Random Rants

Been a while

2009-12-14T19:44:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted anything here in a while, but was reminded today that there is a link from my twitter page to this blog and it might be worthwhile to put something here. So here I am. Not much happening right now, just working, thinking about the future and what I want to do. I have started playing around with making video games in my spare time, just learning the basics rite now, but if I come up with anything cool maybe Ill find a way to put it on here.

Ben Stein's thoughts

2009-11-03T10:36:00.001-08:00

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary. I agree with a lot of what he says here, not because I necessarily endorse any particular religious view, nor do I think he is endorsing one, but because with the casting aside of religion and parenting responsibility that has taken place in our society people really do need to take a hard look at themselves before pointing a finger. If you take no responsibility what right have you to expect it of anyone or anything else?

"My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Hurricane Katrina)... Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide).. We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves..

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.

If not, then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein"

Blah

2009-06-23T14:44:00.000-07:00

I feel very blah, I don't know why. I think I'm just kind of done...

I just dont know

2009-06-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to say... feeling very un-motivated at the moment. Been writing a lot for work I guess and this has left me brain dead... I will say this, I want to be a philosopher. Not like a philosopher in the form of a teacher or scholastic but in the form of someone who gets to sit and think, ponder the important stuff and then have people actually care about what I come up with. Anyone can sit and think really, its more the caring that is important. In that I do not come from a family of extreme wealth (aka I am going to have to have a job) I can not just sit around and think and have no one care about it, I would starve. I could try to live off my girlfriend but she has said in no uncertain terms that that simply will not fly. So now the question becomes how to get a world full of people who's mushy heads are filled with inane crap to fill those potato piles they call brains with MY inane crap? So far no answer to this question, perhaps this should be what I ponder. However this really seems to cheapen the whole basis of sitting and thinking... so on second that I shall not try to answer that question. Maybe it is one of those things that you can't find until you stop looking for it, or maybe you just have to be a shallow greedy fucko and not care about principles and just chase the dollar, who knows.

Name Change

2009-04-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

Been a while sense my last post, I blame my limited contact with the outside world, I just don't get as steamed up as I did when I had to encounter other people all the time. This post is really only to announce a name change.

Hence forth Glossophilia Wines will be Type Set Wines. This change comes after concerns were raised and discussed between the founders and potential investors about the unwieldiness of the word Glossophilia. Speaking of unwieldy worlds unwieldy takes the cake... jeez!

Verizon store

2009-04-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

What I learned at the Verizon store... they don't really know anything. I talked to two different reps who looked at my phone, one told me it wasn't working because their was a lot of dust under the keyboard and screen screwing up the connection, the other said it was because of water damage without even looking at anything but the battery and inside of the batter holding area. They both looked for a replacement phone for me, then figured out after finding one that I don't qualify for a replacement because I don't have insurance so I could either pay $54 to get a replacement or use an upgrade on the account and get the same phone but new for $20. They also don't know anything about phones, I asked him if the Storm was a better phone then the pearl and he said yes. Then I asked why and he struggled to produce a reason so I asked if it had better connectivity or something to which he said no and stumbled over his own words for a minute trying to tell me why I should get the storm, which was $200 instead of the $20 pearl. He also then recommended the $99 curve over the pearl and when asked why simply said because it was bigger and better but could do all the same things. So really its just bigger then the pearl, which I don't like, so I got another pearl. In an effort to take better care of this one I got a hard case for it and ordered some plastic skins that should help keep dust and moisture out of the phone. Long story short, people working at Verizon are more or less worthless in terms of the information they can provide you with.

GaryVee's Good people day!

2009-04-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

If you don't know who GaryVee is I will start out with a brief explanation... he is a good person. He has a great energy and excitement about everything he does, he also hosts wine library TV, but that is not as important rite now. Most importantly he decided that too many people focus on the wrong things in this world and that we should take a day to focus on all the great people in this world, and that day is today. For this he gets a big shout out as a GOOD PERSON! Now down to business...

First good people I want to recognize is my high school friends I still see, it takes a lot of effort to stick together through college and its great to have you all around still, you help take me back to simpler times and ground me with who I am. Also you have all been so supportive of me as I try to start this winery, thank you for that, its nice to hear someone tell me I can do it every once in a while.

Secondly I want to recognize Joshua Baer as a good person. He has been open and giving of his time with me despite the fact that he has precious little time to give. He is the founder of OtherInBox and a super busy guy but responded to me on Facebook and has been helpful in trying to get my winery off the ground. People that are willing to share their time, knowledge, and experience with someone they just met are great in my book! THANK YOU!

