tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:43:24 +0000startups, technology, nonprofits, venture capital, politics, random stuff.http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)Blogger384125734265http://www.feedburner.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-2149519291607051042Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:39:00 +00002008-09-06T09:43:24.951-04:00bad UII just spent a frustrating 15 minutes getting repeatedly kciked back to the login screen at Quicken Online. We've been testing it out for the past 2 months, and it's generally not terribly useful. Mint is a hell of a lot better for an online app. More detail, better interface, and actually lets me sign in and stay in. As frustrating as Quicken Online is the Fulton Bank online banking. I can't http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/09/quicken-online-sucks.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-7841058238209397529Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:42:00 +00002008-09-02T21:02:22.228-04:00I wrote a full post on the Palin pregancy and then decided it really comes down to this: where were these parents, how did they raise this kid, is she really old enough to make a decision about marrying, and what does all of this say about their values and Palin's judgment? I really don't know, but I'd like to hear her answers. Obama can't really lose with this selection. Unless, of course, Bidenhttp://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/09/update.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-4146864486155030295Sun, 31 Aug 2008 17:43:00 +00002008-08-31T13:48:26.727-04:00Amy and I are off to the Art Show. Biking--something I'll be doing a ton more of. This is my last weekend with the Prius before I sell it. It turns out it's great for gas mileage, but it still burns gas. We have Amy's car, and I can walk to the train to go to Harrisburg, Philly, NY, EWR, and other airports. Plus I need the exercise.http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/blue-sky-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-8474059420325038705Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:21:00 +00002008-08-30T12:23:31.250-04:00My blog traffic tripled after my Sorkin-Obama posts. Now if I had just added Hillary Clinton, Britney Spears, "biggest dog in the world", and sex with mammals to the post, I'm guessing I could have pushed it up to maybe 5 or 10 times normal. This internet thing is gonna be big.http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/sorkin-spike.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-7688339686198030707Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:57:00 +00002008-08-29T13:57:58.993-04:00Apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed...http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/sorkin-obama-part-ii.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-6333036125836932177Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:37:00 +00002008-08-29T13:00:24.303-04:00Something about California keeps me coming back. Oh, wait, that's right--venture capital. Something like 95% of the world's venture capital is concentrated on Sand Hill Road. So if I have any trip to the West Coast, I usually include San Francisco as part of the trip. The venture mentality, if there is a single one, is a herd mentality. Contrarian technology plays don't go over well, but then http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/california.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-5093729443407283625Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:41:00 +00002008-08-28T22:55:06.428-04:00I swear I've heard some of those lines before in The West Wing and The American President, both Aaron Sorkin screenplays... http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/american_president.html (scroll to the end...)http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/is-sorkin-obamas-speechwriter.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-1732571261430340316Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:38:00 +00002008-08-27T14:48:21.562-04:00Nice speech. Lagging Clinton supporters, get over it. You're Democrats, support the Democrat. Next.http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/hillary.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-6908696805706389026Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:00:00 +00002008-08-24T22:31:09.838-04:00stuff I just spent a few hours at Fry's Electronics with a friend in the industry; Fry's has everything tech, and I love it in the sick way that consumers must love the mall or department stores--there's everything possible for a geek to want to buy and it's right there--memory, motherboards, tools, crap you'll never need if you're typical but if you're a hobbyist or former pc builder like I was, you http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/absurdity-of-american-culture.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-6003859233312428936Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:53:00 +00002008-08-21T11:10:05.295-04:00...big city of dreams. (Grandmaster Flash, circa long time ago) Heading up for a few venture meetings, circledog partnerships, and of course a stop at Rudy's...http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-york-new-york.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-1965224984591219157Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:44:00 +00002008-08-21T09:28:09.724-04:00circledogsoftwareI'm a little late with this one on the personal blog, but things have been amazingly busy over the past ... forever, it seems. On Monday, my team at the R&D division (now called Missionomics, with kudos to Steve and Dave who created the first beta of SalesWorks) launched CircleDog! We renamed and rebranded. CircleDog is the first uncomplicated customer management software. Please take a look athttp://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/circledog-standard-launches.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-474259320715384632Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:30:00 +00002008-08-18T22:49:34.581-04:00This song has been running through my head from the beginning of the economic downturn, which started in 2002 or so. If you just look at the middle class and poor, it started in about 1982. Anyway, came up on Shuffle... (These lyrics were cribbed from a lyric cribbing site, but I'm not sure how accurate they are). INDUSTRIAL DISEASE (DIRE STRAITS, from LOVE OVER GOLD, circa 1984) Warning http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/industrial-disease.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-3724952575014010256Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:08:00 +00002008-08-15T09:29:41.079-04:00Wow. I'm so late to this game it's embarrassing. In my defense, a little history. I bought the first MP3 player, the Diamond Rio back in 1998 or so. It held 256MB and was relatively easy to use. In 1996 Chris Walker and I threw some tunes from the end of the Parrish Blue days onto our first software CD, ChiliReports, as MP3s, just because there was all this space on those CDs and, hey, what the http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/itunes-rocks.