After watching 24 last night, I have to remind myself that it’s just not real. However, this morning, on my ill-fated effort to get to Chicago, I got to listen uninterrupted to NPR’s Morning Edition (I have no one to call between 5am – 6am Mountain Time.) I got to hear some great stuff, including: Anne Nicole Smith’s Supreme Court Case – hysterical Port Takeover By Dubai-based Firm – laws, what laws, why bother – we’ve got terrorism under control U.S. Confusion Over Darfur Conflict – those dudes creating the atrocities – they aren’t so bad Red Cross Is Incompetent – aw, c’mon, let’s keep the focus on FEMA Violence In Iraq – 1,300 dead recently Danny and Annie Perasa Letters – heartwarming – Amy, I love you Oh, and did you notice the volatility in Google’s stock today – the day’s range so far is 397 down to 338 back up to 351 on comments by George Reyes, Google’s CFO, about “overall growth slowing” which I’m sure lots of blogs will comment on today. Kind of as volatile as my emotions have been so far today and it’s only 9:15am. Maybe Apple will announce it is buying Disney today and make the world a happier place.

I’m sitting at my office in Colorado writing this (yes – you surmised correctly – that means that I did not get to Chicago today.) Even though my early morning ticketing experience online went well, my drive to the airport at 5am was pleasant (e.g. no speeding ticket), and my experience with TSA was uneventful (e.g. no strip search by a guy named Joe), imagine my disappointment when I showed up at Gate B26 at 6am – five minutes before we were supposed to board – and saw no airplane.

Most people that live in the general vicinity of Denver International Airport (including me) like to bash on our favorite formerly bankrupt airline – United. Now that they are out of bankruptcy, we’ve lost one dimension on which to kick them around (e.g. no more liquidation jokes.) I’m usually profoundly disappointed by airline websites for some reason. United’s is no different – I go on the site all bright eyed expecting to be able to do what I need to do and 15 minutes later say to myself “fuck it – I’ll just deal with it at the airport.” Today, however, was a success.

My long time friend Jenny Lawton has recently put up a web site for the bookstore – Just Books – that she runs in Old Greenwich, CT. As part of the site, she has regular book reviews which can be subscribed to via a feed. They aren’t all by Jenny – she asked if she could put my review up on Max Barry’s hysterical book “Company.” If you love books, this feed will guarantee that you’ll end up with a bigger stack to read.

I received the following question last week. It’s a good one – very chewy – and my answer is given from my frame of reference (e.g. a managing partner in a large VC fund). Consequently, I’m not sure that my answer is either generally correct or abstractable to all situations. How’s that for a hedge? The question is: Do you agree or disagree with the following scenario as a firm basis for Web 2.0 ventures: Raise $2 to $6 million to be spent over a two to three year period, with an exit of a $20 to $50 million sale to one of the GEMAYANI’s. Would you adjust those numbers significantly, as a general thesis? Is such a venture model an attractive VC proposition, by definition, or maybe merely acceptable in the absence of a more traditional, larger-scale exit (say, raising $4 to $16 million with a $80 to $300 million exit after 4 to 7 years)? What model has the most appeal to you these days? Ultimately, it’s a question of what entrepreneurs should be shooting for. Implicit here is the question of whether Web 2.0 is a short-term window which may close in less than two to three years.

For the last 23 years, the Venture Capital in the Rockies conference has been the signature fund-raising conference in the Rocky Mountain region. A full day of presentations from companies looking for venture capital (with the presenters mostly in suits – a rarity in this part of the country) followed by a day of legendary skiing (and – while I don’t ski – this year was phenomenal) makes for a great conference. 320 attended this year – 100 were investors including a number from out of state.

I’m working on a project and am looking for the following web sites / blogs. Web sites for runners to track their workouts Web sites / blogs with information for runners Great running 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?

As the next election cycle in Colorado gears up, I’ve been jumping up and down reminding everyone who cares about politics that the solution to the “growth of the technology industry in Colorado” is to improve our education system. Our current governor has done everything he can to ignore education and at least one of our potential gubernatorial candidates can’t spell the word education. Colorado has an excellent entrepreneurial and technical base – we just need much more supply at both the K-12 and college levels. This isn’t a quick fix – at 20+ year view is required.