Gotham Gal

i live in the future & here's how it works, nick bilton

last night we went to the book party for nick bilton who just released his book, i live in the future & here's how it works.  i haven't read the book yet but am looking forward to it. 

the party was catered by sarah simmons.  watch out for her where books and a tv show is coming soon.  her food was delicious.

for me, it is really fun to go to the industry events.  for fred, not so much.  we left early because fred had something later in the evening he had to do.  he wanted to grab a bite beforehand so we went to dinner.  when we sat down he asked asked me if i would have stayed and just noshed until we had to go instead of doing dinner.  i said yes.  he said that he would have to and he enjoys speaking to all the people i enjoy seeing but did i happen to notice the person trying to button hole him when he was talking to someone.  i did. 

i have written about this before.  it is so unbelievable uncool when people button hole fred at a social gathering.  if you want to meet him, call his office, get involved in the discussions on his blog, send him an email ( and make it short and sweet ) but to take up his time and space at an event forces him to leave because he doesn't want to be an asshole.  it not only ruins his time, it ruins mine as well.

congratulations to nick.  he is such a great guy and i really hope his book is a big hit!

hbloom.com week two

I got my second batch of flowers today from h.bloom.  The other ones lasted exactly a week.  These look beautiful too.

Reverse Mentoring

I had lunch today with Kelley Boyd and just as we were parting ways she said the words reverse mentoring.  A light went off in my head. 

Yesterday I met with a woman who is a master of many trades and years younger than me.  Super smart.  An educator, a entrepreneur, a coder, a law school graduate and full of life.  We spent some time talking about mentoring people. 

I am working on a conference in January geared towards getting more women in the tech space.  One of the concepts behind this conference is to mentor women coming out of school who are geared towards the tech space.  Providing direction about the variety of opportunities out there in the tech space.  It isn't all about writing code.

Someone who has more years under their belt in essence has more experience.  That experience is varied.  For a woman it can be from running a company, managing a staff, raising children or even running a household.  Mentorships can be powerful.  As the person being mentored, you can learn from your adviser's mistakes as well as their successes.  After all, you only learn from your mistakes. 

The world has changed significantly in the past 10 + years particularly because of technology.  There are those that grew up with technology in their household.  Those would be people around 30 and under.  Then there are those who grew up watching dial phones become push button. 

Kelley, who has had variety of different careers because of choices she made due to family, would be a phenomenal mentor for any entrepreneur.  Her point is that someone who is 24 has just as much to teach me as I have to teach them.  There is so much to learn from the youth that grew up with technology.  Reverse mentoring. 

So as I think about the entrepreneurs that I meet, I always walk away thinking how smart they are and how much they have to teach me although on many occasions I believe my experience is what people are interested in when they meet me.  As I move forward into this conference and continued partnerships with entrepreneurs I am going to think more about reverse mentoring.  I might have many more years under my belt but believe me I want to learn as much from the person on the other side of the table. 

Mentoring should be a two way street. 

Pregnancy Story Winner

Rick's Picks had a contest for the best pregnancy story.  The winners are now appearing on the top of certain bottles.  Love the stories.

nyc lovefest

There truly is not a day that I don't walk outside and say to myself "i love this town".  For a big city, it is a very small town.  This past weekend was one those NYC weekends where even though we had no plans a million things happened.

Friday night the town was humming from Fashion Night Out.  It was great to walk around and peek into the stores and see the parties. Fred and I passed on the events and had dinner at I Sodi.  I have been back many times and always walk away happy.  Nice vibe, good food.

Saturday I took a yoga class with Fred.  I am pretty sure that I have not taken a yoga class in 5 years.  I used to do yoga 3-4 times a week many years ago but one day hit the wall.  We took the class in Tribeca a few blocks from the site of the World Trade Towers.  It was relatively calm except for the lunatic with a microphone.  After all, it was 9/11. 

Stopping by 11th Street cafe for a salad and a blueberry lemonade hit the spot.  Also checked out the two art galleries next door.  Jumped on the vespa to go home and take a nap.  Unfortunately Josh had something else in mind.  After a quick shower, we went down to Soho for some shopping.

