Off Hours

Actually a very good episode given all of the brew haha that blew up across the blogosphere.

Aaron started us off as I was late (doh!).  This is Aaron’s last week at b5media, so he’s up in Toronto.

Within a couple of minutes I showed up, usual niceness (aaaawww).

Then we had a very long civil discussion about the whole blogger relations issue.  Ground covered included:

• Basic background
• Some of the causes, including undo pressure
• Whether or not all bloggers really have the power to blacklist vs. the top tier
• Press releases - why bother emailing them?
• Better uses of our time, including social good
• Flat out building relationships

Presto Vivace’s Alice Marshall joined us for a good part of the conversation and added a lot of great colorful insights.

Silly Valley: We briefly discussed whether or not Andy Beal is right, that Google is Dying and determined the post was likely titled for SEO/link bait purposes.

Episode 19 - MP3

Aaron Update: We called Gina Trapani Rita all show. So sorry, Gina!

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It’s funny how things will bring you full circle. Last Sunday night my neighborhood almost got flooded with the severe rains that hit the Washington region. As EMS personnel enacted a voluntary evacuation (I stayed), I talked with my neighbors and collectively we had great fear.

We had been through this before in 2006. The catastrophic results were just unbelievable, affecting 150 homes in my neighborhood. My wife and I were just devastated, fighting and destroyed, probably clinically depressed. We sustained tens of thousands of dollars in damages. The business was in shambles.

It quickly became apparent that the flood was a result of over-development and neglect, compliments of Fairfax County and VDoT. Both organizations did their best to shun responsibility, but the neighborhood knew. We were gentrifying folks who were probably too poor to be taken seriously by uber-rich Fairfax County.

So I used my powers for good. I actively petitioned the community. See above cover of the Washington Examiner. That’s me getting people to sign a petition to Governor Kaine. What was then the Buzz Bin was used for media relations and community updates to fight for the Huntington neighborhood. I found a nationally recognized law firm that handled the Three Mile Island and Valdez class action suits to represent us on contingency.

This time of advocacy yielded fruit. Today I received my papers for the class-action suit. My neighborhood is going to take Fairfax County and VDoT to task for their actions over the past 35 years, and I am the lead plaintiff. Wow.

Similarly, two years ago I started my company because I was real fed up working for dishonest crap PR firms (not including Widmeyer, which is an awesome organization). I got tired of pettiness in the business, and nasty back stabbing.

Today, I think about the drama that ensued in the blogosphere compliments of the latest PR people suck meme started by Trapani. All I know is nasty actions hurt people.

Over what? What are we doing? Is this really what I got into social media for? Personally, I am just disgusted by all of it. All of it. Both us, the PR people shilling for long tail hits about crap, and mean cranky bloggers who think hiding behind a keyboard with a decent Technorati ranking is a license to act like jerks.

It’s all bullshit. I mean this is a real waste of time, you know?

Think about what we achieved in Huntington, what other great people try to do with their blogs, social media, resources and time. There are better things to do.

One of the things we are doing at my company — in great part because of the leadership and hopes of evange.LIST Qui Diaz — is building a formal non-profit practice. We already had some clients and leads, and now we are making great strides. I hope, I believe we will succeed. That would be good because I really don’t care that much for the current conversation. My powers can be used for greater things.

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Because some folks wanted to see them…

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I have a dream. A world where connectivity is abound, and data, voice and video are easily attainable.   The best part of my dream?  Well, in addition to democratized information, it does not include Verizon (or if I lived in a different region, AT&T).

Yes, I hate the phone company.

And today it reinforced my belief that Verizon Business as an entity has no interest in serving its customers. Why bother when you are a monopoly?

I got stood up today by Verizon Business (wholesale unit through XO Communications), who was supposed to turn up my new office’s T1 lines. Nothing angers me more than wasting my time. Wasting — nine hours of my time from 8-5 — takes things to a new level. Normally, I’d bill $2700 for that time. Yeah, great. Not all for naught, as I did have the trusty laptop and a wireless connection.

Oh, yeah. Now I will have to come back tomorrow and do the exact same thing.

I have a dream. It’s connected, and Verizon free. Heck, it’s just big telco free. In the interim, I will continue using other companies for my business wherever possible. 

P.S. While I’m at it, I’d just like to thank the FCC for relaxing the M&A rules from the Telecom Act and allowing these big ogres to re-consolidate. Another example of crap governance.

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The love of God, unutterable and perfect,
flows into a pure soul the way that light rushes into a transparent object.

The more love that it finds, the more it gives itself;
so that, as we grow clear and open,
the more complete joy of loving is.

And the more souls who resonate together,
the greater the intensity of their love,
for mirror-like, each soul reflects the others.

Dante, The Divine Comedy, Paradisio (translated by Stephen Mitchell)

The poem I read to Caitlin as part of my vows

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This week’s District of Corruption show ended well but started in the gutter as we talked about the hottest geek girls. This was inspired by the latest cover of Fast Company magazine where Ning CEO Gina Bianchini and Marc Andressen are pictured in a story titled Ning’s Infinite Ambition.

Ms. Bianchini was dubbed “geek girl red hot.” You’ll have to listen to who were dubbed local hotties (OMG). As a result of this fine conversation, in post show discussion, Aaron and I realize we’ve doomed ourselves to hermitage.

After beating the hot girl horse into the ground, we switch to CEO blogging where we talk about a story Aaron wrote over at Technosailor discussing why CEOs and Executives don’t blog better.

Standard Podcast [30:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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If the sun were not in love, we would have no brightness,
the side of the hill no grass on it,
the ocean would come to rest somewhere.

Be a lover as they are, that you come to know your Beloved.
Be faithful that you may know Faith.
The other parts of the universe did not accept the next responsibility of love as you can.
They are afraid they might make a mistake with it, the inspired knowing that springs from being in love.

The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was.
Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.
They’re in each other all along.

-Rumi

The poem Caitlin read to me as part of her vows.

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OK, Johnny’s Partay is a local video live social TV show. This week I got to play out there with District of Corruption co-host Aaron Brazell. WE WERE CRAZY! Too funny. Thanks Johnny Goldstien and Scott Stead for having us.

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Iron Man was AWESOME! Best guy flick since 300. I won’t say anymore because I can’t be the spoiler. Go see it. Today!

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Sometimes it is better to just accept where you are at. That way you don’t pop off and do something stupid.

Truth: I feel old. My weekend beard is shot with salt; sadly, there are no kids; everyone I work with in the office is a decade younger than me; and my wife’s in the middle of a very long six+ month stint in the United Arab Emirates.

All of the sudden things are appearing:

And more is in my head… Like this super-phat Ducati Monster!

Yes, I miss the thrill of watching the looming Shenandoah Blue Ridge develop, then screaming up the mountain on the hairpin curves of Rt. 211 at 60 miles an hour. Whew! It’s been a few years now.

Of course I could just settle for a Harley:

I’m not sure a return to motorcycling is a great idea. But when it really started pre-occupying me, I realized that something was up.

Fact: This seems to be a mid-life crisis. Either that or my creativity is really peaking right now. I’m returning to things that I did when I was single, things that make feel alive. And it’s working. Spring feels vibrant this year like it hasn’t in a long time.

No, I’m not too young, either. In fact, I’m about to be 36, at the younger side of middle agedom, but still there. Best to embrace it openly.

I can’t wait for Caitlin to come home from the UAE.

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