Every good adventure has a story behind it, and this adventure would not leave us empty-handed.]]>
It’s been one heck of a busy year with a lot of changes in my life, thankfully all for the better. All-in-all, I can say it’s been a pretty good year and for that I’m grateful. I’m lucky enough to be working in one of the most exciting spaces in technology (mobile apps) and found a new passion, Fly Fishing.
This week I had the privilege of finally being able to go on a guided float down the Yakima River with Orvis endorsed guide Derek Young from Emerging Rivers Guide Services and my buddy Troy Yung. What an experience that was! I was thoroughly ready to catch my share of some trout, but I swear they were holed up in a fish hotel watching some fish porn or something. More on that in a bit…
One of the Fly Shops I frequent is Orvis in Bellevue, WA. In the short time I’ve been fly fishing (a few months), Orvis has put on a number of free seminars that have been quite excellent and their Orvis Days have been simply awesome.
If you haven’t gone to these, you are REALLY missing out! The staff at Orvis has always been wonderful and very knowledgable. If you are a local in the area and haven’t been to Orvis, make sure to at least go there once to have a look and meet some of the fine folks like Leland Miyawaki, the Fly Fishing Manager and Dov Young (what is it with all the Youngs in fly fishing around here). 
If you are into salt water fly fishing in Puget Sound, Leland is one of the most knowledgable guides in the area. Just be forewarned, if you go, it’s going to be hard to walk out empty-handed!!!
It was at the Orvis Fall Days where I met Derek Young when he was presenting on fly fishing the Yakima river. I knew Derek had to be a cool dude when I saw him setting up his MacBook for the presentation. Mac guy, fly fisher, how could he be a bad dude? Then my suspicions were confirmed when he started talking about fly fishing the Yakima. I knew right then I HAD to do this. The bug was planted (no pun intended), now I just needed to find the right time to go. Life was pretty slammed and crazy busy at work for the past 3 months (notice the lack of posts on the blog here). But FINALLY, I found a time that would work, but as life would have it…it was dead smack in the middle of winter. Cold as hell, and not exactly the best conditions for trout. But I was determined. If for nothing else, the float would be incredibly scenic (and fun) and it would be good casting practice with a chance to get some 1:1 instruction on techniques like nymphing, droppers, strike indicators and streamers, as well as reading the water, all of which I was still a complete n00b at.
Every good adventure has a story behind it, and this adventure would not leave us empty-handed. Our day started out in less-than-ideal fashion with Troy’s Audi deciding that half way to North Bend (our planned breakfast destination) was about a good time to break down. :-/ We pampered it and hobbled along to get pretty close to our rally point when I called Derek for a rescue mission. The Audi was pissed off and bucking like a bronco. I suspect CV joints were at the root of the poor Audi’s dilema given the clacking sound and resistance to turning without creating a scene. I was really hoping this was not an early indicator of how the rest of the day was going to turn out. But thankfully, Derek promptly jumped in the “Rum Pig” (more on that later), and came to the rescue a few miles down the road just before we hit Issaquah on I-90.
Troy called a tow truck and set up an appointment for them to tow the car AFTER our float later that evening. There was no way we were going to miss this opportunity. As we were wrapping up the towing situation, Derek pulls up in the Tundra (Rum Pig) with a sweet looking StreamTech raft in tow. This green monster had FUN written all over it. Things were looking up.
Our original plans called for us to stop at a killer breakfast joint in North Bend, but due to the delays, we opted to skip the big breakfast and grab something once we got closer to our put-in at Cle Elum, daylight was at a premium at this time of year. We loaded our gear and launched heading east on I-90 towards Snoqualmie Pass. The weather forecast was all over the place with some calling for snow, so we were hoping the weather would cooperate. The passes definitely had snow, but the drive eastbound to Cle Elum was more than manageable.
We made it through the pass and arrived at our first stop, the Pioneer Coffee Roasting Company. We grabbed some tasty eats and loaded ourselves with coffee to hold us over for a good while. From there we headed out for a quick hop to the put-in. When we got there, I just looked at Derek, then Troy, back at Derek and said, what…THIS is where you’re putting in?
So….like where’s the ramp? Then Derek proceeded to go all 4×4 in what I thought was pucker factor 10 (mind you I’m a recent Northwest transplant from Miami, FL of all places). Snow is something I’m still adjusting to, especially when driving in it. But I guess that’s why Derek is a true pro guide, he maneuvered the Rum Pig with no problem and got us into position to pull the StreamTech off the trailer. I was still wondering how the hell he was going to get the raft to the river, but he promptly put that question to rest. Derek started prepping the raft while Troy and I got suited up. After stowing our gear and a solid safety brief, we boarded the Class 5 rated StreamTech raft and were on our way.
The scenery was simply breathtaking. Everything just has this serene feel about it when it’s covered in snow. The water was crystal clear. Floating down the river just felt right. After a short float, we jumped out for some casting instruction and a little wading. Derek worked with us on getting our casting skills tightened up and got us warmed up for the day. That’s when Troy discovered it just wasn’t his day. There’s probably not much else worse than standing in a river wearing chest waders that are supposed to keep you warm and DRY only to find out you have not one, but multiple leaks. The suck factor for Troy just went up by 10x. No problem though, we adjusted the plan and spent a minimal amount of time wading in lieu for seat time on the raft. As it turns out, this wasn’t bad at all. It probably kept us warmer in the long run and it was great practice being able to fish from a floating platform, we can wade anytime. We spent the majority of the day floating except for a few pit stops along the way.
We started the day off with some nymphing. Derek rigged us up nice with a dropper combo and indicator that would hopefully improve our odds of catching something. Somehow the fish knew something we didn’t. They simply didn’t want to come out and play. While Troy and I were slingin bugs, Derek was keeping an eye out for anywhere the fish might be hiding. We could see clear to the bottom of every pool and nothing, nada, zilch, zip. But we charged on. Along one of our pit stops Derek pointed out the hatch of the day on the snowbank. Looked like some small black winter stoneflies and midges were on the menu for the day.
We continued floating for the next several hours, only to be skunked by the trout. I was able to get some great shots throughout the day and made the float that much sweeter being able to combine another one of my passions, photography.
Before we knew it the daylight was gone and we arrived at our final destination. The shuttle service had already positioned the truck and we were ready to go. Again the Rum Pig came through like a champ and put that Warn winch to good use. The snow was fresh powder and deep. Derek dug out in 4WD mode with ease and got the truck lined up to pull the raft up to shore. A few button pushes later the boat was beached and he turned the truck around to pull the raft onto the trailer. NICE. And just like that, our adventure had just about come to an end.
On our way home we stopped for some great burgers and headed for the pass. The snow was coming down hard at this point and driving conditions were deteriorating fast. Thankfully we made it through with no problems and arrived in time to meet the tow truck.
This adventure ended with us getting skunked by the trout. Fish 1: Anglers 0. I intend to get even. We’ve already committed to Derek that we’ll be coming back out in March for a rematch with the trout. Something tells me the next three months are going to be very long. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end the year. Thanks to my buddy Troy and new friend Derek for a great time I won’t ever forget. In the meantime I think I’ll try my hand at learning to tie some flies. And wouldn’t ya know it, Orvis has a 4-session fly tying class coming up in January!
Oh…and about that Rum Pig, you’re probably wondering why I’ve been referring to the Tundra as the “Rum Pig”…
For more pics on our adventure, see the full set on my Flickr page. Happy New Year & Tight lines…see you in 2011!!! 
