I'm really excited to head back to London this weekend to visit my friends and the old neighborhood around Kensington, Holland Park and Notting Hill.
I'm feaverishly planning the lunches and dinners. On top of my list are: The Enterprise, Le Boudin Blanc, Bibendum, Churchill Arms (Thai), Wagamama's (Asian @ a bargain) och maybe The Wine Factory or the old Club Med (new owners and name I think).
I've no plans if doing any extensive sightseeing or shopping, just a quick trip to the usual few places and maybe visit an exhibition at one of the great museums. The bulk of my time will be spent eating and drinking with my friends. Or just drinking.
There are few pleasures in life greater than standing outside The Enterprise or The Cod with a pint of Guinness and exercise the art of small talk. Just the fact that you can stand outside - except for when it bloody rains - will always be a great adventure and a very novel pastime to me.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Monday, November 07, 2005
Uma Batida Diferente
Imagine a beach so hot that you can see the heat waves surf across the sand. It only takes a blanket and a superb lunch and there you are, on the beach squinting your eyes in the afternoon sun. The shades of heat are changing in front of you, turning into a softer, more suave light. There is orange mixed with deep blue and sand.
It's the best time of day. Your lunch is making your sleepy, slow and lazy as the sun is giving you it's best rays. It's easy to just nod off but the beach light is just too beautiful and it awakes memories in your mind of the best of times.
You can hear the bossa tunes coming out of the beach bar. They are playing 'Águas de Março' and it feels like the end and the beginning of time. Life is as it's most attractive and simplest form. Your mind is emptied of anything but now.
It's the best time of day. Your lunch is making your sleepy, slow and lazy as the sun is giving you it's best rays. It's easy to just nod off but the beach light is just too beautiful and it awakes memories in your mind of the best of times.
You can hear the bossa tunes coming out of the beach bar. They are playing 'Águas de Março' and it feels like the end and the beginning of time. Life is as it's most attractive and simplest form. Your mind is emptied of anything but now.
'Just For You'
iTunes new recommendation feature 'Just For You' is an 'old' concept in the digital world. Amazon has been credited as the inventor, at least the surviving inventor, of the feature 'People that bought this product also bought the following products'. But that doesn't make it less useful.
Getting recommendations based on your past music purchases and how they relate to others is fantastic. It actually works more like Netflix's recommendations than Amazon's. The user gets a choice of rating the recommendation with either 'Already Own It' or ' Don't Like It'.
In geek speak the feature is driven by an algorithm but it's all old fashioned probability based on aggregated customer preferences. It's exactly the kind of 'sticky' features iTunes needs to leverage and monitize the power of their user DB. That's what makes them unique and it pays of being the biggest.
It also adds to the power of recovery / discovery search which increases the clickstream and drives more moolah to Apple. iTunes is the Google of music.
Getting recommendations based on your past music purchases and how they relate to others is fantastic. It actually works more like Netflix's recommendations than Amazon's. The user gets a choice of rating the recommendation with either 'Already Own It' or ' Don't Like It'.
In geek speak the feature is driven by an algorithm but it's all old fashioned probability based on aggregated customer preferences. It's exactly the kind of 'sticky' features iTunes needs to leverage and monitize the power of their user DB. That's what makes them unique and it pays of being the biggest.
It also adds to the power of recovery / discovery search which increases the clickstream and drives more moolah to Apple. iTunes is the Google of music.
Life is Good!
Doc confirmed blood pressure is down. CKCM +$2 on above average volume. Fedex delivered a case of Allende '01. Missus back from East Coast tonight. A pound is now $1.75 USD. The new iPod rocks.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Los Amigos Invisibles
When I first heard "The New Sound of The Venezuelan Gozadera" I was just blown away by how cool and modern these latin american vibes were. At that time - around '98 - I had just started to dive into the vast ocean of classic brazilian music. I didn't really know anything latin american but the brazilian classics. I was in for a treat.
A year later I was in Barcelona on my way down to Tarifa to windsurf and ran into a poster down by the Barceloneta promoting Los Amigos at Bikini the very same night. I had to go. That night was a blend of Gozadera, party shirts and Tequila.
Los Amigos are playing here in San Francisco in about 3 weeks and I think it's time to pull out the old flamboyant shirt to celebrate the beginning of the latin american summer. Vamos!
A year later I was in Barcelona on my way down to Tarifa to windsurf and ran into a poster down by the Barceloneta promoting Los Amigos at Bikini the very same night. I had to go. That night was a blend of Gozadera, party shirts and Tequila.
