Early Morning gabbing

Up until today, everyday this week I woke up early to go to the gym. It's fair to say that I'm not a morning person, but with the weather the way it was (65 degrees with a light breeze), it truly wasn't that bad jogging to the gym at 7 AM. (I know - most people who want to go to the gym in the morning have to wake up at 5:30 AM - I'm lucky I guess)

Anyway - I wasn't surprised to see the gym crowded at that hour. What I WAS surprised to see, however, is how many people no the street are talking on their cell phones at 7 AM. I mean - seriously - I have a lot of questions about this.
Who the heck are people talking to that early? Is there a whole society that I am not part of? I know we are a "connected culture" but I can't imagine why people would want to talk that early in the morning or what they are talking about. Is talking on your cell phone on the way to work a new "buddy system" where you find someone else in your social circle that commutes at the same time and have daily conversations to help the time go by?

If someone calls me before 9 AM - my first instinct is "somethings wrong." It's not a good feeling at all. If I ever have to call someone before 9 AM, I get nervous when the phones ringing....

Interested in knowing if any readers are morning cell phone junkies (BDS - I'm sure you are). Well - if any of you are - please don't call me. :)

_______ On Steroids

I think in the last week I've read 3 quotes in business magazines along with a few mentions during business meetings that "something" could be "something else on steroids." This has begun to irritate me.

Here is why... If a new technology, for example, would help facilitate "online advertising on steroids," does that mean that the new technology would help make online advertising look strong, but truly be bad for it's health and well-being?

I obviously don't think that's the intention. Clearly people mean to use the phrase as a way to express ultimate improvement on something. So - why can't they just say this? I'm a big fan of the word "Innovate." It extremely positive and good for society, as well as fits with the desired description. "The new technology would really help innovate online advertising." SO much better.

Perhaps the term was developed in the 1980's when steroids were seen as cool ... but terms and fashions evolve. So just as cigarette packs rolled up in t-shirt sleeves or terms like groovy and rad .... I'm proposing that we stop using the description of "steroids" in a positive way.

UPS Whiteboard commercial

Just a quick note ... Today I went to a client meeting at an ad agency. We spent the entire day strategerizing on how their clients can utilize Google more... Anyhow, the highlight for me was during a brainstorm session...

I'm assuming that most of you have seen the UPS Whiteboard commercials where the guy talks through various benefits of UPS by modifying his sketches on a whiteboard. Turns out, that the guy in the commercials is the actual creative director at the agency on the UPS account (Andy Azula is his name). So...the highlight for me was him actually "whiteboarding" brainstorming ideas during our meeting. Turns out that he had some pretty good ideas too...

2007 NBA Regular Season Rap-up

Tonight marks the final night of the 2007 NBA Regular Season. Although the NFL has surpassed the NBA as my favorite sport to be a fan of -- I think I'm one of about 16 people who still like the NBA (including the Sports Guy). However, even as an NBA fan, I did find this past regular season disappointing.

Part of this was that my team, the Miami Heat, pretty much announced at the start of the year that they weren't going to really try until the play-offs. This plan was a bit foiled when D.Wade went out for 20+ games, so they had to try a little while he was gone. Props to Jason Kapono who had the best year of his career - and had a huge part of keeping the Heat afloat while the regulars were on cruise control...

Anyhow - some more reasons why I was disappointed about the NBA this year:

• How did the Detroit Pistons get Chris Webber? Oh yea - He just didn't want to play for the losing Sixers anymore so they cut him and he was able to sign with whoever he wanted. Huh?
• Lebron took notes from Shaq and decided to coast for about 50 games.
  
• I can't remember the last time the rookie class was this bad. Anyone who wins the Rookie of the Year honors is by default.
• This entire Tanking situation is out of control. There needs to be a fix and I do believe that D. Stern will make it happen.
• Speaking of D. Stern -- He took Mark Cuban out character. This season Mark was very very quiet.
• The West is still Varsity and the East is still JV. Last year the JV squad upset the Varsity, but that's just because they had the best JV phenom who was waiting for his spot and took it.
  

Not all was bad, though. Some things that are good:

• The Phoenix Suns are fun to watch - especially when they play the Mavs
• David Stern actually took the players side in the Joey Crawford ordeal
• Kobe being so good.... but Phil and the Lakers being so bad...
• Props to Sam Mitchell and the Toronto Raptors. Sam deserves coach of the year in my opinion given the fact that everyone expected them to be in the Oden/Durant sweepstakes, but instead they've got home court in the first round.
  
