Moodle In The Morning

I have a lot of things crossing my mind today.  As I have done in the past, I think I will take the next several seconds and open the floodgate within...

• Word of the day: Moodle
• Brenda Ueland is a true inspiration.  Buy her book.
• Why is it still OK to make fun of blonds?  Seriously?  Take a blond joke, insert some other characterization and say it in public.  Not so OK, right?  Not such a funny joke.
• You may not think the latter point is a big deal, but I will say stuff like that makes it just a little harder to be a blond woman investor (HA!  A blond woman investor!  Oh my god, oh let me catch my breath...WHOO that is funny!).  Every time I go to an investor conference - and I mean EVERY time, at least once someone - usually a white male CEO - asks me "Oh do you do marketing for them?" or "Do you do back office operations for Ascend?" (Yeah because we ALWAYS send our executive assistants out to industry conferences.)  How many men get those questions?  I have Ally McBeal moments when that happens - for a split second I imagine turning into a 9 foot venture chick monster who rips the guy's head off, stomps him to the floor and makes him prove to me he has a real business (ARRGH!!!!!!!  I control capital, hear me roar!)  The image is priceless.  But then I say "No, I Invest." Oh well.  It's really his loss.  You have limited time at those conferences and the time spent proving to someone that yes I am investor is less time we have to talk about the guy's business. 
• I have a bruised toenail from running.  A nasty badge of honor.
• The Big H and I need to go to more art openings.
• I have not seen a movie in a theater in about two months.
• Practicing awareness is easier said than done.
• Practicing patience is necessary in the world of VC.
• I have a teenager whom I have mentored for the last three years.  She wants to go to Brown and then become a doctor.  She'll do that and way more. 
• In many ways I feel like I know less now than I thought I knew when I was 20.  And that feeling is actually really cool - keeps me young and honest.
• I would like to learn to speak French and Italian, and need to re-learn Russian, which I studied in college.
• I used to believe in the "oh I have no regrets" theory of life.  And yes, true, I would not be who I am today if I made different choices BLAH BLAH.  But all that bull cocky aside, if I could do it again, I would take a year off between high school and college and work in a restaurant in a small town in France and then do the same in Italy.  Then I would go to college (not Georgetown - a different college...sorry Hoyas) and I would double major in English Literature and Math.  And I would take more History Classes and maybe also Film.  And Fine Art. 
• Tomorrow I am meeting with an entrepreneur who has what I think is a very cool business, solving a very "why didn't I think of that" problem and I cannot wait to hear his story. 
• A lot of people think they want to do VC because they think they will make a ton of money.  And maybe that is true (well, it needs to be over time or else you suck at investing).  But nevermind all that.  The best part of the job for me is not the prospect of great wealth, cars, financial security, private jets and bathing in champagne.  No, Betsy, the best part, believe it or not, is surrounding yourself with people who love what they do.  I meet and work with a lot of entrepreneurs who love what they do.  Like actors and artists, many entrepreneurs cannot imagine doing anything else - so they follow their gut and start companies.  And that is damn inspiring.