When lunch hits at the hamburger restaurant it's time to fire up the McRib Sauce Cauldron. The smell is pretty overwhelming, and not in a good way. The entire restaurant starts to reek of a Texas BBQ science experiment, an elixir of industrial food production. It’s not awful, but it’s not nice. When a co-worker with a distinct scent walks by it’s the odor equivalent of finding a nice patch of shade in the park on a hot summer day.

For the first time it's time to consider wearing a scent at work.

And I've done the homework. Earlier this year I worked with my friend Chloe Coover to find a signature scent for KmikeyM. Chloe is the co-host of Nose Candy, a perfume podcast, and she helped me come up with some options I was planning to put to a shareholder vote. The only problem was that there was a very clear winner.

Of the seven samples I tested the only one that worked was Copper from Comme des Garçons. Chloe’s notes for this scent, in relation to KmikeyM, were, "Cold, metallic, and reminiscent of coins, Comme Des Garçon’s Copper was the first fragrance that came to mind when undertaking this project. Masculine and grassy, in addition to its resemblance to currency."

Now I work with coins everyday! What could be more perfect? Of course I've also worked in the past with people who were very senstitive to smells (obviously not in the proximity of roasting McRib juice), so maybe it's safer to just remain "clean" and scentless?

One of the benefits I was excited about at McDonald's was their 6% employer match on 401K contributions. Unfortunately that only becomes available “after one year of service.” So I thought a good solution in the meantime would be to take 6% of my take home salary and buy McDonald’s shares.

After posting about my initial small purchase of stock a few shareholders expressed concern about this financial strategy. So I have paused my company stock purchases until I can get shareholder approval (currently I have 1.19 shares of MCD which has already risen 1.8%) on how to proceed.

Maybe it’s because I spent so many years working for startups, but I think it’s important to have an ownership stake in the company where I work. And historically McDonald’s has been a good investment (heck, Warren Buffett called selling it a mistake)!

Chart shows McDonald’s stock from about the year 2000 to present.

Read the whole post here.

I haven't had a job in a long time. I've managed to make some money here and there, but times are getting tough and it is past time I start working.

Getting a job today is easier said than done. I've applied to a bunch of roles at companies I am excited about and I feel lucky if they even bother to send a rejection notice. At this point my morale is low and I could really use a win.

So this is a proposal to apply at McDonald's.

After doing Hamburger Business Review I have a new found respect for the institution. But mostly I’m tired of earning no money. I don’t want to feel like I’m financially useless. I’m humble enough to return to my roots and take an entry level job at McDonald’s.

Read more about this vote here.

There are three candidates still in the running for two board seats. You may vote for as many of the candidates as you wish. The candidate with the least support will be eliminated.

Note: This vote will be adjusted to end 30 min after the conclusion of the Final Candidate Debate.

Management asks that you wait until the debate to cast your vote but also understands not everyone will be able to attend and so voting is now open.

There are five candidates running for two board seats. You may vote for as many of the candidates as you wish. The candidate with the least support will be eliminated.

Read the Opening Statements of all the candidates here.

You can ask questions of any and all candidates in the comments below.

This is the first of three parts of the selection process. After the shareholders cast their initial votes the candidate with the least shareholder support will be eliminated from the running. The remaining candidates will then eliminate one of the candidates themselves and write a joint statement to the shareholders. Finally we will have a live discussion/debate that concludes with a final vote to determine which two will be elected to the board of directors.

As we start to work on tiered levels of support it became obvious that the highest tier should be a seat on the Board of Directors of KmikeyM. We are still working out the cost and corresponding benefits, but the question is if this is simply a metaphor for the highest tier of support or part of an actual Board of Directors.

Historically I've avoided having a Board of Directors because I can post questions directly to the shareholders. But there are two aspects of a board that I feel could be beneficial to KmikeyM.

1. Private Deals. There are times when I must act privately and can't share decisions publicly. As a small group of the most active shareholders a board of directors would be a great resource in navigating private issues.
2. Long Term Vision. A board of directors, serving terms of some length of time, would be required to meet on occasion to review and revise long term plans and ideas.

So should the board be simply a tiered level of support, or should it also be integrated into a personal board of directors I can turn to for matters that require privacy.

Option 1: Maximize Revenue

• Board seats will have valuable benefits but be unlimited in number and represent those shareholders most able to support the ongoing operations of KmikeyM.

Option 2: The Personal Board

The board will be limited to 12 positions, with six available as the highest levels of support, and six assigned as follows:

• I will act as chairman and be on the board
• 2 board seats will be chosen by me
• 2 board seats will be elected by shareholders
• 1 board seat will be appointed by the largest shareholder
• the remaining 6 positions will be optionally filled by paid supporters

Option 3: Minimize Revenue

The board will still be limited to 12 positions, but with only four available as the highest levels of support, and eight assigned as follows:

• I will act as chairman and be on the board
• 2 board seats will be chosen by me
• 4 board seats will be elected by shareholders
• 1 board seat will be appointed by the largest shareholder
• the remaining 4 positions will be optionally filled by paid supporters

Terms will be one year, with appointments/elections happening in January for odd seats and June for even seats. The board will meet virtually four times a year and be presented with updates and asked for feedback. Additionally the board will be consulted as needed in matters and opportunities that require privacy.

Note: This proposal has been edited, changed, and clarified based on shareholder feedback.

Introduction

A strange thing about my credit union is that I have to have $5 in my savings account all the time. This small amount represents my share of co-ownership and also secures my membership, giving me a stake in the institution's well-being. Shares of KmikeyM are somewhat similar, creating the shareholder community, but don’t provide me with quite the same foundation as the credit union.

The shareholder community not only approves my creative projects but they are the main audience of my various videos, podcasts, and writing. Most shareholders tend to buy and hold, maintaining their membership, while casting votes to help guide my choices. And I'll admit it bothers me a little when a long time shareholder sells all their shares.

The Membership Share

This proposal creates a basic membership tier for KmikeyM. Membership requires the purchase and holding of one share. This first share is called a "Membership Share" and will grant access to functions of KmikeyM such as seeing the vote and trade history, but also blog posts and other updates.

Each Membership Share will be connected to an account, and will create a clear distinction between the general public (0 shares) and the shareholders (1+ share).

This "Membership Share" (or the last share in any account) cannot be traded away on the market. Once a Membership Share is granted, it will be held in perpetuity.

This means that every shareholder will have one share that is designated the Membership Share and can't be sold.

UPDATE: Based on shareholder feedback we will grant every existing shareholder one free Membership Share if the proposal passes. It will be explained to new shareholders coming that the first share is a Membership Share which can't be sold, but all other shares can be traded.

A successful example of this is the $5 fee that Metafilter charges to allow users to post and comment. This fee allows the site to create revenue based on growth. The idea of the Membership share is the same, which is why it can't be sold.

Goals and Advantages

When we started thinking about Build Week 2024 we talked a lot about membership and the idea of focusing on the members and building features that benefit shareholders. By creating more advantages for shareholders versus the general public we hope to increase the size of the community and encourage more trading, voting, and participation. A membership share is the first step of this development.

