Daddy needs a Fernet!

Improvisational blogging

2011-05-28T01:10:00.000-07:00

Enjoying the kitchen on a Friday night and listening to tonight's Phish show from Bethel, NY. The first of the 3-night/33-night total monster Summer Tour. Professionally, the marketing efforts by the band to offer an MP3 of the entire show an hour after lights (free for ticket holders) is both brilliant and disruptive. Disruptive if other bands or service providers are taking note. Want to build customer loyalty? Page available --and he plays a mean clav.

I got to thinking about my history of listening to and participating in Phish shows. As you may know it's a good part of my "entertainment/immediate gratification cycle". New music from your favorite band made available by the community and by simple download 3hrs after they finish in the highest, soundboard "releasable" quality is pretty fun. Yeah, there's the whole coming of age, see the country on tour, lifelong friends aspect, but it's the music and the newness that keep the beat.

As this is improv blogging -I got to thinking also about my musical background and influences. Being that Phish is a big slice of the pie, I was curious if it may have been a studio album that catapulted this. Lawn Boy, Phish's 2nd album got a lot of rotation back in the day ('94). However, with the availability of live shows now, rarely do studio albums get played --outside of the analogue types. Aside: Trey just threw out"wtf" to open up the 2nd set tonight with Carini, or as one might refer to as "no you di-n't just drop a Carini in our (Shoreline) house.

Would Lawn Boy be considered most influential musical album to date? I haven't listened to Lawn Boy in 10 yrs, likely more. But I listen to Lawn Boy songs weekly. Antelope is a Lawn Boy song. If that isn't a game changer, I'm not sure what is.

Ranking the most influential albums for yourself is a tough call and admittedly relative on an infinite amount of factors. Currently, the live album of tonight's show that I'm listening to right now is tops. Some "type" of Phish album would have to be in the top 3 to keep me in the game for so long, maybe Lawn Boy. Listening to the Thriller tape nightly validated this whole thing. Bruce and Born in the USA introduced me to the greatest live performances on the planet. But if I had to choose, I'd go with the first album that I ever owned. I first heard the J. Giels Freeze Frame album with my sisters at a babysitters house, who happened to also be dating my cousin. It didn't hurt that there was a swear word in "Piss on the Wall", or that "Rage in the Cage" still rocks today, but the hook of "Centerfold"on Freeze Frame introduced me to rock and the power of music.

Beatles White Album, Marley and reggae -it's a tough question. What's your most influential?

Finally, we caught Anastasia clapping today and of course encouraged it as much as we could. What's interesting is that it began after Daddy was rocking to the live stream of tonight's show (worthy of another post) during her dinner. 5/27/11 her Freeze Frame maybe?

Why do we share (social data)?

2011-02-26T13:19:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, three posts already this year, I'm getting sick of myself too. I had one of those amazingly geeky SF days a few weeks ago that mostly happen to people you follow on Twitter and not you. Well, not me anyway. It happened a little like this (cue the dream sequence music with Matt Damon as your hero).....

I was running a bit late on Wednesday morning rushing to get into work for a 9:30 sales call (yes I see the irony). As I parked and headed down 2nd Street towards Misison, I realized as I was halfway to the office that I left my phone in car. Doing the quick math of where I was (midpoint) and lead time for my call (about 15min) I decided to double back. One the walk back, I looked over my right shoulder and saw someone that looked slightly familiar. I've never met him before but I was sure it was Eric Reis, who, for all intents and purposes is, if not the godfather of the customer development community, then he's Steve Blank's right hand man. He may even be Rocky to Blank's Apollo. I've seen him at meetups, follow him on Twitter, read his blog etc., but never met him, so I introduced myself. We only chatted for a few minutes but I asked about his book, we chatted about "pivoting" and "failing fast" and then with him thanking me for saying hi, we shook hands when I got to my lot.

On the walk back down 2nd St., phone in tow, I ran into a colleague who I'm doing a business deal with. One of my goals during the day was to try to get this person on the phone --no need. We chatted about our project and timelines and I was back on my way down 2nd towards Mission. A truly serendipitous few moments all because I left my phone in the car.

Why is this post not titled "Serendipity on Second"? Good question. The reason is because the geekiness continued later that afternoon when I attended the SF New Tech event --The Social Data Revolution. It was my first time attending one of their events but certainly won't be my last. It was $40 at the door but I had two beers and two tacos and managed to find a great lead (we're in discussions now about an opportunity). Still don't get the title? I know, here it comes. The panel with folks like Joe Stump, Founder of SimpleGeo and Eric Ly, Founder of LinkedIn with Reid Hoffman, was moderated by Andreas Wiengerd, former Chief Scientist at Amazon.com and was on the topic of social data. If I can use the word 'fascinating' without my friends spitting our their food, I think that may be a good description. The content was filled with interesting nuggets like the collection of data on the internet, how ALL content is relevant and that every 1.5yrs the amount of data we're working with doubles. In a year and a half, the amount of data online doubles and that timeframe is only shrinking. The big question that I took away was a simple one --Why do we share?

