Just another day-in-the-life!

A year! Almost exactly one year since I last scribed words to this blog. I'm a disgrace, at least by Web 2.0 standards. Forgive me oh web gods for I have forsaken you... and so... on with the punishment...

Well, I guess I've been a little busy. Much too much to do in my little private Idaho! Let's see, got divorced (don't worry, it's all good!), sold one business, split another in two and cooked up plans to start a few more in the next year. Still rasing three kids with one off to college in Manhattan. Did some serious sailing, skiing and fishing this year but the photography and guitar playing lost out. I'm trying to get my fingers back in shape by Christmas.

Children continue to excel, excite and amaze me. It's way more fun as they move into adulthood and actually really challenge some of my fatherly missives.... Hey, I look a good argument as much as the next guy, but what a blast when it comes from your own.

Did I mention dating is a little strange when you get in your fifties? I'm having fun but it's not the same as it was in your twenties... I guess I didn't expect it to be, just never "got it" until now. In your twenties, there were never concerns about dating someone twenty years younger, because that would have made them infants. Slightly more problematic in your fifties… living and learning as they say.

Business... Now that's been an interesting topic this year. Time for change and for those that know me, I've never been fearful of that. The biggest problem is changing business in ways that keep it profitable. I made a wholesale resolution to transform my business interests into the Web 2.0 sphere, as much as possible. That meant selling off some interests to make way for new directions. After reading Wikinomics, I can't help but feel our future as business leaders lies more and more in the hands of a collaborative universe. Seeking coopetition instead of competition takes a little more energy to embrace. I have little doubt that it will succeed, it just takes a different perspective and willingness to innovate to make it happen.

Fathom IT, which most people connect me with, is now a Software as a Service vendor. That means we make applications available online for specific business processes that customers rent on a monthly basis. I like to think of it as a continual customer connection now, instead of the usual; once-in-a-while transaction. So, if you know any of my past competitors, or you yourself have invented a unique software application, I'd like to speak to you about purchasing or licensing your intellectual property.

Politics... Hopeful that 2008 is the year of the Dem's and as my last blog noted, Barack Obama, even if a distant second has certainly changed the nature of this campaign so far. His accomplishments in the online world have challenged all the other campaigns to reinvent themselves. Even if not successful, his efforts continually paint a transformed electorate, getting most of their knowledge from the Web space instead of traditional MSM. Now if we can only find a quiet retirement job for Bush, Cheney, et al....

Blogging… Great to see that Jill Miller Zimon stuck to her principals and broke from the Pee Dee and their stuck-in-a-rut-attempt to transform. Too bad they don’t get it; they probably never will. Leadership and innovation are the hardest to change at old-world industries where the fear of losing power overwhelms all decision making. Guess the new guy is the same as the old guy, heh?

I promise no more one year breaks from my blogging duties!