Recently in miscellaneous Category

It's been a year since I put up this site.  My original thought in doing so was that I was involved in so many projects, I needed a clearinghouse for all of them, and a place for thoughts, links, etc. that wasn't specific to any of them.  Well, that hasn't changed.

A fantastic extended essay from Atlantic blogger-columnist Andrew Sullivan on the history, construct and psychology of blogging.  It's not written from afar but rather from the epicenter, as Andrew has been blogging before it was called that since 2000.

As you read a log, you have the curious sense of moving backward in time as you move forward in pages—the opposite of a book. As you piece together a narrative that was never intended as one, it seems—and is—more truthful. Logs, in this sense, were a form of human self-correction. They amended for hindsight, for the ways in which human beings order and tidy and construct the story of their lives as they look back on them. Logs require a letting-go of narrative because they do not allow for a knowledge of the ending. So they have plot as well as dramatic irony—the reader will know the ending before the writer did. 

Anyone who has blogged his thoughts for an extended time will recognize this world. We bloggers have scant opportunity to collect our thoughts, to wait until events have settled and a clear pattern emerges. We blog now—as news reaches us, as facts emerge. This is partly true for all journalism, which is, as its etymology suggests, daily writing, always subject to subsequent revision. And a good columnist will adjust position and judgment and even political loyalty over time, depending on events. But a blog is not so much daily writing as hourly writing. And with that level of timeliness, the provisionality of every word is even more pressing—and the risk of error or the thrill of prescience that much greater.

DFJ Frontier, an early stage venture capitalist affiliated with Draper Fisher Jurvetson, operates out of Santa Barbara and Sacramento.  They have a very useful "Team Building Tactics" PDF, with great info on hiring new employees, interview tactics, what to look out for and more.

Julie Foudy, who played 17 years for the US National Team, was named to Soccer America's College Team of The Century, and is an inspiration to millions of young girls across the US, is now an advocate for women's rights and children's rights, an online personality for ESPN, and has added ESPN 'blogger' to her resume.

It so happens that Julie and I went to 5th through 8th grade together, and throughout high school I'd bump into her at the various sports events, as we were in the same league. (Of course, I was behind the mic as the PA announcer for our school's varsity sports, while she was winning All-Everything awards for the Mission Viejo High Diablos)

I recently went through and organized a bunch of my childhood photos, and thought I would share our 6th grade Student Council photo. Left arrow points at me, right arrow points at Julie. I kept the image rather small so as not to embarrass either of us too much. That bowl cut I'm rocking doesn't exactly get cooler the closer you get to it.

I'm a UCLA grad, UCLA hoops fan, and love what the Bruins are doing this year.  Yesterday, UCLA took apart undefeated Washington St. with stifling defense and a relentless transition game.  Check out sophomore Russell Westbrook on this fast break, where the announcer calls it "another entry for YouTube," referring to a dunk "Westy" had against Cal last week that spread like wildfire on the "Internets".

Here's the obligatory happy new year post.  I took a couple days off from posting here, but did add more content in the Affiliations, News and Biography sections.  Having launched this site less than a month ago, I appreciate having a repository for my professional history, making it much easier to access information than digging it out of a memory box in the closet.

I've also enjoyed using this site as a place to answer questions from friends and clients.  I tend to write fairly well-researched email replies anyway, even for casual inquiries - I may as well archive it in a way that's accessible to myself and others, and it has already saved me time at least once.

I've made two resolutions this year - procrastinate less and exercise more.  I've been making improvement on the first one over the last few months, becoming more efficient with my time.  But it's time to take it to the next level, as you'll see the need for in the coming months.  I'm going to do some workplace experiments with Jason Womack, where we are going to explore different work environments with the intention of changing patterns and processes. 

And exercising more?  That should be a fairly attainable goal, considering how high the ceiling is above my current level (sigh).  Hiking and yoga primarily, with maybe some bicycling and weight lifting thrown in.  I just emailed a PT friend, which was a good first step.

Blessings for an exciting and prosperous 2008...

One of my favorite bands in the world, and not just because I was in another band with two of them back in the day (Bryan the bass player and Bosco the ridiculously good lead guitarist with the cowboy hat).  This is "Atomic Anti-Star" off 50 Cent Haircut's Brood or Change album.