Patience and Manners in the Communications Revolution

As I felt my blood pressure rise and even escalate to internal anger as I was forced to wait four minutes for the elevator this morning (apparently one was out of order), I wonder what the hell are the Internet, Wall Street, my career and my life doing to me?

I find I can hardly call anyone any more, because I hate waiting for them to answer. And even worse is waiting for the voicemail greeting to finish. That usually takes a good 7 seconds out of my life.

And if the person I'm calling uses Sprint? I'm either happy if I know that fact beforehand so I can just hit "1" and get right to the voice mail box. But I usually don't listen to the message so if I don't realize it's a Sprint receiver beforehand I end up waiting forever more to leave that message. Wait, who's that rapping, rapping at my door? Anyway, what the hell is Sprint thinking in making us wait that extra three seconds between when the greeting ends and the voicemail beeps?

Heck, you want some irony of my impatience? I couldn't even finish "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell because I thought the beginning was unrigorous and I didn't have the patience to keep reading.

So I'm now, I guess, running on Internet time. Real time. Just in time. No time.

Face to face meeting? Takes too long to get to.

Phone call? See above...that ringing's a bitch.

Email? Nah, man, that's not fast enough.

Instant message? It's okay, but you still have to type it. And dammit if the window doesn't blink and you miss the ping entirely.

Cell phone text message? At least I have a qwerty keyboard on my phone (let's face it, I'd never be able to sit and tap the 3 button 3x to get to F when I talk trash to my buds...), but it STILL takes too long to get those thoughts out.

There are exceptions to hating the wait for voicemail, I suppose. For example, I love it when someone puts a crazy greeting, such as my friend Cammy, who changes hers often and is totally random on what she says, darnitall, I'll have to remember the most recent one and come back to post it...I suppose I could call and if she picked up I could just tell her I wanted to quote her greeting, but wouldn't that be a strange thing to say? Which leads me to my next point...

You know what else kills? Protocol, manners, etc.

I mean, what's standard way to greet someone on a text message anyway? And on IM? And who decided what "good manners" are in these venues? Is there an Emily Post of the communications revolution? Maybe I should fill that void?

And you know what else, while I'm on the manners topic? Even though my mom actually used to read Emily Post to us after dinner on Wednesday nights for about a year when I was a kid (and so much of it did stick in my head), I still don't know how to eat, say, pate. We don't have that stuff in New Mexico! Reminds me of when I was so embarrassed for trying to buy John Rutledge a glass of wine at Union League Club the first time I met him (he was so gracious, but that's another story).

Anyway, patience, anyone? It's a virtue, right? Certainly manners are virtuous? Right? Right?! Tell me now dammit!

The Revolution Revolves

The revolution strikes again: check out this clip of my appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box this morning.

Booked for Squawkbox Tomorrow

I'd said we'd get 'em next time, and here we are. I'm booked for Squawkbox on CNBC tomorrow morning at 6AM.

We're ALL Enabling People With Autism to Live Fuller Lives

Thanks to "Adam" for posting this link to one of the comment sections of my blog.

Autistic basketball player creates mayhem at game

It will give you the chills and probably make you cry. And again, people, do you frickin realize the time and place we live in that enables such wondrous events to happen?!

Losing My Marbles, or, Relatively Cold

As I hit fifth grade as a child, I'd learned that I needed to factor in at least one good whipping per year for my jacket-losing problem. As an adult, I've learned I need to factor in at least a good 5% of my clothes budget (not that I put together any formal budget for my personal finances) for my item-losing problem. Same goes for electronics too.

I remember losing a soccer ball in first grade. My Raiders jacket in fourth grade. My ugly ski jacket in sixth grade. My Levi's jacket in 7th...and 8th grade. There's a lot more where those come from too.

I recall, when I was like five years old, interrupting my mom and some of her friends who were chatting over coffee in the living room, because "I'd lost my marbles." Literally. I'd somehow left them beneath the couch. Took me a few years before I understood why they thought that my losing my marbles was so damn funny.

