Vienna was a beautiful city. Clean, rich with history, and both trendy while still retaining its classic history. We were lucky enough to grab an AirBnB with Thomas whom showed us around the city and introduced us to some great restaurants, bars and wines. Time and time again we are shown just how much the people you meet in a city will impact your stay there.
We tried foods, desserts and visited some of the many museums this town has to offer in the videos below. Enjoy!
Istanbul is one of our (if not the) favorite cities we visited. With 30M people, ancient monuments, beautiful skylines, gorgeous coastlines, a mix of religion and culture and delicious food it is hard to see why not.
Okay, fair warning this is, as my friend Kanad would say, “Nerdy Gigabyting” stuff.
For all you Star Wars fans out there, and even some op engineers that may not like Star Wars check out these hops in your terminal shared with me my friend and co-worker Jason P.
#> traceroute 216.81.59.173
For those of you that are curious about what the hell a traceroute is, it is a way to see the set of network hops taken to get to the destination in question. For instance, when you visit http://www.seanshadmand.com from your computer the request is sent to your local network, then a nearby network and then the next switching and moving between networks until it arrived at the network that holds my website. Just ike taking multiple roads to get to and from work your request must travle through different “intersection” to get to a web page.
Sean-Shadmands-MacBook-Pro:~ seanshadmand$ traceroute seanshadmand.com
traceroute to seanshadmand.com (54.245.121.115), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 10.4.11.1 (10.4.11.1) 3.884 ms 1.013 ms 2.993 ms
2 10.4.1.1 (10.4.1.1) 0.842 ms 0.977 ms 1.194 ms
3 50-0-241-217.dedicated.static.sonic.net (50.0.241.217) 9.055 ms 8.422 ms 10.212 ms
4 gig1-28.cr1.colaca01.sonic.net (70.36.228.97) 9.576 ms 6.047 ms 7.426 ms
5 po3.cr1.lsatca11.sonic.net (75.101.33.166) 8.560 ms 9.594 ms *
6 * * *
7 0.xe-6-0-0.gw.equinix-sj.sonic.net (64.142.0.185) 6.043 ms * *
8 * equinix01-sfo5.amazon.com (206.223.116.177) 13.506 ms *
9 * 205.251.229.173 (205.251.229.173) 49.171 ms *
10 205.251.232.70 (205.251.232.70) 38.752 ms
205.251.232.112 (205.251.232.112) 32.057 ms
205.251.232.68 (205.251.232.68) 34.793 ms
11 205.251.232.141 (205.251.232.141) 29.312 ms 32.983 ms
205.251.232.159 (205.251.232.159) 41.429 ms
12 205.251.232.165 (205.251.232.165) 34.375 ms 35.858 ms 64.349 ms
13 ec2-50-112-0-241.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com (50.112.0.241) 41.451 ms
ec2-50-112-0-163.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com (50.112.0.163) 30.499 ms 28.531 ms
Here you can see the request working its way from our local network to our Sonic.net provider all the way down to the network hosting my site, Amazon.
