The Goff Blog

Seriously...

So much crap going on in the Life of Goff, and I can't even take a few minutes to post a lousy entry. So, this is a bit of a combination entry...Half-assed... but an entry. A step in the right direction.

Celebrity Sighting... #2

Amy and I saw Vin Diesel when we were out on the town at Mandalay Bay two weekends ago... We were eating at Aurole, when a few tables down sat down Vin with a lady friend of his. She wasn't all that hot, so maybe it was his sister?

Here is the really cool electronic wine list (La Salope approves):




And the Borg-looking wine tower... Someone is on call and will be lowered to the correct location to pick up your wine. No such fun for me, since my bottle only cost $85:




We got pretty tipsy at the Red Square drinking some killer Martinis. Mine had 3 types of Vodka and passion fruit juice... Amy's had only one type vodka (she got screwed). Awesome ice bar kept my drinks cold (warm martini's suck!). Ran into a dude named Todd we met in Vegas who lived in France for 10 years playing professional basketball... pretty funny to run into somebody like that in such a tourist town. Amy and I both made $$$ at the $25 blackjack table.

Here are some friends we met at the table...



Travel-blog

Been traveling a lot for work lately. Crashed my rental car into a ditch (and guard rail) in Philly...barely made my flight back to Vegas. Drank a lot of whiskey with my boss (his treat) and got a lot of free booze on the plane. Got propositioned by a toothless hooker in Atlantic City. Consumed a lot of alcohol in San Diego. Drank beer and drove a golf cart around in the rain--who said Southern Cali is sunny??? Got propositioned 100 times to buy a bag of avocados in SD... Jeezus.

Boardwalk in Atlantic City as viewed from my hotel room (note to self, do not turn right when leaving the Irish Pub... that is toothless hooker land):




Reno was fun too... like a very small Vegas 100 years ago:




My last trip back to Vegas, look what was waiting for me at the Valet (wish it were mine):







Work-blog

Managing 2 out of Harrah's Top 10 IT projects. Too much work to even keep straight. Hell of a challenge, and we'll see if I can do it all.

Family-blog

Logan started crawling last week and has been in just the best of moods for almost a month straight. He is talking up a storm. Prozac is coming to Vegas in April.

Baby-blog

Tons of my friends are having babies... Eban and Barb just welcomed Seth Andrew to the world (Congrats guys!!!). Julien and Aimee should welcome a Koreo-merican Frenchy to the world any day now.

Pics to be posted soon...

I experienced my first celebrity sighting in LV on Friday. I was at our corp offices in Caesars Palace.. well technically I was on my way out, when guess who popped into the employee elevator? Billy Crystal. I was getting off the elevator, and he was getting on. I held the door open for him and managed to mutter "hi." He said thank you and the door closed.

At first I wasn't even sure it was him... I mean he was a shorter, older guy with a large forehead. He was wearing a pair of old jeans and a baseball cap and alongside him was a CP security guard.

While walking the 200 miles through the casino and out to my car, everything began to make sense. CP was hosting the Comic Relief charity event that night, and Billy was one of the big 3 hosts. The huge statue of David in CP was wearing boxer shorts and a fake arrow through his head.

Anyway... there is the lame account of one of my random celebrity sightings that I have had in my life. This sure as hell beat seeing Stuart Scott (of ESPN "fame") at Barcelonas in Scottsdale, but it comes in 2nd to actually running into (literally) Tony Gonzalez at a KU vs Cal game during my undergrad at KU. He's a big man and almost knocked the wind out of me.

Well, I've been at my new job exactly two weeks, we are 95% settled in the new house, and I now have internet at home... all 3 things add up to life being pretty much back to normal.

So far I am really enjoying everything (although I haven't had to fork over that first mortgage payment yet!!!), and I am looking forward to growing some roots in the desert soil. Anyone who knows me also knows that I have had my roots in pretty much the same size pot for the past 8 years.

I also have to opportunity to go someplace new in the next month: Wonderful Biloxi, Mississippi. Oh yeah. Don't know what to expect there, but I am sure it will be different.

As an update to my previous posting, the house search in Vegas went well. We found a place that we can call home and are now waiting for the stuff to be complete (loans, paperwork, and closing date). I have my first walk-through inspection on Wednesday on the property and the final walk is next Tuesday.

Here is the view from the Master Balcony:



Even after they build the rest of the houses, we still ought to be able to see the lights and the fireworks very well.

