#followfriday why @thevixy @EvelynErives @darknight247

I'm...um...following in the tradition of my Friday April 9 post in my Empoprise-MU music blog and, semi-following a suggestions from Chris Brogan, using a blog post to provide additional "follow Friday" information on the people that I'm following.

The three people mentioned in this post are in some way connected with the Inland Empire.

Let's start with Caroline. I knew that I was going to include @thevixy in this Inland Empire list. Caroline is a student, a tweeter, a blogger, a FriendFeeder, and probably a few dozen other things. Definitely a multi-faceted individual. Plus, she likes my stuff on FriendFeed.

While social media types know Caroline, Inland Empire radio types know Evelyn - Evelyn Erives of KGGI. She tweets as @EvelynErives when she isn't trading barbs with Jeff Pope in the morning. Erives blogs at the KGGI web site.

Now the next person isn't famous on radio, and I'm not sure how famous he is in the social media world, but Foursquare users in the area certainly know him. Salvador tweets as @darknight247, and of course can also be found on Foursquare. And he gets around a lot, so he could oust you as mayor of a location - he ousted me.

And yes, I do have a Twitter list associated with the Empoprise-IE blog: http://twitter.com/empoprises/empoprise-ie.

We demand more sloshing pools!

I haven't mentioned anything about the Easter earthquake in this blog, but I did add a comment to David Allen's blog post about the earthquake. Allen described his impressions of the earthquake, which in a sense paralleled most of us in southern California - Is this an earthquake? How big is it? Where is it centered?

Note that I said MOST of us. I didn't personally feel the quake myself, as I noted:

I was in Ontario, walking across the room, and didn't feel anything, but the people that were sitting commented on how long the earthquake was. Then I saw the pool in the backyard and noticed that the water in the pool was in mini-tsunami mode.

A little later in the afternoon I turned on the radio and listened to KNX's coverage of the quake. This is when I learned that the epicenter was far away from us, south of Mexicali.

When you live in southern California, you learn how different media outlets cover a quake. In the case of KNX radio, they tend to take a lot of phone calls, some of which in retrospect have minimal news value. I didn't call KNX with my impressions, but obviously mine would fall into the "minimal news value" category. KNX did, however, take a call from someone who was in contact with relatives in Mexico.

But not all of us tuned into the radio. Blog commenter John Clifford noted:

Spent the next 3 hours watching SPECIAL REPORTS on the quake and the conversation turned to the sorry state of the media that showed images of sloshing pools over and over and over again.

This prompted Allen to reply:

[Hey, John Bredehoft (see above) might have found those images fascinating. -- DA]

Frankly, our local television news is often subject to ridicule for its coverage. In my mind, the most infamous occurrence was when Channel 4 had a reporter on scene in Santa Barbara, reporting LIVE, to state that Linda McCartney did NOT die in Santa Barbara, but in Arizona. (For those who don't recall the intentional confusion surrounding the death of McCartney, see here.)

But for people like me who missed the spectacular TV coverage, there's always YouTube. Temecula:



Temple City:



West Los Angeles:



Now by way of comparison, take a look at this earthquake pool coverage from Hawaii:



If you find this fascinating, I could find more videos.

Von Trapp Fact and Fiction, This Time at Chaffey High School

Chaffey High School will be presenting a production of "The Sound of Music." This play (and the more-famous movie) is a semi-accurate telling of the story of the singing von Trapp family. Some of the differences between the musical and the real story are documented in other places on the web.

"The Sound of Music" ends with the von Trapp family leaving Austria, but does not tell about their subsequent emigration to the United States. Chaffey High School provides these helpful details:

[T]he show will be produced by Billman/Masterson productions and a cast of 80 at the majestic Gardiner W Spring Auditorium on the campus of Chaffey High School.

The true story of Maria, Captain von Trapp and their seven children will be rightly told in GWS as it was here that the family made their first American concert appearance on February 5, 1942.

A wonderful coincidence, but unfortunately the National Archives can't confirm the historic nature of the Chaffey appearance:

The family, along with their musical conductor, Rev. Franz Wasner, and secretary, Martha Zochbauer, left Austria for Italy in June 1938. They entered the United States at New York in the fall of 1938 under six month visitors' visas and almost immediately began a concert tour in Pennsylvania. Son Johannes was born in January 1939 in Philadelphia.

