Going to Vegas the next two weekends in a row!  Woo hoo!  Taking the 182 both times, staying at Mandalay Bay both times – but the similarity ends there.

Week one is with the boys.  Eric, James, Rob and myself heading there just for guy type fun.  You know:  quiet dinners, some light discussion, and bed at 10pm.  (Pam may be reading this.)  OK – MAYBE we’ll get some cocktails and gamble.  MAYBE.  Massages for everyone.

Week two is Amy’s birthday.  Big party at the hotel.  Lots of drinking, debauchery.  (Pam is going to that one.)  Golf with Dan Saturday morning.  Painful early.  But it’s golf. 

 Should be great fun.  Anyone wanna come?

It seems to continue – the says of the web 1.0 boom where people expected to be able to make boatloads of money for doing almost nothing on the web.  While YouTube wasn’t a “nothing” site, the idea that you could build a place for folks to upload videos, and then make 1.56 BILLION dollars less than 2 years later just makes people believe it even more.  So let’s review:

1.  Those deals are few and far between.  Being “The Next Google” just doesn’t happen that often.

2.  There really is no such thing as a free lunch.  The idea that you’ll put something up and people will just flock to it is very similar to playing the lottery every week as your “retirement plan”.

3.  Get to work.  You need to think, and plan, and work, and re-think, and re-plan, and work more if you want to get ahead.  You need a product that people really value if you want to build something great.

4.  Treat people well.  Not just with money – but with respect.  The no-account nimrod I worked for a while back taught me that as clearly as it could have been taught.  It will pay dividends so far into the future, you won’t even believe it.  Plus it’s a better way to live you life.

5.  Have fun.  Because – well – just because.

Yes – it is true that I am a geek on many levels.  Computer geek first and foremost – but aviation geek is very high on the list.  So when an aviation expo comes to Palm Springs – time to fly there and check it out.

This was actually the first real expo of any size I have visited.  I’ve always wanted to go to Oshkosh, but since I’m a member of AOPA anyway, I figured I’d head over there.  So I loaded up the 182, and with a Los Angeles CFI in the right seat and buddy Sam (from the flying club) in the back – we headed out.

Getting in there was interesting – but we got very lucky.  For you pilots out there – the arrival procedure was to fly over KBNG, then over the 10 freeway until reaching the 62, then direct to CONES intersection – and contacting PSP Approach 10 miles west of CONES.  There were SO many planes there, t5hat getting a word in on the frequency was IMPOSSIBLE – even when we were almost over CONES.  But we lucked out – the controller just got fed up with people calling, and said “OK – everyone stop.  I’ll call YOU.  Aircraft at 4700 feet over CONES – what is your callsign?”  It was me!  I told him, and he vectored us to the airport immediately.

The show was cool – saw a LOT of interesting planes (jets and piston), products (avionics, pilot supplies, and other goodies) and people (like my buddy Elliott Sanders, and Patty Wagstaff).  So we split right after that.  Beat the traffic out, got lunch at Typhoon at SMO, and got home by 4pm.

Pretty geeky.  I know.  Too bad.  I dig it.

The child just keeps getting CUTER.  This time she was Lucy for Halloween.  Went to Universal Studios with her Aunt Diane Vincent (world famous Lucy impersonator) and had pictures taken by park goers and everything.  Then out for trick or treating, where I repeatedly heard “Honey – you HAVE to come see this Lucy!”  Yes – she is spectacular. 

Pictures are here.