I am writing this entry in Las Vegas looking out my hotel window overlooking the strip and a dead-nuts on view of the fake Eiffel Tower. Berk! I am drinking some whisky and coke and am dreaming a bit about the near future...

The purpose of this trip is business and very little pleasure. I am relocating my family up from Phoenix to take a new job that is a great advancement both personally (much more fun) and professionally (much more responsibility).

This afternoon following the early NFL games (Go Chiefs!!!), the family and I drove up to Las Vegas to begin our search for a new home. By family I mean wife, kid, and puppy in a 4-door sedan. This is the first time I have had a full car load in the trip up from Phoenix, and it was a lot more of a chore than I would have believed. Overall it went very well, but the last hour was just a bit too much for baby to handle.

First of all, we had to pack tons of stuff for the baby: Diaper bag, Pack and Play, clothes, toys, and his special play mat that he loves. The dog required some thought as well: Food, treats, bowls, water bottle for the trip, and a leash. We had to stop every 1.5 hours to feed the baby and let the dog stretch his legs. We still made great time (Dad has a lead foot--Shhhh!!!!). I didn't go crazy fast like I used to before Logan was born, but I had the cruise set at triple digits for most of the trip. My W8 averaged over 20MPG despite the terrain and speed.

Tomorrow the search for a new house begins...

Happy Birthday Logan!

3 Months tonight, my son Logan was born. Looking back, I can't believe 3 months have passed already! I am certainly coming into my own being a Dad and am looking forward to watching him grow up for the rest of his life.

I can't believe that he is smiling and talking up a storm. He loves when I speak to him in what my wife calls my "Frog Tongue." It is amazing how much French makes him smile and talk back... it has the same exact reaction for me whenever I have the opportunity to speak French. He loves sticking out his tongue and kicking his feet excitedly. He is already getting better on his depth perception, and he can almost reach out and grab an object without fail.

I have been trying to find something poignant to say about my experience 5 years ago today in lower Manhattan. I don't think there is anything I can type here to properly document and share what I felt and experienced that day.

I was less than 1 block away when the 1st plane hit up in a building on the 40th floor at a training seminar. I was almost direclty under the towers when the second plane hit--close enough to have to dive under a cement truck to avoid being hitten by glass and debris... To be exact, I was on the NW corner of Vesey and Church.

Two views of the building I was in (198 Broadway - See Roman Columns):



I had breakfast at a little bagel stand right by the World of Golf building. Notice the debris just a stones throw from where I entered and exited the building.



I remember standing in a crowd looking up 100 stories at the huge hole left by the first plane. I could barely make out the people way up there looking out the hole in the side of the building...barely bigger than dots. The crowd around me was very thick and reminded me of the times I spent in the pit at the concerts of my youth. The cacophony of voices around me still haunts me to this day and served as almost a reverse laugh-track to the events that unfolded during those next few minutes. More and more dots appeared at the diagonal slice in the building as time went on and the smoke grew thicker. As people jumped from the building, people around me screamed. "No" and "Oh my God" echoed. My most vivid memory of one set of jumpers who holding hands as they jumped. She was wearing a long dress, and he was wearing a polo shirt and pair of kahkis. I can still see the emblem in his shirt growing larger as he descended toward me.

At first everyone thought the first plane was an accident (hence the growing crowd around the WTC Plaza). Once the send plane hit, it was obvious to this dumb-ass Kansas that we were under attack. The thought of buildings falling also seemed very certain to me, and that is why I got the hell out of there immediately after the second plane hit. I can still see visions of the debris that I had to avoid on my way out of the Plaza. I saw literally dozens of shoes, money on the ground, hundreds of sheets of paper blowing around, and even what I thought to be a plane engine. Looking back, I realize that the engine was much to small to a proper plane engine from a 757.

An aerial view of where I was.

Five years later, I still repeat the same ritual that I started on 9/11/2002.