I have not found an accurate listing of von Trapp concert appearances, but mathematics seems to suggest that a concert in Pennsylvania in late 1938 would have occurred well before any appearance in California in February 1942.

Incidentally, the National Archives itself documents the differences between the real and fictionalized von Trapp family. Here are some of them:

Maria came to the von Trapp family in 1926 as a tutor for one of the children, Maria, who was recovering from scarlet fever, not as governess to all the children.

Maria and Georg married in 1927, 11 years before the family left Austria, not right before the Nazi takeover of Austria.

Maria did not marry Georg von Trapp because she was in love with him. As she said in her autobiography Maria, she fell in love with the children at first sight, not their father. When he asked her to marry him, she was not sure if she should abandon her religious calling but was advised by the nuns to do God's will and marry Georg. "I really and truly was not in love. I liked him but didn't love him. However, I loved the children, so in a way I really married the children. . . . [B]y and by I learned to love him more than I have ever loved before or after."

There were 10, not 7 von Trapp children.

The names, ages, and sexes of the children were changed.

The family was musically inclined before Maria arrived, but she did teach them to sing madrigals.

Georg, far from being the detached, cold-blooded patriarch of the family who disapproved of music, as portrayed in the first half of The Sound of Music, was actually a gentle, warmhearted parent who enjoyed musical activities with his family. While this change in his character might have made for a better story in emphasizing Maria's healing effect on the von Trapps, it distressed his family greatly.

The family did not secretly escape over the Alps to freedom in Switzerland, carrying their suitcases and musical instruments. As daughter Maria said in a 2003 interview printed in Opera News, "We did tell people that we were going to America to sing. And we did not climb over mountains with all our heavy suitcases and instruments. We left by train, pretending nothing."

The inaccuracy that hurt the family the most was the portrayal of Georg the father, but I would assume that they accepted this as part of God's will. But I don't know if Georg or Maria could have conceived of a day in which their establishment, the Trapp Family Lodge, would eventually have Twitter and Facebook accounts. I saw the following on the latter:

This April, the hills are alive with the sounds of...beer. Join us for the Trapp Lodge brewery grand opening celebration Apr 16-18

Hey, the von Trapps were Austrian Catholics. They weren't Methodists or anything like that. If you want to say "So long, farewell" and head to the brewery, read this.

Off with their heads! Or did two local YMCAs shoot themselves in the feet?

Whatever you call it - firings, layoffs, downsizing, rightsizing - the idea is that you can reduce an organization's costs without taking a major hit in revenue. Which is why the CEO of a company is never laid off, because the CEO is essential to a company's operations.

A board of directors, however, is another matter. Or at least that's how two local YMCAs look at it, according to Mediha Fejzagic DiMartino:

The governing boards at two Inland Valley YMCAs have been dissolved and their executive directors laid off.

The changes, prompted by the challenging economic environment, were implemented late last week for the Ontario/Montclair as well as the Rancho Cucamonga & Fontana Valley YMCAs.

Needless to say, there are two sides (at least) to this story. DiMartino talked to the president/CEO of the West End YMCA, which oversees the two YMCAs in question (plus two others). President Debra Anderson took pains to emphasize that no programs would be affected. And that probably makes sense; it's probably not a board of directors person who tosses out the basketballs.

So what did the boards of directors do?

According to some understandably angry former board members, they did...fundraising.

"They don't understand the complexity of YMCA," [former Ontario/Montclair executive director Larry Enriquez] said. "It has a huge impact on the community. This was supposed to be a good year. We had a number of funders committed."...

[Olivia] Sevilla [former chairwoman of the Ontario-Montclair board of managers] ... said several grant opportunities totalling close to $400,000 may be in jeopardy.

Sevilla also made a point of noting that the board members were entrenched in the community, which is another way of saying that they have clout, and know people who have clout.

Case in point - Sevilla's predecessor in the position was Sue Ovitt (who didn't like the changes either), who is now on the Chaffey Joint Union High School District board.

And Sue Ovitt is married to a former teacher at Chaffey High.

Who later became mayor of Ontario.

Who is now on the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.

