I'm Here!

Alright, I've made it to San Diego, and am about to go walking to find some food. Here's the room for tonight!

I just crossed into California. Hello Arnold!

I opted to buy a bag of dates and a prickly pear shake, and am back on the road.

I just saw a sign for "WORLD FAMOUS DATE SHAKES." I may have to stop and get me one o'doze.

83 and sunny as I leave Tucson for San Diego. I got a big coffee earlier, drove around awhile, and then had lunch at eegee's, a local fav.

Day 304 - Gotta Run

163.0 on the scale. Went running in Tohono Chul Park behind my hotel this morning. I don't know how far I went, just know that the park was not made for running, so I ran the same loops over and over again, which had sharp turns every 10-15 feet. However, it was beautiful with all the cacti and gardens and stuff. Oh, and 150/100.

Felt good to sweat again.

So, I'm going to shower up, drive around Tucson for a couple hours or so and get me some coffee, then hit the road to San Diego!

Oh God, Not Again

So after finishing at Pinnacle Peak, I headed over to a little sports bar called Famous Sam's on a recommendation and had a couple beers. It was pretty quiet on a Tuesday night so didn't really get to talk to anyone except the bar tender, who was cool.

However, on the way out of the parking lot, I noticed the following sign on the back of a fast foodish mexican restaurant and couldn't help but be reminded of my Menudo Incident.



Needless to say, I steered clear.

I made it to Tucson and am sitting at Pinnacle Peak, a steakhouse in a crazy Old West themed village, waiting for my food.

Just sprinted across the state lines into Arizona! The finish line is Tucson, an hour and a half away.

Just filled for the last time today in Deming, NM where the attendant made me buy 2 bubblegums so my total wouldn't end in 666.

I'm just crossed into New Mexico! Land of Enchantment! There are highway patrol cars everywhere! Exclamation points!

Filled in Kent, TX. A one-horse town if I ever saw one. They did have gas, restrooms and beef jerky, all of which I sorely needed.

Just passed by Stanton, TX, who's welcome sign boasts of being "HOME TO 3,000 HAPPY PEOPLE AND A FEW OLD SORE HEADS."

That's good stuff.

Filled & watered in Colorado City, where I made my sandwiches & bought a Mr. Misty Freeze as a treat! Back to being a tumbleweed thru TX!

The Cotton Is High

I just saw a cotton field for the first time in my life. I had to stop and touch it.

Uh, exit 4 off I-820: "White Settlement Rd"??? What up Fort Worth?

I am on President George Bush Turnpike. Eww. I know it is W's daddy, but still. To add insult to injury I had to give money to be on it.

Day 303 - On The Road Again

163.0 on the scale. No exercise for two days now. I'm back on the road now in Dallas rush hour traffic. Destination: Tucson.

The Dandy Warhols

I'm standing in the music hall of Dallas' House of Blues waiting for The Dandy Warhols to play. Got a general admission ticket at the door. Wooooo! Will try to recap the day (a good one!) when I'm back at the room tonight.

Sitting On The Grassy Knoll

I just finished going through the JFK museum in the Texas Schoolbook Depository Building and am sitting looking at the X on the street where he was shot. Yet another historical moment made more real for me.

I am in my room at the hotel in Dallas. With that, my reporting ends. Sweet dreams and stuff.

I've made it to Texas! I'm about an hour and one more fill from reaching the hotel in Dallas and calling it a night. Yeeeehawww!

I've crossed the line into OK. Despite a toll & a few too many bible-banging billboards for my taste, my time in KS was swell.

I am now heading out of Kansas City with a full tank of gas and self-made sandwiches in hand for leg TWO of today's drive. Woooo!

Does Ron Paul really want to eliminate the IRS?

He's the only presidential candidate with roadside campaign propaganda so far.

Hello Missouri!

I am now in the great state of Misery. Oh wait, Missouri.

First gas-up: Des Moines, IA. $2.759/gal.

