Earlier this year I said goodbye to an organization I put a lot of time and effort into. At the time my mind was focused on the frustration of seemingly no one striving for excellence. Steve Jobs once said, “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.” To make matters worse it was my observation that not many knew what was expected never mind knew what excellence looked like.

Yet, maybe the problem was not a lack of excellence. Maybe the problem was growing up where people forgot you could eat impossible for breakfast. A place where the future is defined by the past. A place where, “No, change takes time.” A place where, “No, you can’t go that.” A place where, “No, we don’t want to go there.” A place where, “No, we can never compete with the money they have.” A place where, “No, that does not work in a not for profit.” A place where, “No, this is not a business.”

When a place like this collides with the anomaly that says something different a choice of paths open up. Perhaps some might respond to see that “impossible” really means “I’m Possible.” Or maybe the anomaly gets eaten for breakfast instead by succumbing to the incredible static friction that a lack of movement instills. Or maybe it is just time to go. To go and find a place where your soul can soar and be pulled by others instead of being pushed back. A place where people forgot to grow up and actually look for the impossible to happen.

Striving for excellence is great, but not if you are just trying to do the wrong things well. Dare to think of a new level of excellence where all the rules are broken. Apple changed the world because it created products we did not even know we wanted. Maybe not all of us can put a ding in the universe like Steve Jobs. Ah, but then again, bet me I can’t and see what happens. You just might make yo mamma happy that she changed the world by bringing you into being.

Enjoy the video below. The performance was captured at the XPrize Radical Benefit for Humanity event on October 20, 2011 and it inspired this post.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Taking out the Canon VIXIA HFM400 with Sunray 2000 lights for the first time I filmed the video at four dive locations off of Marsh Harbor in Abaco, Bahamas: The Towers, The Aquarium, Shark Ledge, and Grouper Alley. The dives were lead by Kay of Above & Below Abaco with the crew as listed below. I was using the standard Canon WP-V3 underwater case thus it was an interesting challenge to get the Sunrays to mount with this camera – interesting enough, if fact, for me to probably write a little post about the effort. Stay tuned for that to appear hopefully in the coming days.

Since being certified in 1978 this is easily rated as one of my best diving experiences and Kay and crew provided the absolutely perfect environment to make the surroundings that much more enjoyable. One of us also achieved certification during the four dives and I know he would have never found a better instruction experience that what Kay provided anywhere else. To date I have ever only seen one shark underwater and that was a nurse shark well hidden under a reef ledge where I managed to get a photo of its tale. On this dive I was quite surprised by one that was swimming my way while on the bottom alone waiting for the others to descend and lost count in the end. I was also surprised by the actual friendliness of the groupers who actually followed us around sometimes looking for attention.

Reef Shark

Kay Politano – NAUI Instructor Trainer, SSI Instructor, CPR/First Aid and AED Instructor, Licensed Boat Captain, NACD Certified Cave Diver, 34 Years Diving Experience, MA in Counseling UCF.

Kristin Jones – SSI Dive Con/Assistant Instructor, Equipment Technician, Safety Diver, Abaco Central High School Graduate, Honor Student, Recipient of The Governor General Youth Award.

Ashton Forbes is a 15 year old high school student who is doing a Summer Internship. He is currently working on his Advanced SCUBA Diver certification. He is also the Bahamas National Champion in Judo, in his weigh class, and will soon be going to International competition.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Many years ago, I saw a shuttle take off from afar, and ever since then, a friend of mine, whose brother works for NASA, has always said to me, “If you want to see a launch up close, just let me know.” As the program was winding down, I told my friend that this would be the last chance for either of us to see a part of history; so, after many attempts and schedule shufflings, we made it down to the Kennedy Space Center on April 29, 2011. That day, however, turned out to be a dry run for us, for just moments after the bus left for the Banana Creek viewing site, my friend got a message from his brother, saying that the launch was scrubbed. So, into the car we went for the several-hour journey through traffic back to Orlando, to fly out and hope that the schedules would come together for a second attempt.

When the next attempt date was finally fixed as May 16, 2011, I was the only one able to make the second trip to the KSC to give it another go. After the first run, I packed a little differently in view of the things we learned during the first attempt, and off I went. There are good words of wisdom given for viewers of the launch – put the camera down and take in the experience. You can grab all you need for photo memories from the web afterwards. For the most part I agree with this comment, but, for myself, my memories come from being behind the camera. You might see a GoPro attached to my head, thanks to Tim Ferriss, or otherwise in my hands as I do my best to capture the feelings as they happen. Rarely, however, is one sitting on a tripod, so for me this was going to be an unusual challenge.

