A Sack of Seattle

Saw this on my way to work

 
strange day. 

You can't believe your own press...even if you're cast in a movie as Michael Douglas

I never have believed press about me in the past...however, I have to share these three articles that came out with mention of me in the last 24 hours:

i) Michael Douglas as me in TechStars: the movie

ii) Andy Sack : man on a mission

iii) TechStars video

Emails from an Asshole is the funniest site I've been to in a long time...go now

This site came to me from my friend Adam Brotman. I actually went to this site yesterday afternoon. I don't think I've laughed this hard in some time. It's rare. And I think it's incredibly well done. It's basically a site where the author goes to craigslist and starts really funny email conversations with people. I've told about a dozen people about the site already....so I thought I'd share it with all of you. 

The latest from our friendly landlord

Given the amount of feedback on the last email from my landlord re: the office barbeque. I thought you'd enjoy seeing this email which I received today.  We had about 1 week of no hvac and a very warm (despite Seattle's current weather) almost hot office. 

ANDY:

It turned out that the second problem with the HVAC system was the result of your people on site fooling around with the thermostat.  We had previously set them and locked them up and they were locked again by the tech after his first visit.  After the tech was there the first day some of your people took it upon themselves to unlock the system and reset it on their own, with the result that it did not work properly.  Some of the people on site admitted to the HVAC tech that they had gone online and researched the info on how to break through the lockout.  The result this was a second visit to the site for a cost of $328.50.  Please send a check in that amount payable to the ...... to my attention and instruct the workers on-site that they are not to do this again in the future.

Any suggestions on responses ?

Awkward buzz moment between my daughter and I

 

Funny email miscommunication between Tony Wright and I

Tony Wright of Rescue Time and I had a major miscommunication over the past year.  Tony used to come to the Seattle Open Coffee's regularly at Louisa's Cafe on Eastlake on Tuesdays at 8:30AM -- yes, the open coffee's are still going on.  For about 6 months straight, we'd have coffee every Tuesday. We became quite friendly.  

At an Open Coffee about a year and a half ago, Tony asked me to invest in RescueTime. I can't remember exactly why -- but I chose not to invest. Shortly thereafter, he stopped attending Open Coffee.  At first, I didn't think anything of it -- I thought he was just busy. But as time wore on, I began to wonder if it was personal.  I emailed him. 

In April 09, I wrote Tony at his gmail address:

I've pinged you a  couple times without a response....thought I'd try again. 
Not sure how to interpret your lack of response....would welcome the opportunity to talk to you. 

The only reason I'm making this effort is because I liked you and your sudden absence strikes me as odd. Perhaps I'm just misreading the whole thing ....just let me know. 

In July 09, I wrote Tony again at his gmail address (You can tell I'm starting to get annoyed):

Tony,
I found myself talking about you the other day to a mutual friend. This is what I said -- "he (i.e. you) used to come to open coffee all the time and I thought we were friends. I'm sure I must have done something wrong -- probably around YC or his fund raising. I've pinged him a couple times to talk to him and get feedback....because I actually really liked him (i.e. you).  It's one thing to have the sense that you've hurt or bothered someone or done something wrong ....it's another, to ask and to get no feedback.  "

I prefer to deal directly with disconnects and miscommunications among people....your lack of response is discouraging. I thought higher of you.

If I did do something wrong -- I'd like to apologize for it.  

If you want to not respond, that's your prerogative. 

On Jan 5, 2010, Tony wrote me an email congratulating me on TechStars Seattle and said how great he thought it was.

Turns out, Tony had created a Gmail filter on my name to filter out my weekly reminder emails about Open Coffee -- he didn't want his inbox crowded with regular annoying emails. But the filter (accidentally) filtered out all emails I sent him. Thus, he never got any of my emails asking him what was going on. 

Kind of funny. Kind of sad. Be careful about modern day email miscommunication -- happens all the time!

Tony is now a regular again at Open Coffee -- Glad to see you there. 

Snow situation less than adequate for Olympics

This is where the snowboarding event is being held. Doesn't look good with less than a couple weeks to go.  I keep thinking Global warming is a myth. 

 

Now this is a wedding video

My mom spams me on a regular basis. She doesn't know it -- but that's what she does. She's on all sorts of mailing lists -- inspirational, comedy, photos, and videos -- and she feels compelled to share it all. I love my mom but she hasn't quite figured out the email thing -- that said, this morning I actually clicked on one of the links she sends me -- and didn't get an adware ask nor a prediction for my astrological sign. I got this wedding video and it made my day. Looks like a really fun wedding. Thanks for sharing mom!

Place calls to shut down your school -- for just $5

Pretty funny...read it all here

Lundeby, known online as "Tyrone," allegedly had progressed into selling his services as a threatmaker, charging schoolchildren from across the country $5 apiece to place threatening, Internet-based phone calls that would cause administrators to shut down their schools, Wired News reports.

"I heard the prank phone calls he made," his mother, Annette Lundeby, said in the Wired report. "They were really funny prank calls."

Funny Passover on Facebook link

Check this out