Johnny Appleseed

My daughter loves Johnny Appleseed.  She sings a Zak Morgan song about his story and recently had us buy her a book with a story about Johnny Appleseed.  I read the book to her tonight, the story of which largely parallels the lore contained in the song.  I chuckled at the fact that today some guy wandering around randomly planting apple trees everywhere he went would be accused of environmental irresponsibility at a minimum, and environmental terrorism in an extreme case.

Except that’s not what he did.  After my daughter finally went to bed, I looked him up in Wikipedia.  He evidently had a much more complex life, and I’m glad that I looked him up.  Go read about Johnny Appleseed. 

Back from NY And A Nasty Cold

I took a business trip to New York this past week and then had a nasty cold, so I didn’t post much.  I’m pretty unfamiliar with New York, and unwittingly booked a hotel right next to the World Trade Center site (the Marriott Financial Center). 

One day I was there I used GMaps to try and find the WTC site and erroneously thought I should go about 7 blocks south.  I didn’t find it, went to a dinner I had scheduled at Nobu (in the area) and the next morning tried again by asking the doorman at the hotel.  When I asked he gave me a look like I was a serious idiot and now I know why.  I was right next to it the entire time.

If you find yourself in the area please go by and visit FDNY Station House #10.  These guys were involved in the recovery operation and lost men in the effort.  They have a memorial up and it is worth a visit. 

Fundraising Evolution - Where Is It?

As our kids enter their “mainstream” school years I am shocked at how much things have changed from when I was a kid.  We have homework for kindergarten students whose average age is closer to 6 than 5, (way too much) technology in the classrooms, overachieving parents and extracurricular activities organized to an almost paramilitary level of rigor.  Its no wonder the kids are so stressed these days - as a parent I’m stressed from the logistics alone and could see this stuff occupying a stay-at-home parent full-time before they had a chance to whip up a dinner each night for Ward (or June) when they come home from work.

One thing that hasn’t changed though are the fundraising approaches.  In spite of the internet, services like PayPal and the increase in two-income households (at least where I live) I still see countless fundraisers that emphasize “sweat equity” like selling candy, gift-wrap, tickets to some Lion’s Club or Rotary breakfast, etc.

I know that these tactics are in part used to avoid penalizing those with less disposable cash but it’s the most inefficient method possible to raise money.  I typically bring a checkbook to these and ask the person “how much do you want?” to just cut to the chase.  For fun I might ask how big a check I need to write not to be bothered again for one year.  Suprisingly, about 30% of the time the person asking for my help in these fundraisers doesn’t even know what their goal is.

Everything else about childhood seems overengineered yet we are like lemmings when it comes to fundraising.  Why is there little-t0-no original thinking going on here? 

New Bluetooth Headset

plantronics910.jpg

Historically I’ve not been a fan of bluetooth headsets because I think they make you look like you belong in a “B”-grade science fiction movie.  But now that I spend a lot of time switching between my cell phone and VOIP, I thought I would see if any models existed that could make the switching easier while letting me roam around the home office.

Enter the Plantronics .Audio 910.  One of the more ubiquitous designs out there, it isn’t pretty but it is very comfortable, sounds good and lets you pair with multiple devices at the same time.  Works for me, even though my kids think I look like a dork when I wear it. 

Back from The Big Family Trip with a new toy

I haven’t posted for a while because we took one of those classic family summertime trips - stuff the kids in the car, drive all over the southwest, stay in something like half a dozen hotels and see just how far your kids can go till they absolutely freak out from travelling so much.

Actually the kids did great - the only issue is we now have a daughter who has to be “un-spoiled” from eating at restaurants for every meal.  One thing that was helpful on our trip was a Garmin Nuvi 350.  Not much bigger than an iPod, this little gadget can attach to your windshield (or just float around the front console without losing signal) and has nearly the level of navigation prowess as my Acura’s built-in nav system, which I’ve been told by my automotive journalist friends is one of the best systems out there.  And it weighs just a few ounces, runs on rechargeable batteries (great for rental cars!) and can even talk to you in a voice of your choosing. 

Go buy one.  Now. 

Marriott Gets Hotel Multimedia

Hotel Room Multimedia Input Panel

What has never impressed me about hotels (even my preferred chain, Marriott) is the lack of multimedia support as a general rule: Usually you get a sizeable TV which has been neutered to only show hotel-provided TV with no external inputs for a personal DVD player, video iPod or laptop and a special protector on the cable’s input to prevent “rewiring” attempts by people like me. I suppose the original theory was to encourage sales of their pay-per-view movies but it always struck me as presumptuous that they would dictate my media consumption that way, especially as media continues to fragment into more of a “long tail” distribution.

The newly remodeled San Mateo Marriott has shown me the future and it is much more friendly to today’s increasingly digital guests. The guest rooms have a flat panel TV (a less unique feature these days) that has more importantly been wired to a multimedia input panel built right into the desk along with a high speed data line and not one, not two, but FOUR power outlets.

Good job Marriott! If all hotels did this I could stop travelling with little power strips for all my laptops, phones, etc. and I could watch some episodes of “24” that I’ve downloaded (legally, mind you) to my DishPlayer Archos multimedia device. I hope this is a sign of things to come to other properties at Marriott and other hotel brands in the future.