I'll be participating in the Furry Scurry in a couple weeks, a two-mile walk/run to benefit the Denver Dumb Friends League, a local animal shelter. 100% of the money from pledges goes to taking care of more than 25,000 animals over the course of a year. Donations are not tax deductible, but if you donate I'll buy you a beer the next time I see you.
You can go to http://ddfl.convio.net/goto/corey to donate and see my progress or register for the Furry Scurry if you'd like to participate.
The money you donate will hopefully lead to spoiled beasts like these:
On my way to the Las Vegas airport I asked my cab driver if he'd been busy today and it turned out to be an open invitation for him to vent. Apparently he'd had a poor day and it lead to him showing me his last two paychecks and talking about how cabbies earn their living.
Cabs in Vegas use meters with a fixed rate of $3.30 for the first 1/11th of a mile, $0.30 fees for each additional 1/11th of a mile, and $28.00 per hour for time spent waiting. A driver earns about 28% of his meter, so if you take a $100 cab ride his share is $28. On that $28 the government assumes about a 23% gratuity, or $6.44, and he'll pay taxes on $34.44. It seems like the problem arises with shorter trips. For instance the 1.5 mile trip from the Luxor to the MGM Grand is about $5.10 and most people give him $6.00, about an 18% tip. His withholding will be based on assumed earnings of $6.27 though.
Subject aside he was a very friendly and personable guy. The average cabbie in Las Vegas makes around $30k/year, or $600/week before taxes.
The moral is to tip at least 20% and remember that a few bucks makes a big difference.
I'm in Las Vegas this week attending NAB for the first and it's definitely interesting. First of all it's huge - more than 111,000 people filling 3.2 million square feet. And it's packed with some of the newest (and most expensive) professional video and audio equipment. There's a big push for HD Radio (the HD doesn't stand for high definition), the ubiquitous gigantic flat-screen televisions, and a big push for tapeless cameras. A few other things I've noticed:
What's Hot at NAB
- Windows Mobile - Why, I have no idea.
- Tim Robbins - I missed his speech and I'm really bummed.
"First, erase all diversity," he said. "You only need two opinions. Second, stay focused on sex scandals. We don't want any kind of reporting outside the soundbite. I don't know about you, but show me a drunk starlet getting out of a car with no panties on, and I think the world is a better place. Third, more distraction. The economy sucks? Chaos in Iraq? It is a moral responsibility to distract."
- BlackBerry 8700s - These seem ancient to me, but I guess I'm living in a bubble.
- Hipsters - You've got to be ultra cool to produce content.
- ESL
- Big ass laptops - Because nothing is more pleasant than lugging around a 9 pound Alienware 'notebook' all day.
What's Not
- iPhones - Almost no one has one, not even the hipsters.
- Schwag - Maybe I'm not visiting the right booths, but for the most part the freebies are limited to candy and the occasional pen. It seems like it's all about the afterparties.
- Free internet - There are only a few places with wifi, and for a convention with more than 100,000 people, about a dozen places to sit at each.
- Mac Laptops - Nearly every booth has at least one Mac or Cinema Display, but I haven't seen a single Macbook, MBP or Macbook Air.
Since I had plenty of time (>1 hour) before my flight to Vegas this afternoon I decided to try out my new CLEAR card. There were probably 30 people in the normal security line, no one in the premier lane and two people in the CLEAR lane.
Here's how it went down:
- Wait while the CLEAR attendant deals with an angry customer in front of me who has a broken card.
Time: 3 minutes
- Listen while the angry customer curses and whines about how she should have used her Northwest Platinum status. She loudly says "Northwest Platinum" 11 times during her rant in case anyone within 20 feet has any doubt that she's a really obnoxious bitch.
Time: 2 minutes
- Present my ID, boarding pass and CLEAR card to the attendant, who looks at them and hands them back to me, and then tells me how she just watched 21 and it was great, and hey, am I going to gamble?
Time: 2 minutes
- Insert my CLEAR pass into one of only two kiosks, scan my fingerprint.
Time: 30 seconds
- The attendant asks for my boarding pass and ID back and hands them to a screener. The screener asks me if I'm going to Vegas to gamble.
Time: 45 seconds
- The second CLEAR attendant (leaving only one attendant for two kiosks) walks me to a table to load my carry-on items into a bin. She picks them up and walks me over to the security lines.
Time: 1 minute
- We both stand there awkwardly while she looks for someone who looks like they've had a lifetime of abuse and torment.
Time: 2 minutes
- She steps in front of a doleful looking fellow and informs him that a Registered Traveler will be stepping in front of him.
Time: 30 seconds
- I apologize to him, explain how this was just an experiment. We talk about CLEAR, it comes up I'm flying to Vegas, the passenger behind him asks me if I'm going to gamble.
Time: 1 minute
- At this point it's the normal wait where I go through the metal detector and wait for my bags. Another TSA attendant starts talking to me, asks me where I'm flying to, asks if I've seen the movie 21 and suggests I gamble like the math geniuses and then give him a couple thousand dollars.
Total time: About 12 minutes, 45 seconds. Questioned three times about gambling, twice about seeing 21.
Verdict
Total waste as long as I have status. Typically it's less than 10 minutes from the moment I enter the airport until I arrive at my gate. And while the CLEAR attendant who chatted me up was friendly, I really didn't want to talk. While I'm traveling and between destinations I don't want pleasantries, I want pure cold efficiency. In other words, I'm happy to talk while I wait, but I don't want to wait while I talk.
Two kiosks is also not enough, nor is two attendants. Also if you're going to have a dedicated line it should include a dedicated metal detector so I don't have to apologize for cutting in front of someone - Steve was also uncomfortable with this as I suspect most everyone would be (except the charming lady with Northwest Platinum status).
And the next person to ask me if I'm going to Vegas to gamble is going to get kicked in the knee.