I will sometimes give someone a share as entry into the community, and this proposal would allow those people access to the community but require them to go to the market and make a purchase if they are interested in trading. And by putting aspects of the KmikeyM system behind a “share wall” it allows for discussion I’d rather not have in the general public.

And a big priority for this proposal is that it reduces the liabilities of KmikeyM. With each member holding one share that can't be sold, the financial burden I carry as a publicly traded person is a little smaller which helps cover operational costs. After an especially hard financial year in 2023, it's become a priority to create a sustainable model for KmikeyM.

This is also an opportunity to continue to experiment with the idea of community through capitalism. An idealized future based on this proposal could result in 100,000 shareholders, each holding one share, helping to enable the perfect decision making that comes from The Wisdom of the Crowds.

Proposal: Co-host and produce an 8-10 episode podcast season called if/come with Kathryn.

if/come is a podcast about pitching television and movies in Hollywood, something that Kathryn is very good at. It's also something she hates very much. I have seen her get so agitated before a pitch, and then heard her through the door deliver the most amazing presentation. She has this really fantastic framework she uses and it has a lot in common with how I was taught to do a startup pitch.

Over the course of the season I'll have Kathryn break down and her process and teach it to me, but we will also track the next few months of her career where she has some really, really, really big opportunities.

We recorded a teaser you can listen to here.

I'm excited about this because I love a framework, but also because I'm excited to do a podcast that has a docuseries element. Having seen Kathryn go through the wringer before with a pitch I expect there will be a lot of ups and downs and I want to catch as much of that as possible.

This project is in some ways a spin-off of 3 Minute Review, a daily podcast that is occasionally only 3 minutes long and sometimes includes a review.

Proposal: Co-host and produce a 10 episode limited series podcast with Zach Rose called Hamburger Business Review.

In each episode Zach Rose, renowned burger expert and K. Mike Merrill, publicly traded person, will discuss a Harvard Business Review case study about McDonald's. We will also talk about any current McDonald's news and events happening during the production period.

We've recorded a pilot episode about the "McDonald's and the Environment (A)" case study as a proof of concept. The pilot was recorded over Zoom without any professional equipment and we edited it ourselves.

Listen to the pilot episode here.

The podcast will be listener supported, and we have set up a website where people can subscribe or make single contributions (and already have a supporter!).

If this proposal is approved we will record episode two on April 1st and continue on a weekly schedule for ten weeks, wrapping up on June 3rd.

As a new independent contractor / consultant it has been decided by the shareholders that I won't create any kind of corporate shield.

But that doesn't mean I can't have a fun name for business. After asking my shareholders we have a number of options for creating a name where I can send really great invoices.

Valcherius Michelangelo Queen This is a fantasy name I came up a while ago. I like the idea of invoicing people with an overly elaborate name and creating a persona for my business work.

Merrill Finch In the movie Boiler Room (2000) there is a brokerage firm called J.T. Marlin, chosen to sound close to JP Morgan, a more established and trusted firm. There are a lot of options in this vein!

Michael Wave Theory Beau came up with this one in Slack. Michael Wave sounds like microwave and I like Michael Wave Theory because it sounds like the technical analysis Elliot Wave theory.

Michael Universe Another one from Beau, I think the initial spark was MikeWorldWide, a big PR agency.

Microsoft Internet Explorer This is a joke from my time at Panic where the idea was to use the name of some massive trademark but in a wildly different field. Sure, Internet Explorer is a thing in web browsers, but there is no confusion with a consulting company.

Business Affairs All the big studios have this massive black box full of lawyers called Business Affairs that slows down deals and makes petty requests to change the terms. So you'll have an interesting idea and some executive will say positive things and then come back later and tell you that Business Affairs didn't approve it. I think it sounds like erotic fanfic.

Busy Boys Industries Because sometimes you’re a busy lil boy.

UNIFIED METHODS What does it do? Who knows? The most generic name possible will leave many wondering if you provide clandestine work to the government, or worse.

Michaelsoft It's like microsoft.

Mikeintosh You get it.

Advantage Michael This is what I like to yell when I play tennis against Kathryn and she makes a mistake.

MikeMikeMike Because Llama Llama Llama is a thing

Vexing Multiplicities It sounds better with an LLC at the end but it still works.

Just Let Me Do It I think it's what most consultants think to themselves at one point or another. You could add a "Good Grief" to the beginning: Good Grief Just Let Me Do It, or a "For Goodness Sake" to the end: Just Let Me Do It For Goodness Sake, or both, why not?

I'm going to do some work for Protocol Labs.

It's a part time role and the project has been scoped to last about three to four months. I'm excited to work with a company as an independent contractor / consultant rather than an employee. It means everything is designed around the development and implementation of a project.

I love projects! And while this is new to me, it also feels like the right way for me to engage in work in the future.

My question for the shareholders is what sort of protective corporate shield should I create for my professional life?

a sole proprietorship

* advantage: don't have to do anything
* disadvantage: no legal shielding

a california LLC

* advantage: simple
* disadvantage: boring, some costs

a wyoming DAO

* advantage: weird and new
* disadvantage: weird new thing nobody understands 

a delaware C corp

* advantage: fun
* disadvantage: expensive and complicated

an offshore company

* advantage: very weird
* disadvantage: very complicated, maybe unethical (tax dodge)

Note: KmikeyM controls my personal life and decisions, but not my work life. This legal corporate entity will be unrelated to the KmikeyM project in terms of votes and choices (in the way my work life has always been separated).

My girlfriend, Kathryn, is very good at writing television. When a producer reached out about adapting KmikeyM to the small screen, my first thought was, "This is very exciting!" and my second thought was "I should do this with Kathryn!"

While I understand things best by doing them, Kathryn looks for “a narrative though-line”. She’s always looking for the WHY behind the action, and as many shareholders know, she’s obsessed with finding people’s “core wound” and figuring out how that motivates them in the day to day.

Her storytelling brain guided me as I put together my TEDx talk, which otherwise would have been a jumbled mess of mildly amusing anecdotes. Instead, the speech was a cogent overview of this project and how it has affected me emotionally, and the impact it has made on those I care about. The story also made me cry when I told it. Well played, Kathryn.

Here’s the thing with Kathryn when she’s writing: no one is allowed in. She’s super protective of her process when she’s developing an idea. It can be frustrating: I love talking projects, I love talking process, but I don’t love waiting around while Kathryn goes on an innumerable amount of three-hour long bike rides until she’s eventually ready to “reveal her genius.”

As we work on this together I am unsure of my role. Kathryn’s life work is TV writing, and my life’s work is KmikeyM.

The question for me is, should I be an equal partner / co-founder in this endeavor? Or should I be a resource for her and let her take the lead based on her skills and experience? To put it in the technical terms as regulated by the Writers’ Guild of America – should I lobby for co-creator, or be a non-writing executive producer?

If I co-create this, then my involvement is much more active. If I grant her the lead position, then I am still working with her to make it happen, but she is directing the pace and direction.

Due to shareholder activism this is a vote to rescind our current social media strategy of "Dark Mode."

