I just like this. Ok... maybe its kinda stupid, but it sure is cool to see these guys make light and comedy out of a code flaw: go to: translate.google.com change setting to --> FROM: GERMAN <-> TO: GERMAN Copy/Paste this into dialog box: pv zk pv pv zk pv zk kz zk pv pv pv zk pv zk zk pzk pzk pvzkpkzvpvzk kkkkkk bsch have fun!
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I need this service, and I need it now. I was recently sitting on a boat having cocktails with Chris Lynch... Chris is a local entrepreneur who has founded and/or been involved in a number of startups in the Seattle area over the past decade. He's got a new one in the oven, but I feel like it needed to launch yesterday.... here's why: I Don't Like Shopping For Holiday Gifts. Chris's newest company, "Thoughtful", is the service I need today. Essentially, you punch in the handful of people that are most important in your life -- say, your girlfriend, your mom, dad, sisters, brother -- give Thoughtful just a few of their details, and then it will scour through the social graph and other resources to give you a bunch of suggestions to keep your connection with those loved ones intact. + Birthday, holiday, anniversary reminders + Custom-tailored gifting suggestions + Custom-tailored Time-Well-Spent suggestions (romance?, fun?, fancy?, casual?) I don't know what to get my sisters for Christmas. I don't know what my mom wants... and I don't have a clue what to get my dad, or my brother. I need someone, something to do this for me. So... the cabin is coming along, swimmingly. We have finished all of the interior framing and fundamentals, and these past two-weeks have been devoted to working with the exterior... the land, to further develop "the presence" of the home. We had to take out a couple of BIG TREES.... trees that were destined to destroy the home (literally), but as many of your know, I have been building this home with a conscience. Like the re-used timbers that support the home from the inside..... like the gas-filled glass panes that ensure maximum insulation with maximum interior light exposure..... like the re-fabricated water well that sustains the tap..... like the re-purposed interior planking that set "the tone" of the home.... Like all these things, the trees felled in this past week will live-on in another form. Within the next few weeks, these trees will have been cut, transported, rough-sawed, milled, planed, kilned... and eventually become the exterior siding of the home. There is an element of drama.... an element of emotion that goes with this whole process. But, in the end... I think (I hope!) the results will astound. We also did some rockery and hardscaping this week. See the photos and video below. PS: to be certain -- the two trees you see being cut in this video were living a mere inches from the home..... like 6-inches. If you own a home, you understand my actions. A couple months back, SBUX announced that they would be running a US pilot program, testing methods to bring consumer traffic into the retail locations during "non-peak" hours. The "method" is quite simple really -- serve local beer, local wine, and local organic snack platters from 4pm-11pm. All of this under the same roof that (love it or hate it) we all know well as our local (and global) coffee shop. The "idea" is neither new, nor innovative. In fact, Starbucks has been serving light alcoholic beverages in most of their European and Japanese shops for years. Even further, while the original "idea" for Starbucks was based off of Shultz' love affair with the European Coffee Shop culture... this latest incarnation only brings it one step closer to the reality of that European staple -- over their, nearly all coffee shops double as snack bars during the lunch hours, and wine/beer bars in the evening. My latest surprise was to hear of Starbucks entry into the Digital Media sector. Again... pure genius. Essentially, Starbucks has partnered with a number of top-tier publications (Wall Street Journal, New York TImes, USA Today), as well as Yahoo, in order to deliver standard and original content "FREE" through all of the Starbucks locations..... all with "FREE" WiFi internet. Download your local newspaper... download the latest book titles.... download music and movies.......... All while sipping your beverage of choice. To be honest -- I'm not even a huge fan of their coffee. BUT, having grown up in their front yard of Seattle, and having that coffee culture deeply engrained in my heritage.... I might just pack my bags and move-in to the Starbucks down the street. Additional Reading: http://goo.gl/eggP http://goo.gl/cELY (links shortened with Google's new url shortening service: goo.gl) With 5-acres of densely wooded terrain.... I've been procrastinating about the inevitable purchase of a chainsaw. Today.... I made my first chainsaw purchase.... and immediately got down to business. Actually... I've been researching the market for several weeks. In the end, there were just a few choices that seemed to stand-out among the mob. Husqvarna, Makita, Echo, and Stihl. With a slight push from Jaret... I settled on the Stihl. "Settled" isn't the right word... as any review will tell you that the quality and performance of Stihl Saws is just a bump above the rest. My purchase was the Stihl MS 290, a classic and a standard in the industry. Within 45-minutes of said purchase, the first tree fell. I will be the first to admit -- I am a terrible lumberjack -- but its A LOT of Big-Ball, Testosterone-Fueled, Wild-West FUN. Yeah, Yeah.... every tree I tried to drop seemed to go in the opposite direction of where I intended. But, rest assured - and knowing me, if you do - I will become obsessed with this particular skill until I can confidently call myself a "Pro". Below are some still (stihl) shots of the new saw. I will post some