This winter, as I was just reminded as I glovelessly, stocking-cap-lessly trudged through the bitter cold to Starbucks this morning, I've lost two scarves, one pair of black leather gloves, and two stocking caps (I'd bought one from Bluefly.com and got so many compliments on it, I ordered a back up, figuring I'd lose the first one eventually. Lost 'em both days later.)

I wish I could remember stuff like that better. I do try. Hard. Something I need to work on.

Anyway, the point of this post is actually just to remind all us freezing New Yorkers, that, as this site highlights, cold is a relative thing.

NMF: The Cody Show Revisited

This week's New Music Friday is the four most popular tracks from The Cody Show, as based on number of downloads. A 'best of' if you will.

Castles Burning -- The Cody Show (my "band"'s cover of Neil's beautiful song, "Don't Let It Bring You Down"...my take is, uh, well, different, as these folks will attest.)

After The Gold Rush Peace C -- The Cody Show (see above...I consider Neil's songs to be beautiful music. Not sure you can say the same thing about anything I've ever played....though I do give it everything I've got...)

Think of You (ToY) -- The Cody Show

Trouble's My Friend -- The Cody Show

Whisper To Me -- The Cody Show

Two Cents Worth (Extended Intro) -- The Cody Show


Maybe I'll come back and type some more self-introspective (hmm, redundantly repetitive?) stuff about how I hate my voice and about how I wrote "Two Cents Worth" and "Think of You" (it's about 9/11....have a music video we did that I'll publish soon about that too....) in a lower key than I played it in, and then I played them backwards at a 20% faster beat than I wrote it in, and then I slowed the guitars down and ran them in reverse to end up in the right key with the chords in the right order at the right beat.

But I'm just beat after a week of days sorta like this: (you can watch this clip or read this column). Peace.

A Quote to Inspire

My friend, Leah, daughter of one of the most important influences in my life, Blaine Miller, just sent me this quote and I just love it:

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

As the current slogan on my blog says, "Dream big, man, dream big."

The Content Revolution, or, It's Not Really Just About the Porn

Wrote this on Realmoney.com today:

For five years, I've been writing about the content revolution and how the the whole world is undergoing unfathomable changes because we are reaching new levels of information flow. Here's a real world example from Knowledge at Wharton of how the digitization of all the world's content and data is impacting society and the economy:

"Regardless of what happens with RIM and NTP, patent disputes won't be going away any time soon, says Thomas Y. Lee, Wharton operations and information management professor. The biggest reason: "Our system is based on 'first to invent' instead of 'first to file,' and in information technology that can be problematic." Another reason for more disputes: It's easy to scan patents and find potential conflicts, Lee adds. "If you went back in history, the patent system hasn't changed. What has changed is the fact that you can now do electronic searches. The data was always out there, but now you can sift through it. That changes the dynamics."

Dynamics, economics, politics...you can put just about any latin morphograph in front of "ics" and know that the digital age has changed it forever. For the better, because more information, more data, from more sources, from more places is always better than less. Ask the people in China is they prefer to have more access to the Internet or less. Ask someone from the Middle Ages what it was like before the printing press.
The revolution is upon us. And there's going to be lots of disruption and lots of profits and lots of losses as it plays out over the next couple decades.


Then I came across this somewhat humorous video ...and I just want to reiterate: The Content Revolution is MUCH bigger than just accessing pornography on the Net. Though, let's keep it real, right? Yes, access to porn is certainly a PART of it.

Flipping and Fighting the Injurious UN

Knowing what you know about my views of how the UN is one of the most baneful entities in the history of the planet, can you imagine how I got on the email distribution list from this also baneful entity, UNA-USA. Here's the email:

Dear CODY,

Over the course of the past year, the United Nations has taken a number of significant steps to strengthen the organization - measures that, unfortunately, have received little US media coverage. Meanwhile, in the aftermath of the UN Oil-for-Food Program controversy, cases of sexual abuse by UN peacekeeping personnel, and criticism of the Human Rights Commission, Congress will be expecting quick results this year on UN reform. As it considers key decisions concerning US funding of the United Nations, it is important that Congress hears about the progress made thus far on UN reform.