After Josh and I helped keep the NY economy afloat, I met Fred and our friends at the Landmark Theater to see Animal Kingdom.  An indie movie that ranked 95% on Rotten Tomatoes that had got good reviews.  Incredibly well done film.  Disturbing and violent.  Crime family in Melbourne.  We all walked out with our mouths hanging.  Woah.  Not sure I'd recommend it.  It has certainly stayed with me but very dark.

Next stop, Il Buco.  Table was calling our name outside.  A downtown institution.  Pastas and appetizers there are quite good.  Nice wine list too.  We attempted to get into Pulino but forget about it. 

After dinner we walk over to the John Varvatos store on the Bowery where there was a private event taking place.  We see someone in line we know and before we know it we are at the event.  A concert where Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper and ZZ Top are playing.  I am at the front of the stage. 

We leave and walk all the home.  It is about 130am.  A day with no plans turns into an all out fantastic NY day. 

9/11/10

Today marks the ninth year of the day we all refer to as 9/11.  Every year, on the 11th of September,  I reflect and remember the events of that fateful day through my eyes and immediately tears roll down my cheeks.  I can't even imagine reflecting through the eyes of people that have lost loved ones.  My heart breaks for them. 

Today the crystal clear sky is similar to the one we had nine years ago.  Finally we see a building rising up in the hole that has been sitting empty for so long.  To take nine years of struggle to rebuild is a depiction of the times we live in.

 Americans success and leadership throughout the world has been our demise over the past nine years.  We want what we want and we want it now. We have buried ourselves into debt and mismanagement because we thought we didn't have to pay for it. 

A lot has changed over the past nine years since terrorists took down the world trade towers.  We live with a sense of fear knowing that something like that could easily happen again.  It could.  We live in a world where security is everywhere. 

I hope that when the new building opens its doors on the ground of the former World Trade Center that as Americans we sit back and reflect on our future.  How can we rise again?  When did we lose our way in education and other industries?  Why can't we live in peace and embrace each other as one nation regardless of religion or any beliefs? Why can't we agree to disagree?  Can we forge together on new economies without anger and frustration?  Can we be united?

On a perfect fall day when the sun is shining against a crystal clear blue sky I feel optimistic.  Perhaps we should all be thinking about how we need to become a more humble embracing united nation to each and everyone of our fellow Americans.  As the building rises, let's all rise up too.  

hbloom.com

I love fresh flowers.  They change the entire composition of a room.  I am not big on plants but definitely love interesting floral arrangements and particularly like twigs. 

Bryan Burkhart is the entrepreneur behind HBloom.  A subscription based floral service that delivers right to you home.  They do corporate and residential.  The flower market is a huge business doing almost $30billion dollars last year in the US alone.  Meaning that there is plenty of room for new players. 

Bryan contacted me about his business and asked me to try it out.  Last night I got my first floral arrangements.  The flowers come already arranged with a plastic bag filled with water tied tightly to the stems with a piece of nice twine.  The vase already has the wrapped leaves around it and a bag of the formula that allows the flowers to last longer.  I opened the formula, poured it in the vase, filled it with room temperature water and then placed the flowers in the vase (sans plastic).  I followed the directions.  Next week another batch of flowers will replace these that are made for the exact same vase.  As in do not throw out the vase.  I assume you could send them a picture of your vase and they could create something specific for that too. 

Price wise, very good for the high end arrangement I got.  I certainly love the simplicity of it.  Shows up on the requested day.  Is a great gift for someone and yourself.  Give someone 3 months of flowers.  Just some thoughts. 

I will post the arrangements I get over the next month.  Fresh flowers, hand delivered to my door that are well priced and beautiful.  Kind of can't beat that. 

L'Shana Tova

Today marks the Jewish New Year.  La Shana Tova means for a good year.  Certainly sitting in shul is not an entertaining activity but for some very odd reason as I get older I actually enjoy the experience.  It is comforting and familiar.  A ritual.  My kids want to kill themselves but I felt the exact same way at their age. 

Our incredibly liberal temple is always entertaining and for some reason today reached new heights.  We arrived late and grabbed a few seats in the back.  Our friend, who blows the shofar every year and is one of the founders of the temple, asked me if I had a blackberry she could borrow.  I gave her mine.  It turned out that she was having a moment where she wasn't quite sure that she remembered the order of sounds.  A total senior moment and I loved that she ran to the back of the temple to check on line.  Loved the whole exchange.

