For those who celebrate, Merry Christmas. And to the rest, I wish you a safe and happy holiday season.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Weekly Reads 12.19.2008
This entry was backdated to the week when i read and collected these articles. The articles are as valuable today as they were a week or so ago.
What's in it for Your Followers? How to be Useful on Twitter - Pretty self-explanatory. If you want to be successful on Twitter you have to have to provide value to your follower. Darren discusses that in this blog post.
Best 100 Twitter tools - After you learn how to be a useful on Twitter, using of these tools will be help be more affective at providing value to your followers. If you think 100 tools is too much, try these fives suggested by Darren.
Visual Quick-start Guides to Political movements - Want to start the next succesfull online campaign? These videos will help get started. If you're still have having problems, you may want to think about hiring the pros like these guys.
Five Ways Web Professionals Should Be Proactive In a Recession - I was recently laid off but lucky I was able to find a a gig. I some friends going through the same things that I did and other who are unsure of their position in the current economic crisis. In this post Jeremy, discuses how web professions can be proactive is such economic times.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
The Josh [Silverstone] Burrito now available to all @ Visions... go try it!
During my time of unemployment, one of the things I tried to do is to catch up with friends around this city/suburbs. One such friend is Josh Silvertsone. Josh had been ranting and raving about a restaurant where he had become a regular located in downtown Bethesda. The place's name is Visions (blog). I met him there for lunch on a Friday and little did I know Josh and Tony (twitter), the chef , had been working on introducing a new menu item name after him. Well it's official, the Josh Burrito is now available to all (see the announcement below). You should go try it. Have had one one I can confirm that that it is delicious.
p.s. If you're foodie and want to chat with a chef on a regular basis, make sure to connect with Chef Tony, he is all about social media.
Technorati Tags: Silverstone,Josh Silvertone,Josh Burrito,Visions,Chef Tony,Tony Marciante,Bethesda,Restaurant,Eating out
Monday, December 08, 2008
Thank You
The past week was a crazy one; the end of another semester and the start of a new gig. Now that life has calmed down a bit, I wanted to take a second to say a big thank you to everyone that helped me during my job search. My job search ended late last month when I accepted an offer for the position of Web Strategist at DCI Group, where I will be helping our clients navigate through the social media interweb. In these tough economic times, I was lucky enough to received multiple offers. However, I would be lying if I said I did all the work that got me these offers. In fact it was quite the opposite. During my search, a number of people graciously volunteer their time to proofread my resume and cover letters, help make video resumes, offer career advice, make introductions on my behalf,be a reference, and pass my resume along. Between writing cover letters and submitting my resume for various position, I attended a number of social media/technology events around town where I met an incredible number of nice and smart folks using the web to bring attention to some great causes. I will work to keep in touch with as many of them as possible. But more importantly, I hope to work with some of them (in pro-bono capacity, of course) on some of the projects that they are currently undertaking.
The entire job search experience was very humbling and I'm very grateful for all the help I received. Again Thank you.
Image by d0ntblink
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Obama's first weekly address (on YouTube)
During the campaign, Obama relied on technology to supplement his traditional media outreach. He used the web to make the case directly to voters why is he was the best choice for President. Whether you agree with his policies, the approach was a successful one. As president, I had hoped that he would continue this approach while governing. However after the election, some of the outreach efforts slowed down. As some bloggers have pointed out, there had not been any action on his twitter page in 10 days. When I saw his first weekly address yesterday, I was delighted. I'm glad to see that he will continue his approach of talking to directly to the people.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
I am asking you to vote because I can't
I can't vote today (for many reasons I've cited here before) but I'm asking you to.
As it was written in the Economist several days ago, "it is impossible to forecast how important any presidency will be" nor can we predict how good of a president any politician will be. In fact history has shown us that some of our finest presidents were mere novices in the political arena, or so we thought, while some of our worst presidents were seasoned professionals. So In effect, no matter who we vote for today, we are all taking a gamble.
Recognizing that there is not much we can do about that aspect of elections, I urge you not to think of this election, or any other election, in that prism. Instead, I propose that we think of this election, and all elections, as a responsibility and an opportunity.
It is our responsibility to hold elected officials accountable, to hold the torch that was passed onto us by previous generations dating back to our fore-fathers, to tell the world that democracy is alive and well and is indeed the best form of government.
This election is also an opportunity. For some, it is the opportunity to correct the mistake from 4 or 8 year ago. For others, it is the opportunity to re-affirm their beliefs from the same period. For many, it is the opportunity to participate in the democratic process for the first time. But for all, it is an opportunity to be heard; an opportunity to take this country in a different direction; an opportunity to make history regardless of ideology or background.
So today, I am asking you to vote.
I am asking you to vote for me and many others like me who won't have the opportunity to be heard.
I am asking you to vote for our men and women in the armed forces serving abroad that won't be able to vote because of archaic absentee ballot laws.
I am asking you to vote so that we can put people in office with the moral courage to deal with challenges facing our nation today at the national and local level.
I am asking you to vote so our generation may be heard.
Most of all I am asking you to vote because your vote, your voice, matters.
Some will dismiss my call to action as a gimmick to get people to vote for Senator Obama. It is true that I support Senator Obama. I do so for many reasons that others have penned more eloquently than I ever will. And it is indeed my fervent hope that you do cast your ballot for the junior senator from Illinois. However, this is not to say that Senator McCain will not make a good president. In fact, I believe that he will be an adequate president or even a fine president. Very few of us have served this country like he has over the decades. Though I question his vice-presidential pick, I believe that he will take that same dedication and love for our country to the white house. I did not write this to endorse any candidate running on any level, but simply to ask you to vote.
