I kept telling myself I wouldn’t do this, but I just can’t help myself.  It’s 6:06am (according to my computer) on 6/6/06.  The Omen is in theaters today.  FeedBurner is ranked 666 on Alexa.  666 is a hot tag on Technorati.  You can watch 666 videos on YouTube.  People are wishing the anti-christ happy birthday on the web and reminding us that evil is just live spelled backwards.  Hell, Michigan is having a big party today.  There are 128 photos on Flickr about 06/06/06 (of course, 128 is a really pretty number also.)  Google came out with a spreadsheet today to help you play with numbers.

My mom, who happens to be my favorite artist in the world, is having an exhibit at The Dairy Center for the Arts.  The exhibit – called American Landscapes: Two Views – features Cecelia Feld and Maureen Burkhart.

The opening reception is Friday, June 16th, from 5pm – 7pm at The Dairy Center for The Arts, 2590 Walnut Street in Boulder, Colorado.  I’ll be there – come say hi, hang out, and look at the art (please make sure you say hi to my mom.)  Yes – there will be food.

The quote of the week (at least in my world) was from one of the CEO’s I work with regarding Silicon Valley.  After a short trip to the bay area, he told wrote me a quick email that said “I love coming out here. It’s like high school but with money instead of girls.”  That reminded me of a line that a fellow bay area VC dropped on me at lunch last month “Just remember – Silicon Valley isn’t America and VC’s aren’t really people.”

Dan Rua sent me a link to his new Florida Venture Blog, subtitled No-BS Venture Thoughts for No-BS Entrepreneurs.  There’s plenty of good stuff there if you are interested in what’s going on in the Florida VC / entrepreneur scene (or if you just want to read another VC related blog.)

Amy and I had a delicious lunch with Pierre-Denis Autric at Ristorante Gallo Romano near Notre Dame. Pierre-Denis met me through my blog, dropped me an email inviting me out to lunch, and – well – there you have it.  At lunch, I discovered that Capgemini just started a CTO blog which has an excellent entry on 24 that evolves into an explanation of user interfaces.  It’s delightful to see 24 continuing to be used as a thematic launching point as well as make a new friend over a great lunch.

The motto for my first company was “We Suck Less.”  Many years later, with the price of oil at some silly high price, it seems all the more appropriate as a slogan.

Thanks Chris for catching this ad, remembering the story of my first company motto, and for forwarding it on.  I wonder if Gebhardt will send me a check for the free advertising – I can tell them how many clickthroughs they get.

Today’s Paris Art Tour is brought to you by “Rodin’s Very Own Personal Van Gogh.”

I woke up this morning, had an expresso (my very bad French for “really tiny, really strong coffee”), and started the day off with a meeting at Sofinnova Partners.  I then walked back through Place de la Concorde, across the Seine, and connected with Amy and our friend Ed Roberto on Saint Germain near Richart Chocolates (possibly the greatest chocolates in the world.)  Everything felt very familiar, which scared me a little bit.

We then walked over to the Musee Rodin and had a sculpturiforous time wandering around both the museum and the sculpture gardens.  I’m a big Rodin fan (I always wanted to say that – make sure you say it out loud with a proper french accent) and seeing “The Thinker” up front, live, and personal didn’t disappoint.

By the way, what do you call “The Thinker” from behind?

“The Stinker.”  I’ve uploaded a bunch more photographs to Flickr in case you want a longer look.

I just read Picasso’s War, the story of his creation of the painting by the same name, the history of Spain that inspired the painting, and the subsequent activity around the painting from 1937 to 2002 when the book was published.

Picasso is one of my favorite artists.  Guernica is one of his signature paintings.  I remember the discussion in my first modern art course about it (modern art – at least in that course at MIT – was defined as post-impressionist art forward, Picasso was the anchor of all modern art, and Guernica was one of the most – if not the most – important piece of his work.)

I was vaguely familiar with the actual story of Guernica (the destruction of the Spanish town as well as the creation of the masterpiece.)  The Musee National Picasso Paris has a great exhibit on Guernica, which inspired me to buy this book in their gift shop.  Now that I’ve read the book, it’s time to go back and really study the exhibit.

If you like art history, Picasso, Spanish history, World War II history, or just want to read an emotionally (and functionally) complicated story about a very important piece of art, check out Picasso’s War.

Al Gore on SNL. 

I have no idea if this is legal or not, but it’s hilarious.  Thanks Don and Rick, my liberal friends.