Month: October 2005

Amazing Race 8 – Episode 2

On a good note, the suitcase-exchange Road Block in the Tidal Basin is one of Amazing Race’s best challenges; it’s place appropriate, anyone can do it, it’s sexy, and success is a random process of elimination. As always, a good road block like this shakes up the rankings.

It feels like the teams are spending 80% of the time driving around New England. I’m sure its pretty, it doesn’t seem as exotic nor as entertaining as flying around the world.

On tonight’s elimination; if you read a map and send your team the opposite direction down the freeway – be man enough to admit it right away. Don’t blame your son for missing an exit you never passed. Yes, Rogers Family Dad, I’m talking to you and thanks for owning up to it in the end.

Current Standing of Garrick’s Favorites

  • Lintz – #2
  • Aeillo – #5

This Email is Bloggable Signature

I’ve been thinking about when to send an email verses blog. I’ve decided on a loose guideline: if more than 3 people would find something useful, I’ll blog it. If not it’s an email (or, even better, an instant message)

Somethings, like mailing lists, don’t map well to this guideline. To cover that, I’ve followed Ross Mayfield’s cue and added a “this email is bloggable” flag to my email signature.

This message is blog-able:
[x] yes [ ] please don’t

Notice this is a simplification from Mayfield’s 3 checkbox version – to me “please ask” really means “please don’t”. While reading his Email 2.0 post, I realized the sig could be simplified further. To minimize confusion, I don’t include the bloggable flag in private or “please don’t” messages anyway. That, and “please don’t” never felt right. In addition, if I don’t explicity grant you permission to use a private or semi-private email message publicly – then well, you won’t. Cause that ain’t Web 2.0 cool.

Thus, I’ve revised my flag to read:

— Feel Free to Blog This Message —

Starbucks is Ideal for Lazy Vacationers

The wife and I spent this past weekend in the middle of Wisconsin. We’re both particular about our coffee and we both enjoy joking about measuring distance in Starbucks. At home, we prefer local roasters like Dunn Bros or White Rock.

But you don’t know the relief we sighed when Wausau got their first Starbucks. Like McDonalds, Starbucks’ offering are consistently mediocre. Yet, they are still leagues above the native coffee shops in terms of quality, they’re the only place in town with a wireless network, and the only coffee shop open on Sundays.

This makes Starbucks the obvious answer for grabbing a decent morning cup while out of town. As much as I’d prefer a quirkly, quaint, local roaster.

Now, with 2 Starbucks in the area, we also had our first “Best in Show” moment – meeting people at Starbucks…just not the same Starbucks.

This post was inspired by The Excess of Access over at Brand Autopsy