My dad’s posts over the past two days put me in a reflective mood about work. I’ve been working hard around computers and entrepreneurship since the summer between my senior year in high school and my freshman year at MIT. That first real job was as the first employee of Petcom, a company started by a husband and wife team that grew to about 20 people before the oil and gas market for software evaporated in 1985. ...
Today’s #GivingThanks post is for my dear friend Jerry Colonna . When I make a list of non-family members and non-partners who I would want to be stranded on a desert island with, Jerry is at the top of the list. Before I tell a story, if you want to participate in #GivingThanks to Jerry, please make a donation to Naropa University where Jerry is the chair of the board . I was going to try to create some kind of complicated matching donation scheme since I hadn’t made a gift to Naropa yet this year but I decided to just gift them $10,000 (which I just did now through the website) so I encourage you to support at any level if you want to participate in my not-so-complicated match. ...
After spending most of the day at littleBits yesterday, I finished it with an annual tradition that is one of my favorites. At 6:45pm Amy and I met Joanne Wilson , Fred Wilson , Matt Blumberg , and Mariquita Blumberg at Marea for dinner. Fred and I are both on the board of Return Path , the company Matt has been running since he co-founded it in 1999. For over a decade, we’ve been having an annual dinner as a group when Amy and I are in NY, usually in the fall. ...
This morning’s question during my Headspace meditation session was “Who or what would you miss the most if you weren’t here.” Over the last few months, my meditation practice has been spotty. Something indeterminate happened and I just fell out of the routine. I’ve been told by my meditating friends that this happens often and not to worry about it, but rather just to start practicing again when you feel like it. ...
I’ve been thinking a lot about human – computer love recently given my obsession with Battlestar Galactica. It evolved from “can Cylons have feelings?” to “can Cylons and humans love each other?” to “what changes when Cylons become mortal?” So – when I saw the trailer for Her, I thought – yup – this is our future, and we’d better start getting our minds around it. I look forward to Siri starting to sound like Samantha.
Megan Sweeney , the awesome person who put together the TechStars Founders video series, put up a beautiful video of her golden retriever Owen explaining his Rules of Love. Owen’s rules of love are (1) Don’t limit your love, (2) Let yourself be loved, and (3) Never give up. Good lessons for all human beings. Now, while I know it’s Valentine’s Day (and I’ll behave appropriately), I am very much looking forward to Valentine’s Day for Guys which happens in a month. In the mean time, remember that all you need is love.