JukeyBlog

Change Throughout Generations

2011-07-16T10:01:00.001-07:00

I've thought recently about change and how age and generation can affect how one perceives change. Why do people in the older generations tend to resist change more than the younger generations? Sure the answer may just be that kids are growing and learning and therefore more adept at change, but I think it runs a little deeper.

I think it has to do, in part, with Moore's Law and the fact that technology in general is improving exponentially. Moore's Law basically states that computer processors will double in capacity (speed) roughly once every 2 years. This is exponential growth, which means that the rate at which it increases in constantly increasing.

Let me put this into context for you because as humans we often have a difficult time imagining exponential growth. If you take a theoretical piece of paper and fold it over on itself 50 times (which means the thickness of the paper doubles every time you fold it) how thick would the paper be? 100ft? 1 mile? 100 miles?

Answer: The average piece of printer paper, #20 weight, is 0.0038 inches (or 0.097mm). That means that 0.0038 x (2^50) = 4,278,419,646,002 inches or 67,525,562 miles. That's the equivalent of 282 times the distance between the earth and the moon. That is a huge stack of paper! Of course, it's not physically possible to fold a paper that much, but it shows you the scale that we're working with.

Nevertheless, this is basically what is happening with our computer technology, and could basically be extrapolated to our technological history with humans. Think of the bronze age, in Europe it lasted for 2,600 years. Look what we've accomplished with technology in the last 20 years, I would say slightly more than the entire bronze age. As time progresses our technology, progress and change speeds up exponentially.

Now, let's look back at our original thought. Those that were born in the 1920s, 1930s, etc. saw and grew up with very little change relative to kids born within the last 10 years. Someone that was born 10 years ago (in 2001) were born onto this earth without the following: the iPod/iPhone, Twitter, Facebook, the Roomba, YouTube, USB drives, inexpensive GPS, TiVo, Nintendo Wii, HDTV and a ton of other digital inventions and breakthroughs. Kids today are used to change and new and better technologies being released almost constantly.

In my opinion, it is completely understandable that people not used to so much change so quickly are hesitant and less equipped to keep up with the change. It is not, by any means, a reflection of the person, but the time and era they grew up.

It is really difficult to grasp technology improvements and innovations over the next 10 years, especially if exponential growth continues. I can imagine that I will be the person resistant to all the change in another 50 years.

World Cup Action

2010-06-23T15:24:00.000-07:00

As you hopefully know, the 2010 World Cup is on right now. This is the first World Cup event that I've paid any attention to. Soccer seems to becoming more popular here in North America.

I've watched a number of games, and even woke up early (and missed parts of work) to watch some of the games. Today, however, I have decided to get together with my friend Zach and watch the game together. He has DVRed both the Germany game and the USA game that was on this morning. We've got a whole evening planned around it. The only problem is that to have as much fun watching the game later on, we need to make sure we don't know who won the game.

I've got a number of sports fans in the office, and a large part of my job is watching Twitter and Facebook. This combination makes it very difficult to not know the results. Both Zach and I have made a commitment to not find out the score.

I have posted a sign at my desk, asking people to not tell me the score. I sent out an email to my coworkers to ask them not to talk about the game around me and I have been wearing head phones listening to loud music all day. So far, so good as I still haven't a clue as to the outcome of the games.

I feel very much like the How I Met Your Mother gang in the episode "Monday Night Football" where they all tried to not find out the score of the Superbowl one year so they could watch it together the next day. Ted even created the Sensory Deprivation 5000, which, if you haven't seen the episode is so amazing.

Only 1.5 hours of work left, and I should be generally home free.

Back to the Future - Sweded

2010-05-16T15:22:00.001-07:00

If you haven't seen the movie Be Kind, Rewind, I am going to suggest you stop reading this post, rent the movie, watch it and then finish reading this post.

Fresno has a film festival dedicated to sweded movies. It is appropriately called Swede Fest, and the fifth iteration was recently held in the Tower District.

Nick Blanchard and I decided we would participate, and about a week before the entries were due we chose our movie. Back to the Future would be our assignment. We each took a half of the movie and adapted the script so the entire video would be about 5 minutes.

This is our Swede:

Transit-Oriented Development

2010-03-27T17:25:00.001-07:00

As I am becoming more and more interested in urban planning and how it affects so much of our daily life I am learning a lot about transit-oriented development.

If you have a few minutes watch the video below.

This video is a short and inspiring summary of what transit-oriented development is and means to a community. Portland has done a great job in taking the issue of smart urban planning seriously and it can only help the city going forward.

One of my favorite quotes from the video is "If you no longer have to escape the public world you perhaps don't need quite as big a private domain." When suburbanites talk about urban living one of their first arguments is usually that they don't want to be packed like sardines into a small area and they need their own yard/etc. But one of the problems in suburbia is that there are very few good public places and everything that is public is so spread out and lacks a feeling of community. If public places are more welcoming then it is not as necessary to avoid them.

Via Fast Company.

Summer of Weddings #1

2010-03-13T16:23:00.001-08:00

I haven't attended too many weddings in my life. I guess most of my friends (specifically from college) have decided to wait a little longer to tie the knot. Last weekend that trend has changed. I have 4 or 5 weddings I will be going to this summer. That almost doubles the number I've attended in the last 15 years!

I was given an idea this week by Kim: document my journey through all these weddings this year/summer on my blog. The point is not to critique these weddings, as they will all be wonderful in their own unique ways. The goal is to point out the many differences in these weddings, and discuss what I felt made each of these weddings special.

Wedding #1 - Nick & Theresa

My wedding season this year was kicked off last weekend with the nuptials of Nick and Theresa. Friends of mine from Fresno State and the Smittcamp Family Honors College. Nick and Theresa have a really amazing story about their lives and the journey that eventually took them to their wedding day and beyond.

Nick and Theresa's wedding ceremony and reception took place in The Grand on 10. The 10th floor ballroom of the Trade Center/San Joaquin Power building in downtown Fresno. A beautiful location for a wedding because of the view of the city and the newly renovated space. The other nice thing is I only live 7 minutes away (walking!) from The Grand.

The ceremony was great. No long-winded sermons, intimate atmosphere and capped off with the new Bride & Groom partaking in communion. Following the ceremony, the guests moved into the other side of the ballroom where the tables awaited. Both the best man and matron of honor gave toasts, first dances were done and the food was served. The color theme for the wedding party was black & white, with an overarching theme of green for the wedding.

Unique aspects:

Instead of a guest "book," Nick had drawn a tree with branches on a large sheet of paper. Guests would touch their thumb onto a green inkpad and leave a thumbprint as a leaf on the tree and sign ontop of the leaf.
Photo booth to take your picture and add it to a scrapbook/photo album.
Tables were organized by different aspects of Nick & Theresa's life. I was seated at the College Bowl table (as I was a member of College Bowl with Nick).
Invitations and wedding programs incoporated a very modern design while subtly utilizing the green color theme.

Highlights (for me):

I caught the garter! This was the 3rd garter I have caught, and I've only been to about 6 weddings where I've attempted to catch it.
I accidently showed up an hour early (due to an invitation reading error) and was able to help out with "bouncer" duties. I actually helped guide guests when they arrived with gifts, etc.
The wedding had some really great design elements.
Food was delicious.
The view of downtown Fresno was great.

I am very happy for Nick & Theresa and I wish them all the best in the future together.

Next wedding is next weekend, Curtis & Nicole.

CAHSR - Fresno's Station

2010-02-16T21:27:00.001-08:00

California will be getting a station as part of the high speed rail network that is planned for the state. With trains traveling up to 220 miles per hour, high speed rail will move people across this great state very quickly and with a much smaller carbon foot print than other options.

The current plan for Fresno is to have the train come through the city on tracks that are 60 feet in the air! Read Kiel's great blog post talking about the design of the station when considering this extremely tall set of tracks. I find this most intriguing because a)these 60 foot high tracks will be at that level for 12 miles to avoid too large a foot print and b)60 feet is very high, especially considering Fresno only has a handful of buildings taller than this (almost all located within the downtown core).

What do you think?

Investment, Not Spending

2010-02-01T21:19:00.001-08:00

If you are at all not sure about the concept of High Speed Rail, please please please read this post from the California High Speed Rail Blog's Robert Cruickshank.

I do want to share a couple of key points that Cruickshank makes that I think are really great.

Things in our country and specifically the state of California must change. The status quo is not acceptable, and as Americans we shouldn't be content on settling for the same old same old. We cannot stay reliant on gasoline and oil for much longer. Prices are going to continue to raise, and it's going to be harder and harder for people to drive everywhere and anywhere.
"Every HSR system around the world generates operating surpluses (including Amtrak's Acela) and are highly popular with riders." I really dislike it when people think that High Speed Rail will become some sort of political boondoggle when it has been successful throughout the world.
People in the US aren't so different from people in other countries around the world. The misconception of American's exceptionalism is a worldwide issue, because a lot of people in the United States think Americans are different and a lot of people in other countries think the same thing. People think that just because High Speed Rail works in every other country, does not necessarily mean that it can work in the USA. Its true that the US has been very dependent on cars in the last 4 or 5 decades, but I think one of the reasons rail and other sustainable transportation practices have not become as popular here is a lack of options. I have met very few Americans that haven't enjoyed riding trains when given the opportunity. We're all just people, and while there are definite differences between countries and cultures I don't believe there are that many differences between people.
We Americans are not permanently "wedded to our cars." At cheap gasoline prices (even current prices in Fresno, at about $3 per gallon) cars are easy to rely on. When gas prices head closer to $10 per gallon, like many places in Europe, there will be little choice but to ditch our cars and rely on environmentally friendly options such as mass and public transit. It is more the oil subsidies that are creating a reliance on cars than cars themselves.
If High Speed Rail is not built in California it will require the expansion of highways, freeways, airports, etc. with costs much higher than the cost of HSR. It's also important to note that highways don't pay for themselves in this country, and we are one of the heaviest users of automobiles.

If you aren't convinced about the importance of High Speed Rail, what are your reasons?

Downtown Fresno

2010-01-30T07:36:00.001-08:00

As you know, I recently moved into the Iron Bird Lofts in downtown Fresno. Exactly one month ago today we moved in and so far it has been great.

These are a few of my favorite things:

Raindrops on roses
Whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles
Warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings

Some of my favorite things about living downtown:

Short walking distance to a couple of cool restaurants/hang out places (Tokyo Garden/Luau)
I'm only 1.1 miles from work, and I've even walked once so far and plan on walking much more often in the future
Proximity to Tower District (less than a mile)
The Iron Bird Lofts, the units are still filling up, and the Cafe is expected to open up March 1
My balcony off my third-story bedroom
Proximity to Fresh & Easy, Austin's, Library, Train Station, Yoshi NOW, and the baseball stadium
My cool neighbors and all the great people I've met since moving down here

I'm very hopeful for the revitalization of downtown Fresno, I'm putting my money where my mouth is by living here and supporting the business down here. It is very exciting for me to see the progress that is currently being made, and while I haven't lived in Fresno (let alone been alive) the entire time that Fresno has been trying to revitalize it's downtown core, I truly believe that some pretty exciting things are in the works. To name a few:

The Mayor's State of Downtown breakfast held this past week, almost 500 people were in attendance at this sold out event. $25 a head for breakfast shows how many people are in support of downtown revitalization
More housing being built. While Iron Bird isn't full yet, I'm convinced it will fill up. A number of new complexes are being planned and built, and downtown (especially the cultural arts district) is starting to build some momentum that can only increase as more and more people move down here
The Downtown Specific Plan/Fulton Corridor Specific Plan was unanimously approved by the Fresno City Council on Thursday, allowing for strategic planning of our downtown area
City of Fresno is working on updating a lot of the bylaws that govern starting and operating business in downtown, current rules make it so difficult for businesses to start up and stay open downtown.