To make matters more interesting, I wanted video and stills and to see the faces of the people at the same time. For the one man band I was, this was a job for a GorillaPod and Gaffer’s Tape. While the Gorilla Pod helped with the GoPro, the Gaffer’s Tape helped secure a Canon HFM400 onto the end of a EF100–400mm f/4.5–5.6L IS USM attached to a 7D. I would not do it that way again, but I can mention two things that this rig brought to me: the first is the fact that Gaffer’s Tape is your best friend when trying to make crazy things happen (two other people borrowed my roll for ideas of their own that they had after seeing my setup while waiting for the launch); and second, you will never find a better solution without diving in and trying something – anything – that has a chance of working to begin with.

My 7D, GoPro, and Camcorder Setup

Was this thing going to work? The bus got to the viewing site four hours ahead of the scheduled launch, and that was the quickest four hours I think I have ever experienced! I fiddled as much as I could, I did not have the best tripod to pan up with, and I had no idea at all about what I was going to see happen before my eyes. I did, however, discover another note of wisdom for if there is a next time for whatever the successor to the shuttle might be – yes, it was worth being nearly first in line and getting on the second bus out to the site. If you are going to be behind a camera, then stake a claim at the fence line – and you need to be early to do this.

If the four hours went quickly, then the last ten minutes went like ten seconds. I fired everything up and stood my ground. The results? A long way short of perfect, but with that said, far better than expected! The video worked well, and the stills brought home the memories, too.

STS-134 Endeavour

Enough of the technical stuff! If anyone wants to know anything else about that part of the experience, ask away in the comments. As for what it was like – that is where words start to fail. I have seen things come together when people have pushed technology and machine to the limits, where one is amazed at how far human ability can meld with equipment. This experience, however, was in a league of its own. From the failed attempt through to the final success of this launch, being there, you do actually get at least some small sense of how many people have come together to make one goal happen. From the people who are actually in the shuttle, through all of the ground support (in Florida and elsewhere) and all of the security, to all of the effort it took to build the shuttle and get it to the pad – the vastness of the combined endeavour is something I have felt in no other place. Then, to see this effort and creation leave our small marble, if even for only a relatively short journey, takes all of those bonds to another level: a level where we are all looking for something much bigger than all of ourselves put together.

Yes, it is the sound of all our hearts beating together. When Endeavour first leaves the pad, that is the only sound you can hear. Then slowly, at some moment that creeps into your body, you start to realize there is a bigger sound. As the craft pokes through the cloud cover and out of view, that new sound grows into a thunder that is as much felt with your body as heard with your ears. It truly is the sound of something bigger than all of us put together, and I hope it is a sound that returns soon after the fleet of shuttles goes quiet.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• “Shuttle Endeavour By The Numbers: NASA’s 19-Year-Old Space Baby (SPACE.com)” and related posts (rocketnews.com)
• NASA’s Shuttle Endeavour Heads to Space Station on Its Final Mission (spacefellowship.com)
• Videos: Space Shuttle Endeavour Blasts Off at Kennedy Space Center (newsfeed.time.com)

I am not a race fan. The closest I have come to being one is remembering younger years watching the Indy 500 on TV and still recall the terrible Swede Savage accident that I have only seen once in my life but through the magic of today’s technology I can enter it in Google and relive the accident again. In 2008, long after not seeing the race on television for a good number of years, I was able to experience the race in person for the first time and was simply amazed by every aspect of it.

For NASCAR I obviously knew it existed, and even recognize some of the bigger names that have built its history, but I have never come to the point where I saw a race on TV, never mind in person. So, this year, when there was an opportunity to tag along with a customer from France who was very interested in seeing the race, the answer was simple — count me in.

We stayed in the Orlando area and got to the track in just enough time to park and make it to our seats for the 1:00 PM start time and when the race was over we did pretty much the same to head out of town as soon as possible. So, besides seeing the starts of post race tailgating all over the area (as far out at the Home Depot parking lot where our car was) we did not have a chance to experience anything outside of the actual race itself.

US Air Force Thunderbirds

At the opening ceremony Martina McBride did an outstanding job singing the national anthem. For those looking for their first ‘car wreck’ with the words being sung they were sorely disappointed on this one. The fly over at the end by the US Air Force Thunderbirds, however brief, makes me want to go to an air show again. It has been far too many years between seeing the Thunderbirds or the Blue Angels in person.

Drafting with their Partners

You only get one chance in your life to experience the cars coming around the track at full speed for the first time. Nothing delivered by television has ever come close. Though NASCAR was still amazing from this standpoint it was still not on the order of the Indy 500. However, the amazing difference that I never expected was seeing how the cars partner up and draft behind each other. The photo above was taken at a 1/5000 of a second shutter speed and randomly caught on a high speed burst of photos with the lens fixed. Yes, they are moving at full speed and yes, they do run that close to each other all around the track. (The average speed was 130MPH)

Waltrip & Reutimann Create 17-Car Pileup

Though the days of Swede Savage are thankfully gone, at least for the most part due to all of the changes in race technology that have happened over the years, seeing a crash is person is not a happy moment. It was interesting to note the yells of excitement by the people surrounding us. My positive bias interprets this as being cheerful their driver was not involved – but it might be more of other drivers being eliminated from the competition. Then there is the practical matter – are there just too many cars on the track at the start?