Debra Anderson would probably be better off standing in front of a unionized grocery store in northwest Ontario with an "I Love Wal-Mart" sign. The local YMCAs may run into a bit of trouble if the political establishment is mad at them.

The proximity seems like a lose-lose-lose for everyone involved.

Chino Hills, California (Chino Hills Parkway west of Pipeline).

Klatch Coffee and Starbucks - an interesting turn of events

You have Starbucks, you have the other big chains...and you have the smaller chains.

Klatch Coffee has locations in San Dimas and Rancho Cucamonga, and now they're getting ready to open a new one. Liset Marquez...um...spills the beans:

The Klatch is now expanding, moving into a former Starbucks location in Ontario...

Specifically, the location in 951 North Haven Avenue.

It turns out that I'm familiar with this location - it's near a Kohl's, and right across the street from Ontario Mills. I've been to this Starbucks before and liked it, but I was unaware that this particular Starbucks had closed.

Klatch Coffee's own page on the new location is here.

And to put a little historical perspective on this, it was about two years ago that Starbucks had its famous store closure to teach its baristas how to make coffee. Klatch Coffee took the attitude "Our people ALREADY know how to make coffee," and took advantage of Starbucks' closure. I wrote about it at the time.

I'm sure the management at Klatch Coffee is really enjoying this.

The advantage of Facebook-friending Robeks Claremont

Some time ago, I discovered that the Robeks smoothie place in Claremont had its own Facebook page, and I went ahead and joined it. Which ended up paying off.

The page itself is private, so I can't really show it to you, but last weekend they announced that they were going to have a "Free Coffee Smoothies" special on Tuesday between 6pm and 7pm. Customers could sample three of their new smoothies - coffee, mocha, and hazelnut - and the first fifteen people who signed up on Facebook would then be eligible to get a free 12 oz coffee smoothie. However, you had to give Robeks the right to make a Facebook/MySpace commercial of your experience.

By the time I saw the announcement, more than 15 people had already signed up, so I knew that I wouldn't get the free smoothie, but I figured that I'd try the samples.

Unfortunately for Robeks, the hour of their special happened to be the exact same hour that a fierce rainstorm was pelting Claremont. Therefore, by the time I arrived at Robeks at around 6:20 pm, there were fewer than 15 people in the store.

Way fewer.

As in, five people - if you count the two employees.

So the best laid plans of mice and smoothie shops are at the mercy of freak Southern California weather.

They did ask my ratings of the three smoothies on a 1-10 scale, and I gave the coffee smoothie a 7.5-8, the hazelnut smoothie a 6 (I'm not a hazelnut fan), and the mocha a 9.

And because of the low crowds, Robeks gave me one of the coupons anyway - which I then proceeded to give to my daughter later in the evening. (She's the one who introduced me to Robeks anyway, so I owed her something.)

Oh, and they didn't feature me in a Facebook or MySpace commercial - but I am admittedly way outside of their target market...

Incidentally, if you're an Inland Empire Facebook user, just search for "Robeks Claremont" and you'll find their page.

Wal-Mart, Snobbery, and Food Choices?

I recently wrote about fast food in my business blog, and fast food plays a part in a theory about Wal-Mart.

But first, let's provide an update. And I'll try to keep calm.

The Ontario Mountain Village Association, as part of their repeated and continued attempts to preserve a graffiti-ridden empty lot in northwest Ontario - I guess they want to lower their property values by having decaying vacant space next to their homes - have filed an appeal of the City of Ontario's decision to finally allow the Wal-Mart to be constructed in northwest Ontario.

However, as I write this, the Ontario Mountain Village Association has apparently not discovered the blog post that covers their lawsuit, because of the four comments on the post, exactly zero of them support the OMVA's position. Matt has (so far) written the longest comment, and while he doesn't support the move to keep the Wal-Mart out of Ontario, he's hoping that Wal-Mart will do more than put a big box at Mountain & 5th.

Target sucks and is no better than Walmart. These stores should both stop wasting our open space on these one story box stores with oceans of parking. They should consider a two level approach with a parking structure, leaving room for a plaza, a parkway, and a restaurant.

This would make these shopping centers interesting for pedestrian shoppers instead of dangerous and uninviting. The big box approach to retail will fizzle out and die like a 1960's shopping mall, even in the burbs.

