"Rio" and My Newfound Love for Birds

Seldom does an animated feature film impact me so deeply that I leave wiping away tears.  I look at my son, Colin.  He sits at the edge of his seat, intrigued -- kept the 3-D glasses on, the entire 90 mins.  Yes, the visual effects were splendid, the avian characters cute, and most importantly, you feel attached to a geeky blue macaw that can't even fly.

The storyline goes like this: Somewhere in a small town in Minnesota a timid macaw, Blu, lives with Linda, his owner for the last 10 years.  When they discover that there is only one other female blue macaw remaining, the two set for Brazil so that Blu can mate with Jewel (Anne Hathaway).

Interestingly, Rio is Fox, not Pixar, you couldn't tell.  The plot is solid, the music enchanting, the characters lovable.

As you stay gripped by the excitement, your compassion for the underdog leads you to root for Blu, to survive and ultimately to win over Jewel's heart.  But there is another bittersweet relationship with Linda who is perilously attached to Blu.  The story ends sweetly, albeit surprisingly.  You will have a difficult time staying still, your heart just wants to take a flying leap.

Barn Swallow

Seldom do I leave the movie theater, my mind spinning during my entire drive home from Herndon to DC -- seldom do I feel compelled to take action.  A movie is just a movie, unless it causes you to do something that you would normally just dismiss.

I was put to the test the very next day.  As my roommate and I were getting ready to head out for a 25 mile spin along the DMV loop, I noticed an injured bird in front of my house.  Her left wing was torn at the ligament, perhaps an attack by a hawk.  The swallow was completely black with an orange belly and a narrow yellow beak.

Normally, I would have  just walked away, not even noticing the bird in distress.  But I couldn't help but think of those laughing, lovable birds in "Rio."

The swallow tried to hop away from me, but my roommate and I quickly caught her and put her inside a cage in our and stocked her with plenty of food and water.

As frightened as the swallow was, we knew she wouldn't survive the night.  There were too many predators out here: stray cats, raccoons, hawks.  We had to take her in and nurse her back to health.  Tomorrow I will call the Maryland Ornithological Society to see if they can fix her wing.

Thanks to the geeky blue Macaw in "Rio",  my awareness for birds, their environment and hazards have been greatly heightened.  Thanks to "Rio," I've decided to get a female mate for my sun conure.

Update: DC Wild Animal control came and picked up our injured swallow the very next afternoon.  She was traumatized but well fed and rested.

Startup Weekend Baltimore -- Demo Day!

Photo by Jeff Tong (Keadworks)

The whole weekend Sat through Sun was spent writing code and developing the algorithm to make RUNIN Out real!


The only thing I stopped to do was get my car window replaced, buy a new Macbook and of course go for a short run to gather my thoughts.  Other than that, it was all backend work and all through the night. Thank goodness it was raining outside.

Senodja swung my house at 11:00 AM Sunday as I putting the final touches to our site.  We then jumped in her car and raced up I-95 towards Charm City, rehearsing our presentation on the fly.

Photo by Jeff Tong

All the teams at Bio Park  (Univ of Maryland) in Baltimore were very busy putting things together.  I had never seen so many people so focused on a project -- most of which were birthed on Friday night.


It's also amazing how Baltimore has evolved as a serious startup city over the last few years.

The One-Minute Pitch

So I arrived at the Emerging Technology Center, Baltimore's Technology Incubator at 8:00 pm just in time for the pitches and a quick drink of something. I  chugged an Amstel Light down as I glanced around the burgeoning crowd of 150 plus of Type-A people.  Many developers and entrepreneurs had used the time wisely over the last two hours to get to know each other and to sell their ideas.   Not knowing anyone, I was already at a serious disadvantage -- and I needed people to vote for my idea, or else I wouldn't make the cut.

We made our one-minute pitches in a large hallway with no chairs and barely room to crawl -- just the floor to sit on and the person next to you to lean on.  There were over 75 pitches that night (more than half of the people attended had ideas), but only about 20 would be asked to demo during startup weekend.

Most of the people there were Business, marketing types with less than half being developers -- me being an MBA communications type and designer, finding a developer was the one critical skillset needed to make RUNIN Out functional by Sunday evening.

Emancipation Day Break-in

I woke up Friday morning and I was really happy. That's because sitting in my inbox was a Living Social Dollar Lunch to dozens of restaurants all over the city.  I was more than happy -- I was stoked!

I was on my way to Baltimore, heading to Startup Weekend, so just prior to leaving the city, I conveniently stopped at a very nice restaurant in Dupont Circle.

The restaurant was cozy with a nice ambience.  But because I wanted to arrive in Baltimore before the rush hour traffic, I grabbed something to go and quickly returned to my car, only to find window glass all over the sidewalk and my backpack with my Macbook Pro and videocamera was conveniently lifted from my car seat.

I would have screamed if it wasn't for the pleasant demeanor of a young lady who was already on the phone with the police.  Tinoi  was having lunch in a restaurant directly across the street.  She had seen the whole thing -- a vagrant thug was walking up and down 17th Street NW looking into cars.

A moment later, glass shatters and the thug is seeing running down 17th with a backpack in tow.

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By the time I arrived, a mere five minutes had escaped.  I was livid. Tinoi's presence was reassuring.

It took nearly an hour for the police to arrive.  Incidentally, we found out that DC was celebrating Emancipation Day
(to celebrate the freeing of the enslaved people of DC, nine months before Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation).  A DC holiday while everyone else works means still lots of people downtown with less patrol and police operations.

When the officer arrived he explained to me that there has been a rash of break-ins lately.  If I had taken the time to look at SpotCrime, I would have found this out, but who does have the time.

Furthermore, I didn't really enjoy the lunch downtown.  I didn't have a chance to read consumer reviews like Yelp because, well, I didn't have the time.

Parked along 17th Street

The first thing I did after Tinoi called the police was update on Facebook that my car was broken into and my laptop and Canon Videocamera stolen.  Mike Brenner from Startup Weekend Baltimore immediately contacted me and informed me that they could easily refund my money.

I thanked Mike for the offer but told him no.  Come hell or high water I was heading to Baltimore.  I had an idea to pitch and I wasn't quitting until I made it.

Cherry Blossom in DC: "It's Always You"

Enjoying the beautiful Cherry Blossoms in Springtime along the Potomac.  Sophie Zelmani sings "Always You."