1) I get up early in the morning--especially now that I am on West Coast time.
2) Kiss my wife.
3) Turn on the news channels to catch the tributes, ceremonies, and moments of silence.
4) Watch the news for around 90 minutes remembering the events of that day in my life. The news generally recounts the events minute-by-minute. Once I see the first tower fall on TV, I generally shut it off and go back to my normal life. Today on CNN.com, they had a re-broadcast of the actual programs from 9/11/01... pretty cool actually. I still haven't been able to watch this.
5) Just as I did on Sept 11, 2001, I always go out for a full-fledged dinner of some sort to celebrate life. This tradition started with my friend and fellow-9/11 witness Eban visited a fine French Restaurant the night of 9/11 right of Lex Ave -- La Petite Auberge. I had some wonderful Pate, some killer chicken, and two bottles of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

Tonight, being a Monday, all French restaurants are closed here in Phoenix. As such, I will be eating a substitue meal tonight (fine wine from the cave de Goff will be served, bien sur), but the celebration shall remain the same.

9/11 - I will never forget.

The Grey Ceiling

With a newborn in the house, family visiting town, and a major project that is about to be implemented at work, Goff's spare time has been zero and none. I have a long list of topics that I have wanted cover in my blog, and I finally found a second to touch on one that has been provoking a lot of thought recently… "The Grey Ceiling."

I borrowed this term from a recent article I read in Fortune Magazine, but I have been thinking a lot about my career lately and its future. As a very young manager at work with a lot of responsibility, I have often remarked the large difference in how older managers treat me and how I treat my subordinates--both older and younger.

I have been reading a lot about the Generations lately. This whole concept is fascinating to me! My research has centered on trying to figure out where I fit in. People in my birth year can be part of Generation X, the MTV Generation, and Generation Y. 1979 is such a wonderful year, and I feel privileged to be categorized in so many different ways.

Wikipedia offered the following traits for 3 generations to which I "belong"…

Traits of Generation X:

* Need to redefine social norms and values
* Quick pace of advancement and innovation
* General detachment from parents lifestyles and normal society
* Disenchantment with the status quo and not wanting to participate in the system
* Nihilism
* Cynicism
* Overeducated
* Under employed
* Bored and underachieving

Traits of the MTV Generation:

* Fall of the Berlin Wall
* Grew up with Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the Simpsons.
* Rise (and fall) of the 2nd greatest generation of Rock (Alternative and Grunge) Music that ever lived (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Faith No More, Alice in Chains, L7, etc).
* 1st generation (8-bit) of home video games like Nintendo and Sega
* Rise of computer graphics
* Popularization of CDs and lead the early-adoption of DVDs (who needs tapes!)
* Death of Kurt Cobain
* Birth of electronic music and the rave culture
* Birth of Instant Messaging, the Internet, MP3s, Cell Phones

Traits of Generation Y:

* Suffered through the awful music crazes of late-Guns and Roses, Ace of Bass, MC Hammer, and Vanilla Ice.
* 2nd generation (16-bit) home video games like Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.
* Start of the post-alternative era (Green Day, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, etc) that paved the way for less talented, but more popular bands that the Culture War and Internet Generation love today (Korn, Blink 182, Good Charlotte—yuck).
* Start of the "Hip Hop" influence with Run DMC, etc.
* Grew up during the Dot Com boom.
* Cell Phones, Computers, etc are second nature.

How do I associate myself?

Wow. I'm confused already.

I can see parts of myself in each of the above categories. My personality, I would say, is very entrenched in that of Gen X. I am generally very nihilistic, cynical, and bored with most things in life. It takes a lot to really get me excited (well, apart from dumb-ass Phoenix drivers and Mizzou fans). I enjoy the fast pace of change in the world of today. I grew up with it, I can handle it, and I excel in situations that require constant reconsideration and fast reactions. I dislike the system and don't feel I should have to participate just because everyone else does.

In terms of the MTV Generation and Generation Y criteria, I associate myself more with the former. I have always been a video-game and computer nerd--even from a very young age. I still remember my first PC (an 8088 with an EGA video card!).

I was brought up in the "old school" world of card catalogs at the library (note the word library, and the fancy term they use now-a-days like Media Center). I remember cars that ran on regular gas. I remember when athletes played sports not because of the riches but because they loved the game. I ran a BBS during the heyday of 14.4k modems (Google FidoNet). Click on the link and search, my BBS is on there! I still remember my first 28.8k modem and how fast I thought it was. Even though I could only connect to my friend Derek's computer until the rest of the world caught up, we had a lot of fun with it!

