thinktrain: Rob Robinson

Thanks for cutting out the middleman, TPAC

Rob Robinson — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:25:46 +0000

Good call and good riddance: Nashville’s Tennessee Performing Arts Center will no longer use Ticketmaster for customer ticket purchases. I know I’m not alone in feeling like Ticketmaster has gouged event attendees with high and unnecessary fees for decades.

In an era when technology is shaking the music and media industries to their cores, it seems like poetic justice that a maligned monopoly such as Ticketmaster may also be taking it on the chin. I personally avoid Ticketmaster fees at nearly all costs, but this will make the effort a little bit easier. Thanks again, TPAC.

You are so Nashville if…

Rob Robinson — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:33:38 +0000

… you have a typo on the entry submission page for this year’s “You Are So Nashville If” issue. Oops. This is as good a time as any to remind everyone to get those YASNI entries in soon.

Tygard on the right track

Rob Robinson — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:53:54 +0000

I rarely agree with Metro Council Member Charlie Tygard on anything beyond our mutual devotion to the Nashville Predators. I don’t think I’ve said these words before, but I’m proud to see Tygard sponsoring a bill that would prohibit guns in Davidson County restaurants. I’m disappointed that this bill is becoming law next month, but I’d like to see counties and municipalities have the authority to opt out of it. What works in thw woods may not work well in more populated areas.

Knowledge won’t turn you gay

Rob Robinson — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:40:49 +0000

Thank goodness Metro Nashville Public Schools will now permit student Web access to lesbian, gay and transgender community Web sites that were previously restricted. I think we’re at our best as a society when we acknowledge that there are many opinions and perspectives on life, not when we’re pretending that we all think and live the same way. Acknowledging our differences gets us much farther than ignoring them ever will.

Arrogance is in the eye of the gunholder

Rob Robinson — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:15:59 +0000

Which is more arrogant: A governor exercising a right that is granted to him by the state constitution, or someone insulting him for doing so? I accept that Tennessee Firearms Association executive director John Harris isn’t pleased that Governor Phil Bredesen vetoed the guns-in-restaurants bill yesterday, but I think describing the governor’s veto as “futile” and “arrogant” is silly.

The General Assembly has every right to override the governor, but I’ll be curious to see whether it actually does. Though the bills were far less controversial, the legislature declined to override Bredesen’s five previous vetoes.

In my opinion, this is a bad bill that makes Tennessee less safe and creates opportunities for more loss of life, not less. Now that the governor has said the same, I hope members of the General Assembly will agree.

Things I learned at the Nashville Geek Breakfast

Rob Robinson — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:20:44 +0000

As I mentioned last month, it’s hard to sneak up on the Nashville Geek Breakfast,but that doesn’t mean that the geek breakfast can’t sneak up on you. I was running a little late this morning, but I still made it in time to find a seat. Here are a few things I didn’t know before I darkened the door at Noshville this morning:

Heather has held a $1 trillion dollar bill in her hand, thanks to her boss, a native of Zimbabwe. Because of rampant hyperinflation and severe poverty, though, that bill is essentially worthless despite its lofty-sounding denomination.
Heather’s employer, the United Methodist Church, supports many missionaries in Africa who are working to provide humanitarian relief in Zimbabwe and other countries. That’s a great cause, even if one part of Heather’s job involves trying to make travel arrangements for 18 different missionaries scattered across Africa this week. Wow.
Self-described “vernacular ninja” and writer Brett Henley is a Houston native who recently relocated to Nashville. As I’m sure other Houston transplants can understand, Brett’s been enjoying Nashville’s much lighter traffic problems even though he lives in jam-packed Green Hills. I guess traffic, like so many things, is relative.
Local hockey blogger Dirk Hoag made his geek breakfast debut this morning. Dirk and I tried not to dominate the conversation by flooding it with puck chatter, but sometimes that’s a challenge. Before we shifted to other subjects, we agreed that Preds broadcaster Pete Weber should be a natural on Twitter. Hopefully we’ll see him there someday, alongside fellow Preds broadcaster Tom Callahan.
Chuck is headed to Costa Rica on business next week for the third time in the past year, and he’s got the travel arrangements down pat. Unless you fly US Airways via Charlotte (like Chuck will on Monday), chances are that you’re going to pay $420 round trip to get there–because that’s what nearly every airline charges. US Airways will take you there for about $325.
Mitch Canter arrived this morning in style, wearing a beret and his newly received FreshBooks T-shirt, a gift from a pretty savvy company that responded quickly to Mitch’s Twitter praise. Smart thinking, FreshBooks.
Mitch has been busy lately with, among other projects, helping out Forrester Research blogger Jeremiah Owyang with an updated design for his blog. Nice work, Mitch.

I’m pretty sure most of these geeks paid their breakfast bills before they departed this morning, but somehow eight attendees did not. I’m figuring that they forgot, but this can’t be good news for our hardworking Noshville server. If you’re suddenly remembering that you had a great “free” breakfast this morning, please make sure you stop back by Noshville to remedy the situation.

