So after giving the acceptance speech for the Jolt Award, Paula, our fearless Product Manager, got a chance to be on the ScobleShow. That meant she had a chance to talk about Seapine, product development, and all that kind of stuff.

Well, actually, it may have been before the Jolt Award. And come to think about it Paula might not be completely fearless given her anxiety about giving an interview on camera. On the plus side the other 50% of the opening paragraph of this post is completely true. Besides, she pulled off the interview with aplomb even after I kept saying things like:

“You know that show is watched by like millions of people.”

Thinking back on it now I wonder if I’m to blame for that nervous twitch she developed right before she left. Nah, it was probably just something she ate.

Anyhow here are some links.

The full blown interview. This video has the entire conversation.

The demo. There’s even a cookie at the end of it. Seriously. A really expensive one too.

And a little “best moments of” video. This one is kind of like those catch-you-up-on-an-entire-season shows of the full interview. To put it into cookie terms, to continue a theme, it is like those little 100 calorie Oreo packs.

When I was in the sixth grade I found myself as my class’ representative in the school spelling bee. This is particularly amusing today given my “Let’s see, I before E except after C unless, ah screw it, CMD-:” tendencies.

Anyhow, I clearly remember my final word in the competition because it was the one I flamed out on. It was because of this mistake that my goals of fame and glory of 1st place were replaced with a lowly 3rd place finish. Now admittedly, this was a long time ago, but I seem to recall it happening like this…

Judge: “You’re word is ’shrewd.’ ”
Me: “Err, can you use that word in a sentence?”
Judge: “You’re an idiot if you can’t spell shrewd.”
Me: “Yeah, um, can you spell that for me?”
Judge: *Condescending stare that only an elementary school spelling bee judge can give*
Me: “Right. Um, well. S H R E W…”
Judge: *Checks watch*
Me: “Uh… E D. SHREWED!”
Judge: *DING*
Crowd: *Groan*

As I slowly walked back to my folding chair on the school stage I thought, “You know, I’ll bet winning is a lot more fun than misspelling a freaking six letter word.”

A few years later I got a sweet taste of 1st place victory when I won the Fort Necessity photo contest in the Kids division. That division stuff is important because I was the oldest possible age to enter in that division. Therefore it doesn’t seem all that bad the girl that came in second was three years old and the third place guy was six.

(So what if they were a lot little younger. You gotta take it strong to the hoop or stay at home yo.)

As it turns out, years later I discovered that the fort I took a picture of was actually a replica built in the 70s as a tourist trap. I assume the government did it so that parents wanting to take vacations and instill “history” in their kids would stop and pay the entrance fee. In that regard it worked in spades.

By now I’ll bet you’re wondering where all this is leading. It is just my convoluted way in saying that today is a 1st place day rather than a 3rd place day. This is because last night at SD West TestTrack won the Jolt Award.

And we didn’t even have to pick on little kids or take pictures of a fake fort to do it.

So last week was a milestone, it was my fifth anniversary at Seapine. I remember when I took the job here, I was just a guy looking to make the good times roll again and to hopefully make my way onto Broadway.

Oh wait, that’s actually the plot to Staying Alive. Dear god, is this what this blog has come to, references to a Travolta movie that was directed by Sly Stallone with music by his brother Frank?

Excuse me for a moment.

*Bashes self in head with notebook computer*

Over the weekend I did get to fulfill a lifelong dream though. I had the opportunity to take a free throw on a real NBA court in a real NBA arena. Well, even if it was the Memphis Grizzlies FedEx Forum. (They are currently 15-46 and have the worst record in the NBA.)

Long story short, it was super fun, kind of surreal, and yes of course I missed the shot. I suppose that is just validation that I was smart not put all my eggs into the “Let’s see if I can make it into the NBA” basket.

Although if some NBA GM is out there reading this I’m more than happy to sign a 10-day contract…

Update: The story of how I got to shoot free throws, since it was asked in the comments.

Hmm, I suppose that I did leave out the whole backstory on the free throw. Funny, it is so clear to me, in that I have securely stored in my mind.

My college roommate lives in Memphis and for Christmas Jill gave me a plane ticket to go down and visit him. Part of the weekend was going to be catching the Grizzlies game, hopefully in some manner of high roller fashion. (No $10 cheapo seats for us, holla.)

Anyhow, all our great corporate connections resulted in exactly squat. No luxury boxes, no courtside seats, no chance to start at point guard. Although I’m not sure if that last option would be considered a good thing given the craptastic nature of the Grizz this year.

What did happen though is that we were able to score “Downtowner Night” tickets since my buddy has a house in downtown Memphis. This got us into a pre-game party that didn’t have enough food but had plenty of free beer, game tickets, and then tickets to go shoot free throws after the game. So getting down there was completely legit, by the book, not a single barrier was jumped.

Actually, the security was quite good in that we had more trouble getting OFF the court than we had getting on. By the time we were done messing around on the floor it took us three different tries at three different exits before the guard guarding the exit would let us through.

Guard: “I’m sorry sure, this exit is closed.”

Me: “Ah, right. Well, where do I get out then?”

Guard: “That exit over there is the one you want.”

Me: “Yeah, about that, I just tried to get out there and got the same answer. Although they were pointing at you. Is this some kind of basketball guard/usher humor? Mess with the heads of the customers kind of thing?”

Guard: “I’d keep working on the humor funny man, right after you keep working on the free throw shooting.”

Me: “Err. Saw that eh?”

Guard: *Nods*

Me: “I’ll just go try this other exit now.”

Update #2: Actual camera phone evidence!

The biggest disappointment of the night was that my friend’s wife had taken his digital camera with her to Chicago, leaving us with only a cell phone to capture the event with.