A strong and effective United Nations enables the United States to work cooperatively with international partners to deal with global problems that no single country can resolve on its own. Although there are important reform proposals that have yet to be finalized, Congress should be made aware that substantial progress has been made, and that the United States will need to demonstrate active and responsible leadership if the current historic opportunity to renew the United Nations is to be fully realized.

Please take a moment to inform your members of Congress about the important reforms already implemented by the United Nations by visiting www.PleaseIgnoreAllTheEndlessStarvationInEveryCountryTheUNHasEverGoneInto.com.


I have a slightly better idea than writing our idiot sold-out cronyized politicians from the damnable Democratic and equally damnable Republican parties and telling them about how we're proud of some non-existent reforms that the wrongly-premised UN wants to pretend matters:

Let's all write our politicians and tell them to please, asap, shut down this baneful entity and free the world from its unpurposely hurtful effects. Let's get what end up too often being socialist, destructive, over-paid cronies from the UN out of Palestine, out of South America, out of Africa and out of prosperity and health's way. And let's work on putting in self-sustaining, virtuous systems full of protection of individual property and life.

And, yes, of course, I'm serious. Dead serious. No, wait, lemme rephrase.

I'm ALIVE in the most amazing city in the most amazing country in the most amazing time to be alive. Instead of all of these fruitless (literally and figuratively) UN programs that haven't done a goddamn thing to alleviate hunger and squalid poverty in any of the countries they've purportedly tried to help, we should be pouring those monies and efforts into creating self-sustaining businesses and infrastructures. And that means we need to stop these self-dealing, self-enriching crony bureaucrats that is what unforunately what collectively make up the UN.

And maybe in 20 or 50 or 100 years people in those places we get the UN out of might have a chance to be alive in such a wondrous place and time too.

Okay, Cody, breathe.

Video Revolution Keeps Revolving

You can catch my broadcast on oil and the market in true on-demand form at TheStreet.com by clicking here.

The Goolympics Torch is Lit

No Ali sightings, but the great Google debate has begun at FT.com.


Click here to see Stephen Schurr, Henry Blodget, Jeff Matthews and I go at it.

No log rolling, but I have to say, that's some pretty thrilling company that I'm honored to be involved with.

Stupidly Smart or Smartly Stupid?

This one's so obvious, I hesitate to write it...but anyway...

The irony of "smartwater"?


Yes, we're all pretty stupid to even let such a thing be marketed to us. Sigh.

Convincingly Tongue In Cheek

The current slogan beneath "The Cody Blog" is:

"Seems, madam? Nay, it is. I know not 'seems'." Hamlet, 1.2.76

My post below, while tongue in cheek in one way, starts with a rather serious "I'm convinced..."

Anyone else notice the irony?

G-Tips

I'm convinced that Q-tips are like gremlins in that they multiply when wet.

NYTimes: Urban Cowboy

How about the New York Times doing a full feature on my hometown, Ruidoso, NM!!!

Makes me feel so homesick though.


They even compiled this page of Rumordoso (a phrase my brother coined long ago) facts.

NMF: Shuffle Play

I've just been on the road so dang much and out of the office at meetings even when I've been around that I've just not been able to jam to much new music the last couple weeks. I've got a stack of new music CDs that have been sent to me and several iTunes album email suggestions, none of which I've listened to yet.

So today I'm doing a throwback to the original NMFs in which I used to simply highlight a handful of songs that come up on my iTunes shuffle mode.


Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk -- Rufus Wainwright
Makes me think of that movie from Jim Jaramusch called "Coffees and Cigarettes". I found this song on David Byrne's net radio station (part of the dot revolution, of course...push doesn't die, it just becames much less important than pull...). Rufus has a sweet, gentle sound, and this is a pretty song. Good song to throw out in the middle of a party to shake things up.

Between the Bars -- Elliott Smith
Another pretty, introspective diddy from this cool cat. We're downloading a bunch of cover songs from Elliot of www.elliottsmith.com right now that we just found. Will review them later too.


La Grange -- Phish
About the tenth song I ever learned on guitar. And Phish does it damn well. Though nobody can touch ZZ Top's original.

