Alan’s Kiloblog

Told the story of life in the last 10th of the 20th century in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as it was, for me, Alan Gutierrez, and told it twice, in one day. That was today.

I told it once to someone who knows me as a young urban professional, then later to see if it could be a funny story, or at least not quite so depressing, to a dear heart, a special person.

In that halcyon decade, the venture capitalists had so infused Silicon Valley with cash that there was free money with no takers. I’m sorry we’re full. The VCs would walk the streets of Freemont with slim jims and 100 dollar bills, wedging them into the cracks of the sidewalks, in hopes that they might grow a money tree.

A business model is a business model, by gum, and sure as shooting, it’s better to lose the money than to give the money back.

That’s where Ann Arbor comes in. When every last crevase off 101 was funded, they went looking beyond the Valley, to places as far off as Michigan.

In this heyday, I drifted from one crack pot company to the next. Although I did not know it then, I was making money hand over fist. Furthermore, I’d general find myself in a position where I was working too hard to to shop. The ludicrous toys obtained through Amazon would sit in unopened cardbord boxes next to my desk.

In that time I learned quite a bit about software.

I’d eat ice cream in the dead of winter. It was prozac in a cone. Weekends were dreaded, since I’d be the only one at the office. I’d have the most stunning depressions, usually in parking lots, it would hit me in a wave. I’d boggle at how fast it set in, and I’d boggle at how accusomted I’d become. They would have been leathal, if not for the ice cream.

Stucchi’s, on State Street.

I was not a team player, but I was rarely in a position to learn from team members. This wasn’t the Valley. It was Ann Arbor.

There were cracker jack software developers about, but they were not keeping my company.

Why was that? Because, I steered clear of competence. My career was based on a simple premise.

Don’t ask. Don’t tell.