Extra-Big Thanks
My Parents and Family – Thank you for no longer freaking out that I’m off the beaten path.
Judith Gerberg – Thank you for validating my career.

Business Partners
Heather Lorentz, Tyler Scriven, and Eric Bowman – Thanks for rocking.

Future Partners
****
**** Names omitted as ventures not yet public. You know who you are.
**** Thank you for trusting me to work with you. 
**** 

All of Twitter
Particularly to my follows on Twitter, you’re all good people… with the exception of @micah (who’s a douche bag). Very special thanks to Laura Fitton (@pistachio) who not only introduced me to Twitter, has been a great friend all along the way.

Friends who put up with my shit more than anyone
Josh Brodie, Sara Bert, Jordyn Cosmé, Alex Bregstein, and Rana Sobhany. Especially Rana, who sought me out even after I totally dissed her when she first introduced herself to me. 

And the rest of you who don’t like to be named, much less depicted on the Internet, thank you.

Outside the SXSW Bloghaus in Austin last month, some guy was hanging near the door handing out wristbands. Me, a sucker for swag, approached the guy and said, “Hey, can I have one?” He turns to me, says ‘sure!’, and hands me a wrist band. “Thanks!” I said, “My name’s Michael. Who are you and what’s your story?” 

And that’s how I met Gary Vaynerchuk. Up until that moment, I hadn’t heard of Gary or winelibrary.tv. We spoke for a couple of minutes about how crazy I thought he was for answering his thousands of daily e-mails in lieu of delegating. Then it struck me as not so crazy: here’s a guy who cared so much about his job (wine) and his community that he made it his lifeblood. (I’m omitting a joke about transubstantiation right here.)

I ran into him later that night in the lobby of a hotel where about a hundred people had gathered. I went over to say hello but before I open my mouth he puts bottle of wine in my hand, “Gruen! Take this!” (I wasn’t wearing a name tag), raising another bottle to toast mine. At 2am, this man has energy.

“Gary, we’re so hanging out when we get back to New York.”

“Definitely! Now DRINK!” [sic]

…

Three days ago, I went to New York’s NextWeb Meetup and ran into Gary. Though we hadn’t talked since SXSW, he remembered me and we went right back to shooting the shit, with me making fun of his e-mailing habits.

So, it should come as no surprise that Gary could galvanize the social media world and beyond in an unedited two-minute video clip. Today is Good Person Day 2008, so spread it on.