This is starting to create the perfect storm to push serious change forward, and a number of other things are only going to add to the momentum. The California High Speed Rail station planned for downtown Fresno will be great for the area and will be a great attraction for those looking at working and living downtown.

Pecha Kucha Vol. 5 - Fresno

2010-01-16T09:50:00.001-08:00

This week was a big week for me as I FINALLY presented at a Pecha Kucha event here in Fresno.

I have had some ideas in the past as to what I would present if I ever decided to do so, so I finally decided to share some of my passion with the people of Fresno.

Watch my presentation here, thanks to James for putting this video together!

I think my presentation went well. I got a lot of compliments, and a fairly boisterous applause at the end (although I think I am attributing that to the 10-20 friends in the audience). My height was a disadvantage during the presentation, as I was probably the tallest presenter, and the mic was a little short (and I didn't bother raising it up). But overall I am very glad I presented, and I am looking forward to the the next time I can present.

My New Home

2009-12-05T13:11:00.001-08:00

I have been interested in downtown Fresno for a while now, and I have been very interested in the possibility of moving to one of the many new lofts that have been and are currently being built in the downtown core. My roommate and I finally decided to take the leap last week and we applied for and were approved to move into a 2-bedroom flat at the Iron Bird Lofts.

Just this past Tuesday the first residents started moving into the lofts, check out this ABC 30 news story about the lofts.

There is a lot happening right now with the revitalization efforts of downtown Fresno. I truly believe that the direction the process is going is very positive, and I can't wait for my new home downtown to flourish with people, culture, activities, and art.

Earth Rings

2009-11-26T07:54:00.001-08:00

Have you ever wondered what the sky would look like if the Earth had rings like certain other planets?

Watch this video and wonder no longer.

I find this very interesting for two reasons.

Science fiction shows/movies often show other worlds with rings or multiple moons, but I've never really thought about it applied to our own planet.
It's like a rainbow in the sky that never goes away!

(Via Presurfer)

Worst Finder Ever

2009-11-17T15:22:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite blogs that I read is the Scott Adams Blog. Scott Adams as you may know is the creator of Dilbert and the Dilbert cartoons.

The Scott Adams Blog is full of wonderful thought exercises and brilliant ideas that may or may not be feasible, but the man has a creative brain that comes up with many thought provoking posts.

This recent post is more of a story than some of his other posts, but it is written very well and has a lot of humor.

Check it out, and I would strongly suggest subscribing to his blog.

Cell Phone Design

2009-11-16T06:41:00.001-08:00

Check out these creative design prototypes of cell phones.

What would you like to see in the perfect cell phone?

Google Wave

2009-11-11T20:17:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to get a Google Wave invite from my Dad a few weeks ago. If you haven't used Google Wave yet or even heard of it it's basically a new approach to communication and collaboration. You can read a little more about it here.

So far, I've mostly used it for short conversations with people that could more easily have taken place via email or facebook, but its a new toy so I want to play with it. I have used it a couple of times as a collaboration tool (very minimally so) and again, the type of collaboration may have just as easily been done on email. I think it will become more useful when utilized for larger, web-based collaborative efforts with multiple people. I think right now it is a little difficult to fully utilize it because not a lot of people are using it. Of course, I should also mention that its not even in beta yet, as it is still in "preview" mode. (I'm wondering if that is kind of like alpha...)

I did catch a glimpse of their maintenance page though today, which you can see here. It is a pretty cool maintenance landing page, with the text saying "Surf's out, dude. Google Wave is down for maintenance. Time to chillax."

If you have used Google Wave already, what is your opinion? What have you used it for?

Working Toward a Goal

2009-11-09T08:45:00.000-08:00

While recently pondering my career and experience in retail I came up with this theory about working toward a goal in retail. One of the things that makes retail exciting and frustrating at times is the constant swimming upstream when trying to accomplish your goals. While I have found most other experiences in life to be a combination of heading in the right direction toward a goal and the occasional setback, retail seems to have much more fluctuation between getting closer to reaching your goal and getting further away.

I put together these charts to illustrate this point.

My experiences show that retail has many more factors that are working against you and something you accomplish can be completely undone just as easily and quickly. For example, if your goal is to increase the cleanliness and organization of your retail establishment you put together a plan to make this happen and carry it out. But, once you have a few customers in your store that decide your merchandise is better situated on the floor, the work you accomplished is all but canceled out. What compounds this problem is it's a daily occurrence. I said many times while working in retail that it would be a great job/industry/etc. if it wasn't for all those darn customers.

This theory of course does not apply to all retail situations. There are things that can be accomplished without major setbacks but they aren't necessarily the most noticeable. For example, human resource/staffing, customer service, and sales goals are situations that have a much more consistent line of progress.

In contrast, when you are working on a project in most other facets of life and business, when you complete a part or section of whatever you working on you have something to show for it that can't easily be taken away from you. Whether it is doing background research, working on a copy of a report, or making a presentation, most of the things you accomplish are done and won't need to be done over again except in isolated circumstances.

I think the biggest reason for this is that while in other areas of business and life the things you work towards and accomplish have obvious benefits to those involved (the client, the customer, etc.). In these situations you and the client or customer are usually both trying to accomplish the same thing and it is often not mutually beneficial to make someone redo the work they've just completed for you. In retail, customers might notice some of the things you do for them, but if they walk out of the store with the shirt/toy/tool they want it really doesn't matter to them what else is going on and if they made a mess of the work you have done.

In the same token, this uphill battle shouldn't be a reason not to try and reach your goals and become great. These goals (like the example above of keeping your store clean and organized) may have an important part to play in your brand and marketing efforts.

What do you think? How would you combat these issues both in retail or other areas where you find this same problem?

Images Become Patterns

2009-11-07T21:50:00.000-08:00

I came across this new tool called repper tonight. You basically upload a photo that you have, choose a section of that photo, and the app turns it into a eye-catching and unique design by repeating the image. The images make great backgrounds for desktops or websites. Plus, its free to use and the designs are created with Creative Commons license for non-commercial use!

Visit the site and try your hand at creating a design!

Viper Duck

2009-11-07T13:23:00.001-08:00

I decided to post this because my favorite car is and has been for many years the Dodge Viper.

See what happens when you turn the Viper logo upside down?

You get Daffy Duck!

(Via Presurfer)

CAHSR Business Plan

2009-11-05T12:41:00.000-08:00

I am a little late in posting this, but if you want to learn the basics about the California High Speed Rail project, take a look at this video.

One of the best things about this video is the time line of completion of different aspects of the project, including when the first trains will start transporting passengers throughout the state. Since most people don't know a lot about the project and aren't following it closely, I hear a lot of misinformation circulating about when the project will be finished, etc. This is a good video for clearing up a lot of that.

Car Free Cities

2009-11-04T11:05:00.000-08:00

I am often saddened by our reliance on cars (and trucks, vans, SUVs, etc.) in our society today. I strongly dislike having to drive most places if I want to do anything, and I cringe every time I drive/walk/bike by businesses and especially strip malls that are mostly parking lot (and at most times during a 24 hour period, empty parking lots). (Photo from Flickr by jgrimm / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

I enjoyed reading this blog post from WorldChanging about car-free cities. Check it out.

I thoroughly enjoy traveling to a place that is much less reliant on vehicles than my city of Fresno, such as San Francisco, the East Coast of the US, Europe, etc. I love the ability to get anywhere and everywhere without having to rely on a car. In fact, it's a lot less stress to not have to worry about a car, parking, maintenance, gas, and cleaning among others. But, the big question is. Is this really possible in our society, especially highly developed western cities that were built around cars? Not too mention the stress and possible waste of time driving (as opposed to taking public transportation, where you can focus on activities other than driving). It will likely be a fairly involved change, but it does not have to be difficult, it just requires a paradigm shift. Here are my ideas for making a less car dependent society.

More mass transit - You've read about my love of high speed rail on this blog, and this concept fits in very well with that. Clean, fast, and modern transportation, such as high speed rail can easily connect distances of 400 miles or less. High speed rail can also easily replace a lot of air travel, such as in Spain where the newest route of high speed rail between Madrid and Barcelona has already replaced half of air travel on the busiest air route in the world (in only a years time). One of the great features of High Speed Rail is the placement of stations in the center of cities, as opposed to large airports that are often on the outskirts of cities or farther, and require extra transportation to get there. In Europe the fastest way to get from downtown London to downtown Paris is high speed rail (and Britain is an island!).
More public transit - Once you get into a city using mass transit like high speed rail you should have the ability or option to walk to your destination, but often time or distance might be a factor. Without a good public transit system you give people few other options to driving. Misconceptions are also a problem with public transit in places where cars are king. Here in Fresno, CA the buses have a bad reputation, which is unwarranted and unfortunate because it is usually the people that don't use the bus that feel this way. I would love to commute to work without having to worry about rush hour traffic, other crazy drivers, and finding a good parking spot. The way to make this more attractive to people who like the freedom of cars is to have more buses (or other public transit) and more routes.
More urban infill - Suburbanization which has been a trend for a long time is starting to show its major detractions. People getting more and more spread out leads to more vehicular use, longer commute times, longer commute distances, loss of agriculture/farm land, and strong relationship between cost of commute and gas prices, among others. The higher density of people living in an area, the closer amenities will be to serve these people. That means you won't be forced to drive two miles to the closest grocery store. Urban infill also helps make public transit more effective by concentrating the areas that are covered by routes. This can be accomplished two major ways. First, unoccupied buildings can be repurposed to include higher density housing. For example, in Fresno there are many high-rise buildings that are sitting empty that would make great housing buildings, in fact "In the past, the city council [of Fresno] requested that the vacant downtown buildings be inventoried and the results were the size of the two lost World Trade Center Towers" (Via Fresno Fusion). Second, places (especially business/strip malls) that have in the past included a lot of wasted parking space can repurpose that land to include higher density living, etc. Another big factor in urban infill is focusing on building up rather than out.

There are a lot more factors to reduce our dependence on cars and oil in our cities, but I believe these are important first steps. I think Fresno is taking its first few baby steps to accomplish some of these things with its most recent efforts for downtown revitalization. This along with California's plans for high speed rail throughout the state (with a station in downtown Fresno) will also assist greatly with this.

What do you think is important for our cities?

Timely Communication

2009-11-03T08:32:00.001-08:00

I received an email from Microsoft this morning from their Windows Phone department. Today is November 3rd, three days after Halloween and two days after the end of daylight savings time.

Of the six section headers in the email, there are two that I would consider untimely.

"Is your phone ready for Daylight Saving Time?"
"Spoooooky (and free!) ringtones - Turn your phone into a Halloween factory..."

I would have loved these topics 1-2 weeks ago, but they just seem a little bit useless now. Is it at all worthwhile to send out this communication after the fact, or does it do more harm than good? What do you think?

