He’s been around the block; helped found companies, worked for Apple, and most recently starting an international movement called Appsterdam. He’s spoken at more events than I can count, thankfully that includes my events. Of all the speakers I’ve worked with, Mike raises the bar. He preps like no one’s business, and puts his heart and soul into the presentation. And he doesn’t repeat and recycle his talks. Each is a unique work that he puts a lot of energy into.

But this isn’t about Mike as a presenter. It’s about Mike as a super smart guy. A while back Mike did a thing where he announced he was charging $1,000/hour for consulting. That’s a steep price tag, but when you consider that it’s not just an hour of slinging code, though it could be if you wanted. It’s an hour of Mike’s time. Having been the recipient of an hour or two of Mike’s time I can tell you, it’s worth $1,000 easy. Thankfully he hasn’t sent me the bill yet :)

Mike doesn’t hold back or sugar coat things, or tell you what you want to hear. He tells you the truth, but it’s couched in an honest desire to help you. I’m making changes to the way I do conferences because of Mike’s input. Spoken honestly and intended to make my events better. It’s eye opening when you hear stuff that makes you realize you’re doing it wrong or going down a bad path.

On the smart people thing, Tom has started something new. Tom and Mike are really similar in that they want to help others. It’s not ego, it’s giving back, and helping people. Tom and I have talked a lot about this and I’m, glad he’s giving this a try. One of our shelved business ideas was antiMBA. A business consulting service aimed at offering real world practical advice.. you know counter to what most MBAs dish out. We’d seen businesses we worked for and businesses we liked do truly stupid things, that had they asked someone who had some common sense and real world experience they wouldn’t have done.

Tom excels at solving problems. We’ve written code together and he’s a great coder, but his strength is solving problems. Lots of people can code, few can solve problems. Tom decided that maybe his business should be just that, solving problems. I think it’s a good move.

Whether you’re starting a business, or just trying to solve a problem in your existing business, Mike and Tom are two people you should talk to. The money you spend getting their feedback will be money well spent, and likely to save you far more money in the short and long term. During 360|MacDev I got to watch Mike be Mike and it reminded me (I didn’t need to be reminded, but still) how awesome he is. The night before the conference a bunch of folks gathered in the hotel bar. I had only met one or two of them at 360|iDev or MacDev in the past, most were new to the conference. Mike came and hung out and while having my own conversations I watched Mike. He engaged folks, met new people and really made them feel a part of the community and the conference. He wasn’t holed up in his room or out with the A-List crowd or anything like that. He was talking to attendees and sharing a good time. Tom is much the same. When we started 360|Conferences and started holding evening receptions, he made it his job to work the room, find the person in the corner and go talk to them. He’d learn about that person, and then walk them over to a group he knew they’d click with based on that short conversation. Then he’d bow out and do it again, and again. Introducing people to each other, ensuring that no attendee ever felt that like they were alone at the conferences. I try to follow his example still, and it’s not always easy, but the feeling you get is incredible.

Mike and Tom are two people I count on tremendously. I’m not normally a decision by committee person, but when I don’t feel able to make a decision myself I’m glad I have awesome, crazy smart and insightful people to ask. Oh and Mike and Tom aren’t the only smart people in my arsenal of brains, but they’re the two who have things that you can pay them for.

Oh and some companies that I think might benefit from spending some money on Mike and Tom;

• O’Reilly (love ‘em but they’re way too into themselves to see what they’re doing wrong)
• DC Comics (see above)
• Marvel Comics (see DC)
• CBS (the CEO is on record as saying ‘cutting the cable’ is a fad, and people will come back. We’re actually tormenting your content you dork)
• Hulu (i pay $8 and see just as many ads, BUT have access to the Buffy and Angel back Catalog, AND shows still expire like 30 rock. WTF)
• Netflix (Quickster….)
• HBO (I’d pay good money for Game of Thrones, but HBO Go is tied to a cable subscription…. To The Torrents!)

Those are just the ones I can think of right now that Have either seriously blundered lately or have fallen to new lows of lameness because they no longer see past their previous success/fame and need new perspectives. They’re also all companies that I as a consumer, would gladly give money if they weren’t being lame about it.

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I’m sure there’s lot’s of linux users out there, there’s also probably a lot of Pine users and Mac PPC owners, that doesn’t mean they matter.

Linux folks are used to adversity and being an undervalued minority, so really nothing is changing for them. If they want AIR, let ‘em compile their own.

Sorry folks, sometimes you have to cut bait and move on.

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I finished the SQL for the TMC. Creates the tables and stored procs and creates an admin user.

Don’t be shy to ask questions.

Link to file.

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I was talking to a friend and he was saying he’s starting a flex project of his own. Get a more concrete grasp on the technology. Makes sense to me. While I wait for Roundpeg to land some Flex work I can do I figure I should experiment on my own.

So starting next week I will be devoting as much free time as I can to “flex-ifying” my Time Management Console app. This app is a CF app I wrote to track my time, and manage my invoicing. Seems like a good candidate for a Rich Internet App.

I’m also in the process of Scripting the Database (should be done by Monday) so that I can make that available for download should anybody be interested. In the meantime, I’ve made some minor improvements to the code, added some MX functionality and gotten jiggy with the CFdocument tag. More to come but if you’re interested here’s a link to the zip.

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We flew in saturday morning, drove from San Jose to SF. Not overly impressed with the lands between the two cities. We arrived in SF and worked on finding the hotel. I hate renting cars, but Hertz and their Neverlost, GPS set up are absolutely a must. Worth the 9.95 a day extra. The hotel is quite odd. It’s called the “Club Quarters” I’m guessing it’s primary business is the business traveler, not tourists. For one thing, it’s members only (thankfully, Travelocity is a member so now, so are we.), and the rooms are perfect for a single business person. Nothing more. Small is an understatement, there’s a bed (queen thankfully), a small desk, a TV (on the wall so as not to waste floor space) and a small bathroom with stand up shower. I guess business people don’t luxuriate in bath tubs.

The niceties though are many. Wifi and LAN in the rooms. Wifi in a central lounge type place, with cushy couches and chairs, a TV and a few computer stations. The bar next door (and connected to) offers free wifi as well, and next door to that is a starbucks, with the aforementioned sucky Tmobile Hotspot. There’s also a small sundeck on the top floor.

We met up with my high school buddy, Ahmad on Saturday night. He proceeded to treat us to some damn fine sushi and get me completely shit faced on Saki bombs. Then we went to a bar and continued to do bad things.

Sadly Saturday night’s fun, ruined most of Sunday.

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