Since Scoble left Microsoft to join Podtech, nobody has stepped in to fill his shoes from what I can tell. Sure, Microsoft has probably hundreds if not thousands of bloggers, but nobody has has gained anywhere near the following Scoble had. Jeff Sandquist has an interesting blog but doesn’t post very often. Heather Hamilton is also interesting and posts quite often but she’s a recruiter so I expect her to take the high road given her position to fill jobs at Microsoft. I like her variety of topics and sense humor.

Where does that leave us? It sure seems like Microsoft Mini has become the blogger face of the company without a Scoble to balance things out. Scoble had no problems calling out Microsoft when he saw something stupid (New MS site with no RSS feed comes to find) but his posts were generally pro-Microsoft. But they felt authentic and honest during those times he decided to call out the dumb things they did on occasion.

Who else is out there from Microsoft that has gained much of a following? Maybe the Scoble void will be filled, but it will be done by committee instead of a lone blogger.

The 360 looks like a big improvement over the first gen machine but I can get many of the best games for it on the PC. The Playstation 3 is incredibly powerful but it’s from Sony (the same company that gave us the root kit) and I don’t want a machine that tries to take over my living room.

But the Wii. It just seems like the right decision, especially when you’ve got young gamers in the family. Plus it has the best collection of franchise games such as Mario and Zelda and many others you can’t find on the PC or other consoles. Nintendo may not have the flashiest graphics but they nail the game play. In my book, that’s what matters most. That the Wii costs hundreds less than the other two is icing on the cake.

Link to MSNBC article where familes and gamers had a chance to test all three consoles. By the end of the test, which console do you think they gravitated to the most?

Update: I waited in line for several hours to land a Wii and came up empty handed. I was #60 in a line at Fred Meyer that had only 54 available for purchase. But I did locate a Wii on Craigslist at a fair price. More to follow once I play with it a bit more. First impressions are very positive.

Digg linked to this video and I can’t stop laughing at this guy. At what point do you say to yourself, “It’s just not my day to rob the liquor store” and beeline it for home?
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Two experience this weekend left me thinking that some businesses still don’t understand the worth of customer.

Experience #1: Kim had her eyes checked a few months back and ended up buying some new glasses. The glasses arrive nearly 5 weeks later. One big problem though: The glasses are not the right prescription. Kim makes an appointment to get eyes checked again but the appointment has to be postponed when she travels to Utah on vacation. By the time the appointment can be rescheduled she’s out of the 90 day return policy window which starts the day the glasses were ordered not the day she received them. The end result is that today she finally got new lenses to the tune of an extra $115 on top of the price we already paid for the glasses and exam. Needless to say the worth of of a customer to this business is less than $115. Our family of five will find another Optometrist when we are in the market for glasses or contacts.

Experience #2: I purchased a car stereo a few months ago. I went to Car Toys and told the salesman I wanted a deck that was compatible with my iPod. He showed me a few decks and ended up having an Alpine model installed. I love the sound of the stereo, but I’m not sure how it hooks up to my iPod so I make a call to Car Toys and this same salesman tells me I need to purchase the iPod adapter. So I make another trip across town to purchase the $40 adapter thinking it just plugs in the front of the receiver. I made the mistake of not asking him how it works and head back home. It’s not obvious where I plug in this adapter so I get on the web and go to the Alpine stereo website and find my model. It shows the deck hooked up to an iPod but it’s now clear to me that it’s not something I can install. This should have been installed when the deck was put in. So I call back to Car Toys and am told they can install the adapter for $70. I tell him my story pointing out my main reason for getting the stereo installed in the first place so I could listen to my iPod. I ask him why this adapter requirement wasn’t explained to me when I first inquired about a new deck in the first place. His response, “Can you look at your receipt and call me back with the name of your salesman? I hope it wasn’t me”. I’m not sure what this will accomplish but this tells me my worth to Car Toys is less than $70.

Does this mean that Jerry Sloan could be considered for “Coach of the Year” honors if the Jazz make a surprising run in the west? I hope so. The Jazz knocked off Seattle tonight to go a league best 8-1.

But he’s fielding such a young team this it’s as if they don’t understand they should be playing this well, this early. With Malone and Stockton long gone, one of these days you’ve got to say that maybe Sloan is an excellent coach. They Jazz don’t have a superstar at any position. Boozer is decent as is Kirilenko. But they certainly aren’t household names outside of Salt Lake. Maybe it’s time to give Sloan some props for the work he’s done over the years. If he can coach this young team into the playoffs in the tough western conference, you gotta believe he’s got a shot at the award.

I drove by the Mervyn’s in Redmond this afternoon. I noticed two huge signs hung over the store’s entrance. First sign read: STORE CLOSING while the second sign right below the first read: NOW HIRING. I thought about pulling into the store to fill out an application and ask if the job openings were for temp or perm employment.

Our oldest daughter, Luca, has been asking for the Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 video game for the Nintendo DS. While I was cutting an apple for her this afternoon we had this conversation:

Luca: I want Mario vs. Donkey Kong now

Me: You’ll have to ask Santa Claus

Luca: Which comes faster, Thanksgiving or Christmas?

Me: Thanksgiving

Luca: Then I’m gonna ask Santa for it for Thanksgiving

I really like this story of Vinnie’s Sub Shop that closes for the day when that day’s fresh bread is all gone. This translate to nearly all businesses. Do you know your product or service well enough to do what Vinnie’s does and close shop when you can no longer offer the best? This could mean turning down work that’s outside of your core competency or referring such work to a competitor. That takes guts. But in the long run, it’s a smart move because it gains the trust of your most loyal customers.

Maybe it’s because I only play it during a 6 to 8 week period during the year that I don’t get sick of it. Maybe it’s because the songs are timeless. Whatever the reason, about this time each year I pull out the “A Charlie Brown Christmas” CD from the Vince Guaraldi Trio.

The kids enjoy watching the Christmas specials on TV. Besides Charlie Brown, we watch The Snowman and How the Grinch Stole Christmas together each year as a family tradition.