The Garage Sale Blog Network

The Storm Has Cleared

Stress Milkshake

Ingredients: Moving to San Francisco, training for a triathalon, girlfriend and me embarking on what could be a multi-year long distance relationship, cell phone breaks, exact same cell phone from ebay doesn't accept any sim cards, laptop breaks, technical support doesn't help fix laptop, being un-employed-->job hunting-->found a job-->first real night in San Francisco is eve of first day of job

My digestion of this shake only amplifies the peace and calm I feel now looking out my window over Noe Valley still trying to digest something else: I just finished my first day of what could be a long relationship with the tech industry.

Is there a ceiling on online identity potential?

I really enjoyed the "Spank me I'm 1 b-day bash" for Tribe last night at the Odeon. What was of particular interest to me was the conversation in passing that took place as I handed out the free drink tickets at the door to Tribe members. I felt like it was the Tribe community's watered down version of some sort of Hollywood celebrity event:

"There's Leslie! She's the moderator of the ! Mission Folks- ~the intrigue~!!! tribe."

It got me thinking that although this is far from red carpet and Entertainment tonight status, what are the limitations of an online identity? I mean what if the SF Giant Fans tribe miraculously grew by 5,000 members and they organized and had the strength of attracting thousands of members to the park on a certain day? Is it too far fetched to think that the SF Giant Fans tribe moderator could throw out the first pitch? Would the crowd scratch their heads in bewilderment as they bear witness to a revolutionizing step in the evolution of offline/online identities? Does anyone even really care about the first pitch anymore?

A possible guinea pig for this revolution could and possibly already has taken place at Burning Man. Hey if Burning Man's economical memes ripple to the banks of a larger economy why not other memes as well?

Socialtext clears Series A

Im a little late to jump on the congrats to Socialtext bandwagon (here, here,here), but I must post to express my elation for their recent accomplishment. I formerly interned for Socialtext and my dedication and passion for promoting their product was buoyed up by a wonderful group of co-workers and business tools that I wholeheartedly believed in.

I used to give one hour phone demonstrations of their product and I knew if the prospective users would try the lightweight, power-decentralizing tools that were offered by Socialtext they would soon see the organic assembly of participation; a perspicuous progression of collective intelligence that is in all essence self-sustaining. Looks like the VC's might be finally comprehending their potential.

I feel very fortunate to have my first brush with the tech industry generate such inspiration. Congrats guys!!!

Becoming a Tribesman

I will be working for tribe.net starting August 30!!! Really excited to be working with a company whose value is offering troves of colors to the palette we now call online interaction/social media. There is a one year birthday celebration called the "Spank me I'm one" for tribe networks next Thursday at the Odeon bar in the mission district, which the general public is invited to attend.

For now I am imploring my readers to try tribe.net and offer here on my blog suggestions for improvement, what they like and dislike about anything ranging from their user interface to general navigation to why they wouldn't post a listing/event/ad on tribe and would do so somewhere else.

Thanks and try out Tribe.net!!!!!

No Gatekeepers from Thought to Print

I just bought Jack Kerouac's Big Sur; basically a $14.00 ticket into the amusement park called Jack Kerouac's mind. Kerouac cuts out the traditional middlemen-pride and self consciousness- streamlining his thought process directly to print. I feel like I could be completely sober for a week and still fail a drug test for merely reading such disorienting poetic narrative by such a dramatically afflicted scribe.

Big Sur is a personal account, giving a step by step syntactic path towards an unraveling sanity. A companion in his disentangling sanity is an inclination to see life devoid of any magnanimousness:

"We will pass just as quietly through life as the 10th century people of this valley only with a little more noise and a few bridges and dams and bombs that wont even last a million years. Everything is the same, the fog says 'We are fog and we fly by dissolving like ephemera, even the paper bags in my garbage pit say, 'We are man-transformed paper bags made out of wood pulp, we are kinda proud of being paper bags as long as that will be possible, but we'll be mush again with our sisters the leaves come rainy season'. "

Infiltrating Values

I recently went with a friend to see Collateral, an ancillary aspect of this blog post, which was prefixed with a preview of the forthcoming Billy Bob Thornton flick, "Friday Night Lights".

Set in Odessa, Texas, "Friday Night Lights" chronicles the 1988 season of Permian High School's legendary Panther football team with players, coaches, mothers, fathers, boosters, fans and families struggling with ongoing personal conflicts while the team fights for a state championship. In depicting the daily grind of coach Gary Gaines' winning team and the potential destinies of its individual players, the story paints a vivid portrait of Odessa (and places like it all across America) where, once a week during the fall, the town and its dreams come alive beneath the dazzling and disorienting Friday night lights ... when the Panthers take to the field.

