Jay Meydad's Life Mashup

Sorry I can not be in person at Blumfield tomorrow and cheer you in your last game.

Earlier this week, I returned from Israel where I participated in Kinnernet, Yossi Vardi’s geek camp that took place to the shores of the Kinneret.

Cathy Brooks (of Seesmic) asked me there what was the best part. My answer was simply – “the beginning, the middle and the end”.

Yet, there were a few specific sessions, workshops & presentations I liked the most:

• Itai Talgam’s lecture about “management styles of great conductors”. It was fascinating to see how much the body language of conductors can indicate what type of managers they would be.
• Hanoch Piven’s “Art using Junk” workshop. This is the portrait of Avi Nimni I made (especially for Klieger).
• The home made satellite built from a PC, GPS, Digital Camera and transmitter connected to a helium balloon. Once in the air it sent photos of Jordan as well as its location and those coordinates were mashed up using Google Earth API to display its route. Very cool!
• Simon Levene (Accell Partners) presenting in a hilarious way the business plan for his next venture – WhoTheHell.RU. Does anyone have the video?
• Barak Berkowitz’s Paint with Light night workshop. Check out this art work.
• and last, but not least, the talented Ariel Qassis, who hypnotized me whenever his fingers touched the Qanun.

I am sure I am missing at least 100 other things that made this creative event simply great.

More photos can be found here, here, and a zillion more on Flickr

Update: Here is the video of Seder 2.0 by Peter Hirshberg

The deal just got signed and it is time to thank our new owner, Alex Shnaider, Canada’s youngest billionaire, for brining some hope back to the millions of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. Alex – good luck and thank you.

Loni – Thank you as well. It has been a great ride and everything you have done is greatly appreciated. Now, you have one less thing to worry about and could put more focus on your other businesses.

BTW, I really like what Avi Nimni is doing with regards to the young Jewish players he is bringing from US & France. It is a good strategy to overcome the lack of young Israeli talent. Zionism 2008.

Saturday’s game is going to be fun. I wish I could be there.

photo credit: ynet (by Eli Algert)

It happened just as I thought, and as of Saturday night Eli Cohen is no longer our head coach.

Roni, Loni and Avi have a great part in the latest crises in our team. It is easy to blame the coach for the poor performance of the players, but when you tie his hands (cut players’s budget in half) and constantly criticize his work in the press (how can a coach motivate his players after they read he is not going to be the coach soon?) you create an environment where no one can succeed. Unless our multi-headed management will change her leadership & communication style, the future of the next coach is not going to be bright.

Speaking about the next coach…well, during the pre-Klinger era , in the years 2000-2002, the team played happy football and won two cups. Nir Levine was responsible for that and therefore he deserves the job. My 2 cents.

Technorati Tags: Maccabi Tel Aviv, Eli Cohen, Football, Soccer, Layoff

“Like So Many Rabbit Heads” picture by: JeffCam