Third, my parents. They are letting me stay at their house rent free and feed me while I look for jobs and start my business, they work really hard to provide for the family and while we have our disagreements I know they always just want what is best for me.

Fourth, my girlfriend. She is working really hard rite now at Law School, for which I really respect her and is doing a great job. She always gos out of her way to take care of everyone else and never demands anything in return, even when she has nothing to give she still tries. She is 110% available to her friends and family, sometimes to her own detriment.

Finally I want to thank the following wineries/wine makers for responding to my E-mails and giving me valuable advice and direction. Gus Janeway, Cameron Hughes, and others who have helped me along the way. So many people today are closed off and unwilling to share their experiences and knowledge with outsiders, thank you all for being open with me, its been a big help and evolving and changing my thinking about my business, please continue to share your knowledge with people who make the effort to reach out.

There are other people I am sure, I really think we need to tip our hats to the people who give what they can to people they owe nothing to, wether its through charities or just by being open to some kid looking for advice, thank you all, whoever and wherever you are!
-Barret

Things people in the wine business say that annoy me

2009-03-27T12:57:00.000-07:00

These are two things I hear people working in wineries saying that annoy me and I feel just aren't true.

1. "If you start a winery to make money your crazy." This is typically followed by talk about how much start up capital is needed or how high the over head is and then talking about how wineries make great tax right offs and that is why you should start one. Sure, wineries can make great tax rights offs, heck they can be a veritable money incinerator if you want them to be, but that is just one model. There are people making money in wine, and this should be the goal of any winery. If you start a winery to be a tax right off you are just setting yourself up for a life of mediocrity. The goal of any business should be to reach profitability as quickly as possible because it is easier to grow profitable businesses then non-profitable businesses. I think a lot of wineries are experiencing this right now as the economy pulls back the outside sources of cash keeping the winery afloat begin to dry up and you don't need that huge tax credit anymore, wouldn't it be nice if instead of a money sink that winery have turned profitable and could see you through these turbulent times? So yes, I will start a winery to make money, and yes it can be done, it just requires a lot of hard work and smart business decisions instead of throwing money at problems until they go away.

2. "It takes money to make money in wine." This has been around a long time, and there is a point to this saying, but people preach it way to much. To a certain extent it takes money to make money at anything, the online space being a unique exception where with little more then A LOT of sweat equity you can build a nice business. Wine is also unique in that you have to do upfront production before sales due to the nature of the production of wine, no one will buy a wine they have never heard of that isn't made yet, and you can't make 15 bottles to see if people will buy it then a month later make the same wine again, it just doesn't work like that. So for these reasons it does take SOME money to make money in wine, but it's not like you have to be a millionaire to do it. I have worked out a business plan using around $500,000 that will produce a good quality wine at an affordable price point in a large enough quantity to be feasible, sure it would work better with more money but it can be done with that. In the world of start ups that can either seem like a ton of money or not very much depending on what your looking at, but the point is you can make wine and be profitable in the wine business without spending millions.

People that make me laugh at the gym

2009-03-27T12:00:00.001-07:00

This is a list of people at the gym I go to that crack me up, as I have been going to the gym a lot lately I have seen these people a lot. Before you accuse me of selling out my little blog of rants here let me preface by saying that when I am in a bad mood, I go into angry rants about these people, but when I am in a good mood, they just make me laugh.

1. 14 year old kids who like to lift weights ALL THE TIME, I mean seriously, these kids are there every night. It's great that these kids want to work out I don't want to discourage it, but they should strongly consider changing routines unless they want to wind up at 5' 1" guys with huge biceps. I mean if that is your goal, have at it, but otherwise, lets leave the heavy weight lifting for later in life ok?

2. The women who are SO tan they appear to have actually seceded in joining another race and are so proud of their fake breasts they work out in nothing but a sports bra that is a cup size too small and tiny spandex shorts, AND who have gotten so muscled up I am actually afraid they might kick my ass. I mean really? REALLY? who are you? don't you have better things to do with your life? and are you that desperate for attention?

3. People who clearly only work out with a personal trainer so they can hang out with a cute fit person. I see both men and women doing this (usually older men and younger girls) These people do not really care about what kind of shape they are in, or they would be in better shape, they just want to appear to work out so they can have forced interaction with an attractive trainer.