9 comment(s) for this post:
Frank:
26 Nov 2011 Ha! Hey buddy...I was literally just thinking about this the other day. I've been HAMMERED here with work lately so things have been a bit slow updating the blog. I will absolutely get a review on the day pack on here soon...so far I LOVE IT!!! It's replaced my other packs and become my "go to" pack now. Stay tuned!!!Scott:
25 Nov 2011 How'd it work out!? Dying to hear - - - You got one of our first, and we're looking really forward to taking the next steps with the gear this coming year. Keep up the great work, Frank
03 Aug 2011 Thanks Dean! Glad you guys enjoyed the story. I'm going to put that Vedavoo pack to good use! I'm learning more about my new passion every day and only regret so far is that I didn't know what fly fishing was about earlier in life. 30+ years living in south FL that I could have been chasing Tarpon and Bonefish, but at least now I have Salmon and Trout. :) You have a new follower as well. :) Thanks again!!!Dean:
03 Aug 2011 Congrats on the TFM Vedavoo pack giveaway, Frank. Excellent adventure and it reminds me of my first floats here in New England. Not as cold and challenging with the automobile issues, but it was a blast none the less. As a relatively new fly fisher as well, welcome to the sport and you have a new follower.Link Jackson:
31 Dec 2010 Frank Just take a look at poor Derek. He is a mess. Do you really want to wind up that way? Constantly driving long miles in pursuit of the next nirvana of rising trout in a far away land. Then comes the boats, the rods, the reels, the fly tying gear...it is a terminal condition and it can lead to run in's with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Proceed cautiously!
For now, I leave you with my first catch...nice little Rainbow Trout that I released back to the wild to be caught another day. ]]>
I’ve been busy….REAL busy the past 6 months but life is trucking along quite nicely. Picked up a new hobby (as if I needed another one) and just got into Fly Fishing. I have to admit, I never thought I’d be much for fishing but there’s just something about being out here in the wilderness of the Pacific NW that is absolutely magical and therapeutic. I’m looking forward to learning more about my new passion and incorporating my love of photography into fly fishing. Now if only I could squeeze in flying and get in a floatplane to get into those really remote areas. Not quite ready to take that plunge but maybe someday.
For now, I leave you with my first catch…nice little Rainbow Trout that I released back to the wild to be caught another day.
It’s been a busy week of updates and cleaning up the dusty parts of this blog. We now have a brand new look and I’ve added some dedicated pages for my resume, photos and contact info.
A couple of housekeeping notes…make sure to update your RSS Feeds if you aren’t seeing them. I’ve republished the feed to feedburner but if you were using anything other than that, you might want to check your feed settings or re-subscribe via the link at the top. If you are having any issues or see anything wonky, please leave a comment and I’ll be sure to check it out. Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging…that is all. :)
]]>
So if anyone is still subscribed to this thing, you might be wondering if I fell off the face of the planet or something. Well, lets just say life got busy. REAL busy. The last couple of years seem to have literally passed with the blink of an eye. New baby, new house, crazy workload @ MSFT shipping Windows Server 2008 R2, then most recently leaving MSFT and going to work at Amazon.com. Now I’m just starting to get some sort of resemblance of a real life back.
So it looks like I have a bit of work to do to clean up this place and upgrade to the latest software, etc. It’s going to be a bit dusty around here while I get things back in order…but I’m back! 
I hope to be posting some tasty stuff here shortly. Mostly focused around a little bit of design, some flying adventures and most definitely lots of photography. I have been shooting with a Canon Powershot Pro 1 point and shoot for the past few years while my pro rig went mostly unused because I refused to go back to film. I finally took the plunge and jumped into a Canon 50D and I’m back to the pro rig using my big glass. For some of the most recent shots, be sure to check out my FlickR site.
If anyone’s still out there, leave a shout-out in the comments!
FB
1 comment(s) for this post:
ken:
30 Aug 2009 congratulations on the baby and getting adjusted to new job, etc. 50d is pretty good keep shooting, great pics. Ken
It’s Microsoft, and with a company of 80,000 people comes a lot of red tape and baggage.
I hear people complaining all the time about how we do some stupid things, heck – I’m the first one to bitch about it. What most people DON’T realize is that for everything that seems like a stupid oversight or decision, the reality is that it was probably done willfully and knowingly. I’m learning that creating software this complex has a lot of dependencies and relies on a lot of things that quite simply are just sometimes beyond your control. It’s a game of negotiating and prioritizing. There are TONS of things that we wish we could do and features that would be way cool to have, but for one reason or another, aren’t possible in a specific release. It’s just the way it is and I’m learning to have to deal with it.
The positive side of things is that times are changing. Slowly, but surely. The culture at Microsoft is VERY Dev driven, but recently there has been a push for more emphasis on design and user experience. We can thank companies like Apple and others which are leading the way in User Experience and educating customers on the value of “User Experience.” Microsoft isn’t going to change overnight, but it’s happening. One thing I can say is that we hear you loud and clear, even when you don’t think we are listening.
So all that being said, I am going to attempt to AGAIN start blogging more often. I keep saying it but let me tell ya folks, it’s getting hard to do that! My day typically starts off at 8am and I’m rolling back into the house at 7pm. There’s just so much stuff to do every day that I can’t imagine how anyone with a job like this can actually blog every day and balance work and family life. If someone has the secret, please let me know! It’s looking more an more like what little TV I watch is going to have to go by the wayside. Meh – who needs TV anyways? I’m planning to get a new Canon EOS 40D in the next month and finally get out and start shooting around Seattle! As soon as I get those pics rolling in, I’ll post a link. For now…back to catching up on my blog reading…
Technorati Tags:
]]>
Holy smokes, has it really been that long since my last post? I just can’t believe how insane the past 4 months have been. In my last post I mentioned that it was like someone had opened up the fire hose and shoved my face in it. I’m here to tell you, things haven’t changed. Although I am feeling much more comfortable learning the domain space for the product I am working on, it’s an awful lot of information to absorb. But all that aside, I am having a blast and absolutely love my job.
The world has been zooming along with all sorts of new stuff happening and I barely have time to take it all in. All sorts of craziness coming out of Apple (octacore Mac Pro – WOW!), new Xbox announcements (the new 360 Elite rocks!), Windows Mobile (v6 is out), just loads of stuff. One of the cool things I have been able to do since working at Microsoft has been alpha & beta testing a bunch of software (a.k.a. Dogfooding), and getting to play with some way cool technology. Since the word is out, I can talk about testing the new maps that were just released for Halo 2. I had a great time playing the maps and met some way cool people in the process. You might want to go check out the infamous Kari, a.k.a “TheDonWan” at http://kari.loadingreality.com. Bungie test queen by day, Halo goddess by night. This chick can kick some serious ass on Halo lemme tell you.
There so much going on that it’s hard to recap after a few months, so I’m not even going to try. What I’ll do is try to start blogging a little more frequently from here on out. Have a great Easter everyone!
