Since moving to New York, my timid declaration that I am an aspiring foodie has been exposed and I’ve seen I’m a foodie novice at best. But, there is one culinary delicacy that I’d be willing to go toe to toe with anyone in New York on: Breakfast Tacos.

The simplistic beauty of a perfectly prepared Breakfast Taco has yet to spread far beyond the borders of Texas. Some folks have asked if I mean a breakfast burrito (as they try and refer me to McDonalds) and others have suggested I get with the local culture and just start eating bagels with a variety of flavored cream cheeses.

But, with as much determination as I can muster, I’ve fought on. In the past two years, after sharing my quest with friends, family, and (perhaps most importantly) the internet, I’ve only found three Breakfast Tacos options in all of New York City.

Lobo – Cobble Hill (218 Court Street Brooklyn, NY – http://lobonyc.com/)

This was my latest find (yesterday) when Annie and I were finishing a 30+ mile bike ride. She suggested Lobo as a good Mexican food lunch since we were close by in Brooklyn. When I walked in, much to my delight, there was a huge Lone Star Beer sign hanging above the bar. That was the first hint that I might find a glorious surprise waiting for me on the menu. I flipped it over and line item number three on the breakfast menu: Breakfast Tacos! (pictured above)

I ordered one with chorizo (spicy sausage) and one without to gauge the difference. Both were wonderful, especially when dressed up with the pico de gallo, guac, black beans, and the house salsa. It is safe to say that I inhaled them.

Thus far these are by far the closest thing to a true Breakfast Taco that I’ve encountered in NYC.

Tacombi (at Fonda Nolita – 267 Elizabeth Street New York, NY – http://www.tacombi.com/)

This was the first Breakfast Taco that I found in New York. The restaurant is a fun open warehouse with metal folding chairs, plastic tables, and a couple different options as far as ordering. To get the Breakfast Tacos, go to the cashier on your righthand side when you walk in and purchase some tickets (like you’re going to the State Fair) and take them to the back chef’s hut.

There are three options for your Breakfast Tacos and I’ve had them all. And they are all good.  But, being a connoisseur, I would say that they’re not great. Being the first Breakfast Tacos that I’d found in the city, I was overly excited the first time I had them as they were like an oasis of goodness to my deprived taste buds. But, upon a second and third visit, the adjective that I find myself say in describing them: frou-frou.

Definitely better than not eating a Breakfast Taco, but not quite the awesomeness I think a city of this culinary achievement should be treating their palettes too.

La Esquina Taqueria (114 Kenmare New York, NY – http://esquinanyc.com/)

La Esquina, the much talked about restaurant, might be one of the more fun dinning experiences in the city if you can get a reservation. You walk into the unassuming and small Taqueria and, should the hostess find you name on the list, you are escorted downstairs through the kitchen to the best ambience you’ve ever seen in what feels like a cave.

But that is not the experience I had in attempting to try out their Breakfast Tacos. I walked to the Taqueria on three different occasions to attempt to partake, each time finding out that they either weren’t serving Breakfast Tacos because it was the weekend (strange but true) or that they wouldn’t be serving them until 10am because if was a weekday (really?). So when I finally made it on a day when they felt like serving me Breakfast Tacos, my biases against their offering were already pronounced.

And unfortunately, they green sauce smothered presentation didn’t restore enough moistness to the dried out corn tortilla for it to make me smile. But, I needed a third Breakfast Taco to make this blog post complete, so there you go.  Very disappointed by this one.

So all told, Lobo in Cobble Hill Brooklyn is the far away winner of the Breakfast Tacos in NYC culinary exploration SO FAR. But, the search continues and I am taking all suggestions and input that I can get. I am tired of having to fly to Austin to get my fix once a month, let’s remedy this situation here in NYC!Tweet

My all out support of lemonade stands and commitment to stop and buy a cup every time I see one is fairly well documented. So, you can imagine my outrage this morning when I learned that local authorities shut down a kids lemonade stand outside the US Open and fined the parents $500.

And here is where it gets even more objectionable, the kids were donating all the money to charity!

The authorities said that it was “more than just a little lemonade stand, you’ve got coolers of lemonade pre-made.” So, because these kids were thinking ahead and didn’t want to run out of supply for what would surely be in demand, they’re being penalized?

I think every kid in America should be encouraged to do a lemonade stand. There is nothing better than learning to talk to attract, talk to, serve, and thank new customers. It is how I got my first taste of the entrepreneurial bug over 20 years ago thanks to my parents and it is something I will support for the rest of my life.