• My "I took and extra step up in 2007" team:
• Chris Bosh, Carlos Boozer, E. Curry, Gil Arenas, T-Mac,

Going into the post-season - I will obviously be passionately rooting for the Heat. I didn't expect them to win last year - and I don't expect them to win it all (again) this year. I'm hoping for some upsets, especially in the west. I'd love to see Houston or Utah come out of that group - although I wouldn't bet on it.

Finally, if you're looking for a reason to watch the NBA play-offs -- check out the NP3 later this week. It's a pool my buddy runs....

Imus and Black Leadership

In case you haven't watched any news program in the past 48 hours, Don Imus made racially insensitive remarks on his radio show last week. I'll first say - that I don't have too much knowledge on Don Imus past, but I've seen him a handful of times, and never once been intrigued to listen to his program. Bottom-line - he seems like an idiot to me so I'm not suprised by the dumb comments he made.

The media world has really fallen in love with the story - making it a top-headline for almost an entire week. I feel like it's on every outlet varying from CNN to ESPN to The Today Show and I am OK with this. Some white entertainment personality makes racially insensitive comments about black people should be publicly humiliated (like he has been) by mainstream press. What I do find a bit disappointing -- even as a white person -- is who the media consistantly turns to for the African American viewpoint: Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.....

No doubt these guys have put in their time -- and no doubt that they've seen the worst of this countries racial divide, but I truly believe that some new leaders from the black community need to begin to be highlighted. I believe that the tactics used to help create a greater vision of racial equality should evolve over time and I don't believe that Jessie Jackson or Al Sharpton agree with this.

Clearly this is a sensitive topic - but I am curious to know how the black community feels about these 2 guys consistantly being the "mainstream representation." When Imus or Micheal Richards or whoever realizes that they were idiots -- the first thing they did was reach out to these guys. I recognize that having a passionate civil rights leader interview "the idiot" is clearly a different interview than, say, Kelly Ripa -- but I guess I wish there were just more options than Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson....

Something in Baseball that I've been waiting for...

Baseball season is upon us... While baseball is my 3rd favorite sport behind Football and Basketball (I don't have a "team" that I'm a hometown fan of... other than my Fantasy teams), I have a full grasp of the game and have always been intrigued by the concept of the switch hitter - Someone who can modify what side of the plate he bats on based on which pitcher he is facing. (Not to be confused with a bi-sexual)

For a long time, I've often wondered if I'd ever see a switch pitcher in my lifetime -- and apparently - I will. This morning, The New York Times did an article on Pat Venditte a Junior at Creighton University. He's a switch pitcher, and apparently pretty good.

He apparently has a custom-made glove that allows him to easily switch hands easily, depending on what side of the plate the batter he is facing is on.

That's all -- but I wanted to share as I truly have been waiting to hear about something like this.

The Sterns Leave Manhattan

Last week - Fred, Jill, and Sydney officially moved to Florida. Beyond having family, good weather and a need for a change of scenery -- Fred also had a great career opportunity at his company.

Amy and I are obviously sad as we're going to miss them. It goes without saying that we're gonna miss Syd Stern the most - but that's not a bash on Jill or Fred. We can keep in touch with them via phone, email, etc -- but even as advanced as she is -- Syd has yet to develop the capability of keeping in touch (Jill - please work on this).

As a house warming/going away present -- Amy and I are going to buy the Sterns a webcam. It will certainly not be the same -- but hopefully we'll be able to see Syd's smile every once in a while.

With Jill and Fred moving down -- we need to add another group of people we'll want to see when down in Florida. (which at this point if you add up everyone - and exclude beach time - we definitely exceed the typical 50+ hours in a weekend time-frame) Yea-Yea, I know ... Amy and I should move down there ... I'll just say that we're happy how things are now and are focused on that.

Enjoy The Sunshine State Jill, Fred, and Syd. The Goffins will miss you.