Build a Super Walmart but build it right. Come on Ontario, I know you can force them to design a more urban walmart plaza or court, a Super Walmart that would make the Chaffey brothers proud...LOL.

I've seen the more urban walmarts. They are much better than a crappy old one story Walmart. They don't waste land! (under-utilization).

But then Matt shared a theory which may be of interest.

The Rancho Cucamonga Walmart is no different from many walmarts I've seen except instead of having Mc Donalds fast food in the parking lot there is a Claim Jumper Restaurant. This is a better restaurant choice which draws larger more diverse crowds to the center while also attracting more affluent shoppers.

Rancho Walmart w/ Claim Jumper
More Affluent ($$ / $$$$$)

instead of

Upland Walmart w/ Mc Donalds
Less Affluent ($ / $$$$$).

Personally, I think that Matt is oversimplifying the causes - I think that the problems in the Upland Wal-Mart are due to bad management rather than food choices, and most people don't base their shopping destination choices on the available food. But it is an interesting idea, and if you believe Matt's model, then what will happen to the Ontario Wal-Mart when Cory Briggs' last appeal is denied and a non-union - oh, did I say "non-union"? I'm sure that doesn't enter into Briggs' plans - when Cory Briggs' last appeal is denied and a store replaces the three empty stores on the vacant lot?

On the one hand, you have a Carl's Jr next to the store site. Score one for Matt's Upland model.

On the other hand, you have a Starbucks, a My Delight Cupcakery, a wings place, a sushi grill, and some other non-fast food restaurants just down the street.

We'll follow this continuing saga.

A hub of an idea

People are really really trying to make Ontario an interconnected transportation hub. On January 6, I wrote about efforts to bring rail to Ontario International Airport. But there's another idea floating around, according to Liset Marquez:

A report released by the Urban Land Institute on Tuesday affirmed the city's vision for the 250-acre site known as the Meredith property.

The city has long envisioned creating a core development centered on a transit plaza on the vacant land just north of the 10 Freeway and east of Vineyard Avenue.

It is one of the few remaining large undeveloped sites in the city.

And, luckily for planners, it's not too far away from the airport. But one part of the plan raises an interesting question.

The recommendations are in line with the city's vision to develop the Meredith property as a lifestyle center with high-density buildings while creating a new urban downtown, said Greg Devereaux, Ontario city manager.

(Sharp-eyed readers will notice that this is a dated story. It's from January 21.)

The one interesting part of this is that the city has spent the last few years sinking lots of money into the EXISTING downtown - and now we're looking at creating a new downtown?

How do animals in a forest play bingo?

My grandmother in law died recently, which meant that a family tradition has come to and end. When my wife and I would visit her, we would go to her apartment, take her out to dinner, and then my wife and grandmother (and sometimes I) would play bingo at the Sunset Station casino. Always the 7:00 pm game, because they had a triple-whatever reward. Not that we ever won, but it was something that we did. (Incidentally, I briefly mentioned this in my business blog once.)

In addition to the family issues, the game itself has an interesting appeal, which means that I have occasionally mulled over the idea of playing bingo at other locations. (And yes, I am middle aged. You probably didn't have to ask.)

Well, one potential place to play bingo is at Ontario Elks Lodge 1419. Liset Marquez posted the details:

Ontario Elks Lodge #1419 has Bingo every Wednesday Night.
Doors open at 4 p.m. and the games begin at 6:30 p.m.. There is food
service and a large open room to play in. K.D Ische is the caller.

Now this is not like cow chip bingo, and presumably is a little different than woman's club bingo.

But there's one thing I can't figure out - how does an elk hold the bingo card?

(Picture source, license)

Depending upon your position, rail to ONT is or isn't a win-win

It's often fascinating to study how people and groups form opinions on various positions, and WHY these positions are formed. More often than not the explanation lies in the old saying "follow the money."

Take this story:

A new position at Los Angeles World Airports, the owner and operator of Los Angeles International Airport and Ontario International Airport, will focus on a long-discussed plan to link Los Angeles to Ontario via the Metro Gold Line light rail system.