To read more, go HERETweet

Yesterday, Representative Weiner of New York got on stage to apologize for being an idiot.  And, despite the insane number of jokes that his last name and this situation lend themselves to, the thing that got me going was the sensational coverage by the entirety of the American press.

People are idiots and do stupid things. People make mistakes.  People get caught. People in the public eye, for whatever reason, think it won’t happen to them. But it does. And then, for the next 3 days, every nightly talk show and front page headline dives into “how the story happen” and an in depth look at the way the events unfolded.

DEAR AMERICA: GROW A PAIR AND QUIT GIVING A RIP.

Surely there’s much more interesting things than the latest drama of torrid affairs between ugly chicks and politicians. Surely you have something better to do with your day than care that someone got a Twitter DM and @Reply mixed up.  There is nothing interesting here unless your life is only lived vicariously through the exploits of others and this is the latest escape from the routine known as your day to day.

Between Weiner, Edwards, and Schwarzenegger, my ability to care is at an all time low. Just wait three days until this Weiner story goes flaccid (I had to get one in there!) and there will be another one with a tearful apology at a podium with a blue curtain behind it.

But in the meantime, go live a life that doesn’t allow you the time to give a flying flip about this crap.

GROW A PAIR. Be the headlines that matter in your life.Tweet

About two years ago, after walking by Ground Zero, thinking about the tragedy that occurred there, and getting all riled up about the fact nothing substantial had been done about getting the people ACTUALLY responsible for it, my entrepreneurial mind clicked into gear and a business plan was formed.  I started discussing the bounty that was on Osama bin Laden’s head with some fellow New Yorkers and here is what I jotted down.

- Raise $2.5mm in equity

- Hire the world’s best mercenaries

- Give them 6 months to plan, stockpile, and launch a private tour of the mountainous region of Central Asia

- Find the mass murdering bastard responsible for the death of countless innocent lives around the world

- Pull the trigger

- Split the $25,000,000 reward amongst the team and investors

- Realize over a 300% annualized rate of return

All told, this would have been a much less costly way of achieving the strategic objective of taking out this evil mastermind of terror than the costly wars that have been waged in Afghanistan and Iraq.  But, as is often the case, the execution of a good idea is the only thing that matters. The heroic events of this weekend just go to show, the early bird gets the worm.  And what a worm he was.

Good riddance Osama.Tweet

One of the longest relationships I’ve been in is also one of the most abusive. There are some incredible moments mixed in amongst the angst and tears, but in general, it is a total beat down that puts my my self esteem in peril. But after each round, I find myself saying “Golf, I wish I could quit you.”

When I was asked to play in the South By Southwest Golf Tournament this year, I jumped at the chance. But as the day of the event got closer, I stalled finishing my registration and tried to think if there was a creative way to back out. I love *the idea* of an afternoon on the links, but in reality often find it to be an afternoon of wallowing in self pity as I trudge into the rough and sand traps looking for yet another errant shot.

So when the morning rolled around, and the insanity of SXSW had caught up with my immune system and sent me into a pretty decent allergic reaction to the storm system of urban hipsters smoking hand rolled cigarettes on the streets, I though that I perhaps had an out.  But, not wanting to miss out on the chance that “things would be different this time” I went back to my tormentor with my hat in hand.  The first three holes were just what I remembered: hooked tee shot, sliced fairway wood, divot exploding 8-iron, faster-than-I-though greens…. repeat.

But then, just as I had resigned myself to being the course’s whipping boy for the day, it happened.

*Plink!*

My tee shot launched itself over 260 years down the dead center of the fairway.  The rest of the guys in the foursome give me an awkward collection of fist bumps, high fives, and the very strange in between fist/hand. There was talk of me sandbagging them on the first few holes. I was feeling good.  Especially, because I hadn’t swung a golf club in about 18 months.  The rest of the day was a mixed bag of shots, some more wonderful and some more awful. But, there were enough good shots that made it look like I knew what I was doing. Just enough to have me looking for another chance to deepen my abusive relationship with the sport of Golf.Tweet

From the moment my flight touched down in Austin for South by Southwest last Thursday, it has been a nonstop bigger-than-ever year of brands, start-ups, celebrities, and geeks roaming the streets. The buzz is all about who is getting funding, who is the next big thing, and how the world will change because of the digital revolution we are all a part of.

But there are also discussions that aren’t being blogged and retweeted with quite the same fervor. There are quieter conversations by about the world beyond this weekend. About what any of these ideas and new t-shirt clad 20-something CEOs will actually be able to do outside nurturing biosphere of SXSW.

