Flying from Washington DC to India on Etihad Airways

Washington Dulles Airport DC (IAD) is a major hub for for flights to the Middle East and connecting to many asian countries including India. Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, Emirates, all fly to Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. United flies to Dubai, Kuwait and Bahrain. Saudia has a flight to Jeddah but I am not sure if that route is used much..

 

 In the past few years I have traveled to India via the Middle East and reviewed United and Emirates airlines.

• United 976 to Dubai 
• Getting ready for the longest flight of my life Washington DC to Dubai on United
• Washington DC to Dubai on Emirates Airlines

This was the first time I flew on Etihad even though I have been a member of their Guest program for over a decade. Here is my experience.

Booking the Ticket 

This was a somber occasion and we needed to get tickets in a hurry. I used SkyScanner, Hipmunk to check flights and sent the best fare I found online to my travel agent Rommel Patel  whom I have been using for over 10 years and have recommended to many of my friends. He is the best Travel agent for tickets to India, Africa and Europe. 

My wife and son got a good rate on Etihad and then the price for the 3rd ticket for my daughter was more expensive and by then all economy tickets were sold out. As we continue to research alternative routes to travel, I remembered that I had a Chase INK card with a lot of miles and lo behold I found a ticket where I could use the miles for the same flight my family was traveling and use my miles for half the  Business Class fare on Etihad and pay the other half by cash. 

Pre-flight experience

Etihad Chaffeur: All Etihad Diamond First Class and Pearl Business Class .customers get a great door to door travel experience that starts with a chauffeur driven Executive Car Service  from home to the airport Since I was traveling with my family I asked the limo company for a larger car and paid the difference. A very nice Cadillac Escalade arrived at our door to take us to the airport. The limo company calls you 24 hours in advance and sets up the pickup time. Since we like to reach the airport early we chose a 6 p.m pickup time for a 9.50 p.m flight.

Checkin:  We were traveling on my daughter's birthday  and  the airport manager stopped by to wish her a very Happy Birthday. That was a great customer service moment and I am so glad that Etihad did so well. The airport check in counter saw that we had seats a bit apart and took the time to give us seats together.

 Eithad offers an Instant Airport upgrade and I believe the rate varies and on this day it was $1350 to upgrade or you could use the miles if you have them.

Eithad Lounge Washington Dulles Airport.

The Etihad lounge is  located  close to A16 where our flight EY130 was departing that day. You can choose from an a la carte menu or use the buffet for a light snack or dinner. Service was superb and attentive, they always were watching to see if you needed anything else. Starting touch of hospitality is a welcome offer of dates. I would give the lounge a 5 star.

On board :Etihad EY 130 Washington Dulles to Abu Dhabi

Etihad Business Class:

Since it was my daughter's birthday, we swapped seats and she traveled Business Class. In the new aircraft, Etihad has made changes to the business class and I think this A350-500 had the existing configuration. The best advantage I saw compared to my travel on Emirates is that Etihad Business Class has a fully flat bed. They have a nice amenity kit and cotton loungewear. I was however surprised that there was no turndown service and a mattress. On Emirates after dinner, they brought a mattress and sheets and made a nice bed. Neverthless, the service on Etihad was excellent and very friendly. The business class configuration makes sure all the seats have access to the aisle. If I were to choose again I would choose a window seat as that have more privacy and access to the Aisle.

Etihad Economy:

We were very impressed by the leg space in the seats on economy. The pillow that can convert to a neck pillow was innovative. Food and service on board was great and very attentive crew. The flight had a lot of turbulence and so the crew had to stop service for a few minutes but it did not affect the Dinner and express dinner service. In between these two services you get ice cream, a sandwich and of course a lot of water service.

I heard the call buttons for the crew go off too many times and I wonder if this can be changed by having galley stations with water and snacks that passengers could self serve.

A small observation on the express menu is that both the appetizer and the main course were with chick peas. A small detail but having been a chef in qc previous life the repetition on the menu for the same meal could have been avoided.

