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Incredible Contemporary Gallery
Bunnell Street Gallery is the best contemporary gallery in Homer - maybe in Alaska. It rivals many big city galleries for quality, even though the choices are local artist only. It's run as a...
Bunnell Street Gallery is the best contemporary gallery in Homer - maybe in Alaska. It rivals many big city galleries for quality, even though the choices are local artist only. It's run as a non-profit and the gallery head - Asia - is an accomplished artist in her own right. On the first Friday of every month ("first Friday") there is an open gallery with a new exhibit - we went tonight and the place was packed. Definitely worth a visit.
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Ok Gallery - Good for Local Flavor / Gifts
Ptarmigan Arts - on Pioneer Ave (the main street through downtown Homer) is cute and cuddly. The art isn't cutting edge - lots of nature and photography, but there are plenty of interesting things...
Ptarmigan Arts - on Pioneer Ave (the main street through downtown Homer) is cute and cuddly. The art isn't cutting edge - lots of nature and photography, but there are plenty of interesting things to look at and buy. There is a regular show, but it's a small part of the gallery. This should be a stop on any touristy trip - you'll probably pick up something if you are looking for a local souvenier, but it won't blow your socks off.
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Ok Gallery - Good for Gifts
Fireweed is next door to Ptarmigan Arts. It's very different, but has a similar overall feel and quality. The art is ok - not cutting edge - and lots of local nature / photography. There's some...
Fireweed is next door to Ptarmigan Arts. It's very different, but has a similar overall feel and quality. The art is ok - not cutting edge - and lots of local nature / photography. There's some funky jewelry and lots of local stuff - so it's worth a stop as you are doing the local artist scene.
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Collection of Halibut Cove Artists
We've been to Halibut Cove a number of times and always stop in the Halibut Cove Experience. It's a gallery on the Halibut Cove boardwalk about three minutes from the Saltry Restaurant. While the...
We've been to Halibut Cove a number of times and always stop in the Halibut Cove Experience. It's a gallery on the Halibut Cove boardwalk about three minutes from the Saltry Restaurant. While the Saltry is the destination of a Halibut Cover trip, there are two seatings for dinner so you have some time to wander around and explore part of Halibut Cove.
The gallery is nice. It's a little on the small side, but has always has a current collection of the Halibut Cover artists. The art generally doesn't ring my bell, but the people are nice and it's an easy way to kill 15 minutes during the 90 minute wait before or after your dinner at the Saltry.
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Avant Garden was a great fundraiser
We went to the BMOCA Avant Garden annual fundraiser last night. Amy and I are trustees of the museum and strong supports. 150 people showed up for the fundraiser, which was edgier this year than...
We went to the BMOCA Avant Garden annual fundraiser last night. Amy and I are trustees of the museum and strong supports. 150 people showed up for the fundraiser, which was edgier this year than normal (and very fun). The art was cool, the dinner was very well done by the likes of Aji and Full Moon Grill, and the scene was a blast.
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Best Sports Bar In Town
We watched the Miami Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks 101-100 in overtime tonight in game 5 of the NBA Finals. Lazy Dog was the perfect place to watch it - TV's everywhere (most of them HDTV), solid...
We watched the Miami Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks 101-100 in overtime tonight in game 5 of the NBA Finals. Lazy Dog was the perfect place to watch it - TV's everywhere (most of them HDTV), solid sports bar food (excellent nachos, excellent burgers), comfy seating, and friendly waitstaff who is willing to let you sit in one spot for three hours. When we showed up in the first quarter at about 7:15pm, the place was quiet. When the game went into overtime, the place was packed with college kids having a great time. We'll be back.
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Only Sushi in Homer
Alibi is the only sushi in Homer. Usually it's great, but tonight it was only so so. There are two problems: 1: It's in the back of a bar, so it's always smokey. 2: It was very slow tonight (it's...
Alibi is the only sushi in Homer. Usually it's great, but tonight it was only so so. There are two problems: 1: It's in the back of a bar, so it's always smokey. 2: It was very slow tonight (it's Friday and there was only one sushi chef - the second was out with a family emergency).
The sushi area is tucked away in the back so the smoke / bar stench isn't too bad, but tonight it seeped into everything. If the pace had been ok, it would have been fine, but service was extremely slow and they were very busy. As a result, we bagged out after about half of our sushi and went to get ice cream. It turned out to have been enough sushi (we were full after ice cream) so the slow service might have saved us from ourselves tonight.
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Super Happening Place in Highlands
Highlands - the new "hot" part of Denver - is way too cool for me. However, I managed to sneak past the cool police with a friend on Friday night. We went for drinks / dessert just to check out the...
Highlands - the new "hot" part of Denver - is way too cool for me. However, I managed to sneak past the cool police with a friend on Friday night. We went for drinks / dessert just to check out the scene - a friend of a friend had recommended it. From the outside, Swimclub 32 seems like wine bar type place, but they have a great menu, full drink selection, and plenty of desserts. The place was packed (we got there around 8:30) so we sat at the bar. The service was great, the scene was fun, and everyone was much hipper and more beautiful than we were.
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Starting Something
http://www.feld.com/blog/archives/2005/08/book_review_sta.html
I’ve read eight books since my last book review – none were notable enough for me to write about (although What the Dormouse Said...
http://www.feld.com/blog/archives/2005/08/book_review_sta.html
I’ve read eight books since my last book review – none were notable enough for me to write about (although What the Dormouse Said came close, but Fred Wilson covered it.) I just finished Wayne McVicker’s book Starting Something: An Entrepreneur’s Tale of Control, Confrontation & Corporate Culture. It was fantastic.
Wayne was the co-founder of Neoforma – a pre-bubble startup that was one of the early 2000 B2B IPO’s. It’s peak market cap was over $3 billion – today it is a publicly traded company with a $150m market cap, $3m / quarter of revenue, negative gross margins, a $15m loss last quarter, and about $25m of working capital – basically, a small-cap Internet bubble survivor that has a questionable future. Wayne left Neoforma in 2001 and spun out a new company called Attainia.
Starting Something is Wayne’s story starting at the inception of the concept for Neoforma. It’s deeply personal and autobiographical – Wayne writes beautifully about his experience. Each chapter is a month in the story, is artfully titled, typically has one key concept, and has two metrics at the beginning (# employees and valuation) to help you keep pace. While Wayne changes some names to protect the “innocent” (or not so innocent), the characters are easily recognizable if you are either in the venture business or were in the bay area frenzy at the end of the century.
Unlike so many other “Internet bubble biographies”, this one is full of awesome lessons. Wayne is clearly a thinker – he’s been able to reflect on his experience and built a coherent narrative that teaches something while telling a great story. While there are some gossipy sections, they are woven into the story so they actually add rather than subtract from the lessons (yeah – I’ve had enough boom and bust titillation at this point.)
I deeply identified with several stories, both from the perspective of an entrepreneur, angel investor, and a VC. Wayne tells his tale with a nuance that is precise without being annoyingly insider-ish. And – in the end - it cycles back around to people and relationships – which is ultimately much more interesting storytelling.
This one – like MouseDriver Chronicles – is a must read for every entrepreneur (both aspiring and practicing).
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