Wolperts Blog

I am so middle-aged, and so OK with it

Funny how people try and change the definition of things once they fit into that definition and don't want to.  Ask anyone who is 50.  They will tell you how 50 used to be old but its not anymore.  Ask anyone at 40 if they are middle-aged and they will tell you no, middle aged isn't until you are 50 or so....  Needless to say the current life expectancy for people in the US ain't really past 80 so sorry people but 40 is middle-aged.

As I write this I am sitting at a Coffee Bean on Sunset Boulevard next to the Hollywood Palladium.  There is a Jonas Brothers concert there tonight.  If you don't know who the Jonas brothers are then you don't know any girls between 5-18.

I brought my two daughters to the concert.  Key word is brought them.  I am not in there with them.  I am 46 so I am middle age based on the number alone.  In addtion to the biological age I have daughters that are old enough and mature enough that I could drop them off at the concert and can simply pick them up when it ends, sitting here being productive at the coffee bean on sunset.  I can hear the screams of all of the teenage girls from a few blocks away from the concert and I am THRILLED that I am not in there.  I am more concerned with the battery life of my Mac Book Pro (which for some reason now sucks and only lasts an hour) than the length of the concert (oh there's the screaming again).  I am really enjoying the Green tea I am drinking.  My name is RIchard and I am middle aged.

Sharks, Nah....It's the Fog that scares me

This morning I woke up early (for a Sunday anyhow at 7a) to sneak uo to channel islands harbor and grab me a waverunner ride before I had to get to my responsibilities for the day.

The ocean had swells about 5 feet but they were 18 seconds apart so its a pretty smooth ride.  The conditions as I headed down the Camarillo grade were so clear that I could see both Anacappa and Santa Cruz Islands as if they were just a few miles away

By 8:15 I was on the waverunner and headed out to the ocean.  I didn't have a lot of time so I planned a quick roundtrip to Arch Rock on the southern tip of Anacappa.  As I approached Arch Rock I swung around the back of it just for a second (that gives me the feeling I went "past" the island :-) and turned to head back to Channel Islands Harbor

At that point was when I noticed and was surprised by the massive fog bank to the north which was heading my way.  It was several miles wide and moving quite rapidly.  It looked so dense that you could not see into it at all.  Ocean, ocean, ocean then just a several mile wide wall of fog.

I hate being out there and getting stuck in the fog.  I have logged thousands of miles on my waverunner.  I am not afraid of sharks.  I am not afraid of the rough conditions.  I am not afraid of being knocked off in the middle of the ocean (yeah it does happen), I am not afraid of breaking down and getting stuck out there.  I take precautions on all of the things i can and frankly if my time comes while I am out on my wave runner because I am knocked unconscious as a whale that breaches and lands on top of me, well that will be a fine way to go.  BUT I hate the fog.

I hate it for a few reasons.  For one its just feels ominous.  You get into the middle of it and when its bad you cant see more than about 50-100 feet around you.  Its as if you could be anywhere and nowhere at the same time.  You are 100% isolated and your eyes do you no good at all.  I do carry a GPS so I know which way to go but I don't have portable radar so I don't know what's coming at me.  That is the second thing that scares the shit out of me.  There are massive tankers out there.  Ships of all sizes.  And when the fog rolls in like that you simply cant see if something is coming your way until its about 100 feet from you, not a lot of distance to react to a 30 m.p.h. tanker.

So I raised back across the ocean literally trying to beat the fog bank from swallowing me up.  I was heading across the ocean at about 40 m.p.h and thought I might make it.  However just about 4 miles into the 12 mile crossing the fog caught up and I disappeared into its mass.

I was still about 8 miles offshore which was cause for concern.  That's still in the tanker shipping lane.  I proceeded on my course following my GPS (without it you would for sure go in circles) and crawled along at about 10 m.p.h so I could keep my eyes and other senses tuned for any objects

About 5 miles off shore out of nowhere came a rather large fishing vessel.  It appeared through the fog heading the opposite direction I was, just off my starboard bow.  I was going slow enough and noticed it soon enough that there was no danger as I swerved to the left to avoid it.  I continued on and once I was only about 1.5 miles from shore the fog disappeared just as quick as it had come.  The sky was blue.  The sun was crisp and I cruised back into the harbor

So am I afraid to go out there given all the things that could happen/go wrong,  I am not.  I honestly believe driving on the 405 is much more dangerous. 

Rimm,... You cant out cool Apple, duh

A few of my friends have been excited to get the Blackberry Storm.  To me this is just a sign that RIMM has lost their way and has been caught up in the "coolness" factor of he iPhone and has taken their eye off the ball, or off the keyboard in this case.