Okay, so here is what the original traceroute I mentioned above did in 64 hops – the following is a spoiler alert, do not scroll down if you want to try it yourself 🙂
Sean-Shadmands-MacBook-Pro:~ seanshadmand$ traceroute 216.81.59.173
traceroute to 216.81.59.173 (216.81.59.173), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 10.4.11.1 (10.4.11.1) 1.586 ms 0.751 ms 0.748 ms
2 10.4.1.1 (10.4.1.1) 0.863 ms 0.922 ms 0.976 ms
3 50-0-241-217.dedicated.static.sonic.net (50.0.241.217) 9.179 ms 7.557 ms 11.639 ms
4 gig1-28.cr1.colaca01.sonic.net (70.36.228.97) 9.738 ms 8.369 ms 6.678 ms
5 po3.cr1.lsatca11.sonic.net (75.101.33.166) 7.323 ms 50.077 ms 7.756 ms
6 0.xe-5-1-0.gw.pao1.sonic.net (69.12.211.1) 6.980 ms 12.417 ms 6.569 ms
7 0.xe-6-0-0.gw.equinix-sj.sonic.net (64.142.0.185) 5.534 ms 5.873 ms 5.865 ms
8 10gigabitethernet2-3.core1.sjc2.he.net (206.223.116.37) 6.746 ms 13.966 ms 12.247 ms
9 10gigabitethernet14-7.core1.lax2.he.net (184.105.213.5) 26.900 ms 20.975 ms 22.262 ms
10 10gigabitethernet2-3.core1.phx2.he.net (184.105.222.85) 74.895 ms 40.622 ms 29.217 ms
11 10gigabitethernet5-3.core1.dal1.he.net (184.105.222.78) 56.980 ms 55.502 ms 54.686 ms
12 10gigabitethernet5-4.core1.atl1.he.net (184.105.213.114) 75.773 ms 74.998 ms 72.689 ms
13 216.66.0.26 (216.66.0.26) 73.062 ms 74.324 ms 72.802 ms
14 * * *
15 episode.iv (206.214.251.1) 116.403 ms 130.009 ms 112.626 ms
16 a.new.hope (206.214.251.6) 111.127 ms 112.484 ms 109.912 ms
17 it.is.a.period.of.civil.war (206.214.251.9) 109.559 ms * *
18 * rebel.spaceships (206.214.251.14) 112.966 ms *
19 * * striking.from.a.hidden.base (206.214.251.17) 114.395 ms
20 * have.won.their.first.victory (206.214.251.22) 114.337 ms *
21 * * against.the.evil.galactic.empire (206.214.251.25) 136.658 ms
22 during.the.battle (206.214.251.30) 116.953 ms 115.696 ms 112.170 ms
23 rebel.spies.managed (206.214.251.33) 110.094 ms 112.563 ms 114.632 ms
24 to.steal.secret.plans (206.214.251.38) 110.638 ms 109.706 ms 109.454 ms
25 to.the.empires.ultimate.weapon (206.214.251.41) 110.453 ms 114.561 ms 114.792 ms
26 the.death.star (206.214.251.46) 113.295 ms 115.245 ms 115.005 ms
27 an.armored.space.station (206.214.251.49) 163.362 ms 113.893 ms 114.685 ms
28 with.enough.power.to (206.214.251.54) 115.263 ms 111.979 ms 117.865 ms
29 destroy.an.entire.planet (206.214.251.57) 114.727 ms 113.755 ms 126.718 ms
30 pursued.by.the.empires (206.214.251.62) 115.042 ms 116.474 ms 110.436 ms
31 sinister.agents (206.214.251.65) 113.995 ms 115.831 ms 115.973 ms
32 princess.leia.races.home (206.214.251.70) 111.079 ms 131.545 ms 115.804 ms
33 aboard.her.starship (206.214.251.73) 111.702 ms 116.699 ms 113.923 ms
34 * custodian.of.the.stolen.plans (206.214.251.78) 120.468 ms 116.254 ms
35 that.can.save.her (206.214.251.81) 112.573 ms 117.197 ms 123.432 ms
36 people.and.restore (206.214.251.86) 110.282 ms 119.757 ms 114.538 ms
37 * * *
38 0-----i-------i-----0 (206.214.251.94) 134.709 ms * *
39 * 0------------------0 (206.214.251.97) 131.887 ms *
40 * * *
41 0----------------0 (206.214.251.105) 116.773 ms 114.683 ms 111.513 ms
42 0---------------0 (206.214.251.110) 114.764 ms 111.789 ms 114.402 ms
43 0--------------0 (206.214.251.113) 111.076 ms 116.629 ms 111.154 ms
44 0-------------0 (206.214.251.118) 112.852 ms 114.205 ms 111.433 ms
45 0------------0 (206.214.251.121) 115.202 ms 112.044 ms 114.663 ms
46 0-----------0 (206.214.251.126) 201.307 ms 111.747 ms 117.750 ms
47 0----------0 (206.214.251.129) 116.196 ms 111.185 ms 110.688 ms
48 0---------0 (206.214.251.134) 110.780 ms 114.799 ms 113.196 ms
49 0--------0 (206.214.251.137) 113.402 ms 115.738 ms 114.843 ms
50 0-------0 (206.214.251.142) 113.381 ms 111.589 ms 116.851 ms
51 0------0 (206.214.251.145) 116.478 ms 111.657 ms 116.318 ms
52 0-----0 (206.214.251.150) 115.002 ms 115.580 ms 116.904 ms
53 0----0 (206.214.251.153) 138.367 ms 115.620 ms *
54 0---0 (206.214.251.158) 113.654 ms 111.288 ms 111.488 ms
55 0--0 (206.214.251.161) 117.350 ms 118.801 ms 147.315 ms
