Halley's Comment

Check out my new blog: Halley Tucker's BoOkBoX

2011-11-16T07:50:00.000-05:00

Check out my new blog: Halley Tucker's BoOkBoX

Feel free to go over there: Halley Tucker's BoOkBoX to see good stuff about the evolution of ebooks.

And check out Susy Pilgrim Waters beautiful work here. She did my logo and stuff.

Women's Leadership Forum: What Really Matters

2011-11-05T15:59:00.001-05:00

One thing that was so striking at the Women's Leadership Forum (sponsored by MITX, The Girl Scouts, Staples, The Tech Review and John Hancock), last week which took place at the Microsoft NERD Center, was how chockfull of really helpful information it was. The speakers shared great information about things that really matter!

It really stopped me in my tracks -- made me stop and think about why it was so different from most conferences dominated by male participants. Typical male geek conferences have too many speakers who seem to be there only to show off how smart or how important they are. (I've written about Alpha Males here before as you likely know.)

But this conference had so many women there who seemed to be concerned with one thing only -- how to help all of us understand what works, what doesn't work, what worked for them, what didn't work for them, what to expect, how to deal with just about anything challenging for a women trying to succeed in a business, an entrepreneur starting a business or as a powerful woman in any domain. I've never gotten so much helpful advice about what really matters.

It made me sad for all the guys who go to guy conferences. It's so often a competitive -- "I'm cooler than you" -- atmosphere which is so counterproductive. I got so many good insights from the Women's Leadership Forum, compared to the usual conferences I attend. It was terrific!

The Steve Jobs Book Arrives Instantly

2011-10-24T05:43:00.000-05:00

Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs was on pre-order and it suddenly appeared after dinner last night.

Got the book sent directly to my Kindle last night around 9:00 pm, a bit earlier than the promised publishing date of today. It was fun to have it just populate my Kindle without having to blink.

Plowing through the book. It's nicely written and is frank about Jobs' difficult personality. If you knew anyone who worked for him, you heard he could be ... challenging.

Back to my book!

Everything you ever wanted to know about Zines, don't be afraid to ask

2011-10-23T07:47:00.000-05:00

Good piece in the Sunday New York Times Business section about Zines (short form of "fanzine" -- a short, often handmade limited-run magazine in tribute to a very narrow subject or particular person) by Jenna Wortham called Raised on the Web, But Liking a Little Ink this morning.

This supports my personal ebook and epublishing theory that most publishing will be very digital, very ubiquitous, very fast, but another side of the business will be customized, handmade, unique, slow, one-of-a-kind publishing.

As the fountain pen was a mainstream, must-have item you could buy cheaply anywhere in 1900 and now is more likely an expensive, rare objet d'art, serving less as a writing instrument and more as a collectible -- so goes the book, in my opinion.

A quote from the piece:

For Barbara Frankie Ryan, 19, a graphic design student in London who recently curated an exhibition of zines at a boutique there called Tatty Devine, the Internet and handcrafted publications exist in tandem. She runs a popular fashion blog and also makes a series of zines — although she said she wasn’t even aware of the rich history of zine culture when she started creating them in her bedroom at the age of 15.

Instead, she was looking for an outlet for her drawings and innermost musings on popular culture and romantic crushes. And she wanted to be able to experiment. While Web sites come and go, in another sense the Web is eternal: tidbits can be searched and found when you least want them to be. That can be inhibiting.

“I’m becoming more aware how permanent and accessible things are online,” she said.

Ms. Ryan also said zines have an air of exclusivity: they are like other artifacts that were never intended for mass consumption or distribution, like a scarf knitted by a friend, a sketch or a cassette tape filled with handpicked songs.

“I like the idea that I’ve only made 40 copies, and only 40 people will see it,” she said. “It’s really easy to reveal a lot about yourself, and so this is a way of getting control back, and I find that quite comforting.”

They also talk about the work of Malaka Gharib who's food zine, The Runcible Spoon, is pictured here.

Frankfurt Bookfair this week!

2011-10-10T11:08:00.000-05:00

The Frankfurt Bookfair is this week -- it's the big annual booksellers conference for (mostly) legacy publishers, agents, some authors. If you want to know more about it -- go read about it in English here or in German here!

Their theme this year is Renewal. Hmmm ... lots I could say about that ... like legacy publishers better start rethinking how they will approach the tsunami known as epublishing! Standing on the beach and getting swept away is not an optimum strategy.

Getting To Know You

2011-08-26T10:07:00.001-05:00

Getting To Know You

I have some great new friends -- precisely my cup of tea.

Midnight in Paris, Crazy Stupid Love ... and all the other kinds too

2011-08-09T04:34:00.008-05:00

Midnight in Paris, Crazy Stupid Love ... and all the other kinds too

"Le cœur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point ... " -- Blaise Pascal

Had a movie binge the other day and saw both Midnight in Paris and Crazy Stupid Love in one afternoon. (Loved them!) Both speak with great humor and bittersweet affection for the uncomfortable fact that we often fall in love with the wrong person. It's something we humans can't help. Hell, in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, the hero is falling in love with a girl from the wrong era. Talk about tricky.

As for why we run around like idiots falling in love in the first place, don't miss a TED talk by Helen Fisher about why we all LOVE to fall in love. The short answer is ... same reason people love cocaine. You romantic types didn't know you were just the same as hopeless drug addicts? Well, you are. See her great analysis of the 3 types of love here, called "Why We Love and Cheat."

Crazy Stupid Love does a very good job of reminding us of how often we are in the love with the most inappropriate person. It has great twists and turns where everyone is completely OFF about who they swear is their soul mate. The French mathematician and philospopher Pascal had a perfect saying on this subject, "le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connais pas." That is, The heart has its logic which logic knows nothing about. (My translation.) And of course, leave it to the French to have TWO verbs for expressing "to know" -- savoir (the scientific "knowing") and connaitre (the emotional, sensual "sensing/knowing", where we get the word "connaisseur" -- a lover of things, suggesting that, to LOVE something or someone, is to KNOW them.)

I've been wanting to see another author who happens to be excellent on this subject -- Shakespeare -- and a number of his plays are being presented in the great outdoors this summer. Shakespeare loved to get his characters "looking for love in all the wrong places, ... in too many faces", as the old song goes, even playing around with the tradition in theater at that time that the women characters were played by little boys. In other words, you knew that the actual actor playing the hero was head over heels for a female lead character who was a male, not a female.

So check out both films and catch some Shakespeare in a park near you this summer. Remember they don't call it FALLING in love for nothing. If you decide to try it, don't be alarmed if you fall for Mr. or Ms. Wrong and fall on your face in the process.

+Photo Credit: Corey Stoll as Hemingway in Midnight in Paris, LA Times

White Mountains, Highland Lodge, Best New England Camping Experience

2011-08-06T05:08:00.005-05:00

White Mountains, Highland Lodge, Best New England Camping Experience

No, no, they don't pay me a fee to promote them. No, I'm not a "consultant" with some murky connection to their organization. I'm simply the BIGGEST FAN of Highland Lodge, near Mount Washington up in the White Mountains of NH.

Check them out here: Highland Lodge, White Mountains

My son is wild for camping, while I prefer shoe shopping to the great outdoors, but I love Highland Lodge! It gives parents a real break and is quiet and gorgeous with the chance to enjoy as much or as little of Mother Nature as you want.

And the best-kept secret of all is their L.L.Bean equipment room in the basement. Believe it or not, it's like a free "lending library" of the best L.L.Bean equipment including anything you need -- fleece jackets, daypacks, boots, rain gear, snowshoes, you name it. AND PARENTS, they outfit your children, you hang out in the woods, hiking, going on guide-led adventures, bring your dirty kids back to the Lodge and THEY WASH ALL THE CLOTHES -- That's my idea of a vacation! The food is great. The dinners are terrific and healthy. It's BYOB or buy a bottle of any of their good choices of wine. It's an amazing place.

We went in April with friends visiting from Finland. They didn't have any hiking equipment and the L.L.Bean room took care of everything FREE. And I'm talking snow gear, snowshoes et al., as we waltzed from Boston spring tulips blooming to full-on blizzard up there that particular time.

August is a great time to visit because it's starting to get cool and crisp up at Mt. Washington. Don't miss this New England treasure.

Back from Europe

2011-08-04T04:07:00.006-05:00

Back from Europe

Unpacking here at the crack of dawn. This jetlag thing gets you thinking deep philosophical thoughts like -- where the hell is that blue hairbrush? I'm sure I packed it. And other trivial stuff like, why are we born? Why do we die? Why is a Coke in Europe only 4 ounces and costs nearly $4.00?

For the most part we had a glorious trip, but on the last day my son and I hit a snag, with one airline royally messing us up, (causing us to miss a connection) and another called Virgin Atlantic saving the day. I like to pretend to be a role model for my 16-year-old, a pretense that melts often enough in the light of day. I completely blew it at the airport. I let him see me screaming and ranting like a harridan. I went off and lost it big time, yelling at a certain airline's customer service rep, "Thanks Gordon for reciting the airline regulations, now try to stop being a ROBOT and start being a HUMAN BEING."

He had that infuriating Customer Service Asshat tradition of a name plate with NO LAST NAME. That practice is guaranteed to raise by blood pressure instantly by 25 points. It's disrespectful to Gordon, or Suzy, or Rachid -- like they don't merit a last name -- and insanely unhelpful to the customer who might want to mention to their management what a useless idiot a member of their staff has been. It's slippery and sleazy and has 28-year-old MBA written all over it. It's inHUMANE and results in customer service reps who don't act like humans. It's what they did to slaves in pre-Civil War days. Thought we got over that, last I checked.

Making a scene in this manner was completely pointless and embarrassed my son no end, but then again, when does a parent of a teenager NOT embarrass their cool kid?! We left one terminal and went off to the other terminal to see if Virgin could help us.

On the bus between terminals, I actually calmed down and thought about a more winning game plan. My son noticed my frown turning to a smile and got worried. He asked me if I was going to TWEET about the bad airline. I shocked him. I resisted the urge. I had gone from raving lunatic to Yoda Mom. I said, "I'd much rather NOT TWEET about the bad airline and hope Virgin can be our hero today and TWEET about that."

While waiting in that very long line earlier, at the offending airline's "customer service" counter, I had called Virgin Atlantic's 800 number and they had warned me that I'd missed the last flight to Boston for Monday and the next available was ... Thursday! I nearly dropped the phone on that one. For many reasons we could NOT say in London for an extra 3 days. They suggested going to the airport counter for Virgin and inquiring about it in person, perhaps they could help me get home sooner.

When we got to Terminal 3, that's exactly what happened. I met the most amazing person -- Ricardo Munez -- who was one of those miracle workers of customer service who helped us in every way. He was polite, fast and booked us on the next plane the next day. Still, we had one little issue, we were in London for the night with no hotel.

And, per usual, Twitter performed above and beyond the call of duty. Knowing I might be stuck in London and much preferring the company of my Twitter buddies, I sent out a quick tweet and got three responses in about 20 minutes. Euan Semple and his totally awesome family put us up for the night and showed us wonderful stuff like a pub and a pony and a pot of tea and finally an evening in front of the telly watching Sirens by good old @reynolds -- all good things spawned by social media, doncha know. We slept well and then they graciously got us back to London Heathrow and on our way the next morning. Semples take a bow! Twitter take a bow! Virgin Atlantic take a bow! And I just found that hairbrush.

Photo Credit: Shaggy Pony by las on Flickr

bOokbOx

2011-06-23T07:04:00.005-05:00

bOokbOx

I'm starting a new site and videoblog called bOokbOx -- all about the eVoLuTioN of eBooks. There is so much going on out there with ebooks, iBooks, Kindle, Nook, you name it.

Some fun links to give you a sense of what's up in the world of ebooks:

Ted Conference video: Mike Matas -- Next generation of digital books

Harry Potter goes digital:Pottermore video

Seth Godin: Domino Project

Len Edgerly's Kindle Chronicles

Kindle Nation blog by Stephen WindWalker

Boston Angels et al.