]]>
We aren’t living in FL anymore…that’s for sure! Being from FL, we aren’t exactly familiar with “winter” so it was a bit of a shock to wake up the other day to what you see above. Needless to say, we have had “snow days” and been telecommuting for the last two days. Some people have been nutty enough to drive to the office, but they are far and few between. Most of us are iced in. The freeways are in great shape, but we can’t get to them! Not so bad though…I spent my day working at home, sitting on my couch with this for a view…
Working at home isn’t my favorite thing to do since I can get a lot more done at the office, but with a view like this, it doesn’t seem so bad anymore. So we are finally getting settled into Seattle. Moving is definitely no easy thing, but it has been soooooo worth it. Aside from the drag of having to unpack everything now, it’s been the best move I have ever done. We had over 15,000 pounds of stuff hauled 4,000 miles and only ONE thing broke that we have noticed so far, and that was a little ceramic top to a sugar jar – not exactly tragic. I have to hand it to Graebel Van Lines, they are damn good. My driver was Don Jordan, what a nut of a road dog, but that old salt can drive. I wouldn’t want to move ever again if that guy isn’t hauling my stuff. I have heard of MANY nightmare stories, but this one is definitely not one of them. So far every single item has been accounted for and made it in the same condition it left Miami. Rockin I tell you. Thank you Graebel, thank you Donny!
So now it’s just a matter of getting used to this insane weather Seattle has been getting this year. From what I am told, this is NOT the norm. I actually think it’s pretty nice. I wouldn’t want to deal with the snow for an extended period of time, or deal with the amount of snow a place like Denver gets, but I can deal with this just fine for now. It’s been clear and sunny the past two days, but it’s cold…damn cold! We are looking at something like 20 degrees tonight, add the wind chill to that and you definitely don’t want to be putzing around outside if you don’t have to. We lit up our fireplace upstairs for the first time last night, and tonight we are trying out the wood burning stove downstairs. I am hoping it will help keep the house warm without the furnace having to work so hard. It’s actually pretty cool, never had one of these before. Check it out:
So that’s the latest update peeps. I know it isn’t anything earth shattering or interesting, but until I can get back into my groove and start getting all techie again, this is the most I can put together. I have a TON of feeds to read and catch up on with all this CES and Macworld stuff this past week. That iPhone is just AWESOME! Wish I could get one, but I have to have Exchange support and be able to get my stuff from work. So far my new Cingular 8525 has been doing the trick just nicely. I hope to blog some more about this soon so standby. Until next time…
Technorati Tags: General, Seattle, Snow, Winter
1 comment(s) for this post:
Greg Nelson:
26 Jan 2007 Damn nice Frank, looks a little bit colder than down here. We are looking at 72 as a high today.. ;-)
Let’s celebrate the arrival of 2007!!!
Flickr Photo by James.Chen.
I know it’s a few days late posting this, but it’s just been a rockin start to the new year. We have finally arrived in Seattle. After SEVEN long days driving from Florida to Seattle, we arrived on New Years Eve just in time to have dinner, watch the fireworks and go to bed. We are still in corporate housing waiting on our moving truck to arrive, hopefully this weekend. Work has been a bit of a slow start, just trying to catch up on emails and getting my mind wrapped around all the stuff I have to deliver in a short amount of time. There’s definitely no better way to learn the job than to be thrown right into it, and that they have done! I hope to post a little more often as I finally settle in and get into my groove in my new environment. Let’s hope 2007 is better than last year…so far we are off to a great start.
* Photo Credit to James Chen on FlickR – Thanks!
]]>
What a nutty past few days it’s been. We left south FL on Christmas morning (afternoon actually) and have been driving since. We stopped in Tallahassee, FL for the first night, and stopped again in Houston, TX last night. Sofar the plan is to do the long-haul across TX today and try to make El Paso. Let me tell ya, I-10 is one BORING road. So far the most interesting thing we have seen was the devastation in New Orleans from hurricane Katrina. Man, that place is still a ghost-town. It’s amazing that our President, our government, our elected officials have literally forgotten about and written off an entire US city and nobody seems to give a crap. When you see a Walmart pull out of town and things like
amusement parks completely abandoned and left to rot, you have to know things are bad. I have been through a lot of the states in our country and I can whole-heartedly say the the last place in North America I would ever want to live is in the state of Louisiana. I sure hope those people in New Orleans found new homes and made a new life, that town is gone. Hopefully things will start getting a little more scenic once we get out of Texas. Time to get back on the road…hope everyone is
having a great holiday….
Technorati Tags: General
]]>
PHOTO CREDIT: MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Wow, so today is Tuesday, December 19, 2006 and I am back in south FL to finish packing the house and get my family. What a crazy past few days it has been. Just as I was wrapping up my third week at Microsoft, we got hit with an insane storm that has devastated the Puget Sound region. We’re talking about winds over 90mph and devastation the likes of a hurricane in south FL. People at work are poking fun at me that I brought the shitty FL weather with me. In the three weeks that I have been living in Seattle, there has been flooding due to higher than average rainfall, snow – and lots of it, as well as the nutty wind storm which have led to massive power outages throughout the region.
Last Thursday I lost power at about 9pm. By morning, I was still without power. I decided that if anyone has power, it had to be Microsoft. Nope. Got there and power was out everywhere. Card readers didn’t work and access to buildings was impossible unless someone let you in. I managed to get a cell phone signal (most towers everywhere were out, but we have like 22 just on the Microsoft campus alone). I got into my email via my Cingular 8525 (more on that one to come) and saw that facilities had sent everyone an email saying we were down. Everyone that could get on email was canceling meetings for the day. Since I had nothing better to do and my flight home wasn’t until 10:30pm, I figured I would just hang out and power would be on soon. Not a chance, three hours later, power was still out. After getting tired of that routine, I headed out to Woodinville to check on my new house. What a mess. Trees, power lines, you name it, it came down in Woodinville. The picture above was taken right down the street from my new home. Hell of a day to take care of business out there.
I did what I needed to do and headed back to Bellevue to my corporate apartment. The entire drive there I had cell coverage and was trying to get my wife to book an airport shuttle for me, but I didn’t have my corporate apartment address on me. I figured I would call her back when I got to the apartment. Only one problem. It seems the power, phone service AND cell towers were all down at the apartment. Talk about being blasted back to the stone ages. It was pure madness. I decided to go down the mountain and see if I could get better cell coverage and get a call out to my wife. Nothing. By now I was starting to panic since I really didn’t want to leave my car at the airport for two weeks. I already had permission to leave my car in the Microsoft garage at my building, so I figured I would head out to the campus and catch a bus or cab to the airport from there. So back to the apartment I went to get my gear. Just as I pull into my parking space, my new neighbor starts up a conversation with me about my Mustang. One thing led to another and the next thing I knew, he was giving me a ride to the airport! Try THAT here in Miami. Someone was definitely watching over me. I got to the airport with time to spare and made a new friend in the process. Pete didn’t even accept my money for gas, what a guy I tell you. If you ever read this – thanks a million Pete! A full blown BBQ at my new house is in order, and Pete is my guest of honor.
One thing I have to mention, in the face if this madness, the people in Seattle generally maintained their composure and remained civil. It wasn’t like here in Miami where the looters come out to rob you blind. The grocery stores were open with basic power to run registers, and people still maintained law and order while they shopped for what they needed. They didn’t abuse the system and were thoughtful of the others around them that were also in need. Here in Miami, some idiot would wipe out the entire water aisle or ice machine, just because he could. That’s the kind of people in Miami and exactly the reason I am getting the hell out of this place.
