Decided to go ahead and upgrade now – worked flawlessly. I’m also in the middle of changing themes, so thinks may look a bit scrambled for a bit 
Now running WordPress 3.0 RC1
May 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment
I slept only 7 hours in 3 days (and no, I was not at SXSW)
May 16, 2010 By 2 Comments
Where was I? In Omaha, Nebraska. Yes, you read that right. I was at Big Omaha.
Why didn’t I sleep? Because I was surrounded by amazing people that had amazing stories to share. And I may have shared a few of my own. They were willing to sit in the courtyard of the Magnolia with me from dusk until dawn and share what they knew (and a bit of brew!)
I made many great new friends in Omaha. It is an interesting city – much more interesting than I thought it would be, in fact.
But the conference was awesome. How do you get Matt Mullenweg, Gary Vaynerchuck, Tony Hsieh and others to a second year event in Omaha, Nebraska?
I don’t know. But Jeff Slobotski does. It took him over a year, but Jeff got me and Robert Scoble and Rocky Barbanica to Big Omaha. And I am thankful that he did.
And I really can’t explain why people were willing to stay up all night and talk to me – and have fun with me. But they did. Perhaps it was because we were in Omaha, and they loved having us there – they loved some freaking attention. And they deserve some.
I’ll be in Omaha again, at least annually. And before this event there probably was little chance I would ever say that. Because I knew nothing of Omaha before this past week, except Omaha Steaks. Oh – Jeff made sure we met the family behind Omaha Steaks as well, and that we got to be friends with them is an additional “Wow”.
Thanks Jeff. Thanks Omaha. And thanks to everyone else that forgave sleep for conversations and new-found friendships.
I am no longer in Omaha, but Omaha is now in me
Some Advice for SXSWi 2011 (For SXSW, for Austin, for Attendees and for Venues)
March 16, 2010 By 7 Comments
Having ridden this pony before I can see SXSW is becoming a horse of a different color. This year the newcomer to the Interactive, Music and Film festivals became the 300-pound gorilla, with an estimated 15,000 SXSWi (Interactive) attendees.
The rapid growth in the Interactive Festival demands some changes from SXSW.
(I started this post before I saw this one, by Jolie O’Dell – but I agree also with most of what she says.)
I’ll take each area individually.
SXSW -
This is no longer a little conference. It is one of the major “tech” conferences in the world now – and while well run and well managed, there is always room for improvement. SXSWi could start by defining what “interactive” means to them today and who the target market is. Interactive could certainly include the “Social Media Gurus” that others have complained have taken over the stage. Interactive could also refer to the proliferation of real-time data exchange applications that now exist and the real geeks that are building off of them. Like apps built on the Twitter API, etc. I don’t think it can be both. Perhaps you need to add another block.
Let me pay an extra ten dollars and have my badge and shit mailed to me – the cattle-chutes are untenable.
And for the love of what makes sense – get the city to close East 4th Street between Red River and Neches, at least. The Hilton is “Convention Center Two” even for those not staying there and the number of people trying to cross 4th to get to the convention center, along with the bikes, bike-cabs, and autos is just begging for trouble/gridlock.
Austin -
See above on the street closure. GET MORE CABS OUT LATE AT NIGHT/EARLY IN THE MORNING. Borrow some from San Antonio if you must. But the cabs are all focused on what seems to be a ten block area downtown.
Attendees -
Know what you are getting in for – don’t carry huge backpacks around with you – you block sidewalks and hallways. Austin is a walking city – plan to walk! Travel light. Don’t have your own mini-convention in the middle of hallways and crosswalks. You are NOT that important – move to the side!
Stop spitting on the street, pissing in the bushes, throwing your trash anywhere you damn well please and otherwise acting like a moronic twelve year old with a doting mother. Be a decent human being (even if just for a few days).
Remember the people who live in Austin were there before you, and will be there after you. Respect them and their property. I saw three arrests in Austin this past week. I probably saw two dozen more that should have been arrests. And I am not talking minor things, or even drug related things – I mean property damage, assaults and basic ass-hat-isms.
Venues (bars) -
Please learn to say “NO”. You do NOT need to get everyone in every event drunk. Really. Tell them they have had enough – BEFORE you send them out into the streets to get into trouble. I can’t believe how much over-serving of alcohol I saw. People who could not stand or walk were getting served. I know the party sponsor is paying for the booze – but the venue is responsible for serving. Act responsibly.
