I'd pick the Air Force

I can fight in Pakistan w/o ever leaving Las Vegas.

I head to Cheddars for my favorite sandwich

When you want an unusual sandwich experience.

They are the sandwich Nazis. A Greek family that is too much fun.

Make sure you know what you want to order!!!

Greek rollup is the best.

Three overplayed songs I love anyway

I have XM Satellite 20on20 going on in the car much of the time so I'm blasted with repeats of the latest "greats". A few a worth listening to, though…

What’s My Name by Ting Tings

I like the Ting Tings because they are silly.

Sugar by Flo Rida

The theme from "I'm Blue" is addictive.

Boom Boom Pow by Black Eyed Peas

Despite all the years they haven't gotten stale.

Stuck in an elevator with James Bond

James Bond
His watch will help us get out.

My song about Toms River, NJ

This is from my friend Steve…

large town with 4 highschools

Three overplayed songs I love anyway

Like a virgin by Madonna

Madonna is cool.

25 or 6 to 4 by chicago

Guitar solo is awesome.

love song by sara bareilles

catchy

Advice From a Sage VC

I'm not sure who first said it, but I heard it years ago from an old-time venture capitalist. It makes sense and it ties to the "always try to raise money when you don't need it."

Dollars ! by Paul Falardeau (pfala)

"If you want money, ask for advice. If you want advice, ask for money."

Fighting The Berry Addiction

I resisted getting a cell phone for a very long time. My first device was a Nokia 6160. What a tank! It even survived a plunge in the Charles River. Then I got a MOTO flip phone. Good HW, the worst SW imaginable.

My first Blackberry could only do email. Remember those? So many years ago… This is when the addiction began. I much prefer asynchronous communication (like email or IM or texting) to phone calls which are rudely interrupting. Rrrrriinnnnggggg. Stop what you are doing and pay attention to me. Not quite.

When my Berry also became a phone it became hard to leave home without it. I have spent a day without it but only if I'd forgotten it.

Lots of smartphone users have shared tips on fighting the addiction. In my experience this is a common topic of conversation on BOS-SFO flights. It is not that hard, actually. Step one is to limit the interruptions the device emits into your life. I have several custom profiles. At work, calls, text messages and meeting reminders vibrate but everything else is quiet. At home, calls vibrate and meeting reminders and text messages turn on the indicator light. If I want space from the device, I just put it on its charger.

What about the iPhone? Mine is permanently on vibrate. I use it as a portable browser and app desktop. The battery life cannot handle my normal business use without all sort of battery dongles that just look funny.

And my G-1? Often in my bag and off as a spare. I have an early build of the voice search on it and it simply rocks.

Hint: A trip to Caneel Bay would be nice this Valentine's Day

Caneel Bay
Mmm, Caneel Bay on St. John. Where I went on my honeymoon. Scotts Beach. The turtles. Yeah, that would be great.

Chopper Ride to the Vineyard

I've lived 12 years in the Boston area but I've never been to the Vineyard…. So, it'll be a nice treat to take a chopper ride down there and check out the island's nooks & cranies. Too bad it's winter.

Watch "Guns of Navarone" next time you're home sick

Growing up in Communism I was fed a staple of World War II movies. There is nothing they don't cure: from the common cold to hangover.

Guns of Navarone is an old school action/adventure film. There is a plot but it's simple-enough to survive the occasional dozing off or tripping brought about by a NyQuil overdose. (If you don't believe me, check out the Wired article "What's Inside: NyQuil, Fortified With Powerful Narcotics!")

Chooper Ride to the Vineyard

I've lived 12 years in the Boston area but I've never been to the Vineyard…. So, it'll be a nice treat to take a chopper ride down there and check out the island's nooks & cranies. Too bad it's winter.

A thousand bucks won't be enough…

Hmm, how would I spend a $1,000 from the lottery?

I don't scuba dive enough these days to justify upgrading my equipment. It was top of the line, well, a long time ago. My setup is designed for travel because I can't get used to the cold, murky waters of New England. Yeah, there is a lot of life here but it's all a shade between light brown and dark gray. Hawaii, here I come. So, I went with a hoseless Oceanic dive computer, an integrated BC inflator / octopus and a top-of-the-line Atomic Titanium regulator. Two hoses in all. Not much to streamline here but that dangly Oceanic computer.

