Now that sounds weird, does it not? Let me elaborate and do a year in review. In two parts. This is part 1.
The year started with Lori and me coming back from a very good California trip. One of the high points being the last week at Riley’s in Bolinas. Such a great guy and such a great place. Back in Holland I was just in time for new years drink with all my interactive and twitter friends at the “IPAN, 212 & IAB borrel”. I made a little video there:
Next up was me being part of the Twitter Bowlr Allstar team almost winning the Bowlr cup. We even made a viral video:
The day after Bowlr was also very significant. We had a workshop with the MoMo team to understand what we started and se what we could do with it. That day the first seeds for our own company SPRX were planted.
Also the first MoMo of the year was in January which again was sold out. We had a very impressive keynote by Joe Pine about the Multiverse. Watch it again and tell me in the comments if you can name all 8 worlds..
In the mean time I was stil working at RapidSugar doing a great project for Karwei among other things. Also I was editing and publishing the video interviews I made at the Le Web conference in Paris . It is a series called Learning from the Future. In the interviews I ask 3 questions: who the person is, what 3 changes/trends/movements they see the coming year and which of those is still present in 5 or 10 years. I had the opportunity to interview some really interesting people:
Meanwhile at RapidSugar I was developing the idea of OpenProfile. OpenProfile is an VRM inspired identity service concept which in my view could be the next strategic scourse for a company like RapidSugar.
We did MoMo #5 in March about Mobile Banking. Again a full house. We thought Finance and banking would be boring and not much people would show up. We were wrong 😎
April started with the NextWeb. A conference here in Amsterdam. I had the honor of accepting on behalf of DutchCowboys the award or best weblog. Dutchcowboys is an interactive marketing weblog I write for. At the event I hung out with my tweeps (friend from twitter) and also made two more Learning from the Future video’s:
Learning from the Future at the Next Web with Chris Saad
Learning from the Future with Nova Spivack
Somewhere in April I made my decision to leave RapidSugar and start SPRXmobile with Claire, Raimo and Yuri. SPRXmobile was to be a modern agency helping other companies get on the Mobile web. It was a big decision. I never started a company before or gave up a job. And I had such a great time at RapidSugar yet it was time to leave too.
Because I wasn’t doing anything big (NOT) we ended April by going to Spain and eating at El Bulli. A restaurant that has been nominated the best restaurant in the world 4 times. Yes it was expensive but soooooo worth it. Lori and I added a week to chill and relaxed over there.
Back home SPRX was launched with an amazing borrel with lots of people and with great warm weather. Click on the picture to see the video.
June was to be my last month at RapidSugar. It was also the month that SPRX got loads of business and that my personal favourtite momo happened with a keynote by Doc Searls.
And it was the month I found out I had cancer.
…
That was big.
…
It when i started this blog.
Looking back it still is so sureal. Most of it happend in one week. I summed it up before. Lori put it as follows:
My beloved husband went to the doctor yesterday morning because he had a cough that wouldn’t go away and was having trouble breathing. After being sent to the hospital for an X-Ray, CT Scan and bloodwork, turns out he has a tumor the size of two fists sitting between his lungs on top of his heart.
Now this is part of me. It is part of my journey.
§§ end of Part 1 §§
Great summary Maarten! It was an amazing year in all it’s aspects, thats for sure. Please end the serie with your predictions for 2009. I wish that 2009 will turn out to be the best year you’ve ever had!
Wishing you an even better 2009! Erg trots op en geinspireerd door hoe je je erdoor geslagen hebt.
How many people could hear that news and still declare 2008 a good year? Not me, that’s for sure. Maarten, you’re amazing. Happy new year to you and Lori. L.x
Hey Maarten, nice summary of your activities in 2008. I was happy to have met you finally and share some nice moments together. I’m confident 2009 will bring more of those sweet moments 🙂
Happy New Year!
Wat een jaar! Heel fijn en gezond 2009 gewenst!
Respect for putting up this positive title for such a year!
You and Lori are amazing people, I wish you all the best for 2009!
It’s good to see all worked out fine. Hopefully, next years will be more balanced 😉
Morning,
Great post. Realising all this just happened one year, makes my head spin. And you only described half of it! You certainly didn’t take the easy road in 2008. But you managed to stay on track and even accelerate. Very, very impressive.
We feel privileged you allowed us to accompany you on your journey.
Stay on track in 2009 dude and dudess,
JosK (and AnitaB)
PS looking forward to start cookingclub 😉
Dear Maarten,
Thanks for sharing an amazing year. You are an inspiration! Everyone is very lucky to have you in their lives.
Love to you & Lori,
Shirley & Davie
Hi Maarten,
That was long 🙂 But then time flies when you are busy!
I am very happy we celebrated New Year’s Eve together, may it bring you and Lori all that you wish and a great start!
Lots of love
Marta