Matt McCall – a partner at Portage Venture Partners in Chicago – has started a blog called VC Confidential. I’ve gotten to know Matt through my investment in FeedBurner – we both sit on the board and Matt and his partner Ed Chandler were the first investors in FeedBurner. If you are interested in VC bloggers, subscribe to Matt’s blog.
Amy gave me my March 1 gift today. We try to go out to dinner on the first day of the month and celebrate life (hence – “life dinner”) and often exchange gifts. The gifts I’ve received over the years range from the farcical (e.g. a remote control fart machine) to magnificent (e.g. beautiful pieces of art.)
I won big with my gift today. Whenever we visit New York, we usually swing by Alaska on Madison and pick up some pieces for our Alaskan / Canadian Inuit and Yupik art collection. When we were in New York in November for the New York Marathon, Amy bought a bunch of stuff which she recently got around to unpacking. My gift – four extraordinary “Greenland Gremlins” – were sitting on my desk this morning.
Following is a closeup.
These are totems – made out of walrus ivory – that ward off bad things. Notice the giant teeth – having a dental emergency in arctic Greenland is a real bummer. My understanding is that since my totems have big teeth, my voodoo is powerful. Amy told me these gremlins will protect me and my computers. Guess I don’t need anti-spyware anymore.
I’ve enjoyed getting to know Ben Casnocha over the past few years. I think he’s a remarkable guy, I’ve learned a lot with him, and I always have fun interacting with him.
Ben turned 18 years old today. Happy birthday Ben!
The other day, I (along with some of Ben’s other friends) received the following request.
On Wednesday I turn 18 years old. I’m writing to ask for a birthday present. Don’t worry, it doesn’t cost you anything. If you can spare a minute, answer the following question. I’m going to post some on my blog — which will be fun — so if you want to be anonymous let me know. Feel free to answer this on your own blog, if you have one and want to. When you were about 18, what did you do that you most regret and/or what did you *not* do that you most regret? A word, sentence, or paragraph will do. Gold stars for those who answer in haiku.
Always working hard
Not enough travel world wide
Too few girls in bed
Edgar Stiles, Curtis, Chloe, and even Jack has a MySpace page. I didn’t realize Chloe was an Aquarius.
I’m working on a project and am looking for the following web sites / blogs.
I historically haven’t asked for much on this blog so this will be an interesting experiment. If you know of any blogs / web sites that fit what I’m looking for can you post a comment with the relevant URLs? Self promotion is encouraged, as well as passing these questions on to any runners that you know.
I suggested to Amy that we go to a movie tomorrow (Monday) night. Silly me – something got messed up in my brain and I forgot that on Monday nights we are glued to our couch watching 24. From the previews of this week, I know we get to see an RPG fired at First Lady Logan’s limo. But – the bigger question is – will we get to see Kim? Or will Sydney Bristow make a guest appearance?
Today I decided to read two running books instead of going for a run. I’ve been struggling with a cold (maybe a low grade flu) and a gout attack for the last week and lost seven days of running. It’s been a little bit of a drag since I’m in the middle of the training cycle for the 110th Boston Marathon on April 17th, but I’m not too concerned because my base is very deep right now. So – I figured reading about some big running feats would be good motivation for my 90 minute run tomorrow.
Long Road to Boston is a magnificent novel about a long comeback that a runner has from a near death car accident to being in competition for winning the Boston Marathon (against Bill Rodgers.) I’ve found only a few great running novels – this one joins The Purple Runner and Once a Runner on my very short list. Thanks to Matt Fleckenstein of mSpoke for sending this to me. It was especially enjoyable considering my upcoming marathon.
I then tackled Ten Million Steps: The Incredible Journey of Paul Reese, Who Ran Across America – A Marathon a Day for 124 Days – At Age 73. The title says it all. Reese also had been diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 70 – so this was even more remarkable. He ultimately ran across all 50 states, completing the last one (Hawaii) when he was 80. Paul Reese died in 2004 (at age 87) – he made a huge contribution to the running community. I’ve read a few other “run across the US” books – they are all enjoyable in a twisted sort of way.
After reading Reese’s story, I decided that 90 minutes was – well – pretty light weight.
I got a note from Jim Moore this morning that he, members of the Berkman Center, and the Berkeley China Internet Project have started a blog to keep pressure on Google regarding China. There’s plenty of meaty (and some entertaining) stuff there if you are interested in this issue. Hopefully, by posting this, I’ll get my blog blocked in China.
Some days I feel like I’m juggling a lot of stuff – today is one of them. My partner Greg sent me a very timely email of a video of Chris Bliss juggling. The guy is absolutely remarkable, plus you get a good Beatles song out of it. I need to hire this guy to help me juggle.