Tonight I'm Gonna Party Like It's 1999

I know you're here so you really should drop a quick comment by clicking on the small link below this text that says "x comments". How do I know you are reading this? I found this really cool website called statcounter (www.statcounter.com) and with it I can track how many people visit the blog, how long they spend reading and what part of the world they come from. Generally I don't know who you are exactly - unless it is Rachel. I know it is you. I don't think too many other people are reading this blog linking from an ISP in Veneto, Italy! ;-) Glad you're visiting! Oh, and Patrick Hynes because I saw that you logged on from the Spencer Stuart network. And somebody else from the country of Brunei Darussalam - but I'm guessing you were just a "lurker" - but welcome anyways. There is other cool stuff that I can track that only a techy nerd like me would think is cool, like which browser you use, which operating system is on your PC, etc. I also can find out if you're a first time visitor or whether you are returning.

I had a total 1999 moment tonight. I have been following a lot of recent Internet developments over the past 6 months with a new trend called Web 2.0 with new companies launching start-ups on a scale that I haven't seen since the 90's. The premier blog site that covers Web 2.0 is called Techcrunch (www.techcrunch.com) and it if you are profiled there you get instant credibility. Anyway, I noticed on their website that they were having a party tonight at Mike Arrrington's house (the guy who started the blog) but it was invite only. Anyhow, a friend of mine had an extra invitation and so I went. It felt so "dot com" bubble all over again. It was fun to see everybody be energetic again about launching new companies. But I couldn't help but think that everybody had the same idea in mind - create something really fast and be sold to Google, Yahoo! or Microsoft really fast. Classic "flip" of your company. Clearly when people don't want to create real companies but just want to make money fast it must be heading for tears. But it did make me excited to be in Silicon Valley (Ground Zero) as I wouldn't have gone to an impromptu party anywhere else with such a group of entrepreneurs that are at the center of a movement like Web 2.0.

Kay is doing a little better day-by-day. I'm sure she doesn't feel like it right now but I can see the smallest signs of recovery that are occuring. And at least she isn't at the hospital anymore. We feel lots of sympathy for her. If you know Kay give her a call - I'm sure she'd be happy to hear from you as I'm also sure being away from home for so many month must be hard. Myron is here to pick up some of the extra slack. He tells me that yesterday Andy took a nap on his chest and he has to be around to play ball and blocks while Daddy is at work or travelling. Tania is starting to settle into a routine - unfortunately a routine that runs around no sleep! But at least we now have nanny support 3.5 days / week. We sure do miss Bella, though :-(

We did manage to get out for our post Valentine's Day dinner. We went for a romantic dinner at Spago in Palo Alto and felt like human beings for the second time in 3 months (the last was went we got out for a quick dinner to Tamerine in Palo Alto - for me a restaurant that was as good as the best you will find in London) - we even managed to split a bottle of wine.

I'm off to London again on Sunday night. Will be a long week of work and being away from the family. Bright spot is that I need to be in Paris on Friday afternoon for a meeting with a VC firm so I am going to get to see my dear friends Stephen Bolger & Lisa LaPlant for dinner. Funny how your life can get so busy and you wake up one day and realise you haven't seen your friends for 6-9 months or more! I realise that I haven't seen my friend Paul since his wedding more than 3 years ago. Tempus Fugit!