In April of 2022 the shareholders approved going private with 54% approval but with many shareholders expressing reservations about all the options listed as being pretty drastic.

In response to shareholder sentiment raised during the summit this is a vote to exit private mode and have open social media accounts.

TL;DR - Should I take a short term contract gig coordinating the development of a community around the launch of the NFT project Fingerholers, a bankroll management game developed with the artist Scott Teplin? (see Contract Details below for more specifics)

Background

Having just left my previous job I was excited when longtime shareholder and friend Drew Anderson offered me an opportunity to join the crew of an upcoming NFT project called Fingerholers.

At first glance Fingerholers appears to be a PFP NFT project, and it is that, but it’s also a bit more! Fingerholers are the demented athletes and stars of an alternate world generated from the drawings of Scott Teplin, and Scott and the crew have built a game into this project.

In the Fingerholing in-game universe the sport of Fingerholing has become the most popular pastime in the land. The game works like this: you stick your finger into a hole and make a bet based on the odds it will not get chopped off. If you keep your finger you win the money, but if you lose your finger you also lose your wager. With every player limited to just ten losing bets, the stakes rise each time you lose a finger.

When someone buys an NFT of a Fingerholer they get to actually play the game! Starting with ten fingers they get to bet for as long as they have fingers and see how much they can make! It's a bankroll management game (but there is no real money, it’s just a fun game mechanic) that echoes the world of speculation around crypto… can you play the odds just right and become rich and famous or will you lose all your fingers?

Why Do I Want To Work on Fingerholers?

Well, the name alone is pretty intriguing! :)

I have loved working with communities in web3 as part of my last job. That was all about social tokens, aka “fungible tokens.” But the real communities that have formed in crypto have largely been around NFTs. There is a really fun opportunity here to capture the energy of indie gaming (like when I got to launch Change Wizard) mixed with the fun of generative art (when you mint an NFT it’s like opening a pack of Pokemon cards, you have no idea what you’re going to get!).

If you’ve scrolled through OpenSea you’ll see a lot of a certain kind of crypto-art, much of it is … honestly, not that great. Fingerholers is not a project where the team has outsourced the visuals to someone on Fiverr. Scott Teplin is an artist with a distinct style and point of view and this project is about his work and applying that to a new medium. Through Scott’s work this project has created more than just some generative characters. This is world building! There are places and stories and characters that all interact.

This project feels like the web3 version of working on something with friends when I lived in Portland. A grand vision and huge hopes, but also an indie project being run with a handful of folks who are all putting their spare time into it for the love of making art.

Of course the team has their fingers crossed (get it?) that there will be a financial upside from selling the NFTs, because everyone has put a lot of work into this already. But Drew has told me a few times now that this is about making art with friends, having fun, and is a bit of an experiment! This is exactly the kind of project I want to be a part of (even outside of web3).

This is the kind of work I want to do in my life. I want to be a part of a small team working on creative projects.

Contract Details

It’s pretty speculative, which mirrors the nature of NFTs in general, and also the fictional world of Fingerholers.

I will be paid $2000 in cash and have a 5% stake in the initial mint (plus a couple of the NFTs).

The cash amount is relatively small but I’m one of the few on the team being paid anything up front. The percentage of the initial mint means there is a big opportunity, but no guarantee!

My role will be Community Manager, which means I’ll be engaging with people who want to buy and play Fingerholers. I’ll share the story of the work, create some events around the launch, and help to bring attention to the project.

The gig will run approximately two months leading up to the launch of the project. Based on the response we get (and at my discretion) I can remain and help run the community.

The Artist

The art is by Scott Teplin, an artist that has exhibited world-wide in museums and commercial galleries since 1998. You might have seen his Alphabet City project before? Check out his extensive body of work at teplin.com.

The Proposal

Take on a speculative contract to help launch the Fingerholers NFT project.

I've been wearing these Tom Ford glasses since at least 2013, maybe longer? It's hard to remember.

I went to the optometrist and I have a new prescription. Should I get a new pair of Tom Ford glasses? Should I change it up? Should I just get a bunch of glasses and have fun?

I kind of like these red ones:

As the KmikeyM project enters year 14 in an era of increasing financialization I find myself with some strong opinions.

I was able to tell a lot of my story in the 18 minutes of a TEDx talk, and bits and pieces have come out in Wired, The Atlantic, Playboy, and a handful of podcasts. My ideas have been developed in public, and with some effort one could follow the threads of my evolving thoughts.

But the full story, the ups and downs of living a publicly traded life, the personal and professional costs, and the way it has shaped how I look at the world and what I expect from people isn't something I regularly talk about. And I think it might be the most important aspect of this entire endeavor.

This is a proposal to tell the real and full story of my life as KmikeyM in the most complete way possible (no, not a reality TV show): A book.

This is a daunting and terrifying task, and one I would not expect to be successful if I took it on alone. So, in the style of some of the great book partnerships we've seen throughout history (Lee Iacocca & William Novak, Sam Walton & John Huey, and Ray Kroc & Robert Anderson), this proposal only works by bringing in long-time friend and shareholder Kevin Lincoln.

Kevin is a documentary producer and writer and a former journalist who has written for the New York Times Magazine, GQ, Grantland, VICE, and more. He is good at words and also able to weave a compelling story together from real life events. As a co-author he will lead this project to success!

We will also incentivize Kevin with a series of share grants based on the following criteria:

1. secure an agent (written agreement) - 25 shares
2. develop and pitch to editors (regardless of success) - 15 shares
3. successful pitch (book sold) - 60 shares
4. book completed and launched - 200 shares
5. advance recouped - 100 shares
6. Bonus Structure for Awards, Reviews, Accolades:
   • Nobel Prize in Literature - 1000 shares
   • Pulitzer - 500 shares
   • National Book Award - 500 shares
   • Baillie Gifford Prize - 100 shares
   • Kirkus Prize - 100 shares
   • PEN - 50 shares
   • Reese’s Book Club Pick - 100 shares
   • Oprah Book Club Pick - 100 shares
   • New York Times Review - 50 shares
   • Positive NY Times Review - 100 more shares
   • Other Notable Reviews - 20 to 50 shares

These milestones and bonuses will not only enrich Kevin, but the entire shareholder community. Just imagine what happens to the share price when we win a Pulitzer!

Update: Kevin and I will split all proceeds and payments 50/50.

I think it's time to admit that as much as I love connecting with people, doing it in environments that are actively harmful is a violation of my ethics. I'm talking about using social media.

Currently I have a presence on just about every platform except for TikTok, and I primarily use Twitter with a dash of Instagram. But any app at scale that uses algorithms to "engage" people has proven to be harmful. I find the whole thing with problematic billionaires buying board seats gross. But the latest being this story of an incredible onslaught of online harassment of women with no response from Instagram:

Some women shared the messages they get on Instagram. It’s not pretty.

This is a proposal to change how I use social media.

Option 1: Nuclear 🤯 Delete all accounts and stop using social media. No apps on my phone, no accounts on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

Option 2: Broadcast 📡 Unfollow on all accounts. Do not use apps for consumption or interaction, but only for broadcasting of KmikeyM announcements.