No Shave November

2009-11-02T22:09:00.000-08:00

I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone (both men and women) that as we are now in the month of November, it is time to put away your razors and grow some facial hair or leg hair. It is now No Shave November!

As you may know I have been participating in this tradition for almost 10 years, as well as trying to recruit new participants everywhere I go by spreading the good news.

Follow along as I explore growing hair and facial hair on my No Shave November blog.

Edmonton Trip - Day 6, 7 & 8

2009-10-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

Day 6 - Monday I hung finally caught up on reading blogs, after being away from that for a few days, as well as met up with friends David and Kylie. I did end up going to Da De O a New Orleans style 50s Diner/Bar on Whyte Ave in Edmonton. It was a pretty cool place and I got to try their spicy specialty beer locally brewed by Alley Kat The Charlie Flint's lager brewed with Chili powder.

Day 7 - On Tuesday I met up with Mackenzie at Remedy Cafe in Old Strathcona. In the evening my Dad and I went over to Uncle Myron and Aunt Betty's place for a delicious dinner, great conversation, and watched the Edmonton Oilers lose.

Day 8 - Early Wednesday morning my Dad and I left Edmonton and headed back down to Washington. We had weird weather on and off, sometimes driving in snow, sometimes driving in perfectly dry and nice weather, and sometimes driving in rain. We stopped at the Real Canadian Superstore once more before leaving the country, this time in Airdrie. We stopped in Radium Hot Springs for a quick half hour swim in the hot springs and saw some beautiful scenery throughout the mountain areas. After crossing the US/Canada border we stopped in Spokane Valley for a dinner at Boston's Gourmet Pizza (a US spin-off to the popular Canadian restaurant). We took a detour on the way to Yakima by heading through the Tri-Cities area.

Edmonton Trip - Day 4&5

2009-10-26T08:14:00.001-07:00

Day 4 of my trip was the first full day in Edmonton. Along with catching up with the Jones' my Dad and I went to visit my Grandma in the hospital. It was good seeing her, of course not in these circumstances, but good nonetheless. After the hospital visit we headed back to the Jones' where I caught up on some Canadian TV classics (such as The Littlest Hobo and Hockey Night in Canada). My Dad and I went to dinner with Uncle Myron and Aunt Betty and had a nice evening with them. We ended the evening like the old days with a dip in the hot tub.

Day 5 was Sunday which included church service at First Church, (Canadian) Thanksgiving turkey meal at the church afterwards, and a quick shopping trip to the Great Canadian Superstore where I picked up a bunch of Canadian only food products including Just Right cereal, Dill Pickle/Salt & Vinegar chips, and some Crispy Crunch bars. The rest of teh afternoon was spent playing with Marcus and Hailey, and Curtis & Nicole (#2) picked me up in the evening to head to Jeff Gould's birthday party where we had some delicious DQ Ice Cream cake and played Wii.

Edmonton Trip - Day 2 & 3

2009-10-24T13:52:00.001-07:00

Day 2 and 3 of my trip was mainly traveling. After spending the morning seeing a bit more of San Francisco I took BART to the Oakland Airport where I caught my Southwest flight to Seattle. Thanks to Andrew Ellenberger for being a great host.

When in Seattle I caught the airport shuttle over to Yakima where my Mom picked me up and drove me to their home. We did some catching up and tries to get to bed at a decent time as we had an early morning.

Day 3 started with my Dad and I dropping my Mom off at the airport shuttle. We started out on thwarted road at about 5am for Edmonton. We drove through Spokane, Cranbrook, Crowsnest Pass, Calgary, Red Deer, and finally Edmonton. Great driving conditions throughout except a full hour of traffic tie-up on the Interstate east of Ellensberg, WA due to a crash. We stopped in Calgary for dinner at Montana's and eventually arrived in Edmonton at our destination of the Jones' at about 11:30pm.

Edmonton Trip - Day 1

2009-10-22T07:57:00.001-07:00

Day 1 of my trip to Edmonton was quite packed. I left my apartment at 6am when I was picked up by Mike who dropped me off at the train station in downtown Fresno. I got on my train which I rode all the way to Richmond, CA in the north bay area. In Richmond I transferred over to BART which I rode a couple stops south to Berkeley. Here I walked around both the city and the University quite a bit while carrying my full backpack (which was a great workout with all the hills!).

I sat down for lunch at Dara Thai / Lao Cuisine where I ate a delicious meal. After some more exploring the campus and simple relaxing on a grassy area I headed back to the BART station. I caught the train down into San Francisco where I would be meeting Andrew Ellenberger. I walked through the financial district to the Trans-American Pyramid where he works. After meeting up we walked through some areas of northern San Francisco including Little Italy, the Wharf, Pier 39, and the Embarcadero. One of my highlights was finding a mini-donuts place on Pier 39. They were delicious.

We caught the street car and bus down to Andrew's place where we dropped off our bags. We headed down to Haight Ashbury (which is close to his place) where we found an Irish Pub. I had a reuben sandwich and a Molson Canadian. We made one more stop at a pub before heading back to Andrew's place to sleep.

Dyson Fan

2009-10-12T19:37:00.001-07:00

This summer I had the pleasure to use a Dyson Airblade Hand Dryer at the MoMA in New York City. I had wanted to try one from the moment I had heard about them, but never was at a place that had them. It was everything I hoped for and more. If you don't know about the Dyson Airblade, watch this video:

Dyson recently announced their new room fan, which in Dyson fashion is quite expensive. The best part of Dyson (in my opinion) is that they do tackle problems from different angles and utilize creativity to solve those problems rather than just taking the road well traveled. Dyson is a great example of marketing in design.

Read more about the cool background and features of the new Dyson room fan at Fast Company and UberReview.

HTC HD2

2009-10-08T09:23:00.001-07:00

My current phone as well as my last cell phone were both made by HTC. I thoroughly enjoy the phones they come out with, and in my mind they are really the only phones that compete with the iPhone. And one thing that blows Apple out of the water is the selection that HTC offers, whereas Apple's idea of selection is black and white.

I would like to introduce you to the new HTC HD2. I wrote previously about the HTC Touch HD, and was really impressed. The new HD2 is just as exciting.

One thing you may notice right away is the large screen. The screen is an expansive 4.3" diagonal (compared to the iPhone's 3.5") while still retaining about the same size as the iPhone. The screen is also capacitive (as opposed to resistive touch) and offers WVGA resolution (more than twice the resolution of the iPhone). The HD2 is a little thinner than the iPhone but it is slightly wider and taller. Other great additions for this phone include 448 MB of RAM, 1GHz processor, built in tethering, 5MP camera with dual LED flash, 3.5mm stereo audio jack, G/Proximity/Ambient light sensors, digital compass, as well as very inclusive integration of social networking including facebook, twitter, youtube and flickr.

Also check out the video about HTC Sense, which replaces TouchFLO 3D. It looks pretty great.

Influence your marketing before someone else does

2009-10-07T17:03:00.001-07:00

A good post from Church of the Customer Blog (part 1 here) about David Letterman's recent apology(ies).

I think it brings up a great marketing point. It is important to control/influence/affect your marketing and brand before other people do and you lose all control.

While Letterman did something that many people might see as bad or a sign of poor judgment, the truth is we all make mistakes both personally and as companies. It is, in my opinion, better to confront it and have your side heard first.

This does two things:

You guide the conversation, taking it places that can benefit you and your brand.
Allows you to come across as more authentic, because you can admit when you are wrong.

This is also why social media is so important. Not everyone has a great outlet like David Letterman to apologize to the world. If you have a social media presence that is meaningful it is a lot easier to be authentic with your community.

Career Move

2009-10-04T16:06:00.001-07:00

After much consideration and prayer I recently decided that working at Target in the position of Executive Team Leader was not where I need to be. I made the decision about 3 weeks ago to put in my notice with Target and look for another career path. It was not an easy decision, as I have spent almost two and a half years working at Target, and most of that time working at the same store. The team I have worked with for the past couple of years has been great. I learned a lot about both myself and business/management/marketing in this position, but I really felt it was time to move on.

One of the worst parts of leaving is saying goodbye to people that I've spent a lot of time with since starting with Target. Of course, it won't be a complete goodbye to everyone, but in this capacity it will. My send-off was very touching, and included 4 goodbye cards, 3 Marie Calendar pies, a whole bunch of goodbye hugs & well-wishes, and 1 smart car with some messages written on the windows. It's really great to know that you've made a difference for people and I won't ever forget my 314 team.

Here are some pictures of my car after some team members had their way with it.

What can I say, it's true!

Some things will be missed, like eating pizza for lunch with certain people.

I'll be missed.

Of course I will come back to visit.

I am therefore currently looking for another career opportunity more in line with my passions and talents. My degree is in marketing and would absolutely love to find something in that field. I've set up this website landing page for prospective employers to take a look at some of my creativity, my resume(s), and my cover letter.

If you know of anyone hiring that is looking for some good talent, send them to my page http://lukemoritz.googlepages.com/

Marketing Yourself

2009-09-28T13:12:00.000-07:00

The whole dating game/scene or whatever you want to call it is one big exercise in marketing.

Watch this 1990s dating video (via Boing Boing)

It's very interesting to see how people try and market themselves to attract a partner. The key is standing out, but at the same token you don't want to scare people off.

Marketing that Worked

2009-09-27T08:22:00.001-07:00

I recently found myself buying something specifically because of some marketing.

I must have seen this Super Bowl commercial 20 times previously, but last time I saw it something clicked.

Soda/Pop and cola commercials have rarely influenced me mostly because I have never really felt that I could even distinguish between Pepsi and Coca Cola. Recently though (and it may be due to a more sensitive palette from wine/beer tastings) I have found some taste differences between regular and diet colas. I realized that diet colas often have a different taste that is not quite as appealing as their sugary counterparts. This mixed in with seeing the above commercial convinced me to buy a 12 pack of Pepsi Max yesterday. (And I don't even drink soda/pop that often).

So, why did this marketing effort work? The key is having a message that fits in personally and/or fills a void with someone. For me it was a connection that I can have a diet cola (and the caloric savings that entails) along with the taste and enjoyment that a regular cola gives. As well, the commercial tells me that I can still be manly and buy this soda, which is important for men my age.

The key is to let your marketing efforts make a connection with someone. I can watch a commercial for Bumpits but that does not mean I'm going to go out and purchase a set (or two for the price of one). It doesn't make a connection with me, it might for a different audience but not for everyone.

The last part of this concept is that you need to choose your audience. If you try to market to everyone you will end up marketing to no one. If that Pepsi Max commercial had more of a feminine angle it would not have had the same message, and it would be much less effective. Because different audiences are different it is difficult if not impossible to make a connection with everyone using the same marketing message.

Coconut

2009-09-27T07:58:00.001-07:00

As you may have seen in one of my recent Tweets that I really like coconut. I thought it best to explain what I meant in that tweet.

You might know that I like experimenting with food. I've been known to create some very interesting "shakes" with some fairly random things thrown in there. Within the last week, I've added coconut as an additional topping to my toast. The first test was toast with peanut butter and (creamed) honey, sprinkled coconut on top. I really liked that, as it increased the delicious factor quite a bit. I ran out of creamed honey after trying this combination twice, so last night I tried it on my peanut butter and raspberry jam toast, it was also very very good.

