Miles Tonkin’s Blog!

I recently came across this video clip when transferring all my files to my new computer and was reminded that it was intended to be posted here in the first place, but somehow never made it.

Firstly I have to acknowledge cruftbox, from whom this format is completely ripped off. Sorry, did I say ripped off? I meant inspired by. “Imitation is the sincerest form…” and all that.

Because I had several trips planned this year, I though this could be an interesting thing to try, but I only ever did this one. Of course cruftbox made an almost identical video, which didn’t help. Perhaps that why this one never got posted. It seemed a shame to not post it now though.

So, for some background, I was in Vegas for NAB back in April and we were all put up at the Venetian…

It’s the not the first time it’s been said, but today I have to agree.

About three months ago, I punctured one of the tires on my car after hitting a very aggressive and unforgiving pothole. The puncture immediately activated the car’s tire pressure warning system, which would activate a little light on the dashboard and give me a “tire pressure too low” warning on the screen. I took the car to my local Pep Boys tire repair center and had the whole tire replaced. However, the warning light stayed on. Things were a little hectic in my life at the time, so I never really got around to working out why the light hadn’t gone off, I checked the pressure and everything seemed to be ok.

Jump forward a few months and we arrive at today, when I finally get around to taking my car into the dealership to have the problem looked at. The man at VW, told me that it was quite common that the pressure sensors could be damaged when replacing the tire and that it might need to be replaced. Of course my instant thought was that I was probably going to end up $500 out of pocket to stop some stupid light coming on, but it was worth getting fixed. A couple of hours later I get a call from the man. “Hello Mr. Tonkin, I have some good news. We checked all the sensors and the computer and we can’t find any faults. We did check the tire pressure though and it was 10 PSI low on all the tires. We just topped it up and the light went off”. I felt so embarrassed and actually apologized for wasting his time. I can only imagine the ridiculing I must have been getting in the service dept.

The silver lining is that they must have thought I was mentally challenged and felt sorry for me, because they waived the usual $57 diagnostic charge. I guess it would have been a little unfair for them to charge me $57 to put air in the tires.

I still think they must have reset something, because I know I checked the pressure several times and I don’t know why I would have set it to 20PSI, maybe I am mentally challenged?!

Anyway, it’s all fixed and no money spent….just loads of unnecessary wear and tear on my tires for the last few months!

Today I fulfilled my civic duty…..sort of…

I got summoned a couple of months ago for jury duty and my first reaction like most people was “oh no!”. It’s strange that almost everyone’s reaction to jury summons is akin to finding out they’re about to be audited by the IRS, or drafted and sent off to some hot and dusty oil war. I firmly believe that jury duty is eveyone’s civic duty and everyone should not only do it, but understand and respect the system they are part of and why without them it falls apart. That all said, I still wasn’t that gung-ho about serving. 

So, this morning at the ungodly time of 7:45am, I arrived at the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse in downtown L.A. The Los Angeles County court is the largest (in terms of number of cases, not building size!) in the US and as you might imagine, like the city it represents, it’s a bit of a madhouse. We were directed to a jury assembly room, essentially a waiting area that was decorated when the building was built in the 50’s and hadn’t changed since. If anyone ever wants to check out some authentic fifty year old local government interior, they should look no further. There were about 200 of us in total and after having been explained the process in detail, we were told to sit back and wait and that one way or another we would be there until 5pm. Los Angeles county changed their system a few years ago, so that if you are not assigned to a trial at the end of your first day, you are sent home and they consider your jury obligation complete. It makes sense and means that people’s don’t have to spend days on end at the courthouse waiting, but of course it means that you spend the whole time clock watching, hoping that you don’t get picked before the end of the day. At about 11am, they called about 40 people and sent them off. Those not picked let out a huge sigh of relief. We were sent to lunch and immediately after another 20 were called. All of this detail is really leading up to the punch line and the culmination of the day.

After sitting in the freezing assembly room all day, it was looking less and less likely that I and the 40 or so remaining jurors would be assigned to a trial and we would be done. At 4pm, there was still no word and we had been told that sometime between 4 and 5, but no later than 5 we would be sent home if not already called. Then, suddenly at 4:15, disaster! The voice came over the PA system, “can all jurors in the hallway please come back into the assembly room”. This was the fatal line that had preceded each calling. There was a very audible groan throughout the room from all those who had thought we were home free! The voice came back on “The next jury panel I will call is for a thirty day trial starting on Monday”. There was dead silence, the room couldn’t believe that not only were they going to call jurors minutes before the end of the day, but for a 30 day trial! That’s business days, so 6 weeks! The average trail last 6-7 days. The voice came back on “I’m only kidding!! You can all go home, you’re excused”. There were a few shrieks from one corners of the room and the guy sitting next to me was white a sheet. I honestly thought he was going to be sick. “That wasn’t funny at all, not cool, not cool at all!” he muttered. We quickly filed out, collected our completion forms and headed out before anyone could change their mind.