Los Amigos are playing here in San Francisco in about 3 weeks and I think it's time to pull out the old flamboyant shirt to celebrate the beginning of the latin american summer. Vamos!
Saturday, November 05, 2005
The Apple of My Eye
Early (pre-6AM) rise this morning due to the missus trip to the East Coast. Easied into the day by watching 3-4 episodes of Alias season 4. Woke up thanks to 2 cups of latte.
Then I decided it was time to switch out the weakest link in our home network - the Linksys wifi router 802.11b (so 90's) - for the Apple Airport Extreme Base Station (802.11g). I never thought that a commodity like that could be differentiated but what a positive surprise. It took me 2 minutes to hook up and suddenly I felt a snappiness (Yahoo! speak) in the network applications that I haven't experience before. I'm now what marketing folks would call a delighted customer eventhough it set me back the equivalent of a case of Allende '03.
I'm getting so close to the vision I had several years ago of having one 'affordable' (key word) server that store and streams anything audio and video as well as having free VoIP accessible from anywhere in our pad. Next steps are to exchange our current home theater system for something much sleeker / portable, add another flat panel TV in the living room and some streaming hardware / software (Mac-2-TV).
I want to listen to music and watch movies when I WANT without commercials trying to sell me the next Ford F-150. I also like to to bring those assets with me when I travel. But what I really want is to be able to access media just like we are making cell calls today across the world - anywhere, anytime and on any platform.
Then I decided it was time to switch out the weakest link in our home network - the Linksys wifi router 802.11b (so 90's) - for the Apple Airport Extreme Base Station (802.11g). I never thought that a commodity like that could be differentiated but what a positive surprise. It took me 2 minutes to hook up and suddenly I felt a snappiness (Yahoo! speak) in the network applications that I haven't experience before. I'm now what marketing folks would call a delighted customer eventhough it set me back the equivalent of a case of Allende '03.
I'm getting so close to the vision I had several years ago of having one 'affordable' (key word) server that store and streams anything audio and video as well as having free VoIP accessible from anywhere in our pad. Next steps are to exchange our current home theater system for something much sleeker / portable, add another flat panel TV in the living room and some streaming hardware / software (Mac-2-TV).
I want to listen to music and watch movies when I WANT without commercials trying to sell me the next Ford F-150. I also like to to bring those assets with me when I travel. But what I really want is to be able to access media just like we are making cell calls today across the world - anywhere, anytime and on any platform.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
The Hangover
I feel slightly hungover after last night. The missus treated me to a very nice dinner over at Luella. I was really impressed by the place, from the ambiance to the service and the food. We had a fantastic bottle of red from Puglia, Ahi Tuna Tacos as starters, Halibut as main and a cheese plate as the dessert and grand finale. I also liked that the restaurant wasn't over-crowded, just enough people to make you confident that they are good at what they do. And they are - great attention to details and a strong love for what they do. A B+ in my book.
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
The European Vacation
We might head to Europe next spring for a long European road trip. Our thought is to mainly hit Switzerland, Italy, France and Spain to enjoy the respective wine country and restaurants, cruising along on the backroads to discover the simple life. The ride? Well, I think I just got clearance to buy a 993. Excited!
The Exit
Today was my last day at Yahoo!. I woke up early, around 5am pst, to get the opportunity to enjoy the 50-mile long ride on I-280 to the office for the last time. It was magic, like people on the freeway just knew that this was an important ride, a man on a mission to close one chapter in his life and open another. In salute, everyone moved aside (damn unusual) except for a pick-up truck (what can I say...) and let me pass, feeling the acceleration pulsating through my body and the wind blowing in my hair.
I showed up for my exit interview and realized that the HR lady that was assigned was rather nervous. She spoke faster than most people can hear, like she was paid in words per minute. I realized she didn't know if this was a voluntary or forced exit. Not knowing if it was going to be uncomfortable. I made a joke, smiled and she clearly got the message. I added: Lady, this has been 6 absolutely fantastic years - loved every minute! Her smile grew bigger and bigger and wished the best of luck. End.
I showed up for my exit interview and realized that the HR lady that was assigned was rather nervous. She spoke faster than most people can hear, like she was paid in words per minute. I realized she didn't know if this was a voluntary or forced exit. Not knowing if it was going to be uncomfortable. I made a joke, smiled and she clearly got the message. I added: Lady, this has been 6 absolutely fantastic years - loved every minute! Her smile grew bigger and bigger and wished the best of luck. End.
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