Metcalfe's Slaw

Yes, Bob Metcalfe hosted me and Doc Searls and Renee Blodgett for lunch and fun tech talk today at Polaris Ventures and to set the record straight ... we didn't have cole slaw, at least I didn't, but there probably was some there, with all the amazing food set out for our pleasure.

The food seemed to be nothing short of first-rate, although the policy of bringing gourmet food in and never giving these poor venture capitalists a chance to see the light of day, seems a little cruel. I expect they should be allowed to leave the building at least now and then for lunch if they are on best behavior -- they don't look too dangerous or anything -- in fact, they look rather clean cut and well meaning. Maybe they would need a chaperone for these little outings. I'd volunteer.

As for lunch, I'd like to say we had an oh-so-serious conversation, but again, to be truthful, we actually had a riotous good time horsing around. I was rather placid compared to the rest of them, I didn't even sing La Marseillaise or anything. As for networking -- Metcalfe's baby -- we weren't talking it, we were doing it.

Summertime and the living is easy.
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Fish are jumping and the cotton is high.
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SpongeBob Theme At Today's Party

Throwing a party tonight and it's 100% SpongeBob. Can't wait. Happy Birthday Birthday Boy!!

All About Camembert

The 4th of July is nice, but don't forget the 14th of July, Bastille Day.

Here's everything you ever needed to know about camembert to get you in the mood.

Blogroll At Worthwhile Magazine

Okay, don't everyone freak out here. If you're not on the blogroll at Worthwhile, it doesn't mean we don't love you! We're still building and rearranging (the "tech" category for instance is far from done). So sit tight and if you're unable to calm yourself down, drop me an email about why your site should be included in our links.

ListGarden Lunch

Had a lovely lunch last Friday with Dan Bricklin, Vadim Yasinovsky and Scott Johnson where we were talking about this new software Dan was cooking up.

Not only did he cook it up -- it's completely cooked now and ready to serve.

I happen to love the logo. It's way cool.

Whiskey Bar

Amazing piece about Iraq at Whiskey Bar (thanks for the pointer from Sharp Sand) which despite being written in late May sounds just as timely as anything else on the subject this week.

Imagine that – the New Iraq® has become a den of vicious partisans desperately grasping for power and patronage. It looks like American-style democracy has taken root in Baghdad after all.

Messier Than Manchukuo

Either way, the hope that passing a pretend sovereignty to a notional interim government somehow would miraculously erase the taint of infidel occupation from our Mesopotamian nation-building venture is looking more and more, ah, threadbare. Replacing one group of Pentagon-backed exile stooges with another group of CIA-backed exile stooges isn’t exactly a transition calculated to win public support and international recognition for the new regime.

Which means the situation on the ground post-June 30 is likely to be identical to the situation on the ground pre-June 30 – except worse, since at least some deference will have to be paid to Iraq’s theoretical sovereignty. Unlike the Japanese Army, which could manipulate its Manchukuo puppet with a relatively free hand, the U.S. military will still be operating in the full glare of the TV lights, with CNN and Al Jazeera on hand to document every twitch of injured national pride, and report every complaint by every Iraqi politician about American imperial heavyhandedness.

By the time this is over, I predict a lot of Army generals are going to be looking back fondly at the way their predecessors were allowed to fight the war in Vietnam.

And, assuming the "transition" goes off more or less as planned, what will have been gained – other than a couple of marginally useful 30-second campaign spots for the Bush-Cheney campaign? All the blood and treasure and international credibility sacrificed over the past year will have been spent simply to end up roughly where America stood in Vietnam in 1963 – desperately trying to prop up a corrupt, quasi-colonial regime with virtually no domestic legitimacy.

I note with some sadness, but with complete understanding that Whiskey Bar has decided to turn OFF comments since there are so many idiots, flamers and trolls wasting the author's precious time. I can certainly understand that.

Not Everyone Was Kung-Fu Fighting

Here it is the middle of the night and I just heard a loud crashing noise -- and ran down the hall to check on my son -- who was, not surprisingly sideways in bed sound asleep.

He'd managed to karate kick over a floor lamp that was next to his bed, in his sleep, despite the loud crash the innocent bystander of a lamp made as it hit the floor, he slept through the whole thing -- and no surprise, I'm wide awake in the middle of the night. Wonder what he was dreaming ... must have been the Geico lizard.

Summer Camp

Good piece today in The New York Times about putting an end to bullying at summer camp. High time!

I got my guy off to day camp this morning. Lots of butterflies in lots of stomachs, I could tell, but I think this will be a great camp year and lots of fun.

All We Need

Someone to wake up next to on Sunday morning. Someone with messy hair that doesn't feel the need to spring out of bed to fix it. Someone who likes you and wants to share coffee with you, later you'll both take a walk together. The Sunday papers might go unread as you both decide to rush home fast and waste a perfect day of outdoor weather, by heading back to bed.

We just don't need much. Funny how happy isn't all that far away. It's just at the end of my fingertips. Shhhh ... quiet now. I'll show you, as I trace the space -- the place where your mouth starts to turn north into that sweet smile. Everything else can wait.

Someone's Pants Just Called Me

We all do it. I slip my cell phone in the back pocket of my jeans and I might lean up against the edge of a desk or something and then my pants kindof call the last number I just dialed and the person on the other end can hear some or all of the conversation in the room around me, without me realizing I just called them.

So someone's pants just called me -- and I could hear him talking to a woman about where he went to high school -- and he didn't know I was eavesdropping. I've gotten 5 minute voice mails like this, where someone's pants called me and they never knew.

For a writer -- this realtime live eavesdropping in a complete stealth mode is like winning the lotto. But, even we writers have a modicum of cellular ethics -- I hung up fast -- it's just not fair.

Seems Obvious To Us Girls

Something I came across about why marriages fail so easily.

Some of the common complaints I hear from women is, "He ignores me except when he wants sex, he sits and watches television when he could be talking to me, he rarely calls me to see how I'm doing, he hurts my feelings and then never apologizes: Instead, he tells me I'm too sensitive."

Most husbands are mystified by these complaints. They feel that their wives demand too much, and that most other women would be ecstatic if married to them. Their wives have become spoiled, take their efforts for granted and have unrealistic expectations.

Do women expect too much of their husbands or are men doing less for their wives than they should? I've proven to husbands over and over again that their wives usually do not expect too much of them, and when they understand and respond to their wives' frustration, the complaining ends and a terrific marriage begins.

What's more, their wives are not expecting more effort from them. Instead, they expect efforts in a different direction. It isn't more difficult to please women these days, it simply requires a change in the priority of effort.

What are women looking for in men? They want a soul mate, someone they trust who is there for them when they have a problem, who takes their feelings into account when decisions are being made. Someone to whom they feel emotionally connected.

Can't Get Outta Here

My kid and I had big plans for this Saturday morning, off to go shopping, but we seem to be UNABLE to leave this cozy place. As the morning gets rainier, we're cooking up great stuff like quesidillas and he's made something quite original I can't quite figure out with salami, a tortilla, salsa, cheese.

The cartoons they're serving up are particularly delicious. I'm tossing in more laundry and jumping onto the couch with him to hide under a comforter and watch Tom & Jerry get into cat and mouse trouble.

I make more English Breakfast Tea and neither of us can remember why we wanted to go anywhere.

I have a friend redesigning my site and I just showed my kid the new graphic to get his opinion. It shows a sideview of a woman in pink jeans and sexy blue heels in a chair with a laptop on her lap. He says that's fine but there should be a picture of him on the other side of the logo playing videogames or asleep.

Rainy Day

Rue de Paris, Temps de Pluie -- Caillebotte
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Il pleuvait sans cesse sur Brest ce jour-la

Good for a rainy day here.