So I will ask again, please go vote.
The late Robert Francis Kennedy reminded us that "few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation." Today, your small portion is to go vote.
[picture by joecrimmings]
Monday, November 03, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
GhettodevTV Episode 3 - Good News/Bad News
In this video (taped yesterday) I share some good news and some bad news. Bad News - I got laid off yesterday, Good News - I'm closer to becoming a U.S. Citizen.
As I said in the video, I'm looking for a job so if you know of anyone hiring please pass along my resume. Thank you. As always, comments/suggestions about the video are welcome.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
You are my 5 friends and I'm asking you (NOT) to register to vote
Neat video. Glad to see the expansion from the usual politically active entertainers.
My take on it is - If I can't vote (b/c I'm a permanent resident), why should you?
On the serious. Don't forget to register to vote. Use Google maps to figure our you voting place (it will include links where you register to vote in your locality. If you're going to be out of town, use GovoteAbsentee.org.Tags: Election 2008, Obama, McCain, Google, Vote08
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Money in Politics Grant Summit Wrap-up
Last weekend, I had the distinct honor of participating the "Money in Politics" Grant Summit hosted by Mobilize.org in partnership with the Sunlight Foundation, and Common Cause. According to their website, Mobilize.org:
Mobilize.org is an all-partisan network dedicated to educating, empowering, and energizing young people to increase our civic engagement and political participation. We work to show young people how public policy impacts our lives, and more importantly – how we can impact public policy.
The orgnization put its name on the map by taking over the 2100 Fund, an organization that raised funds for organzations promoting youth activism, and writing the Democracy 2.0 Declaration (watch it).
Admitidly, prior to the summit, I had heard of Mobilize.org but I was not very familiar w/ its work. I had planned to submit a proposal for the summit but missed the deadline because of the Silverman campaign and the presidential forum. As luck would have it, at the forum, I got the priviledge and opportunity to meet mobilize's CEO, Maya Enista, and work with her in a breakout session. During that time, I told her about my interest in the forum and she invited me to attend.
A crucial piece of the summit was the ability for those attending to present ideas and plans that solve the issue of money in politics. From the mobilize.org website:
Competitors in the Democracy 2.0 Entrepreneur Grant Summit must advance a new solution or approach to the money in politics problem - that will change the pattern in the field of civic engagement. Winners will each receive a grant, between $3,000 and $5,000 and will receive the support of Mobilize.org and its partner network to champion their proposal, creating systemic and sustainable change in the way elections are administered.Competitors in the Democracy 2.0 Entrepreneur Grant Summit must advance a new solution or approach to the money in politics problem - that will change the pattern in the field of civic engagement. Winners will each receive a grant, between $3,000 and $5,000 and will receive the support of Mobilize.org and its partner network to champion their proposal, creating systemic and sustainable change in the way elections are administered.
On the first day, keynote speaker, former Representative John Buchanan, gave an inspiring address encouraging and challenging my generation, the Millenials, to become the greatest American generation. He pointed out that money has become an element in our democracy. Technology, along with other tools, makes it easier to promote transparency and hold elected officials more accountable.
The morning on the second day, Nancy Watzman, of the Sunlight Foundation, and Political Party Time, a blog dedicacated to tracking parties thrown at both party conventions as well as fundraising activities of lawmakers, spoke about her exprience trying to bring transparancy to government since the 1990s and all the Sunlight Foundation's projects and resources. Nancy's address was followed by a panel that included Josh Zaharoff of Common Cause and Matt Stempeck of Americans for Campaign Reform. In the afternoon, Sam Rasoul, candidate for U.S. Congress in VA-6, stopped by to talk to us about his campaigns, his goals, the change would try to enact in congress and what he has been able to accomplish so far in VA. Between the two speakers, competitors had a chance to meet with panels of experts who gave them feedback about their proposals.
On the last day, David Mark, Senior Editor at Politico and author of Going Dirty, shared his thoughts about the current Presidential campaign as well as some notes about his book. Competitors also got a chance to present their proposals in front of the entire conference. Four winners were later announced. The first prize went to Sam Oliker-Friedland of GoVoteAbsentee.org. I whole heartily agree with the decision, as his proposal was the most developed and most likely to be sustained over the course of time. Basically, his website takes any voter of any district in the US throught the process of getting an absentee ballot. Check it out (Facebook Page) if you get a chance, and please spread the word.
The summit was a great fun and learning experience. It was a eye-opener in the fact that it made me realize how many Millenials are invovled in the political process and are seeking to improve the process and make it more accessible to everyone. I feel as though we sometimes get a bad rap for being overconnected and lazy and the summit gives us as a gneration the chacne to fight that stereotype and put our best effort into improving our democracy.
Tags: Democracy 2.0, Mobilize.org, Money in Politics Grant Summit, Sunlight Foundation, Common Cause, Just6dollars.org
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Mid-Week Reads...
Some interesting blogs post that I think everyone should read.
Mashable's posts about T-Mobile Google phone - Google’s G1 Isn’t Pretty, But Is Impressively Disruptive and Now I’ve Finally Seen It, I Still Dig the ‘gPhone’. I'm pretty sure I'm getting this phone when it comes out. Please share any reviews with me.
What color is your nonprofit's blog ? - In this blog post, Beth Kanter takes Nina Simon's categorization of different type of museums blogs and applies it to Non-profit blogs as well as provide some strategy tips. Very interesting reading for those blogging for your job/company.
Why Doesn't Anyone Comment on Your Blog? - In this article of ASAE, Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer suggest some ways to get ways associations can get more comments on their blogs. I think the advice can also be true to individual blogger. Simple suggestions but they work.
