Kohtz.org

In case you have tried to call me lately, you should probably know that my phone made it half way through the wash before I found it and no longer functions. Maybe if I would have put it in the dryer... hard to say.

Anyway, email me and I'll give you some alt phone numbers to reach me at until I figure out what I want to do. My contract has expired and I'm looking into new plans.

This is a very interesting article. It talks about past cultural shifts such as moving from an agrarian economy to an industrial economy and how people initially dealt with being forced to live in close proximity to each other (drinking!) and the benefits that eventually came from it when the found they could organize (weekends!). It then looks at how the Internet is the result of a different shift - what to do with free time after WWII (watch TV) - and a shift to using that time more productively (collaborating on the internet).

Read

Here are some pictures from St. Louis. We have more that we'll send out in a photo album at a later date.

One thing I think I must have brought home from St. Louis was a cold. That's right, I'm sick again. My ear is still plugged and I'm getting another cold.

Because I keep getting sick all the time, I think I'm going to try to start eating healthier. I'm going to cut out as much fat and sugar as I can from my diet. I think it will be harder then I'm anticipating, but it's worth a try. I see lots of salad on the horizon.

I also tried to lift weights this morning, but that didn't work out so well. My shoulder still hurts a little, so I didn't lift much weight. I may wait another week before I try again. Also, since I have another cold, and it's freezing outside, no run today. I think it's too late to get in shape for the half marathon. I need to look for another one later in the summer.

Well, we all had a great time in St. Louis even though it did rain quite a bit and was cloudy most of the time. We did all sorts of things, including taking lots of pictures. I'll put mine on flickr sometime in the near future. Some of the more notable things were the Science Center which had a lot of fun and interactive exhibits for kids, the City Museum which is basically an endless maze of fun, the Gateway Arch which I probably enjoyed more then everyone else, and a St. Louis Blues Hockey game on our last night. Unfortunately, the Blues lost. We also did a little bit of shopping and tried to find fun places to eat every night.

My favorite part was probably the hockey game, I think Abby enjoyed the Science Center the most, and Conner's favorite part was eating Sushi. Not sure what Jamie liked the most, probably everything that the kids enjoyed.

Now that our vacation is over, I think I need a vacation to recuperate.

I almost forgot. This weekend we took some of our IPA to McCook and it was awesome! We tried it about a week ago and it was only so-so. That was only two weeks after bottling it. Waiting that extra week to drink another one REALLY helped! We're excited to bottle our Stout now, but we don't have enough bottles yet. I think I see a pretty clear solution to that problem.

I'm reading Undaunted Courage right now, a book about Lewis and Clark. Yesterday I read Lewis's journal entry of when he saw the Rocky Mountains for the first time.


The following is something that stood out to me.


This is a philosophy that I've always tried to keep, but one that I sometimes struggle with. I often think about things way to much, and play out the future (and the past) in such a way that I lose site of the present. At least I can recognize when I'm doing it, and can generally straighten out my thinking.

If I had any sort of memory, I'd memorize that quote. I guess that's what the Notes application on the iPod is for.

Well, my flu/cold/government experiment gave me an ear infection. I just got back from the Dr. He prescribed Amoxicillin-Clavulanate. I hope it takes affect soon because I'm kind of dizzy and my ear hurts.

Everyone I've talked to who went to SXSW came back sick or got sick shortly after. Sounds like some sort of government conspiracy to test a new strain of a flu virus to me. That or a study on how a real flu virus spreads. Of course I can't prove anything, but I bet it's true.

I love that headline, and the first paragraph:

"After years of living large, U.S. households are finally learning what financial experts thought they never would: to live within their means." - Households face the unthinkable: budgeting

Amen! It's not only the banks fault that we're in a credit crunch.

On Saturday, Jamie and I opened our first home brewed bottle of beer. Everything must have worked because it tasted like beer and had a nice kick to it. We gave a bottle to my dad and I think Jamie was going to give one to a friend at work. We may also take some to McCook this weekend. I have a feeling it will be gone in the near future.

Sunday, we started an Irish Stout. We realized that we did it in reverse order though. We should have brewed the Irish Stout first and had it ready to drink on St. Patrick's Day, and then did the IPA Sunday. That's alright.

Anyway, with this batch we added coffee and a touch of vanilla. It's a total experiment, we'll see how it turns out.

OK, so much for daily updates at SXSW. It was fun, we stayed up way to late every night and got up way to early every morning. The conference had good info, we didn't stick to our run schedule, and everyone I went with got sick when we got home. All in all, a good time.

Today was a fun day, I think we all learned a lot. I started out blogging about the first panel discussion and quickly found that it was going to be too much work to write about them all. I was writing from my iPod touch which is great for quick access to the web, but not a great tool for writing.

So to sum up the rest of the day, I went to a couple more discussions, one called "contextual web" which was interesting. Basically, the web is being accessed by more and more devices (iPhones, etc) and as a company (or individual), thought and consideration will need to go into how people use these devices to interact with your web site. The other main panel I went to was about growing your company, product, whatever, as big and fast as possible. One of the panelists was my friend Evan, so I found it particularly interesting. However my friend Joe didn't really care for the guy leading the discussion and pretty much was ready to "punch him in the throat".

Tomorrow will be more of the same, plus I'm going to have lunch with my friend Greg. I'm also supposed to run 5 miles, which might be difficult if we stay out too late.

Teens talking about what they do online. MySpace and music seem to be big. They don't like all the adds. Seems to be there biggest complaint. All but one have an account even though they are under the age restrictions.

Talking about their phones, what they use them for. Internet not used much due to cost. Games and texting mostly, one uses it for music. No iPhones due to cost probably.

Talking about virtual worlds, avatars. Only one person has really been in one. Biggest complaint is pay to play.

Hello friends and family. I'm not sure if I mentioned it yet, but I'm going to Austin Texas tonight. There is an interactive conference I'll be going for work. There is also a film and music festival there, but I'll be leaving before those begin.

I'm flying out tonight at 6ish from Lincoln, and will be back next Tuesday around 10pm. I sent Jamie my flight information so someone has it, if anyone else wants it let me know.