I had been planning for months to take my wife to NYC for her birthday since she had never been.  We had the opportunity to fly Virgin America from LAX to JFK.  All I can say is that if you haven’t flown VA before, you really need to try it out.  I felt more like I was going to a club rather than cross-country on an airplane.  Everything is so well branded from check-in to inflight services.  Take a look at their safety video.  It give you a feeling of the approach to flying.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyygn8HFTCo

They also offer a state of the art entertainment system called “Red”.  It allows you to watch Dish Network programming as well as order food and drinks from your seat.  When you’re hungry, you simply select what you’d like to eat, swipe your credit card, and they bring it to your seat.  Here are some pics from the flight:

The seat back entertainment system, “Red”

Take off from LAX

I got up early from the hotel and began my walk to the convention center.  It was probably about 10-15 blocks, but it wasn’t really that bad.  The one thing I love about New York is the pace of things.  I love walking fast and I definitely get to stretch my legs here in the city.

I have to say that I was a little disappointed with the first day workshops.  I guess I was expecting to have some big enlightenment or revelation, but I felt that I already had a solid grasp on everything they talked about. 

I did learn a few things and discovered some new technologies that I hadn’t heard of.  There is this new product called Chi.mp that I think is going to be amazing.  It’s actually and idea that I had to incorporate all the social networking elements under one roof.  I’m excited to see where this goes.

Later in the evening I met up with my cousin Carter and his wife Courtney and we went to the TechSet party at the Eden Rooftop very close to my hotel.  All-in-all, it was a great day in New York and I’m looking forward to the rest of my time here.

I’m going to New York tomorrow for the Web 2.0 conference.  I’m really looking forward to it.  I will try and post daily updates about what’s going on.

Tonight we went to Reid’s house for a farewell BBQ.  He and his wife Lindsay are packing up and heading off to Russia next week to play volleyball.  We wish them all the best!