05/21/08: Connecting on the highway
Greetings from California
Springtime may be my favorite time of year. We have just shaken off the winter blues, the flowers are all blooming, and the weather is warm and sunny, but not too humid. My annual Pebble Beach golf classic is always in the spring to take advantage of the beautiful spring weather.
I always play with my dear friend and golf champion Johnny Miller at Pebble Beach. We met at 94 Pebble Beach Pro-Am. I won a spot at the pro-am in a charity auction and was very excited. I gave Johnny my golf towel after he left his in his car, and played a terrific round. Thinking that the towel had something to do with his round, he asked ot hang on to it. He ended up winning the entire Pro-Am and felt that the towel had something to do with it. We traded phone numbers and stayed in touch ever since.
Johnny met me at the airport in his new Mercedes and took me to the hotel. We wanted to try this new restaurant in Napa. We fired up Yahoo maps and got the directions. Johnny moved me aside from the laptop and said, “Bob, I think you will love this.” He proceeded to pull down the ‘send’ menu and select an option that I hadn’t noticed before titled ‘send to car’. He entered a number and then said “Let’s go!”
We sit in his Mercedes and he presses a button up top. Then after a few seconds, a map with directions to the restaurant appear on the display. His car has a new service called Search & Send, which allows drivers to stop printing out directions and instead load them directly into the navigation systems.
This connectivity between the web and the car is a great sign of things to come. The future of the internet will increasingly include devices in interesting ways.
At the restaurant, the hostess took us to our table and proceeded to sit me at a seat with an odd looking placemat. Johnny had given my legendary golf towel to the restaurant earlier that day and had them set up the return to me. We enjoyed the evening, and I proceeded to shoot my best round at Pebble with my lucky towel!
Springtime may be my favorite time of year. We have just shaken off the winter blues, the flowers are all blooming, and the weather is warm and sunny, but not too humid. My annual Pebble Beach golf classic is always in the spring to take advantage of the beautiful spring weather.
I always play with my dear friend and golf champion Johnny Miller at Pebble Beach. We met at 94 Pebble Beach Pro-Am. I won a spot at the pro-am in a charity auction and was very excited. I gave Johnny my golf towel after he left his in his car, and played a terrific round. Thinking that the towel had something to do with his round, he asked ot hang on to it. He ended up winning the entire Pro-Am and felt that the towel had something to do with it. We traded phone numbers and stayed in touch ever since.
Johnny met me at the airport in his new Mercedes and took me to the hotel. We wanted to try this new restaurant in Napa. We fired up Yahoo maps and got the directions. Johnny moved me aside from the laptop and said, “Bob, I think you will love this.” He proceeded to pull down the ‘send’ menu and select an option that I hadn’t noticed before titled ‘send to car’. He entered a number and then said “Let’s go!”
We sit in his Mercedes and he presses a button up top. Then after a few seconds, a map with directions to the restaurant appear on the display. His car has a new service called Search & Send, which allows drivers to stop printing out directions and instead load them directly into the navigation systems.
This connectivity between the web and the car is a great sign of things to come. The future of the internet will increasingly include devices in interesting ways.
At the restaurant, the hostess took us to our table and proceeded to sit me at a seat with an odd looking placemat. Johnny had given my legendary golf towel to the restaurant earlier that day and had them set up the return to me. We enjoyed the evening, and I proceeded to shoot my best round at Pebble with my lucky towel!
05/14/08: Just What is a Wawa?
While I travel the globe from meeting to meeting, I am always mindful of the team hard at work back in the States. Recently, they have all been ‘heads down’ finalizing the launch of our most recent website for the legendary Wawa food markets. While Wawa has a loyal following in the Northeast United States, many outside the area are struck by the unusual name and associated passion from its customers.
I’m in Taiwan checking my mail when pictures begin rolling in from HQ. The team is deep in the throws of launching the new site, www.wawa.com. I try not to bother everyone, but I am anxiously awaiting. The team feeds me these pictures along with progress reports so I don’t call or email constantly with ‘so hows it going?’
The team went well into the night with final touches. As the night progressed, the pictures got more and more entertaining. I was having lunch with some old friends and kept handing the phone over to share. We were laughing quite a bit, and finally raised a toast to the team when it went live.
After a few more drinks, one of my friends leaned over to me and asked: “Bob, just what exactly is this Wawa that we have all been drinking to?” I’m not sure my use of terms like Sizzli and Shorti cleared things up, but we celebrated none the less.
The next day, the team sent me a shot from the front of our offices where they told the world about the launch.
Great job team!
After a few more drinks, one of my friends leaned over to me and asked: “Bob, just what exactly is this Wawa that we have all been drinking to?” I’m not sure my use of terms like Sizzli and Shorti cleared things up, but we celebrated none the less.
Great job team!
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