I just announced some Interesting news at the work blog. I am now advising Microsoft on open source software strategy. Microsoft? Open source? Yes. I announced my joining the advisory board of the newly minted CodePlex Foundation that was created by Microsoft last week.

CodePlex Foundation: Microsoft, an Open Source Leader? | MindTouch, Inc Blog

Last week I joined the advisory board of the newly created CodePlex Foundation, which was forged in the bowels of Microsoft. Sounds scary doesn’t it?

The foundation, a 501.c6 non-profit, endeavors to increase participation in open source community projects. The intent is to provide a framework for commercial (proprietary) software companies to more easily contribute to open source projects. Specifically, the CodePlex Foundation wishes to help resolve concerns commonly shared among commercial software companies about contributions downstream; such as implied patents, copyright, licensing, etc.

Warning: potentially annoying pontification to ensue.

I believe it is important to instill your kids with the importance of community obligation and compassion. As I wrote previously, it’s too soon to do most volunteer work, but a beach clean up is just right for a 3.5 year old. 

We had a great time. Between playing in the sand and surf we picked up trash and talked about the importance of helping others and making the community we live in a better place. Ashby responded with: “like heroes”. Exactly.

When it comes to sharing the road with cars, many people seem to assume that such accidents are usually the cyclist’s fault — a result of reckless or aggressive riding. But an analysis of police reports on 2,752 bike-car accidents in Toronto found that clumsy or inattentive driving by motorists was the cause of 90 percent of these crashes. Among the leading causes: running a stop sign or traffic light, turning into a cyclist’s path, or opening a door on a biker.

via Who Causes Cyclists’ Deaths? – Freakonomics Blog – NYTimes.com.

I bike to and from work. When I bike on the road and use the full lane, which is the safest and my legal right, motorists often intentionally try to squeeze me into parked cars, scream obscenities at me, honk the horn in an attempt to scare me and generally behave poorly. Of course, most often I’m traveling as fast, or faster, than they are through downtown San Diego. Alas, for some reason they feel obliged to rage at me.

When I bike to the side of the road to allow cars to pass I have doors from parked cars open on me, motorists turn  in front of me and cars pull out of parking spots dangerously cutting me off.

It is illegal to bicycle on the sidewalk. Given the aforementioned circumstances I occasionally do. I always bike slowly and considerately when doing so. Even still, I’ve had pedestrians shout obscenities at me, call me names, gesticulate violently and cars almost hit me when using the crosswalk.

Cycling is not a crime. 😦

Ashby (my 3.5 year old daughter) is amazing. Of course, if you read my blog, you already know this. One aspiration I have for my daughter is that she grow up with compassion for her fellow *man. After some thought, I’ve determined one way to achieve this is by spending time with her engaged in community work.

To this end, Ashby and I will be attending the September 5th La Jolla Shores beach cleanup that is organized by the Surfrider Foundation.

Participants should meet by the main lifeguard tower. The cleanup takes place from 9am until 11am.

All volunteers are welcome to participate and must sign a liability waiver, but volunteers under 18 MUST have a parent or guardian sign the waiver before the minor can participate. (Please note the NEW waiver as of August 2009)
Click Here for the beach cleanup Waiver Form.

 

The world we live in is amazing. Life is amazing. Everything is amazing. We all should be amazed. Take the time to let yourself be amazed.

Last week I flew with my family to Florida to spend the week on the beach and visit my father and mother. We safely flew at 39,000 feet. I listened to several “How Stuff Works” podcasts on my iPod and I read a book on my Amazon Kindle 2 while holding my 6 month old son. My wife sat beside me and played with our 3.5 year old daughter Ashby. Ashby watched two movie rentals on my iPhone. We ate lunch together flying safely through the air. We flew from one coast to the other in under seven hours.

We have spent nearly every day on the beach in Daytona with my brother who drove 500 miles with his family from North Carolina. His daughters played games collaboratively on their Nintendo DS handhelds during their seven hour drive.

Every morning for the last week The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post have been delivered automatically to my Kindle 2 from outer space for me to enjoy over coffee as I sit gazing at the river and watching the occasional dolphin swim by.  I’m writing this blog post using a Verizon MiFi card from my father’s couch as I upload photos to my Flickr account.

So much to be awed by. The current pace and obvious acceleration in technological innovation ensures that in only two years I’ll read this post and be marveled by how archaic some of these technologies are. Another thing is certain. I’ll also look back at this post and reminisce about how fantastic this time is and how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family.

Being a nineteen year fan of Nine Inch Nails I was thoroughly pleased to read MindTouch, the company I CEO for, included in a C|Net article about Trent Reznor’s use of an Open Core business model.