2011-06-17T16:09:00.006-05:00

Boston Angels et al.

I was at CES in January in Vegas, in Silicon Valley for Launch and TedXBerkeley in February and both were hella busy, networky and fun. But this week in Boston was a blow out. Gotta wonder if the Bruins were sending out their super good luck and mojo or something! This start-up community was kick-ass this week.

What a week! There were so many excellent events based on entrepreneuring and innovation in Boston this week, it was almost too much. Here's a few hashtags I'll bet you've been seeing: #WebInno #AngelBC #TechStars #DemoDay #Xsite11 #MITX and of course #dcancel #HubSpot.

Bill Warner mentioned at Jon Pierce's excellent Angel Boot Camp on Tuesday that he wanted to get some branding behind the Boston / 128 / 495 / NH entrepreneurial environment here. He certainly was spot on about that and I'm happy to help define it.

Best of all, I noticed how female-friendly the investment community is here and how many excellent female entrepreneurs call Boston home. This is such a good place for women. The smart money understands that investing in women-led teams is the right thing to do. It's one of our big advantages here in Boston and definitely the Next Big Thing.

There's too much research on how women entrepreneurs are smarter with their capital, more patient and better at building companies than some of their male counterparts. They also do what's the best for the team more of the time, than take a ego-driven "hell no, I won't go" founder attitude when a start-up grows and needs more mature managers. I know we'll be seeing a great bunch of women will start balancing out the conferences as speakers and the investment community will be funding more female-led start-ups. How can investors with wives and daughters NOT invest in female ingenuity?!

So, all that said, everyone take it easy this weekend. Time for a slow weekend, whether you're on the Cape, up in the White Mountains, hanging at Crane's Beach, grabbing coffee in Harvard Square or putting in treadmill time at the gym out in Waltham be proud to be a Bostonian and especially a member of a vibrant entrepreneurial community.

On Hiring Women -- The Aerodynamics of Women

2011-06-10T08:08:00.004-05:00

On Hiring Women -- The Aerodynamics of Women

Good link (thanks to Kevin Fanning on Twitter @okkfan) to an interesting interview by Todd VanDerWerff from AV Club, with Dan Harmon, the Creator of the TV series, Community. Check it out.

AVC: You’ve employed a lot of female writers, in both seasons. That’s not true of a lot of other TV comedies. Was that a conscious decision?

DH: It was conscious on the part of [former NBC programming head] Angela Bromstad, before she left NBC. Angela said, “Get more women on your staff. Make it half women.” I remember going, “Are you fucking kidding me?” to myself. “Okay, I got a sitcom, and this is as far as you go,” because I’ve just been told that half of my staff needs to be a quota hire. From the mouths of bureaucrats come the seeds of great things. I dug extra hard. You find somebody like Hilary Winston. You find people later like [Emily] Cutler and [Karey] Dornetto.

They’re harder to find. It’s definitely not because women ain’t funny, because I’m finding the opposite. It’s because there’s fewer of them. The statistical probability of picking up a shitty script, it’s compounded for women. There’s the same percentage of genius happening in both genders, but there’s less women writing scripts and out there looking for the job. So you dig a little extra-hard, and you end up with a staff that took a few extra meetings and a few extra shitty scripts to read. Now you have a staff that is just as good as the staff you would have had, but happens to be half women. And it seems like the greatest thing in the world, because the world is half women. And the male writers across the board, from top to bottom, in their most private moments drinking with me, when they’re fully licensed to be as misogynist, reactive, old-boy-network as they want, all they can say is, “This turned out to be a great thing.”

The energy is different. It doesn’t keep anybody polite. We’re not doffing our caps or standing up when they enter the room. They do more dick jokes than anybody, because they’ve had to survive, they have to prove, coming in the door, that they’re not dainty. That’s not fair, but women writers, they acquire the muscle of going blue fast because they have to counter the stigma. I don’t have enough control groups to compare it to, but there’s just something nice about feeling like your writers’ room represents your ensemble a little more accurately, represents the way the world turns.

Race is another thing entirely. It would be fantastic to have 18 percent black writers on your TV staff and stuff. But the fact is, black women have ovaries and white women have ovaries; black men have testicles and white men have testicles, so actually, race is far more an artificial construct than gender. There’s a literal, actual difference between men and women, and it’s in their blood, and it’s in their brains, and it’s in their fingertips, and it’s in our conversations. I think women are different, and I think having them in the room is crucial to a family comedy, ensemble comedy, television comedy, where half the eyeballs on your show are women. As it turns out, I think Megan’s the only female writer who’s staying this year, so now, even though Bromstad’s gone, now I’m carrying this legacy, going, “Eh, guys, we really need a half-female writing staff.” I would teach it. I think we have to stop thinking of it as a quota thing and think of it as a common-sense thing.

Photo Credit: TVfanatic.com; Britta from the show, Community

2011-06-03T07:45:00.001-05:00

Trek 2200 Pink Women's Bike

2011-06-03T07:44:00.000-05:00

May May May, Mother May I?

2011-05-31T05:01:00.004-05:00

May May May, Mother May I?

The month of May is just about over, lovely month. It reminded me of a game we used to play on grassy green lawns, "Mother, May I?!" which was about asking a "mom" permission to take baby steps or elephant steps or umbrella steps towards her, eventually usurping her spot as the leader by tagging her.

It seems a strange game, asking your parent permission to do something ... but many of us are still asking our parents permission to be ourselves and live our own lives.

Picture Credit: Banana Republic

May Day: OBL Gone

2011-05-02T10:17:00.004-05:00

May Day: OBL Gone

We were out last night at Ten Tables in Provincetown and saw the news that Obama would be making a speech at 10:30 so went back to our B&B, Carpe Diem, to read the news, the blogs, the Twitter coverage and watch TV.

So the speech was short and to the point -- Osama bin Laden was dead. America had finally taken him out -- and where was he -- in Pakistan, near their "West Point" in a gorgeous mansion. No big surprise to me. He was from an elite family and the fantasy of him living in a cold, dirty cave was just that -- a fantasy.

The nation went wild with the news, but it isn't a Super Bowl win or some such. Partying because someone has been killed is a little unseemly to me, and moreover, there was no way last night to avoid reliving where you were and what happened to you on 9/11. I didn't experience tragedies, no friends or family died, but we all know it was a harrowing time for everyone. Being in Boston, we all felt sorry the terrorists had slipped through our airport to do so much damage. If we Bostonians had only stopped them!

It's a sunny, cloudless beautiful May day and also reminiscent of the weather on September 11th. I'm glad this day will be free from the heavy threat we all felt that day. My son was in first grade, and I was lucky to actually be at his school that day, planning a Nature Walk for his class. Parents were coming to the school all day. Questions about whether to tell them and how much to tell them were the biggest concern.

All that fall we kept him away from the TV, away from the pictures, away from the radio, but things slip into your consciousness. In the winter, I saw him stretched out on the floor, drawing pictures of skyscrapers with airplanes smashed into the top floors.

We listened to NPR a lot on headphones that fall to listen to the news of terrorism, anthrax, other crazy reports, while my son watched Rugrats. Seeing any Rugrats characters still makes me think of 9/11 to this day.

So this ten-year time of terrorism feels it has come to some sense of closure. There are still real risks out there every day, they don't go away with bin Laden's end. This is a good day to reflect on the good things this ten years has brought and look forward to the future.

Lovely Weather

2011-04-27T17:45:00.001-05:00

Can it get better? After this "challenging" winter, these warm spring days are just too amazing. Was looking at my green snake of a garden hose, happy to see it again after it was lost in piles of snow for so many months. It's like an old friend back from a long trip.

Trouble @ Twitter in Fortune

2011-04-25T10:49:00.005-05:00

Trouble @ Twitter in Fortune

The May 2, 2011 issue of Fortune Magazine features a beaten-up bird on the cover with the headline Trouble @ Twitter, complete with a baby blue bird with bandage on its beak and a little crutch under one wing. I am not sure the article by Jessi Hempel really gets to the heart of the matter. It wobbles a bit.

Just how popular is Twitter? Tracking its growth is complicated in part because many people tweet via dashboards such as TweetDeck (making it hard for Twitter to aggregate the mass viewership that many advertisers covet). The company says it has more than 200 million registered accounts (Facebook has 600 million subscribers), but users are allowed multiple accounts. The company also trumpets that the service had 155 million tweets daily by the end of the first quarter, a jump of 41% over the prior quarter, but many tweets -- news headlines, for example -- are often churned out by computers, not humans visiting Twitter.com. One key measurement of Twitter's popularity, Twitter.com's traffic, indicates a disturbing trend: ComScore shows that growth of U.S. visitors to the site has leveled off more than a year after its massive spike upward in 2009. (Twitter disputes this, pointing to Quantcast data that show a 50% increase in worldwide traffic in the past five months.)

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You'll do better if you want to know more nitty-gritty stuff about Twitter by reading Ben Parr on Mashable. Check out his piece "Why Twitter Wants to Acquire Tweetdeck"

Also, Nova Spivak on Techcrunch has much to say about Tweetdeck as well, in "How Twitter Can Save $50 Million" here.

Photo Credit: Fortune: Ben Baker/Redux

Good Friday Bright Garden

2011-04-22T09:04:00.004-05:00

Good Friday Bright Garden

Wednesday Happy Hump Day

2011-04-20T13:49:00.003-05:00

Wednesday Happy Hump Day

Who made that goofy expression up btw? I have always thought it sounded completely stupid "Hump Day" if not rude. Maybe Hump Day is like Business Time here?

The amazing, magnificent, hilarious, Flight of the Concords from some way far away place called New Zealand. They are the extraordinary Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement.

How to sound like a real person in social media

2011-04-19T08:07:00.004-05:00

How to sound like a real person in social media

I really shouldn't have to say this after all these years of social media -- blogging, tweeting, facebooking, etc. But I'll say it anyway.

Please, try to sound like a human being.

I don't want to read 15 tweets from you on Twitter than sound canned. I want to hear from the REAL you in REAL language on Twitter. That's why I go there.

I am sitting at my desk in my house in Arlington, MA. I've got the broom, the vacuum and the mop leaning against the stove in the kitchen downstairs, waiting for me, because I'm going to do a serious floor washing after I finish here. Sand from the roads after the snowy winter, mud from the spring rains, even old bits of leaves from last fall, has been tracked in the back door onto my kitchen floor, so it needs a full sweep, then a vacuum, then a on-my-hands-and-knees scrubbing.

I am a real person with a real kitchen floor I'm planning to scrub today. When I talk to you, it's really me talking. Later, when I talk on Twitter, it will be me with slightly wet knees in my blue jeans, my hair jammed up and out of the way in some baseball cap, just the real me, smelling of bleach and Mr. Clean after scrubbing my floor.

That's all I ask, just be real out there. Tell us what you are doing. Tell us how you are feeling. Let us get up close and personal. It's not a reality SHOW we want, we want reality.

*photo credit: Jacqueline Tinney, Flickr

New Day New Week New Season

2011-04-18T11:04:00.001-05:00

New Day New Week New Season

Spring is all about fresh -- fresh starts, fresh air, fresh feelings. It was Palm Sunday yesterday, Passover begins tonight, Easter Sunday next weekend. Even the weather has been fighting a brave battle -- talk about FRESH -- nearly 30's on Saturday with rain and wind, brrrrr! But 60's today and sunny as these bright yellow daffodils.

Oh yes, another "fresh" seasonal phenomenon -- young men can act rather fresh in spring when they are finally feeling free to be out and about and they can get a little amorous ... what's that old quote, about a young man's fancy ...

Comrades, leave me here a little, while as yet 't is early morn:
Leave me here, and when you want me, sound upon the bugle-horn.