4. Women who are so CLEARLY trying to get guys to look at them while they work out by moving their hips/ass way more then is necessary on the elliptical. Typically these people are not in that great of shape and you wouldn't even notice them in the gym except for the fact that they stick their ass out and move like 2 feet side to side when they use the elliptical. Now maybe this is some technique I am not aware of, but it just looks ridiculous and whatever it is... it isn't working.

5. The guy who has cut his sleeve wholes so large in his shirt, that when standing normally his shirt no longer covers either nipple. I get it... you are proud of your body and want to show it off, but this just looks contrived and ridiculous, yes you are in good shape, yes you would like more freedom when working out, but NO you do not need to make you shirt sleeve wholes (if you can call them that) that large, there is no reason for this and I refuse to take you seriously as a human being.

6. People are are so set on using the big weights that they use terrible technique. The most ripped/muscled people I have known used relatively light weights for their size, they just had impeccable form. So no... you don't need to be using the 55 lb. dumbbell for curls if you have to rock your whole bode a foot just to do one, you will see much better results with a 30 or 35 lb dumbbell and good form, but then again... you might look like a wee girly man if you use the little weights... ahh the dilemmas of a meet head!

Things I want/need to buy

2009-03-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

This list is more for my own convenience then anyone who reads this, I just seem to forget what I want when I get money and waste it on silly things then when I don't have any money go OOOH YEAH! I've been meaning to buy....

1. Windows (64 bit vistas preferably, but would settle for 64 bit xp) The 30 day free trail I use on my desktop and reinstall every 30 days is getting kinda annoying, what with the reinstalling every 30 days and all.

2. A new laptop, my old one bit the dust and I do love my desktop, but sometimes you just need a little mobility

3. A second GPU for my Desk Top, there is no good reason for this other then I think it would be sweet and well... computers are just another way to say HAHA MINES BIGGER THEN YOURS!

4. A good surfing wetsuit, this will probably wait till next winter because it is getting warm enough to not need it now, but there is a portion of the year where its not terribly cold outside but the water temp is killer, for this part of the year I would like a wetsuit.

5. A massage, not really on par with everything else cost wise, but still one of those luxury things that if I would like to have.

I think that's it for now, I'm sure more will come to me

The internet hates me!

2009-03-19T08:11:00.000-07:00

For some reason the internet has been out to get my lately. I do not know what I did to anger it, but it has not been functionally correctly. Everything has been running very slowly, videos take a year and a day to load, if they load at all, some videos I can't even watch. What gives oh great interwobz? Even my phone is out to get me, I found out I could get Pandora radio for my phone, awesome, except that it Fs up my phone and doesn't really work and makes everything else on the phone not work too! GRRRRRR! Why can't the internet just function properly all the time... I mean seriously.

People come here?

2009-03-15T08:04:00.000-07:00

So according to my google analytics, someone actually comes here other then my girlfriend. Whoever you are mystery person, thank you, you brightened my day.
On another note I installed this game Entropia Online the other day, its an MMORPG type thing with the caveat that it has a real cash economy. Every piece of coin in the game represents a dime basically. The cool thing, kind of, is that you can convert back your in game money to real coin, so you can potentially make money at this game. That's why I installed it, however, it turns out you can't really make money at it. There are winners in this game that make money, but they either started a long time ago, when the economy was still sorting itself and there for acquired assets at a cheap price because people really didn't know what it was worth, or they spend a lot of money upfront to get commodities in the game then recoup their money over time. So I guess I could still make money, but it would take a relatively large investment on my part, and I don't know that I want to dump that much money into a game. Plus, in the end, the game HAS to be a net sum loss for players. There is no subscription fee, and no cost to get the game, so somewhere the studio is making money out of the in game economy, meaning they won't give out more money then they take in. These factors combined, along with a somewhat clunky game interface, lack of storyline, and basic like of gameness to this "game, made me decide to stop playing it after a very short time.

Google Analytics

2009-03-12T14:54:00.000-07:00

Just got google analytics on here so I can kepp track of all the hits I'm not getting! WOOT!

Changing the wine pricing game

2009-03-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

DISCLAIMER: The following is based on my experiences in the wine wholesaling world and research I have put together for my company.

