Prediction #2

I believe it was Nostradamus who predicted: "When the men of the Kingdom of George, and as Curious as he, and as simian in knowledge do mistake Pandora's Box for a device of the stars ... then will start the great Brazilian Robotic Dog War."

I am just here to help you notice the signs, people.

Photo (and other mysteries) found here.

Sunset/Sunrise

The other night in Tiburon, we had a glorious, pastel sunset ... and then the sun rose the next morning with the same pink and blue sky ...

As nice as it all was, I am counting down to Winter Solstice and some longer days!

Being Googled...

I was talking with a friend about "Googling people." Currently, if you Google "cameron maddux" my Flickr comes first. Which is cool. It is a good representation of me ... but down the list you come across this. [Warning: .pdf file]

In fact, you can find several instances where I am slightly stunned about my new family all over the web! [Please note, that is not me nor my family (new or otherwise)]. It makes me think about when I signed that waiver that Discover could use my name for these ads a few years back ... I didn't do a good job of protecting the Cameron Maddux brand. Now did I?

Likewise, I have no control over all the (Mike) Cameron /(Greg) Maddux baseball stories which mash-up my name.

I am really excited to see where the web takes this challenge and limitation of names. We can't just let people like poor Benjamin Franklin (a.k.a "No, not THAT Benjamin Franklin") suffer the pangs of a name-focused search functionality. You should not get a higher place in history simply because of the uniqueness of your name.

It is amazing that those of us who study branding will have an advantage in the user-generated content world, because usually we have no advantage whatsoever except being the one at the party who gets to hear "You know what commercial I really hate?"

Flickr self-confusion???

Prediction

Several years from now, when Brazil is fighting what will be known as the Bloody Robotic Dog Wars, they will look back at this day in history and shake their heads.

Flickr fear here.

Sorry about not posting much. I've been really busy. I hope to get some weekend bloggin' going...

How it happened

Mary: "Sam is gone for a few days, what should we do?"

Cameron: "He hates long, curvy drives ... we should do that."

M: "Wanna go to Big Sur and spend the night?"

C: "Sure, let's go!"

[15 minutes later ...]



I was surprised by a couple of things:
1) All the artichokes and farming.
2) We enjoyed the area between San Francisco and Santa Cruz more than the famous Carmel to Big Sur stretch. It was more inviting in all the public beaches, rather than NO ACCESS coastal land.
3) Point Reyes is just as beautiful in my opinion, and a whole lot closer!

We had a truly fabulous time and it is incredible to drive along the Pacific like that. However, I much prefer hiking along the Point Reyes/Marin Headlands coast. I think with something as beautiful as this coast, you need substantial time to soak it all in. (As always, small pictures made bigger by clicking on them.)

Big Sur - more than just a coastline

So, Big Sur has more to offer than just the beautiful Highway 1 coastal views. There are some incredible wooded state parks there as well. Mary and I took an early morning hike at Pfeiffer Big Sur State park on Friday. The light was pretty low from the rising sun; therefore, the pictures are okay and needed some grainy Photoshop assistance.

The trees were Muirwoodish!

Or primary goal was this 60 ft. waterfall, Pfeiffer Falls. (The beach is Pfeiffer Beach; this Pfeiffer person did either some serious exploring or settling!)

The Valley View trail was aptly named.

I am very lucky to have a partner who gets up and starts hiking with me at 7am. Thanks babe.

Our Big Sur sunset

Mary and I are starting to get a real affinity for sunsets on the water (not really all that unique a thing to like). On our way out to California, we celebrated our first year of marriage with a sunset at Tahoe. Now, we celebrated our first Californian Thanksgiving with a Big Sur sunset.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Mary and I are heading to Big Sur for a Thanksgiving sunset. Therefore I may not be able to call friends and family as planned. But I love you all very much and I am very thankful for the many wonderful people I have in my life.

And of course, I am thankful for Flickr.

More great user-driven stuff

Another thrilling example of user demand. Brian Vander Ark (best known as the lead singer of The Verve Pipe, who is best known for The Freshmen) sent out an e-mail yesterday through his newsletter to go to his website and visit the Tour page to learn about how to request his performance in your local area. I started a San Francisco Area Demand (see large button below). 7 people have joined along side me already (I swear only one is Mary.)

Brilliant. I am not sure how common this is, not being a cutting-edge music scene follower, but I am thrilled by this.

<a href="http://eventful.com/demand/D0-001-000048332-7/join?from_sticker=300x325_orange"> Demand Brian Vander Ark with Eventful! </a>

Not too thrilled by this buggy badge, though.

Avatar's Punjabi Burritos

"Hmmmm ... what type of yummy Punjabi Burrito should I get from Avatar's?""Mary, my darling. That is a difficult decision, indeed ... and one which you must face alone.""The menu of guidance is full of delicious options ... I will go with smoked eggplant and lamb.""Look at the tasty tortilla-Nan wrap ... can food be wrapped in anything more delicious, I think not?"
"Honey, I can't ... I got the Basic Burrito and my mouth waters with delight.""Understood ... I am a bit sad, though; our mango lassi drinks are nearly drained." The atmosphere is almost as lackluster as this blog. Simple, yummy food on a simple silly blog.