The people of Iowa just welcomed me. :)

The Road Is Hit!

After a stop at my friendly neighborhood Caribou, I am on the road trip to San Diego by way of Dallas and Tucson. Woooo! Stay tuned here for regular trip progress.

163.0 on the scale. 10.75 miles biking on the path, 150/100.

Travel Update - Bumpage

Well, following the repeated advice of my parents, when I arrived at the gate I sashayed my way up to the counter and volunteered to be bumped.

The agent assured me that they weren't really overbooked, but he'd put me on the list anyway, just in case.

Well, about 40 minutes prior to departure, he announced they indeed were overbooked, and my name got called along with two others, a Steve and a Natalie. They gave us a cab voucher and rebooked us on a flight out of Laguardia instead, which is where I am right now.

Turns out Natalie is a NWA Executive Club member, so she just got us into the executive center where I'm sitting right now enjoying free internet, free drinks, and free food. Wooo!

The flight is scheduled to leave at 8:00 and get me back into Minneapolis at 10:03, but it is looking like it is currently delayed, and won't depart until something like 8:50.

No worries, I gots me a free domestic airline ticket now. :)

Day 298 - I Happen To Like New York

Not sure what I weigh, and no exercise -- I slept in, big time.

So I woke up around 8:30 this morning, checked my email to see if I had any appointments lined up for me, and since I didn't, I decided to lay back down and drift off again.

I ended up waking up at 11:15. Man that felt good.

I checked out shortly before noon, took my bag down to the luggage room and then hit the sidewalks, walking back up to Times Square to explore a bit.

I ended up over by Radio City Music Hall and Rockerfeller Center, so I went in and got a ticket to do the "Top of the Rock" tour where I spent about a half hour. I was very tempted to get a combo MOMA ticket along with the Top of the Rock ditty, but I wasn't gonna have the time I needed to do both and eat before having to get a cab back to JFK. Next time, perhaps, eh? Uh huh, that's right. Next time.




I snapped a bunch of pictures with my phone before I headed back down. I saw the spires of a cathedral while I was up there, and decided that was gonna be the next place I visited before finding somewhere to eat. It was St. Patrick's Cathedral, and I spent some time walking around that and looking at the architecture and the relics and the various shrines to the saints.



While walking back to the hotel to retrieve my bag and hail a cab, I found a nice little Pakistani restaurant, where I ate a pretty large, deeelicious lunch.

Anyway, I'm now sitting in the airport waiting to board my plane back to MPLS.

"Red Sox score most runs ever..."

Is that grammatically correct? Shouldn't it be "Red Sox scores..."

In your FACE espn!

Just got a tour of Vera Wang's studio. No Vera, but met a lot of her peeps who were geting ready for a big bridal show tomorrow.

Naked Cowboys Freak Me Out

Running In Central Park

I'm jogging in Central Park. How cool is that (for a Minnesota boy anyway)?

This is $260+ a night??

Hmm. Far cry from the place I stayed last time I was here. Crummy bathroom, no internet in the room, heater/air with busted dials, icky comforter... However, I'm right across from Madison Square Garden. That's cool at least. Hope the bedbugs don't bite.

l've landed safely in NY at JFK, and am now on my way to get a cab to the Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan via teee-axi.

You can find me there!

161.0 on the scale. No exercise today.

Just finished a concept presentation at MOA for Nick Universe. They loved what they saw!

Great job team!

Exercise Update

4.7 miles ran on the treadmill while watching Heroes, 5.8, 150/100. And after the exercise and day where I accidentally skipped lunch, I'm 161.5.

Today was pretty busy. We had our regular Monday Morning Meeting, and then a resource allocation meeting, then I had a little block of time to work on the project I'm working on.

It is kinda fun. I get to scrounge for assets on the web, which I always enjoy doing. I'm crafty.

We also reviewed the concepts for the MOA Nickelodeon Universe site that we'll be presenting tomorrow at 10:30. I'm excited to get the creative in front of them. Stephen and Mark and Alexis have been working hard and have some great stuff going.