Tiny Dancer -- Ben Folds
Man, does he do a great cover of this song, or what. "Jesus fre-eaks, out in the streets, handing tickets out for God!" Always loved that line. Hmm, that makes me think of another song, that I haven't downloaded off iTunes (and won't), but I'll highlight it anyway...


Wooden Jesus -- Temple of the Dog
"Can I be saved? Spent all my money on a future grave!"

Raisans -- Dinosaur Jr.
DJ is one of my biggest influences, musically speaking. I remember I was so excited to see them in concert the first time. They were so ridiculously loud, I had to leave the club. And I even had earplugs in. And I don't mind really loud music. Rock stars indeed.

Til next time. Rock on!

PS. Here's the homepage for the great FT Google debate.

CW in FT: Let the Goolympics Begin

Steve Schurr, ace from the Financial Times and friend of mine, and I are going to debate Google on FT.com next week. I'll let you guess whether I'm the bull or the bear ;).

Anyway, if you want us to tackle a question you have on Google, especially as it pertains to the stock and/or the company's long term strategies/positioning, you can email ask@ft.com.

You can email anytime from now til Tuesday at 9am (the site goes live at 8am though), at which point: Let the games begin!

Radio Appearance Today

I'll be joining Aaron Task once again on RealMoney Radio today around 2pm EST. The show is syndicated around the US. You can also listen to it online by clicking here.

Closed Bell

Funny, I had a hunch that this appearance wouldn't hit. Thus my wording yesterday that "I'm booked for..."

Anyway, it's all Bernanke all the time today, so my spot got bumped.

We'll get 'em next time ;).

PS. Scheduled (again with the phrasing) to make it to TSC headquarters next week to film at least two video segments. Let you know when they come out.

Booked for Closing Bell Tomorrow

Just a heads up, I'm booked for CNBC's Closing Bell sometime between 3pm and 4pm EST tomorrow.

Blessed Rings

“I had my cell phone ring changed to a loud sneeze. That way, not only do I not offend those around me, they actually bless me whenever anyone calls.” -- Jerry L. Embry

Or if you're around Jerry, George, etc....someone will tell you that "You are soooo good-looking"!

Special Interest Taxes

From the Institutional Investor:

Hedge Funds Among The Tumbleweed Source: InstitutionalInvestor.com

New Mexico doesn't currently come to mind as a hedge fund hub, but that may change. The state Senate has unanimously passed a bill that would eliminate the gross-receipts tax imposed on wholesale broker transactions and management fees used to operate a fund. And this could be a big deal, as the tax rate ranges from 5.125% to 7.8125%., depending on the county and municipality. Sponsored by state Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort (R-Albuquerque) the bill – part of a tax-reduction plan proposed by Gov. Bill Richardson – is intended to attract hedge funds and mutual fund firms to the state. Despite its unanimous approval, however, another Republican from Albuquerque, Sen. William Payne, opposed the bill, recommending an overhaul of the entire tax code rather than "special interest exceptions" that don't benefit the average New Mexican.


Put simply, kudos to William Payne for trying to do what's right. Then again, since it was unanimous, does that me said Mr. Payne voted for it despite his opposition to it? Regardless, shame on the rest of you silly, sold out New Mexican politicians.

CW in FT: Taking a bite out of the digital revolution

"In a fit of epiphany over the last year or so, Wall Street has really gotten religion on what I call the “content revolution”. Turning all the world’s content into bits and bytes is about as big a revolution as this planet has entered into..."

Click here for full column.

On Deification

I remember in 3rd grade going home in disbelief that my teacher had self-esteem issues. "Surely, Mom, by the time you grow up, a person's learned to deal with other people."

She laughed gently and told me that self-estem is never easily attained.

But we all deify. And that's what I'd been doing to adults. I did it to KISS for a long time. And the concept of rock stardom. For a while, I think I did to sports. And later still to big business. And the media.

But it's all desperation in the end. And we all know it.

Wonder what I deify these days.