Barbara -- Jacques Prevert

Rappelle-toi Barbara
Il pleuvait sans cesse sur Brest ce jour-la
Et tu marchais souriante
Epanouie ravie ruisselante
Sous la pluie
Rappelle-toi Barbara
Il pleuvait sans cesse sur Brest
Et je t'ai croisee rue de Siam
Tu souriais
Et moi je souriais de meme
Rappelle-toi Barbara
Toi que je ne connaissais pas
Toi qui ne me connaissais pas
Rappelle-toi
Rappelle-toi quand meme ce jour-la
N'oublie pas
Un homme sous un porche s'abritait
Et il a crie ton nom
Barbara
Et tu as couru vers lui sous la pluie
Ruisselante ravie epanouie
Et tu t'es jetee dans ses bras
Rappelle-toi cela Barbara
Et ne m'en veux pas si je te tutoie
Je dis tu a tous ceux que j'aime
Meme si je ne les ai vus qu'une seule fois
Je dis tu a tous ceux qui s'aiment
Meme si je ne les connais pas
Rappelle-toi Barbara
N'oublie pas
Cette pluie sage et heureuse
Sur ton visage heureux
Sur cette ville heureuse
Cette pluie sur la mer
Sur l'arsenal
Sur le bateau d'Ouessant
Oh Barbara
Quelle connerie la guerre
Qu'es-tu devenue maintenant
Sous cette pluie de fer
De feu d'acier de sang
Et celui qui te serrait dans ses bras
Amoureusement
Est-il mort disparu ou bien encore vivant
Oh Barbara
Il pleut sans cesse sur Brest
Comme il pleuvait avant
Mais ce n'est plus pareil et tout est abime
C'est une pluie de deuil terrible et desolee
Ce n'est meme plus l'orage
De fer d'acier de sang
Tout simplement des nuages
Qui crevent comme des chiens
Des chiens qui disparaissent
Au fil de l'eau sur Brest
Et vont pourrir au loin
Au loin tres loin de Brest
Dont il ne reste rien.

A Whole New Market

This could be the start of something big -- Pampers New Snakeskin Line -- check it out.

Bill's Comment Coming Soon

Well it's about time -- Bill Gates will be blogging soon rumor has it. I called him an alpha male a long while back -- if he can blog, then he's the ultimate alpha male.

Renoir, Dance at Bougival
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San Francisco

This song is by Maxime LeForestier and you need someone French to pronounce the title for you because "San Francisco" in French doesn't sound ANYTHING like the town in California we call "San Francisco" in American English -- believe me.

San Francisco

C'est une maison bleue
Adossée à la colline
On y vient à pied
On ne frappe pas
Ceux qui vivent là ont jeté la clé
On se retrouve ensemble
Après des années de route
Et on vient s'asseoir
Autour du repas
Tout le monde est là
A cinq heures du soir

Quand San Francisco s'embrume
Quand San Francisco s'allume
San Francisco
Où êtes-vous
Lizzard et Luc
Psylvia
Attendez-moi

Nageant dans le brouillard
Enlacés roulant dans l'herbe
On écoutera Tom à la guitare
Phil à la kena jusqu'à la nuit noire
Un autre arrivera
Pour nous dire des nouvelles
D'un qui reviendra dans un an ou deux
Puisqu'il est heureux on s'endormira

Quand San Francisco se lève...

C'est une maison bleue
Accrochée à ma mémoire
On y vient à pied
On ne frappe pas
Ceux qui vivent là
Ont jeté la clé
Peuplée de cheveux longs
De grands lits et de musique
Peuplée de lumière
Et peuplée de fous
Elle sera dernière
A rester debout.

Jason Excellent Pix

Check out Jason DeFillipo's excellent pix of SuperNova. Nice to see Ray. Hi Ray!

Ut Oh!

And you married parents thought raising teens was tough! Check this out:

Many teens learn how to manipulate their divorced or separated parents to their own advantage, according to a Ball State University study.

"There is a perception that after a divorce or separation parents are active and children passive in their relationships. We found the opposite to be true. Adolescents are not passive," study author and sociology professor Chad Menning said in a prepared statement.

"Adolescents after divorce or separation do no simply absorb parental resources as sponges absorb water. Rather, they gather and interpret information about their parents, dodge questions, engineer images of themselves, parry parents' probes, maneuver between households, and cut ties with parents in efforts to exert their own authority and to secure their individual identities," Menning said.

The researchers interviewed 50 teens whose parents were separated or divorced. They discovered strategies that include:

--Withholding information from one parent to avoid punishment or to solidify a relationship with another parent. Children can gain an upper hand by controlling information flow because, following a separation or divorce, there is often reduced communication between parents.

--Moving from one home to another. Children often move into the home of the parent who is less controlling. They do this to punish the other parent or to escape a situation they don't like.

--Cutting one parent completely out of the teen's life. This allows the child to control when and where they have contact with that parent.

Ross Mayfield Killer Blogger Man

I just read some of Ross' coverage of SuperNova too -- it's excellent. BTW, when I use the word "killer" it's a metaphorical usage. No bloggers were injured while using this word -- but please don't do this in your own home. Only use the word in a safe professional environment with trained bloggers.

Heathrow Oh So Good

H's blogging of conferences is incredible. He's at SuperNova so don't miss this.

Twenty (Almost) Questions

Brad Feld of Mobius Ventures has blogged a great list of questions entrepreneurs better be able to answer in a pitch for $$$$ to a venture capitalist. Check out his post and here's a copy of his "list" -- Can you guess which one I think is most important?

1) WHAT IS YOUR VISION?
- What is your big vision?
- What problem are you solving and for whom?
- Where do you want to be in the future?

2) WHAT IS YOUR MARKET OPPORTUNITY AND HOW BIG IS IT?
- How big is the market opportunity you are pursuing and how fast is it growing?
- How established (or nascent) is the market?
- Do you have a credible claim on being one of the top two or three players in the market?

3) DESCRIBE YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE
- What is your product/service?
- How does it solve your customer’s problem?
- What is unique about your product/service?

4) WHO IS YOUR CUSTOMER?
- Who are your existing customers?
- Who is your target customer?
- What defines an "ideal" customer prospect?
- Who actually writes you the check?
- Use specific customer examples where possible.

5) WHAT IS YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION?
- What is your value proposition to the customer?
- What kind of ROI can your customer expect by using buying your product/service?
- What pain are you eliminating?
- Are you selling vitamins, aspirin or antibiotics? (I.e. a luxury, a nice-to-have, or a need-to-have)

6) HOW ARE YOU SELLING?
- What does the sales process look like and how long is the sales cycle?
- How will you reach the target customer? What does it cost to "acquire" a customer?
- What is your sales, marketing and distribution strategy?
- What is the current sales pipeline?

7) HOW DO YOU ACQUIRE CUSTOMERS?
- What is your cost to acquire a customer?
- How will this acquisition cost change over time and why?
- What is the lifetime value of a customer?

8) WHO IS YOUR MANAGEMENT TEAM?
- Who is the management team?
- What is their experience?
- What pieces are missing and what is the plan for filling them?

9) WHAT IS YOUR REVENUE MODEL?
- How do you make money?
- What is your revenue model?
- What is required to become profitable?

10) WHAT STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT ARE YOU AT?
- What is your stage of development? Technology/product? Team? Financial metrics/revenue?
- What has been the progress to date (make reality and future clear)?
- What are your future milestones?

11) WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR FUND RAISING?
- What funds have already been raised?
- How much money are you raising and at what valuation?
- How will the money be spent?
- How long will it last and where will the company "be" on its milestones progress at that time?
- How much additional funding do you anticipate raising & when?

12) WHO IS YOUR COMPETITION?
- Who is your existing & likely competition?
- Who is adjacent to you (in the market) that could enter your market (and compete) or could be a co-opted partner?
- What are their strengths/weaknesses?
- Why are you different?

13) WHAT PARTNERSHIPS DO YOU HAVE?
- Who are your key distribution and technology partners (current & future)?
- How dependent are you on these partners?

14) HOW DO YOU FIT WITH THE PROSPECTIVE INVESTOR?
- How does this fit w/ the investor’s portfolio and expertise?
- What synergies, competition exist with the investor’s existing portfolio?

15) OTHER
- What assumptions are key to the success of the business?
- What "gotchas" could change the business overnight? New technologies, new market entrants, change in standards or regulations?
- What are your company’s weak links?

What Will People Pay For?

Dan Bricklin wrote a great essay here called What Will People Pay For? which he pointed me to as I'm writing about social software for the upcoming BLOGON at the Haas School of Business at Berkeley on July 22-23. Check it out. Here's a sample:

People like to interact with people they care about. The interactions are often simple, but personally important. They are willing to pay money for this. That's why they pay for cellphones, for Internet access, and for postcards and postage, and for souvenirs. It gives them emotional satisfaction. They pay money to travel to visit family and friends.