Before proceeding, it's important to note that Ontario International Airport is owned by the city of Los Angeles, based upon a deal that happened years and years ago. That's why you'll hear some people referring to "LA/Ontario International Airport" - a term that I refuse to use. (I also refuse to refer to the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim." So sue me.)

Now why would Los Angeles want to own an airport way out here, when they control a huge airport within their own city limits? Because the city's own airport is being hampered by huge growth restrictions. Between environmentalist pressures and the sheer lack of space, LAX just plain can't grow at an acceptable rate to support potential additional air traffic. Hence Los Angeles has a vested interest in redirecting traffic out to their other airport property, the one out here in Ontario.

Needless to say, people here in Ontario support the idea.

Jess Romo, Ontario airport's manager, said a direct rail link between the airport and downtown Los Angeles would be vital.

"There's no doubt it would increase the passenger traffic here," he said.

That's important, because as the article notes, and as has been noted previously on this blog, Ontario International Airport has suffered some major passenger declines - partially because of September 11, and partially because of the high fees that airlines are charged to use the airport.

Yes, the same group that wants to increase use of Ontario airport also sets fees that are so high that airlines are pulling out of the airport.

Meanwhile, the people who want a rail line to Ontario airport have to compete against people who want rail lines to other places...and people who want more cops on the streets...and people who want to keep teachers from being fired.

Because while we're talking about rail systems, California's in a budget crisis. And while the rail discussions are a long-term...um...proposition, frankly I'm not certain that California's budget problems will be solved, even in the long-term.

So any talk about a rail connection to the airport may be a dream.

However, there technically IS a light rail connection between downtown Los Angeles and Ontario airport. Only problem is that the rail connection is on the wrong side of Ontario airport.



You see, Metrolink's East Ontario station (3330 E Francis St, Ontario CA 91761) is on the south side of Ontario airport. Only problem is, the terminals are on the north side of the airport.

Perhaps a shuttle service could connect the two...but that wouldn't help on the weekends, because the Riverside line doesn't run on weekends.

And again, budgetary pressures probably mean that Metrolink service won't be expanded in the near future.

When frozen yogurt gets controversial

On Monday, I wrote something in my Empoprise-BI business blog about Yogurtime in Upland. In the course of writing this post, I discovered a story I had missed in 2009 - a story in which frozen yogurt became controversial.

(OK, the Billy Paul sketch on SNL had a controversial mixing of ice cream flavors, but this is different.)

Back in March, it turns out that Yogurtime had to cancel a high school fundraiser due to "threatening phone calls" - specifically, threats that people wouldn't shop at Yogurtime any more if they hosted the Upland High Gay-Straight Alliance.

Of course, the story resulted in "threatening letters" - basically, ones that said that the people wouldn't shop at Yogurtime any more because they cancelled the fundraiser.

Lots of threats here.

ESRI Developer Summit is approaching

I saw a LinkedIn update from an ESRI contact who was preparing for the ESRI Developer Summit.

A little bit about me and ESRI - since I'm involved in the public safety arena, I've been following ESRI for some time. The fact that they're based right here in the Inland Empire, and that fact that my former employers Printrak and Motorola did business with ESRI (I assume that Motorola still does business with ESRI today), only serves to increase my interest in ESRI's goings-on. Frankly, during my time in AFIS product management, I would have liked to have incorporated geomapping into AFIS as an aid in crime-solving, but absent a lack of customer interest in using this, and paying for this, I never really pursued the idea.

If you haven't heard of ESRI, they're a Redlands-based company that provides geographic information system (GIS) software that can be incorporated into other applications (such as Motorola's computer aided dispatch application).

So what is GIS?

A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.

GIS allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts.

A GIS helps you answer questions and solve problems by looking at your data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared.

GIS technology can be integrated into any enterprise information system framework.

That "integrated" part is where developers come in. As noted above, ESRI's software can be incorporated into other applications, and to assist developers in doing this, ESRI provides several services, including the aforementioned ESRI Developer Summit. The summit will take place in Palm Springs (one mountain pass away from Redlands) on March 22-25, 2010. A high-level agenda has been posted, and a Twitter account (@esridevsummit) and Facebook page (esridevsummit) have been created.

And if you need to figure out how to get there, I'm sure ESRI will provide you with a map.