Option 3: Dark Mode 🌑 Make all accounts private. Use apps for small group interactions with a primary focus on shareholders.

Option 4: A Break 📅 Less a solution and more a break to see how it feels. Take a six month break from interacting with social media. Use this to determine what is useful and provides value and where to go next.

Option 5: Status Quo 🤷‍♂️ It's fine. It's all... fine. Just keep going.

I haven’t been to see a doctor, dentist, optometrist, or anything else in more than two years.

Where does one even start? What do I need to find out? Do I have cancer? And most importantly, how can I use modern medical science to push myself into some hyper state of incredible productivity? This is a great idea for a new Shareholder Initiative:

Proposal: Creation of the Health + Wellness Working Group

The Health + Wellness Working Group will be a subset of the voting system that covers all aspects of my physical, mental, and emotional health. Shareholders will guide me through the labyrinth of the modern healthcare system, approve treatments, review test results, and generally get to “play doctor” as they seek to optimize my performance in life.

Utilizing the full range of personal and professional experience of the shareholders, we will investigate the capabilities and limitations of my body and generate a system for health and wellness.

How It Will Work

The process will consist of the following parts: Investigation, Results, and Practice.

• Investigation will consist of discussion and decisions about what tests to seek out and what specialists to consult.
• Results will be a library of all medical records, physical health updates, and test results.
• Practice will entail changes to be made to habits and lifestyle based on the investigation and results.

In order to facilitate the process we will create the following:

1. Creation of a #proj-health Slack channel for ongoing updates and recommendations
2. Creation of a Health + Wellness sub-section in votes.kmikeym.com for all shareholder questions
3. Creation of the Health + Wellness sub-section of the email newsletter for timely and regular alerts to any shareholders who wish to subscribe.
4. Creation of the Health + Wellness page on news.kmikeym.com to log all test results and updates

This process will be updated and adapted as needed.

Community Benefits

While the purpose of this initiative is for the health and wellness of your investment (me), the discussion and investigations will be useful to everyone as a place to ask questions, explore treatments, and have a place for general health and wellness questions.

I am most well known for being the world's first publicly traded person, AKA KmikeyM. The name comes from my early online username, which was based on my full name, K. Mike Merrill.

As the KmikeyM project grew, the persona of the publicly traded man also grew. It got to the point where I felt there was a real difference between me, Mike Merrill, and the Brooks Brothers wearing, pro-markets capitalist KmikeyM. Having a persona was fun, especially within my scene of incredibly liberal friends in Portland, OR. I got to play the villain.

This split of personality and beliefs worked until it didn't. Thankfully I didn't need to resort to anything as dramatic as the ending of Fight Club, but when I moved to Los Angeles I worked to incorporate KmikeyM back into Mike Merrill. The end result has been a pretty well-adjusted pro-markets capitalist who is also a card carrying member of the DSA. What can I say, I contain multitudes.

As I enter the world of web3 working at Roll I have encountered crypto-enthusiasts in my job and some crypto-skeptics among my shareholders. My job at Roll is public facing, so online I am representing both the company and KmikeyM. Looking back now, I can see how I slowly and unknowingly separated myself by creating a persona, but this time I want to do it intentionally.

A Crypto Persona

Creating a crypto persona would allow me to have a social media presence that is used for my web3 interactions, keeping everything blockchain off main. It’s not a misrepresentation of what I believe, but an opportunity to fully inhabit only my most optimistic thinking around crypto.

Also, I like the concept of creating a persona, it feels a little like developing a character for pro wrestling. Loosely based on me, but more exaggerated in certain ways. It’s not unlike what KmikeyM was when I was in full business drag, but this time it’s with intention and forethought. The ongoing development of the persona could also open up some interesting future votes!

Shareholder Questions:

Q: Does this change your official position on cryptocurrency?

A: No. I’m still interested in crypto, fascinated by the promise, and would not encourage anyone to invest too much. It’s all still very new, so while there is fascination, there is also caution. But maybe it’s time for a new vote as well, this position was ratified in September of 2019.

Q: Is the intent to hide activity that some would find unsavory?

A: It’s not the intent, but it could happen that way. The idea is to separate conversations that some find uninteresting. The accounts would be linked and easy to find, so not hidden.

For example, on the KmikeyM List I created a sub-category just for letting people know about live streaming. I know there are shareholders who definitely want those updates and those that don’t, so now those that don’t can opt out.

Kathryn and I have committed to doing the 3 Minute Review podcast every day of 2022. And for January we've also decided to do a LIVE SHOW!

3 Minute Review LIVE: The Movie

• Sunday, January 23rd @ 5pm (pst)
• Streaming at live.kmikeym.com

We're calling it 3 Minute Review LIVE: The Movie because not only will we be live, but we will be reviewing for over 3 minutes, so it's like the "movie length" version of our short podcast.

We're also doing Dry January and because I bought some non-alcoholic whiskey substitute via Instagram I now get only non-alcoholic DTC brands showing me ads. So combining my love of consumer packaged goods (see also: Snacker.news) I'll be purchasing a number of products.

But there are so many and even though I have a job now I still can't buy them all. So I'll pick the top five choices made here. (you can vote for as many as you want!)

Options:

• Spiritless Kentucky 74 Bourbon (1 bottle, $36)
• Veso Strawberry Solstice + Vanilla Nightfall (2 bottles, $70)
• Wine Proxies Tasting Set (4 bottles, $73)
• AVEC 15 can sampler of mixers ($45)
• Sapiens Non-alcoholic wine (1 red + 1 sparkle rose, $70)
• Wilderton Earthen + Lustre botanical expressions (2 bottles, $63)
• Surely Dry January Wine Bundle (2 bottles, $50)
• Free Spirits Spirit of Bourbon, Gin, and Tequila (3 bottles, $80)
• Mommenpop Sample Pack of 3 apertif flavors (3 bottles, $60)*
• Lyre's Tequila Dos Amigos Set (2 bottles, $70)
• Seedlip Special Offer Trio (3 bottles, $89)

*contains some alcohol

I failed the challenge last month. This month I have job, so that means a routine, so hopefully I can stick to the chosen challenge!

🚫 Dry January - A classic January challenge providing a nice healthy reset entering the year.

📚 Four Books - I read 52 books last year, which was less than I was hoping. So let's start the new year off right and hit the books!

💪 3x Workout - Partly because of COVID numbers being on the rise I stopped going to the gym, but then I also stopped doing home workouts. This is a challenge to do 3 workouts a week (doesn't include bike riding).

🚴‍♂️ 500 Miles - With the cold and wet weather I've really dropped off on my bike riding. If I make it a priority I think I can hit 500 miles in January.

🌱 Vegan - Take a meat break. No milk, no eggs, no cheese. Just eat delicious plants for a month. It's fun!

📹 Weekly Livestream - Do a livestream once a week to keep everyone informed about how things are going. I mean, I'm already paying for StreamYard and we have live.kmikeym.com set up, I might as well use it!

As part of my crypto explorations I bought $FWB tokens and they are having a holiday party in Los Angeles tomorrow . There are over 50 people who have RSVP'd and it seems like the wrong time (Omicron variant!) to hang out with a bunch of strangers.