NOTE: In the meantime, the late breakfast seating group decided to tip generously (in U.S. rather than Zimbabwean dollars, no less) to make up for the unpaid bills. I didn’t actually dine at Noshville despite attending the early seating today, but many thanks for this generosity, gang.

Other regions, not other counties, should be Nashville’s competition

Rob Robinson — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:32:33 +0000

Sooner or later, Davidson County and its neighbors need to answer a critical question: Are they competitors or collaborators?

If Nashville is going to continue to grow wisely and responsibly, we need to be thinking as a region, not individual counties. It seems to me that the outlying counties have plenty of incentives not to think regionally (and risk having to bear a proportionate share of the financial burden Nashville’s prosperity demands), and I hope that will change.

Like it or not, Nashville needs its surrounding counties, and the counties need Nashville. I’m glad to see sities such as Clarksville, Murfreesboro and Gallatin embracing that notion.

NOTE: My employer has worked to oppose development in Bells Bend in the past, though it isn’t engaged to do so at present. Though I’m personally opposed to such development, too, I cited the first linked article above because it’s an example of how Nashville’s individual counties spar with each other for business relocations. I’d rather see all of the counties work together to boost relocations to the region as a whole.

Dollar General agrees: Nashville is for all of us

Rob Robinson — Sat, 23 May 2009 20:17:41 +0000

Thanks, Dollar General, for offering support, rather than restrictions, for immigrants who are eager to participate in American society and are grateful to have arrived in a welcoming community in a free country. Who’d have thought that Elyass Halouf, a Sudanese native who now lives in Nashville, would have taken classes to learn English of his own free will? Thankfully, I did, and so did many other Nashvillians. This is a wonderful time to call such a great city home.

It’s the state fair that needs recycling

Rob Robinson — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:38:30 +0000

Recycling manure to power the Tennessee State Fairgrounds is responsible and ethical, but it’s only a start: The state fair itself is what really needs recycling. This outdated and poorly attended event needs a makeover, and a new location would provide a fresh start.

I hope the fair will either merge with the more popular Wilson County Fair or start over elsewhere in Davidson County. The fairgrounds property’s convenient location near downtown would make it very valuable for possible mixed commercial and residential use in the future.

Lyons loses game, wins respect

Rob Robinson — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:03:37 +0000

As a David Lipscomb High School alumnus, I’m plenty happy to see the Mustangs baseball team advance in the state tournament after defeating Dyersburg 3-1 yesterday afternoon. First baseman Tyler Lyons may have lost the game along with the rest of his Dyersburg teammates, but he definitely won my respect with his post-game comments:

Lipscomb took a lead 2-1 in the fifth when Clay Fuson scored on an error moments after being called out at first base to lead off the inning. [Lipscomb Coach Ernie] Smith, who noticed from the third base coaching box that Lyons pulled his foot off the bag stretching for second baseman Bryson Horner’s throw, spoke with both umpires and got them to confer. The home-plate umpire overruled his partner, sent Fuson to first base and put the Mustangs in business.

“I thought they did a good job working together,” Smith said of the umpires. “I figured those (Dyersburg fans) were going to shoot me.”

Said Lyons: “They made the right call switching it back. I definitely came off the bag.”

It would be easy in such a contentious situation to keep on arguing. It takes class to acknowledge the truth, even when it might have cost you a game. Tyler Lyons may or may not be a state champion this year, but he is an honest man. That ought to be worth much more.

NFL revenues will decide season length

Rob Robinson — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:35:53 +0000

What the NFL needs is fewer preseason games, not more regular-season contests. Unfortunately, as ESPN’s Len Pasquarelli points out, the former won’t come without the latter:

The opponents of change might argue that there is a certain symmetry to the 16-game season, that it has served the NFL well, and that nearly two generations of fans have become accustomed to it. The proponents might contend that, in the ongoing battle for disposable income, you’re basically standing still if you’re not moving ahead. And since the number of franchises isn’t likely to increase any time soon, the most logical areas for growth are in the number of games and the venues in which they are played.

I think the NFL’s 16-game regular season works just fine the way it is, and most fans would agree that its preseason schedule is painfully long. As usual, though, fans won’t make the decision, money will. That’s a shame.

Cleveland: Slinging stereotypes does little to dispel them

Rob Robinson — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:52:29 +0000

I’m not sure yet whether Nashville needs a medical trade center, but I do know that the city is well-known nationwide as a major health care capital. It’s very clear that Peter Lawson Jones, commissioner of Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County, doesn’t think of hospitals when he thinks of Middle Tennessee:

“I’m not terribly worried about the boast and the brag of those from Nashville. If we were building something for the Grand Ole Opry, they would have the edge on us. But Nashville is not known as an epicenter for health care as we are.”

I agree with Walker Duncan that Jones’ inflammatory comments were at best unnecessary, and they would certainly appear uninformed to most people with significant knowledge of America’s health care industry.

