down the avenue

Oregon Supports Our Troops

One thing I didn't mention in my Blodgett Oregon blog entry was the alarmingly large Support Our Troops sign in the Blodgett Country Store in rural Oregon. All the signs in this one horse town store were larger than normal but this one was hard to miss.

Time's Bloggers Creed

Andrew Sullivan's Blogger's Creed article in Time talks about the world of bloggers vs mainstream journalism and how people are reconsidering their view of the blogger as the lazy guy home in his pajamas typing away at his computer.

" Bloggers have no checks and balances. [It's] a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas." --JONATHAN KLEIN, former senior executive of 60 Minutes, on Fox News WELL, LAST WEEK, THE INSURRECTIONARY PAJAMA people — dubbed " pajamahadeen" by some Web nuts — successfully scaled one more citadel of the mainstream media, CBS News. One of the biggest, baddest media stars, Dan Rather, is now clinging, white-knuckled, to his job. Not bad for a bunch of slackers in their nightclothes. You have to ask: Is this a media revolution?

While I think this blogger love fest is still at the popularity contest stage - how many links you have, how popular you are amongst this inside geeky blog community, and so on, it will develop over time and like traditional journalism, the real winners will emerge.

For some of us, its not about winning or losing, or getting a million people to connect to your blog. For me, its a therapeutic way to express what I'm thinking about and read a broader number of topics to expand some of those thoughts that I wouldn't normally do in my insular world of technology PR and marketing.

Stop beating up on the bloggers - just have the intelligence yourself to assess what is real and what isn't. If you still want the "traditional" story, its not as if New York Times journalists are going to go away.

Monkey Yoga & Flowers

Between Craigs List, writing proposals, attending wirelessly connected technology conferences, corresponding with clients and reading blogs and traditional business media websites, my keyboard and I need to part ways for awhile. I'm not settling - my new "pad" will have a space where I can write outside among flowers, herbs and running water.

I'm off for a powerwalk around Lake Merrit and to check out the a funky sounding yoga studio on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland, which has a class for newcomers this afternoon. I really want to meet the person who came up with this fun name for a studio - Monkey Yoga.

Completely at Peace

Taken in Blodgett Oregon, there was something about being there that made me feel completely at peace. It wasn't just the name although that was likely part of it. It felt like the kind of place a Blodgett male would choose to go "walk about." The sort of place my grandfather would be at peace with, the sort of place he would have felt good being buried.

I think we should create visuals of ourselves when we're "most" at peace and post them in on our computer screens, our refrigerators, the bathroom mirror - anywhere we frequently go, to remind ourselves the natural smile we want to replicate as often as possible. We should do this with places, friends, children, animals, objects and colors that create the same effect.

Why VCs Blog - CBS Marketwatch

RSS discussion continues to be hot. It's mainstream to me if it hits CBS Marketwatch, at least more mainstream than discussion amongst technical bloggers and engineers. Even more interesting is their fascination with why VCs are blogging? Why are VC's blogging?

Bottom line: if you're passionate about a space, you're going to blog about it. If you're passionate about a space and investing in it, you're definitely going to blog about it. It provides insight into why the VC thinks its a space is worth looking at and allows people to comment.

NewsGator Adds CEO

Client NewsGator announced today that former Ziff Davis International President J.B. Holston has joined the company as Chief Executive Officer and President. Holston will also serve on the Board of Directors.

Holston has run a wide range of technology and media enterprises over the last two decades. He was instrumental in moving NBC into the cable industry and internationally in the late 1980s. As President of Ziff Davis International, Holston managed Ziff Davis' operations across more than 100 countries, and launched Yahoo! Europe.

NewsGator & Consumer Brands

Garfield, Doonesbury, Political Cartoons Now available through NewsGator. Client NewsGator, announced today that it has started to distribute RSS feeds for some of America’s best-known comic and commentary brands. NewsGator users will now have access to twenty exclusive feeds from uclick, LLC, an Andrews McMeel Universal Company.
UPS’s content, uclick also makes content available for syndication from Tribune Media and Creator’s Syndicate.

Lobella for Women

Started by Loren Slocum, a friend of mine through the Tony Robbins network, Lobella Inside and Out, will be held the weekend of November 5 in Napa Valley. Loren's fabulous and I strongly recommend it.

Created by women for women, it is a 3-day intimate getaway with inspiring speakers covering topics from a Woman's Intuition to style, nutrition, energy, spirit and intention.

First San Fran Abode

My first place in the San Francisco area is with friend Neil Bason across the Bay Bridge in a four bedroom Tudor.

Last Day of the Trip

Here we are, the last day of the trip. We just had tea at a 1927 inn in Rivers End, population 170. We just drove through a winding road until we hit a market in Guerneville where we bought crystals and made two friends. And we just had a mudbath, massage and soak in Calistoga. And made another friend.

Alas, before our last dinner and final drive south to San Francisco, a historical moment sitting on Hamilton before embarking on a brand new life.