My Year in Review

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I’ve not really been known to think reflectively (or much, for that matter). I’ve seen people like Alex and Joe post a “year in review” and Matt always does one on his birthday. As I read them I thought it was valuable, if not, fairly interesting. So here we go…

  • Rachel and I experienced our first full year of home ownership (technically we took control in December 2010) which included plenty of projects (replacing attic insulation, planting trees) and plenty of purchases (couches, new bed, desk).
  • We got married in July.
  • We visited the best Colorado dude ranch for our “staycation” honeymoon, it was amazing.
  • I turned 25, which almost seemed like a “quaterlife” milestone but turned out to be just another year…
  • At Crowd Favorite, I helped work on dozens of web design, development and other consulting projects. Notable launches included the AMC and WEtv websites, and the Annotum WordPress theme.
  • I helped contribute very minor patches to WordPress versions 3.2 and 3.3 and released my own plugin, small steps to contributing to open source development
  • I started blogging a bit more regularly again thanks to the soon-to-be-released FavePersonal theme from the team at Crowd Favorite.

This past year I also traveled, what I would consider to be, the “right amount” for both business and pleasure. Although Dopplr has been abandoned since Nokia bought the site, it’s still my favorite way to visualize my trips:

  • Visited San Francisco a couple times for client meetings and the WordCamp San Francisco conference, it’s still a fun and novel place to stay
  • Spent a few days in New York, twice, for client meetings
  • Slept through the SXSW conference in Austin
  • Experienced Vegas for the first time as an adult
  • Spent a few days in London for a client project and had time to wander around and take in the sights
  • Traveled to Portland (Maine) to experience the Monktoberfest conference (and beer tasting)
  • Rachel and I visited Monterey and Carmel where we surfed for the first time, spent time on the beach, and visited some vineyards
  • Spent a quick weekend in Florida (my first visit) to participate in WordCamp Orlando

Overall it was a good year but I think there’s room for improvement in 2012, here are some things I’ll try to track towards:

  • ski a lot more and be more adventurous (less ‘routine’)
  • spend more time traveling with friends and family
  • continue working on interesting projects and products at Crowd Favorite
  • explore our neighborhood and the surrounding businesses
  • work on the landscaping projects in early Spring
  • participate more in the WordPress community and give back where possible
  • average reading one book per month (I slipped this year..)

Google’s Executive personalities make me uneasy

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I’ve been a bit bearish on Google lately and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Not to join in on any kind of pile-on, but I think I’ve figured out my unease: the awkward, stupid things the people over at Google say (and how they say it).

Exhibit A: Andy Rubin

The guy behind Android itself tweets that the ‘definition of open source’ is a command to create and build the Android source code. While this is no longer the case, at the time it came across as pompous, inaccessible, and pretty smug for a group that has become less and less open (while still touting it as their mantra).

Exhibit B: Vic Gundotra

As one of the more prominent presenters from Google, Vic has continued to lead us through the Google I/O keynotes and make snide jabs at Apple. In addition to coming across as petty and immature, the first time I really remember Vic’s “presentation style” was when he awkwardly hosted Conan O’Brien at Google. Conan himself (around 5:30) asks “why are you running this?!”

Exhibit C: Eric Schmidt

“I don’t believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time,” he says. He predicts, apparently seriously, that every young person one day will be entitled automatically to change his or her name on reaching adulthood in order to disown youthful hijinks stored on their friends’ social media sites.

Is someone recommending to the Wall Street Journal we change our name if we have information available on social networks we no longer want known? That someone is the former CEO, now Chairman of Google. And he certainly has a record of saying weird, stupid stuff. The latest gaff is around the Google+ integration and how Google is unfairly promoting its own content (from Google+) within search results. Danny Sullivan talks to Schmidt who says, essentially: “for competitors to be part of this integration, we need to talk”, and did you guys talk?, “I won’t talk about specifics.” Well, the data is already there in Google’s index; it knows about millions of Twitter profiles and Facebook profiles. What is there to talk about? What are you really saying, Eric?! What the hell is going on over there…

Sure, Steve Jobs wrote a letter all about how Flash sucks. Some pundits thought it was inappropriate and a sign of weakness, but in actuality: it was well written, made fair points, explained a company’s position succinctly and candidly and seemed genuine. These bozos with their “candor” actually seem anti-social, awkward, and out of touch with reality. They make me nervous.

Maybe these examples are good reason why some tech companies keep their employees quiet and behind rehearsed presentations and prepared press releases. I hope that filtering, restraint, and preparation start to be viewed more as virtues. Because, without them, I hear things and read things and worry about what these personalities behind these companies are really thinking…

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt. —Abraham Lincoln

The “Tebow”ne Shot

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If you’ve watched any football lately you’d know we and the media all love Tim Tebow and his on-field down-on-one-knee prayers during the games.

Well, have you heard of the “Tebow”ne shot? I hadn’t either until the other night when we visited a local pub here in Denver (specializing in meats), Euclid Hall, with some friends.

Since Tebow’s signature move is ripe for emulating and very topical (all the cool kids are doing it), here’s a little bar trick to teach your friends:

  • place an order for a “shot” of your choosing
  • finish off your tasty bone marrow appetizer, save the bone
  • get down on one knee with the bone and the shot
  • tilt head back, open mouth
  • pour said shot down aforementioned bone into mouth

There you have it, the “Tebow”ne (get it? T-bone!) shot. If anything, it’s fun to describe to people, but even more entertaining if you’re looking for some attention…

Link

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There’s no way to overstate how much these guys and gals are “fighting the good fight”, especially this year (like preventing SOPA, enabling ISP freedoms, allowing jail breaking, etc.).

I support that.