod will go another year without a ring.  Yankee stadium will be packed with fans who got corporate seats and have never been to a baseball game before.  They'll wonder why that Ruth fellow isn't playing.  Mariano Rivera will not give up a run in his 5 appearences.  Neither will K-Rod.

Status:  Called this one, too!   I was off, though.  Garret only drove in 7, but still lead the team.  No one could have called Bengie Molina, though.  K-rod gave up runs and so did Mariano.

Sox vs. Sox:  Red Sox in 4.

Podsednick will steal 8 bases in the series.  Both teams will combine for more than 8 runs in every game.  Red Sox fans won't even watch or attend, because, after last year, everything else is gravy.  I can't seriously pick the White Sox here, mostly because, as Brian pointed out, they're throwing out Jose Contraras in the first game.

Status:  Boy, did I blow this one.  Contraras came up big and the Red Sox didn't.  As for the run scoring, every game had at least 8 runs in it...  almost got that one at least.  Pod:  1 stolen base. 

Angels - White Sox?

Angels in 7...

Garret Anderson:  More RBI.  Series MVP.

Click to see Video

I found this on the del.icio.us Mustang+cars tag. 

So now that the couches are in and the walls are painted, it was time for detailing.  Like, for example, my bare gray walls.  I called in an expert...   Adrianna and I went to Bed Bath and Beyond to look for framed pictures, mirrors, etc.  I had a bunch of postcards of Pike Floyd album covers that I wanted to put up as well, but how to put them up and where to put them? 

We found a few items that we liked and started brainstorming right in the store:

Here's the final product:

Friendster has just added a tool that allows people to see who has viewed their profiles.  In the last week, my profile has really become popular.  The interesting thing is that where its become popular is a bit fishy.

3/4 of these clicks are coming from Malaysia and the Phillipines.  Now, of course I realize the power of my universal appeal, but perhaps we might consider something else going on here.

Clickfraud?  I think that's a real possibility.

There are advertisements on my profile...    I mean, seriously, why the heck would straight Phillipino guys click me... and a lot of them, too. 

Unless its a case of my head looking like the logo of some Asian product, like Homer in the Simpsons.  Maybe I'm the next Mr. Sparkle!

I'm certainly not trying to knock Friendster here, because they've done a lot in the last few months to revamp the service, but this is just kind of weird.

I want to learn some basic MySQL and PHP in order to build a wikipedia-type wiki...  I have a great idea for one.

I want to sit down with Ning for a little while.

I'm curious about Second Life.

Its STILL on my to do list to collaborate with Sean on a new blog about younger VC analysts.

I also really need some more time for original research.

And then there are the people who take my wacky ideas, combine them with their own much better ideas and run with them...   I've got to add a "Don't try this at home" disclaimer.

So much to do.

Will all of you people stop innovating and creating and give me a chance to catch up, try out, and possibly create some stuff on my own?

Or, at least just invent another day.  I'd invest in that. 

Pete Cashmore's Mashable and Chris Baum's User Experience Blog. 

I've been ranking all my blogs... well, most of them little by little, in FeedDemon by title, renaming the titles 0-5. 

My important front line reads are 1's.  This includes Fred's blog and Rob May's Businesspundit.

My 2's are solid.  They fill out the rotation with quality...   but I don't need to read them everyday.  That includes Alex Barnett and Charlene Li. 

3's are things I need to pay attention to, but aren't really part of regular content consumption, like the blogs of our companies, who we hear from anyway, and some MSM feeds.

4's are for something else...  4's are del.icio.us feeds of fun stuff to do and restaurants, and PubSub feeds.

5's are friends.

Then, there's the 0 category.  That's a test.  0's are short lived...   for like a week.  Its a watchlist of stuff I might want to read.  Pete and Chris have graduated from the zeros.

Maybe they're specifically targeting 26 year old Mustang drivers with tattoos, but AIG Auto just quoted me a rate that's about 35% of what I got from Esurance and Progressive.   

Check them out.

Esurance wanted to insure me for a price that was about 30% of the value of the damn car.

If you haven't picked up on this yet... I got a surprise call from the Ford dealer yesterday... my car is in.  :)

Listening to Al Gore talk about the lost "marketplace of ideas".  TV stations used to (it doesn't seem like they do anymore... at least I can't find it) have some requirement for educational programming?

Should MySpace, Friendster, and the Facebook have the same thing?  Especially when it comes to news.

In fact, I wonder whether or not Newscorp is interested in MySpace to reengage youth from a news a political perspective.  MySpace News...     pump a bunch of news stories into those kinds of networks... an opportunity to research facts, etc...   give them the tools to collaborate and discuss.  That's the way to engage the youth...  not with a young people's version of Fox News or MSNBC.

Need some market testing here.  Has anyone taken out an auto loan in the past 6 months?  What rate did they get?  Leave an anonymous comment with just the number...  :)

I just got quoted 7.8...   was hoping for more around 7.

I guess resale value is why autoloans are so much more expensive than mortages, huh?

Jason just sold Weblogs, Inc. for $20-35 million.  Nice job.  Two years... no office, a bunch of bloggers and AdSense.  In fact, that's more than a nice job.  That's hustle, because here's a company with no technological barriers whatsoever.  Anyone could have done this, but not everyone did. 

There's a great line in the Fountainhead where somebody asks Howard Roark, "... but who's going to let you?"   His answer?

"Who's going to stop me?"

That's been Jason's approach.  And this won't be the last thing he builds either, I'm sure.  What's cool is that he's a Brooklyn guy...   he's from Bay Ridge, where I live now, and he went to Fordham.  Now, I wouldn't be surprised if Fordham doesn't know he went to Fordham.

Do you think that having an alum sell a blogging company for up to $35 million would convince them that maybe they should have a blog?