Tony Stewart

Finally, the most interesting observation for myself was the amount of shuffling that was going on in positioning. Someone we know is a fan of car #14 and seeing it jump around on the position poll throughout the race was amazing. At the end, when the caution flag was thrown, I believe it was in second place and after the two full speed laps to finish the race it dropped back to 13th! There were 74 lead changes during the race leading one of the people I went with to make the comment that you could almost forget the first 150 laps of the race – heck, perhaps even more. Besides elimination, through accident or other failure, position seemed to not matter at all until the last lap.

The video I took from the event was largely me still learning about how a Canon 7D works when it comes to the task so although it is not great it is amazing what you can get from an DSLR with little to no experience on the video side and the built in microphone.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• Daytona 500: Trevor Bayne Wins In Caution Filled Daytona 500 (bleacherreport.com)
• 2011 NASCAR Schedule: How The Daytona 500 Stacks Up (sbnation.com)
• Trevor Bayne wins the Daytona 500 (inquisitr.com)

Just over a week ago I had the amazing opportunity to spend some moments with James Cameron, Tim Ferriss, and a few other notables in support of the X PRIZE Foundation. To begin with, I learned a lot about the X PRIZE Foundation itself. I had always known its name for the Ansari X Prize in which $10,000,000 was offered to the first NGO to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into space twice within two weeks. I had no idea that the concept of encouraging quantum leaps in developments of all areas is what the Foundation had evolved into. That alone was worth the trip out to Southern California!

Taking a brief moment of one on one time with James Cameron I also had a chance to learn a little more about his own adventure into the ‘deep space’ of the ocean. I knew he was working on a personal project to build a manned craft to visit the deepest part of the ocean floor. The Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is 10,924 meters (35,840 feet) below sea level. That is an astounding 6.8 miles under water. Amazingly the first, and only successful, manned trip to this depth occurred on January 23, 1960 by two hydronaunts aboard the The Bathyscaphe Trieste. It was a huge (51 t, 60′ long) sub which I believe was tethered. It took something like 5 hours to reach bottom and only stayed down for around 20 minutes – and this after part of it blew in from the tremendous pressures.

James is looking at a project that is obviously taking advantage of all of the developments in materials over the past 50 years and is targeting a completion of his undertaking in either late 2011 or early 2012. I have not done the math, yet I wondered what test facilities are available for such a project considering how unusual the environment this sub will need to be operating in. James said his entire pressure vessel fits inside the one place he knows about that has a 60″ in diameter by around 8′ deep testing cylinder. When asked about the ballasts and power, for not only a successful descent but also a safe return, he mention the fact that a lot of the foams and such that are specced to work at such depths turn out not to, and a lot of the work he is going through deals with solving these problems as well. The planned journey to the bottom is a short 70 minutes and given the positioning of the pilot, and the direct viewing ability, a lot of the observation will be accomplished via an HD camera. As if there would be someone else destined for the job, I did ask who the pilot would be and it will indeed be James himself.

Perhaps it is my mild claustrophobia but I simply cannot imagine going down to that depth completely alone. He will be untethered (as he mentioned that in itself is a major obstacle to be avoided given the tremendous length of cable needed complicated by shifting currents and so on) and there will be no communication with the surface. Unlike space the only way to keep a data stream in place that bridges that much salt water is through the use of a tether. I wish him the best of luck on the journey and truly wish I could be there to witness it if only waiting for what I am sure would seem like an eternity on the surface. Peter Diamandis joked about having an X PRIZE for such an achievement as the answer for James is the Foundation does not offer prizes for work that is going to be done anyway without them.

James’ love for exploration has always been present. When he started looking at the Titanic story there was an opportunity to spend ‘X’ millions of dollars on CG to do the present day scenes of exploring the depths of the wreck or spend the same ‘X’ millions of dollars and do it for real. Hence, the reason for making the movie in the first place – as an excuse to dive the wreck in person. Well, okay, perhaps not the total reason but certainly a wonderful side benefit that has turned into an ongoing passion.

When asked about Avatar he is evaluating the idea of two sequels to be filmed at the same time. On the current 3D craze he says you can tell how movies are using the technology when it comes to branding. He made ‘Avatar’ not ‘Avatar 3D’. For his film the technology was used to take you one step closer to experiencing a world that bridged the science fiction dreams of his youth combined with a sensitivity of the environment and the sustainability the of the future. I also asked about looking back at his previous films and if he had any thoughts about what is normally not possible in the film business (unless you count remakes) – the concept of a bug fix version. His basic answer is you cannot look back but with that said what could be done with the final sequence of the Abyss with the ship rising to the surface and with the monster in Alien would be simply amazing utilizing today’s technologies.

