Panic - Diplomacy - Exhilarating New Years Eve in NYC

It started with a wash of panic. All that I planned! Ruined!

...then I took a breath...and thought, "Lets see where this takes us"...maybe this could even be an Opportunity Curve

...then I was nice to a stranger

...and opened myself up to what could be...

...and ended up guiding our family through one of the best evenings of our lives...

...and NONE of it would have happened without first getting an email with bad news.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I opened the email from United. It listed our flights to Aruba: Minneapolis to Chicago to Aruba. My eyes narrowed. The email said the plane from Chicago to Aruba, painstakingly scheduled to perfection to arrive just when I wanted, was canceled, and we were rerouted from MSP to Denver, to Atlanta, to Aruba...arriving a whole day late.

Luckily it was months until the trip, and I knew enough about well-meaning, but inferior computer algorithms that with the limited data it had, was just trying to reroute us the best it could. I settled my panic, and called a human at United to work through a solution that worked for all parties. I even offered to travel a day early so we could arrive to Aruba on time. It would cost me money in hotel, but my top priority was to get to Aruba for the full week of fun.

The lady at United received my diplomatic offer well, and even accepted my request to travel the night before on an EARLIER flight...just in case of bad weather we would have a whole additional flight to get to our connection location.

We were all set.

Fast forward to 3 days before our trip...

...it finally sunk in that since our overnight was in Newark, we could, possibly, visit Manhattan on New Years Eve. The family was curious, but naturally concerned with the world saying that NYC is not for the feint of heart on new years eve. (and was it even safe?)

BUT, since one of my only declared missions for our family is to offer experiences they wouldn't normally get, I decided to lead the family through a whirlwind tour of The City.

We landed at 6, arrived at hotel by 7, and from 8pm to 12:30am, we...

Took a cab from the hotel to Newark Penn Station...and bought MTA passes to World Trade Center (actually, we were planning Times Square station, but on the way, my youngest seemed sad that he wouldn't see the Statue of Liberty...and so adjusted our destination on the fly...

My ladies in front of Lady Liberty

The family in front of same...with cool clouds all lit up

We saw ground zero memorial, the Freedom tower, and the financial district (along with the NY Film Academy).

Somber...even on New Years Eve. My son the MP sure seemed deep in thought, "This is where it all started for me"

Freedom tower...and a family that seems always up for adventure

Freedom tower selfie!

We then hopped the subway up to Central Park, walked to a friendly McDonalds, and then to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree all lit up. My wife has wanted to see this for years!

...but...they had already turned it off. Sad faces all around.

Others from Europe were sure disappointed...so we all sad-faced.

 Ah well...we still had an awesome time walking. Next we saw the Apple Store on 5th ave, and walked Central Park (just down the south-east stairs, through the park, and up the south-west stairs).

Next we walked down Avenue of the Americas to glimpse at the Times Square lights. We weren't allowed to enter (so secure...we felt really safe!) but at 42nd street could see the ball before it dropped!

See it?!? That blue blob in the upper center.

Our last stop was the Empire State Building, always a favorite of mine.

One last photo with the family

...and of course with my lovely Lady. Love traveling with her

We left NYC at 11:30, (forums suggested subways are clogged after midnight) and celebrated 2016 at a small transfer station in Newark.

We all got to sleep around 1:30am. We all had an amazing whirlwind tour of NYC and can now say "Oh yeah, I've done NYC on New Years Eve!"

I'm SO happy this adventure happened...I'd like to take full credit but was just taking advantage of a seemingly terrible flight detour, and ended up with an adventure we'll never forget.

...and it was just the beginning since the very next morning we flew to ARUBA!!!

Love this family.

2010-06-28: The Les Paul Trio

06-28-2010: The Les Paul Trio, Featuring Bucky Pizzarelli and Frank Vignola
Where: The Iridium, New York City
Went with: Myself
Times: 2nd

When we get to Heaven, Monday nights will be “Les Paul Trio” night. Crazy thing is, it won’t be any different than Monday nights at the Iridium in NYC. This is just my second time there (The first was with my wife in Sept 2009), but each time I experienced this “bubble of Heaven”.

As soon as I walked in, people are smiling. There isn’t a large crowd so I get a table that’s butted against the stage. Apparently this place isn’t very well known. Or it’s well known but not many believe it’s really that great here. Every person greets me and makes me feel welcome. From Les Paul’s engineer of 25 years (below),  to main guitarist Lou Pallo (farther down), to the couple from Montana who let me sit in the front table with them. They all greet me. They all assume I’m way into guitars just as much as they are. They are all there not for themselves, but to honor the Man whose name is on the door. The food is great, desserts are great, beer is great. And, the guitar talent flows like milk and honey.

Just like Monday nights in Heaven.