Our Honeymoon

(I've been meaning to write this for a couple of weeks now)
Directly from Florida- Amy and I flew to Hawaii for a 2 week honeymoon. Some things to note before I get started on some of the details:
1) This was probably the only wedding related task that I, personally, owned on my own.
2) It was a lot harder than I imagined - and caused some anxiety in planning
3) Everything worked out perfectly

Amy and I have always wanted to go to Australia - and have spoken about it many, many times. So, before we even had a wedding date - we were telling everyone we were leaning towards going to Australia for our Honeymoon. Well - then reality set in.... First, Australia is a place we want to explore. I was passionate (and Amy agreed), that our Honeymoon probably wasn't a typical exploration-type vacation. And secondly, getting to the land down under via Frequent Flier miles (first class, of course) was not possible. Paying for tickets would have run us $20K PER TICKET. So... yea.... we decided on Hawaii.

Hawaii is to Honeymoons as Vegas is to bachelor parties -- Sure, a lot of people have done it before you -- but there's a reason for it. Both places are perfect for each occasion.

We ended up seeing 4 islands in Hawaii:

• Honolulu
• Kauai
• Maui
• Kona

I enjoyed our trip tremendously. In hind-sight, I may have only gone to 2 places. I totally underestimated how unbelievably exhausted we would be from the wedding weekend - and we probably would have been better off with less airport experiences rather than more.

Again - though - all was great. We relaxed, hung by the beach, went swimming, ate well, drank well, saw plenty of sunsets..... All the things we enjoy to do on vacations.

Here is a brief run-down on the places - trying to be brief.

Honolulu -- We only stayed here for one night, as a lay-over to the other islands. We stayed at the Halekulani, which was very nice - and only 20 minutes from the airport. It was interesting to see the capitalism in full effect, as it resembled a major city with tons of high-end brand-name stores and restaurants. It was the only time while in Hawaii that Amy and I noticed a true Japanese influx. We also heard a lot about how good the coffee in Hawaii was. Here is where we had the best coffee of our trip.

Kauai -- Pretty much the opposite of a major city. There was one major road that took us from the airport 30 miles (an hour) to our hotel, The Princeville resort. This is located at the north part of the island and unfortunately - we had dinner reservations at the south part. Being committed to our plans, we rented a car - explored the island -- and enjoyed the ride. The following day, we had massage appointments outside - which was very needed by both of us. We spent the day chillin and had a romantic Valentines Day dinner that night.

Maui - We then went to what we envisioned as our "beach" portion of the trip. We stayed at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea. The rooms were big -- but we were a little disappointed when we first got there. A lot of kids and a somewhat crowded beach scene. We powered through, though, and looking back definitely had a great beach experience there. In Maui, we did the only true touristy thing of our honeymoon by going Whale watching. Amy was like a little kid - getting so excited when the whales would jump up or splash. I loved seeing that. The 2 hours we were out there - we saw very close-up views of these whales activity and the crew on the boat said it was the best they've seen in a while. We also adventured out to Mama's Fish House, which was recommended by everyone - and probably the best food we had all trip in my opinion. We also made our own little driving beach tour on the west part of Maui. Was nice to have a convertible and do that with my wife...

Kona - Hands down the icing on the cake of the entire honeymoon for us. We stayed at the Four Seasons, which was amazing. The rooms were modern, spacious and comfy - including a cool outdoor shower in our room. I don't mind getting my ass kissed while I'm on vacation - and this place definitely knows how to do some ass-kissing.... The pool area's were all very serene (Amy's comment multiple times) and the overall atmosphere was very chill. While sitting by the pool, they brought goodies to us every 15 minutes (cold towel, Evian spray, fruit, ice pops, etc). The spa was very nice as well - where we enjoyed a couple of massages a piece. Our meals were great, too, especially, the private beach dinner I planned for us (picture on the right). We had our own waiter who served us food on the beach where only the two of us were. The resort was so great - that we literally didn't even think about leaving once and have no regrets about that.

When the time came to leave, we were certainly bummed. Not often do we get to go away for two weeks without any questions....but after this trip... I am going to really try and do it more often. Two week vacations may not be easy on the wallet -- but they are definitely worth it.

Amy and my honeymoon was great. Anytime we go on vacation together, we have a great time - and this time was no different. I'd recommend Hawaii for anyone's honeymoon.

Work at your own schedule

I heard of this concept about a year ago when I went to visit Best Buy at their headquarters in Minneapolis. Basically, employees can make up their own hours. If you're a dad who wants to pick up your kids from school at 3:00 everyday - you can do it. If you prefer to work from home - you can do it. If you prefer to work at night - and sleep in the day - you can do that too.