Why do we share our typically private information on social networking sites? There were plenty of answers and all seemed acceptable --from showing others how awesome we are, to looking to be a part of something. I thought Andreas had a good way of explaining it --ABC. A)Attention B) Belonging and C) Two-way communication. Opposed to the traditional A) Advertising B) Branding (bullshit) C) One-way communication (how a typical business communicates with its consumers). Other than maybe taking the consumer approach myself and using C) for Creativity, I think this does a good job of explaining why it is we're comfortable putting personal data online for all to see. As a people we're narcisstic and this is a perfect outlet for that --we also just want to belong to something, a group or similar -something that we can align ourselves with, to be part of something bigger.

There was one aspect that wasn't discussed, and that's the notion of social capital. The idea is you gain by sharing --well the real idea is you gain by facilitating a positive outcome for someone else. In doing so, you gain social capital that you can either bank or let naturally burn down through serendipitous events ("is that I point I smell coming around?") Tara Hunt wrote about this in the Whuffie Factor, how to be a better social capitalist, My cousin Vincent calls it "surfing the karmic wave". Either way, by putting yourself out there, by sharing what it is you know, your experiences, hopefully you're improving the outcome of someone else's experiences. If you can do so, you're increasing your social capital, your whuffie, and are opening yourself up to positive experiences you might not have had originally coming to you following a mistake of leaving your phone in the car.

I know this is a broad subject, there's the whole privacy implication that I didn't touch on. If Mark Zuckerberg had his way, there would be no privacy online and everyone would share everything on their wall. But surely that is not the case, and not simply because of the status of my current employer. So I'll leave it with that question --why do you share? To date, sharing and participating has served me well, so I'll continue doing so. What about you?

Everything's amazing and nobodys happy

2011-02-18T22:58:00.001-08:00

This is a great bit by Louis CK on Conan. It hits home on such a real level and he's a funny bastard. From Boston actually. If you're interested there's a terribly funny story/hustle he has about stealing/selling scales in high school. I think it's Newton. Newton South, but for no other reason than I think the dudes from The Office (US version) went to Newton South.

But it's also an unfortunate state of mind that I see too often. Often times its myself, and apologies to my family who are living with weather that I certainly have not experienced, even in the lake-effect CNY. But overall I think we need to start feeling better about ourselves.

As a Red Sox fan, believe me--I understand the 'misery likes company' excuse. We were the loveable losers! Or is that the Cubs? Either way, it was never the Sox year, but we all went thru it together and that was our identity (vomit). And don't let us win a World Series, we'll lose our identity. But guess what happened, we did alright with success. Turns out it was ok to be happy (fucking shocker). Let's win one three years later in '07. And surely my friends in the Capital of Earth would disagree, but we'll do it again in '11 -kangfirmed!

I believe we're living thru an amazing time in our lives right now. Personal computing, mobile communications, immediate information. Look no further than Egypt and Tahir Sq. It may not be totally accurate that social technology that, is really no more than 10yrs old, resulted in the largest revolution in the Arab world, but it certainly played a role and that is amazing. Technology, that's less than 10yrs old, played an integral role in the emancipation of Egypt, a country of 79million people. Pause.

We have to celebrate this time in lives. We all have different issues to address, and we can't be Guy Smiley every day, but dang it, there's plenty to be grateful for! We're contributing on a social level to actual change (thank you Dr. King), the economy is stretching its arms and waking from its slumber, and the responsibility of this country is being passed down to a generation who's had access to more information about every topic than has ever been available. Couple that with the understanding that in the end, as a people, we're alright ---that's a good feeling.

Myself, I'm spoiled with a healthy family, a roof and a job. I know I'm blessed, am thankful for everyday but want to be sure we're not taking this for granted. Likely shit will hit the fan, we know this and we've agreed to this. But before and after we should be thankful for what we have. Everything is amazing --as long as you look at it right.

Top 10 Reasons Why I'm Claiming the Giants 2010 World Series

2011-01-04T23:25:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I'm starting off 2011 with a commitment to blog once a week. Wait, I mean once a year --same as this past year, although I missed it by a week. Or as overheard on this Day 4: "good resolutions were made to be broken". Below should be retroactive to 2010 por favor:

I'm claiming this past World Series by YOUR, San Francisco Giants! Yep, stewed on it a bit (not long) and confident enough to post this, THE post of 2010.

Yes, we had our beautiful, and healthy, baby Anastasia this year on the 11th of September. It was a truly amazing experience with the sun shining, amazing help, and hearing Michael Franti playing the Power to the Peaceful concert in Golden Gate Park a few blocks away.

And so there's no debate-- THIS was the greatest day of year!

What was debated or at least internally discussed, was claiming this World Series win by the San Francisco Giants. You see, when you wear your home team's club on your sleeve (literally at times) you can't expect to think that it's going to be as easy as just deciding to be a part of the party. There's a little bit of self-assurance that needs to happen, which I believe is not only necessary but healthy. The below is why I'm claiming this World Series, without a doubt.

There are a number of us "transients" who've made their way to the Bay Area. We are baseball fans, but we are very much fans of the history of the game. We appreciate the game of course, but it's what happened before us that makes us who we are. For me, it seems to be the history of the game first and the beauty second. Good or bad. This is what makes it so fun to root for a West Coast team and meet fans on the west coat. They have history of course, but not to the same degree. There's the element of pure baseball enthusiasm that brings the game back to its core -- beauty first and the history second. Of course I'm talking about the Red Sox, but this is what happens when you've had a team for over 100 yrs and thru multiple generations! Also, the beauty of a National League coaches duel is really something to behold and a totally different game than those we are used to in the North East. Putting an NL coach in the AL should be as bad a use of talent as putting a pitcher who can hit .300 in the AL (San Diego, say hello to Casey Kelly).

