At dinner the other night with an old friend, we somehow ended up discussing TV shows.  I don’t watch much TV beyond my obsession with 24 and my relatively new infatuation with Gray’s Anatomy.  He was explaining several shows to me that he thought I would enjoy.  In response to his suggestion that I would enjoy Monk, I responded that the one time I watched it I was so unbelievably anxious that I had to leave the room, wash my hands, and count to nine three times.

I’ve been on the road all week.  When I left on Monday morning, I felt great – I’d had a nice restful weekend and was ready to go.  On Tuesday morning, I woke up with a sore throat and a headache.  As the day went on and I had more meetings, I noticed that every interaction started with a handshake.  I started trying to dodge these – both because I didn’t want to spread whatever I was coming down with and I didn’t want to pick up more.

By Tuesday night my cold was in full bloom.  Thankfully a good night sleep wiped it out and I woke up Wednesday with that horse sexy voice that I wish I could figure out how to have permanently, but I felt fine. 

I’ve always disliked “the handshake.”  I already wash my hands a dozen times a day – every incremental handshake increases the number of hand washes.  It’s a weird custom that I’ve never really understood and – with 25% of the people I’ve been meeting with sniffling, coughing, or working hard to keep their noses from dripping – seems absurd this time of year.

So – the next time you see me, just raise your hand in a greeting.  There’s no need to shake my hand.  And – in case you are wondering, I wash my hands both before and after I go to the bathroom. 

Another day, another city.  At least I saw a really cool sculpture today.

Ryan just posted Reason #73 He Hates Airports.  Hint – “Caution, the moving walkway is nearing its end, please watch your step. Thank you.”

Amy and I are huge fans and supporters of the new Denver Art Museum.  Part of our gift to the museum in 2005 was used to fund the Bubbloo exhibit.  In addition to being cool and clearly the family safe equivalent of “drugs for little kids”, it reminds me of the product from our portfolio company Reactrix which is especially neat.

Once a year, I go away somewhere with my dad for the weekend.  I’ll go anywhere he wants – last year was downtown San Francisco, this year he suggested Las Vegas.  I flew here from Dallas (where I was on Thursday) and he came in from Houston (where he was on Thursday.)  We met at The Wynn yesterday afternoon and have been having a blast together.

If you know us, the first question that probably comes to your mind is “Las Vegas – what’s up with that?”  Neither of us gamble or drink, are both afraid of naked women (that aren’t our wives), and are afraid of what our wives would do to us if we were caught with naked women that aren’t our wives. 

We just love to be together – no purpose required.  We spent all day walking up and down The Strip, talking about whatever came to mind, had a few great meals (Red 8 (Wynn), Daniel Boulud’s (Wynn), Stage Deli (Caeser’s Palace), and Ben & Jerry’s (New York, NY)).  We are about to get ready to go see The Beatles: Love at The Mirage.

The Wynn has been great – the only annoying thing is the endless feeling of being nickeled, dimed, and $20 billed.  The health club costs $25 / day / person, the Ferrari show costs $10, Internet costs $12 / computer / day, a bag of nuts costs $8.  I guess that’s Las Vegas.

We started doing this five years ago – I wish we’d be doing it for the last 20 years.  Better late than never.

If you are a 24 fan(atic), you should add 24 Comics to your favorites.

A remarkable number of people have told me that they are watching 24 this year for the first time.  If you are now four hours into your 24 experience, let me give you a couple of tips.

• Everything is not as it seems.  Now – this might be obvious, but it’s more dramatic with 24.  Unlike some other shows where you get Lost in the story, 24 twists and turns in ways unimaginable later in the season, partly because the writers are only ten shows or so ahead at the beginning of the season.  By Hour 20, they are practically writing in real time, getting themselves trapped in corners, and magically escaping.  So – don’t assume that the next 20 hours will be on the linear course.
• Good people die – regularly.  If you just saw 9am to 10am, you learned that.  It’ll happen again – probably a couple of times.  It always sucks – sometimes it gratuitous, sometimes it’s not.  But – it always surprises you.
• Wherever Jack goes, carnage follows.  Ok – you probably know this already.  Jack has three modes: (1) introspective Jack, (2) screwed up personal life Jack, and (3) mission Jack.  So far on Day 6 we’ve seen 1 and 3 – look forward to some of 2.  Oh – and the carnage is not just physical – it’s often emotional (especially in Jack mode 2.)
• You can get anywhere in LA in 20 minutes.  Don’t struggle with this – after five years of this, we’ve learned to suspend our disbelief.
• Chloe is right.  Don’t ever question that girl.  Believe it or not, she can shoot a gun.
• CTU hasn’t figured out how to turn cell phones to vibrate.  Those damn things ring at such inopportune times.

One big hint that I learned when I spent the day on the 24 set last year was that the show is set “sometime in the future.”  When I watch 24, I think “today + 8 years” to believe all the technical stuff.  When I was on the set, I noticed all the screens showed that they were running OS 34, which was a good giveaway.  If you are a nerd and you have the desire, grab some screen shots of the monitors and zoom in – there’s often interesting stuff there.

I’ve been watching 24 since Day 1 – Hour 1.  I don’t know why I watched the first show.  I’m a pacifist and not much of a TV watcher, but I vaguely remember being intrigued with the idea of a real time show.  I was hooked from the beginning.  With the hype around Day 6 I speculated that the show had peaked.  However, after just sitting through 8am – 10am on the airplane to New York, the claws of 24 are once again in my brain. 

One last tip – if you are questioning why you are watching it, give it a few more weeks.  Historically, 24 gets really good around Hour 15.  Only 166 hours until next week’s show.

On the eve of 24 Day 6, I decided to read the most recent 24 novel – Declassified: Cat’s Claw.  It was the best one yet and is great brain candy if you are a 24 fan.  It happens way in the past – back when Chris Henderson is running CTU and before Jack and Teri split up.  Kim’s a little younger, but still the same old Kim and gets into some serious trouble that she’s not even aware of from beginning to end.  Yum.

Our beloved dog Denali died on 12/22/06 at 11:20pm.  I’ve written the story up on Denali’s page at Dogster.

We got Denali when he was about six weeks old – he came to live with us about a month after we moved to Boulder.  He was an incredible dog – beautiful, smart, happy, and loved by everyone.

We’ll miss you Denali.  Enjoy your stay in the big treat yard in the sky.

Scott Howard Photography has a truly amazing picture of Sydney Australia at night.  It’s 169 separate photos stitched together with Autopano Pro with an aggregate resolution of 720 Megapixels (40k x 18x).  As a special bonus, he’s also got a 1500 Megapixel photo of Machu Picchu.  Wow – this makes my 6 MP camera look really lame.