Then the entire congregation listened to a recording of Leonard Cohen singing Tower of Song.  Our rabbi discussed the importance of community.  Different communities that exist, how it isn't always easy to bring something to the community and what exactly do you bring to it.  He felt that the song represented how Cohen who was raised in a orthodox community in Montreal was part of the Tower of Song community.  He had to pay his rent yet still figure out how to be part of the experience.  Conversation was abundant and mostly challenging but certainly made for an interesting service.  Ending this part of the service with the cantor singing Leonard Cohen's song Hallelujah was classic. 

We had lunch with four other couples who we know from other communities including the temple.  All and all it was a very communal day.  So to everyone, L'Shana Tova!

TOWER OF SONG

Well my friends are gone and my hair is gray
I ache in the places where I used to play
And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on
I'm just paying my rent every day in the tower of song

I said to Hank Williams, "How lonely does it get?"
Hank Williams hasn't answered yet
But I hear him coughing all night long
Oh, a hundred floors above me in the tower of song

I was born like this, I had no choice
I was born with the gift of a golden voice
And twenty-seven angels from the great beyond
They tied me to this table right here in the tower of song

So you can stick your little pins in that voodoo doll
I'm very sorry, baby, doesn't look like me at all
I'm standing by the window where the light is strong
Ah they don't let a woman kill you not in the tower of song

Now you can say that I've grown bitter but of this you may be sure
The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor
And there's a mighty judgment coming, but I may be wrong
You see, you hear these funny voices in the tower of song

I see you standing on the other side
I don't know how the river got so wide
I loved you baby, way back when
And all the bridges are burning that we might have crossed
But I feel so close to everything that we lost
We'll never, we'll never have to lose it again

Now I bid you farewell, I don't know when I'll be back
They're moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track
But you'll be hearing from me baby, long after I'm gone
I'll be speaking to you sweetly from a window in the tower of song

Yeah, my friends are gone and my head is gray
I ache in the places where I used to play
And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on
I'm just paying my rent every day in the tower of son

historic threads

This might be my favorite closettour yet. 

CLOSETTOUR Webisode 2: Historic Threads from Jenni Avins on Vimeo

Donor's Choose had a screening last night of Waiting for Superman.  The tag line of the movie is "the fate of our country won't be decided on a battlefield, it will be determined in a classroom."  That sums it up right there.  It should be mandatory for every American to see this film. 

The movie follows the lives of five children and their parents on their quest to get a better education in one of the charter schools vs the local school that they are attending.  It is an incredibly powerful film.  The filmmaker Davis Guggenheim does a brilliant job of defining the issues of why the system is a mess. 

There is no doubt that we can educate anyone from any background.  It takes good teachers and a curriculum that works for the students in the classroom.  If the students in inner cities can memorize rap songs but have a hard time with arithmetic tables then teach them in rap.  Be creative.  Unfortunately with the unions we have tenured teachers who are terrible and we can't get rid of them.  One good teacher can change the lives of many.  We spend a significant amount of each states education budget on administrators (fat) instead of spending the majority of the cash on teachers and students.  Unions have forced the system to be focused on adults keeping their jobs regardless of their ability to teach the curriculum.  If you are a lawyer or a sales person or a manager and you aren't doing your job, you are fired.  In the school system, you can't be fired.  That is one of the biggest problems.  Statistically if we got rid of the bottom 10% of all our teachers, that would be the one's not teaching to the level that they should be, our educational ratings as compared to other countries around the world would put us on top.  That statistic alone blew me away.

Michelle Rhee, who is currently running the DC public school system, is someone I have been following since she became chancellor.  She is absolutely hellbent on disrupting the entire system in DC.  Get rid of all the layers of employees in the school board and fire the bad teachers.  She attempted to negotiate with the union in DC.  She proposed that if they got rid of tenure that they could then pay teachers bonuses based on accomplishments.  Some teachers could see their salaries double.  The union would not even present it to the teachers.  Perhaps she should do what the unions did from the very onset.  Stand in front of every school and talk to the teachers directly.  Get them to force the union to make the changes that would benefit their pocket books.  Teachers don't want to work with other teachers that aren't pulling their weight either.  It affects the entire school.

Why can't we pay teachers bonuses based on kids getting to the next grade and being able to read, write and do math at the level they are supposed to.  If they get to the next grade and are up to par, the teacher who taught them gets rewarded.  Reward teachers for making an impact on the kids.  Don't we reward people in other industries for affecting the bottom line? 