I get an image in my head when I see people on the street having these simple interactions on the phone. It's that image of primates sitting next to each other grooming one another. Simple, kind interactions with the ones close to us are innate.

People also pay money for other forms of emotion that aren't through other people directly: listening to music, watching movies (usually with other people -- doing it alone with TV they won't pay for), seeing something beautiful or interesting.

Buying isn't fun. Shopping is. Shopping is looking at things and imagining owning them or wearing them or using them. Shopping is looking for "just the right thing" out of many possibilities. Shopping is often around or with other people. People pay money to shop in interesting places, even if they don't buy much: Traveling to New York City to walk down 5th Avenue and look in at Tiffany's, Steuben Glass (until they moved), and FAO Schwartz; going to Italy to look at the stores with the designer clothes; buffets; etc.

So, people will pay money for things that give them emotional satisfaction, especially those things that involve interacting with others, or have a high emotion content, like music.

Technorati Brat Pack

We love Technorati, of course. James asks for some details on how we use them.

Have A Most Super SuperNova

Have a blast today at SuperNova guys. I'm celebrating LAST DAY OF SCHOOL here with my kid!!!

Au Bois De Mon Coeur

Au bois d'Clamart y a des petit's fleurs
Y a des petit's fleurs
Y a des copains au, au bois d'mon cœur
Au, au bois d'mon cœur

Au fond de ma cour j'suis renommé
J'suis renommé
Pour avoir le cœur mal famé
Le cœur mal famé

Au bois d'Vincenn's y a des petit's fleurs
Y a des petit's fleurs
Y a des copains au, au bois d'mon cœur
Au, au bois d'mon cœur

Quand y a plus d'vin dans mon tonneau
Dans mon tonneau
Ils n'ont pas peur de boir' mon eau
De boire mon eau

Au bois d'Meudon y a des petit's fleurs
Y a des petit's fleurs
Y a des copains au, au bois d'mon cœur
Au, au bois d'mon cœur

Ils m'accompagn'nt à la mairie
A la mairie
Chaque fois que je me marie
Que je me marie

Au bois d'Saint-Cloud y a des petit's fleurs
Y a des petit's fleurs
Y a des copains au, au bois d'mon cœur
Au, au bois d'mon cœur

Chaqu' fois qu'je meurs fidèlement
Fidèlement
Ils suivent mon enterrement
Mon enterrement

...des petites fleurs...
Au, au bois d'mon cœur...

-- Georges Brassens

Ca Sert A Quoi Tout Ca?

Un beau matin
On vient au monde, au monde
N'en sait rien
Puis on grandit on recommence
La dance de la vie
Et puis on use nos mains
A continuer le chemin
Qu'avaient commencés nos ancètres
Je ne sais qu'un jour va venir
Où ce chemin va finir
Ce jour viendra bientôt peut-être

Ca sert à quoi tout ca? ca sert à quoi tout ca?
Ne demandez pas de me suivre
Ca sert à quoi tout ca? ca sert à quoi tout ca?
Il nous reste si peu à vivre

On se connait, on dit quand même,
Je t'aime, je t'aime, pour toujours
L'éternité, n'est plus en siècles
Des siècles mais en jours
Si tu me donnes un enfant
Aura-t-il assez de temps, pour arriver a`l'age d'homme?
S'il reste seul ici-bas
Avec une fille à son bras, trouvreront-ils
encore des pommes?

Ca sert à quoi tout ca?

Cette chanson, quand je la chante
Je chante pour du vent, c'est la chanson
Du glas qui sonne, personne, ne l'entend
Tu as me beau me répéter, qu'on à jamais rien à changer
Avec des mots et des phrases, je continue à chanter
les doigts en forme de V
En attendant, que tout s'embrasse

Ca sert à quoi tout ca?

-- Maxime LeForestier

Sooner or Later -- You'll Get NewsGator!

Corny, I know! But I couldn't resist! And with all of the good news coming out of there today, just wanted to pass some along.

As for disclosure about who I know over there and whether I'm biased -- I know the whole lot of them -- I'm very biased because I think they are terrific. Congrats to Greg, Brad, Renee, all you guys.

Check it out!

For release today, June 23, 2004.

NewsGator Technologies, Developer of Leading RSS Tools and
Services, Closes Series A Funding

Funding to be used for Product Development, Marketing, and Sales

DENVER, CO — June 23, 2004 — NewsGator Technologies, Inc., a leading developer of content aggregation tools and services, announced today that it has closed a round of funding with Mobius Venture Capital.

“We are thrilled to have Mobius Venture Capital as an investor,” said Greg Reinacker, CEO of NewsGator Technologies. “This funding is a necessary step to deliver on our vision for products and services in this market much more quickly.”

The funding will be used to accelerate the development process for the NewsGator product line, as well as expand the marketing and corporate sales groups. There are significant enhancements planned for the existing suite of products, and additional products planned for the popular NewsGator Online Services platform.

“We have been aggressively exploring the universe enabled by the rapid adoption of RSS-based technologies since the beginning of the year,” said Bradley Feld, Managing Director at Mobius Venture Capital. “We felt that NewsGator Technologies currently is the market leader in the emerging content aggregation and services segment. With this investment, we intend to help NewsGator Technologies expand their product set and market position in both consumer and enterprise content aggregation segments.”

While its first product NewsGator for Outlook has received the most acclaim to-date, NewsGator Technologies offers a portfolio of services for consumers and business. The desktop product NewsGator for Outlook is a news aggregator that runs in Microsoft Outlook, which allows users to subscribe to syndicated RSS news feeds to be delivered directly into their Microsoft Outlook and Exchange server folders.

NewsGator Online Services provides content aggregation tools and services, allowing users to find the content they need, and read it wherever they are, on any device. NewsGator Online Services offers numerous options for users, including the ability for users to read content from a web browser, through a POP3 account or on their mobile wireless device, which is a powerful option for road warriors who use mobile devices to access information while away from home or the office. The latest product, NewsGator Media Center Edition, allows users to view syndicated multimedia content feeds on their TV with Windows XP Media Center Edition.

About Mobius Venture Capital
With offices in Palo Alto, California and Superior, Colorado, Mobius Venture Capital is a $2 billion U.S.-based private equity venture capital firm managed by a team of former CEOs and entrepreneurs, technology pioneers, senior executives from major technology corporations, and leaders in the investment banking community. Mobius Venture Capital combines its technology expertise and broad financial assets with the industry's best entrepreneurs to create a portfolio of over 100 of the world's leading high technology companies. For more information on the fund's investment team, technology vision and portfolio companies, please visit www.mobiusvc.com.

About NewsGator Technologies
NewsGator Technologies is a leading developer of content aggregation solutions for consumers and corporate customers. The desktop product NewsGator for Outlook is a news aggregator that runs in Microsoft Outlook, which allows users to subscribe to syndicated RSS news feeds to be delivered directly into their Microsoft Outlook and Exchange server folders. NewsGator Online Services provides content aggregation tools and services, allowing users to find the content they need, and read it wherever they are, on any device. For more information, visit us on the web at http://www.newsgator.com and http://services.newsgator.com.

Hey, I'll Take Miss A-Train!

This is cool. They're bringing back the New York City Miss Subway contest of yesteryear. I just wish they'd do a big promo with the pictures of the older babes too!

Party! Party! Party!

I went to a great party this weekend, met a lot of people, got a lot of business cards, with a lot of emails and ... ugh ... I have to tell you, if you tried to email me, I've got some seriously vicious spam software that might have kept you from getting through at all. If I gave you my card, you emailed me and I didn't reply -- try mailing me a postcard or something or simply calling me. I've been fiddling with the settings of the filtering software and found for instance ALL the email of a friend in Denver was going directly into in a spam folder ... and he finally called to ask if I were mad at him. Whoops!

And a special note to you, dear party giver lady -- stop yelling at me for leaving early. I wanted to stay, but I just had something else to do!

A Chat By Any Other Name

More breaking news:

The southern French city of Marseille called off a three-week hunt for a black panther on Tuesday after the animal sighted by several residents turned out to be a large house cat.

That Darned Cat!

Bullying

There's bullying, sanctioned bullying, state-supported bullying, national bullying. Isn't it all lovely?

Among the techniques that Rumsfeld approved on Dec. 2, 2002, in addition to the grabbing, the yelling and the stress positions:

_ Use of 20-hour interrogations.

