Things I Love, Things I Hate

I grabbed the wrong suit this morning as my daughter and I prepared to go to religious services. When I got to our synagogue, I reached into the jacket pocket to see what business cards I forgot to take out after last wearing. It was then that I realized I had last worn this suit on a business trip to New York in late 2000. The cards were from a client I saw in the World Trade Center.

That will send a shiver down your spine.

I had been to the WTC a few times and loved this soup place in the basement. I ate there more than once, as it was quick and filling. I also once spoke at a conference held at Windows on the World on the top floor. Nice view. As I thought minutes after the 9/11 blast, it’s a long away down.

Well, these thoughts sure gave me something to pray for—peace.

I make actually have to make the trek out to Glendale to see a game or two.

ESPN.com - NHL - Hull selects Coyotes, signing two-year deal

RHAPSODY Link

American Red Cross to Donate Skin for Paraguay Fire Survivors

Which explains a lot.

KING5.com | News for Seattle, Washington | KING5 Top Stories

I don't care about being hip; I care about being healthy.

CNN.com - New invention to help asthmatics - Aug 5, 2004

I had dinner with Tony Danza when I was a TV critic in Seattle and he was a "star" on "Cheers." What a jerk.

Yahoo! News - Tony Danza to Host Talk Show

Brother Marcus was suspended for the season from Virgina Tech.

ESPN.com - NFL - Vick pulls up lame in practice vs. Titans

Last night, we ate at Maggiano’s Little Italy, a chain restaurant that just opened in our neighborhood. We were invited to a pre-opening party, but it was while we were on vacation. They must have bought the subscriber list to the WSJ.

We ate there with some degree of anticipation as the place has been booked solid since its opening a few weeks ago. We had been regular patrons at Carrabba’s, a restaurant across the street from Maggiano’s, but we wanted to do the live taste test/comparison. We ate at Carrabba’s last week and the place was deserted.

Well, we had a mishap last night, Aside from the fact the restaurant was noisy (which my daughter hates), and the fact they tried to seat us at a lousy table (I was wearing shorts), they mixed up my entrée (veal) with my wife’s (chicken). Since age four, I have been highly allergic to chicken. Yes, it sounds strange, but it’s true. My allergy was recently corroborated by a recent test.

I did not die. I actually did not get sick other than anxiety and a queasy stomach. Allergies are like that. I don’t know what chicken tastes like, so when it gets confused in my order, I am at a loss. I never did see veal so white, so I said something to my wife and see realized she was eating veal (to which she is morally opposed).

We informed the waitress who was apologetic. It was the kitchen server’s mistake, not hers. She spoke to the manager, and I guess their reaction was to offer us free desserts. We passed, as we just wanted to get the hell out of there in case I got sick.

We won’t be back.

I went home, unplugged my cable modem and wireless router. Then, I noticed the green light indicating cable access was not on. I called Cox, and they said the line did not look good and they'd send someone out in a few days to look at it. Seems others on my street are having the same problem.

Magically, a minute later, the light went on and service is back to full strength. And I didn't even have to call Bangalore for IS help!

COX.net for Phoenix

Ms. O'Connell lives around the corner from us. Even though we're Democrats, we're hoping she beats incumbent Republican J.D. Hayworth like a drum in the primary election. She has an impressive resume, and I lke the way she wheels her trash can into the garage from the curb (just kidding).

BTW, Hayworth is a boob. He's a former TV sportscaster who was not very good at that field, so I guess he chose something that required even less skill. Again, kidding.

When I was a kid, our congressman, Joshua Eilberg, lived around the corner from my house. I was friendly with his daughter and son; in fact, his daughter is a rabbi in the Bay Area. In 1979, Eilberg was charged with conflict of interest in the awarding of a $10,000 grant to a Philadelphia hopsital.

Roselyn O'Connell For Congress - Congressional District 5 Arizona. Republican primary - Roselyn O'Connell Rosalyn O'Connell or Rosalind O'Connell

I was going to blog this early today after Alomar went 4 for 5 last night. Figured teams that needed a good bat were drooling over him.


Yahoo! News - Roberto Alomar Returns to White Sox

Well, all search engines use technology that tap into other search engines? And all search engines tap into the Open Directory... DMOZ. This reporter needs a search tutorial.