'T is the place, and all around it, as of old, the curlews call,
Dreary gleams about the moorland flying over Locksley Hall;

Locksley Hall, that in the distance overlooks the sandy tracts,
And the hollow ocean-ridges roaring into cataracts.

Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest,
Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the West.

Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow shade,
Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid.

Here about the beach I wander'd, nourishing a youth sublime
With the fairy tales of science, and the long result of Time;

When the centuries behind me like a fruitful land reposed;
When I clung to all the present for the promise that it closed:

When I dipt into the future far as human eye could see;
Saw the Vision of the world and all the wonder that would be.--

In the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast;
In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest;

In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove;
In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.
(continues ... )

-- Locksley Hall by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

* Picture Credit: Theresa Thompson on Flickr

2011-04-18T09:57:00.000-05:00

Patriots Day in Lexington, April 15, 2002

by Halley Suitt

I saw a Minuteman,
Get in a minivan,
Down by Battle Green.
I saw a Redcoat,
Chatting on a cell phone,
Press one for land, two for sea.

The Regulars are coming!
The Regulars are coming!
To our town on a regular basis,
On a regular day in April
They bloom in colors bright
Poppies red,
Crocuses blue,
Snowdrops white,

They've come complete, with fife and drum
Just to remind us
That behind us, at Buckman's Tavern
They'd had enough of April Tax Time.
And from that day, as shots rang out,
Tea would pour free
And brave they could be
To make a new place for you and me.

Move it!

2011-04-17T08:18:00.005-05:00

Move It!

Amazing piece in The New York Times today about the most unhealthy thing you can do, called "Is Sitting a Lethal Activity?". Horatio Salinas' smashed chair photo tells all. Stop sitting, start moving!

People don’t need the experts to tell them that sitting around too much could give them a sore back or a spare tire. The conventional wisdom, though, is that if you watch your diet and get aerobic exercise at least a few times a week, you’ll effectively offset your sedentary time. A growing body of inactivity research, however, suggests that this advice makes scarcely more sense than the notion that you could counter a pack-a-day smoking habit by jogging. “Exercise is not a perfect antidote for sitting,” says Marc Hamilton, an inactivity researcher at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

The posture of sitting itself probably isn’t worse than any other type of daytime physical inactivity, like lying on the couch watching “Wheel of Fortune.” But for most of us, when we’re awake and not moving, we’re sitting. This is your body on chairs: Electrical activity in the muscles drops — “the muscles go as silent as those of a dead horse,” Hamilton says — leading to a cascade of harmful metabolic effects. Your calorie-burning rate immediately plunges to about one per minute, a third of what it would be if you got up and walked. Insulin effectiveness drops within a single day, and the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes rises. So does the risk of being obese.

So try this today with me. Don't sit. Try not to sit the entire day. Your family will think you're crazy, but try it. It will show you how much we're all sitting around. It's almost impossible to keep from sitting a little bit, but keep log of how many minutes you do sit today. Try to keep it under an hour.

*Photo Credit: Horatio Salinas, The New York Times

Visit with Vizit

2011-04-05T04:44:00.006-05:00

Visit with Vizit

Check out this cool digital frame called Vizit from the TODAY Show the other day. They did a segment on Cyber parenting: Tech-savvy ways to connect with kids. Vizit is one of these cool new things I wish I had when my kid was little. Now he's old enough to start inventing stuff like this. I definately have one of the Wright Brothers living under my room.

(Picture Credit: Yahoo web life editor Heather Cabot shows TODAY’s Natalie Morales some high-tech ways to stay plugged into kids’ lives.)

Lambchop Sings Queen

2011-04-04T06:11:00.000-05:00

Lambchop Sings Queen

Honestly, can you imagine the world without YouTube?! I guess there WAS one, but it wasn't nearly as fun!

Here's a perfect little ditty for lamb lovers. And I love lamb. Also love Queen big time! Mash-up mashed potatoes and 2 legs of lamb. She's a cutie. Nice.

Link: YouTube

The Wolf and the Lamb

2011-04-02T04:56:00.002-05:00

The Wolf and the Lamb

WOLF, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea to justify to the Lamb the Wolf's right to eat him. He thus addressed him: "Sirrah, last year you grossly insulted me." "Indeed," bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, "I was not then born." Then said the Wolf, "You feed in my pasture." "No, good sir," replied the Lamb, "I have not yet tasted grass." Again said the Wolf, "You drink of my well." "No," exclaimed the Lamb, "I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother's milk is both food and drink to me." Upon which the Wolf seized him and ate him up, saying, "Well! I won't remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my imputations."

The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.

From About.com

Photo Credit: Wolf and the Lamb

Old Dogs / New Tricks

2011-04-02T04:18:00.006-05:00

Old Dogs / New Tricks

Blogger is offering me "5 New Views" and other cool new stuff which is probably very cool and new and all, but when I come to this page, I don't want to focus on anything but WRITING.

I have 26 cool, but not so new, tools ... a, b, c, etc. You've seen them around, I know. You can do some pretty incredible things with those tools. In fact, one of the best things I read this week used them. It was an e-version of Aesop's Fables. I asked my teenager son to guess when it was written. He's not a literature major, so it wasn't really fair. He told me what all kids his age say, "look it up in Wikipedia, Mom!"

He knew the fables were written a long time ago and guessed ... 1850. [Only glad he didn't say the year I graduated from college which he considers ancient history as well.] He was off by a few years, but he let me read him the tale and we talked about the moral. It was called the Wolf and the Lamb. He remembered the other ones -- Ant and the Grasshopper and others. I did go to Wikipedia:

Aesop's Fables or Aesopica refers to a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE. His fables are some of the most well known in the world. The fables remain a popular choice for moral education of children today. Many stories included in Aesop's Fables, such as The Fox and the Grapes (from which the idiom "sour grapes" derives), The Tortoise and the Hare, The North Wind and the Sun, The Boy Who Cried Wolf and The Ant and the Grasshopper are well-known throughout the world.

So yes, maybe I'm an old dog who doesn't want to learn new tricks and upgrade my Blogger experience. Or maybe I know the old tools are good tools and the stories they let me tell should be the place I put my attention.

Picture Credit: Aesop's Fables

sNoW?! April Foolishness!

2011-04-01T05:39:00.002-05:00

sNoW?! April Foolishness!

Are you kidding me? It's April! It's Red Sox Opening Day! And it's SNOWING! More later, gotta go dig the kid and the car out.

Jesus Christ, The Entrepreneur

2011-03-31T04:11:00.003-05:00

Jesus Christ, The Entrepreneur

In this time of Lent, I can't help thinking of Jesus Christ. And there's a side of the Jesus story that comes to mind when I think of anyone on a path to change the world, surrounded by people around them who just don't get it.

Try starting a business and see how many people you encounter just don't understand why you are doing the disruptive things you are doing. You are not interested in fitting in, not able to sit still and embrace the status quo, get a paycheck, stand in line, wait for a promotion every few years. Instead you are off wandering around seeking like-minded disciples to get your business off the ground, challenging every "business as usual" practice, believing you can invent a better way of doing just about anything, instead of being home for dinner, giving the baby a bath or buying your wife a new dress, or your husband a new pair of pants. You are on a personal quest, following a path only you understand.

Think starting a business is tough? Try starting a religion. Try walking this earth as the embodiment of love. Whoa! Some elevator pitch! Talk about a calling. There's such a lack of love all around us, you have your work cut out for you if this is your goal. You're not building a better mousetrap, you're finding every dark corner of hatred, fear, malevolence and you're replacing it with harmony, love and joy. They must have thought, "this Jesus guy is off his rocker!"

One of my favorite "quotes" from the beleaguered savior is, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." [Luke 23:34] It's mind-blowing to really ponder this statement. Stop and think about it for a minute. Someone is crucifying you, nailing you to two pieces of wood, letting you bleed to death and you are thinking about forgiving them. You are actually defending their ignorance to a third party. Imagine being able to embrace forgiveness at such a high level. You are understanding how much the people acting against you are acting without knowing any better, acting without knowledge.

It is a stretch perhaps to think of Jesus as an entrepreneur, but this is so often what a person with a big idea faces -- many ignorant people around him/her who just don't get it. So when you walk this world as an entrepreneur, an artist, an innovator, a parent giving birth to a new person who might change the world as Jesus did, arm yourself with this amazing strength. Remember it's all okay if they don't get what you're doing. Expect it. Walk the path you are here to walk, forgive them later, but just keeping putting one foot in front of the other.

Photo: Basilica di San Pietro, "Michelangelo's Pietà"

Plume de ma tante

2011-03-24T06:16:00.000-05:00

Plume de ma tante

I have the most amazing fountain pens. My husband spoils the heck out of me at holidays with a new pen all wrapped beautifully in a gorgeous box. ACME is a particular favorite. This year he got me the QWERTY pen and business card case.

I've written before about how much I love paper, ink, fountain pens -- all the very Luddite choices of writers. Yes, I love blogs and computers too, but I have always kept a paper diary (Moleskin lately) and used a real pen. Just feels better. Now to hunt up a picture of some of my beauties.

More Snow? Just Say NO!

2011-03-21T14:34:00.004-05:00

More Snow? Just Say NO!

Okay, if you're a Bostonian you know this has been one crazy SNOW-FILLED WINTER and to even consider a flake or two more falling on our fair city -- well, it's hard to imagine.

But imagine no more! Here's the real thing! It's been snowing all morning and afternoon, at least out my window. You have to give the snow some credit.

It IS beautiful. It IS refreshing -- sort of. It IS better than rain -- I guess. But enough is enough!

Now think back to November and December ... it really didn't snow much then. The colossal snow started in January, so maybe this isn't too surprising, that there's a little bit of it left since the celestial pillow fight started late this year.

Reading, Loving and Learning a Spring Full of New Books

2011-03-09T10:12:00.010-05:00

Reading, Loving and Learning A Spring Full of New Books

I've been reading a bunch of new books, loving them and learning so much. I sure love seeing the spring flowers trying to bloom -- the early ones, the daffs, the tulips, the crocuses, but I love the new books blooming all over the place even more!

Read about Poke the Box by Seth Godin (and BUY IT!)

Read about The Domino Project

Twitter and the Nature of Time

2011-02-16T06:37:00.005-05:00

Twitter and the Nature of Time

I have always thought one very intriguing aspect of Twitter was the fact that it's a completely different "product" depending on where you live and what time it is.

On a shelf, Tide is always Tide, Heinz Ketchup is always Heinz Ketchup, and anywhere in the world a Coke is a Coke is a Coke. Brands you can count on to deliver a solid, unchanging brand experience, but not so with Twitter.

You know the time zone math. As I just tweeted at 6:00am in Boston, "It's primetime for Europe, late for Middle East, dawn for NewYork/DC/Boston and ZZZZZZ for CA." If I go on at the end of my day, Europe is mostly gone, California is in full swing and we're getting the Pacific Rim in PJ's added to the show.

It's something I love about Twitter. It's a product which is both public and generic, but private and intimate. It is quiet and tame in my mornings, sometimes wild and brawling in my late day, but whatever time you go on, it's filled with the daily energy of people across that very wide "world WIDE web" you've heard so much about.

Picture Credit: Not sure who took this picture of (from left to right, Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone) but it lives at this link.

Twitter at the Grammys

2011-02-14T05:30:00.004-05:00

Twitter at the Grammys

I am giving my biggest Grammy award to Twitter as APP OF THE YEAR. Of course, Twitter's role in the Egyptian uprising is historic, but Twitter's role at the Grammys was HYSTERIC-AL!

It's so much fun to see what everyone else is thinking as they are watching any wacky awards show. It's the last lone frontier of LIVE TV trying to be cool and holding it together, and despite all prep, offers up all the gaffes only live TV can offer.