Even with the requirements of everyone showing proof of vaccination (and I am vaccinated and boosted) I still have a feeling this isn't the time of year for gatherings with strangers. But maybe I'm using my pandemic paranoia to cover my social anxiety?

Running a little behind this month! It's already the 4th of December. Okay, so I bought an AMC Stubs A-Lister pass this month so maybe I should just see 3 movies a week?

🎥 3 Movies per Week - For $0.99 I bought an AMC Stubs A-List Pass which allows me to watch three movies a week for free at AMC theaters (choosing this would pause the "no tights" policy).

🚴‍♂️ 500 Miles - Typically I ride about 300 miles a month, but I've been going to the gym more and swimming. Should I get back to biking?

📚 Five Books - I'm currently behind in my goal to read 65 books this year. Sadly I lost my Kindle flying back across the country, but I still want to reach my goal and I have piles and piles of unread books...

🥃 Stop Drinking - Just because it's a festive holiday doesn't mean I need to drink, right? Hmmm... This seems not that fun in December.

✍️ Write 1000 Words - Stephen King's writing advice is to start with 1000 words a day six days a week. My typical writing is emails, votes, and notes to myself, but I'd like to work on more structured creative writing and blog posts.

🧘‍♂️ Return to Sleep + Meditation Routine - When I started doing monthly challenges the first two were get 8+ hour of sleep every day and meditate at least 10 minutes every day. Both of those were successful but both those habits are no longer a daily success.

🍸 Drink Martinis - Maybe instead of not drinking I should try drinking something new. How about the only thing I drink all December long (in terms of alcohol) is martinis?

REMINDER: We're now using approval voting, so you can vote for all the ideas that you like!!

As part of updating KmikeyM we propose that all offers eventually expire.

As the expiration date approaches you'll get an email alert and the chance to create a new competitive offer. We expect this will inspire more offers being made, and that will result in more liquidity in the market.

Update: Additional discussion happening in Slack has pointed out that the potential bigger shift here is that you'll get email alerts about your offers.

Note: We now have approval voting so you can vote for multiple options.

Should buy and sell offers expire, and if so, how long should they last?

On Monday I'm meeting someone for the first time. Since I now know where I'm going I thought I'd also let you choose what I order. (please pick coffee!)

Details on food menu here.

On Monday I'm meeting someone for the first time. I have to choose where to meet. Luckily there are coffee shops all over Los Angeles, but what is the right vibe for meeting a shareholder?

On Monday I'm meeting someone for the first time. They are a shareholder and will probably gain some insider information about me from our conversation. Does that mean they should pay for my coffee? Or should I pay since they already spent money buying shares of me?

On Monday I'm meeting someone for the first time. They are a shareholder and probably have certain expectations of me. As much as I want to respect that I'm also trying to be more myself and not represent KmikeyM as a caricature. So what should wear?

*My "Theseus jeans" are a pair of jeans I've been repairing for many, many years. When I moved to LA I was going to throw them away and Kathryn encouraged me to get them repaired. And repaired. And repaired. They are what I have worn on stage the last two times I've given talks and feel comfortable, but I like to dress them up with a Brooks Brothers dress shirt.

I recently saw Kal Penn's new book has a cover that is pretty similar to the Wired article photo by Chris Buck. I have been trying to come up with a joke to tweet about it and thought I'd let you decide.

caption options listed below...

Thanks to the last vote the 3 Minute Review podcast is just a regular part of my life and no longer part of the monthly challenge. So let's take a look at some ideas for challenging myself during the month of November.

🚴‍♂️ 500 Miles - So far in 2021 I've ridden 2,832 miles. Typically it's been about 300 miles a month, but it was way up in Aug and Sep while driving around North America. Now I have a new bike, so I'd like to up my miles while at home. Miles will be tracked on Strava.

📚 Five Books - I'm currently 10 books behind in my goal to read 65 books this year (I've read 44). Sadly I lost my Kindle flying back across the country, but I still want to reach my goal and I have piles and piles of unread books. This is a goal to get through five of them in November. Books will be tracked on Goodreads.

💐 Flowers - November isn't a month we usually associate with flowers, but one of the advantages of living in Los Angeles is that it's always summer here. As the days get cooler I think it's a nice way to brighten up the house on shorter days and also will be a way to get out and explore floral shops and markets around the city. Flowers will be documented with photos.

🥃 Stop Drinking - I think "Sober October" is more of a thing, but I was in Vienna in October and it was fun to drink there. While my drinking is way down from "pandemic levels" it's always good to take a break. Plus I have a favorite non-alcoholic beer and can just drink more coffee. Non-drinking will be tracked using my Every Day Calendar.

✍️ Write 1000 Words - Stephen King's writing advice is to start with 1000 words a day six days a week. My typical writing is emails, votes, and notes to myself, but I'd like to work on more structured creative writing and blog posts. This challenge would help me post more and write about experiences for the shareholders. Writing will be done in Google Docs and daily word count shared via Slack.

🧘‍♂️ Return to Sleep + Meditation Routine - When I started doing monthly challenges the first two were get 8+ hour of sleep every day and meditate at least 10 minutes every day. Both of those were successful but both those habits are no longer a daily success. This is a challenge to get back into strong sleep and meditation habits. Sleep and meditation will be tracked in iOS Health App.

📧 Reach Out to a Stranger - I was thinking how great it was to meet so many people at the talk in Vienna and wondered if I could keep up a concentrated effort to contact more people. It could be mostly reaching out to shareholders I have never met, as well as writing fan emails, and also just cold emailing people I respect. Even if mostly ignored it seems like a challenge that would result in at least a few interesting conversations. Outreach and results will be tracked in Airtable.

The last few months I've been putting out the 3 Minute Review podcast, often with Kathryn as my co-host, as close to daily as I can. This was part of the monthly challenge as we were on the road, and continued into October as I went off to Austria.

View Podcast Here

It could keep being in the monthly challenge, but I think after three months it is likely you are telling me it's time to just make this a regular part of my life. So this is a vote to just keep on doing it until I die* (or put up a vote to stop).

This means less episodes about TV, which was the initial point of the podcast, and more of the general reviews and updates as has been the case.

UPDATE: I am removing the "until I die" part.

I'm in business class to Austria! What should I order for my business class dessert?

This is the last of three votes, make sure you vote on the appetizer and dinner as well!

• Double gloucester, manchego cheese, rougette cheese, garnished with walnut halves and grapes
• Dulce de leche ice cream
• Fresh fruit

I'm in business class to Austria! What should I order for my business class main course?

This is the second of three parts, make sure you vote on the appetizer and dessert as well!

• Seared veal medallion, green peppercorn sauce, baby zucchini, caramelized fennel, roasted cherry tomato, anna potatoes
• Almond crusted halibut, yellow thai curry, steamed basmati rice
• Soft polenta with grated parmesan, porcini and button mushroom ragout, baby spinach, salsa verde, caper and dijon mustard, cherry tomato confit

I'm in business class to Austria! What should I order for my business class appetizer?