[Via About.com]

I got shivers when I saw this preview. This is surprising considering I went through high school murmurring derisive remarks everytime I passed the typical football player escorted by his cheerleading mannequin. My initial contempt was compounded by the fact that I was a star cross country runner. The difference between a star cross country runner and a star football player is simple. The star football player becomes an immediate social centerpiece whereas the star cross country runner amasses more medals but because running continually checks your muscle/weight gain you forever maintain your freshman physique.

Why did I get that full body tingle that usually only comes when I successfully metamorphose into Bono of U2 and suddenly assume ownership over his lyrical and philosophical purview. Can it be that these cultural staples- football, the south, small towns watching helmeted mastodones collide-have infiltrated my cultural value moat? Have they surreptitiously claimed refuge in my amygdala?

I don't know how it happened but on October 15 you'll find me unabashedly handing over $8.25 to the local theatre window.

Words in context

Does anyone know of a site that gives the word in context along with its definition? I would love to see a google for words in context and not just the top ten searches. The top ten searches often give the word within a context that may or may not be what you are looking for.

Campaign Trail

Been hitting the campaign trail as of late, ranging from San Mateo to San Francisco. I'm not campaigning for a city council seat or even the school board. My campaign is to elect Eric Brakebill Jones into an employment seat. My crowds are composed of one to three people instead of one thousand. They come with a skeptical eye and blank cards to write notes, not ones that say "Put the Eric back in Am-ERIC-a". I don't leave to a standing ovation but rather a stern handshake and a "well we'll keep in touch."

I'm promising to suffuse the business world with uncomprising energy that will start like a ripple and work its way to the banks. This is a remarkable time in my life where the vision of my career starts from a relatively blank slate, free from brushes with monotonous job descriptions and checks on my realm of power. The world is my oyster. Tropical storm Jones is heading town to town and I can't wait to see where these dense clouds relieve themselves.

For the Pun Afficionados

The pun appreciative crowd is distinguishable from those that just roll their eyes when they hear a punny comment. I enrich my affinity for puns when I see the handful of pun afficionados with whom I consort and we mine into our memory banks unearthing the golden egg caliber puns worthy of mention.

I recently discovered a growth on my back and after careful scrutiny from two roomates we determined it to be a mole, pimple or a wart. Hardly a fastidious diagnostic I bothered a general practioner friend of mine to narrow the field of possibilities. His conclusion leaned towards the growth being a wart and so we started to share relevant stories. After his wife and I talked about the marriage of kids and warts he sadly commented that he had no such anecdotes.

I consoled him by saying, "You're still a stal-wart person in my book".

If that wasn't enough for you before I left he enouraged me not to become too pre-occupied with annoying or inflaming the wart. I reassured him that I wasn't one to be a worry-wart.

Experimentation in dialogue

I don't have too many republican friends but the ones I do have I hold dear to me. My experience with them and political debate usually parallels that of a tennis match where the dynamics of the dialogue impels one to protect their identity, raise a net and fire that ball as hard as possible; though with the length of the court, the net as a barrier and the two players too busy firing their best shot at one each other, "winning" a match only precludes an opponent to journey outside the contours of their respective political philosophies.

Consequently I am trying to reformat my approach to debate by admitting my bias while acknowledging theirs and then delineating the facts to be debated. My first guinea pig in which I can enforce this practice is a story concerning a Denver ballot initiative that seeks a municipal ban on circus-animal acts citywide. It is not that I am particularly passionate about this subject but driving in my truck today I imagined being a panel member debating the issue.

I would first state my bias towards the ban for the meantime stressing the importance for a tighter regulatory watchdog force over animal treatment. Without embellishing or spinning my bias with polished rhetoric I would simply list the facts on both sides and then stress why the cons outweigh the pros. I think its important that the facts be exposed first before the polish as to engage your fellow debater and to not repel the bystander audience.

This is the list I would first present:

1. Extremely unnatural living conditions for the animals such as their traveling frequency, their confinement to cages, forced performance for human amusement including the use of electric prods, whips, and bullhooks.

2. Circus industry officials, however, insist that their animals receive top-notch care, and face none of the hazards and hardships they would in the wild.

3. The objective isn't to ban circuses from Denver, but to exclude animals from being part of the act.

4. Circus officials posit that the circus is one of the few places that kids can see humans and wild animals working together. This can inspire people to care about animals and devote their lives to animals.

5. But the Humane Society's Farinato counters that the educational benefit, if any, comes at the expense of animals. They don't think it's worth the pain and suffering that can come through all the transporting, training, and performance of these animals.

This in a nutshell instills authenticity and credibility to an argument; acknowledging a bias while at the same time acknowledging why someone would have a counter bias. This seems very basic, elementary even but an insufficient amount of energy is being spent on how to debate and to work synergistically to reach an optimal outcome.