You’ve not doubt heard that Microsoft sent a number of high-end Acer laptops to various influential bloggers such as Mike Arrington of Techcrunch and Crunchnotes. These laptops were loaded with the new Windows Vista operating system. I supposed Microsoft had hopes these bloggers would test the new OS and then write about their experiences. Some people like Scoble thought it was a brilliant idea. A few like Dave Winer felt left out.

Since I wasn’t sent one of the sweet laptops I can speculate as to what I would do with one. I didn’t have to think long. I’d give it to my Grandma.

My Grandma has never used a computer. She taught school for many years but that was before computers had made their way into the classroom. If Vista is really supposed to be so advanced yet simple that anyone can use it, why not send her a laptop and see how she does with it? Everyone else in our family keeps connected via email, IM and our family website. Would Vista help her join the rest of us and make her feel like she’s in the loop more than she is now? Or would it hang, blue screen and just frustrate her?

Nothing against Arrington, but Microsoft doesn’t show much creativity by sending him a laptop loaded with Vista. I wonder how many of the laptops were sent to people who had already run Beta versions of Vista or who write pro-Microsoft blogs? Come on, Microsoft, think outside the lines and send a laptop to someone who has never used your products before. Then sit back and listen.

My favorite line has got to be, “But most of all you gotta have your tool!

Seeing all that fat drain off the meat made me sick to my stomach.

It’s good but still not as funny as the German Forklift Training video with Klaus.

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Like everyone else, I’ve done some shopping over the holidays and here are a few of my observations.

1. Doesn’t matter which store, what time I go or what I order, I always receive friendly, helpful service at Starbucks. I don’t drink coffee either. I go there because my kids love the hot chocolate and they have a small 8 oz. cup for a buck. Starbucks seems to hire people who are genuinely happy to do their jobs and make customers feel comfortable. I wonder if their interview process is like Southwest Airlines where they go out of their way to hire happy people?

2. Have you noticed the size of fast food drinks these days? The “medium” at Jack in the Box must be 32 oz. The large at McDonalds just huge and now they have an Extra Large for a $1.99. I don’t even want to know how big it is. I bought my son a piece of pizza at Sbarro last night and asked for a kids sized drink and it was still 20 oz.

3. I went to Nordstrom this week. I walked around the men’s section for about 15 minutes, left and then returned. I walked around for another 10 minutes or so before a guy asked me if I was finding everything ok. He then walked off towards the shoe department. The Men’s half yearly sale is taking place but there were very people customers around. I found a shirt and approached the cashier who asked me, “Was someone helping you?”. I said, “No, I helped myself”. If you have to ask me if anyone is helping me, you probably already know the answer.

4. I’m very impressed with the Presto.com service. This is the service that works with the HP Printing Mailbox for those who don’t have a computer but would like to keep in touch with those who do. The signup process was easy to understand and never tried to push additional services down my throat. Other website could learn from its simplicity.

5. Game stores provide some of the worst service I’ve experienced. They hire guys who can speak to the hard core teen gamer. But they have no clue how to treat anyone else. I was looking at Nintendo DS games with my 4 year old son and he walked towards the back of the counter but didn’t go behind it. Suddenly one of the EB Games employees, a young kid, jumps back towards him and says, “Hey, you can’t come back here” and sticks his arm out as if my 35 lb son is going to shove his way past. I’m done with these type of stores and will buy games from Target, Amazon, or New Egg.

6. Fry’s in Renton has a gigantic selection of DVDs. They must have six or seven huge rows lined with every DVD imaginable. But have you ever tried to find the section with the New Releases? I can go into Wal-Mart or Target and quickly find the section with the new releases. Am I blind or does Fry’s not have such a section?

7. I like how Macy’s organizes their men’s department by brand. At Nordstrom everything feels mixed together. I can go into Macy’s and walk right to the Nautica, Polo or Hilfiger section and look a shirt. I noticed that Nordstrom only does this with their Faconnable line.

8. Some of the most annoying people work at those cell phone kiosks you find in the middle of the mall. I was on the phone when I walked by one last night and one of these guys yells out, “What kind of phone do you carry?” as if I’ll just go ahead and put the caller on hold while I have a discussion with this punk. I wonder what their anger to sell ratio is?

9. A few months back I bought used Volkswagen Passat from Auburn Volkswagen. When I had a problem a week later I called the dealer and asked to speak with the person who sold me the car. His answer? “He no longer works here”. When I told him my problem his answer was the same, “Sorry, I didn’t sell you the car and person who did no longer works here”. It was very clear to me they didn’t want to listen or help me. They bounced me around to a few people, and when I’d need an answer, the person I had to speak with was “at lunch” or it was his “day off”. I eventually got things taken care of and took my business to a small, local shop here in Auburn. I got to speak directly with the mechanic who performed the work on my car. When I got my car back I noticed he’d replaced my high beam bulb free of charge. I will never again step foot in Auburn Volkswagen.