As fans we're drawn to the local club and for me it's been fun, exciting, and rewarding to root for the 'Sey Hey' kids for the past 12yrs. A great history itself, this team has been an easy fit for me. As a Red Sox fan, the Yankees rivalry elevates everything about the team. The same holds true for the Giants and their rivalry with the Dodgers. If not for the Sox/Yanks rivalry -the Giants/Dodgers (NY/NY and SF/LA) rivalry is right up there. Plus I've always related Boston to NY as SF is to LA --this made it easy for me to find a place with the Giants early on.

Thompson, Mays, McCovey, Will Clark, Barry Bonds and now Timmy, Buster and the Beard. The most beautiful ("modern") ballpark in the country. A team who hadn't won the World Series since 1954 and not since moving to San Francisco in 1957.

I remember when my good friend from NY was living in LA and myself from Boston at the time living in SF. He told me "it's good to have a National League team". The Giants would start out as my "National League team", but this year they become my World Series champion! Yes, I'm totally claiming this World Series. Happy to do it, ecstatic! This is my parade! This is my reward. I'm claiming this World Series and below are my Top 10 reasons reasons why:

10) If you've ever frozen your ass off in the bleachers at Candlestick --you can claim this World Series
9) If you've ever participated in season tickets --you can claim this World Series
8) Lowry and Cain and pray for rain
7) If you talked about where to head for the party during Game 6 up 8-0 during the 8th inning in 2002 --you can claim this World Series
6) If both your kids were born in San Francisco --you can claim this World Series
5) Is Tim Lincecum not the love child of Pedro Martinez and Johnny Damon ('04)?
4) Were the 2004 "idiots" that much different than the 2010 "Cast offs" this year?
3) Renteria, Freddie Sanchez, Ramon Ramirez, Javy Lopez: Sox
2) I missed out on the Red Sox and Patriots parade(Z) ("poodles everywhere!")
1) You're still reading this (stolen from Letterman)

Happy New Year everyone! Go Giants; Go Red Sox!!

The Vegas conflict

2009-07-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

It’s been a week. Lindsay reminded me this afternoon that it was a week ago that we got to the pool for the start of our friend’s wedding weekend. She also mentioned that she very well still may be hung over from that weekend. I, for one, am still feeling the effects. It took until Wednesday to snap out of it, but the residuals still remain. Whoosh, three days and two nights in the City of Sin will do this to you, or to me at least. But as the dust settles, and the headaches subside, there is still the question that stays with me that I couldn’t help but take notice of yet again while I was there – what the eff is up with this place?

I’ve been to Vegas a handful of times. I’ve stayed in old school rat pack hotels, crazy “wizard chasing a princess thru a casino” hotels, and outlandish jumping out of fountains 10 feet into the pool hotels. I prefer the latter. Each time, while certainly different experiences, the result is the same –am I a Vegas person? I know, I know, “VEGAS!!” But really, do I need to take it to the desert to enjoy myself at this level? For those that know me, I can have an amazing time in a cardboard box, so the allure of “breaking loose” doesn’t resonate with me. Gambling? Meh, I enjoy a few hold-em tourney’s with friends but I’m not setting aside 2G’s for tables, especially now that I don’t smoke. Oh the smoke. I’m not sure what’s worse, the constant “dingdingdingdingdingdingdingding,” or the fumes of cigar and Newports when you’re walking to or from your room. Dinners? Yeah, I imagine the restaurants are a draw if you don’t live in a metropolitan area where you can find these. And the shows, while admittedly I haven’t seen a show there (other than Phish, Halloween ’98), can also be found in your city of choice.

A friend who I was with this weekend had the same sentiments as the above, but also brought it down to a level of concern. How much of an enabler is Vegas and at what point should we be concerned? He mentioned that together we probably make more than 90% of the people in the casinos, but yet we’re doing the least gambling. Of note, I guess I never realized how much this guy made! But point taken –should we be concerned with the “type” of money that’s being brought into Vegas? The classic question, am I finally my brother’s keeper and at what point does it affect my fellow citizens? The allure, the craziness, the ability to walk care-free on the floor without regard for others in your path. Is this what we agree to when coming to Vegas? We agree that there is money being spent here that shouldn’t be? We recognize this and we agree that we’re ok with this? We understand that there are individuals that are here who are splitting 10’s, but have no regard for the immediate concerns of family life like paying the bills?

Of course there is the other side of Vegas and it’s the side I chose to defend during the “Vegas is bad for my soul” debate. There are good, moral, responsible people that LOVE Vegas. They get up in the morning and go to work each day. They pay their bills on time and wait for those couple of days a year when they can head to the desert oasis to enjoy and reward themselves for the work they’ve put in. There are the families who make a yearly guys trip out of it. Fathers, uncles, cousins, friends. A bonding experience at the least and ultimately an excuse to get everyone together and enjoy themselves. Then there are the couples that truly love the experience. They live in the metropolitan cities but still feel the buzz from the pools, restaurants and shows. They may gamble a bit, but it’s only one aspect of the whole.