This is the first of three parts, make sure you vote on dinner and dessert as well!

• Spicy grilled shrimp, celery root and green apple salad, caramelized dried fig, spiced candied pecan nuts
• Prosciutto, red heirloom tomato, peeled yellow cherry tomato, peeled red cherry tomato, watercress, balsamic pearls
• Broiled goat cheese, grilled artichoke, char grilled and roasted bell pepper, kalamata olive, lemon herb vinaigrette

Last month was a wild success. I posted an episode of 3 Minute Review every single day of the month! Should I keep that up as I work on my TEDxVienna talk and travel to Austria in October? Or is it time to mix things up?

It's another month, but I'm still on the road... so I think we should just continue the audio journal, right?

In August I'll be driving across the country to Canada, so I'll be limited in what I can try to challenge myself with. So here is a shorter than usual set of options.

Last month I had to intervene the challenge because waking up at 5am was killing me. That's fine! The point is it is a challenge!

This month I asked shareholders for some new challenge ideas and have included a handful that received some votes in the past. Feel free to ask questions in the comments.

The monthly challenge for June was to wake up at 5am. It's killing me.

I've done it 8/15 mornings so far and while I respect a difficult challenge it's reduced my overall sleep to an unhealthy level. I'm grumpy, tired, and less productive... i hate it and I want to quit.

But there are other options and so I come to the shareholders asking for a modification...

Update: A few people have asked the difference between giving up and waking up naturally. Giving up is to completely abandon the monthly challenge. Waking up naturally is to respect the body's natural inclination to wake at a certain time and then get out of bed and start the day. Essentially it's a less lazy version of giving up and an attempt to establish some sort of "natural" wake up time.

In March I focused on my sleep. In April I returned to meditation. And for May I went somewhere new each week.

I definitely found the daily challenge more rewarding than the weekly. But what should I undertake in June?

In March I focused on my sleep. In April I returned to meditation. What challenge should I take on in May?

Also, you should join me in whatever challenge is chosen! So far this has been really great!

Okay look, we made a mistake. But to our credit we realized our mistake, we changed course, and we're back on track! Apologies for everyone who bought the last book, hopefully you can get a refund. I was so mad I tore my book in half and threw it in the recycling bin. I've never destroyed a book before. It felt weird.

So let's try it again! Better to have read and lost than never read at all!!

From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism (2008): "Shedding new light on how our networked culture came to be, this fascinating book reminds us that the distance between the Grateful Dead and Google, between Ken Kesey and the computer itself, is not as great as we might think."

Susan, Linda, Nina & Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR (2021): "A group biography of four beloved women who fought sexism, covered decades of American news, and whose voices defined NPR."

The Richest Man In Babylon (1926): "Based on 'Babylonian parables', has been hailed as the greatest of all inspirational works on the subject of thrift, financial planning, and personal wealth."

Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of Blackberry (2016): "A riveting story of a company that toppled global giants before succumbing to the ruthlessly competitive forces of Silicon Valley. This is not a conventional tale of modern business failure by fraud and greed. The rise and fall of BlackBerry reveals the dangerous speed at which innovators race along the information superhighway."

Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt (2015): "Michael Lewis's game-changing bestseller, a small group of Wall Street iconoclasts realize that the U.S. stock market has been rigged for the benefit of insiders. They band together--some of them walking away from seven-figure salaries--to investigate, expose, and reform the insidious new ways that Wall Street generates profits."

No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram (2020): "Examines how Instagram's dominance acts as a lens into our society today, highlighting our fraught relationship with technology, our desire for perfection, and the battle within tech for its most valuable commodity: our attention."

If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future (2020): "A revelatory account of the Cold War origins of the data-mad, algorithmic twenty-first century."

Billion Dollar Burger: Inside Big Tech's Race for the Future of Food (2020): "Drawing from exclusive and unprecedented access to the main players, from polarizing activist-turned-tech CEO Josh Tetrick to lobbyists and regulators on both sides of the issue, Billion Dollar Burger follows the people fighting to upend our food system as they butt up against the entrenched interests fighting viciously to stop them."

Read more about the books on Bookshop.

This book we're reading sucks. I hate it. I know some of you also hate it. We should stop reading it, right?

This book is like The Secret mixed with a love of business. It feels like she is just wishing everything is better and telling everyone we can just be better and we will still make all the money. Ugh, even trying to talk about how bad this book is makes me mad.

My preliminary twitter poll was 64.5% "throw it in the trash"

I got my first vaccine today! Jona and I drove to Bakersfield CA to get a shot because they are encouraging everyone to drive up and get a walk in dose. While this is exciting and was incredibly easy it's also a bit sad as it means the end of the beard.

The shareholders voted that the beard would be maintained (but groomed) until after quarantine. And it struck me on the drive home that I will soon be up to 80% protected, so perhaps I should shave about 80% of my facial hair.

What I'm suggesting is a mustache.

I would keep the mustache until my next appointment for the 2nd dose, so until April 24th, at which point I would return to the clean shaven looks of a my previous pre-pandemic self.

For March I tried to get at least eight hours of sleep every day and I only missed a few. It was great! As April approaches it's time to pick a new challenge.

Note: Last month we got some good feedback about changing how voting works on weejee which would especially help with these votes where there are so many option. Definitely looking to implement these changes but they haven't been done yet.

The first shareholder book club finished Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing and now it's time for the next book!

I looked up the best business books from 2020 on multiple lists and these are the six that were duplicated over multiple lists.

More details on each book here.

I scheduled my first haircut in over a year for tomorrow!

This is by far the longest my hair has ever been and I'm tempted to keep growing it out. But while I have a beard I feel like some aspect of my head needs to be neat and tidy. So if I'm going to keep the beard I should cut a bunch of hair off. But if I'm going to drop the beard maybe I should just let it grow?

I'm excited to see Kate again who has been cutting my hair since I moved to Los Angeles. She was one of the last people I hugged before the pandemic really started. Maybe she will just have some intuitive sense of what to do?

I'm back home in Los Angeles and it's great. I'm riding my bike, cooking healthy food, working on projects and contract gigs. I love it. I had a really productive week!

With March starting tomorrow I thought could try to stretch myself a bit... Should I try to do something a little extra every day?

A producer for NasDaily, the content studio of Nuseir Yassin, reached out about doing a video about KmikeyM. They do short videos like The Secret King of Wikipedia! and The Man Who Eats Feathers and they get over a million views on social media.

Should I shave my beard for this? Videos last a long time and maybe it makes more sense to appear more like I have traditionally than my current bearded guru look? On the other hand, maybe the moment of bearded Mike should be captured for all time?

(I can shave my beard myself, but I'll still have kind of long hair...)

Oh, and I should mention that Kathryn has grown attached to the beard, especially after the shareholders approved I trim it. So if this doesn't pass I can still clean it up a bit.