I was reminded of Jerry Maguire and his passionate plea to his sports agency as he struggled with his newfound aspiration to do something more meaningful. “This moment will be the ground floor of something real and fun and inspiring and true in this godforsaken business and we will do it together! Who’s coming with me besides …”Flipper” here?” Can we create something beyond the constant buzz and drone of new, better, best that comes out of SXSW? Something that lasts beyond a tech press article and the flurry of retweets that it is sure to inspire.

Recently I spoke on a panel about the future of technology in the world of tourism and travel with Del Ross from Intercontinental Hotel Group. In the session, Del spoke about his fear that we may be on the cusp of seeing a massive amount of people “Going Amish.” As I took that thought to my peers the past few days, some of the big brands and established corporations I work with have shared some of the same fears. With a new “revolutionary” company launching on a weekly, or here at SXSW, hourly basis, there are so many opportunities for advertisers and content creators to evaluate, they’re barely finding the time to form an opinion, much less make a strategic brand decision. And if professional advertisers and marketers are scratching their heads about what new vowel-less named group to align their brand with, imagine the consumers and folks outside the echo chambers of the technology industry.

As the technology futurists, visionaries, and professionals here at SXSW, we have to bring real world value to real people and not just urban hipsters in New York and San Francisco. If we don’t get really good really quick we will start to see people “Going Amish” before our eyes. And by “value” I am not talking about discounts, deals, and coupons. We don’t need to fight over making the next generation ValPak. But real, tangible, life inspiring ways to share and explore the world with those that we care about most. And, if we as an industry don’t step up and perform at a higher level of professionalism and sincerity for those outside our industry “who just don’t get how cool it all CAN be,” we are going to find ourselves ostracized and left out of the real life engagements that the non-digerati masses crave.

The potential is here at SXSW to see the birth of an idea that may change the world, but only if we remember what matters to people beyond the Austin Convention Center. As Dicky Fox says in Jerry Maguire, “The key to this business is personal relationships.”

(originally published 0n the Huffington Post – 3/14/2011 – “Going Amish“)Tweet

Yesterday, I asked myself an honest question: “Why does it seem that the American people cared more about the revolution in Egypt than the one that is currently going on in Libya?” And then a scarier question: “Does the fact that Charlie Sheen is on Twitter this week have anything to do with it?”

I pondered the questions while I continued to read the Times and then posed the questions to my Twitter followers.  I got some great responses.

Some of the points that struck home with me:

1) It is amazing what kind of response you get to a truly honest question.

2) I need to get add some new sources of information since a lot of my current sources seem to be saying the exact same thing.

3) In the world of constant and instant information, our ability to care about one thing that doesn’t directly effect us is increasingly short. Especially if the trend, in this case revolutions, is some what similar to what we cared about last week, we want something new.

This last point resonated with me and actually brought up a point that I had made in a conversation last year around the time of the floods in Pakistan. We are a fickle bunch that likes having our cause de jour but don’t want to be tapped for more than that.  And, because of the earthquakes in Haiti earlier in the year, we were all tapped out when it came time to jump in on being a part of the relief in Pakistan.  We had all texted when Larry King and the Red Cross asked us to in January, so we were a little busy in July when asked again by those on the ground in Pakistan.

All of this continues to push me to believe that there must be a better way to change the world than the current nonprofit systems that rely on the fickleness of the American public. There needs to be more to motivate true change than a celebrity asking you to donate for their birthday, a news anchor using their “oh so serious” voice, or one of a dozen “we know it is the end of the year and you need a tax write off” postcards that I get each December from well meaning charities.

There needs to be a shift and a bigger way of thinking about things than our current filters.  There needs to be more to our news cycle than Charlie Sheen and his #Winning.  There needs to be a story bigger than ourselves that we believe in enough to sacrifice short term entertainment for long term gain.Tweet

There is not equality in the world. There never will be.  And I am okay with that. The only place in all of human history where there is true equality is in literature when some evil force has stripped everyone of their individuality and convinced everyone that they are all the same and they shouldn’t try to be more. The truth is, we are all very different people with different backgrounds and different opportunities in life that have shaped us into the person that we are so far and the person we will continue to become.  That is the reality that I think is often over looked. We are all different. All men are created equal and should be treated as such, there is no doubt, but we are not dropped into equal circumstances and surroundings.  The moment that we are welcomed into the world, that is when the equality of life stops.

Except for one thing.

There is one thing that is universally and eternally equal about all humans.  There is only one thing that you and I will always have in common. That thing is our time.  On this 5th day of March in the year 2011, you and I both have 86,400 seconds to live before it is March 6th, when of course we will have the same definite period of time to live before that day is done.  Everyone from the beginning of time has had the same daily allotment of moments to make our world a better place.  There is no one in the world, now or ever in history, that has had more seconds in their day than we do right now. Those that were born with a silver spoon in their mouth have the same number of seconds in their day as those that were born without a spoon at all.  It is the only kind of equality that will ever exist in the world.

