Secede
If California wants to fight a war of secession, I'll fly back tomorrow to fight. I'm serious.
DTX (Downtown Crossing)
I recently read something about an effort to revitalize the Downtown Crossing area. It's hard to argue against that effort. The area isn't really a great shopping destination compared to Newbury or Copley or the Pru. There are a lot of vacant store fronts, including notables Filene's and Barnes and Noble, and of the shops that are open for business, it seems like a quarter are dealing used jewelry.
As part of the effort to bring shoppers back, it was mention
ed there would be events to attract families to shop at Downtown Crossing. Friday on my lunch break I was lucky enough to run into one such attraction. A small ragtime band was driving through the area very slowly on the back of an old-fashioned fire truck. The band was being followed by an old woman dressed up in a home-made lizard costume, which for some reason included wings. She may have actually been a dragon, rather than a lizard. She was dancing to that ragtime music like a pro. It was amazing and made me want to always shop at Downtown Crossing!!
ed there would be events to attract families to shop at Downtown Crossing. Friday on my lunch break I was lucky enough to run into one such attraction. A small ragtime band was driving through the area very slowly on the back of an old-fashioned fire truck. The band was being followed by an old woman dressed up in a home-made lizard costume, which for some reason included wings. She may have actually been a dragon, rather than a lizard. She was dancing to that ragtime music like a pro. It was amazing and made me want to always shop at Downtown Crossing!!And I don't know if this was at all related to the broader effort to revitalize the Downtown 
Crossing area, but last Friday I saw this funny guy hanging out in front of Borders. And the interesting thing is he wasn't doing anything. No dancing, no greeting people, no asking for money or holding a global warming protest sign. It was just a penguin with a crown standing there in the cold. I mean, it makes sense right, penguins like the cold and usually just stand there without talking to anyone or dancing for that matter. But I mean he was just standing there in front of Borders. It made me semi-nervous. I'm wondering if I should have maybe called Homeland Security or something.
Crossing area, but last Friday I saw this funny guy hanging out in front of Borders. And the interesting thing is he wasn't doing anything. No dancing, no greeting people, no asking for money or holding a global warming protest sign. It was just a penguin with a crown standing there in the cold. I mean, it makes sense right, penguins like the cold and usually just stand there without talking to anyone or dancing for that matter. But I mean he was just standing there in front of Borders. It made me semi-nervous. I'm wondering if I should have maybe called Homeland Security or something.Good Thanksgiving, Good NYC
I elected to hang on the east coast for Thanksgiving weekend, rather than fly back home. I took the train down to NYC to hang with Becca's family Wednesday night. Thursday morning I got to go to the Thanksgiving Day Parade with her family. It was a ton of fun. They set up two ladders and a plank of wood every year in order to see over the crowds. I can't say the parade was all that exciting, but it was pretty fun every time a new balloon came into view and the whole crowd cheered. It also helped that it was about 50 degrees that morning.
Thanksgiving dinner Thursday night was easily the biggest family meal I've ever been a part of. We ate at Becca's Aunt Bobbi and Uncle Steve's house and there were forty people there. It was a bit overwhelming but a lot of fun. The meal culminated with Becca's cousins re-enacting the Thanksgiving story. Here's cousin Nate on the table being a stalk of corn:
Friday Becca and I headed to NYC and walked all over town. One stop was a crazy new building I'd read about on Bond street near The Village. Dan and Becca and I pose for a self portrait in front of the modern architecture:
The brunch place we ate at that morning had a huge mural of Justin Timberlake on the wall of the bathroom...
And one more cool photo from the trip. We stopped by a rice pudding place in Soho. Here's the sign from the window:
Thanksgiving dinner Thursday night was easily the biggest family meal I've ever been a part of. We ate at Becca's Aunt Bobbi and Uncle Steve's house and there were forty people there. It was a bit overwhelming but a lot of fun. The meal culminated with Becca's cousins re-enacting the Thanksgiving story. Here's cousin Nate on the table being a stalk of corn:
Friday Becca and I headed to NYC and walked all over town. One stop was a crazy new building I'd read about on Bond street near The Village. Dan and Becca and I pose for a self portrait in front of the modern architecture:
The brunch place we ate at that morning had a huge mural of Justin Timberlake on the wall of the bathroom...
