In the records it appears that my first ever blog post is dated May 8th 2000. A long time ago!

I’ll go even further and embarrass myself quoting it in full:

Hello there ! This is just my first experiment with Blogger. Please don’t be upset if this is not yet so interesting and check back soon … please.

The next step will be importing all this content in all its glory into this blog. I am sure it’s perfectly possible, though I expect it will take sometime. We will see. For now I am happy.

I feel my path as entrepreneur has started with the right feet (which is a free translation of an Italian saying that means things have started well).

I rested and accumulated a lot of creative energy during my month long trip to Italy. I took a lot of notes in my precious Moleskine:

I am preparing to present a project to Ycombinator for October’s deadline.

I’ve been working at a good pace and with good motivation on two services. To be precise I am working on 3 projects at the moment. I don’t want to talk about any of these publicly yet but I think they have a big potential. I am keeping a private work log of my activity here and I plan to release pieces of it to this blog when the time is right (if you’re a close friend and want access to it, just message me).

Technologies?

• django, Google App Engine for one of the projects.
• pure django for another one.
• Xcode with the iPhone SDK, Android, and wordpress with the mimbo2 theme for another one.

I really would like to tell more about the projects but it’s too early. In a months time maybe I will say more.

I looked for a wallpaper with the Metal Mulisha logo mentioned above but the wallpapers on their website were all very much related to a motorbike team.

So I cooked my own. Had to install Darwin Gimp, a cool OSX port of the Gimp and fiddle around. But here it is for your enjoyment.

Told you this would be deep. Glad to be of service.

Update: well I couldn’t resist and I rolled out another one. Last one for now I promise:

For the next 3 weeks coding sessions will be enhanced with sunbathing therapy and Marche’s food.

Wonder where is this? here.

I felt the pain quite a few times at conferences because I did not have proper business cards. I learned my lesson.

For your viewing pleasure the different backs I chose (they have beautiful ready made designs):

And the front (pardon the low resolution and the gray lines):

Life is like a mirror, if you frown at it, it frowns back; if you smile, it returns the greeting. – Jim Morrison

So tonight I had a very interesting conversation with Chiara about many things. At one point the “law of the mirror” came up and I think it’s so deep and true that I feel like sharing it.

I’ve been reading a wonderful book that has a chapter on it. The book is Officina Alkemica from Salvatore Brizzi (recommended for my Italian friends, because yes, it is in Italian).

So what is this law of the mirror?

Let me quote the book on this:

Reality is our mirror. We only see what we are. Everything we like and admire  reflects some aspects of ourselves that we have already digested and thus give us good sensations.

On the contrary, everything that is intolerable and that we can’t stand is reflecting those areas of our personality that we cannot accept yet and that we refuse.

Truth is there’s nothing ugly in the world and nothing ugly in ourselves. Everything is perfect the way it is… even if we’re not able to see it yet.

And this apparent simple concept has far reaching implications. The more I think about it, the more I agree. The point – not very new but a hard battle for us all – is to get rid of our judgmental mind. Judgment clouds us, it accounts for the very essence of the deformed lenses we use to look at the world. Get rid of judgment, quiet the all-babbling mind and reality will shine in front of you.

Oh well. And how to stop judging and how to achieve a quiet mind? There are many ways. It is definitely not easy but it is definitely a worthy endeavor. Perfect topic for a future post.

But things have changed a lot since then.

This is a new beginning.

This blog will record a few broad themes as perceived from my current reality-tunnel (the use of this last word might already hint at the fact that I am a big fan of RAW):

• Notes on my sabbatical (which will officially start August 1st 2008).
• Technology, software development. Very detailed, very in depth, focused on web development but eclectic and curious in nature.
• My future entrepreneurial efforts to start my own business, service, company.
• Philosophical gems I’ve been collecting and validating through my own experience to live a happy and full life, presented in total humbleness. No pressure to force anyone to agree with me.

So why the title “be present now” for this new blog?

As a reminder to myself.

For me it is a rather astounding coincidence that almost every book I stumbled upon in the past year or so – but maybe even earlier – had a hint to this very simple mantra: “be present now”. Well it may be that I am especially drawn to self help, philosophical books but the fact remains. And it slowly grew on me.

It is only possible to experience life fully when one is present to oneself, completely conscious and focused on the reality, this very moment. When I am lost following a river of thoughts, in a river of twirling emotions, oblivious of the moment, life slips by. I’ll have a lot more to tell on this later. If you ever convince me that this is interesting.

So is this enough for a first post? Do you have any questions? Ha, I don’t really expect an answer. But then again who am I writing to, if not an imagined audience? Alright, I’ll stop now.

Godspeed.