Did I enjoy Ben Zander's closing presentation at Lotusphere 09? Seems I did. Thanks to Greyhawk68 for catching this moment. Plan on picking up Ben's book this week.(After I pay the $4.15 fine on my library card)

Spent part of my birthday at Disney Hollywood Studios. So glad I ran into Disney friends Declan and Terri. We had a nice lunch at Sci-Fi. Thanks guys!

I won a free admission to Lotusphere thanks to TechCrunchIT and IBM. How cool is that?
If you want some of this luck to rub off on you, shake my hand and say "HI". I plan on being seen all over the place. I'm staying at the Dolphin (another break in luck) and arriving just in time for BALD on the boardwalk. ESPN is a favorite hangout for Saturday night. Can't wait for sessions and "after hour" sessions. Sunday Night reception, product reception, Universal Studio's, Jam Fest and etc. are all musts. See you all soon!
I'm a tshirt guy so look for the guy always wearing a tshirt and I'm packing Grateful Dead and Lotusphere shirts.
I had this picture on my desktop for heads on Twitter, Google etc. I'm the guy on the right and this is from a fun trip to Yankee Stadium a couple years ago meeting up with Chris Whisonant. I usually have a big grin too. :)
Woot! Goin' to Lotusphere!

Only four days and counting till the faithful travel to Orlando for the Lotus Love fest that is Lotusphere! Salute me or say Hi if you see me!

Had a little chuckle today. This tv advertisement for FinallyFast.com begins with a guy behind an iMac. I've had some performance issues on my iMac so the ad intrigued me. For kicks, I went to the site. As I suspected, it's only for Windoz and PC.
P.S. I added 2 gb of ram and all is well.

Practice, Practice, Practice. And, be a member of the Torrington High School Chamber Choir like my daughter is. We just got back from a fund raising concert. The choir put on an awesome display of talent. Singing, playing piano, flute, duets and solos were performed. My daughter did a duet with her friend, Ellie. They sung a favorite of theirs from McFly called Do Ya. I've heard them sing this in the car many times. Sounded awesome on stage with the guitar compliment. It's going to be an awesome experience for the kids in March. The ol' man will enjoy as well. :)
Note: My daughter is just left of the gentleman in the middle.
Knock'em dead Lindsay!

Yea, DRM free music on iTunes. All the new wi-fi radio gadgets should be able to play my iTunes music. There's a catch for your old purchases. You can upgrade but they charge you 30 cents per song or 30% per album. Sounds greedy to me and not a great strategy considering all the other DRM free alternatives available now.(Walmart, Amazon) The other alternatives are already cutting prices. $8.99 for album. $5.00 specials. 79 cents per song and etc... Apple better get with the program instead of getting greedy with their iPod monopoly.

Great to see my friend Chris Whisonant in New Haven last night. We met up at the world famous Pepe's Pizza. I believe some claim it to be one of the first places to bring pizza to the U.S. It's great thin sliced brick oven pizza. I'd not made the trip down to New Haven in a very long time. I used to make that run many times 20 years ago for a girl. Much has changed on the ride down with many new stores and restaurants. Bertha(GPS) got me there without issue after I put in the right address. Pepe's was easily found too. Thanks Santa(wife)
Chris, the extra slices were gone when I woke up this morning. Teenagers.
See ya in a week at Lotusphere! Hope it's warmer there.

Two agenda items jumped out at me today while looking at Lotusphere web page.

Mon-Thur
7:00am - 7:50am New! YOGA: Lotus Positions for Lotus Geeks
Tue
7:30pm - 9:00pm Symphony Karaoke

I can't find an explanation. Wonder what these are? Sounds fun.

I was looking for a self-help book recently on Amazon and I came across this one.
I checked the local libraries and it was booked solid. I had to put it on hold. I mentioned it to my wife and she knew all about it. A friend pointed me to the YouTube video.

I was up later than normal one night and figured I watch part of it before I fell asleep. I ended up watching the whole thing in one sitting.

The video covers much of what's in the book. It's a really fast read (206 small pages) and I would suggest reading the book first. It's simple principles, emotional and really makes you think about what's important in life. Randy has terminal cancer as he writes. His thoughts are crystal clear and get right to the point. I love the title of his lecture, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". It's a different approach to shedding light on goal setting or just how to be happy. The dream can be simple. It's just so much fun achieving dreams even if they're simple. One of his that seems idiotic is to win large stuffed animals at carnivals. He made it fun and it really adds to the thought of dreaming like a child.

I've always been the most happy when in pursuit of a dream.

Some stuff from the book I really enjoyed:

He had a tough football coach that he learned a lot from. I can relate. He wanted to be a pro player but realized he still learned a lot chasing this dream even though he did not go pro.

Allowing his niece and nephew pour soda in the back of his nice new convertible. People are more important than things. They'll never forget that.

Brick walls are there for people who won't make the effort to go through them. His stories on how he broke through the Disney Imagineering and NASA's weightless program brick walls are awesome inspiration.

There are many quick chapters with great titles and info like for example, "Look For The Best In Everybody". I liked this one too "If At First You Don't Succeed..." This one talks about cliche's.
"Dance with the one who brought you"
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity"
"Whether you think you can or can't, your right."
"Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

I walk away from this book wanting to pay most attention to the things that matter. Your family, your dreams, help others and not wasting time or thought on ridiculous things.
Thanks Randy.