Archive for category Personal
Rolling into 2007, Still Behind the Eight Ball
Well, I am still behind with all the tasks I have to complete, but I am rested and energized for the task we have ahead and diligently working at developing systems that will make sure they get done, we get caught up and that the road ahead is a bit easier to manage. Thankfully, client projects slowed enough to let us make some major progress on getting Social Media Club organized, but there is still a ton of stuff to do. We will be sharing news on all of this before the week is out, and I will hopefully be back to writing on a regular basis – in fact, I will be writing a few new regular columns for SMC as well as creating a few new podcasts.
I have also taken on a project with my good friend Livio to serve as executive producer on some amazing video he has been shooting while traveling the world as a Modern Nomad, which is extremely exciting – I actually get to test my media mettle on incredibly compelling, entertaining and educational content that does not directly deal with technology! In fact, I am looking for a couple of great digital video editors, preferrably with Final Cut Pro HD expertise, to help get the video produced on a regular basis.
We were also fortunate to take some time off, spending some quality time with my better half in Lake Tahoe, at our shared Ski Cabin for Christmas (more to write on that later). We did not get many photos because our Canon Rebel was in for repairs and we only had the little SD400 (more to write on that later too), but there are some pretty fair ones on my flickr account…
Bottom line, we have a lot to do, but are busy doing it. While we have been silent for the past 2 weeks +, we have been very active and are very excited to start sharing it with you as we start to work together towards our common goals. I hope you also had some good time off, some good time to contemplate the year ahead and some good times with those who matter most in your life.
Now, let’s roll out and get it done…
Just the way she glows…
Posted by cheuer in Personal, Uncategorized on November 28th, 2006
I love my Kristie for so many reasons, but rarely have I caught the essence of what makes her so damn amazing – my true soul mate. This picture really says it though – her bright and beaming soul shining through in utter happiness and filled with love.
So cool.
The cute baby in the photo is new kin – Genevieve – a recently born bundle of joy, poop and never ending love (well at least for the first 10 or so years I hear). She was uber sweet and in utter awe of the world around her…
Tiny Bubbles on our Social Calendar – It’s bub.blicio.us
Our good friends Brian Solis and Joey Wan are working on a new blog dedicated to the San Francisco / Silicon Valley, Bubble / No-Bubble / Wishing-it-were-safe-inside-the-bubble party scene called Bub.blicio.us. Given how the parties have been heating up lately with open bars, better food and better entertainment, this is a good time to start celebrating those tiny bubbles that make our social lives so much better.
During the first Internet wave down on Miami’s infamous South Beach, Rick and I managed to fend off starvation by going to all the best parties – I understand it was the same here for many entrepreneurs. Of course, our SoBe parties had little amenities like Dom Perignon and Stone Crabs from Joe’s, but we could have gotten by on finger food and veggie trays all the same – plus the energy from the party atmosphere itself. At the time I was feasting on the open bars and parties in Miami, the bubble had not even begun to inflate back in 1995-6 – and I was some 3,000 miles away. Now I get a front row seat.
It should be a nice view as things start heating up and the bubble fills with more and more hot air to lift us all up high. Well, in all honesty I hope we have learned our lessons and won’t repeat the same mistakes, but from the recent frenzy of newcomers to the Bay Area, there is a whole new crop of folks who think Web 2.0 is the second coming of the messiah – or at least “the rise of the (less) evil dead daytrader”.
What does it really mean? Hopefully some more great parties paid for by large corporate interests and VC’s – but really, we don’t need all those ice sculptures to pour shots of Belvedeere down our throats – just put the Belvedeere on ice, shake it, and pour – lets save a few thousand here and there and just do our best to bring people together to have a great time – or think about having more parties instead of bigger ones.
I think Bubblicious particularly makes sense today now that we have lost our reason to read Valleywag – maybe we can get Nick Douglas to make a few guest appearances from time to time? So good luck Brian and Joey – be kind to me when choosing those photos and remember to get some sleep in between those parties!
