paulstorm

Amtrak's Coast Starlight is relaunched!

Up up and away…

Headin towards $5 Gas!

Surging Gas Prices hit Downtown Los Angeles

Accident on Cesar Chavez involves Metro Bus

Zune Spring 2008

And So…It Begins…

A Victory for Marriage

Zune: 2 Million sold since November 2006 Launch

Freaking Hilarious: TACO TOWN!

Microsoft reportedly walks away from Yahoo!

300,000 flown miles on United!

Stuck in the ATL

Microsoft Acquires Farecast: What is old, is new again!

Snoop Dogg is on my flight!

Hillary Clinton takes California!

Coldest January since I was born!

StormTrack 2008 - What A Beautiful Day!

StormTrack 2008 - Live MEGA Doppler 7000 HD

StormTrack 2008 - Good Sign already...

Photo Album: Mobile photos

Photo Album: Travel

Photo Album: Weather

Photo Album: Downtown Los Angeles

Photo Album: Breaking News

Photo Album: Blog Images

Photo Album: DEMO

Photo Album: 2007-12-17 Chicago

Photo Album: Panoramic Photos

Photo Album: Work Events

Photo Album: Humour

Photo Album: July 2007, Orlando

Photo Album: Mass Transit

Photo Album: Zune 1.0 Launch

Photo Album: Windows Vista Launch

Movie List: Upcoming Movies

Custom List: My Collections

Book List: Book list

First public Windows 7 Demo happened last night with Bill Gates & Steve Ballmer @ All Things Digital

Terrific coverage and a live stream of MSNBC @ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22997326/. If you are a political junkie...this veritable scoreboard is a ton of fun to watch! :)

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:50:46 GMT

Was on my way to catch my train to work and saw some hoopla associated with the relaunch of Amtrak's Coast Starlight. They refurbished the equipment and ratched up their on-board service. /sent from my smartphone (will update with pic and link)

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:54:12 GMT

Up to $4.77/gal…

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:35:02 GMT

And I thought $4.46/gal was bad…

Fri, 30 May 2008 07:09:36 GMT

It just so happens that the closest gas station to my apartment is this Chevron that seems to have one of the highest, if not the highest gas prices in Los Angeles! The amazing thing here is that I still see people filling up time and again here despite the high cost! If you do a little research, you’ll find 20-40cent cheaper gas within a mile or two of this location!

About three weeks ago, this same gas station had prices up around $4.39/gal before dropping to an astonishing, and seemingly random low of $4.19/gal. It didn’t last for long as it has now shot up to $4.46/gal!

Are any of you seeing gas prices this high in your area? International folks need not comment cuz I know you guys pay more. LOL

Fri, 30 May 2008 06:59:30 GMT

When I got home this evening from work, I saw a little commotion just developing at Union Station Way and Cesar Chavez. Looks like a Metro Bus tagged the rear end of this car. I kind of got a kick out of the sign on the bus:

Photo Album

Fri, 30 May 2008 06:35:53 GMT

Finally – a Zune ad that speaks to what you can DO with the Zune. Don’t get me wrong, the previous Zune commercials piqued my creative fantasy side of my mind – but I recognized that they didn’t tell anyone what the heck it was or what you can do. These ads are playing on targeted networks in the US and have played heavily during the NBA Finals on TNT (GO LAKERS!!!).

p.s. Zune Marketplace’s TV show collection is growing by 50% over the next two weeks with the addition of 400 more episodes from NBC Universal, Comedy Central, Sci Fi, and a new network joining the fold; USA. Even if you don’t own a Zune – check out all the cool goodness and download the Zune Software @ http://www.zune.net/en-us/marketplace/default.htm.

p.s.s. Like MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann? Zune has the full video podcast now available!

Wed, 28 May 2008 14:41:59 GMT

The demo is of the MultiTouch capabilities that are baked into Windows 7 that with the right PC will deliver the experiences demo’d. This is just the beginning. For more on the first public unveiling of Windows 7, read a piece put together by the AP: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080528/D90UL2MG0.html.

Thu, 15 May 2008 17:45:51 GMT

Moments ago, California’s Supreme Court rejected a gay marriage ban! Here is the MSNBC.com breaking news piece which will be updated as more information comes in.

I had high hopes that the court, which had a history steeped of innovative, forward-thinking decisions would come to this logical, inevitable conclusion:

"Furthermore, in contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual’s capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual’s sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual’s sexual orientation — like a person’s race or gender — does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights. We therefore conclude that in view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship, the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples."

While there is a current grassroots drive underway to amend the State Constitution like that in 26 other states; a high bar must be reached for it to be successful – it will be close, but I believe it will fail.

You know the saying… “As California Goes, So Goes The Nation”… lets hope so! :)

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:21:07 GMT

Despite a complete revamp of its Zune portable media player last October and a new software update that brings TV downloads, sales of Microsoft's iPod rival have yet to increase.
BetaNews.com: Microsoft sells two millionth Zune, but sales show little growth

First off, I’m not picking on BetaNews.com…I have friends who work there, so I’m just giving them some link-lovin. :) A lot of news sources picked up on this “theme” that Zune has not seen any increase in sales or that sales are “flat”.