And one more cool photo from the trip. We stopped by a rice pudding place in Soho. Here's the sign from the window:
The River Charles
The second to last weekend in Boston is the Head of the Charles Regatta, the largest crew event in the world. It's a lot of fun. After threatening rain, it turned out to be very nice weather for the race. And it turned out to be one of those epic Boston sports weekends, as there were crew races going on, Bruins games, and games 6 and 7 of the ALCS at Fenway.
Here the men's eight from Brown (front) passes another team. Notice the construction vest "uniforms" and the construction hat on the coxswain.
Here the men's eight from Brown (front) passes another team. Notice the construction vest "uniforms" and the construction hat on the coxswain.
Back to Boston
After six weeks at home in California, it was tough to leave but good to get back to Boston. After a couple weeks back I'm settling back into things at home and at work.
Saturday Kate and I went down to Providence to watch the Red Bull Soap Box Derby on the hills by Brown University and RISD. Some photos from the races.
A viking-themed soap box racer, "The Valhalla Express:"
"The Rhode Island Red" racer:
A covered wagon soap box racer paying homage to the old computer game Oregon Trail:
Saturday Kate and I went down to Providence to watch the Red Bull Soap Box Derby on the hills by Brown University and RISD. Some photos from the races.
A viking-themed soap box racer, "The Valhalla Express:"
"The Rhode Island Red" racer:
A covered wagon soap box racer paying homage to the old computer game Oregon Trail:
Ice Cream From The Sky
Some of my cousins have been sending packages to my parents house to entertain my dad, mostly flowers and CDs. There was also a toy snake made out of newspapers which had very cool googly eyes. But the best delivery was a UPS package that contained 12 pints of premium Graeter's ice cream from Cincinnati. (This is where I should include a clever remark about how "great" it tastes...) The flavors are all really good, and thanks to the wonders of dry ice, they all arrived here unmelted. It was a big hit and we're still enjoying all the flavors. It's worth noting that San Francisco's own It's-It company also ships their special ice cream sandwiches wherever you like. I sent some to my sis for her birthday.
Porsches on the Autobahn
Today my dad and I went for a ride with family friend Steve in his Porsche convertible. We went up switchbacks through the hills on Moody Road, and up to Skyline Blvd, which follows the ridgeline of hills up the peninsula. The ride up was great, the view from Skyline was really good, the drive down through the redwoods was nice, and coming home on the freeway was really fun. My spot in the back seat wasn't very comfortable (there would've been more space in the glove box, I think...) but that's beside the point. A good drive and a big hit with my dad.
-- the road we drove --
-- the road we drove --
My commute is shrinking
I've officially moved to a different department at work. I'm looking forward to this as it allows me to move away from finance and get some experience with the marketing strategy work my company is well-known for. Among other things, this switch means that I've moved from the 19th floor to the 18th floor. I look forward to a shorter commute.
Second time, second place
In our first attempt at the Donner Lake Tri relay last year, we came in first. And in our second attempt last week, we came in second. (Let's hope this trend doesn't continue with our third attempt...) In the photo: Jay, the swimmer; Jeff, the bike; me on the end, without the cool t-shirt; Michelle, our coach. That's Donner Lake in the background.
Yosemite
Week one in California. I went up to Yosemite with my Dad for four days and got to see all the sites in the park, including waterfalls, giant Sequoia, and lots of granite. It's one of my favorite places and his too. Here we are at Glacier Point with Half Dome in the background.
Party No. 4
The fourth big-time themed party came and went, and it was a huge success. The Spring Cleaning Swap Meet was centered on the premise that while it would be great fun to have all our friends over to our apartment for a party, it'd be even more fun if they brought something cool to trade with the other guests. Some of the items (and I can't come close to recounting all the gear) brought to trade included : shirts, hats, scarves, belts, ugly sweaters, a water balloon launcher, a nice ski jacket, salt and pepper shakers (traded separately), cowboy hats, cowboy hats with fake fur, tin foil, tin foil hats, home-brewed beer, bottle rockets, a bike pump, candle sticks, a barbecue skewer set, a laptop case, a stuffed toy goat, a gift basket with soaps and shampoo, a bamboo musical instrument from Bali, a Chairman Mao watch, a bottle of wine, a carton of wine, and much else...