What’s best for the community? Isn’t that the other point?
Posted by cheuer in Leadership, Personal, The Noble Pursuit, Unconferences, Web2.0, Web22, Web2point2 on November 6th, 2006
One of the most important things I have been talking to people about over the last year is how organizations with similar values should support one another but don’t because of their egos or fear of losing mindshare or donor dollars. Instead of really working towards what is best for the community, they work on what is best for their own self-interest, in the name of the community. As I noted in my post on the Importance of Social Media, this is one of the key reasons many of us left the work world – to leave the political BS behind and do the right thing, that is in the best interest of the community.
That sort of political BS is in stark contrast to the wonderful relationships we are building with the Society for New Communications Research and the National Coalition for Deliberation and Dialogue. Where we are constantly looking for ways to expand the conversations, to include more people and to work together towards our common interests. This is one of the core premises of Social Media Club – to support other organizations that are doing good work – not excluding those organizations that are serving similar interests within the community out of fear.
This is why I am excited to see the Portland Social Media Association rise up from the Portland Podcasting Group. Social Media Club will support them, instead of worrying about them competing with us – we will both be the better for it. We need to find people who are doing the right things and support them so that more of that good work is put out into the world and that other people can connect with them. This is very much in line with the work of The Uplift Academy – another organization we want to support in every way possible and with which we share common values.
I guess I should explain where this is coming from – it is a bit about something I have been holding onto for a while and also about the fact that a few ‘community leaders’ have chosen not to support the Web 2point2 unconference we are organizing, and are, according to what some have told me, actively working against it. (This is not, BTW, something between the 2 conferences going on this week – we have nothing against Tim O’Reilly or the Web 2.0 Conference and as far as I know, they are probably just annoyed with us by the contrast and/or laughing about how hard we work for no money.)
The Web 2point2 Unconference is providing an alternative to the expensive Web 2.0 Conference. Web 2point2 is more accessible and more about the people interested in the Web 2.0 era and working hard to make it real. Chris Pirillo really nailed the difference on the head – there most certainly is value in the networking, and the amenities offered at a big hotel are really very expensive, but a lot of that is superfluous to what really matters. We are doing this event because it is the right thing to do for the community and it is representative of our core values. We are doing this because it helps us build the community we want to belong to. We are investing our time and energy because we are passionate about doing so and hope to make a living doing what we love.
I’m not speaking against any individual, but I am calling for everyone in the community to be supportive of efforts like the Web 2point2 Unconference and/or to call out the effort’s shortcomings publicly and fairly – to participate in the community. It is FOR the people, FOR the community, and FOR improving the dialogue around social media and Web 2.0 for everyone’s benefit. Those who have said negative things about these efforts wihtout engaging us in conversation about how it could be improved are really doing a disservice to the community. But as all bloggers know, nothing stays secret forever. Those people who serve their own interests over that of the community will be found out. Those who support the community with their hearts, minds and deeds will be the ones who shape the dialogue of the future.
Don’t raise the torch for a participatory democracy when you’re only really marketing yourself as the one who should be put in charge of who gets to speak and who can belong. From my perspective, that looks a lot like a Stalinist view of the world dressed up in Kennedy rhetoric. That is beyond hypocritical – it is like the atheists battling each other in the most recent South Park episode. We don’t need to tear down the walls of a communtiy or organization only to erect new ones, we need to build better doors between communities and bridges across them.
My Year End Resolution
Posted by cheuer in Personal, Year End Resolution on November 5th, 2006
OK, so we have been running around like crazy lately trying to keep about 20 balls in the air at the same time. Going back and forth from client work (if you did not know, I do social media consulting, startup strategy and communications/branding work), traveling, hosting conversations, organizing events, trying to write, recording a couple of podcasts, trying to get new clients, volunteering time for friend’s community projects, spending quality time with Kristie, attending other conferences, hanging out with friends, trying to catch up on my Tivo, reading and just generally trying to relax. On top of that, for the first time in a couple of years, the number of real emails I get each day exceeds the number of spam that make it through my filters.
