Welcome to Honolulu!

I arrived in Honolulu today around 11am. The flight was awesome. It was nice to get a real meal and beverage service during a flight. They had a pretty cool in flight entertainment device you could rent for $15 with all types of movies, music, and tv if you wanted. I had 2 laptops with movies so I passed. The airport here is pretty small so the bags came out fast. It was so nice to be wearing shorts again, that is the one thing I miss from AZ.

I’m going to try and take some pics while I’m here, but here is one from the condo.

I’m off to go eat, but more to come tomorrow from my trip to Hawaii.

Happy Anniversary Dani, love and miss you!

Off to Hawaii…

I’m leaving for Honolulu to visit the Sprout office there. I may not log in and post often, but I’ll write a bunch on the plane and post it when I get back. Have a great week!

Does TSA want another 9-11?

So I realize the title may be very provocative, but after reading the TSA’s website of approved items allowed on flights I am very concerned.  I remember the days following 9-11 how people were confused how terrorists hijacked plans with box cutters. The media debated how 3-4 terrorists on each plane, armed with box cutters and other small makeshift weapons could take over a plane with 150+ people on it. I’m not going to debate or argue this topic, so don’t post on it. I’m concerned with these 4 items that are allowed on a plane.

Scissors – metal with pointed tips and blades shorter than four inches
Tools (seven inches or less in length)
Screwdrivers (seven inches or less in length)
Wrenches and Pliers (seven inches or less in length)

So we aren’t allowing people bring bottled, unopened water or toiletries more than 3ounces in size but we are letting people bring scissors and screwdrivers on. Is anyone else confused and concerned like me? I mean a scissor that is 4inches and a screwdriver that is 7inches can do a lot of damage, a lot. I thought the whole point of the new TSA rules was to get rid of this stuff. I think it is just insanely stupid that scissors and tools are allowed on board. I mean if 9-11 was done with box cutters couldn’t it be done with scissors and tools?

I am also shocked at the types of items you are allowed to check. I know that they are not accessible during the flight, but what if somebody took control of the plane and then got into the cargo compartment? I don’t like the idea of there being the type of weapons they allow on.

I encourage you to read the site and see what you can and can’t bring, I think you will find it shocking. I’m going to contact the TSA about my concerns with scissors and screwdrivers and I encourage you to do the same. Their info is below…

To report specific violations and concerns about security, please contact the TSA-Contact Center.

Phone: 1-866-289-9673
E-mail: TSA-ContactCenter@dhs.gov

Just a day of links…

Today I’m just going to post a bunch of links to good articles to read. Some are older than others, but they are all very interesting to browse if you have time.

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/5027/americas-unhealthiest-drinks-exposed/
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2008/06/01/20080601biz-gascreditcard0602.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_en&refer=us&sid=akX5meseuru8
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/ColdStoneFranchiseesFeelChill.aspx
http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=ki-ufcplans061708&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Carry-on Baggage Follow-up

Last week I posted about carry-on baggage. Yesterday the AP posted an article about this topic. Guess I was thinking ahead and reading minds, haha.

Elevators

In SF I ride the elevator a lot more than I did when living in Arizona. I’m on the 23rd floor of my apartment building and on the 7th floor at my office, so I spend a lot of my day in an elevator. I have come to the realization that a lot of people don’t get how to enter and exit them. If I had a dollar for every time we stopped on a floor and nobody moved I’d be rich. I don’t get if people forget where they are going or they are just dumb. Often we get the the ground floor at my building and somebody is waiting with their nosed pressed to the door waiting to get in. Back Off! You have to let the people exit the elevator first before you start packing it in. I don’t get it. People either don’t have common sense or they just think they are in their own world and can do what they want. I love the people that get into the elevator and stand in the middle near the front, then they don’t move when new people enter forcing them to squeeze by them. It is just another fun part of my day in this crazy city…

Flyleaf

I’m always looking for new bands, only so many times I can listen to the same bands on repeat on the way to work. Anyone who knows me, knows I have odd taste. I love rock bands with female lead singers like Evanescence and Paramore. My latest sensation is Flyleaf. Their music is similar to the for mentioned, but is a breath of fresh air. Check them out, let me know what you think.

Sprouting

I just finished my third week at Sprout and it is going great. My boss, Carnet, is back in town for 3 days before he jets off to London so it has been good to spend time with him. Lorna, my other boss, is going out of town this week, so I’m pretty much the only one left to purchase or do anything involving money which is awesome. I’m flying to our Honolulu office on July 8^th and I’ll be there for 5 days. I am pretty excited. Working for a company that is based in Hawaii has it’s perks. Everything else at work is going great. The office is just about setup, I am just waiting for a few more things to come in and then I can finally be done with it. It looks awesome and I’ll post pictures once I get the Wii play area setup. Yes, that’s right we are going to have a game area. I love working for technology startups. We’ve got a lot of very cool stuff coming out soon so make sure you check out the website and my blog posting. I encourage everyone to try and build a Sprout for their Facebook, MySpace, Blog, or website in general. It really is the best widget/advertising tool out there, and I’m not just saying that. Where else can you generate a complex flash tool to use as a marketing piece for free? For those of you that don’t know how to code flash or don’t want to hire somebody, this is the best tool to use. Check out my facebook for my sprout that I made, it took less than 10minutes to do.

Carry-on vs checked bags…

We all have seen the news about airlines cutting costs and starting to charge for services. Well after flying this weekend, I think they are missing out on the biggest cash cow of all. Carry-On luggage shouldn’t be a given, it should be a luxury. Think of all the time that would be saved if everyone  didn’t carry-on their bag? Instead of charging $15 for an extra checked bag, why not  charge $15-$20 to carry on the bag? People that carry-on bags slow down security checks, boarding, and unloading. Why not make the ability to carry on a bag a luxury for those willing to pay for it? It certainly seems like a great way to offset the other dumb cost saving things. I don’t think getting rid of peanuts and drinks is really the answer, but hey I’ve never ran an airline. I’m just making the suggestion that if you want to start getting more money per trip, I think people will pay to have a carry-on luggage as a  luxury—I know I would.

Gmail and IMAP don’t like PALM

While I am loving my new job, the google mail server we use is a pain. First off, I liked my old pop3/smtp server. It was easy, reliable, and worked with my palm phone. Google’s imap doesn’t work with palm without the use of a 3rd party software. After trying a bunch, SnapperMail2 is really the only one that works decent. It is $60 to buy the full version. I am the only person at my company that doesn’t have an iphone or blackberry so this really is only affecting me. I am so against an iphone and don’t like how the blackberry isn’t touch screen. Oh the life of dumb email servers.