Nothing's a Waste of Time

As if we could kill time without injuring eternity! -- Thoreau

One of the most important lessons in life that I keep learning and relearning at each stage of my life is that nothing you ever do at work or to learn (learning about learning....love the layers...) is a waste of time. How many times do I use my skills of hooking up a horse trailer? How often do I utilize the tricks of jamming a post hole digger under a stone to jar it free?

Pretty safe to say never. At least literally. But those skills, those lessons -- they're still in me. They round out who I am in some sense. Certainly, those experiences help build the foundation of my character, whatever it may be.

And those lessons of working through the exhaustion. Getting up the next morning and dealing with the soreness. Turning those blisters into callouses over time. And eventually, hopefully some level of competency or even expertise develops. Invaluable.

It sounds funny, but to this day, I love mowing yards. The first business I ever launched was a partnership with my friend Robert called "Ro's and Mo's Lawn Mowing Service". The business ended when I shattered my ankle into 6 pieces in a pick up game....I'd been obessing over learning to dunk all summer and spent hours upon hours a day dunking on ever higher baskets...played through a few days' worth of "growing pains" or so I thought...turned out those growing pains were a break in the growth plate....shoulda, coulda, woulda listened to what my body was telling me...but I digress...

There's something primal and satisfying about the way the yard morphs in whatever pattern you designate until the whole thing delivers a beautiful finished product. You know what I'm talking about.

Plastic Insides

So, it's fun. Hanging out at a beautiful hotel and being catered to, and running around LA and meeting people, networking, learning, thinking, pushing.

But, it's then again, it's just what it is.

So much plastic. So much emptiness (I love the paradox of that phrase). So much facade.

And thus I found myself not pushing it last night. Even got some rest last night. Because I was tired and burning out of the moment. It is what it is.

Rise Against the Machine

You can't formulize art. You can't package creativity. And that's the problem with Hollywood. Hollywood is all about the machine, the process, the formula.

That's why we all know that pop music, pop shows, pop everything sucks in the end. Because you can't formulize art. It's the same reason we rail against Wall Street. Because you can't formulize business. Oh sure, they "teach" you business and stuff at college. Just like they "teach" you music and art and stuff at college. But "art" and "business" are revolutionary by nature and therefore can't be taught at all.

Once you allow formulas and machinations to dictate movement, you lose that soul. You lose control. Control.

Because in the end, it's all about individuals. Really. It's a single person who really creates, moves, initiates, touches, feels, acts, plays, cuddles, fights, talks, thinks. Thinks. There is no collective soul. There is no mass audience. In the end, it's those you feel, you touch, you love. Friends. Family. Eating together. Laughing in the same room together.

I've seen the shape and depths of these landscapes for years. And I learn to see it from eye level.

Families and friends are real. The rest is a McGuffin.

Rage, nay, rise against the machine. Bring on the revolution.

Enjoy the Moment!

Anger? You tell me. All I know is that my recent posts about having some FUN in my life has elicited all kinds of passionate feedback. I have long time readers/emailers telling me that "using a Cody-line, they're done" with me. I know I've upset some physical-world because of the storytelling of my escapades in Utah below.

I don't get it.

Am I supposed to be defending my actions here?

Somebody remind me again what it is I'm defending. Working, networking, learning? (I have a column on TheStreet.com about what I got out of Sundance work-wise, btw.) Having some fun in Utah? Skiing for two days? Partying/networking with people until 5am?


And now I'm at the Grammy's. And I really am pinching myself, having such a great time. I mean, I pulled into the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills last night, and I'm just so stuck in the moment. Isn't this why we work so hard? Isn't this why we take the risks and perservere through horrible times? Isn't this why I haven't missed a day that the market's been open in more than three years?

Isn't this a moment I SHOULD BE ENJOYING?!

Well, dammit, I am enjoying it (irony noted). This is a dream, people, and if you want to stick around and have some fun with me while I live this phase out, great. If you only want to read my deepest, darkest depressions, heartbreaks, and painful phases --- well, that's just not gonna happen right now. Because I know those times will come again, and perhaps any minute. And when they do, I'll bleed on these pages again.