What is a non-profit blog? - In this post, Britt Bravo - officially one of my new favorite bloggers - shares a list of blogs authored by non-profits/NGO orgs. Some are worth adding to your reading list.
Mass Instant Message That Link With The Tell-A-Friend Widget - TechCrunch shares what will possibly become the most annoying widget to date. I might add it to my blog tho. Thoughts?
If you like these, you can find more on my Google Reader shared page. I'm also going over my feeds and removing the blogs that I don't read anymore. If you're reading some good blogs and think I might find them interesting, please share them. I'm pretty much interested in everything -- from politics to fashion.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
DC Primary Wrap-up & My YouTube debut
After a little hiatus for the ServiceNation Summit, I'm back at it. More on the summit later, including pictures. While I was in NYC, the post-election drama continued. I will try to provide with a time line from the articles that have been written in the Post and the City Paper. First, the Board of Election & Ethics (BOEE) went on a communication blackout. This was actually not a bad idea, since their attempt to provide an explanation on election night was pathetic. No offense to Dan Murphy, BOEE spokesperson. When the BOEE came out of its self-imposed blackout, it provided some clarifications on the election night debacle but mostly blamed the irregularities on the equipment. However, California-based Sequoia Voting systems asserted that "there is absolutely no problem with the machines in polling places." Instead, the company brought up possibility of human error. Despite the assertion by Sequoia, BOEE stood by the results on primary night. As it now become the tradition in DC after a scandal, Mayor Fenty fired someone and launched an investigation but not before the Ward 2 ANC passed a resolution calling for an investigation. Maybe something will come out of this one. In the middle of all the all this, Cary conceded. He thanked his supporters and staff. He also called on BOEE "take all steps necessary to restore trust in the election results." Cary concession essential ended the post-election drama. However as the post put it,
SO ELEMENTAL to government is the conduct of elections that there can be no excuse for failure. It's important, then, that D.C. officials not minimize the problems with Tuesday's primary. The chaos surrounding the results suggests that there may be bigger issues that need fixing and that, if left unresolved, could undermine voter confidence.
The only good thing that came out of this drama is my debut on YouTube thanks to LooseLips Columnist Mike DeBonis.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
ServiceNation Summit Streaming online and on Twitter
Follow tonight's ServiceNation Forum online and on twitter.
On television we expect the Forum to be broadcast live, starting at 8 pm EDT, on CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, C-Span, and selected PBS stations around the country (check your local PBS listings).
In addition, MTV will also stream the Forum live. To watch the MTV stream go to http://www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation/live. Below the MTV stream, you can subscribe to the ServiceNation Kyte player for organic content captured by our mobile producers on the floor! They will be recording behind-the-scenes, exclusive footage throughout the two-day summit. You can also watch the stream on MTV's website at http://think.mtv.com/groups/servicenation.
Enjoy the broadcast, and stay tuned for further details on how you can watch Day 2 of the Summit. We will be sending another e-mail, and details will be posted on www.servicenation.org. You can review the full program here: http://www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation/summit/schedule.
ServiceNation is also the talk of the town on twitter.
More at http://twemes.com/sn08More at http://twemes.com/sn08
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Election night drama
Last night, I was nominated to go to DC board of the election to await for the result of the primary. I thought it would a be a cool experience so I accepted. Another volunteer and I headed down there for what we thought was going 30 minutes then off to the victory party. Little did we that the DC Board Of Election & Ethics (BOEE) complete incompetence would keep us there till the wee hours of the morning. To make the long story short; when first set of result came in, everything looked fine. Evans was up 66% to 33% and .54% write-in with 14% of the precincts reporting. When the second set the report came in, something didn't add up. Evans was up 48% to 34% and 17% write-in with 94% of precincts reporting. The second set of numbers estimated that 9000 people in our Ward, more than doubling the numbers from 2004 ( a mayoral election). Having walked around throughout the day, I knew there was a low voter turns out. Additionally, we were not aware of any write-in campaigns going on in our race, so 17% write-in made absolutely no sense. My suspicions were confirmed by Evans' Campaign manager. We went upstairs along with Mara's campaign manager and Schwartz's campaign manager (They were having the same problem). Meanwhile, The AP called the raced, then the post based on the AP the numbers. And from there things went downhill from there. Lawyers came, WaPo came, CityPaper came, Washington Times was called, I think the AP had take back calling the race and people at the BOEE just looked really really really really really bad. The lawyers present requested precinct by precinct report. The BOEE put out three sets of numbers after that but the damage had been done. Everyone was dissecting the numbers and the whole thing was just a mess.
Needless to say, this was an eye opening experience for me. I'm deeply troubled by the city's inability to handle such a small election. By all accounts, the primary in February had a much larger turn and the city failed to properly handle that election as well. As of this moment, I'm shocked, angered, and disappointed. If I had any power, no one at the board of election would have a job this morning (except maybe nice security guards from last night). I really hope Mayor Fenty and the rest of the council take a good look at this. It's ridiculous that the capital of the free world can not manage to run an election smoothly.
As of the writing of this post, we have not yet conceded. we are waiting for the precinct by precinct report and results from the absentee ballots (if they can count them correctly.) I'm headed to NYC for the ServiceNation Summit with Senators Obama and McCain, more on what I learn in this campaign when I get back from NYC.
DC PRIMARY RESULTS NIGHT COVERAGE
CityPaper - Live from the Clusterfuck
p.s. I did not cut my hair for the next POTUS... whoever he is.
