Another Trip to Edmonton

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.