It's so much fun to sit in front of the big global screen with thousands of Twitter buddies making cracks at the beautiful people. I mean I love Rhianna, but why do most of her clothes look like they finished off with a document shredder?! Clue me in please. And what brilliant producer decided to let the other 15 guys SING behind Dylan, essentially drowning him out. Let them play and let him sing, duh! And bravo stage manager, giving Dylan a doghouse bass larger than a mountain lying flat on stage, right in his path, forcing him to vault over the thing as he came on stage.

And of course there was the moment when I finally had enough with my cable provider, trying to figure why they kept dropping the audio and I tweeted my frustration -- and my Twitter buddies clued me in -- they were silently "bleeping" all the effing f words in the lyrics. Can you spell "censorship" -- a ship that needs to go Titantic please. Oy vey!

Micah Sifry wins my BEST TWEET AT THE GRAMMIES award this year,
@Mlsif From hip, to hip replacement. Acid to antacid. Mick Jagger at the Grammys

A book: The cover is a door to an amazing world

2011-02-13T10:47:00.006-05:00

A book: The cover is a door to an amazing world

I'm a voracious, you might say carnivorous, or certainly an omnivorous reader. And I've been thinking about books, and in particular, hardcover books. I don't cotton to ebooks frankly.

I've been thinking about why you like to own them, hold them, shelve them, loan them, wrap them up with a bow to give as a gift, cuddle up with them, stay up all night reading them and how there are some things you can do with a book which you can't do with an ebook.

Look at the shape of a book. Look at the front cover. It opens like a box, or if you think of it, like a door to a house where there's a party going on. The cover of a book is like a little door into an amazing world. Readers who love reading know this. The common wisdom suggests "don't judge a book by its cover" and they are right, you can't imagine from the door of a house what weird, wild, wonderful things might be going on inside.

No e-book lets me open a door as a real book does. And once inside, there is ink and paper. Not important you say? Well, I think it is. As a writer, I feel the connection with other writers when I see ink pressed on paper. You may say all books are now written on computers and few people write with pen, ink and paper. That's true, but ink and paper are suggestive of a person pouring their blood, sweat and tears into a manuscript. Ink is the connection to the blood and heartbeat and FEELINGS of an actual living (or once living) author. Ink may be black but it is liquid like blood and the ink in a book is the brother of the ink in the inkwell on the desk of a writer. It flows. It lets words flow. It spills. It spills the emotions. It is not digital.

Take the word "manuscript" -- notice the origin of the two parts of the word too -- "manu" hand and "script" written. A manuscript is written by a person's hand. It's "hand-made." The hands of a writer touched paper, that paper was sent to a printer, who in the old days made type with their hands -- hot lead type -- and pressed the words into the bed of soft paper. Think ink and paper, think about a signature, something totally unique, written by the hand of a person, identifying that person, a manuscript, too is made by hands, holds an author's unique perspective.

The door of a book, the cover, opens and there are people inside who say, "Come in, we'll tell you our story." It's an amazing invitation. Open that door. Go in, listen. And if you leave that enchanted place, remember you can always go back. You'll recognize the door.

Picture Credit: Amazing book I'm reading now: Enchantment, by Guy Kawasaki, Penguin. Go here to learn more.

Great Interview with Jack Dorsey at Stanford University Enterpreneurs' Corner

2011-02-10T15:42:00.005-05:00

Great Interview with Jack Dorsey at Stanford University Enterpreneurs' Corner

Check this out. Really interesting talk with the founder of Twitter and Square.

"Apple is run like a theatre company ... stage-driven, a very cohesive story."

"It's not what we can build, it's what we can take away."

"We want to make payments feel amazing."

Hats In Boston

2011-02-09T06:39:00.004-05:00

Hats In Boston

I'm sure I can come up with a better title than that, but give me a few minutes. My head is still half-frozen from the blasted freezing cold, despite wearing my excellent new hat.

So I wanted to write about one thing. Hats in Boston. It's one of the best things about the cold weather here -- and hell, we have had so much cold weather here. The hats in Boston in winter bloom in reds, blues, yellows, pretty oranges like a wooly garden of happy, cozy comfort. Spring will bring pretty tulips one of these days, but in the meantime, enjoy this hothouse of hats!

So, all I wanna say is, you see some amazing and insane and cool and funny hats in Boston. Wonderful crazy hats ... which people actually wear in order to keep warm.

I don't want to be a cold climate snob, but honestly when I see skateboarder types in wool hats in 75 degree L.A. and S.F. weather, it's slightly ridiculous. Just like seeing people in California wearing "winter boots" which sadly they sometimes try to sell here on the East Coast. You know what I mean -- suede boots with tall heels and no tread -- people here take one look at them and LAUGH! These are not boots. These boots would last about 5 seconds in Harvard Square. Give it up. You want boots -- start in Maine -- at L.L. Bean.

Speaking of boots and hats and cold weather -- may I please mention my too favorite sexy guilty pleasure brands -- which I've been forced to admit are wonderful thanks to this weather pushing us to the brink of snow madness. Here they are ... wait for them: Sorel Boots and Smartwool.

Like check out Sorel's wonderful "Joan of Artic" boots which also have that wonderful funky name. And Smartwool ... I can't say enough good about them. I crave them. [And no, dear readers, they don't pay me to say nice things. Full disclosure = I just happen to LOVE them!]

Like many people, you probably looked at Sorel and Smartwool and thought, "Jeez, they're kinda on the pricey side." But not anymore. I'm a believer. They are wonderful and warm and ESSENTIAL to living on this side of the U.S. without freezing to death or falling on your butt repeatedly when negotiating these icey tobogan run streets.

Picture Credit: Steve Garfield in a wonderful fur hat. So Boston!

Big Announcement: Omnicom's DAS buys Communispace

2011-02-07T11:24:00.004-05:00

Big Announcement: Omnicom's DAS buys Communispace

So exciting to see the news is public now -- we've been bought by Omnicom's DAS and DAS IST GUT! It's great news and everyone who knows our CEO, Diane Hessan, can't be surprised one little bit. Bravo, DH!

Did you watch her interview here with Eric Paley who does the cool series Founder Dialogues? The most touching part is Diane talking about being a little kid and while most parents can't help showing off their kids' singing or dancing talent, Diane liked to do Ivory Soap commercials for the neighbors! That girl had advertising in her blood from early on.

How Enchanting Are You?

2011-02-07T09:10:00.005-05:00

How Enchanting Are You?

I'll help you answer that question soon. Thanks kk+ on Flicker for taking my pic here from Gnomedex.

MLK Day

2011-01-17T07:47:00.002-05:00

MLK Day

On this day, I am pondering the man -- Martin Luther King -- and even the other man -- Martin Luther -- and wondering how both had such moral courage to stand up against the forces around them and really change their worlds forever. It's amazing to contemplate. Guts and amazing mind-changing courage and fortitude.

We all have moments where we think something in the world is just not right or just not fair, but how many of us can say, I must change that, and then go on to do it.

Home and Hearth

2011-01-16T14:27:00.002-05:00

Home and Hearth

When we were house hunting in July, I don't think I even noticed the fireplace in this house. We had seen so many and on hot blistering New England summer days of real estate open houses, you are asking so many more questions about air conditioning than fireplaces.

But winter always rolls around, or comes crashing down around us is a better verb I suppose after the snow the grey sky dumped on our heads this past week and I LOVE LOVE LOVE my fireplace. I don't know what I'd do without it.

The first year in a new house has many surprises (good and bad) as you learn to live together and the fireplace is one of the best unexpected features. Back to the couch with more tea to watch the fireplace as the afternoon turns to evening.

Slow it down, slow it down, slower still, there, I remember now, 1999 ... ahhh!

2011-01-15T12:25:00.006-05:00

Slow it down, slow it down, slower still, there, I remember now, 1999... ahhh!

Goodness gracious, things have been going at a helluva pace and it all needs to just slow down for a bit. It's Saturday morning and I had to get up at 5:00 a.m. to get my kid on the way to a Boy Scout trip up in the White Mountains. Do you get it? Boston with insane amounts of snow, dark, 5:00 a.m., 18 degrees with wind chill making it feel like 3. Saturday morning. A week ago I was in Vegas at CES. It was not 3. It was 55 and all the natives were whining about how "cold" it was. Got a great laugh out of that.

Anyway, I get him on his way, and believe you me, it's a battle with all this snow, piles and piles of it on every corner, so you can barely make a turn because you can't SEE beyond a 5 foot pile of snow on many corners as you creep into an intersection and cars are parked so far into the street, because there is so much snow at the curb ... what curb? ... you can't even see a curb. And people can't walk on sidewalks or wait for buses on sidewalks because there's so damned much snow, there are NO SIDEWALKS, so they are walking in the streets too. It's crazy. It's a battle out there, everything's always a fight, no taking it easy.

So I get back, take my layers of wool and fleece and sheepskin and all of it off and finally get back into bed and fall asleep.

And something unbelieveable happened.

I still don't quite know what it was, but I want more. I had a dream which was euphoric, just joyful and wonderful and full of love and light and fun and hell, it was something LSDful and drug-induced (not that I've experienced either really) but imagine a dream where you are awash in hopefulness and happiness and satisfaction, way way beyond, "everything's gonna be alright" and when I slowly woke up, I really had that, "I wanna go back there!" feeling.

And it occurred to me, life has been really TOUGH for so many people for the last few years. I've been lucky to be working and surrounded by family and friends, but you can't feel completely happy and good when you see others suffering, losing jobs, worrying endlessly about money, anxious about their futures, all of it.

And I was thinking of the dream, trying to isolate the feeling, that sunny day feeling of well-being, and when we all were feeling that way. When did we last feel that way? So much darkness has come along between 2001 and 2011.

So I had to think back ... slowly, try to feel that sense of sunny optimism, and when it was happening. I would say it was way back in 1996 - 1999 that things felt solid, prosperous, unthreatened, light and airy. Happy! Hopeful! Just plain FUN! So that's my next big thing ... to bring back that feeling. I have my work cut out for me, I'm afraid, but it's high time. Help me out. Let's do it.

Smart Girls Rule!

2011-01-05T09:55:00.002-05:00

Smart Girls Rule!

Been thinking about how few smart girl characters there are on TV. Lisa Simpson definately is a girl brainiac. I love her. She's the best.

Was trying to remember if she was just smart in general or if she's more the science/math brain or more of an arts/humanity/music girl. Need to read up on her.

Picture Credit: Fox/Simpsons

Steve Himmer Rocks, But You Knew That!

2011-01-04T17:06:00.002-05:00

Steve Himmer Rocks, But You Knew That!

You are the best, thanks for your HTMLish help today Steve! When will you guys come over for dinner at our new house? I will cook. We're getting into a serious grains, lentils, rice thing, but we aim to please -- Lasagna? Steak Tips? Salmon? If the weather stays cold, we do a helluva Meatloaf too.

California Dreamin' Only Reasonable

2010-12-15T10:16:00.000-05:00

California Dreamin' Only Reasonable

Thought it would be a good day to hear this. I miss California and not just the weather! I lived there from July 1990 to July 2000. Ten great years.

I miss LA where I lived and SF where I worked. I miss wandering the lots -- Paramount, Sony, Disney, Universal and a particular favorite, Warner Bros. I bet after 9/11 you didn't have such casual access to the movie lots. On a busy afternoon at the WB lot, on the way to see a client, I once parked my car on a phony street where they were shooting a film -- by accident. When you see the camera trucks rolling up the street heading straight for you, you realize you made a mistake. I miss tearing at top speed up Motor between the Sony and Fox lots.

I miss wandering the hills up near Berkeley, smell of eucalyptus. I miss things like watching the buildings on the Cisco campus being built ... Tasmania / Zanker ... it was pretty empty there in the beginning (circa 1994). I miss coffee with friends south of Market when nobody worked over there, except for bums asking for money. I miss funny meetings on Sand Hill Road where one time I'd written a business plan for a very young CEO, expected him to deliver it, he didn't even bother showing up. He asked me to do the $25M pitch instead, to a really obnoxious VC who started the meeting by announcing, "I'm 25, I've only got 25 minutes and then a hard stop." We did get the money eventually. I even miss getting fogged in at SFO on a regular basis, trying to get home to LA, hanging at the United Red Carpet Club.

