Sunshine, southern California, and... recruiting?!

I lived in LA for six years so every summer I come back to enjoy the sunshine, spend time with my acrobat friends on Muscle Beach, and just relax. Well I've just arrived in LA, but this year I'm on a mission: I'm building EssayTagger.com even while I work on my tan and burning off my winter fat!

Here's the view from my "office" (aka the Marina del Rey Starbucks):

I'm also working my contacts while I'm out here. LA isn't nearly as jam-packed with tech talent as the Bay Area is (I lived up there for two years before LA), but there is a lot of development going on down here.

I have an acquaintance that I'm trying to recruit to do some of the more hard-core Flash ActionScript development. And I'm piecing together the company's advisory board; a friend of mine in Santa Monica successfully started his own social networking site (no, I'm not friends with Mark Zuckerburg) and I'm hoping to get him to sign on to advise us as we build and grow.

As you can see, building a company is very stressful

On top of that, I've got to crank through the Java development while I'm here. Our mid-August demo target comes a mere 2-3 weeks after I return from LA. I've got to get the bulk of the work done while I'm here.

So this really is a working vacation--and arguably more work than vacation (right, IRS?).