It took over 11 months for Zune v1 to hit 1M sold through…and that was with one capacity, the Zune 30! In its first year, the Zune came in with 1.2M sold in total. The figures everyone is using are from the NPD Group, which report on retail sales. While I’ve been able to find no date range for this report…one can make an educated guess that these figures do not include May, and likely do not include April (Video Game sales for the month of April aren’t even out yet). So, for the period of late November 2007 through March 2008 – Microsoft sold an additional 800,000 Zunes. A time period of roughly 4 months!

Extrapolate current growth of 200k Zunes sold per month over the course of the next year and you have an additional 2.4M Zunes sold by March 2009. Throw in new product releases, new markets (Canada, Europe) and you can make the case for even larger growth!

By these calculations, Zune will have a total install base of 4.4M in March 2009…this looks like growth to me! Do the articles like the one above make sense to you?

Tue, 06 May 2008 22:49:01 GMT

Sun, 04 May 2008 00:17:30 GMT

Just got the news alert from msnbc.com. Thank goodness. I had real fears that swallowing Yahoo! would be diasterous for MSFT...at least at this stage. Microsoft can go it alone building the relationships with advertisers thanks to the tremendous breadth and quality of the platforms it has at its disposal.

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:05:15 GMT

When writing my previous travel woes post, I figured I should check how many miles I’ve flown on United. As of 4/26/2008, I have flown 299,929 miles with United. The vast majority of which has been since the fall of 2005. Not bad! :) I tallied up roughly 60,000 miles in 2005, 140,000 miles in 2006…and just over 100,000 in 2007.

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 22:32:08 GMT

Trying to fly home to LAX tonight. My flight to Dulles, which I connect from there to LAX has now been delayed until 8:30pm. utoh!

First it was Air Traffic Control issues, now it is weather delays in Dulles…add to it likely delays here in ATL due to weather and things are not looking good. .75” hail is now being reported in the Severe Thunderstorm to the west of ATL.

Interestingly enough, the last time I was significantly delayed like this (the crew for my flight has been sitting around here at the airport since 2pm!) was here in ATL in December of 2006. I ended up missing my office Christmas Party that time.

Given all the flying I’ve done over the last two/three years…it is a surprise I don’t have more horror stories when it comes to flight delays etc! :)

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:46:19 GMT

On the Farecast.com Blog, the latest post reads: Microsoft Acquires Farecast. No details on what Microsoft intends to do with Farecast, but you can get a glimpse as to how MSN Travel has used Farecast @ http://travel.msn.com.

This comes across as a rather odd acquisition… but Microsoft has made no bones about making such deals often. Especially when the belief is that acquired technology can be used as a platform. Maybe there is something special in their price prediction “secret sauce” that Microsoft really liked. :) Will be interesting to see if they do more than just rebrand Farecast as MSN Travel.

It is funny to watch this go full circle. Microsoft created Expedia back in the heyday of MSN. Expedia was spun off; much like CitySearch (and almost what is now MSN Autos). MSN Travel uses Expedia today to help customers find and build their travel plans. MSN CityGuides are back. Now Microsoft buys Farecast and will certainly bulk up MSN Travel in the future.

p.s. I know I need to blog more! Been super duper busy but I’ll be sticking around these parts for sure! = ] Fun days are ahead…

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:23:40 GMT

Flying to Orlando, FL on United Airlines 272 out of LAX...who is sitting two rows in front with me in First Class...none other than Snoop Dogg! haha

Complete with two bodyguards + manager. What a commotion...the whole plane is abuzz...and I've never seen so many cameraphones suddenly whip out!

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 05:20:44 GMT

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:52:56 GMT

From this morning's Forecast Discussion from the National Weather Service in Oxnard, California:

THE AVERAGE HIGH FOR DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES SO FAR THIS MONTH IS 64.2 DEGREES...AND WITH THE HIGHS FORECAST FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS...IT WILL END UP AT 64.1 DEGREES...THE LOWEST AVERAGE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY IN ALMOST 30 YEARS...SINCE 1979. WITH 7.97 INCHES OF RAIN IN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES...IT WILL BECOME THE 11TH WETTEST JANUARY OF THE 131 SINCE RECORDS THERE BEGAN IN JULY 1877.

Its been fun to wear all my scarfs, coats, and jackets this month!

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:28:49 GMT

I woke up at 4am today and wasn't able to get back to sleep. Once the sun was up I went to the roof of my building to snap a couple of pictures. It is an absolutely gorgeous day thus far in the dry slot between the storm to the west of us and the subtropical jet to the south.

Can you spot the Hollywood Sign? :) I have a zoomed in photo of it from my building in my Downtown Los Angeles Photo Album.

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:40:35 GMT

Sure it has a ridiculous name (surprisingly the anchors seem to never choke while saying it every 10 minutes!) -- but it is Southern California's only live million watt weather radar.

