ShaunGish.com

So - first trip to Seattle went very well… I had a great time and I really liked the city. Something cool about being able to get coffee on any corner that isn’t “fourbucks”…

Brit and I had a good time at the Google Hack-a-thon, although we both have decided that App Engine still has a lot of growing to do. The guys at Google mentioned that they’re going to eventually support languages other than Python so we’re probably going to hold off on developing Brave New Fiction further until they start supporting PHP.

Lots on my plate for the next couple of weeks so I’ll be posting less frequently - but here’s something I will do - play-by-play fantasy football. Jaime and I have won our money league the last two years in a row (thanks to a quick thinking Romo pickup and Tom Brady’s amazing year). So - in our 14 team league we picked 6th this year and here’s who we ended up with:

Tony Romo
Vince Young
Joseph Addai
Lendale White
Matt Forte
LaMont Jordan
Andre Johnson
Calvin Johnson
Anthony Gonzalez
Donte’ Stallworth
Chris Henry
Brandon Stokley
Dwayne Jarrett
Donald Lee
Mason Crosby
Philly Defense

I tried like hell to land another Johnson at receiver but both of em got swept up before our pick… Surprised that Addai fell to us at 6th (a guy in our league took Stephen Jackson @ 2) and we traded our 3rd and 5th to get Romo (could’ve had Reggie Bush and Chris Chambers). My roommate actually had the 14th pick (our draft is serpentine) and ended up picking Randy Moss and Terrell Owens back to back… the room let out a collective ~gasp~.

Oh well - we’ll see how we do - playing on house money for the next ten years anyway.

Google's HQ in Seattle, WA

My first trip to Seattle has been fun so far… although getting here wasn’t the easiest thing in the world…

I missed my first flight out of Dallas, pushing my arrival time from 2:51pm WA time to 10:30pm.  Ouch!

But, now that I’ve arrived I’ve fallen in love.  This city just exudes energy.  Sitting in a coffee shop near Google’s Seattle HQ, I’ve heard 4 pitches to potential investors over one cup of coffee.  I’m staying on the south side of the harbor and I decided to walk the 4 miles to Google this morning.  It was one of the most refreshing experiences I’ve had in a long time… Everyone here is biking or walking to work… the scene reminds me of a hipper, more urban Boulder with a little New England flair.

I’m planning on looking for a house boat on the way back to my hotel…

Between taking care of my now neutered puppy and having to deal with all of the pipes bursting in my house, updates have been less frequent than usual.  So - here’s a quick update on what’s going on in my world:

• Figaro Interactive is now a contributing member in the Apache Foundation - thanks to a project full of geocoding Brit threw together a CouchDB script for storing Google Geocoded JSON data and it is now included in the CouchDB wiki
• Brit’s also posted a nice review of Mint.com - a financial service that he got me into that’s really helping stretch out the paychecks (and help save up for that vacation to Greece next year)
• Figaro will be going to Seattle for the Google Hackathon and Penny Arcade Expo - first time for me to spend any time in Seattle - looking forward to the rain and the coffee.  Hit us up if you’re going to be there… we really want to meet some App Engine developers.  Also - App Engine docs for download - gotta love it.
• Watched my hero, Brett Favre, play his first preseason game as a Jet… looked young and decisive.  Really hate to see him in green and white but it’s better than purple and yellow.
• While couped up with the puppy I’ve been watching a lot of (bad) TV… interesting facts:

1. The former lead singer of Presidents on the United States of America is now an adult film composer - didn’t even think they used composers in porn movies… shows how many I’ve watched (can’t find his alt name for a link… but he said so on VH1’s 100 Best Songs of the ’90’s so it must be true).
2. Krist Novoselic (former Nirvana bassist) is now a politician - an interesting move for a former grunge rocker
3. Bobbly Flay never wins throw downs… is it rigged or does he just suck?  Guess you can’t really go to someone else turf and tell them that they aren’t that great and still get them to sign a release.
4. Way to go Michael Phelps - although it’s ridicuolous how meaningless world records feel this year… I think all of the atheletes should go back to swimming trucks and mustaches.