This past Saturday night Gabriele and I celebrated Valentine’s Day at Vermilion in Old Town, Alexandria. Technically of course we were two days early, but it looked like a lot of couples were doing the same thing. I was late calling the restaurant, so we didn’t have a reservation. When I called and spoke to […]
One of the best things about my job is I get to work with some really smart clients. Working closely with them, I’m constantly challenged (in the best sense of the word) to deliver value in my engagements. Recently I was talking to a client I’ve known for years. Since we know each other well, […]
Last week I found a blog post that combined two themes near and dear to my heart. It poked fun at “thought leaders” with no thoughts and did so in a very creative and humorous way, using a text to video service called xtranormal. Some clients think I’m trying to be humorous when I say […]
Back in August, I published a post highlighting what I felt was inaccurate technology reporting relating to my client Neustar. In that case at least I got a reply from the publication, albeit a very disappointing one. It happened again last week, and I didn’t even get a response from the reporter. Context – on […]
Demand Media’s successful IPO last week has certainly spurred a lot of media coverage around “content farms.” This Sunday the Washington Post had two separate stories in the Business section, one by Michael Rosenwald and the other by Rob Pegararo. Everyone is always looking for a shortcut, and in this case the victim is the […]
Recently Gabriele and I returned to two favorite Alexandria places for dinner. I’ve written about both before — Overwood here and Cheestique here — and I’m happy to report they delivered again. Of course just because you return to an old favorite doesn’t mean you can’t try new wines. That’s what we did, and came […]
I consult on communication issues for Neustar, an Internet infrastructure company. Neustar works behind the scenes to ensure the smooth operation of many critical systems like DNS, the .us and .biz domain extensions, local number portability and digital rights management. One of the cool things about working for them is the chance to attend the […]
Recently I caught up with my old friend Stephanie. Too much time had gone by, and we shared belated New Year wishes. What made the conversation even more enjoyable was how psyched she was at her new job. Her passion has always been change management, and she practiced it first at Accenture and then at […]
This Saturday I got some simple upkeep done on my 2001 BMW 530. The oil filter needed changing, and I needed to fix the corner of the passenger side headlight assembly, which somehow got pushed slightly out of position. The oil filter change is very straight-forward, but of course you need the right tools. In […]
One of the many great things about holiday season is drinking wine no matter the day or time. Weeknight, middle of the day — hey, it’s the holidays! Alas, all good things must end and it’s back to the normal weekly routine. But Gabriele and I took full advantage of the season to make some […]
Last week one of my clients decided to follow Guy Kawasaki’s Twitter feed. Kawasaki is a former Apple Fellow and current venture capitalist and technology rock star, with over 300,000 Twitter followers. However, my client almost immediately unsubscribed, because he got a flood of commercial messages that didn’t sound like they were from Guy: @MarkPilip […]
Here’s a rare Wheels post that doesn’t talk BMWs. This past weekend my wife Gabriele and I purchased a brand new 2011 Toyota Highlander. Readers of this blog will know I’m no believer in buying new cars. My view is let someone else take the new car depreciation hit. But as I explain below, the […]