Not sure if I trust the automatic toilet seat covers

As far as technology goes, there are lots of cool things. The Apple Air Book, the iPhone, Tivo, etc… The list can go on and on. But have you ever seen an automatic toilet seat cover. (This is my first time) I have heard of self cleaning public toilets, but I have never seen an automatic toilet seat cover first hand. Pretty cool concept, but I still don’t trust it. When you begin, you simply activate some sensor on the left side with a magic wand of the hand, and voila, it starts to rotate providing you with a fresh covering. But to me it looks like it just turns around. Hahhaha. I don’t trust it. I mean where does it all go? I know all logic says that its providing a fresh cover, because, after all what would be the point? But I still don’t trust it. Interesting technology, and maybe if I knew more about it, I would have more confidence in it. So lesson learned, cool technology is not so cool unless people can easily understand it, and trust in it.

Wet sidewalks..Good, Icy sidewalks...Bad

Last Monday, January 21, 2008, I hopped onto an American Airlines jet headed for Chicago. 4 ½ hours later, (excluding the 4 hour delay) I landed in O’Hare. Next stop, the Conrad hotel in downtown Chicago miracle mile. Only 45 minutes from O’Hare and a $2 train fare(that is the best bargain ever) I made it safely to my hotel. As I emerged from the subway I was greeted by the wonderful snowy sidewalks and the light flurry of snow. Good thing I was wearing my street clothes (vs. work clothes) which included some grippy running shoes. I really had no idea where to go except for a few directions, turn left on Grand and keep going straight. Fortunately the 2 block walk to the hotel was uneventful and I made it safely. Here are a couple of things I learned rather quickly in my 1st week there…

1) 0 degrees is cold. Even if you have a nice warm jacket, a scarf, gloves, a beanie and the “entire power of the sun” in your pocket. Its damn cold.

2) Wet sidewalks become your friend. Because the alternative is slipping on icy sidewalks (leather soles = NOT GOOD) I even had an episode where I tried to enter a locked revolving door, slipped, frantically grabbed onto whatever I could hold on to, and banged my head on the entrance. Not fun.

3) Chicago Miracle Mile is a shoppers dream. They have everything you could want. (assuming you have the Benjamins $$$ ) However, you feel like you could be anywhere, San Francisco, LA, New York. As big city shopping goes, its pretty standard stuff.

4) The funniest thing is that… I thought people that live in Chicago, would be used to the cold. However I find it really funny that people still complain about it, even though it seems to be the status quo. I guess it’s like in LA when we complain that its too hot. I guess that’s human nature.

5) I finally saw the de-icing of a plane. All I could think of was Richie Valence and Buddy Holly, and how their plane crashed in a rain storm. It’s the funniest thing. It’s like a giant carwash for planes. It caused our plane to be delayed (what’s new) but it was neat to see.

I am scheduled to be in Chicago for about a month. I think plenty of time to say, been there done that. The cold is actually not that bad. It’s very manageable. Especially since I have a 3 minute commute from my hotel room, through a Nordstrom shopping mall, and down 1 block to the office. (The greatest commute ever) The client is nice, the Hitachi Consulting management is nice. The only downsides are the terrible plane commute with all its waiting around, delays, and 4 ½ hour plane flight. But the worst part is leaving my wife behind. Although she was once used to me commuting, this past year we once again grew accustomed to being around each other. Life is about adjusting I guess. Its only a month, so were trying to make the best out of it.

My Nintendo Wii survived the kids...Whewww

Without kids of our own (yet) it is quite an eye opening experience spending time with them. This New Year, we had the opportunity to spend time with my nephews, nieces, and cousins. Every year I enjoy spending time with the family. Family parties are pure chaos. Screaming, laughing, crying, tattle-tailing, and tons of tons of eating (e.g. for desert for one meal, I had a Ghirardelli chocolate brownie, a chocolate revel bar, and a blondie– talk about indulgence and lack of self control, but mmmmm so delish).

This year I brought my new, “not yet kid battle tested” Nintendo Wii for the kids (and adults) to enjoy. Boy, I had no idea what I was getting into. The kids loved it, hated it, laughed, cried, got exhausted, screamed. I never would have thought it could bring all that into play (again I blame it on my lack of experience). Im sure those of you that are parents, are already well versed at dealing with these situations. But for me it was quite an eye opener.

1) You need to set ground rules early. No fighting, no crying, share, take turns, and compromise.

2) Don’t set up a Nintendo Wii in front of a new 42” flat screen television, unless you don’t mind watching TV with a Wii remote smashed through the screen! (No it didn’t happen, but my mother in law almost had a heart attack watching the kids come close to it.)

3) Teaching kids concepts like sharing, not fighting, and being nice to each other are pretty straight forward. (I know not necessarily easy, but more straightforward) But what about things like good sportsmanship, compromise, disappointment, seeing things through. This was quite a challenge for me.

4) On “disappointment”. Winning is important to kids. When you are 5 – 7 your friends have already taught you the concept of “loser”. I was surprised. So my nephew really wanted to win. When playing with me, he already had apprehension playing me (me being a “big” kid) But he agreed to play anyway. I was fully intent on letting him win, but I didn’t want to do it in a way that was obvious. I was doing good, letting him lead the whole way. Until the end when I accidentally unleashed a special move, that ultimately led to my last minute win. Little did I know that this would unleash a sea of tears and disappointment. I felt so bad. But it wasn’t my fault. I really wanted him to win. So that was a quick tough lesson for the both of us.

5) On “good sportsmanship”. The brothers were playing. And the younger brother was also intent on winning. He would have sold the sister he didn’t have just to win. Being younger, Im sure he was used to not being on the wining end most of the time. Then, I was so impressed with his older brother when he agreed to let his younger brother win. And I completely thought(me thinking like an adult) that the younger brother wouldn’t want that, if his older brother was “letting” him win. But to my surprise the younger brother was completely fine with it. As long as he won (didn’t care a bit how he won), he was on top of the world.

What’s important to kids is much different than what is important to adults. What I realized is that its important as an adult/parent to truly understand what is “important” to their kids so that you can make better decisions on how to better prepare for lifes challenges ahead. Im sure I made lots of mistakes and sent some wrong messages, but I guess making mistakes and learning on both sides is part of the process.