At Best Buy - they have true "flexible hours" As long as managers and employees have realistic conversations about what's needed in terms of productivity - hours or place of actually working don't matter. Check out the CNN article about it.

Workers at the company had mixed feelings about it when I chatted with them a while back. In essence, it makes it very difficult to manage people. Managers actually get in trouble for making employees feel like they should be in the office - so it puts a lot of pressure on a manager to set very straight-forward expectations and goals of actual tasks. It also makes it near impossible to have "team conference calls" or mandatory meetings. (not to mention if you're a sales person calling into a marketing department. Having a large meeting is unrealistic)

On the employee side - I think it's great in theory - but only good in practice. Sure, making up my own hours is ideal -- but I think there is long-term value from going into the office and learning from others. I think over time it would feel a lot like school where you have an assignment and you wait till the last minute to get it done. I hated that feeling (personally)....

The Goffins - Media Power Movers

Knowing that Amy sells ads for Telemundo and I sell ads for Google - does anyone find an interesting correlation to the news below?

TNS Media Intelligence's latest numbers show that total advertising spending in the U.S. last year(2006) reached $149.6 billion, a 4.1% jump from 2005. The growth was mainly attributed to Spanish-language TV and Internet with the former experiencing a 13.9% increase to $4.3 billion. Internet ads went up by 17.3% to $9.8 billion while TV ad spending grew by 5.3% to $65.4 billion. Network and cable television experienced slower growth than the others with 2.5% gain to $22.9 billion and a 3.4% to $16.7 billion, respectively. Spot TV increase by 10.4% to $17.2 billion. As for actual share of the advertising market, TV led the pack, of course, with a 43.7% share while Internet ads crept up from 5.8% to 6.5% .

* I do find it a little strange that Google (a company that generates 99% of it's revenue through Internet advertising) publicly reported revenue of $10.6 Billion - yet the entire Internet advertising market is quoted as less than that alone at $9.8 Billion....

4/26/07 Update -- In a recent study on Brand value ... Google was ranked #1 and GE was #2. I mean - seriously - I don't think these things are a coincidence...

Trick to getting into NYT Wedding Announcement?

Over the last few weeks -- there have been a lot of questions around how Amy and I got into the New York Times Style section....

First and foremost - NO - we didn't pay anything. Not for the Print version and not for the online video section. When they called us to fact check our application (yes they have to do that to ensure that you're not making up a dream-job or saying you graduate cume laude from Harvard (when in fact you graduated from Palm Beach Community College) Wnen they called us 2 days later to ask if they could send someone over with video and lighting equipment to shot us for about an hour total - we figured we were in the paper - but weren't 100% sure...

I don't think there is one "trick." Does it help that Amy and I are really, really good-looking - of course it does. (Just kidding!! In all seriousnous - I certainly think it's a lot of luck - but here is how it went down with us:
1) Most importantly (I think), Amy wrote out the wedding announcement, using a prior weeks copy as a template. So rather than merely giving information, Amy pretty much did the job of the editor for him...So when he looked at our "entry," he hopefully was relieved - because the hard part was done for him. (Props to Adelle for giving Amy the tip on this)
2) Amy hand delivered the announcement application to the New York Times building. She only did this because the email on the site kept getting bounced back...
3) Everyone asks if we "knew anybody".. and we didn't. But.. when the email kept getting bounced back, Amy's first reaction was to email it to one of our friends who buys print media, who in turn was to email her NYT rep. Turns out - that the rep was out-of-the-office. Which them prompted Amy to drop it off in person. When the rep did get back into the office, she emailed our friend to let her know that the proper folks did receive the application already... (Thanks Alison K!)
Turns out - that the NYT rep was pretty crafty - (in my opinion) as a salesperson... She sent 20 copies of the Sunday Styles to Alison, complete with the stats/reach of how many people would be seeing her newly married friends in the paper

That was it ... We definitely were suprised that we got in the newspaper - and were definitely suprised when a picture of us (linking to the video) was on the homepage of the NYTimes.com site. It's something that is cool and that we'll have for ever -- but other than the story above, there was really nothing more to it.

Our Wedding -- February 10, 2007

As many of you know, Amy and I got married on 2/10/07.

I have so many thoughts that I want to share, but it truly would be impossible to share them all. I am not going to go into specific event details (we will hopefully get this via our Video-ographer), so instead, I thought I could list some thoughts on the topic in bullet-point format.