_ Removal of all comfort items, including religious items.

_ Removal of clothing.

_ Using detainees' "individual phobias such as fear of dogs to induce stress."

Rumsfeld scribbled a note on Haynes' memo that said, "However, I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to 4 hours."

I'm Gonna Wait

I'm gonna wait til the midnight hour
That's when my love comes tumblin' down
I'm gonna wait 'til the midnight hour
When there's no one else around
I'm gonna take you girl and hold you
And do all the things I told you
In the midnight hour

Yes I am, oh, yes, I am

I'm gonna wait 'til the stars come out
And see that twinkle in your eyes
I'm gonna wait 'til the midnight hour
That's when my love begins to shine
You're the only girl I know
That really loves me so
In the midnight hour
Oh, yeah, in the midnight hour

Just you and I... oh, baby, hah!
Just you and I... nobody around, baby, just you and I
All right... you know what?
I'm gonna hold you in my arms...
Just you and I, oh yeah
In the midnight hour
Oh, baby, in the midnight hour [fade]

-- Wilson Pickett

Ill Parents

Just talked to a friend dealing with an older mom who's ill. It's so tough. I wish her the best. The mom lives in another country -- talk about tricky. Even getting there is hard.

Cool Site

Lots of interesting blogs around here.

Aimez-vous nager?
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Weird and Wild Spam

Most people get sexy pictures and serious, urgent pleas from Nigerian banks ... but I get job offers in French to work in France as well as coupons for Pampers diapers. What lists am I on? They must think I'm a French mom with a new baby. Sounds fun, but I'm not!

Here's A Job I Could Get Into

I'm definately a woman who's already had a first experience ...

Profil recherché

De préférence une femme ayant déjà une première expérience professionnelle (mini 1 an) et qui excelle dans l’informatique

Compétences professionnelles

- Excellentes connaissances en couverture, charpente et bardage métallique
- Parfaite maîtrise du logiciel de dessin AUTOCAD LITE

Compétences personnelles

- Grande autonomie exigée
- Faculté d’adaptation rapide au sein d’un groupe de travail
- Dynamisme et prises d’initiatives sont de rigueur
- Capacité d’analyse et suivi des chantiers sur le terrain

Avantages professionnels

- Après une période d’essai convaincante, le candidat pourra bénéficier d’une voiture de fonction.

Merci d’adresser votre candidature à : DSOM - 11060, rue H. Becquerel – Les Sables de Sary – 45770 – SARAN- Téléphone : 02 76 74 74 17 - Télécopieur : 02 38 55 75 55 - Email : quelquun@wanadoo.fr

Le Spam

Somebody explain why I get spam like this:

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The Way You Look At Me

Let me spell it out.

Day or Night

Call me.

Strangers

Life is strange, isn't it?

Can't Get You Outta My Head

I just can't ...

I Wanna Know What Love Is.

I know you can show me.

Constant Craving

Oh yes. I understand.

Ain't No Doubt About It

Ah, I do declare,
I wanna see you with it,
Stretch out your arms, little boy,
you're gonna get it.
Ain't no doubt about it,
baby, I love you.

-- Aretha Franklin

Get A Haircut Man!

I don't get this -- a man trying to break the Guiness Book of World Records longest hair contest.

Normally tied up and covered by a scarf, his hair has grown four feet in the past seven years. He last had it washed six years ago, the paper said.

Yuck.

Shhh! Shhh! Shhh! Don't Tell!

Big secret time. But first of all, I've got to mention this gorgeous weather we've been having -- isn't it incredible? What exquisite weather we had this weekend. It was a lovely lovely time. I had so much fun. Had a wonderful conversation with a new friend about my greatest vice -- being happy. I'm a naturally happy person.

There is no lack of unhappy people in this world -- zillions of them. Misery doesn't just love company -- misery loves a mob. Mobs of miserable people seem to be out there working on ways to make others miserable. Mobs and mobs and mobs of them. Do they need Ex-Lax? Perhaps an enema? Yes, we should have a "Give Your Enemy An Enema" Day! That's my idea of a good time!

All these miserable jerks really make me laugh. I like to parade around the house, imitating their stupid unhappy faces. Some look like this :( and some look like this ;\ and some look like -- you get the idea. And when they run into a naturally upbeat, happy, playful person like yours truly, they find me both incredibly annoying and incredibly attractive. It happens all the time. Over and over.

The funny thing is I actually used to think some of these people were worth spending time with! Don't ask me why! I actually thought some of my happy might help balance their sad.

Wrong.

It doesn't ever happen. They just suck the life out of you because ... here's the secret part I missed ... being miserable makes them happy! Sick, sick, sick! And here's the worst part -- making other happy people miserable, makes them even happier! Agggghhhh! Good riddance!

An Evening Game of Whist
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Exclusive Bootcamp at Berkeley's Haas School of Business

Wow, I just reread our backgrounder on the conference where I'm teaching and speaking, BLOGON on July 22, 23 at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.

The Bootcamp is only open to 30 participants and with 6 professors (me and these great folks) -- that means a very high-ratio of hands-on help and pedagogical interaction, to talk teacher-speak.

Make sure to register.

I Love One Pot Meal

Steve Himmer reads our minds as usual and writes wonderfully well.

You package up your ailing iBook and send it away for a new logic board, knowing that thousands of others have done the same thing, suffered the same problem, sent away and re-received. But you can’t shake some egotistical assurance that your archived email, your novel in progress and half-written stories and tentative wedding guest lists are the ones the whole Apple staff will pore over, read through intercom speakers and pin to cafeteria bulletin boards, because paranoia is the boldest conceit of them all.

Rather Be In Love or Rather Be Rich?

Funny show last night on Country Music TV -- The 40 Sexiest Videos -- and they kept posting the results to a poll they did.

One of the questions was:

Would you rather be in LOVE or rather be RICH?

The results were pretty easy to predict:

LOVE: 96%
RICH: 4%

Sex, Money and Meaning

From George Kinder's The Seven Stages of Money Maturity, some interesting passages about money and sex:

This same pain ... came up again and again during my teenage years, particularly whenever I heard the car songs, like the Beach Boy's "Little Deuce Coupe," that lauded the car-centered culture of the late 1950's and early 1960's. These songs centered on cars, but I knew what they were really about -- girls, and how to get them. I didn't have the money to buy a car, so I felt as if I had little chance to meet and win the girl of my dreams. I resented my own poverty, and I resented the boys who came from families rich enough to buy cars and get girls. I resented girls too for responding to a symbol as shallow as eight cylinders sheathed in two-tone and chrome.

Sex, Money, and Meaning

Given the intimacy of our painful experiences around money, it is hardly surprising to realize that money and sex are profoundly interwoven. Both money and sex arise as powerful issues during adolescence and early adulthood, the period of life when our identities are most in flux and formation. Although both sex and money attract us, they are laden too with longing and pain.

The pain around both is so intense that sex and money are the two most common causes of divorce. They are also frequent subjects of internal fantasy and thought. Remarkably, we actually think about money more than sex.

Since 1972 Money Magazine has been conducting its "Having It All Survey" an annual nationwide opinion poll on what Americans are feeling, thinking and doing about money. The finding are revealing. In 1997 respondents said they thought more about money than sex by a margin of 47 percent to 19 percent ...

I Walk The Line

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes open all the time
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because your mine, I walk the line.

I find it very very easy to be true.
I find myself alone when the day is through.
Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fool for you.
Because your mine, I walk the line.

As sure as night is dark and day is light
I keep you on my mind, both day and night.
And happiness I've known proves that it's right.
Because your mine, I walk the line.

You've got a way to keep me on your side.
You give me cause for love that I can't hide.
For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide.
Because your mine, I walk the line.

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine.
I keep my eyes open all the time.
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds.
Because your mine, I walk the line.

Conway Twitty, Lefty Frizell, The Man In Black

Saw an interesting bio thing on Country Music TV yesterday. I happen to love country music -- especially the old stuff like Lefty Frizell.

Conway Twitty was a real hotty and how can you not love Johnny Cash?

Books At The Beach

There are so many good new books to read this summer. I love reading in the summer -- under a tree, at the beach, in a hammock -- can't be beat. What a gorgeous weekend it was!