So now I am getting ready to have the packers arrive tomorrow and Thursday, and loading the truck on Friday. On Xmas morning we are heading out on our 3,300+ mile adventure and driving to Seattle with my wife, daughter and dog. THAT’s gonna be interesting. I’ll try to take pics and blog periodically on our journey. Unfortunately we can’t take the scenic route for fear of ending up like James Kim (poor guy). The shortest and most scenic route would take us through some pretty heavy snow areas, so we are taking the boring route along I-10 through the desert to I-5 in Los Angeles and heading north to Seattle from there.
Our best wishes to you and your families, have a great holiday and I’ll be back once we are on the road!
]]>
Wow. That is the only way to summarize the past two weeks. First, we finally got our house! That’s our new home up above. It is in a little town called Woodinville. It’s just a few miles north of Redmond, where I will be working at Microsoft. A little known fact about this tiny town: There are no less than 30 – count ‘em – THIRTY wineries and numerous brew houses in Woodinville. Check out the full list at: http://www.winesnw.com/woodinville.html
I suspect my wife and I are going to have some fun weekends up here. Aside from turning into winos, we are less than 30 minutes drive (east) to several ski resorts for you snow bunnies, approx. 20 minutes to downtown Seattle, and only a couple hours drive from Portland, OR to the south or Vancouver, B.C. to the north. I can’t wait to get out and explore more.
If you haven’t read about Week 1, just roll back to the post before this one for that story. Week two was pretty interesting. Things at Microsoft can get pretty overwhelming VERY quickly. For most people, just trying to get the hang of how to find anything on this massive campus can be a daunting task. The building I am in was designed like a maze for rats. Add to that that there are really three or four buildings connected and throw in an underground parking garage that is several levels deep and covers all the buildings…lets just say you can lose your car (and your mind) pretty easily if you don’t take a mental note of where the hell you parked. But on the flip side, this place just simply rocks. In my building I have TWO kitchens on every floor. Each fully stocked with tons of drinks and a Starbucks machine that grinds and brews fresh coffee on demand. It just doesn’t get any better. I have been warned about the “Microsoft 20″ though. That is apparently the term used for the 20 pounds you will gain when you first come to Microsoft! I can certainly understand how. There is a common cafeteria (1 of 23+ that I know of) that serves the 3 or 4 buildings in my little area and the food is not too bad. And last, there are things like foos-ball, billiard tables and ping-pong tables all over the place for those impromptu sessions while you exercise your brains.
So back to the job. My team wasted no time and threw me right into the mix. It’s like someone opened up a fire hose and I am sitting right in front of it with my mouth wide open. I have been in meeting after meeting after meeting after meeting. Hell, I have been in meetings about meetings. There is one thing you can bet on around Microsoft, they get damn good use of their conference rooms! My head is still spinning. With all that information being thrown at you, you better be good at taking notes. Everyone is really good about summarizing things though. Usually a Program Manager will send out a re-cap of the important stuff and we have just massive amounts of resources internally. Anything critical is posted on our internal team sites. So finding things isn’t too bad as long as you have somewhere to start from. Another thing that Microsoft knows how to do well is usability studies. Man, we have got some wicked nice labs. I have been in a bunch of usability studies this week working on a prototype for a very cool application. There’s just no better way to get this kind of feedback before going too far down the development process, and having a lab this well equipped is a dream. To the left you see my Usability Engineer conducting one of our sessions (our subject is behind the mirror and up on the plasma in the small window to the right.
I have to admit, I had no clue how complicated of a process it is to actually ship a piece of software at this level. There are a million meetings because there is just literally an insane amount of work and coordination across teams that has to happen for all of this to work. This makes web development pale in comparison. The good thing is that you are given EVERYTHING you need to succeed. And believe me, you get EVERYTHING. I have been working off of my desktop for most of the week and I just got my new laptop yesterday (yes, most of us have 2 or more systems on our desks) and I have to admit, it’s taking a bit of getting used to. After so many years of schlepping around a Powerbook, it just feels weird to carry a PC. But on the other hand, I actually forgot some of the nicer things about a PC. First, let me start off by saying that I drank the Kool-Aid pretty damn hard this week. My Apple peeps may need to sit down for this. I can’t believe I am going to say it….but…wait for it….wait…shhhhh: <whisper> Windows Vista is actually pretty COOL! </whisper>. Wow. There. I said it. Yes folks. It’s true. Microsoft did a damn good job on Vista and I sincerely believe that it will sell well once people see it. Office 2007 is nothing short of AMAZING. I have been searching for a complete suite of tools that does everything I want for quite some time on the Mac, and there just really hasn’t been a solution that met my needs. I finally found it – Office 2007 Enterprise ROCKS. Not only does it look good, but it works like a dream. I can’t believe how much I missed Outlook!
There is soooo much cool technology at this company that you just seriously have to sit back and just shake your head sometimes. Perfect example is my first all-hands meeting this week. We have this HUGE conference center that has a multitude of…well, conference rooms! But I am talking the BIG kind with full A/V capabilities like streaming the session across the entire campus. And this isn’t just any little meeting, it was fully catered with tasty eats and again, insane selection of beverages, some which left me saying “wow – we can drink that at work, and for free?!?!?!” Just take a look at the conference room (to the right) where we had our groups quarterly update meeting. Not only do you have pristine wireless access everywhere, the conference room has killer chairs and a desk with power outlet so you can actually be productive. This is the way everything is done around this company. I can’t tell you how great it feels to work someplace that just “gets it.” I know some of you may be saying they DON’T get it, and that may be true in certain aspects, but they get how business should be done and how to treat their employees.
The amount of information just internally on our intranet sites is mind blowing. And the sickest part is that you can install and play with just about anything. UNLIKE Apple, exploration and “dogfooding” is encouraged at this company. You are privy to internal confidential software and information that you would NEVER have access to at Apple. You are trusted to use good judgement and treated as a professional, not like a 2 year old that will spill the beans if told a secret. The culture is so awesome that it has literally made me stop and think to myself “WTF were you thinking Frank?” I have no idea why I was so hung up on Apple as if it were the only place to work in the universe. I got news for you people, there is life outside of and after Apple and it’s pretty damn good! That being said, Apple is still a great company to work for. It’s just a different culture, and they definitely “Think Different”, but in a good way. I just happen to like this new-found culture better. Like anything else, a lot has to do with the team you work with, so your milage can vary at either company. I am VERY fortunate to be on what I believe (and have been told by many) is one of the best groups and teams within all of Microsoft. I have great leadership and my peers are a hell of a bunch. I would be completely and utterly lost if it weren’t for my peer mentor. Microsoft really makes it a point to make sure your “onboarding” process is a good one and you are brought up to speed and not just left to figure things out on your own.
So going back to the technology…here’s one thing that Apple hasn’t figured out…mobile devices. I am tired of waiting for Apple to release what we have been asking for, the Apple Smartphone. So tell ya what…my happy ass is going down to Cingular tomorrow and picking up what I think is one of the coolest phones on the market right now, the Cingular 8525 (HTC TyTN). Yes, it runs Windows Mobile 5, and yes – it is WAY cool, and thanks to the Missing Sync, I can even sync it with my Mac’s at home. Internally we have access to not only a wealth of information on these mobile devices, we have tons of cool applications not available to the outside world. My Palm Treo 650 is a bonafide P.O.S. compared to these Windows based phones. And the added bonus for me will be having the ability to check email and calendar info at work without opening my laptop or PC. I get real-time push email from Exchange Server to my phone and since the entire campus is WiFi enabled, I can even jump on internal websites and pull down anything I need access to. The uber geek factor is high folks.
