On my 25min drive to work this morning on the heavily traveled I-80, I saw at least 10 deer in the fields. It’s not uncommon to see deer, I’ve on occasion seen so many deer gathered in fields along I-80 that it almost look like cattle. Iowa has a big problem with deer overpopulation. I’m certain that over the next few months I’ll see many deer that have been hit by cars or trucks. Which is sad both for the deer and the danger for the people driving. Iowans cannot hunt deer with high power rifles, only bow, shotgun, or black powder. There are lots of so called animal rights activists that cry over deer hunting, but I wonder how many of them have seen the death and damage caused by a vehicle hitting a deer? If they want to take all the deer and keep them in their backyard go ahead.

On a completely different topic, at work we have been looking at some P2P caching server stuff that looks pretty cool. Especially with online broadcasting getting bigger and bigger. I use Joost sometimes and it doesn’t do to bad. There is a 24 hour MMA channel which is pretty cool.

Anyway, I keep telling myself I want to learn to write better, and cook better. To do that I just need to do both more.

“An American businessman was standing at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.

“How long it took you to catch them?” The American asked.

“Only a little while.” The Mexican replied.

“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” The American then asked.

“I have enough to support my family’s immediate needs.” The Mexican said.

“But,” The American then asked, “What do you do with the rest of your time?”

The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life, senor.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds you buy a bigger boat, and with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats.”

“Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own can factory. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But senor, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15-20 years.”

“But what then, senor?”

The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO (Initial Public Offering) and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”

“Millions, senor? Then what?”

The American said slowly, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos…” Heinrich Böll

I am off to Austin again this year for iSXSW. This will be my 3rd year there, and I have enjoyed each one. There is always lots to learn, both from the panels and from just sitting around and have conversations with all the people that you meet in the industry that travel to iSXSW.