Falling through the ice

April 4, 2008 By

I’m watching some movie where a kid falls through the ice.  I’ve literally fallen through the ice twice.  And figuratively more often than that.

The first time I fell through the ice I was a young teenager – and I drove a snowmobile onto a not-quite-frozen lake.

The second time was courtesy of the US Navy.  I was in Boot Camp in Chicago, IL when I turned 19.  Illinois drinking age was 21.  So the Navy put us on buses and drove us to Wisconsin, where it was legal for us to drink.

And drink we did.

I woke up on Lake Michigan – being pulled off of a piece of floating ice.  I was soaked, and probably wouldn’t have lived had I not been found before nightfall.  I was also very, very drunk.  Again, thank you Uncle Sam.

During the rescue I once again found myself in icy water.  Clinging to yet another rope.

Those were the times I literally fell through the ice.

Figuratively I have fallen through the ice more often – betting on a boss, or a coworker, and having them fail to support you when it counts – that is falling through the ice.

Depending on a team of ex-employees (and now ex-friends) to help build a business is falling through the ice.

An interesting thing happens though – each time I get submerged in the ice I find it more tolerable.  Invigorating, even.

I like walking on thin ice.

And sometimes, when you walk on thin ice, it breaks.  I suggest you get accustomed to the sensation – or you find someplace more solid to walk.

Filed Under: startups

Did Twitter get me on Alltop? Probably.

March 30, 2008 By

I started getting some hits from Alltop.com a few weeks ago – not many, and never seemingly from the same URL.  I dismissed them.  Of course, I follow Guy Kawasaki in Twitter (and he follows me) – so I know well what Alltop is.

Alltop aggregates RSS feed – "the best of the blogs" but they also sort them by category – and they have a lot of categories.

Today I got a dozen hits from http://life.alltop.com before I wondered what was up.  So I went and looked.  If you scroll down a bit, there is my blog, on the left.

I think the "life" section is probably where my blog belongs – because I talk way more about personal stuff than tech – and when I do talk tech, it’s normally personal!

About an hour later I got an email from Guy Kawasaki telling me they added me to Alltop – a canned email, but that’s cool.

So how did my blog make it?  My Technorati rank is ok – I’ve been in the top 100k often.  My subscribers via FeedBurner isn’t huge – averages 115 people/month.  So how did I get any attention?

I can only guess it was via Twitter.  Depending on who is online and active I may or may not Twit about a new blog post.  If I think it fits the (current) audience, I will.

Twitter gives you a huge voice.  But I’ve found I moderate (usually) what I Twit about depending on who is online, and active.  My Twitter friends online in the daytime are mostly different from those online at 1am.

And I appreciate that Alltop included my blog – it is just another way to make a new connection.

Filed Under: Community, Reviews, startups Tagged With: , ,

I’m not drunk enough for this

March 24, 2008 By

Phone rings – 9PM.  Caller ID says it is from an Ivy League College.  Early for a “drunk genius” call.

I’ve had these calls before, and even before I picked up the phone, I think I knew I would regret it.

“Yo, you the Internet dude, man?” is the first thing I heard.

Yep – I called this one half right.  Drunk yes.  Genius, no.

It’s another “two drunk guys in a dorm” call.

And they haven’t always been bad.  I have actually talked to a couple of very interesting people who called while drunk with their friends. 

But that is rare.  Normally it is just some drunk guys that think they have found a great way to get women to take their clothes off online – or a “sure thing” Texas Hold’em idea.

Normally I just find these calls funny.  Tonight though these guys were just mean as hell.  To me, to each other.  Unreal.  All that anger could be re-channeled and focused on serious business ideas.  But I doubt these guys ever do that.

They didn’t sound like over-achievers to me.

But they can dial a phone.  And I am sure they weren’t done dialing after talking to me.

Filed Under: startups

Scoble Visit – or why I respect conference organizers!

February 26, 2008 By

UPDATE – Just for clarification – this event is completely free to all the attending companies.  Beyond sponsors, nobody is paying for this.

A few weeks ago I realized that Robert Scoble will be in Austin, TX for SXSWi. Wow – “Austin is close to San Antonio”, I thought.

Then I went to sleep.

The next day I woke up and thought, “Why not invite Robert to San Antonio”?

The worst thing that could happen is that he would say no.

He didn’t.

Robert is coming to San Antonio at my simple request to “come see what we are building”.

OK.  So Scoble is visiting – I found that I had some work to do – like lining up companies for Robert to meet with!

I’ve spent two weeks explaining to some local tech companies what I am planning, what Robert does (in some cases) and mostly, “Why I am doing this”.

Simply put, I am doing this because San Antonio does a horrible job (my opinion) of highlighting the tech that we invent here. From Wireless Networking, PC Networking, the Personal Computer, Personal Home Networks, and more – it was either invented here, or has deeps roots here.  But nobody seems to realize that.

So I want to fix that misperception.  More importantly, I want people to know what we are building today.

That’s all I want.  I am not making any money off of this whatsoever.  None of the companies I represent will be presenting to Robert.  My interests are pure.

But I still spent most of my day today working out details.  I’ve completed the company list (and if you are a local tech company that I have not talked to please feel free to contact me anyway.  We probably can’t get you into this session, but I plan on doing this again, and again.  With Scoble, if I can get him back again next year.  So call me.  Let’s talk).

So here’s my respect for conference organizers – what you do is like herding wet and feral cats. Everyone has their own agenda.  And that is fine. As long as they respect MY agenda – which is the end-goal -  highlighting San Antonio Tech to Robert Scoble – and through him, to the world :)

And I’m not even doing this alone – a local company has generously agreed to step up and handle most of the details. I’ll talk more about them, and the other companies Scoble will meet with in a future post – probably after the event.

I can’t imagine how much a conference organizer has to deal with – the different needs/concerns of each company, the demands for details before details are available, the “we will ifs” – an amazingly complex juggling act.

So Kudos to conference organizers everywhere.  You’ve earned my respect over the last couple of weeks!

And more on this as it develops.  But rest assured – Robert and Rocky WILL see some cool stuff, and they will enjoy great Texas hospitality!

Filed Under: Community, Personal, San Antonio, Scoble, startups
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