I’ll end with today’s Town Hall meeting. This is very similar to what Apple does and is meant to give the troops a state-of-the-union of how the company is doing. I finally got to see Steve Ballmer up close and in person for the first time. The best way I can describe him is “animated.” Boy, he sure gets fired up and truly excited about this company. I guess that’s a good thing. After sitting through the presentation and hearing about all the different things we are doing as a company, I can’t help but feel that I really made the right decision. Not that I have questioned it, but it is just simply reassuring to know that this company is doing well and heading in a good direction. We have so many cool new things coming out that people will have no option but to take notice. It’s a great time to be a Microsoftie and apparently I am not the only one who feels that way. Todays headline in the tech world is about well known Infoworld author John Udell. He apparently drank the same Kool-Aid that I did and has now been assimilated by the borg as well. This is a huge huge huge win for Microsoft and I can’t wait to see what he does when he comes onboard. His new boss, Jeff Sandquist (Rober Scoble’s old boss), has a blurb about it here. To hear the story straight from John’s mouth, click here. For those of you who think I am nuts or sold out, I encourage you to re-evaluate your idea of what’s important in today’s world of technology. There is more than enough room for both Apple and Microsoft, and the other players in the world, to co-exist peacefully and work quite well together. There are tons of job openings here and if you think you can make a difference and want to give it a shot, drop me a line and I will see what I can do. I am loving my new gig, I’m sure you would too!
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, General, Seattle
2 comment(s) for this post:
09 Dec 2006 Hey Eric! Glad to be onboard as you can imagine. Thanks for the nice welcome. Hopefully we can catch up and maybe do lunch next time you are out in Redmond! FrankEric Stutzman:
09 Dec 2006 Hi Frank! I am SOOOOOO glad to see you finally made it into Microsoft! Congrats and well deserved! Eric
Well helloooooooo out there Bisonium readers! I’m sorry it’s been a while since my last update, but as you can imagine, things are beyond hectic and I have been trying to get things ready for the past few weeks in anticipation of my final move to Seattle. I can’t begin to tell you how crazy it is knowing that you are about to pick up your whole life and and move it clear across the continental United States, 3300 miles, and leave everything you know and love behind. To say this is a stressful event is putting it mildly. I have been spending the past few weeks getting things done which I have been putting off, doing maintenance on vehicles, finalizing pending paperwork, closing out client projects and more. I am moving out to Seattle ahead of my family and getting things in order with our rental home (more on that later) and getting settled into my corporate apartment which will be home for the next 45 days. I have to hand it to Microsoft, they just simply know how to take care of their people. I arrived to a gorgeous 3 bedroom 2 bath apartment with a fireplace, overlooking Lake Sammamish. This is one swanky little pad, all fully furnished as you would expect a corporate apartment to be. I seriously have no complaints…well…almost none. There was one little detail that nobody could have expected (or done anything about).
This November has been one for the history books in Seattle. A couple weeks ago I flew out to Seattle with my wife and daughter on our house hunting trip. I couldn’t have picked a worse time to bring my family…there were torrential rains and flooding everywhere. The Snoqualmie Valley was completely flooded out and people in the surrounding areas were not even able to drive into work due to the conditions. One of the areas we were looking for homes was in Snoqualmie Ridge. What a beautiful area. But let me tell you…when the weather comes in, it COMES IN. The winds were insane and the rain made it just miserable. Needless to say, this was not exactly the impression I wanted to give my wife and daughter of our new home. I kept telling them that this just wasn’t normal. All I saw were rolling eyes and raised eyebrows like “yeah, suuuure…” So fast forward a couple weeks. I fly in Saturday and get my rental car…errr – truck actually. I wanted an SUV, but they were all out of Ford Escapes. I’m not sure why, but I asked if they had any F-150′s. They guy at the counter almost jumped with a loud “YEAH! You want one of those?” Me being the Ford guy I am, I was all over it, and the bad boy was a brand new 4×4 with 100 miles to boot. Didn’t get any better. Little did I know how much of a blessing it was to have this vehicle.
So I get all settled in, go do a grocery run and get my essentials. I settled in for the night and got comfy with my new pad. So the day has finally come and gone. I officially started as a Microsoft employee yesterday. All in all a good day and a major highlight in the life of Bisonium. Then I woke up and the nightmare began. No – I wasn’t having second thoughts about being assimilated by the Borg, quite far from it actually. Take a look at what I woke up to:
So for a guy from Miami, this isn’t exactly a normal driving situation. I have been trained to drive cars in some pretty radical situations (I was prior law enforcement), so I figured it couldn’t be too bad. I got up extra early figuring it would be a mess on the roads. As I left the apartment, things were looking alright. I made it down the mountain with no problems thanks to that 4×4 F-150. Once I got on the main roads, things were pretty decent. I actually made it to work an HOUR early. Better safe than sorry, so no complaints. My first day was spent in NEO (New Employee Orientation) and was quite informative. I thought Apple was the best organized company on the planet when it came to HR stuff through the online resources they had. Then I saw Microsoft’s internal system. Microsoft just simply has their stuff together in this respect and the amount of resources available to employees is mind boggling. More on that later. The day went about as well as could be expected. We broke out of the employee store at about 4:30 – 5pm. Since I didn’t have internet access at the apartment yet, I figured I would drop by a Starbucks on the way home. Spent an hour there goofin off and then started to head home. The weather had held up most of the afternoon, but by now, snow had started falling again. No big deal, I have 4×4 I thought. I proceeded to go grab some Chinese food and pick up a few things I forgot at the market next door. In the few minutes it took to get the food, the snow started coming down hard….REAL HARD. I was only a couple miles from home, no big deal I thought. Well…the problem wasn’t with me…however, not everyone in Seattle has a 4×4. This becomes a real problem in these conditions. By the time I got off I-90 on my exit, I got about 100 yards and saw police lights. They had blocked off Lakemont Blvd. Owwww boy. This isn’t good I thought. Check out the pic from my Treo:
.
I had no other choice but to pull over to the side of the road and wait. Seems like everyone else had the same idea. We all sat there watching as one car after another struggled just to make it up the small slope from the I-90 exit to Lakemont. Cars were losing it everywhere. After a couple hours of that, I asked the cop at the intersection if there was another way for me to get home and thankfully, he guided me to an alternate road that wasn’t iced over. Sure enough, I made it to the base of my complex. Then the fun began. There was a good 3 inches of powder on a very steep incline that I had to traverse in order to get to my apartment. I was already in 4-wheel drive and said “what the hell.” Up I went and I’ll be damned if that F-150 didn’t hunker down, dig in and haul-ass up that mountain. I made it to the top without incident and I am here to tell you – there is a 2006 Ford Mustang for sale now! My ass is dropping the vroom and gettin down with a 4×4 ASAP. My ‘stang would have just cried lookin at that mountain.
