In nearly 22 years of a passionate marriage, my wife has never experienced ecstasy like I delivered her last night.

I brought her home a new iMac and MacBook for her home office. Until last night she was PC. Now, she’s experiencing an intimate connection with her computer the likes of which she never thought possible!
—————————————————————————————

I’m realizing there’s a point where parents go from being proud of their children and their accomplishments, to being happy for their children as they enjoy their accomplishments — a small but important nuance. My oldest son, who is studying piano in Boston, performed this past weekend. I didn’t realize he had reached the level he has, or that he was capable of doing so. I wasn’t really proud. I was much more, purely happy for him.
—————————————————————————————

My 15-year-old daughter was very pleased because, while in Boston, a college student asked her older brother who she was and how old she is. Great.
—————————————————————————————

Like every 15-year-old boy in America, my son can be a knucklehead. But one thing he always does, when I go out of my way to do something for him — like taking him and two friends to Giants Stadium, outside New York City, to watch a college lacrosse triple-header — he sincerely thanks me. One day, when he’s working his tail off to take care of his own family, he’ll appreciate how much that means.

It’s been more than two decades since I’ve dated. (Yes, Mrs. Blogenberg has been blessed for that long.) But pitching business is just like dating.

I have to show interest, but not too much interest. Measured pursuit is good. Pushy is bad. Determining how long to wait before calling is just as tricky.

Last week I pitched a new piece of business. It’s not a large piece of business, but one I very much want to win. It feels like when I was dating, waiting for her to call me back.

This week’s recommended reading from your friends at Blogenberg…

• Twitter and Facebook can help improve your concentration?
• Why real marketing isn’t simply about throwing money around to herald your expertise.
• Reuters CEO Tom Glocer asks why the New York Times needs 6-700 journalists.
• A newspaper editor discusses how social media is improving their news reporting.
• In its effort to police its content more effectively (and profitably), the Associated Press seems to have forgotten that it has a YouTube channel.
• Get ready for the FTC to keep a closer eye on online viral marketing.
• We could tell you more about the CIA’s wikipedia-eque, Intellipedia, but then… well, you know.
• New York Magazine asks, “Do you own Facebook, or does it own you?“

I stopped at a diner with my 15-year-old daughter the other day. As we sat and ate, she said, “Your employees must hate you.”

“Why?” I asked, incredulously.

“Because you complain all the time.”

“I do not.”

“Yes you do,” she insisted.

“Well, my employees love me.”

“How do you know?”

“Because they know how hard my life is.”

Yesterday, I fired a vendor that was working on a project for a client. It wasn’t the vendor’s fault. It certainly wasn’t our client’s fault. It just turned out not to be a good fit — since I arranged the marriage in the first place, it was probably my fault. (But don’t tell the client.) After the vendor got over the initial shock of being fired, it led to an interesting conversation.

The vendor commented that doing business just isn’t the same these days. It’s not as happy, to capture the essence of his observations. Since every business decision involves money, and any thought about money these days is saturated by anxiety, every interaction around business is a bit — if not more than a bit — less pleasant than in the past. That’s his take, at least.

I can’t argue. I love business. I love my business. It’s more fun than I might deserve. But the business climate is ill. I’ve said before that, when it comes to business, failure and success are just the flip side of the same coin. I think people are feeling like their coin is getting thinner and thinner.

I am an adventurer-blogger, reporting from a hotel room, in the midst of a road trip with three fifteen-year-old boys. We survived last night’s drive from Washington, DC to just outside New York City, where will be attending a college lacrosse triple-header at Giants’ Stadium today. We did not make good time, however, as we got a late start. Our driver (me) had to go find the boys after their high school lacrosse game — rather than head right to the car from the locker room as our safari leader (me) had requested, they were finally located, talking to girls.

Judging from the “super” beneath the picture of the President, it appears CNN scooped the competition: aliens are attacking earth and the G-20 is meeting with a secret council of superheroes, including Batman, Iron Man, and the Green Hornet.

This week’s recommended reading from your friends at Blogenberg…

• The Huffington Post, in partnership with The Atlantic Philanthropie, is hiring ten investigative reporters.
• Is Seth Godin right that the new software out there can help you do good design (not truly great design) yourself?
• According to The American Journalism Review the number of reporters covering goings on in state government is rapidly declining.
• This talk by Merlin Mann and John Gruber about building a quality blog, given at SXSW, raises some interesting thoughts about building a remarkable blog. (Consider, in particular, Mann’s “obsession times voice” formula for great writing at 7:25 and following.)
• The classic story of Little Red Riding Hood redone. (via Anil Dash)
• This piece suggests that economic recovery should focus more than it does on reinventing urban areas.
• All of Gary Vaynerchuk’s decisions were wrong.

Sometimes, it’s the little things that keep me going. I was sitting in a Starbucks, doing some work on my laptop, waiting for my son to finish lacrosse practice. After two hours, I needed to get up and use the restroom.

There was a Washington, DC cop sipping his coffee, minding his business. I got up and walked over to him. “Can you shoot anybody who touches my computer while I’m in the men’s room?” I asked him, straight-faced. “But please, just be sure to miss the laptop.” Then I walked away.

He looked at me odd.

Sometimes, living is just performance art.

————————————————————-

Overheard at the gym: A forty-something woman asking a friend, “Do you text? I do. I’m really good at it.”