You may or may not be aware of this, but when you buy a glass of wine at a restaurant you are usually paying for 3/4 or more of the business cost of buying the bottle. This is why wine is always so much more expensive then beer at restaurants and the like. Why is this you might ask? You certainly aren't drinking enough of the bottle to justify it, assuming they get 4 glasses out of each bottle then they are taking a 300% mark-up, which is huge. The problem though, is they can't necessarily count on selling all 4 glasses in a bottle, and wine doesn't really keep over-night that well unless you invest in expensive preservation systems like argon canisters and even then that just extends the life. What is really happening is that a restaurant is assuming it well sell on average two glasses of wine out of every bottle they open giving them a 150% mark-up over cost, which is about what retailers ask on bottles anyways.
The other problem with wine pricing making it overly inflated as compared to beer is that everyone that makes wine knows that this is what restaurants do, and so they sell at less of a discount to restaurants then they do to retailers. Producers think if the restaurant is going to charge $9/glass anyways, I might as well make a little more money as well in this situation and charge them a higher price per bottle because they command a higher price per glass.
Does it have to be this way though? Your average middle market wines, the wines typically available at $9 or so per glass probably cost roughly $4-$6/bottle to make (This is based solely on my experiences and the research I have done for my own company). So that equates to lest say $1.50/glass average cost of production. So isn't it conceivable that producers could sell at $2.50/glass to restaurants who could then turn around and sell to consumers at $3.50 or $4.00? Of course it is, but this only works if we price by the glass from the start, which we cant do because everyone produces bottles and you run into the loss do to spoilage problem.
I am planning to get rid of this crazy pricing structure and hopefully you will see Glossophilia wines at bars where they wouldn't otherwise serve wines and a glass will only cost as much as your favorite pint. Until we get rid of this insane per-glass pricing the US wine market will never catch up to other parts of the world in terms of Avg. gallons/person

Wine Ratings

2009-03-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

What is the point of wine ratings? I am sure you know what I talk about if you buy wine, the little score on the shelf talker next to some wines. OOOH this wine got a 95 and only costs $9/bottle it must be a good buy, etc. However, I encourage you think about what that is really saying before you buy a bottle based on the scorecard. It's really just like a standardized test score for wines, and I am sure we have all met bright people who make great employees, friends or whatever, who didn't score well on their latest standardized test. I am not saying the wine scores, or standardized tests for that matter, are completely irrelevant, just that we have to think critically about what we are seeing and realize there is a wine, or person, behind that score that has a tale to tell.
What a wine score is really telling you is one persons impression of that wine. Wine is a very subjective thing, like people I would argue, so reducing it to this level of objectivity in the first place seems like a bad idea. However, I understand that not everyone can try lots of different wines and want to know they are getting a quality product not just a quality marketing campaign when they drop $20 on a bottle of wine. I encourage you however to look beyond the score, look at who gave it the score. Every wine score should come with a name attached to it, not just a publication, as publications often publish scores from several wine reviewers. This way you can begin to attribute certain characteristics to particular reviewers. This allows you to make even better choices in your wine selection not just by looking at the number but by understanding a little about who gave it the number. For example Robert Parker, the worlds pre-eminent rater of wines, has an affinity for dark, very tannic, big red wines. Now if you too like this style of wine great! Get anthing Robert Parker gives a 90+ and you'll probably be happy with it. If however, like myself, you prefer your wines a little more subdued, with a lighter tannin structure with more finesse, the you will probably be relatively disappointed with a lot of wines Robert Parker gives high scores to. (Robert Parker does give high scores to other wines, he is good at what he does, but it is well observed that he has a preference)
From another standpoint wine scores are very bad for the wine industry. Because everyone looks at the scores and we can look at what gets high scores over time, we can begin to tailor our wines to the scorers. If you can get a 90+ point score from Robert Parker your wine will sell very well. So what do you do, you make a wine Robert Parker has a predisposition to like, aka big, tannic, dark, Cab Sauv's. There is a place for these wines in the market, and many people would argue that they are the true kings among wines, but I disagree. One way or the other I think in any industry it is bad when most of the competition wines up piling into one category.
So next time you are at the store, I encourage you to take a closer look at the scorecard, at least note where the score comes from. Finding a scorer to follow is like finding a good somelier at a local wine shop. It will help you find wines that fit your palette, instead of just hitting your over the head with a hammer until you agree that your palette is wrong, or agrees with the scorer.

Hellicopters

2009-03-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

There are strange things afoot in the skies over Austin... strange indeed I say. It all started when the radio said, "traffic is backed up on southbound Mo-Pac due to a helicopter crash" What? Helicopter Crash... Mo-Pac, what is happening here. Turns out there was no crash, just an emergency landing in Zilker park. Strange, but not all together unreasonable, but then I noticed there have been lots of helicopters around lately. I saw one buzzing around over some streets as I was driving just following the streets, and low to the ground. Today one buzzed really low over my neighborhood. Then I saw four twin propeller huge military transport helicopters flying in a close formation line right over downtown earlier today. What is happening? Are we being invaded? Is the national helicopter flying convention going on in conjunction with SXSW? I mean seriously... this is odd!

