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This is a photo from several months ago, which is ages in Ashby days, but I just stumbled across it and it brought back a flood of memories from this day. She loved her face painting.
Tara and I celebrated a late V-day tonight. I know I’m supposed to say “Tara and me”, but I prefer to say “Tara and I” so piss off. We did a late V-day because getting a babysitter on V-day is challenging. I had a great time tonight, but the best part of V-day was taking Ashby out yesterday. Look at this:
And this:
Need I say more? Other than rainbow legs rule.
Ashby was so happy to go out for V-day with her daddy. She felt so special and pretty in her V-day outfit. I wish I could help her feel this way everyday until her last.
Tara and I took Ashby for some bangers and chips at Shakespeare’s pub. She was most pleased to be with her daddy in her heart outfit and sandals that Mi-Mi (grandma) supplied her. Tonight T and I went to a pleasant Lebanese restaurant and then went out for drinks. Ashby was with Michelle, our babysitter, whom she really loves. I just checked on her sleeping in her heart pajamas. So sweet…
Tara Anderson of Lijit shares with us this photo:
And a profile of Feld. After a recent post from Tara about a title she was bestowed by a scary admirer I felt compelled to advance this meme. Brad Feld: most bangable Internet entrepreneur / venture capitalist. You read it here.
I had a fantastic time last night with several Microsofties whom I had not previously met. I can’t recall a more pleasant time with colleagues at a conference except for those rare occasions Steve (other Mindtouch founder and CTO) comes along. During the regular conference session yesterday there was a CIO panel and a brainstorm session. During the brainstorm session we were tasked with answering some simple (and rather boring) questions. What could have been a dull time was actually quite entertaining thanks to Doug Levin, Ross Turk, Larry Rosen, and Larry Augustin who were some of the people in my assigned group. Doug is a fantastically witty fellow and a Tarheel; so you know he’s wickedly smart too. 🙂 After the regular conference session Larry Augustin introduced me to Sam Ramji. Having spent dinner and several drinks in conversation with Sam I have to say: that dude is smart, hilariously funny, and very authentic. I was surprised. 🙂 I didn’t expect *bad* things, but I didn’t expect to hit it off with him as we did, especially not so immediately. A highlight of the evening was getting to know Tim Golden from Bank of America. I’ve seen him speak at a couple conferences in the past, but I had not met him until last night. That guy had me laughing so damn hard over dinner I twice almost fell out of my chair. What an amazing fellow!
As the night wound down, along with my sobriety, I found myself chatting with Marten Mickos the CEO of MySQL. I thanked him for his work and the benefit he’s given to all commercial open source companies with the recent acquisition of MySQL by Sun. This provides a very helpful data point for all of us in this space. I’ve always admired Marten and Monty. I asked Marten several questions that he, as he always does, very candidly answered. I asked him: What was his biggest mistake? His best move? Starting over what would he do differently? Will there be a stand-alone open source software Goliath? And some other common questions. It would be inappropriate for me to blog much of what he said, but something that really struck me was his assessment of being a CEO. He said, and I may get the wording slightly wrong, being CEO is a lonely and often scary position. You’re alone. You often have to make decisions that others don’t agree with and you really don’t have someone else to speak with about your anxieties and concerns. You can’t talk to your wife about it because she doesn’t understand it, nor would you want her to. And there are occasions when your decisions will put you at odds with everyone else’s thinking; thereby alienating you entirely–perhaps even from the board and advisers. It can be very lonely. Another of Marten’s responses I feel comfortable divulging is what he felt was his best move as he matured MySQL. “Personally engaging the community.”
One final point of interest I feel compelled to cram into this blog post. During the regular conference sessions a person asked everyone to raise there hands if they’ve written code. 90% of attendees raised their hand. It’s an open source conference, right? So what? Pretty much everyone at this conference is a CEO and it’s not all startups. I thought this was fascinating. More so, I believe, in open source than with proprietary software companies the executives come from an engineering background.
Open Source Think Tank 2008 – Olliance Group – Home
this is not a traditional conference; all attendees are expected to contribute in the brainstorm and workshop format and take advantage of the CIO panels.
I’m at the Olliance Open Source ThinkTank in Napa Valley from February 7-9. The guest list is a long list of C’s (CEO, CIO, CTO, etc) from predominately open source software companies, but proprietary software companies are well represented as well. I just skimmed the guest list. It’s a veritable who’s who of open source. The event is intended to achieve two goals: give open source company executives access to CIOs through a series of panels. And provide a venue and medium for open source entrepreneurs and executives to brainstorm about key issues that effect our businesses and the industry as a whole. Rather than spamming the MindTouch blog I’ll likely post a couple times during the event to my personal blog at O b (LOG N ).
LVTC Living Vicariously Through Corey: Amazon is giving me a heart attack at 8:00am
received an email this morning when I turned on my computer that says someone bought me a gift from Amazon. I was like “Cool…good start to my day”. I opened the email and saw it was a gift bought on my baby registry at Amazon. Let me set something straight here: We don’t have any kids and are not expecting.
Hilarious! Amazon is trying to knock up Corey’s wife! Dirty bastards.
EFF:
For more than five years, AT&T and other telephone companies broke the law and violated their customers privacy rights by sending billions of private domestic internet and telephone communications and records to the National Security Agency. For months, the Bush Administration has been pressuring Congress to grant the telecoms immunity from the law.
It will take you 30 seconds to phone your senator, click the link above to get the number, and leave a message on their issues voice mail.
uncov, uncovering web2
Oh, right. One more thing. This is the last Uncov. Ever. I have been getting tired of it, and this has been manifesting itself in my writing. After seeing the spectacle at the Crunchies, I think it’s finally time to quit.
I sincerely hope Ted is joking. Don’t get all Perry Farrell or Kurt Cobain on us. Yes, I get it, you’re punk rock. That’s why I enjoy reading uncov.
Ex-chess champ Bobby Fischer dies – Europe- msnbc.com
Bobby Fischer, the reclusive American chess master who became a Cold War icon when he dethroned the Soviet Union’s Boris Spassky as world champion in 1972, has died. He was 64.Fischer died Thursday in a Reykjavik hospital, his spokesman, Gardar Sverrisson, said. There was no immediate word on the cause of death.
Wow, 64 is so young. This is sad.
“The United States is evil. There’s this axis of evil. What about the allies of evil — the United States, England, Japan, Australia? These are the evildoers,” Fischer said.
In his final years, Fischer railed against the chess establishment, alleging that the outcomes of many top-level chess matches were decided in advance.
Instead, he championed his concept of random chess.
“I don’t play the old chess,” he told reporters upon arrival in Iceland. “But obviously if I did, I would be the best.”
The guy was exceptional at what he did, principled, and unwaivering. It’s easy to like him. Bobby Fischer was punk rock coolness. RIP.
Aaron Fulkerson 