In the meantime, I'm embracing that ol' saw of enjoying while I can. Smelling some roses. Literally, because they put rose pedals in my room here. Hoohah, indeed.

Fear and Loathing at Sundance

One of the very first blog posts I ever wrote was about Hunter S Thompson and Gonzo journalism. I was flattered and jazzed that my agent reviewed this write up as "Fear and Loathing at Sundance". I struggled with what to call this piece...but what the heck.

Getting There
“Cody, you just gotta meet us at Sundance….and the Grammy’s this year – no excuses,” so said a couple buddies of mine after I introduced them over a round of beers at the oldest bar in the US.

Now, I'm from a ski resort town in NM and I do love to ski. But I'm sorta working on overdrive lately with a lot of stuff in the works, along with all the daily writing, a little rock and roll, some tennis, and I once heard about something called a “personal life”. Not to mention that little day job of running a fund which dominates all aspects of my life and all nooks of my mind. Anyway, I pretty much didn't think I'd make it to Sundance. But the fact is that I had quite a few contacts from a couple little ol' companies that I'm invested in that you've probably read me or heard me talking about for the last couple years while they've all but taken over the world.


Dancing in the Sun

So in a last minute frenzy last Thursday, my assistant found me a round trip ticket to Salt Lake, and I headed out on an 8pm flight, arriving to my buddy’s condo at the bottom of Park City Ski Resort at about 2am or so. Up early the next morning for premarket earnings conference calls (hey, like my gramps used to say, no rest for the wicked), and a day of trading from the room. By 3pm Utah time, I’m sitting in the Echols 1300 seat theatre watching the funniest movie I’ve seen in a very long time, “Little Miss Sunshine”. The movie, starring Steve Carell and one of my favorite actors of all time, Alan Arkin (from Catch 22, of course) was reportedly made for $2 million, bought for $10 million. I think it’ll do at least $60 million or so at the domestic box office. I love success stories!

We hit a re-release of one of James Altucher’s favorite movies, “Paris, Texas” at the Pharaoh Theatre next, and though I’ve always thought there’s about 40 minutes of excess footage in that movie, the Godard-esque touch up of the movie is simply a piece of visual art.

That is the last movie I see at Sundance. So we go and meet up with a good friend from a music magazine and have a fantastic filet mignon at a great restaurant. After being told you can’t order a whole bottle of port in Utah by the waitress (we were just kidding her, anyway!) we headed out to a packed dive bar across Main Street. Carrying around these swimming pool-sized beer mugs, my buddies end up spending way too much time and money on a hunting video game in the back. I am trying to carry on a conversation with a 21-year old Goth girl and a 30ish glamour woman from Miami. "Trying" being the operative word, because I can’t keep who said what straight at that point, and finally about 3am, my buddies and I catch a cab and head back to the resort.


Ski by the Sword
Up the next morning at 7am, I work for a while on emails and then my buddies get up and decide they want to watch more movies. I want to hit the slopes, so I throw on my Levi’s, my new ski coat, and walk out the fifty yards to the rental shop at the base of the slopes and am on the chairlift 20 minutes later.

The skiing conditions were great, but not amazing, as there hadn’t been much fresh snow the last few days. Six hours of great skiing later, in which I didn’t break a bone for the 25th time in my life, and I’m chilling with my buds in the outdoor jacuzzi as the snow is coming down hard on top of our heads.


A Night of Whirlwind
A cab to the Sundance awards ceremony, and they’re handing us glasses of champagne as movie stars like Terrence Howard hand out awards to movies like Quinceanera. Afterward we meet up with some of the people running Sundance, and head into the after-awards party. I meet so many interesting people from all facets of the entertainment industry, and we talk about what I call the “content revolution”, about their strategies for that revolution, and whether or not I was single and available to meet a pretty lead singer in an up and coming band.