Going above and beyond in customer service

We were so happy that the @EtihadAirways crew helped us celebrate a birthday at 35000 ft with this impromptu cake pic.twitter.com/BxkJABi92n
— Shashi Bellamkonda (@shashib) December 23, 2014

With so much of logistics to oversee, we really appreciated the crew's gesture in improvising a cheesecake to help us celebrate. Thank you Etihad.

Abu Dhabi AAirp Loved seeing strollers that were for use aircraft side for passengers with small kids. This is a good amenity for airports. Be prepared to walk a lot if you are transferring. We had a very short transfer time so we could not use the Business class lounge. I heard that you can get a spa message or hair done.

Abu Dhabi to Hyderabad

Be prepared for the long lines to form when the aircraft starts boarding due to the volume of passengers. Once on board you feel like you are in an excellent hotel with friendly crew and comfortable seats.

I was thrilled to see them stock Victoria Bitter beer on this sector. I love this beer and have only had it on flights to Asia.

Service was great and food was fantastic again a good choice of meals in business class.

Even though this was a short flight, I managed to get a little bit of shut eye in the extremely flat Business Class seats.

To sum up no matter which class of travel you are in, the crew work very hard to make you comfortable. They seem to care about their aircraft and passengers.

Landing in Hyderabad, we got a great ride home using the Etihad Chauffeur - Executive Car service adding a nice touch to the wonderful journey.

I am looking forward to the return trip in a few days , the same way from Hyderabad to Abu Dhabi and then on to Washington DC. Abu Dhabi is one of the few airports in the region that has US Customs and Immigration preclearence. So all formalities are completed in Abu Dhabi and our arrival in DC will be like a domestic flight. Look for my next post on the return trip.

President George Washington Responds to Ava

What a great idea that Mountvernon.org had to soothe the tears of the  4 year old toddler Ava who wanted to see George Washington. Ava's original video: http://youtu.be/0mKeDQVstyk



What do you think ?

Analyzing Analytics : What term do you use?

Where Elvis says - Hazard on the Road Ahead, Baby!

Your drive is never boring if you use the navigation app Waze that is owned by Google ( Both iOS and Android).
Waze has some amazing features, including rerouting you in case of traffic build up ahead and using user generated reports to warn you of hazards on the road. A not so well known feature in Waze is choosing the tone of the GPS voice. A week ago I chose "Boy Band" and it was hilarious and this week I chose Elvis and I smiled every time Elvis said " Hazard on the Road Ahead, Baby! "
Waze also offers celebrity voices, I remember Kevin Hart lending his voice to Waze and as Nerdist reports:

"Well, besides being very, very specific in your GPS needs, you’re also in luck: buff Brooklyn Nine-Nine actor Terry Crews has lent his voice to the Waze app, meaning now you too can get directions from Sgt. Terrence Jeffords."

I am sticking to Elvis for a few days and then cannot wait to see what Waze offers next as a GPS Voice.

Startup LinkRedirector has a very promising tool for marketing data geeks and the rest of thw world

I am very fascinated by LinkRedirector. It is a startup that lets you redirect a short url to a different destination based on some parameters that you can set.

Use Cases:

1.  You want returning visitors to go to a different page than a new visitor. Maybe even a page that adds " Welcome Back" .
2.  Use it to direct people who come from different operating systeme differently. Maybe iOS users can go directly to a app download page. 
1. My test scenario http://lrd.to/shashi
1. If you are using iOS then you go to http://www.CarryonCurry.com 
2. Other users will come to this website.
3. Comment here and let me know if you came from one of my test uRLS or click http://lrd.to/shashi now
3. Campaign Changes
1. You could run a campaign and then once that is over change the URL and wont need a lot of web server help
4. Good Analytics
1. I have not used them yet but LinkRedirector has a capability to add Campaign Names, tags 
5. Custom URLS
1. Right now you use lrd.to and then you can customize the subsequent url like I did.
2. They may have plans for you to use your own url
6. Freemium
1. I am not clear about the pricing and it may have been in an email from LinkRedirector but they have a free and a premium model.

