Why the Handshake on Dandelife? For the ride. − 1 March, 2006
I re-read Kelly's dandelife entry entitled "Gary and Kelly Shake Hands on the Deal" and I thought it would be best to describe my side of the story and why I am a behind the curtains entity for dandelife.
I first me Kelly in July 2001 on a soccer field . It was one of those small world kind of meetings in that I had already heard of Kelly just weeks prior. I read about him and his work with Spoke and Axle and was extremely impressed with the guy. I loved the concept of Spoke and Axle from a technology basis - please remember that bandwidth and sharing was as common as brontosauruses back then. I was even more blown away that this super smart guy, Kelly Abbott, would come up with this idea only to give it away for free. No profit, no .com fortunes on his mind. He did it for this:
"If you're truly contributing to better aesthetics and it's not for profit, then it deserves to be hosted," says Abbott.
Insanity.
So when I actually met the guy who gave all this stuff away - I was a bit of a nerd fan. Didn't ask him for his autograph, didn't give him a high five. Just said I admired his work (and his thing about me having a temper is way overblown - I am a goalie and I hate giving up goals).
The team that we were on sucked and we sucked even harder being the only gringo team in an all Mexican league. Our opponents would literally drool with excitement to play against us - it was like the Harlem Globetrotters playing the Washington Generals and I do think that they threw confetti into the crowds at times.
We sucked, I hate giving up goals, and was miserable. Reid Carr (President of Red Door) tried to recruit some talent for the team and thats when Kelly came on board. I liked Kelly because he was my only solid defenseman, though he always whined that he wanted to play forward - I wanted him back with me.
Anyway. I played soccer with Kelly and when I started my own business (gap intelligence) I got the chance to work with him at Red Door. Red Door gave me a cubicle to start the business.
I admired Kelly's creativity, his smarts, and his charitable work with Mama's Kitchen (among others). I also knew that if given the chance, I wanted to be a part of his next Spoke and Axle.
Years passed and Kelly approached me with his latest grand idea - dandelife. Personally, i am not a huge blogger and I am only average at internet lingo, but I was blown away with the concept. People sharing their lives, ideas, events, views, experiences, and thoughts on a huge community forum that others could learn, laugh, and admire. Dandelife was more than blog, for me it seemed as if it was medicine - to reflect on the times, both good and bad and help us remember the happy days and shrug off the awful ones.
I wanted in. No matter what. Not for profit, not for my own Cnet article, not for any .com kind of dream. I am in it for the ride - to be a part of something special, something out of the mold. I became the first official investor (outside of Kelly of course) in dandelife.
So, if any of you read this far down - thats the story. I love your stories and keep writing them.
-gary
I first me Kelly in July 2001 on a soccer field . It was one of those small world kind of meetings in that I had already heard of Kelly just weeks prior. I read about him and his work with Spoke and Axle and was extremely impressed with the guy. I loved the concept of Spoke and Axle from a technology basis - please remember that bandwidth and sharing was as common as brontosauruses back then. I was even more blown away that this super smart guy, Kelly Abbott, would come up with this idea only to give it away for free. No profit, no .com fortunes on his mind. He did it for this:
"If you're truly contributing to better aesthetics and it's not for profit, then it deserves to be hosted," says Abbott.
Insanity.
So when I actually met the guy who gave all this stuff away - I was a bit of a nerd fan. Didn't ask him for his autograph, didn't give him a high five. Just said I admired his work (and his thing about me having a temper is way overblown - I am a goalie and I hate giving up goals).
The team that we were on sucked and we sucked even harder being the only gringo team in an all Mexican league. Our opponents would literally drool with excitement to play against us - it was like the Harlem Globetrotters playing the Washington Generals and I do think that they threw confetti into the crowds at times.
We sucked, I hate giving up goals, and was miserable. Reid Carr (President of Red Door) tried to recruit some talent for the team and thats when Kelly came on board. I liked Kelly because he was my only solid defenseman, though he always whined that he wanted to play forward - I wanted him back with me.
Anyway. I played soccer with Kelly and when I started my own business (gap intelligence) I got the chance to work with him at Red Door. Red Door gave me a cubicle to start the business.
I admired Kelly's creativity, his smarts, and his charitable work with Mama's Kitchen (among others). I also knew that if given the chance, I wanted to be a part of his next Spoke and Axle.
Years passed and Kelly approached me with his latest grand idea - dandelife. Personally, i am not a huge blogger and I am only average at internet lingo, but I was blown away with the concept. People sharing their lives, ideas, events, views, experiences, and thoughts on a huge community forum that others could learn, laugh, and admire. Dandelife was more than blog, for me it seemed as if it was medicine - to reflect on the times, both good and bad and help us remember the happy days and shrug off the awful ones.
I wanted in. No matter what. Not for profit, not for my own Cnet article, not for any .com kind of dream. I am in it for the ride - to be a part of something special, something out of the mold. I became the first official investor (outside of Kelly of course) in dandelife.
So, if any of you read this far down - thats the story. I love your stories and keep writing them.
-gary
Comments:
kga245 (January 7, 2007. 02:40am)
:-)
edunn (February 15, 2007. 01:07am)
Happy Valentine’s Day! We want to make sure that you know about the contest for the iPod! Please visit the blog http://blog.dandelife.com/ for further details. Good luck.
Love ya, the Dandelife Team