Technorati Tags: Cary Silverman,Jack Evans,Patrick Mara,DC primary,DC Board of Election & Ethics,DC BOEE
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
DC Examiner endorses Cary Silverman
Today, the DC Examiner endorsed Cary saying:
Cary Silverman promises open, competitive bidding for all city projects and a fully Freedom of Information Act-able financial reporting system. And more accountability and transparency is exactly what this city needs.
Read the entire article here . I wish they did this last week so we would have been able to take advantage of it a bit more. But hey an endorsement is an endorsement. That marks our first endorsement by a local paper.
Now for all your Ward 2 (which includes Shaw, Dupont, Logan, Mt Vernon Sq, Gtown, Foggy Bottom, West End, Downtown, Chinatown) Residents go out and Vote!
Monday, September 08, 2008
What impact will the next POTUS have on public service?
With all the (local)election stuff going on, I forgot to mention that BTC (along with our coalition partners) will be hosting the first presidential forum since both nominees formally accepted the nomination of their respective parties. From an e-mail we sent out today to our list:
It’s a HUGE week here in ServiceNation. This Thursday evening, Sept. 11, our Sept. 11-12 ServiceNation Summit in New York City will open with a Presidential Candidates Forum featuring presidential nominees Senators John McCain and Barack Obama. They will share their views on service and civic engagement in post-9/11, starting at 8 pm EDT. CNN and MSNBC have indicated that they will carry the forum live (we are hoping Fox will too), so invite your friends and family over for a night of inspiring television.
The next day, the 12th, the ServiceNation summit continues with a gathering of 600 leaders from every sector of American society. The summit will release a bold policy proposal, and a Declaration of Service, which you can sign to declare your support for the idea that service to community and country can help unite America and solve problems. We hope to gather 1 million signatures (up, that’s 1 million!) on this Declaration, to show our leaders that America is ready for a new era of service.
I'm very excited for this event. I'm looking forward to hearing what both Sen. McCain and Obama have to say. It should be fun, interesting and tiring. I'm heading up to NYC on Wed morning for the forum (all my NYC people, holla me). I will be part of the content production team but I'm not exactly sure how much freedom I will have to roam around. Regardless, I will be blogging (here and ChangeWire), tweeting (BTC Tweet feed), taking pictures and possibly streaming (working out the details on that). The full schedule of the event is at http://www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation/summit/schedule (Sorry for the formatting).
P.S. The biggest dilemma if my life right now is whether or not I should cut my hair just in case I get to meet the next POTUS. Feel free to weight in.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
4 Days till the election
It’s down to the wire. Since June (actually a lot longer than that for Cary), we’ve been working hard to make the case to Ward 2 Democrats that it’s time for change on the City Council. We’ve had three debates; one in Foggy Bottom, another in Dupont, and another on the Kojo Show on WAMU. We’ve had tons of candidate forums, some at 8 AM and others at 8 PM. We filled out more questionnaires than I care to remember, attended neighborhood picnics, block parties, tenants association meetings and what seems to be every ANC meeting in the ward. Supporters hosted countless meet and greet events as well as fundraisers. We played the endorsement game - got some and lost some. We met some fun people, some interesting people, some skeptic supporters, some enthusiastic supporters and people didn’t care much for us. We’ve walked through part of the city that I never knew existed and rediscovered parts that I had not visited in a while. And of course there was the parade. Everywhere we went and to everyone we met, we made the case for Cary. I think we’ve made a compelling case and put ourselves in a position to win on Tuesday. With a strong GOTV effort, I believe that we can seal the deal. I’m very excited about the election on Tuesday. The only thing that would have made it better is if I could vote. Oh well, can’t have everything at once. If you’re registered to vote in DC, Vote Cary Silverman on Tuesday!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
The truth about Nigerian soccer ... from a Nigerian
If you follow African soccer at all, you know that Cameroon (CMR) and Nigeria have been rivals since they both fielded national teams. Needless, to say this rivalry has followed me state side and I consistently trash talk my Nigerian friends - mostly because they always lose to us. This morning, I woke to find the e-mail below from a Nigerian friend and I thought it was worth sharing with the rest of you because it's so true.
Before I begin, I'd like to say that I've been watching Nigerian football since Sam Okwaragi's time, back when Jay-Jay Okocha was still playing for Rangers FC in Enugu, Nigeria.
That being said, I'd like to take this time to re-iterate what I've said in the past. Nigerian soccer performance has been awful since France '98. The last impressing performance by Nigeria was beating Spain with that lovely shot from Sunday Oliseh during the 1998 World Cup. Ever since, they've been nothing more than just another average African team. Not to mention the fact, they didn't even make the World Cup in 2006.
Why I'm I writing about this? Because I'm tired of all the hype and people (Nigerians and non-Nigerians) telling me Nigeria is really good in soccer. No, they used to be 10 years ago. Now, they suck.
How have they been able to win some games? Easy, regular teams are still haunted by the performances in USA '94, Atlanta '96, and France '98. As a result, they are defending more, and attacking less. Great teams like Argentina, Brazil, Spain and more destroys Nigeria in matches. They attack Nigeria's unconditioned defense full of mistakes, especially after the 70th minute. Well, maybe the fatigue that shows at that time is due to African soccer players reducing their ages by 5-10 years in order to make it pro. So while they are listed as 30, they are possibly 40 year old men...lol
I woke up this morning and watched the Nigeria/USA game and was not impressed. With USA playing with only 10 men, Nigeria barely squeezed out a 2-1 win. First, we know Africans can't shoot...at least not from outside the 18-yard line. They were shanking shots wide away from target. On a break away, they lack individual skills to make a counter attack deadly. In most cases, the attacks were slowed down and waited for the other team's defense to get back. In other cases, people were trying to do moves and losing the ball. On the offensive third, it looked like they were playing monkey post (Ban all Monkey Post games in Africa now!...lol). Players held the ball long enough to draw 2-3 players in the attack and were still passing it around, trickly within the same little area.
