New Orleans

So I ended up heading out to New Orleans for an F5 partner summit the last few days -- I hadn't been since pre-Katrina.

It was pretty astonishing to see the damage and empty buildings that we saw on the drive in from the airport, even this far after the event.

I was not at all surprised to see that Bourbon street was still the same hot, sticky, smelly, and sophomoric environment with lots of booze and bad judgement all around... fun, but in VERY small doses.

Nathan's Haircut

Nathan had another haircut today. The last two times we took him, he screamed bloody murder the whole time he was having his haircut.

To try and avoid having that happen again, we took Nathan over directly after his nap, and after he had eaten a little snack. The lady who cuts his hair, Helen, also turned the TV on to a channel showing cartoons (Nathan never gets to watch TV, so I think this was a key part of the solution). We were all pleasantly surprised by his extremely calm demeanor throughout the entire process.

I hope it's repeatable!

Mommy Shower

On Saturday, Monica and Ana had organized a "Mommy Shower" at the Secret Garden Tea House to celebrate the arrival of bebe Fell #2. The theme was around pampering... of Mommy, of course!

It was a real pampering event indeed: wonderful afternoon with friends around tea and sandwiches, lots of gifts... Just heavenly!

From left to right: Sierra, Ana, Deborah, Monica, Alex, Belinda, Janice, Nicole, Michelle, Natasha, Lauren

Discovering Sidewalk Chalk

Our neighbor across the street was outside with her 2 1/2 year old daughter when we came back from some errands today. They were playing with some sidewalk chalk.

Not much of a milestone, but it certainly was exciting for Nathan. After introducing Nathan to sidewalk chalk, promptly sat on a work of art (apparently it was a lion who had had a facial) and thereby introduced his PANTS to sidewalk chalk as well. And his coat. And ...

Leadership Discussion: Night Out

Tonight I got together with a bunch of industry peers (currently working at places such as RedHat/jBoss, WS02, MySpace, and BrightIdeas) to discuss leadership, and how the lack of leadership in a company can turn a great idea, excellent technology, and a solid group of passionate people into... well... nothing.

That being said, the company we were focusing on in particular has recently helped renew my faith in the Venture Capital system, as the CEO was demoted to CMO (chief marginalized officer) to make way for someone with hopefully a shred of leadership potential.

I hope that this company can turn itself around and that this fixes its leadership vacuum.

Giants vs. Cubs (*Cubs win!)

Steve (a season-ticket holder) invited me to come with him to a night game at AT&T park yesterday. The weather couldn't have been better, and we both had a great time talking, watching, eating, and drinking.

The whole time we were there, Steve was worried that he would get horrific heartburn from all the garbage we were consuming, while I wasn't concerned at all.

Last night at 3A I woke up with said horrific heartburn and Steve, by all accounts, had none.