It’s Hot and We Don’t Have AC

I can’t believe that after living in Texas for 20+ years I can now refer to 82 degrees as a hot day. I went to Ocean Beach for a couple of hours this afternoon to read, and it was amazing to actually feel the warmth on my skin. That hasn’t happened very often since we moved here. Apparently my body has adjusted to San Francisco temperature norms where you still need a sweatshirt on a clear, sunny afternoon in May.

Susie got called in to work this afternoon, so instead of working 6-close she had to start at 2. It’s great that the store has started giving her more hours, but I think we’re both somewhat tired of not seeing one another on weekends. Luckily she has tomorrow off, so we have the whole day to relax and unwind together. Speaking of tomorrow, it is our first chance to experience Bay to Breakers. Judging by how everyone talks about it, B2B is essentially San Francisco’s version of ACL or SXSW – not that it has anything to do with live music, but it is an event that literally everyone looks forward to every year. Apparently it is usually a booze-fest with people wearing hilarious costumes (some more appropriate than others) and partying, but the city is trying to crack down on the alcohol consumption and public intoxication this year, so that might make it slightly less entertaining. Anyway, we may just have to head over to Alamo Square to see what all the fuss is about.

In other news, the rollercoaster that is my job is back to being rather stressful. It’s not that I don’t enjoy what I do or the company I work for, because I do. But the hours that I have been working (plus the commute) are beginning to weigh on me. I’ve begun to wonder if I can sustain 50+ hours per week in addition to the perceived or real expectation that I’m always connected and available. The struggle to find work/life balance is certainly not unique to me, but given my ‘fix it’ personality, it’s something that continues to frustrate me. I’m sure it will resolve itself with time; for now, I guess I’ll just continue to count my blessings and consider myself lucky to have a job that suits me.

Oscar night

Well, the Oscars are on tonight, and Susie and I actually did a decent job this year of getting to the movies to see most of the films up for best picture. Yesterday, after spending some time walking through SOMA trying to figure out if we would like living in one of the Avalon communities on that side of town (the answer is no by the way) we caught an early afternoon showing of Doubt. Just in case anyone stumbles across this blog that hasn’t seen the movie (highly unlikely since Susie is the only one that reads this) I won’t spoil anything, but I’d be remiss if I failed to mention that Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep are stellar in the movie. But I guess that is the popular opinion since both are nominated for Oscars for their respective roles.

I can’t pinpoint exactly why I love film and theater, but I can truly get lost in a well-told story on stage or on screen. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good book too, but due to the amount of reading I have to do at work, I find myself looking forward to movies more than the books that gather dust on my bedside table. These days most of my leisure reading happens on the bus to and from work. The most astounding part of Doubt was the audience reaction to Meryl’s performance. The film is by no means a comedy, but there were several moments when we couldn’t help ourselves from laughing in a sort of child-like appreciation of watching someone so incredibly talented at their craft. For me, it was similar to the feeling of watching an athlete do something so extraordinary, so utterly unthinkable for anyone outside of the realm of sports, that you can’t help but feel a sense of joy for having experienced it. Simply put, she’s the best and no one’s really close.

In other news, it looks like we’re going to be staying in Sunset through the term of our lease. This past week Susie noticed that rent has come down quite a bit throughout the city, and since our leasing company owns several properties in the city and supposedly allows tenants to transfer units mid-lease if there are vacancies, we thought it might be a good opportunity to move closer in (i.e. shorten my commute) and possibly upgrade. Unfortunately, the two Avalon communities we checked out are in some of the least “walkable” locations we’ve seen since being here. Hopefully rates will stay down until the fall when we’re going to be looking for real.

New Year

Well, my renewed commitment to blog more frequently was short-lived to say the least. Work has gotten even more hectic in recent weeks, which basically means I am limited to writing in the evenings or on weekends. We’ll see how it goes, but moving from once-a-month to once-a-week probably won’t be happening anytime soon.

On Friday, a colleague  that has been with the agency for nearly 20 years led a group discussion about the economy over lunch. I have never met someone else who seems to possess such an endless wealth of knowledge on such a broad range of topics. He can truly go on for hours about anything – from music to sports to the financial crisis. As we were all getting a crash course in ‘why our country is such a mess’  I began to understand just how long it is going to take for us to regain any semblance of normalcy. Companies will continue to hemorrhage money and more jobs will be lost before anything is fixed. That is reality in America during 2009 (potentially 2010 as well). 

Ironically, coming to terms with just how bad things have gotten has helped me remain patient and appreciate my current situation. Despite work being as stressful as it has been since being hired two years ago, I’m confident that the company I work for is a good place to be. Our senior leadership has demonstrated time and again that they are invested in the well-being of their employees. The challenge is undoubtedly going to be retaining the positive outlook once the ‘tough business decisions’ begin. 

My father, who has had a career chalked full of both positive and negative periods of employment and unemployment, once told me (paraphrasing here) that the only way to guarantee long-term success is to work hard and fervently protect your integrity. Jobs will come and go, but doing great work the right way will always serve you well. So that is what I’m trying to do – work hard and make decision that I can be proud of. There are no guarantees in business, but I’m going to do my best to take care of the things I can control.

I’m sure there will be plenty to report in the coming weeks and months. I’ll do my best to write about anything significant that happens.

