Amy’s making me watch March of the Penguins.  So far, it’s been about these totally bizarre looking birds that can’t fly and have chosen to live in the Antarctic.  It’s cold, windy, dark, cold, cold, dark, cold, and windy.  There’s lots of walking to the same place to get food – oh – it’s 70 miles away, they don’t have cars, and they don’t walk especially well.  There’s been a short romantic section that’s cute, followed by more cold, eventually some eggs, which occasionally break when they are transferred from mom to dad (since mom has to go get food again – yes – 70 miles away).  Eventually the eggs hatch and the babies are born, but the mom’s are away getting food (and some of them are getting eaten by seals.)  Did I say that it’s cold? The moms get back minutes before the babies starve, feed them, but then send the starving dads away to go get food (yup – 70 miles away.)  Oh – some of the babies freeze to death (it’s cold), the mom’s get devastated (especially since they have to tell the dad, assuming the dad survives the seals), and try to kidnap other babies (unsuccessfully.)  Seagulls make a special guest appearance and eat some of the babies.  Over the next few months, the moms and dads keep alternating going to the grocery store (70 miles away) to get food, although the grocery store (the ocean) gets closer as winter draws to a close and the ice melts.  Once summer arrives (in November!) and the babies turn into teenagers, the parents get divorced and the cycle begins again.

Morgan Freeman is magnificent as the narrator.  Lots of death.  Some happiness.  Beautiful photos.  And – according to Amy, “the babies are really cute.”

What Fred said.  Absolutely spectacular and brilliant.

Ah – the sound of a fresh binding cracking open.  Tom Evslin just signed 25 books for me.  These are apparently the first copies of hackoff.com to be signed by the soon to be famous author.  I thought I’d memorialize the experience.

These are the publisher proof versions and – with Tom’s signature – are certain to become collectors editions.  If you are a CEO of one of my portfolio companies, look for a special treat in the mail shortly.

Today, FeedBurner announced that USA Today is now using FeedBurner for managing over 100 feeds. I sure do love clicking on that orange XML button and seeing “syndicate content powered by FeedBurner.”

At the same time, FeedBurner announced its new FeedFoundry product for publishers with multiple feeds.  FeedFoundry lets you use all the FeedBurner features that you have come to know and love, including FeedFlare, while enabling you to use an new interface that understands the concept of “multiple feeds for a publisher.”  If you are a multi-feed publisher, you can get more information (and sign up for a test drive) here.

Pascal Levensohn just released his latest white paper titled “Rites of Passage: Managing CEO Transition in Venture-Backed Technology Companies.”  Last fall I posted my partner Heidi Roizen’s responses to a set of questions Pascal posed as he was doing research for this paper.

“Rites of Passage” is an excellent addition to every entrepreneur and VC’s bookshelf.  It’s a great compliment to Pascal’s previous white paper “After the Term Sheet: How Venture Boards Influence the Success or Failure of Technology Companies.”

What happens when you cross Jack Bauer with Google Maps?  While I doubt this had anything to do with Google’s stock movements on today and last Friday, you never know.  Thanks Derek.

I have a rule about what I can eat the week before a marathon.  It’s a simple rule – I can eat anything I want, and as much of it as I feel like, as long as it is primarily carbohydrates and protein.  Today’s lunch (and yesterday’s lunch) was at Jerry’s Deli in South Beach.

Matzo Brie and Kasha Varniska.  That feels somehow fitting for a high carbo/protein meal in South Beach.

Jenny Lawton pointed me to ASCII Star Wars.  If you are a Star Wars fan, this is mindblowing.

At a board meeting last week we were discussing the dynamics of keeping VC’s informed that expressed interest in “being kept up to date” on the company for the purpose of being somewhat up to speed when the next financing came around.  We ended up talking through a list of about 10 different VC’s and at one point one of the other board members muttered “this sounds like the shits.”  I gave him a perplexed look and he said “you know – “Signal High Interest Then Stall.”  Yeah – well – we’ve all experienced the shits at one time or another.