Monthly Archives: October 2008

In Missing Action, Like Who-Wha!

Don’t get me wrong folks, I enjoy this social blog media two point oh stuff, but sometimes the anti-typist world gets the better of my time and requires me to spend free moments sleeping rather than ranting about Valleywag bull nonsense.  Ya dig what I’m sayin’?  For real.

No excuses.

The Edible Crawl for the Cure was a smashing success!  While the gang and I ran through multiple eateries and drinking holes, we simultaneously contributed in part to raise nearly $20K for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  Nicely done! And a special thanks to Ms. Darby Flynn and all the midtown/downtown restaurants that made the event possible.

Too much food and good times left me legless for the Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk the following morning.  (My bad, Bennie Hannah .)  Still, we raised a good bit of cash for this event as well.  Collectively, the event raised more than they’ve been able to count so far, but as a team…well, let’s be honest, I don’t have it in me to tally the sum, and Ben isn’t available to do the math.  I think we made half our goal, though, if I had to guess off the top of my head.

But October is charity event month, or something, so it didn’t stop there.  In past years I _played_ in my company’s golf tournament, but this year I opted for a _volunteer_ role and worked the sinners’ stop along the cart path.  Tequila, Cigars, Beers, and Beer Girls, Oh-My!

2008 Golf Tournament

I leave Sunday for a housing conference in Monterey, then return for a pre-bachelor party the following weekend.  We’re not quite out of the busy woods yet, but we’ll be back, I’m sure of it. Although, I do have to admit my brother will soon be in town, and you’ll see nothing of me then.  So let me keep my fingers crossed and hope I make some time to repair the errors that are WordPress and my Theme combined, as well as set aside a few moments for writing about all that is politically silly and Measure O in Sacra-tamato.

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Web 2.0 Ridiculousness And A Dopey Spat

I’m sure, on some level, that’s in deemed inappropriate for me to be seen laughing at the situation.  I don’t know whether to throw my hands up or hang my head.  Sure, they’re the same thing, but one requires more energy, and I’m in too much pain to do either.  So let’s to a quick low down on what’s been going down.

Calacanis sends out one of his emails saying it’s over for start ups everywhere.  Leaves me jumping for joy.  Ever since that Yammer debacle from TC50(2), the start up world has been a disappointment.  Not having money to throw at every new idea that pops into someone’s head, is probably an okay thing.  Which leads (by correlation, not causation) the VCs to start crying “the sky is falling, don’t throw money at every lamebrain idea.”  Can it be, our wishes are granted.  No more online banking sites for people under the age of double-digits.

So there’s no start up VC money for the new guys, but a bunch of the old guys (late twenties, tops) still have a bunch of money and they decide to take a lavish vacation to Cyprus where they stay at Wall Street power broker Bob Lessin’s get away home to do a very low quality lip dub set poolside to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” which is later released online (surprise) and stirs up a flurry of emotion from the have-nots.  Sorry new start-up kids, you’ll have to wait for the next bubble and, maybe, create a _useful_ service.

Rounding out the senselessness from people who have nothing to complain about is TechCrunch’s very own Michael Arrington throwing a tantrum over rival blogger Dare Obasanjo’s post calling Arrington a horrible name.  Not sure what the name was, but it must have been really bad because Arrington was pissing all over the Twitter stream late Sunday night, shouting at Scoble and Barnes.

I’m left to think this is all a joke of a farce, or something similar, that doesn’t mean much to anyone who isn’t living the Web 2.0 Internet.  But be not afraid, regular people, there is some good to come from all of this, and that’s the Mr. Feldman’s video spoofs to make us laugh.  Head on over to his site and check out some of the humor that’s being passed around via his videos.  Or completley ignore all of this.  The Silicon bubble is of very little consequence to most of us.

Tina Fey Wins The Election For Republicans

Honestly, if voting for McCain and Palin means we get to see Tina Fey doing Palin impersonations for four years, then I’m all for it.  Fey makes Palin likable beyond reason, and when I sit to watch and re-watch all the SNL clips with Fey playing Palin, I sometimes forget which is who and what any of it has to do with the government, which excites me a great deal.  So much so that I’m wanting to get out the vote and make rock.  Or get out the rock and make voters.  Something with a rock and a vote and comedy.