Congratulations Jason!

That man has a cat on his head, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

Now the cat IS the hat.

I voted for Al in '00... and boy, does he know how to capture a crowd... and then put them right to sleep.

Unfortunately, I missed his opening line. "My name is Al Gore, and I used to be the "Next President of the United States."

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I wonder if anybody notices.

I watched a couple on the train last night...  Youngish... Like 18 or 19.  The guy had his back towards me on one of those corner seats.  He was leaning in, pitching cheap jokes, one liners... Anything to see this girl laugh and smile.  I noticed them.  I notice a lot of people.  Chances are someone's noticing me, right now, thumbing away on my Treo with this dumb leather flap hanging off the back...protecting my phone from myself.  I'm on the subway...not biking because I got a flat yesterday.  Its early for me to leave the city.  I'm going home to do some cooking and some repackaging.  I ordered a whole bunch of chicken and fish that needs to get separated and frozen into meal sized defrostable portions.  Over the weekend I made a peanut sauce for my salmon.  I'm pretty sure that was the wrong fish for it but I like to experiment.

The last year has been a whirlwind of change for me.  One year ago, I was working on my failed Stanford MBA application.  Ask me to flash forward then and I thought I might have been in California.

I haven't been to California in almost a year and now and now it seems like thousands of miles away now.

You know what I mean.

Who I spend my time with is vastly different now, too.  I don't know if changes, through purposeful reevaluation, beget more change, or whether its that they are so disruptive that they tend to unintentially affect other parts of your life.   

I'm feeling a bit small today.  Summer's coming to an end.  Life is settling and going to be quite busy for the next month.  Two more weeks of kayaking. 

This shirt has a faint stain on the front, but I keep forgetting to throw it out. 

I think I need to order some books... And finish my office at home.  That's key.  I need a place to retreat to in order to pound out some bigness.

I sent my roommate from college a link about beer ratings that I found on del.icio.us. 

Where'd I find it?   The beer tag of course!

He doesn't know what RSS is and probably won't become a tagger.  However, he does like beer, so I'm making the beer tag into a Feedblitz e-mail that he can subscribe to.  That way, once a day, he'll get all the links that the community of del.icio.us users have tagged "beer".

Apparently, this is a beer loving crowd, because there are a lot of cool links on it.

Want to subscribe?  Just type your e-mail address here:

I'm the worst gifter ever.  I'm usually late and I never know what to get. 

How about a service where I plug all my gifting birthdays, anniversaries, etc from my cal, the vitals of the giftee and our relationship and it recommends like five gifts for me to choose from. 

I especially have this problem with my nieces in Tampa, mostly because I'm not really in touch with the tween and pre-tween scene.  Anyone have any ideas on gifts for a twelve year old and a nine year old? 

I think you could even run a service like this for free.  I think enough companies would pay for inclusion or ranking on a service where you wouldn't have to charge for the actual recommendations.  Perhaps you could even set it up so that anyone could offer up suggestions  and get paid when people actually purchase the item--recommend items and get paid.  Also, you could probably generate revenue from the metadata one could generate when people selected among recommended items and any kind of post-gift "Did they like it" rankings.  When you're shopping, they could even throw in a "how about something for you" gift or a "while you're shopping for your mom, get your wife some flowers" suggestion.

There have been a number of sites that have been successful playing into the way women shop, mostly because women do something like 70 percent of the non-electronics, non appliance shopping in this country.  This site would particularly play into the key aspect of the male shopper-we're idiots.  We don't have any idea what's good or what to get for anyone.  Plus, we're probably less price sensitive, because we shop less in general and we're willing to pay the idiot tax if we could significantly improve our chances of the gift we got actually being liked.

If this were free, I'd sign up now.  Even it wasn't, I'd still signup and probably pay about $5 an item if the recommendation was really good.

Oh, also, our Annual Meeting is coming up.  What's the best "lovely parting gift" you've ever given/recieved at one of these events?

More Movie Filming, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

This one is right across the street. The NYC film industry is booming!

I saw this the other day and I thought it was just hilarious.  Its amazing how a few carefully collected clips and a little change of soundtrack can do.  Definitely worth watching.

In all seriousness, though, The Shining is one of my favorite movies.  First of all, it makes me feel so conflicted.  On one hand, you have the perfectly deconstructed and torn down psychopath, Jack Nicholson, flipping out and trying to kill his family.

On the other hand, boy do I hate Shelley Duvall in this movie.  I mean, I seriously think if he did clip her with that ax, the audience probably would have cheered.  Can an actress be more irratating??  Watching her flounce around in an attempt to run was just painful.  Well, I suppose if it was Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack wouldn't have been too much of a match for her, so they had to pick an easier target.

Anyhoo, Jack's whole unwinding is done at such a perfect pace.  Its never unbelievable and it never drags on either.  Plus, I like the fact that the ghoul factor is pretty low.  Its scary, but the only thing you really need to be scared of is the woman in the tub.  Other than that, its all just mood and suspence.  Fantastic score, set off by the early Berlioz on the trek up the hill.  I loved the scenes where the charactors from the past appear, and I think maybe the scariest thing in the movie is when he turns up in the picture at the end.

Best unintentional comedy moment:  Scatman Carrother's (the cook) apartment in Miami.  It looks like a scene from "The Ladies Man"...  huge sprawled out female nude painting behind the bed.  Totally 70's decor.  Look out Miami. 

Photo 661, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

I ran out of Cascade this morning, and so I used dishsoap.

I've never had a dishwasher before.

My parents never had a dishwasher when I was growing up. How was I supposed to know the outcome?

Well, let me tell you, my floor is really clean now. :/

And that "Cancel/Drain" button? Pure genius.