JR and Tim Ferriss

Though I ended up spending more time with James Cameron than I would have imagined I was actually more excited to be meeting Tim Ferriss in person. I felt like a dork getting my copy of the ‘4-Hour Work Week‘ signed and taking a photo with the life experimenter extraordinaire but when it came down to business it was fun to compare my Contour HD with his GoPro. Frak! Just when I thought I had the greatest compact sports focused camcorder I see something perhaps even more amazing – and waterproof? This might just turn into a must have! I cannot wait to see what the result of his shooting is to make a direct comparison under obviously similar circumstances.

4-Hour Work Week

Okay, and what circumstances brought us all together in support of the X PRIZE Foundation? Another chance to go Zero-G! Based on the tremendous experience I had the first time around with Buzz Aldrin this was something I just could not pass on doing again. The second time around I experimented a lot more: I spent most of the pulls sitting up as opposed to lying down (the suggested position). I did a number of spinning tumbles becoming quite disorientated at the end of them when ‘feet down’ was called. Though I did not brave it myself I did see Tim make an interesting attempt at wearing a water goggle. You see in zero-G if you squirt water into your eye socket it just stays there which I am sure is an interesting effect when trying to look at the world from the other side. For me, maybe that is something I will try on my next flight! The real difference on this flight was being able to observe more of my surroundings while still being able to participate. The unfortunate similarity with my first flight, however, is that it all still went by in the blink of an eye.

JR in Zero-G

So what about the lost wallet? Well, that was there for the journey too – as much as something that is truly lost could ever be that is. Upon landing at LAX and getting on the rental car shuttle I found myself reaching for something that was no longer there. My best guess is it worked itself free during my squirming to get comfortable on a late night flight and someone found it, cashed it, and dumped it. It is only a guess but it is the best one I have since a call to the airline turned up nothing and I cannot imagine that something more nefarious happened as due to the late hour there were not many people around anywhere close to me. I will save the longer story for a separate entry but the bottom line is somehow everything still came together for an unforgettable experience.

The below is just a very short video from the flight – check back later for hopefully a longer version!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related articles

• James Cameron Commissions Submarine To Visit Challenger Deep (news.slashdot.org)
• Filmmaker James Cameron Takes Zero Gravity Joy Ride (space.com)
• James Cameron Confirms Intention To Film Amazon Doc In 3D (Video) (ecorazzi.com)
• James Cameron: ‘This is such a critical time’ (mnn.com)
• From CEOs to Opera Singers – Welcome Tim Ferriss Readers (calnewport.com)

Growing up in the Tri-State Region area I certainly knew what a cheesesteak was. My mother was probably the first to serve me one and in my older years I made more than a few of my own with, dare I say, Steak-umms. The thoughts of those years make me cringe at present day as my diet has changed drastically. I believe I eat a lot better than I did in my earlier days and always strive for constant improvement in at least understanding how to treat my body better. For the most part my allergies (not including quinine) are gone and I rarely, if ever, get a cold anymore.

So, where does the great cheesesteak smackdown fit into all of this? Zig-zagging was brought to Tony’s life by Sage Robbins and as I went through my master cleanse a couple of months ago I enjoyed watching the Travel Channel making my own wish list of zigs. (or are they zags?) The first road trip was an adventure to where the cheesesteak began – Philadelphia. No, I am certainly not craving the taste from all of those years ago, but I am fascinated with what has become a piece of American history. The bottom line is if you are going to take in the early part of American history while you visit Philadelphia, do take the less than 1.5 mile detour away from the Liberty Bell to see where the cheesesteak phenomenon took root.

Liberty Bell

The story seems to be that Pat and Harry Olivieri invented the cheesesteak and sold it at their hotdog stand in the south Philadelphia Italian Market. Due to the success the of the public’s response Pat decided to open up a store called Pat’s King of Steaks dedicated to the sandwich in 1930 on the same site it is today at 1237 East Passyunk Avenue.

When you come to visit Pat’s you will probably see quite a crowd surrounding the place but do not let this deter your resolve to buy a cheesesteak from the source!

Pat's King of Steaks

The lines move very quickly as the 80 years of experience seem to have certainly paid off at least in the form of efficiency. When you are close to the ordering window you will have a set of instructions you can follow to help keep things moving fast.

How to Order a Steak

Of course just when you have finished all of your practicing, and have your money ready, you then get confused when you see the array of options to choose from. No worries, as the panic passes quickly – just let your hunger choose for you and sit back and enjoy the experience.

Pat's King of Steak Menu

In what seems to be an instant after you place your order and tender your money you will then have your little piece of American history in hand. If you so desire you can move onto to the next window to order something to drink or some fries to go ‘wit’ your steak. Otherwise, find a seat or eat it standing and be sure to take it all in while it is still warm.