Andrew Sullivan mentions this great biography by Craig Seligman of two of my favorite writers, Pauline Kael and Susan Sontag.

Amy's Cool New Blog

Thoughts in Random Patterns has opened its doors for business. Thinking of that wouldn't it be cool to have a blog shingle to hang out like the shop signs they used to hang out in old English towns. What would a blog sign look like? Maybe a hand holding a pen?

Anyway, Amy's blog is cool, check it out. She wants to know more about other writer's blogs, since she's a novelist and fiction writer. I'm going to think on that and add some links for her.

What The Hive Knows

Steve Jurvetson has posted a very interesting piece about complexity in insect colonies. Check this out:

For example, the hive will learn lessons (e.g., don’t attack the termites) over long periods of time – longer than the life span of the ants themselves. The hive itself is a locus of learning, not just individual ants.

Cape Cod

Cape Cod National Seashore
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Father's Day Without A Father

We certainly don't have much support or understanding on Father's Day and Mother's Day for people who've lost a parent. The non-stop marketing of the holidays can really get you down. There is no simple way to both celebrate the parent you had and grieve them. America's not too good on grieving I find.

As an adult without my mom and dad alive anymore, I can handle it, but my heart really does go out to kids who have lost a parent and the many references to the holidays in school, by friends, by other groups they come into contact with -- church, girl scouts, boy scouts, you name it -- it's just plain tough for them.

Next time you casually ask a kid "What are you getting your daddy for Father's Day?" only to find out they don't have a father, think about it.

What It Was Like

This is thing I remember about my dad's last day. I wrote it in April 2002. Pop, I miss you.

Can I talk about this? It's a little grizzly, a little scary. Turn back now if you like. It's about what happened when my dad died last Tuesday morning (4.9.02).

Over the weekend, he had been very ill in the ICU with an infection — septis — which is a poisoning of the blood. It's rough. Very hard to come back from. Dire.

It makes your body shake and shiver. So my very tall, once very athletic, handsome dad, looked like a very skinny shivering rabbit, his frail paws clutching the sheets, tubes and needles and IV's and lines jammed into him everywhere. The nurses and the doctors were doing everything they could, but my dad looked more like their science experiment than a person. It was a heartbreaker.

We were there many hours, as time would melt and pool, sometimes flying by, sometimes leaden, always sad and surreal. By early Monday morning, we'd summoned all the siblings who lived out of town to make sure they could get there if they wanted to see him one last time. The doctors were still trying to keep him going, but he wasn't responding to 4 days worth of their efforts with antibiotics and everything else they could come up with. His blood pressure was something dreadful like 60/40, a number I'd never seen.

My dad, now 83, had never wanted to be on life support and we had it in writing from a time in his 70's when he was sharp as a tack. He had a "Do Not Resuscitate" order on his chart. Still, we thought we would have to tell the doctors to just give it up and let him go.

It was wrenching. It was like being forced to kill someone. My sister and I were prepared to tell the doctors Monday morning, but in fact, the doctors told us they thought there really was no hope and had we considered "comfort care" — which means letting him die naturally. They did us a favor by suggesting it and supporting our decision to do that. They let us off the hook. You can't make a decision like that without thinking, did I let him go or did I kill him?

By noon, all my family had decided together in a dingy little waiting room, decorated with someone else's lung xrays, that we should let him go. They remove all the tubes, IV's, catheters, everything. At last, he was free of all the apparatus. They gave him more than enough morphine to be very comfortable.

It was a little like inducing labor for a pregnant woman. You know what will happen, you just don't know WHEN. But as joyous as the birth of a baby can be, this waiting turned us all to stone, but we knew we had to stick by him.

We all stayed until late, but finally I was just too exhausted, so I went home around 6:00pm to take care of my son and husband. I felt like a rat doing it, but I knew I had to.

I actually slept that night — not well, but better than I expected to. I woke like a shot at 4:45am Tuesday morning. I got dressed, out the door and to the hospital by 5:45am. Per usual procedure, I had to call into the ICU to get permission to see him, but ask first if he'd made it through the night. The nurse said he'd made it through the night comfortably, whatever the hell that meant.

I went in. I was the only one there with him. He was breathing with difficulty, sucking each breathe, as if his last — which of course they were. I talked to him, held his hand, prayed. The nurse saw him stir and told me he knew I was there. At about 6:30am, his breathing slowed, and since I'd been with my mom when she died, I knew what was coming. I was just quiet with him. I told him mom really missed him, it was all right to go.

Do you wonder if there is a soul? I don't. You can feel it fly out of the room. I did with my mom. And I did with my dad. It's beyond religious. It's primal and basic. It's a lively vital force of nature that has gone out of the body it once animated. I knew when he went. I was happy for him.

The young nurse came in in a bit of a fluster. She seemed to require scientific proof. I said, "It's okay, I know he's gone." She rushed out and got a stethoscope to check his heart. I thought she was so stupid, anyone could see he was gone. It's as if we are hardwired to see death, know it and then turn away from it — tend to the babies and children with their great silly liveliness.

She nodded yes and said, "I'll get the doctor." I sat down in a chair like a lump. I was alone with him. Why me, Dad? Why was I the only one there? I suppose it was an honor, perhaps I could handle it best? I don't know. I sat quietly until the doctor came. He was kind. I was crying. He asked me to step out in the waiting room while they tended to my dad — "tended to the body", no, they didn't say that, thank goodness A nurse let me use the phone to call my husband who was getting my son ready for school and then, I called my sisters.

In the waiting room, there was a funeral on CNN, by satellite from London, the Queen Mother had died. It was great to hear them talk about how much fun she'd had, how she loved to dance — very similar to my Dad. It was a wonderful thing to watch. I watched it for an hour, glued to it, me and Christiane Amanpour, watching the lovely hearse. I was waiting for my other sisters and their husbands to come over to the hospital. They arrived and I was glad not be alone anymore.

My dad did not want to die at home, but appreciated being in the hospital. My mom was quite the opposite and glad to be at home in her final days. I'm glad they were both able to find the comfort of the passing they wanted. And also that we could be there.

Father's Day

Thinking about my dad. Miss him. So this will be the third Father's Day without him.

I was thinking about this piece I wrote right after his death. I'm so glad I was with him when he passed away, an odd honor when all is said and done.

That one was kindof sad, but I like this one too, reminds me of how he dragged up off on these crazy summer vacations sometimes, and winter ones to Florida.

Anyway, here's why I love men. They are brave. They are constantly called upon to be brave. It doesn't seem fair. They are expected to do things like kill bugs on the wall of summer cottages. They are expected to have flares in the trunks of their cars. They are expected to be strong and hold other people when they cry. They are expected to do such hard things. They are expected to get jobs and make money. Women want them to be more emotional, or SO WE SAY, but hate it when they are overly emotional. They are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Especially these days.

Been thinking a lot about all the kind things my dad did for me -- moving me in and out of dorms, apartments, jobs. Helping me buy cars. So many things and he was just a man, that's all.

I love the way they get up in the morning and shave -- how unpleasant that must be. I love the way they sweat and how it smells. I love the way they look in a tie, a nice leash you can grab and bring them up close fast when you get the urge to kiss them. I like the way you'll see a guy on the street and his tie catches the wind and flaps in his face with a little slap. I like their big hands and big feet, makes you feel safe.

I like their crazy projects -- they do a lot of projects these men. I like the way they read the paper. I love the ones who still carry cloth hankerchiefs. I like sitting next to one in a meeting, peeking at the hair on the back of his hand, then on his wrist, then on his forearm, his sleeve rolled up and then trying to imagine how hairy he is under all those clothes. I love the bald ones too, especially them, they are fearless. I love the way men get up in front of a room and make some super boring Powerpoint slides actually slightly interesting. I like the way their hair sticks straight up sometimes. I like the way they get all moony and sloppy over watching Little League on a summer evening. I like the way they drive off with the family early on a holiday weekend in a stationwagon for some silly historic trip to Sturbridge Village. I like the way they let their kids hang all over them like they are a climbing structure in the playground. I like the way they worry about their families. I like the way cherish their old ratty tee-shirts. I love men.

Sullivan Again

Andrew Sullivan has a lot of interesting things to say today -- but this one in particular is not to be missed.

