pow-dah & the zon

This last weekend I took a last minute trip up to Whistler with some friends (care of Kutta's organizing) during the Telus Ski & Snowboard Festival. Despite this season being the worst in, like, 20 years, the snow this weekend was absolutely amazing. We rode up Saturday morning and found fields of deep deep soft fluffy powder everywhere. Oh man--it was amazing. What a great way to end this season (as opposed to my last trip to Baker, which resulted in wet, soggy, blahness).

Otherwise, I'm keeping busy during my last working week at Amazon. Yep--you heard it. I gave notice last week, after working there nearly six years. I have some unused vacation that I'm taking (and hence, my official last day isn't until May); however, this is my last real working week. After looking around a bit and talking to some folks, I decided to jump over to the east side and join the Microsofties as a Program Manager in the Windows Mobile division. I'm super excited as I'll be working on applications for the PocketPC, PocketPCPhone and Smartphone. I have to admit that I've only been using the Palm OS (i.e. with my Samsung i500 phone) all these years---moreso due to familiarity rather than pickiness. I personally find the smartphone industry to be one with a lot of potential and I'm psyched to be working in this technology.

Amazon's treated me well overall. I've certainly had my ups and downs but the opportunities I've been given have been a blessing. I've had a lot of wonderful experiences and met a number of amazing individuals.

I'm planning on relaxing during this time off and do something with the vacation that I otherwise would have used later this year. So far, a trip to visit the parents in Vegas and a Mexico vacation with Sri are in the works.

"convergence capital usa"

I woke up this morning to a NPR piece on Lawrence, Kansas of all places! Yay. Unfortunately, I didn't really wake up until the piece was almost over. It was apparently about Lawrence being the Convergence Capital and being the model for how news media may operate in the future. Interesting.

northwest tongue

Interesting. Just found this Seattle Lexicon. I love that under "Things & Zings", they have "Amazonian Lingo".

what the hell?

This is just horrible: Wisconsin is debating whether or not to legalize cat hunting.
"Residents in 72 counties were asked whether free-roaming cats -- including any domestic cat that isn't under the owner's direct control or any cat without a collar -- should be listed as an unprotected species. If listed as so, the cats could be hunted."

sin city

I watched Sin City over the weekend at the Cinerama. End thoughts: loved it. It was electrifying, incredibly artistic and disturbingly violent. All the scenes were filmed in black & white with splashes of color...which aided in my ability to swallow the over-the-top death scenes. Every character was brilliant: Elijah Wood totally creeps the hell out of me now and Mickey Rourke had a great comeback. I'm still bothered seeing Gilmore Girl dressed in S&M. Visually, the movie was breathtaking (in a good and bad way). Go out and see it: judge it yourself. This is a movie unlike others. I heard that Director Rodriguez kept the budget low at $40 million, impressive considering opening weekend pulled in $28 million. Nice.

Interesting Google Satellite Maps

Check this out

google satellite maps

The new google maps satellite feature is very cool. I was able to check out what my parent's new neighborhood looks like in Vegas. Here's the Space Needle. Here's a funny one out in IL--some creative dude with a plow. Here's Smith College. Not all maps look great---like my hometown.