Kettler Pedal Car

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Our Kettler pedal car arrived today and our kids love it. Our neighbors have one that we had a hard time getting our kids off so we decided they might like their own. We got the Classic Flyer model from Amazon.

This pedal car is very well made, was easy to assemble and I like that the kids get exercise while driving it around our cul-de-sac unlike the battery operated cars that cost a lot more money. Kettler is a German company known for making high quality kids toys, fitness equipment and game tables among other things.

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My favorite music options at work

I like to listen to music for good portions of my workday. Some companies I’ve worked for don’t allow their employees to store mp3 music files on company owned equipment. But not all is lost due to some new options on the web. Here are three options I use at work:

Seeqpod calls itself the “playable search”. In other words it scours  the net for songs and makes them playable via the Seeqpod website. You can create and share playlists. Type in the name of your favorite artist and Seeqpod quickly searches for available songs. I searched for Pink Floyd and was presented with nearly 600 songs for my listening pleasure. This is a great service for those looking for a specific group or song and those who want control of their playlist.

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Slacker is great for discovering new music and for those that want to set a station genre and just let it play. This works well for those who don’t want to spend much time managing their music selections. Slacker has many stations to choose from and you can skip up to 6 songs per hour. I keep this on at work more than any others. The sound quality is quite good.

slacker

The Hype Machine is really cool which means it can’t be long before the RIAA tries to sue it into oblivion. This site goes out and searches for music blogs that review and  post mp3s file which it then adds to its library for you to search and stream. For example, I searched for Van Halen and was presented with a list of songs available for listening as well as links to iTunes and Amazon if I’m interested in purchasing.

hypemachine

Pandora was one of the first internet radio stations I heard of and has become one of the most popular. I still use it occasionally but not as much since I discovered Slacker. But you’ll be rewarded with excellent music once you take a few minutes to configure it with your favorite artists.

pandora 

These three are my favorite options for adding music to my work day but many others exist such at Last.fm and AOL Radio which offers over 200 free stations via XM. Give them all a try and see which works best for you. I think all of them have something to offer.

Note: iTunes also includes free radio stations but I didn’t include it here because it requires installing software and not all employers allow that.

A few things I dislike about air travel

  1. Fellow travelers who don’t think the carry-on size restrictions apply to them and decide to bring a full-sized piece of luggage on board and then complain when it won’t fit in the overhead. Check the sucker.
  2. Travelers taking video of their kids in the security line. I saw a dad videotape his son for at least 20 minutes while standing in line. 15 seconds would have been plenty, this isn’t a playground or piano recital.
  3. Having to send my shoes through the x-ray. Is this really necessary? The “shoe bomber” failed miserably and don’t we have technology to solve this?
  4. Airport parking at $22/day. What a ripoff.
  5. Passengers who think it’s ok to carry-on smelly food like take-out Chinese. Eat before you board or toss it. I don’t want to spell like Kung Pao chicken for the next 3 hours.
  6. The safety lecture and emergency row seating requirements. Enough already. Nobody listens or cares that oxygen masks will drop and my seat can be used as a floatation device.
  7. Chatty people in the aisles. Can’t it wait till we land? Four rows worth of travelers don’t need to hear about your escapades at the Hard Rock Cafe the night before last.
  8. A delayed flight followed by the captain saying we’ll “make up time in the air”. How about leaving on time and getting us to our destination early next time?
  9. People who pickup every piece of black luggage as it goes around the carrousel. If you don’t know what your luggage looks like by now, how about putting a big piece of green neon tape on the front so it’s obvious?
  10. Airports that got rid of paper towels in the bathroom and replaced them with air blowers. Do these blowers have to sound like a jet engine on take off?
  11. Curbside check-in with a required rate per bag. I’ll tip $5 a bag if I’m treated well. But when I have to tip $2 per bag, that’s all I’ll do.
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$100 a year to speed through airport security

If I traveled more than a couple of times a year I’d probably cough flyclearup the 100 clams and do this. As I waited for 30 minutes in the security line in Orlando this morning I noticed the CLEAR line was empty. I saw a number of travelers approach the the CLEAR station but none of them were allowed through.

This just feels wrong though. In fact, the whole airport security system is totally wrong. I saw a young mother with two young kids in hand get stopped as she went through the x-ray. She was pulled aside and her bags opened and manually checked. 

I don’t get it. When is the last time a young mother toting two kids hijacked a plane or flew it into a building? Isn’t there a better way to ensure passengers are not packing guns or other obvious weapons without having to spend hours in the security line? I’m sure the deranged mind of a terrorist can and will easily work around the current restrictions the rest of us are under which makes flying so unpleasant.

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Vick the Dog Killer

A lot has been said about Vick and his illegal and disgusting dog fighting activities. I’d like to see Vick released naked into a cage with a dozen angry pit bulls. Vick is a creep and I can only hope the NFL bans him for life. I know they won’t though because he’s a big star. They might ban him for a year for his own safely but they will assume fans are stupid and will forget. We won’t.

If I’m a kid with a Vick jersey, I’d burn it immediately. This is the guy that threw a dog against the wall until it was dead because it didn’t perform well in a fight.

I can’t watch the news shows as they discuss the issue because they eventually show video of dog fights and it makes me sick to my stomach.

Do the right thing, NFL.

Update on July 23, 2007 – The NFL tells Vick to stay out of pre-season camp. A good start but if he’s found guilty, he should get a lifetime ban.

Vick

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Keeping it Simple in Orlando

I’m in Orlando this week acting like a technician. The company I work for supports several hundred Microsoft events such as tradeshows, conferences and product launches. Once a year Microsoft brings their sales force together to discuss new products and ways to sell these products. The conference is closed to the public except for a few partners who are invited as guest speakers.

I’ve spent the last couple of days helping the speakers get their demos and slides working. Most of of the time, the process goes off without a hitch. The computer works. The audio and video work. The speaker is prepared.

But it doesn’t take much for a presentation to go sideways. Some demos require more than one computer or multiple “virtual machines” to work properly. It’s not uncommon for a speaker to bring in several laptops and switch between each machine several times during the presentation.

With so much focus on the demo, sometimes the message gets lost. The best presentation I’ve seen so far was given by a 14 year old boy from London. He had maybe 4 or 5 slides and one short demo he created himself. He explained how he uses Microsoft OneNote at school to take notes, study, and organize his courses. It was simple. It was precise. He was prepared.

It was a good example that some of the best presentations are simple. A cool demo might wow the crowd, but I was a lot more willing to give OneNote a try after hearing how this kid actually uses it each day.

Putting the computer in customer service

Given the proliferation of self-service stations at airports and grocery stores, it’s not surprising to see self check-in station at hotels. Here at the Rosen Hotel in Orlando, the self check-in stations are located near the check-in desk. As I approached one of the stations last night to check-in, a women behind the counter said, “I can help you”. She was efficient and professional. She sensed this was my first time at the hotel and helped me find the elevators. She told me about the free internet and spa. She even suggested a restaurant close by.

I’m not sure what I think about these computers taking over for people. Although they can make the whole process more efficient when a line starts to form, it’s one less opportunity for the hotel to connect with their customer. The self check-in stations might get the job done but I can’t imagine they are able to connect with a customer like another human can. They can’t read that I might feel a little bit lost and guide me to the elevator. And they can’t give anyone a warm, happy to have you here, smile either.

In the near future, will most entry level greeter/admin type jobs be handled by a computer station?