So I haven’t seen a ton of concerts in my life. This Friday will be my 4th major diva and I’m actually getting really excited. Previous divas included Madonna (#1), Olivia Newton-John (#2, but really #1 in my heart), Cher (#3) at the Hollywood Bowl. And now Britney, the reining Queen of Pop, gets to be my #4. The show is this Friday, April 17th at the Staples Center! Woooooooooo!
Along for the ride is my roommate and good buddy, Rusty – a true Britney fanatic. I’ll share pictures of the Britney Wall of Fame another time.
* WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 4613 * Among the many proud jobs I’ve had the pleasure of working on, was the original (read, first) cubs.com web site. Back in 1996, when the corporate Web was just being birthed still, I was at the Tribune Media Services company within the grander Tribune Company. I had a cubical in the historical Tribune building on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, facing out over Navy Pier on Lake Michigan. It was beautiful, truly. As one of the first hires working on web sites, I was picked to work on the new Cubs.com site. It didn’t hurt that I had successfully created an automated sports scores publishing mechanism, which we ultimately integrated on the live copy of the Wrigley Field scoreboard you see above. I worked with my friend Valerie Nozick as the primary on the content side, me being on the technical side. And we did it in the matter of a couple months.
It was a proud time and set me firmly on a course of success in the Internet industry. And like it or not, I have been a Cubs fan ever since (shhhhh) ;-)
It’s been a quiet several days filled mostly with the mundane parts of life. It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a full week since I last blogged out a note. On reflection, there are only a few standout memories – changing the oil and washing the car on Sunday, staying home from work today, the slowness of the workday on Monday, and another very pleasant evening with Brad on Sunday.
It is amazing how quickly the moments pass and how very few of them seem to stick.
I wistfully wish I could say I live every moment to its fullest, but that would be a blatant lie. Most moments I simply let pass. Many moments I accept as normal. And quite a few I forge through without any thoughts at all.
But I do not lament my ways. Indeed, because most are mundane, those that are special are all that more special. I believe completely in the tiniest twinkle that is my life in the grandness and near eternity of this universe, but my time is my time, and I will live it my way. Because I am happy. Content. And appreciative.
Another mini-note. On that trip to Catalina earlier this week, we took the ferry from San Pedro surrounded by miles and miles of incoming (and I suppose outgoing) cargo containers coming (and going). It in itself was impressive.
Take a look at this (borrowed) picture and imagine dozens of these stacked to the top on cargo ships the size of some small towns. And that was just in the immediate area.
Just got back from the Social Media Club LA meeting at the Sheraton Universal, where the crowd got a little raucous after one of the panelists seemed to be “all about the buck” then proceeded (seemingly) to diss on the Motrin Moms. That was Rob Frankel. Also on the panel were Anne Plese from Cisco — an excellent speaker by the way — and Babette Pepaj of BakeSpace.com, all of whom made some interesting points on how to approach social media conversations on the web when representing a brand.
Most interesting to me was the dichotomy of approaches between Cisco, the bohemoth with $millions being spent on branding and BakeSpace with a mom-and-pop style founder branding “team”. Cisco is all about watching the conversation, then jumping in and supporting the positive or encircling the negative ones in side conversations (kind of vulture-like) and having their advocates naturally choke off the oxygen for those who speak ill. BakeSpace, lacking all of those marketing dollars, instead immediately jumps in when something negative pops up and strikes at that negativity head on. Both approaches seemed prudent given the market position of the players, but I’m left wondering where a known but not super-well known brand like my company should land in that conversation. I wish sometimes I had a colleague that could attend these things with me.
* WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 4470 * As planned, my friend Brad and I made the trip to Catalina Island (Avalon). We arrived on the 8:50 express ferry and immediately set out on a walk through town, to the Casino, then up into the hills. I don’t know how many times we remarked how it felt so European, so very very far away from the rat race of Los Angeles. As we walked, and then grabbed a nice lunch on the boardwalk at Catalina Cantina, the sun worked its way out and with it the temperature moderated to a perfect ocean-side warmth.
* WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 4482 * We next proceeded to get a couple of bikes and a permit to go into the interior and started on our way up into the hills again. Brad is a daily bicyclist in the city, so he managed up (in high gear of course) without ever breaking a sweat. I think I was pushing the bike before we rounded the first hill LOL! I’m out of shape for sure. But he was patient and we both were persistent and eventually we did finally make it to the top. Two+ hours later! And yes, I am hurting today.
* WPG2 CANNOT LOCATE GALLERY2 ITEM ID 4474 * The clouds rolled in just as we reached the top so we turned around for the much quicker ride back down. The buffalo will have to wait for next time! We rounded out the day walking and talking and waiting for the ferry back at 6:45pm. It was an exhausting, beautiful, and memorable day. You all should go if you get the chance. It reminded me a lot of Como, Italy but a lot closer.
It’s Saturday evening around 7pm and and I’m super excited that tomorrow I’ll be going out to Catalina Island for the first time (I’m just assuming there will be more times to come). I’ll be going with my new friend Brad, whom I’ll be picking up at 7am (ouch!) at his place in Santa Monica. From there, it’s off to San Pedro for breakfast and the ferry to the island.
Catalina Island, from Wikimedia Commons
I’m hoping we can rent some bikes. And I hope there’s some good food to be had. We’re there until the ferry back in the evening at 6:45pm. The weather should be fantastic. Avalon (the town on the island) is currently forecasted at the mid 60s and sunny.
Super excited for the Island Adventure, Eric Small
An old favorite. Something of a Pick Me Up tune, and a bit of a theme song the last couple months as we worked to wrap up the project at work for our 3/11 launch date.
So I haven’t seen a ton of concerts in my life. This Friday will be my 4th major diva and I’m actually getting really excited. Previous divas included Madonna (#1), Olivia Newton-John (#2, but really #1 in my heart), Cher (#3) at the Hollywood Bowl. And now Britney, the reining Queen of Pop, gets to be my #4. The show is this Friday, April 17th at the Staples Center! Woooooooooo!
