After staying out late last night talking about code and meeting tons of people I had no desire to talk to anyone. Matt and I pretty much kept to ourselves today. We saw a panel on Natural User Interfaces and apparently Minority Report is coming. After that we saw a pretty cool Silverlight demo. I have to say after seeing that, playing around with a Surface, and seeing what WPF can do I think Microsoft is up to some really cool things. About time.
We also took in some Stubbs BBQ which was freaking delicious. Then we walked roughly 50 miles on an abortive quest for some Dublin Dr. Pepper. It was quite unsuccessful. I think I’ve gained about 17 lbs after all the beer and food this week but I’ve worked off about 12 lbs walking around Austin.
It’s cool here and I’d love to come back.
March 17th, 2009
Well we survived another day. On Monday I saw panels on The Browser Wars, Entrepreneurship, Freelancing, and Idea Generation. We also swung by the Microsoft Bizspark Accelerator where startups demo their product and a panel lead by Guy Kawasaki pokes holes in their ideas. It could be a little brutal at times. I didn’t get to see all of them but Gigotron (a music discovery engine) and Ringlight (a file sharing service) both looked cool. We also got copious amounts of swag. I think I’m setup on Microsoft t-shirts for life.
Later we walked around the University of Texas campus and had a pint at the awesome Dog & Duck Pub. We went down to The Speakeasy to see Them Terribles. They were good. After trying to figure out why an army of scantily clad hot chicks showed up in a sea of nerds with ironic t-shirts on we found out that the band was shooting a video and had hired models. That explained a lot. But the band played a good show and I got to act like I was really into it as they lip synched their single 5 times. After that we went to The Geek Party at the Iron Works and did some networking. Matt managed to harass Dan Rubin for 30 minutes.
Our cab got poached on the way home so we ended up walking the 2 miles back to the hotel. All in all a good night.
March 17th, 2009
Well we’ve been in Austin for 2 days now and SXSW has been as exhausting as I expected it would. We got in Saturday and managed to check in and walk through the trade show (mega lame) before hitting the parties. We swung by the Mobile Social BBQ (they ran out of plates right before we got in line), Dorkbot (I can’t even describe how awesomely weird some of things I saw there were – this will get it’s own post), Live/Create (we sipped on the free vodka and waited for the band to play. After a seemingly endless setup time they never did. We booked outta there), The Bigg Digg Shindigg (way overcrowded and a little too cold to stand outside), Happy Cog’ake (very crowded and kinda lame), and then we went off the schedule and hit some (or all) of the bars on 6th street. Getting up today was not pleasant.
Today was more about the content. I managed to see panels on Gestural UI, CSS3, iPhone Development, and How to Fund a Startup. They were all pretty interesting although I didn’t necessarily “learn” anything in all of them. We also stopped by Screenburn which was totally awesome. We played some old school NES and drank some free Mountain Dew. We’re avoiding the parties tonight so tomorrow should be even better.
March 15th, 2009
On Saturday Matt and I are (finally) heading down to Austin, TX for the SXSW Interactive Festival . I’m trying to plan the week but so far I’ve found it all to be pretty overwhelming. With all the talks , trade show , Screenburn , and bookstore getting a plan together is becoming difficult. There’s just too much I want to do. Oh and did I mention the parties? Oh god the parties!
This will be my first trip to Austin so I somehow want to incorporate a couple sidetrips into the week, like checking out UT and having a little Man vs. Food adventure to Juan in a Million and Big Top Candy Shop for some chocolate covered bacon. Not to mention Bar Camp Austin is going on this weekend as well and I might want to swing by there for a bit. It’d be like 2 conferences in one!
Obviously we can’t do everything but I’m following SXSW is Easy and SXSW Baby to make sure we hit the hot spots.
Matt insists on going low tech and bringing his Moleskin Notebook but I’ll be lugging along the Macbook, iPhone, and Canon PowerShot SD-1100 so I plan to be a blogging, tweeting fool all weekend. You can follow me on twitter or subscribe to my blog feed .
It’s going to be a fun but exhausting week!
March 12th, 2009
I’m writing this post from the Internet Channel on Wii. This is super cumbersome so I probably won`t be doing it again. Move along nothing to see here.
