How did you know I would read this post? Truly a heartbreaking story. It really seems like her family and friends did everything they could, short of staging an active intervention...and how often does that happen for an academically successful D1 athlete? For me, the social media element of the story boils down to this: Social media is a personal media platform. It is not a substitute for authentic relationships and personal contact, nor is it necessarily an accurate gauge of someone's life. While I enjoy reading about and seeing images and videos of my friends, there's a reason I still try to call people from time to time. When it comes to our children, social media is particularly suspect; spend time with your kids. That is the only thing you can do. The terrifying thing is that at some point, they go off to college, and you have to let them go. There is no way to guarantee that things will turn out all right for them. They probably will, but that's not under your complete control.

The adventure continues. The best we can do as dads is to provide a secure base that they know they can always rely on.

Glad to hear you're making the move! You're wasted as an accountant. Do what (who?) you love, not what you're good at.

My deepest condolences. I found out about Kenai's passing via Ben Casnocha. We experienced a similar loss earlier this year when our beloved dog Kobe passed away, 5 months after being diagnosed with incurable cancer. http://chrisyeh.blogspot.com/2012/09/kobe-yeh-2000-2012.html Her quick passing was indeed a painful blessing; it was only 36 hours from when she first showed any symptoms to when she passed away. Until then, she was as happy and energetic as ever. Her illness also gave us enough time to bring the kids to visit her in the animal ICU. We still grieve for her, but we spend most of our time thinking about the many happy memories.

It sounds like a perfect example of the Alex P. Keaton theory: At some stage of their lives, kids want to be the opposite of their parents.

There are many things that are uncertain in life. The one thing that is certain is that the soonest moment you can make a change is now. For both you and God, the time is now.

I think each of us has to decide on our own whether we feel loved. If the people outside your window seemed happy, I think they felt loved. The thing is, almost all of us are loved--we just don't always feel that way.

Congratulations to both you and Charlie (and Ashley--I hope you enjoy the Bay Area weather)!

Congratulations Christine! Little did I realize that our Intel Capital dinner would turn out to be a recruiting expedition. Mike and team are delighted to have you on board I'm sure!

So often, we think about customers from an MBA perspective. Segments. Churn. Life-time value. But when we think about value, we think about their value to us as businesses. We need to turn it around and think about how we can add value to their lives. Only if we add value to their lives will they be willing to share that value with us (i.e. pay us). To be successfully selfish, be selfless.

Well done, Dave, well done. If you need anyone to testify about the things you say at angel-only events, I'm happy to back you up.

David, I'm with you. There's also a difference between being fast and being smart. Even though I'm an angel, and people seem to think we all write checks after the first meeting, I take an old-school approach. For every company, I ask for three things: 1) To try the product 2) To talk with an actual customer (or failing that, user) 3) To see historical financials Most folks are ready to do 1), but entrepreneurs seem shocked when I ask to speak with a customer or see financials. Presumably I'm the first person to ask them for such unfashionable things! I'm willing to move fast, and I'm willing to move without what we now all call "social proof", but I'm not willing to move unless I believe I'm investing in a great product that's part of a real business.

I'm greatly saddened that you don't appreciate great words like garrulous and avuncular!

Jamie, I second your suggestions (as I did during the town hall on Thursday). The people at the conference are so amazing, that I want to learn more from them, as well as from the speakers. Maybe we can make the unconference format a bigger part of the E2.0 West in November. If not, I may very well organize another conference on my own!

Andy, You'd probably be interested in some of the ways PBworks is using voice APIs to incorporate voice into our collaboration tools. Let me know if you want a demo.