Waking up to the smell of fire

This morning I woke up to the smell of fire. The winds have turned overnight, so it may be the Summit Fire that is burning in the nearby Santa Cruz Mountains. That fire started at 0530 AM on Thursday and has been growing bigger since then.

According to local news reports about 3000 acres have burned and the fire is now about 20 percent contained. I think that means it is somewhat under control, but not really. Hundreds of firefighters have come to battle the blazes and airplanes are dropping fire retardant on the flames as well.

This fire still is aways from where I live, so San Jose is not in any danger. However, people in the mountains have lost their houses and I my thoughts go out to them. (Still, this is a mini disaster compared to what's going on in China or Birma.)

Pricey New York

Work once again took me to New York in the last couple of days. When I arrived on Tuesday night I asked my hotel doorman for a recommendation, I was looking for good sushi. He recommended Sushi Zen, walking distance from the hotel (I stayed at the Muse, near Times Sq.) At the restaurant I opted to do chef's choice of sushi and sashimi, it seemed like a good food adventure.

The sushi was good and the service was excellent, but the tab was astounding! All in all my few pieces of sashimi and a few pieces of sushi along with miso soup, edamame and a beer set me back $150! That's way over my per diem. What can I say, this is New York. While I feel I didn't get my money's worth, it was a fun way to celebrate my 1 year anniversary at McAfee :-)

Pow Wow

Ever heard of a Pow Wow? In my dictionary it was always a quick gathering, discussion, between people. But last Sunday at Stanford it was much more. It was a big gathering of Native Americans (or as my cousin's husband Scott says it in his typical political incorrect way: "Indians, feathered not dotted."

Apparently Pow Wow's are a big thing and they happen across this country all the time. There was food, art, and lots of contests including dancing and best dress (yes, with feathers.) We caught the tail end of the Pow Wow after driving along the coast first, so next time one is nearby I'll try to get more of a full Pow Wow experience.

Wachinos

For the past week my second cousin from Pennsylvania along with her husband and three kids (2x 1.5 years old and 1x 3 years old) were my guests. It is quite an adjustment having so many people come stay when you're used to living alone :-) Needless to say my place needed to be baby-proofed and it was quite a mess at times (and loud too, those kids know how to SCREAM!)

It was fantastic to have the Wachinos visit and I was happy to see that the kids liked it here too. They hung out in my game room on two big red poof chairs or played in the backyard. (It has been very warm this past week.) Last Sunday we headed to the big trees at Big Basin, stopped for lunch at a Taqueria in Santa Cruz, saw the Pigeon Point lighthouse as well as the fishing fleet in Half Moon Bay. Some pics are below, other guests are welcome too!

Personal Shopper

If you're shopping for a number of outfits in one go, or even one outfit that matches nicely, and you're not keen on fighting the crowds at Macy's, Bloomingdale's or another large department store, here's something I highly recommend: Use the store's personal shopping service.

Before heading to New York (you can read all about that in an earlier post) I went to the Macy's Men's Store at Valley Fair in San Jose to get a couple of new business outfits. It seemed smart to buy some new suits rather than wear the same suits that I have had in my closet for weddings, funerals, christenings and other formal events.

But Valley Fair on a Saturday is not my idea of fun. The crowds, the people grabbing clothes, navigating from one rack of shirts, pants, suits, ties, shoes to the other in a large department store, it is not my idea of a good time. Let alone the searching for the right size, tracking down a store employee to find a size somewhere in the back. That's a nightmare!

The solution is the personal shopper, and it is free. My new best friend at Macy's knows my size, knows my taste and will pull clothes off racks throughout the store, go into storage rooms and bring me all things that I might like while I try it on in a comfortable dressing room. The personal shopper even has her own, large and quiet dressing rooms for the exclusive use of her customers. Now that's the right way to shop for clothes!

I actually had two helpers this time. My good friend Jessica (from power shopping 1.0) came along and helped pick colors and fits. I went home with three suits, four shirts and four new ties as well as a new pair of shoes. And all of this only took about two and a half hours. Macy's also was able to tailor my pants within 24 hours, I'll be back!

Interop

In my previous life as a reporter I've seen many keynote speeches and have sat in the audience for countless speeches, good ones and bad ones. At one point I burned Bill Gates in a piece on his keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas because he didn't announce anything new. (He didn't he was on his "magic of software" tour and repeated things Microsoft had been saying for months.)

Now I am closely involved in creating keynotes. McAfee CEO Dave DeWalt spoke at Interop in Las Vegas on April 30 and I was there as part of his entourage. This time I was one of the people who went back stage with the speaker and one of the people who made sure the presentation was locked and loaded before the presenter went up on stage. Feedback on the keynote was mostly good, though there will always be critics.

More Interop pictures are available on Flickr.

(After his keynote, DeWalt met with TechWeb and did a Q&A with CRN.)

Closing Bell

Time to catch up on blogging. A lot has happened in the past weeks. One highlight: on May 8 I walked the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). I had previously been to the the visitor gallery, but never actually had been on the floor where traders run from booth to booth and yell orders at each other.

I was at the exchange with McAfee's executive team. CEO Dave DeWalt was going to ring the closing bell to end the day's trading. DeWalt and his execs would be up on the balcony to do those honors, while I watched from the trading floor with a couple of other McAfee employees. (A video of the bell ringing is available here.



Prior to the bell ringing and right after CNBC and Bloomberg News interviewed Dave DeWalt on live TV and MarketWatch.com taped a segment that has since aired. It was quite an experience to be on the set of Closing Bell (CNBC's show from the NYSE floor). The interview is available on the CNBC Web site, if you're interested.

The day of the bell ringing was preceded by McAfee's investor and financial analyst meeting, an annual event in New York. Our IT team did a fantastic job putting together that meeting, with some help from the communications team.

One thing I noticed at the NYSE is that Wall St. in front of the building is now essentially closed to traffic. When I was there years ago it was a street filled with cars. Changing times, that I expect have to do with another sad sight I passed by in New York on the way to the Mecca of capitalism: Ground Zero.

Spam's big 3-0

Thirty years ago the first spam e-mail was sent over the Arpanet, the front runner of the Internet. The message was sent to about 400 people on the West Coast of the U.S. by a marketing person at Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) to advertise new computer hardware.

DEC has since been absorbed by other companies, but spam has grown and clogs e-mail boxes around the world. As many as nine of every 10 e-mails on the Net are spam. CBS 5, a local San Francisco Bay Area TV station wanted to talk about the anniversary of spam and they called McAfee on Saturday evening. I talked to Dan Knapp about how spam has gone from an annoyance to a serious threat.