Therefore, I can't think of anything that I've put coconut on where it hasn't been made better. I have tried it on/with things other than toast as well.

I've also found that coconut is quite the polarizing food. When you ask most people it will either be love or hate, very rarely somewhere in between.

How are your results?

2009-09-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

Have you recently searched your name on a search engine? I know it kind of seems fairly egocentric and narcissistic but it is important.

Especially since I am currently job hunting, I decided to search my name recently on the big three search engines: Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

Here are my results as of this post:

Google - 8, 6, 4
Bing - 10, 6, 1
Yahoo - 10, 6, 2

Numbers are specific results about me on each of the first three pages of the results (each out of 10).

As you can see, Bing and Yahoo are much better on the first page. All three are tied on the second page for numbers of results, and the third page varied.

For marketing purposes it is important to show up at the top of the results, which means the first page and the top of that page. Check out this article (via Seth Godin) about eye tracking studies. So this is a good thing for me, in all three of the top search engines.

However, I kind of feel bad for other anyone else named Luke Moritz, cause I'm getting all the play time. So does this mean that these search engines are actually doing their job? They are showing results for Luke Moritz, and for me they are very relevant, but are they the best they can be?

I guess I'm just hoping that nobody else that shares my name comes along and makes more of a web impact.

What does searching your name give you?

Photos from East Coast Trip

2009-09-18T13:34:00.001-07:00

Check out my flickr stream for my latest pictures from my East Coast trip last month. I put up only a few, and hopefully it will give you an idea of the trip.

Book Update

2009-09-13T07:24:00.001-07:00

A while back I shared that I had started a new book. If you know me at all you will also know that I often take a long time to finish books when I start reading them.

Recently I have tried to become a little more intentional in reading more regularly. This means I have done a lot more reading recently, especially in "The Age of Spiritual Machines" by Ray Kurzweil.

The chapter I read this morning was all about Kurzweil's technology predictions for the year 2009 that he wrote in 1998 (the book was published in 1999). I found it very interesting to see what a very intelligent futurist thought about what our time would be like. In a lot of respects he was right, and in a lot of respects he was wrong. The biggest aspect that has not come true like he imagined is speech to text applications. His idea was that keyboards would be rarely used and even found on computers and that speech to text synthesis would be the primary means of "writing" on a computer. I'm still using a keyboard for almost all my communication on the keyboard, how about you?

Some other predictions of note, computers would be prevalent throughout the home and clothing. Most people would carry around lightweight computers without keyboards (iPhones/Touch based smartphones anyone?). Cancer and other diseases would no longer be a leading cause of death due to bioengineering etc.

The next chapter is predictions for 2019. That should also be interesting.

Dave Matthews Band Concert - 8/30/2009

2009-09-01T17:39:00.001-07:00

Here is my quick review of the Dave Matthews Band concert this past Sunday.

It was my first Dave Matthews Band concert, I heard they put on a pretty good show, which was my main reason for wanting to go. I was not disappointed. The jam sessions were great and the sound was a great level, not too loud to bust out your ear drums.

I will admit that I'm not the biggest Dave Matthews Band fan, where I'm not even familiar with a lot of their songs. I do enjoy their music though, and their concert was no exception.

I do have a question for those that went to the concert here in Fresno (and presumably on this tour). Was the video screen behind the stage comprised of large LED panels or was it a slatted screen for a projected image? I had pondered it throughout the evening, and I'd love to know what other people thought.

LED Panels - Quite bright, and when the images were shown on itself (the camera was pointed in part at the image in the background) the secondary image looked quite pixelated. As well, in some of the connecting points between the panels, the image was off. This would suggest not a projected image, but it could have been created by multiple projectors.

Slatted screen for a projected image - It would have had to be very reflective to be as bright during certain parts of the concert. One thing that makes me think this was a possibility is that there were parts of the image not projected on the main panels that showed up on the curtains behind panels throughout the concert, making the image more continuous than the odd shape the panels had.

Please comment with your thoughts.

Farewell, Reading Rainbow

2009-08-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

(Via kottke.org)

Reading Rainbow is going off the air today after 26 years, making it the third longest running show on PBS (after Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood). Nothing about this on Levar Burton's blog or Twitter acct. as of yet.

Wow, that means that Reading Rainbow has been on the air since before I was born. Many good times watching this show even in recent years.

Of course, you don't have to take my word for it.

Inglourious Basterds

2009-08-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

So I went to see the movie Inglourious Basterds last night. I had heard some not so glowing reviews about the movie from The New Yorker and The Atlantic via Chris and Tim on our trip. I am always wary of reviews by "experts" though, because while art does have some objectivity to it I believe that a lot of it is subjective. Plus, I do enjoy Quentin Tarantino films, so I did give this movie a chance.

I will start by saying that, like many movies by Tarantino, this flick is not for the faint of heart. It does have quite a bit of violence, which is obvious if you've seen any the trailers or know anything about the movie.

The movie itself is (I'm assuming) just loosely based on World War II and Hitler and his top officials. The story takes bits and pieces from history but is mostly a work of fiction. I enjoyed the way the movie's first half introduced a bunch of different storylines and characters and the way they came together in the second half. The music, especially at the beginning of the movie, reminded me a lot of the soundtrack to the Kill Bill movie(s). Much of the dialogue was in languages other than English, and most of it is subtitled. I think this did add a lot to story itself. I was also quite happy that the storyline/conflict was not exactly what I imagined when I saw the trailers.

Overall I enjoyed the movie, and it was worth the money spent on the ticket.

East Coast Trip - Day 11

2009-08-22T05:18:00.000-07:00

Today we left New Haven in the morning and drove to Providence, RI. In Providence we caught a commuter rail train into Boston. After checking into our hotel, which is right beside Fenway Park, we started exploring Boston.

We walked around and explored a lot walking along the freedom trail. This is a brick and painted trail throughout Boston that takes you to a number of historical sites. We saw things such as old churches, cemeteries where famous revolutionary figures are burried, and old houses and meeting halls. It also took us through Boston's Little Italy, where we stopped at Mike's Pastry which had a huge selection of delicious Italian pastries.

For dinner, and to round out our day, we went to Boston Beer Works right across the street from Fenway where we sampled the local cuisine and brews.

East Coast Trip - Day 10

2009-08-20T03:46:00.000-07:00

Today was a much more relaxing day than most days so far in the trip.

Chris, Tim and myself hung out in New Haven. We made another trip to both Ikea and Target to pick up a few more items for Tim. We also headed over to Yale and got a tour of the campus during the daytime.

We also helped Tim build a bunch of the furniture he had bought. After that we met up with one of Tim's classmates in his program at Yale and headed down to the Yale bookstore and a restaurant nearby. We ate at a place called Thali Too, which is a Vegetarian Indian cuisine place. It was quite delicious.

We ended the night at a coffee shop where we figured out plans for the next couple days in Boston.

East Coast Trip - Day 9

2009-08-18T22:52:00.000-07:00

Today was day 2 in New York City and we had a lot of fun. We started the day of by catching the commuter train into New York City again. Our first order of business was to take the subway uptown from Grand Central Station to Central Park.

After misreading the subway map we ended up taking an express train too far uptown and into Harlem. After taking a train back down to the right station we walked through a small portion of Central Park seeing Strawberry Fields and Tavern on the Green. Our goal was to see a bit of the park but also we needed to head down to Times Square to stand in line at TKTS.

TKTS is a little shop in Times Square that acts as sort of a clearing house for Broadway show tickets. You can buy tickets for shows the day of, at 20% to 50% off the box office price. We waited in line for about an hour and purchased tickets for the Broadway Musical "9 to 5" by Dolly Parton.

After getting our tickets we headed down on the Subway to the Financial District where we saw ground zero, New York Stock Exchange, and an old Federal building where George Washington was sworn in as the first President of the US.

We grabbed lunch and headed uptown on the subway again to do some shopping at H&M since we don't have one in Fresno. We then walked the rest of the way back to Times Square on Broadway where our theater was.

After the musical we headed back out through Times Square and the throngs of people to the subway. We caught a train downtown again to Little Italy where we had planned to eat a late dinner. When we got back up to street level we found it to be pouring rain and lightning and thundering outside. This was shocking because we had left the street no more than 15 - 20 minutes earlier and it was completely different.

We walked a couple blocks in the rain trying to stand under awnings as much as possible to stay a little dry and found a little Italian restaurant that looked good. After dinner we walked through little Italy a bit more as the rain had stopped. We too the subway back up to Grand Central to catch the commuter train back to New Haven.

East Coast Trip - Day 8

2009-08-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today was spent in New York City. We drove to New Haven Union Station, which is about 5 minutes from Tim's place and caught a commuter train into the city. It took about 1 hour 40 minutes to get there and when we got to New York's Grand Central Station it was about 11am so we decided to stop for lunch at a deli.

After that we walked around a bit and saw St. Patricks Cathedral, New York Public Library, Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center, and a whole bunch of Midtown Manhattan. We decided to go see the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) where we spent a few hours. I really enjoyed the special exhibit by Ron Arad, which was full of very unique and interesting design examples, including a lot of chairs.

After the MoMA we hopped on the subway and went over to Greenwich Village and had a delicious Thai dinner at a restaurant called Isles. We walked around that area saw Washington Square Park, NYU, and a bit of SoHo and NoHo and got some Gellato for dessert.

We hopped back on the Subway and headed back to Midtown to check out Times Square at night. It was very impressive and a lot bigger than I imagined. Almost too many people. We walked around there and walked back to Grand Central Station to catch our train back to New Haven.

New York City (and specifically Manhattan) is very neat. My biggest perception is the huge numbers of tall buildings. I've been to a lot of big cities before but nothing like this.

East Coast Trip - Day 7

2009-08-16T21:55:00.000-07:00

There wasn't a lot of traveling today, I didn't even leave New Haven, CT today.

After sleeping in until 8am, we lounged around Tim's apartment until we headed over to Ikea to pick up a few more items for Tim's place. I love Ikea and was really looking forward to going. We at breakfast at the restaurant there and did our shopping and then put together all the furniture when we got back.

I took a bit of time to do some laundry across the street before dinner. We headed down to the Booster Square area of town and had dinner at Pepe's Pizzeria. Apparently New Haven is known for their brick oven pizza. It was very delicious and the pizzas were extremely large.

Our friend Janna who is currently attending school at the University of Connecticut joined us for the evening and there was lots of memories and reminiscing going on. After we said our good-byes, Tim, Chris and myself planned out our game plan for the next couple days in New York City.

East Coast Trip - Day 6

2009-08-15T19:55:00.001-07:00

I shall call today Ivy League day. After waking up this morning we left Washington DC and headed up towards New England.

A little further north of Philadelphia, PA we stopped in Princeton, NJ. We have friend, Eric Sunderland who is attending seminary at Princeton Theological Seminary. He took us on a tour through that campus and also Princeton University campus. Very beautiful campus surroundings and buildings. After eating lunch, catching up and touring around we headed up to our final destination, New Haven, CT.

When we arrived in New Haven we helped Tim unload his stuff, picked up a few more necessities from Target, and installed his new window a/c. After that we took off walking to downtown for dinner and to see a bit of Yale University. We ate at a small local burger joint and saw a few of the University buildings in the dark.