So I finally got in, heated up my food and called it a night. The news reports were saying it was going to be worse tomorrow and I was just hoping for a miracle and that the weather would let up. So fast forward to this morning…here’s this morning’s photo:
Yep. That’s looking out my balcony. This was not good. I kept thinking “How the hell am I going to make it down this mountain in this?” No sooner was I thinking that, the phone rang and it was my recruiter. She told me that our HR Vice President, Lisa Brummel, had sent out an email to everyone advising them to stay home and not attempt to drive to work in these conditions. Apparently the de-icing trucks in Redmond had run out of sand and were not able to de-ice many of the roads leading to the campus. For all intents and purposes, Microsoft has been closed down due to weather today. Just after I got off the phone with my recruiter, my new boss called me and pretty much said the same things. I have gotten many reassurances that this is simply NOT normal for Seattle at this time of year, or ever really. Usually if it snows, it burns off pretty quick and people aren’t usually left in these conditions for long. So lucky for me, I get to start my new career at Microsoft in one of the worse months of weather the Puget Sound area has ever seen. The bright side is that after seeing this, the “normal” conditions will seem pretty damn good from here on out. Hopefully by the time I bring my family back here at the end of December, the conditions will be a little more tolerable and make the transition easier for everyone. For now…I’ll be hangin out at Starbucks all-day and trying to catch up on some reading of many blogs. Hopefully I can find my way home without my GPS! I wish I could have gone to the NEO Day 2, but I am pretty sure it was cancelled. They have one every week, so I suspect I will be attending day 2 next week. Unfortunately I don’t have my company laptop yet either, so I can’t RAS in remotely to get on the network. The anxiety is killing me. I don’t think I can remember ever wanting to go to work so bad. Boy – that’s a switch huh? I can truly say that for the first time in a very long time, I am enjoying and looking forward to my new job. Can’t put a price tag on that. If you want to see more pics of what it’s like around here today, head on over to my FlickR page at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bisonium/. I also posted some pics from my Treo on the Bisonium Moblog on Text America: http://bisonium.textamerica.com/. More updates soon…tanks for dropping by!
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Seattle, Snow
2 comment(s) for this post:
Robert Martinez:
30 Nov 2006 Dude... that's crazy! I lived in upstate NY for about 6 months (the coldest ones) and the temperature got as low as -10 degrees. I couldn't help but laugh at your description of the first few days up there as I remembered what my first few days driving in snow were like. The first time I had to drive on ice... oh, and there is also the time we almost hit a deer, and the first time I drove into a ditch, and the time I almost ran into a mobile home cause I slid, and ... well, you get the idea. Keep posting them pictures!Rick Yaeger:
30 Nov 2006 Hey Frank, I'm in the same soup as you up here in BC. I busted my back wheel on a curb on Sunday, stayed home from work Monday, had a coworker take me in to work on Tuesday (in his Mustang!!)...worked 5 hours, picked up my car from the shop today and drove it in to work today...work 1.5 hours before it started snowing again and the boss sent us home. It usually doesn't snow like this here and when it does snow it is usually later in December. So, I'm hoping this isn't the start of a snowy west coast winter. Hang in there, Dr. Fleischman, you'll get through it.
Ok…I know what you are saying…WTF is that logo doing on your site Frank? Ummm hmmmm. Boy, that’s a great question. One for which my fellow Apple peeps need to make sure they are sitting down for the answer. Before I continue, please make sure you are not holding any hot objects or consuming liquids of any sort while you read the following few paragraphs. You have been warned.
As you can probably guess by now, there is a disturbance in the force. The dark side has been calling for about the last six months or so now and I have been making the rounds at the mother-ship. Not THAT mother-ship in Cupertino…..oh noooo. Yes, the OTHER mother-ship also known as the Redmond Giant. Yes people, it has happened. I have been officially assimilated by the Borg! For those of you less-than-geek types, I am talking about Microsoft.
I have been sitting on this for a week now, but I can officially release the news that I have accepted an offer at Microsoft as a User Experience Designer with the Windows Server Management Experience (WSMX) Group. Before you all have a heart attack and start throwing daggers and the pigmy’s come running to hunt me down with axes, hear me out.
This is a GOOD thing. It was the best move for my family, and to be quite honest, one HELL of a career opportunity that anyone would be brain-dead not to accept. And if you are wondering if I have to move to Seattle, the answer is a resounding YES! Rather than re-hash what I have already gone into great detail about elsewhere, follow the link and read the first post on my other “new” blog on Windows Live Spaces (and I don’t wanna hear any wise cracks about using Spaces, remember where I work now) ::: UX Design by Frank: http://uxdesign.spaces.live.com
I know this is a shocker to some of you, but you’ll understand that things aren’t always what they seem from the outside. You have to dig deep and peel back all the layers to reveal the truth about anything. I did my homework, I liked what I saw, I took the gig. It’s really that simple. Now get on over to my other blog and get the full scoop…
Technorati Tags: Design, Microsoft
3 comment(s) for this post:
16 Nov 2006 Thanks Alex! I am looking forward to getting out there and getting neck-deep into work. I'm sure we will hook up soon. FrankAlex:
16 Nov 2006 Welcome, Frank. I've enjoyed chatting with you periodically in the past, now maybe we'll be able to meet when you arrive at the mothership ;) AlexTim:
07 Nov 2006 Cheers to ya mate anyway, even if you are heading to that side. It all makes sense to me.... they have lots to learn from you! :)
You gotta love it when a company goes to this extent to provide something for nothing to their customers. All you Starbucks fans are in for a treat. Check out the email I just got from Navtones:
Because you’re on the Navtones A-List we’re hooking you up early with FREE Starbucks POIs for your TomTom and FREE Navtones alerts. Starbucks is not a restaurant, okay? So why should you have to plow through the TomTom restaurant database when all you need is a quick caffeine fix? Now, just install your city’s locations and Starbucks is only a click away in your POI menu. We have the top 100 US cities in our database and we’re giving you exclusive access until October 30th when we link to the world:
http://navtones.com/poi-starbucks.php.Along with a few choice words from our pal, Burt, expect to hear one of these happy alerts the next time you roll by the “Bux:
“Pay attention, FOOL!”
“Pump me up, baby!”
“Wake up!”
“I’m feelin’ tired.”
“Pull out the ‘Bux, buddy.”
Go to the Navtones site and ger yer “Bux” on…
]]>
I’m sure many of you have heard about creating an entry in your cell phone address book with the initials I.C.E. (In Case of Emergency) where a law-enforcement official can contact someone in the event you have an accident and cannot come to the phone. The state of FL has taken that a step further and created an online tool where you can enter up to two emergency contacts with all vital information which only law-enforcement officers can have access to in the event of an emergency. Now that’s pretty smart thinking. If you live in FL or have family who does, make sure they fill out the information…it could save their lives!
https://www6.hsmv.state.fl.us/dlcheck/findcustomer
Technorati Tags: Cool Sites
]]>
]]>
]]>
Technorati Tags: 9-11
]]>
To all Americans everywhere, Happy Independence Day! Today is a special day in our nations history and this day, we had an extra special treat. The space shuttle Discovery has successfully launched into space on it’s way to replenish the International Space Station.
“And liftoff of the space shuttle Discovery returning to the space station, paving the way for future missions and beyond,” said NASA launch commentator Bruce Buckingham.
This is the first time the shuttle has ever launched on Independence Day. After 2 scrubbed attempts due to bad weather, and lots of crossed fingers, we are back in space for only the second time since the Columbia accident. It sure feels good, lets hope that after further analysis of the images, there weren’t any complications or damage to the shuttle. The missions launch was in question earlier this week when it was discovered that there was a 4- to 5-inch crack in the external fuel tank’s foam insulation. After further analysis, the NASA engineers determined that the mission was still good to go.
