Bryan Landaburu (aka Reno Bryan, Willie Vega, and Fuze) | Dont call me a blogger

The Tonopah Tales

Does this this car-o-mine look a tad out of place here?  Every time I come through town in one of my cars I get the inevitable question, how much did that cost? Followed by, what are your payments?  These are typically from one of the kids at the MacDonalds or the fuel emporium.  I think, my god(sh), what on earth do these kids do to have a prosperous life?  Tonopah is dead folks...D E A D. Their industry: fuel, tickets, food.  How one lives here I don't know.

Unfortunately/fortunately I only get to stop by on my annual drive to the world of automobiles, SEMA. But I think this trip I am more excited than ever to do a little sociological experiment and proverbial slow down.  Just camp out here and see what happens here day-after-day, at night or better yet, maybe film a documentary on the trials and tribs of real life tonopah-ians(sp).  Talk to the characters, hear their stories, especially the life long residents.  If people watched those giggling twits Paris & Nicole on the Simple Life, I think people would watch my show too. 

Ahh...one of many in my file cabinet of mediocre, no-money generation ideas.

Ok...tank's full.  Viva 150mph!

WBV

Where in the world is Bryan Landaburu?

Off I go, into the wild blue yonder.  I was just able to spend the week with our clients www.idwholesaler.com at their HQ in Minneapolis and on my flight home I started thinking about my next set of travel and it was so overwhelmin' i had to write it down.  So, if anyone is wondering where in the world I am between now and the end of the year, here you go:

• Minneapolis - Client Meetings
• Las Vegas - SEMA, Client Meetings
• San Francisco - Client Meetings
• Atlanta - IAAPA, Client Meetings
• Las Vegas - Client meetings
• New York - Client Meetings, Vacation

I will post up photos from SEMA, IAAPA, and NYC from the road.  Excited to see our friends and clients in the coming weeks.  Fuze will also be on a travel embargo for the month of December while we wrap up client projects, catch up on year end billing and accounting, work on our new website, double the size of our offices, and assimilate our new employees.  Ever forward.

Over and out...

Willie Vega

More fun with travel...

You may or may not know I am a junkie for anything that makes my travel planning more efficient. As a person that flies every other week all over the world, I am beyond the training wheels that sites like Expedia, Travelocity, and especially Orbitz offer in terms of research and deals. I used to find myself pining for hours on all 3 sites...attempting in vain to find the best deal.

As important as NOT leaving any moolah on the table at time of booking, I have a level of travel that I am accustomed to...neighborhoods vs. airport, hip vs. every day, signature bed vs. standard king, gourmet restaurant & trendy bar vs. good proximity to the Waffle House...you get the picture.

Well, here is my short list of sites that I feel cut me closer to the chase when I research and book travel:

• www.kayak.com - Poles all major airlines & travel sites to return aggregate search results based on travel varriables.  Allows AJAX screen refreshes as you fine tune your selections. 1-click to purchase on major sites.  Major time saver.
• www.farecast.com - Allows you to browse airfares over a month period to determine the most economical day/time to fly a particular route.  if your travel days are flexible, you can save a bundle here.
• http://matrix.itasoftware.com - another offering...available now (once you create a free account).  Site gives you very powerful fare search tools.
• www.flyspy.com - similar to farecast above - site is still in beta and presently only available (as proof of concept) using Minneapolis as a hub.  Site has received honorable mention from authorities like wired, Fast Company, Tom Peters, etc.  Watch for this to be a splash when it rolls out nationwide...for now use farecast
• www.tablethotels.com - a collection of some of the finest hotels in the world...for hipster, metro dufas' like myself
• www.jdvhospitality.com - the largest hotellier in California...JDV has built their entire business on significantly and effectively branding hotels.  Each hotel carries only 5 key words that describe it, and each caters to a different personality type.  Check out their properties as you travel through California.

Some sites that still have value but are becoming less important to me are: expedia, travelocity, orbitz and even mighty TripAdvisor.  TripAdvisor is falling for me because i dont find that I think like everyone that posts opinion on that site.  You have to take reviews with a grain-of-salt.  I will say that I do enjoy the post-purchase tools that Orbitz has to offer (mobile alerts for flight times, delays, changes, and their mobile site is fast, powerful on my Treo) so as a result, i am always excited when Kayak finds me a deal where Orbitz is the drug of choice.

All in all, my loyalty lies in the best deal or best information...period.  It's high time that the major travel sites start to aggregate the rates and allow booking, or at lease pass us off to sites with the lowest fares ah-la the auto insurance companies (progressive).  The travel sites simply must keep up with the web 2.0 offerings or they will find themselves where they left traditional travel agencies a few years ago...out of business.

Willie Vega.

Crocs are a crock of shyte

Will someone tell me what the craze is all about with these shoes called Crocs? Unlike $25 Voss water, I cant even blame it on advertising or hype because this seems like a grass roots catch on and they're not even that expensive. Honestly... 

You may think, what self respecting man would be caught dead wearing these? I say, let me tell you...I just saw a grown ass man wearing these very shoes walking out of the brewery downstairs with a keg.  All I could think of was, what kind of a swell party he will be havin' with those shoes and all that beer.  Imagine the conversation will wander from Hybrids, to war, to a slide show of Burning Man photos, all over some tofu based meal, and a nice Woody Allen movie...the mind do wander.

Please people, do not jump on this band wagon.  And for god sakes keep your kids out of these...kid wears shoes like that, he'd have to kick his own ass.  Talk amongst yourselves...

Willie B. Vega.

Entertainment = Engagement

Ok y'all...i came across this in my journ this morning and it is advertising...yes...bloody advertising.  And worse, it is from skeevie (so they say) Microsoft.  For me, this is a next level answer to Apple's anti-intelligence crappy TV campaign.  Better execution, better engagement, and frankly better skin in the game.  Microsoft is going all-in with the launch of Vista, and it WILL connect with the masses.  I encourage you to set your disdain aside and watch this video...its funny.

 

Then, look at the micro-site they launched for Vista.  http://www.clearification.com/

Both are genius. Demitri Martin makes this a winner.  The moral of the story...Apple, you're not cool because your CEO lives in black turtlenecks. Your TV spots with snide Justin Long (who, was funny getting hit in the face with a wrench in Dodgeball) make the assumption that the masses are all idiots.  This launch campaign from Microsoft Vista shows that they too are creative.  Apple...don't poke the tiger.  They can crush you...

Je'qui,

Willie B. Vega.

The Reno Tales...

I am convinced our ideas for a bar/lounge will fly. More to come...

WBV