I’m overdue for a family update. First, turns out Tara is 50% Wonder Woman and 55% Hulk (see comments), BrwaaAAAaaa! Last weekend we headed north for our last visit to Duluth before our move. Tara had a chance to spend some time with her mother and I stopped by Scenic Cafe for coffee and a couple Guinness (in that order). Tara was happy to see the in-laws and their undead rat dog. On the topic of Scenic Cafe, if you are looking for dining on the North Shore of Lake Superior this is the place to go. Disclosure: my buddy Scott owns it. Scott is an amazing chef. The place is funky and fun. The menu is eclectic. It has great beer, wine, and coffee, and the food is even better. Plus it is on Lake Superior (between Duluth and Two Harbors).
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Ashby is really diggin’ her forts. We set up a blanket and pillow fort in the family room and she goes crazy with excitement! Evidence below. The only other event of significance to report is that we’ve sold the Accord. It’s great to be down to one car. I really looking forward to the office being two blocks from home as it will be in San Diego. I won’t have to drive, less waste! Work has been a tad painful as my office in MN winds down and the office in CA winds up. With all the odds and ends Tara and I have been managing I’m especially out of touch of with work. Living downtown San Diego is going to be different. I know Tara and Ashby are going to love it. Take today for example. It is butt ass cold and snowing outside. Tara and Ashby are trapped in the house all day. Something as simple as going to the store is a huge undertaking and, at best, a two hour ordeal. In San Diego it’s 50-something F. There is a play ground a few blocks away. They can go a couple blocks away for coffee. Walk along the harbor. Go to the zoo. Head out to the beach. Catch a donkey show in TJ, you know whatever. 🙂
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I was planning a going-away party for myself last week. Pathetic, I know. As I sifted through my address book it occurred to me that I’ve pissed off a lot of people in this state. Sure some were people I had to fire, or instilled with a desire to quit. Then there was a raft of contractors that I had the misfortune of working with. From the incompetent to the criminal. My favorite contractor in Minnesota was definitely the graphic design firm that incorporated another company’s trademarked logo into the design they sold us. At first they claimed it wasn’t a trademarked logo, but instead a generic graphic. Then they asserted that it was our fault because it was just a place holder image in the design and they never intended for it to be part of the design. That was awesome. And then of course there were droves of people in technology organizations that I suppose I offended by being very vocal and maybe occasionally rude. So, I’m opinionated and I don’t suffer fools lightly. Is that bad? At least you know what I think. Most of my offenses come from me being very candid. I do not like to waste time on prancing about issues and I tend to be pretty direct with my opinions. Don’t get me wrong. I always respect others’ opinions. I appreciate hearing them in fact. Indeed, I find it difficult to deal with people who obfuscate their emotions or are unwilling to candidly share their opinions. It’s painfully frustrating for me. I think this is why I’ve always loved Italy. Southern Italy especially. They scream, they yell. You know what they think even if you don’t speak their language. I like that. As for work, I’ll admit I’m pretty demanding. I know Pete’s woman said something to him when he decided to come work with me along the lines of: are you sure, you know Aaron is impossibly demanding…or something like that. I know I can be difficult to work with, or be married to (for different reasons though I believe). I think it’s because I’m passionate about what I do and I tend to demand a lot of commitment. If you’re not fully committed to something, why do it? Just to collect a paycheck? I don’t want to share my life with people like that. Just going through the motions.
Maybe I’m being too harsh. Most people do just work for the paycheck and have no real interest in their jobs beyond that. Maybe those people are really passionate about side hobbies. Cool, go get paid doing that. You’ll probably be happier. I’m not saying these people are less worthy, I just don’t want to work with them. If you’re not all in, don’t bother, and don’t waste my time.
Aaron Fulkerson 
Thanks for the nod of approval. I’m not sure I’m deserving. I do appreciate it though and in many ways I could use it right now. I wish I had made a bigger impact on the cities. I certainly did not achieve my community goals. I think, I may have mentioned this to you, I feel like I’m leaving without fulfilling a promise. It’s like I’m leaving things not quite finished. I hate that. I certainly wish that I had had more of an opportunity to make a bigger impact on the Twin Cities. The most painful for me I think is that I barely spent any time assisting at-risk or under-served communities, which is something I usually gravitate toward. Instead I spent the majority of my time trying to incubate technology in the Twin Cities. I think I failed pretty miserably. Although, people like Ben Edwards surely have not and I’m very happy that he got MinneBar started and I hope it continues to grow and inspire other potential technology entrepreneurs, which it surely has thus far.
I was thinking today, while finishing my deck (finally), that I should have spent the time I expended on trying to start a tech org for incubation of tech startups in the cities instead on what I’ve done in the past, which is helping to create community centers for under-served communities and serving to bridge the digital divide in predominately minority communities. I think I’ll take this lesson with me to San Diego. As you already know, I reeeeaaally wish you were coming Pete.
I am re-engaging organizations like TopCat, which I helped start (in NC) to help them to grow their curriculum and to create a new knowledge portal for their 16+ community centers. I hope to help start or assist similar projects in San Diego. I don’t think I’m going to spend my spare cycles mucking about with incubating technology entrepreneurism and instead plan to focus my free cycles on social entrepreneurism and advocating free knowledge (I’ll write more on this later).
PeteE I’m harboring a secret desire that Mare hates the new job and you two decide to move to San Diego…soon. 🙂 Especially, since another of my commitments after the upcoming move is to spend more time biking, hiking, and camping and reconnect with what I used to know and value most. It would be really nice to have you there.
Aaron – Thanks for the very honest and open post. Yes, you are demanding. Yes, you can rub us “Minnesotan’s” the wrong way at times (we (myself included) are too passive-aggressive at times). Yes, you have lots of passion and that’s what drives you to succeed. 🙂
I was just thinking today of the fact that you really ARE moving next week! Your going away party brought back memories of the drive you and I took downtown to setup GLG (one of our early beta customers). A lot happened on that drive. I remember you dissing NetSuds (hehehe, rightfully so…worthless) and talking about the need for a tech organization. That conversation (and your hard work) led to:
* meeting Mark at GLG – who later became a MindTouch employee. Even though he recently resigned and will be sorely missed, we all had the privilege to work with him and learn from him.
* meeting PeteC, and have a couple of great BBQ’s over at FoxTrot Systems via the TechOpus org (wish i could post a link but it looks like some domain squatter turned it into a porn site. lol)
* meeting Ethan Galstad (of Nagios fame), who’s a fantastic individual…albiet a bit of a “communist” as you so eloquently put it (though you meant it as a compliment)
* meeting Josh (of Adayana) and later his wife Lucy, both of which are wonderful and intelligent individuals!
I guess the point to my rambling is that you definitely left your mark on the Twin Cities (in a good way). I’m glad “my woman” (who was just a friend/coworker at the time) referred me to you and I had the chance to work in your basement and later become and employee . I’m even glad i took the pay-cut to join MT, accepted the incredibly higher level of stress, and was forced to work with you every day 🙂
Minnesota will miss you, but I’m confident there will be great things in store for MT in San Diego! I’m looking forward to escaping the MN climate from time to time and coming out to visit/work 🙂