If its Thursday

I'm no my way to Oakland again. The basista at the B concourse Starbucks asked me, "Do you work here or just travel a lot?"

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Catch up work on Flickr

I posted several photo sets to Flickr this weekend. I've taken lots of photos, but just hadn't had the time to tag, edit and post them. I've finally gotten around to it, as well as posting some photos from a Disneyland trip many years ago (Heather found the photos).


Disney World and Florida Vacation

La Connor Tulip Ralley

Disney Land 2004

Enjoy!

This posting spans months

I've been doing a lot of traveling so my free time hasn't been in blogging, but catching up on the parts of my life that I can't take care of while I am in a plane.

As I'll confess further down, I am not totally caught up yet either, but I need to get these thoughts out of my head on on to the blog.

I've been to Oakland, DisneyWorld, Las Vegas (only one of those was vacation - and it was mostly business and a little vacation) and on a Ralley with the British Car Club here in Seattle.

The kids and I went on a Ralley sponsored by the British Car Club, but heavily attended by Puget Sound MINI, the local MINI owners club. We drove all over the Tulip fields and Anacortes and La Connor trying to figure out clues and not miss turns (both difficult to do with a 10 year old navigator). We didn't come in first (it was going around the traffic circles 10 times that cost us - not really) but we had a lot of fun. I've got pictures, but haven't posted them yet.

I went to a conference on Radio Frequency Identification in Orlando and took my whole family and we spent a few days at Disney World and on the beach. My sun burn is finally peeling off , the blisters on Heather's feet are mostly healed and I haven't gotten the photos posted yet either. It was nice to have vacation and the kids got to skip school for it too!

I've been to Oakland for a day trip on 4 days notice and finally earned a free flight on South West to anywhere they fly!

I spent a few days in Las Vegas with one of our sales teams and had a productive meeting - we are going to meet the teams aggressive sales goals and a good time, too: steakhouse dinners and the Blue Man Group. On my flight there and back, I sat in the first row of the cheap seats, the one with no under seat storage. That part was a little strange, but the added leg room was nice. I had to stand up mid-flight to get something out of the overhead storage and I looked back.

Normally, I sit towards the rear of the plane and can see forward through out the flight - and I see lots of activity. This flight was different. Everybody was quiet, some asleep, even though it was only 4pm. There was even a lucky guy with the feet of the lady sitting next to him on his lap - she must have been his wife or so the flight attendants supposed. Every one must have been sleeping off Las Vegas.

My oldest son has started to email his girlfriend and that has turned into instant messaging - he even IM'd me while I was in my meeting! My youngest son has started to read Dick and Jane on his own.

I'm home for a few days and then back to Oakland again. They recognize me at the off airport parking I use - I didn't even need to give them my coupon to get he the discounted rate! So there it is a few months rolled up into a few short paragraphs.

I'm halfway there

I haven't written about this yet, not to get any body's hopes up; although I have spoken to a few people about it.

I am applying to University of Washington's Evening MBA Program and they have a two-step admissions process. First, there is the standard application, GMAT exam and some (4) essays and then there is Evaluation Day.

Evaluation Day is a basically combination of group exercises and interviews, but they don't let on what the process is. I wonder if you have to sign an NDA?

So, I've made the first cut! I got an email just a few minutes ago inviting me to Evaluation Day. I'm pretty excited about it.

Candidates will be evaluated on their oral communication, team skills, managerial potential, and their ability to “think on their feet”. Based on your written application and your performance in the Evaluation Day exercises, the Admissions Committee will make a final decision on your application. To remain under consideration for admission, you must attend the Evaluation Day.

The admissions work shops I attended suggested that this wasn't something you could prepare for, you just had to be ready. Well, we'll see. Standby for an update in the beginning of June!

I'm at a baseball game and I just ordered food by text message. How cool is that?

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The Five-Second Rule Explored, or How Dirty Is That Bologna? - New York Times

I practice the 5 second rule. Do you?

This is the kind of science that I like. It is real-world, practical and applicable. I mean, who doesn't drop food? And then pick it up again? And eat it?

The Five-Second Rule Explored, or How Dirty Is That Bologna? - New York Times

I think that this is a great study.

What do these numbers tell us about the five-second rule? Quick retrieval does mean fewer bacteria, but it’s no guarantee of safety. True, Jillian Clarke found that the number of bacteria on the floor at the University of Illinois was so low it couldn’t be measured, and the Clemson researchers resorted to extremely high contamination levels for their tests. But even if a floor — or a countertop, or wrapper — carried only a thousandth the number of bacteria applied by the researchers, the piece of food would be likely to pick up several bacteria.