HAND OVER THE MEMOS: Given what we now know about Abu Ghraib, given the murders and rapes of several inmates in U.S. custody, given the fact that the U.S. now allows for "disappearing" prisoners in order to hide them from the Red Cross, is it not incumbent on the administration to release all memos detailing what this administration regards as permissible "coercive interrogation techniques?" (By the way, isn't that term in and of itself chilling? Its plain meaning is the use of violence or the threat of violence against inmates. When a government resorts to this kind of euphemism, you know something fishy is going on.) We really do need to see two in particular:

[T]he documents include a memo from Mr. Rumsfeld to Gen. James T. Hill, the senior officer of the Southern Command, dated April 2003 and titled, "Coercive interrogation techniques that can be used with approval of the Defense Secretary." Another memo dated Jan. 4, 2004, written by the top legal adviser to Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the senior American commander in Iraq, and sent to military intelligence and police personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison, is titled, "New plan to restrict Red Cross access to Abu Ghraib."

In the first, we can find out what kinds of torture or abuse Rumsfeld has deemed legit. In the second, we can find out how the policy of restricting Red Cross access might have contributed to the horror of Abu Ghraib. If the administration wants to say it has never condoned torture, and that Abu Ghraib was the work of a handful of rogues, these memos could prove their case. So why won't they release them? Hmmm.

He never lets anyone off the hook over there.

Next Week Is Barbeque Week

My son and I are doing an intensive at-home learn-to-cook seminar and he wants our next project to be all about grilling. I can't wait.

Eating Out

I'm coming around to realizing how much money I've been wasting eating out. Also, my son is so keen on learning to cook, he never wants to eat out anymore. He wants to stay home and learn to cook.

I had a few unbelievable experiences this week with cooking at home.

Last Friday night I taught him how to make a classic French vinaigrette dressing -- vinegar, oil, mustard, garlic, spices. He was so excited about being able to throw the stuff together -- as I've written before, I wonder if I have a chef on my hands here.

He made a batch and insisted on saving it in the fridge that evening. Not a small batch.

Saturday morning I wake to the smell of vinaigrette dressing. He's up at 6:00am, making MORE of it, all his ingredients lined up on the counter. The boy is really into cooking.

Meanwhile, yesterday, before he got home from school at noon (my kid's elementary school has a half day every Thursday -- working moms be damned) I was knocking around the kitchen trying to decide what to make him for lunch. I had a surplus of eggs, so I thought I'd hard boil a few.

I got the eggs cooked and made up a batch of egg salad -- which I make more like deviled eggs (w/mustard and vinegar again) and had it ready to make him an egg salad sandwich when he came home.

Thing is, I made the big mistake of tasting some myself. It was so good. I nearly flipped. Such a simple thing and just so damned good. Plain homemade food is hard to beat. I had forgotten how good plain old egg salad can be.

This is another funny thing that's been happening with him and me. He is in that "MOM YOU'RE THE BEST COOK IN THE WHOLE WORLD" thing lately when I made something completely simple and, to my mind, boring. It's touching, but it seems a gigantic 9-year old histrionic overreaction. What he really loves (and so do I) is spending all the time in the kitchen together learning to cook and having fun.

I made grilled cheese with bacon that he was over the moon for. I also had him try some of his vinaigrette on fresh steamed green beans this week and he was cramming them in his mouth like candy. (Reminds me of how much I love these.) And boiled red baby potatoes with butter and salt -- you've have thought it was caviar or something.

Whatever the case, I'm finding the combination of simple fresh food, cooked in a simple way to be so much more delicious than most of the food I was getting when I was rather distractedly eating out all the time, it's hard to compare the two.

Seven Stages Of Money Maturity

I'm reading the most amazing book. Seven Stages Of Money Maturity by George Kinder. I'll be blogging about it over the next few days. It makes you completely rethink your relationship to money, especially how you acquired those ideas from your family when you were a kid.

Compared to other personal finance books that offer specific financial steps and planning strategies, this book focuses on the search for spiritual meaning in wealth. Kinder, a certified financial planner and former tax accountant, focuses on three composite figures, based on real people, to illustrate the seven psychological stages people go through in their relationship to money: Innocence (not knowing anything), Pain (discovering that we need to work to earn money), Knowledge (of such skills as saving and investing), Understanding (more sophisticated emotional wisdom about greed and inequality), Vigor (energy to reach financial goals), Vision (directing vigor outward, perhaps to a community) and Aloha (altruism without expectation of gain of any kind). Kinder provides useful questionnaires in which he urges readers to reflect on various questions: What are your three earliest memories of money? Why and how did money first enter your relationship with your mother, your father? While readers comfortable with spiritual self-exploration may enjoy Kinders approach, they will still have to turn to more traditional personal finance books for nitty-gritty money advice.

-- Publisher's Weekly, Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

I took it out of the library -- part of a new game I'm playing with myself about NOT buying books. Books are costly, also books are cluttering up my house so totally, I'm trying to curb my habit to bring in more and more and more of them. I'm tripping over them.

Ironically, this book is probably more worth OWNING than about 100 other books I own. Still I like knowing the new library in town is there for my great borrowing pleasure and they are happy to house the books and I don't have to.

Rance Blog

I'm sure you've been reading Rance's blog. If not start here for some background.

Here's his profile.

And here's his blog's homepage.

Can't America Stop Being Thin And Rich?

Look at this -- two books I noticed on Amazon's Bestseller Lists -- one about being rich and one about being thin.

Maybe they're the greatest books in the whole wide world, but sometimes I wonder if America would simply crumble if we all stopped obsessing about getting little thinner and a little richer every day. Isn't there anything else that matters? Is this the most boring country in the world?

Amazon Sales Rank #1

Do you know what's currently No. 1 on Amazon. I bet you can guess.

Official Site

I was looking up something about Hillary Clinton today on Google and I realized I have never actually visited her official site. She is written about everywhere. Everyone has an opinion on her, but I've never actually seen her version of herself on the web.

Splish Splash

The town pool is open now and on this very hot day, it was a blast to get some swimming in before the baseball game tonight.
















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Put Me In Coach

Tonight was a big sudden death little league game -- if my kid's team won they were still in the playoffs. If they lost -- they were out.

They played a great game -- and he did well too. But during the last inning, when it was at a fever pitch, and everything and everyone was focused on the baseball diamond, I found him giving four girls a seesaw ride and I have to say, he sure has always been keen on girls, right from very early on.

It was a beautiful night. They won and they'll play again Saturday. I also got to talk to some friends in New York at Scoble's Blog Dinner, so I wasn't giving my full attention to the game either. What the heck. It's only a game. Posted by Hello

Overview of the Enemy

The 9/11 commission documents -- first one. And the second one.

Think Creatively

This is pretty scary.

Veritas 'R Us

Nobody knows the truth like Harvard. They invented it!

"I believe so strongly in the weblog world, that we should be grounded in truth."

Me too! Me too! Well said! We love the truth here at Halley's Comment.

Like what's all this baloney about Dave Winer and Userland being such separate enties? Last I looked he'd plunked down his brother, Peter Winer, to really run things. Don't mention that to Scott Young. And just for the record, I happen to think Peter's a great guy.

The tricky thing about the truth is that it doesn't take well to being constantly revised. Oddly, many people try to revise the truth, but it all tends to come out in the wash, doesn't it?

Sunday Latin Dance Class

I may have to take this Latin Dance Class. Boy, oh boy, does it sound fun. Living La Vida Loca!

Whole New Ballgame

I feel so good today -- for the first time in a while since I was battling a summer cold that's finally gone. What a difference. And what a beautiful day.

Accordion Guy's Pick-up Lines

It is a little tricky if you have to go out and buy a dog first, I think.

George Washington Slept Here

George Washington Slept Here. (My son's costume for his presentation on the "Father Of Our Country" at school Thursday. His dad and uncle pulled this beauty together.)
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Parent's Appreciation Day

So today is Parent's Appreciation Day in my son's class. Sounds nice, doesn't it? But here's the thing. His teacher sent out a notice two weeks ago that THURSDAY, not today TUESDAY, would be Parent's Appreciation Day. We got a paper notice -- not email -- that arrived with the homework last night, mentioning that the date had changed to this morning. Less than 12 hours notice.