Happy Day

2010-10-10T10:10:00.000-05:00

Happy Day

So we made this 10-10-10 a very happy day. I'm Mrs. Halley Suitt Tucker now!

More photos soon. Or maybe not so soon! Honeymoon in Italy OR spend time downloading photos? I'll go with Italy!

I Hear The Rain On The Roof

2010-09-15T06:01:00.000-05:00

I Hear The Rain On The Roof

Finally Fall! Cool and breezy and a whole 'nother country to live in -- no more non-stop heat and humidity. Just back from Maine and what a difference from the weather I left behind. Must have brought back a cool, breezy slice of Maine, even better than those slices of blueberry pie I had there.

Rebranding Homework

2010-09-01T07:28:00.020-05:00

Rebranding Homework

Back to school this week for my high school kid and neither of us is looking forward to the deluge of homework heading his way as the school year begins.

Homework is a drag! It's so old-fashioned! It requires embarrassingly old technology, like pencils and paper! If homework were a package on a retail shelf, I would recommend the manufacturer take a long, hard look at the brand and give it a facelift. It's very unappealing! Not modern, not fun, too slow, a lousy user interface.

And as a parent, I secretly hate homework too, not for the same reasons my kid hates it, but mostly because it eats up our family time and his outdoor physical fitness time. I just don't think 10 pages of handwritten math homework every night actually teaches kids math. It seems most effective at teaching kids to HATE math.

The book, "The Homework Myth," addresses the recent push-back against homework better than I can here, but I've been thinking about what lies underneath the homework rage many kids (and parents) feel. I think it's all about technology.

There is a vast chasm of expertise between the computer-savvy, Net-loving, social media-connected high schoolers and that of their teachers, which makes school very difficult for all of them. I think teachers are some of the least tech-savvy people in my kid's world. I'm afraid his generation doesn't respect people who don't love new technology or use it passionately. His dad and I are more tech-savvy than many of his teachers because of our jobs; we have to be knowledgeable or we'd be OUT of a job.

I think these kids see homework as deadly slow and disconnected "busy work" -- literally, not connected to the Net and their fast-moving daily reality. Some nights when I check the stuff over, I have to agree. Is this really the best way for them to learn? I loved school and actually loved doing my homework, but I think we had a lot less homework. I've always loved to read and write, but that's only one type of the nine types of intelligence, as Harvard professor Howard Gardner pointed out, but still the main one (called "linguistic intelligence") that's measured in schools.

As for rebranding, we need homework that attracts, engages and rewards kids who have all types of intelligence. The "new homework" should use the most exciting technology available. I wish homework were OPT IN or OPT OUT -- not graded, just an option for those who feel it is helpful.

And back to branding, I have to say, the second part of the word -- "work" -- has to go. Time to rebrand homework as HOMEPLAY. And I wish it were online and fun like a videogame. Why can't they integrate schoolwork and homework into a videogame format where your online avatar gets points, a badge or bigger biceps if you can pass a quick quiz or show off your ability to conjugate the verb volare? My kid would love doing homework like that! And I'd love to see him loving it.

Top Influential Women In Tech on Twitter -- Don Dodge of Google Weighs In

2010-08-04T14:45:00.008-05:00

Top Influential Women In Tech on Twitter -- Don Dodge of Google Weighs In

Wow, Don Dodge, what a list! I'm in excellent company. Of your select list of 29 Top Influential Women in Tech on Twitter rocks, I know most of these excellent women and want to meet the rest. Thanks too for giving us a great list of Twitter handles. Here it is:

•@Sarahcuda - Sarah Lacy, writer for Techcrunch
•@MarissaMayer - VP of products at Google
•@KaraSwisher - Writer at BoomTown and All Things D
•@Christine - Christine Herron - First Round Capital
•@MaryjoFoley - Writer for ZDnet, follows Microsoft
•@Pistachio - Laura Fitton, founder of oneforty.com
•@Cshipley - Chris Shipley, DEMO, Guidewire Group
•@JessieWrites - Jessi Hempel, writer at Fortune
•@CharleneLi - Charlene Li, founder of Altimeter Group
•@Kabster728 - Katie Boehret, writer at Wall Street Journal
•@AriannaHuf - Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post
•@Megan - Megan McCarthy - TechMeme and MediaGazer
•@Edyson - Esther Dyson, conf organizer, Angel Investor
•@InaFried - writer at Cnet
•@Zephoria - danah Boyd - researcher, writer, Microsoft
•@GigaStacy - Stacy Higginbotham - writer at GigaOm
•@Sarah_Ross - Head of Digital, Katalyst Films
•@ElizaBrooks - Elizabeth Brooks, former VP of Mktg Napster
•@Jhurwitz - Judith Hurwitz, Consulting Group
•@Alexia - Alexia Tsotsis - writer at Techcrunch
•@ShiraLazar - Media personality, always at conferences
•@Halley - Halley Suitt, Chief Editor at Communispace
•@XeniJardin - Editor at Boing Boing, contributor Wired
•@Caterina - Caterina Fake, founder of Flickr and Hunch
•@Mollydotcom - Molly Holzschlag - blogger, speaker
•@Missusp - Christine Perkett, PerkettPR agency
•@GinaTrapani - LifeHacker , blogger, techwriter
•@JolieOdell - Jolie O'Dell, writer at Mashable
•@Caro - Caroline McCarthy - writer at Cnet

Life Plan: Take The Magic Pill

2010-07-27T04:59:00.000-05:00

Life Plan: Take The Magic Pill

If I had a magic pill you could take that would help you feel better physically, feel better emotionally, live longer, look better, add more love, sex and fun to your life, help you sleep better at night -- would you take it? I think you would. By the way, my magic pill is free. Sounds good, doesn't it?! Well, it's not really a pill -- it's exercise. One hour a day.

That's the hitch. It's not a pill you toss in your mouth and swallow in 10 seconds with a glass of water. It's a pill that takes an HOUR to "swallow" every day -- and you take it with a few glasses of water, not just one sip.

Exercise in the form of walking, yoga, dancing, running, spinning, tennis, swimming, you name it -- find your favorite flavor of pill. Or take a different one every day. You decide. And it works. And as you get older, you'll start seeing who's doing it (and who's NOT) and how much it helps the people who pop the pill every day as they age. They'll look better than you. They'll feel better. They'll live longer and you might want to think about that.

You may have been avoiding my magic pill for a long time, or maybe took them religiously for the last few months but forgot to refill your prescription lately. No problem. Just get back to it today. Just take one today. One hour of walking is a good way to start. One magic pill of exercise and three glasses of water to wash it down. And while you're walking today, think about committing to the magic pill for the rest of your life. The "rest of your life" as defined by you, as you become happier and healthier day by day, as you swallow the pill that only takes an hour out of your day and gives back so much.

And when you find it tricky to fit the one-hour pill in every day, feel free to say to yourself, "these people who are keeping me from taking the pill today -- these "must-do" priorities and other time wasters -- they are KILLING me and I don't appreciate it." These people are killing you, they are. Spend your one hour of exercise running AWAY from people, jobs, family, anyone who's keeping you from taking the magic pill.

The Entrepreneurial Bedside Manner or Why Scott Kirsner's Conferences are so Damned Good!

2010-06-23T18:27:00.008-05:00

The Entrepreneurial Bedside Manner or Why Scott Kirsner's Conferences are so Damned Good!

Well, I can answer the second part first -- that is, why Scott's conferences are so good. It was great to attend Momentum Summit today and see Scott who's a total mensch, good guy, SMART dude if you don't know him. His conferences are great because he's an entrepreneurial scientist who loves to put the best specimens under his microscope and study them painstakingly for his own edification. That is, you always get the feeling that he creates conferences which are PERSONAL, because he's fascinated in the topic and he feels a pressing need to round up the best people and learn from them.

The audience? They just happen to be lucky bystanders and I love the feeling that we're watching Scott's own personal journey of self-enlightenment, as if he were programming his own 24-hour Entrepreneurial Discovery Channel and we're all along for a fascinating ride. I've seen a few other people run conferences in this way -- Esther Dyson, Bob Metcalfe, Richard Saul Wurman, John Battell, Dave Winer and I'd add Jeff Pulver to the list (although I still haven't had a chance to attend one, but I'm eager to do so.) They are great thinkers, hungry to learn more and you can come along for the ride.

So Scott rounded up some terrific people to figure out how entrepreneurial leaders lead. I'm calling it "The Entrepreneurial Bedside Manner" An idea that occurred to me listening to all the great speakers today. When I say "bedside manner" I guess I mean, what is it that makes an entrepreneurial leader someone you would trust completely? There are many leadership qualities and we saw them on parade today. Each leader had a different take on it.

It's clear Gail Goodman at Constant Contact really knows how to listen to customers and act on that inside knowledge. She also radiates a feeling of knowing what matters and what doesn't. Key attributes for any entrepreneur.

Tom Leighton's terrific storytelling about the beginning of Akamai was all about a bunch of passionate brilliant guys pursuing an idea they loved, wanted to prove it and then they jumped right in, passionately doing just about everything WRONG, but succeeding like gangbusters. But what did they get totally right? The passion part. Their passion seemed to attract all the right people to help them test their beloved idea. And being brilliant MIT mathematicians (sounds a lot like "magicians" doesn't it?) certainly served them as well.

I love VistaPrint, so I have to admit my bias, but I actually have never met anyone from the company -- just been a very happy customer of theirs in many start-ups I've worked for. Trynka Shineman from VistaPrint knows her market, knows her customers, knows how to make them happy. Add to that solid knowledge her openness about learning about their businesses -- even the business of a very small company in the middle of East Nowhere. She honors and respects all of her "long tail" clients in a refreshing way.

When Ben Fischman of Rue La La took the floor, you got a nice big dose of CONFIDENCE. I mean, do you really want to follow a leader who's kind of uncertain and iffy about what he's doing?! I don't think so.

And with TripAdvisor's Steven Kaufer, you got that same feeling of confidence, spiced up with some wry humor, skepticism and down-to-earth "Just Do It" attitude.

And then there was ZipCar's CEO Scott Griffith, being interviewed by Laura Fitton of OneForty -- Scott, I had never met and Laura, I've known a while and think is swell. But this notion of the Entrepreneurial Bedside Manner was really born out of their conversation. Anyone who was in the room knows what I mean. They were discussing "leadership" but the media sure as heck was the message.

Scott Griffith exudes a calming, solid, trusting, wise and measured quality any leader should strive for. He gives off that excellent reassuring sense that he can make the easy decisions and the hard ones. He will be wise and methodical when necessary and fast and opportunistic when required. He makes you feel like you'd trust him to perform brain surgery on your own noggin and not even sign the release forms before he gave you the anesthesia. More than anything, he makes you know he REALLY CARES about ZipCar and getting it right. He cares so much, he makes YOU care. That's a leader. That's the brilliant bedside manner any entrepreneur should embrace.

Eye Surgery: Fixing A Hole

2010-06-14T18:22:00.003-05:00

Eye Surgery: Fixing A Hole

Had eye surgery last week at www.eyeboston.com and I have nothing but raves about those folks. I love them. They are terrific, especially Dr. Shah and Dr. Wiegand.

I had tiny tears (like ripping paper, not crying) in my retina and they fixed them.

My eye looks like something from the yuckiest horror film you've ever seen. Bright red, swollen, wet and hurt. The procedure didn't hurt, but the eye looks just dreadful.

More soon on this.