Test

Testing out wordpress iPhone app. The interface is simple enough to use, and now that I’m getting quicker typing it may be a viable option. The jury is still out so I guess we’ll see..

Why I Want Cuil to Succeed

"Please try your search again."

Yesterday, it was nearly impossible to avoid the talk of the supposed Google-killer, Cuil. As first blush, Cuil, which is pronounced “cool,” looks to be just the sort of search tool that would attract an iPhone generation of searchoholics. It’s sleek design and customizable layout look like a solid foundation upon which it will need to build expanded functionality to seriously compete with the likes of Google (or even Yahoo! or MSN Live for that matter).

Here are the two primary reasons I want Cuil to succeed.

1.) Competition is a good thing – Google has completely dominated the search industry for quite some time, with conservative market share estimates exceeding 60 percent. There is plenty of room for services that provide a different user experience than Google. I’d love to see a tool that integrated image and video into search results (perhaps allowing users to customize columns by media type).

2.) Functionality is not everything – In response to my support of Cuil, one of my colleagues made the point that design isn’t important with search. To be honest, the initial appeal of Google for many of us was its simlicity of design and ease of use. I recently read an anecdote from an interview with a Google executive who said that the registered trademark at the bottom of Google.com was added because early users often stared at their screens waiting for the page to finish loading, assuming there must be more than the single search bar. But even Google users know that search alone is not enough. The popularity of iGoogle and similar customizable services is evidence that design does matter for many users.

Hopefully Cuil will overcome early skepticism to provide a real alternative to Google. If not, can someone at Google at least try to improve the aesthetics of the site? Would a dark background be too much to ask?

Lines and more lines

Well, it certainly has been an interesting weekend. Susie and I decided to go ahead and switch phone service providers and participate in the ‘iPhone’ madness. First, I woke up around 5 am on Friday to go sit outside an AT&T store near our apartment. Apple had been bragging that activation would probably take between 15-20 minutes per customer prior to the launch…yeah, not so much. After it took the first guy in line more than 45 minutes to  come out with his phone (still not activated), I knew that something was up. Turns out the demand was too much for the iTunes servers to handle and the entire system went down. So much for the “in-store activation experience.” Luckily, AT&T decided relatively quickly to let people purchase the phone and try to activate them later from home (similar to the system they used for the launch of the first iPhone last summer). I wasn’t able to get mine to work until around 3:30 Friday afternoon, but at least I was able to get back to work relatively quickly.

The biggest hiccup in my plan was that AT&T had decided to impose a BS one phone per person in line rule which meant that I couldn’t buy Susie a phone while she was at work. I figured she wasn’t going to be up for going to stand in line Friday night, so I decided to go back on Saturday morning while she was stuck at work. After another 3 hours of waiting, we both now have working phones, which are pretty awesome. Other phones may have similar features, but I doubt there is another mobile device that is as much fun to use as the iPhone.

Yesterday we finally saw WALL-E. Susie and I both loved it. Understanding how PIXAR continues to make such fantastically entertaining movies is beyond me. Have they made anything that hasn’t been great?

Not much else is going on this weekend. Today has been a “lazy Sunday” in every sense of the word. Besides making a trip to the store and going on a quick run this morning, it has pretty much been Susie reading the Maltese Falcon and me watching the Astros game (thank you Brandon Backe for giving us something to cheer about after a brutal two weeks).

Too Soon?

Apparently my weekend remarks about Starbucks’ rebound was premature. According to this article, the company is continuing to struggle. Here’s the money quote:

“The U.S. consumer is hurting more now than they have in the last 18 months,” said Langston, who expects the back half of the year to be “pretty dismal” for consumers.

“People look at spending $4 on a latte or $4 on a gallon of gas, and they’re probably going to pick the gallon of gas,” Langston said.

Ouch.

Back to Reality

What a vacation. I could not have asked for a better recharge than a 5-day rafting trip down the Salmon River in beautiful Idaho (by the way, who vacations in Idaho?). Some of the highlights were:

1.) Getting snowed on for the first two days of the trip (the water was a refreshing 35-40 degrees)

2.) Flipping the raft on the last day

3.) Private plane (flying commercial will never be the same again)

4.) Quality time with Susie, Mark, Bryan, Adam and Claire

All in all, it was one of the best trips I’ve ever taken. Susie and I both desperately needed a break from work, and the week gave us ample opportunity to evaluate where we are and where we want to be. If I’ve learned anything in my short 24 years of life it is that family is irreplaceable. You can try to fill your life with countless frivolities, but nothing will ever begin to compare with the feeling of being around loved ones.

Beautiful

My wife is a vision. It’s impossible to say goodbye in the morning as we both leave for work. So much has been wonderful this week. Work has been busy, but it seems more bearable knowing we will be on the Snake River rafting this time next week. Susie has been her usual perfect self – she truly is everything I ever hoped for plus some.

Finally got some news about relocating. I have been offered a job in our company’s San Francisco office that I am strongly considering. The more I am able to interact with the senior leadership at my company, the more convinced I am that this is the right place for me to be. Simply put – my company employs some of the brightest and talented people I’ve ever met. Hopefully there will be something solid the week after we return from vacation.

Big Big Day

Lots to report on the relo front today. Stay tuned.