So where do I net out, am I Vegas person? I think the answer to that easily is no. I would find it very difficult to stay there more than two nights which is all I’ve been able to hack to date. I do, however, not have a problem with Vegas. During this 4th of July weekend, and in the patriotic spirit, Vegas is as American as it gets! Talk about a melting pot, it’s all there. And the foreign tourists? There are a ton who are making trips to America and checking out Vegas. Why wouldn’t you, VEGAS!!! right?
Oh, and one more thing that I noticed while I was sitting at Cleopatra’s barge next to an older retired couple. When I’m that age and need a place to act the fool like I did in my 20’s and 30’s, I’m booking a ticket to Vegas –but just a night or two.

Social Networking -Thumbs up?

2007-09-02T17:48:00.000-07:00

Myspace, friendster, linkedin, facebook...$5 for the next social networking site to get your 2.0 traction. Rupert's paying out...

Is it possible for businesses/"half-way decent motives" to benefit from this on-going phenomenon (loosely described as possible)? And if so, are you separating yourself from the 21 yr olds posting funneling pictures (21 is the legal limit as we all know)?

I've recently joined a new social networking community, Facebook. I chose not to wait 3months for the next one because it was spawned by co-wokers. Co-workers who I have the utmost trust for based on my own personal views.

I had a discussion over a lamb meatball sandwhich at Paragon recently about the validity of it all. There seems to be a number of different integration points that Facebook offers, but the question remains: Why should I accept an invitation to a new social networking community when the next best thing is not questioned but anticipated?

ps. add me on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=728217328

Nuthin' but an App Thang...

2007-08-20T16:50:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest video the kids are all talking about...

Jack-O -4mos

2007-08-19T16:36:00.000-07:00

Here's some shots that Lindsay put together as Jack turns 4months old. She's been amazing at compiling these and sending them off to friends and family. I, on the other hand, have been slacking and not posting them back here --yes, the sole purpose of this endeavor. Enjoy!

Click here for the pics

LOBSTERFEST '07!!

Who should I say is calling?

2007-06-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. I told my dentist recently that I was traveling around the world and that's why I haven't been able to come in and see them. I would've attempted to use that same excuse here but you know me too well. Heads up for a Jack-o post coming this weekend --but I must post the following, if anything to rejuvenate the creative process.

So, am I the only person that didn't know about shuffle on your iPod? The Pointy Universe recently quizzilled about the first 5 songs that come up on your shuffle. I mean, I've heard of shuffle and I think even have seen it in my itunes library, but I haven't been in there for a while because I switched comp's lately (side note: if you know how I can get my library off one comp and onto another, there's a nugget of goodness waiting for you). This thing is GREAT! Other than the "crowd tracks" from some live shows that come up to remind me that they shouldn't be taking up space on my device, I am loving this! The disappointing part is that every person I tell, to see if they get as excited as I did, look at me a bit awkward because I didn't know about this feature. Actually, its the same look Jack gives me when I try to change his diaper and put him back in his clothes. That kind of "roll your eyes, you've definitely never done this before" look.

Here's what happened with my first shuffle attempt:

1. Christmas at the Zoo -Flaming Lips
2. Viet Nam -Jimmy Cliff
3. Who by Fire -Phish
4. Ballad of Jed Clampett -Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
5. Down Syndrome -De La Soul

Who by Fire? What tha? A Phish tune I've never heard of? I had to go back and look at this further. A Leonard Cohen song thrown in a jam in Atlanta in '94. A very cool song which had me running out to Green Apple on Clement Street to pick up a used cd of Leonard Cohen to familiarize myself with him. As you might expect, Phish expectedly hacked this thing up, but yet again I'm introduced to a new musical act because of them, thanks to shuffle. Can you imagine if I never heard them play GoodXBadX??

Check your shuffle and let me know if you find any hidden gems...

Side note: I started this post about 2months ago and just pushed it live today, specifically because Higgins told me I'm removed from his RSS feeder. I need more negative reinforcement.

"Herrrrrrrrrrre's Jack!"

2007-04-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

Here's the man of the hour....every hour....of the day....and night. This is your classic"breast drunk" pose.

Jack Domenic Scalisi was born on Tuesday, April 17th 2007 at 8:01am in San Francisco, CA. He was a svelte 7lbs, 4oz and 20in long. On Monday night, contractions were getting stronger and Lindsay was miz. The contractions however were not the five min apart for at least an hour varietal, which they (the hospital) want you to be at before coming in. They were 10, 13, 9, 6, all over the map. Finally Lindsay mentioned that she wasn't sure how long she could put up with them, which was as good a sign as any for me --we're calling.

We intitially thought that we'd go in and they'd give her something to sleep thru the night. We didn't sleep the night before because we were up timing the contractions (see 10, 13, 9, 6, scenario above) and knew that there wouldn't be any sleep this night as well. When we got to the hospital to help get thru the night and be sent home, Lindsay was examined and she was 3 cm dilated. She/we weren't going anywhere. When we were moved to the delivery room, she was examined and was 4cm. Lindsay was giving birth tonight.

