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I knew Chartre would be a cool village to visit. I wasn’t prepared for the amazing blue windows. Perhaps I’m getting conditioned to the effect of stained-glass windows. I’ve been to some of the finest cathedrals: Notre Dame de Paris, Sagrada Familia (even the empty windows are amazing), the Vatican, and of course Sainte Chappelle. But the blue glass in Chartre is amazing.

It reminds me of the Venetian paintings. As a port city, the artists of Venice had access to precious raw materials at a discounted rate. They piled the expensive blue pigment (crushed lapis from egypt) onto their canvases to demonstrate their skill and wealth.
Yves Klein created and trademarked a particular hue of blue. He claimed it sent the viewer into a meditative state. Klein subsequently bathed everything he could find, including the random naked model, in the blue paint. His signature color became a cartoon of the artist. As silly as it sounds, his blue paintings really do work. I’ve stood in front of a 4 foot by 4 foot square of IKB(tm) blue and my mind started to go into meditation state. It’s amazing how this color can change your physical and mental state.

Walking into the Chartre cathedral reminded me of Klein. It was much more relaxing and comfortable than Notre Dame. I felt at ease and inspired at the same time. Luckily, I brought some fast color film and was able to capture some images of the windows that remind me of the atmosphere.

Ugh. I just got my Valleyschwag #3 package.

Once again, it’s a disappointment. Sure, I got a shirt, a tape measurer, and a keychain. And there were some assorted stickers, but ugh. It didn’t even come with the burlap container. Nope, a brown paper sack of pseudo-crapness. Pseudo… hell, this is some genuine crapness.

Why do I feel like the Kathy Griffin of silicon valley? I can’t even buy my way into a decent shwag-cistence. Where’s that cancel button before the third strike?

Hello, my name is ted and I’m a sockaholic.

“…Hi Ted!” The crowd returns.
Yes, it’s true. I have a fetish for socks. It began just around high school years when my friend Peter and I decided we would no longer wear white socks. Nope, those were for normal people. Bring on the challenge of the ugly, the striped, the gender-confused, and the flat-out ridiculous. For years we rummaged through thrift-stores for the rare set of interesting socks.

Peter specialized in ugly colors and I specialized in ugly patterns. I’ve got sparkly argyle, rainbow striped, socks with toes, socks with santa, mermaids, ghosts, dogs, cats, ostriches, flags, metro maps, the list goes on far too long. My lucky softball socks stretch beyond my knees and have baby blue stripes. I call them my Mia Hamm Lucky Softball Socks and you should see the other team quiver as I pull them up to their full extension. They know a world of hurt is coming their way.

Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of ugly socks for men. Your lucky to find an ugly pair of argyle or maybe something with a slight striped edge to them. I have huge feet, so I’ve learned through trial and error that I can’t wear too many womens socks. Although I do have a pair of girl scout socks that barely go past my ankles.

Fortunately, my friend Jean-Pierre introduced me to the world of Achile about 7 years ago. This french company creates socks in the same mode as beanie babies. Every three months or so, they release a new gamut of designs. Not only do they satisfy my craving for quirky, they’re downright comfy to boot. Every time I go to Paris, I start with a trip to the Samaritaine or BHV to grab a few pairs. Some people return with wine and cheese. I return with socks and socks.

Achile in America

Imagine my surprise yesterday when I found a store, Citizen Clothing, in the Castro selling Achile. They had a nice selection and the prices were reasonable, $20. If I hadn’t just returned with new stock I would have gotten a cool pair of puppy socks.

Now, if you can’t get to Paris for your socks, fly on over to San Francisco and check out Citizen Clothing. If that is a bit much, try the new Achile online store. They actually have great prices online and a super selection.

I try, I really do. I signed up for valleyshwag to buy the cool kids leftover t-shirts. I go to the venture capital meet and greets. I even read valleywag to hear about the demise of my uber-boss Lloyd. But something happened this week that shook me to the core.

I missed the biggest geek smackdown of the year. There’s this vlogging site called Rocketboom. Naturally they made no money, but the two people almost shared the non-profits equally. The host, Amanda, decided she needed to work out of Los Angeles instead of the dark and miserable east coast and wanted the company to set her up with a studio and everything else needed to produce their top quality shows. The boss guy couldn’t figure out how they would pay for such a move with no income and said “nope, go for it on your own, but no can do from me”.

So Amanda goes online and creates a new site and video saying she was dissed and dismissed. The boss guy retorts. She then does the Star Jones of the internet and publishes a line by line response of his response to her… response… This is getting a bit confusing already.

So now the other cool, pretty people who have their act together in the valley are responding in a sophisticated manner. They are having coffee with their Venture Capital friends, setting up their own sites with Ruby on Rails to defend Amanda or boss guy, and most importantly… trying to fill her shoes.

All of this comes back to me.

I had no idea this rocketboom even existed. It’s like not realizing the Ricki Lake is off the air. Or that Sally Jessy Raphael still wears horribly ugly glasses and the worst hair dye in the country. I just don’t know if I’m going to make it in the silicon valley if I can’t get into the gossip underground.