Late in the game, U.S learned that they needed to score a goal and began pushing. The defense was totally exposed and U.S could've capitalized especially with the one that hit the cross-bar. The next round will be very tough for them. Even the goalie was caught off his line a couple of times, I can imagine what the likes of Messi and other stars can do to that defense.
Just tired of hearing that Nigeria is good. Personally, I've never been a fan of false praises whether it benefits me or not so I had to tell the truth if no one else will.
Do you care? Yes, you do because you made it to the end of this article :)
Of course, I can't say the same for CMR because, well we win Olympics medals in soccer and were second in the more recent African Cup. I will admit that our performance in the last couple of world cups have been less than stellar.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Vlogging it is! My first video post.
My first video. Enjoy. Leave any feedback. Sorry for the cheap camera. If I follow through, I will upgrade.
Friday, June 27, 2008
The Democratic System at its worst...
As many of you know, I now volunteer to Cary Silverman who is running to be full-time DC council member for Ward 2. Yesterday, we had a chance to compete for the much coveted endorsement from the Ward 2 Democrats. Going into the voting meeting last yet, I felt that we had a good chance to win. We had a good turn out from our supporters and they had brought friends with them. However, as the night continued I began to think we weren't going to win but at least make a good showing. And that we did. Cary lost the Ward 2 endorsement 105 - 67. But in order to win the endorsement, our opponent "bused" people as well as provided Fried chicken for his "supporters". As one of my co-workers put it:
I don't care if you give ALL your voters an incentive to come out and vote. However, I do have a HUGE problem when you give selective incentives and it appears to cut across racial lines. I am under the belief that voting should be its own reward. The carrot should not be chicken dinners, but civic duty and pride. It got fuzzy for me when the people with the dinners went in and voted for him.
Moreover, the process was completely screwed up. People presenting themselves were not not even asked for IDs when they came in to vote. So basically there was no way for people to check if the people voting the endorsement were indeed Ward 2 residents. From talking to one person that was bused in by our opponent , she said she was a resident of "ward 1, Ward 2, Ward 3 and Ward 4... Whatever you want me to be." Something like that should have easily caught. What's the point of calling it a ward 2 Endorsement, if people from around the bused in?
The most frustrating part of last night was the realization I can't vote while people who don't care about this election and would gladly give their vote for a KFC dinner are allowed to participate in the election.
Despite all of this there is a silver lining to last night meeting. We can win this election. Had we convinced 15 more people to show we would have blocked him from receiving this endorsement. So despite our opponent's questionable tactics, we can still win on Sep 9th.
You read comments from other frustrated voters in the dcwire blog post.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
The life Journey of our presidential Candidate on Google Maps
I saw this while reading a TechCrunch Article this morning, so I thought I'd share for with the rest of people not reading techcrunch. Also check out the Fundrace on Huffington Post. Every time politics meets technology to make the process more transparent and easy for the people, I get giddy inside.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Congratulations to my friend Wei
Wei and I've been friend going to back to my years in undergrad. He was a big influence on me getting involved in web dev. We started by writing our blogs in ASP and Access DB (remember when that was cool?). Over the years, Wei and I have come up a multitude of ideas for websites and the services we would offer. Some of the ideas include sitter (pets and kids) search site (http://www.sittercity.com/) and teacher document share (http://teachers.yahoo.com). As we grew older, we spent nights coming up with these ideas and the proceeded to develop a multitude of excuses (lack of staff,funding, hardware expense, etc...) why we could not get them up and running. Eventually, someone implemented our ideas close enough to what we had in mind and we would abandon our idea.
Recently, Wei had idea for another website. Instead of just talking about like we used to, he researched the idea more and when he decided it was feasible to implement it, he quit his job and started working on it. That's how easyautosales.com came to be. The site is a place where people can sell cars as well as buy new or used cars. Based on his research, Wei decided his latest idea was good enough to compete with the likes of cars.com, carmax.com, vehix.com and even craigslist. It's hard to know whether or not Wei and his team are going to be successful but since their launch 2.5 months ago they managed to have a million cars listed, have over 100,000 pages indexed in Google, achieve over 100,000 visits to the page and as he put it "spend a crap load of money with Amazon Web Services". If you're bored enough, you can follow the trials and tribulations of Wei and his team over at http://comefortheride.com/. Of course if you're in the market for a car, you should include http://www.easyautosales.com as one the websites that you visit.
Congrats Wei, Way to go all out.
Technorati Tags: Cars,EasyAutoSales.com
Friday, June 06, 2008
My favorite Obama YouTube Vidoes
Over the last year and half, I've looked for various YouTube videos on Obama. Of course some where in complete utter distaste and should prolly be take down, but the vast majority were inspirational and depict the American genius and creativity. Below are my favorite YouTube videos about Obama with a few honorable mentions.
Barack Obama/Bobby Kennedy - Hope
Work to Do Remix
Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video
Barack Obama: Reflections of Bobby Kennedy
Barack Obama: We Shall Overcome
The Obama Dream
The "Obama Movement"
BARACK OBAMA YES WE CAN RAP SONG
Honorable Mention
Baby Got Barack
Sing for Obama Grassroots Music Video
Barack Obama: Poetic Politics
For Obama: "Si Se Puede Cambiar" by Andres Useche
What are your favorites?
