Thank you Bob Crimmins for hosting a fabulous night of Startup Poker 2.0 tonight at the Founders Coop - Mina and I attended for the first time tonight.  Sponsors tonight were: Christensen O'Connor Johnson Kindness, TechStars and the WTIA.  Poker 2.0 is a networking event for the Seattle technology startup founder's community (technology company founders, startup executives, and core startup investors.)  Seats are invitation only.  I had never played a game of poker in my life - and so I went in thinking this night of poker was out of my league.  I stood by for awhile asking questions, watching, ... and then I thought, what the hell - I'm going for it.  Sat down.  Asked more questions as we went like, "What's a blind?  How do I know when to fold?  What does check mean?"  ...  Three hours later, I had won a few games, lost a bunch of games, still made it past a bunch of rounds, and eventually got the boot.  Wow did stakes get high!  Holy canoli is poker fun - I a m s o s e r i o u s l y g o i n g b a c k! 

Met some interesting folks: Eric Fogel of health system Emergent Detection, Stefan Kalb of delicious and healthy Molly's, Steve Huson of this cool Kindle games company Puzzazz, and Matt Balint of Christensen O'Connor Johnson Kindness to name a few.  We also saw our All Things Wishful friend, Chris Lynch of Thoughtful.co (whom you have to check out).  --->  Seriously a fun night.  My plans til the next game = learn as much as I can about poker.  :P

xo,
Arry

What's this? Spotify has come to the US?  Something about music service or another?  This past week, there have been many posts and notifications around Spotify (and Klout and Google + and ... for that matter).  What's all the fuss?  Ah, well, I've been playing with Klout for awhile now - and they have this tab, "Perks" for Klout users, and recently I clicked that particular tab to find that Klout members get free memberships (not the premium kind right away).  So I signed up with my "special" Klout code.

Wikipedia says Spotify "is Swedish DRM-based music streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of major and independent record labels, including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal that launched in January of 2008".   So what's that mean?

I was originally on my newly acquired iPad when I was browsing around - so off I tried to download the software onto my iPad, which failed.  I had to get up and go grab one of two PC's I own to download the Spotify software.  It also works on Macs, by the way.  Linux users, looks like you're out of luck/gotta do some hacks to get it.  Once the Spotify had downloaded onto my PC - I immediately started searching for some music favorites that came immediately to my mind by Robyn, Blonde Redhead, Rihanna, Phoenix, and Johnny Cash.

Songs came up immediately.  Double-click.  Music to my ears!  Right click - and I can add it to a playlist.  A playlist?  I created one called, "Arry's Favorites".  Linked up my Facebook account by clicking the top right corner - and voila!  Suddenly all of my Facebook contacts with Spotify accounts appeared. Click on any of their profiles, and I can see any public playlists they have setup.

Well, that's as far as I've gotten - but I can see how cool this could potentially be.  I see the attraction and am tempted to upgrade to a premium account so that I can  have access to all my Spotify music and playlists via all of my devices (iPad, iPhone, PC's...).  What would be really cool is if all of my other devices would automatically get Spotify too (Nintendo Wii, my Apple TV, xBox, etc....) - nudge nudge for any of you out there with product influence.  In fact, same goes to those at Hulu/Hulu Plus, Netflix, Amazon, Pandora, Google, YouTube ...  - y'all should talk and figure your stuff out.  This about ME, the customer!  I'm sick and tired of services not playing nice and making me sign up for multiple accounts and manage all of these multiple accounts with all of my multiple devices.  Sounds like a headache, huh?

Welcome to the U.S., Spotify!  Glad you're here.

I uploaded an old video I did last winter with my iPhone just to see what the experience is like and get myself "out there".  Next up... video-blogging.  HA!  That's just so scary I don't know what to think of it right now.  :)

~Arry

There's so much going on in my life right now, any little stress just really really really stresses me out right now.  I've been mulling and stewing about what to post, because the backlog of posts no longer exists, and I've been writing each post from scratch every week lately.  So many ideas and yet, writer's block.  I could write about love and relationships, a story about consulting and work, give you an update on my start-up, ...  I'm feeling just really extra uninspired to write today and I absolutely have to post something today.  This #postaweek2011 project is kicking my butt this week - It really difficult to come up with new original content every week.  Really difficult.  So today's post, is more like a stream of thoughts completely raw from my mind to you.  Raw.  Almost diary like, huh?  Hope this counts...

