A picture is worth a thousand words, but I’m neither a photographer or a painter. As long as I can remember I have sketched images using language.

Welcome to my canvas.

Transparency, Social Media and Where's Waldo
August 04, 2008 in It is what it is - opinion column | Comments (0)

I'm not precisely sure at what point it happened, but it would seem that at some juncture I opted to live my life as somewhat of a group activity.

I don't know that it was particularly planned, orchestrated or otherwise arranged, but with very little exception I share pretty much everything.

Okay so that's not entirely true ... there are some subjects I've chosen to avoid altogether. There are others I raise only when utterly integral to a given story. But as a rule, the day-to-day, moment-to-moment experience that is my ever-so-mercurial ride through the world of start-ups, Silicon Valley and ... well ... life ... has become an open book.

Friends who've known me a while probably would just say that technology finally caught up to the way that I just ... am. Which, put in perspective, is that it's a pretty rare occasion when you can't tell what I'm feeling at a given moment.

If I'm happy - it's clear.

If I'm sad - it's clear.

And if I'm angry ... well, let's just say most folks don't particularly like me in the state. Frankly neither do I.

But that's not the point of this post.

I realized that unlike some of my blogosphere brethren, I don't have a sidebar on this blog that enumerates the various and sundry ways by which you can find me.

Quel horror.

And so, with a brief interlude at the keyboard, I rectify this trespass with the following selection of social media flavors. (It's not as though finding me on-line is particularly hard. Hell, just Google me and you'll see at least a few pages of accurate connections. Strangely if you remove the space between my names you get some other very interesting items. Like this video I've only just found ... )

But for those not inclined to hunt - and frankly so I have it all in one place - I've created this directory of sorts.

Twitter: cathybrooks
FriendFeed: cathybrooks
Seesmic: cathybrooks
LinkedIn: cathybrooks
Identi.ca: cathybrooks
Yelp: cathybrooks
Flickr: cathybrooks
YouTube: sfloislane
Plurk: cathybrooks
Upcoming: cathybrooks

Whether it's one or more of these, I hope you'll connect, communicate with me and - above all - tell me what you think.

BlogHer 2008 - some views from afar
July 20, 2008 in It is what it is - opinion column | Comments (0)

There was only one thing wrong with BlogHer08 - I didn't get to spend more than a handful of hours there on the first day. Sadly, my travel required my heading out of town and so had to miss almost everyhing, but I did have the pleasure of leading a session on the first afternoon . For the uninitiated, BlogHer is the annual confab that boasts one of the most comprehensive and powerful collections of women on the Internet.

My partner in crime for the session, Amber Scott, and I met only by phone and email prior to our leading the nearly two hour talk on videoblogging - a fact that shocked several of those who stayed afterwards to speak with us.

But should they have been shocked?

I think not.

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An important milestone
June 26, 2008 in It is what it is - opinion column | Comments (0)

I suck at math.

Okay, so maybe I don't suck, but let's just say that math and I are uneasy bedfellows at best.

This is why it's particularly amusing that I seem to have such a penchant for remembering numbers - dates, anniversaries, phone numbers, addresses ...

And today is a big number day.

Here's why ... and I share this story along with posing a question to you ... so take a listen and then chime in!

Testing, testing ... 1 ... 2 ... 3 ...
June 19, 2008 in It is what it is - opinion column | Comments (0)

So it's a VERY exciting day here at Seesmic! For the uninitiated, Seesmic is all about empowering people to talk with each other on-line using video as the conduit. And we've created a technology platform that enables you to have this conversation across multiple platforms at the same time.

Think of it like a big room full of people and the room has doors and windows all around it. Each door and window represents a different point of entry to the conversation. For some it might be via Twitter, for others from a social network, it could be from a blog or even from Seesmic itself.

What you see below is the first iteration of our brand new, threaded, standalone player - with built in record/reply functionality. This is a conversation that started on Seesmic ... expanded here to my blog ... and I also dropped it into my MySpace profile.

