Java City - Midtown Sacramento

Java City - Midtown Sacramento, originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

As I stood in line at Java City today for my hot chocolate (I don't drink coffee) I couldn't believe that there was such a line at 8AM.

I started to then think about how each of these folks must come into Java City everyday and get their standard order.

I remember reading a blog posting by Seth Goodin where he asked a really interesting question, "When was the last day you went a whole day without buying anything?"

I can't remember a day like that.

Not sure what made me think about that at Java City, but it would be interesting to see if you took the $3 you spent on your morning drink, and just 10 days a month put that money into a money market. $30 a month for say 25 years. I am not a math guy, but I got to believe that if you did that on a regular basis for 25 years you would have saved up some nice bank.

Vasili

S5000275, originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

When my cousin told me that he was entering his one year of mandatory service for the Greek Military Service, I thought he would have a lot of horror stories to tell. Thus far, his first four months have been pleasant and he speaks about how much time off they are given, and he often has the opportunity to return home for weekends.

The really interesting part of this story is the fact that he has embraced his military service as part of his nationalism. This is a great feat because, like so many of his peers, Vasili has developed a growing discontent with his government for providing a lack of education and jobs to the youth of Greece. For him, however, the opportunity for him to serve, like his father and his grand father, et al has reconnected him to why he loves his country so much.

Reading Starts When You are Young...

IMG_0165, originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

It is never too early to start finding your passion through reading. This is a great picture of my nephew Ryan. Thanks Steve for the photo.

Priceless.

Simul-Scribe

I use the voicemail service called Simul-Scribe. The caller leaves a message, then it is transcribed and emailed to me on my blackberry. I get to read the entire message instead of listening to it. (I like that a lot!) I am curious if any of you out there use this service, and how accurate is the transcription in your opinion?

College Only Blogging....

I finally launched my college-only blog......

www.TheAdmissionsEdge.com

I will be updating it daily with news and advice about the college admissions process. Feel free to check it out and pass on the link to those who are interested.

Send me your feedback and comments.

Gizmo5

My business partner James Chen turned me onto a cool new feature on Gizmo called Gizmo5. (For those of you who use VOIP services like Skype, you probably have heard of Gizmo.) Increasingly, more and more people hace switched from Skype to Gizmo for a variety of reasons.

Gizmo5 is pretty awesome because it allows you to make VOIP calls via your blackberry device saving you a lot of money on international calls.

Check it out for yourself at: www.gizmo5.com

San Francisco

photo.jpg, originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

It was a very clear day in the city today. Great weather makes me think of summer.

Apple TV or Netflix?

I woke today thinking a lot about Apple TV vs. Netflix? Also, I thought about Comcast's On-Demand feature. The more and more I thought about this, I couldn't decide what I liked more. On one hand I love Netflix. You just que up your movies and they come each week. Apple is pretty sweet, but the box set up is timely and you need a hard connection (even with the best of routers the quality lags). Comcast is the easiest to use, but lacks depth in titles. (I can only watch Transformers so many times).

What I was left thinking about as I went to work was: wouldn't it be cool if you could text or email your movie que, and be able to schedule your movie time showing on your TV or Laptop. Maybe I am getting on board a red-eye tonight and know that I want to watch a movie on my laptop as I wait by my gate from 10-11:30PM. I simply email my que, and as soon as I flip open my laptop, my movie launches! Same thing if I know what time I want to watch a movie at home.

This race is just starting, so it is going to be fun to watch what happens next.

Random thoughts that I have learned while traveling...

I travel about 200 days a year. I like being in new places, but I hate the effort it takes to get there. I started blogging when I started traveling more for work. My brain doesn't work when I am sitting at a desk or in my office. My brain works when I am out and about. Here are some things I have learned:

*American Airport Security is a joke. This is a no-brainer. Frequent business travelers can tell you account after account about how weak the security system really is in our airports. No one really listens.

*My blackberry is way better than my iPhone. I like playing with my iPhone, but when I am on the go and business needs to get done, the blackberry wins hands down.