Tomorrow, after the presentation I'll head back to the office and printout everything I'll need to go over the RFP with Mr. Nickelodeon in NY, then take Pete (the car, not the employee) to the dealership to get some stuff checked out before the long road trip starting this Sunday.

I'm gonna leave the car there with them while I'm away, and have their shuttle peeps take me to the airport hopefully, in time for my 7:07 pm flight to JFK.

I'll be blogging, stay tuned.

You Heard It Here First

So says our online project management tool.

163.5 on the scale. No exercise yet, will do that tonight during Heroes. HAVE to, to attone for my unabashed dietary sins this weekend.

163.0 on the scale. 14.0 miles biking on the path, 150/100.


I'll update the last few posts with some real info soon, but I just had to share this photo from our roller skating adventure in the afternoon. This photo is right up there with the 0ne from the state fair.

161.5 on the scale. 5.0 miles on the path, 4 of them ran, and 150/100.

Day 292 - Off My Game

161.0 on the scale. No exercise. It's raining again.

I'm totally off my game.

Day 291 - Interruption Avenue

160.5 on the scale. No exercise on account of MORE rain.

Ya know, there are just some days where you're destined to get nothing done.

You know what I'm talking about.

The days where you don't have everything you need to get started. Or once you do get started, the phone rings every 10 minutes. Or your employees or coworkers need something from you, and one of them knocks at your office door every 15. Or the apps you really need to do your job are acting buggy and crash randomly. Or there are so many disparate things to the project you're working on that you spend your day in small chunks herding cats and getting your head around them all.

Yeah, today was one of those days.

Day 290 - Scooby Dooby Doo

160.5 on the scale. 5.0 miles on the path, about 4.25 of them ran, and 150/100.

I just wasn't strong enough to do the full 5 miles today, body didn't want me to. Freakin' body.

So yeah, parked outside our building right now is The Mystery Machine.



I swear, if Daphne's in the building, I'm totally asking her out. Sorry Jo.

Day 289 - Dreary, With A Capital D

161.5 on the scale. 10.75 miles biking on the path, 0/0. Never got around to doing the pushups and crunches later like I'd hoped.

So I braved the sprinkles hand half-lit sky this morning to bike the 10.75 loop, and yeah, I got wet. My glasses were droplet-covered the whole way so I'm lucky I didn't run smack into the usual peeps on the path. Although most of them weren't out there today, just John. He must be a trooper.

There's a regular cast of characters I've come to recognize on the path. I only really know two of them (John, who you've heard of, and Geoff, a partner at another interactive agency in town), but I've given the others names too.

There's Leather Woman, who's way overly tanned and really really skinny. There's Crooked Man, a guy that must be in his late 60's who's head is always tilted 35 degrees off center. There's Wall of Women, a group of 4-5 50-somethings that walk side by side in one sweep, covering the whole trail. There's Ms. Stuckup, a 20-something hottie that won't make eye contact with anyone. Oh, then there's this guy I haven't really named, but he's this 40 yr old guy who wears his pants too high, has HUGE headphones, and is always carrying something with him in a plastic bag. I totally don't get him.

Anyway, I digress. I only saw John today.

I had an appointment with Jo-Anne this morning, then headed into work and pretty much used the horribly dreary day to take care of a bunch of paperwork. In addition to stuff related to the dismissal, one of the tasks was to put together paperwork for an intern we're gonna bring on to help with production stuff. He signed and faxed it back within the hour (eager!!) so he'll be starting 11/1.

We're also interviewing a designer again this Friday who seems very promising.

I also got a sneak peak at the Nickelodeon Universe designs in the works which are coming along nicely.

Boy, I sure am rambling tonight.

Tomorrow we've got a designer lunch to review the HAM Branding stuff again which I'm also excited to see.

So, despite the gray dreary day that had me down most of the day, it was a pretty good day I guess.