It seems disingenuous that a public figure from a city that has struggled for decades to escape negative public perceptions would resort to tired stereotypes when describing another community. If Cleveland expects the nation to respect the progress it is making as a city, Cleveland should do the same for the rest of the nation.

Vandy’s Moore may be much faster than Florida’s Harvin

Rob Robinson — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:40:02 +0000

I’d much rather have Vanderbilt’s D.J. Moore on my roster than Florida’s Percy Harvin, and I hope the Titans feel the same way. One reason is that Moore is more likely to stay on whichever roster he joins.

Harvin may not be headed for PacMan Jones territory, but since he’s already failed a league drug test that was announced with plenty of advance notice, he may have plenty in common with former Titan Travis Henry. Harvin is likely to be a recurring headache for the team that chooses him. I think Tennessean commenter fanman22 makes a valid observation about the significance of players’ 40-yard-dash times, too:

The biggest flaw in the 40-yard timing is that it does not take into account “game speed”. Rarely will a player ever have a 40 yard sprint on the football field. DJ plays fast. He has tremendous recovery speed. He will be a solid pro wherever he ends up.

Moore is now likely to be drafted in the second round than the first, and he may well be a bargain in that spot in hindsight. No matter where he winds up, I have a feeling he’ll be much faster than Harvin–because he’ll be on the field. Harvin may not be for long.

Things I learned at the Nashville Geek Breakfast

Rob Robinson — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:29:50 +0000

If there’s one thing you should know about the Nashville Geek Breakfast, it’s that you can’t sneak up on this pesky sucker. As I often do, I arrived a little early (around 7:20 a.m.) to find one table nearly full, and I had a great time as usual. Here are a few things I didn’t know before I darkened the door at Noshville this morning:

Head geek and event founder Dave Delaney can probably find Noshville in his sleep after nearly a year-and-a-half of breakfasts, but until today, he’d never entered the restaurant’s restroom. That may indeed be too much information, but it’s pretty remarkable, too.
Zak Keiper is a fellow geek, and he’s also my neighbor in Sylvan Park. Even better, he’s the older brother of longtime Geek Breakfast member Lizzie, who was struggling with allergies this morning and didn’t make the trip. Hope you feel better soon, Lizzie.
Nicholas W. Young hosts more podcasts than any one person should attempt, including one with Lizzie. As Nicholas recently learned, podcasting is even tougher when your hard drive dies in the middle of creating an episode. A hard drive that won’t respond to manual spinning and a night in the freezer is capital-D dead, and it ain’t coming back. Ouch.
If it were up to me, I’d definitely let Nicholas have the keys to young.com, which doesn’t seem to be reaching its full potential at present. Unfortunately, the decision isn’t mine, but a geek (in this case, Nicholas) can dream.
The Preds may not be in the playoffs this year, but neither are Dave Delaney’s hometown Toronto Maple Leafs, one of the NHL’s original six teams. As a rabid hockey fan, I knew that part already, and I knew about the Leafs’ long-suffering and often disgruntled legions of fans, who haven’t had a Stanley Cup championship to celebrate since JFK was America’s president.
I didn’t know that Toronto fans have a habit of celebrating even first-round playoff game victories like they’ve won the NHL title. Why? Because they have a keen sense of sarcasm, knowing that their team is unlikely to advance deep in the postseason. Ouch. Nonetheless, their strong support of Canada’s national pastime may someday be rewarded with a second NHL team. I just hope Nashville can keep its single franchise at least until my great-grandkids are lacing up their skates.
Speaking of hockey, the group did wind up talking today about the ever-widening hockey blogosphere. James Mirtle, a former reporter for the Toronto Globe and Mail who now blogs independently, is one of many covering the sport via the Web. Mirtle visited Nashville in February to see the Preds in person, including the team’s 8-0 whitewashing of the Red Wings.
I was also glad to see Rob, Heather and Chuck at today’s breakfast, though we didn’t have as much time to talk. Glad you guys could make it.

If you haven’t yet attended a Nashville Geek Breakfast, you’re truly missing out. May’s event is only a month away, so do yourself a favor a make plans to attend. Hope to see you there.

English Only: Do the right thing, finally

Rob Robinson — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 13:00:42 +0000

Now that it’s been officially confirmed that nearly all of the money behind the failed English Only campaign came from a single out-of-state source, I’d like to see the group’s remaining $5,913 go to a more worthy cause. I agree with this Tennessean commenter:

Why not throw open the books guys and give that money to some local agency that you support, maybe even one that attempts to help immigrants learn the language that you want them to use.

I hope the English Only folks will do the right thing and donate the remaining funds to help immigrants or to support another worthy cause, but I’m not getting my hopes up.

[Full disclosure: My employer participated in the Nashville for All of Us Campaign. I regularly stated my personal opposition to the English Only initiative long before the company was hired to assist the campaign.]