So when it comes to the Party Circuit 2.0 (or 2.2 if you prefer :), I am finding it really prevents me from being my best some mornings which then drags on the whole day. After the Office 2.0 party, I was a real mess the entire day (don’t mix wine and martinis, especially in those quantities). Last night at the Vloggies was a bit better – at least I stayed with beer and did not add a Jamesons rocks or switch to Jack and Coke. The thing is, we have a lot to do now, and partying like I did in college partying at about 60% of what I did in college is still too much.
So today, it’s time to get real and time to get really healthy.
Here is my official public swearing off of booze until New Year’s Eve. Call it my Year End Resolution. I am not going to go 100% dry as I will allow myself some good wine with Thanksgiving and Christmas parties, but not to the point of getting drunk. On other occasions however, its goodbye beer, hello water…
There are a number of other reasons driving this including really needing to get in shape for snowboard season and quite honestly, wanting to look better than I do now in all the photos and video that is being shot at all the different events such as this one Kristie took at the Social Media Club Boston Event. I was also inspired by how great our friend Jackie Danicki looks now since starting The Health Kick. In a really short period of time, she has come a really long way towards getting really healthy.
The thing is, my belly is beginning to look more Buddha like than my beliefs do! So time to really do something about it and make the public commitment to it that should help keep me on track. I have been hanging right around 250 pounds for the past year or so, with a brief dip down to 237 when we had a personal trainer 1 day per week. The lowest I have weighed in the past 3 years is after Montezuma’s Revenge hit me down in Costa Rica, essentailly preventing me from eating for 2 weeks, where I got down to 224 for about a month. I want to get to 210-215 as my goal – hopefully by end of Febuary so I can really enjoy being healthy on the slopes and trying to get some serious air this year rather than just some basic 2 foot hops.
So today, even though we are swamped with hundreds of tasks, Kristie and I are going for a bike ride in Golden Gate Park to kick off ‘our health kick’ on our new, uber cheap Schwin bikes we picked up from Target about 2 months ago (I say uber cheap because we got them for $79 each instead of the $250 list price). Then we will come back here and do our planning for improving our eating habits with the South Beach Diet – the recipes are so great, but it is a real bear to prepare it all and keep the veggies fresh. This is made more difficult by being so busy and on the run (I ate out every meal over the last week while traveling so it should help the wallet as well). And then we can jump back into the rest of the work we MUST finish today, including working out the Web 2point2 agenda for Thursday and Friday.
I guess it is time to put Chris Pirillo’s 50 Weight Loss Tips to the test – will keep reporting in over the next few weeks.
What a short long trip it’s been…
Posted by cheuer in Personal, Social Media Club on November 1st, 2006
I am just so tired at the moment from the past two 14+ hour days here in DC, its hard to even write this short post. Things are just hopping though, and I could not be happier – though I also reminded my big brother Zez tonight that we all need to be careful what we wish for, because sometime we get it. In this case, it is all good, but there is not a lot of room for downtime or relaxation.
Last night there was just under 40 people at the Social Media Club DC Round Table – this was out of 40+ registrations and a few walk ins who were not on the list (thanks to everyone who let me know they could not make it. As with most of these events, I got very few photos and we have one hour and forty five minutes of audio. Better still, about half the group went out to Buffalo Billiards by Dupont Circle afterwards where we continued the conversation over beers and some cheap good food.
I have so many links to post to the people I met, but I gotta get some sleep… Will write something more in depth tomorrow on the Social Media Club blog.
Tahoe Ski Lease Anyone?
So we have comitted to a Ski Lease in Lake Tahoe and it seems a couple of the people who committed with us are now not so comitted. We have 2 more spots we need to fill, so if you have any interest of getting in on a great little house in Tahoe Donner (north shore) with a great little group of fun people (including Chris Carfi’s Hat!), drop me a note and let me know. It costs around $1500 for the full winter season from beginning of December till the end of April.