Early impression is very good. At the time of writing in 44 minutes i got 143 redirections when I shared the link http://lrd.to/shashi  on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Check out LinkRedirector for sure

Co-hosted Biz Talk With Josh Discussing Social, Email and other Small Business Tools

Biz Talk With Josh - Small Business Marketing and Social Media Tools - July 5th 2014

@shashib pic.twitter.com/YScwMKwLou
— Magic Pics (@magicpixx) June 28, 2014

I had the honor of co-hosting Biz Talk With Josh for the second week with Joshua Smith - You can listen to the show online at http://www.biztalkwithjosh.com  or on CBS Radio Washington DC 1580 AM on Saturday from  10 a.m to 11 a.m .

This week we discuss :

• What is the difference between Social Media applications versus Email and how they can interact with each other? 
•  What digital marketing tools are best for small businesses to spread the word about their business, and how can small business measure their success with the use of Social Media?
•  What is the right marketing mix for your business? Which channels are still relevant to a small business in today's economy?

Our guests are :

Mr. Geoff Livingston, Founder - Tenacity5 Media, a marketing consulting company serving companies and nonprofits. Providing Content Marketing and Events; Implementation Support; Marketing Social Good; and Market Assessment and Research. www.tenacity5.com

Ms. Kim Cooper coming all the way from Mountain View, CA heart of Silicon Valley is Sr. Marketing Manager at Rignite a company that helps businesses get results from social marketing.
She has worked with small business and startups and helps businesses get better results from their social media activity by sharing tips, best practices, and social media success stories. http://www.rignite.com/

Please listen and give me your comments. 

Other stations that carry Biz Talk with Josh :

Every Saturday morning at 8:00 am EST on Central State University radio WCSU-FM 88.9 (www.wcsufm.org), in the Dayton, Ohio area. We have recently added WAUG 750-AM 750 (www.staugustineradio.com), in the Raleigh, North Carolina area to our list of stations which rebroadcast the show, where it can now be heard every Wednesday at 4:00 pm EDT.

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

Are you cheesie or a Royal Cheesie?

Here is your chance to be Cheesie ! Regal Cinemas and Tostitos® are searching for the cheesiest selfie to crown THE ROYAL CHEESIE and fly them out to Hollywood for a VIP weekend. 

Details here  http://www.regmovies.com/cheesie

Listen to Biz Talk with Josh today

Listen to 1580 AM CBS Radio in Washington DC today Saturday June 28th 2014 at 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. – Biz Talk with Josh http://www.biztalkwithjosh.com/

I am co-hosting the  show and our guests are Geoff Livingston, author and founder of Tenacity Media and Stacey Miller Sr. Social Media Manager of Vocus..

Also broadcast every Saturday morning at 8:00 am EST on Central State University radio WCSU-FM 88.9 (www.wcsufm.org), in the Dayton, Ohio area.

WAUG 750-AM 750 (www.staugustineradio.com), in the Raleigh, North Carolina area  every Wednesday at 4:00 pm EDT.

5 lessons from a MCDonalds wrapper

1) How are we doing ? 

For a fast food restaurant, McDonalds pays a lot of attention to feedback. They have placed messages on wrappers, on cash counters and decals in strategic places so you are sure to find it if ever you are not satisfied.

2) Well timed theme

It's soccer season. It must be a huge logistical project to get this to all the stores. McD seems to be very good at these campaigns.

3) Use of QR codes to provide nutritional information and also game codes, saves space on the wrappers.

4) smart use of domain names : golmcd.com and mcdonegoal,com. I bet depending on traffic McD can track which art of the wrapper drove higher engagement.

5) mentioning partner brands through the prizes 

What do you think? 

Is it raining yet? SkyMotion Weather App has the answer

I am horrible when it comes to wearing appropriate stuff for the weather. I end up close to work to find that the warm sun has changed to a downpour and I am all wet right down to my suit.

