2010...

Overall... 2010 was really good. Baby Colin is starting to sleep more at night and smiles a LOT. We all like Jonah's school pretty well now (we switched him to a magnet school, but it's farther away, but they don't hold him back like his old school). Ari is becoming a big kid, which makes us a little sad, because he's such a cute little kid. He's starting to read a little bit and that's exciting and I'm curious to see what kind of big kid he'll turn out to be. Kelly's looking for work and there are some good prospects. I've had lots of great contract work this year and my own games are selling well. I've learned more, had more fun, had more free time, made more money, seen my friends more and spent more time with my family this year. It's been really good. Here's hoping 2011 is just as fantastic for us and everyone we know.

I've gotta go watch Baby Colin and make some nachos. More later... :)

Highly paid expert consultant!

I got some email from someone at DeMatteo Monness a month ago. They're a "a boutique primary research firm and full service broker-dealer serving the institutional investment fund community." They were looking for someone with expertise in the things I know about (board games and porn?*).

I spent 20 minutes with my initial contact there talking about my experience, what I know about the things they were interested in etc. At that point I thought "Wait a minute, I'm not being paid and I want to get back to work!" So I interrupted the conversation to let the interviewer know I needed to get back to work, and to ask "How much will this pay?" As it turns out they pay $300/hour. I quit griping and said "No problem!"

The first call fell through because I didn't have the specific company experience that their client wanted. D'oh. Another of their clients was interested in talking to me. I joked with Kelly and our friend Alan about how I'd speak really slowly and make crazy references to drag the call out (more money!). "Okay, are you guys familiar with the show Seinfeld? Do you remember there was the tall guy and he would suddenly burst into Jerry's apartment? What was his name?" "Yeah, that was Kramer." "No, that's not it. The guy with the crazy hair." "His name is Kramer." "Was it Carl?" You get the idea.

Even with my excellent money-making plan ready-to-go I ended up skipping that and answering their questions. I didn't even mention Seinfeld once. Anyway, it was fun and went well. Although since I knew someone was paying $300/hour that caused me to speak really quickly without realizing it until later. I didn't want them to waste their money! Ha.

* What!? No, more like mobile apps and casual games. And porn. I'll be here all week folks. Thank you, and good night!