A Cheesestake from Pat's King of Steaks

Okay, enough of the original! For this to be a smackdown there needs to be competition, and competition there is only a street crossing away. Looking from Pat’s front step you can see the following:

Geno's Steaks

Geno’s Steaks was founded a staggering 36 years after Pat’s in 1966. The output is generally the same with the following exceptions: Pat chops his steak before it is put on the bun whereas Gino’s are layered pieces of steak and in either case they are similar in thickness. Pat also seems to have a much larger menu of options for how you can build out your desire whereas Gino seems to stick to the core values of what makes a cheesestake a cheesestake.

Beyond the food at Geno’s there are some interesting other facts about the establishment. First, at least when we were there the police seemed to prefer eating there. Yes, it could be the fact that the founder, Joe Vento, is a supporter of the family of murdered police officer Daniel Faulkner, or it could be the food. I made no attempt at polling the officers there but one thing is for sure: Gino’s has a vocal opinion on America and is proud to display it boldly.

Proud to be an American

In fact they went as far as to post a sign near the ordering counter that reads, “This is America, when ordering ‘speak english’.” It seems it has sparked controversy as some people call it discrimination. I find this amazing for if I where in the Netherlands would it be discrimination if they asked me to speak Dutch when ordering? I do not think so. To me the sign does not mean you are not welcome. To me it means, for goodness sake, try to communicate in the language people are using behind the counter! No matter the course of your beliefs on the subjects it has all come together quite well to make Gino’s have quite a name for ‘steaking’ ground right across from Pat’s.

So, the battle took place. Going in, I knew one chopped its meat, the other one did not, and one of them was the originator of the meal. I did not know which was which up front, and we tried Gino’s first. It was strange to have the cheesesteak taste in my mouth after a pause of probably 25 years but I must say it was quite good indeed. Looking at the sandwich I saw that Gino’s was the one that did not chop its steak and moving onto Pat’s I thought it would be a slam dunk that they would be better.

To our surprise (that is the both of us that were in the smackdown together agreed without a doubt) we found Gino’s a much better experience overall. That is not only was the food better, but from ordering to the way the cheesesteaks were handed to us (wrapped as opposed to in the middle of an open paper) Gino’s wins hands down. No contest. Game over.

Later, when we did the research, I was also surprised to learn Pat’s was the original and came into being 36 years before Gino’s. The bottom line is if you are ever in the area my recommendation would be to try both. You need to try Pat’s simply because that is where the history started. From there try Gino’s to decide your personal favorite. Although the sign is on Pat’s building you certainly will not make a ‘misteak’ at either place.

Don't Eat a Misteak

This is something I have wanted to try for a very long time, and I am not sure where it even came into my knowledge base. I have some recollection of speaking to someone at Life Mastery in 2001 who was familiar not only with the indoor sky dive experiences but also understood how they evolved over time with the modern ones being safer due to solving the issues of losing up draft around perimeter found in the original concepts.

Fast forward to March 23, 2010 at Indoor Skydive in Roosendaal, The Netherlands and my chance to experience it finally came. I was with a business group and the first task was to go upstairs to get suited up for the flight. All loose articles out of pockets, etc, check. Flight suit, check. Helmet, check. Goggles – wait, what the heck are these things? Basically a piece of thin plastic that has some folds in it to bend into a semi-goggle shape with a small adjustable bungee cord attached. Okay, they fit on my head but aren’t these things going to be ripped off my face in the 170 mph wind? Obviously they have done this before so, “Have faith,” I tell myself.

All dressed up and ready to go we all entered the training room where the instructors gave us an overview of what to expect and what to do. The good news I found out somewhere between getting through the front door and arriving in the training room is discovering that this is going to be a one-on-one experience in the tunnel – yourself with an instructor. The bad news was being in the training room where the primary language was Dutch. Though some of us (like me) knew no Dutch, I would say most of the group did, so it was humorous to listen to what seemed to be like three minutes of the instructor speaking in Dutch. He would speak, make gestures, most of the room would laugh, etc. Then, he would pause at the end of the teaching segment and say, “Now for the English version. When I move my fingers like this (holding two fingers up and separating them) it means to move your legs out.” Ah, yeah, that was the entire English translation for that part and he quickly moved onto the next key point, again, in Dutch.

You see it is not rocket science by far and the problem is that in the tunnel (as in space) no one can hear you scream (or speak) so everything is done through sign language. It is not much to learn quantity wise but when your brain is on overload to begin with, and you only get a few precious understandable words for each movement, it is all a bit overwhelming.

So, again, obviously they have done this before so, “Have faith,” I tell myself.

With our training done we entered the airlock and headed into the tunnel area. There was a queue up on the monitor screens that showed who was up and each of us would get a one minute turn in the tunnel, three times total. Seeing the people go before me there was certainly nothing to panic about – the bottom line here is that no matter how crazy the concept of entering a 170 mph wind might seem no one was even close to getting bounced around in any violent or dangerous manner.

