One down... how many more to go?

My first study is officially complete - software strategy validated, recommendations for improvement made.

All kinds of fun reviews happen now - always framed in the context of self improvement - for me, the team, the people we worked with.... surveys galore. At the end of the day though, I think only these 3 dimensions really matter (on a scale of 1-10)

Learning: 3
Even though this was my first study, since I knew the content, and I know how to build slides, I didn't end up learning all that much

Impact: 2
Client was on the path already and working through a lot of the issues. We helped them a little bit around putting things together and providing an objective opinion, but these guys knew what they were doing - just needed a kick in the pants.

Fun: 6
The team was very casual and people were friendly. Lots of mentorship and Sakura got to come to spend an all expense paid (well sort of) weekend. Can't complain. Of course there were some late nights and random deadlines that were kind of crazy.

Next stop, San Diego on Monday. I almost had to go to Denver / Dallas, but at the last minute, a partner on this study snatched me up. Another short study, and I have a feeling this one is going to be even more insane.

For now, I'm trying not to think about it - my mom just got us a Wii and a few games, as well as Guitar Hero II. Oh and Harry Potter as well - more than enough to keep me occupied. So much to do and so little time... sigh....

Thinking about being a land baron

Been thinking about buying a place recently since it seemed like things were stabilizing with all the subprime loans blowing up. Looked a few of the foreclosures and stuff, but seems like a lot of work just to go through the process - yes I'm super lazy.

Any ways, found this townhome that was pretty cool actually - walking distance from a bunch of stuff, all new things, etc and the seller's a poor guy who bought the place with his fiance, and is selling it 3 months later since they broke up (sad for him, good for me). Well just found out today that the one car garage it has might not even fit a Honda Accord. WTF!!?!?! yes.. that's what one of the neighbors mentioned. WHO BUILDS THIS CRAP!?!?! Checking on it right now, but if it's true then it's a definite deal breaker. How stupid is this builder.

Looks like it's back to looking through the foreclosures. Ah well.

OMG this is so true...

I must say it's quite depressing how true this is. And the best part? This is exactly what I'm working on - despite the fact that I keep saying how it's impossible to do without really sitting with the individual contributor developers.

I am Bob & Bob.

"Hey this should be pretty easy..."

"...why don't you just put this together tonight - shouldn't take you more than 10 mins."

Hey, why don't I just give you a swift kick in the nuts?

After flying in on a redeye to attend a very useless meeting of a few partners pondering life's great mysteries (blah blah blah - repeat, repeat), spending the day frantically getting stuff done, waiting around to chat with the partner only to continue to get blown off, then go home and wait 2 hours for a conference call with the team, only to also have that cancelled, and then right before I planned to go to bed, get a call from this guy - man....

This is why we need video games - so there's an outlet for aggressive - not because it makes you aggressive. Would've been good to throw a car at someone or something last night.

Food shots... yumm.....

Pete Miller's... yeah that's bacon wrapped scallops... you know you love it.

Le Lan..... awesome....

v1 is supposed to suck...

I don't think Apple got the memo - v1's are supposed to suck and you're supposed to at least wait until the service pack comes out before you go out and buy it. I guess they're following in Nintendo's footsteps.

Good thing Sony and MS can still be counted on for shipping crappy v1 products, otherwise where would we be?

The iPhone's not bad, but $599 for a phone plus 2 year contract is hurting. Oh and the damn thing gets hot.

Still lots of rumors that Google's working on a phone. Picture a future where Apple owns the media phone space (when they start offering a TV service, then it's all over), Google owns the feature phone space, and MS owns the productivity phone space. Other than Apple, the other two don't even have to make their own phones - and all the poor OEMs become just like the PC OEMs - box makers. Lovely.

Work hard, play easy

After a pretty long and intense week, I finally got to duck out Friday to pick up Sara at the airport. Checked into the W City Center, which was a pretty decent hotel, although it turns out it was the lesser of the Chicago W's due to it's location. Ah well, who knew you could go wrong with city center. Then it was off to Sushi Samba for dinner thanks to some awesome pre-planning she did. Food was ok, but we had this sake called Hakujura or something that was really awesome. It was like champagne but sake tasting - and of course cost like it too. After dinner we had a nice romantic stroll through the city back to the hotel. Felt like an old couple. :)

Spent Saturday wandering around the city - Millennium Park, Magnificent Mile - and just by chance it also happened to be the Bite of Chicago. We tried a few things but as with all Bites, I ended up being disappointed - somehow eating just a small portion of overpriced food from desperate vendors is not very satisfying. Of course I'll keep going just so I'll have something to complain about. :)

That night we went to a totally awesome restaurant. Le Lan. Beef carparccio, crazy good scallops, lean duck breast... damn man... just kicked ass. Well done Le Lan.

We then went up to the top of the John Hancock Tower for dessert and drinks. Although service was crap and there was a long line, the view was spectacular. Well worth the trip. Too bad we missed the fireworks by 15 mins. Argh.

Lazy Sunday. Got stuck in pig fat for 2 hours and when you don't realize why traffic comes to a stop in a new city, you feel pretty bitter about the city government. Turns out they were trying their best. Ah well, best to give people the benefit of the doubt. Well at least we still made Live Free or Die Hard



THE MOVIE WAS AWESOME! Ok - seems like a lot of awesomes on the trip, but seriously, it was cool. Go see it. Watching the trailer just made me want to see it again. Damn.

Checked into the Westin and then went to eat at Pete Miller's. More awesome. Clearly you can never go wrong with bacon wrapped scallops, but their prime rib and fillet mignon was great too. Nice.

At night we snuggled up in bed and watched the Adam Brody movie In the Land of Women. The movie was kind of whatever but I did like the look of the daugther. She had the whole punk thing going on. Maybe it's cuz I've been listening the new Avirl CD... it's really fun and it's great to shout in the car when your going nuts at work.

What a great weekend. And the best part? Company picked up her plane ticket, weekend hotel, and dinner one night. You wonder how they keep suckers like me working.