I started growing my beard by accident. Last year at Christmas I went a few days without shaving, and then we went to Hawaii for the New Year and I started to intentionally not shave while on vacation. On January 20th of this year I asked the shareholders what I should do about my beard.

https://kmikeym.com/questions/150

With 68.43% it was decided to keep the beard but to move the votes to weejee and keep checking in. So February 20th I checked in again and earned another month of beard growth.

https://weejee.io/k5m/questions/58

As we entered March my beard was becoming unkempt, and on March 3rd it was approved to get a professional beard trim. This was just before the pandemic lockdown.

https://weejee.io/k5m/questions/60

Later in March, on the 24th, we started to quarantine and it was decided I should let the beard grow until the big shareholder event on May 17th.

https://weejee.io/k5m/questions/61

On May 15th, I asked about the beard again and at this point, with so many questions about facial hair I offered one option to just keep the beard until after quarantine and that was approved.

https://weejee.io/k5m/questions/66

It’s now early December and we’re approaching a year of beard growth. I’m looking more true to my Alaskan roots than ever. (My last hair cut was also in March.) On the KmikeyM Slack there have been some anti-beard rumblings and I wanted to offer the beard opposition party a chance to be heard.

In 2017 the "No More Tights" policy was passed, which forbids the watching of movies and television shows that are based on Marvel or DC properties. The only allowance granted is for films which win an academy award. This policy was reinforced in a 2019 failed attempt to rescind the policy, and so since 2017 the only superhero film or television show I have watched is Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse, which was allowed with a special exemption.

This year the HBO series Watchmen has seven Emmy nominations and as a correction to the original vote this proposal would expand the the list of exceptions to include Emmy wins in addition to academy awards.

In the shareholder poker tournament everyone puts in $20 and then first, second, and third win some money. Mike would like to enter the tournament using shares (based on the fair market value™, rounded up, so tonight that would be five shares).

So whoever took first place would win slightly less cash than usual but get all the shares. If Mike wins any cash he will be required to use that money buying back as many shares as he can from the market (thus raising the stock price, and everyone's net worth).

We've had a number of beard votes now, and while we started this facial hair experiment before the time of corona, I think the beard fits with the wild hair of a stay-at-home computer loving publicly traded person. Also, it has grown in rather nicely! I'm still tentative when I groom it with my new electric shears, but I'm gaining confidence.

So this is a proposal to keep the beard, and while we can still have votes on appearance and facial hair it's a shift from a default position of clean shaven to one of bearded. I highly encourage a yes vote. I like the beard, Kathryn likes the beard, and later this year I hope to pitch a TV show about growing up in Alaska and I feel like the beard will help with that.

It's been two weeks of not drinking after two weeks of tracking what I drink.

I did not enjoy total abstinence. While a few nights without drinking is fine, occasionally I wanted a whiskey, or a beer during a poker game, or a glass fo wine while watching a movie. So I'm changing the options a bit:

1. Drink Less, Try More Cannabis The weed gummies are fine, but tend to be a pretty solo experience and that is hard. But maybe if I tried it a bit more, and could drink on occasion it could work.

2. Track What You Drink Just keep tracking. Tracking and reporting to shareholders helps you be cautious of over drinking, which is more the point.

3. Research What You Drink Tracking is good, but there is opportunity here... Keep tracking, but do some homework and learn about what you’re consuming. Learn about the types of wine and the regions and the winemakers and develop your taste and understanding of what you drink.

4. Plan Your Drinks Yes, track, and do a your research too, but also, push yourself! Turn the act of drinking into an activity. Embrace cocktails and learn to mix and match ingredients or plan a wine “tour” of a specific region or type. Plan out what you are going to drink and share all this with the shareholders, even if you end up getting drunk on the live cam.

5. Intermittent Drinking You quit for two weeks and that was great, but let's not go crazy. Just make sure you have days of non-drinking in between days of drinking.

6. Drink More Often On the other hand, everything is a shit show and it's nice to get a little tanked. Let's dive in and enjoy ourselves.

Prev Votes:

weejee - Drinking With Intention II

weejee - Drinking With Intention

kmikeym - Drinking With Intention

It's been two weeks of tracking what I drink and I posted the results here.

Now what?

1. Drink Less, Try More Cannabis I bought some weed gummies and tried that one night. It was fine, but I kept it super light. Still need to figure out my dosage. Maybe I should use the last two weeks as my average and try to get under that amount while using weed products.

2. Track What You Drink This is working, right? Just keep tracking and we'll talk again in two weeks.

3. Research and Share What You Drink Tracking is good, but kind of boring for the shareholders. Keep tracking, but do your homework and learn about what you’re consuming. Learn about the kinds of wine and the regions and the winemakers and develop your ability to taste and understand what you drink. And then share that information.

4. Put More Thought Into What You Drink (cocktails!) Yes, track, and do a little research, but also, push yourself! Turn the act of drinking into an activity. Embrace cocktails and learn to mix and match ingredients or plan a wine “tour” of a specific region or type. Share all this with the shareholders, even if you end up getting drunk on the live cam.

5. Stop Drinking You quit for three days, and alcohol is poison! Stop drinking for two weeks and see how you feel!

6. Drink More Often On the other hand, everything is a shit show and it's nice to get a little buzzed. Maybe you can use the last two weeks to better guide how to drink. Have a drink every night, just don't get tanked.

My entire life I’ve had the bad habit of chewing my nails. I’ve tried sheer will-power, applying bitter-tasting concoctions, and even allowing coworkers to violently slap my hands when they catch me doing it. With a general level of anxiety higher than normal and increased drinking I find that most mornings I wake up with a few fingernails hastily shorn.

The only time I was able to stop biting my nails was after getting them professionally done at a salon. I had the currency of the top eight countries by GDP painted on my fingers. It was beautiful.

Obviously I can’t go to a nail salon, but I can paint my nails. So the question is, what color*?

(*colors limited due to 🦠coronavirus)

If the shareholder proposal to Drink With Intention passes, these are the possible paths:

1. Drink Less, Try More Cannabis Drinking more in a time of increased anxiety allows me to fog up my brain and relax, but alcohol isn’t the only way to do this. Instead, try cannabis!

2. Track What You Drink Historically I’ve responded well to simply tracking behaviors as a way to regulate them, and shouldn’t we also set a baseline for how much I’m drinking before deciding how much to reduce it?

3. Research and Share What You Drink Drink what you want, but do your homework and learn about what you’re consuming. Learn about the kinds of wine and the regions and the winemakers and develop your ability to taste and understand what you drink. And then share that information.

4. Put More Thought Into What You Drink (cocktails!) Similar to research and share, but more premeditated. Turn the act of drinking into an activity. Embrace cocktails and learn to mix and match ingredients and plan a wine “tour” of a specific region or type.

5. Stop Drinking Look, alcohol is poison, and it’s best to not drink poison.

6. Drink More On the other hand, everything is a shit show, enjoy yourself while you can.

Whatever policy is chosen, assuming the corresponding KmikeyM vote passes, will be undertaken for a period of two weeks and then we’ll come back for a shareholder review of the results.

We're a week past due for a beard vote and I'm going to play the coronavirus. Last week I was feeling pretty anxious and depressed and it took me a few days to realize that. I'm not really that in touch with my own feelings, so sadness usually manifests as being tired for me.

