Monday, December 31, 2012

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Ben's Friends 2013 - Building Patient Support Communities | Indiegogo

It's been another great year on Ben's Friends Patient Support Communities. We've passed 25,000 signed up members and there are thousands more who enjoy the sites without signing up. On an average month, we have 35,000 people visit the sites.

We're doing a lot of good on very little money. We spent $30,000 in 2012. We'd really appreciate it if you would consider supporting us again. Below is a link to the donation site and I've included Ben's Video. On the donation site, you will find a lot more info about what we accomplished in 2012 and an update on Ben (spoiler alert - he's in Med School at Baylor now). Thanks a bunch for making this possible!

Ben's Friends 2013 - Building Patient Support Communities | Indiegogo:

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Annual Chill Mix for 2012 - Sunday Morning 15

I'm very proud to post my Annual Chill Mix for 2012 - Sunday Morning 15.

One quick caveat, do to limitations by Spotify, I had to swap in the Acoustic Beth/Rest Bon Iver performance instead of the iTunes performance (which is epic). Also, the Eddie Vedder Blackbird song doesn't appear in the Spotify list, but you can find it here.

Update: I just noticed that Daydream by Youth Lagoon is missing too.

If anyone knows a better way to share the playlist, please let me know!


Monday, December 24, 2012

Cutting Wrapping Paper

I Love Charts




Sunday, December 23, 2012

Tweet from Modern Seinfeld (@SeinfeldToday)

Modern Seinfeld (@SeinfeldToday)
After a video of Festivus goes viral, a greeting card company attempts to co-opt the holiday. George's father goes to war with Hallmark.

Download the official Twitter app here

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

In Spain, Having a Job No Longer Guarantees a Paycheck - NYTimes.com

Yikes

For Spaniards, Having a Job No Longer Guarantees a Paycheck

" Over the past two years, Ana María Molina Cuevas, 36, has worked five shifts a week in a ceramics factory on the outskirts of this city, hand-rolling paint onto tiles. But at the end of the month, she often went unpaid.

Still, she kept showing up, trying to keep her frustration under control. If she quit, she reasoned, she might never get her money. And besides, where was she going to find another job? Last month, she was down to about $130 in her bank account with a mortgage payment due.

"On the days you get paid," she said at home with her disabled husband and young daughter, "it is like the sun has risen three times. It is a day of joy."

Mrs. Molina, who is owed about $13,000 by the factory, is hardly alone. Being paid for the work you do is no longer something that can be counted on in Spain, as this country struggles through its fourth year of an economic crisis."


How the Giants, the Niners, the A's, and even the Warriors made the Bay Area our sports city of the year

A love letter to the Bay Area and our sports. I agree with every word of this article. 


"Sergio Romo's not from the Bay Area — he's from Brawley, near where California bleeds into Mexico — but he became a kind of local folk hero this year. He took over for Brian Wilson after the eccentric closer went down for the season, bringing an excitable, beardo charisma to the Giants' bullpen. But more important, Romo seemed to embrace the meaning of playing in the Bay Area. Fans want to win, but they also want their heroes to respect what it means to play here, to understand our values and beliefs and history. Romo showed up to the parade wearing a T-shirt that read "I JUST LOOK ILLEGAL." In the past, he's worn another shirt that boasts, "Made in the USA with parts from Mexico." 

 It's the kind of gesture you can imagine happening only in a tirelessly liberal place like the Bay Area. It's an easy place to caricature, and having moved away long ago, I find those things funnier than ever...You might disagree with Romo's quasi-political, ethno-hippie statement, and it's doubtful that anyone in Northern California went to the polls a few days later with his provocation on their mind. But Romo reminded us, if for a moment, of the unpredictable effects of feeling high or low based on how successfully a bunch of strangers defend a patch of grass — and of where all this might take you. "Look at the diversity," he explained to a reporter when quizzed about his shirt, "the different faces from different places, the different strokes. We all had one, how do you say, dream." Every photograph of him that day showed him flashing a different grin. "You should be very proud. I am very proud." It was a reminder that an athlete might do something that hundreds of thousands of people with little in common other than the coincidence that they all live near a bay would never forget. And in return, that place might change him, too."


Sent from Pocket - Get it free!

Thursday, December 13, 2012

MAILBOX - Super Awesome Email App

I met Gentry, the CEO of MAILBOX, a few months ago via my stepdad Jack. He gave me a test run of this app then and I was blown away. So excited that he's launching it and I get to use it. Congrats Gentry!