East Coast Trip - Day 5

2009-08-14T22:32:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe we've only finished the 5th day of the trip. We've seen so much, experienced a lot, and visited so many states.

Today we woke up after sleeping in until 9 (even though we still only got 7 hours of sleep). We had breakfast and walked two blocks to the DC metro stop by Chris's place. We took the metro to Capitol Hill and stopped into the Congressman's office for whom Chris works. We headed over to the Capitol building where Chris gave us a tour. We got lunch at a pub afterwards where I got the fish and chips.

We had some time to kill so we walked over to the Supreme Court building and the Folger Shakespeare Library. We then headed over to the Library of Congress where we had a tour scheduled. DC is a really neat city, and I think I really like the idea of a whole city dedicated to a nation's capital.

My biggest observation of the city is that Washington DC has been, since independence, a city built to show the American people and the rest of the world that even though we're a relatively young nation, we want to be taken seriously. The best example of this is in some of the art in these beautiful buildings. In the Library of Congress there is a mural on the ceiling that portrays a number of nude men in the style of classical olympics/sports, but instead of discus throwing or wrestling they are playing baseball. It shows this contrast of roots with the old world and a sense of modernity and forward thinking.

After the tours we went to dinner at Buca di Beppo near Dupont Circle followed by dessert at Kramerbooks & afterwords cafe & grill. We headed back to Chris's place via the Metro and called it a day.

East Coast Trip - Day 4

2009-08-13T22:42:00.001-07:00

Today was very eventful. We woke up in Indianapolis and drove through the following states: Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. WV and MD were both first-time visits for me. It was only a 9.5 hour drive today, but the last day always seems to take the longest.

Our initial destination was Annapolis, MD to drop off Harrison and his brother who were our traveling buddies for the trip. Harrison is starting his Masters program at St. John's College there. We helped him unpack the car then we drove downtown to check out the city. We went for dinner at a great little restaurant where I got a delicious crab cake. We walked down the main street afterwards where we got ice cream, I got toasted coconut ice cream in a freshly made waffle cone. I also purchased some fudge. We walked around the city a little more checking out the state capitol building (Annapolis is the capital of Maryland) and walked around St. John's College, as well as the waterfront. Annapolis is a very pretty town and reminded me a lot of Europe.

Tim and I then took the short (half hour) trip to Washington DC where we were meeting Chris. We hung out a bit at his place and then decided to head down to the mall and Capitol Hill to see the monuments. It was already 10pm so there weren't many other people, so we got a lot of the monuments to ourselves, and I got a lot of great night shot pictures. We saw the capitol building where congress meets, the Washington monument, the White House, the Lincoln memorial, and the mall as well as a number of buildings, museums, statues, and monuments along the mall. We walked at least 4 miles to see all of that. Everything was really pretty at night and I can't wait to see them again in the daytime.

East Coast Trip - Day 3

2009-08-12T19:11:00.001-07:00

Today we woke up in Tulsa, OK. The family we stayed with owns 4 Subway franchises, so he took us to one of his restaurants to make lunch for our trip.

We drove through 4 states today: Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. One of the highlights was driving through St. Louis and seeing the large arch.

After arriving in Indianapolis to end our traveling for the day we stopped at Qdoba for some burritos. We are staying at another La Quinta tonight, and just from seeing the setup in the lobby, its looking like the continental breakfast should be a little better than the last one.

Tim and I are up to 39 different license plates in our game. We did get a plate from Mexico today, and we saw a bunch more semi-trucks from Ontario (although we saw Ontario the first day, and we haven't seen any other Canadian provinces yet).

Tim and I took a swim in the hotel pool before settling in for the night. No fireflies tonight though...

East Coast Trip - Day 2

2009-08-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

With only about 9 hours on the road today, we had a much more relaxing day compared to 13 hours on the road yesterday.

We started the day with the continental breakfast at La Quinta. It was ok, a little disappointing because a lot of the food (muffins, bagels, waffles) were pre-packaged and not fresh.

We left New Mexico, where I didn't have a lot of cell coverage, and headed into the Texas panhandle. We ate lunch in Amarillo and headed out and got to Oklahoma and stopped for dinner in Oklahoma City. We met up with our traveling buddy's Dad who happened to be in Oklahoma City on business. We ate at a nice "Italian Urban Cafe" called Trattoria Il Centro, where I had a smoked chicken pizza that had wild mushrooms and carmelized onions. We finished off the meal with some Vanilla Gellato.

We made the relatively short drive to Tulsa where we headed to the house of a family friend of our traveling buddies. We jumped into the pool and hot tub where we relaxed, chatted and watched the fireflies light up the backyard.

East Coast Trip - Day 1

2009-08-10T22:24:00.001-07:00

Well its the end of a long and slightly exhausting day. We left Fresno at about 7:15am and were in a total of 3 states, California, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Other than driving for 13 hours there wasn't a whole lot that happened today. Tim and I started playing the license plate game, we have 19 different states and provinces. In Flagstaff, AZ we had a bit of trouble with our GPS units while trying to get back to the Interstate. (We ended up at a quarry at one point!)

Tonight we are staying at a La Quinta in Albuquerque, NM. They have a pretty good continental breakfast apparently so we will be partaking in that tomorrow.

East Coast Trip

2009-08-09T17:45:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow I leave on an East Coast trip with my friend Tim. We will be caravaning with another friend (Harrison) and his brother. Tim will be starting his doctoral program at Yale, which is why he is going and I thought it would be fun to tag along.

We are driving through Albuquerqe, NM, Oklahoma City, OK, Indianapolis, IN. We'll be visiting New York, Washington DC, and Boston, as well as New Haven, CT while over there.

I will be twittering, blogging, and using Google Latitude throughout the trip to keep you up to date. Feel free to follow along!

Demographics

2009-08-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

I was just watching some new Movie Trailers at Hulu and I saw that they are offering demographically based ratings out of 5 stars for their trailers. They have four different categories Under 25: Men and Women, and Over 25: Men and Women. I am 25 years old, and not quite sure where I fit in.

What is 230?

2009-08-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

If you've watched TV recently, you may have seen this commercial.

It's one of the simplest commercials, or rather teaser commercials I've seen. It just has a winking power outlet that makes the zero in the number 230, and 8-11 below it. The background of the commercial is green, which emotes an environmentally friendly theme.

This article from Advertising Age has some insights, but mostly just guesses. However, the Internet community is fairly certain that this commercial is being run by GM, which narrows the guesses down quite substantially.

One idea that the entire US electrical grid is going to be converted from 120 volts to 230 is probably the least likely of them all. This kind of change would require an act of congress (I'm quite sure) and the government wouldn't spend money on teaser commercials for a switch like that. Did you see any teaser commercials for the switch to Digital TV broadcast? So a big change like this would be in the news while still in the bill stages in congress.

As far as marketing strategy I think it's a good technique to use on GMs behalf. It's creating mystery, and people are spending time trying to find out what it is. One aspect that is different in this case is that the commercial does not even include a website to go to. With a search on Google of "230 8 11" the top sponsored link is the Official Website, which has only slightly more information than the commercial. The website includes a flickr photostream and a twitter link that will allow you to twitter "I spotted 230. #whatis230". This strategy of not including a website address makes people a little more interested in what it is and forces these people to go out and search for it, rather than just type in an address in their browser.

When people take more initiative and time researching your marketing, then it's going to stay with them that much longer.

The biggest thing you have to watch out for is that people don't get too frustrated and just forget about it completely.

Being Bald

2009-08-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

I recently shaved my hair completely off. I've had very short hair before, but I've never shaved it down to the scalp.

Since shaving off all my hair I've been told I look like the following people (in no particular order):

Howie Mandel
Vin Diesel
Dr. Evil
Mr. Clean
Bruce Willis
Captain Picard
Lex Luthor
Remy (from Higher Learning)

That's most of the names I can think of.

Another Trip to Edmonton

2009-07-26T14:14:00.001-07:00

I am flying out this afternoon from Fresno to Edmonton for a few days. My Grandfather passed away quite peacefully yesterday afternoon. My brother Jonathan and I were going to be meeting my parents up in Edmonton this weekend to spend some time with my Grandfather as he was very sick and we knew he didn't have a lot of time left. Unfortunately we missed getting to see him this weekend by about a day. The funeral will be sometime early this week.

My Grandfather will surely be missed, and we all love him very much. He is in a much better place now.

Alice in Wonderland

2009-07-24T10:44:00.001-07:00

In case you haven't seen the trailer for Tim Burton's new film Alice in Wonderland or for that matter heard about it coming out, check it out below. I think it is going to be really great.

Virtuality

2009-07-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

It is a very long time coming, but I said I would blog on this and here it is.

Within the last few weeks I watched a feature film/show on Hulu from Fox called Virtuality. Unfortunately the show is no longer available on Hulu, so you'll have to wait until they might post it again.

Virtuality is basically a science fiction set in the future when the Earth is quickly becoming uninhabitable and a crew of scientists are sent into space to explore a nearby star system. The two things that make this show unique is that the lives and experiences of the crew is being video taped and sent back to earth as a reality TV show, and the ship is fitted with a virtuality reality system to occupy the crew's time and keep them sane. Both of these two aspects of the show seem to be adding the conflict, keeping it from being boring.

I liked the show a lot, and I hope Fox (or someone) picks it up. I think it has potential to be really good, and I liked the acting so far.

Perfect Time for Rail

2009-07-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

As you know, I am quite passionate about High Speed Rail coming to California. I try and share this enthusiasm with others so they can see all the positives associated with this project. One of the arguments I hear most often from people that don't really understand the project is "we can't afford a project like this while the economy is in this state."

These people need to read this article on the California High Speed Rail Blog.

Text or Call

2009-07-20T22:14:00.001-07:00

With the new study done at Fresno State about texting while driving, I was reminded of something I heard while on my recent trip to Edmonton.

A DJ on one of the radio stations I was listening to was talking about getting in touch with the radio station, and she said "And if you're driving, don't take any unnecessary risks by calling, go ahead and text us at XXXXXX". I thought to myself, is it really safer to text the radio station while driving than to call them?

What do you think?

Trip to Canada

2009-07-20T17:48:00.001-07:00

A week ago I had the opportunity to fly up to Edmonton, AB for the weekend to visit family and friends and spend some time with my Grandpa. It was a both a happy and sad trip, but I'm really glad I got to go.

A long with spending quality time each day with my Grandpa, I visited with Grandma, Uncle Myron & Aunt Betty, the Jones, Tim G., and Mackenzie. As well, I saw a lot of other people at Church and those that came to visit my Grandpa while I was at the hospital. I drove by all the houses I lived in while in Edmonton, and I drove by all 4 schools I attended in Edmonton.

It was a big step for me, as it was the first time I had ever rented a car. Now that I am 25 I can rent a car like any other adult. The other parts of the trip weren't anything new as far as traveling is concerned though.

Edmonton sure is a growing city as I saw by all the construction (LRT expansion and cranes all over the city) and I realize every time I go how much I miss Edmonton and all the people I know up there.

10 000 miles

2009-07-03T23:49:00.001-07:00

In the last month I finally hit the 10 000 mile mark on my Smart Car! It took about 11 months for this feat, and what it means is I was recommended to take my car to the dealership to have the car's first oil change and 10 000 mile service/check-up.