The discovery of the app SkyMotion which tells you exactly when it's going to rain almost to the minute and in the place where your phone is.

Along with a realtime weather every 5 minues , you can also get details of the next two hours.

Not on your mobile phone use the NowCast

Skymotion is available for a lot of devices iOS, Android, Windows Phone. Check the Skymotion Weather App product page for downloads.

The car that India grew up with - Ambassador production to be stopped

This is a photo of India's Hindustan Motors's Ambassador car that was donated to the Smithsonian in 2003. Growing up in India, people had the choice to purchase 3 brands -

• Hindustan Motor's Ambassador based on a 1940's version of a British Morris Oxford and virtually the model remained as is till this week's announcement of a halt in production
• Premier Motors Padmini manfactured under license from Fiat
• Standard Herald based on the British Standard-Triumph

India's automotive industry was old, boring and only for the extremely rich till India got the Maruti based on Japan's Suzuki models. Maruti Suzuki as it is now known changed the way car ownership was thought of in India and made owning a 4 wheeler more affordable. 

One day Ambassador had to go and I wonder why it took so long. Have you ever been in an Ambassador?

Living on a Farm with a Starbucks Next Door : American Dream

The American dream culminates in ownership with a picket fence and today I visited a Bozzuto Homes community that makes the American dream come true. - Shipley's Grant. When I first joined Bozzuto, the President of the homes division, Tom Baum  had mentioned Shipley's Grant (a Bozzuto new home community in Ellicott City, MD) and the story behind preserving the historic farm at Shipley's Grant and building a home community that has a farm.

Today I visited Shipley's Grant in Ellicott City. The first stop was "Eggspectaions" a wonderful diner a few blocks  from Shipley's Grant.

After breakfast with Bruce Rosenblatt, VP of Sales at Bozzuto Homes, we went to Shipley's Grant. At the leasing office, the first thing that impressed me was the swimming pool and the club house. 

The Shipley's Grant community is located in Ellicott City close to I-95, Route 100, and U.S. 29 and I took a toru of the Frederick model home.

The homes are well ventilated with ample windows. On the ground floor you have an office and living space and the next floor has a kitchen. Having 9 ft ceilings all through the house is definitely a nice feature.

Adjoining the kitchen is a deck that I think comes with all the homes.

The top floor has the bedrooms

It was a nice thing to see that the home had fully built lofts and a rooftop terrace. I wish I had these in  the home I live in currently.

Bruce Fogel who manages the Shipley's Grant Sales office tells me that this season they have a special for people looking for a new home in Ellicott City/Columbia during Memorial Day where Shipley’s Grant is offering their 4th Level Lofts & Rooftop Terrace Free for a Limited Time*  Call Bruce for more details at 410-461-8066.

Here is a panoramic view from the rooftop terrace

I know a lot of friends who work in the Columbia/Ellicott City/Howard County region and I am sure for people looking to buy a home in the Maryland region of Columbia/Ellicott City/Howard County, they will find the new homs for sale at Shipley's Grant a grerat bargain. I loved this visit. 

Captain's Log, Stardate 14052014. ; In Range Captain Sulu - George Takei #SelfiewithGeorge

Watching Star Trek in India in the late 80's was a thrilling experience. One of the few western shows that were shown on Indian TV. " To boldly go, where no man has gone before" " To infinity and beyond"  all memories to cherish. I was thrilled to get an invite from AARP to meet George Takei at the Facebook DC offices. It was a memorable moment. 

AARP produces a YouTube Show called Takei's Take where  George Takei explores the world of technology,trends. Today's event created awareness for this and other programs of AARP in a smart way by inviting people to take a #SelfieWithGeorge

The few minutes with George Takei, he must have made 10 jokes with me. Nice person and a lot of great humor and the Show Takei's Takes is also quite funny. See the teaser below.

Why I think Costco Should Buy Groupon?