Twitter

2009-03-08T15:34:00.000-07:00

Its official, I am a twitter aholic! Its really cool, lots of good links to cool articles and things I didn't know existed. I am sure it is one of those things that I will be in and out with, similar to this blog, but rite now... ITS AWESOME! Check it out at www.twitter.com and follow me if you aren't already!
-Barret

<3 Pandora Radio

2009-03-06T10:39:00.000-08:00

Pandora Radio is currently rocking my face. Pandora, alternately knows as the music genome project is a cool way to find new music you like. You start by typing in a song or artist you like then it analyzes the components of that artists or song and plays things like it. Its awesome, you can direct it too by giving it thumbs up or down to songs it brings up. Once you create a station you like you can just come back to the site at any time and listen to it. My vocal trance station, started off of a search for Gabriel & Dresden is currently keeping me amped up! Check it out at http://www.pandora.com/, best part... its free!

@ Rise Austin Annual Event

2009-03-06T08:21:00.000-08:00

This is a compilation of several thoughts from the Rise Austin even hosted over the last 4 days some of which I was able to attend. For those that don't know Rise is a non-profit organization founded here in Austin that fosters Entrepreneurship through free conferences and other things. Check them out at http://www.riseaustin.org/, great organization.

1. Is bootstrapping a practicable method for start ups delivering goods or commodities? Boot-strapping clearly works in an IT space where the major input pre-sales is sweat equity to create the website and whatever else you are offering on the back end, this is what Build A Sign did. Bootstrapping also clearly works with service industry businesses where the primary thing your are selling is a service, again time is the major component. However, if you want to sell a product or commodity is it really workable. In some cases the answer is clearly yes, if you run a typical demo-sell-build model then boot strapping works fine. Getting a demo produced is usually relatively cheap and if you can simply get orders off your demo THEN produce your inventory it works a lot better. But what if your making wine, you can't really make a demo and go around and try to sell said demo then when you get purchase orders produce the wine, growing seasons don't work like that. You have a several month period in which you have to produce a majority if not all of your inventory for the entire year, thus upfront costs and the saying it takes money to make money in wine.

2. Is it time for new VCs? The bootstrap Austin group talks about three different types of Entrepreneurship: Cookie cutter, VC funding driven, and bootstrap. No certainly there are differences between what is happening in a bootstrap business and a funding driven business, however, would it not be beneficial for VC funded start ups to take on a bootstrap mentality of right action right time? I think in this day and age the bootstrap mentality of constant innovation and evolving business is the way to stay ahead of the game. Competitors gain access to information and technology at an alarming rate, its only a matter of time till you are copied, so you have to keep changing it up, whether your are VC funded or bootstrapped as I see it. So what is it about VC funded ventures that keep them from being bootstrapped? The constrains placed on them by VCs I believe. VCs want to see a clearly laid out plan of action and growth before they invest in a business, but how can I know what the right action to take for my business is going to be 4 years from now today? VC funding locks people into a rigid business model that denies right action right time thinking, the core of bootstrapping. Perhaps it is time for a new VC that allows more freedom.

3. Conscious Capitalism and the rest of the world. The founder of Whole Foods gave the keynote address at the end of the conference and spoke about the need for what he has named Conscious Capitalism. The main shift in Conscious Capitalism as compared to the current system is a move from shareholder value optimization to stake holder value optimization. Meaning its not just about the people invested in you directly, but the indirect investors meaning your employees, your customers, your suppliers, your community and everyone else who you effect... probably the world at large if this idea is expanded to its truest form. How on earth does this relate to the world we live in? Mackey stresses that this will in the end lead to higher profits, and I believe him, whether is due to a cosmic feed back loop of karma or simply because taking care of your employees makes them happy so they do better work and your customer gets better served, I just think he's right on this. But again, I think its time we call for a new VC. If I pitched to a VC and said, yeah maximize profits isn't really going to be my goal, it will happen, but I am going to focus on maximizing value created for the world in and around my business, I would get shown the door in most cases. There are some VC firms out there who are beginning to look at "socially responsible investing" but they certainly are not the norm. So how in business like wine, where it takes money to make money are new entrepreneurs supposed to start a socially conscious and innovative business? Pick a different business maybe, but I don't want to do that, and its just a bad answer. It is time for a new kind of investment group!