So check it out ... and if you don't have a Seesmic account already, if you click on reply below you can register and get one! Don't worry, no download necessary :)

Recycling, or how I decided to re-post an entry from my MySpace profile to avoid finishing another post.
May 26, 2008 in It is what it is - opinion column | Comments (0)

Yes, I admit it. I'm a social media junkie.

I have a MySpace profile. And Facebook. And LinkedIn. And FriendFeed, SocialThing, MyBlogLog, Seesmic, Flickr, Upcoming, Yelp, Twitter (well, through Twhirl, at least). And that doesn't count the posting that I do here on my own blog or for Seesmic or LeWeb.

If the hypersensitive hyperlinked nature of the previous paragraph hasn't put you off too badly, hopefully you'll read this item I just rediscovered - on my own MySpace page.

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Cathy's TravelingGeek Wrap-up
May 21, 2008 in Israel , It is what it is - opinion column | Comments (0)

With the mental maelstrom sorted, I'm clear of mind enough to hammer out some final thoughts from my Kinnernet/Traveling Geeks 2008 adventure in Israel.

In the spirit of brevity (and clarity), I'm opting to embrace my not-so-inner-Virgo moon and clear out these last items in short order.

So fasten your seat belt, and perhaps keep a crash helmet nearby, as I whip through a series of powerful and impactful events:

Rogozin School
There is, at some point, a far more in-depth commentary from me about this visit. For now, however, I'll defer to the words of my fellow TG, Robert Scoble because his truly touching post paints a lovely picture of our visit.

Peres Center for Peace
In December 2006, I had the pleasure of hearing Shimon Peres speak at LeWeb. He said that while governments might posture and make noise about peace, the truth is that it was up to the private sector to establish the infrastructure necessary to maintain and grow a peaceful society. That is what the Peres Center for Peace endeavors to do - bridge chasms between disparate groups by bringing the sides together to tackle common issues (education, agriculture, children).

Good Vision
Sadly I missed most of this presentation. As was the case with pretty much our entire week, we were running late. Based on an earlier version of our schedule, which showed Thursday afernoon open, I had arranged a series of meetings with entrepreneurs in Tel Aviv.

My TG colleagues who took part in these meetings each offered glowing reviews. But rather than try and paraphrase, I'll point you to Renee Blodgett's accounting of the visit.

Israeli Entrepreneurship - the Ladies' Way
This trip to Israel brought with it several opportunities to meet a few of the powerful women rising in the ranks of this innovative community. Susan Mernit wrote a great post that captures the essence of how the woman who populate this incredibly aggressive and rapidly moving technology market manage to blaze trails while remaining utterly committed to forward movement of technology and in supporting other women in the market.

My last meeting finished up at about 7:00pm. The Traveling Geeks were to have one last dinner together, but unfortunately some pressing deadlines back in the States required that I work through dinner (since I'd spend the entire next day on the plane).

I sent the last email, got my bags pretty much packed, and that's when I made a decision that, while perhaps not the most intelligent choice I've ever made, certainly was fun.

Our flight was to depart at about 8am. That meant getting to the airport by 6am. Which meant leaving the hotel around 5:15am.

"No problem," I thought to myself. "I just won't go to sleep."

Oy.

While the tales of the evening are amusing, I have to think about whether or not they're appropriate to share ... (and of course if I have to think about it, that probably means the answer is that I shouldn't).

But in any case ... with the trip now in the rearview mirror and many adventures on the horizon, I conclude this last Traveling Geeks Israel 2008 post... and look forward to the future and more TG adventures!

The universe whacks me upside the head... Well, more like a kick in the calf...
May 19, 2008 in Israel | Comments (0)

It's been a month. More than a month, actually. On the one hand, the time has flown by. But even with the rapidly flying calendar pages a month can be a very long time.

Especially when you find yourself creatively constipated.

In my case it's largely due to the fact that for the last several weeks (four weeks, to be specific) I could have sworn I was sitting on a large pile of what felt like five or six chewy blog posts.