The first time I heard about Groupon, was through word-of-mouth. A lot of my friends were excited about the deals that they could get by signing up for Groupon's email deals. Trying new restaurants armed with a Groupon was something that I definitely wanted to try out. Unfortunately my Groupons are still unutilized and I need to find a way to redeem them at face value.

Groupon has been steadily changing in the past few years. They have a Small Business Division called GrouponWorks. Using the power of collective bargaining they are now selling more and more things that you normally do not associate with a bargain.

My recent purchases from Groupon

1. Shoes from Puma
2. A bluetooth car adapter

I am also eyeing the Michelin Wiper Blades for $21.99 or a elliptical and  other useful goods from the Groupon Goods.

There is a war brewing up in the online goods marketplace. 

• Amazon is trying it's own delivery service and also trying to get consumers to buy from Amazon Fresh in Southern California, San Francisco and Seattle. Amazon also has a stake in Living Social.
• Google Shopping Express dangles the same day delivery to make us buy online, currently available in San Francisco only.

Now as the Groupon Goods business expands and recently Groupon introduced Groupon Basics. According to Motley Fool   "a service that will offer discounts on bulk purchases of 110 home goods in select categories, including personal-care items, consumer products, and vitamins"

We all love Costco, you get a bargain but you have to usually buy in bulk. What if you get the basics delivered to you for free without you going to the store? The Dollar Shaving Club does it. Sends you what you need for a few dollars a month.

A combination of Groupon and Costco would not make me stop going to Costco. I love going on the weekends to taste the foods that they display but when it becomes a chore to drive there on a weekday after work to buy something , I would prefer the alternative.

Groupon has a great base of customers who signed up for their service, Costco has the network and deals and the goods. Costco has a online shopping ability but not as cool and friendly as Groupon. When you get the E-mail every day that offered  you shirts, sauces and snacks, I bet we would be buying and ordering more. Do you think this is a good idea? A win win for both companies?

StyleSeat Enables you to be Stylish and find appointments nearby and book them online

I love the concept of StyleSeat. A few years ago I really needed this service - see my story on the Carmine's Crown Barber Shop. I have written on lessons learned from Barber Shops and small business thoughts while having a pedicure.

Men I think inherently were not paying attention to grooming and I think this has certainly changed and we have pleasantly Stated paying more attention to grooming and looks. Of course StyleSeat is not just for men. You can find beauty and wellness professionals from hair stylists to massage therapists to personal trainers.

I heard about StyleSeat from Gina Delvac, Executive Producer, This Week in Startups and here is an interview of Melody McCloskey Founder of StyleSeat by Jason Calcanis.

[VIDEO] Mother's Day Video Created Entirely #GoogleGlass [Tissue Alert]

There are several reasons to like this video "shot entirely on Glass, was created by alumni and students from the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts as part of the Glass Creative Collective." At the time of writing close to a million people have watched this video. Directed by Aneesh Chaganty, it takes the viewer thorugh the journey a lot of us Indian Americans travel when we visit parents back home in India. The Journey and the scenes: As the journey takes you from I presume the US, there is a stopvoer at another country which is usually what is always the case for us to get to Hyderabad. If we went to our ancestral village it would include a train and a autorickshaw. See my post "Send Bullock Cart" In the train it is so common for the co-passengers to share their food with you. MAny families pack more food just expecting they will meet other people to share the meal with with them. I have stood at the train door holding the rails and enjoying the breeze just like in the video. It's a movie so they show almost all forms of transportation - cab, subway, flights, autorickshaws, trains, boats and cycle richshaws I strongly susupect most of us going back to India for vacations or visiting parents use maybe half of these modes of transposrtation The scenes and the emotions touched my heart as they will yours.

Will Google+ Become Android Social? What I liked about Google Plus

Photo: Senior Vice President, Android, Chrome & Apps at Google

Last week tech news coverage spoke a lot about the departure of Vic Gundotra, Google's
Senior Vice President, Social and speculation was rife about the future of Google+. I chose Sundar Pichai's photo for this blog post because this is one executive to watch at Google. Currently looking after Android, Chrome and Android Wear plus apps. I am confident that there is a lot of consolidation that will happen in the next few months.

