The Apple Store: role model for clinics & FEMA

Two quick insights after picking up my iPad on Saturday:

Medical clinics could learn a lot about customer care and clinic efficiency from watching Apple Stores on normal days.

FEMA could learn a lot about efficient emergency response from watching Apple Stores on iProduct Launch days.

iClothing

I've been a fan of the Scott eVest for some time now, ever since my spouse gifted one to me. It is the perfect layered garment for a geek living in an occasionally chilly part of the country (plus, you have to love a company that puts X-Ray views of their clothing on their website). It comes with 22 pockets for electronic gear which are connected by a network of cloth conduits for cables. So far, I've only been brave enough to use 2 or 3 of these pockets. As it is, I have a hard enough time with only 4 pants pockets trying to keep MiFi routers and USB drives from an unplanned session of data laundry. However, once I finish installing our home laundry fluoroscopy unit, I'll feel brave enough to start using some of the more arcane chambers in my vest.






When the iPad was first announced, Scott was quick to point out that their eVest was probably the only stock garment on the planet that would hold a iPad without alterations. My iPad does, indeed, fit nicely in my left eVest pocket. However, I feel like I'm listing a bit to the left when I carry it there.

Where vests lead, can pants not follow? I spotted the following ad last month, and am still not sure whether it is actually a legitimate product. However, I'm glad that someone is thinking way outside the box on this issue, gag or no.

Exogenous Brainfreeze

I'm no stranger to brain freeze. Once or twice a year I'll snarf down some really cold ice cream a bit too greedily and then relive that nasty dull ache that seems to fill the center of my skull.

Yesterday was different. Cabin fever drove me out of the house for a quick bike ride during a break in the chilly rain we've been having lately. This hole closed a lot quicker than I expected, and I found myself totally soaked a mile from home.

I've been wet before and I've been cold before, but this was something new:

40 degree rain + 30 mph wind + drafty bike helmet = a whole new type of brain freeze.

It's an odd thing to have that old, familiar frigid ache now covering the entire outer part of one's skull. Exhilarating but painful at the same time. I would ride a few hundred yards until it became too intense, and then pull over under a tree to let it subside. I repeated this cycle several times until I got home to a hot shower and dry clothes.

Oops, gotta go — we're having another sunbreak. It's time for me to roll the biking weather dice again…