I think the pictures below of Higs, myself, JLew, and Loco capture the spirit of the party, with JLew and I swapping a smooch. Much was traded that night, and everyone went home with something cool to show for it. (That's not to say that JLew and I went home together...) All in all the whole thing was a big success.
I think the pictures below of Higs, myself, JLew, and Loco capture the spirit of the party, with JLew and I swapping a smooch. Much was traded that night, and everyone went home with something cool to show for it. (That's not to say that JLew and I went home together...) All in all the whole thing was a big success.
An Open Letter to Candy, Inc. (Part IV)
I'd like to close my thoughts on increasing candy sales with a proposal that extends beyond one holiday to reach the summer holidays as a whole.
A theme for all the summertime holidays (from Memorial Day to July 4th and Labor Day) is that of barbecues. And candy and chocolate just don't come to mind when you think of barbecues. But rather than a failure, I see this as an opportunity. Because somehow you -- the brilliant enterprising marketing minds of the candy companies -- have helped establish door-to-door candy quests and Easter egg hunts as
tradition. So I'd like to propose a new tradition that will bring more candy to barbecues, which are already established as a huge part of the summertime.
My idea is to make chocolate fondue a part of the barbecue. Consumers could buy your kit, which they would just throw on the barbecue after the burgers, and then dip all sorts of fun stuff (marshmallows, candy bars, other stuff made by you, the candy companies.) It's fun, it goes well with a barbecue, and it gets them to buy more candy. I know "fondue" has a French connotation for most, and the summertime holidays are very patriotic, and I understand there is some nascent Francophobia here, so maybe we come up with another name like Fundue or Choco-BBQ or something like that. I'm sure you can work out the details (the dude in this picture from Switzerland figured it out).
That's all for my ideas on saving your businesses. I hope it works out. If you need me I'll be in the produce section.
Sincerely Yours,
AOK
A theme for all the summertime holidays (from Memorial Day to July 4th and Labor Day) is that of barbecues. And candy and chocolate just don't come to mind when you think of barbecues. But rather than a failure, I see this as an opportunity. Because somehow you -- the brilliant enterprising marketing minds of the candy companies -- have helped establish door-to-door candy quests and Easter egg hunts as
tradition. So I'd like to propose a new tradition that will bring more candy to barbecues, which are already established as a huge part of the summertime.My idea is to make chocolate fondue a part of the barbecue. Consumers could buy your kit, which they would just throw on the barbecue after the burgers, and then dip all sorts of fun stuff (marshmallows, candy bars, other stuff made by you, the candy companies.) It's fun, it goes well with a barbecue, and it gets them to buy more candy. I know "fondue" has a French connotation for most, and the summertime holidays are very patriotic, and I understand there is some nascent Francophobia here, so maybe we come up with another name like Fundue or Choco-BBQ or something like that. I'm sure you can work out the details (the dude in this picture from Switzerland figured it out).
That's all for my ideas on saving your businesses. I hope it works out. If you need me I'll be in the produce section.
Sincerely Yours,
AOK
An Open Letter to Candy, Inc. (Part III)
Flag Day (June 14th) is another holiday that I feel has great potential for growth. The themes could not be more simple. And because of this simplicity, I see strength. You've got the symbol of the flag and you've got red, white, and blue. Jelly beans could be sold in the red, white, and blue array as could M&M's. Little chocolate flags would be great (and just like the bullets for Memorial Day, the flags are scalable in size.) Dozens of candy bars could be repackaged with a flag-themed wrapper. It would be huge. And it's patriotic too. In fact, I see Flag Day candy as part of a broader red, white, and blue campaign. This theme could extend from Flag Day to the Fourth of July. The displays and packages can all be reused for the 4th. And if there's still leftovers after both these holidays, ship all the candy to France the next week, because their colors are the same (but in the order bleu, blanc, rouge, of course) and their big nationalistic holiday is July 14th. And then if there's still candy left over... I don't know... I'm sure there's a big holiday in the UK, The Netherlands, or Australia where the candy could be sent.
