I'd like to meet:
Only if I get to spend some time with them.
Reece and Drew. My guardian angel. Jesus and Buddha together over Fusions at Katana by ourselves. Clinton. Someone who understands how a computer really works. Steven Hawking. And a great chef who wants to teach.
Cannes
Why am I here? Not HERE on this planet, but here..myspace. Good question. I did this initially for my two nieces..below..good way to check in and say hi, with an occassional lecture thrown in. And because I'm a major backer of an internet startup, Manyone Networks and the Digital Universe; same guys I backed in USWeb, but a really interesting step forward towards Web 2.0 with social networking revolving around subject portals not individuals..also true Venture Philanthropy at work. So I wanted to learn about existing networking sites and their value. Thus here I am.It's been an interesting journey...no not this...life! Towards what, I'm not quite sure, but I have my ideas...which I doubt you want to hear without a drink and a roaring fire. I grew up in a true 'Leave it to Beaver' neighborhood and very possibly Ozzie and Harriott were charicatures of my parents. Even knew a few Eddie Haskells and there was a Lumpie. 3rd to 12th grade in a true Eastern prep school, right in the heart of Washington state. Great education and truely independent, but also incredibly sheltered. I don't think I read a paper or knew that the world wasn't like where I lived until I got to college. But I was third in my class (of 23..yes, 23)... Jeff gave Bill Gates a run for his money and Bob went on to be a surgeon.
Oh and that prep school? it was all boys. I think my mom got tired of sitting in the 2nd grade teacher's office after school to discuss my interest in pulling all the little girls' pigtails. But it was interesting and fun and a strong education and alot of comraderie, but I didn't learn what a real girl was until college either, which of course became one of the criteria for picking college. The great thing about CWA Academy was that our Headmaster, Edgar Sanford, flew to talk to the admissions officier of the school you wanted to go to..and we got in. Remember the no girls part? So I bypassed Stanford and went right for UC Santa Barbara, and later Berkeley. Perfect! College was one of the best times of my life. Education was liberal arts but college really was opening the window to the real world..and it was a pretty heady time to find myself there. Dropped pre-med because I needed to see the world, and after school went to work for an airline. Travelled the world...I was out of the country almost every month...and quickly decided I wanted to fly these planes. So I taught myself to fly...soloed in 3 hours and did my long cross country at 15 hours...thru the LA basin too (what an idiot). That first leg when I later soloed on the 727 from Denver to Dallas, still is as close a memory as yesterday. I landed in Dallas and sat there and thought, wow, I can do this...and of course I then got a little cocky and on the next flight, pounded it on in Washington National (still my hardest landing to date). But the people, places we went, and of course the shear fun of flying the incredible 727..best plane ever built..including the emergencies, which really really focused you, was magical. Climbing out of Chicago late one night thru a massive rain storm, we lost both (read that ALL) hydralic systems...now that was an adventure. Lived in the most incredible city in the US I think, San Francisco, tho I lived for awhile in London flying into Europe, and which was about the best time of my life. Ended up moving to Newport Beach...to an idlyic place, Balboa Island, where you wore shorts and a t-shirt full time, drove mopeds, and still is one of the most beautiful spots in the US; almost got married at 38, she was 28, and still kicking myself today that I let her get away...she still takes my breath away like she did the day I met her. Then as I was travelling less,
I reinvented myself yet again and started a Venture Capital group. Over 12 years I invested in startups like Hollywood Video, Earthlink, USWeb, and 30 others...helped them raise money, sat on Boards, etc... and I started 4 companies...2 with my brother, Waste Connections (WCN) a 2 billion dollar rollup in the secondary solid waste market, and Mobile-Tec, now MECO Environmental,, a really neat remediation company where we're cleaning up the world (mecoenv.com)...and with another partner, SRS Labs (SRSL), the logo's on most TVs etc, and EOffering (now part of Schwab). I lived in Newport but kept a house in the Hollywood Hills, because LA really can be fun if you learn how to move around in it and away from all the BS (even tho Leo and Toby and Winona and Keanu were my neighbors and even just dropped in on our parties)...but never stopped missing SF. I keep a place in Maui too and a family home with my brother and sister right on the most beautiful beach in America and a town thats a huge step back in time, on the central coast of Oregon. I think Ozzie and Harriott retired there.Today its still flying as a 767 and 757 Captain since they retired the 27, tho I do it very little..I'm working to build Manyone Networks...we just launched earthportal.org..take a look...MECO Evironmental and also Xenii (google them)..a really interesting social nightlife community in LA. Plus spending time with Chairties: Orangewood Home for Abused Kids, SunflowerChildren.org, and The Russian Natl Orchestra...the RNO travels the world to raise money for kids and I got to fly to Moscow with Gorden Getty on his 727 (yes I got to even fly it for an hour or so) to hear them and met and dated their lead violinist. You have to visit Russia..it is the Wild West! and you wouldn't believe the women...they don't wear babushkas and have warts on their noses...far from it!
But thats the fun of travel .. right? finding the unknown and looking thru the mystery. Vietnam is another must. Hanoi is still coming of age and to see there is no hatred of us but warm friendship, is awe inspiring. It was "The American War" and they won it. Period. An unbelieveable experience to go there now and look back thru the eyes and politics of the times and what we have learned. And Thailand...what a beautiful country and people. I reccomend the Four Seasons tent camp in Chiang Rai...its in the North on the border of Thai, Laos and Burma...15 tents you reach by boat and hidden in the hill forest above the Mekong River...Five Star, which is a feat in itself...AND you are assigned your own elephant..my buddy was Moombah. Then from there head to the Amanpuri Resort in Phukett...I have become an Aman junkie....unbelieveable and it makes my second favorite, the Four Seasons, look like a Holiday Inn. Next to check off my list will be diving in Palau, Truck and Yak...and of course, the Maldives, at the Four Seasons, in an over the water bungalow, shark drift diving, massages on the deck of the bungalow and then rolling over and faling into the warm azure waters..........hmmm, I need a firend to go, so apply here!So for me, now, it's all about friends and family..travel and the understanding that comes from it...the satisfaction that comes from building something...and gaining some wisdom, tho I have no idea how to impart it and it seems only old souls and those with some wisdom already want to listen anyway...and more questions then I ever came in with. Thanks to "Leave it to Beaver", I'm still the same handshake guy, what you see is what you get, and I respect honesty and integrity. I had great parents and great grandparents and a growing up that I cannt imagine being recreated today..and in the best of times and the worst of times. It's an adventure and our journeys are unique.OK, my nieces, lets pick this up with lecture 2 tomorrow..same time same place...."How did we come to be on the path we are on; and what are we trying to learn and accomplish."