The only question left to us: What will we choose to do with the time that we have been given? How will we choose to invest the seconds in our day? How will we make each day be better than the day before?Tweet

There are over 1.4 million registered nonprofits in America alone.  That is far too many.  The redundancies and competition for the donors’ almighty dollar are actually slowing down the needed solutions.  That is why, I think it is time to start helping charities go out of business.

“Pragmatism often does not appear in the nonprofit field… The industry often is led by passionate hearts, not logical minds. Groups interminably squabble over scarce resources and fail to create long-term change.”  wrote Jonathan Greenblatt, founder of Ethos Water. (read his piece on why nonprofits should consider merging HERE)

“The main reason that many of them still exist is the ego of their founders and their board, not the cause that they were originally created to tackle,”  was the perspective of a very successful nonprofit executive I recently spoke with.  She shared with me that here in New York City there were two organizations both built to help cure the same disease.  A donor put up over $2 million dollars to negotiate a merger so that greater good could be served.  After four years and countless ego driven battles, the organizations are still separate entities and still competing for donors’ dollars.

Scott Case, Co-founder of Priceline.com and founder of Malaria No More, had a great perspective on why charities should set their entire organization’s goals around going out of business.  Here are the top five reasons:

5) It is what everybody wants. No one that you serve wants to be dependent on you.

4) It allows you to prioritize your cause, mission and the ultimate outcome that you seek ahead of the “brand” your organization spends too much time defending.

3) It frees up creativity and you will be much more willing to take risks.

2) It will free up resources to help solve the next big problem.  Everyone who helped solved your problem can then be free to go help solve the next problem.  We are not going to run out of problems to solve.

1) We should celebrate our successes.  Ending a problem in the world is a great reason to have a party.

To see Scott’s 10 minute talk with further details, go HERETweet

Last Thursday and Friday, I traveled from NYC to Las Vegas for the wild world of CES.  Here are a couple quick hits from the journey.

- – The trip started out with a pretty epic run in with the TSA: Rock, Paper, Pat Down

- – When CES is in town, there is a pretty good chance that if you’re traveling on a last minute schedule you’re not going to find a hotel room to write home about available. But, since I barely see my hotel rooms when I am traveling for work, it is not a big deal.  The most perplexing part of this hotel complex experience was their position on WiFi.  There was none.  Not in the rooms, not in a business center. None.  The only place to find WiFi was in front of Krispy Kreme.  So, at 7am on Friday morning, I headed that direction.  Not for a fresh donut, but for some access.  While sitting in front of a Krispy Kreme inside a casino, strange things happen.  While looking up from an email, I watch as a gentleman, who had obviously not gone to bed and still had a half drank Bud Lite in his hand, make advances towards another man.  That other man happened to be an old fat hotel cop. And the advances weren’t welcome. The drunk guy got laid out by the old fat cop and I got some early morning entertainment with my coffee.

- – When your day starts of with drunk guy vs. old fat guy wrestling matches, it is tough to predict what will happen next.  I was contemplating exactly that as I stood in the elevator heading back up to my room and heard “Hold the door!” Amazing sight to be seen number two of the morning wandered through the elevator doors.  Now, let me say this, I have seen the walk of shame before, but this took the definition if shame to a whole new level.  Being the polite gentleman that I strive to be, I kept my eyes forward.  It was hard mind you, it is not everyday that you see that much mascara caked on someones cheek.  But Miss Shame wanted to make sure that I knew it wasn’t as bad as it looked.  In the 24 floors that we shared that elevator, she told me no less than 3 times that she really was a classy girl and that this was who she really was.

-  - My final meeting of the terribly entertaining day was pretty close to the CES mad house.  As I walked up, I saw the eternal taxi line that had already formed.  As my meeting went on, I could just imagine the line getting longer and longer as more and more folks wrapped up their days and tried to get back to the Strip to buy overpriced drinks and lose money on games they’ve played before but only on their iPad.  On the sage advice of one of the gentleman I was meeting with, I waited less than five minutes to hop a cab to the airport instead of the over hour and half that others waited.  I casually stood near the front of the line and checked my phone.  When I heard the bell man holler at the cabbie that the next group of three woman were headed to the airport, I told the ladies I’d pay for their cab ride if I could join them in the front seat.  I didn’t really wait to hear their answer, but tossed my bags in the cab with theirs and made it to LAS in time to see kick off for the Cotton Bowl.

As a wise man once said, “What happens in Vegas staying in Vegas is so last millennium.”Tweet