The number one complaint business users have about the iPhone is the keyboard.  It just doesn't work.  It especially doesn't work well for those that are used to a real keyboard on the blackberry.  I myself just recently blogged about how i needed to put my cool iPhone aside for the Blackberry curve because I need a keyboard

So RIMM has a great businesss and their biggest differentiator from the iPhone is that it has a great keyboard that has great email integration so it is the best choice for the serious user or business user.  So what does Rimm go and do???  Market its strengths and your differences?  No that's not what they did.  Lame.  Instead they put all this energy and marketing into trying to take Apple on at their own game and come out with the keyboard less Storm.

What is the Storm.  Its a not as cool version of the iPod and a not as functional version of all the blackberry's.  And Rimm is holding it out there as their best new thing.  In this world, in this handful of years, you cannot out cool Apple or out market Apple period.  If I were running Rimm I would quietly and quickly let the storm fade away into the distance and get back to focusing on what they are good at, not chasing Apple.

Dude, you have a 45 minute commute...that's so long

Assumptions vs Reality. 

I live outside the center of LA in a really nice community.  It is on on the east side of the santa monica mountain range.  We live here because its beautiful, people are much nicer than in LA proper,   and most importantly its our home, we have been here for 16 years, in the same house!

My office is on 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica (more on that in a future blog).  My commute is about 40-45 minutes.  Often in meetings with people in LA they ask where I live and when I tell them their response is "wow that must be a horrible commute".  Then I tell them 40-45 minutes and they say "wow that's a long commute";they assume thats a long commute.  Here is the reality

The first 15-20 minutes of my drive is through Malibu Canyon.  For those of you not familiar with Malibu Canyon it is beautiful.  A road that winds around the mountain and sits high above the base of the canyon which provides brilliant views.  Half way through Malibu canyon you crest at Mulholland Drive from which point forward to PCH you have an incredible view of the Pacific Ocean.

The second 25 minutes is driving south down Pacific Coast Highway with the Ocean directly on my right.  I view surfers in a few spots, often see dolphins playing, on windy days there are kite surfers, and out west as far as I can see, the pacific ocean expands infinitely into the horizon.  And all in all that beautiful drive takes me about 40-45 minutes.  Some people who are visiting LA do this drive purely for the beauty

So here's the crazy part about peoples assumptions.  People assume 40-45 minutes is a long commute.  They aren't doing the math.  In LA it would take you 25 minutes to get to work if you lived 5 miles from where you lived.  If you lived in Hollywood and worked in Santa Monica it would take you 45-60 minutes to get to work and it would be an ugly ass drive.

For me,... I'll take the coast

Riviera Country Club-No Thanks to the dorky sweat pants

Last week I had lunch with a friend of mine at the Riviera Country Club.  For those of you that know me at all I am not into formal dress.  It has been years since I have worn a suit and a tie, honestly so long I cant remember.  I am not into high end fashion, high end clothes or general snootiness.

As I pulled up to the gate of the country club the dude at the gate asked me if I had ever been there before and I said yes, as I had once.  He looked down at me and said well sir there is no denim allowed in the club so you need to go change your pants or buy some slacks in the clubs store.  Again for those of you that don't know me 90% of the time I wear black jeans and if anything 90% is an underestimate.

I told him that I had been there before and that I know that I had denim on so he should just let me through.  He argued with me for a few minutes then said fine, go ahead, they wont let you in the restaurant anyhow

So I proceeded through the gate parked and went to the restaurant.  At the restaurant I met my lunch appointment and mentioned the trouble I had at the gate.  So he checked with the Maitre D of the restaurant who confirmed that NO denim is allowed in the restaurant.  Ugly ass plaid golf pants fine.  Denim no. 

Just as I suggested we leave and go somewhere else the Maitre D offered me a pair of dorky blue sweat pants.  I looked at him confused.  He said that while denim was not allowed sweat pants are because then it at least "appears as if you had been exercising"  What I thought was a stupid rule had just been promoted to asinine.  No denim but if you slip these dorky blue sweat pants over your denim (yes thats what they suggested) then you are just fine.  After all its about 80 year old rules, its not about what makes sense.

In a way I feel like the mindset of the Riviera Country Club have just not caught up with current times and are destined for a rocky future much like other industries that have kept their old ways of the last several decades.  For now they may be able to get away with it but I assure you the wealth that is being created by the current generation will not stand for such rules that exist merely to exist and serve no purpose other than to not let go of the past

Palm Treo RIP

Palm had to work really hard to lose me as a customer and they have succeeded.  I have owned the following Treo models Treo 90, Treo 180, Treo 300, Treo 600, Treo 650 and Treo 700.  This obviously goes back several years (I have saved each of them for my collection along with my original Apple Newton etc etc)

Over the last year I lost patience with my treo so I tried an iPhone but as cool as they are its just not good for business and anyone who claims the touchpad typing works fine is full of dunk.  So today I finally switched to a blackberry.  I believe this is the end of the Treo.  Again they had to really fuck up to lose me but they have succeeded