Visit http://www.livedoppler7000.com to track the incoming storm.

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:37:02 GMT

The potency of the incoming storm has been somewhat in question...the question being just how much rain and how hard will it fall. It all depends on the interaction of the low pressure off the coast with a stream of subtropical moisture being pulled northward towards Southern California. I've seen many of these scenarios in my past 28 years in Los Angeles -- and sometimes the ingredients just fail to come together.

In the last 5 minutes, the first lightning strike on the lightning detection network showed up...and not from the cold core low off the coast...but in the subtropical perturbations being drug up from the tropics. Look well south southwest of San Diego.

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:49:53 GMT

Mobile photos

More Photos...

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:00:09 GMT

Travel

The Wynn

View from the Westin Casuarina Las Vegas

Ceasar's sends a few of his troop

United Red Carpet Club in Chicago

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:36:11 GMT

Weather

Mammatus in Buffalo, NY

Fri, 30 May 2008 07:01:57 GMT

Downtown Los Angeles

Twas the night before Ralphs opened!

Union Station Foyer

Mozaic Apartments from the corner

View from Union Station parking lot

Los Angeles Times' lobby

Filming a movie on Figueroa in Downtown Los Angeles. I just had to snap a picture of this sign warning motorists, workers, tourists and residents alike!

KNBC News Truck at Union Station after signal outage

CSI NY being filmed in LA

LA TAKEDOWN

Amish arrive at Los Angeles Union Station

More Photos...

Fri, 30 May 2008 06:53:37 GMT

Breaking News

Metro Accident on Cesar Chavez

Fri, 30 May 2008 06:40:13 GMT

Blog Images

More Photos...

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:00:03 GMT

DEMO

IMG_0768 Stitch

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 02:04:11 GMT

2007-12-17 Chicago

Caution Falling Ice!!

Chicago Civic Opera Building from the back

Cool Underpass

Chicago El rails over the river in the winter

Condos overlooking the river

Chicago Red Line prepares to head over the river

Lots of Chicago is decked out in christmas wreath style decorations!

Looking Downtown as the Chicago El heads over the river

IMG_0506

United Airlines Headquarters

More Photos...

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 02:01:54 GMT

Panoramic Photos

Chicago River Stitch

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:12:11 GMT

Work Events

"Vista Rocks!"

paulstorm rocker on stage in orlando

Dana and I in Chicago to launch the T-Mobile Wing

On stage in Florida

Making a point

"Wow!"

The audience is listening.

Paul and Andy Saks

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:02:42 GMT

Humour

My Anti-Drug

Disturbing SSID

Only in Las Vegas...

Trapped by iPropaganda!

The only way the iPhone can live up to the hype...

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 19:00:18 GMT

July 2007, Orlando

Severe Thunderstorm Encroaches on Wet n Wild

Severe Thunderstorm Strikes

Another cell approaches!

Mammatus Clouds!

A FROG OUTSIDE MY HOTEL!!

Closeup of Floridian Grasshopper

Disney World Fireworks!

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 02:31:48 GMT

Mass Transit

Silver Streak in Montclair prepares for its westbound trip. Debris clouds from tstorms in AZ overhead.

Silver Streak pulls up for passengers. In fact, I'm uploading this photo from that bus as it has free WiFi on board!

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 06:36:24 GMT

Zune 1.0 Launch

More Photos...

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 17:04:25 GMT

Windows Vista Launch

Skylights Attract Customers

Windows Vista Orb

Windows Vista Endcap

PR Photo Background

Ultimate Launch Event banner

The crowd gets anxious as the clock creeps towards midnight!

Windows Vista Orb

Our DJ!

Free Food!

Despite the rain -- our line grows!

More Photos...

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:55:30 GMT

Upcoming Movies

I Am Legend
Will Smith in another Sci Fi flick. Trailer is intriguing!
Star Trek XI
Star Trek? JJ Abrams? 'Nuff Said!

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:39:26 GMT

My Collections

My LA Haunts
Chances are...you may run into me in one of these establishments. No stalking! ;-) I'll continue to edit as I have time...

Delicious Westin Las Vegas Dessert

Britney on Zune

A Zune Lover!

Zune Presents at The Roxy on Sunset Boulvevard!

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 06:10:39 GMT

Book list

Seth Godin: All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World
Am I a liar? :)
David Allen: Getting Things Done
Digital productivity. Just getting into it -- will update if I find it valuable. :)
Mike Sussman: Glass Empires
Yes, I'm a Star Trek fan! Just started it, but it is a journey of the Mirror Universe through different eras of time. The first section of which is written by Mike Sussman, a writer on the show Star Trek: Enterprise!
Robert Scoble: Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers
Robert Scoble...not always a fan, but the man gets transparency.
Chris Anderson: The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More
Robert Spector: The Nordstrom Way to Customer Service Excellence: A Handbook For Implementing Great Service in Your Organization
Reading material for a new position. :)