Dave Morin

…pet goldfish upon request.

I love New York City. But, the Soho Grand goes above and beyond any hotel I have ever stayed in. They have custom loaded iPods featuring music that is regularly played throughout the hotel and Bose SoundDocks in the rooms to pop them into. Egyptian cotton bed sheets, flat panel TVs, and they’ll even give you a goldfish to take home with you (how cool is that?).

But again, the shower sucks. When are hotels (minus the W) going to learn?

Rock the shower. People remember the shower. And, maybe the goldfish

Written from Midtown - New York City, New York

I love photography. A lot.

Many of my friends are fantastic photographers (whom you can connect to via my Flickr account). But, my friend Amit Gupta is one of the best photographers I have ever met. He’s decided to put together a fun, informative, and all around fantastic photography newsletter. It’s called Photojojo.

Every week, you’ll get two newsletters with what they call the “best photo stuff anywhere.” This will include anything from great ideas for photo projects, do it yourself ideas, software, and gear.

Since I love photography, I also love anyone trying to get us to do interesting and cool things with our myriad libraries of digital photos. So, pop on over and check out Photojojo.

Thanks Amit!

To our parent’s generation (read: the boomers),

You run America. (Right now)

I’m on a plane to Boston and reflecting on a few of the meetings that I’ve had this week with various friends around the Valley and San Francisco. Many of these conversations center on the state of current social network technology and move into deeper discussions around the social implications of these community environments and why our generation is so enthralled with them.

There’s a coming wave. And, it’s going to change the world of work.

Our generation is different. I say this, because I’m on the leading edge of a generation of people who have grown up with the computer. We’ve literally grown alongside the internet. From it’s inception to its current state as a confused and evolving twenty-something. We grew up being told that working on teams was important, that forming community was essential, and that we all deserve to win.

We communicate so quickly, and so pervasively that your brain simply can’t understand it. We know that multi-tasking isn’t truly multitasking, and that our brains can only consciously process things sequentially. But our brains have learned how to switch between communication platforms so quickly and efficiently it doesn’t really matter. We know this scares you. (We all talk about it, online)

We went through school collaborating and using technologies to accomplish tasks, projects, and objectives extremely fast. Because you invented, then taught us these technologies, we learned how to learn at break-neck speeds (read: we can learn your job, at incredible speed). We learned how to do all of this at amazing quality. Because that’s what America does. We win.

You may think we’re a generation born of entitlement. That we think we deserve great jobs, and great job environments. (In reality, we want to take cubes away for your sake too) The fact of the matter is that if you don’t let us work how you taught us to, we’ll search elsewhere. I just had 3 friends quit Morgan Stanley because they couldn’t send an instant message or personal email during their work day. We’ll leave your company too. I’m fortunate to work at a company that embraces digital culture.

The internet has become a part of everyone’s lives, all the time. It is the most vast network of human consciousness ever created. We all use email, instant messaging, and represent ourselves in community sites online. In the beginning, we did this all anonymously, hiding behind screen names and cryptic email addresses.

This has all changed.

Written from United Flight SFO-BOS - Published from Cupertino, California

So, I just got back from Boston to find this email in my inbox about our new bear friends at TahoeSkiHaus:

Folks,

This message contains some important changes to house standard operating procedures along with info about closing out the cabin for the season.

First, as many of you probably already know, bears broke into the house and ransacked the kitchen on Friday night. They partied hard and ate all the food, tipped over the range, and destroyed the hot tub cover. This development necessitates some changes in the way we do business. Check out the following and let me know if you have any questions.

When you get up there, read the bear literature on the counter.
Especially at night (and when we leave during the day, for good measure) keep the doors locked. Make sure you have your keys handy! The side doors now have 2×4 braces; make sure they are in place at night.
Leave no food on the counters ever.
Leave no dirty dishes in the sink at night.
Leave no beer or food on the porches.
Empty the garbage often.

If you grill, burn off any remaining food and leave a cup of pinesol in the grill once it cools.

At least in the foreseeable future, our hot tubbing days are over. We might be able to get a new cover before the end of the season, but don’t count on it. Right now the tub is drained and full of debris (but still in working condition). There are other things you should know about living among the bears, so read those pamphlets up there.

Finally, thanks to Mike F., Matt Y., and Chapas who were the bear incident first responders.

Again, let me know if you have any questions. Otherwise, get up and enjoy the snow—it’s deep.

Josh

Written from North Beach - San Francisco, California