Charter schools are not the only solution.  We have public schools through out this country in urban areas as well as suburban areas that are still teaching the same way we did 50 years ago.  We have to get rid of the unions, support creativity for new curriculums with cash incentives.  Make cash and creative work places be an incentive for more people to think about being teachers. 

I could talk about this until I am blue in the face.  Our kids school, although a private school, has a union.  I have seen first hand how it works.  It doesn't.  There are some seriously terrible teachers at our kids school.  The kids are not learning at the level they could be if the teacher in front of the classroom sucks.  You can't get rid of these teachers because they are tenured.  You can write them up for years but the process to get rid of the teacher is completely stacked against the administration.  Who wins, not the kids.  Who should always win when it comes to education?  The kids. 

Go see the movie.  It is powerful, disturbing, astonishing, frustrating and depressing.  Read John Heilemann's article in New York Magazine.  He does a great job writing about the movie and why our system is failing. 

Waiting for Superman

Donor's Choose had a screening last night of Waiting for Superman.  The tag line of the movie is "the fate of our country won't be decided on a battlefield, it will be determined in a classroom."  That sums it up right there.  It should be mandatory for every American to see this film. 

The movie follows the lives of five children and their parents on their quest to get a better education in one of the charter schools vs the local school that they are attending.  It is an incredibly powerful film.  The filmmaker Davis Guggenheim does a brilliant job of defining the issues of why the system is a mess. 

There is no doubt that we can educate anyone from any background.  It takes good teachers and a curriculum that works for the students in the classroom.  If the students in inner cities can memorize rap songs but have a hard time with arithmetic tables then teach them in rap.  Be creative.  Unfortunately with the unions we have tenured teachers who are terrible and we can't get rid of them.  One good teacher can change the lives of many.  We spend a significant amount of each states education budget on administrators (fat) instead of spending the majority of the cash on teachers and students.  Unions have forced the system to be focused on adults keeping their jobs regardless of their ability to teach the curriculum.  If you are a lawyer or a sales person or a manager and you aren't doing your job, you are fired.  In the school system, you can't be fired.  That is one of the biggest problems.  Statistically if we got rid of the bottom 10% of all our teachers, that would be the one's not teaching to the level that they should be, our educational ratings as compared to other countries around the world would put us on top.  That statistic alone blew me away.

Michelle Rhee, who is currently running the DC public school system, is someone I have been following since she became chancellor.  She is absolutely hellbent on disrupting the entire system in DC.  Get rid of all the layers of employees in the school board and fire the bad teachers.  She attempted to negotiate with the union in DC.  She proposed that if they got rid of tenure that they could then pay teachers bonuses based on accomplishments.  Some teachers could see their salaries double.  The union would not even present it to the teachers.  Perhaps she should do what the unions did from the very onset.  Stand in front of every school and talk to the teachers directly.  Get them to force the union to make the changes that would benefit their pocket books.  Teachers don't want to work with other teachers that aren't pulling their weight either.  It affects the entire school.

Why can't we pay teachers bonuses based on kids getting to the next grade and being able to read, write and do math at the level they are supposed to.  If they get to the next grade and are up to par, the teacher who taught them gets rewarded.  Reward teachers for making an impact on the kids.  Don't we reward people in other industries for affecting the bottom line? 

Charter schools are not the only solution.  We have public schools through out this country in urban areas as well as suburban areas that are still teaching the same way we did 50 years ago.  We have to get rid of the unions, support creativity for new curriculums with cash incentives.  Make cash and creative work places be an incentive for more people to think about being teachers. 

I could talk about this until I am blue in the face.  Our kids school, although a private school, has a union.  I have seen first hand how it works.  It doesn't.  There are some seriously terrible teachers at our kids school.  The kids are not learning at the level they could be if the teacher in front of the classroom sucks.  You can't get rid of these teachers because they are tenured.  You can write them up for years but the process to get rid of the teacher is completely stacked against the administration.  Who wins, not the kids.  Who should always win when it comes to education?  The kids. 

Go see the movie.  It is powerful, disturbing, astonishing, frustrating and depressing.  Read John Heilemann's article in New York Magazine.  He does a great job writing about the movie and why our system is failing.