30 Days of Detox

That's it. enough is enough! I was hanging (hungover-hanging) with Kyle and Tina Sunday morning when i had an epiphany... I must take a 30 day hiatus. For the next 30 days there will be no boozin, no smoking, no deep fat fried foods and no ice cream (*see exception). But, before i could start this 30-day-torture-plan i had to cure my hangover... a quick trip to Dicks... two Dicks Specials later (w/ fries) and I was feeling much better.

*The exception... actually there will be TWO exceptions in my 30 day plan. After all, I don't want to quit all my bad habits, i just want to take a break... so I am giving myself 2 "get out of jail" cards to use during this 30 day stretch. They can be used at any time - and are good for 2 hours each.



Gwod, I'm not looking forward to this.

CTIA was a blurrr

The largest US wireless conference descended on San Fran this week. And as always, I jammed 2 weeks of business and drinking into 72 hours. After CTIA I need a vacation, and rehab.

There's no way to possibly describe what happens at CTIA - so here's a few memorable moments, quotes, thoughts, etc...

Early advice from Larry Short:
"I've got to remember to stop drinking at 2am. Cause when I stop at 5am, it's too late."

Party Awards: Worst Party
The MoCoNews Party 'sold out' faster than any party in CTIA history - and was the worst party in CTIA history. They had huge sponsors but still charged $12 per drink! What?! Huh? Have they ever been to a CTIA party? Cause, that aint the formula. And whatever you do - don't make everyone 'BE QUIET' so your sponsors can deliver product pitches! OMG. Go back to what you do best - i love the moconews product - but your party, not so good.

Party Awards: Best Party
Nokia and Def Jam did it right. (*see disclaimer) The only drawback, it was too popular. Hundreds of people didn't get in... the line was stupid long. The bcode thing (wave your phone over the red dot to get in) was a cool concept, but i heard mixed reviews. Or as Brian Levin put it "this new technology (bcode) will never take off if all the beta testers are stuck on the sidewalk!" To be fair, it was not a bcode problem, the club was just too damn packed. Or, perhaps Nokia was worried about the bar tab? ;-) I've got to throw out a big thanks to Karl Woods for the the VIP pass.. and up in the VIP section i ran into Jeff Yee and Brent Brookler of Treemo. VIP's fur sure. ;-)

*Best party disclaimer: Ok, i like parties. But i can't possibly go to every party (try as hard as i may). And, of course, there are some parties that *simply forget* to invite me (shame! i'm sure it's an oversight, you know Kleitsch makes the party) - I want TED to tell us about the secret CTIA party society... :-)

Party Awards: Best "old peeps from AT&T Wireless" party
No question about it - CTIA is soooo much fun when you're hanging with the old ATTWS crowd. The SinglePoint / ZenZui / Ontela party had a healthy mix of the crew including Tom Trinneer (snapin), Stacia Pache & Ivy Cunningham (mobile centric) and Brian McGarvey (ZenZui).

Other ATTWS alum I ran into during the event... David Brudnicki, Glenda Lin, Analisa Roberts, John Loschky, Farah Houston, Teresa Keller, Paul Rehrig, Adam Flick, Ken Willner and Steve frickin Kanefsky! Kanefsky, btw, is doing great, working 20 hours a day at Google, but loving it.

The current ATT crew - Ted Woodbery, Larry Short and Elaine Grabicki we're around the first night - but eventually they were sucked into the exclusive party scene (or boring conference room) and never heard from again... speaking of... i never saw Drew! never. not once.

Other notable peeps:

• Rick Hennessey (Cequint) gave me a bruise. I think we wrestled.
  
• Tim Green (Mobile Entertainment Magazine) still wears converse, everywhere. Never change Tim!
  
• Mike Dulong (Third Sceen Media) is a stud from Maine.
  
• Jack Cowie (Fan Text Mobile) cured my hangover. Thanks Jack!!
  Marc Bolh has the best story about Orange... probably can't blog about it... but classic!
  
• Welcome Dan Myers (the Platform) to the party!
  
• Nice to finally meet you Neil Haldar (Pinger).
  
