I had a great July 4th holiday. It started at 7:30 AM with a one hour call with some students at a summer session at the University of Notre Dame. After Q&A about entrepreneurship, their teacher pulled off a genuine Oprah moment and announced that they each were receiving a free copy of My Start-Up Life. Enjoy, guys!
Then I went for a run in Golden Gate Park. It was spectacularly beautiful. As someone who works out every day in a gym, it’s nice to mix it up with an outdoor setting. And I don’t hold back when it comes to doing my push-ups and crunches on a grass field in public. (I’m reminded of my post on push-ups in public from Dresden, Germany.)
In the early evening I went over the bridge to Marin County where I enjoyed a lazy BBQ dinner at my friend Andy’s house. The weather was amazing. The burgers, hot dogs, potato salad, watermelon, apple pie, and homemade ice cream even more so. As our paper-plate dinner drew to a close, I saw Andy’s foot start tapping erratically. He was nervous. For good reason. We were going to publicly duel in ping-pong afterwards, and he had the jitters. (Kind of reminded me of David Cohen back in March — speaking of which, if you live in Boulder, don’t miss the First Annual Ping Pong Classic on July 19th at 3 PM at the TechStars Office in Colorado.) Our friend Jeremy, who dominated the matches, had the line of the day: "Don’t punch the ball, love it."
And what would a July 4th be without the famous hot dog eating contest? I was pumped to see that for the first time in 10 years an American knocked off his Japanese competitor in downing 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes. After his victory, he hoisted the Mustard international Yellow Belt and wrapped himself in an American flag to chants of "USA! USA!". His adversary wrapped himself afterwards in a silver-colored blanket normally used by marathon runners. The absurdity.
On my way home I stopped by Peter Thiel‘s house and witnessed a fantastic fireworks display from the roof. This woman on Flickr captured the photo above (her other photos of San Francisco are equally impressive).
Thanks to Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John Adams, George Washington, and the rest of those fine men for making this holiday (and country) possible!
That is such a nice photo! Thanks for sharing. I didn’t really plan my 4th of July well, so it ended up a disaster. I couldn’t get a good seat for Transformers movie and ended up watching Fantastic Four instead. Worst of all, I live in San Diego (America’s Finest City) yet I watched the fireworks near my complex. Probably I’ll plan it better next year.
Oh, Ben, I’m sure there were some women making July 4th possible too… Sorry, couldn’t resist.
66 hotdogs = aprox. 19,000 calories haha how many trips to the Y would that take?
arranged marriages should be, should not be outlawed
Doctors should have, should not have the permission to end the life of a terminally ill patient
Buyers of guns must take gun-safety courses
Midriff shirts should be, should not be banned at school – Or choose other arousing clothing parts for another persuasive speech topic
People are too strict on other people
massive dicks in pussys
freaky midget sex
freaky midget sex
People are less moral than 30 years ago
People are less moral than 30 years ago
Witchcraft is, is not evil
Not much on my mind right now. I haven’t been up to anything. Today was a complete loss. That’s how it is. Not much exciting going on these days.
I can’t be bothered with anything recently. I’ve pretty much been doing nothing to speak of. Not that it matters.
I can’t be bothered with anything lately. Such is life. Basically nothing seems worth thinking about. I’ve just been staying at home not getting anything done. I haven’t been up to anything today, but oh well. I haven’t gotten much done lately.
Abortion should be, should not be kept legal
Parents have no right in spanking you – Or do they? That could be another persuasive speech topic
I haven’t gotten much done , but it’s not important. Not much on my mind lately. Today was a total loss, but so it goes.