Fraize Dotcom

I got behind on my predictions for 2008, so I’m hereby declaring my predictions for 2008 to be 100% accurate.

However, I’d like to actually get some real predictions in this year. I can’t be afraid to fail. I used to enjoy reading back issues of PC Magazine, and read John C. Dvorak’s. Some of his predictions would be frighteningly accurate, and some would be bizarrely off. 

So, broken out into subject areas, I hereby offer you John Frazier’s predictions for 2009! W00T!

Easy Transition

1. Politics – Barack Obama will be sworn in (duh). The crowd-size will break records, and while the Hannity’s and Limbaughs out there will predict riots and crime, it will be shockingly calm. There will, however, be an assassination plot that will be foiled in the planning stages in the first half of the year, thank Buddha.

2. Middle East – More brinksmanship on the part of Hamas. More overreaction on the part of Israel. There will be a ground invasion of Gaza. The UN will attempt to negotiate another cease fire, and will pressure Israel to allow Red Cross in.

3. Economy – More job losses in store for the first three quarters of this year, but there will be a slight rebounding in the 4th quarter as investments in bargain stocks kick in. Green tech will be seen as a huge growth market. 

2007 Chevrolet Volt Concept

4. Auto Industry - The auto-bailout will be realized by March. Plants will be sold to other industries, and kept open, but labor unions will have to make serious concessions, particularly with pensioners. The Chevy Volt will be released early as gas powerplant hybrids get announced by other manufacturers.

5. Computer Industry – No new iPhone this year. Quad-Core Macbook Pros. Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard” will be released, but sales will be lower than 10.5’s release. 4 new “Android” phones will be released. Dell stock won’t make it out of the teens until speculation of a takeover. Amazon’s ass-kicking in the holiday will fuel speculation that they could buy out a major retailer. I’m thinking Target. Kindle 2.0 will be released and be thinner with better controls, more memory, and cheaper – $249.99.

Enterprise NCC-1701

6. Entertainment – The Star Trek will be a modest hit. One #1 weekend, but will drop to #2 by the second weekend to “Angels and Demons.” It will be almost gone by the 3rd week with the release of Terminator Salvation. Amy Winehouse will either die, or get cleaned up – it’s really 50/50 there. Either way, the book deal will be amazing. 

That’s about it – check back 365 days from now, and we’ll do a wrap-up and see how well I did. If you have your own predictions, post them here!

After the holidays are over, my stress levels actually rise! Oh, sure – Christmas, and the responsibilities thereof, can make most people stabby, but I never really had a problem going to visit family, buying and wrapping presents, and such. However, my work requires that I go to a couple of trade-shows, and the two that I’m assigned to happen in January.

I wish I was staying here

First up is the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I like going to Vegas – the lights and silliness really appeal to me. Plus, I don’t gamble, so I can appreciate the casinos for their pure entertainment value. The musical beeping of the slots, and the jingle of coins is oddly welcoming.

The show itself is madness – not like Comic Con, where the crushing fanboys everywhere are muscling their way to catch a glimpse of Swoozie Kurz, but where there’s so much product being shown off, you have to set your crap-filter on medium-high, so as to avoid being drawn in by pretty lights. There are very few booth babes at CES anymore, having been banished to the automobile portion of the event.

New York Shocker

A week after that is the New York Gift Fair in, you guessed it, New York City. I do love visiting New York, but I would absolutely hate to live there. While it’s cool to have so much stuff available within walking distance, the city itself is filthy, and the people are unkind. The end-result is a population of people who have to deactivate so much sensation just so they can survive there. I’m sure there are people who will disagree with me, but this is just an outsider’s perspective of the Big Apple. 

I think of New York as the Small World ride at Disney. Fun to ride once, but to be trapped on that ride all day long would be hellish.

I’m watching Doctor Who. Again. Rose Tyler, Mickey the Idiot, and Christopher Bloody Eccleston! 

I'm the Doctor, by the way!

My friend Bob introduced me to the new series of Doctor Who a few years ago, and it was very silly and wonderful at the same time. Living plastic? Sure! Deadly aliens made from upturned garbage-cans? Why not? Human beings reduced to a sheet of skin and a brain in a bowl? Excellent. 

Heather and I got a hold of the Doctor Who Christmas Special “The Next Doctor” and watched it last night. It was a nice little Who adventure, with just the right mix of melancholy and hope to give a bit more depth to the Doctor. I loved the main villain in the story, and the idea of steampunk cybermen was brilliant!

Today, we’ve begun the last four series over. Watching it from the beginning again. Netflix was nice enough to add the first three seasons onto their XBox 360 Streaming service, which pleases me greatly.

I’ve realized that Christmas time is about transitions. Shifts in mindset, attitude, location, and emotion. This idea started on Christmas day, but it began back in Early December as I began to shift my work patterns to fit my 2008 “endgame.” My department changes strategy from “make sure everything is in stock” to “adjust, tweak, shift, and manage the inventory we have left.”

The actual dawning of this concept came from Jennifer who tweeted:

“At what age do we switch from anxiously waking up early to begging to sleep in?”

After which I, having just opened a most welcomed gift from my Bonnie Heather, replied:

“At what age do you transition to underpants and socks being awesome Christmas gifts?”

We hung out at my parent’s house in Burke, went to Heather’s brother’s place, then my Grandmother’s place in Alexandria. The Penn family filled my Grandma’s condo with love, laughter, and a giant inviting pile of cookies. But, when it came to the inevitable “grandkids picture,” I was struck with the concept of transition again.

Every year, and at nearly every family event, my Aunts pull out their cameras, and demand that all the grandkids get together on the couch and pose for a picture. It had always been a bit tiresome, but we endured it as happily as we could.

Here’s one from 1996 *I think*.

And here’s the one from Christmas Day, 2008.

Everybody’s changed, but they’re still the same cousins I remember. Just now, they’re far more interesting! Even the youngest, Laura, at just 14 years old, is becoming a little adult, and it’s so fascinating to watch her grow-up.

Christmas came and went faster than I expected, though. Before I knew it, the euphoria of presents, and sugar, had worn off, and I was just a lump on a couch. Just now, I’ve transitioned to a lump on the couch with a few more games, gadgets and clothes. Plus, a really nice new set of underpants and socks.