That rather lumpy mass, however, was something else in disguise.

Procrastination.

My last post to this site, was part of my ongoing ruminations from Israel. The trip, sparked by my participation at Kinnernet 2008 and enabled by my inclusion in the TravelingGeeks, largely fell into the "business" category of things, but after a powerful day in Jerusalem I found my pattern of posting from the road interrupted.

We had several more great experiences on the trip, each of which inspired an array of ideas for commentary. All of which I began - and then abandoned to the draft folder on my computer.

One by one the stories emerged, and one by one I began the dutiful process of capturing the ideas and beginning to sort them. (My first pass on writing anything more resembles a ball of yarn after a kitten's gotten hold of it than something with any semblance of reasonable sequiturs.) Overstimulated with little time to process each adventure, I found myself unable to focus on completing anything.

Thus the stories began to back up, and as the trip was coming to an end I knew that once I got home, it was back to the rapid-pace adventure of Seesmic business development with little to no opportunity to clear out the backlog.

A bit of time passed (don't recall how long, but it was within a couple of weeks) and the TravelingGeek squad began tossing around emails regarding closure for the live chronicling of our adventures.

Shit.

I had these posts to do and there was no WAY I'd get them done.

Rethinking the situation I figured why not just toss out a set of bullet point observations from the balance of the trip, perhaps with a dash of pith and eloquence (or at least a smidge of wit), and call it a day.

Even that proved impossible. Hitting the ground moving at about Mach 4 upon my return, the brief window of respite required to give me the time to focus even to jot down a list eluded me. Days began to whip by even more quickly, and each day my to-do list had the glaring entry - 'FINISH POSTS FROM ISRAEL'.

But alas even increasingly large print, all bold, all capitalized please from my own psyche failed to work.

Then the universe helped me out.

It was May 16, 2008. My pal Jessica Corbin and I had agreed to play in a softball game. It was the first inning. It was a bit of an odd start - mostly because I found myself playing 3rd base. (Generally an inadvisable place for a leftie to play, but that's neither here nor there with this tale.) About four batters in, with one out and a runner on first, it happened.

It was a beautiful pitch, and the batter connected.

Crack. (Well, more like "ping" since all the bats are metal alloys these days.)

Flying off the bat, the ball soared over my head - clearly a shot headed for the outfield.

Then the wind shifted. The ball began to drop short.

It was very clear, very quickly that the ball was going to drop just behind me. A bellow from the center fielder who had a clear view of the ball's trajectory confirmed my assumption: "BROOKS! It's yours!"

Turning I took two steps back, placing myself well in position. I then pushed off my right leg to give myself the extra height I needed to snare the ball.

The first sound was a welcome one. The ever-satisfying and resounding contact of ball meeting leather.

Thwack!

The second sound - well, more like a sensation really - came simultaneously ... and was far less pleasing.

Pop!

That came from my right leg.

The good news is that I held on to the ball, and we secured our second out of the inning.

The bad news is that I spent what was left of the inning standing on one leg, realizing that something was awry in my right calf.

Hobbling off the field after the next out, I headed for the dugout.

More good news - the team that played just before us was a group of pharmacists and doctors. Running me through a series of "Does it hurt when you do this? How about now? Can you move your ankle?" the group consulted and then agreed - either a deeply pulled muscle or perhaps a tear. Now that tear could have been a small tear in the muscle itself or perhaps off the bone, but regardless the treatment would be the same.

RICE - of course referring to the acronym and not to the application or consumption of starchy grains.

My personal experience is that the universe has an uncanny knack for serving up precisely what you need at the time you need it.

My writing style needs space - mental and physical. It also needs light. With the substantial clog of partly formed story bits in my brain, none of them could form. And I certainly couldn't get out anything new until I stopped to breathe.

Or until something knocked the air out of me.

