Bad iPhone, Bad

I saw an ad for the 4S that read something to the effect of, "the only camera you'll ever need."  And until this past 2 weeks, I was starting to think that Apple might have done it.  I forgot my Nikon Coolpix S9100 in Boston last week.  In a nutshell, I accidentally forced myself to test the 4S hype at, among other things, a baptism and a week of vacation.

I had loads of photo ops but soon found myself skipping the photo op because I knew the picture would be crap.

Wanna zoom-in on the ferry with Brant Point Lighthouse in the background?  Forget it; it's only a digital zoom.

Wanna snap that action shot?  Forget it; shutter speeds are slower than the Slowsky's.

Wanna save that low light Workbench?  Forget it; the flash doesn't know when to fire.

The 4S just isn't very flexible. It's sweet spot is pretty narrow.  By the end of my journey, I had found the sweet spot and was taking some pretty great pictures.

Now for the kicker: as we were waiting to board our ferry back to the mainland, I noticed a mysterious bump in my book bag. It was my beloved Nikon megazoom!  Son of a....

Back to 02116

We landed our butts back on the mainland today. I'm unable to accurately determine who's depression is deeper: Ali or Jake's. They both long for the Nantucket lifestyle.  Ali for the carefree attitude Jake for the lax Leash Law.

Reality is a harsh wakening.  Construction on the Sagamore Bridge slowed us to a 3 mph for 40 minutes. Once we got inside the city limits, it only took four stop lights before we witnessed the first act of roads age between an 18-wheeler and a taxi (totally the taxi's fault).  A police officer briefly stopped all traffic through the intersection while the two drivers sorted it out.

On the upside, Spring has made a lot of progress on our street. Our "privacy screens" have returned in full force.

Life's a Beach

Ali and I rescued Jake in 2007.  Like me, he used to live in North Carolina.  Jake had a bad case of heart worm. His family couldn't afford the treatment and were forced to take him to the local shelter.  The shelter gave Jake the heart worm treatment and, through a relationship with Adopt-A-Lab.org, he moved up to New England in search of a new happy home.  When we met Jake, he was staying at a foster home in Connecticut.

You can take the boy out of the beach but you can't take the beach out of the boy.

This trip to Nantucket is the first time that we've taken Jake to the beach.  Even though it was only 60 degrees, his eyes lit up and he hit that beach like it was an official homecoming.  I don't think I've ever seen him get SO excited SO quickly.  It reminds me of Ali's excitement when we walked into the jewelers to shop for engagement ring diamonds.

I caught this moment on video while Ali and Jake were playing in the surf.  They might have been my favorite moments of the whole week.  My favorite favorite parts are each of his 180's.  And yes, that water is really cold.

Interesting Jake Factoid #1: When we first met Jake, his favorite snack was baby carrots.

Do Not Disturb

I'm in San Francisco this week.  Like a lot of places, this is one of those cities which I frequent for all "the wrong" reasons.  By that I mean that, while I spend a lot of time here, it's all business and no pleasure.  Naturally, I'd like to come back to explore the city for a long weekend sometime.

When I'm in town, I always stay in the same Hyatt.  It's perfect 'cause it's (literally) right across the street from my office.

Somebody knew what they were talkin' about when they said there's two sides to every coin.  This week, the view from my window is great!  ...as long as you're not looking straight ahead.  If you're looking straight ahead, then you're just about eye-level with my manager's 5th floor window.

This is the best reason I've ever had to get in earlier (and leave later) than my boss.

Yuuuuup!

Ali and I attended a charity auction to benefit the Farr Academy this week.  Since wifey is an e-Bay FANATIC, this live event was sure to test her grit.  It's easy to keep a cool appearance when you're competing against faceless binaries, but in live competition, the rules change.  The competitors are always observing the big dog.  Watching.  Testing.  Waiting for you to tip your hand.

This would be much more akin to Storage Wars than anything even she has ever done.  I knew I was out of my league.  Wifey would have to bare the burden of the paddle today.  We Positioned our chairs so that I could tap Ali on the back anytime I wanted to bid.  Armed with that information, Ali would decide whether or not Paddle #1 would make an official bid.

The good news is that my sports memorabilia collection has continued to grow!  Before the auction, I had a Paul Pierce basketball (a gift from Ali), Ted Williams baseball (a gift from Ali's father), and two Dave Mills Youth League trophies (!!).  Following the auction I was the proud new owner of a Kevin Youkilis baseball, Adrian Gonzalez baseball, and a Milan Lucic puck.

I also won a round for four at TPC Boston.  This is a private course where The Deutsche Bank Championship is played.  Woohoo!  We also won some other stuff...but that's far less exciting.

Grande Bam Tournament

I've seen this before and it's obvious.  Ol' Man Winter is is on sabbatical.  The whole weather-verse has turned on it's head. It's 75 in Boston and 65 in Alabama.

So be it!  It's time to ring-in the new golf season with my (now) annual trip down South.  This year's destination is Willow Point in Alexander City, Alabama.  It's a tough place to get to, but the prospects of a road trip through AL are enough to keep my spirits high.  Plus, speed limits of 70 mph help the miles pass by.

I was on an early flight from Boston to Atlanta. The remaining 150 miles to Alex City were between me and the highway.  First things first however.  A billboard advertisement for Frank's House of Prime Rib was all that I needed to opt for a lunch break.

Since there was no prime rib on the lunch menu (??), I settled on the New England Clam Chowder and the Frank's Special.  The sandwich was awesome.  Look at those portions!  ...and ignore the color of the chowder.

Traffic was wonderfully fluid the whole way out to Alex City. I was astonished, really. It was a refreshing change for someone who's used to rushing home to dodge Red Sox, Celtics, and/or Bruins traffic.  Equally amazing was the complete lack of speeding.  I doubt I saw anyone going faster than 75.  Knowing that I don't blend in, I set my cruise control for exactly 70 mph.

Another fun thing about driving through Alabama is that I passed landmarks and signs for places that I've only ever read about or heard in a song: Mobile, Chattahoochee, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa.  Even cooler is passing into the central timezone.  There's a sign and everything!  Woo!  I'm having trouble controlling my excitement.  Court and Colin told me about friends who lived in the Central timezone and were teachers in the Eastern timezone.  I had trouble comprehending the extra effort required to balance living along a timezone divide.

Enough of this kidding around, I was there to play golf (and lose some money playing cards).  I've been working on a new swing and this was my first chance to put it into competition. The results are promising.  My score is already a couple of strokes better in my first round.  I'm excited to see what the rest of the season will bring.  One things for sure, Alabama's March sun is less forgiving than Boston's.

Beavers and Pandas

I have two post ideas that have been kicking around my head but... neither of them are hefty enough to deserve their own post.  Go forth mini-posts, I release you onto the world!

There are a finite number of C-Level officers in corporations.  I've been around long enough to know what to expect: Chief Executive Officer, Chief Finance Officer, Chief Legal Council, blah, blah, blah, 100% predictable.  The ever accelerating pace of technology has created the need for new breeds of CXO's (Chief Yahoo! excluded).  One of those sneaky little you-know-whats snuck-up on me last week and I realized that being blissfully unaware of certain CXO's is often a good thing.

There's a handful of music out there that's appealing to me and yes, it's embarrassing to admit my affinity for some of it.  Some older some newer.  I've been rockin-out to these songs of late:

1. Gotye - Somebody That I Used to Know
2. Old Crow Medicine Show - Wagon Wheel
3. The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
4. Ray Charles - Georgia On My Mind
5. Matisyahu - Miracle
6. Eric Church - Springsteen
7. Tribe Called Quest - Can I Kick It?