To my fellow veterans, and those friends and other service men and women who continue to serve our country – THANK YOU. We are thinking of you and hope we can see you all back home soon. Have a fun and SAFE holiday everyone…to our heros in space – Good Luck and Godspeed.
Technorati Tags: General, Space Shuttle
]]>
Technorati Tags: General
]]>
Having lived in Florida most of my life, hurricanes are just a part of life I have learned to deal with. Last year was the roughest year yet though. I wasn’t even affected by Andrew when it devastated Homestead (given I was away in the military), but my parents home was fine after Andrew. So for me, last year was definitely the worst. We got a pretty good scare and all things considering, it could have obviously been a lot worse. A LOT worse. Today the Miami Herald is running a story that gives us a good idea of just exactly how much worse it can get. I have to tell ya…I don’t like it one bit. Last year having lived for a measly 3 days without power nearly drove me mad, I can’t imagine what would happen in these given scenarios. What really makes you stop and think is that this isn’t something that might happen, it is a CERTAINTY that it will happen. The only variable here is when.
Well folks, like any good IT guy would do, I think that a little proactive relocation planning is in order. Being the digital nerd that I am, the thought of no power for months on end is enough to get me out of here. But add in the mad chaos, idiots that can’t drive and generally FUBAR state we were in last year (after a fairly benign hurricane compared to what’s being forecasted), I am not waiting around for the day the “big one” hits south FL. I can only imagine what the mass exodus would look like. Add to that the fact that the housing market is just ridiculously STUPID expensive at the moment, the decision is pretty easy. This calls for a complete relocation and getting the hell out of south FL. When will I leave? Well – that’s a matter of what options present themselves, if any. Might be a month, might be a few years. One thing’s for certain, the search has officially begun. Areas of particular interest would be: WA (Seattle and surrounding areas), OR (Portland / Bend and surrounding areas), TX (Austin / Dallas), AZ (Phoenix, Sedona), NM (Santa Fe, Albuquerque), CO (Denver), TN (Nashville, Knoxville), NC (inland areas), SC (inland areas). Although those would be my ideal locations, I would be open to places like San Diego, San Francisco and the Washington DC Metro Areas. My main beef with those areas is the cost of living (but then again, Santa Fe and Sedona aren’t exactly cheap either). With a little one in tow, good schools and affordable housing are key concerns. An area with a solid base of IT jobs is also a consideration, should an unforeseeable event occur with any given employer. Being an IT guy in a small town with one main employer probably isn’t the smartest thing for career longevity.
I am leaning heavily towards the Pacific Northwest. I have traveled the US extensively, and although I haven’t had the chance to visit the Pacific Northwest as of yet, I just feel that something out there is calling my name. My wife tends to agree and likes the idea. I am a big fan of the outdoors, camping and photographic scenery. Living out there would be the excuse I needed for justifying an RV. After taking a short survey on findyourspot.com, I was given a list of places that would be suitable based on my preferences. It was pretty close to what I was targeting – actually, it was almost dead on! I listed the places after the jump (to minimize the length on the front page).
So that brings me to the discovery phase of my plan of action. I have a pretty extensive background in everything from sales / marketing to new media design and IT engineering and support. Although I am a Mac guy at heart, I can hang with Windows and *nix. For a good overview of my background, head over to LinkedIn and check it out. If you have a LinkedIn account and want to network with me, go ahead and send me an invite to join your network! I can fit right in at a start-up or a well-established F-500 enterprise. The ideal gig would challenge me to create something that is revolutionary in the industry and allow me to work with some incredibly talented people that are tops in their field. A creative, fun and exciting atmosphere, great benefits and career advancement opportunities round out the perfect gig. I know – I don’t ask for a lot now do I? Does such a gig even exist? If any of you loyal readers out there in the blogsphere have an inside line on a great gig outside of Florida, drop me a line: frank [at] bisonium [dot] com.
Technorati Tags: Real Estate, General
=======================================================
Although I don’t think I can see myself living in some of these places, most of them are right on target with where I would like to live…
My Top Spots (according to Findyourspot.com)
Portland, Oregon City of Roses
This Oregon city has the nation’s largest forested municipal park, the aptly-named Forest Park…
Population: 2,000,000 | Average Home Price: $259,000 | Precipitation: 36″ | Snow: 5″
Chattanooga, Tennessee City of Vision
The beautiful former depot of this town’s famous Choo-Choo is now a unique vacation complex…
Population: 155,000 | Average Home Price: $146,000 | Precipitation: 54″ | Snow: 10″
Greenville, South Carolina The Rising Star of the South
The Peace Center for the Performing Arts presents theater and concerts in this South Carolina city’s rejuvenated downtown…
Population: 56,000 | Average Home Price: $204,000 | Precipitation: 51″ | Snow: 7″
Fayetteville, Arkansas Light of the Ozarks
Near the University of Arkansas campus, this town’s Dickson Street is filled with lively bistros, night clubs and galleries…
Population: 62,000 | Average Home Price: $193,000 | Precipitation: 42″ | Snow: 10″
Charleston, West Virginia The Home of Hospitality
For a taste of yesteryear, catch the boat races at this West Virginia city’s annual Sternwheel Regatta…
Population: 248,000 | Average Home Price: $216,000 | Precipitation: 41″ | Snow: 26″
Little Rock, Arkansas Where America Comes Together
All Maybelline products distributed in the U.S. are made in this fashion-conscious spot…
Population: 595,600 | Average Home Price: $177,000 | Precipitation: 48″ | Snow: 5″
Hickory, North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountain Home
This area in North Carolina is known as the nation’s furniture manufacturing capital…
Population: 39,500 | Average Home Price: $195,000 | Precipitation: 41″ | Snow: 9″
Medford, Oregon Gateway to the Pacific Northwest
This gorgeous spot boasts the West’s only operating water-powered grist mill, located on the banks of Little Butte Creek since 1872…
Population: 190,000 | Average Home Price: $238,000 | Precipitation: 19″ | Snow: 8″
Salem, Oregon The Heart of Oregon
This capital city is the home of the Oregon State Fair, as well as the state’s largest on-going fine arts & crafts fair…
Population: 143,000 | Average Home Price: $180,000 | Precipitation: 39″ | Snow: 6″
Knoxville, Tennessee Gateway to the Smoky Mountains
In the shadow of the Great Smoky and Cumberland Mountains, this spot served as Tennessee’s capital from 1796 to 1812…
Population: 704,400 | Average Home Price: $180,000 | Precipitation: 47″ | Snow: 11″
Frederick, Maryland Where The Past Comes Alive
This Maryland city’s Great Fair is one of the nation’s oldest county agricultural fairs…
Population: 56,000 | Average Home Price: $305,000 | Precipitation: 36″ | Snow: 21″
Asheville, North Carolina Land of the Sky
This Blue Ridge town’s annual “Shindig on the Green” is an evening of informal, impromptu bluegrass jam sessions…
Population: 69,000 | Average Home Price: $205,000 | Precipitation: 48″ | Snow: 16″
Eugene, Oregon The Emerald City
This Oregon city is home to the Hendricks Park Rhododendron Garden, famous all over the world for its beautiful blossoms…
Population: 142,000 | Average Home Price: $226,000 | Precipitation: 48″ | Snow: 7″
Johnson City-Kingsport, Tennessee Two Natural Wonders