Supertramp - It's Raining Again

Day 288 - Monday Meeting Marathon

161.5 on the scale. 4.0 miles on the treadmill (during Heroes), 150/100.

So, today I had back to back meetings all day (ref calendar, left). All the meetings were productive and good, it just sucks having so many of them back to back.

One was lunch with Bryce at Sawatdee. It was good to catch up, and also good to have my usual Som Tam, Laos style (translate, stanky!).

We also had the last of the parent/teacher conferences with the boys' High-Potential teacher. I like her a lot. She's gonna be great for both boys and they seem to really enjoy the Wings program with her. A very good school decision on all fronts.

Anyway, an update on the Fantasy Football game. I have won, even though the game isn't quite over.

*spikes the football and does a little dance*

It is the 4th qtr of my final game and I'm up 100 - 80. That's 2 wins. Not enough to elevate me in the standings (I'm last right now), but satisfying none-the-less.

Heroes was great as usual. I forgot to mention last week that now that they've killed off George Takei (Sulu) of Star Trek fame, they've brought on Nichelle Nichols (Uhura). How great is that??

Okay, yeah. I'm a geek.

Day 287 - Five Miles Straight!

160.5 on the scale. 5.0 miles on the path, 5 of them ran (wooooo!!!!) and 150/100.

Well, technically I walked for a block or so after the two nasty hills, but other than that, I ran the WHOLE way.

It was a grey, damp day all day, so I really didn't get to get back to the yard at all, which kinda sucks. Nor did I get to get on the treehouse roof and continue (or finish) the shingle-jobby-job.

However, I did get to kinda keep track of the Fantasy Football game against Ross's team. By the end of the evening, I was only 8 points behind him, and I have two more players playing a game tomorrow night. He has none. I will smoke his ass.

Yeah, that's right Ross. You reading this??

Smoke.

Ass.

Mourning Mr. Jimmy

Well, if you're a long-time reader of this blog's incessant rambling, you'll remember mention of the origins of the Rolling Stone's You Can't Always Get What You Want.

Reference said posting here.

Jo-Anne informed me tonight that Mr. Jimmy passed away last week, and I found this news story about it. Please to enjoy.



Video courtesy: WCCO TV

One Meeeeeeelion Dollars

Did anyone know that Netflix was running a contest to come up with a better recommendation system?

It is called Netflix Prize.

The reason I find this interesting is not that they used a tactic like this, but that it attracted a team from AT&T research labs.

Check the Leaderboard.

Day 286 - It's A Jungle Out There

162.0 on the scale. About 13.0 miles biking on the path during the boys' tennis lessons, 150/100.

Today I spent the majority of the day out in the yard mowing the front yard, which hadn't been mowed in upwards of 4 weeks. Yeah, a jungle. Not only a jungle, a jungle covered with leaves.

I got like 7 bags out of just the part of the yard in front of the house.

I got about 2 more bags out of the bottom 6 feet of the long football-field side yard before it started to rain, making mowing less than fun.

Day 285 - Brrrrrrrr

162.0 on the scale. 10.75 miles biking on the path, 150/100.

I actually had to put gloves on this morning.

Exercise Report & The Big Apple

As promised, I did the 150/100. After supper.

Also, I just confirmed plans to fly to New York City in a couple weeks to meet with a few potential clients there!

On October 24th, I'll have a long, casual lunch with our contact at nick.com, and I'm working to make an appointment to pitch a game idea to Comedy Central for this year's presidential campaign.

Wooo!

Quote of the Day

Brad, our Senior Developer, upon learning we'd be overnighting in Sioux Falls to speak to the SD AIGA chapter:

"Well, sweet niblets! Should be fun!"

Day 283 - It Is Officially Official! So Say The Canadians!

159.0 on the scale. 5.0 miles walking on the path, and 0/0. Will have to do the crunches and pushups tonight.

