Schermerhorn Symphony Center

Being an I.T. guy at a place that has a lot of big swanky meetings, I get to check out some pretty cool places around town. This morning I was needed at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Once I got the laptop and presentation stuff set up, I went exploring around the building and soon decided that it was one of the coolest places I've been. Oh, and before I get too far into this post, let me apologize for the quality of the images... I snapped them with my phone as I wondered around (click for slightly larger versions).

The first thing I noticed was how sound proof the building was. While I was setting things up I noticed that just outside the window there was a huge construction project going on. I'm talking about all the big machinery, trucks coming and going... yeah, I never heard any that. In fact, I would have never known it was there if i hadn't looked out the window. Amazing. I also noticed that all of the doors are about three inches thick and padded so that you won't hear them close.

Another thing to note is that this place is fan-see. Marble floors and accents can be found throughout the building. The main lobby is impressive with its huge white columns surrounding the perimeter. The ceiling is vaulted at a height of about twenty five feet (just a guess on my part). You know what... I'm going to stop there. I'm not doing this place justice with my description. Just hit the link I posted above when you're done reading.

The Schermerhorn Symphony Center is named after the late Maestro Kenneth Schermerhorn who led the Nashville Symphony for 22 years.

Buyer Beware: Kroger Chicken

This isn't something I would typically write about, but I feel like I just have to get it out. The wife and I decided to have a simple meal of chicken strips and fries for dinner last night. We had bought the Kroger brand chicken, which was a first (and last). I will never, ever, ever buy Kroger chicken again.

How in the world does a big, rich company mess up something like chicken strips? Honestly, this was some of the worst tasting stuff I've ever eaten. Seriously, if I had given you a plate of this and told you it was fish, you would believe me. You wouldn't eat it, but you would agree that it is mushy, horrible tasting fish... but its CHICKEN. It tasted like they let some cut up fish and chicken pieces marinate together in their own juices. Disgusting.

So, when buying off-brand stuff at the store, avoid the meats and dairy. Spend the extra $2-3 bucks so you can enjoy your meal. I haven't tried any store brand chicken from a nicer place like Publix, but after this experience, I will be very hesitant to do so.

Big Businesses Take Note: Nintendo Does it Right!

I've been known to play a video game every now and then... well, ok almost every evening (Rock Band is taking up too much of my time right now). Last November, I was one of the lucky ones who scored a Nintendo Wii. I loved it, everything from the include Wii Sports, to playing Twilight Princess.

A few months later, I was really fortunate to get a nice 46" LCD TV... but it was at that point that I could tell something wasn't quite right. I never noticed it on my standard def TV, but according to a (quite pleasant) lady who worked for Nintendo tech support, I had a case of the frozen pixels! Oh my!

Since my Wii was still under warranty, she lead me through how to set up a repair. I printed out the shipping label, wrote up a brief description of what was going on, and shipped it off. It's now not even 4 weeks later and I have a perfectly performing Wii back in the living room. I couldn't be more pleased with my experience.

So, you can buy Nintendo stuff with confidence. If if something doesn't seem to work right, they'll listen and offer suggestions. If something breaks, they'll fix it. Good job, Nintendo!

Gmail Adds a Splash of Color with New Colored Labels

Well... I guess I've just got Google on the brain. I noticed that Gmail now sports colored labels to help keep things a bit more organized. This is particularly helpful if you find yourself needing to give specific emails extra attention.

You can use labels in more of the traditional sense; you can apply a label to individual emails as you read them or to groups of emails in your inbox. I, however, wanted more of an automated approach. I used gmail filters to automatically apply a particular label as soon as it was received. That way whenever I get an email from any of my good friends, a colorful "Friends" label is placed along side.

A second benefit of using filters to apply the labels for you is that you can know exactly how many unread emails you may have for any particular label. So at a glance I know that there are 3 emails from my friends, 2 from family, and 5 that are (bleh) work related. With this knowledge, I can choose to get the work stuff out of the way or choose to take it easy for a bit and catch up with friends and family.

FYI, the new colored labels feature is only availble for Firefox 2.0 and Internet Explorer 7. And just so the world knows where I stand on the "which browser is better" debate, Firefox is where its at. I've been using it for a couple of years now and never looked back.

Google Docs is My Friend

The time I've spent trying to craft my own stories has been relatively short, but when I sat down for the first time I knew which tool I'd turn to. Google has a great set of web based tools called Google Docs. I can make text documents, spread sheets, and presentations (think PowerPoint) all through my web browser.

I tend to sit down and write from several different places... usually at home but sometimes during my lunch break at work. The beautiful thing about working on the web (as you bloggers well know) is that it doesn't matter where you're writing from. All of my work is sitting in a centralized place. This also means that I don't have to transfer files back and forth from home and work, which in turn means that I don't have to worry about which copy is most current.

All Google Docs can be exported to a Microsoft compatible file format (.doc, .xls, .ppt) which means that I can do some final editing with Word when I need to. Another great feature is the Word Count feature which not only displays the word counts but also readability measurements. Very handy for when you're writing with a word limit in mind.

Overall, I'm quite happy with using Google Docs. If any of you guys out there have any suggestions or alternatives, please leave a comment!