Talking Heads: The Less We Say About It The Better

2010-05-25T18:38:00.003-05:00

Talking Heads: The Less We Say About It The Better

Look at this video first HERE Oh yeah, after spending the day moving, no better song than "Home"

At the end of a hot summer day in New York, we would go out for a drink, it was too hot to stay inside ... and you're standing here beside me ... always for love ... say good night. It was hot, but we knew how to cool off, cooly, yes we found the very cool EOD in NYC.

IN WHY, SEE?

It's where I want to be, but I guess I'm already there ... I come home, she lifted up her wings, I guess this must be the place.

Just look at the blond bass player, Tina Weyman's knees tightly held together, letting her sway in a sexy way from that place, it's about 4 minutes into the video, when they all back away from the lamp, she is so sexy and pretty. Oh yeah, she's married to the drummer. Her cute tight body and shy, sly smile, impish haircut, balanced on the other side with the loosey goosey lovely black guy playing the guitar all free, sexy and open. Wonderful to see them, against the tightly wound David Byrne. If you haven't seen Demme's Stop Making Sense, get it and watch it.

And then of course, the best part of the video follows -- the lamp dance. You gotta love the lamp dance.

I'm wearing FUR PYJAMAS

2010-05-25T18:24:00.002-05:00

I'm wearing FUR PYJAMAS

Yes, here on this mountain top ... I've got a wild, wild life.

And then of course, there's PEOPLE like US!

Three Fifty Six Trois Heures Cinquante Six

2010-03-04T03:56:00.003-05:00

Three Fifty Six / Trois Heures Cinquante Six

Okay, I was dancing in the kitchen just now. Dancing at 3:56 a.m. in my kitchen. I do that kind of thing when I feel good and feel amazingly awake and alive and happy.

I was sick last weekend and there was no dancing going on, believe me. In fact there's nothing that makes me dance less than that. I was very sick as a kid, nearly died, thank you very much, so I don't like even thinking about getting sick.

So being well is cause for dancing in my book, for jumping up and down, for laughing out loud. Old silly dances do the trick, the twist, the frug and of course, the mashed potato, do you like it like this?

Innovation Cambridge Style

2010-02-23T13:36:00.003-05:00

Innovation Cambridge Style

I'm at the Cambridge Innovation Center at Kendall attending their launch of new office space and looking forward to hearing Gov. Deval Patrick speak about STARThere.

You can read more about STARThere here. Did I just say here here twice?! Bad girl!

Cute Little Bing Thing

2010-02-02T05:44:00.001-05:00

Cute Little Bing Thing

Admit it -- the pictures they run every day on Bing are amazing. If you are not looking at them, you're missing a lot! Go there. Get off your high horse called Google and check out Bing!

Today there is a very cute little furry animal Bing thing to look at. I don't know what it is, but something in the hedgehog-type furry thing category I suspect.

Nice: Where Are Tiger's Black Beauties?

2009-12-24T09:24:00.002-05:00

Nice: Where Are Tiger's Black Beauties?

I like this piece from the Hartford Courant -- I agree with Frank Harris III -- be sure to check it out. No Sisters in Tiger's Harem What's with the all-blond-no-black routine?

Bravo Senate

2009-12-24T09:17:00.002-05:00

Bravo Senate

Now what time were they finally done this morning wrapping up that Healthcare Christmas Present? Red bow tied up here.

Small Things I Love That Matter

2009-12-12T05:58:00.002-05:00

Small Things I Love That Matter

I've been having a nasty two-week battle with flu and an intractable cough which was not going away. The doctor and I were worried it was pneumonia, but THANK GOD, it wasn't. She came up with a SURGE STRATEGY which included inhalers, bed rest, forcing fluids, the whole routine, and it worked!

So this is one of the first days I've felt really WELL since getting sick in Florida over Thanksgiving Weekend. So I need to do a rewind on the holidays and start by remembering to be amazingly thankful for my typically excellent health. Like a great spouse you are foolish enough to neglect, I have been taking my great health for granted ... but no more! Now I bow to my health, bring her bouquets of roses and anything else I can offer to woo and win that wonderful health back.

I'm in my kitchen, where it's getting warm here at 6:00am on a very cold morning. The temp is 23F outside. Brrrrrrr ... and I am noticing the small things in my life that I love and that matter to me. Like this favorite spoon of mine with a blunt end and streamlined design which I use to eat yogurt. Okay, okay, it's like a little shovel used to dig a hole in a flat round plot of terrain -- the inviting round circle of new fresh yogurt hiding under the metallic cover when you rip it open. It's just a not-so-fancy spoon that I happen to love. I'm just crazy about it.

And I love my tea. English Breakfast tea made up in a big black ceramic teapot. I love the tea, the teapot, the cup. Simple things but they make all the difference.

And I have a favorite grey cloche hat on my head. Soft, felty (actually polartec fleece), grey with a big cuff, a perfectly excellent hat. Thank god for it.

And I love my fingerless gloves from the Gap, black wool with a grey stripe around the wrist. They are just the thing, in this cold (but growing warmer) kitchen.

And my beau remembered to get me a pecan cranberry whole wheat roll in a little bakery bag -- the kind with the cellophane peekaboo window -- like lovely lingerie for baked goods. And I forgot he got it for me and since he's asleep in the other room, he isn't around to remind me, so I just kind of stumbled upon it on the kitchen counter after making my tea. And what a darling to leave that for me to cheer up my morning. This guy is wonderful.

But really these small things that matter are suddenly jumping into my awareness, gaining big points of appreciation because this is the first morning I've felt well enough in weeks to even notice all the nice things in the world. This world is full of nice things -- very nice things -- especially when you're not coughing, sneezing, feverish and completely wiped out by illness.

I'm back from 2 weeks flat out in bed and the small things matter very much and seem like very big things this morning. So glad to be back.

Happy Chanukah

2009-12-12T05:56:00.002-05:00

Happy Chanukah

Next year it starts on December 1 which will make the whole month an amazing celebration. This one kicks off with some seriously COLD weather for Midwesterners and Northeasterners ... heck, apparently they've even been having snow down south!

Cyberposium Harvard Business School

2009-11-22T11:23:00.003-05:00

Cyberposium 09 Harvard Business School

Pictures from breakfast in Spangler Hall at Cyberposium 09 at Harvard Business School. I'm sure you recognize the movie star, yes, the fabulous Don Dodge with us. It was fun to catch up and hear what's he's been up to as Noogler.

That female person is Halley Suitt, oh, yeah ... me! And I believe this bright young scholar with us is Jason Gurwin who's doing some very interesting stuff at HBS -- all about the movies, LA and my favorite thing, the Online Media Wars raging in three big infotainment towns: LA (talent), SF (tech) and NYC (advertising/media financing). Can't wait to see who wins the war.

BTW, speaking of shoot outs in the Old West ... who's that cowboy behind us in the hallway. It lends a Marlboro Man feeling I like.

Don Dodge and Jason Gurwin at Cyberposium 09

2009-11-22T10:00:00.001-05:00

Don Dodge and Jason Gurwin at Cyberposium 09

Don Dodge and Jason Gurwin at Cyberposium. Had to get a picture. Couldn't resist.

Here's Jason's LinkedIn link. So he spent the summer at Mahalo. And also worked as an associate at Boston Consulting Group. Now I get it.

Isabel Allende: She's the Best!

2009-10-27T14:49:00.001-05:00

Isabel Allende: She's the Best!

She is so good at TED. Have you seen this?

What?! You're Not Lost In A Book?!

2009-10-23T07:35:00.000-05:00

What?! You're Not Lost In A Book?!

This morning I got to work early, so I decided to grab coffee, a bagel and do my favorite thing ... read. People are straggling into the coffee shop where I'm reading quietly and they are complaining loudly about the Boston traffic, the weather, their mother-in-law, you name it and I'm at the Santa Anita racetrack on a beautiful spring day, watching the horses get ready to race. Why, because I'm lost in Jane Smiley's Horse Heaven.

The weekend weather features another massive rainstorm and I'm jumping for joy. Why?! Perfect weather for reading! I check my bookshelf for the weekend, be sure it's full and ready, the way many people check the fridge to be sure they have enough beer, salsa and chips for a party weekend.

I jump on my library's website to see if any books I've reserved are ready to pick up. I plan every trip around having the right books with me. I really get upset if I finish a book too early and don't have the next one ready to go.

But worst of all, I can't believe how few people around me take the time to read for pleasure like I do. It is one of life's great pleasures. My neighbor, an avid reader and wise old lady of 11 years of age, loves to read like me. At the beginning of the summer, we both happened to say the exact same thing about the new season -- "Great weather for reading!" and then started laughing since we both know any weather is great weather for reading. If it's too cold to go out, stay in and read so you can visit warm beaches and dig up buried treasure. If it's too hot to go out, stay home and read so you can visit icy Everest with an intrepid team. It's always a good time to read.

Some people chose expensive self-destructive escape methods like drugs, drink, racing fast cars, whatever your poisin. But why aren't people getting lost in books the way I love to? It's so easy to hop on a boat for France with John Adams and his son John Quincy in his bio. Or maybe you'd rather be on a pirate ship in Treasure Island? Or maybe Mona Simpson's Anywhere But Here is your vehicle of choice.

Try it this weekend, get lost in a book. It's a great place to escape. And please don't tell me that old excuse, I just don't have time. Ridiculous! Make the time.

Holy Hellish Boston Weather!

2009-10-20T14:20:00.002-05:00

Holy Hellish Boston Weather!

Okay, okay, today I have no right to complain. It's a beautiful 60+ degrees out there, but -- hello! -- two days ago we were battling a full-in-your-face blizzard with serious snow nearly pushing us off the Mass Pike. How are you supposed to get used to this crazy weather?

I remember as I growing up in Connecticut, wishing/hoping/praying/begging the heavens to keep the snow away until Thanksgiving.

In Boston, you're lucky to dodge the snow bullet by Halloween. So this year really takes the cake -- one of those snowy ones like white layer cake with thick drifting shreddy coconut frosting -- we had snow last Friday morning, October 16th!

Please, please, take it all away. I am NOT ready!

Wonderful Concert: Sylvia Berry, Fortepiano

2009-10-11T19:09:00.003-05:00

Wonderful Concert: Sylvia Berry, Fortepiano

Lovely to hear Sylvia Berry this afternoon at The Taylor House in Jamaica Plain. The fortepiano she played was similar to the ones you would have first heard Haydn and Beethoven played on. The special pedals put a piece a fabric between the strings and the hammers to give a muted, creamy effect. In fact, they aren't actually pedals, they are knee-levers. You can't hear the same soft rendition on a modern piano.

Her website is here and she's terrific.

Splish, Splash I Was Taking A Swim

2009-10-09T19:29:00.002-05:00

Splish, Splash I Was Taking A Swim

I went swimming tonight after work and the pool has an interesting ... enhancement ... I guess you could say. That is, they have underwater speakers blaring rock and roll.

I know many people who would NOT consider this a good thing. In fact, it would probably keep them from swimming at this pool entirely. They like one noise when swimming -- the whoosh whoosh of water and silence -- and that's it.

Now, I have to admit I do like listening to pop music and so Beyonce calling out to all the Single Lady mermaids underwater is okay with me. It had a different but dangerous effect on me. I found I was staying under water too long, beyond my breathing capacity to listen to Beyonce. NOT a good idea. Blub, blub, blub!

F-R-I-D-A-Y

2009-10-09T09:25:00.004-05:00

F-R-I-D-A-Y

It really is strange. Absolutely crazy and bizarre. The way we think about time. The way we think about a day ... a day like Friday. A day feels like a thing you can hold in your hand, but it's not. A word that starts with "f" like freedom and fun and fish and forget. Friday has weight. It tastes good, this "Friday." It has noise to it, it goes out late and makes happy noise. It smells good, exciting, romantic. We love Friday.