56 0-0 (206.214.251.166) 114.342 ms 120.037 ms *
57 * * 00 (206.214.251.169) 118.554 ms
58 i (206.214.251.174) 117.896 ms * *
59 * by.ryan.werber (206.214.251.177) 150.234 ms *
60 blizzards.breed.ccie.creativity (206.214.251.182) 115.374 ms * *
61 * please.try.again.tracerote.to.obiwan.scrye.net (206.214.251.185) 120.250 ms 146.107 ms
62 read.more.at.beaglenetworks.net (206.214.251.190) 116.038 ms * 115.467 ms
Well, when they are supercharged and upgraded from a turbo Lamborugini the answer is – obviously amazing!
The experience was so cool that I felt like it was worth more than just a Facebook post to describe it all. It was nighttime so the video I got below doesn’t show much, but the sounds you hear are all 100% genuine. And I swear I got into the car trying to be as unbiased as I could be. How much of a difference could it REALLY feel like? Right? I figured it would be fun, fast, and exciting, but nothing too jarring.
Well, I immediately realized how wrong that presumption was. Almost all of my body’s senses were involved. As we pointed the car toward the straight and empty road you could feel the car tense up. It didn’t necessarily rumble like a muscle car, but you could feel the power simmering up behind you. The sound was tough to describe. It was as if all the air around us began to be sucked into the car with a “just switched the jet engines on”-esaqe sound. Actually you know what it sounded like? It sounded like the proton packs did when the Ghostbusters switched them on.
So the car tenses up, the jet engine sound spins up, and the pedal drops. Boom! I’m not sure if it was just from the overload of all my senses going off, as the jaring impact of the car lifted me from the back of my seat, as I felt the front of the car lifting of the ground, but the lights in the road started to blur. It sort of blurred like the way the movies depict the Star Trek Enterprise jumping into warp speed. You could hear the popping of the transmission, and the switching on and off of the turbo charges. It was a large thudding sound.
The funny thing was the whole experience didn’t even leave 2nd gear, and you could tell that there was so much of the car left tucked away.
Have you ever played Sonic the hedgehog? Man, what a classic! The objective: Get your hedgehog, named Sonic, to jump, run and even roll through a stage, avoiding the array of animal-ish enemies, only to reach a guarded exit, protected by your arch nemesis, Dr. Evil. Beat him and the entrance to the next level is opened. Keep this up, level after level, enemy after enemy, and you will win the game. — But wait there’s more! If you are attacked without a collection of magical “rings” in your possession, you will die. With one or more rings you can narrowly avoid death by attack.
So which was more important, getting to the next level, or acquiring the rings? Well, any kid would tell you: Duh, both! Obvi. If you only collect the rings you may never get to the end of the level. Alternatively, if you only try to get to the end of the level, rendering yourself ringless, you dramatically decrease your chances of survival.
Of course, one could play the perfect game, dodging all would be attackers, and avoiding falling off cliffs to a spikey-floored doom. By doing so you would indeed win the game, just as anyone else. But who could make it through all those levels without one misstep, one slipped finger, or distracted moment when your Mom calls you down for dinner? I’m going to take a stab at it and say — not a single person. So, thanks to those gracious creators at Sega, you were given those wonderfully magic rings, giving you a fighting chance. You and everyone else jumped at the opportunity, capturing as many rings as you could. You mitigated risk, balanced your options, and grabbed on to what ever you could, outside of the clearly laid goal of completing the level, to of course do just that, complete the level and win the game; achieve success.