P.S. They have an on-site cafe with Starbucks.

(empo-tymshft) Sometimes business is a zero sum game

In our economic and business environment, we are wired to believe that everything is always increasing. Population is always increasing. Wages are always increasing. Revenue is always increasing. And if things aren't increasing, something is wrong.

Hence the note of alarm from the Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce, as recorded by David Allen:

[T]he Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce is alarmed enough by the number of closings in Chino and Chino Hills to appeal to the public.

"Because of the influx of new restaurants in the south Chino and Chino Hills area, many of the longer established restaurants all around Chino Valley are struggling to keep the doors open," writes the chamber's Jean Christy.

To which I respond, DUH! If a town has one restaurant, and a second restaurant opens, then the only way that both restaurants will prosper is if new business can be lured in from the existing population. And during a recession, that probably ain't gonna happen.

But if the number of businesses remain the same, why is the Chamber so concerned? Hints can be found in Allen's article:

Chino lost Black Angus and On the Border, both at the Spectrum, and Dickey's BBQ. (The latter especially bothered Christy because it participated in the chamber's annual Taste of the Chino Valley.)

"If that is not bad enough," Christy writes, "an icon in the Chino Valley for 15 to 20 years -- Marie Callender's in Chino Town Square -- MAY be closing effective Jan. 3." She says Callender's participates in Taste of the Chino Valley and the Dairy Festival and also contributes to other community events.

So you see why the Chamber is concerned - the businesses that are closing are the ones that happened to support the Chamber. Apparently the newly-arrived businesses aren't embedded in the community enough to support the Chamber yet - and THAT'S why Christy's concerned.

And isn't it interesting to notice that something that's been around for "15 to 20 years" suddenly becomes a revered icon? I have lived in Upland or Ontario for over a quarter century, and when I first arrived here, I had a friend who performed at a restaurant in downtown Chino. Or close enough - it was on Central Avenue, just south of Riverside. A few years later, I bet that restaurant lost business when that usurping chain restaurant Marie Callender's opened outside of downtown, threatening the established local business community. And now Marie Callender's itself is a victim of the same problem - new businesses moving in and attracting people away from the old ones.

This parallels the situation in my city of Ontario, in which patrons of Albertson's and other established stores are decrying the entry of Wal-Mart - never mind the fact that Albertson's and the other stores already lured people away from downtown Ontario.

The only way that you'll get old and new businesses to survive is to have a bunch more people migrate to the area. But of course, that would involve APARTMENTS - and we certainly can't have that.

Can you hear me - uh, never mind...

AT&T's wireless network has been in the news over the last few months, and not in a good way, between aggressive commercials from Verizon and complaints from customers.

But in our local area, there's a bit of good news on the AT&T front.

AT&T announced last week the activation of a new 3G cell site near the intersection of 15th Street and Campus Avenue in Upland.

Writer Sandra Emerson also noted some statistics from an AT&T news release:

AT&T plans to add more than 200 cell sites in California this year and upgrade nearly 320 more sites to 3G. From 2006 to 2008...AT&T's total capital investment in its California wireless and wireline network was nearly $7.9 billion.

I'm not sure of the comparable cell site count and investment figures for competing wireless carriers.

Create template. Implement. Repeat. We are the Chaffeys.

Now since I live in Ontario, I obviously realize that the Chaffey brothers planned a very broad avenue - in this case, Euclid Avenue - as part of their plan for Ontario.

And since I've done a little bit of research, I also realize that the Chaffeys did the same thing when they left Ontario and established a settlement at Mildura, Australia. The road is now known as Sturt Highway.

But when David Allen posted a picture of Etiwanda circa 1882, I was struck by the fact that the Chaffeys did the same thing in Etiwanda. Presumably the street in question is Etiwanda Avenue.

So, my question - if you were to go to the bottom of the Salton Sea, would you find a wide boulevard running down the middle?

Cleared!

Target, Montclair.

Upland kids, make five bucks!

Sandra Emerson announced that Upland dentist Sean Lee is doing his part in the fight against tooth decay by buying Halloween candy from kids. Lee's office is paying $1 per pound, but before kids try to canvass the entire city and make a million, please note that Lee is paying a maximum of $5 per kid.