So… With a thousand bucks (and a few extra of my own) I can probably go for the latest in scuba streamlining–a mask with a heads up display (HUD) scuba computer. Take the Oceanic hoseless computer. Squeeze it into a fob-sized object stuck under the right mask lense and, voila, you have the Oceanic DataMask HUD. I just hope the mask fits.

But, since I mentioned already that I don't scuba dive enough these days to justify upgrading my equipment, the thousand bucks will likely get thrown into the slash fund for that Florida vacation with the toddler.

I recommend hiking Sonamarg when you're in Kashmir

When I was there more than 20 years ago, you could get away without a bulletproof vest. Nowadays, I'm not so sure…

Sonamarg means something like "the meadow of gold." It's a little less than 100km from Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir. Best way to get there is to hire a cab for the day. The drive will take several hours.

The valley itself is pretty but the fun part is trekking up onto the glaciers. The view of the surrounding mountains is breathtaking.

When I get home, I have to change

Ah, clothes. I used to pick what to wear in the morning and stick with it till the end of the day.

Now, with a toddler in the house, there is a need for "house clothes". In the winter, they are a comfy light sweater or long sleeve T and a pair of pants that one can wash dinner off over and over and over again.

Three for the road: a mix tape sampler

These days, the smallest music selection I travel with is on my iPod Shuffle, currently at 99 songs, 7.3 hours, 526.6Mb. Here is a sample of what's on it.

Riders on the storms by Doors

It's the kind of song you need to zone out while crossing the flatlands on a coast-to-coast drive. The tune is mellow so I can stay comfortably under 80.

soul meets body by death cab for cutie

Read the lyrics and you'll understand why this is a fit for some journeys.

lebanese blonde by thievery corporation

On longer rides I often tune into the XM Chill channel. I like Thievery, De-Phazz, Bitter:Sweet and many others.

My first job: summer internship

My first job (in the US, at least) was on a research team at the CS department of Trinity University in San Antonio, TX. The money came from the Pew Research Foundation. I can’t recall how much they paid me but I do recall that I ate ramen noodles with pasta sauce almost every night.

It was the summer of 1994 and the Web was just taking off. There was that page listing all the new Web sites on the Net. I visited every single one every day.

I was a lead kernel developer of a shared multi-user virtual environment on Intel 386 Dell machines. The hardware was pathetic given how much processing we wanted to do. The original idea was to build this on WinNT and use OpenGL. We could render about a frame a second. Then we thought about using PEX, the 3D extensions to X Windows. We killed that idea when the manuals arrived. The combined length spine-to-spine was more than a foot. We ended up using aVRIL (a Virtual Reality Interface Library), developed by a guy out of U Waterloo, on plain ol’ MS-DOS. I also had to write drivers for the Logitech Cyberman 3D mouse in assembly. Ah, memories…

The program was led by Prof. Gerald Pitts, Chair of the Trinity University CS department. Dr. Pitts had worked at NASA, wore cowboy boots in hundred degree weather and fixed hot rods. My partners in the program were Greg Gerard, who later moved to the Valley and worked at Apple and many startups, and Aaron Boo Boon Khoo, who later got a PhD in CS from Northwestern. I feel like I should get back in touch with them…

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A Vice: Nutella

chocolate for breakfast by Janine (jsc.)

I grew up in Communism. The central planning authority must have decreed that producing a good chocolate hazelnut spread would weaken the moral fiber of society. So none was produced. I didn’t know what I had been missing till I tasted Nutella for the first time. Then I was hooked.From an anthropological standpoint, it’s interesting to note that many folks who’ve grown up in Communism have a similar obsession. Someone should research the root causes of this mass phenomenon. Perhaps Ferrero (the maker of Nutella) can give some grant money. Quitting? Quitting’s easy. I’ve done it many times…

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Songs I Hate to Love

Unbelievable by EMF

Well, the story involves highschool, Haloween and neoprene. The details are murky. Not sure why but I keep hearing this song anytime I tune to a 90s station.

I Kissed a Girl by Katy Perry

The song is lovable in its complete, unabashed, unapologetic and unadulterated cheesiness.

The Uninvited Parade by Sandra Boynton

My toddler wants to hear this song many, many, many times per day. There is no escape. But I kinda like it.

Which songs will you name? Do not be afraid. Go to Plinky and tell everyone.

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Spillover

Not everything should live in the same place.