I am going to start reading Atlas Shrugged again tonight. I read it every year and haven’t done it this year with the new job and all. Plus- I think I could use the encouragement I always derive from that experience.
My friends at CanDo have some pages on their site that you should check out: Money and Gold.
OK, I decided to post my goodbye email to the blog because it evoked quite an interesting reaction from folks I worked with at eBay. The funny thing is that when I’ve interviewed places it has an almost opposite reaction on the people interviewing me. eBay people look at the list and say, “Oh, that’s a lot of sites” but because they know me and they know the team they accept it. People outside eBay look at the list of sites launched and ask almost as an accusation, “How much did you really have to do with any of those sites?”
It is going to be a long road to find the right company that gets what I do. That’s ok though… just like Goldilocks I just need to find the right fit and then I’ll be comfortable, well fed and rested.
Subject: Well, it certainly has been fun!
Howdy,
Over the last 9.5 years spanning FairMarket and eBay I’ve had many occasions to think about the content of my goodbye email. Would it be something hilarious that people talk about for years to come? Would it be something controversial that people would talk about for years to come? Or would it be a quote from Atlas Shrugged causing people in the know to simply smile and nod in silent agreement?
I want to leave you with the least amount of words someone like me can ever be limited to use. First, my thanks for the last (n) years depending on who you are and when we met. Second, while I have so many people I want to thank individually I have to single out the FAIM and ROW development teams. Without them I could never have delivered a thing. Finally, and in keeping with my love of Atlas Shrugged, here is a list showing some of the value I’ve in some way helped deliver. I assume my account is balanced.
Thanks,
Bill
bill@billwatt.org
skype: fmbillwatthttp://www.linkedin.com/in/billwatt
The sites we’ve run for eBay on the FairMarket and ROW platforms:
** FairMarket **
SamsClub.com
Argos Clearance Auctions - Private Marketplace
Lego Germany
Washington Mutual Declining Interest Rate Auctions
solutions.paypal.com
Devzone REST Hosting
BMW CPO Showroom
pdn.paypal.com
PayPal Tsunami Relief
Monster Baseball Promotion
Liquid Loot - Win Millions of Anything Points
Camp eBay
Fandango promotion
AOL promotion
Circuit City Private Marketplace
USPS(R)-eBay Priority Mail Box Center
SpiderMan promotion
PC Selling Center
LL Cool J Loyalty
Purina promotion
VIP Experience at the Grammy’s promotion
Get To Know eBay
eBay Rethink
Valvoline500
Sun Reference Center
DevZone
Fandango / eBay Promotion
eBay Exclusives
Win With Milk
eBay Reseller Marketplace
ticketmrktplace
Equifax
Misez avec Royale
SAE
Dr Pepper
Popular eBay Keywords
XM Radio promotion
XM Buyer Appreciation Program
WhatIsIt
Hershey’s Get it! with WrapperCash Redeem Now Store
Hershey’s Get it! with WrapperCash Online Auctions
Product Finder
eBay/Harrah’s Treasure Hunt Promotion
eBay/Harrah’s Treasure Hunt Promotion
MyConstructionWorld
DAS Auto Shippers
Click You’re It
Balance Bar
Xmen
Village Marketplace (Beta for the Artisan Marketplace)
Paciolan_DixieChicks Private Marketplace
eBay India: Motors B2B Marketplace
GE Money Bank - eBay DE
Coke Fridge Auctions - eBay DE
Virgin Broadband promotion - eBay UK
o2 Mobile - eBay UK
T-Mobile - eBay DE
Equifax - eBay UK
Asstel Insurance - eBay DE
eBay Express promotional site
eBay Affiliates Hub
Pack Your Bags
API Content Project
eBay AdMarket Pilot
Live Nation Auction Club
Name That Show
Today’s BIG Deals
Pop Hits! Sweepstakes
FreeFlow
Eclipse
Holiday Giving Works Promotion
eBay Motors Financing Center
eBay Trick or Treat & Win it Sweepstakes
eBay Map It Support
Media Marketplace
Boodoku Halloween Promo
Rocky Balboa promotion
eBay Holiday Dreams
Dominos promotion
Netflix Marketplace
What’s It Worth
Transformers movie promotion
USPS Star Wars Promotion
eBay Reseller Wholesale Marketplace
eBay Mastercard
eBay Giving Works
Spider-Man 3 movie promotion
eBay Giving Works Give Fest
Pack Your Bags
ASD/AMD Private Marketplace
Windorphins
Popular eBay Keywords - eBay FR
Norwich Insurance - eBay UK
Tele2 Wireless - eBay DE
affari.eBay.it
Picture Loans
Popular eBay Keywords - UK
20th Century Fox - eBay DE
Commerzbank AG - eBay DE
Popular eBay Keywords - FR - Motors
Popular eBay Keywords - IT - Motors
eBay Gift Card
Hairspray Movie Promotion
Second Life Private Marketplace
SecondLifeLindens Private Marketplace
Experian promotion
7th on Sale
Shop Victoriously
Nokia Private Marketplace
Wal-Mart Private Marketplace
eBay Certified Provider Program
Ingram US Private Marketplace
Ingram Canada Private Marketplace: English
Ingram Canada Private Marketplace: French
World of Good Content and Support Site
Mexico Imports** ROW **
Yahoo! Shopping India co-brand
Deal Finder US
Deal Finder DE
Deal Finder AU
Deal Finder UKMapIt
Global Buying Hub
Item Search Beta
NGVI Beta
Artisan Marketplace
The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet Is Killing Our Culture
So, I started listening to this book and really grew to hate it but that only fueled my desire to write a detailed review. I’ll try to get back to this at some point and really take it to task. For now let me say that I really didn’t like it. I liked the later parts of the book where the author actually started to deal with what should be done and thought some of his action items made sense even without the real thesis of his book having merit.