New search tool gets billionaire's backing | CNET News.com

When you work remotely, technical issues become a problem. I called the company IS&T dept. and they were not helpful. My company email server continually knocks me off the company VPN. I blamed the company, of course.

Duh. It dawned on me that it could be my home network. My wife’s new PC also is sluggish which shouldn’t happen to a PC only four days old. So, I am over at the local free Wi Fi coffee shop (a shout out to Market Street Coffee in D.C. Ranch, Scottsdale). Everything is working fine.

Now, the task becomes dealing with the fine folks at Cox to get the lowdown on fixing my network.

We live a few blocks north of Rawhide and enjoy sitting in our backyard and watch the fireworks shows the place offers a few times each year. We’ve only been there once, and that was to work as a temp employee (a story for another time). It’s a fun, dusty place with a nice Old West feel. I hear the food is decent. But with the Four Seasons close by, Rawhide is downscale and is very dated, which means it’s only a lure for middle-of-the-road tourists

We have our fingers crossed that Rawhide does not become a major urban sprawl center. We do not need another Target, Kohls, frozen yogurt store, Bed Bath & Beyond or supermarket (except for Whole Foods). We do not need more traffic tie-ups.


Old West feeling corralled by urbanization

Entertainment: Industry Article | Reuters.com

As I mentioned in a recent posting, my wife and I moved to Arizona 15 years ago. Seems like some people still hold a grudge against us (or maybe just me) for moving away from Seattle. Wish people had more in their lives than to focus on bad karma.

Whatever.

You would think in the Information age, I'd quickly be able to find out where we can send donations to aid the families in Paraguay, but the info is nowhere to be found. The Red Cross? Clueless.

Ugh!

Yahoo! News - 464 Dead in Paraguay Market Fire

Yahoo! News - Woman Faces Hearing in Iraq Abuse Case

With tongue in cheek, I'd like to question what else is there to do in either Minneapolis or Seattle other than to read?

intro

I have been traveling for business since 1990. My first business trip was to Las Vegas and from 1990-1993, I traveled a good amount for my publishing job (see yesterday’s post). The company had fairly loose travel policies which I only took advantage of once. That event was in retribution to some deliberate mistreatment at work…and I can elaborate some other time.

In my current line of work, I have traveled probably around a half-million miles. I have been everywhere, and I mean everywhere. I have not been to Australia (would love to go), India (will not go), Russia (mixed feelings) and Spain (would love to go). In the U.S., I have been just about everywhere except Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee and Cleveland.

Scratch one off the list—in three weeks, I am headed to Cincinnati. I see the Reds are home the night I will be in town. Could it be cosmic?

Having spent a good amount of time in Paraguay, this is of particular personal heartache to our family.

Yahoo! News - Paraguay Survivors Say Doors Were Blocked

So, we’re coming up on the 15th anniversary of when we moved to Arizona. We have not lived here 15 consecutive years, but we moved here in 1989 from Seattle. Essentially, we were gone from June 1993-December 2001 when we lived in the Bay Area, but had a part-time place here from March 2000 on.
Anyway, I moved here after we declared bankruptcy from a business that was a great idea, but a little bit ahead of its time. Also, being inexperienced businesspeople didn’t help. We made a number of foolish tactical mistakes.
So, we moved to Arizona and I had to take a job as the managing editor of a local weekly newspaper. It was a humbling, humiliating experience. The editor was a nasty woman who enjoyed putting me in my place and delighted in making me feel badly. My previous newspaper job was that of a columnist for a Seattle-area metro daily. It made her feel powerful to belittle me.
A few months after I came to Arizona, an opportunity came about that changed my life. I went to work for a mid-sized trade publishing company. The owner was a strange guy who was very entrepreneurial and our personalities were a good match. I eventually became editor of the company’s technical magazines that dealt with new media: Interactive World and Newspapers & Voice. Both set the tone for my career as a new media analyst (my job today).
Picture above is the office at 4141 N. Scottsdale Road where I worked from 1990-1993. From January 1991-August 1992, I made the ride to work in a car without air conditioning and arrived quite sweaty on those toasty Arizona days.

Yahoo! News - Bush Expected to Outline Intelligence Plan Monday