Got engaged!

Got engaged!
Originally uploaded by thepartycow.

Well, Molly and I made the 4 day trek along the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. It is an incredible journey, with challenges, high passes (13,800 ft), jungles and more. The views are amazing and we learned quite a bit about Inca culture and life.

Upon arriving at Machu Picchu, we snuck off the side of the city facing "Happy Mountain," where I proposed to Molly on one knee. Amazingly, she said yes!

She said yes! She said yes! She said yes!!!

We are continuing our exploration of Peru starting tomorrow as we head down into the jungles of Manu. We have 6 days of trekking, canoes, and zip lines in the tree tops.

Followed by at least 60 years of exploration of lives together...

In Cusco, Peru and loving life

Molly and I are in Cusco, Peru, doing our final packing prior to our 4:30 AM departure tomorrow morning for the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Our flight down was quite wonderful: we were bumped to business class for the flight from SFO to San Salvador and then had emergency row to Lima. Can´t complain...

Exploring Cusco and the Sacred Valley have been wonderful. Molly has had a little trouble adjusting to the altitude, but she is doing great. We climbed through Pisac today, which has higher elavation than MP, and it rawked! Amazing views...

Back in 5 days and will write more...

San Francisco in Ruins

San Francisco in Ruins
Originally uploaded by Telstar Logistics.

This is an absolutely amazing picture of San Francisco after the earthquake. Stunning! The larger size really shows the details.

Wow, wow, wow...

Earthquake in Peru

Molly and I are headed to Peru on Friday night for a much needed vacation. Surprise, surprise, there was a 7.7 magnitude earthquake outside of Lima this evening. I was able to find a blog and connected with the writer to get more details. While shaken and scared, the city seems ok -- at least for now.

We were planning on bringing SF to Peru...I guess they are letting us know they are ready!

Syncing with Google Calendar

I have been frustrated with a variety of calendars in my life: Google calendar, Outlook and my Blackberry. The problem has always been keeping all three in sync. I would dump Outlook, but I need to sync to my phone (and having a desktop calendar is still the fastest way). Google Calendar is great for syncing up with my business partners and I LOVE the sms alerts for meetings. Unfortunately, Gcal doesn't sync with my Blackberry.

I have settled on Campanion Link for Google Calendar and am quite happy. I can set it up to automatically sync every hour or manually (there are more options, but I am looking for the most up to date!) I tried it for the trial period and was very happy with the results.

It costs $24.95, but I am so happy to have this solved, it is worth it. My last step is getting my contacts to sync between Outlook and gmail and then I will be happy.

Well, almost. How come gmail uses the Blackberry protocol and pushes e-mail immediately but Google Apps for Domains does not?!?! It relies on pop, which, in all honesty, sucks because it doesn't sync the same way. Someday nirvana will come true of everything I own being in sync when ever, where ever.

Unbelievable Video

I just don't even know how to describe all of the levels of this video. This is straight out of Hollywood...I don't even think they would go this far!

Congress Approves Surveillance Measures | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Congress Approves Surveillance Measures | The Onion - America's Finest News Source:

Ed Albaugh,
Elevator Repairman
'You won't need to eavesdrop to hear this: I voted for you assholes because you said you were against shit like this.'

Mark Malkoff Takes the Starbucks Challenge .:. Watch the Video!

There is a new level of video on the internet appearing: professional writers/actors in broadcast branding themselves. The internet is proving to be an inexpensive medium for professionals to reach out and explore new ideas and opportunities without the overhead of traditional broadcast or Hollywood. This is an excellent example by Mark Malkoff, who works on the Colbert Report:

Mark Malkoff Takes the Starbucks Challenge .:. Watch the Video!

Ira Glass on Storytelling

One of my favorite radio programs and podcasts is This American Life. The quality of the story telling is legendary and it consistently brings belly laughs, tears, thoughts and introspection. Episodes touch everyone differently, but some of my favorites:

A benchpressing snowman. Molly and I reference Ira Glass' "Whhhhaaaaat?" constantly!

Police officers coming to clear a squirrel from an attic. I had to pause it the first time because I was laughing so hard.

Fiasco - the segment on Peter Pan gets better and better. It puts things in perspective.

81 words - a trip through the classification of homosexuality by the APA. A story that twists and turns throughout the course of the episode. The introduction, comparing the pen that signs a bill by a president to the course that it takes to make and pass the bill is outstanding!

O'Reilly Radar posted a wonderful video on Ira speaking about story telling. As so many people are not posting content, video and audio, that try to tell stories, I think it hits home to some very important concepts. Test the story and then throw it away -- bad content is getting in the way of great story telling! This video is a must watch!

Via: Ira Glass on Storytelling