• Amy - stress, sinus infection, and all - is and was AMAZING. She looked amazing. Her attention to detail and planning for the entire weekend was amazing. And it's amazing that she is now my wife. (I love you Amy)
• Although they drove us close to crazy for the 8 months leading up to the wedding, I truly appreciate the support and love from our collective parental units. I want to thank them graciously on behalf of Amy and I. as we had what we will always remember as the perfect wedding. THANK YOU!
• The list of attendees was hard for us. In our robust experience, Amy and I have been to weddings that we quite frankly didn't belong at. We've also been to intimate weddings where everyone genuinely wanted to be there. We were aggressive in trying to make sure that we had the latter of the two. In hindsight, I think we did pretty well. As expected, there are a few people who we wish were there that didn't get the invite - but all-in-all Amy and I both felt that everyone who was there genuinely wanted to be there and that's what we were hoping for. For all of our friends and family who traveled to be with us in Florida-- Thank you - as it clearly wouldn't have been the same without you.
  
• Part of the "perfect wedding" was the phenomenal cooperation of Mother Nature. The weather was flawless. With rain the entire week before and after our weekend - it is just remarkable how lucky we feel. 75 degrees and sunny - with a nice smooth breeze, pretty much the entire weekend. For those that traveled from up north especially - you got an upfront view of the heart of the sales prowess that the entire "move to Florida" campaign endures.
• A quick rundown of some of the wedding elements:
• Band - Great! I think it's fair to say that 90% of the room was on the dance floor 90% of the time.
• Decor/Flowers - Great! Amy and I definitely didn't want to go over the top. We wanted elegant and romantic - and we were told by many that we succeeded in doing so.
• Food - Very good. It's hard for me to judge because I wasn't really hungry - but I think it was good. Any time meals are mass-produced, it's hard to expect exquisite, but in walking by many of the tables...I did see empty plates - which I'll take as a good sign.
• Rabbi - eh. It's probably sac-religious to say anything bad about a Rabbi... but Amy and I were both hoping that we'd have a Rabbi who knew us, was intuitive about our relationship, and who wouldn't drag stories on too long. Unfortunately - none of the above with our Rabbi. This being said, he was well spoken and is a very smart man. Definitely could have been worse.
• Rehearsal Dinner - Perfect! We had a small rehearsal dinner for immediate family and bridal party. It was exactly what we were hoping for. Laid back atmosphere - with great food and good friends giving very funny and insightful speeches about us. It was very heartfelt - and Amy and I were so happy with it.
• Cocktail Hour - Great! Although we only got a few of the prized pigs-in-a-blankets, it was a homerun. A great outdoor location and atmosphere with perfect weather was what we were hoping for and got.
  
• After Party - Perfect (again)! Beyond the extremely creative little touches Amy put on (Late night-type grub and "Club Goffin" matches to name a few) - the scene of all our friends and "younger generation family" dancing like we were in a 1995 music video will never be forgotten. It was something that we felt was "very BG and Amy."
  
• Brunch - I mean, is there anything better than an all-you-can eat breakfast buffet? I thought not...

All in all - the wedding of Amy and Brett Goffin was as close to perfect as possible. Amy and I had very high expectations of the day - and they were almost all exceeded. All of the time Amy spent planning, All of the money that went into it (Arie - you're amazing!), all of the stress that partially consumed our life for a few months.... WAS ALL VERY MUCH WORTH IT. I never thought I'd say that - but it was.

Amy and I felt very loved that weekend - and we hope the family and friends there felt out reciprocal love. As I mentioned towards the end of the ceremony, it is very important to Amy and I to continuously celebrate life with everyone. We truly look forward to it.

I'm appreciative of our perfect wedding weekend and I'm appreciative of my wife! (yes - that's weird to write)


P.S. For those that haven't peeped our "media coverage" - check out the NYTimes Video hype.

Honeymooning...Be back in 2 weeks

In the meantime, check out the wedding announcement and video on how we met on NYTIMES.COM. (Yes, Amy reads the Sunday Styles section every weekend)

(For the record ... our stand up comic friend is Andrew Fried and my friend who thinks he's smooth is not is Steve Pugliese, aka Mazouza!)

NFL mecca in South Beach

With the NFL Super Bowl to take place this Sunday, I have found myself in Miami the past 2 days at an industry conference. Below are the run-ins of football celebrities that I've spotted (but quite frankly - only approached one or two).