When my turn came I entered the doorway to the tunnel. The doorway itself is an odd experience as it is alway open and does not seem to have any type of discernible event horizon, yet there is not much wind coming out of it, and there is certainly a lot of wind inside of it! You fall forward… Did I say “fall”? I have no idea what the word for it is but somehow you lean into the tunnel and you are immediately lifted into a horizontal position quite effortlessly. That, however, was the easy part.

Once in the tunnel it was difficult to understand the feedback of moving your body parts around but the instructor did a great job of helping compensate for your idiocy. There were times when you found yourself headed straight for the wall – but at a speed where just putting out a hand was all that was needed to keep safe. There were times when you found yourself floating to the bottom of the floor – and you just did not understand why this was happening. Most precious, however, were the times when everything seemed to be going just right and you were able to take in the brief moment of total peace flying around in violent rush of air.

So, the big question for anyone who has not tried it would be of course what was it like. The crappy answer is the only way to find out is to experience it in person. Though it may seem like a cop out for the most part it is true for no matter how accurately I might describe my own experience I am sure your perspective will be completely different. For me there was absolutely no sense of falling. (Which is not surprising given that you are staying relatively in the same place in regard to the floor) There is certainly a lot going on around you as the 170 wind is something I do not believe you would experience anywhere else. (At terminal velocity it is humorous to see the contortions on people’s faces!) Maybe my SCUBA background and zero-G experience has given me at least some reference points to make it more comfortable but none the less I think I would do better taking everything in the next time around.

The minutes lasted for what seemed to be a long time but not long enough to really learn anything. Next time I hope for an experience where the newness has worn off at least a little bit and I could spend more time understanding how to fly. If I could find one of these places more locally I might just be in trouble getting other things done as I spend a lot of time there. To see the way the instructor could fly around when our fun was over is what dreams are made of…

…and no, the goggles did not get ripped off my face!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Maybe that part will make your blog

This is an update to the full entry below, for as of December 18 this matter seems to be finally solved. It was interesting that the day after I posted my frustration on the 14th I was contacted by [PersonB] who immediately posted a credit to my credit card and checked in on a daily basis until the credit finally hit my account online. (And thus I called the credit card company to stop their own investigation) I was wondering if this was some kind of coincidence but the final message I received showed it was not:

Charity went out of business and is now under the investigation of attorney general.  We treasure our bidders and we really paid everyone who supported that charity funds back from our  own pocket , after we forwarded thousands of dollars to the charity itself,

My CEO has the biggest charitable heart in the world and would not want to hurt any bidder financially

Maybe that part will make your blog

thank you and Happy Holidays

[PersonB]
Operations Manager

Needless to say I am happy the matter is finally closed out, I am sorry to hear they got burned by a charitable organization, and I am also disappointed by the amount of effort needed to resolve this.

So, for any readers that took the time to read this entire history the question is, if you were me, would you use their service again?

Anytime I have a chance to meet someone doing something interesting I take it. I do this especially if the ‘something’ is way outside of the world I normally work in. Opportunities come from all sources, and in today’s world where one manages to find out the oddest of things from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc, you truly never know where you are going to find them. Over the past five or so years I have also taken advantage of special experiences offered via charitable donations for various outstanding causes.

A lot of the time these charity donated experiences come through an auction process that is not directly run by the charity itself. Cmarket.com seems to be one of the most basic places where this can happen. To me their service is really just a type of eBay where you do not have much contact with cMarket itself. You see something you like and if you win it you find yourself almost immediately in direct contact with the organization that offered the item for bid. I have not used it that much but the times I have everything went as smoothly as I would expect and I was never disappointed.

Charity Folks is a real a class act. For some reason I associate this business with Chevy Chase (of whom I am not a big fan) and after some research online (meaning five minutes of poking around) I could find nothing to confirm or deny this connection. In addition to the items up for offer on their web site they also have a wish section where if you have a specific desire they would do their best to connect your offer to the people in their network that just might be able to make it happen.

So let us move on to the real subject of this blog entry. I have used Charitybuzz a couple of times and, though I still would not rate them as high on service as Charity Folks, they seemed to be a reliable organization that brings a winning bid through to a coordinated connection to the donor and ultimately the experience. That is they seemed to be a reliable organization until now. What follows is the factual detail of a recent encounter I had with them and it all started with a winning bid on January 7th, 2009.

Lot #: 85408

Lot Title: Spend a Day on the Set of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Starring Nicholas Cage

Charity Name: The Breast Cancer Research Foundation

Description: Includes: a full day visit to the set of The Sorserer’s Apprentice in NYC for 4 people in Spring 2009. Also includes a meet and greet with director, Jon Turtlebaub and other cast members.

Spend an exciting and full day on the set of Jon Turteltaub’s new movie, The Sorserer’s Apprentice starring Nicholas Cage in New York during the Spring of 2009. Jon Tureltaub directed Cool Runnings, National Treasure, Phenomenan and more. We know this will be an exciting day of filming plus you will meet selected cast members!