Throughout the night we clap, gasp, cheer, and laugh at awe with the music pouring from the stage. At first it makes me want to throw all my guitars a way knowing I won’t be able to attain the perfection coming from stage. But here I’m accepted for who I am. They assume the best out of me. They’re just happy I’m there, listening and learning…and it makes me want to become better.

Just like Monday nights in Heaven.

I wasn’t even supposed to be there. It was a last minute flight to NYC to teach the first of a 2 day workshop I developed. While I planned on working, I didn’t plan on the pure joy I ended up experiencing at the Iridium on Monday night.

Just like Monday nights in Heaven.

The night had guest performers. I wasn’t familiar with all of them but wow, where they good. Seems the best guitarists serve the ‘stars of the day’, and while the stars tend to fade, these guitar servants keep playing well into their 80s.

Just like Monday nights in Heaven.

Here is guitarist Lou Pallo with a guest bassist (normally it’s Nicki Parrott). Below is amazing jazz pianist John Colianno).

First guest was Blondie Chaplin, who sang and recorded with the Rolling Stones and Beach Boys.

He sounded awesome. He was just sitting in the back and was asked to come up. Very cool.

The main guest was Bucky Pizzarelli. I felt like a newbie since I didn’t recognize his name, but his guitar partner, Frank Vignola and him ripped amazing guitar licks for the next 30 minutes. At 84, he played some beautiful music. I didn’t know much of it, but their artistry made the whole experience inspiring.

Most amazing is that each got more joy out of playing rhythm for the other than soloing. They really did want to serve so the other could shine. When the other did shine, they smiled. At the band, at me, at all of us. With one smile they were shouting “Look at this guy play! His God-given gifts are simply awesome! What a privilege it is to support him!”.

Just like Monday nights in Heaven.  

I left wondering: Could this bubble of heaven show up in other places? Could every day be filled with joy watching another shine while I play rhythm in support? At work? At church? At home? I might be surprised to learn that while my support makes them shine, it makes me better, too. Even if I try for once a week…It’s worth a shot.

Maybe on Monday nights.

Here’s your invitation from me to shine…

…Here’s your chair…

…see you on Monday nights…

…I’ll be the one playing rhythm for you.

A Corporate Rock Star

I have to admit. When I’m on stage, wearing my AC/DC shirt, wielding my instrument, lights shining, connecting with the audience, and sharing my passion with what I’ve created, there’s really no place I’d rather be.

When I’m flown in for a 1.5 hour show in front of an audience filled with initial skeptics, those unfamiliar with my work, and executives that can make or break my career, and my performance is at its peak, there’s really no place I’d rather be.

The weird part? I’m not rockin’ on the guitar to songs I wrote with a great band. I’m demoing a product that I am lead user interface designer for. I’m playing the product like an instrument and showing why it’s great to a large group of sales, business partners, and executives who are skeptical or unaware of its value.

The really weird part? I love it.

This one was a wild ride. Started a month ago when I was asked to demo all of IBM Systems Director to our lead sales / business partners. The goal: Prove the product is easy to install, configure and use.

The challenge: All live. No movies, no slides…all live.

I’ve done dozens, probably hundreds of demos before, but the pressure for this one from the execs was higher than ever. They wanted to point to this moment to say, ‘Here’s why customers should invest in this product, and in IBM servers and software’.

For 2 weeks before, I prepared by running through the install and configuration of the product several times. With the incredible help from my colleague Tim, I loaded and customized two great systems with our product installed. I had run through the whole demo several times, created an outline script, recorded a backup movie, and even polished my analogy (a cooking show…and how the “Chef’s table” is the best because the meal is customized for you…just like how IBM Systems Director is best when customized for a specific user).

I really felt ready.

Note: Always back up in triplicate, because you never know which of the hundred dependent technologies will crap out and leave you in a panic:

1. Setup a live primary demo system
2. Setup a live backup demo system
3. Record movies
4. Capture pictures on slides
5. Put all movies and slides on USB memory key

Why all the redundancy? Lets count the ways:

1. Airport destroys your laptop
2. Windows destroys your laptop (with 30 seconds to go…it’s happened)
3. Laptop is just crap and it’ll decide to revert back to its basic carbon elements
4. Conference center lies and doesn’t really have a ‘state-of-the-art’ network, they have a ‘Hey, we’re in the 90’s and think this InterWeb might catch on’
5. Cables won’t work (Ethernet, power, video)
6. Wireless network won’t work
7. Server at home decides to die
8. VPN, IBM intranet decides to complain
9. Network works, but is so slow it’s unusable to prove the ‘snapiness’ of the product

Day of the demo the wireless network is slow. That’s OK I think, I tested the wire at the podium and it worked great. As I walked up 20 minutes before to set up? No wire. No problem. Get reserve wire. Plug it into the podium? ‘No connection’.