A few of the things I disliked about his views were:
* Equating piracy and video streamling services like Netflix with having the same evil impact on existing business models
* Expecting me to care about existing business models (why do I care that movie theaters had to decrease their prices in response to increased home consumption?)
* Listening to the author sound so exasperated that DVD sales declined for the first time this year and that people, when given the choice, would rather purchase the songs they like for 99 cents each instead of an entire albumn for $14.
* Hearing how Tivo (and if I had my way, ReplayTV) have ruined TV networks
Does he not understand that I would rather never go to a store if I didn’t have to? I don’t want to support old businesses because they’re already in business. It is too familiar to the Atlas Shrugged section where people are told that no new books should be written to give older, unpopular books a chance and then the people are told they will be required to purchase the same number of books they bought the year before.
I don’t care that online classified sites are beating out physical newspapers. I really don’t. If I can place an ad in real-time and people can start responding immediately tehn how great is that? If I then sell the thing that day I can remove the ad and stop the calls… again with the happiness. And if newspapers need leadtime and have a limited reach and no way to stop the impressions once the item is sold then they just won’t compete.
I just kept thinking of speach by Danny Devito in Other People’s Money:
“And you know the surest way to go broke? Keep getting an increasing share of a shrinking market. Down the tubes. Slow but sure. You know, at one time there must’ve been dozens of companies making buggy whips. And I’ll bet the last company around was the one that made the best goddamn buggy whip you ever saw. Now how would you have liked to have been a stockholder in that company?”
As I listened to this book being read I just kept thinking to myself, “I wonder how much this guy would have hated the printing press and berated Gutenberg.” No, I don’t think the author is completely anti-technology but I have to assume people decried the masses having the ability to spread the written word or to copy other people’s works back then too. I’m sure the monks thought it was horrible that anyone could copy the Bible without the pain of scribing every word… but I bet they loved it too. I wonder what they’d think of being able to Google passages from the Bible from my cell phone. 
I want the same improvements with most areas of my day to day life:
* email - why write letters for day to day correspondence except for fun? Crank it out and send it off and by the time I get to work I may have a response. Maybe I’ll ever get it on the blackberry on the drive in. 
* buying music - I can hear a new song on MTV (should they opt to play music ever) and then login and purchase from iTunes and then listen as I take my shower.
* watching my TV - both with shows on demand and with content form around the world, I want it now if it exists.
* taking my TV- yes, I love my slingbox and having it hooked to a DVR removes the limitations of time and place to keep current.
I do understand this is all change and that some people will benefit and others will lose. I wonder about people back home and how they will face the transition to a digital world. I knwo there will always be a non-digital world to work and produce in but I for one am excited by the improvements technology makes available.
Yeah, who knew 2 years would fly past so fast?!? So, we celebrated our 2nd anniversary tonight with a great dinner at La Fondue in Saratoga.
Alice did a great job with the gift selection by picking up a first edition Atlas Shrugged for me (she even used eBay!). She still hasn’t read the copy I gave her after our first date but at least she knows I like it!
I’m listening to Atlas Shrugged on CD and have realized a huge flaw… I’m listening on my way places and not reading near a PC so blogging about what I’m hearing is a disjointed process. Since there are so many little details in the book that I wanted to call out and discuss it’s hard to keep them all in my head while I drive.
I’ll have to come up with a better solution. Maybe I’ll just twitter as I drive and then copy the comments over to the blog! Yeah! I’m SURE that’s a good idea!
So far we’ve passed the following events that rank as my favorites:
I’m just about to Hank’s date in court.
If you’ve known me for about 5 min you probably know I love this book. One of the first gifts I ever gave Alice was her own copy of the book. Yes, quite romantic to be sure!
I’ve read it many times and this weekend I picked up the book on CD for the car. :-) So… here we go with this reading and set of comments. Enjoy!