I ended up seeing about (see my SD2010 movie notes as to why this is “about”) 16 films this year at the Sundance Film Festival.  Many of the movies were pretty good (no “C” or below grades with one more movie to go).  Visitors this year included Lisa and Larry along with the usual suspects from IndieGoGo and prior year SDs (e.g. Eric, Slava, Danae, Katherine, Rob, Erica, Meera).

Some of the memories that stick out include being sick and tired, but still pushing to see a ton of movies and still hit some parties – e.g. the  “Fairway” party hosted by lawyer Jonathan (thanks!).  Fun times were also had at High West Distillery’s bar (caught up with Marc P. and his friend Matt from Chi-town).  Unfortunately the sleep deprivation and health issues caught up with me and I had to bag some of the other parties and even one of the movies (Splice).  Things winded down nicely on Sunday with a make your own pizza party at Chez Hendrix on Woodside.  For a list of all the movies I saw and my $.02 on each see my Sundance 2010 movie list.

I’ve always held the belief that we should focus on people first.  Whether in our professional or personal life, most everything we do involves people – our actions, emotions, etc. are tied to people.  Related to these beliefs, a  quote from Dick Clark (no, not the Band Stand one, the Merck CEO) resonated with me today as I was reading his comments on Merck’s recent acquisition of Schering-Plough (from the recent JP Morgan Healthcare Conference):

And certainly I use a statement, perhaps too much, that culture eats strategy for lunch, and so if you don’t get the culture right, it really doesn’t matter what the strategy is.

I couldn’t agree more.

Here’s a recent Diamond article of mine related to the cost savings and benefits associated with current state architecture:

Maintaining Current State (CS) Architecture Information – What a Waste!

I recently sent in a Tumi T-Tech backpack I used for work. Over time the bag material began to fray which made it look “not-so-professional”. I could live with that but when a zipper broke on one of the main compartments I had to send it in for repair. I took it to Portland Luggage and for $15 they sent it in for me. Portland Luggage didn’t guarantee me Tumi would do anything though and tried to sell me a Briggs and Riley.

I have owned a Briggs and Riley before and liked it, but decided to wait and see what Tumi would do for me. The bag that I sent in costs ~$300. Tumi said that bag was warranted for only 3 years and that time was up. Needless to say I wasn’t happy (but was happy I didn’t pay retail for the bag initially). They didn’t end up doing much – they told me they couldn’t repair the bag (a zipper?! come on!) and offered me a 30% discount on a new bag. I told them I didn’t feel like spending money on a new bag every three years so asked them to simply ship the bag back to me/Portland Luggage. Buyer beware – make sure you know your warranty duration (Briggs and Riley’s is lifetime). Based on Tumi’s and their response to my repair request I will never be buying a piece of their luggage again and will recommend Briggs and Riley instead (that bag worked very well when I owned it).

FYI: Tumi # I called –> 800-322-8864, for repair press 3

fun times