As for appreciation, parents really appreciate not having their calendars yanked around at the last minute. I have a lot of flexibility to be able to participate at my son's events at school, but most parents don't. This means many parents won't be able to be there today since they can't be expected to flip meetings and other work events at the last minute, especially when they've probably asked favors to be able to attend Parent's Appreciation Day this coming Thursday -- when it will NOT be taking place.

We also had the kid's Biography Projects due today -- but that changed dates too. My guy is playing George Washington in class, so his dad rushed to get a costume all ready for him today, while I prepped him on his memorized schpiel about how he won at Yorktown and etc. But, surprise, after busting a gut to get it done on time, they rearranged that too and now instead of Tuesday, he doesn't need to be George until Thursday.

It gets a little tricky this parenting business.

Need A New Phone

I definately need a new cell phone, but they seem so complicated now. I think I'd pay MORE for a phone with FEWER features. The fancy phones presume I actually have time to learn how to use them -- screw that!

Here's an announcement about a new bunch of Nokias. I find if I avoid hanging out with cool A-List bloggers and don't have to see all their new toys, I can avoid severe attacks of toy envy and thereby put off buying expensive new gadgets I don't have time to learn how to operate. I think going with some basic technologies like pen and pencil suit me fine.

Time Magazine On Bloggers

Did you ever think you'd hear Time Magazine say this:

"Bloggers are unconstrained by such journalistic conventions as good taste, accountability and objectivity -- and that can be a good thing."

Thanks to Scoble for the link to Meet Joe Blog

Blog Murder

Is there a reason Dave Winer just killed 3000 blogs -- like this one (Tom Matrullo's) and this one (Dean Landsman's) and this one (Craig's Booknotes)-- and no one, including Slashdot has the balls to write about it?!

At least he's taken the gloves off -- if you thought he was a cuddly teddy bear friend of all bloggers -- you might want to rethink that.

[Editor's note (6/18/04): The text at the different blogs I linked to above keeps changing, so I've removed the links. When I wrote this, this was the language that was posted at Tom's, Dean's and Craig's blogs:

This site is for people with sites that used to be hosted at weblogs.com.

1. I can't afford to host these sites. I don't want to start a site hosting business. These are firm, non-negotiable statements.

2. There are several commercial Manila hosting companies, including weblogger.com. Thomas Creedon maintains a list of commercial and free hosting services. If you want to have your site hosted more cheaply, consider the possibility of forming a co-op of some kind.

3. If you want a copy of your weblogs.com-hosted website, post a comment here, include the URL of the site. Sometime after July 1, 2004, I will export all the requested sites, without their membership groups. You can then download them and do with them as you wish. I won't export them before July 1, and this is a one-time offer.

And if you want to take the time to read what I wrote -- I never called anyone a "murderer" as some have claimed -- and my question was why no one else had written about it. The people I was taking to task were others in the community who hadn't bothered to write about it. And I'm glad that now they have.]

SuperNova Will Rock

I know this year's SuperNova will rock and I hope it doesn't rock as much as it did LAST YEAR -- when a wild evening of Joi Ito partying ended with me in the emergency room -- but that's another story. Thank goodness for Liz Lawley, is all I can say. No high heel histrionics this year. And with Joi attending virtually, everyone will be safer.

Check out the agenda -- it's killer.

I'd love to have been there but Thursday the 24th is my son's last day of school and there was no way I could be away at that time. Besides, I'll probably get to visit by IRC anyway, what with the 3-hour time shift and all.

And I'll be in the Bay Area soon enough when I'm speaking at BLOGON at Berkeley end of July.

Blush

Who would have thought you could blush in so many different ways?

Gauguin At The MFA

Looking forward to seeing this. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts has a new restaurant too, I hear.


















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Storyteller

Business Week asked me about blogs and business recently and I still think the thing I thought from the beginning -- blogs are all about telling stories.

In fact, I think they are about the most perfect medium for telling stories ever dreamed up.

They are like little installment novels -- serial fiction -- bit by bit recounting an ongoing story.

Thing is ... business is all about stories too, but I think we want to take it more seriously, so we shy away from saying it's just a big soap opera. Because of that, it's hard for a mongrel form like a blog to seem "business-like" but try it for a while -- it's not that big a stretch -- blogs will be the best way to tell the stories of business you've ever seen. Specifically, they will be enormously well-matched to letting sales and marketing folks tell their tales.

Where's My Camera?

After all those pix in the last few days, I've somehow managed to misplace my camera. Weird. What the heck did I do with it ... hmmm ... it's gotta be around here somewhere.

There Is A God In Heaven

Just found out some very NOISY neighbors are moving. Thank God. Maybe my attempts to disco them out of here worked. I was giving as good as I was getting -- except their noise was always from 11PM and later -- pure hell for an early-to-bed-early-to-rise girl like me.

Always Let 'Em Smell Your Sweat

Ok, maybe you know this already, but I'm not too keen on deodorant. In fact, I think we're about 3 - 5 years from gigantic lawsuits based on the link between breast cancer and deododant -- of course, this is purely speculation, not science and I might be totally wrong -- but I can NOT imagine directly applying those chemicals to your lymph nodes every day for a lifetime is any good for you.

Meanwhile, back to my subject. I like to smell people -- their real smell -- especially men. And I only use deodorant rarely. I prefer soap and water and clean clothes and if I sweat a little -- big damned deal -- at least I smell like a human woman. It's my experience that more guys are turned on by my smell than turned off. I'm willing to run the risk. If they think I should take a shower, I'm happy to have them join me for one. Always more fun with two.

That's the thing. We are real, we are human, we do sweat. I especially like smelling people sweat if they are afraid. Tells you the truth about them. A person's smell is a lot of key data about them. One big download of information we spend much too much time trying to hide.

Step AWAY From My Computer!

It happens every time I let my kid touch my computer. I hate to be a bitch, but, invariably he does something that totally screws up my computer if I let him use it. The problem is -- (I forget between sessions) -- that I should NEVER EVER let him near it. It was easier when he was 6 or 7 years old, but now that he's nearly 9, he feels it's his unalienable right to be online all the time. All good and well, but it's my LIVELIHOOD, it's not a toy and it's not a game console. He's got an iMac, but tells me he wants a powerbook and doesn't want to be offline. Christ, I've created a monster.

Again, today, as I was actually allowed to use the TV for an hour (otherwise it's all his) to watch the Tom Peters thing on innovation, I let him use my computer to play games and God knows what he did, but the toolbar was up instead of down, there was something else going on where Help text launched on opening a browser window, something happened with the keyboard so I couldn't even login to email and there must have been some big gob of junk downloaded when he wasn't watching, it's slow as molasses.

Electric Ladyland From Japan

You could really get into this stuff and end up with quite a collection.

Going Japanese

Just read this on a site and I'm looking into it. Very interesting:

Back in the 70's and early 80's when the quality of American and even English LP's suffered from limitations in the vinyl supply caused by problems in the oil market, the audiofile standard became the Japanese LP. These were pressed on a heavy super vinyl banned in many countries due to the high PCP content in the factories where they were made. These were packed in heavy cardboard sleeves, with inserts including the lyrics in both English (if it was an English language artist) and Japanese. This may have had something to do with Japanese law requiring Japanese lyrics to be reviewed by censors

33 1/3 RPM

Something about old LP's -- had a great conversation with a dear friend about them last week that I wanted to write about here.

How to start. Okay. First of all, when we guys were growing up and our music came packaged in these big 33 1/3 RPM albums, you got a wonderful graphic with the music -- this large cardboard square to hold onto, as you sat in your bellbottoms, or spread out on your belly next to the turntable to listen -- there was a terrific piece of graphic art that accompanied the music. The tiny CD and jewel box just don't come close to the experience you had with the big album covers.

Often as not, there were two-part albums that opened up and you had very large gorgeous pictures of the artist, or other wonderful graphics, bigger and more impressive than any magazine -- ask a graphic artist who worked on album covers -- they know what a sad day it was when they stopped making 33 1/3 covers.

You really got turned on by the pictures or illustrations on those covers -- it was nearly 50% of the experience of the record. My friend was telling me how erotic this Carly Simon album was for him -- and I had to agree. Remember the artwork on the Santana cover? The fantasy drawings on Moody Blues albums? The montage of Beatles heads -- which album was it? -- with the unidentified Beatle who only showed the back of his head. We all spent a lot of time sucking up the images on those albums.