I am quite happy to report that we got official approval today for the whole kit and kaboodle for Nickelodeon Universe's website, courtesy of The Mall of America's parent company in Edmonton, AB. UM, YAY!


In other news, I passed Dick Enrico today on 494. He drives his big white Escalade with the license plate "2NDWIND" rather slowly. Dick, Dick, Dick.



Coincidentally, this is the second time I've seen him. Jo and I sat at a table next to him at Sydney's on Highway 7 in Minnetonka about a year ago too. Ain't local celebs great?

Al Franken last week, Dick Enrico this week, who will be next week? Louis Anderson?

158.5 on the scale. 10.75 miles biking on the path, 0/0.

Day 281 - What A Fool Believes

162.5 on the scale. No exercise in the morning (rained again), but I got on the treadmill during Heroes and did about 4.3 miles of just walking (to spare the ankle), and 150/100.

Woke up with Michael MacDonald in my head. What a Fool Believes.

Heck if I know...

Okay, so to address the "more about that later"(s) that I've been dropping in the last few posts.

Friday sucked, because I had to let a designer go. It was not something I looked forward to, nor something I ever enjoy doing. But it is a necessary part owning a business, and it was the right thing to do for him and for HAM, and I wish him only the best.

A big portion of that day was prepping for it paperwork-wise and more, and afterwards the remainder of the day was spent shaking it off a little bit -- in this case with half a bag of peanut butter M&Ms, a couple beers, and a few rounds of Wii Golf.

I also met him on Sunday so he could gather his things.

Then, I had to inform the team first thing at the Monday morning meeting. Whether or not the rest of the team saw something coming, it is always an unnerving thing to hear that someone was let go.

After some conversations throughout the rest of the day, I think most everyone understood why it happened, and understood that their jobs are not in jeopardy.

Onwards, I guess.

In other news, the leadership team met to go over first drafts of some stuff we'd divvied up to finally get a handbook in place. Good discussions, good progress.

After I returned from a quick phone call, Ross and I (Team Facial Hair) quickly put down Adam and Kate (Team Office) in the Wii Tennis Tournament, and now we proceed to the championship match against Alexis and Pete (Team Español).

So yeah, that was my day. Tomorrow I'll spend more time writing policies and interviewing a designer. I also have a doctor's appointment first thing in the morning.

On to Tuesday.

Quote of the Day

Jo, about one compact little local weatherman who's suspected of being gay (not that there's anything wrong with that):

"I thought he was kinda metrosexual. And you know it's really just a hop over the fence from there."

Day 280 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Not sure what I weigh, but it doesn't matter anyway since I was gonna eat like a pig today. However, 10.75 miles biking on the path, and 150/100.

Another unseasonably warm day today! I started the day by rising late and making some tasty-riffic oatmeal waffles for the boys. I had 2. The first one, which is always the failure because I forget to put non-stick spray on the waffle iron, and a later one for good measure. Again, who cared? I was gonna eat like a pig today.

Then, I quick-got on the bike and did a jaunt before I had to pack the boys up and head to the office. Jo had yoga this morning, and I had an appointment to meet an employee at the office at 10, so I had to bring the boys with me. They played Wii while I took care of the business at hand. More on that later.

Then, we headed up el norte to Jo's parents to celebrate the first of our two annual Thanksgivings, the one of the Canadian variety. Canucktopia celebrates theirs the second Monday of October, considerably earlier than the other 50 states (ZING!).

So, I gotta say, that turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes totally hit the spot. So much so that I had two helpings. And that doesn't even count the cheesy green beans and corn and salad and bun and pumpkin pie and apple pie that I had.

Whoa Nellie!

But who cares, you only have Thanksgiving once a year, right?

Oh yeah, shit.

Uh... PG-13 or XXX?

Wow. Did they consult anyone before they named this family-oriented word game (spotted on the shelf at Games by James in Ridgedale)?

Day 279 - Ghost Squirrel

160.0 on the scale. I don't know for sure, but an educated guess for exercise would be something like 13.5 miles biking on the path, and 150/100.