March 8th, 2009
Tonight is the beginning of an annual tradition. A weekend when I get together with my old college roommate and we head down to the Scottrade Center to cheer on our alma mater Missouri State at Arch Madness.
While this should be an occasion to catch up, watch some mediocre basketball, and talk about the good old days it always ends up a belligerent drunkfest in which we curse, booze, and quite possibly violate some minor civil ordinances. Generally we act like we’re 19 years old instead of in our mid to late 20’s. This year I’m going to try to avoid the Boone’s Farm and Keystone Light.
Here’s a couple pictures I dredged up from MVC Tournaments past:
March 5th, 2009
I got this idea for a post from Eric. Fittingly much of these can be found on Stuff White People Like but here is my list of goals/dreams for the next 5 years.
Travel
- Travel to Europe. I’ve been to every major US city (except Boston but fuck that place) but I’ve yet to go to Europe. All of my out of the country traveling has been to the Caribbean and Canada so I’ve yet to leave the continent. I plan to accomplish this goal soon maybe in the Fall.
- Hit all the major parties across the world. I’ve been to New Orleans for Mardi Gras but that one was easy. I’d like to go to Brazil for Carnivale and Germany for Oktoberfest.
- Attend a major sporting event overseas. I’m thinking the Olympics in London in 2012 or the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.
- Go to Wacken Open Air in Germany. I like metal. Deal with it.
- Become an Expat. I’d love to live abroad for a year or two. Although I haven’t really been anywhere this seems like a great adventure. Living in a totally new place where you don’t speak the language or really know anyone appeals to me.
- Keep up the tradition of “mancations”. I’d like to continue the annual trip to Chicago with my friends. I’m thinking this will become harder as people start to get married and have children.
Edumacation
- Get my MBA. I’ve been putting this one off for a long time because I really think the MBA is valueless. But I do like school and learning things. Plus my GMAT results are about to expire and I’ve scored high enough to go to Stanford or something.
- Learn to Sail. I’ve had a lot of fun boating in the Gulf of Mexico in my life but never on a sailboat. I’d love to learn how to do this and maybe do some sailing through the caribbean.
- Learn a foreign language. I’m decent at speaking German but I need to sharpen my skills. I’m thinking French as my next language. In any case I’d like to go to a foreign country and not sound like a complete dumbass.
Adult Stuff
- Buy a House. I have the money I just haven’t had the desire. To me buying a house always seemed like you were forcing yourself to be stuck in one location. I like change. I’ve lived in 8 apartments in the past 9 years. Recently my desire to own a grill and play my Wii without fear of being evicted have convinced me that a house might be a good investment. That and the first time home buyer’s tax credit.
- Get Married. It may be toward the end of 5 years but shockingly this is a goal of mine.
- Own a dog. The goal here is to prove to myself that I can have a pet without killing it. Next step: children.
- Build some shit. My Dad finished our basement, built a deck, built a retaining wall, installed hardwood floors, remodeled the bathroom, and installed a satellite dish. For God’s sake I can barely hang a shelf! The desire to buy a house will probably force me to learn some of this stuff.
- Do some more charity work. While my experience has been semi-limited it’s always felt rewarding. Plus one on karma for this one.
- Do a better job investing. So far I’ve acted like a complete rube. All those cute little phrases you hear are true. “Buy on the rumor sell on the news.” Truer words have never been spoken.
Stuff I never want to do (no matter how old I get)
- Wear a sweater vest to work. It’s a proven fact wearing a sweater vest to work makes you age 15 years in a split second.
- Become the kind of person who has nothing else to talk about but my kids. So annoying.
- Stop being awesome. I’m a pretty fun dude. If you’ve met me you can’t deny it. I want to be a fun 30 something too. I don’t want to turn into some crotchety old man when I grow up.
What about you? I’m ready to hear about your goals too. I’ve never tagged anybody in a post but here goes: Layla, Allison, Matt, Melody, Simpson and Scott what are your 5 year goals?
February 18th, 2009
I’m getting to an age when many of my friends and family are getting married. In a given year I can expect to go to (or at least be invited to) 5-10 weddings in various locations around the country. This summer I’m going to LA for my friends Laef and Allison’s wedding and last weekend I was in Nashville for my cousin Chris’s wedding.
