Non-Domain Related

One of the people I admired most while in corporate America was a guy I worked for named Shawn Austin, who was (and still is) one of the best strategic thinkers and who is liked by everyone. Sadly, I recently learned that Shawn’s wife, Jennifer is battling leukemia, a cancer of the blood or bone marrow.

Shawn and Jennifer have two young children, and Jennifer is in need an immediate bone marrow transplant.   To be a donor, you need to be a 100% match, so a number of donor drives have taken place and are set up in the hopes of finding a perfect match for Jen. To test if you are a match, all that is needed is a bit of blood or a swab of cells from inside your match.

I hate giving blood and hate needles in general, but I am going to go to the drive on Saturday to see if I happen to be a match. I will be at the drive at the Berkeley Carroll School in Park Slope, Brooklyn at 10am. The first and only time I’ve been to Park Slope was when I sold ParkSlope.com a couple of weeks ago, so maybe that’s a sign.

If you have ever thought about getting tested or joining the Be the Match Marrow Registry (Marrow.org), why not check it out? You can learn more about Jennifer Austin and upcoming marrow donation events on SaveJen.com. There is a list of marrow drives being held around the country on the website as well.

I love the snow! I think we got around 8-10″ in the City. Nothing like playing in fresh snow in Cental Park on a relaxing Sunday morning. Here’s wishing you and your family happy Sunday.

This post isn’t about domain names or the Internet business, but I wanted to let you know about a great wine tasting experience I just had if you happen to live in the New York, Connecticut or surrounding areas.

Yesterday started like most other days for me with a dog walk and some business-related work. I met up with one of my best friends to go watch shopping to celebrate his recent promotion. Our wives were at home cooking dinner as part of a cooking contest we’ve been having. The “secret ingredient” was mozzarella cheese.

At around 6pm, we returned home, and as I entered my apartment, I was shocked to see it was full of some of my closest friends, their wives, my parents and my brother. “Surprise,” they yelled as I walked through the door – they were belatedly celebrating my 30th birthday.

The kitchen table was full of wine glasses, and we were introduced to Jordan Ross, an enologist from Connecticut. We learned about the proper way to taste wines to get the most out of each sip – in a non-snobby way. The tasting consisted of three flights with some of my favorite types of red wines – Pinot Noir, Malbec, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

During each tasting flight, we learned quite a bit about the different types of wine, where they’re grown in the world, what makes a specific type of wine better than others, and a variety of other things. I especially liked that my wife was able to choose the wines before the actual tasting, and I also appreciated that Jordan doesn’t work at a wine store, so the tasting wasn’t like a sales pitch at all.

If you are looking to have a private wine tasting or seminar in your home and live in the area, I think you’ll enjoy working with Jordan. You can check out his site, JordanOnWine.com or send Jordan an email to set something up.