action photos in the very near future!! It was one of those weekends... September workflow was in overdrive. Significant others are driving us crazy. Weather forcing the end of the riding season. Pressure mounting as our age starts to become a reality...... an escape is immanent. Jaret, Ryan and I loaded up the bikes in the Johnson Family trailer and headed EAST. We made it out to Salmon La Sac... an area outside of Roslyn, WA.... an area that Jaret Heard was excellent riding up into the Alpines. To put it lightly, Jaret is not what you would call a "Qualified Navigator". First-off, he's color-blind, so he can't tell the difference between the "Hiking Trails", designated in Red..... and the "Biking Trails", designated in Green. He probably spent a few hours identifying, printing and laminating our trail maps... but in the end, had a very difficult time deciphering them, due to his Red/Green deficiency. (as a side note, he has no idea what color my dirtbike is.......... Its Red). Needless to say, after a 2.5-hour drive out to our destination, we ended up starting our ride on - what was clearly - an impossible trail. "Oh... maybe this isn't where the trail is", says Jaret. After two-hours of IMPOSSIBLE trails, and another hour of pretending that we still had pride.... we decided to put the bikes back in the trailer and try for another destination. "Guys..... wait...... look at the map here. Does this look right to you...? What if we go up the road here another mile..... it shows another trail-head that is supposed to take us to our same destination..... looks like it is a Green Trail for motorbikes". Ryan convinces us all to try the other trail just up the road. We unload the bikes after reaching the new trail park..... and clearly, we have reached the (originally) intended Trail Grounds. Starting Point: Somewhere just outside of Salmon La Sac... due North of Roslyn. Destination: Gallagher Head Lake... an Alpine lake, nestled in the highest peaks of the central Cascades. The next 20-miles were some of the best that ANY of us have ever ridden. 20 creek crossings. Steep single-track switchbacks. High-Speed logging roads. Intense mixtures of volcanic and riverbed rocks... with dirt ranging from crushed pebbled, to smooth and and damp silt. Every imaginable condition.... perfect weather........... and in the end, we reached a beautiful lake that is only accesible by (extreme) off-road vehicles, or a hike-in. Gallagher Head Lake was everything we could have dreamed it would be...... pristine. We did a solid 40-miles on Sunday... on variably "Challenging" terrain. And, in the end... we felt like men. ...thats that whole point, right? As some may know, this year we have a record number of spawning Sockeye salmon spawning in the North Pacific region. This was very evident a few weeks ago when we were fishing up at Langara and Sockeye salmon were being caught -- they are usually never caught on the bait we use. Fisheries were estimating some 60 million spawning Sockeye to the Fraser River in British Columbia this summer - a great number of those fish also make it south to the puget sound and nearby waterways, and ultimately, my little river: Bear Creek. I took the below photos from my bridge this afternoon. We have been watching these fish grow in numbers for the past couple weeks. At this point, there are probably 100 fish within a 75ft stretch of the river. Amazing... truly amazing. There are a few photos where you can try to see how many Sockeye you can count. The phrase, "Too much of a good thing..." comes to mind, but doesn't quite work here. "A Good Problem" seems like a better fit.... and I'm talking about the influx of business we've been getting over the past several months. Traditionally, summer months - particularly late July and August - have been the slow times. In fact, I always kinda looked forward to July and August, not just for the agreeable weather, but also for the chance to take a breather from the pulsating software M&A business. Somthing about this summer... about this time - pseudo-post recession, in a world where tech companies still have LOTS of money to spend - has left us without a moment to come up for air. Frankly, I'm not complaining... I'd rather be busy than bored. But, there was a headline that caught my attention, alluding to the title of "Alleycat Bankers". The 451 group is presupposing that Boutique M&A firms (like Corum) are scrounging for deals -- having to cutthroat one another and lunge at the opportunity to pitch their services to the next hot prospect. The article further points out that Boutiques are playing less-and-less of a role as advisors. Re-worded, their services are in less demand than they were in the 2007 timeframe. I dunno about all this. Maybe Corum is excluded from these data points based on our long history, focus, and market niche.... but I certainly have only witnessed a heavier deal flow in the past 12-18 months than previous market swells. That said... we aren't a startup Boutique, and we maintain a high market visibility for potential clients. Thats good, right? Just got back from our annual fishing trip to Langara Island in BC. Langara is the Northern-most island in the chain of the Queen Charlotte's. Fishing was amazing... great crew with us... weather held. Couldn't ask for more. As a part of this trip, each year we bring our Corum clients that have successfully sold their software/internet/IT companies. |
AboutI work in Tech and Real Estate. I love both of them. dougan This snow is crazy.... one of the bigger NW dumps I've ever seen. http://t.co/3BO5tfQ 17 hours ago · reply dougan Great comparison piece on the middle east by one of my favorite authors, Mary Doria Russel: http://goo.gl/KqMsH 2 days ago · reply dougan foxy knoxy 7 days ago · reply Archives
September 2011
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