• Climb at a V5 / 5.12 level
• Post to this blog at least once every two weeks
• Find a sustainable source of income
• Spend some time with all my immediate family
• Somehow fulfill my entrepreneurial spirit
• Do something (a book?) with the memories, photos and journals from our trip
• Be healthier (eat well and exercise regularly)
• Find my true passion

The trend right now with computer savvy people is blogging, and I don’t  necessarily think that facebook should become a blog.  But maybe a part of one’s profile could be something like a short blog entry.  There’s just no good place for people to say something like I’m studying abroad or I’m traveling Europe.  Maybe it could show just the most recent entry and then you can view all the old ones too…Just a thought

Chris

If only I had thought to take that idea and turn it into something I would’t be unemployed right now… Just don’t blame me for all of Facebook’s privacy issues… I swear I never sent that as a suggestion.

This got me thinking about how the Internet is enabling people to do things they never would have attempted before. Sites like YouTube, Instructables or eHow have completely changed the way I approach problems. Despite that brakes perform a VERY important function on a car and that I have ZERO experience in brake repair, I still felt that the quality of instruction available to me was high enough that I could manage the job (and 3 weeks and >100 complete stops later I think I was right). So what implications does that have on society? I think it is part of a larger theme: “Community Education.”  People today are sharing so much of what they have to offer for free that I truly believe one could get an education in just about anything without ever having to pay for formal training. In fact even traditional educational institutions like MIT, Yale and UC Berkeley have put lectures, courseware and even textbooks online for the public to consume.

So what does this mean for society at large? I don’t think it means the end of the University, but I do think that we will start to place a greater emphasis on actual accomplishments than we do on specific academic records. However this change won’t happen overnight. We still need to figure out how to organize all this educational material and filter out the garbage. Nonetheless, I’m very excited for what the future holds. If you have any thoughts, comments or opinions, please feel free to comment below!

Anyways, I only managed to catch one of the presentations on video, Dave McClure’s “How to Pitch a VC (aka Startup Viagra: How to Give a VC a Hard-On)”. For those of you who don’t know him, Dave is a Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur, angel investor, startup advisor, and blogger. Enjoy!

• Over 400 people showed up
• 35 Sessions were held by over 50 different presenters / facilitators
• Over 30 sponsors made the event possible

Here are some of my favorite posts / articles / videos about the event:

• Great article from Michael Calore at Wired
• Great Evening News segment from Thuy Vu at CBS 5
• Awesome video / blog post from Amy Ziari (who is new to SF)
• Great Slideshow (with Audio) from James Martin at CNET
• More media coverage here

So it’s finally 2009… As you may or may not know, 2008 was definitely a year of many changes for me. This time last year I was just getting settled with my girlfriend, Amy Fox in New York City. Now we’ve both moved across the country together and are living in San Francisco.

Here are a few updates:

• In September (right before the economy started to crumble), and after a year and a half in NYC, Amy and I decided that we wanted to be in a place that we could see ourselves living in for more than a couple years. We looked at a few different cities (Boston, Chicago, Denver/Boulder), but ended up going with San Francisco, primarily because my company had an office there and would pay for our moving expenses. So Amy left her job (which she wasn’t very happy with in the first place) and in mid-October we headed West.
• In December, less than two months after arriving in SF, I was laid off (read more here). I am now working as a “self-employed consultant” seeking clients in need of business, marketing or Internet strategy advice. However, on a more positive note, Amy just recently accepted a job offer with Evolve Discovery and is looking forward to starting an exciting new career as a litigation consultant.
• I’ve finally done something with my personal website (where you are at right now). Going forward, it will be a place for me to share my thoughts, ideas and experiences. Check it out and let me know what you think.
• The Big News: I just recently announced that I am planning an event in the Bay Area for unemployed and self-employed people called “LaidOffCamp” (read more here). It’s become so popular since receiving news coverage from TechCrunch (article is here) that it is quickly expanding. As of today, I am in the process of helping organize ~5 more LaidOffCamp’s around the country.
• Three months in, Amy and I are extremely satisfied with our decision to move to SF. Every day we’re finding new reasons to love living in the Bay Area. We both hope that you’ll let us know the next time you’re in town.
• Finally, I’ve migrated my entire photo collection to Flickr and have created a 2007/2008 highlight reel, enjoy!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read. I’d love to know what you’re up to in 2009, so feel free to comment below or send me an email. Stay in touch!

~Chris

For the last month, I’ve been planning an event called LaidOffCamp. It’s gone through a ton of iterations, but it’s finally at a point where I’m ready to announce it to the world. Please check out the site for details!

“LaidOffCamp is an ad-hoc gathering of unemployed & self-employed people (including entrepreneurs and startups) who want to share and interact with each other. LaidOffCamp SF is the first LaidOffCamp ever! You do NOT have to be unemployed to attend!”

LaidOffCamp SF will occur March 3rd, 2009 somewhere in San Francisco. Please feel free to contact me if you want to help or have questions!

Step 1: Open up your system preferences and click “Keyboard and Mouse”

Step 2: Click the “Keyboard Shortcuts” tab and in the “Full Keyboard Access” section at the bottom, select “All Controls”

That’s it. Finally you can fill out forms without constantly switching between your keyboard and your mouse / trackpad. If for some reason you don’t want this setting active all the time you can enable/disable it by pressing Ctrl+F7.