So today I pretty much lolligagged away the morning, and then me and the boys quick-ate some lunch and biked to their tennis lessons. While they were lessoning, I mounted the bike again and went to the path for awhile. I kinda had trouble finding the quickest way to get on the path from the tennis club, but finally got on and went east on it into Hopkins, which is why I don't really know how far I went.

While on the path, I saw something I've never seen before -- an albino squirrel. White as snow! I saw it prancing along the path at a distance but wasn't quite sure if it was an empty plastic bag or Wendy's paper bag or what. But as I got closer it scurried off the path to the right and climbed partway up a tree. I slowed so I could get a decent look at it, but it was trying to hide behind a tree, as squirrels do. What I did see was pretty stinkin' cool. Never seen one like that before.

Anyway, the rest of the day involved taking a shift at a car wash fundraiser for the kid's school. We were the drying team. Afterwards we met Jo at Applebee's at Ridgedale, ate, then walked around a bit.

Now we're home. Wooo! Excitement never ends, eh??

Day 278 - And Gosh Darn It, People Like Him

160.0 on the scale. 14.0 miles biking on the path after work, 150/100.

I drove by Al Franken on 394 on the way to work this morning. JD was driving, and I tried to get their attention, but no luck.

Crazy.

Today mostly sucked. (More on that later.)

However, the designers did have a meeting where we looked at the first iterations of the business system and some promotional graphic ideas with the new branding, and I was excited!

There were some really great things going on, and some really great ideas. Next phase is to marry all the good stuff together and make it all play nicely together. It'll be awesome.

Day 277 - On The Path Again

162.0 on the scale. 10.75 miles biking on the path, 150/100.

I gotta get back on the blog wagon, but at least I've been able to mostly keep up with the exercise wagon despite the rain!

Day 276 - Stealing The Show

159.5 on the scale, 14.0 miles biking on the path, and 150/100.

The MIMA Summit today was really great! It was completely sold out with something like 700+ attendees, and what was kinda cool is I think I knew about 20 - 25% of them.

The presentation went pretty well I think. Jo dropped Cole off around 2:45 or so, and Brad met us there and we setup things starting around 3:00, ultimately presenting at 3:15.

Cole was there to play the game we used to make a lot of the points we were making, and he did GREAT under the spotlight. In fact, more people came up to tell Cole he did a great job than people who came up to me.

Anyway, we presented, and amazingly got through the whole thing in a half hour, unfortunately no time for questions though.

Afterwards, Cole stuck around with me and sat through an hour-long presentation by Google about the top 10 trends in interactive marketing this year, and then attended the happy hour with me. Again, more people came up to him than me to tell him how good a job he did. He was the only kid there!

I can't remember who, but someone I knew came up and said, "Nice touch having your kid there to present with you. It was kinda like you bringing your cute puppy to the park to meet women. It made you instantly likable."

BING! Cole's coming to ever presentation from here on out.
Anyway, they'll be posting a podcast of the presentation, and when they do, I'll post a link to it so you too can hear my voice crack like a teenage boy going through puberty.

Day 274 - Oh God, It Is Monday

160.5 on the scale. No exercise yet.

The ol' body did not wanna get up today. Mostly put finishing touches on the MIMA presentation at work today. Almost ready for Wednesday, just need to integrate some pieces from Ross and Adam, and proof the whole shebang.

So I got on the treadmill tonight to watch Heroes and started jogging. My right ankle has been giving me some trouble the last week when I run on it, it just kills. Well, running on it on the treadmill felt like it was shredding it.

I could only last about 25 minutes or so before I had to stop completely. Maybe I need to go to the doctor.

I ended up icing it and taking some ibuprofen, and I think I'm gonna have to limit myself to the bike the next few days. That is if it doesn't rain, which it is supposed to ALL week.

So, in other news, Heroes is freakin' awesome.

Have I said that before?