That is not a theme reserved for just hedgehogs named Sonic, or any game for that matter. Success is a goal some of us can see, and once we see it, we direct our focus directly at achieving it. But it is often that deterministic direction that creates a far more subtle misdirection.
Nine out of ten startups fail, right? I bet most of them are hard workers and/or have great ideas and/or have a focus and/or goals. A major hurdle to overcome, one that is far less obvious then the cliche advice to work harder/smarter, and the basis for why so many startup fall victim to those one-in-ten odds, is that it is the very focus on the goal that can cause the unbalance in your business, and ironically dooms your chances in achieving it.
Success may live on a straight-line, but the line seen is not necessarily the path to take. The best path is almost always one that dances around the line formed. Looking away, towards an entirely different direction, can reveal a path with far less hurdles when the focus is returned to the goals directive. You must let something go in order to truly have it — a cliché theme that works in almost any environment, and often takes a lifetime to master. Simply put, our “rings” come in the form of friendships, support systems, a passion for what you do, mistakes that need to be made, failures to learn from, vacations to escape to, and random ideas that inspire. When we remember to grab onto those rings when the opportunity to do so arises, or even sometimes when it doesn’t seem like it can, we will be far more able to last the “attacks” the startup game will inevitably throw our way.
So my fellow hedgehogs, should you grab at all the rings you can, even if at times by doing so you are unable to race towards the goal? Most definitely! Any kid who had a sega will tell you: you have to do both. Duh! Obvi.
Was just introduced to me by a friend. At first I thought it was just another try to be funny blog — and in most ways it is, but there are some things about it that I thought were clever. One, they set up the forum in an interesting way — you must form your comments in the form of Dear ___, ___, sincerely ____. It is designed nicely and instead of ordering comments up and down you tag them with one of the following sentiments (alot like the yelp tag comments options)
HOW DARE THEY
YOU’RE A DOUCHE
HILARIOUS
I LIKE THIS
UMM, WTF?!
Which actually covers the initial emotions of each comment accurately. I laughed so its worth a shout.
Life has two very distinct points. Birth and death. You cannot escape these points and the run in only a single suggestion. As you may know the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. COnversly the only way you can increase the distance between two very static points points is to focus less on the fairly impossible task of moving sad points but the extremenl easy tasks of increasing the diversions and curvatures of the path itself.
I. Life has two very distinct points — birth and death. You cannot escape these points, and the path always runs in a single direction.
II. As you may know the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. You cannot increase the distance between these two points because they are static. Often times people focus on the fairly impossible task of changing the final point, death. It is far easier to increase the quantity of diversions/curvatures of the path itself. You cannot control the points, but you CAN control the path.
III. I think that’s why we all know instinctualy that increasing our experiences, taking chances, and traveling “off the beaten path” is so very important to living life. It is the only way you can “extend” your life.
Do not plan for death and do not take the next obvious step so quickly when given a path. Live the longest richest life possible by pulling yourself out of any path plainly laid out, for a a clear path is a short one with one very obvious conclusion.
What we are talking about here is the grasping of some greater force, call it fate or kismet, that can be harnessed if one is willing to give themselves up to natures will and allow this ‘force’ to guide them through their day. I have done my research my friends and can safely say that if you live in a city such as DC, NY, LA, SF or even Huntington Beach, CA you have an amazing story awaiting your discover right outside your door any day of the week. There is no need to plan, no need to find a buddy, no need to check the news paper for events. Nope, you and the city can work together to create an amazing night. It all lives within the faith and trust you give your cement filled provider.
Spring Stroll
Persue the unexpected
You must give in and recognize the unexpected pleasures that can only be found when walking aimlessly through a bustling city. Is it a pleasure that can only be understood while doing so. Much like Martin Buber wrote in “I and Thou”,:
it is within the moment that understanding is achieved. The moments after a moment is realized the human mind begins to analyze it, it begins to process the moment thrusting it away from the experience you’re having and into your memory, or it will begin trying anticipate what should be expected to happen next; the experience itself is short lived and is felt – not understood.