Once everything settled and we were in the delivery room, it was around 12:30am. I now had 8hrs to contemplate how I was going to handle this. This was an excruitiating 8hrs for me. Mostly, I now believe because I had no clue when any of this was going to go down. I haven't been this nervous in a very long time. I remember thinking that if I only shut my eyes for a bit I might wake up without the knot in my stomach. Granted it was the middle of the night and my stomach had that "why are we up right night now" feeling, but suffuce it to say, I was buggin! Of course you have to keep it together for your wife who is the one that's actually going to go thru with the actual act of childbirth. I think I did my best masking my nerves, but when I'd look at her (and she was amazing the entire time), I couldn't help but think about what it was going to be like when the doctor first handed us our child. This was the most nervous I've been since freshman year in high school when I tried out for the wrestling team and was put into the varsity spot at 100lbs because noone else was that small.

When it was finally "go time" at 7:15am, something surprising happened. I felt like I was going to be able to do this. Lindsay, as I already stated, was a pro the whole time. Maybe it was her who was soothing me instead of vise-versa. She did have to rub my back during our birthing classes when we had to watch those nasty videos.

We started pushing at 7:20 or so... our doctor, who we love, Dr Chan arrived at about 7:45....the bed rose, Dr. Chan wheeled over all "scrubbed in" and this one was born at the top of the hour, 8:01 am.

We're home now and trying to navigate this parenthood ride. The nerves, while subsided, are still here. Are we feeding him too little? too much? should he burp? If he goes to sleep now, won't it just be feeding time anyway? Do humans really need sleep? All this and more will be answered in the coming 18yrs.

If you're interested in seeing a few more pic's, click here for a shutterfly link

Good looking dude, no?

It's a Hasselhoff Friday!

2007-04-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

Also, if you have any suggestions for the "crowning song" please let us know. I spent enough money on an ipod docking station (battery operated because you can't plug anything in at the delivery room)that we need the perfect song. So far the top 3 are:

1) The Last Time -Rolling Stones
2) Welcome to the Jungle -GNR
3) It's All Over Now, Baby Blue -Dylan

Suggestions are welcome, but ridicule should be expected

Going to Seattle? Go see McCracken!

2007-03-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

Have you been to Seattle before? I recommend checking out this city. It's the great Northwest version of San Francisco and as it turns out, very welcoming to those from San Francisco. I had to make a business trip to Seattle and --here's how it relates to this blog, my last business trip before..."the arrival".

Prior to this trip Yardley made it up to this town and found his way to a bar, I'll call it the Blunt cafe. Scott deserves credit for finding this place, however I'll take the credit for turning it into a word of mouth phenomenom. To put it simply, if you are going to Seatlle --go see McCracken. By my own choice, I'm using a fake name for the bar as well as the bartendar that I met while I was in Seattle. I'll call him McCracken. McCracken is the barkeep who also can also boast as being rated as a top 5 bartender by Playboy magazine. Scott mentioned that I may like the Blunt as much as he did. He ended up meeting McCracken as well as the owner. They ended up in conversation and somehow introduced him to rye whiskey drinks. I think the two I remember him telling me were "the Admiral" and "the Liberal". As I write that I'm curious how well those stand up to "the one-legged duck" or "the corpse reviver"...

I found the Blunt online and mapped out how far it was from my hotel---one mile, perfect. I landed, cabbed to my hotel, and not knowing anyone...decided I should try to find the Blunt...

The Blunt is a local hang-out for Seattle bartendars. Of note: (If you go to a new city and want to find a cool place to hang out, stop by a few bars and ask the bartendars where they hang out. For example, if you land in SF, you'll probably be directed to the R-Bar) I knew I wanted a rye whiskey drink that Yardley spoke highly of, but there wasn't an available seat at the bar. I figured I'd order a pint and see if something opened up. As I was sipping on my suds and checking out the place, sure enough a party of two at the bar stood up and left. Now, I was in a prime location to swoop in and take that stool, but I did see some other lingering folks who might be interested in a stoo --NO! MINE! I think I'm lucky to be from the east coast and specifically Boston because we just take things some times. I don't even want to think of things I would've missed out on in life up to this date if I didn't jump at opportunities and make them mine. Here's how this opportunity ended up...

I sat next another guy who did the same fast swoop with me. It turns out he was a local bartendar (see...these seats were a premium!). He knew McCracken behind the bar and they starting rapping about some far off bottle of booze that they both got in recently. When I finished my pint, McCracken introduced himself and asked if I'd like another one. At this point as I was at the bar and could confess to why I was there. "I'm interested in learning about rye whiskey" I asked. To which McCracken replied "what kind of rye's do you like?". Not knowing anything about these, McCracken pulled down five (5) bottles of Rye whiskey from the very accessible to the not so very accessible --priced from lowest to highest. It turns out that the state of Washington does not make it very easy to get your hands on any type of booze you want. What's ironic is that its a great drinking town. Each bottle in front of me had about a half once for a taster. I was about to taste rye whiskeys like I was wine tasting in Sonoma.

Each Rye I tasted was very good and surprisingly not very strong. The Wild Turkey rye was the biggest shocker as I usually shudder at the sight of that damn bottle. Hutch still start the night with that? Anyway, I asked about price on them and McCracken went down the line.."5 , 10, 25 if you can even find it". I was really impressed that this bartendar took the time to teach someone off the street about this libation. When I decided on one, he made me a drink --I think it was "the one-legged duck". When he found out I was from San Francisco, he mixed up something with Fernet Branca of course. Sooner or later other people (quality patrons) started getting in on the conversation and talking to McCracken about drinks and mixing drinks. Particularly the Kerouac reader sitting to my left. After the tastings and a drink I started to feel a little hungry. The Italians say your never drunk, you just haven't had enough to eat. I needed dinner. I asked McCracken for three things. First, a recommendation for a sushi restaurant close by, second, my tab --I hadn't dropped a red cent (whatever that is) at this place yet and third an invitation to come back. McCracken came back with a Zagats and found a place I could walk to, so now I only needed the tab. I was really bracing myself because of the "taste-test" which really could've jacked up that tab, let alone the cocktails he made for me following this. My tab came back like this: "If you come back, we'll settle out your tab then --if not, welcome to Seattle".