---NOTE: Thanks to EW, who also thought candy on the 4th would be a great idea. Clearly this is going to be huge.---
An Open Letter to Candy, Inc. (Part II)
Though it seems unconventional, candy on Memorial Day could be the next big thing. The holiday (on May 28th this year) commemorates all those who served in American wars. And while I think little chocolate tombstones might be over the top, what about little candy bullets? It's easy to make jelly bean bullets and gummy bullets and chocolate bullets. You could very easily have multiple sizes (from little hand gun bullets to machine gun bullets, right on up to big chunks of chocolate the size of big mortars. )
Perhaps it's a little grotesque... but you could say the same for hunting for eggs on Easter. Plus our country already has a supposed military-industrial complex, I think the natural progression of this is the military-confectionary complex.
--On a sidenote, someone pointed out that while I alluded to candy-bare months stretching from May through October, May does have another holiday with some chocolate involved. However Mother's Day (on the 12th this year) includes only some of the population, notably not ME, which is probably why I forgot about it. Thank you for the input.
Perhaps it's a little grotesque... but you could say the same for hunting for eggs on Easter. Plus our country already has a supposed military-industrial complex, I think the natural progression of this is the military-confectionary complex.
--On a sidenote, someone pointed out that while I alluded to candy-bare months stretching from May through October, May does have another holiday with some chocolate involved. However Mother's Day (on the 12th this year) includes only some of the population, notably not ME, which is probably why I forgot about it. Thank you for the input.
An Open Letter to Candy, Inc.
Dear Hershey's and M&M/Mars Product Managers,
I'm writing with genuine concern for your companies' long term economic well-being.
Specifically, I'm worried about the cyclical nature of the candy business, most notably the seasonal downturn we've just entered now that Easter is over. I think we can all agree that the weeks from Halloween through Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Easter are pretty good to America's candy companies. You might say it's a treat for you and your shareholders. But as I'm sure you're aware there's a relative dearth of candy holidays coming up. Essentially, we're no longer in the sweet spot of the calendar. With this in mind, I have a few ideas that I'd like to share with you that I feel will contribute to your firms' competitive advantage. Please check back for some ideas that I feel will broaden your customer base and increase your sales. As any consultant would, I plan to charge you like 10 times what's reasonable. (This means you'll have to pay me like 50 candy bars.)
More to come...
I'm writing with genuine concern for your companies' long term economic well-being.
Specifically, I'm worried about the cyclical nature of the candy business, most notably the seasonal downturn we've just entered now that Easter is over. I think we can all agree that the weeks from Halloween through Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Easter are pretty good to America's candy companies. You might say it's a treat for you and your shareholders. But as I'm sure you're aware there's a relative dearth of candy holidays coming up. Essentially, we're no longer in the sweet spot of the calendar. With this in mind, I have a few ideas that I'd like to share with you that I feel will contribute to your firms' competitive advantage. Please check back for some ideas that I feel will broaden your customer base and increase your sales. As any consultant would, I plan to charge you like 10 times what's reasonable. (This means you'll have to pay me like 50 candy bars.)More to come...
Boo April
April means springtime. It means longer days and nicer weather. It means baseball. But it also means street sweeping season. This is bad. While this seems an insignificant change, it is definitely not. It is a big deal. Huge.
The even-numbered side of my street gets cleaned on certain days each month (like the first and third Tuesday), and the odd-numbered side on certain other days. Then the street on the side of my house has certain other days for the even side and the odd side. Basically there's constant street sweeping. The cleanliness of the streets is not what I have an issue with. It's the public works truck that does laps around my block at 7am letting everyone know with a recorded message being broadcast on a loudspeaker: "Street sweeping. No pahking on the even-numbahed side. You will be tagged and towed."
I'm sure the process has been thoroughly debated. And I'm sure if I had my car parked on the wrong side of the street I'd be grateful for the reminder to move it. But I'm not really a fan. Getting woken up throughout the week from April 1 until October 31 is a bummer. I see two possible actions to take:
1) go to a city council meeting and cry about it.