*Renting a car could be so much easier. Why are rent-a-car companies stuck in the middle ages? Why can't I have a credit card specifically for renting a car so that I don't have to deal with paperwork, waiting for the security guard to let me out of the parking lot, etc...? I should get off the bus, know my space #, get in the car, drive to the gate, swipe my card, and go.

*All rental cars should have navigation. No extra fee.

*Southwest has a new boarding protocol. It sucks. It is way more confusing. Why can't they just issue seats like jetBlue?

*Why don't all flights have internet?

*When it comes to customer experience US Airlines have no clue how to win and keep business. Fly on Virgin, British, Luftansa, Emirates, etc....They go above and beyond to keep you happy and pleased. The industry is very competitive, but US carriers treat you as they don't care and that you owe them. Very similar to the US Automobile industry. GM and Ford have been taught a real lesson by Toyota. If American, United and US Airways don't pay attention they are going to get a rude awakening from non-American rivals.

*Traveling makes you appreciate being home with friends and family.

*My iPod Classic 160GB is the single greatest electronic I have ever bought. I can't understand how I survived without it. No matter where I go, I take it with me. (I can't believe Strati was right.)

*I find myself wanting to use my laptop less and less. Instead I take pictures from my iphone and upload to flickr. I twitter things via my blackberry.

*Pizza is still my favorite food.

Paesano's

photo.jpg, originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

On Friday we had dinner at Paesano's. All I can say is that Jess and I are going to start eating there a lot more.

The College Blog

After everyone has emailed me asking for it - I am launching a blog specifically for the college admissions process....

esmgrp.blogspot.com

I will start posting tomorrow....

Thanks for your great feedback.

Kings Game

Kings Game, originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

Jess and I went to the Kings game on Friday night. Thanks to SKK we had great seats. It was my first Kings game in probably two years. I will say that I remember going to the Kings games in the early 1990's to watch Joe Klein, Spud Webb and of course my favorite Jim Les. Those games were exciting; every player for the Kings was a hustler and despite losing almost every game, the crowd was totally into supporting their team and trying to help them pull off a win.

Friday's game was sad. The stands were empty. The crowd was quiet. The game lacked any sort of real passion. Don't get me wrong - we will take a King's win anyway we can get it - but it just seems to me that the whole dynamic of professional basketball has changed here in Sacramento. I am not kidding you, but the fans didn't get really excited until the little kids who dance hip-hop came out and got the fans totally pumped. If the players had the same sort of energy, we'd be winning a lot more games - or atleast keeping some of the matches interesting.

The bigger issue for me, as I thought about my NBA experience, is how does a brand (in this case The Kings) continually try to exceed customer's expectations in a world where everyone wants everything for nothing. Take me for example, I had a great time going to the game with Jess, and I had no problem paying $8 for a beer and $5 for a hotdog, but I can't say that I am going to run out and buy season tickets for the Kings. The experience left me saying that I'd rather go watch an intense high school game or a college game at Stanford or Cal. How can the King's improve upon their brand and create a better customer experience for their ticket holders? At the end of the day, its not so much about whether they win or not, its about the transformation that needs to happen once you enter Arco Arena. In the 1990's we knew that the Kings were going to lose, but we didn't care because we knew that we were going to have a great time for the next 2 hours and our team was going to bust their butts.

Flickr

Who really cares about who owns Yahoo!? The answer is: not too many people in the "real world".....

What we want to know is what is going to happen to Flickr (Yahoo's really popular photo sharing website) now that the corporate giant Microsoft is going to take over it? Where will the loyal Flickr fans go?

Microsoft to Buy Yahoo!

The big news for today is the fact that Microsoft has offered to buy Yahoo!

Some questions, no particular order:

1) what is going to happen to @yahoo.com email?

2) What does Facebook think of this?

3) Should Google be scared? (I doubt it)

4) Will this encourage NewsCorp to jump into the game? Could they potentially be a better fit for Yahoo!?