The original title of the post included the bar and the bartendars name. I've changed them to make this public. If you're interested I'll tell you offline --maybe even about what happened when I went back --if I did.

Almost there

2007-03-01T20:17:00.000-08:00

Mama bird has brought back the last twigs and Papa Beaver has laid one of his last logs. That's right, the flatscreen plasma has been set-up and the dish fastened firmly to a 2-inch pipe that apparently sticks out of our roof. We are certainly getting close...

Lindsay and I had a 32 week ulta-sound this past Wednesday. I'm glad to report that we all received a full bill of health. The ultra-sound pictures were amazing. Amazing that an, at least of average intelligennce, person could not make out very much of any of it. I was able to make out a few strands of light colored hair. This was a beautiful moment I told Lindsay, to see that he did not have dark kinky hair. A most well timed My Name is Earl joke for a Thursday night.

A couple of pictures to bring everyone up to speed for how far we've come...

Pretty with a belly....

Not so pretty and Coors Light belly....

Ps. I recently returned from an event in NYC for National Philanthropic Day. Turns out they were not giving out any money. Actually, it was very inspiring and I feel very priviledged to have been a part of it. As a reminder: "Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth." -The Greatest

Help do your part please.

Vote for me in November!

2007-01-29T22:18:00.001-08:00

Is this finally the gratuitous VerticalResponse plug that I've been waiting for to help spread the gospel, or is this me immortalizing my on air talent in case I can't find this web-site anymore? Either way, hope you enjoy.

Before you hit play, here are the top two responses to me sending this out early today:

1. Borix: "it's buffering now, I hit pause don't ruin it for me"
2. Yardley: "you being serious makes me laugh everytime"

"The Greatest"

2006-12-12T22:54:00.000-08:00

I planned on writing an entry about some of the favorite quotes that I've heard and noted in my life. I realized that a good number were from Muhammad Ali. I also realized that the "King of the World" deserved his own piece. I have the others somewhere and I'm sure they'll make it in another post.

My mother met the Champ about 16 yrs ago, I remember it was April 1st because she called me to tell me the story and I thought she was trying to pull one over on me. He called her over and asked to take a picture with her. The Champ asked to take a picture with my mother. It's actually in my apartment and I'm loking at it right now. Here's the story about how the picture came to be:

My mother was working at the Westin Hotel in Waltham when I started high school. This was a beautiful hotel that was built on I-95 on a hill and was just a striking building when you drove thru Waltham. Part of her job was to arrange the different business events that took place at the hotel. One event had Muhammad Ali as the guest speaker for a room full of "suits". My mother met him at the front of the hotel when he arrived in his limo. She quickly grabbed hold of him and said: "Ali!, it is a pleasure to meet you, Welcome to the Weston Hotel". She then escorted him to the room where "the suits" were waiting. When she opened the door and walked in with him, the room fell silent. No one said a word. This was definately an awkward moment. It was at this point that my mother understood that it was she who would introduce Ali, The "King of the World" to this large group of white men in suits. She cleared her throat, asked the room for attention and said "Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce, the greatest world champion of all time, Joe Frasier!!". Well you can imagine that the entire room gasped for air --but Ali thought it was the funniest thing he seen in a long time, knowing fully that my mother had pulled a fast one (rembember it was April fools day) on this group of "suits" today. Later in the afternoon when he was taking pictures and signing autographs he stopped, called her over, and had HIS personal photographer take the most beautiful picture of the two of them together at a table. That professional picture was later mailed to my mother and is now framed in my apartment.

By the way, if you're looking for a nice gift to give someone on your list this year, David Remnick's "King of the World" may be a great book option.

Below are a few quotes that I've appreciated from "The Greatest":

"Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wild Life."

"Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just plain wrong."

"I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was."

"I'll beat him so bad he'll need a shoehorn to put his hat on."

"I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark."

"If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you."

"If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize."

"It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up."

"When you are as great as I am it is hard to be humble."

"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth."

"What's in a name?

2006-12-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Romeo and Juliet

I quoted Shakespeare on Thanksgiving with Lindsay's maternal family in LA, somewhere around the 2-3pm and still no turkey or football, time of the day. Her 12th grade, New York bound, young cousin Julia was sitting among us (NYC Crew: I'm setting high expectations for that town, don't disappoint). I asked her in front of the family: "do you know why it is proper to study Shakespeare fair Julia?" (following my quote). "Because one day, you yourself will be having Thanksgiving dinner with your inlaws, and you too will enjoy coming across as intelligent".

Which therefore leads to -naming of the child. I figured I'd take the blog out for a ride on the topic. First name, middle name, full name, nick-name, family name, names of neighborhoods, all of which are weighed into what may be a very important decision. I seem very comfortable passing over my name to the lad, knowing how things are going for myself carrying this name. I am blogging after all. No juniors though, I was not a junior and when I asked my father one day why I wasn't a junior his response was: "No Junior!". So, I'm taking that response --I took my signature from him as well.

