Steve Jobs changed my life in many ways. But it started with the the first time I saw a Macintosh SE/30 in college.  Before that, other computers just weren’t worth the hassle to learn. I was still typing papers on a typewriter. Needless to say, I fell in love with the Mac. The following year I bought my first of 5 Macs. Without the Macintosh, I would never have ended up in the Internet business which I love so much. His products inspired and enabled me.

Thank you Steve, you will be missed.

It’s hard to imagine life without the Internet and the World Wide Web in particular. The Internet significantly changed my life when I was introduced to it in grad school in 1993. It turned out to be how I’ve made my living since then.

Happy Birthday WWW!!!

Music Tunnel had tons of rooms, excellent sound insulation, and a great sound system. It was clean and comfortable except for the small bathroom, just like seemingly every business around here. They had a cool touch-screen menu for picking songs which worked fine for the two of us, but would have been tricky with more people.

The quality of the music was really good, many also included the video from the original artist’s version of the song. The selection of English songs was good, not great. For example, they didn’t have much classic country (but I’m starting to get used to this). They had plenty of modern pop (which I can’t sing) and a good collection of oldies (Beatles, Elvis, Carpenters).

My friend was having fun with Chinese pop songs that had the actual videos. It was pretty neat.

This is my current favorite Karaoke place in the Bay Area. You should check it out.

I had the pleasure of attending the Dallas Mavericks v. the Golden State Warriors game at American Airlines Center in Downtown Dallas last night. It’s always great to make it back to Texas to see friends and my favorite home-town teams. Thanks for taking me to the game John. Great seats!

The Mavericks won their 10th straight game by defeating the Warriors 105 to 100. It was an exciting game. The highlight of this game was the unexpectedly good play of the Maverick’s back-up centers – Ian Mahinmi (3rd string) and Alexis Ajinca (4th string). Starting center Tyson Chandler was out with a stomach bug and 2nd string center Brendon Haywood spent a lot of time on the bench with foul trouble. This left the door open for Mahinmi (12 points, 10 rebounds, 1 block, 2 steals, 21 minutes) and Ajinca (3 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 9 minutes) to impact the game. Before last night, they had only played a combined total of 42 minutes for the entire season.

The Mavericks look really good this year. Not sure if they’re going to be able to beat the Lakers, but they look good enough to go far in the playoffs hopefully avoiding another embarrassing first-round exit.

Big 12 Championship Game - Nebraska's in red, OU's in white.

I went back to Dallas to see the final Big 12 Championship Game. It was definitely worth it – got to see the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington and saw a very exciting game, not to mention getting some of my favorite local eats.

After going up 17-0 in the first half, #13 Nebraska loses a close one to #9 Oklahoma by a score of 23 – 20. This was the second straight year that Nebraska lost a close one in the Big 12 Championship Game. This is Nebraska’s final year in the Big 12. They move to the Big 10 starting next year.

There were about 80,000 people at the game. There seemed to be slightly more Nebraska fans. The place was really, really loud. I’ve never been to a football game with that much crowd noise. Though loud and passionate about their teams, everyone was well behaved. I was a little surprised by this. I was sitting in the lower level around a bunch of Nebraska fans. It was a great experience.

I wasn’t digging the weather today in San Fran so I decided to picture myself somewhere else a bit warmer and sunnier. Here’s where I ended up – the Guadalupe Mountains in West Texas. I’m feeling better already.

Here’s mine: If you want something, you have to ask for it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.

Continuing on this theme, here’s a great post compliments of Steven Aitchison that shares what others wish they had known when they were younger. It’s great stuff.

What do you think she was looking at?

There are multiple rooms of various sizes. We had a group of 4 and paid $25/hour. The room was comfortable and had plenty of space for our group.

You could see the lyrics on screen easily from any location in the room. The sound system was good and loud, though this also meant you could hear sounds from other rooms if you didn’t have any music playing.

The selection of music in English was adequate. The background music for the songs wasn’t the best that I’ve heard, but it wasn’t the worst either. It definitely doesn’t sound as good as CD+Gs that you might buy yourself. Also, the songs were only listed by title. It would have been nice to have them cross-referenced by artist and genre.

They sell water, soft drinks, and beer at the front counter. It’s reasonably priced – water is $1. There’s no food.

The bathroom was clean.

You park on the street, so you might want to leave the big SUV at home.

A typical day for me begins with the following before getting out of bed:

1) Turning off my alarm (iPhone 3GS).

2) Starting the download for the WSJ This Morning podcast (iPhone 3GS).

3) Checking the temperature (iPhone 3GS).

Once I get out of bed:

1) I get dressed to take my dog for a walk while listening to the WSJ podcast on my iPhone that has finished downloading.

2) I feed myself and my dog while continuing to listen to the WSJ podcast.

3) I connect my iPhone to some powered speakers and finish the WSJ podcast as I shower and get dressed for work.

As I leave the house to go to work:

1) I listen to music on my iPhone as I walk to bus stop.

2) While waiting for the bus I check my personal and work e-mail.

3) After checking e-mail, I play games and listen to music on my iPhone until I reach work.

It’s amazing how fast time seems to pass when you have so many productivity and entertainment options available.

Depending on what I’m doing that day at work, I might listen to music, Pandora, or local sports talk from Dallas (the ESPN Radio iPhone app is great) as I work.

At work I’m always connected to the Internet. Most of my collegues are located remotely or at another office. Work is done primarily via e-mail and chat. I’m on the phone no more than once or twice a day. I used the phone far more when I was doing Business Development.

My primary applications include Outlook, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Excel on a 10″ Dell laptop running Windows XP docked with dual 20 inch LCD monitors. I use Word and PowerPoint far less in product management than I did in Business Development.

I also keep Meebo’s web-based chat application open all day on a small USB monitor to access AIM, Live Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger. I keep up with industry news using Google Reader and Techmeme.

Prior to heading home from the office, I start the downloads for a few ESPN podcasts which keep me company until I get home and walk the dog.

After I walk my dog and feed the two of us, I catch up on TV shows waiting for me on my DirecTV DVR or stream some music using my Apple TV.

I’ll typically surf the web and read the days news and tech blogs on my laptop as I watch TV or listen to music. I have a 17″ Dell laptop running Windows 7. I primarily use Google Chrome to browse the web at home.

I actually have print subscription to Business Week (it was free).

When I crawl into bed at night I set my alarm, plug in the charger, and turn on some relaxing tunes on my iPhone 3GS.

As you can see, the iPhone has been deeply integrated into my daily activities. I have a hard time seeing how I’d get by without it.

]]> http://randyweber.com/blog/2010/03/13/technology-and-me-a-day-in-the-life-of/feed/ 0