Features of Google Plus that I love 

• Photo Backup : The best way to keep my photos synced between my phone, computer and camera is this feature. Moments after taking the picture on my phone I can download it on Google+  on  my desktop. This is not necessarily social but a good feature. Of late my Android device has made this a separate app called Photos that allows me to share the photo on any app on my phone- Twitter, Facebook or other. In this way Google+ has been excruciatingly painful for sharing with other networks. I advised friends even on iOS devices to use the Google+ photo backup option.
• Highlights and Animations through Photos : The coolness of Google+/Android realizing that come photos were taken consecutively and make them into GIFs. Adding snow to your pictures was cool, again this was more an android function that I used from my phone.
• Contacts:Again a Google+ Android phone convenience to have your Google+ contacts appear on your phone was useful along with your Gmail contacts being synced to the phone
• Communities: This is one feature that us device/desktop agnostic and is much more user friendly than the Google Groups. This is the most authentic "social: feature of Google +

My peeves about Google+

• Confusion on Business Pages :  Way before Google+ made it's appearance, Small businesses were learning the ropes, setting up Google Local pages for their business. Just as they learnt the ropes , Google Plus started to force them to create Business pages and the distinction was not always clear. To this day I am not sure there is a way to make sure you have a Google Local and a Google Plus Business Social page and integrate both so you are able to manage just one presence. The Google Local page is very important for small businesses since it depends on people using Google Maps to find the business.
• No Open Sharing API's : Many of us are members of multiple networks.  I use buffer to share to my networks based on the content. I never have been able to do that based today. I had to login to Google Plus to share. I would have liked to use a tool to see a stream of Google Plus updates.

As a android user I am happy if the Google Plus features I like are integrated into the Android device. I won't miss  Google Plus, How about you?

Washington DC News Media : Washington Business Journal - Business Reading Over the Weekend

I eagerly look forward to the Washington Business Journal every Friday. I have been a long time subscriber of the Washington Business Journal and the print version is my way of disconnecting  and  reconnecting. I usually read the print version over the weekend, starting with the Back Page first, top read Jennifer Nycz-Conner column and see if I know anyone featured in the photo section of the BackPage.

I love the fact that the Washington Business Journal has large photos of the reporters and has divided the paper by topic. I follow Bill Flook through out the week as @TechFlashWBJhttps://twitter.com/techflashwbj and also the newsletter that I get every day, and it is always nice to see if I missed anything in Bill Flook's print column.

Since I joined Bozzuto, I am paying a lot of attention to the coverage of Real Estate by Michael Neibauer and Daniel J. Sernovitz who seem to know everything real estate and your life in the Washington DC Metro.

Rebecca Cooper covers my favorite topic - Restaurants, retail, hospitality and the arts  and even though I have not met her in person, I feel like i know her through her tweets and the newsletter. IF you want to know what's opening in the Washington DC area, follow her.

Tina Reed is new covering health care and I have had the privilege of meeting her at  a Washington Business Journal event for Minority Business Leader's Award. 

Between Dough Fruehling and Rob Terry, they manage to make the viewpoint column very personal and interesting. 

I met Alex Orfinger the publisher of the Washington Business Journal at a DC Chamber of Commerce event, many years ago and he does a very good job being social, human and upto date.

I love the fact that most of the reporters at the Washington Business Journal do a great job with social media. It is not a big deal to subscribe to the print edition of the Washington Business Journal and you can keep in touch with the pulse of business in the Washington Dc area and get leads from news about companies in the Washington DC area. 

A subscription to the Washington Business Journal is a well worth the investment of $59 for a year. Your monthly coffee is probably more expensive.

The other way to keep in touch is to go to the events organized by the Washington Business Journal organized by my friend Whitney Suntum. 