My agent at CAA has hooked me up with passes to Counting Crows, and we walk right by the lines and head into the concert. (If you’re wondering whether or not I’m pinching myself out of disbelief that this small-town cowboy from New Mexico is living this life, you’d be dead right…)

The concert’s packed, but not uncomfortably so. I see the Miami woman walk by holding hands with a man who’s clearly her boyfriend and I give her a subtle wink of acknowledgment. Next to me is a pretty woman who totally reminds me of an ex is dancing next to me, keeps grinding closer and at one point grabs my hand and snuggles into me. A few minutes later, I excuse myself to go to the bathroom, and when I come back out --- she’s kissing some dude on the floor! I chuckle to myself at the symbolism of the moment and my buddy and I finish up a great Counting Crows concert.

In a cab to a private party that the Sundance party people are throwing, and we end up at the wrong hotel. But that works out well, because we invite two pretty young women that we meet in the hallway to the party which we find out is across the street. They accompany us, and the snow is coming down hard. A few hours of mingling and talking revolution later, and my buddy has disappeared and I walk the two women back to their place. It’s now nearly 5am, and the concierge at the hotel can’t get me a cab to get back to my condo. So I call the women we just met, and they’re like, just come here. They’ve crashed in one double bed and I crash in the other.


Day of Thunder
Up two hours later and I’m off to the slopes to enjoy the two feet of fresh powder that nature has blessed us with. I end up accidentally traversing into a remote area and find virgin territory, and I take off down the mountain. A hundred yards or so down the hill and I lose control, flying head down, and wince as I am about to slam into the ground. Number 25, here I come! Ah, but it’s like 8’ of powder that I land in, and the worst problem I have is digging myself out to the surface. Well, that, and I should have worn something besides Levi’s.

Early afternoon, and I’m saying goodbye to my buddy. My last minute scramble had resulted in me being on the 11:15pm flight arriving in NYC at 5:30am Monday morning, so I’ve got time to kill, and I go back to the jacuzzi. And steam room. And sauna. And get a massage in front of a fireplace. And I’m still pinching myself – Surely this is all just a dream!

Waiting for the shuttle to the airport, I strike up a conversation with the lady from the front desk, whom I’d earlier taken my own Godard-inspired picture of as she smoked a cigarette. She mentions that she has to raise her one and three year olds by herself and I ask why. Her husband had died. And the perspective of the weekend I’d been having comes crashing full onto me, and I struggle not to cry as I hug her goodbye and get into my shuttle.


On the shuttle, a beautiful woman teases me for looking so ragged (man, I was beat!). She's a quasi-Wall Streeter, a classical musician who wants to become a full-time actress....and she’s on the same flight with me. My name comes out, and someone googles me, and now they're jazzed about Jim Cramer, and everyone in the shuttle wants to talk. We get to the airport, and I help her carry what seemed like seven 300-lb bags to the check in, where they told her she’d exceeded the limit. “Oh” I say, “some will come with me.”

Pedal to the metal, people. And I’ll tell you what: I’m still pinching myself. Yup, I’m awake!

Let you know how the Grammy’s go.

Out of Breathe Emotionally, Physically, Spiritually

I must say I rather miss the old Cody and your old writings. You used to write so beautifully about your personal memories, feelings, even provocative issues (I know I disagreed on some, but what the heck). I think your last good post was about your grandma. Since then, I regret to say that I don't see much of that Cody anymore. Seems like he got swallowed in the GOOGsphere and got replaced by the GOOGbot!!! ;-) SNAP OUT OF IT kiddo!!!

That's the provocative close to an email from a...well, what do we call these "friends" of ours whom we meet and grow to care about on the Internet. I have lots of "cyber-friends", and in many ways we're closer than my real-world friends. I knew when my "friend", D must have been going through something hard, simply by his tone and phrase-ology on IM. So I asked him about it, and indeed there was personal turmoil. We chatted often about it -- all via IM. And I have real-world friends I don't see or talk to often enough to even know them that well anymore. So this email is from, "M", as she's requested I call her and she fits in into that category of...well, whatever, this is why the need for cateragorization is so detracting...and just how far have I now digressed?

Anyway, that email got me thinking about a post I'd started back last summer when I'd been having a rough go of things in the personal life, and I was writing a lot about my personal reflections (and I'm still shocked and hurt over those hateful, threatening anonymous posts from then --- sigh) . I'd been noticing that my writings both here and on other venues weren't laced with nearly as much humor as they usually are. Not very hard to figure out why of course, I'd just found it fascinating how even in my Wall Street- centric posts my humor had faded.

