Dirty Rat Bastard

Yeah, what's up ?

Hershey PA

I know Eric and Josh alluded to my trip here. But I gotta tell ya it wasn't exactly what I thought. The weather was indecisive as it was either sweltering humid or pelting the town with buckets of rain. And what I smelled wasn't chocolate. I tried to get close to the action (the Hershey Amusement Park) but could only find myself being stuck in endless small-town traffic being guided by hard hat donning, day-glo vest wearing oompa loompas. I turned around after hangin in traffic for awhile. I saw the lightposts (my friend tells me they used to be M&Ms instead of Kisses) and the Reeses building and all the cutesy named streets (ad nauseum). If it is located here it will be Brown and will have Hershey in the name. Bet on it.

I stayed at the Econolodge to get some extra miles. Bad move. No internet. No Hershey's Starbucks with wi-fi either. I just finished my business there (which was pretty much a bust) and mosied back to my internet-less room of a hotel and watched the standard cabled boob tube.



No Hershey Highway for all you jokesters out there.


The aliens (rightly so) begin their onslaught in Hersey PA.

Tri-State Trek

Completing my task in Manhattan, I went to a deli with a colleague that sets up IT logistics for corporate events. I was telling him that I had to drive out to Hershey this afternoon and that I was a little concerned with driving through Manhattan.

Colleague: What ?? You don't like driving in Manhattan ?
tonyB: No. But I have definitely viewed my share of accidents in this town. You ever drive here ?
Colleague: Once.
tonyB: And let me guess... you would never do it again ?
Colleague: I would. I love driving in the City. It has a flow to it (gestures with hands) where you weave in and out and sort of feel how the traffic is.
tonyB: Whatever.

I went to go pick up my rental at La Guardia while pondering my apparent lack of midichlorians needed to feel the flow of messed up NYC traffic. The AVIS agent would end up being the Obi-wan to my whiney Anakin. She suggested that I take an alternate route that has more tolls and traffic but it takes you out to Staten Island on my way to the Jersey Turnpike, instead of going through downtown Manhattan.

I am now the happy traveller. And to top it off she upgraded me to a Trailblazer. Oh yes. It made my 4 hour trek through NY and NJ to PA most excellent.


Westward Ho.

More to Come...

be afraid.

Negotiating the Friendly Skies

Hellish nightmare.

That is it in a nutshell. Travelling from Oakland to New York City turned out to be sort of a cautionary tale of... oh let me see.... west coast to east coast travel.... umm... carry-on versus checking in baggage.... and oh...mother nature showcasing her talents to the unsuspecting crowd below.

Let me break it down for you:

- monday 6:50am flight out of Oakland.
- layover takes place at Dulles airport DC.
- Weather not so good. Eastern seaboard is screwed and Air Traffic Control is freaking out.
- flight from Dulles to La Guardia (NYC) is delayed. 3 Times.
- flight from Dulles to La Guardia (NYC) is cancelled.
- One seat left on 5pm flight to White Plains NY. I take my chance with it.
- flight to White Plains NY delayed. 3 Times.
- Decide to stay in DC and catch plane the next day after storm passes.
- United 'can't locate but shows it is in the airport' - my luggage that is.

Did I mention Hellish nightmare ?

Stayed with some friends in DC and hopped an 8:30am flight to La Guardia... found my luggage there and proceeded to the Time Hotel.

Definitely a boutique hotel. Very small room but hey that have broadband. Rooms are either motif'ed with red, blue or yellow rooms. I get red, of course. The web site tells me:

Enter a red room, see red selectively around the room, feel red as you lie in
your bed, smell red as you open the vial of the 'red scent' created exclusively
for THE TIME, even taste red with a bite of red candy. All of your senses are
aroused, perhaps amused. How does red make you feel?

let's see... tired with a dash of annoyed accompanied by a faint hint of psychotic.

ever hear of 'Redrum' ?

I am going to take a quick nap and then get to work...


Enjoying my $35 dollar taxi ride to midtown.



Red is the new Black.



Sleep deprived and ready for bed @ 8:30am

!

No, we're not a rock band
Originally uploaded by Eric Rice.

Three Blondes

Three Blondes
Originally uploaded by tony_b.

Maybe this will bring you to my new Flickr account. heh.

When the East is in the house (oh my God)...

Leaving on Monday for NYC to set up some hardware stuff for a PR event for consumer editors. Cool part is that I get to see my longtime friend Laura Bagnette/Bagnetto. It's been years, and I still had to convince her to cross 14th street to come and have a drink with me. You know me - I am all about uptown.

whatevah.

Then from NYC, I get to drive to Hershey (insert gratuitous joke here) PA for a tradeshow. I wonder what Highway I will take ??

Finally fly home on Friday for a relaxing ... no wait... wedding in Pebble Beach on Saturday.


Tru'dat.

The pursuit of informational nuggets.

While I was away last week in L.A., I continued my pursuit of less-than-crucial knowledge in the airport magazine shop. You see, it is a thing with me. I love to read and what the hell else are you supposed to do in an airport ? The moment I stop reading (and listening to the trusty iPod), my eyes tend to glaze over.

I figured things that catch my eye for one reason or another, would be what I would write about. It just so happens there was alot of eye catching from last week's Time, Wired, Business 2.0, BusinessWeek and U.S. News & World Report. This is a long post but hey, you clicked here.