• Adam Levin (CinemaElectric) treated me right.
  
• I distributed many Text-a-Day cards from my first customer, Greg Lambrecht. And yes, everyone thought your "Lifestyle" card was a condom card. :-)
  

Drew gets engaged and my life goes to hell

We had such a good thing going. me and drew. drew and me. always. together. at every wireless conference it was a given. i'd shack-up with drew. sometimes he only had a queen bed, other times there was a couch. but it was always fun!

Now, life is boring. Drew has replaced me. Sure, she's cute, and yes, I'm happy for the guy, but man... it hurts!! Why, drew, WHY?!?!!

I'm headed to CTIA tomorrow and I just started looking for a hotel... I think i better wait till Monday morning to book a place... i need a new drew.

big airs, big crashes

Oct 18th was windy
Originally uploaded by Andy Kleitsch.

45 minutes of crazy over-powered 4.7, sprinkled with oh-my-god-i'm-going-to-crash airs and yup, i crashed, many times... two big pain pills for the encore. ouch. I took this photo just before hitting the water.

the new bus stop

the new bus stop
Originally uploaded by Andy Kleitsch.

A few weeks ago i called the school district to request a school bus stop change... You see, Karsten is always the last kid on the bus - he's the only kid that rides all the way to the end of the line. And every day the school bus drives right past our house and drops off Karsten 20 doors down the street. All the neighbors say "i can't believe the bus won't stop in front of your house!" It didn't really bother me, but it was kind of silly. So, I called the school district a few weeks ago to ask about moving a school bus stop - they said they'd look into it... i wasn't holding my breath. But guess what? They changed the stop! unbelievable. i'm really shocked. So, i had to take a photo... this is Karsten's first drop-off in front of our house. :-) Thanks school district!

what the hail?!

hail on the deck
Originally uploaded by Andy Kleitsch.

The front of my house is half-way painted... all i need is a few more nice days to finish-up painting before winter kicks in... uhh... hail?! Are you serious?! Well, I could always finish painting next spring. :-) This is a photo of our deck, thick in hail.

a lust for adventure

Am i addicted to risk-taking-activities?

...i fabricated 'an urgent sea rescue' last night just so i could get my adrenaline / dopamine / rush... is there anything wrong with that?

Why are some people compelled to take chances, while others are perfectly content to play it safe? Or, to phrase it differently - why am i a total nut-risk-taker, while others prefer to sip tea? Is there something WRONG with me? Jana must have pondered this question (many times I'm sure !) - cause she casually handed me a book that discusses this very topic... The Science of Happiness.

So, is there something wrong with me? Well... this book claims there may be a common trait among all risk-takers... we do not absorb dopamine (and other feel-good drugs the body naturally produces) as well as other 'normal' people. So, if you're a happy-go-lucky-corp-america-is-just-fine-with-me-kinda-guy then your brain must be sucking down the dopamine and your essentially stoned all the time. lucky you.

Others of us. not so lucky. we must produce TONS of dopamine to achieve the same result. That means we must take more risks. And when we run out of risks - or when life just isn't risky enough - we simply double down. chase it with a fireball. supersize it. go all in. or run from the cops.

... back to last night. it was raining. windy. fairly large whitecaps. high tide. cold. dark. just plain ugly. Yes, this was a perfect night to sit inside and drink tea... for normal people. Instead, i was pondering our rowboat - tied up to the buoy, getting pounded by waves, full of water - and what about the rope? It must be strained by the extra weight and ready to break any minute... "i've got to save the boat!"

A half hour later I was launching my kayak into the dark surf with my wetsuit, lifejacket, safety strobe, bail bucket and extra rope. Imagine a navy seal on a special night ops mission... ok, it was nothing like that. Now, imagine a middle-aged bald guy in complete darkness getting pounded by the waves struggling to keep right side up. Ahhhh the dopamine.... sooooo gooood....

wind for lunch!

Yes, winter is back baby! Southerly winds. logs in the water. migrating birds. and a little lunch-time-windsurfing-session. 7.3 for an hour. :-)