Lately, my posts are dominated by quick "content-revolution" references that are almost out of breathe in their brevity. My editor called me yesterday and asked me, "Can you tell me when exactly it was that you decided you no longer needed subjects in your sentences?"

And I had to laugh in agreement, because I'd noticed I'd started doing that lately. Like this. Breaking the cadence. Of the writing. You follow? Like this.

And see all of this is itself reflective of my state of mind. Writing by nature always will be. I'm simply out of breathe emotionally, physically, spiritually, and trying to catch it. I'm having a time of my life (and did I mention I'm heading to the Grammy's this week???), but it's also completely exhausting. Regardless, I'll confront my ghosts as they come, whether I like it or not.

Whether I like it or not. Did it again. See?

Ex-iPod Nation

New York Times: Good Luck With That Broken iPod
By JOE NOCERA
By refusing to deal with broken iPods, why is Apple so willing to tick off people who spend thousands of dollars on their products?


Oh, wow. The Apple BACKLASH has begun. And...he is SO right about so much in the article. Oh, my.

NMF: Love Arcade

No links to iTunes for this week's "New Music Friday" post. Rather, I'm featuring a band that's so new, it's not yet on iTunes. Ah, but it is on myspace.com of course.

The band? All right, all right, already.

Love Arcade is the band, a five member outfit.


I hear colors of Duran Duran, Matthew Sweet, and the Killers on their thus far biggest "hit" called "Keep It Comin'". It's a groovey uptempo jam with a synthesized layer that reaches down, picks your eardrums up out of your head and sets them on a roller coaster that ticks ever higher.

"Can't Stop" is a smooth song which owes its essence to Blondie. They should just call it "Ode to Blondie".

"Sara" is a 80s-esque love song, that actually reminds me of a great jam from a middle of the road hair band jam, the title of which shares the title of one of Love Arcade's other songs, "Sweet Thing". Give you one more hint to the hair band...they collaborated with Billy Corgan on a couple songs a few years ago....you have to guess it though, I'm not gonna give it to you.

I've had a demo of six songs that Love Arcade's agent sent to me on my playlist for the last few weeks. Love Arcade has a sweet sound that will likely result in some mainstream success sooner rather than later. I do think the band sounds like they're holding just a little something back, and they need to overcome that if they really want to take it to the next level.

Bleed for us. Rip your insides out, and show us what you're really made of. Push it. Flip it. Be a rock star.

They're so close.

When those roller coaster layers turn from taking us to the top to plunging and slamming and we feel our stomachs in our throats...then we'll know that Love Arcade has arrived. Their destiny is up to them.

Video Revolution: The Long View on Google

You can check out my latest video for TheStreet.com by clicking here.

I talk about Google, rock stars and dancing in the sun. Even pull out a prop at the end again...hoohah!

Talking Stock on the Radio

Had a lot of fun with Aaron Task on the radio today. Talked about that tiny little company you might have heard of...Google. Also, took listener calls on all kinds of stocks.

You can listen to the radio segment here.

Rock the house.



Update: My appearance starts at about the 10 minute mark on that clip. And you can read a summary by clicking here.

Bob Books The Cody Show ;)

The buzz around that band, The Cody Show, continues???

Still so jazzed about some of the reviews from this page. Seriously..."the worst ever"! That so rocks!

Heading out to record the radio show. I'm getting inundated with requests for to write more about Sundance --- I promise, it's a'coming. Might be a late night writing for me, but I'll get more up here.

Cody on Google in the Hollywood Reporter

Surging Q4 not enough for Google

by Paul Bond

..."Stepping back from the free-for-all pile-on with the stock down huge because the results weren't good enough, it was yet another amazing quarter of huge growth for this, the fastest-growing company in the history of the planet," said Cody Willard, a hedge fund manager specializing in technology investments. "I plan to hold my Google, which I've owned since the day it went public, regardless of what the stock does tomorrow." ...

Sigh.