MetaMuse

Longboarding Seattle

It's a beautiful day in Seattle, sunny and 70 degrees. So I couldn't resist taking 15 minutes to cruise a couple blocks on 9th avenue and Lenora on my longboard. Nice gentle slope, but enough where you need to turn and scrub speed (or else you just keep going faster). Made me think of longboarding the Long Walk in England, so I went back to the Bastard Bombers Web site and was pleased to see myself in one of their videos -- I hadn't seen the video before.

So what do I do? I steal it and stick it up on YouTube so I can post to my blog! I'm the second to the last guy, right after the guy throwing his fist in the air. You can see the Copper Horse in the background, but unfortunately you can't see the other direction -- down a steep hill and on to Windsor Castle. That steep hill was quite a bit faster than you see people going in this video.

Closing the Chapter of 121Media

After 3 years of work helping to build 121Media from 10K users and no revenues to an IPO and offices in London and New York, this chapter in my life ended today when I sold all my shares.  I have no more ties, obligations or duty to this company. I'm so very happy to have had the experience and even happier to have cashed in -- it feels really good. Now of course the stock will probably double, but who knows if I would have been able to sell it again, and it may even be at a high (for all I know). And now all my risk stock is in Others Online, which I think has even greater potential for true one-to-one marketing, on an opt-in basis, and in a way that offers users much more value and respect.

International Delight

Yesterday was a pretty long day -- up at 6:45am for a conference call, work straight through to 7-8pm, then back at it at 11pm, in bed after midnight. But as I went to sleep, the day still fresh in my mind, I realized that I'd interacted with people from all over the world that day -- 5 different countries. Three years ago my business interactions might have only occassionally reached the East Coast. I feel fortunate to now have my sphere of influence/experience be much more global.

We're Back in the US!

After 13 months of continuous residence in the UK, preceded by about 12 months of constant travel (myself anyway) from Seattle to London, Paris and New York, we've moved back to the US. Incidently, we've also vowed never to move again -- what a pain! Mom and Dad have the kids for the week so that Jenny and I can put the house together. So much to do, but loving the fact that we're back.

Day 7 - Scotland Trip

Drove thru Glasgow central and decided against stopping, in favor of making our way to Lake District faster. Just seemed like a regular city. Lots of motorway driving for the first time this trip, but fast progress to Penrith where we headed southwest into Lake District. What a gorgeous place -- quickly ran out of film. Everywhere you look it's stone houses and fences, sheep, and green pastures rolling up to dramatic hills. Went over Kirkstan Pass where we got out and climbed up a bit to the clouds, which the kids loved. Took the last available place in Troutbeck campground, then headed into Windermere for Indian food. Roads were extremely narrow and steep, bit scary with the rig. Would love to spend more time here!

Day 6 - Scotland Trip

Several times every day we see fighter jets from RAF cruising by. Always fun to see them thunder by. Kids love cruising the campground on their scooters and they've made up their own language so they can sound like all the other tourists. We hiked a bit of Nevis this morning, which gave the kids the taste for more, then headed into Fort William to stroll the High Street. Neat town; bought some good scotch and off we went down towards Glasgow thru Glencoe. Glencoe and the western highlands was breathtaking. Pictures cannot do it justice. Glencoe was the site of one of the more gruesome battles in Scottish history, where the English massacred an entire clan. A very spiritual place. Unfortunate how all the powerful countries in this world got that way. Made it down to the shores of Loch Lomond, another pullover spot which had Jenny/kids feeling nervous because it was scary and remote. Drank scotch, listened to CDs and cooked Haggis for dinner.

Day 5 - Scotland Trip

Got up early for a quick hike on Ben Nevis. Got up to cloud level at 2560 very quickly, cruising along faster than I think I've ever hiked, then down again to the family. Figure I could have summited in another 45 minutes but then we wouldn't have been able to cruise up to Loch Ness, which is what we did next. Drove up to Fort Augustus, had a lovely Scottish lunch of Haggis, beef pie, etc. then watched boats coming down the series of 7 locks dropping boats 37 feet in about 400 meters -- part of the Caledonian Canal linking the Atlantic with the North Sea. Walked out to the shore of Loch Ness and explained to the kids the Loch Ness Monster mystery. Tried to make it back to Fort William in time for a tour of the Ben Nevis Scotch whiskey distillery, but missed it. Will have to buy some good scotch to try.

Day 4 - Scotland Trip

Woke up and headed out to the river to fish so I could let the rest sleep in. There was a hatch but nothing appeared to be feeding. Lovely morning just relaxing with the river. Finally got off to a late 11am start and soon entered the Highlands, south of the Cairngorms. So beautiful and unspoiled. Passed the headwaters of the River Spey at a "town" called Laggan, then straight to Fort William. Nice sunny day. Booked two nights at the Glen Nevis campground (elevation 30'), which had to be the cleanest campground I've ever been to. Right at the base of Ben Nevis (elevation 4406') with a lovely small river running thu it (teaming with small browns). People are very nice here.

Day 3 - Scotland Trip

Long day of driving. Ended up driving the A68 up eastern Scotland around Edinburgh, instead of heading up thru Glasgow. Drove along Hadrian's Wall for a bit along the way, and stopped several times to bask in the history. Jedburgh was very cool; didn't see anything of Edinburgh but the Firth of Forth. Made it almost to Pitlochery, pulling over next to the River Tummel to stay the night. Just a pull-over, not a camping area, and Jenny was a bit freaked out. Fished that night and got nothing. Lots of driving. Scotland so far looks much like Oregon and WA.

Day 2 - Scotland Trip

Turned out the fishery was having a coarse fishing tournament! The parking lot filled with probably 30 cars (all talking fishing and gearing up) by 8am. Got a good start in the morning, and a parking spot in York, then spent a good 6-7 hours walking around. Very cool place, York. Lunch was the first priority, and we ended up splitting up -- me and the kids chose Russels Carvery and Jenny wanted the cafe down the street. After a very satisfying lunch, we just sorta poked around old medieval York. Hunter and I were fascinated by this medieval weapon shop (where I ended up buying a sword!). York shows a lot of history and we liked it. Finished off with a french restaurant then pulled into a camping area where I got to fiddle with electric and dirty water dumpage for the first time. Showers felt good. Hunter, Hannah and I stabbed some things with the sword. Off to Scotland in the morning!