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-3442342980886848349Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:17:00 +00002008-08-13T22:19:30.649-04:00We launch Monday. Still, there are a hundred more details we need to nail down...http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/everything-in-place-mostly.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-680688805469562130Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:18:00 +00002008-08-12T13:35:48.918-04:00I haven't said anything about China recently. When I ran for Senate, trade with China was a big part of the campaign,because ourlack of respect for international trade laws,democracy, and human rights by trading with China led to very specific job losses in PA. Nothing has changed since then. This article about the replacement of the talented 7-year old with bad teeth with a "prettier" http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/china-syndrome.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-6386507936918961334Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:06:00 +00002008-08-11T23:07:17.632-04:00I've met Bill Deweese a few times. He's very smart. And he likes to impress people with his grand and poorly-used vocabulary. He rarely uses it to advance anything for the good of the state, and that's enough to push him out the door. The expensive dinners at taxpayer or lobbyist expense (hard to tell sometimes) shouldn't be overlooked. Deweese is well known in the Capital as a big spender with http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/deweese-wont-resign-so-vote-him-out.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-1179745386130764714Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:31:00 +00002008-08-11T21:51:11.291-04:00This is excruciating. I'm a guy who likes to make a decision and then see it executed. The way our leadership in this country (or lack thereof) handles healthcare is just the opposite: study it, edge it over to the right, gut it, edge it over to the left, obscure it, and on and on. We've been flirting with single-payer for decades, but still haven't asked it for a dance. And that's silly. We http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/single-payer-makes-it-into-democratic.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-8489614078426953382Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:33:00 +00002008-08-11T08:42:07.446-04:00Men's 400-meter relay. Jason Lezak on winning the race after the flip when he realizes he's a half a body length behind: "The thought really entered my mind for a split second," Lezak said. "There's no way." And then: "I changed. I thought, 'That's ridiculous. I'm at the Olympic Games, I'm here for the United States of America. I don't care how bad it hurts, I'm going after it.' I just got a http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/winning-by-8-100ths-of-second.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-649335654687323209Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:29:00 +00002008-08-11T07:01:34.026-04:00In 1986 I bought a Mac Plus. Since then I've been a PC guy. But I've come close to buying a Mac a number of times. I'm still a PC guy. But I keep heading over to Apple.com, and not for an iPhone upgrade...http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/buying-mac.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-5006341315773452025Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:32:00 +00002008-08-10T11:43:20.499-04:00circledogwinningWinning has been on my mind for a while. I hate to lose, love to win. From chess with my brother when we were young (he cheated, helping me to develop a sense of the unjust at an early age), to soccer during high school, to the natural but stupid competition between up and coming bands and songwriters, to ChiliSoft vs. Microsoft vs. Netscape vs. IBM vs the world, to politics, to SalesWorks/http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/winning-part-iii.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-453938269631003884Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:59:00 +00002008-08-09T13:35:49.093-04:00Candidates for office are only considered viable if they are declared a potential winner or threat by the establishment and/or media. So if out of the gate you are not considered a potential contender, you'll unlikely be considered by the media, which means you'll get no traction at all. You're dead in the water before you even start. The only reason I was considered a viable candidate in 2003http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/winning-part-ii.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-1897487760018499996Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:11:00 +00002008-08-08T14:20:26.917-04:00I'm a big fan of West Wing and own a few of the early seasons on DVD. I just saw a clip of one of the great scenes, where Toby hammers home the point "They'll like us when we win!". Great dialog as usual, and a great universal point.http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/theyll-like-us-when-we-win.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-3849912068107930935Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:39:00 +00002008-08-03T11:27:47.986-04:00I'm not going to comment much on what is effectively a sleazy campaign tactic by the McCain campaign--which was endorsed by McCain himself--except to say that for a guy running on honor and experience, he's dishonoring the country and his own, very long career in public service through these ads. Paris Hilton gained most of her fame for a sleazy sex tape, and Britney Spears is a vaccuous pop http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/obama-mccain.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-7356231854975680384Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:04:00 +00002008-08-02T08:42:59.125-04:00entrepreneurscircledogsmall businesseconomyI'm inherently a leader and not a manager. There's a difference and it's important to recognize it and plan around it. I like to say there are high-value applications of your time and low-value applications of your time, and then there are the things you just can't avoid so it's high-value, even if you suck at it. In my current role I'm a leader and a manager, strictly by job definition. There http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/08/leaders-vs-managers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17349235.post-1026609580367323175Sun, 27 Jul 2008 05:32:00 +00002008-07-27T11:42:41.460-04:00First, Stubhub was great for getting last minute tickets to the show. But pay attention to what they mean by "will call". "Will call" means -- in the real world--you get your tickets at the Will Call ticket window at the venue. But in StubHub-land, it means picking them up at the front desk of the Holiday Inn on Packer Ave. near the Sports Complex in Philly. As we pulled up to the Mann, we get http://charliecrystle.blogspot.com/2008/07/mark-knopfler-at-mann-music-center.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Charlie Crystle)http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetFeedData?uri=DiggingIn