Friday -- often as not, it is preceded by "THANK GOD IT'S ..." because it's become conventionally the day we

LET DOWN
LET LOOSE

It's just a neutral twenty-four hour period. Nothing more. But say the word, "Friday" and it's explosive. "See you Friday night!" It's a late dinner in a sexy little restaurant with someone you like or hope to love, with wine, candles, red checkered tablecloth. You do the amorous math. If you get lucky and end up in bed, staying up late, being silly, a little feral, no need to rush tomorrow, it's Saturday, slouchy, slow, sweet, satisfying Saturday.

Passwords: "Who Goes There?"

2009-10-08T05:31:00.007-05:00

Passwords: Who Goes There?

I've been thinking about passwords from way, way back. We have so many passwords in our modern lives but what passwords or authenticity measures did people employ even before most of us were able to read and write?

The use of passwords is known to be ancient. Sentries would challenge those wishing to enter an area or approaching it to supply a password or watchword. Sentries would only allow a person or group to pass if they knew the password. -- Wikipedia

When you think of the surveillance systems we have in place, to be surprised by someone walking up to your gate is inconceivable now, but it didn't used to be. I went to a conference in France a few years back on Security and Identity where the word "firewall" was tossed around and about a great deal. The week after that conference in Paris, I went to the south of France on vacation and found myself literally walking through firewalls in what was left of fortifications from centuries ago.

The easier a password is for the owner to remember generally means it will be easy for a hacker to guess. Passwords which are difficult to remember will reduce the security of a system because (a) users might need to write down or electronically store the password, (b) users will need frequent password resets and (c) users are more likely to re-use the same password. Similarly, the more stringent requirements for password strength, e.g. "have a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters and digits" or "change it monthly", the greater the degree to which users will subvert the system.-- Wikipedia

I love reading about this stuff in spy novels or historical novels. Imagine designing a security system and secret service for a queen in say, ... 1492. What password could she remember? How would you protect her when travelling? If you were to travel across an ocean with the royal court, how the hell did you even know where you were when you got there? (They didn't.) Of course, thinking that far back gets you in the mood to imagine the opposite scenario, to boldly go put your Treky velour shirt on and watch 6 straight hours of wacky sci-fi movies chockful of "Take Me To Your Leader" stuff.

The Matrix movies played ideas out in this arena of identity and "who can you trust?" -- asking, "Do we even know who we are or in what realm we exist?" Note to self: back-burner time -- good Saturday afternoon stuff to think about, no more time this morning. Now I need to remember my passwords to check email, online banking, get back to reality and go to work, swipe my entry card and do my thing.

I'm Having An Affair

2009-10-06T19:00:00.002-05:00

I'm Having An Affair

I'm having an affair with the forest, this wild weather, in the sunny autumn clearing, the leaves are rushing past an empty park bench in a hurry, my trenchcoat caught up, blown wide open like a fall flower bloom, bold and happy, but these moods swing and leave the leaves stewn on asphalt and puddly, this park in tears.

These affairs of the heart are tumultuous, full of operatic rise and fall. The leaves are being wrenched off the fingers of summer branches bleeding splashes of yellow, and crimson shock and orange smoky silk scarf shades, mine tied tight around my blond hair, still can't keep the emotional howling Fall wind out of my ears.

You were any man I'd see, in Central Park or Jardins de Luxembourgh, newspaper tucked up under your arm, long straight legs scissoring to the end of the park, turning your gaze suddenly towards me, only to get slapped by a sassy, impertinent wind. I was breezing by in the other direction, but wished I could have said, Jibe Ho! and wheeled my little ship around and sailed your way, make a mooring with you in a cafe with coffee and maybe later fall under sheets, under rain on the roof, look up at the panes, look over at you. Five o'clock shadow, I like you sir. Until I hear that wind again. That wild wind inviting me out to play.

Vous Voyez Monsieur, I'm afraid I like you less than the leaves. If I rose from your bed, I'd wrapped fast in a wrapper, make it a shimmer of faded oaks and red maples, adorned with acorns, a fringe of sycamore. They do a far more passionate dance, these leaves. They lure me, to love me, to ultimately leave me. I won't completely forget you, sir. I'll pause again in the park after they've had their windy way with me and wonder what you look like ... in the morning shaving. Should have stayed for that. But sorry, they look better, fresh from morning rain, they start blowing up the boulevard, bewitchingly. I tear after them.

What Makes You Get Up In The Morning

2009-09-16T13:12:00.003-05:00

What Makes You Get Up In The Morning

I was very sick as a kid, nearly died one time, but seriously sick a few other times and I remember waking up in hospitals, cheerful about simply waking up because it meant I wasn't dead.

You can't help having a fairly optimistic attitude when you start from such a place. Alive -- Thumbs Up. Dead -- well, no thumbs, no nothing.

And I was thinking the other day about what makes me get up in the morning these days. That's easy. I have a great new job in a great office where other great people arrive early in the morning, showered, shaved, shod and dressed in cute clothes, ready to work, to be smart, to be fun, to be funny, to be kind. It's all good. And I have a great kid, big enough now to be in high school. And a wonderful fiance, big-hearted enough to make me very happy. And I have some wonderful friends, couldn't manage without them.

I really feel so lucky. I've always been a terrifically grateful, easily amused, very appreciative person. Even when things go badly, I'm hopelessly the Pollyanna, seeing all sorts of good in bad. Again. You're alive, so how GREAT is that?!

I got stuck in a terrible traffic jam, in a yellow NYC cab, in a pounding rainstorm, thunder, lightning, the works, once a while back, enroute to Kennedy airport with a business associate. He was so upset about being late and probably missing the plane, just beside himself, but I had a gigantic crush on the guy, so I couldn't have been happier. Getting stuck in a cab with HIM! Yes! We were very late, but, not surprisingly, so was the plane, so we didn't miss it. I thought it was a wonderful day.

So, I want to ask you what makes you get up in the morning, and if it's hard to do these days, try to put more of the good stuff back into your life if it's not there. Just add a few things. If you're not going out dancing enough, go. If you're not playing music with friends like you used to and want to do it more, please dust off that guitar. If you're working with people you can't stand, find a new job, even in this economy, you can and you should. Give yourself a good reason to get up in the morning.

[Editor's note: I used too many commas here and I haven't prooofreadd this. More later.]

Pix from Gravity Summit After Party At Om

2009-09-01T06:00:00.001-05:00

Pix from Gravity Summit After Party At Om

Anand Chopra-McGowan hanging with MC Hammer. He's at every cool event I go to lately -- Anand, that is.

Pix from Gravity Summit After Party At Om

2009-09-01T05:57:00.000-05:00

Pix from Gravity Summit After Party At Om

Now, Steve Garfield, what's up? All tuckered out after a day at Harvard hanging with homey twits?

Pix from Gravity Summit After Party At Om

2009-09-01T05:50:00.002-05:00

Pix from Gravity Summit After Party At Om

Other super stars in attendance. POLLY!

Me and MC Hammer Twitterific Fun Last Night

2009-09-01T05:24:00.003-05:00

Me and MC Hammer Twitterific Fun Last Night

Really fun to get into Harvard Square and meet up with Twitter pals and meet the amazing MC Hammer. I caught up with Steve Garfield outside OM Restaurant before the group started mobbing. His book is almost done and he showed me the cover on his iPhone. Very nice.

Inside OM the party really got going when the Hammer appeared in the most cozy wooly hat and a good choice, since the cool September weather is already haunting Harvard Square. I bought Mr. Hammer a Diet Coke and then ended up spending a lot of time talking with the other super stars in attendance like Polly Pearson.

I'll post some pics later from the Gravity Summer (#gravsum on Twitter) after party. Wish I could have been there for the whole conference, but got a great new job, so no such luck.

Pix from Gravity Summit After Party At Om

2009-09-01T04:01:00.000-05:00

Pix from Gravity Summit After Party At Om

Will add names, details later.

Falling: Balance Training Will Keep You On Your Feet

2009-07-28T08:29:00.002-05:00

Falling: Balance Training Will Keep You On Your Feet

The CDC has published a wide range of compelling statistics on the risks of falling for seniors which we should all know about. Whether you're already over 65, or just want to keep an eye on the seniors in your family or community, it's important to know how to avoid falling and tell others about it. Did you know, for instance:

-- One in three older adults in the United States falls every year; every 18 seconds an older adult is treated in an Emergency Room for a fall, every 35 minutes an older adult dies as a result of a fall.

The CDC's recommendations are simple and straight-forward. Notice exercise is at the top of their list.

How can older adults prevent falls? Older adults can take several steps to protect their independence and reduce their risk of falling. They can:

-- Exercise regularly; exercise programs like Tai Chi that increase strength and improve balance are especially good.

-- Ask their doctor or pharmacist to review their medicines–both prescription and over-the counter–to reduce side effects and interactions.

-- Have their eyes checked by an eye doctor at least once a year.

-- Improve the lighting in their home.

-- Reduce hazards in their home that can lead to falls.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web–based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [online]. (2006) [cited 2007 Jan 15]. Available from URL: www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars.

Balance training is important for everyone working out at the gym, but many people don't bother taking the time to learn how to do it. Since we all lose our sense of balance as we age, everyone young and old should add balance training to their workout. Ask the fitness trainers in your gym about balance training and I'm sure they'll have a lots of good tips on how to keep you on your feet. Now, as they say, Just Do It!

Tour de France: Is the Race You're In, The Race You're In?

2009-07-13T18:13:00.009-05:00

Tour de France: Is the Race You're In, The Race You're In?

Okay, I'm completely mad for the Tour de France, and not just because of @lancearmstrong's great posts on Twitter and how fun it is to follow him and other cyclists up close and personal, but for another reason completely. I love the philosophical side of it -- leave it to the French to make an athletic tour de force strangely existential.

I'm particularly intrigued with the strange zen side of this amazing race. It feels like an endless ordeal ... nearly a month of very intense, day-long rides with the first rest day finally arriving yesterday after nine days straight of demanding rides on straightaways at first and then straight up mountains.

So I asked today on Twitter -- is the race you're in, the race you're in? And what I mean is, consider what each rider does every day, that is, a long grueling race -- "the race he is in" for that day alone -- and then pull back and consider how one mistake on one day can make or break the whole entire month-long race. Certainly one injury or one fall on one day can kill your month if you are not careful.

On a daily basis, you have to think (je pense, donc je suis) about pacing yourself regardless of the mob around you; equally you must commit to cooperating with your team; you also need to stay strong and fit; and of course, you must avoid injury. You must do all these things to stay in the race for the month.

You can do something impulsive and stupid in the immediate moment, during today's race, which can make you lose the whole race later. Something you do in Day Two can later come back to haunt you on Day Last.

Lance Armstrong's team "Astana" gives you the perfect example of this. They are similar to President Lincoln's cabinet, his brilliant "Team of Rivals" where the President crossed party lines and pulled together a team of the strongest politicians, a team that was far more difficult to manage, than a team of his friends might have been.

On Astana you have amazing riders who have spent a lot of time racing AGAINST one another and now must race together as a team. In the first few days of the race, people were amazed to see the Astana team working so well together, despite Lance's fame, fans and strength, he was able to step back and let the team shine.

Of course, you know in bike racing, the head guy literally keeps the headwind from exhausting the rest of the teammates who ride behind him. (See "slipstream" on Wikipedia.) They each switch on and off as lead rider, so other team members can rest and pace themselves. They were all being wonderfully restrained and working as a team.

Then it happened. Lance moved ahead of his team one day and Lance's fellow Astana teammate, Alberto Contador, had the chance to pull ahead a day or so later in the mountains, leaving the team behind and he went for it. So there's been lots of discussion about one rider risking the team's good will by showing off his stuff, as this piece in USA Today suggests, and there are questions about whether Astana can hang together as a team until the end of the race.

So in a larger context, consider your life and let's pretend each day is just one "stage" as they call each race in the Tour de France. Do you pace yourself, avoid injury, avoid pissing off others in today's race, so the big long race of your life reflects this? Or do you trip yourself up with impatience, bad behavior, broken promises in one short day of racing, which might come back to haunt you when you need the support of your team to go the long haul? Just something to think about.