Elka got a new sleeping pad for Christmas. I brought it downstairs tonight and put it next to Kim’s portable heater. We figured she deserved a new one when our cat peed on the last one. She lives a pretty good life.

I was hoping I’d be Batman but I couldn’t be further from him. Which Superhero are you?

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

When I talk to friends and family who are looking for a job, I’m surprised at how many still default to searching Monster.com, Craigslist and other online job boards as their primary means of finding a job. Online job boards seem to make sense for those with little experience, no contacts in a certain field, or if you’re moving to a new area. It certainly doesn’t hurt to use these options, but my first priority would be to seed your network.

I’ve found that the best jobs I’ve found are those that were never officially open. Since they weren’t open they never hit any of the job boards or even the company’s own website. My current job came through a friend I met at Microsoft nearly 10 years ago. Had I not kept in touch with him over the years, I would have never been in the position to ask him about jobs in the Seattle area. He didn’t have a job at the time but he put me in contact with someone who did. I firmly believe the best jobs will come through your network. This doesn’t mean you can ignore someone for years and then hit them up for a job. It means that it’s worth your time and effort to keep in touch with those in your network. I consider them my friends so it’s not a problem keeping in touch with them. These people are also some of the busiest people I know so getting much time from them can be very difficult but it’s not impossible. Some of the best conversations I’ve had in this area have come over instant messenger or email. A quick lunch is ideal if you can swing it.

If I were looking for job I’d be contacting those within my network first before hitting the online job boards. When I’m looking to hire I might list the job on the job boards at some point but it’s usually a last resort after I’ve exhausted the personal referrals of co-works and other people in my network.

The best time to look for a job is when you have a job. The same goes for building your network.

Since I have the week off I told Kim I wanted to spend some time with each of the kids 1×1. Yesterday and today I’ve had the opportunity to spend some time with Lincoln. Lincoln is quite social in public and I never know what he’s going to say which makes for an interesting trip to the store. When the lady at lunch today told us they didn’t have root beer, he said, “Are you’s gonna have some next time?”

I first took him to Fred Meyer where he could pick out a toy for his birthday. He told me on the drive down that he was going to get a toy and didn’t want anymore clothes or books. He was getting a toy this time! We walked through Fred Meyer to to the toy section and he found a Pirates of the Caribbean sword. They had a short sword and a long sword and Lincoln had a hard time making up his mind. The short sword came with more accessories but the long short would light up and make swash-buckling sounds when swung. When I explained the sounds and the light, it made the choice clear: We went home with the long sword.

Lincoln loves hot chocolate so I took him next door to Starbucks. I ordered us both a hot chocolate and we sat at the table and chatted. He took the sword out of the bag and asked me to read him every sentence on the box. I told him that one of the sentences said, “This sword is not for hitting sisters” but he didn’t believe me. So far the sword has caused no major injuries.

Today I took Lincoln Federal Way to my favorite Pho Hoa Vietnamese Soup place. He’s such a good little eater. He ordered the kids soup with meatballs, noodles and his very own Sprite. The kids usually share drinks so having his own Sprite with a big blue straw was a huge deal. After lunch, we walked over to the pet store which he just loves. We looked at the fish, rats, rabbits, mice, gerbils, birds and snakes. But this favorite animal to watch were the ferrets. He asked if he could feed the ferrets and I told him probably not today. He wanted to bring home a treat for Elka so he chose a small bag of peanut butter biscuits that Elka loves.

We then walked to Barnes and Noble bookstore and looked at the kids books. I like to head over the section of the Caldecott medal winners and see what they have. I found two book that Lincoln approved of: My Friend the Rabbit and One Fine Day. The kids are excited to hear both books before they go to bed tonight.

Lincoln is a sweet kid. He loves to play his Nintendo DS and play silly games. I can’t believe he’s four years old now. We’ve had a fun couple of days together.

So fun that I’m getting my courage up to spend an afternoon with Anna Lynn.

Diet Television is an interesting, well thought out website that help you determine what diet is best for you based on a number of criteria. I bought the Atkins Diet book this past summer and have followed it in principle for several months now. I don’t follow the book in exact detail, but I’ve cut down on sugar and carbs substantially and I eat a lot more veggies and fruits.

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I received my replacement batter from iPodjuice yesterday. It took me just over 30 minutes to replace the batter on my 60 gig iPod video. I figured the hard part of the process would be prying the case open, but with the included tool (the iOpener), it only took maybe 30 seconds. The most difficult part for me was attaching the battery cable to the unit. But the directions were very clear and and everything is working fine now. I hope this replacement battery last longer than the year their original gave me.

If you are looking to replace your iPod’s battery I can highly recommend iPodjuice.

I’m quite happy with my iPod setup now. Here’s the run down:

iPod Video 60GB
Vaja iVolution leather case
Sennheiser PX100 headphones (portable)
Grado SR80 headphones (home)