An Academy Award-winning American actor, Cage has also worked as a director and producer, through his production company Saturn Films. He has been nominated twice for an Academy Award as Best Actor in a Leading Role, winning the award for his performance in Leaving Las Vegas.

Hammer Price: X.XX

Shipping & Handling: 9.95

With my older son being interested in the industry I thought this could really be an amazing day to see a real set in action and meet some people he would have seen in other roles he was already familiar with.

The next day I was contacted by Charitybuzz with the following email. I guess all I need to do now is sit back and wait!

Congratulations on winning the day on the set of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice from the recent Breast Cancer Research Foundation auction! We are waiting to hear back from the Director with a tentative production schedule and will be in touch shortly with an update. Please let me know if I can help with anything in the meantime as I am happy to do so.

Thanks so much for your support!

Best Regards,

[PersonA]
Auction Specialist

…and wait. When it got to be April 16th, 2009 I was wondering where an update was as the ‘Spring’ time frame was certainly upon us so I reached out and got the following reply:

I am looking into this again for you…stay tuned!

[PersonA]
Auction Specialist

Never heard anything back beyond that and on the 5th of May I read about an injury on the set (so obviously there was a set in current production) and not hearing anything immediately back from Charitybuzz I re-emailed them a couple of days later and managed to get the following reply:

We are working with the director to find a series of dates that will work. I apologize for the delay but we will take care of this for you. Often times it takes a bit to nail down a date but we will work it out.

Thank you so much for your patience.

All the Best,

[PersonA]
Auction Specialist

I replied I was worried that with summer fast approaching and committed vacations schedules it might become very difficult to schedule a mutually acceptable time to visit the set. Waiting to hear anything back I got wrapped up in the summer schedule and in August I checked the IMDB just out of curiosity and to my surprise the movie was noted as being in post production! What?! Thus I reached out to Charitybuzz again asked for a refund on August 5th and this was the reply I received:

I am so sorry for the delay in all of this. I will discuss with Alex how we can handle this. Of course, if we can’t get you on set, you would be entitled to a refund. Alex is out ill this week but I assure you that this will not be forgotten. You have been very kind and patient and we will make this situation right for you,

Thank you so much,

[PersonA]
Auction Specialist

The next day the real news came in the following email:

I apologize for delay in this case. The Donor of the experience as well as the head of the charity has been out of touch with us. I know his charity was going through financial problems and we are looking into this case for you. Just as Erin said we stand for absolutely everything we sell on line so If I can get that resolved within next few days we will issue you a full refund for the purchase. I apologize for the inconvenience – it is not a custom for our company not to be able to find a resolution for so long however we are strongly limited to what is being donated.

I will keep you posted on detail shortly , please feel free to ask any questions you might have.

[PersonB]
Operations Manager

Okay, now wait a minute. If they were indeed working with the Director to find a series of dates what would it matter if either the donor or the charity was ‘out of touch?’ Well, in any case, as much as I was looking forward to the set visit I was glad to hear I would be getting a full refund. I would have taken full responsibility if my schedule did not coordinate with the production schedule. I would have understood, if for some reason, the movie was cancelled, but it was not. What did happen was that I reached out numerous times to get information and not once did Charitybuzz contact me with an update unless I asked for one.

The ‘next few days’ turned into October 27th and after more emails and attempted calls to a full voice mail box I received the following short email from [PersonB]:

Hi John we will. Process your refund on Friday. Thank you

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Great! I thought it was finally a closed conversation until I had to ask on November 11th how the refund was processed as I have yet to see anything. Once again, not getting a reply from [PersonB] I reached out to[PersonA] by phone and was told, after she spoke with [PersonB], that the check was now going to go into the mail. My reply was that this was the exact same thing I was told on October 27th so I had my doubts but will wait and see what happens. A follow up came just after the holiday on December 1st:

Your check went out Wednesday before thanksgiving for the full amount. Erin requested it a while ago and we were unable to send you a refund through charity as they went out of business therefore we issued you one directly from our pocket

Please excuse our delay and confirm when check is received.

With Warmest wishes and apologies for all inconvenience!

[PersonB]
Operations Manager

And, unfortunately and quiet expectedly, I sent out the following email a couple of weeks later:

It is now the 8th of December and I have yet to see anything come in the mail. I need a check by overnight courier by the end of this week or will need to take other action as emails and phone calls are obviously not working.

The amazing thing is I never heard anything past that last email which is now going on a week ago. I sent it to [PersonB] and copied it in on [PersonA] and [PersonC]. (I have no idea who [PersonC] is but they were copied in on some emails from [PersonB] so I wanted to be complete) In the completely off chance situation they were having trouble getting a hold of me I also added my full contact information to the email to be sure they had alternate method of contact. Yes, I have obviously edited out the actual names of the people in the emails as I really have no way to determine if it was their issue or something deeper in the organization that was wrong.