So here I sit ... well ... here I lay, actually. (There's a sad decadence to typing away on my computer while propped up on a frothy stack of pillows with my bum wheel perched atop a leg wedge from my chiropractor and a sack of frozen peas.) And so in this diagonal state I'm choking down a massive serving of content bran, which in my case means I've cleared off my kitchen table, sorted and taken care of the stack of mail, and most importantly, I let myself be still and wrote this blog post; which means I can finally tie up the loose ends from my Israeli adventure in April and truly turn my eyes towards what's next.

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From Old City Inspiration to New Ventures: A day in Jerusalem
April 16, 2008 in Israel , It is what it is - opinion column | Comments (0)

The last 24 hours have been somewhat strange for me. There's been a sizable amount of meshugass on this trip - misfired communications, sardine-like conditions of our "bus" (which was actually a late model Ford van that the Israeli Consulate very graciously replaced today with a proper tour bus... YAY!), and the TG gang consensus that our goals for the trip and the itinerary were a bit off kilter.

Fellow TravelingGeek, Sarah Lacy, wrote a bit about our rebellion on Monday - an act that set into motion quite a few interesting activities and experiences.

As a result I have several half-finished posts sitting in my draft folder that I've just not been able to complete. (Confession: I'm a relatively newly minted blogger in terms of style. My writing has always tended to be a bit more in-depth analytical second day story type of stuff, so this whole rapid-fire writing thing is a new challenge).

In any case, that mini-backlog of items is going to have to wait a bit longer because after today's adventures I'm focused on something deeply important to me.

Faith.

More specifically the way in which faith inspires.

It's funny to think that on my first trip to Jerusalem in the summer of 1995, I found myself nearly paralyzed at my first approach to the Western Wall.. While I've only returned to the spot twice since that time, I've had exactly the opposite experience on each return. Rather than feeling repelled by the energy that comes off of this majestic edifice, it's as though a tractor beam grabs me, pulling me in.

But I'm getting ahead of myself... the story begins when we began the most enjoyable forced march you can imagine.

The TravelingGeek squad arrived in Jerusalem this morning and was met immediately by the warmly intense visage of Tikva Levine - the woman who was to be equal parts tour guide, historian and drill sergeant for our marathon morning. We had two hours to conquer a pretty substantial amount of territory in the Old City.

With Tikva charging in the lead, conquer it we would.

We began on the sun-drenched perch that is the Walter and Elise Haas Promenade. Tikva gave a superb overview, explaining the physical geography of the City, the history behind it, and the outlined where we'd go. Then it was back to the bus and off for the walled City.

Unlike my first Old City walking tour, which focused wholly on the Jewish aspect of this place, our tour encompassed the Christian Quarter and part of the Arab Quarter as well. We entered through Zion Gate, one of seven open gates into Old Jerusalem. With little time to spare, we proceeded in a near sprint from spot to spot - David's Tomb, the room in which The Last Supper is said to have taken place, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

(Note: I took quite a few pictures, as did Renee Blodgett, JD Lasica and Susan Mernit. When those get posted I'll add in the links here)

Out of deference for the personal experiences of my colleagues, I won't share what specifically occurred for some as we made our way along. If they wish to share what they felt, then they will do so in their own time in their own way.

These are personal experiences and not everyone writes with their heart stapled to their sleeve as I do.

Suffice to say that for more than a couple TGs there were tears accompanied by statements about feeling connected, overwhelmed with a sense of belonging, and ultimately a sensation that whatever feelings or beliefs they may have held before, their lives were now changed.

For me, the wave of emotion hit upon emerging from the Arab Quarter into the bright light of the plaza by the Western Wall. My body went into autopilot and I made a beeline for the spot where I have gone in the past. My forehead against the warm, silken stone I got that feeling - the one the draws me back again and again.

It's an incredible sensation that I've plugged in directly to a spiritual mainframe, with energy pulsing and throbbing through thousands of years of prayer into my body, racing through my limbs and back again. The tears began before I could even form a thought in my head, and welled up thickly behind my closed eyes. It's not until I briefly blinked a few minutes later that the flood streams down my face.