I have been doing this for all the years I have lived in California – if you have not been a part of a Ski Lease yet and you live in the Bay Area, this is a must do sort of thing. When possible, I work from the house during the morning hours during the week and get a couple of hours in during the afternoon. We’ll see if we are still able to do that this year given all the work we have going, but I am hopeful….
Too Many People to Talk to…
I don’t know how Robert Scoble manages to do it. I barely have 1/4 of 1% of his notoriety (probably a lot less then that actually) but I spend most of my working day talking to people – on the phone, on Skype and in meetings. My down time lately is 20 minutes on the Muni trains where I am listening to Ben Harper, Better Than Ezra, DMB or Radiohead and playing Texas Hold’em on my iPod (OK Kristie, that is one of my guilty pleasures I suppose).
So if I owe you a call, or an email, as I do with so many of my good friends and new colleagues – I am very sorry we have not connected yet. It is truly important to me, I just don’t have the time in the day to do everything I need to do and am a bit behind working hard to catch up.
1and1 Doesn’t Get It – Avoid Them
I have been using 1and1 for the past year or so as my hosting provider for one reason really, I get to host all my domains and point them to their own sites without having to pay on a per domain basis except for the $6 per year registration fee and my $20 per month. Everyone has warned me that they really sucked, but the only time I encountered that was when trying to get some technical support a while back. Overall, the server I was on has been stable and I have not had any problems with response times. Of course, it goes without saying that this was until tonight. Just now actually, as I sit on hold listening to – and I kid you not, “Time keeps on slipping, slipping, into the future”
So what did they do to warrant this warning to everyone to avoid ever using 1and1 hosting services. Their entire administrative control system has been down the better part of the day, as was the webmail interface for all my accounts, which I have been relying on this evening since forgetting my power cord at the office. The almost funny part is how poorly their customer service is set up. I really felt sorry for the poor canuck on the other end of the berating I was serving up, but I am really fuming that the only answer to my questions about what is going on was “we are waiting for the update from the administrators.”
When asked if my credit card data had been compromised in a hacking incident, he suggested I call the billing department or send an email to support (as if they ever answered support emails during normal situations). When asked about what was affected and what was going in, he continued to insist he was waiting for the latest update. So I asked him what the last update was – he put me on hold for about 8 minutes (not bad considering I expected to wait for a few hours) and came back to tell me the same story. It is a real shame to go through this right now with all the stuff going on, but I think it is about time to switchover to someone else as soon as I can.
I guess the old saying about getting scammed is really true – “if it seems too good to be true, it probably is…”
Opportunity Missed – Music Rising
So U2 and Green Day performed an amazing original collaboration last night on Monday Night Football in the first game at the refurbushed Super Dome in New Orleans last night. This morning I went to download it, first checking iTunes – nope, not there. I then remembered the URL they were promoting during the game, http://www.musicrising.org/ to find out it was being distributed via Rhapsody, which does not run on Macs. When I tried to download the song and give them my $0.99, I got this message.
This is why standards and interoperability is important. How many tens of thousands of dollars did this worthy non-profit leave on the table by choosing a technology partner who was incapable of serving people like me. How many hundreds of thousands of dollars did they leave on the table from people who would not download and install the software?
I had thought this sort of bait for proprietary systems had gone the way of the dodo, but I guess some people never learn…
[ESPN isn’t much better since they made it impossible to directly link to their coverage of this portion of the game, the closes link I could find is here, where you will need to click on the Music Rising link to get some video of what transpired.]
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Chris Heuer is the founder of Mentor Bureau, a global collaborative of Startup Mentors focused on #SmoothScaling over #Hypergrowth. He has invested his life in working to create a better society through personal and community efforts that brings people together such as Rysing Tyde and Social Media Club. To learn more about Chris, visit his profile on LinkedIn.