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Good Advice: Some Quick Sage Advice for Young Employees Early in Their Careers

Lot's of good advice here for building a career.

Some Quick Sage Advice for Young Employees Early in Their Careers:

"Be humble. Nobody cares where you went to school or how great of a student you were. Get over yourself. Don’t be arrogant. Don’t try to act like a managing partner from day 1. It’s OK to be junior. Nobody expects you to be managing the whole division. In fact, they’ll resent you if you try to act like you are."

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Everything is my fault | Derek Sivers

Words to live by.

Everything is my fault | Derek Sivers:

"It felt so SO good to realize it was my fault!

This is way better than forgiving. When you forgive, you’re still playing the victim, and they’re still wrong, but you’re charitably pardoning their horrible deeds.

But to decide it’s your fault feels amazing! Now you weren’t wronged. They were just playing their part in the situation you created. They’re just delivering the punch-line to the joke you set up.

What power! Now you’re like a new super-hero, just discovering your strength. Now you’re the powerful person that made things happen, made a mistake, and can learn from it. Now you’re in control and there’s nothing to complain about."

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Ben's Friends — Hello Everyone, I hope you all have had a...

Beautiful post from a Moderator on Ben's Friends. She wrote it after getting together with a few members of Chiari Support, the site she helps run. Really touching. Click through for the whole thing.

Ben's Friends — Hello Everyone, I hope you all have had a...:
"On the way back I had arranged to meet a Chiari Malformation Member for lunch. I had never met this lady and am so blessed to have taken the time out of my day to reach out not only to a fellow Chiarian, but to actually hug someone that honestly understood and has been in the same trenches. I only wish you all had this opportunity.  It definitely makes your mission clearer ; path straighter. To see and hear first hand how we helped them by nothing more than a kind word and honest conversation."


Friday, December 7, 2012

Google-Funded Drones To Hunt Rhino Poachers | Mother Jones

Good for Google!

"thanks to a five million dollar grantawarded by Google on Tuesday, the organization is expanding its use of unmanned aerial vehicles to track and deter criminals who illegally hunt endangered animal species around the world. "



How UrbanSitter Works on Vimeo

I'm lucky to be friends with the Ladies & the Man who work at UrbanSitter. :)

Here's how it works.

How UrbanSitter Works on Vimeo:


How UrbanSitter Works from UrbanSitter on Vimeo.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

A VC: Rethinking Mobile First

Thought provoking article by Fred Wilson on Mobile vs. Web App development. This is a really good article if you're into this kind of stuff.

A VC: Rethinking Mobile First:

"All in all, mobile service apps turn out to be a horrible place to close viral loops and win at the retention game. Only a handful of apps have succeeded mobile-first: Instagram, Tango, Shazam, maybe 2 or 3 others."


Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Some early December links

Nice post by my buddy Healy Jones. Lot's of good info here for budding entrepreneurs and Internet people.


I've been making an effort to share more on Twitter (Follow Healy Jones on Twitter if you want.) Some of these tweets have been popular:
Not too surprising that a lot of the clicks are on VC/seed investing topics. I'm happy that people seem to like mobile as well – I probably spend half my day thinking/doing mobile related marketing, so it's good to know that my tweeps are aligned with my interests that way as well.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

You don’t have to be local

Interesting prospective below. I can relate with Ben's Friends. 

Derek Sivers

"Then two years ago, when I moved to Singapore, I decided to do the opposite. I wanted to get to know my local community. I met with over 400 people, one-on-one, went to every conference and get-together, and said yes to every request. I spent most of the last two years just talking with people. And I really got to know the Singapore community.

But something never felt right. After a day of talking, I was often exhausted and unfulfilled. Two hours spent being useful to one person who wants to "pick my brain" is two hours I'd rather spend making something that could be useful to the whole world (including that one person).

Then people around the world email to ask why I've been so silent. No new articles. No progress on my companies. Nothing.

So there's the trade-off. By being so local-focused, I'm not being as useful as I was when I was making things online.

So I'm finally admitting : I'm not local."

Saturday, December 1, 2012

A visual history of Richard Nixon getting lazier

My signature looks the same. Of course we share a birthday. :)

 

via I Love Charts by joberholtzer on 12/1/12



A visual history of Richard Nixon getting lazier

Decembeaver

From my friend Irene. Hilarious play on Movember.

Decembeaver - YouTube: