Jeff Bezos posts job ad for Amazon, 1994

This is an awesome gem from the past that somebody dug up. It’s a job ad to work at what would become Amazon, posted by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 1994 - how would anyone know what it would become? I suppose that’s the gotcha in the startup world, nobody ever knows…

http://groups.google.com/group/mi.jobs/msg/d81b6c1fa8f361f

cool.

Goodbye Dreamhost, You’re a Nightmare

So I’m finally biting the bullet and switching the hosting for all of my sites. Dreamhost, my current host, is horrible.  There is constant downtime, a couple of months ago almost every other night my hosting would be down (for all my sites).  And DH is CONSTANTLY slow.  Every 5th time I visit one of my sites, the brower almost times out.  Dreamhost sucks, but it’s also ~$10/month.

Media Temple is much better.  Some companies I work for host with MT, along with some other larger sites I know, and they are much better.  I have developed sites on Media Temple hosting and they give equal flexibility for controlling server options (more or less) as DH does.  Also, the Customer Support for MT is faaaar superior Dreamhost, blows them out of the water.  But, MT costs twice as much.  I think it’s worth it.

So, I’ve bought the account and will begin transferring my sites to MT over the next couple of months.  Hopefully there won’t be any hiccups and we’ll keep chugging right along.

Stash Off 2008, AKA Freaky Friday

So, tomorrow is Tuesday.  More specifically, tomorrow is Moustache Tuesday, in accordance with Stash Off 2008.

Why do I tell you this?  Not because I want to show off my moustache… though that may be a small part of it.  Not because I want to show you the picture of me doing my best “used car salesman” smile.

I tell you this, because I want to prepare you.  This is directed to those who know me and my family.  So you think I look like my father?  You think we have some similarities?

Well let me tell you, it has gone to a whole new level tonight.

View These Photos AT YOUR OWN RISK.

You can’t say I didn’t warn you.  Welcome to Freaky Friday… er… Tuesday…

Don’t boycott the olympics.

There is so much talk right now about boycotting the Olympics because of China’s treatment of the situation with Tibet, and their human-rights behavior in general.

All I can say is, don’t punish the athletes for China’s mistakes.  Thousands of athletes, many of whom will be in the Olympics for the first time this year, train year round, day after day, week after week, to get to the level they are at.  These athletes don’t have holidays.  They don’t have “oh i’m a little tired today, maybe i won’t worry about training” days like the rest of us (yes i’m guilty).

I think it is ridiculous to only now jump on the “boycott China” bandwagon, when it will affect so many people that have worked so hard.  I think China should change their policies as much as the next person, but it’s not like they got this way overnight, and I can tell you, punishing the athletes is a temporary solution.  The IOC chose China for many reasons, and I’m sure one of them was to bring some light to the topic of their regional policies - but lets not cut off our nose despite our face.  All that boycotting the Olympics will do is crush the dreams and years of hard work for the thousands of athletes involved… and maybe sell some “boycott China” t-shirts… which, undoubtedly were made in China.

St. Louis better pack a big lunch.

Away game tomorrow, night-game in St. Louis.  Team flies out at 11:40am L.A. time, game is at 8:30pm in the Lou.

Thanks ahead of time to all the mid-west (and east coast!) supporters that are coming to the game, I hope everyone will enjoy.  The way were are looking right now, St. Louis is in for a tough night (barring weather conditions).   Our forwards are ridonkulously mobile right now, our loose-head prop Adam Guerra is playing like an absolute maniac right now, best prop in the country at this moment.  He’s super-fit, healthy, he’s got that “warren-sapp-i’m-huge-but-still-fast” thing going for him, and his ball skills are out of nowhere.

And that’s just one guy - that style of play is contagious in the team right now.  Can’t wait.

Joe Kilifer, Switzerland (almost), Coach Sovers

So Joe Kilifer, Nathan Jones, and I were in a place that looked sort of like Switzerland, but wasn’t because I kept talking about how much it reminded me of Switzerland.  In fact it looked a lot like Bjork’s new video, Wanderlust.

Then Coach Sovers and the track team showed up, because we had a meet.  But I needed to get train tickets, but was in the wrong place and kept forgetting to get them, and I was in a panic about it, but at the same time didn’t really care.  Sovs was happy to see me, and the team had new orange uniforms, which were ugly.  Especially since they were on a yellow bus.  But I didn’t say anything.

So Joe and I (Nathan disappeared) just kept hanging out.  We were amazed by something.

Too bad I only dream like once every 4 months.  I love dreams.

Midnight Oil

Yesterday, the accountant at Blur asked me how many cups of coffee I drink per day…

“um… 5 at work plus Starbucks in the evening?”

At which point, I realized maybe that is a lot of coffee.   But. Moderation Shmoderation.  I wake up around 8 every day (try to) and I leave the house by 9, and generally don’t get home till past 10pm after rugby, gym, whatever else is involved that day.  Busy bee, but I’ve got to get it all out now while I can!

Last night, I fell asleep right in the middle of breaking my site (which maybe you noticed) and knocked my laptop off the bed… brilliant moment in my life.

Do not pity me, for I love every second of it.  Just thought my moment of realization was entertaining.

Happy Clients

Just finishing up my booking over here at Blur Studio this week - last Friday we delivered a huge package for the Kids’ Choice Awards (which aired this weekend) and got this note in my inbox from the client via our Creative Director:

“Thanks for all the work on KCA….when we were looking at the open in the production office, the head person at NICK that we deal with, Marjorie Cohen, just calmly turned around and said ‘These grafix are gorgeous.’
They were great, you guys set a high standard for yourself.
The show got the highest ratings ever — wow that’s 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and now 2008 that we have done that…..and the teen #s went up too!”