The White Album of the Beatles was shocking and avantgarde when it came out for precisely this reason -- cover art was getting so exquisite, there almost no place to go but WHITE. It was brilliant. And let me remind you again, it was BIG -- 12 square inches.

Also, the covers often showed the artists at nearly life-sized proportions. There's been a lot written about how we psychologically "befriend" a likeness that is the same size as our own head. I think this was at work with old LP's -- you didn't just add an album to your collection -- you invited a cool person into your house.

Here some links on the subject and just wanted to end this by thanking my friend for showing me his cool collection of LP albums. They were great to see, wonderful to touch, and sweet to remember.
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Tivo Tom At Noon

Tom Peters is on at noon in Boston today on PBS, so if you're in, don't miss it and if you plan to be out, TIVO it and you can catch it later.

Killer Title

I mean ... how can you go wrong with a title like this?

I have to say though this characterization of banana versus papaya is a little unfair. Are there value judgements being made here? Papaya is so much more luscious, delicious, inviting.

Thanks for the link from Gawker.

Muffins On A Sunday

We're making muffins. I can't get over how much my kid likes to cook. Is it a 9-year-old thing and he won't be at all interested in a year or two? Or have I got a mini chef on my hands? I've been meeting a lot of men lately who love to cook -- so perhaps I'm raising one of them?










Photo credit: Williams Sonoma

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Yes, I finally did get a camera. I don't know what took me so long.

I was afraid the pictures might take over the words here. What with that whole "worth 1000 words" business. You can never be too careful.







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Bricklinology

Dan Bricklin's been writing interesting stuff over at his blog -- no surprise. I can't even tell you which piece to link to because they are all interesting. Read about his class at HBS and the pony.

Also, the interview with Malcom Gladwell is excellent and I have to say, MG has quite a head of hair, a key datapoint with which I was not familiar. I liked his writing before, but this changes everything. Now, I am mad for the man.




Photo Credit: D. Bricklin

Welcome to my backyard. This was earlier in the year, it's more leafy now.
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Posting pix just got very very easy. I've been using Picasa to chat with friends -- it's like IM with pictures and so much fun. But now that it's integrated into Blogger, it makes posting pix a piece of cake.
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David Weinberger and me somewhere ... oh yeah ... at a Dean rally I think.
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Stealth disco'ing Joi Ito at Bloggercon. I don't know what got into me. Something about the seriousness of Harvard Law School and the extremely good manners of Asians -- I couldn't resist. Actually AKMA made me do it. Always good to blame pagan outbursts on Episcopalian priests I find.
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Blurry pic of me without glasses.
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Andre from Ping and me from Venus -- no, wait -- well anyway -- you get the idea. This is in the lobby of General Catalyst Partners in Cambridge.
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Playing with BloggerBot and HELLO from Picasa. Yep, these are my feet.
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Good Old Google

Whoops! I did a search for Elle Magazine and they properly put the French version first -- that is where it started -- and then the American version.

And a piece about girls gone wild on internet dating sites -- not what I was looking for but kinda interesting.

And you can definately see Christina's nipple ring in her pix in this month's Elle.

Samedi Soir

Yes, it's Saturday Night, almost.

Identity Fraud

You must have read about this. A few years around someone swiped my ATM/Debit card and caused me a lot of trouble. The worst thing was finding out how little they can actually do to get these bums.

Looks like it's happened again. I'm ATM card-less which is really a big pain-in-the-neck. You never notice how much you depend on your card until it's not valid -- especially on weekends. You can't even get into the ATM glass booth to use your card which you suddenly remember doesn't work anyway. Cash is king.

Tricky

Loving this videogame. SSX Tricky!

Bright Bright Bright And Sunny

Beautiful day here. One of the 5 Boston days worth keeping ... the rest of the time ... well, let's just say I'm still carrying my back up mittens in my bag. It was 40 degrees and 90 degrees last week at different times. Go figure.

Goofy Is Good

Yes, Suw and I are chatting on IRC and we say, goofy is good, right? Yes, yes, goofy is good.

Vinegar & Oil

My son doesn't like to cook a little, he likes to cook a lot. This morning he wanted me to show him the classic French vinaigrette dressing I learned in my schoolgirl days at university in France. They mix a mean vinaigrettte over there.

Mustard
Oil
Vinegar
Garlic
salt and spices to taste

We mixed up a big batch this morning to eat on our salad tonight. Actually he wanted to make us a big salad for breakfast, but I put the brakes on that.

Reagan Legacy For Bush

Hugh Hewitt gives us some pointers to pieces about how this week of Reagan mourning, eulogizing and celebrating will play out for or against Bush in this election year.

Hugh is a conservative to be sure and even suggests in this post how Andrew Sullivan is one of "the folks who has turned on Bush", which I don't agree with. Sullivan is simply willing to be both laudatory and critical of Bush's strengths and weaknesses respectively, giving him a lot more credibility to my mind. I appreciate Sullivan's knowledge of how Reagan and Thatcher played out their game on the world stage, as he has a bi-focal point of view -- both British and American -- on that time.

Instant Pudding At The Beach

What a week for Instapundit to go to the beach, but goodness knows Glenn deserves a break. I expect he'll have even better things to say about Reagan and the Republicans after a seaside rest, but I sure miss him.

I'm very interested to see how Reagan's legacy creates a strategic backdrop for Bush in this election year. I wonder if this mass nostalgia about Republicans of Yesteryear will help or hurt Bush. I'll go dig up some writers on this subject. I'm sure there are many.

Sullivan On Reagan A Must Visit

Per usual, Andrew Sullivan is great on Reagan today, not that I always agree with him, but he's always a must visit to my mind.

Day Off

I'm surprised at the number of people I know who've got today off from work to observe this day of national mourning. Ronald Reagan's funeral begins at 11:30am.

Te besa y te desnudo con su baile demencial

She's into superstition, black cats and voodoo dolls
I feel a premonition that girl's gonna make me fall
She's into new sensation, new kicks and candlelight
She's got a new addiction for every day and night

She'll make you take your clothes off and go dancing in the rain
She'll make you live her crazy life
But she'll take away your pain
Like a bullet to your brain
Come On

Upside inside out
Livin la Vida loca
She'll push and pull you down
Livin la Vida loca
Her lips are devil red
And her skin's the color mocha
She will wear you out
Livin la Vida loca
Come On
Livin la Vida loca
Come On
Livin la Vida loca

Woke up in New York City in a funky cheap hotel
She took my heart and she took my money
She must have slipped me a sleeping pill
She never drinks the water and makes you order French champagne
And once you've had a taste of her you'll never be the same
She'll make you go insane

Upside inside out
Livin la Vida loca
She'll push and pull you down
Livin la Vida loca
Her lips are devil red
And her skin's the color mocha
She will wear you out
Livin la Vida loca
Come On
Livin la Vida loca
Come On
Livin la Vida loca

She'll make you take your clothes off and go dancing in the rain
She'll make you live her crazy life
But she'll take away your pain
Like a bullet to your brain

Upside inside out
Livin la Vida loca
She'll push and pull you down
Livin la Vida loca
Her lips are devil red
And her skin's the color mocha
She will wear you out
She's livin la Vida loca
Livin la Vida loca

She'll Make You Take Your Clothes Off And Go Dancing In The Rain

La reina de la noche
La diosa del vudú
Yo no podré salvarme
¿Podrás salvarte tú?
La tela de la araña,
La uña del dragón
Te lleva a los infiernos
Ella es tu adicción...

Te besa y te desnudo
con tu baile demencial,
Tú cierras los ojitos
y te dejas arrastrar,
Tú te dejas arrastrar...

Ella que será
She's livin' la vida loca
Y te dolerá
Si de verdad te toca
Ella es tu final
Vive la vida loca
Vive la vida loca
She's livin' la vida loca

Se fue a New York City
A la torre de un hotel
Te ha robado la cartera
Se ha llevado hasta tu piel
Por eso no bebía
De tu copa de licor
Por eso te besaba
Con narcotico sabor,
Es el beso de calor


Te besa y te desnuda
con su baile demencial
Tú cierras los ojitos
y te dejas arrastrar
Tú te dejas arrastrar
Ella que será
She's livin' la vida loca,
Y te dolerá
Si de verdad te toca
Ella es tu final,
Vive la vida loca
Ella te dirá
Vive la vida loca

Esta vida loca.....