Spring...bring it on

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I don't want to be someone that complains about winter. Snow has been my friend. My passion for skiing is dependent on it. In the 70's and 80's in Colorado my income depended snow. More snow equalled more money. Unless there was too much. Then the buses from Oklahoma and Texas filled with tired skiers never made it. Croissants got stale, daily specials turned to day old employee meals and waitresses were bored. Too much of a good thing became a bad thing.

This winter was "the year of too much" for many snow burdened cities and regions. Amazing really. Brooklyn paralyzed? Snowplows stuck in the middle of intersections? Millions - probably billions - were lost due to "snow days." Unable to get to work (or wherever you needed to go) was the topic in the news for weeks this year. There is a good chance snow delays are over. I said "chance."

I attended a luncheon and workshop with Michael Tchong yesterday. He is the guy responsible for MacWeek (precursor to PC Week) in the 80's when few had home computers and fewer had Apple computers. He is a trend watcher with a message: Innovate or Perish.

Think about this list: Robots. Tracking devices in socks for seniors. Pill bottles with sensors to remind you when to take them. Laptops that look like purses. Robots. Walking lanes for window watchers in malls and on our streets so others can hurry. (Ever been run over in an airport for going too slow?). Augmented reality browsing. (Think Yelp.) Hybrid travel. (Work with vacation tagged on.) Time compression. (Never would have had a polaroid or a microwave without it.) And - Did I mention? - robots.

Back to the weather. Right now, it can't be controlled (unless there is some secret scientific manipulation that our enemies have directed at us this year) but we learned to tolerate, even adjust, to it. We get creative on snow days. Conference calls are held at home. Skype keeps us in each others' faces. Our laptops keep us connected to our desktops in the office. Working on the go...good or bad...that's a trend that has been and will continue to be perpetuated by innovation.

What about the other thing we need to keep going besides our technology? Food. (There's love and shelter, of course but I don't want to go Maslow on you here..) The guy that figures out how to get food where it needs to go on a snow day will be worth a lot of money. Remember the replicator on Star Trek? Now THAT is innovation! And I bet someone is working on it right now.

In the seventies I drank Perrier mixed with orange juice. Imagine if I saw that as part of the trend toward a healthy lifestyle. Yikes. Move over SoBe! I also used to put ice cream in my coffee before work to give me a jumpstart. That idea would have been a "move over Frappucino" idea.

Let's look around. What are people really doing? What are they saying? What do we need? I am going to find a new idea this spring by looking at trends. Do you have an idea? Great. Bring it on.

green & gold

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It's here. It's Super Sunday. Let's hear it for the PACK! Could it be that I live in the same state as a contender? Yes!

The only color that anyone has worn all week is green. The produce department displays peppers alternating green and gold at attentions. Pizzas have green pepper G's topping the cheese. I would bet that more deli trays are sold per capita in Wisconsin than any other place in the country. Every where you go people ask "Where are you watching the game?" No one would dare ask "Are you watching the game?"

So everyone...enjoy the game...oh...and please pass the cheese.