My friend Matt at TiVo noted that it's been far too long since I've added an entry to my blog, and that I am at risk of being removed from the list of sites he checks on a daily basis. I've been busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest with my new job at 4INFO, and I've been terribly delinquent in sharing my opinions with the world. I've actually been keeping a few notes on what I might blog, so I decided to sit down tonight and hammer them into a readable state. If you, like Matt, have been disappointed with the recent lack of content, imagine that you've simply been too busy to check up on me. Fortunately, you were clever enough to TiVo my life, and you're just now getting around to watching the episodes TiVo saved for you. Working backwards through the past 6 months:
Edinburgh bound. In what will be my first vacation since starting work at the beginning of the year, I'm going to join the clowns (see below) of All Wear Bowlers in their show's run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. For those new to the alternative/experimental theater scene (I certainly am), the festival at Edinburgh is the height of achievement for any actor or theater group. Geoff and Trey are playing at one of the festival's most watched and acclaimed venues. I'm already so pleased to see the way the show has played in the US, and I can't wait to see how it's received by an international audience. Good luck guys, and I'll see you soon!
WAP is no longer crap. WAP, or wireless application protocol was developed as a way to get networked content and applications to mobile phones. Although WAP has been around for over 8 years, it's seen a series of false starts in the US market because of a variety of factors. Most annoying of the problems with WAP, was that the carriers' networks were so slow, that it made browsing WAP pages on the phone almost impossible. Another problem was that most handsets made at the time, had dismal support for any sort of standard implementation of WML (the markup language that allowed content providers to send content to the phone), and almost all had displays that could only render a few lines of text at a time (not to mention lack of image or scripting support).
Well, over the past few years, carriers have been quietly upgrading their networks, while consumers have been buying handsets with bigger, more colorful displays, from manufacturers that started to realize that adherence to the WML and XHTML-MP specification was actually a good idea. The final problem to overcome is that most content providers that have built mobile applications, are simply trying to repackage something they are doing on the web, while ignoring that interaction with a phone requires a fundamentally different paradigm.
The shameless plug part of this post is that 4INFO just launched a WAP version of it's mobile search product. You can access it from any phone with a browser at wap.4info.net. It's currently in beta, but I think we're doing a good job of understanding the different nature of search on the phone.
Molly kicked me to the curb, Part 2. Well, I did try dating again (see below). About two months after politely letting me down, Molly and I decided to try it again. Seemed like things were going very well, until a cataclysm of cruelty on my part killed it for good. I think, this time, I'm a little more in-tune with why it happened, which I wish was more comforting than it is. I suppose we all wear masks in different parts of our life. I was getting pretty good at the easy-going, "everything's negotiable" mask, until I was put under just enough pressure. I guess that in my heart, I'm a cruel, stubborn and impulsive person. When emotions are on the line, I need to just stop trying to wear that mask at all. In any case, I think I validated everything I feared -- everything that kept me out of romantic relationships for years. And by writing it down for the world to read, hopefully I can warn off and brave souls that might try to break me of this ethic again.
I bet they taste like Tasty Wheat. In a moment of clarity, late one night, my brother informed me that our eyes are filled with snot (or something quite like it). I was left wondering what it might taste like, and if it would be possible to inject some food coloring in there for fun. Right now I'm suffering some sort of sinus infection that is causing my nose to drain gallons. Do you think I should put some in the freezer in case I need it for my eyes in the future?
Your car makes you an asshole. I'm sick of driving. I'm sick of cars. I'm sick of how easily people turn into douche bags when they're on the road. We go from our home boxes, to our car boxes, to our work boxes, back to our car boxes, and finally return to our home boxes. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. The car culture of America has done something far worse than pollute. People are desensitized to the struggles of their fellow man because they can live their lives totally within a series of protected (and air conditioned) boxes.
California (specifically the San Francisco Bay Area) is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. People want to live here so badly, that you'd be hard pressed to find a two-bedroom house here for under $600,000. You might guess that in such a utopia, you would see people outside enjoying the ubiquitous sun, walking and biking to work, waving to their neighbors, sharing public spaces, etc. You would be wrong.
Okay, rant over. In any case, I decided to do something about the driving part of the equation for me. I got rid of my car, and moved down the hill into Palo Alto: 1.5 miles from my office, 2.5 miles from Patxi's Pizza, and 2.5 miles from the Stanford campus. All that's left to do now is inflate my tires and start riding my bicycle again.
