Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Which excites so many of us

Somewhow I missed congratulating Amanda Congdon on her new Gig with ABC, and also thanking her for taking 90 minutes or so to talk with me last month at the Berkman Center — for the videoblog that appears here in AmandaAcrossAmerica. She did a nice job editing it down to a sensible length, too.

By the way, this interview where I said I was passionate about Infrastructure.

Going for distance

Paul Boutin has some advice for Mike Arrington, who's blogging out loud about maybe taking some time off. In brief, Paul advises (to Mike and everybody else): Rule 1: Get used to the abuse., Rule 2: Write about the story, not yourself., Rule 3: The more you complain about people bashing you, the more they'll bash you.

True: Mike's a sensitive guy. (Even though he's a lawyer and all.) And he wears his heart on his sleeve. This isn't a bad thing. Instead, it's an honest thing.

So, while Paul's advice is good in general, I take Mike at his word when he says, I’m completely burned out on those 2 minute "how ya doin" talks myself, and I’m taking two months off from the valley to get my bearings again.

While I miss living in the Valley, and going to lots of events there — and while I still get to go to quite a few, considering — I do appreciate the distance I get here in Santa Barbara. Somewhere in the oeuvre of Carlos Casteneda, his old Indian mentor (Don Juan Matus) advises getting somebody out of "the circle that presses on him". We all have those circles. They all take different forms. And it doesn't hurt to get out of them from time to time.

Mike's been sprinting a marathon with TechCrunch and the rest of his projects. I hope he enjoys getting the time to ski and hang out with his folks.

Still chugging

Cluetrain is the top of this Miami Herald holiday business book gift list. Says Richard Pachter,

The first and best explanation of the new realities of the emerging customer-driven economy. A good one for those who ``just don't get it.''