New Venture
I’ve been working construction for months in an old building in Midtown, mostly installing, framing and trimming windows, with a variety of other miscellaneous tasks. Once it’s open I will be managing one of the stores.
There was an article on the front page of the Sunday Business section of the Houston Chronicle. Included below:
Midtown’s Continental Club is known for its live music and comfy Texas roadhouse feel.
The club, it turns out, is also an incubator for entrepreneurs who will soon open their doors one block away from the club at 3600 Main on Metro’s light rail line.
Most of the 3600 Main retailers have Continental Club connections: One tends bar and several play music there. Two helped build the club and another lives upstairs.
The soon-to-open shops at 3600 Main will not be mistaken for Highland Village. The barbershop Big Kat’s, for example, will feature a tattoo parlor with a 1940s sailor theme. Most stores will have a retro feel.
When Metro rail passengers look out the window, they may glimpse burgers grilling, a band playing and people dancing on the big patio of comfort food restaurant Natachee’s.
Street Viewed
I was working outside at 3622 Main this week, on a ladder, painting the trim on the windows I’ve been putting in. I caught something out of the corner of my eye, a stalk on top of a car. I initially suspected it was an art car, so glanced that way to see which one. Instead, it was a Google Street View car.
Of course I couldn’t have been heroically lifting the glass into the window frames as I had been the previous day. I was just painting them. So, keep an eye on Street View and let me know when my back side shows up.
SXSW Tuesday: The Lull
I have no patience with the incurious. What can they learn about life and what can anyone know without learning. -Sylvester Milner in The House of a Thousand Lanterns, by Victoria Holt, 1974
Though I took a long rest, I was still feeling beat down, the remnants from a brief cold. I’ve heard from others it can linger for weeks. Not having done much fore-scouting for the music portion of SXSW, I thought I’d head to Waterloo Records and start from there.
Meanwhile, the people I knew that were here for SXSWi were catching their last lectures and mostly heading out of town.
It’s been two years since I’ve been to Waterloo and the neighboring ice house is no longer. In its place is the 24 Diner. I sat down and had a Dr Pepper to sooth the throat. I was also offered a taste of the Avery Hog Heaven. It was a very hoppy barley wine, and if I was feeling well it would have complemented my meal excellently.
I had a stuffed chard on a bed of wheat berries. After having 4 slices of bacon with breakfast, the vegetarian option sounded good. And it was.
I stopped by Waterloo. It was a sedate shadow of what it will be over the next few days with a different band playing in-store every hour (including Cheap Trick Wednesday at 6!). There were no copies of the weekly Austin Chronicle, and no dailies starting until Wednesday.
I briefly tried to catch up with Bill C. again, but he hopped out of town, exhausted after his daily lectures following minimal sleep. Will killing time at The Ginger Man, trying two beers (Independence Oatmeal Stout was a delicious desert for my lunch), I pulled a book off the shelf (quoted above). I read it there and have been continuing it. Hopefully I can finish and re-shelve it before I leave town.
I headed back to my crash pad and got in some extra rest knowing I’ll need it over the next few days.
Comment on SXSW Tuesday: The Lull
SXSW Monday: Wetly Interactive
I did not check the weather before I left Houston, so now on Tuesday morning I’m tossing my only pair of jeans into the washing machine.
I don’t have a jacket or any rain gear with me either. It will be a bit nippy tonight, and raining all day.
Yesterday, after I got settled into my cousin’s place, and did some grocery shopping, I headed into town. I parked across MOPAC from Zilker Park and rode my bicycle into town. It was a nice day for it, and gave me a chance to get used to some of the routes that might be useful later in the week.
I locked up the bike, almost left my pannier, but thought better of it, and found some lunch. Darwin’s Pub had a nice Chicken Shawarma, though their beer selection was minimal. Around 4pm, I headed over to Buffalo Billiards (even thinner, though larger, selection). There was an informal iPhone Developers Meet-up. It ended up having about a dozen people, about half had done development work. So, I spent some time chatting and getting to know some people, mostly from Texas, though the organizer was from the UK.
One who I met was Jacqueline, and happened to attend the same high school as I did. This happens more often than you might think.
After that I headed to the west side for a Houston organized party (Houstonians got free drink tickets, and a friend bought me another). I saw quite a few Houston friends. JR was camped out with a video camera. (Ex Houston) Mayor Bill White showed up and had a brief chat. He’s running for Governor. I wish he was still our mayor, and will definitely vote for him for Governor.
Jacqueline had checked in on another party and then stopped by the Houston one. We chatted for a while and suggested we try the FourSquare party.
FourSquare, Twitter, Gowalla, and (to a less extent) FaceBook are ALL OVER the SXSWi part of the conference. So much that there are lots of anti-SXSW whiners on-line and #fakesxsw humor from the non-attendees.
We swang by the FourSquare and it had a line out the front, we tried out the BeerCamp at Emo’s. Their Beer Pong tournament was over but free beer was still available for the waiting in line. The rain started, we chatted under a tent with some young strangers (Austinites schooling in Lubbock, off for the spring break).
My iPod had died by this point, and I totally missed hooking up with my good friend Bill C. I totally should have borrowed a phone and called (sorry Bill!). Jacqueline suggested we try out Beauty Bar (a new one, I was unfamiliar with) as the rain continued. I stayed there for a while, but decided I needed to get back to my car and/or bike, so I left her to stay out for the rest of the night (and I think she did).
I started walking to find a cab, to get to my car. I was planning on abandoning my well locked bike. But I got all the way to the bike and after consulting with the pedi-cab drivers decided that that I needed to come back and retrieve the bike. Then I decided that I was already soaking wet and warm from the walk, so decided to ride to the car. I got home about 12:30, had to strip clean to get dry and warm.
I was of course soaked to the bone and a bit muddy from the ride. Thus the need to wash and dry my only pair of pants this morning. Sounds like they’re ready for the dryer.
Comment on SXSW Monday: Wetly Interactive
Texas Declaration of Independence
Wikipedia tells me, …
March 2, 1836 – Texas Revolution: At a convention inWashington-on-the-Brazos, the Mexican state of Texasadopted a declaration of independence from Mexico, establishing the Republic of Texas.
Comment on Texas Declaration of Independence
iPad and NYT
The New York Times was a bullet point in the iPad introduction. The application they had already developed looked quite nice from a cursory glance, particularly with its lack of advertising. The Apple Gazette recently discussed the pricing conundrum they are having at NYT.
There have also been rumors that most of the Times’ content is going to go back behind the pay wall. Assuming that is the case, I think there’s an obvious strategy for moving forward with their iPad pricing.
Initial price: $10, and that covers 3 months of content. Get everyone hooked! After that start charging $10/month. Also, strategize how you might include minor and strategic advertising content into the app. Possibly set up a new pricing scheme for advert-less versions.
Also, make sure you build in a “you can’t buy next month’s content until you upgrade the app to the newest version available – it’s free”. This would enable you to enforce any new restrictions you add to the app and keep the majority of your customers on the same version.
Of course, I would prefer if it were free. But that’s not how businesses work. If they keep the entry cost low enough, it might be enough to get me back into the daily habit of reading the newspaper again.