Anyway, let's get into this next beard vote. Here is a photo of me where I look stoned but I am not. It's just the evening light of Los Angeles casting a ruddy glow. As always to see the latest pics you can go to my alt Instagram account where I post a selfie each day: @theK5M

Let's figure out what to do next...

I've never grown a beard before, and now whenever I drink water I think there is a bug in my glass until I realize it's just the long hairs of my mustache. Also, sauce gets stuck in there now. The lower neck beard part is growing thick while the sides are still a bit patchy. I bought a beard brush and I pet it twice a day like taking care of a horse.

Overall I like the roguish look of it, but maybe it is time to bring in some help. I'm open to just "free growing" the beard until the next vote (March 19th) but I'd like to go to a professional and get some grooming done. If I was growing my hair out I'd go to a barber, and there are plenty of places in LA that will groom a beard.

If the shareholders agree that I should endorse a candidate the next step will be determining which candidate should be endorsed.

I’m listing all the candidates currently running (based on this NY Times page) that I can vote for as a registered Democrat in the state of California.

It's been a month since the shareholders voted to allow me to have a beard and it's time to check in and see if I should keep it for a while or shave it off.

To see the latest pics you can go to my alt Instagram account where I post a selfie each day: @theK5M

My beard is not as impressive as the header image... yet!

UPDATE: If the vote goes in favor of the beard there will be a vote about styling/trimming.

I loved the first episode of McMillions on HBO (see official site and trailer) but was SO BUMMED I wasn't able to binge it. I mean, WHO IS UNCLE JERRY!?!?

It's a six-part series, so I could just wait five weeks and then catch up on all of them at once. OTOH, then I wouldn't get to talk to other people about it and i'd be yelling 'no spoilers' all the time. I don't know... what do you think?

I committed to helping Norberto with a video today, but my friend Mathew is leaving LA forever and having people meet up at a brewery. Should I maintain my commitment with Norberto or should I go say goodbye to my friend Mathew? Or, is there another option?

A classic Goldilocks situation here. The checkered blazer is slightly too big and the velvet blazer is slightly too small.

The checkered blazer is from Brooks Brothers and I fell in love with it years ago, but couldn't justify the cost for something that is, let's be honest, pretty garish. Apparently I wasn't the only one that thought so and was able to pick it up on clearance sale. It was only made in a very boxy style so I then brought it in to get tailored and it's still a bit on the big side. I have worn this only once since moving to Los Angeles, when I MC'd the holiday party at my former employer and created a holiday quiz show. It's the perfect jacket for a quiz show host, but otherwise I'm not sure I need to hang on to it. And as I mentioned, it's a little too big for me.

The blue velvet blazer I love, even though I typically only wear it to year end holiday parties. But it's a bit snug and I can't quite button the bottom button and be comfortable. So while I like it, I don't really wear it anymore. So why am I keeping it? I don't currently have a decent "evening" jacket alternative. But is that a reason to keep it?

This is a part of a series of votes to clean out my wardrobe. Using the "does it spark joy" method I'll write up some notes on my feelings and then let the shareholders decide if I should keep them or get rid of them.

First up is two pair of pants I rarely wear:

The Nantucket Reds are "casual pants" from Brooks Brothers. They were purchased for me by an ex-girlfriend's mother and I have not worn them in months. They look good with my Sperry's boat shoes but they feel a bit loud and they are tight in the waist. Do they spark joy? No, I don't really care about these pants.

The Chess Pants are in the classic trad style of "go to hell" pants and are also from Brooks Brothers. I love these pants. I bought them when we first started Chroma and I think of them as my "game designer" pants. But I haven't worn them in over two years. They are the pants version of an old favorite t-shirt. I would not miss them if they disappeared, but I can't bring myself to get rid of them. Do they spark joy? No, but they spark sadness when I think about getting ride of them.

I’m at Smoke House, a Hollywood institution, with Aaron. I just had an old fashioned and I need another drink. What should I get?

This is part 2 of a vote about my official position. See part 1 on KmikeyM.com.

Please vote for one of the following options:

[Pioneering] KmikeyM is a crypto advocate and believes that the tokenization of physical and digital assets will be the gateway to unlocking new microcosms of value for citizens everywhere. KmikeyM looks forward to exploring options for a working crypto solution to his own market.

[Positive] KmikeyM is a crypto enthusiast and believes cryptocurrency is an exciting new wave of financial innovation. He holds a number of positions in various projects and expects crypto investing will outperform the regular markets.

[Hopeful] KmikeyM is optimistic about crypto and enjoys collecting and holding tokens as a way to participate. He encourages people to get involved and believes the crypto “killer app” is just around the corner.

[Lucrative] KmikeyM feels like investing in cryptocurrency can be a lucrative opportunity, but does not believe crypto is a long lasting mainstream happening. KmikeyM will invest to make profit, but holds no ideological belief about the technology.

[Interested] KmikeyM is fascinated by the promise of crypto but has a wait and see approach regarding the implementation because involvement requires a high technical understanding and few safeguards. He would not advise anyone to invest more than a token amount.

[Curious] KmikeyM believes that crypto is an interesting idea, but is skeptical of mainstream adoption and wouldn’t advise participation beyond entertainment purposes.

[Negative] KmikeyM sees crypto enthusiasm as another in a long line of technical utopian dreams of Ayn Randian thinkers who will no doubt end up very rich causing great harm to society.

Did a nice hike and took a dip in the ocean. I heard about a good fish taco, but there are rumors of “the best lobster roll”...

I’m meeting my friend at Destroyer, Jordan Kahn's minimalist, daytime-only spot for inventive Scandinavian-style breakfast & lunch fare (I don’t know who Jordan is, but I think he’s a fancy restaurant person). Knowing that breakfast is the most Important meal of the day, help me pick what to get.

http://destroyer.la/

After the dialup call I want to go see a movie. But what movie do I want to go see?

John Wick 3

Rocketman

The Dead Don't Die

Men In Black: International movie

or, don't go to a movie you dummy!

Whitmer Thomas & Pals

Well, technically second beverage because I had some sparkling water, or as the label says "Aqua Medium." But it's 5pm and we're about to head to the hotel.

What should my first drink be?

I love lunch! Where should I go?

• $9 - Poke Bowl from Nikiya Market
• $7 - Tofu Wrap from Grow Market
• $12 - 3rd Street Salad from Americano
• $8 - French Dipped Meat Sandwich from Philippe's
• $8 - Two slices of Pizza from Prime Pizza
• $17 - Macrobiotic Bowl from Cafe Gratitude

I need to pick up some coffee at the place near my work GGET. This is a rapid vote that will run for just 30 min. Check the link to see the options, then help me figure out which kind to get!

Here are a few audiobooks I'm considering listening to next.

1. Just So
2. Beastie Boys Book
3. The Quants

Tomorrow is Sunday, known to many as a day of rest. My plans for tomorrow are to go to the gym and then drive with my girlfriend to Palm Springs to spend a few days and welcome 2019. Typically I wake up at 6:30am, but I have some prep to do before we head out and I definitely want to have enough time for the gym. So can I sleep in, or should I get up at my regular time?