Unfortunately, the closest dealership (and the dealership from where I bought my car) is in San Jose, a mere 2 1/2 to 3 hour drive. It is Smart Center Stevens Creek and it is attached to and a part of the Porsche dealership next door. I was lucky enough to have my brother Andrew come along with me. We made the trek up to San Jose, got to the dealership at 9:00am and let the dealership do there thing. I got the car back shortly before noon, and we were on our way.

The complete work-up cost me about $160.

The dealership did the following on my car:

Oil/Filter change
Checked the lights
Checked and topped up the fluids
Checked system components such as wiper blades/hoses/belts/horn/clutch
Checked battery
Checked tires
Checked brakes
Checked underbody and exterior trim
Washed the exterior of the car
Vacuum/clean the interior

I also received a "Know Your Vehicle" pamphlet, which has a lot of good information such as tire tread and brake condition. I'm not sure if this was particularly specific to this dealership or not. The car wash was also nice, and I felt very appreciated by the staff at the Smart Dealership as well as the Porsche Dealership.

Wine for the Confused

2009-06-27T11:44:00.001-07:00

After work last night I fired up Hulu and watched one of the videos in my queue. I got home at 11:45pm, so I didn't want to watch a full 2-hour movie, and I'm caught up on all my shows, so I found the shortest video in my queue. Wine for the Confused narrated by comedian John Cleese.

I don't consider myself a completely unaware about wine, as I've been wine tasting a number of times throughout California and even in Washington, but I'm by no means at the top of my game. The two things that have been the most helpful in enjoy wine are the wine tasting class I took at Fresno State University, and the numerous wine tasting trips I've taken where you can just chat with the people at the winery/tasting room and sometimes even the wine makers. I do enjoy wine and I am ever increasingly learning about wine and finding out what I enjoy and what goes well with what.

When I saw this show/film on Hulu I thought I might enjoy it because it is about wine and is narrated by a great comedian.

I was not disappointed. If you have about 43 minutes, I strongly recommend watching it. Cleese goes through such topics as wine tasting basics (flavors, smells, etc.), 3 red grapes/wines, 3 white grapes/wines, choosing a wine, price of a wine, and serving wine.

Branding Fresno Business

2009-06-27T11:30:00.001-07:00

The Fresno Convention & Visitors Bureau recently released a PDF booklet defining Fresno's brand platform. It doesn't create specific logos or taglines (which would make all Fresno businesses look the same) but rather gives a number of broad categories and descriptors. These phrases and concepts can help organizations develop a brand strategy that will help the overall Fresno brand become more cohesive, as well as focus the efforts of an organization so it is less likely to portray something that will conflict with other Fresno branding attempts.

The booklet includes definition of branding, the Fresno brand platform, a workbook section, and a case study.

The concept I think can be very useful, and hopefully will have the desired effects on branding in Fresno and branding of Fresno. I guess only time will tell if organizations will actually employ this smartly.

Via Creative Fresno (PDF booklet linked at bottom of that page)

My New Phone

2009-06-22T17:07:00.000-07:00

If you've been following this blog for a while, you will know that I've been interested in the new phones that HTC has been coming out with. I finally took the plunge and bought one, putting my total lifetime cellphone ownership at 4 (2 Nokia and 2 HTC).

My new phone is the HTC Touch Diamond2.

So far my experience with the phone has been exceptional. The biggest change with this phone from my previous phone (HTC Touch) is the severe lack of Windows Mobile interface. HTC has done a good job at masking a lot of the non-finger friendly Windows Mobile features. My stylus is almost completely unnecessary now (although I do sometimes still like to use it). The new TouchFlo 3D is slick looking and quite user friendly. The other very noticeable feature of this phone is the WVGA screen. At a respectable 3.2" the screen packs a whopping 384 000 pixels (480 x 800). The resolution is so good that I almost can't make out any pixelation at all. It really is a sight to behold.

Some of the other notable things is the G-Sensor (accelerometer), ambient light sensor, zoom bar at the bottom of the screen, GPS, 5MP camera on back and VGA camera on front, FM Radio, & WiFi 802.11 b/g.

It's definitely a big step up from my old phone and it has a lot of fancy new features. I haven't even tried them all out yet, but so far I'm really happy with my purchase.

Good News to Report

2009-06-16T13:30:00.001-07:00

As you may have noticed (hopefully) I haven't posted in a while. I recently moved, and due to the move I transferred over my DSL to my new place. Unfortunately AT&T is on a slightly different schedule than I am, and 3 weeks after moving my Internet is finally working today!

I guess its not that they maliciously wanted me to be without Internet access for 3 weeks, none of the two phone jacks in my new apartment were even getting a dial tone. They sent out a few technicians and got the problem resolved. It's just I haven't been 3 weeks without Internet access in years. I know, I'm spoiled, but I use the Internet quite a bit.

I did want to blog about my experience with AT&T tech support.

A majority of the people I talked with on the phone at AT&T were friendly. I think my biggest complaint is the hold times. I spent at least 2.5 hours on hold throughout all my calls, and was switched literally back and forth and back to different departments a number of times. As well, its unfortunate that I was unable to have a technician come out while I wasn't home, and that meant a little longer wait to get a time that would work for both myself and a technician.

Overall, I think I will stay with AT&T, and might even upgrade to their fiber-optic/U-Verse package in the future. One of the good things that came out of this ordeal is I now have the direct toll-free phone number for DSL-line connectivity/strength issues.

Potential Terrorism in London

2009-05-06T17:20:00.001-07:00

I read this post at Boing Boing and realized I am a part of these statistics.

I was in fact stopped by two officers of the Metropolitan Police in London back in February of 2008. I was walking around the British Museum waiting for a friend, and was asked to take off my jacket and open my backpack.

The officers were very nice, and we had some good conversation about where I was from, etc. It was a little distressing though, because I had literally gotten off the plane after a trans-atlantic flight, took the tube and walked a good 3 or 4 miles through London to get to the British Museum and I was pretty tired.

Fortunately I am not a terrorist, and I was able to go on my merry way.

How I Met Your Mother - S04E22

2009-05-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

SPOILER ALERT - The following blog post contains a SPOILER.

If you had a chance to watch How I Met Your Mother on CBS last night you might be wondering some of the same things I am.

When Ted left the apartment and grabbed for his yellow umbrella I thought this might be the episode where he meets his wife. I was a little surprised/disappointed when the woman who they showed at the end was Stella.

I am pretty sure that Stella is not the "Mother" they have showed what the kids would have looked like if Stella was the mother, and they were both blonde and obviously not the same kids we see every week on the couch. As well, I'm sure Stella would have seen Ted's yellow umbrella and noticed it as her umbrella when she spent all the time at his place that she did.

My guess is that Stella will simply be acting as an intermediary to introduce Ted to his future wife.

If you watch HIMYM regularly, or just want to weigh in, what do you think?

Bike To Work Day

2009-05-04T23:51:00.000-07:00

As I was driving home today from work on CA-41 I saw one of the big light boards had a message flashing. I could tell it wasn't an amber alert, so I was at least glad about that. As I got closer though, I saw it said "Bike to Work Day" and then "Share the Road". I thought, that's pretty awesome. They are advertising bike to work day on the freeways, maybe some people will be more inclined to bike to work today.

I then thought, "wait... it's bike to work day today? How come I didn't hear about this sooner?" Then I thought, "what are they doing advertising that today on the freeway, during the afternoon rush hour? Isn't it a bit late to convince people to ride their bikes to work when they are already on their way home?"

Turns out that Bike to Work Day does not happen until next week on Friday. Would it be too much to ask for a date or at least a website to find out when the day is exactly?

Chipotle Mexican Grill

2009-05-01T10:45:00.001-07:00

I have discovered over the last year or so that I have a new favorite (fast food) restaurant. Chipotle Mexican Grill is delicious and I find that I love it more and more every time I eat it. It makes it even sweeter that we have 2 Chipotles here in Fresno (area) now with the addition of the Sierra Vista Mall Chipotle in Clovis.

Here is my normal order, which of course I do not limit myself to, but enjoy this on a regular basis.

Chicken burrito with black beans, medium corn salsa, cheese, sour cream, lettuce.

The reason I get this normally is because I love it so much, not because I'm afraid to try other things or thing the other things won't be good, but because I'd be missing out on that.

As a note, Chipotle recently changed their logo/branding (Via Brand New)

Low Carbon Fuel Standard

2009-05-01T09:10:00.001-07:00

You may have heard of California's recent move to a "Low Carbon Fuel Standard".

If you want to find out a bit about the effects this may have on the state, check out this post from the California High Speed Rail Blog.

While this is a perspective from the mass/public transit side of the debate, I think it still has a lot of merit. We saw a big increase in public transit use here in California after the last rise in the price of gasoline. This move by the government of California seems to be a focused and concerted effort to help reduce our dependence on oil.

I do hope mass/public transit becomes more popular here in California, and especially in Fresno. If this LCFS is the answer then so be it.

WM6 Outlook Issue

2009-04-28T11:26:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to help others that may have run into the same situation I'd like to describe an issue I recently resolved.

I was having trouble with my SMTP outgoing mail with Outlook from my Windows Mobile 6.1 device. I could receive my Gmail messages without a problem, but any time I tried to send a message through Outlook I would get an error telling me to check my connection and/or my settings. It is strange because nothing had really changed on my phone to adjust settings or anything.

I double checked my settings to make sure they were correct, and they were. I was also obviously connected to the Internet because I would be receiving messages in my inbox.

All I had to do to resolve this problem was delete my Gmail account in Outlook and go through the steps found here to set up my account again.

It's a fairly easy fix, so hopefully you found this useful if you ran into the same problem.

DTV Fresno Update

2009-04-25T11:01:00.001-07:00

The DTV Transition has been pushed back to June 12th here in the US and there are plenty of commercials and advertisements to let everyone know what's happening. One of them gave me a good idea to re-autoprogram my TV to pick up any new digital channels that may have started since the autoprogram.

Sure enough I found a few new channels. Channels 43.1-43.5 aren't new channels, but they are new on the digital spectrum here in Fresno.

KGMC
Azteca
KSDI
KJEO
KJKZ

These channels all appear to be owned and/or operated by Cocola Broadcasting Companies.

Not sure how often I will be watching these channels, but one bright spot is KJEO. In the past they have broadcast CFL games, which is the only chance I have to watch CFL games. Now that its in digital it will come in a lot more clearly.

Henry Madden Library

2009-04-18T13:24:00.001-07:00

While checking out Vintage Days at my alma mater today, my brother and I walked over to the new Henry Madden Library. While I had seen it throughout its stages of building, I hadn't seen it since its completion, so I wanted to check it out.