With all this Wedding Crashing I’ve noticed quite a trend. Everyone seems to play the same songs, have the same food, and have the same ceremony. Honestly I feel like I’ve been to the same wedding 40 times. While I usually have fun at these things mark me down for supporting originality.
Here are some observations and tips for those of you planning a wedding in the future.
- Lou Bega was born solely for the purpose of writing one song to be played at every white person’s wedding. Unfortunately it is the worst song ever written.
- Songs like the Chicken Dance, Electric Slide, American Pie, and others have to be eliminated from the wedding reception playlist. Be an individual. Don’t worry about making everyone else happy. You like rap? Play some rap songs. Like Nickelback? Well, you’re dumb but if it makes you happy play that too.
- Catholic weddings are the longest, Luthern is in the middle, and secular is the fastest. You really speed things up when you cut out all the God stuff.
- Bachelor parties have evolved from one night of debauchery to an entire 3 days of partying. I’ve been to or am scheduled to go to the following locations for bachelor parties: Lake of the Ozarks, Memphis, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Lake Tahoe. This is not necessarily a bad thing but it does leave a lot of room for getting in trouble and maintaining an extended hangover.
- An open bar should be mandatory. And not just beer and wine. I’m talking top shelf hard booze. Honestly it’s the reason everyone is attending this reception anyway.
- Speaking of drinking plan on getting belligerent. Wait until after 10pm to get super belligerent so as not to scare the children and elderly. But hey the alcohol is free right? Enjoy it!
- Regardless of religion most church ceremonies seem to be nearly identical. This is fine if you’re into tradition but don’t expect me to pay attention. Do something different. Have your wedding on a beach, on a boat, underwater, drop a disco ball in there. Just something different!
- If you’re in St. Louis please don’t serve mostaccioli for dinner. I’ve literally had this dish at EVERY St. Louis wedding I’ve ever been too. Fish and chicken are fine but skip the rehashed pasta dish.
- Consider having your reception in a hotel or somewhere that’s easy to catch a cab home. You’re serving unlimited alcohol to your drunk Uncle Teddy you don’t want him to end up dead!
- If I’m going to be forced to dance allow me to get a few cocktails in first. Play some low key music during dinner and then give a little time for drinks. If I’m going to bust it to Mike Jones I’m going to need a little lubrication.
- DO NOT hire the “wild and wacky DJ guy”. Nothing is more annoying than having a DJ screaming at me to get on the dance floor while I’ve got a mouth full of shrimp puffs.
- In fact do you know who the best DJ would be? You! Just create a playlist on your iPod and have one of your friends run it. That way you’ll have 100% control over the music and it won’t cost you an arm and a leg.
- Have at least one single person in the bridal party. This way it’s much more likely she’ll hook up with some random family member and you can gossip about it for years to come!
February 10th, 2009
Up In Smoke
That’s where my money goes
In my lungs
and sometimes up my nose.
– Cheech & Chong, Up In Smoke
Last night I headed out to The Pageant to catch Cheech & Chong’s reunion show Cheech & Chong Light Up America. When I was little I remember watching the movies Up in Smoke and Nice Dreams and laughing yet not entirely understanding the jokes. Now that I’m older I was fully prepared for a night of stoner comedy.
The 7:30 show had sold out so we ended up getting tickets for the 9pm show. A planned a little later Sunday night than usual but nothing too extreme. But of course the show started late (never trust stoners to be punctual) and we ended up waiting in a line about 4 blocks long in 20° temperatures for roughly an hour. It wouldn’t have be so bad if we weren’t getting accosted by the homeless and the drunk/high people coming out of the early show.
The show itself was good not great. The pair did bits from Up in Smoke and sang the classic songs Born in East LA and Mexican American. I laughed but was often distracted by the obnoxious audience members seated near me. To be expected I suppose.
After leaving the theater and maneuvering through the parking lot I didn’t get home until after 1am. Definitely too late on a school night. Oh the things I do to myself to get a little culture.
January 19th, 2009
Ever since I moved back to St. Louis in 2004 I have had split-season Rams tickets. At the time I was a casual fan at best and since the Rams didn’t move to St. Louis until 1995 I had always felt like a baseball fan in disguise when I watched them play. But season tickets sounded like fun and a good excuse to spend time with my Dad and drink massive quantities of alcohol at 8am. As perfect a Sunday as I could imagine.