The article cites a recent post I wrote at the MindTouch blog about the MindTouch Community. The Open Core business model works well in yielding exponential growth by building and engaging community. I write about this too in an article titled: “Open Source Magic Carpet Defies Recession”.

I went camping with the family this weekend at in the Laguna Mountains in the Cleveland National Forest. We stayed at the El Prado Campground. This is about an hour drive from downtown San Diego just past Alpine, CA. I often use Recreation.gov for booking our campsites; however, I just figured out ReserveAmerica.com includes both federal and state parks. Both sites would benefit greatly from a Collaborative Network that would allow visitors to share information, video and images of sites. For me it is always difficult to decide on a campground because I just don’t know what to expect without speaking with someone that has been there. I once took the family to a campsite north of Morro Bay after booking it at Reserve America only to discover it was not more than a parking lot near a coal burning power plant. Granted it was near the beach and you could see Morro Rock, but the campsite was really awful.

Ashby loves camping and this was Roesevelt’s first camping trip. We had a nice shaded campsite, but it was 98 F when arrived. It really didn’t seem that hot though. In the evening the temperature dropped to a pleasant high 60s F.

The Laguna Mountains are gorgeous. I am told there is a really nice trail that runs through some mountain meadows that starts at the El Prado campground. If it were not so hot we could have gone on some hikes, but with Roesevelt being so young and the trails near our campsite having so little shade it was not feasible. 

Friends Tara knows from Stroller Strides, Christy and Steve, joined us and brought their children, Wade and Olivia. Wade, who is almost two, apparently enjoys running on streets as he would frequently make a run for it down the road. The kids had a great time and so too did we adults after the kids retired for the evening.

Christy and Steve have a pop up camper that sports three beds, a sink and stove.  It is fantastic. They tow it behind. Park it. Crank up the pop-up and VOILA they have a comfortable camp home for them and their kids. Tara assures me she would be willing to camp more frequently with such a contraption. I think we need to get one.

I find it amusing to reminiscent on my years of camping in Northern Minnesota with a canvas sack, sleeping bag and a tarp. How we change after children….

Complete photoset.

I wrote this week at the MindTouch blog about the success of MindTouch and I provided a brief summary of how MindTouch is defying the recession.

Yes, this is the real revenue graph for MindTouch. I know what you’re thinking: What happened in Q2 2008? 🙂 Good question. I will get to this in a moment. There is a lot to learn from this graph like this. Beginning with MindTouch investing the first year solely in creating an install base and developer community. The first thing we launched was our developer community (July, 2006 at OSCON) and for the first year MindTouch did not bother trying to sell anything. We did manage to generate a surprising amount of revenue selling support without having a formal product in place and we began formally selling support subscriptions near the end of 2007. By the end of Q1 2008 MindTouch software was being distributed about 5,000 times a day and we turned our attention toward building the business. In Q2 2008 we began experimenting with a commercial edition.

…

via Open Source Magic Carpet Defies Recession | MindTouch, Inc Blog.

Roesevelt has been ill.  I don’t feel like relating the entire tale. Suffice it to say he has a milk protein allergy, GERD and/or maybe TEF (nothing contagious). We are still trying to figure it all out and it has been very troubling to the entire family. I have tried to focus on work and other things to distract myself from worrying. His symptoms include a loss of appetite, wheezing and a hacking cough. Poor boy. He’s such a happy fellow even when he feels like crap.

One of the reasons Roe was diagnosed early is because his enterprising mother (Tara, featured above) used our Flip Video to record him while he was exhibiting symptoms late at night. Today the Flip Video again improved Roe’s healthcare.

Often when Tara, or I, go to the pediatrician we have many questions or pertinent information for the other to ask or share. In the hustle to get out the door with the distraction of children it is often difficult for either of us to remember. Before I left for work, at Tara’s request, I recorded a short 20 second video on our Flip with my questions. Tara watched the video, but as I too often do, she had forgotten a couple of my questions. Yay Flip! She had it with her at Dr. Gerber’s office and shared the video with him. 🙂

By the way, Dr. Gerber is  our wonderful pediatrician. I highly recommend him. He is at Scripps Medical in Hillcrest. He is very thorough, never rushed, always takes the time with us in the office and is happy to call us after hours to answer questions. Many of Tara’s mom friends take their children to Dr. Gerber as well. They all love him and think he’s a handsome fellow. So, if you’re looking for a pediatrician in San Diego….

In an effort to encourage others to blog their support for MindTouch in the Sourceforge.net Community Choice Awards I’m providing this simple vote for MindTouch HTML snippet:

When you copy/paste this it yields:

Please consider placing this in your blog sidebar, in a blog post, to your facebook wall or on your websites. Thanks!

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