Skmmr got picked to be part of TechCocktail!

Just got some great news. Skmmr has been selected among a handful of companies to present tomorrow night at TechCocktail in Boulder.

Eric, Andy and I have worked very hard on Skmmr and we’re excited to show it off.

We’d love your feedback as we roll out the beta very, very soon. Sign up to be a part of it here.

I found a secret spot in Boulder: The Monsters Inc. House! (This photo has not been doctored in any way, shape or form. Those are actual, giant Monsters Inc. characters in the window)

I found a secret spot in Boulder: The Monsters Inc. House!

(This photo has not been doctored in any way, shape or form. Those are actual, giant Monsters Inc. characters in the window)

I’m planning a food fight in Boulder this Spring

That’s all.

Anyone who has participated in, or planned a food fight in the past, please contact me with all of your food fighting tips and tricks. The last thing we want is to put out an eye with a graham cracker.

Please vote for me to speak at Ignite Boulder 11

This will only take 1 minute of your time, tops.

Hey there, awesome readers. We’ve got Ignite Boulder 11 coming up in just three weeks and I need your votes to get on stage in front of 1,300 people. Please, give my talk on “Accelerated Learning by pairing yourself with intimidatingly smart people” a vote.

For the unfamiliar, an Ignite talk is 5 minutes, 20 slides and is intended to teach something of social value that others may be largely unfamiliar with. You can watch some great videos here. Warning: These talks are addicting. 

Please vote for me and reblog this. I want to get on that stage in 3 weeks. Help a brother out.

Startup Weekend Boulder - Feel Awesome

Hey everybody. Hope your weekend is going well.

I’m currently knee deep in Startup Weekend Boulder, starting a company called Feel Awesome. It’s an iPhone app and/or an SMS-based service that’s accessible to anyone who owns a cell phone.

Feel Awesome is all about personal tracking for personal growth. We want to help you keep track of your short term and long term goals, your activity habits (we hate the word exercise), what you put in your body (we hate the word diet), and the little victories that get you through the days.

We’re aiming to have a usable piece of our application at some point tonight or early tomorrow. We’d love any and all testers. 

Please follow us on Twitter. I’m really excited about this project. I hope you are too!

(Side note: I’d love it if you’d reblog this to your followers. Every person we can have test Feel Awesome between now and whenever testing is over is an immense help!)

I signed up and listed myself today on Pick.im, Andrew Hyde’s brand new freelancer startup. If you’re in Colorado and looking for a photographer to do some cheap work ($30-$100), shoot me an email and let’s work together!  If you’d like an invite to Pick or you’d like to hire me, email me here.

I signed up and listed myself today on Pick.im, Andrew Hyde’s brand new freelancer startup.

If you’re in Colorado and looking for a photographer to do some cheap work ($30-$100), shoot me an email and let’s work together! 

If you’d like an invite to Pick or you’d like to hire me, email me here.

Assignment: Blogging a Scene

The fifth floor of the UMC is a quiet place. It might as well be a nap room. As close as one can get to being in a cupola on CU’s campus, the fifth floor of the UMC is a pretty unique place. Natural light illuminates the room, bouncing off of a trophy along the north wall and carpet that’s meant not to show dirt, lining the floor.

Sure, you can find a quiet spot in Norlin Library among a million other stressed out college students, florescent lights, and humming computers but up here it’s pretty relaxing. Green and blue couches line the room, two tables in the middle make themselves available for those who don’t come up here to nap.

The quiet is implied through dirty looks given to students on the phone and the rare laptop user who types too loudly. The silence makes the clicking of laptop keys sound like horses running the Kentucky Derby, their horseshoed feet clicking against the ground.

There aren’t many words spoken up here. The only sounds permeate from laptop keyboards, as well as cars and buses that pass on Broadway, just west of the building. These sounds come and go, gently rousing the occasional student out of his midday nap.

“Are you gonna leave now?” a male student whispers to a female student. She, wearing a black knit cap, says no, and pulls out her blue and grey Dell laptop to continue her work. He leaves. It’s quieter now.

Other than this, no words are spoken.

The sun setting behind the Flatirons reflects off of the four black and white photographs, each wrapped in black frames with white padding, that line the east wall. It fees like a hotel lounge without the implied stress of business men coming and going, powered by coffee and caffeine.

A sign on the east wall says that the maximum occupancy of this room is 87 people. 87 people would ruin this room undoubtedly. A sole security camera monitors this perfect room, a room away from the college bustle, a room a step closer to serenity.

(source: question_everything) As a kid I always questioned why the adults hated snow so much. It got me off of school, I got to play with my friends and whenever it snowed life was  generally good. This year, for the first time in my life, I found myself asking the snow to stop and to stay away. Could have been my hometown of Baltimore getting pounded with 80+ inches of snow this year; it could have been from the lack of snow melt in Boulder even though temperatures reached over 50 degrees some days. It could have been the fact that in Colorado they’ve never heard the word “snow day.” I’m not sure. It scares me a little. I don’t want to be that person, the cranky snow-hater. I want to stay as that wide-eyed kid praying for a snow day.

(source: question_everything)

As a kid I always questioned why the adults hated snow so much. It got me off of school, I got to play with my friends and whenever it snowed life was  generally good.

This year, for the first time in my life, I found myself asking the snow to stop and to stay away. Could have been my hometown of Baltimore getting pounded with 80+ inches of snow this year; it could have been from the lack of snow melt in Boulder even though temperatures reached over 50 degrees some days. It could have been the fact that in Colorado they’ve never heard the word “snow day.” I’m not sure.

It scares me a little. I don’t want to be that person, the cranky snow-hater. I want to stay as that wide-eyed kid praying for a snow day.

Last week I had a photo shoot with Shane from OnceMany.com. He’s a local photographer from the Denver/Boulder area who’s trying an interesting project in 2010. Pioneered famously last year by IWearYourShirt.com, the business model that both endeavors follow is simple: for each day in one year, the amount you pay corresponds to how many days have passed in the year plus $1. After the shoot he profiled me and my iPhone app on his website. If you’re in the Denver, Boulder or the surrounding areas and need some professional pictures taken, definitely shoot Shane an email.

Last week I had a photo shoot with Shane from OnceMany.com. He’s a local photographer from the Denver/Boulder area who’s trying an interesting project in 2010. Pioneered famously last year by IWearYourShirt.com, the business model that both endeavors follow is simple: for each day in one year, the amount you pay corresponds to how many days have passed in the year plus $1.

After the shoot he profiled me and my iPhone app on his website.

If you’re in the Denver, Boulder or the surrounding areas and need some professional pictures taken, definitely shoot Shane an email.

AskDaveTaylor.com - What are Angel Investors and Venture Capital

I’ve contributed a few articles for Boulder local blogger Dave Taylor’s “ask and you shall receive” website AskDaveTaylor.com.

My most recent article which went up today is for those who hear a lot about Angel Investors, Venture Capital and startup funding and wonder, “What does it all mean?”

In my article I cover the three main types of funding in startups: Friends & Family, Angel Investors and Venture Capital and how they relate to the different stages of new businesses.

Give it a read and if I’ve missed anything, leave it in the comments.