I was quite impressed. When I started at Fresno State they still had the old building in operation and use, and it was definitely outdated and obviously crowded. This new building is a much needed addition and upgrade. Here are a few of my observations:

The library utilizes space saving shelving. Shelves are about 40 feet long, and are on rails which can be moved back and forth by the push of a button, which cuts down a lot on wasted space. The shelves utilize sensors to tell if someone is in the aisle, and won't shut if there is someone there. My brother and I tried this out a few times as we walked the shelves, it was a lot of fun.
The main collection is on the lower level which was a cost saver for the University because that great weight of books doesn't need extra support from steel beams, etc.
The stairs. The main stairs in the library are some kind of woven metal fabric type thing. They look really cool and have a lot of grip, but they seem to make more noise than you feel comfortable with when in a library. I felt like I should be getting dirty looks from the librarians as I walked the stairs.
The high-tech LED huge screen showing an artist weaving a basket was pretty cool. The sun was pretty bright though, and I think it would have more of an impact in the dark.
The amount of reading rooms, study rooms, seating, tables, etc. was pretty fantastic. That is something that was definitely missed those couple of years that we didn't have a proper library.
It is a very impressive structure. Even walking by it when the frame was up during construction, it seems a lot bigger now.
The Peace Garden is much better than it had been. With some rolling hills, a few more artistic structures, and the new library as a backdrop, it definitely is more awe-inspiring.
They have a Starbucks, and yep, it's basically a Starbucks.

See pictures of the library (new and old) here.

Jump Rope Dance Routine

2009-04-18T13:05:00.001-07:00

Quite possibly one of the best choreographed routines I have seen in a while.

http://soonereyo.blip.tv/#1826380

It just keeps getting better and better, and by the end you are wondering if there is not some CG trick to it.

Thanks to Sean for emailing this to me.

RAK

2009-04-10T12:38:00.001-07:00

Random acts of kindness. They are pretty awesome.

I would really like to start doing more of these types of things. They are often cheap and easy to do.

John Voelz at Vertizontal posted this list of RAK that his Church will be challenged on performing over the next week. It's obviously not an exhaustive list, but a good starting place to be sure.

Check it out and come up with at least a few that you'd be interested in doing.

Eating Challenge

2009-04-07T12:25:00.001-07:00

While I have been involved in numerous unofficial eating challenges by my friends, I've never done a real eating challenge at a restaurant. It has always intrigued me, because I can eat a lot of food very quickly. I think I could do very well, especially at a contest like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtMhPZpmL0Y&feature=player_embedded

The burger doesn't look that big, and ten minutes is a long time for me when it comes to eating. The description of the contest is at 3:35 of the video. The other great thing is that this is local, so I don't have to travel outside of Fresno to participate.

Anybody want to join me?

From The Guys Who Like To Eat Via Mike Oz at the Beehive

Should Facebook Listen?

2009-03-29T16:33:00.000-07:00

As a follow up to my post the other day about all the complainers of the new Facebook, read this post from Seth Godin about ignoring your critics.

This kind of message is hard to swallow and even harder to actually implement, but its true that the masses usually only want the status quo. Growth requires change, and change is often difficult.

Quote from Kings

2009-03-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

I am in the middle of watching episode 2 of Kings (which I blogged about yesterday).

King Silas just said something that really caught my attention.

Every day I look for signs in my life and try to read into them God's intentions
take a good look at your life right now, and think hard, what does God want you to do today?

I really like it, what do you think?

Kings

2009-03-28T21:52:00.001-07:00

I watched the first episode of NBC's new series "Kings" this evening. Here are my thoughts.

It is based on the story of King Saul and King David from the bible. It takes place in what appears to be present-day United States, but rather than the US as a democratic country, it appears that it is a number of different monarchies and kingdoms.
The story, so far, seems to be generally following that of the biblical account. Obviously, a number of the aspects have modern twists. The epic battle between David and Goliath is portrayed as David going head to head with a type of tank called a Goliath.
I wonder if the series becomes popular will they start to change and add on to the story to allow the series to continue or will they keep with the biblical genealogy of David, then Solomon, etc.
There seems to be a fair amount of spiritual and God references, as well as what at least appears to be divine intervention in certain situations.
If the storyline does continue on with David and his genealogical line of Kings, it seems like they will have to write in a lot more about God into the story. I think this would be great, but I think this is unfortunately unlikely.
The visual effects and action scenes are pretty good
One of the real draws for me is that the fantasy of this show is strongly based in our current time period and is therefore easy to relate to. Even if some things like a King ruling a Kingdom within what I know to be the United States is far fetched, it's not a far stretch when the cars, computers, fashion, and all the other little things are the same. (Also one of my reasons for liking Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis so much.)

I still have yet to watch the second episode, which is also available on Hulu, and I believe the third episode airs tomorrow night (Sunday) on NBC.

As of right now, I am planning on keeping up with this series.

Alberta's New Logo

2009-03-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard, the Province of Alberta recently redesigned their tourism logo.

Growing up I always thought the old logo was good, but it needed an update. However, like almost everything else, what goes around comes around. The comment from Armin in the Brand New link above says it perfectly, "The old logo... is quite awesome and would probably sell like crazy on a ringer tee at Urban Outfitters."

Check out this brand book (PDF, 5.22MB) showcasing the new brand and what it means.

Also, check out this video.

The similarities in the "A" was one of the first things I noticed in when I saw the new logo. I like the new logo, and I don't mind the square at the end, which some people aren't too fond of.

What do you think?

Worry and Stress

2009-03-22T15:20:00.001-07:00

I have realized over time that I don't easily get stressed out and I am not usually a worrier. This is really nice because emotionally I tend to be much more evenly distributed. I imagine this makes for an easier life in general.

There are, however, times when I do get a little stressed out. This is how that process goes for me.

It always involves something important to me, for example relationships.

I am very much a thinker, and when something happens I will usually try and think through all the possible scenarios that I can imagine. I also tend to want to be prepared for all scenarios. In my opinion the scenarios that require the most preparation are the worst case scenarios. This usually means that the scenarios I tend to dwell on as to what might happen are the worst case scenarios. The combination of dwelling on the negative possibility and the whole subject being important to me will start to worry me and give me a bit of anxiety.

What I have been working on more recently is realizing that a)I am not as smart as I sometimes think I am and that means that I probably don't know exactly what other people are thinking, b)worrying rarely does any good and I probably won't be able to change something even if I do, and c)It is so much more helpful/useful/rewarding to give all this worry and stress up to God.

God is in control, and as long as I trust in his goodness, power, and plan then it doesn't really matter what happens.

Appropriate Advertising

2009-03-21T11:42:00.001-07:00

While driving around on my scooter today I passed by a teenage boy holding up a sign that said "Car Wash Today". I was the only vehicle around on that road at the time, and when he saw me he jumped wildly with his sign to get my attention.

I don't think it crossed his mind that I was in fact driving a scooter and that the chances of me stopping for a car wash with my scooter was very low. He could have been just practicing for when a real car came by, and I guess it really didn't hurt to advertise to me but I guess it just seemed strange.

Would it have been worth their time, for raising money, to have more specific advertising for motorcycles/scooters? Maybe a greatly discounted price for washing a motorcycle, you'd need a few more signs, but even if you got a couple more customers, I'm sure the cost/benefit ratio would have been worth it.

I think it's probably just short-sighted and a lack of creativity that stops people from thinking about different scenarios that they can actually use to increase their business.

Simple Logos

2009-03-20T12:15:00.001-07:00

Read this blog post from Noisy Decent Graphics about the end of the life of black and white logos.

I agree with him about black and white logos being much less useful in a world of increasing digital presence. I also think that as we move completely away from paper and exclusively to digital medium then the black and white logo will cease to be of any use.

I do, however, continue to believe that a simpler logo is better than an extremely complicated one. Not only is having a logo that can cross mediums important, but also a simple logo allows for easier recognition.

Smart Parking

2009-03-20T11:55:00.001-07:00

I like this announcement (PDF press release) from Smart USA (also on Treehugger).

Photo: Flickr, CC

Basically Smart USA has made a deal with a number of parking garages throughout New York and New Jersey to offer half price parking to drivers of Smart Cars. I think it makes sense, because they do take up half the space of a regular car.

Photo: Flickr, CC

In fact, whenever I pay for parking in a lot, I will usually ask (more jokingly than not) if I get half price on parking because I drive half a car. Unfortunately, it usually gets more laughs than discounts, but maybe someday it will work.

The New Facebook

2009-03-20T10:41:00.001-07:00

It seems like I write something like this after each time Facebook changes their layout, but it is usually in response to so many people complaining about change.

After reading a number of people's reasons for disliking or even hating the new Facebook, here is my summary of the complaints.

Confusing
Difficult to do things that were easy to do in the past
Don't understand it
Want to see more customization of the Homepage/Newsfeed

I just have to say that anyone complaining using the first three issues is just not giving it a chance and is probably against change in general. There is going to be a learning curve with anything new. Utilize the resources that Facebook has provided to learn how to do the things you want to do. These types of things work better when people know what they are doing.

The fourth type of complaint I partially agree with. I agree with it because I think the customization/filtering of the homepage and newsfeed should be a little more powerful. However, most of the complainers that used this reason didn't seem like they realized there is a filter on the left side of the page that does what they were talking about. So most of these people need to read the above paragraph.

As a matter of fact, I've actually been reinvigorated with the new Facebook. I have found that I've spent a little more time using Facebook after the change compared to before. I would also be as bold as to say that a lot of the people who are complaining that they aren't getting to see all the "stories" about their friends that they did in the past, are the same people who complained that the newsfeed was too invasive and stalkerish in the first place.

I guess my point is that people are often too quick to fight against change. In a month or two everyone complaining about the new Facebook will have forgotten about their issues, and in all likelihood will have found something else to complain about.

Pecha Kucha

2009-03-17T20:26:00.001-07:00

I was fortunate enough to attend Pecha Kucha Vol. 2 last night here in Fresno at the Starline.

What is Pecha Kucha you ask? Read this.

From all accounts it was a great success, especially since its only the second Pecha Kucha event held in Fresno, and the first one they actually started charging for. It was standing room only by the time the show started, with estimates of 150+ attendees. I got there early, and had great seats (can you pick me out of the first picture from the BeeHive post on the event?)

I really enjoyed Walmer Medina and James Collier's presentations, but all that I got to see where interesting in their own right.

While talking with my friend Andrew Ellenberger who attended with me, I thought that my Dad could make a great presentation at one of these things with his collection of Cereal Boxes. Of course, narrowing down his collection to 20 slides might in fact be the most difficult task.

I am really looking forward to attending Vol. 3 on June 8, 2009.

Decision Paths

2009-03-15T23:34:00.001-07:00

This article from Noisy Decent Graphics was very interesting. It basically talks about how even when signs are clearly showing a detour (specifically with walking paths) people are usually tempted to at least check out the potential obstructions for themselves so they can make their own decisions. The point is also made that the larger a group, the longer it takes to make a decision about the path to take.

I thought about the marketing implications about this. If people are skeptical or at least don't always blindly follow instructions, how does this affect the marketing of instructions? How often do people read cover to cover a user manual, or read the fine print on a receipt outlining a store's return policy, or pay attention to the potentially life-saving safety instructions after boarding a plane? Not very often is my guess.

I think one way around this would be to make things more interactive. It gives people a certain amount of that decision making process, and also gives them the important information.

One idea I had, which could have multiple applications, is using those paper wheels that you spin around and line up certain things and information is revealed in little boxes. How much more interesting do you think airplane safety information would be if it was on one of those things?

What ideas do you have for making instructions clear and more enjoyable?

Traveling to Europe?

2009-03-14T10:18:00.001-07:00

If you are planning on any traveling to Europe, especially if you are wanting to do it on a budget. I would suggest checking out my Squidoo lens on European budget travel. It is a compendium of the basics of my knowledge of european travel. It should give you a good basis for planning a trip to Europe. If you need more advice, feel free to contact me. I'm always happy to help fellow travelers out for a nominal fee, depending on how well I know you of course.

