In the 90′s I created AOL’s Greenhouse project, a program that provided funding for small internet start-ups.  We called them seedlings.  One of these seedlings became a company called The Book Report Network.  It’s an interesting company that hosts websites for authors, does internet marketing campaigns for books, and runs a website where people can find book reviews and author profiles as well as post their own reading recommendations.

This morning, I received an email from Carol Fitzgerald, one of the company’s cofounders, letting me know that they are holding their 10th anniversary party next week in New York.  I’m so happy to hear that the company is still going strong, but I have to admit I was a little stunned when I realized that ten years have gone by since they launched.  It feels like it was just last week.

It also helped remind me of one of the things I love most about the entrepreneurial spirit of the internet.  The Book Report Network wasn’t a major investment for AOL, but the money and support allowed that company (and countless others) to grow and flourish, and permitted the people involved to follow their passion and their dreams.  It’s one of the legacies I’m proudest of at AOL.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make the celebration in New York next week, but I will be there in spirit, and I’m sure it will be a great party.

The Caps named Chris Clark as our team captain. I believe that being named captain of your team is a great honor in the NHL – it means you hold the confidence of your coach, the staff, the general manager and the players as leader.

The captain is the player on the team that best encapsulates the spirit and the franchise’s personality. Here is how I would sum up Chris Clark – hard working, self-motivated, feisty, self confident, humble, tough, stands up for his teammates, family man, focused on winning and will sacrifice and do what is necessary to win a Cup and make his teammates better.

We have only had 13 captains in our team’s history – I am confident that Chris will make us all proud.

I had a really special time last night, dinning with Dan Snyder the owner of the Redskins, his sister Michelle and Dan’s great friend Dwight Schar for an informal dinner at Dan’s home.

I had a really special time last night, dinning with Dan Snyder the owner of the Redskins, his sister Michelle and Dan’s great friend Dwight Schar for an informal dinner at Dan’s home.

It was really great to spend quality time with some really interesting people. Dan is a really sweet guy – he is a great listener and really makes me laugh.  Dan and I have a lot in common, we both love sports and competition – both are owners of local sports teams. We are both involved in large public companies, interested in making films and we are both active in local charities.

More importantly we both have close and loving relationships with our families, which was obvious seeing the interaction between Dan and his sister. We both know the value of having great deep personal friendships, as was evident with the give and take between Dan and Dwight.

What struck me the most was our collective point of view about the absolute joys of winning and losing a game and its affect on us personally. We also share a common points of view of how new technologies are changing the landscape of media and how it was possible to become a participant in the new Hollywood and how blessed we were to have our health and the responsibility we all had in giving back to our local community.

We ate a lovely home cooked meal and I even smoked my first cigar in more than 7 years. I hope to spend more time with Dan, Michelle and Dwight and to entertain Dan and his extended family at a game this coming season.