My time at the Wall was only about 10 minutes, but in that time I felt an eternity of energy and peaceful power seep into me. As is customary, I placed a note between the stones of the wall. I'd taken several minutes at lunch to write down some thoughts and wishes - both for myself and for friends. Backing away (you don't turn your back on the Wall, instead you're supposed to stay facing it and back up to the end of the plaza out of respect for the Holiness of the place).

We bade farewell to Tikva at this point and headed for a meeting with Jerusalem Venture Partners. Needless to say, at the time it was the last thing I really wanted to do. As we all rode on the bus towards the offices, we opened our computers and began to silently check email.

And then the Twitter frenzy began.

I'm not sure where it started, but unless you're subscribed to @cathybrooks, @sarahcuda, @renee27, @susanmernit, @jdlasica, and @scobleizer ... Well, let's just say that you missed a ridiculously hysterial (and yes, rather juvenile) stream of shenanigans.

(And by the way if you're NOT subscribed to all of those folks, I'd highly recommend you change that ... While we're going our separate ways at week's end and won't be cloistered in a bus any more, I get a sense the Twittering antics will continue ... but I digress...)

So we pulled up to the JVP offices still recuperating from our hysterics - the kind of deep, belly laughter (that for Sarah and me ended in massive coughing fits as we've both been sick on this trip).

Frankly I was worried about my ability to focus during the meeting. I didn't think that after such a deeply spiritual experience, capped by a near exhausting session of laughter that I would find anything else of interest.

I was wrong.

As this post is already rather lengthy, and since Robert Scoble captured quite a bit via his ever-present Nokia N95 and Qik. I'll wrap up by saying this...

Not only was I not bored, I found myself deeply engaged and wishing we had more time.

Perhaps it has something to do with the energy and power of this place that helps energize and propel the superb level of innovation I've seen this week.

After my experience at the Wall today, I tend to think that's the case.

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Geeks and Heroism in the Holy Land
April 15, 2008 in Israel , It is what it is - opinion column | Comments (0)

Our little ragtag TravelingGeek posse has had quite a time this week. Through our array of experiences - from the unsinkable Sarah Lacy battling what may well be Pneumonia and the startling experience Craig Newmark had while visiting Seambiotic - the wandering geeks have bobbed and weaved through minor adversity, managing to maintain a mostly jovial energy throughout.

But unexpected experience is part and parcel of life here, and I believe are also central to why, as one of my TravelingGeek compatriots, Robert Scoble, commented today, Israel is probably the only place outside of Silicon Valley where the pulse of entrepreneurship beats as powerfully.

From where I sit (which I should mention is on a brand new bus that the Israeli Government got the TravelingGeeks today for our trip to Jerusalem!), it's clear why innovation and entrepreneurship thrive here.

It's about fear ... or perhaps better to say, lack thereof.

One of the most critical ingredients to a well-baked entrepreneurial spirit is courage. This includes an ability to power forward in the face of adversity and confusion, the inner strength to get up and try again should the venture fail and the skill to focus on the task at hand, even when chaos reigns around you.

Just before our posse rebelled against the planned agenda on Monday, we took a visit to Rambam Medical Center.

Located on the far north of the country, this facility is one of five major hospitals in the country. It's also 35KM from the Lebanese border. In the summer of 2006, when war broke out and Ketusha rockets began raining from the skies, the staff of this facility stayed by their posts - even when the rockets began to fall closer and closer to them.

My fellow TG Susan Mernit did a quick post about our visit that you can read here.

And here are some pictures I took of Rambam from an overlook above Haifa.

So what does this have to do with entrepreneurship and start-ups?

In my mind it's simple.

When you have a culture where getting on the bus in the morning and going to work carries such a powerful risk - like potentially being blown up by a rocket or suicide bomber - the spector of failing at a start-up, I think, pales in comparison.

