Basically, someone goes out and hides something in public and posts the coordinates online. You are then supposed to go to that website, get the coordinates and put them into your GPS (hand-held GPS, not your car navigation).
The coordinates get you pretty close to the item (or “cache” as it is called) and you have to use the clues they post online to find it.
The caches ranges in size from a small matchbook to a big ammo box. Inside you’ll always find a log where you can put your name, and in the bigger ones people leave little knickknacks and toys. It’s great for kids because they can trade one of their old toys for a toy that is inside. Some caches even have stuff for grown ups like movies (my buddy got a Willow DVD out of one).
Geocaching is a great hobby for technical geeks like me who like to “figure things out” and for families who want to spend time together outdoors.
So far, me and my family have found 48 caches in and around our city. How about you? Are there any other geocachers out there?
If you live in Southern California, then you’ve probably heard about the Orange County Great Park which is being built on the former El Toro marine base in the Irvine/Lake Forest area. This park is going to be huge at about 2x the size of Central Park in New York.
The OC Great Park is going to be eco-friendly, which we love to hear at EMG. They will be recycling materials from the demolition of the old marine base to build new roads (concrete from runways), bridges (redwood from old hangers) and more. Other green initiatives include recycling water, renewable energy (solar power), habitat restoration and energy efficient transportation options throughout the park.
Phase One has just been announced and is going to be completed sometime in 2011 with many features available in 2010. The best part for us EMGers is that this phase is going to include part of the sports complex which includes soccer fields, as well as a bigger field for general use (football anyone?). Future phases will include tennis courts, baseball fields, skate park, and even a bowling green. This will be a great place to spend our lunches.
I even read an LA Times blog post that said that next year will be Wild River’s last season (for real this time) and that a new water park might open in the great park in 2011.
The preview park is currently open where you can take free rides in one of the world’s largest tethered helium balloons. It’s definitely worth a trip if you haven’t been yet.
I’ve been using Google Wave for a few weeks now. In case you somehow haven’t heard of Google Wave before, here is a description from the website:
Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.
In simple terms, I see it as a dynamic message board. It’s an interesting idea, but I haven’t been hooked on it yet. It doesn’t feel conducive for everyday use. I definitely do not see it replacing email or IMing anytime soon, like some suggest will happen. Seems more for specific group projects or interest groups.
Even then, you have to be able to wrap your head around the concept and features in order to be able to use it and I think the general public might be turned off to it before they get past the learning curve.
One of the hardest things at first is that you don’t have any friends when you first join. Two things to help:
1) When you join Google Wave, you should get a wave in your inbox from Google that allows you to invite some friends.
2) In the search box, type “with: public” without quotes so you can browse and join public waves. (see below)
I just got a bunch of invites and sent it out to a few people here at EMG. Maybe I’ll have a change of heart once I start using it in a business setting.
As a tech geek, this really intrigues me… and scares me. We may have the beginnings of Minority Report or Terminator on our hands.
Disney Imagineering is currently working on Otis, an autonomatronic robot that is the next generation of characters you will see in rides (and most likely outside of rides) at the Disney parks. As Thomas Smith of the Official Disney Parks Blog explains…
Autonomatronics technology is different from Audio-Animatronics technology. Audio-Animatronics technology repeats a pre-programmed show over and over again. Autonomatronics technology is driven by sophisticated cameras and sensors giving Otto the ability to make choices about what to say and do.
This opens up a whole new world (pun intended) of interactive possibilities for Imagineering. My only hope is that we do not have a repeat of the episode in which The Simpsons visit Itchy and Scratchy Land.
Last July we arrived at work to find a huge colony of bees congregating on a beam outside our office door. There must be something about our building that bees like because today we were revisited with an even bigger colony of those little devils.
Here at EMG, most employees are running dual monitors. This helps to improve efficiencies by giving them more screen space to layout multiple windows and programs. I highly recommend the investment for anyone who multi-tasks with many programs. I find it so useful I’m considering a third monitor, but that is a conversation for later.
One problem I’ve always found was working with Microsoft Office Excel 2007. For some reason, when you open multiple excel spreadsheets (.xls or .xlsx) it opens one containing window for all of them. It does not create separate windows for each spreadsheet like Word 2007 does for documents. This is especially bothersome when running dual monitors because it is really hard to organize windows and properly use the space you are given.
If you find yourself with this same problem, you are in luck. I’ve found a simple way to open multiple excel documents, each contained in their own window.
As discussed by John Maas in a previous post, Subway has done an amazing job marketing during this time when it seems everyone is trying to find a way to save a few bucks. Their $5 foot-long campaign (and catchy jingle), along with many of their other marketing tactics, have seemed to really catch on and create new business.
So it’s no surprise that Quiznos would follow suit.
Quiznos is now offering $4 toasty torpedoes to compete with Subway. If that wasn’t enticing enough, you can go onto their website and get a coupon to get two for the price of one. Sounds too good to be true, right? It might just be…
Tomorrow is a big day for Americans. It is April 15th (dunt dunt duhhhhhhh), the deadline for filing taxes. For some people all the hard work of gathering their W-2’s, 1099s, and other tax documents results in a nice check from the government. For others the result is a not-so-nice check TO Uncle Sam.
Unless you are one of those people who break even, the burden of money is going to hit you. You’ll either be faced with paying off a debt, or you’ll have to decide how to spend the mini-fortune that is your tax return. Sure the second group can just blow it all on a new toy or a night out on the town, but is that really going to help you in the long run? No. In both cases it is probably a good idea to make a plan.
If you are like me, you do not manage your money very well. At least not intuitively. Recently, I was doing some searching and I came across two sites that have already changed my outlook on my finances, as well as provide me with tools to get organized and start saving/paying off debt. They are:
“On Thursday, October 2, 2008, Earthbound Media Group was honored as the 3rd fastest growing private company in the Orange County area by the Orange County Business Journal. The awards ceremony took place at the Hyatt Regency Irvine and brought together technology consultant firms, software companies and many other businesses throughout Orange County. EMG partners Blaine Behringer, Damien Navarro and Lawrence Williford were all in attendance alongside company executives and staff to accept the award.”
I’ve had the pleasure of working here at EMG for over five years now and I have experienced first hand the growth of the company. It is amazing to think of where we started from and where we are now, but it’s not surprising. The vision and talent combined with a unique company culture makes EMG stand out and succeed.
I can’t wait to see where the next five years takes us. Congrats team!