Twenty-Twelve or Two Thousand Twelve?

2009-03-14T10:14:00.001-07:00

Check out this article on Boing Boing about what we should call the years, especially in this first century of the millennium.

I've thought a lot about this topic, and I think we are on the right track. For the first 10 years of the millennium it is awkward to call the years anything but Two Thousand________. Specifically the year Two Thousand (2000), you wouldn't call it Twenty or Twenty Hundred. Same with a year like 2005, it wouldn't be Twenty-Five, because that is a different number than 2005 as you lose a zero. The year 2012 on the other hand can be said Twenty-Twelve because putting those numbers together doesn't lose any digits.

Another aspect of importance on this subject is things like sports video games. When coming out with new ones every year, the games are distinguished by the year. This intrigued me back in the late 90s when I was trying to guess what the games would be called in the new millennium. Early on the games were, for example, NCAA Football 99, then NCAA Football 2000-2005, then in 2006 and beyond it became NCAA Football 06.

I think that 2010 will be the official start of people getting back into the Twenty-Ten etc. of saying the year. I do think there will be a transition period because of the pattern of the last 10 years. By the time we get to 2011, most people will have stopped saying Two Thousand Eleven because Twenty-Eleven is the path of least resistance.

Facebook Game

2009-03-14T10:00:00.001-07:00

I just came up with a time-killing game that you can play on Facebook.

Step 1 - Pick 2 friends on Facebook (preferrably 2 that don't necessarily run in the same circles)
Step 2 - Go to the profile page of 1 of those friends and click on one of their friends that show up in their "Friends" box
Step 3 - Continue to click on friends of these friends until you eventually make your way to the other friend you chose in step 1.

That's all. Can you think of any adjustments or changes that might make this game even more fun and interesting.

Clever Company Slogan

2009-03-11T10:39:00.001-07:00

On my way home from work the other day, I saw this truck. I took a double take just to make sure I read the slogan correctly, but I apparently did.

Twitpic Picture

This truck belongs to a Framing and Construction company called Felix Haro Construction.

While I don't necessarily agree with the content of the slogan, I think it does qualify as being very clever, creative, and buzz-worthy.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

2009-03-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

I found this video on Hulu the other day. It is an enjoyable musical starring the talented Neil Patrick Harris as a man who wishes to become a super-villain. It was released in three acts totaling about 45 minutes. The entire episode is available at Hulu.

If you've got some extra time, check it out.

Hide-A-Key

2009-02-28T14:37:00.001-08:00

The problem with most hide-a-key solutions is that they are so common it is the first place people will look. Ie)fake rocks, under the doormat, etc.

I like this solution (from Think Geek via UberReview)

I'm sure if one really thought about it there would be lots of options for hiding keys. The biggest concern is remembering where the key is.

The Internet in 1996

2009-02-28T12:00:00.001-08:00

Jason Kottke's recent post on "Was the internet boring in 1996?" got me recollecting about my history with computers and the Internet.

Unless you think about it 1996 doesn't seem that long ago, well for me at least, cause I am still fairly young. But 1996 is 13 years ago, and for me that is a little more than half of my life ago.

It is hard to think about everyone not being on the Internet, but back in 1996 there were a lot of people who weren't connected.

My family has always had a computer and some sort of Internet connection, thanks to my Dad who has always been at the forefront of technology. But my big Internet starting point was in 1996-1997. This was my first year of Junior High School at John D. Bracco in Edmonton, AB, Canada. I volunteered to help the IT guy put together a website for the school. This was very exciting because I got to do a lot of learning about HTML as well as getting to spend otherwise school time on the computer.

My three biggest memories of computer and Internet usage from 1996-1997:

After Edmonton Oilers beat the Dallas Stars in Round 1 of the 1997 Stanley Cup Playoffs, I found and emailed a picture of Todd Marchant's game 7 winning goal to our IT guy. He put the picture as the wall paper for the entire computer system. It was only a thumbnail size, but brought so much emotion to using the computer because that was one of the most exciting goals I've ever seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg4nLyxsi4g
Infact, watching this goal still gives me goosebumps.
I got a bunch of .bmp picture files that I wanted to put on the school's website I was creating. I knew enough to know that .bmp files wouldn't work on the Internet, so I converted them to either .jpg or .gif files (I can't remember which). The only problem was that they wouldn't show up on the webpage. No matter what I tried these files just wouldn't work. My Dad finally helped me trouble shoot, and we realized that I didn't actually convert the files, I just changed the file ending.
I signed up for Hotmail so I could have an email account to get all my webpage design stuff completed more efficiently. This was back in 1996 shortly after it came into being, and before it was purchased by Microsoft. I remember very early on they employed a login button that was actually a picture with a link attached to it. I found this a little frustrating because I could type in my username, tab over and type in my password, but I couldn't just hit enter or tab and enter to finish the login process. I actually had to move over to the mouse and click on the login picture. I decided I would send this up as a suggestion to the Hotmail team, and sure enough the next day the login picture was gone and was replaced by a login button. I like to think I changed the course of Hotmail and free webmail service for the rest of time.

It is a lot of fun reminiscing about when back when on the Internet. What fun stories or good memories do you have of the Internet from the mid to late 90s?

Pepsi Natural

2009-02-27T12:05:00.001-08:00

I twittered the other day that I was trying/drinking the new Pepsi Natural.

I wanted to give you a bit of a summary of my experience, in case you were thinking about or hoping to try this new product from Pepsi.

First off, I bought a 4-pack, like most things I buy, from Target. I paid $4.49 (plus deposit and tax, not including my discount).

My first impressions were positive. Glass bottle, fairly natural looking 4-pack carrier, and minimalist bottle design.

It does utilize the new logo I blogged about back in October, whether good or bad it is a personal choice.

The color of the soda itself is not as dark, which adds to the perception of natural. As you can see by the packaging, the Pepsi is made with sparkling water, sugar, and kola nut extract. It doesn't taste exactly like Pepsi, and I'm not sure I'm the best person to be talking about the taste of Cola's because I'm not sure I could even differentiate between Pepsi and Coke (just because I don't really care). It does seem to have a lighter taste and experience in your mouth. It doesn't have the same acidic taste I am used to when drinking cola. The carbonation is a lot lighter as well.

Overall I like it. I am not completely sure if the natural ingredients mean it is actually healthier but for the amount I actually drink soda if it was healthier I would probably drink this more often.

Check out these two articles on new Pepsi products using sugar instead of High Fructose Corn Syrup.

UK Times Online
Chicago Tribune

I actually haven't been able to find a lot of information on this new Pepsi Natural.

Rogue Festival

2009-02-27T10:10:00.001-08:00

Today is the first official day of the Rogue Festival 2009.

I've been to a couple events in the past, but not nearly enough. I'm hoping to check out at least a couple of shows this year.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Fresno Rogue Festival, from their website:

The Rogue Performance Festival enters exciting year number EIGHT celebrating Independent Performance and Art … and has grown into one of the biggest festivals of its kind in the West! Started in 2002, this annual non-curated, non-juried festival showcases a variety of disciplines including theatre, dance, music, puppetry, storytelling, spoken word, visual art and film. Plus, 100 percent of the box-office go to the performers!

See their website for more details, venues, shows, and artist information.

Is Marketing Evil?

2009-02-27T09:52:00.001-08:00

Check out Seth Godin's recent post as to whether marketing is evil.

The answer, in a nutshell, is that it can be. Just like almost everything in the world, marketing can be used for evil purposes. This doesn't mean, however, that marketing is inherently evil.

I have found that especially with some Christians I have met, they cringe at the word marketing when it relates to Church and God. I strongly believe that marketing can be good, and used for good purposes.

I would also recommend checking out Church Marketing Sucks post on Seth's post. I really loved the quote:

Those who think the church should never be involved in marketing by
saying we aren't "selling" a product etc. should let that sentence
marinate. While I understand the word "sell" is tough to swallow isn't
selling about consuming and don't we want people to consume the Word
and who Christ is?

In the end, I think the key is what you market. If the thing you are marketing is good (like God) is there a way that it can be marketed poorly or bad? Marketing, like Seth Godin says, is all about telling a story, and as long as you are telling the truth your marketing is just an extension of the thing you are marketing.

"Oldish" Fresno Retail

2009-02-26T17:54:00.001-08:00

Here is a video showing retail stores in Fresno, CA from probably 15+ years ago, although I don't have a good idea as to when it is from. I enjoyed this video. I have only lived in Fresno (and area) for around 7 years, so a lot of the stores on this video are different than what they are now. I also like to see the evolution of retail, and shops like that.

This video is a little more than 10 minutes, and is a little painfully slow. It also has a very strange soundtrack, but I hope you enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_qIcyRg1Rc&e

Via The Fresnan

Double Take Hair

2009-02-06T13:16:00.001-08:00

Not to make a comment about the hair on these kids, but when I first looked at this poster, I really thought all three of these bands were the same musicians.

Use of Space

2009-02-05T12:32:00.001-08:00

A follow up to a previous post about adaptive spaces and getting full use out of a space.

I was thinking that if certain rooms in your house are only used 1/8 to 1/3 of the day, and that is not very good use, then Churches are even worse offenders.

Assuming even 4 hours of Worship services a week (which I will assume is even a high average) and there are 168 hours in a week, these places are sitting empty and unused for almost 98% of the time. I think I would find it difficult to reconcile that if I were going to be building a new Church building. Now, this of course doesn't ring true for every Church. There are many churches that meet in schools, such as my friend Luke Mundy's church RVC Fresno.

As well, from what I understand, the Mormon's do a better job than most at utilizing space, including multiple "congregations" using the same buildings

In one sense, the local Church meetinghouse is a religious building principally dedicated to Sabbath worship but is also used for social, educational, and community activities during the other days of the week.
-From Mormon Church

Check out this page which illustrates possible uses of money that would be available if all the real estate owned by churches in the United States was sold. While you might not agree with all the ways that money should be spent, it is very interesting to see what kind of impact could be made with this change of thinking.

This was also something my family talked about as we visited Saddleback Church a couple of weeks ago. We found out that Saddleback Church has around 100,000 members, of which around 25,000 are very active. While the main campus we visited seemed at first glance huge, daunting, and maybe even over the top, it probably is a better use of resources than a bunch of smaller churches each having their own buildings etc.

According to this site the median church in the U.S. has 75 regular participants in worship on Sunday mornings and an average of 186 attenders. Let's split up the 100,000 members of Saddleback by 125 people in a regular congregation and we come up with a whopping 800 different churches. That means 800 church buildings and parking lots. I don't know the exact number, but I would wager a lot of money saying that Saddleback doesn't come anywhere close to the square footage of 800 separate churches. This just goes to show the efficiency of scaling up, especially in churches.

What do you think?

On My Birthday

2009-02-04T18:17:00.001-08:00

The #1 song according to Billboard Magazine on my Birthday was "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" by Phil Collins.

Check out the list for the other years on April 23rd. Some notes of interest:

4 Elvis Presley songs were #1 throughout the years on April 23rd
Only 1 Beatles song was
This is really obvious, but it's amazing how well the songs of the different decades group together

What was the #1 song on the day you were born?

Via Presurfer