No Snivelling

It's been a great year -- and, heck, I may just hit the Mega Million Lottery yet, and have it get even better (in which case, none of you... not even the people on the list below, will ever see me again... except maybe my wife and Zach the Dog).

As I reflect on 2008, I can't believe how many wonderful people who I've met, or become even better friends with -- really, the list below is in no particular order... and I'm sure I'll be leaving a bunch of great folks off... but it's a reminder of how great 2008 was:

• Chris Hurley and the crew at Beacon Law -- you rock (although your bills kinda suck)
• Bill Nordwall -- you and your hair are the highlight of any day
  
• John Braseth at our downstairs art gallery -- you can chat with the best of them, and have some sweet art as well -- thanks for helping take the edge off of rough days
• Dave McClure -- your new year's resolution should be to make scheduling of board meetings easier by about 18 e-mails each, but other than that, u da man
• Jon Bischke at EduFire -- you continue to amaze and inspire
• Scott, Matt, Ayush, Greg and team at Madrona; Melinda and Steve at Bezos Expeditions and the rest of our investors/advisors-- all I/we can say is thank you, both for your financial support and also for everything else you've done to help us improve (Note, if you're an investor and would like to make this list next year, you can contact me in many ways...)
• My wife -- you are amazing. And, Zach the Dog, you inspire me.
• Todd Sawicki - your mastery of all knowledge is awe-inspiring
  
• Brian Westbrook - you really much find a job -- your twitter volume may be the root cause of the Fail Whale
• Buzz Bruggeman - you're connecting abilities are inspiring
  
• Denali Fitness - for keeping me under 190 pounds (and helping me to beat Daryn in the 31-day end-of-year weight loss challenge)
• Karen Cho - you don't believe it, but we're all inspired by you
  
• Twitter - for giving me another place to waste hundreds of hours
• Bill Bryant - you do so much to support early-stage entrepreneurs - rock on
• Barack Obama - I admit, that I've heard less from you since you asked me for money every day for about 8 months running, but I still think there's chance for a relationship
  
• David Stern and Saar Gur - definition of supportive -- great meeting & getting to know you
• Terri Fujinaga - world's greatest accountant and 4-th nicest person in North America
  
• Dave Hanley - you've been there for us time and again -- now, see if you can convince that Amazon team to continue their torrid acquisition pace, OK?
• Kushal Chakrabarti - you inspire us to try to change the world
• Jeff Lawson - how did I miss the Rick Rolling phenomenon? Thank you for catching me up -- you're one of the best
• Dave and Karim -- you're raising the bar -- I look forward to '09 and our collaborations!
• Hanh - thank you for moving to Seattle -- now, take the bad weather with you back to Santa Monica, please
• iLike Emily Glassman - rock on, girl
• i also like Shawn Stewart - you power my streaming radio (don't tell the tech guys that I do this on our network, though)
• Vikas and Reza -- you barely made the list... since I'm still awaiting my referral commission for Mikhail...
• David Geller -- you continue to be a big supporter of the Seattle tech community
• Mark Mader -- my '09 resolution is to win the Smartsheet football pool
• David Eraker -- keep dreaming big, brotha -- schappell-show is behind you
• Keith Schorsh -- tru-sera
• Galen & Estately - you give us all hope!
• Marc Barros at VholdR - I need one of them cameras for my snow shoveling -- it's action packed
• Hanson Hosein and Kathy Gill at UW -- your passion inspires
  
• The entire TeachStreet team -- really, to call any of you out wouldn't be fair... you've been amazing -- have seen me through highs and lows -- rock on
  

Then, in the Festivus tradition, here are people who have disappointed me -- best of luck in 2009 for you grinches:

• you didn't really think I'd have anyone here, did you? seriously... i started the list... but, the caffeine high precluded publishing... we'll have to look forward to that in '09 :-)
  

p.s. If you weren't in the list above, it's because:
1) you weren't in my recent twitter feed
2) you didn't send me a JibJab Elf Yourself card
3) no money has arrived recently
4) you didn't work hard enough -- you can always increase your odds by purchasing gifts

Seriously -- am sure I left many off... just wanted to give a sense of how wonderful a year's it's been -- so many great people, new/old friends, and support -- couldn't have made it without all of you and your love/support!

Labels: seattle, thank you

We've been doing this for 2-3 months now, so I guess it's a success -- if you'd like to catch up (and escape the office) sometime, pop by Linda's on Pine St. (on Capitol Hill) -- we're there every Thursday night from 6:30 til ~8:30pm. No real agenda -- just bloggers, startuppers, techsters, investors, and your occasional female as well (who'd a thunk?!?)

How did we come up with the name Hops and Chops? Really, you need to blame the engineer for that one -- sort of... drink some hops, show us your chops... yeah, I know...

Oh, and if you're into that Twitter think, you can follow Hops and Chops on twitter here:

http://www.twitter.com/hopsandchops

Labels: blogger, hops and chops, seattle, tech, vc