4. The NEW school of funding! What would this new VC I am calling for look like, and would it work? Its great to call for the destruction of the old guard but unless you have a better solution is just yelling at the wind, so here are what I see as the key points to a new VC.
A. Team not business plan. Now this is an old idea and one that current VCs incorporate. There are hundreds of great business ideas out there, but only a few great teams. Current VCs though still heavily rely on business plans to evaluate viability, then after the plan passes the evaluate the team to see if they are capable and passionate enough to make it happen. The new VC will do away with this and focus on teams and people, sure the idea will be important, but if you talk to a true entrepreneur your going to find out what their idea is because its all they want to talk about. They don't need to have every detail worked out, just a passion and drive to make it work, they do whatever it takes spirit of the great founders of the world. To use a classic example of the failure of B-plans, the Fed-Ex business plan was given a failing grade by a B-school professor.
B. Right Action Right Time. The goal of the new VC team should be to help determine the right action for the current time for any investment. With the removal of rigid business plans there will have to be much more hands on direction to help entrepreneurs keep on track and do what is right at every turn.
C. Recognition that stake-holder value = shareholder value. It is a direct relationship thus maximizing the stake-holder value will correspond to the maximization of the shareholder value. Sure this is a long term view, but it is what is require to build the businesses that will lead the world into a better future. THIS and only THIS after-all should be the goal of VC to build GREAT businesses, NOT great profits. Great profits follow great businesses, but great profits can not lead great business.

If you want to form the new VC, let me know, the time is upon us and I would love to help!

What to say

2009-02-26T14:31:00.000-08:00

I have felt very un-ranty lately. I think my lack of having to interact with the real world is causing it. Things are moving forward well with my winery though and that excites me. Generational communication differences do frustrate me though. When I get E-mails I almost always respond with in a day, two days max. Apparently that is just me or just people of my generation, in dealing with some older people who have been kind enough to share their time and knowledge with me it sometimes gets frustrating. It's not so much that I demand instant response, just I begin to worry if the E-mail really got sent you know. I understand people are busy and can't always send off E-mails, but I get antsy.

Colorado

2009-02-24T11:49:00.000-08:00

It is odd how quickly we can fall back into old routines and ways. I am back hanging out around CC and it somehow feels like nothing has changed, no progression or anything, even with the people. It is kind of nice to visit but I think it would be very wierd to live here. Life is supposed to progress as we get older, we can't just be collee students for ever.

No Radio

2009-02-22T11:00:00.000-08:00

So the radio in the car I have here in Colorado does not work, it also doesn't work in the Suburban I was using to do yard work hauling in Austin. It kind of sucks, but then again... maybe it doesn't. I read an article on the plain yesterday that was talking about sleep, and how we live in a world so constantly full of stimulus that for a lot of people going to bed is the only time they have to be alone with their thoughts, so their mind goes nuts processing and prevents sleep. I noticed I've been sleeping really well lately, so maybe no cars should have radios. That way, you can drive and your brain gets a chance to process everything so that when bed time comes, you aren't trying to sleep and process at the same time. Sometimes, I guess you just gotta turn it all off.
-Barret

Colorado Bound

2009-02-21T08:40:00.000-08:00

I am headed to Colorado today to see friends and well, because I dont have anything better to do. I haven't really had much to rant about lately, yard work is numbing to the brain and therefore helps prevent rants. Hopefully I will feel inspired again soon. Anyways, TA TA for now.
-Barret

From Hysteria to Anxiety and the swinging pendulum

2009-02-16T18:06:00.000-08:00

This post comes out of a theory I came up with in NYC a while ago and a discussion my girlfriend and I had about it last weekend. So it seems like I know a lot of people rite now who are taking anti-anxiety meds, and these are college aged people, what do they have to be anxious about? Sure the job market sucks, but its not like we are used to making the big bucks and have nice houses to pay for anyways, yet still, lots of people are on anxiety meds. I've noticed this particularly in girls and it reminded me of cases of hysteria in Freud's time, the treatment of which was the basis of a lot of Freud's work. Is "anxiety" just today's term for hysteria? I think it is. Freud famously found that many of the hysteric young woman he treated were very sexually conflicted or had had unnerving sexual experiences that caused their hysteria. The general population of the time was very sexually repressive, particularly for young women and this lead to conflicted people who did not know what to think about sex and sexuality. Could it be that our current society has some of these same issues going on? Girls are getting conflicting messages about sex and it is leading them to be anxious all the time and need anti-anxiety meds when there really isn't anything for them to have anxiety about. I feel this is true and that social responses to sexuality is like a swinging pendulum. Now I don't know what the era immediately preceding Freud's thoughts on sex and sexuality were, but I know sense that time we have gone through several periods of relatively sexually open and relatively sexually closed society's. The time leading up to the 40s and 50s were relatively progressive sexually, particularly as compared to the Victorian era. However in the 40s and 50s the pendulum swung back the other way and we saw a time of repressed sexuality and emergence and wide spread use of anti-depressants Then came the love generation of the 60s which ushered in a time of relatively free sexuality that lasted through the mid 80s probably and now I think we have swung back the other way. The swinging pendulum takes from hysteria through depression and into to days anxiety. Of course this is an oversimplified interpretation, but I do think the (what appears to me to be) wide spread use of anti-anxiety meds in young women in their 20's today is a sign that something is happening on a societal level. (Thanks go out to my girlfriend for some history help with this one)