Every time you leave your house and you give your fine city a chance to express itself it will return the favor with a parade you didn’t know about, a race that wasn’t on your calendar, a must see sculpture to see thats not on your to-do’s, an unfortunate accident that will be seen on the news to your suburban counterparts only hours after you have taken it in, or a simple interaction with a new or old friend that you didn’t expect in a part of town neither of you have any good reason being in. Adventure must be your middle name and patience must be your side kick.
The rules are fair and must be followed to a T and with complete acceptance both of the mind, the body and the spirit. They are as follows:
Simple Version (Bill of Nights Lite):
1) Go out early on a beautiful day
2) Don’t expect anything more then getting the chance to experience your city
3) Don’t make plans or make phone calls to see what your friends are up to
4) Push your self to stay out all day and night, do not go home till after midnight
Full Body Version (mmmm…..Sooooo meaty):
1) You must pick a beautiful day. Good weather and good sun is key
2) You must leave the house early, no later then 11 AM
3) You cannot have any expectations or plans set up for the day.
4) You must be prepared to enjoy the day and nature for what it is, do not expect to drink, or have “fun”. Focus more on getting to know your city, enjoying the day and being alone with your thoughts
5) You can not call a friend, you can answer calls but you can not make calls at any point of the night to see what going on with others. Doing so will derail the fate that nature has worked so hard to prepare that you have no chance of foreseeing.
Rules
6) You must go into any bar, restaurant or diner that catches your eye. If you have even the slightest of curiosity – follow it. Even if it’s to just go inside the establishment and walk around to get a feel for it and leave.
7) You must force your self to have a beer, snack or coffee at some of these places. Try your best not to convince yourself otherwise, walk in!
8) Make small talk with strangers. I know this is tough for many of you, especially the shy ones, but as a recovering shyaholic I must tell you every chat has possible outcomes that grow exponentially greater when you and your world are combined to help permiutate the possible outcomes; onother words its necessary to shake your destiny up a bit. Small talk with strangers when you’re by yourself is like a brilliant chef throwing spices into a soup that allows for an unexpected taste to dazzle his customers. I learned from traveling throughout Europe that it was the necessity to experience my surrounding on a budget that forced me to asked questions about where to go, how they like their town etc. As Blanche DuBois put it , Always depend on the kindness of strangers
9) Wear sneakers
10) If you get tired sit on a bench but don’t get too comfortable, keep walking and exploring new neighborhoods. There is always a dip of excitement a few hours into the adventure. It’s normal and is a hump that needs to be passed much like a cramp you would get in a race.
11) Observe your surrounding do not stare at the ground
12) Do not have head phones on. The city is bustling with activity and you may just find, as I always have, someone you know in a random part of town bump into you. It’s amazing how bloody often this happens!
13) You must stay out till after midnight and not in any single place….once again keep moving
14) say yes. If you do see someone you know and they ask you to come with them for lunch or a beer etc….go!
15) Always leave one opportunity experienced for another new presented opportunity. Allot of people go wrong here. The night turns out great early, they get excited that The Bill of Nights worked and get too comfortable in that experience to entertain the possibility of a different one. A new request comes in and is turned down, the person thinking that the night was already success…it is not a success until you are out after midnight and interacting with all possible out comes. See 3+4
——————-
Remember it is not a single event your are perusing rather it is the night as a whole. Experience new things, new neighborhoods, all new adventures every chance you get. I know it snot easy. I catch myself making mistakes now and again but stick to the mantra and correct myself as soon as I can. I have had an amazing night implementing The Bill of Nights 100% out of the 10-12 times I’ve done it. Not only that, but close friends that implemented it correctly have also succeeded in an amazing story about unexpected encounteres and memorable experiences.
If you believe in your city, your city will believe in you!
…
P.S. If you have a good or bad experience from your Implementation of “The Bill of Nights” leave it. Share your experience and comments 😀
Sean Shadmand 