As long as he has a firm handshake, he should do alright with whichever name Lindsay and I give him. I can safely commit to Tom Furey taking care of that on introduction. Nontheless, in true blog tradition, I've decided that our child's name will be decided with another poll. Yes, that's right, the first was so successful -- You've asked!!! We've listened!!! SO HERE WE GO!!!

Click Here To Take The Poll

Surprise?

2006-11-28T16:08:00.000-08:00

"...it's a boy Mrs. Walker it's a boy. It's a boy Mrs. WALKER, it's a boy....A SON!!!! A SON!!!!"

If you couldn't tell Lindsay and I found out recently that we're going to be having a boy (hold for applause). There's the debate over whether or not to you want to find out. Some say yes, other's want the surprise. I just don't see how the surprise can be any more bigger than the one you get when you see the two stripes instead of just one. The day you learn your boys can swim --especially if you've never "slipped one past the goalie" if I can borrow from Seinfeld (which is having a fire sale thanks to Michael Richards playing Michael Douglas in 'Falling Down'). Now THAT's a good one. Also, while not necessarily a surprise, when you see the baby on the ultrasound --totally blown away. I realized that I haven't been blown away in long time (See 20min Antelople Set I closer -10/6/00 Shoreline- siiiiiick). I think the first shot of the spine was the craziest, followed by the outline of his shoulder and arm --good looking arm too like Lincoln Hawk in 'Over the Top'

So that's the question: Do you find out or not? I say if there's knowledge out there, whatever it may be, don't deprive yourself. Plus when we found out it was a boy I could use the: "at least my kid will have a chance to become President" comment at Thanksgiving with Lindsay's family. Thoughts?

Cotzumalguapa!

2006-11-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

Ahha! As you've noticed, Papa's got a brand new bag. I'd like to thank everyone for coming out to Rock the Vote. It was a reaffirmation of this digital utopia. Big Up's for the write-in's --some highlights were:

"Goomba Soup"
"Guinea Gezzete
"Chardonnay Cowboy"
or even "Knights of the Highlands" (which is either Jeff Lazaro or one of my sisters)

Why the title? Because we came home from Q on Clement St. after the greatest deal on a NY Strip (Spiff, right?) anywhere close -$14.95. Linday got the _loaf and we got the cheesecake to go. It sort of went: "We'd like to share the cheesecake only in our pajama's". To which our gay (happy) waiter asked if we were coming back in the pj's. Now, Lindsay and I might share a late glass of wine after a dinner like this --however, I find myself solo (for a wonderfully, beautiful reason sweetheart) and curious if an iced down Jameson would not be nice before hitting the 5th straight workday. Possibly. Definately? No go. No Jameo in the house. No iced down 'sippin tea'. Here it is: For a relaxing post-deal on the NY night--col' gots to be!

Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa --providers of Zaya Gran Reserva 12 year old. This is a sample bottle I got as a parting gift one night (a year ago) from Chase at Cosmopolitan on Spear St. here in San Francisco. Chase and I see eye to eye it seems, simply from me joining in on Access after-work get togethers. Chase is a good dude. He was even nice enough one Friday night to politely ask Lindsay if it was ok if I put my sweater back on because the "Fuck Ya'll I'm from Texas" t-shirt was alarming to some of the patrons having dinner. I had just flown in from business in Austin, the capital of TX --understandable (oh and the "you're in blue country now", comment from one of the bartendars really assured me that this was the greatest $9 I'd ever spent). Perhaps I should thank Access or mabe Afflixio (he doesn't read this) for the heady intro to Chase, but because of the 'no Jameo' thing, I'm into the Chaz rum and if I may...."Daddy needs a Jameo!" [Jay'Mo]

Well, its interesting of course and the thought does certainly count with a gift of a nice bottle no matter how small (see many nips from stockings past) -- but I just can't get over the paint thinner aspect. I boiled the water and let it stand in the snifter before dumping then pouring the rum. I even paired it with the cheesecake! I'm not sure --maybe I'm more of an iced down than an dump and pour man, er Daddy (to be). If anyone (Chase?) has any thoughts on improving this, please comment. Comment, get it? Comment?

Thanks everyone again who voted or even visits here. We may have new survey's coming up soon --Doctor and I still need to patch our bikey-gang name to our jackets.

Blogger: We have a problem

2006-11-07T17:23:00.000-08:00

It has come to my attention that I am not the first person to use "Daddy needs a drink" as a title for musings and other banter. I'll save you the gory details of copyright infringements and teams of well-dressed attorney's beating down my door, but just because you hear your wife's gay boss use a hilarious term does not mean that someone else has not used it previously.

With that, we regret to inform you that while the blog will be holding strong (or at least updated every once in a while) the title will nontheless be changing. The good news is --being that I am a wicked big Web 2.0 participant (just short of the tatoo), and the fact that today was the mid-term elections, we'll be doing this shit democratically.

Please click on the below to vote for the new name of this blog:

Click here for your civic duty

Now go tell 10 people to do the same or you'll all receive a check for $10 from Bill Gates.

Elephant Balls Classic

2006-10-28T11:49:00.000-07:00

The most prestigious golf event in the Bay Area

"SPORTS!!!"