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
All politics is local... so It's about time I get involved
Someone once said all politics is local. I don't know who that person is (I suppose I could Google it) or why that they said that, but it turns out they must have been right because people have been repeating it ever since. Since I enjoy politics and all politics are local, I figured it's about time to get involved in local politics. I have thus decided to join the campaign of Cary Silverman running for Ward 2 DC Council seat. We are looking a unseat current 17 yr Council member Jack Evans.. what can I say? Go big or go home. I'm not going to seat and tell you why my candidate is better Ward 2 residents than Mr. Evans, nor am I going to tell you that He will solve every issue facing Ward 2 and the rest of the city. What I will tell you is that he is a person dedicated to the DC neighborhoods and it is reflected in the involvement the years. His presence on the council will be a breath of fresh air and new ideas to what has become an old boys club serving developers instead of citizens (yes I'm talking about the DC council). One thing I've learned so far is that local politics isn't sexy but it matters. It matters because it affects our daily lives, from recycling to schools, from liquor licenses to gentrification and from sidewalk construction to zoning restrictions. The campaign currently has a small staff thus my role will vary greatly. Regardless, I look forward to meeting many of the residents of Ward 2 and making the case why it's time for change in Ward 2 Seat. If you're in DC and would like to meeting Cary Silverman, please join us at a Happy Hour this Wed at Wednesday 6/4 at 1625 17th Street, NW from 5:30pm - 8 PM. If you have any other questions about the Campaign feel free to e-mail henri at caryforcouncil dot org.
Friday, May 23, 2008
The "cynical" future of E-mail Congress
As I announced a few months back I'm now at Be the Change, Inc where I head the efforts in all things Technology (mostly web) with the support of very capable vendors and staff. As part of my role, I help identify technology and develop strategy that will help the organization spread its message and lead to people become invested and take action in our first campaign. To fulfill this part of my job, I've started attending various conferences and Panels around the City. One of the Roundtable that I attend pretty regularly is the Internet Advocacy Roundtable hosted by Center for American Progress Action Fund and lead by Alan Rosenblatt. The Last round table I attend was titled "The future of E-mail Congress - New Solutions Offered and Old Myths Busted"( word doc of the preso) and there speaker was Daniel Bennett who is Co-author of "The Net Effect: How Cyber advocacy is Changing the Political Landscape" and was a columnist for The Cloakroom.
The gist of Mr. Benett's presentation is that he has developed a technique that will more accurately group emails that each representative receives from various advocacy group so that s/he will not waste staff time reading all the emails and will have a better tally of where constituents stands on any particular issue by looking at the total number of emailed received. According to him but unverified by anyone in the room, the system works with 95-99% accuracy and is easy to install and works with current e-mail systems on the Hill. He claims to have tested in some offices with great result and received positive feedback. In plain English, the system group letters according to a token or URL included each email. So any given e-mailing campaign would have the same token. For the techie crowd, see some documentation at http://advocatehope.org/tech-tidbits. Mr. Bennett then called on all the orgs present at the lecture to lobby the vendors to start implementing this new system. He claims that there is no financial benefit to him and I don't have any reason not to believe him. Lastly, Mr. Bennett claims staffer don't read the letters already so his solution would a least make sure they have a accurate count before the vote.
I have two thoughts about this improvement by Mr. Benett. As someone whose organization is trying to lobby congress to get legislation passed, this is fabulous. It's a great tool and we can use to hopefully sway a representative's mind and maybe get to move away from voting along party lines when we can get people from his district to e-mail him or her. As person that has friends that work on the Hill, I know this will make their live easier and they will be a little more efficient while at the office and maybe get a few more things done.
As a private citizen, this "improvement" is outrageous. Call me be crazy but I'd like to think that my representative or his staff would read the vast majority of e-mails and letters that come to them. It's their job! They were elected to serve the people of their district and that includes reading constituent's mail how ever outrageous they are. The Reps and their staff are supposed to do what is good for the constituents and the for the country as a whole. Just because 4999 people emailed about one side of the issue and 50001 email about the other side, doesn't mean the rep should cast a vote in favor of the highest bidder. While I appreciate Mr. Benett's persistence and hard work (he's been working on this solo for 5 years), I think his solution is the wrong way to go. His solution is fixing the wrong problem. I would even go as far as to say it's making Congress worse. We, as citizen and their employers, should not accept the fact Reps don't read our mail or letters. We should def not make it easier for them not to read our letters. While Mr. Benett's claim about staffers not reading mail may be true, I refuse to give in his cynicism and make easier for them not to so. And I sincerely hope others won't either.
Was that too harsh?.......Naaaaaaaaaah.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Currently listening to...
My last few entries have been all about politics. So I thought I changed it up a bit. Fear not, I will write something about the race speech by the senator of Illinois. I'm just letting marinate a bit. Moving on... a while back I shared whatever music I was obsessing about during that week. I haven't stopped obsessing, just got lazy about blogging about it. So I thought, I would bring that back. Kinda like bringing sexy back, except not.
In the past 24 hours, I've been obsessing over a song titled "This Years Love" by David Gray. I had heard the song multiple times while watching Crazy/Beautiful. The movie is easily in my top 25. Don't ask. What can I say? I have soft side or so I tell myself. I never looked up the song after watching the movie. This most likely because I usually don't have computer in front of me when watching TV. However, yesterday, the dream app that is Pandora played the song for me and I've been listening to it ever since, except the the two hours to listen to Diane's Rehm News round up.
