Pithy Title Here

This morning, I woke up in the Mountain Time Zone. I have since flown back to Eastern. This means my day is only 22 hours long today. But I feel like I have more than a days worth to cover here... but I assure you, all these observations come from today: I never want to hear the phrase "Hey, I forgot something in my hotel room. Can we go back?" This was uttered by some numbskull on the shuttle bus from my hotel to Denver International Airport. Actually, the shuttle served four places on the hotel farm where I was staying. And the driver, who was apparently a nice guy, took him back and we waited five minutes for numbskull to go get whatever he forgot. Fortunately, I had plenty of tie to make my flight. But, seriously... why didn't the driver poll the other passengers? I wanted to turn to this guy and say "Yes, it sucks you forgot something... but get off and get the next shuttle because you're not the only one on this bus with a flight to catch buddy." ...

The first time I saw an iPod , I was smitten. I remember being on the NYC subway. What was that? White earbuds ? Some odd interface? I took a closer look. I remember it clearly: "Oh my God it's a digital music player." It was one of the few tech items I felt like I couldn't wait t have... and on my entry-level PR salary, it was far out of reach. In fact, my first mp3 player was a Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen... but the point was, Apple was onto something. They were first to market and everyone has been playing catch-up since (except me... I finally went iPod in 2007). Now, I don't have an iPhone but I get it... Being able to have an intuitive phone/data device that allows you to use the Internet the way the Internet wants to be used makes sense. I wish my Blackberry had the iPhone browser for sure. But this iPad ... I cannot be the only person who thinks this is the most underwhelming "revolutionary" device (to borrow Steve Jobs' word) I've...

I try to avoid hyperbole. So let's just say that my hike today in Topanga State Park (from the Trippet Ranch parking area to Parker Mesa Overlook) is possibly one of the most beautiful hikes you can do in the lower 48. And it's really easy. Following a fire road, the trail traces a high ridegline that, for the most part leaves you exposed to a view at almost any moment. It's chaparral country and the colors are outstanding. But it's... just so much more. I've hiked Topanga once before and, like today, there is the take-your-breath-away moment when you come over a rise or around a bend and see the Pacific from high above. But I don't know of any hike I can find where I can see all of the following on the same hike, often at the same time: The ocean Snow-capped mountains Palm trees A city skyline You might get two of those a lot of places. Three is possible in a handful of areas. All four... maybe right here in Southern California and maybe the Marin Headlands nea...

So, I am in the process of selling my home. In fact, it's under contract. Today, we learned that our buyer would like to forego having the house inspected. They, apparently, feel that our sheet of disclosures and recent fixes are good enough for them. Truthfully, I was anticipating not having many repairs at all. We know the house and really... it's in good shape. So, there was this brief bit of rejoicing around 6 p.m. tonight, knowing that we would save a few bucks on any small repairs the buyer requested. At about 11 p.m., the joy subsided. As I was walking into our laundry room, I noticed a small bit of water on the floor. An investigation yielded that one of the hoses from our hot water heater comes to a triple joint... and at the bottom of that joint, a thin, but steady stream of water slowly misting the side of my water heater. And the floor. Balls. By the way... I have a home warranty. I called them. The customer service rep was very helpful. Except for being able to...

If you haven't been following the news, you might not be aware that News Corporation, owner of Fox, and Time Warner Cable have been in a rather ugly shouting match that will likely result in Fox pulling its programming and channels from TWC on New Year's Day. Let me explain: In the beginning, TV broadcasters put their programming out for free to viewers. If you had a TV and an antenna, you could tune in to NBC. Networks paid locally-owned TV stations to become network affiliates. Advertisers paid networks (and local affiliates) to support free delivery of TV. This was great, unless you lived in some remote area or in a deep mountain valley and couldn't pick up a signal. Thus, the invention of community antenna TV (aka "cable"). All was well. This was a pastoral era where man loved his fellow man, the Russians were the predictable-style bad guys. Life made sense. Then, it all went to hell. Quickly. See, cable was something you had to pay for. And that meant yo...

First off, believe it or not, I have a lot to discuss. So, be on the lookout for more entries in coming days. Now, onto the matter at hand... I think this whole business about the state of airline security in the aftermath of a terrorist trying to blow up Delta/Northwest 253 on Christmas Day over Michigan... is stupid. I don't understand why there's an uproar because it's simple: airport security sucks. I don't mean the TSA people who perform the job. From what I can tell, they're doing fine. The system they have to operate under is what sucks. My surprise is that we haven't had this happen more often. The issue is not a failure of intelligence (I highly recommend you read Malcolm Gladwell's 2003 piece on this topic here ). The issue is related to the problem Gladwell points out though. Essentially, we treat every person going through security like they could be a terrorist. But... we do it in a way that is designed to cause no undue delay for we, the ...

As much as I talk about travel on here, I might as well look back at the year that was in that sense... First, let's look at the raw numbers of miles flown and flights: US Airways - 58,872 (55 flights)* Delta - 3,444 (6 flights) AirTran - About 700 (2 flights) Continental - 406 (2 flights) Southwest About 500 (1 flight) The star goes next to US Air because by the end of this month, I'll have been on 62 flights and well over 60,000 miles. And the crazy thing... more than 30,000 of them will have been since October 1, which means (if my math is right), due to US Air's fourth quarter promotion, I will vault from Gold status on US Air, to Chairman's. Which, frequent fliers will hear me here, is bad-ass. I should note here this wasn't all for business, though the vast bulk was. That said, a few vacation flights in there for sure. So, where was Jay? Here were some of my travel destinations: Atlanta New York Seattle Portland, OR San Francisco/Oakland Southern Califor...