In 2004 the two Super Bowl appearances were still fresh in my mind and with Mike Martz at the helm I thought another appearance was imminent. It was not to be. Martz was shown the door soon after and the Rams have become the laughingstock (ok second to the Lions) of the League.
My Dad no longer attends games with me and I can’t drink nearly as much as I could 4 short years ago. In the 4 regular season games I attended the Rams went 0-4 and weren’t even competitive for the majority of the season. For this “privilege” I shelled out nearly $750 for my 2 seats.
My season recap:
New York Giants L 41-13
This was the Home Opener so I was pretty pumped even considering we had been destroyed by the Eagles the week before. My brother (who is still partially in college mode) came with me so I was trying mightily to keep up with him on the $9 beers which is probably why I remember mostly nothing about this game. What stands out for me is going to Hooters after the game and closing that place down at 11pm. That’s right 12 solid hours of drinking. God knows how much we tipped but all we got out of it was our waitress telling us she “was kinda into girls”. Perfect. For any of you in St. Louis you know taking the Metrolink home at this hour is out of the question. We had to hustle through the vacant (and dark) streets of downtown to find a cab and get our butts home safely. Luckily our cab driver made a few wrong turns and was quite possibly tweaking on meth. He also said Ryan Ludwick was potentially the NL MVP. Clearly he was doing some kind of drugs. It’s not a coincidence that many of my memories from this season do not center on the games themselves.
Buffalo Bills L 31-14
In Scott Linehan’s final game before they (finally) kicked him to the curb the Rams were embarrassed once again. Linehan departed with a stellar 11-25 record as Head Coach. My only memory from this game was the crowd. Let me say that my seats are relatively decent so I’m not sure how some of these hoosiers get down there but there they were. About 2 rows in front of me were two guys in Buffalo t-shirts. Clearly a father-son team with working class roots — maybe union pipe fitters or something. These guys were hammered beyond belief and kept screaming the same thing: “BUFFA-LO! BUFFA-LO!” for 3 hours. It was truly painful. I think we left after 3 quarters.
Chicago Bears L 27-3
Games against the Bears are always annoying. During these games a sea of Bears fans descends upon St. Louis. Sometimes it seems like there are more Bears fans than Rams fans. They’re certainly louder than Rams fans. This generally leads to an away game atmosphere at The Dome especially when Chicago is dominating. After the half Bears fans began filtering in from the rafters to replace the early departing fans. A group of 4 hooligans sat right behind us and began harassing everyone who was leaving early. I hate leaving early but this team has been painful to watch! So we bit the bullet and left in the early 4th quarter. And yes we got hassled by 4 drunken turds from Chicago whose team is going nowhere. Oh well.
Seattle Seahawks L 23-20
This game was a playoff for which 2-11 team would reside in the NFC West cellar. I believe my friend Jon specifically picked this game to attend because hey “we might actually win this one”. We didn’t. Besides a sweet Bulger to Holt touchdown the Rams played pretty poorly. This was hidden by fact that the Seahawks are truly godawful. Seneca Wallace has no business being an NFL quarterback. We thought this one was in the bag until Seattle tied it up with 5 minutes remaining. We knew the Rams would blow it so we left early (again this was painful). By the time we got to Hooters for a postgame pitcher it was over. A last second field goal sealed it. And the Rams go 0-4 in games I attend this season.
In case you think I just stare at cheerleaders all game (which I do) here’s how I break down the season: OJ Atogwe, Donnie Jones, and Josh Brown are the only players who are worth a damn. Jason Craft had a couple moments and I’d like to see Kenneth Darby (from Alabama!) get a shot at the second HB position next year. Chris Long had a decent rookie year. The rest of the team should be burned to the ground. The Rams should try to hire Mike Singletary, Bill Cowher, or Steve Spagnuolo as Head Coach, draft Andre Smith (Alabama again!) or Matthew Stafford, and fire the entire front office. I mean everyone!
Yes I’ll be shelling out the cash for season tickets again next year. I love Sunday afternoons at The Dome too much! C’mon on Rams do something this offseason!
December 17th, 2008
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