The Brethren Democracy

2009-02-16T17:55:00.000-08:00

I am not convinced by our two party political system and our checks and balances, I mean maybe it's the best practicable system but there has to be a better way. I like the Pirate version of democracy, and after all, they were some of the first Democratic visitors to this country (Not sure what all the different native American tribes did they could have been the first). Anyways as anyone who knows about sailing will tell you aboard a sailing ship there is no room for discussion, there really isn't room for anything but sailing. This would only be amplified I'm sure by the life of a pirate, having to chose where to go, making fighting decisions, you can't sit down and talk about that and put it through two different voting bodies. So how then could the Brethren of the Coast, as pirates on the America's called themselves run as a democracy? It was what I call a monarchical democracy, meaning once elected the captain's word was law, you didn't debate the captain, you just did as he said, this is the only way for a ship to function smoothly. However, the captain can be impeached at any time, talk about a lack of job security, so if the crew feels that the captain is making orders not in their own best interest they are free to hold a new vote and elect a new captain and the old captain has to step down. Now perhaps this isn't practicable on the scale of a country, but is just seems more appealing then our current system. I say long live the Brethren and there democracy!

Oh to have people come here

2009-02-12T19:51:00.000-08:00

If only people came to my humble little blog here. Then I could get adds on it and make moneys! It would be great... but alas... its not true. Plus I wouldn't want to dilute the shear ranting genius of this sight with trashy adds... what was I thinking. I'm going to become a pirate!
-Barret

Thoughts from I35

2009-02-10T13:13:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend I took a jaunt up I35 to visit my girlfriend in Waco, and along the way had some interesting thoughts.
1. Consciousness and the awareness of our own mortality is an interesting and terrifying thing. We won't dwell on this for it only leads to dark dizzying spirals, but you have to wonder...
2. Why don't car radios have a CB setting. They have AM and FM, why not CB. I was stuck in traffic and I couldn't help but feel that all the truckers knew something I didn't, well I want to know damn it!
3. Why is everythining about numbers. Jobs, Schools, life... its not about being a good person, being a smart person or even being a person at all. If a bear had the rite LSAT and GPA he could get into UT Law... but he would just eat all professors, clearly bears shouldn't go to law school, but if he had the rite numbers, he'd get admitted. Or perhaps the real reason we are losing so many jobs is because they are being farmed out to moose in the remote reaches of Canada, turns out they had the rite credentials. But a moose can't do our jobs, he'll he can't even read... but... they have the right credentials. Does it ever make you want to shoot someone? Has our society become so detached that no one can trust their own judgement of a person so they have to rely on arbitrary numbers and credentials? What happened in our society to make go down this infuriating path where thought fullness and intelligence are passed over and ignorance put in its place?
4. I should be KING OF THE WORLD! and not in that gay Titanic way... in the I rule this shit way. Why you might ask should I be kind of the world instead of you... and I cant really tell you. Perhaps you would be a good king of the world too, but someone should be king, I am going to conduct interviews... and no.. I don't want to see your resume... or your credentials for being king of the world, I just want to talk to you. Now the ignorant people are saying... what... no resumes.. no credentials... no test I can take to prove I'm worthy... I... I ... I just have to TALK!?!?! BUT BUT BUT NO FARE! Yes... its true... if you just talk to people you can find out if they are legitimately worthy of being the King of the world or not and have you talked to me lately? I mean come on... I'm a shoe in!

