Thanks to Nikolai Nolan for the video. Please, don’t spoil the shock ending!
Today is the International Day of Awesomeness. Go forth and be awesome to each other.
Today is the first day of panels here in Austin, and I thought I’d try running two different experiments with my personal habits here at SXSW:
Experiment #1:
Purchase a replacement MacBook Pro battery, and by virtue of hotswapping batteries, not have to plug in at all during the day at ACC.
Result: Success. It’s going to be close, but I’m in the middle of the last panel session of the day, and I’ve got about 1 hour left on battery #2. I’ll have to work out an overnight charging regimen, but all in all, it’s a good thing.
Experiment #2:
Get through an entire day of panels without any coffee or caffeinated beverages.
Result: EPIC FAIL. I found myself drifting off and typing nonsense in my notes from the 37signals panel. Thankfully, Dinah was there to rescue me with some Jolt Caffeine Gum. Tomorrow, I’ll need to wake up early enough to get down to Starbucks and get my standard venti quad vanilla latte.
I’m on the ground in Austin for SXSWi 2008. I’ve already run into a few familiar faces, and will most likely catch up with the rest at dinner tonight. Updates as events warrant.
Reminder to those of you who are here – find me and get tagged!
(You can also follow me on Twitter, although I should warn those of you not in Austin that Twitter becomes less about what you’re doing and more about where you’re going. That’ll make more sense starting tonight.)
What the hell is this, Austin? You and I usually have a pretty good arrangement – I visit you for five days or so, and you make me forget it’s winter. This is nigh-unacceptable. *grumble*
As part of my SXSW prep, earlier tonight I took a drive up to East Brunswick to do some shopping at the fat guy clothing store. As I drove down Rt. 18 south, I passed the Mid-State Mall and noticed something…odd. Something out of place.
I’m pretty sure that I’ve mentioned in this space on at least one occasion that I used to work at Borders – Borders Store #42, to be specific. The one in the Mid-State Mall in East Brunswick. It started as a part time job between seasons at Six Flags, but I ended up staying on full time, and eventually got promoted into a position where they trusted me with a LOT of money. I enjoyed my time at that store, and still keep in touch with a few of the people I worked with there, but after two years, I moved on to new ventures.
Anyway, I mentioned that there was something odd about the Mid-State Mall tonight, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, because a reasonably-new Starbucks (the kind with a drive-thru window) is sitting on the corner of the property where the enormous jughandle used to be, and therefore obscured my view.
I took way too much time shopping, but as I returned north on Rt. 18 (heading toward Rt. 1, and eventually, home), I investigated. And while my discovery confirmed my suspicions, it didn’t make it any easier to digest: Borders #42 is officially closed.
I’m not sure why I was so shocked by this development – the store was chronically understaffed, even when I worked there; the fixtures were falling apart (and sometimes falling on employees!); and the location was, frankly, kinda crummy. (Hell, look at the picture – those letters have been out for 10 years!) And according to an article from the Sentinel, Borders says the store was ‘underperforming’, although I find that somewhat hard to believe – Store #42 was (at least when I worked there) always at the top of the sales charts for our region, due in no small part to the high volume of computer books we sold – you know, the ones that are never discounted and weigh 40 lbs? Yeah, those. So I can’t quite fathom how the store ‘underperformed’. But from what I’ve been reading in the press, there were a lot of ‘underperforming’ Borders stores to get the axe, so it shouldn’t be that surprising.
Still, I’m a little sad to see the store sitting there, closed down and gutted, with only an 8 1/2 x 11 typed note in the front window thanking customers for 15 years of patronage. It’s another small part of my past that I’ll never be able to revisit.
No excuses this time. Putting aside the post from LAX a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been away for a while. I could take the high road and say I was taking a ‘break’ from blogging, or that I was ‘re-evaluating’ what I wanted to do in this space, but I respect my readers (all 5 of you) too much to lie to you like that. No, the truth – the simple, damned truth – is that I kinda let my life get away from me since my last regularly scheduled broadcast. I’m not proud of it, but there it is.
OK, “let my life get away from me” sounds more dramatic than I’d intended now that I’ve actually typed it, so I guess I should qualify that statement a little bit. Over the summer my workload increased by several degrees of suck, and being…well, me…I was firmly of the belief that I could handle everything. I was proven quite wrong, and quickly found myself in the office until 7 or 8 at night trying to get everything done. (Although, in fairness, 7pm is a great time to GTD, because there are almost no distractions.) Sprinkle in some business trips, a generous helping of unexpected internal hurdles at work, and a heapin’ helpin’ of a certain Competition in Math, Science & Technology (130 hours worked in 2 weeks!) and suddenly it’s Thanksgiving.
(Alright, I guess I made some excuses. So sue me.)
So, with the formalities out of the way, I shall recall the good things that have happened since last I posted something remotely interesting in this space, in mostly-chronological order. I warn you now, some of the things on this list may seem a little mundane, but lately I’ll take any victory I can get, big or small.
July & August
September
October
November
I’m sure I glossed over some things, but that pretty much gets you up to speed on where I’ve been for the last 5 months or so. Next week I’m in DC for a cup of coffee, and the week after that, it’s back to the Bay Area (yes, again; yes, already – it’s amazing how fast time goes by when you’re not chronicling the events of your life on a regular basis). And astoundingly, SXSW is only 3(ish) months away. But in the short term, I’m looking forward to some time off at the end of the month, and generally getting things back under control at work. Oh, and providing you with regular updates of my escapades, of course.