One of my sister-in-laws is almost obsessive compulsive on cleanliness, so when I am at her house, there is no hesitating. It drops and I'll pick it up. Heck at her house, it is the 10 second rule.

I don't like hair on my food, so if the grape rolls into corner, I might give it a second thought.

But if it is something that I really, really like - down the hatch it goes.

How have you implemented the 5 second rule in your life?

Lohan Plays a Stripper in Her Next Film

Lohan Plays a Stripper in Her Next Film

Sweet!

Maybe he'll start checking his email more often

So, both my wife and I have been catching up on emails after our trip, and as this is my third blog posting of the day, you can see I've been catching up on blogging.

Evidently, my oldest son did the same and was catching up on his email. He just came down stairs and said that he got an email from his young girl friend. Mostly, it was about the school he missed and what was coming up on Monday, but it had the requisite mushy stuff.

Maybe she will get him to check is email more often! He even wrote her back!

I am stunting my career development?

A while back, CNN had a Q&A on golf for professional development. I think I'm in trouble. I find golf incredibly boring. I'd rather pick up a golf ball, throw it as far as I can and run after it and pick it up. Sort of like an endurance running golf game.

Although golf could be alright. At one point in my life, I lived on the edge of a golf course, just off the second tee. The kid across the street from me, Teddy, has some naked lady golf tees. Naked ladies would most definitely make golf more enjoyable.

Mmmm.

They would probably have to make the flag poles a little more robust for some on the green entertainment.

I would worry about the naked lady caddy getting sunburned though.

And what shoes would she wear? High heels would probably be hard to walk in in the grass...

I guess there are some kinks to work out still. Maybe this is my great idea - Naked Lady Golf. I wonder how it applies to minature golf - Miniature Naked Lady Golf?

More health food please

CNN has a report on health food, titled Fruity cocktails count as health food, study finds. Now, I can get into this!

Evidently, adding alcohol enhances the antioxidant effects of berries! Bring on the cocktails, baby!

Adding ethanol -- the type of alcohol found in rum, vodka, tequila and other spirits -- boosted the antioxidant nutrients in strawberries and blackberries, the researchers found.

Any colored fruit might be made even more healthful with the addition of a splash of alcohol, they report in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

This study is a boon for lushes (and bartenders) around the world.

How to Survive in Florida on Two Showers a day

So, I need to start with an apology. I've been traveling, some work, some vacation and just haven't made blogging a priority. So, after an almost two week break from blogging, I'm back. I'm sorry for the unannounced hiatus.

As the guide book title would suggest, I've been to Florida. With my whole family, I attended the RFID Journal Live 2007 conference and then spent some time in Disney World and Tampa. I've got pictures that I will eventually post (and from a Rallye near the Tulip fields of Washington), but again, that hasn't been a priority of mine.

I don't like humidity. I love beaches and the sun, but not the humidity. I hate the sticky feeling between my fingers when you get off the plane.

When I am in that humid of an environment, I'm a shower in the morning and evening and maybe once in the middle of the day or maybe go for a swim, kind of guy. I totally understand the concept of a siesta - be awake during the cool parts of the day (morning and evening) and sleep during the hot parts. If corporate business could be run that way, I would live there.

We did have an enjoyable time there (humidity aside). As a west coaster and having been to Disneyland all my life, I see Walt Disney World as Disneyland broken down into several different parks, although some of them have beer! My wife got into texting and sent me this message, "Epcot is cool. And they have beer! When are you coming?"

Disney and beer, what could be better? Well, throw in some air conditioning, maybe. I've gotten out of the habit of rehydrating with beer - it does make it harder to chase after kids.

We also checked out the Salvador Dali museum in Saint Petersburg. It was cool to see so much of his work in one spot, but more so, was the guided tour. I look at his work and wonder how much acid he was taking, but the docent kept pointing out recurring elements and what some the symbolism represented. I don't get how you can paint something at an arm's distance that when viewed from 20 meters away, looks entirely different. He used negative space and imagery so much, it is just incredible.

And there was pretty good swag at this conference! I won an iPod Nano, as did a co-worker of mine who was there and I've got my fingers crossed for an iPhone, 42" wide screen TV and an iPod video...