No Longer Door to Door

2009-02-07T07:58:00.000-08:00

After a very brief stent with Clean Water Action I am no longer doing door to door canvassing, its just not my thing. I am back in the world of the unemployed, but focussing most of my energy towards getting all the paper in order to seek fundraising for my winery idea. I haven't really been able to remember any of the things that have been setting me off lately, but Micrsoft manage to annoy me. I own a legitimate copy of Office 2003, so I went to install is on my new computer, sadly I was missing one of the install discs. However, I had my cd-key and all the other product verification information so I thought no worries, surely I can go online and get a digital copy from Microsoft's website. No... there is no way to do this, Microsoft instead wanted me to call their tech support, spend forever on the phone with them, then PAY THEM to send me another copy of the CD. FUCK THAT SHIT! I went to Pirate Bay and dled a mountable image of the software. I dont like pirateing software, I try to avoid it, but after spending two hours trying to get Microsoft to let me have a legitimate copy of the program, I decided they deserved it. I have not yet installed said copy, but hopefully my CD key will work with it making no longer a pirated copy.

@ Prius drivers and the like!

2009-01-28T08:10:00.000-08:00

So as I said in my last post, I now go door to door for a non-profit called Clean Water Action and there are several things that just boggle my mind! First off I am looking for donations, but also just signatures showing support and I make this clear. Now we come to the people I don't understand.
Example 1. I talked to you for 10 minutes, I already support save our springs (a group we co-founded), but I won't sighn for you showing my support for your water conservation innitiative... duh what? how is this rational?
Example 2. I already work for sierra club, but leave me some info and I might contact you. Great, good for you working with sierra club, but that doesn't excuse from general social responsibility!
Example 3. I drive a prius and have a rainwater collection barrel along with xero scaping in my yard, but no... I'm not interested in clean water or any environmental issues. Now this guy is iether just dumb, or is lieing to me... I mean WTF!
Like I get it, people that come to your door are kind of annoying, but its just baffling to me the number of people who clearly have a good level of issue agreement with our campaign yet still refuse to even sighn the paper. These people annoy me more then people who are just like... nope not interested in environmental concerns. Like hell, even the old lady who said she didn't believe in government sighned the paper, it takes less time then telling me no and making me go away. Stupidity Abounds!

I GOT A JOB!

2009-01-26T22:04:00.000-08:00

I am now a community organizer with Clean Water Action here in Austin TX! So basically I go door to door, maybe if your lucky, ill come to your door! Jobs are good....

Signs of Evolution or the Borg have arrived!

2009-01-25T23:14:00.000-08:00

So I have noticed something I find interesting. As a child I remember seeing deer on the side of the road as somewhat of a fearfilled event. You never knew wether they were going to randomly jump out infront of or into your car or start to run across the road then come back at you from the other side, there was really no telling. But nowadays I see deer standing on the side of the road, and they look both ways (I kid you not I have seen this) and if a car is coming the just calmly stand there and watch it go past then walk across behind it. I explain this one of two ways, either it is a sign that evolution is occuring through natural selection, the smarter deer survive because they dont get hit by cars the dumber ones are killed so their genetic material doesn't get past on. This proposition is scary because it means we are soon going to get freakishly smart deer that not only understand not to run into cars, but also know how to hijack them and will some day take over the world. Perhaps option two might be better, the borg have arrived... in deer form. They have a collective conscience that eventually learned that cars travel for the most part on roads, so to avoid cars, avoid standing on roads when cars are coming, but if you are on the grass you are ok. This proposition is similiarly frightening, the thought that when one deer knows something they all do is... in fact... terrifying. Think about it this way, your grass tastes particularly good to some deer one day, next thing you know ALL THE DEER come to eat your grass. You no longer have a yard, just a dirt patch covered in poo. Granted this will in a year or two be very fertile ground, right now IT SUCKS!!

P.S. Warm Flaky biscuits are the shit. Anyone who tells you otherwise should be dissasociated with immediatly and outcast from society. They don't need to be eaten with a meal, or with anything, they are just... AWESOME!

2009-01-25T09:52:00.000-08:00

On the side bar you will now see a link to my thepoint.com campeighn. This campaign has been started to help me raise money for my winery. The cool thing is, you just have to pledge a dollar now, but you won't actually have to give it up unless we reach $100,000. So join up and give a buck, I mean what the fuck man, its just sitting around the house anyway put that lazy ass dollar to work!

Welcome

2009-01-24T21:04:00.000-08:00

This is my random rants. As the name implies there will be no theme or reason for the blog. It will simply be a place for me to put down in the everlasting annals of web history the random thoughts that come through my head, the things that piss me off and make me happy and anything else I chose to talk about. What you will probably see are criticisms of society and current affairs, general hate spewing towards stupidity and all things associated with it and maybe just maybe a little kernel of truth every once in a while.