Bad Weather => Good Experience

Kudos to Delta and Orbitz Q today. As bad weather hit the mid-west and east, my first flight delayed and my second canceled I got automated calls to my mobile informing me of the changes and which flight they moved me to.

Being the customer service cynic, I tried to talk to a human operator before I knew who was ringing me on the incoming calls. Clearing security and english-as-a-second-language hurdles proved to take way too long. Waiting for me on my voice mail was a message telling me exactly what was happening.

Sure makes the extra 6 hours of down time a bit more tolerable.
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Kitchen Floor: getting to the wood.

This is how it looks after the 8 layers of history and before the heat gun enabled removal of the last tar-gunk layer.
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Stefan Sagmeister shares happy design | Video on TED.com

facebook Chuck Palmer 10:04am Jan 13th Stefan Sagmeister shares happy design Video on TED.com Happieness is आउट there --just have to look for it. Worth the watch. http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=1163711841&k=45EZ63QZQ6WM5CCDPA5XVU

89 Years of Kitchen Floor

There it is: almost a century of flooring.
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Been to Burning Man? Dig this (Sprint ads notwithstanding)

Light graffiti, also known as light painting is a photographic technique in which exposures are made usually at night or in a darkened room by moving a hand-held light source or by moving the camera.

read more | digg story

The First Wii: Obama brings video games to the White House

When Barack Obama takes office on January 20th, he'll not only be the most powerful man in the world, but also the most powerful gamer.God love 'em. They're just like us. Can you imagine the Chennys gathered around playing MarioKart?

read more | digg story

New Nintendo Shop at the Times Square Toys R Us

Nintendo has opened a shop at the Times Square Toys R Us. I was fortunate to work with Nintendo, Toys R Us and the design and build team at FITCH.

It is a thousand prime square feet in the best retail location in the world: Times Square. It has a dedicated window on the Broadway side and is directly opposite the entrance, second only to the three-story Ferris wheel.

The shop features the Wii and DS platforms and the fun of playing together. There is plenty of room to try the games and there is an interactive portrait wall highlighting Nintendo's characters, history and plenty of Miis.

The design is decidedly different from anything else in the store or what Nintendo has done in their other dedicated spaces. The designers gave it a home-y feel, a comfortable place turned up a couple of notches where kids can show Mom, Dad and Grandparents the fun of gaming. Sort of what Mario's den would look like. Visitors are greeted with an 8-station DS bar loaded with plenty of the latest titles. At the center of the shop is the portrait wall with digital screens scrolling images of games, characters and Miis.
The big fun is in the Wii Theater that boasts two 9-screen 10-foot high play areas where guests can play together and watch from all over the store.

Kudos to all who worked on it: Heather, Melissa, Laura, Tom, Amy, Jennifer, Dave D, Bri, Killian Great job all! It looks great. I'll buy you a cold one, next time we're together. You deserve it.

We'd all love to see more pictures, so when you are there next, check it out, submit pix and let us know what you think. Here's a link to the official news release http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/IgohHKLbtt8Ztwr7aIYwvZF0NKadK5MI and here's a link to Wired's coverage http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/12/times-square-to.html?cid=144588006#comment-144588006.

Old School Store

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Recently driving through Dayton and saw this store. It's classic. I assume Price is a family name, but I couldn't resist. Didn't have time to go in but you know what it looks like and probably has a distinctive smell. Maybe next time.