Don’t pretend you hold 500 people when only 300 can fit. (Oh – this should also be under the notes for the City of Austin – re-examine your “maximum occupancy” codes – they are fucked up).
Oh – and at least have SOME plan for rain. Like mats you can put on slippery spots where stairs meet wet concrete. An dwhile you are at it – spray some of that adhesive grip stuff on your staircases. You make a fortune during SXSWi – spend a little of it preventing that one lawsuit that will reverse your fortunes.
Venues (Hotels) -
Our hotels cost a LOT during SXSW – and honestly, my hotel is my sanctuary. I would prefer that my hotel limited admission to the hotel bar and restaurant to hotel guests and their guests. Yep – sorry, but I said that out loud, and I mean it. Not being able to get breakfast in my own hotel because it is full of people from other hotels sucks. Why pay so much to stay in downtown Austin if I don’t have any advantages?
There are more, and I could go on – but I’ll see what if anything you do with this simple list.
I would love to “Keep Austin Weird” – but you also need to “Keep SXSW Useful” and “Keep SXSW Safe”.
Random Images
January 31, 2009 By 3 Comments
Some random pictures I just wanted to stick up here.
My New Hobby: I wasn’t really looking for another motorcycle but a co-worker pinged me about a bike he was selling. It reminded me so much of the first bike I ever owned that I just had to buy it. This is a 1978 Honda CX500. Unlike my 900 pound BWM R1200CLC, this is a light little bike weighing in at just under 500 pounds (dry). It needs some work to make it road-worthy, but it is mechanically pretty sound!
Geoff Livingston, author, blogger and really nice guy. He came to a Tweetup I organized. This is on the San Antonio Riverwalk, not far from my office. Rocky Barbanica is a Senior Producer at Fast Company. He is also the camera genius behind Robert Scoble’s work at Fast Company TV I’ve had the pleasure to meet Rocky on 4-5 occasions now, and he’s a great guy to hang out with!
Also, in the background you can see John Engates, CTO of Rackspace. The pictures were taken at the Austin City Limits during the Rackspace Cloud EventBackstage at Austin City Limits you can find some interesting stuff – including a few cans of Bud Light! Bob and Esther Cole with their daughter Melissa/ Melissa had just graduated from Texas Tech University. I’ve known “Mo” almost her whole life, and she’s like another of my own children, so I was very proud of her!
A couple weeks ago we went to New Orleans. We took a trolley out to the cemeteries. On the way there a car crashed blocking the tracks for about 15 minutes. As we boarded the trolley to return I joked, “I wonder what happens on the way back”. Well, this is what happens – this car cut in front of the trolley and we nailed it. We decided to leave before the police showed up as we were sitting in the back of the trolley and didn’t really see what happened anyway. We walked the mile or two back to our hotel
My Parents Never Spent More Than They Earned
September 21, 2008 By 3 Comments
I am not claiming they were never in debt – they were. And they had their own hard times. But they never entered into any contracts that they knew would cause them to spend more honoring the contract and paying for “life” then they earned in a single year.
They “borrowed” what they knew they could pay. And they paid back everything they borrowed.
I can’t say that I have never owed more than I could repay – once, I did. For a brief time. But it’s been >2 years since I owed anything more than a house payment (ZERO down, 15 year note, fixed interest loan, thank you very much) and several years since I had a credit card. I am seven years into the first home I ever bought and I own more of it than the bank does. A few hundred extra dollars on the mortgage a months makes a difference.
If I still had a wallet full of credit cards I would never have been able to buy a home. Credit cards make it easy to spend today’s dollars at tomorrow’s prices. If you don;t understand the future value of money, you really should. The goal is to save today’s dollar and cash in at tomorrow’s prices – instead, we do the opposite – and as a country we are failing.
And as some have said on Twitter and elsewhere, “Don’t blame us – it isn’t our fault. They are showing a bright and shiny lure, and we cannot help but strike at it”.
The lack of personal responsibility in this nation now scares me. Almost as much as the lack of personal privacy/rights.
But our Government spends more than they take in, as do many American’s. And MANY businesses. There are too few of us not living on credit to sustain the rest of you.
Be it Governement bailouts, or insurance subsidies to live on the coastal region or in a fault zone – too many of us are paying for the ways of others. How is that fair?
To any of us?
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