So although I technically completed my jury obligation in the eyes of the county, I didn’t actually get to serve. I’m conflicted. I wanted to experience it first hand and as I already said, I feel strongly about the purpose, but I guess I’m really just a big hypocrite, since I was relieved to not be assigned to a trial. It was an interesting experience, the part of it that I managed to witness and certainly helped to demystify the process.

One of the big aguments that I think people have against serving is the payment aspect. If you are unemployed, self empoyed, a home maker or retired. You are going to end up out of pocket. You really don’t have any say on how long the trial is that you will be assigned to and the court is far less accomodating of any excuses relating to financial hardship then they used to be. Although your employer has to let you take part in jury duty by law, they don’t have to pay you. Most do, but for a limited ammount of time. My company pays for 4 weeks, which apparently is high. For these resons I can totally understand people’s hesitiation especially if you end up on a longer trial. I on the other hand have no excuse! But this is just one reason, there seems to be a deeply engrained, cultural attitude toward jury service, we all want to avoid it. 

It seems a shame, it almost seems like it could be a fun thing to do.

Forget “2 Girls 1 cup” or that guy getting his head chopped off, Tryphoon and I just discovered the worst thing ever on You Tube.

You’ve been warned!

Remember this classic Lynx (Axe if you’re American) commercial from back in the day. It became stupidly popular and the song shot up the charts.

Ahh…nostalgia!

Last Sunday was my Birthday and as chance would have it, I was in Seattle on business for a Microsoft conference. My colleagues Perigil and Bill took me for dinner at a very good restaurant on the waterfront. A good time was had by all.

And so begins the final year of my twenties….

Last Saturday, I got up at the ungodly hour of 5am and drove an hour and 15 minutes with my friend Chris to go skiing. Yes, you read correctly, skiing in Los Angeles. The actual location was Mountain High, a small ski resort about 80 miles east, in the San Gabriel Mountains. At 8000 feet, mountain high gets enough snow to make it a viable skiing option. The recent rain in Los Angeles, had translated to snow up in the mountains, giving the resort pretty decent conditions. Nothing in comparison to some of the bigger resorts up north like Mammoth or Tahoe, but good enough for an hour and 15 minutes drive from Hollywood.

It was great to be back on skis again and like riding a bike, it’s something you never forget. I haven’t been skiing for a couple of years and then only for a few hours also, so the psychical endurance certainly hit hard. I spent Saturday evening and Sunday recuperating!

It was fun to discover a skiing option so close to home and I have to say, while Mountain High is a very small and overcrowded resort and nothing in comparison to Vail or most European resorts, there is something very strange about skiing down a snow covered slope and seeing the desert in the distance!

So as the new year begins, people all around are making resolutions and planning changes for the year ahead. I can say that 2007 was not a completely fulfilling year for me. It’s hard to get over just how quickly the year passed and it feels like a few months ago that I was celebrating last New Year. A few of the events that stand out from the year in my memory are buying a new car in February, Moving (for the fourth time in four year!) in May and trips to New Orleans and Spain in May and September respectively. Other than that, 2007 feels like a blur of work and planning. What’s the saying? “Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans”, thanks John Lennon. But then to quote Tim (Jim for you Americans) from the office, “he also said ‘I am the walrus’ so I’m not sure what to believe”.

With the prospect of more of 2008 ahead then behind, I want to make the most of the year. I travelled a lot less than in ’07 than I would have liked and that’s something I want to change in ’08. I already have a business trip to Seattle planned for March which I am very excited about and I want to add a couple of trips to London, a trip to New York and some skiing to that list over the course of the year. I need to start spending all of my airline miles, rather than just accumulating them!

I hope that the new year brings happiness, prosperity and opportunity for you all.

Lots of love from Los Angeles

Despite the reports on the news that the whole of Southern California is on fire, I am still here and largely unaffected. It seems that the San Diego area, some one hundred miles south, has been hit the worst. A few areas north of L.A. and east also have been burning for the last few days. It is pretty crazy to see the scale of these fires on the local news. It’s not helped by the hot (95F/35C today!) temperatures we’ve been having and the strong winds. It’s also rained probably 5 times this year, which even for L.A. is very little.

While I might be far from any of the fires themselves, that doesn’t mean I don’t see some of the secondary effects. For example, in Los Angeles we have blue skies all year around. The only exception to this rule is when it rains (which is usually few months in the winter) and during June, when the “June Gloom” rolls in and you get a lot of gray, hazy mornings. The fires however, have created some of the worst air quality I’ve seen here. Even though I live twenty or thirty miles form the fires themselves, the city is blanketed in a think gray smoke. The sun occasionally shines through, but then the streets are bathed in an eery orange light. It’s all very weird.

I just took this photo from my office window and although it doesn’t really do it justice you can see just how murky the skies are!

Click to enlarge

The one bonus of all this pollution? Even more amazing sunsets! I’ll try and get a photo of one tonight.