Killer 7

When I read about this game it immediately conjured up a kind of Bizarro world Tarentino film. Then I watched the trailer (lotsa blood, sex, magic) and found myself digging it even more. Looks like a cross of cel-shading animation in some parts and full blown anime in others. From what I gather (and the web-site ain't the best even though it is from Capcom) the main character has seven different personalities that battle it out with a terrorist group known as Heaven Smile. To top it off it carries the 'M for Mature' banner. Those games are fun.


k7.


Nokia's new cell phone thingy.

This was in an article about some of the cool new phones on the market. I like cool cell phones. I have a Moto V80 and kind of crush on it. This Nokia 7280 does indeed make phone calls, but there are zero number/letter buttons to press. All controlled by an iPod-esque Navi-spinner. Hmphh. I guess.

Panels slide around to utilize the camera. I think this thing is one of those prototype products that was a personal crusade of a Nokia executive. I will finish up this blurb with a passage from the web site:

When twilight falls, prowl the night with the mysterious Nokia 7280 phone. Shrouded in the mystery is a passion that will only reveal itself as you slide it open.

Is it warm in here ?


Kubrick inspired Nokia Obelisk.

Philips Simplicity Advisory Board.

I think this one caught my eye because I used to work for them. I can't tell you how huge this company is. Lots of people and ideas. Based in the Netherlands, Philips has it's fingers in everything from shavers to light bulbs to medical equipment to display technologies ad nauseum. Europe knows Philips. Here in the states ? Not so much. Well..., maybe that uber-annoying faux-Beatles 'It's getting better' jingle that was gingerly crammed into Philips commericals might ring a bell.

Ahhh but I digress. Enter the Philips Simplicity Advisory Board. A thinktank of diverse visionaries. Seemingly world reknown folks in their respective fields.

Each member of our Simplicity Advisory Board comes from a different cultural and professional background. This diversity enriches our understanding of what simplicity means for people in all aspects of their lives and in different cultures. But while the Board members bring a mix of experience and cultures, they all share our passion for simplicity.

In my personal experience - ain't nothing simple.

Moments after the SAB downs the blue pill.

Move over Human Transporter.

The Segway Concept Centaur looks pretty cool. No plans for manufacturing this bad boy yet though.

I think I saw Tony Little hawk this.

The Posse Foundation

Check out this awesome article here. Most excellent.

Backup. But what makes the Posse program unique is what happens after its students have been accepted to college. Each institution is required to accept 10 students who will attend the school together as a posse, a slang term for a group of friends. The idea is to provide these students, many of them first-generation collegegoers who have never ventured far from home, with constant support. The posses receive training before matriculation, including team-building exercises, lectures on time management, and academic tutoring. They continue meeting throughout college, helping one another deal with everything from roommate conflicts to challenging coursework. The setup seems to work: Ninety percent of Posse scholars graduate within six years, far above both the national average of 54 percent and the even lower graduation rates for minority students.

Word 'em up.

Xbox 360 article in Time.

The hoopla over the next-gen consoles is every-fucking-where. There is nothing new to add but I did read the article in Time mag last week about the new console and the strategy behind it. Very informative and well written by Lev Grossman. Unfortunately, you have to buy the issue or pay Time.com $2.50.

Best paragraph in the article ?

The New Ecosystem. Let's not miss what's happening here. Microsoft, a company known primarily for making highly profitable business software, has put a box in your living room. It entered your house under the humble pretense of being a game machine, a toy for the kids, but it just ate your CD player and your DVD player, and it's looking hungrily at your telephone. It's all up in your media cabinet. It's talking to your iPod, your digital camera, your TV, your stereo, your PC, your credit card and the internet. It has created a miniature electronic ecosystem inside your home, with itself at the center.

That is the absolute best description of the X360 strategy that I have read.

Genetic Savings & Clone.

Whoohooo ! There is a sale going on. Cat cloning price reduction in full effizzect at GS&C.

$32,000 gets Fluffy a 10th life.

"PodShanking: physical pod on pod penetration"

Saw this on Jargon Watch in Wired mag. It basically describes the ability to have two iPods connected to each other to transfer songs. No computer or iTMS needed. SWEET !

Danke-shank.

The 10th Ring of Hell : Casinos.

Gambling has rode me hard and put me away wet. I didn't really like to gamble until very recently. Last week in L.A. I was chatting it up with my friend Chris about gambling. He goes more than I do. He was schooling me on the best tactics to take on the 1-armed bandits. There are definitely ways to assist oneself in bettering the shitty odds. I would rather lose money over the course of the night instead of just inside of 45 minutes.

So of course the cover story to USN&WR is all about the secrets of casinos. Great article with some cool mentions of technology filtering down into the casinos. I mean cool in the sense that it is technically cool. It, however, is not so cool to have casinos employ that technology to make me feel uncomfortable or to make my gambling experience seem overtly unfair.

but where's my complementary drinks ?

Gizmondo.

Gizmondo sets the standard for mobile gaming. With 400Mhz of processor power, a state of the art graphics chip from Nvidia and a huge, high resolution TFT screen, Gizmondo totally outclasses all other mobile gaming devices

In industry-speak we call the above horsehit.

bueno fucking suerte.

...and there you have it folks. Nuggets gleaned while wandering America's airports.

Little Big Pinoy

Roman and Quincy Loyola
Originally uploaded by tony_b.

Trying out flickr.