excitement in burlingame

It's Christmas eve and the police and firefighters are busy in
Burlingame. A transformer blew just across the street from our condo
which means we are without power for a bit. Luckily, I can still blog
via iPhone. :)

nine inch nails in sacramento

NIN was back in California for the second half of their tour so Drew, Jocelyn, Aaron and I decided to make the long drive up to Sacramento to see them again. This is one of the most impressive concerts I've seen; the visual effects are cutting edge -- something you'd expect from a guy who makes albums on a computer.

But Trent Reznor isn't just a computer geek musician. Lately, he has fired his record label and has been pushing the limits on giving away his music for free. (No wonder they're doing such a long tour this year, it's how they make money!) The last few shows he went a step further and posted a message on nin.com saying that there would be a "relaxed camera policy" in effect. Which meant you could bring still or video cameras into the concert! I took my Canon XTi DSLR but I wished I had a zoom lens to get some better shots. Lots of other people shot plenty of videos and posted them to YouTube.

NIN - Sacramento Show on YouTube


Check out how Trent interacts with the screen, it senses where he is located and "opens up" a little window there. Oh, and check out the fire and rain around 2:20 into this video.

my first quarter of school is done!

This week I finished my first quarter of business school at Santa Clara University. Even though I've only had three nights of "freedom" so far, it's an unbelievable weight off my shoulders. I don't think I've ever appreciated my free time as much as I do now. And working a regular work-week feels easy without going to school in the evenings.

But like I said, this is only the end of my first quarter. I still have 11 more to go. There were definitely times toward the end of the quarter where I was having second thoughts about what I'm getting into. It's much harder, and more work than I expected. I don't know how Danielle made it look so easy all these years. Hopefully, the coming quarter will be a bit better. Until then, I'm savoring the 3+ weeks I have off from school.

I haven't been blogging much because I simply haven't had time. So I hope to make up for it the next few weeks.

is facebook good for networking?

My outlook on networking is different (I think) than most people. I'm a firm believer in the quote, "Networking isn't about who you know. It's about who knows you." I might know a lot of people, but if I call one up and they say "Vince who?" then what good is that?

Taking this a step further, if people know you then it's a much more powerful connection. You've apparently made some sort of lasting impression on them and were somehow memorable. Maybe you've branded yourself well or connected with them about interests or schools or family. Whatever it is, getting people to know and remember you is what counts. (And hopefully they don't know you because you were the drunk guy passed out on the floor at the company party.)

Today I was reading this article on Hollywood style networking and a quote caught my attention.

"Too many people spend too much of their time online," says RoAne. "There's this approach avoidance where we want to approach people but then turn to technology, because the potential rejection seems much easier to deal with." But that alone will not create a network. "People in the entertainment industry show up. They know it's about that face-to-face interaction."

Not only is it about the face-to-face interaction, but it's about you knows you. So, is having a lot of friends on Facebook considered networking? Are these people really your friends? Do they even know you?