Get Google Search Trends into Your Inbox

If you were wondering about what people were searching on Google, a service called Google Trends is very useful. It gives you fodder for blog posts, reports and sometimes just curiosity.
Google has added a new feature to Google Trends, you can now subscribe to receive a trend email alert for any topic of your choice. Since I work at Bozzuto, I am signed up for a Google Trend alert for "apartments", this could help me understand search behavior and determine if people are searching for "rental apartments" or " Apartments for rent"

This service is new and to sign up for an alert you have the choice of :

• Topic
• Country
• How often ( Weekly or monthly)

You can also determine a timeline of the trend and which terms related to your topic are rising. A useful tool for sure. Of course, just like how Thomas Claburn says in Information Week , we wish Google Trends had an API.

Genius! From the DC Public Schools! Weather Tweet

Please...don't...stick

— DC Public Schools (@dcpublicschools) March 30, 2014

Forget Wearables, I need a clock

It's been a few months since I stopped wearing a watch. The places where I miss a watch the most:

1. Conference rooms- it's awkward to take your phone out and see the time. I have tried putting the  phone on the table as a clock but the screen shuts off

2. Speaking - it's difficult to time yourself when you are speaking without a watch.

3. Social gatherings: Even if you are  having the best time, you still want to pace yourself or time yourself to get home. It's awkward to keep pulling out your phone to see the time.

All these can be resolved, if there was wall clock close by that you can see.

What do your think? Do you miss wearing a watch?

Watches that tell you the future - Android Wear

In a blog post today Sundar Pichai, SVP, Android, Chrome & Apps of Google announced the Android Wear, a project that extends Android to wearables. If you are a fan of Android, you know one of the best things is "Google Now" - getting your info that is most useful to you when you need it.

I am looking forward to the launch of the Android Wear, even though right now I am weighing replacing the battery on my Timex watch $5 or buying a Android wear which could be $299 onwards. I am going to wait and see

SXSW2014 :5 Observations from half the first day

1. Start-ups are out in full force
2. Business Cards are back
3. Year of the lounges

1. Airport Taxi lines are still long
2. Restaurants signs replaced by brands

Will expand this post later

Washington Business Journal Minority Business Leaders Award 2014

In its 7th year, the Washington Business Journal recognizes the Washington region's top 25 minority business owners and leaders in the Minority Business Leader Awards. I was honored to be list for 2012 and here is my story.

• 2014 Minority Business Leader Awards

  When: Thursday, March 20, 2014,
  6:30pm-9:30pm Add to my calendar

Register here http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/event/97681

Here are this years 2014 Minority Business Leaders Honorees

Mario Acosta-Velez

Verizon

Brian E. Argrett 

City First Bank of D.C.

Andre Banks

Forest City Washingto

Alex Barron

Walmart U.S.

Kenneth J. Brewer Sr.

H Street Community Development Corp

Timothy Chi

WeddingWire Inc.

Kris Collo

MicroPact Inc.

Valarie  Dock

Bolana Enterprises Inc

Al Espinoza

Innotion Enterprises Inc.

Andres Gonzalez

Finesa Real Estate Group

Carl Hairston

M&T Bank

Randy Hayman

District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (D.C. Wate

Linnie Haynesworth

Northrop Grumman Corp.

Sonny Kakar

Sevatec Inc.

Clayton Lawrence

Lawrence Executive Alliance of Professionals (LEAP) LLC

Yoon-Young Lee

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP

Michael Marshall

Marshall Moya Design LLC

Bo Menkiti

The Menkiti Group & Keller Williams Capital Properties

Paola Moya

Marshall Moya Design LLC

Dolly Oberoi

C² Technologies Inc. 

Cassandra Pinkney

Eagle Academy PCS

Deborah Scott Thomas

Data Solutions & Technology Inc.

Venkat Subramanian

Angarai International Inc.

David Thomas

Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business

Joseph West

Minority Corporate Counsel Association Inc.

Location:

Ritz-Carlton Washington DC
1150 22nd St NW
Washington, DC 20037

Time:

6:30 PM - 9:30 PM

• Where: Ritz-Carlton DC
  1150 22nd Street NW Washington DC 20037