I have no idea how elections are won and what one thing has to do with another when it comes to campaigning and mind washing, or why celebrities think they make a difference with their online viral videos.  No idea at all.  But I do idea that the candidate who is better parodied is the candidate who America chooses.  Maybe it hasn’t always been like this, but it’s been this way for two decades, and I imagine it will continue to be this way.  People like to laugh at jokes they understand.

Tina Fey plays the role of Sarah Palin.  Tina Fey is Funny.  Thus, Sarah Palin is funny so we should all vote for her.  (Maybe it doesn’t work exactly that way.)

All I can say is that I’m planning to know what I’m voting for when the time comes.  Hopefully it’s a bear in a tree safely removed from a harmful situation.  (Ambiguity.)  One of those endangered species types that suffers from strangely-hot weather.

It makes me smile.

Update:10/9/08

Just received (via snail mail) the latest edition of a weekly I subscribe to, and one of its comics is a total rip off of my Fey/Republican joke.  How dare they!  Okay, okay.  Clearly they didn’t steal the idea from me, but the joke was obvious.  I’m slipping.

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Real Human Moments?

I can’t say for sure how human were these real moments, but I can say that Thompology , KORe, and I made our way to Improv Everywhere’s latest MP3 experiment in San Francisco this past weekend held in the beautiful Mission Dolores Park.  The event, or experiment, involves quite a bit of human interaction, but most of it is very brief, and all of it is mostly scripted.  How real can your human moments be when they’re pre-written for you?

Don’t get me wrong, the event was a smashing good time, filled with moments of shaking, smiling, shading, rounded out with a gloriously epic balloon battle.  For forty-five minutes we, thanks to the Improv Everywhere folks, owned the park.  The innocent bystanders, in all their less-than-candid confusion, moved to the edges of the park to witness first hand the fun being had by several hundred MP3 Experiment participants.  Amazing, to say the least.  And for that same forty-five minutes, Thompology, KORe, and I owned the event.

It’s a pleasure to take part in something that one and a few others have spent so much time to orchestrate.  Improv Everywhere took their show on the road and invited anyone and everyone to take part.  All we needed was a colored shirt, a balloon, an umbrella, and a willingness to momentarily  relinquish our free will and restraint.  Sure, no problem.  Any opportunity to interrupt the food-eating of an unsuspecting couple is a registered good time in my book.  High-fives all around and, oh, can I hug your bike before I chase your tiny dog around the park.  Excuse me, I’m living an adventure here, please don’t interrupt.  But do enjoy the show.

I accept that the intent of the gathering is not to meet new people but to perform on a larger stage — I get it, I like it.  Except, I want to do it on my own terms and not in an effort to be anti-whatever.  (They slipped that in there at the end, but we’ll see how they play it on the final cut.)  I would much rather talk to strange people on the sidewalk than play thumb wars in a park with a person being told to engage.  There is nothing frightening or scary about doing what you’re told to do in a public setting that’s more than publicly acceptable.  There’s nothing to lose.  There’s nothing to gain.  I’m left sitting bored.

This isn’t meant as a cut on the Improv folks.  They’ve done a good thing, and they did it very well.  I’d encourage anyone interested or curious to give these guys a chance, interact in one of their shows, and definitely visit their web site to watch some of their past performances.  What I am trying to say, though, is that I expect a whole lot more from myself.  I eat these types of social activities for breakfast.  Meeting new people is not difficult.  Entertaining and confusing unsuspecting folks is not a challenge.  I require more.

Competitive Weight Loss Program

As an aside to my regular happenings, I joined my co-workers in a big fat loser competition.  We started last week and I weighed in at 187.4lbs.  Which is close to my actual naked weight of 180.6lbs.  The competition will last eight weeks (final weigh-in just before Thanksgiving break) and is percentage based.  I’m aiming for a ten pound loss, which is about five and a half percent either way.  (Right?  Someone help me with my math.  Thanks.)  We’ll have to *weight* and see how it goes.  Not sure if 5.5% is enough to be competitive against the rest of the office, but since there are no official rules and anything goes, I plan to bring donuts and cookies.  For them, not for me.

And that should be "big fat-loser", not "big fat loser."  It makes me laugh however you say it.  Which probably means we’re saying it wrong.  But you get the idea.

Wish me luck.  The winner gets $227.50 and second place gets $97.50.

Update: 10/3/08

Thompology has joined the competition .  Although his entry is an unofficial one, this will definitely add some entertainment to the compteition, and probably keep me more motiviated.  (Trash talking in real life is way different than trash talking in the office.)  Game on!  And, good luck.