2) earplugs
3) move to the suburbs where people have driveways.
I'm not sure how this one turns out, but I'm pretty sure that in the end AOK still gets woken up.
The even-numbered side of my street gets cleaned on certain days each month (like the first and third Tuesday), and the odd-numbered side on certain other days. Then the street on the side of my house has certain other days for the even side and the odd side. Basically there's constant street sweeping. The cleanliness of the streets is not what I have an issue with. It's the public works truck that does laps around my block at 7am letting everyone know with a recorded message being broadcast on a loudspeaker: "Street sweeping. No pahking on the even-numbahed side. You will be tagged and towed."
I'm sure the process has been thoroughly debated. And I'm sure if I had my car parked on the wrong side of the street I'd be grateful for the reminder to move it. But I'm not really a fan. Getting woken up throughout the week from April 1 until October 31 is a bummer. I see two possible actions to take:
I'm not sure how this one turns out, but I'm pretty sure that in the end AOK still gets woken up.
I must be getting old.
I turned 24 and 1/4 the other day and the very first thing in my head when I woke up that morning was "When I'm Sixty-Four" by the Beatles. I should note that my pop is 63 and 1/4 today, so I think maybe he should be the one dreaming of the Beatles.
Kind of like Daytona
There was a big race on Sunday. One with excitement, amazed spectators, blazing speeds, and an incredible finish that came down to the wire. I'm not talking about the 49th running of the Daytona 500, which happened Sunday, February 18th in Daytona Beach, FL. I'm talking about The Great Race that stretched from Los Altos, CA all the way to Mountain View, CA. Yes, I'm talking about the trek from my grandparents' place in LA across El Camino, some railroad tracks, Central Expressway, and a couple other four lane roads, all the way to the self storage place in MV. My ride? A lightening-quick, high-octane, tricked-out powered wheel chair.
This thing turned on a dime, it flew along with five speeds (five!) and covered the three mile distance in under forty minutes. This machine is a serious speed demon. I passed some people out for a Sunday walk and left them in the dust. And this ride is plush, too. Dual padded arm rests, a custom head rest, and four rubberized wheels; two in the front for major power and two in the back for serious steering. As they say, "Business in the front, party in the back." And did I mention it has five speeds?
This thing turned on a dime, it flew along with five speeds (five!) and covered the three mile distance in under forty minutes. This machine is a serious speed demon. I passed some people out for a Sunday walk and left them in the dust. And this ride is plush, too. Dual padded arm rests, a custom head rest, and four rubberized wheels; two in the front for major power and two in the back for serious steering. As they say, "Business in the front, party in the back." And did I mention it has five speeds?
And then we drank beer from the trophy.
Three big competitions recently. For competition number one I traveled to my company's New York office and participated in a trivia night hosted by Yahoo. Why a party hosted by Yahoo? Because the media team I work with gets wined-and-dined by a slew of websites that want our ads to run on their sites.So the Yahoo party featured an elimination style bracket with the many agencies who were invited.
The competition was Jeopardy-style with a host reading questions and the teams holding buzzers... and by the end of the night our team won it all. The other New York agencies were no match for our pop culture dominance. The prize was a huge four-foot-tall trophy from which we drank a celebratory beer. So a big win in the first big competition.Competition number two was the "Has Beens Mile" featuring former athletes
of the Tufts Track and Field team. Everyone used to be good, but now, pretty much all the alumni are Has Beens. It was a good race, but, sadly the race didn't go as well as the trivia. I came in second to classmate, former captain, All-American, and school record holder Nate Brigham.So one win and one runner-up performance so far.
The third competition involved some margaritas, a roll of tin foil, and two ski tickets. We were at a Mexican restaurant ("Margaritas Cantina" or something contrived like that) with some friends, and there happened to be a bunch of contests going on. I got drafted for the Make An Ugly Hat Out of Tin Foil Game. And when the dust settled, I had a crazy tin foil hat on my head and I won two free lift tickets to Mount Snow in Vermont.
And that's how I almost one three competitions in a row. Thanks Nate.
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