To be honest, the lyrics are predictably sappy . They involves being hurt but then finding that right person after a long period of loneliness and hoping it lasts. Quite frankly, I don't think you cant make all off without reading the lyrics. Despite its predictability and the overly sappy lyrics, it's a beautiful song. The piano play in the grabs and hold your attention while Gray's voice is soothing. The combination is just unbeatable. I found a youtube video. Take and judge for yourself. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. In the meantime, I 'll go back to listening to the song.
p.s. If you're big fan of music of all kinds, you should follow the guys at theplugg.com.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
30 minutes why I'm for Obama
If you've been following my blog, you know that Barack Obama is my candidate for president. I even went down to South Carolina to volunteer for him. I also volunteered when it was time for the DC/MD/VA. However, I have yet to take the time to explain why I favored Obama over McCain and Clinton. While I was searching for the right words and the right way to present them to you, I found two videos by Professor Lessig (blog) of Stanford law and founder of Creative Commons. He was recently drafted to run for US congress in the 12th district of CA but decided against it because his opponent, Jackie Speier, has been one of the most popular state legislator for the last 30 years. Instead, he decided to focus on his new project, change-congress, which he will unveil this week at the Sunlight Foundation. Needless to say, I will be in attendance. At the time he was considering running, I would have moved to CA to help out with his race though he probably did not need it.
Regardless of what comes of his political future, Lessig's videos basically express my thoughts about the election,more specifically about Obama's candidacy, more eloquently than I ever could. Take a look below.
First video - 20 minutes or so why I'm 4 Barack
Second Video - 10 minutes on whether Hillary can win
While Lessig makes several good points as he often in his lectures, the most poignant is that it's time to pass the torch; it's time for a new path; it's time for a new generation of leaders. To borrow a much overused phrase of this electoral season, it's time for real change. It is my hope that in January 2009, Obama will be able to borrow to words from JFK and say "Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike that the torch has been passed to a new generations of Americans."
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Who has the best American Story: Obama or McCain?
While following analysis of the election results on CNN, I posed the question question "Who has the best American story Obama or McCain?" on Twitter (which updates my Facebook status to the dismay of some) and the following email conversation ensued. I obviously removed the name and email of the individual with whom I had the conversation.
Friend:
Pretty hard to beat wasting away in a POW camp for years in service to one's country. Much as I love Obama, I'm going with McCain on this one. I'm disappointed he didn't decisively knock her out tonight. This race needs to end already, it's driving me crazy with all the hoping and waiting.
Henri:
I think it's pretty much a wash. rags to riches vs. army boy?
Friend:
Maybe so. But we've had rags to riches already recently (hello Bill Clinton). Been awhile since there's been a certified war hero. Though I wonder how much Vietnam will resonate against a much younger opponent. Not like he'll want to draw endless amounts of attention to the fact that he's so much older.
Henri:
Vietnam didn't help Kerry (website) and didn't help McCain in 2000, if nothing else people have become less sympathetic to the story and like the military even less. Rags to riches story always make you feel good. Especially for a black man.
Friend:
Yes, though I think nothing would have helped Kerry, he ran a pretty poor campaign. Rags to riches is more relatable, something so many of us aspire to. But McCain still gets my vote simply on the merits of the story.
Henri:
Fair enough. I'm not picking sides on this one. Just tallying the votes.
Obviously, both candidates have very compelling stories and McCain's service is to be commended at every turn. However, I really believe that if each candidate properly tells his life story(barring any swiftboating)neither will have and edge because of it. Your thoughts?
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Restaurant Review: Mandu
In our continuing quest to eat at all the neighborhood restaurants, we decided to try Mandu, a Korean restaurant a few blocks from our apartment. Now, I have never had Korean food before, so I can't compare it to other restaurants, but it was quite good. We managed to arrive five minutes before the end of happy hour, which meant $2 Tiger beer and cheap mandu (dumplings). In addition to the dumplings, which were quite good, we were served several small dishes of vegetables and tofu. We weren't really sure what they all were, but everything was tasty, even the quite spicy kimchee.
For my entree, I decided to try the bibim bap. Upon the advice of our waiter, I ordered it in a stone pot. Basically, the dish is a rice bowl with vegetables and meat and a fried egg. It comes with a spicy sauce to put on the top. The stone pot is heated and so the rice fries a bit as it sits. Once the waiter explained to me that you needed to mix it all together with the sauce, I found the dish was very tasty. The sauce on the side allows you to choose how spicy you want your meal to be. My one petty complaint would be that the dish never really cooled off to a comfortable temperature, as the stone pot kept it quite hot. While at first it was nice, eventually it is nice for your food to cool a bit.
My dining companion chose dwejee bulgoki, which is grilled and marinated pork with rice and vegetables. When it came, he remarked that it looked a lot like fajitas. Although there was the complaint that there were too many vegetables, he found the meat very tasty and overall enjoyed the meal.
Because I have no measure of comparison, I cannot say that Mandu offers the best of Korean food. I'm sure it is somewhat Americanized for its customers. Regardless, we enjoyed the meal. The restaurant is comfortable and the food was good. It is a good neighborhood place to go for a reasonably priced meal.
~ The GFF
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Moving on...From NAHB to Be The Change, Inc.
Over the last year or so, I've been working at the National Association of Home Builders as a Developer. Tomorrow will mark my last day there. For me, NAHB was the perfect second job out of school. While there, I had the opportunity to work with some great people and develop my technical skills as well as my interpersonal skills. Everyone in my department took great pride in servicing our clients, which were the various departments, and working harmoniously with our vendors and vendors selected by our clients. Moreover, I moved closer to reaching an equilibrium between life and work or as the girlfriend would probably say "between work and more work." I will truly miss working with the people at NAHB
As of Monday, I will be employed with Be The Change, Inc. as Director of Web Technology. Be The Change is a startup non profit focused on public service and was founded by Alan Khazei who also founded CityYear. The Organization's two key missions are:
Crafting a bold and innovative policy agenda that is rooted in the practical experience of social entrepreneurs and civic leaders and sets a pragmatic ten-year time horizon for major systemic change.
and
Building a broad-based, web-fueled, citizens’ movement that will campaign for better public policies, promote active citizenship and citizen democracy, and give Americans who are frustrated with the status quo a place to channel their ideas and activism.