I can't find anything about this on Lee's website, but Emerson has further details.

Intentional flooding

Vernon south of Arrow, Montclair.

We noticed the water at Moreno on Friday.

Seven things I'll miss about the IE while at Oracle OpenWorld

Today is the Saturday before Oracle OpenWorld 2009. For many people it's an extremely busy day, especially if you're flying to San Francisco from a foreign country. But for me the Saturday before OpenWorld is usually a semi-lazy sort of day. My laundry's done, my suitcase is packed, but my computer (obviously) isn't, and I still have to review my cheat sheets, pick up dog poop, and take care of some other things before I go.

Twenty-four hours from now I anticipate that I'll be on a BART, heading toward my hotel in the Union Square area, and then heading down to the Moscone Center for Oracle PartnerNetwork events. And for the next five days, I will be in an urban area, an area very different from my suburban Ontario home.

Now I'll grant that staying in a Union Square hotel is not exactly the same as permanently living in the Union Square area - I won't have any need to search for a Safeway, for example - but it's different enough to merit a comparison between the way that I live for up to 51 weeks out of the year, and the way that I live for one week in San Francisco. And since I live in outer suburbia, not Manhattan, the differences are fairly striking.

So here are seven things that I'm going to miss over the next week:

1. Driving in my car. People obviously drive in San Francisco, but I don't know how they do it. I am very happy to live in an area where I don't have to parallel park all that often, and I usually don't have to pay to park my car somewhere. And, most importantly, I don't have to deal with narrow streets, one-way streets, or tons of traffic. Sure I have traffic down here, but at least it's all going in the same direction.


2. Family. In all my years of travel, I can only think of one time that my family has traveled with me on business. My family happens to love San Francisco, but when they think of "San Francisco" they don't think of the Union Square/Moscone Center area; their thoughts are a little farther north. And even if their schedules permitted them to come with me this time, they'd hardly see me anyway, so what's the point?


3. "Normal" food. Now again, this doesn't affect people who actually LIVE in San Francisco, but it certainly affects people who are traveling. In most cases, travelers are dining out at restaurants, eating at a hotel buffet, or having some other type of catered food (e.g. the box lunches that are served at Oracle OpenWorld). Now it's good food, don't get me wrong, but it's out of the ordinary for your body, and eventually your body tells you to just buy a loaf of bread or a bag of carrots or something and eat like you normally eat at home.


4. Quiet. Your situation may be different, but when I go to bed tonight, I won't have partiers walking up and down my street at all hours, I won't have delivery trucks stopping by next door at 3:am, and I'll have precious few sirens. Now if I lived in San Francisco permanently I'd get used to such things - heck, I lived next to a freeway for over six years and barely even noticed it - but it's enough to confuse you in the short term.


5. Radio stations that I know. Frankly, I enjoy being in other cities and listening to their radio stations, and I even look forward to the end of daylight saving time because that allows me to pick up a San Francisco station (KCBS 740) on my commute home in Orange and San Bernardino counties. But while I'll hear some new stuff, I won't be hearing my usual stuff. I don't know when the traffic reports will come on (not that I care about traffic in San Francisco), I'm not sure where/if I'll hear Dan Patrick and Petros & Money, and there won't be any Handel on the News.


6. In-N-Out Burger. Actually, there is one In-N-Out Burger in San Francisco, but I won't be anywhere near it.


7. Last, but not least, vertical space. It goes without saying that things are more crowded in the city on the horizontal plane, but when you think about it they're also crowded in the vertical direction. I live in a single story house, and all of the buildings within 1/4 mile of me are also single story houses. When you look up, you only see sky - and a few telephone poles. Contrast this to my arrival on Market Street, in which I will climb up stairs to emerge from the BART station, walk several blocks between multi-story buildings, take an elevator to my room, take the elevator back down, again walk several blocks between multi-story buildings, then traverse the many vertical levels of the Moscone Center to get registered and get to my OPN events.

While these issues, as well as the firehose of information that will be streaming at me during Oracle OpenWorld, can be invigorating, they can also be discombobulating, so I anticipate that there will be some happiness when I arrive back home on Thursday night, driving a car by single story buildings with few delivery trucks in sight.

Picture source; reprinted by special arrangement with the photographer)