*Photo Credit: By Christophe Ena, AP from USA TODAY

Pretty Pictures

2009-06-30T16:40:00.000-05:00

Pretty Pictures

2009-06-30T16:17:00.000-05:00

2009-06-30T16:15:00.000-05:00

2009-06-30T16:00:00.001-05:00

2009-06-30T15:43:00.001-05:00

Big Stories: iRan and iPhone

2009-06-19T16:26:00.001-05:00

Big Stories: iRan and iPhone

There is something strange and iRonic about one society's life and death concern today, compared to our country taking to the streets to buy little electronic gadgets.

Every Body On Their Bike

2009-06-13T17:45:00.002-05:00

Every Body On Their Bike

What a terrific day to be out and about on your bike.

Everybody was there on their bike. I mean every BODY, big, little, fit, fat, thin, thick, moody, moony, happy, sad and fun, there there were, out there on their bike. Leafy green bike path shot through with sunshine in big bolts of yellow, lovely day all around.

Always makes me think of this song from Hoodwinked.

Yes, yes, I'm blogging!

2009-06-13T11:40:00.002-05:00

Yes, yes, I'm blogging!

It was great to see everyone in CA and WA. A bunch of people asked me if I'm still blogging and yes, I'm definately blogging, just not nearly as often as before.

It's true I'm doing a lot more Twitter and a lot less blogging. Some things just aren't worth blogging about, especially when all they deserve is a quick tweet.

Obama's Healthcare Reform: Less Health Care, More Health

2009-05-11T07:27:00.002-05:00

Obama's Healthcare Reform: We Need Less Health Care, More Health

Do we need better health care in America, or do we actually need better health? Let's tell the truth. The elephant in the room for all discussions of healthcare reform is how unhealthy Americans are. There, I said it. Yes, the system needs a make-over, but our bodies need one even more. The health care system will be so overloaded and burdened in the next 20 years if we don't all start "owning" our own health, fitness and wellness.

Think of this recent flu scare. President Obama was right when he asked us to wash our hands, cover our sneezes and coughs, make an effort to stay home if we were sick or keep our kids home if they were sick. We were all willing to take personal responsibility for our wellness in this case. The flu epidemic was averted (so far). We can't quite know if these personal initiatives made all the difference, but it was good to be reminded that WE CAN each make a difference, no matter how small.

But we are going to have a heck of a time dodging another epidemic -- the obesity epidemic -- until each of us "owns" the problem. Our wellness is at high risk. Nothing is more serious now, than each of us taking simple precautions in this looming epidemic. It all comes down to changes in lifestyle (major changes for some) which are easy to spell out: EAT LESS, MOVE MORE.

Why is this advice so simple to hear, but so difficult to follow? That could take another 3000 words to discuss in detail, but let me just say the American food industry, the American lifestyle, especially the American suburbs designed around driving ... yes, as if the auto industry hasn't taken enough of a beating lately, the American car industry too, is to blame for our obesity epidemic, all these factors contribute to our sorry state of poor health. Your life has to change fundamentally. It's time to realize, "going green" can mean getting out there WALKING on the green grass and EATING more green than red meat.

If we can prevent the rising rates of diabetes, heart attack, stroke and other preventable lifestyle diseases in America, as well as reform health care systems, we have a fighting chance. Any efforts to simply reform healthcare without an eye on wellness, are a waste of time.

Thoughts On Twitter And Celebrities

2009-04-20T06:34:00.005-05:00

Thoughts on Twitter and Celebrities

Twitter is a social media messaging tool where community exists in tiny little 140 character messages we send back and forth to one another. I've been a member for a few years.

On Twitter you "follow people" -- subscribe to their messages and others "follow" you -- subscribe to your messages. A common courtesy on Twitter is to have a nearly 1:1 ration of who you follow and who follows you. Take Robert Scoble for instance -- one of the most famous Twitter geeks. He follows MORE people (88,562 currently) than follow him (82,425). This is a pretty important indicator of what he GIVES BACK to the community. Remember that word "social" media. Think community.

Last week the actor Ashton Kutcher, as his tally of followers approached 1 million, threw down the gauntlet challenging CNN (Breaking News) to see if they could reach 1M before he did. He bought billboards *(see my error below) and did other things to promote his cause and CNN was equally energetic in their self-promotion. On Thursday late last week, he won the challenge.

This also meant Twitter was suddenly big news in the mainstream media. He's a pretty boy with a pretty face -- a thing MSM loves, especially TV. Television producers love pretty and not-so-pretty pictures -- just as they can't get enough of police chases and catastrophes and fire engines and other things toddlers love. Toddlers love shiny junk they find on the beach. In TV, all that glitters IS gold.

The Twitter story became bigger on Friday, when Ashton "appeared" on Oprah and she joined Twitter as well. His promise to "appear" on Oprah actually was a Skype video appearance, not a real jump-up-and-down-on-the-couch type appearance. These celebrities seem interested in using Twitter to help others, a noble stance ... to reach out to some community in need ... but they haven't bothered to reach out to the Twitter community oddly enough. Unlike Scoble, who follows 88,562 people, and that is MORE people than the vast number of people who follow him, Mr. Kutcher only follows 84 people but has 1.2M followers.

I've been thinking about this odd arrival of celebrities to our social media tools. I was trying to piece together the history of Twitter, how it was used in the beginning, what it "felt like" in the old days when it was a community of knowledge and sharing. These are some posts I did this morning about the whole thing.

READ THEM FROM THE BOTTOM (OLDEST) to TOP (NEWEST).

So as for Twitter, do you come here to promote your self and ego, or come here to actually love thy neighbor, help him/her, promote others?
13 minutes ago from web

@tommorris yes. it makes my head hurt to even TRY to remember what was great about it before it grew to monster size.
25 minutes ago from web in reply to tommorris

I guess I miss the real Twitter. It's grown from mom and pop shop to giant boring mall store.
28 minutes ago from web

Based on IRC, you remember that I'm sure, it was a global tech conversation, to increase your speed and excellence in development.
29 minutes ago from web

Twitter, invented in South park, was a place to go between work sessions, have coffee, hang out, enlist help of colleagues.
30 minutes ago from web

Like a hidden nightclub door, u gained entry to Twitter not because you were famous, but you were smart and got along famously w/other geeks
32 minutes ago from web

That was the hero's journey on Twitter of yore ... it was a workplace, not a stage, where you could enlist the help of other brilliant folks
33 minutes ago from web

In an open source community, the real celebrities were the geeks solving the most daunting fascinating problems with aid of the community.
35 minutes ago from web

Call me crazy, but remember when Twitter was a tool of an open source community trying to build things, get tech info, share knowledge?
35 minutes ago from web

I've been thinking long and hard about celebrities using Twitter and what's slightly OFF about that. Why they may have ruined it now.
36 minutes ago from web

Note: Be sure to read Pete Cashmore's take on Twitter here.

* about the billboards: [a reader tells me this is inaccurate, I'm checking it; LATER: egebhardt tells me "The 1,133 digital billboards were provided pro bono by Lamar Advertising." per Ad Age]

Dinner Last Night

2009-04-15T02:58:00.003-05:00

Dinner Last Night

Wonderful to see JP Rangaswami last night and other friends, Doc Searls, Lisa Williams, Dan Bricklin, Laura Pistachio, but also get cozy with new pals like Anindita, Tezcatlipoca, Jon Pierce and others. Have a fun, safe, productive day all you jetsetting twits!

Pretty Pink Bike

2009-04-14T16:50:00.004-05:00

Pretty Pink Bike

We had a great time visiting Woodstock, Vermont a few weekends ago and I snapped a picture of this pretty pink bike there on the street.

Spring in New England is celebrated royally, well earned, after the long, hard, icy, windy, miserable winter.

Thanks Mashable ... Boston Bloggeratti Mention

2009-04-14T16:48:00.002-05:00

Thanks Mashable ... Boston Bloggeratti Mention

I found this mention on Mashable flattering to have me in it, but even better was the very useful list of Boston social media events. Seems like I'm always missing great events and hearing about them after the fact. Now I can get ahead of the curve.

Fun At The Gym

2009-04-08T17:59:00.001-05:00

Fun At The Gym

Working out has to be FUN! If it isn't, find a new gym, get a new trainer, do something. It has to be fun or you're sure to quit!

Welcome Home by Total Strangers

2009-04-03T10:32:00.002-05:00

Emily showed me this totally cool YouTube. Check it out!

PayPal Working

2009-03-19T16:07:00.002-05:00

PayPal Working

I had a PayPal button on my blog long, long ago, but then started getting so much weird phishing stuff and spam around PayPal, I gave up and took it down as I figured it was not secure. Now I'm trying it again. Feel free to make a donation if I've ever written anything you've ever liked. Hell, feel free to make a donation if I've ever written anything you hated -- if it's big enough I might be convinced to never write anything here again.

I Miss You Mom!

2009-02-24T12:07:00.003-05:00

I Miss You Mom!

For most of my son's life, I've made every effort to have a flexible work schedule so I could be with him as much as possible.

When he was small, I knew it was tough for him when I had to leave him to go off to work. I remember the "pucker up" face he made and how he'd tell me he missed me, even before I left. That's one of the tough things about being a mom nobody can warn you about. It makes you feel so terrible.

But now he's older, in middle school, and here's the funny part, he still misses me when I have to work out-of-town or be away late when he's home. I should take it as a high compliment, I know, since most teens wish their parents would disappear completely, still I always thought way back then, when I was a mother of a toddler that being a mother of a teen would be easy. Hardly. What you learn over the years is that being a mom of any kid of any age is full of challenges, you just trade one for another.

Micro-hiring In The Molasses Economy

2009-02-17T06:40:00.002-05:00

Micro-hiring In The Molasses Economy

Everyone knows this economy has slowed down to the speed of cold molasses on a cold winter day. And you can't have missed the non-stop discussion in Washington, DC about how to get money into peoples' pockets FAST. You've heard of the miraculous benefits of micro-lending. Well, people don't need a loan, as much as they need some WORK. Try Micro-hiring.

If you're in a position to pay some folks for some contract work -- $500-$1000/month for even a few months -- do it! Micro-hiring is hiring people for small contract jobs just to help them out and help you get projects and initiatives in gear, on track and completed.

If your company has fired, okay, "downsized" a few people, be it 10 to 10,000, those burdensome fixed costs of payroll, are now gone. Perhaps there's still some money floating around in your budget and a lot of work to be done in your company, which you could happily marry with some fast micro-hiring. Try it.

Resting Heart Rate

2009-02-14T18:52:00.009-05:00

Resting Heart Rate

I like the heartbeat in your wrist and clutch at it
in dark nights or early morning dawns;
It steadies me, my darling, your restful heart rate;
and it dawns on me, what a lovely love you are;
I like to hear your heart beat as we lie together;
I like your front, you're up front with me;
I like your back, you back me up;
I like your sides, and you always take my side.

Your love is hearty and strong,
You've beaten out all the rest.
As you care and cuddle and kind me,
I discover algorithms of love I never could identify
before you came. I yield to you, bend low and salute you,
grant you access, am amazed at your goodness,
desire to be as good as you but never will.

You alone can make my heart skip a beat.
I just plain desire you, you there, yes, you!
In bones and blood, skin and muscle,
a simple human being, so within arm's length.
I appreciate your down-to-earth personable
personness, as our lucky love pulses along,
a pretty paradiddle of coronary constancy.
An upbeat downbeat, my dear,
"And a one, and a two, and a ..."
I love you.

Twitter Silly News

2009-02-09T10:39:00.003-05:00

Twitter Silly News

As for "news" and I use the word very loosely, I am more hooked on the gossipy chitter-chat of Twitter than any "real" news source these days. But where can you hear amazing stuff like a live description from a passenger on the plane that landed on the Hudson and other amazingly "intimate news" that's a heartbeat old.