Last year I read and listened (online) anxiously to every game leading up until the end of the regular season.  And I was there stunned as the Montreal Canadiens were eliminated, mostly at their own doings, by a single point at the final game of the season.  Not quite heartbreaking, but most definitely disappointing.

The summer passed, several decent free agents showed up, but no “monumental” players.  By the pre-season, the Habs were picked anywhere from 8-15th in the Eastern Conference, typically again, out of the playoffs.  And the season opened, and Montreal did well.  Surprisingly well in fact.

As the season continued, the team continued to perform.  They didn’t have their typical Nov/Dec crash (past 4-5 seasons those months were terrible for some reason).  They remained in contention I think every game of the season.

Two weeks ago, I watched a game where over the course of the first period they ended up down 5-0.  So even though the game was on the DVR, I continued watching.  But I did put it into fast-forward mode.  Mid-way through the 2nd period, Montreal scores. Yay.  A few minutes later, goals 2 and 3 come almost back to back.  I drop back into regular speed.   The 3rd period opens, and goal 4 happens.  When Kovalev ties it up with 8 minutes to spare, I was borderline emotional.  The shootout win was like a movie moment.  Go habs go!

And now?   Tied at the top of the East.

Tonight, as they did 4 years ago, Montreal is playing San Jose here in the Bay Area.  And myself and a crew of another dozen folks are caravaning on down to watch em.  And it’s my birthday.

GO HABS!

Originally I was preparing to write a number on how much I hate music snobs.  You know, the people who glance at your iTunes playlist and make a mocking comment about something you have in there, and then you kinda joke back about “how’d that get in there” but deep down you really like Tiffany’s rendition of “I Think We’re Alone Now” or even “MmmBop”.  Snobs suck. Snobs ruin the day. Wine snobs, food snobs, car snobs, clothes snobs.  All snobs suck.  Period.  But there’s something bugging me more than snobbery, it’s elitism.

I define elitism as people who think that some other people, for some particular reason, are better people than others.  Let’s not confuse this with liking people more - we can most certainly choose who we want to spend our time with and not have it be questioned.  Elitism is putting the velvet rope outside a venue, and putting someone in charge of determining who gets to go in.  And elitism is bad.

Elitism causes jealousy. It causes anger. It causes frustration.  It causes self-doubt.  And by the way, this is not just to those who can’t get in, it applies to those who did get in as well.  And the upside of elitism?  Not much.  It makes just fa ew people feel temporarily better about themselves, but over the course of time, probably less about themselves (as they wonder it they’ll make it to the next must-attend thing).

There’s a little brouhaha going on about the TED conference, an event that many techie folk consider drool-worthy (myself included).  In the past, it was easy to hold an “elite” conference and people sat on the sidelines lamenting about their not-so-coolness.  Today with the combination of bloggers and the permanence of the Internet, that’s no longer the case.  Valleywag blogged the TED conference list, then quickly got asked to take the list down, an utterly irrelevant act due to instant caching across the Internet.  Today, the elitism of the event has turned the goodwill into ill-will, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see changes next year, possibly as drastic as canceling the conference (which would be the absolutely worst outcome of all this).

Does this mean that anyone and everyone should be allowed across the velvet rope just because they want in?  No, that doesn’t solve a problem either.  But in this age of openness, I think organizers of events and “list-makers” are going to need to disclose their processes.  They’ll need to create more open applications for others to join.  And criteria must be disclosed.  People like Sarah Lacy (and heck, even myself!) are unlikely to feel sour grapes if there’s a clearly explained event selection process and she can logically deduce why she didn’t “make the cut”, even as her friends (and their boyfriends or relatives) did.

At least at the clubs you know why you didn’t get let in before those 14 ripped dudes with perfect hair.  It’s because you are ugly.

Hello.  This is my last week as a 1K flyer, and I felt it made sense to give you feedback as to why this is the case.  First and foremost, this is a deliberate effort on my part.  While I absolutely maintain the Mileage Plus program is probably the best of all frequent flyer programs, the flights themselves are simply no longer worth the effort.

I am not exactly sure how many times, but I used e-upgrades to fly first or business class numerous times last year.  In no uncertain terms, I find your “elite” seating is simply not worth the effort to maintain status or even keep loyalty with the airline.  With the exception of the P.S. flights, I don’t recall more than one flight in all of 2007 having working power adapters in the first class seating. This is at the same time as many airlines have put standard AC outlets across all coach class seats.

While the meals and free drinks in the upgraded sections is nice, I’d rather pack a sandwich and buy a $5 vodka than have to deal with running out of power while crossing the Mississippi ever again.  And considering your fares are barely competitive with upstarts such as Virgin America, I have neither the feature nor financial incentive to remain active with the airline.

In 2007 it took me a few months to make these realizations, although I did come to appreciate the P.S. service.  Accordingly, in 2008 whenever I fly to New York it will likely be via United.  However for international destinations or other domestic needs, I’ll be flying on another carrier.