2006-10-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

I was at Kilowatt last Sunday to catch the Patriots and Bills game with Borix and Knapp. With the commotion of the different games going on in the different sections of the bar, the bartendar felt compelled to just start screaming out "SPORTS!!!". I would've thought Kilowatt to be the anit-sports bar, but money talks especially on Sunday's during the fall. I have been wanting to blog about sports in this day and age and thought this was a good title.

Yes, as you all know very well, it was two years ago last night that the Boston Red Sox won the World Series and a confirmation that ANYTHING (including fatherhood) was a possibility. An amazing year all around acutally, that 2004 --Red Sox won the Series, Patriots won the Super Bowl and Lindsay and I got married (not in any special order, honey). While seeing the Red Sox win it all was an amazing experience, the years following this, not only with baseball but also with football have really changed my perception of the relevancy of "SPORTS!!!" in my life

Gordon Edes is sports columnist for the Boston Globe. He wrote an article about Manny Ramirez last month because he felt he was dishonoring "the code". The code that others on the team like Varitek and Nixon would never violate or dishonor. I felt compelled to email Mr. Edes or Gordo about how I felt about this, an except is below:

This code that you noted in your article, "to honor
the code that is an article of faith"? I just don't
see this being relevant in this day and age. Yes, its
appreciative from the fan's stand-point, but honoring
a code doesn't keep you in uniform. It didn't help
Deon Branch and it's definately not going to help Trot
Nixon this off season.

Granted, guarranteed vs. non-guarranteed salaries --I
agree, but this is just another unfortunate example of
the business of sports. Whatever the professional
sport, there are players and there is management and
we are bound to the decisions of management. Even
though I disagree with the actions, if Manny's going
to be able to play longer and make more money by
sitting out, he's going to do it and there's nothing
anyone can do about it. In a strange, obnoxious way,
I kind of like the gall.

If I may: "don't hate the playa, hate the game"

When the Patriots lost to the Broncos this year, after the game Belechick threw his arm around Shannahan and looked like he wanted to plant a wet one on him because of how well he coached the game. It just didn't seem right and did not sit well with me. The game (especially of non-guarranteed money), has become teams of Gladiators fighting it out on behalf of the powers that be. I'm still rooting for the Patriots and not just because I look like Tom Brady, but because I still buy into the "team" aspect, whether or not that includes coaches and player personnal executives. Plus, no matter what happens, its still so fun to hate the Yankees.

Web 2.1

2006-10-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

I'd just like to say that this is very Web 2.1 of me --even more so than Borix and the band:

This does bring up a more interesting topic --potentially one that actually deserves a blog. The notion of Web 2.0. You may have heard this term thrown around depending on what industry you're in or even geography if you're in the Bay. Before going into what this term means (and note that experts still can't define it)--I'm calling it Web 2.1 because if I'm actually a part of it then it must have evolved one tic up! Actually, that's a good starting point for defining it --allowing regular shmoe's like me to a part of a larger community thru the use of technology. Whether it be the opportunity to blog like this or the opportunity for a band to showcase themselves on Youtube like THE acoustic Tebucky Jones up top. Heard about a funny Letterman bit from this week that you missed? Youtube.com. Something about a Jet that gets fired from a submerged submarine? Youtube.com. Want to get a quick overview of who Marcus Garvey was? Wikipedia.com (do not however search hemorroids though, forewarned)

There's a great debate going on right now about Web 2.0 and whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Being that you are reading what I'm writing, I'm biased towards this being a good thing. Chris Anderson, author of "The Long Tail" has a great quote as a proponent of Web 2.0:

"My interaction with Microsoft has changed in recent years. I used to read the
speeches and see the press releases from Bill (Gates) and Steve (Ballmer) and
absorb the top-down messaging from the company. Now, as a consumer, I'm more
likely to read the individual blogs of the engineers involved with various
products I'm interested in"

Or, take Andrew Keen's position: http://www.aftertv.com

Which I believe is outlined nicely by Forbes editor William Baldwin as: "the junk video industry".

Listen to part 1 of 2 for yourself here:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=5"

And no this post wasn't created entirely to show Washer chummin' on our fishing trip:

Nice.

I'm glad I titled this post Web 2.1 rather than "The YouTube experience". or "I remember the first time I went to YouTube". Even so...one more than I gotta go, if you're a fisherman.

This may or may not turn into The Youtube experience"

Step One

2006-10-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

Building a blog.
Being in San Francisco, I really felt it was time to take advantage of the innovation that we have out here regarding the internet and its offerings. I mean, I've been working in the software industry out here for the last five years....I should at least have a blog.
Of note: If you've been selling software for 10 yrs and think 5yrs is nothing, please remember that a monkey could have sold software in the 90's.
The last straw actually came yesterday afternoon at work when I went to 'MapQuest' to map out where a former co-worker was having a 'back to SF' party. Apparently this really is the Google age (they own this blog site too) based on the looks I got --however if you were wondering yes, 'MaqQuest' really does still exist but Google is an option as well (please send checks to my home address Sergey and Larry).

So, I now have a blog...its called 'Daddy needs a drink' right now because of the impending arrival of our sex yet to be determined newest member of the Alex and Lindsay clan. No, no, we're both really excited ---about the fastest 9 months on record. Thoughts?