As an Internet entrepreneur, subject to all sorts of wild swings, I particularly appreciate this quote from legendary basketball coach John Wooden: “All of life is peaks and valleys. Don’t let the peaks get too high and the valleys too low.”
I’m thinking good thoughts for Coach Wooden’s family, friends, and millions of admirers around the world.
He was a very special man.
Hello from New York City!
I’m here @ the TechCrunch Disrupt conference and am excited to share the news that Audioo has been selected as a “finalist” to compete here in the “Startup Battlefield”.
We’ve been selected out of hundreds — and possibly thousands — of applicants to present to the nearly 2,000 attendees for a chance to win $50,000.
Read all about it here and here!
The competition is fierce and this truly is one of those things where we’re “just happy to be here”. But as the original Founder of Audioo, I’m extremely honored and proud!
Followers of my blog know the Republican Party drove me away years ago, and I’ve watched with disgust — and concern — the expansion of fear-mongering scare-tactics they use to push their agenda.
For me, the GOP no longer represents America as the “shining city upon a hill” as Ronald Reagan inspirationally declared. Where President Obama is a symbol of hope and aspiration, empathy and optimism, competence and confidence, the GOP leaders carry the torch for anger and dissention, fear and negativity, exclusion and intolerance. Obama is about what’s possible; the Republicans focus on what’s wrong.
Positive attitudes are contagious. Negative ones are malignant.
It’s not just a coincidence that the stock market is up 70% from the March 2009 lows, that consumer confidence is on the rise and the economy is finally creating jobs again.
Things are simply better for Americans since Barack Obama took office.
Consciously or subconsciously, a lot of people are responding to Obama’s leadership in very positive ways.
For the vocal minority of naysayers and stone-throwers the media is transfixed on: You can continue looking at the President’s message and record cynically and scornfully — there’s probably nothing Obama will ever do to change your mind. But if you’re right and Obama is unsuccessful, do you prosper? Is America’s decline really a win? What does “being right” get you?
When I think about the future for my 3-year old son and my unborn daughter — she’s due August 10 — I can’t help but hope my optimistic vision for the future comes true!
Whether you support the health care reform passed in the US House of Representatives this evening, or you’re passionately against it, today is a memorable day in American history.
I have mixed feelings about the expanding role of government, and I doubt the health care bill in its current form is the best possible piece of legislation. But on both a human level, and thinking purely pragmatically, I believe the country needs to make some changes in how we approach and pay for health care. And the vote taken tonight is the first step.
The current health care system is not sustainable and it just doesn’t work for too many Americans. I recognize it’s very difficult for the 80-90% of Americans who have coverage to make sacrifices, but I’ve come to believe we have a moral imperative to look out for the 10-20% who aren’t so fortunate. In the United State of America, we need to take care of our own because it’s the right thing to do.
Those are my values, and I’m going to bed tonight with a smile on my face.
What an amazing experience to walk a couple of miles up The Great Wall on Saturday…
As we joined thousands of others walking up the steps, Steve and I were stopped from time to time by locals who asked to get their picture taken with us….There were some Westerners, but a substantial majority of the tourists were Chinese folks of all ages — from babies to elderly individuals….
You’ll notice in the pics above the funny hats we were wearing — it couldn’t have been more than 20 degrees, so Steve and I each purchased a fur hat (~$7) so we could enjoy our visit despite the cold air and breezes.
To read more about the history of the Great Wall, click here.
The poor Chinese girl who sold me the shirt was absolutely horrified when I explained why I was buying it. Seriously. There is no double entendre there as there would be in the US with such a shirt!
I woke up Saturday morning feel some after-effects from the spicy Sichuan food from last night. I’ll note that I thought I was being clever with the title of this post, but turns out “Chairman Mao’s Revenge” is already defined on Urban Dictionary. I’ll power through – we’re heading out to see the Great Wall and then heading to the airport for a 9pm flight home.
It’s been an absolutely phenomenal trip, which I’m sure you can sense from my posts over the past week. I’ll be putting some additional thoughts together in the coming days about my overall experience. I scheduled my trip to Beijing to explore business opportunities, and although I think China may be a tough nut to crack business-wise, I’m very excited about my adventures and experience here!