I was introduced to Be The Change, Inc. through a friend and I have been working with them as a "pro-bono consultant," for a lack of better word since the summer. I have an understanding of where the organization is, what it aims to become and how I can help. Needless to say I still have a lot learn about the organization and the rest of the team. And as with any new endeavor, there will be challenges. Regardless, I'm very excited for this opportunity and ready for my first week1.
1. I will be slightly distracted on Tsunami Tuesday. Are you registered to vote?
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Volunteering for Obama in SC - The Memorable encounters
This the second article of a three part series that I'm doing on my experience volunteering for the Obama Campaign. You can read the first article here.
While in SC, I have several interesting encounters that I thought I'd share. For the purpose of this article, we will refer to my friends as "John" and "Meg". I did not ask for approval to use their real names therefore I feel that it would be inappropriate to do so. It is worth noting that John is black while Meg is White.
The first of these encounter happened at Huck's post-primary party. John, Meg and I exited from the ballroom and into the main corridor. Unfortunately, there was not sighting of the legend that is Chuck Norris. John decides to stop to purchase a couple of Huckapins. Disinterested, Meg and I continued to walk down the main corridor. About half way down the hall, a white lady(WL) approach us and the conversation goes something like this:
WL: Excuse me (This was directed in my direction and she got up to started walking towards me. so I stop)
ME: Yes?
WL: Are you for Gov. Huckabee?
ME: <at this point I think I know enough for talk about the Gov. standing on the issues, so why not go along? plus I'm at his party> Yea I am.
WL: Can you tell me why there are not more of your kind here?
<The audience at the party was very diverse in age but not in race. Is she talking about my race? Is this lady serious? At this point I'm trying to figure what to say. First thought that came to mind was to pretend that I'm dating Meg and claim that she dragged me to this all white event. But Meg was so offended by the question that she ran back to John who was still purchasing Huckapins. Left with no witty comebacks, I decided to not be offended and address the question. I can't remember what exactly what I said but it was something like the following>
ME: Well we have one our own running right now and his message is appealing and that's very exciting. Also, while The Gov's message does resonate with some conservatives black community but post-primary parties are not exactly the most advertised event on TV.
<She asked about to which church I belong to, to which I answered that I was in from DC to see the Huck speak. But I am attending church up here. She asked a couple more questions that I'm answered. The end of the conversation went something like that this.>
WL: Blacks are going to be important in one and Gov has a nice message.
ME: Yea we are. have a good one.
<exit stage right>
When I twittered about having an O'reilly moment that is the conversation I was referring to. It was very surprising that the woman felt comfortable enough to approach me and asked me a question worded in such a manner. The lady was not trying to offended or insinuate anything negative about the African Americans. Moreover, I truly believe that the question itself was relevant however the manner in which it was asked displays some sort of ignorance about race relations in that part of the country. More surprising than the actual question was the genuineness behind the question. Part of me wanted to shake her and ask her what hole she had been living in. Regardless, I hope she learned something, because I know I definitely did.
My second encounter was with two older gentlemen at the MLK march. I ran into a small coffee shop to get some coffee and tea. While waiting for my beverages, I asked two gentlemen what they thought about the speeches given by the NAACP representative. Basically, they told me they had conflicted feelings. They said that they appreciated that the NAACP was pointing out some of the discrepancies that exist is South Carolina today. They felt that a lot of the younger generation are not exposed to the history of the state to comprehend some of the subtleties of the racial tensions that still exist today. However, they felt that the NAACP would not do much. They felt that its leaders are more selfish than they have been in the past. Moreover, they felt the leaders were using the MLK holiday, along with the presence of Presidential candidates to get their 15 minutes of fame. They rebuke the NAACP leader for constantly evoking, King's name and ideals while falling well short of them. For me, this encounter presented a new perspective because I always thought that only young people like myself think that the NAACP is losing its greatness by the hour.
My last encounter was with a gentlemen protesting that the confederate flag should stay up. John and I had a discussion about the flag the night before. We have a different stance as the what the faith of the flag should be. Regardless, John first approached and asked about the gentlemen stance on the issue. The gentleman stated he wanted the flag flying over the state capitol building like it used to. I tend jumped and asked why? his answer was something like "because that's were it belongs." I told him he was wrong for unconditionally wanting to flag to stay up, and the NAACP was wrong for unconditionally wanting the flag to come down. The fact of the matter is that the flag means different things to both groups and neither group should impose its will on the other. I continued by stating that since both party would back down from their current position, it would be much useful approach the problem from another angle. I suggested forming an education panel comprised of people from both camps, that would talk about how schools in SC should teach the about the flag. And in that process, they may come with a solution about the faith of the flag. Another gentleman protesting with the gentleman I was talking to agreed with my point. As for the gentleman I was talking to, he took a second to think about what I said, and then presented another argument which I then countered. Eventually, we said goodbye and left. I doubt anything will come of that conversation. That being said, it showed me if you come open minded about issue and are willing to offer an alternative way to look at problem, they will listen. And that's the first step to solving any issue.
While not very memorable as the title would suggest, these encounters brought home the reality of racial tensions in certain parts of the country. Living in a city such as Washington, DC and being in an inter-racial relationship often makes it easy to lose sight of what some parts of the country are still going through. That's being said, I believe that there things we can do to soften those tensions, like talk to each other and instead of yelling at each other and being offended by every thing we see.
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