As parting advice, I strongly urge you to start modernizing your airplanes.  When comparing the quality of the planes, the seats, the service, the food, and virtually every offering, I believe United has slipped far below its competition.  Specifically:

• Install AC outlets at every seat.
• Consider more in-flight entertainment options.
• Stop featuring “fancy sounding” food (Italian herb roasted chicken) and do the basics better (turkey sandwich).
• Upgrade all the seats in the upgraded cabins, they look like they are leftovers from Braniff’s fleet.
• Give the flight crew and reservations staff a new training lesson on the notion of customer service, and how it is not the same as “answering a question as curtly as possible”

It might be ironic that it’s taken me 500,000 miles before writing to you, and that the first time I do so it is a note of complaint and departure.  I’m not really sure, but I do know the airline operates today the same way it did before I started accumulating my 500,000 miles.  And at this pace, I am probably not the only one abandoning the quest to drive that number into the skies.

(sent to United’s 1K customer feedback email)

About a month ago, congress had a hearing on preventing a recession. While I’m not personally believing all the media hype/frenzy about an impending recession, I do think this is a good topic for my elected officers to spend their time on. Listening to baseball players talk about steroids, on the other hand, is about as good a topic for them to spend as it is to debate whether or not McDonald’s or Burger King has better french fries.

Baseball is not a governed sport. It is not protected, specified, or mentioned anywhere in the constitution. Nor should it be, as it’s… a GAME. And it’s up to MLB to manage their own issues, not Congress.

With the amazing quantity of problems facing Americans today, from healthcare to pollution to homelessness to [long list of other issues goes here], I am appalled that our elected “leaders” have the time to think about baseball players.

This weekend was chock full o great news.

Beyond the Patriots losing the Superbowl…

Beyond me getting two awesome naps…

Beyond me finishing up some really annoying tax paperwork…

A friend sent me a link to a story announcing a potential Arrested Development movie! OMG!  Look at banner!

Seriously, I think AD is solidly on top of my list of favorite TV shows of all time.  I keep copies of every episode on my portable hard drive and watch at least one episode per flight.  I even (yes, this is sad) rate them all in a little list I keep (tops: Bringing Up Buster,  Amigos,  Afternoon Delight).  In fact (yes, sadder, I know), I’m also tracking all references to “her?” (so far the most occurrences are in this episode, you gotta lock that down!).  Yeah, it’s a little like having The OCD (don’t call it that!), but hey, a little obsession can’t hurt.

I really hope this movie comes out.  It’s like The Office doing the extra 2-hour episode a couple of years after finishing shooting.  Rounds out the stories, and gives us fans a little something extra for our vaults.  Well, I guess that’s enough for this post.  I know I can write a little long sometimes.  Oh Jeremy, you blowhard!

(out of context)

Saw this comment on Engadget today:

… I’ve heard a lot of poor reviews of AppleTV, but I think it’s getting better. Still, I’m not a fan of their Nazi-esque ways …

If I may clarify, while Apple may have totalitarian-ish regime, they most certainly haven’t murdered millions of people.  The comparison is terrible.

I wasn’t a fan of the Soup Nazi term either, no matter how funny the show was.  Maybe if there was poison in the soup, then it’d be a little closer.  Or if his soup stand attempted to take over, say all of Europe and Asia, then that too would be more accurate.

I believe there are certain words whose usage should never diminish the importance of their utterance.  Another example is the word “rape” - when people feel comfortable to say that “they got raped by the high prices…” they are clearly devaluing the impact of the action.  My hunch is that said buyer of said expensive goods was unlikely traumatized by the event, and most definitely needed zero follow-up counseling.

There are plenty of “big” adjectives to go around, many of which carry quite a weight.  Let’s try to use them more appropriately, and save these extremely meaningful words for the proper times.

It’s Saturday, January 19th, 2008, 2:26pm, and Duncan Riley of TechCrunch is Mr Techmeme. 

15 hours of demos yesterday.  Videos, podcasts, and blog posts from virtually every major and minor publication.  Utterly exhausting.

Let’s get the ball rolling here on day 2, I love it!

According to TechMeme (apparently the de facto tech news source for all of silicon valley), the BIG story of the day is Robert Scoble’s being kicked off Facebook. Now according to AP, Reuters, and a few other sources, there’s a lot of other stuff going on. But none of it seems to interest the tech newsmakers here in the Bay.

Let’s all get a grip here. FIRST, we all know Scoble will be back on Facebook somewhere in the next 24 hours. SECOND, why does everybody seem to need to write a post about it? Does it really merit that much attention? NO.

Echo, echo echo echo….

I had a great day today (other than a 4am barrage of crying from my baby) at the SF Food Bank. Gotta up the ante for next month! The real question is how far can it go? How infectious can doing good really be here in the real world? All I know is I’m believing more and more in the raw power of the individual.

Definitely a good day.