Absolutely American

30 Jan, 2012 - 1 minutes
Absolutely American David Lipsky “Cadet sex is like a gass, cadet Ryan Southerland explains. And you know how a gass will expand to fill any space? Well, any space that is possible, cadets will try and have sex in it.” pg. 86 “Dads hoist video cameras to their eyes, the one-armed salute people pay to the future: this meets the memory criteria, this is souvenir-worthy.” pg. 143 “The corporation is composed of the patient cadets who understand that every chapter of life is also groundwork for the next chapter, that cow year is really and audition for firs tie year - that all the good striper leadership positions will be handed out on the basis of their performance now.

The Innovator's Dilemma

27 Jan, 2012 - 1 minutes
The Innovator’s Dilemma Clayton M. Christensen “For instance, is a notebook better than a mainframe? This is an ambiguous question because the notebook computer established a completely new performance trajectory, with a definition of performance that differs substantially from the way mainframe performance is measured.” pg. 9 “Three factors - the promise of upmarket margins, the simultaneous upmarket movement of many of a company’s customers, and the difficulty of cutting costs to move downmarket profitably - together create powerful barriers to downward mobility.

Whisky Auction Debate

15 Dec, 2011 - 2 minutes
It has been the month of auctions. First a couple of good points from others: Great comment from sku on John Hansell’s blog about how general collecting works Great blog post by David Driscoll extending the analogy to pop culture Would have rather been known as a “Whisky Fan” not a “Whisky Collector” in story board from the Whisky Cast HD I recall a point Ralfy’s made about buying whiskey now and saving it for later when it will no longer be available.

Look Ma, I'm on TV

11 Dec, 2011 - 1 minutes
Was going to title this “Three times, Sold!” as I won the auction for the Woodford Reserve Four Grain. However, seeing as Mark Gillespie was kind enough to include me in the latest WhiskyCast HD and WhiskyCast, I thought this title was better. I paid a little more that I wanted for the Lot of two bottles of Four Grain and one of the Sonoma Cutter. I was surprised that the internet bids ran it up to over $300 to start.

Whisky Fest 2012??

14 Nov, 2011 - 3 minutes
At first I was shocked when I found out that Whisky Fest (WF) NY would be two days over a weekend in 2012. Even though I went to Whisky Live NY this year WF is the singular event I attend to expand my whisky knowledge and palette. On one hand this scheduling change is a great sign. Two years ago the venue was packed. To their credit the WF team made the choice to sell less tickets while expanding the venue to make the event more comfortable for the attendees.

Whisky Fest 2011 - Part III

7 Nov, 2011 - 2 minutes
Part 3 (Parts 1, 2 Quick Hits Koval liquors were good. They suggested the ginger one would go well in a dark and stormy. Added to the wish list I tried the Catdaddy Moonshine. Not sure why that isn’t Gin but with corn as they were all heavily flavored. If a liquor is a distilled fruit juice then this was Gin but with distilled corn rather than distilled grain. I liked it but it tasted like I was drinking a flavored drink.

Whisky Fest 2011 - Part II

4 Nov, 2011 - 2 minutes
Part 2 (Part 1) One of the first timers was Breckenridge Colorado Whiskey. Sweet nose and very smooth. They said it was 3.5 years old but it tasted much older. Not from the wood character which wasn’t there but it was much smoother than I would have expected. It didn’t have the rough edges that you expect from a young whiskey. I didn’t note the ABV but it must not have been that high.

Whisky Fest 2011

3 Nov, 2011 - 3 minutes
Part 1 Once again I’ve confirmed that paying for the VIP ticket is worth the money. I didn’t purchase a VIP ticket as I was in between jobs. Waiting for the doors to open I realize that there are definitely people who show up thinking it is a great way to get drunk. Because I didn’t have VIP I had to make sure I hit the right booths to make sure I got the dregs of the VIP only pours.

Dealers of Lightning

24 Jul, 2011 - 1 minutes
Dealers of Lightning Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age Michael Hiltzik (Alan) Kay observed, “Everybody has to be able to play the whole game. Each person should have certain things they’re better at than the others, but everyone should be pretty good at everything.” pg. 116 “In the course of one frustrating encounter (Alan) Kay blurted out the line destined to become his (and PARC’s) unofficial credo. “Look,” he said, “the best way to predict the future is to invent it!

Microserfs

19 Jun, 2011 - 1 minutes
Microserfs by Douglas Coupland “And once again, work is providing us with a comforting sense of normalcy – living and working inside of coding’s predictably segmented time/space. Simply grinding away at something makes life feel stable, even though the external particulars of life (like our paychecks, our office, and so forth) are, at best, random.” pg. 135 “The industry is made up of either gifted techies or smart generalists – the people whop were bored with high school — the sort of people the teacher was always telling, “Now, Abe, you could get As if you really wanted to.