DominicPreuss.com - Food, Fun and New York City

It was very interesting to wake-up today and think about how things can change in 24 hours.  Yesterday was all about apprehension and anxiety, while today is a mellow sense of calm.  The country did the right thing and brought to power the person most capable of inspiring the country on a path back to respectability.

I can’t think of a better place to be last night than NYC.  The second that CNN called the election, we could hear people yelling out their windows and cars honking their horns.  It was a great feeling and it seemed uniform, with no bad feelings from McCain or Hilary supporters.  Just a feeling that the country had done something good, for a change.

Now back to the task at hand of pulling our country out of the mire that is currently pulling everything down.

Everyone that knows me should have a very clear idea of how I stand on today’s election, but the most important thing to do is vote, either way.  We are very lucky to be born into a democracy where we can vote without fear of redress and not exercising that privilege is the same as forfeiting it.

So, Go out and vote!  I hope you vote Obama, but if even if you don’t,  you will feel better that you did.

Apologies to everyone about the radio silence for the last few months.  Here is a quick update on what I am up to (in case anyone cares):

I left Meetup in late-May after we mutually decided that I wasn’t the right person to help them at this point.  Prior to joinging Meetup, I was working on a few startup ideas, which is why I went and talked to Scott in the first place.  Since then, I have been working on vetting a few business plans.

I spent a few weeks talking to folks about an idea for selling remnant event sponsorships, but found there to be too many barriers with the current way these are sold.  After that, I focused on an idea for a company in the online gaming space.  I finished the business plan a few weeks ago and have been out talking to potential investors and partners.

I promise to do a better job at keeping this site updated, although my twitter stream has been pretty active.

Talk to everyone soon.

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers, but especially my mother who continues to be one of my closest friends and moral touch-points.  Thanks Mom for coming to 18 years of soccer and basketball games!

I couldn’t resist posting this picture (sorry for the lack of focus, best I could do with iPhone).

If you know me, you know that my respect for someone raises dramatically when I know they can hit a jumpshot. So, I was very excited to see Obama isn’t a horrible basketball player.

This video, plus the video of him “brushing his shoulder off”, have re-confirmed my support of Barrack. Plus, if you have to call your husband to help save your campaign, you should be disqualified because you can’t accomplish things on your own.

Felt it would be good to post this for posterity.

DOT-COMEBACK - SEVEN YEARS AFTER THE BUST, NYC’S TECH SECTOR IS BOOMING

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Meetup.com. Ask anyone at Meetup.com what their company’s about and they’ll say the same thing: “We help people use the Internet to get off the Internet and form community,” as CEO Scott Heiferman puts it.

Heiferman, who’s successfully sold off two previous companies, started Meetup in the aftermath of 9/11, when he was struck by the sense of community he found as people looked up from their screens and faced one another. With a few friends who were underemployed in the ensuing downturn, he rented space at the corner of Lafayette and Spring, and spent three months building a computer platform that would help people with similar interests find one another and arrange meetings.

Since then, Meetup has grown from five employees to 55, and from one Meetup group to more than 44,000.

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This is an interesting view or your life as seen by Twitter:

So, I finally got caught up on European politics over the weekend and one thought struck me: “Does any country like their elected leader?”.

Is democracy failing?

Take a look:

USA: G. W. Bush - 28% Approval Rating (NY Times)

France: Sarkosy - 36% Approval Rating (Journal Du Dimanche)

UK: Gordon Brown - 33% Approval Rating (YouGov)

Italy: Berlusconi - I mean ‘really, again?!?!’. I am not sure if re-electing Bush or re-electing Berlusconi is more embarrassing for a country.

Who is the last world leader that was truly loved by the majority of his constituents? Tony Blair (pre-Iraq)? Margaret Thatcher? Chirac (early years)?

One of the countries with the youngest democracies has the highest approval rating: 80% for Vladimir Putin.

Things that make you say “Hmmm…”

Everyone,

Here is my Google Checkout Earth Day Map with my donation.  If I sent you an email, please consider donating.

http://checkout.google.com/earthday/showMap?donation=212682557699892

Dominic

I have only one thought about last night: “Wow”

I showed up looking to have a drink or two, and stumbled into a full-fledging, raging party. Great party with lots of fun had by all. Just needed more bartenders (or bars). I highly recommend it to everyone. Well worth the money.