Molly kicked me to the curb, Part 1 In an uncharacteristic display of affection for the opposite sex, I dated a woman for a few months. It's been the first time in almost 8 years that I've actually re-entered the dating game. After years of stubborn resolve never to date again, I realized that I was getting pretty lonely (in a whole host of ways). Molly was able to break my monastic orbit with one simple difference from most of the other women I've ever been interested in: She asked me out. Only one other time in my life has this ever happened, and it breaks the fundamental mold that I had become so accustomed to, and have so much disdain for. Is it really so hard to ask for what you want?
I spent a few incredible months with her, but she ultimately showed me the door. However, the execution of the breakup was more pleasant than I have come to expect. She delivered it as an "It's not you, it's me", which was good, considering I was starting to get pretty emotionally tied, and probably would have been more devastated had it been messy. In any case, I'm really glad I'm starting to make it out of my funk, and I think I'll try this again soon.
Cell phones for cigarette lighters. I went to the U2 concert in San Jose a few weeks ago. They put on a great show (of course), and played a set that ran the gamut of their entire career. They played one of my favorites ("Running to Stand Still"), and the show was energizing to me.
At one point during the show, when Bono implored the audience to register for his new ONE campaign by sending a text message to their short code, they cut the lights in the arena, but the entire place was lit by a more colorful display than cigarette lighters could have produced -- cell phone displays. After that, I noticed that this wasn't only reserved for this moment, but backlit mobile phone displays have replaced the ubiquitous cigarette lighters during ballads also. Hopefully, fewer people are ending the night with burned thumbs.
Breathtaking. Geoff Sobelle and Trey Leyford are going to be superstars. In case you're living close to New York, and haven't already seen it, "All Wear Bowlers" has reopened in Manhattan at the HERE Arts Center. The show's first run was entirely sold out, and the current schedule is filling up fast. To give a little background, I've been working with Geoff off and on for years, since I helped with a short film by Mike Glass called "The Shitter". During Mike's years at film school, Geoff acted in almost all of his films for school. A few years ago, Geoff hooked up with Trey to complete a project that Trey had been noodling on, that plays on early silent film and vaudeville clowns. The result of a few years of development is "All Wear Bowlers", and it must be seen to be understood. Here are some wonderful reviews.
My former employer continues disrupt my life. In a predictable show of paranoia, Just Arrive, LLC continues to pester me with threats of legal action. The most recent salvo was a response to some inquiries I had made at other ticketing companies following my departure from Just Arrive. While I was unemployed, I figured I would talk to some of the ticketing companies in the space, to see if I could turn the 3 years of industry experience into a contracting or full-time position.
Essentially, their claim is that the point of my contacting various ticketing companies was not to seek new employment, but rather to "sell" technology that I had "stolen" from the company upon departure.
The funny thing to me, is that despite the fact that every claim made in the letter was an invention, their "investigation" into the matter seems to turn the damage on its head. While I'm out trying to find a job, they're simultaneously talking to everyone they can think of in the industry, casting huge doubt on my credibility by spreading a group of unfounded rumors and baseless accusations.
The CEO of Just Arrive told me a story once about his early employment at an entertainment software company. When he decided to move on to a competitive company, his manager became enraged, and decreed "You'll never work again in this valley. I'll make sure of that." I guess I thought he was relating the story to me to show me the stupidity of that kind of behavior. Too bad I was wrong.
I'm hoping (and have been hoping for six months now) that this will go away. Other than some hurt feelings, I can't possibly figure out what else needs to be mended here. Just Arrive, pretty please, with sugar on top, leave me the fuck alone.
8 Muh-jillion dollars. Almost immediately following my arrival at 4INFO, we raised a round of venture financing from two valley venture capitalists, USVP and Draper, Fisher, Jurvetson. I was initially hard pressed to figure out what we were going to be spending the money on, but we appear to be doing a good job. No Aeron chairs or office massages, so I'm glad to see we've grown up a little since the boom/bust. We're growing fast, and the new products we are working on appear incredibly promising. I'm getting very excited for the next few months.
My brother is a stud, Part 2. Chris just launched his political blog Marching Orders. For frequently updated commentary and political news, more entertaining and informative than the crap in the papers or on TV, tune in regularly.
My brother is a stud, Part 1. I had a chance to take the morning off and go to the federal courthouse in San Francisco to watch Jason argue in front of judges. I never had the opportunity to see him debate when he was in high school or college, and I was only ever able to relate his rhetorical prowess through the anecdotes of his peers. Having actually seen it now, I can honestly say I take a great deal of pity on his opponents. He's working on two incredibly interesting cases right now, and I'm hoping to catch another episode if comes back to San Francisco.