The people here - be they Israeli or Arab - have a sense of purposefulness about their day to day existence that keeps a rather healthy perspective on that which we sometimes take all too seriously back here in the cush and comfort of the US.

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My Israel transition day
April 13, 2008 in Israel , It is what it is - opinion column | Comments (0)

You know that whole thing about six degrees of separation?

Well, here in Israel that's more like .025 degrees.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I awoke this morning to a rather startling discovery. I had lost my voice.

But this wasn't one of those raspy, Lauren Bacall-sounding vocal issues, this was a flat out, phone rang, I picked it up, tried to speak and nothing came out. Not even a squeak. This was most distressing because I was due to speak on a panel at The Marker COM.vention in a few hours time.

What does this have to do with degrees of separation?

On further thought it's more like one degree of separation meets a strange game of telephone.

I called Brad Reddersen, the key point person for the TravelingGeek squad, to tell him of my dilemma and say that I'd be arriving at the conference a bit late as I wanted to try and salvage some voice for the panel.

He offered words of comfort, said I should call if I needed him to do anything, and that he'd see me later.

Thanks to a lengthy steam in the shower, buckets of hot tea with honey and a half pack of throat lozenges, I regained enough vocal capacity to head for the conference. And after a 20 minute taxi drive through the muggy morning I arrived.

That's when it began.

Conference organizer Nathan Lipson greeted me at the door, his arms open for a hug and a deeply concerned look upon his face

"Cathy, I heard you're sick? Are you okay? Can I do anything for you?

Smiling, I sidled up to him so as to avoid speaking too loudly and quietly whispered that I felt fine, just needed a bit of vocal rest, some more vocal hydration and I'd be ready to rock.

I headed for the conference cafe to hydrate, and had gone no more than 5-10 yards when I ran into Nimrod Kosklovski of PLYMedia.

He looked worried.

"Cathy, I heard you were sick. Are you okay?"

With a smile, I gestured that I'd merely lost my voice and was heading to get myself some tea. He smiled back. "Ah, a little too much singing at Kinnernet, eh? Well, let me know if I can get you anything."

I continued my walk to the tea concession, and had made it about another 5 yards when I ran into French investor, Marc Goldberg.

He looked worried.

"I heard you were really sick, Cathy. Are you okay?"

Again, I smiled, pointed to my throat and started to whisper that I'd lost my voice. Marc immediately offered to go and fetch tea for me.

I declined his gracious offer and made my way the remaining few yards to the table. In the time it took to get there, get the hot water, pick the tea bag and sort out whether I wanted honey or lemon no less than a dozen additional people stopped and inquired as to my health, offered to help with fetching beverages or lozenges and most all of them teased me about the fact that I - of all people - was rendered nearly mute.

This cavalcade of concern continued throughout the morning.

The part of this I found amusing - besides the part about Chatty Cathy being semi-silenced - was the fact that I'd made one call. I'd spoken with one person. And he was largely unconnected to most of those who said something to me. But somehow this one call propagated like a veritable conversational kudzu vine.

While amusing, it's actually not all that surprising. The truth is that this experience is a perfect example of the larger gestaldt that is Israel.

This is a country where it's not unusual for entire towns and cities and even the whole nation to go into mourning when someone dies. Because, more likely than not, you are merely one degree separated from them.

It's not just about its size, which is certainly a factor, it's about something far deeper. Because let's face it, there are places far smaller - cities like San Francisco for example - where people don't even know their next door neighbors.

In Israel, for as much conflict and contradiction as you find, there are equal and in some cases even greater aspects of connectedness with the history and the land, but also between the people. There's a sense of being in something together, almost a personal compact that living here is a team sport.

I do not mean to make light of the fact that there are serious chasms between cultural, religious and ethnic groups in this part of the world, but as with so many things the images and messages projected to the rest of the world lean heavily on all that is sensationalistic.

The truth is that, while there are unquestionable moments of drama and chaos, the day to day experience in Israel is a highly connected one.