I was really into the music of the MTV Generation (well, the alternative rock anyway) and still remember the day the day that Kurt Cobain killed himself. That day I remember thinking it was the end of an era, and that prophecy became self-fulfilling when band after band broke up during the following few years. I still remember my first two CDs: Nirvana's Nevermind and Faith No More's Angel Dust. I still own both of my original copies... I remember thinking how cool CDs were... no more rewinding and fast forwarding to find the song I wanted to hear. Track #3? Done.

In terms of Generation Y, I feel that I was definitely a pre-cursor to this movement. While I share many common traits with this generation, I believe that the acceptance I felt to the New World Order and technology changes were already set into motion by the MTV generation and Generation X. I was already pretty much grown when the Dot Coms started taking off, but that sudden wealth and prosperity of Generation X in Silicon Valley still motivates me to this day. One has to take a different path, but the example is still valid.

Next…

What exactly do I mean by the Grey Ceiling? How should Baby Boomers manage the MTV Generation and Gen Y folks on their teams? How should I bide my time until the Grey Ceiling is gone? How the MTV Generation will rule the world… Maybe sooner than later…

Oh yeah.

I got the grandparents coming into town in early October so that Mrs. Goff and I can have some quality adult time. Already on the agenda is a Chiefs football game (see previous entry), and now we have tickets to Tom Petty a few days before.

As always, Goff was able to score some quality seats to a quality event (Thank you, Tom Petty fanclub)!!!

Look for us in row 9 on the floor and say hi.

Thank you Grand-mere!!!!

The other day I had what I thought was going to be just another beer. With a 3-week-old baby in the house, quiet time is at a premium. I often only get 90 minutes of silence in a given day--often very early in the morning. On Saturday, I had a rare opportunity to have some time to myself in the mid-afternoon. Mama and baby were asleep, and nothing was on TV. First thing that came to mind to celebrate such an occasion: A cold beer. MMMmmmmmmmmm cold beer.

I went to the fridge and saw the six pack of Leffe Blonde sitting there. Perfect beer for such an occasion. I grabbed the bottle opener and popped off the cap. I raised the beer to my mouth (I could already taste it--at least I thought I could) when I remembered that I had a Leffe glass somewhere in the house. On the top shelf right behind the Heineken mug that my friend Mike smuggled back from Amsterdam, there she was. I love beer, and I'm not talking Coors Light or MGD... I mean real beer. During my time in Europe, I visited more breweries that I can count and often my travel plans were decided based upon the quality beverages of a given country. After all, travelling is a lot more fun if you are a bit inbibed. :)

I digress...

I poured the Leffe into the chalice with care. For any beer the amount of head at the top is crucial--especially any beer of quality. Careful I was to to leave approximately 1/2 inch of head at the top. Belgian and German beer is very particular in this aspect--each beer has its own special glass. The foam at the top is the introduction to the beer and helps the nose prepare the palate for the taste of the beer. Now for the first drink. Delicious. Leffe is a very strong blonde beer with a somewhat fruity taste that is very full bodied and a bit spicy at the same time. Very difficult to describe.




Now for the second drink. Still delicious. Now for the third... Sitting at my dining room table where a flood of memories came rushing back to me in the middle of that third drink. The story behind the glass I was using came back to me in very vivid detail.

Suddenly I was back in Paris. More specifically in the Latin Quarter. Even more specifically in a small plaza one block from the Sorbonne. I was sitting there with my friend Aimee and our travelling companion Katie. It was August 1998 in Paris, and I was just finishing up the same tasty beer before heading out to do some more exploring. We were sitting outside waiting for the check. Anyone who has been to Paris can attest to how difficult it is to leave a cafe... service takes forver and receiving l'addition is an even-longer ordeal. Damn 18% service compris (mandatory included tip). While waiting for the check, I remember having a very bright idea: I'm going to steal this glass. There were lots of people around, we were at a table pretty far from the inside of the cafe, and we had a typically French waiter. Perfect opportunity for some petty theft. Once the ladies were done with their drink, I put my back to the cafe and picked up the glass holding it like small football. After making it out of the plaza and down one more block to the Sorbonne, I managed to wrap up my glass in a dirty shirt and placed it carefully at the top of my backpack. SUCCESS! I even made it through Aimee's encouter with a mime right after I put the glass into my backpack.

For that small period of time--maybe 20 seconds--I was back into my past with all the detail, emotion, and wonder of the original event. I could have been Marcel Proust himself enjoying the madeline of his childhood. Actually I was. For just a split second, j'ai pu retrouver le temps perdu.