06/19/08: Anything and Whatever
No matter how luxurious business class is, long flights always take it out of me. The recent flight to Singapore was no exception. What started as a leisurely trip from San Diego to Singapore became a crazy mad dash from the hotel to the airport after Tiger’s amazing playoff performance at Torrey Pines.
I had planned on staying in San Diego through the weekend and catch a flight to Communicasia, the Singapore Tech Expo. Garmin was rolling out new device which is supposed to rival Apple’s iPhone, and Garmin’s co-founder and dear friend, Gary Burrell, asked me to come speak to his sales team about the future mobile landscape.
Everything changed once Tiger made the tying putt at the U.S. Open on Sunday afternoon. On 14, I sent a note to my assistant to begin planning alternatives if there was going to be a playoff round on Monday. Two minutes after Tiger’s putt went into the cup, I received a new itinerary to Singapore. (Right after that I received another email with a photo from my friend at Getty who saw me in the background of one of Tiger’s shots. If you look over Tiger’s left shoulder, that was me with the yellow shirt!)
The long round Monday had me hustling through the airport to make the flight. I fell right asleep and apparently missed a great meal on the flight. Once we landed, I needed to get something to drink so I sought out the nearest soda machine. I was stunned with a soda machine unlike any other and had to take a photo. Talk about creative delivery.see it up close
The soda’s were even more unusual. My only two options were ‘Whatever’ and ‘Anything.’ Whatever is flavored tea and Anything is carbonated soda, but both come in a range of flavors that you wont know until you taste it.
While the soda machine was memorable, it also reminded me of something else. I sent a note to my assistant to be sure and reschedule my doctor’s appointment later this week!
Everything changed once Tiger made the tying putt at the U.S. Open on Sunday afternoon. On 14, I sent a note to my assistant to begin planning alternatives if there was going to be a playoff round on Monday. Two minutes after Tiger’s putt went into the cup, I received a new itinerary to Singapore. (Right after that I received another email with a photo from my friend at Getty who saw me in the background of one of Tiger’s shots. If you look over Tiger’s left shoulder, that was me with the yellow shirt!)
The long round Monday had me hustling through the airport to make the flight. I fell right asleep and apparently missed a great meal on the flight. Once we landed, I needed to get something to drink so I sought out the nearest soda machine. I was stunned with a soda machine unlike any other and had to take a photo. Talk about creative delivery.see it up close
The soda’s were even more unusual. My only two options were ‘Whatever’ and ‘Anything.’ Whatever is flavored tea and Anything is carbonated soda, but both come in a range of flavors that you wont know until you taste it.
While the soda machine was memorable, it also reminded me of something else. I sent a note to my assistant to be sure and reschedule my doctor’s appointment later this week!
06/10/08: A Hoagiefestivus for the rest-of-us
Greetings from Beantown!
Doc Rivers, head coach of the Celtics invited me up to sit courtside for Game 2. We go back to his days as a basketball analyst on NBC with Al Michaels. Al introduced us at a end of season party in LA and we connected ever since.
I tried to not bother Doc during his team warm ups, so I sat in the team’s locker room with my laptop to get some work done. While Doc’s team, the Celtics, were putting the finishing touches on their game plan, my team, The Archer Group, was putting the finishing touches on another effort, called Hoagiefest. Hoagiefest is a summer promotional campaign for Wawa that everyone looks forward to each year.
We had some catchy songs created for the website, which I kept playing on my laptop in the locker room. As players would come in, they would be drawn to the music and soon a crowd formed behind me as I gave everything a final once over.
Pretty soon, Doc came in to figure out where his players went. Seeing that I was the cause of the distraction, Doc bounce passed a basketball right onto my laptop, shutting it with a bang. The crowd immediately dispersed and poured back on to the court. He gave me a smirk and turned without saying anything.
The guys must have sensed my anxiety. As they sat on the chairs in front of me on the floor, the team began humming the Hoagiefest theme song in unison. Doc finally looked at them and then back to me. I shrugged my shoulders, and he finally broke down laughing.
Thankfully, his team did a great job and won the game. My team did a great job as well, and Hoagiefest is live!
Doc Rivers, head coach of the Celtics invited me up to sit courtside for Game 2. We go back to his days as a basketball analyst on NBC with Al Michaels. Al introduced us at a end of season party in LA and we connected ever since.
I tried to not bother Doc during his team warm ups, so I sat in the team’s locker room with my laptop to get some work done. While Doc’s team, the Celtics, were putting the finishing touches on their game plan, my team, The Archer Group, was putting the finishing touches on another effort, called Hoagiefest. Hoagiefest is a summer promotional campaign for Wawa that everyone looks forward to each year.
We had some catchy songs created for the website, which I kept playing on my laptop in the locker room. As players would come in, they would be drawn to the music and soon a crowd formed behind me as I gave everything a final once over.
The guys must have sensed my anxiety. As they sat on the chairs in front of me on the floor, the team began humming the Hoagiefest theme song in unison. Doc finally looked at them and then back to me. I shrugged my shoulders, and he finally broke down laughing.
Thankfully, his team did a great job and won the game. My team did a great job as well, and Hoagiefest is live!
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