Terrific.

Have to use the slower wireless. Thanks to another colleagues suggestion, Craig, I ‘Remote Desktop’ into my primary system back in Rochester, and use the web browser on it. Result? I’m only dependent on the wireless network to render remote desktop, not all the data to the web browser. Brilliant idea!!!

All Ready. I start…the install portion of the demo.

Only takes 5 minutes to show how I downloaded, find the install script to type, and I enter all parameters (which is nice because it does the install and auto connects to Internet to download any updates). I say “That’s it. Lets go to lunch and when we get back, it’ll be done”. They love it.

As they leave for lunch, I validate: NO!!!! I miss-typed the password!!!  I didn’t practice or plan on a nervous tick in my hand! Luckily, I could stop, restart the whole process and and still get to lunch.

When back, with my laptop up front, I had to wait for my ‘opening act’ to finish before my main demo…a full hour of waiting…at this point I had no way to validate if the install/update worked. (HATE not being in control. It only compares to not knowing if my guitar is in tune just before a big song).

I walk up. Looked. Everything is perfect. The remote environment is performing really well. Systems are ready. AC/DC shirt on (really, just under my ‘business casual’ attire). Mentos consumed.

I’m ready to ROCK.

For the next 1.5 hours I dance through our product, showing value, showing how easy it is, making jokes, and make them laugh. They ask hard questions, ‘can it do this, that’? I show how it can be done. By the end, they’re giddy. Their skeptical minds have changed and they’re hooked.

The encore: When asked by the VP ‘OK. Now who plans on selling this?” EVERYONE raises their hands.

For the rest of the night, RSG (Rock Star Greg), hears accolades and answers deeper technical questions. “You’re the talk of the town” says one VP. “Loved how you demoed that”, says another. “You made ME understand the value!”, says a key business partner. “Yes, I agree completely”, says a key marketing executive.

After a celebration beer, I sleep soundly.

Now I’m traveling home, riding the wave…and thinking:

• I love being in the spotlight (Vain? don’t know. Just using God’s gift? that sounds vain)
• I am floating it’s so satisfying
• My history gigging and singing definitely HELPS corporate spotlight performance
• I depend on a lot of people and I need to make SURE I give them proper credit (I did send Tim, his manager and his 2nd line a glowing email of thanks and appreciation)
• The pressure is growing. At some point my demo will fail (just like bands on tour have bad nights)
• The stress was lots bigger than before…but the stakes were higher
• If I didn’t do well? Lose my job? No. Lose credibility? Yes. Lose the reputation? Yes. A passionate evangelist isn’t worth much if their reputation is poor.
• There’s a direct correlation to the success of my last demo and my reputation. Just like in the music business.

Last thought: Lots of people at home were praying for me. Wife and Littlest prayed during the actual time. I wonder, does Jesus give a rip? It didn’t further his Kingdom. Not unless Heaven runs on IBM Servers and IBM Systems Director, or unless HP is the devil (and while a competitor, the company is not evil).

But, with such great success in such great odds of failure due to network and other environmentals out of my control, I wonder if it did help? If it did, I need to not let it go to my head because while I did prepare and practice, It wasn’t all me. I also need to give my worries to Him.

Corporate Rock Star? Maybe. Grateful for getting to do something I love for a living? Yes. Fascinated that Jesus might actually care about my normal, non-church, work life? Definitely.

2009-11-11: Gal Costa & Romero Lubambo

11-11-09: Gal Costa & Romero Lubambo
Where: Blue Note Jazz Club NYC
Went with: Myself

I know. You're thinking "Who" and "Why" and "Where's the PRS?" Well it was related to my pursuit of all things PRS. I was in NYC for a customer briefing. Since the airlines didn’t cooperate I had to fly in Tuesday evening and fly out Thursday morning. That left ample time to search for fun things to do. One of my new favorites is going to “Rudy’s” guitar shop and find guitars. Wednesday morning I played a PRS acoustic Tonare Grand. Beautiful acoustic that I hope to one day own. Actually, I'm torn because I always wanted the cutaway version (Angelus) but Rudy's didn't have it...just the full rounded version. It played and sounded so beautiful I'm not sure I want the cutaway anymore.

Anyway, I was in the mood for acoustic guitar music and this was the closest thing I could find. Brazilian. Actually they're both from Brazil and quite popular. Every song...2 measures in...prompted a big "Ahhh!" and applause from the audience. I didn't know any of the songs. She has a great voice and the guy was an amazing acoustic bosa nova guitar player. wonderful!

Anywho it was great fun. Got to listen to music I normally don't hear in a famous jazz club and sat next to people I would have never met before (a table of marketing CFO-types that live in the city…and a girl from Israel who loves Gal Costa).