A gem of a hike in my backyard

Last night, we drove up the road a few miles to check out a couple of abutting nearby parks: Garin/Dry Creek Pioneer Regional Parks in Union City. I was quite amazed! If you are looking for a great Bay Area place to hike, see great views, and be almost by yourself (we were on the trail with only one other hiker)...this is the place to do it! The park is open from 5am-9pm.

We started at 7:10pm and finished up around 8:55pm. Our route was the High Ridge Loop Trail ~ 5 miles. They charge $5 to park there, but only when the kiosk is manned (it wasn't when we dropped by). There were "signs" of cows, but we didn't see any.

This will be a great place to spend some time in the early morning getting ready for Half Dome in mid-August. I think Cassi (our dog) will like to join us there as well.

STIRR Founder Hacks was covered by the San Jose Mercury News

Nice! STIRR and the Founder Hacks event made the cover of the Business section and here's some video of the night as well.

I'll add more to this post later...

Ready for Saturday!

Last night, I was reading through some of the links on MyBlogLog that lead to my blog and I stumbled across this search phrase..."half dome jmt time running "how fast"" which led to my post of two years ago when I hiked half dome for the first time. Wake up call! I'm going back there in 4 weeks and am waaaaaay out of shape!

So, I decided to wake up and hit the gym early. Success...woke up at 6am and began my task to get back into (long-distance hiking) shape. After the gym, I picked up a copy of the San Jose Mercury News to see the article on STIRR (more on that in a later post).

Today's activities call for a pretty fun day: a brunch at a friend's house; 3/4 scale indy style racing at Malibu Grand Prix; and then dinner with some friends at Straits Restaurant at Santana Row to celebrate my bday.

I saw Sicko today

Sicko is an eye-opener. This hurts a lot. The best question he poses..."who are we?" The answer is not one we aspire to.

He makes a good argument. We have free police, free fireman, free (pre-college) education, how can free healthcare be bad?

The moral of the story: don't get sick. And if you do, move to another country...

Go see it.

Demos at the STIRR FounderHacks event

Sure, the presentations are one reason to come to the STIRR FounderHacks event. But we also have some great demos for you:

• - share more content to more people in more places

• - people-powered customer service

• - a new Voice Entertainment Network

Get There Early...a new book from Institute for the Future

Many of my friends and family are a bit baffled about what my employer does. I now have something nice to show them!

IFTF Distinguished Fellow, Bob Johansen, is soon releasing a new book called "Get There Early: Sensing the Future to Compete in the Present."

This new book explains how IFTF uses Foresight to Insight to Action, with a range of case examples drawn from the last 35 years of 10-year forecasting.

The official publication date is August 20, but you can pre-order it via Amazon.

An added bonus: the book's jacket is actually one of our maps. Enjoy!

Colin Bulthaup of Potenco visits IFTF

Today, Colin Bulthaup, CEO of Squid Labs spin-off, Potenco, spoke about their pull-cord generator. Steve Cisler provides a great write-up on the visit.

In five years, you'll see pull-cord generators everywhere.

STIRR Founder Hacks - Wednesday, July 18, 2007

We are happy to announce our next event: STIRR Founder Hacks! What are Founder Hacks? Tricks of the startup trade from financing to hiring to managing to scaling up and more. Each of our presenters are bringing one of their favorite hacks to share in STIRR's short-form format.

Presenting Founders:

• Ted Rheingold, Top Dog, Dogster
• David Marks, CEO, Loomia
• David Weekly, CEO, PBWiki
• Munjal Shah, CEO, Riya/Like.com

Details:

• When: Wednesday, July 18th. Gathering begins at 5:30pm, talks at 7:00pm.
• Where: Trader Vics, 4269 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, CA 94306
• Cost: Founding Teams of internet, enterprise, mobile or bio/cleantech companies: $10 with RSVP ($20 at the door). All others (consulting, hr, pr, legal, accounting, design, vc/angel, etc): $20 w/ RSVP ($30 at the door).
  
• Pre-printed nametags will be ready at the door for all pre-paid registrants. (Referrals welcome.)