The reply? Well, as already noted – nothing, absolutely nothing! I have escalated the matter to my credit card company and hopefully will get resolution that way or I will be on the road to different routes. Should Charitybuzz refund something when the people they pay supposedly go out of business? I have no idea, but what any company should do, as does any individual with integrity, is to do what they say they are going to do. It seems pretty clear to me that at least in this case it simply has not happened.

I have no idea who The Breast Cancer Research Foundation is and whether or not they had, or are having, financial or other difficulties. I am also sure that most, if not all, of other the charities Charitybuzz works with are very reputable institutions that efficiently deliver funds to outstanding causes. As I said previously, I have used them in the past a couple times and when I did I was very satisfied. In fact without an exception, be it a Charitybuzz auction or from some or the other organization, I have always had my expectations exceeded when going on an adventure. Yes, always, and without an exception. When unique experiences meet charitable causes the result works, and works extremely well. It some cases the people I have met have become long term friends and in some cases even business partners.

When it comes to Charitybuzz, however, I do not see how I would be able to use their services again without a major shakeup in their operations. Maybe I am the only one who has suffered a problem but given the above I feel I have been lied to at least twice. What the true story is, giving yet another benefit of doubt, I do not know and Charitybuzz is certainly not talking.

So, if you are surfing the web doing a little background search before you bid and are looking for someone with a complaint, problem, issue, or challenge with charitybuzz.com then I offer you this one data point to add to your knowledge base.

In summary, and for little lesson in Latin, Caveat Emptor – Let the buyer beware.

I never tried skiing or snowboarding and when asked why I think the simple answer is neither my family or peer group growing up brought me into any situation where I had the opportunity. Living in New Jersey I certainly enjoyed the winter time as a child (who did not look forward to a snow day?) and sledding and tobogganing where wonderfully fun activities in the country area we lived in.

As I got older snowboarding was always intriguing to me. (There was even a friend, Joseph Maffei, who worked for me for a short period of time who I remember being an ESPN class boarder) Skiing, on the other hand, was something I always looked at as a disaster waiting to happen. I have two legs attached to one body and the idea of them going in independent directions on long sticks attached to my feet was never a comforting thought. The closest I have ever come to being on a snowboard is the time spent on skateboards as a child – in days long before the crazy ramps, quarter pipes, and such of today came to be. I have had surf lessons and do not see much of a connection to snowboarding as attempting to stand on water is a far different challenge than having shoes bolted to a board.

So, for whatever the history, I never tried until just the other day in the Netherlands. Yes, the Netherlands the place where if there was a contest for the flattest country on the planet they would certainly either win or be in the top ten. Adding that to the fact they rarely get snow, made for an odd place to finally try something I thought about for nearly 20 years. Then again, with my first sushi experience happening in Amsterdam, and years later discovering I was allergic to quinine via Bitter Lemon from a bar in Breda, I guess there is some odd continuance of unusual firsts for me when around the Dutch.

So, where does one go snow boarding in the Netherlands? At the Skidôme of course! I was told that it is built on top of a land fill (garbage dump) to achieve the incline and from there they brought the setting indoors for a year round activity zone in big freezer with real manmade snow. Being there I was not sure what to expect, or if I would even try anything, but when two others in our group said they had never done it before, and they were going for a snowboarding lesson, the choice was easy. Count me in!

Our instructor was fabulous and spoke English extremely well as he is used to having English speaking students. The other two people attempting the sport were native Dutch but between being fluent in English, switching between languages, and getting visual demonstrations, everyone was well connected to the learning experience. One of the things I liked about the sport immediately was the fact that your feet are indeed locked on the board. As our instructor put it, “Even when they find you dead under the snow you will still be on your board.” For me this means there is not mechanical point of designed failure (or better said – disengagement) for safety that could in itself fail. The safety is inherent in the way you are attached to the board alone. (Perhaps my theory and fear of two legs going in directions has been validated?)

We started with simply getting used to having one foot attached and moving around which was not bad at all. Just placing the second foot on the board got us started moving and with two feet locked into place the fun began. I was surprised as to how hard it was to move around when not going forward! Seeing the people who can hop around in nearly any direction, with no help of going down an incline, was leap of skill I certainly was not going to touch on this first time out!

How to stand, placement of arms, the importance of having your weight on your forward leg, were all basics that we needed to concentrate on to help us make progress. Going straight, and even navigating, came pretty easy to me but when it came to braking that was another story. Braking while looking down slope (with my heels) was close to impossible while looking uphill (and using my toes) was probably best described as within a very distant reach. Yet, as difficult both methods where I could still fathom the possibility and thus was excited with the potential.

With the lesson over I though about something I never did before — asking our Member Services Manager at Exclusive Resorts which mountain destination would be the best to learn snow boarding with the kids. Yes, snowboarding is da’ bomb and I am looking forward to trying it again and this time in the open air for a lot longer!