I'm supposed to come up with a queue of brand-new original content for my other blog that we'll be releasing soon off of my startup site, www.allthingswishful.com - and boy have I been dragging my feet on getting that queue up and ready.  I think I have a couple weeks left.  Some ideas are to write reviews, highlight some really interesting local startups, talk about gifting etiquette from yesterday to today....  (I absolutely love our site redesign though - don't you?  Would love to hear your feedback)

For the bloggers that post regularly (1-3 times a week or more), how do they do it?  How do they come up with cool original content every week?  I have post-its everywhere around my apartment listing out potential blog topics, a list going on all of my computers, a list going on my iPhone, ....  but really, I can't fake it ever - so I don't like to write about something if I'm not really moved by the topic I'm writing about.

Any blog post requests?  Please do send them my way - I very much appreciate your support.

Hugs,
Arry

I went to happy hour today with an ex-partner from KPMG.  I looked up to her way back then and I look up to her today.  She's a strong, vibrant, successful, and amazing woman.  I asked her about her career, her life choices, her relationships... I probed  She probed back.  4.5 hours later, we parted ways and I can't help but want to share with you the conversations we had.  I'm home, slightly buzzed from my cocktails of dirty martini's (with Chopin vodka, of course) and extra olives, and also, I'm thinking about the movie, "Up in the Air"... 

Natalie Keener: I thought I'd be engaged by now. I thought by 23, I'd be married, maybe have a kid, corner office by day, entertaining at night. I was supposed to be driving a Grand Cherokee by now.
Alex Goran: Well, life can underwhelm you that way.
Natalie Keener: Where did you think you'd be by err...?
Alex Goran: It doesn't work that way. At a certain point, you stop with the dead lines. It can be a little counter productive.
Natalie Keener: I don't want to say anything that is anti feminist. I really appreciate everything that your generation did for me.
Alex Goran: It was our pleasure.
Natalie Keener: Sometimes it feels like, no matter how much success I have, it's not gonna matter until I find the right guy. I could have made it work, he really fit the bill, you know. White collar, 6'1, college grad, loves dogs, likes funny movies, brown hair, kind eyes, works in finance but is outdoorsy. I always imagined he'd have a single syllable name like Matt or John or Dave. In a perfect world, he drives a 4 runner and the only thing he loves more than me is his golden lab. And a nice smile. What about you?
Alex Goran: You know, honestly by the time you're 34, all the physical requirements just go out the window. You secretly pray that he'll be taller than you, not an asshole would be nice just someone who enjoys my company, comes from a good family. You don't think about that when you're younger. Someone who wants kids, likes kids. Healthy enough to play with his kids. Please let him earn more money than I do, you might not understand that now but believe me, you will one day otherwise that's a recipe for disaster. And hopefully, some hair on his head. I mean, that's not even a deal breaker these days. A nice smile. Yea, a nice smile just might do it.
Natalie Keener: Wow. That was depressing.

This is the exact scene that sits in my head after our conversation.  Like Natalie, in my early 20s, I thought, I hope the man I end up with in forever ever after is tall, 5'10 at least, has a good job - earns way more than me, come from a good family, loves the symphony and opera, loves fine dining and fois gras, smells really good and maybe has brown hair, drives a cool car that purrs with the winds, dresses cool with bright colors here and there with poetic grays and blacks, ...  is well read, loves dogs, is super handy,...  sweeps me off my feet with gifts, take me on romantic trips and to-die-for meals at five-star restaurants.  And recently, I've humbly realized, no, that guy, will never make me happy.  Early 30s, I tried it, too.  Even bragged about it.  I've told you before, I thought since I'm ambitious, I needed a like-minded ~super~ ambitious guy - more ambitious than I.  Older.  CEO-type.  Cultured.  Well-dressed and pedigreed.  Wrong.  Fail.  Complete utter failure.  No.  Not at all.  The "right" partner for a person has nothing to do with age, job title, resume, or pedigree.  It doesn't.  It has to do with heart, character, integrity, values, and respect.  Laughter.  Fun.   The right partner in life deserves more attention than any piece of paper.  For me, he'll challenge me, make me feel like I'm the world to him, listen to my thoughts, make me feel secure, surprise me with adoring gifts, say thoughtful words to me, humor my weird habits and needs, think I'm beautiful even if I haven't put on my makeup, ... I'll adore him, his weird craziness, odd habits, his intellectual smartness, his desire to protect me, ...  and if I'm lucky, he'll be taller than me.  We'll have tons and tons of inside jokes, and secret "things" we do for each other.  Plentiful snuggles, kisses, hugs and fun.

Isn't that weird?  Strange?  With all that our parents and society emphasize in terms of getting the right education, the degrees, the colleges, ...  all this emphasis on technical knowledge - but the things that'll ultimately make a person happiest like living life to its fullest, character, self reflection, values, finding the right love partner, ... these things are not encouraged in our educational pursuits.  ...  But shouldn't they be?  Really, shouldn't they be?  Is life really about the rat race?  No, I don't think so....

xo,
Arry