World Cup '06 part 1

On the West Coast espn2 just spent the morning recapping Texas Baseball with all kinds of comments about how there's 'no' scoring in soccer. But all of their featured baseball games were under 4 points total. Their baseball highlights showed either One guy running and catching or One guy running the bases (actually the guys just jogged around the bases). All other players were standing dead still.

Frustrated with the lack of coverage and comments on espn2 I checked online and found this on the NYTimes World Cup blog: "While the Spanish network Univision is showing the ceremony, Anglophone Americans who love spectacle are disappointed. The biggest sporting event in the entire world is about to start and espn2 is showing an interview with an actor from “Entourage.”

I'm very happy that the broadcast of the cup games is in HD though...

Google Spreadsheets

Garett Rodgers from ZDnet is expressing doubt over Google's new spreadsheets service. And rightly so.

Google thinks that they can kill Microsoft Excel instantly with this service? Do you think Microsoft is scared? Microsoft has so much money and Bill Gates is the richest man in the world. Why does Google even try? Don't you think Bill would have funded an online spreadsheet already if that was the way to go? You have to pay for good software. You also have to wait a few years to get bug fixes. How else can you rely on your software to work? You think it works on a first release? One indicator that Google's service will fail is that it is fun to use. Real software that you can count on just isn't fun. Software isn't supoose to be fun.

You and I know that eventually Google will place a small text ad on the side of your spreadsheet: right next to your data! I don't know about you, but I can't stand those little annoying text ads. They're like little text viruses infecting every webpage in the world. They could infect your data. The ads I prefer are large header ads. Orange and blue pictures of corporate professionals dressed and happy in the work place. Those at least make me feel safe. Like how I feel when I'm drinking coffee @ Starbucks.

I also agree with Rodgers when he points out that a weak point of Google Spreadsheets is going to be that it's too simple. People who use spreadsheets love to use Excel. Most people don't have uses for simple spreadsheets. What would you put in one? Financial data? Your music collection? World Cup statistics?

Everyone should just use a Microsoft Word .doc so that everyone can read it (make sure you install the correct Office Compatibility Pack). Two obvious reasons why Google Spreadsheets will fail: for one, it takes a lot of R&D to create wizards like Microsoft's Clippy™ and two, people want spreadsheets that let you add page numbers to every other odd page in rotating corners.

Burgundy

Tonight I attended the last class of Arnie Millan's Burgundy here in Seattle. The first class we went over some history and tasted some really nice Grand Cru offerings. Tonight we had several nice white wines. The best white was Laboure-Roi, Puligny-Montrachet '02 (~$42). If that is village wine wow! The best Red was Comte Armand, Clos des Epeneaux, Pommard '03 (~$84). A monster wine huge body complex flowers/fruit (without any fruit forwardness) and great texture. I guess the 02 is an exceptional year after all.

Other side notes:
1) Volnay and Pommard the place to go for quality velvety pinots.
2) For white wine the place to go is Chassagna Montrachet.
3) Grand Cru white wine easily falls into $200-$400.
4) 2002 is being regarded as one of the best vintages in the last 10-15 years
5) Betty Wasserman as an importer is a good sign that there's some quality behind the label (Kermit Lynch is another)
6) Stay in Beaune for any traveling to Burgundy
7) Chardonnay grapes are a cross between the Pinot family and a very old and nearly extinct grape variety called Gouais Blanc
8) Jean-Marc Pavelot is a producer of good wines for not that much money.
9) Volnay producer Pousse d'Or is hard to find.
10) 3rd weekend in September Beaune has great festivities.