This Tennessee city’s lively annual Springfest includes a JazzNite, golf tournaments, a chili cookoff and a beach party…
Population: 100,000 | Average Home Price: $110,000 | Precipitation: 45″ | Snow: 17″
Corvallis, Oregon Heart of the Willamette Valley
This Oregon city hosts “da Vinci Days,” a festival of unique events revolving around art, science and technology…
Population: 50,000 | Average Home Price: $225,000 | Precipitation: 43″ | Snow: 6″
Clarksville, Tennessee The New South
This Tennessee city calls itself the “Gateway to the New South”…
Population: 103,455 | Average Home Price: $132,000 | Precipitation: 50″ | Snow: 8″
Seattle, Washington The Emerald City
The game “Pictionary” was developed by a waiter in this town in 1986…
Population: 2,500,000 | Average Home Price: $422,000 | Precipitation: 35″ | Snow: 15″
Olympia, Washington The Evergreen Capital
Set on a magnificent peninsula in the South Puget Sound, this spot was originally called “black bear place” before being renamed after nearby mountains…
Population: 222,000 | Average Home Price: $225,000 | Precipitation: 51″ | Snow: 10″
Tulsa, Oklahoma A Blend of the Best
This technologically important Oklahoma city hosts a low-tech Blue Grass and Chili Festival each year…
Population: 388,000 | Average Home Price: $135,000 | Precipitation: 43″ | Snow: 5″
Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana Cities of Three Flags
This spot on Louisiana’s Red River was named for a steam boat captain who cleared a logjam known as the “Great Raft” in the 1830s…
Population: 392,000 | Average Home Price: $123,000 | Precipitation: 45″ | Snow: 0″
Roanoke, Virginia The Heart of the Blue Ridge
This Virginia spot rests in a beautiful valley, surrounded by the Blue Ridge and Allegheny mountains…
Population: 95,000 | Average Home Price: $139,000 | Precipitation: 41″ | Snow: 22″
Tacoma, Washington Port City of the Cascades
This city’s name comes from the Native American name for Mt. Rainier, “Tacobet,” meaning Mother of the Waters…
Population: 193,600 | Average Home Price: $207,000 | Precipitation: 39″ | Snow: 16″
Kent, Washington The Heart of Puget Sound
This family-friendly town is centrally located in the heart of the Puget Sound region…
Population: 79,500 | Average Home Price: $240,000 | Precipitation: 35″ | Snow: 15″
Albuquerque, New Mexico The Pulse of New Mexico
This city’s International Balloon Fiesta features 850 hot air balloons each October…
Population: 471,900 | Average Home Price: $211,000 | Precipitation: 8″ | Snow: 15″
© 2001-2006 FindYourSpot.com
1 comment(s) for this post:
Jaron Brass:
08 May 2006 Interesting post. I felt the same way post-Wilma, and got the f*ck out of Dodge! Like we discussed the other day, I really think I got lucky. Right place, right time, mad skillz (shameless self plug) and so on all came together. I'm sure you'll find your new niche. Just make it sure it's not Colorado. I've got no competition here. :P
Well all I can say is ABOUT DAMN TIME! I have been waiting since I was about knee-high to a grasshopper to get the originals on DVD. My wish has been granted. Looks like Lucas finally caved in to the masses of Star Wars fans wanting to relive their childhood in the comfort of their homes with their big-screen TV’s.
“In response to overwhelming demand, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release attractively priced individual two-disc releases of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Each release includes the 2004 digitally remastered version of the movie and, as bonus material, the theatrical edition of the film. That means you’ll be able to enjoy Star Wars as it first appeared in 1977, Empire in 1980, and Jedi in 1983.
This release will only be available for a limited time: from September 12th to December 31st. International release will follow on or about the same day. Each original theatrical version will feature Dolby 2.0 Surround sound, close-captioning, and subtitles in English, French and Spanish for their U.S. release. International sound and subtitling vary by territory.”
Get the full story at StarWars.com…
]]>
Although I was hell-bent on acquiring a new BMW, somehow I couldn’t turn my back on my Fords and decided to continue buying American, despite my long standing desire for that Bimmer. Therefore, welcome my 2 new babies:
1) 2006 Ford Mustang – and this aint ‘yo moma’s average ‘stang. Welcome back the pure American muscle cars of the 60′s and 70′s. I absolutely fell in LOVE with this car when I saw it. After driving it, I was sold. Looks aside, this thing SOUNDS as good as it looks. Over time, I’ll be adding all sorts of new hidden features, namely under the hood. Ultimately this will turn into a full-blown race car, but for now, it’s my daily ride. Don’t wanna void the warranty just yet with that Shelby Supercharger being bolted on to the motor.
2) 2007 Explorer Sport Trac – this is primarily the wife’s ride. This thing wasn’t on the lot but 3 days, and it wasn’t even really supposed to be out yet. It makes for a killer baby-mobile without the suburban hell of a soccer-mom mini-van. That just wasn’t happening so this was the next best thing while retaining some respectability on the streets. It also happens to make a killer rig for those weekend camping trips around Florida.
Needless to say, I am a happy camper (pun intended). Full pics of both rides are on my Flickr site. Sorry for being absent over the last month, but hopefully I am all caught up and ready to keep blogging my life away.
Technorati Tags: General, Automobiles, Photos
]]>
So you aren’t quite satisfied with your job and the pay sucks. Well, you aren’t alone – welcome to the American way. That is unless you work for Goldman Sachs. It seems that a close inspection of the companies latest regulatory filings revealed that they just closed a record bonus season and wages are averaging $521,000, and THAT includes secretaries my friends.
Last year, Goldman Sachs paid out $11.7bn (£6.7bn) to its 22,425 employees – around 3,000 of whom are in London. This is a 12 per cent increase on the $466,000 average disclosed for 2004. It is twice the level of average pay at rivals Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley.
So if you happen to have a degree in something, ANYTHING, that can get you in the door at Goldman Sachs, and you are working as a used car salesman or something, I suggest you dust off that old resume and camp out at your local Goldman Sachs office until you get a job. Get the full scoop and details at The Independent.
Technorati Tags: General, Goldman Sachs, Salary
]]>
Posting has been slow around these parts hasn’t it? It’s been over 2 weeks and Bellsouth STILL doesn’t have a clue how to fix the problem with my DSL line. Surprising isn’t it? Every time I call I get someone in India who is clearly having to call back to the states to actually get a real Bellsouth employee to tell them what to do. I have had it, I am sooo over Bellsouth.
There is light over the horizon though. By the time I get home tonight, I should have a brand spankin new 6Mbps connection through Adelphia. I originally thought Comcast serviced my area, errr – technically I guess they do since they bought Adelphia, but for now everything is branded Adelphia.
I had the cable tv installed this weekend and got 2 Motorola HD / PVR receivers to boot. I can’t begin to express how absolutely AMAZING the HD picture is from regular cable or Satellite. Watching Discovery HD Theater has just become my favorite past-time. DirecTV, you lost. If you offered me the upgrade at no cost, you would have most likely kept me as a customer. So sad, too bad. If the cable modem is anywhere near as fast as I am thinking it will be during those heavy peak hours, I will be one happy camper. Next step – order up Supra telecom and completely dump Bellsouth services and related affiliates. Unfortunately I am stuck on Cingular for another year, but rest assured – their days are numbered too.
For now, you can get your bisonium fix over at Gear Live with the following posts:
Sony Ericsson P990: The Ultimate Mobile Phone
VMware Server Released for Free
]]>