"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
-Theodore Roosevelt
July 21, 2008 Holy crap, Batman. Simply put, The Dark Knight was one of the most phenomenal movies, if not the most phenomenal movie, I have ever seen. If you haven’t see it yet, STOP reading this entry, get off your butt, and go enjoy this masterpiece.
I don’t think I’m ready to talk about the movie yet - I need to watch it again to fully digest everything. I’ll post another TDK entry later. =)
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July 21, 2008 
We’re getting close to the end of cherry season. I never considered myself a fan of cherries (but yet, I don’t mind it) until a chef at Central Market introduced me to rainier cherries.
I bought a pound on Saturday afternoon and less than 8 hours later, it was all gone. If you ever see it at the market, try it out!! =)
Posted in Food 1 Comment »
July 8, 2008 This is pretty interesting set of ideas from Boone Pickens, THE MAN in the oil industry.
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June 23, 2008 
More pictures can be found at http://flickr.com/photos/ptam/sets/72157605720642938/. Please contact me if you’d like a copy of the full resolution pictures.
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June 17, 2008 
I’m looking to start a new food blog with an emphasis on recipe sharing (specifically recipes that you are trying out and then how it turned out). This idea/concept is still pretty raw in my head at the moment. But if you are (or someone you know might be) interested in the possibility of collaborating in this project with me, please contact me. Right now, I’m just looking for a few people to bounce ideas off of. I won’t bite, I promise… well maybe if you’re wrapped in bacon… =P
Posted in Food, Personal 1 Comment »
June 15, 2008 If this is Saturday Tiger, I don’t want to know what Sunday Tiger looks like…
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June 12, 2008 I used to love watching NBA basketball. While I must admit that basketball has not been the same after a few heartbreaks from my beloved Mavs, I came to a shocking realization today - I actually enjoy watching basketball in the late 90s (when the Mavs sucked) than in the last few years. While I have previously voiced my opinion on this controversy, I think this situation has come to a breaking point now. Credible or not, Tim Donaghy’s claims has received enough attention from the media to, in my opinion, seriously damage the league’s image. If Mr. Donaghy’s claims are absolutely baseless, as David Stern and Bob Delaney (whom I regard as one of the better refs in the league) asserts, then there shouldn’t have been any media coverage of this story. But after game 2 of this years finals, that was the perfect storm for this story to come out. And if the league wants to put away the slightest doubt in this PR nightmare, I have a solution.
Like Phil Jackson, I think it starts with an independent body that will be responsible for the refs. This body will have the authority to assign, review and, if necessary, discipline, the refs based on its own NBA-independent policies. This body would not have to provide complete transparency (in order to protect the refs), but enough transparency to give the PR image of integrity as opposed to complete blindness right now. A few PR events that shows how refs get ready for the game in the film room, how they review their performance, a few workshops, etc., etc. I don’t think that’s anything outrageous or impossible, just give the fans a few glimpse of how things work.
We’ll see what David Stern and Stu Jackson tries to do to put out this fire. Based on their decision history, they will probably just let this thing blow over and keep this cloud in the back of fan’s mind.
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June 10, 2008 
I’m sure you know that it’s out there. I just watched the WWDC keynote address from yesterday. Let me get this out in the open first - Instinctively, I want the iPhone 3G. There was little doubt in me whether or not Apple was going to deliver a great successor to the iPhone, but I am actually quite intrigued at some of their business decisions they’ve made with iPhone 3G and how it’ll affect the consumers as well as their partners.
On the consumer end, I think Apple has moved their marketing pitch from a genius innovation to a product package that provides simple, easy to use solutions to everyday users that are (most importantly) iPhone exclusive. I’m not a programmer and I’m not sure what programming an app for a BlackBerry or a Palm looks like, but I’m willing to bet that it’s not as easy to build and debug as it would be on the iPhone with the iPhone SDK. And while they’re keeping things easy and clean for the developers, they’re getting them to build iPhone exclusive apps. After seeing the eBay app yesterday, I don’t really want to know what browsing eBay would be like on my BlackBerry. Speaking of iPhone 3G envy, MobileMe (”Exchange for the rest of us”) is absolutely brilliant. Even though my Blackberry syncs with my MacBook Pro with no problem, I can only imagine how nice it would be to have all the updates pushed to all my devices (not to mention the awesome web interface). Simply put, the iPhone 3G will offer a vast array of iPhone exclusive products/services that will make it pretty much impossible for other smartphone makers to compete with Apple’s unique position both in the PC market and the smartphone market.
On the business end is when things start getting real interesting. With the iPhone 3G, AT&T (T) and Apple (AAPL) has reached a new agreement and under the terms T will see “that higher subsidization will negatively impact earnings in 2008 and 2009.” (T) “lowered their 2008 and 2009 EPS ests by $0.11 each due to a higher assumed subsidy loss, though the co. should benefit longer term from the greater associated data rev and device differentiation.” For the year 2008, they have estimated that their subside loss would be around $1bln. While under their new agreement, they have also did away with the revenue sharing model that was used with the original iPhone where Apple shared a portion of the wireless revenue. But even with this model, the company sees that the EBITDA for wireless service margins at 39-40% from 44+% realized in 2007 and prior guidance of 43-45% for 2008. Even with the rumored $10 increase in the price of the monthly data plan, I wonder if this is a price a little bit on the hefty side for T to pay. Also notable under this arrangement, in order to control the “unlocking” of the iPhone 3G, activation will not be at the convenience of your own computer anymore. Synchronoss Technologies (SNCR) confirmed that it won’t participate in on-site, retail store activations associated with the 3G iPhone (SNCR was down 17% in trading today). The good news is that the iPhone 3G launch day happens to be free slurpie day (7/11), so get a slurpie and have fun in line. =)
In the end, I think Apple’s business position will make itself look great while making some of it’s partners (read T) look like an ass. I’m really interested to see what position T takes with the Apple loyalists that own the original iPhone and still have a year left on their contract. Let’s see what happens as July 11th rolls near.
And in case you’re wondering you won’t see me with an iPhone anytime soon. I have no intention of paying the early termination fee on my current contract I signed when I got my BlackBerry. I hope that this pricing will put pressure on RIMM to make the Bold cheaper though. =)
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