On the plane ride down -- Mike "Greeney" Greenberg from Mike and Mike in the morning. (He seemed a lot taller than I would have figured. I had him pegged at 5'7 - but he appeared over 6 feet)

Last night, we dined in the same restaurant as Edgerrin James. (Note - it was dark - but I'd like to state for the record that my step-mom told me she thought he was good looking). Cue picture of Mr. Edgerrin James...

I also saw Michael Irvin walking on the street yesterday.

Now onto what seemed to be a football telecaster orgy.... I dined at one of my favorite restaurants in the world tonight -- Joe's Stone Crab. Anyhow - here is the all-star case of who sat within 10 feet of me (literally). Although they didn't sit at the same table. It was broken into ESPN and HBO Sports tables...

- Chris Berman (wearing the most wrinkled khaki pants I've ever seen)
- Tom Jackson (he was big)
- Dan Marino (most popular guy in the place)
- Chris Collinsworth (walked with a pretty noticeable limp - but it planning on golfing tomorrow)
- Chris Carter (seemed to be the most friendly and smiling of the bunch)
- Peter King (In my Felch voice - "oh dear friend ... did you read MMQB?")
- Hank Goldberg (now HE walked with a horrible limp. He must have been mourning Barbaro's passing)
- Fat Joe (Random - I know - but no joke - Dan Marino gave him the biggest smile and hug that he gave anyone else in the place)

As much as I love the NFL and as much as I watch these guys on a regular basis - I truly didn't have the desire to approach them. Beyond empathizing with their desire to eat in peace - I just didn't have anything that important or memorable to say to any of them. Saying something just to tell people that I said something seems like amateur hour to me. So instead of saying anything to them .... I just came home and blogged about it. ;)

Enron and Gift Cards

I know I'm not alone as a Malcolm Gladwell fan. He's one of my favorite thought-provoking journalists and author of The Tipping Point and Blink. Although he was quite late to the game - I've been happy that he occassional blogs....

I subscribe to his RSS Feed - which turned me on to his article in this months New Yorker about the Enron case. He goes off on some tangents - especially at the end - but I thought what was at the heart of his message was interesting. In short (and I'm really para-phrasing), what the Enron dumb-asses did was wrong, unethical, and hurtful without question - however - the legality of their charges were a bit in the grey area. The Enron business model was one set on futures - which created an enormous unclarity around actual real-time revenue status. Once a few journalists from the Wall Street Journal started picking up on this -- the shit storm started. Before the shit-storm started, however, there were signs that the business model was sketch, but no one picked up on it....

Anyway - when I was reading this - I thought about an industry I'm familar with which is Retail. The whole "futures" market got me thinking about how Retailers treat gift cards.

U.S. shoppers bought gift cards in grocery stores, department stores, online stores and just about every other store and shopping center this holiday season, spending a record $27.8 billion on the plastic presents, according to the National Retail Federation.

By mid-January, though, their recipients had redeemed fewer than half - 37.3 percent.

So here's my question - How do retailers account for this?? Do we have potential accounting contraversy around retailers in years to come as gift cards become more popular??

Happy Birthday Syd!

I wanted to wish my neice, Syd Stern, a very Happy First Birthday. Of course she doesn't know it means - but - it still gives me an opportunity to show the world how cute she is.

Nick Satan

A lot of people have asked me this week how I feel about Nick Saban leaving the Dolphins. Rather than go off on a tangent - I'll direct you to Dan Le Batards piece - which pretty much represents exactly how I feel.

In terms of who I hope replaces the guy .... I'm leaning toward Jim Mora Jr. right now. To be honest, though, I fully expecting the Dolphins to hire Mike Shula or something like that...

How I saved $5000

The headline sounds pretty interesting - right? Well, in reality, I just wanted to share the fact that I figured out how much money I've saved from cutting my own hair.

With the upcoming wedding, Amy and I agreed that it probably makes sense to have someone other than her or myself cut my hair for the special event. On referral from JP (who shares my stylish hairstyle), I went to a barber yesterday for the first time in 11 years for a wedding "trial run."

The cost:
$10 for the haircut
$5 for the Goatee trim
$3 tip

I figured out - that I roughly have either had friends of mine shave my head or have shaved it myself for the past 11 years. I need to cut the nappiness about once every other week (26 times a year). So, $18 every other week is $468 per year. For 11 years - that's amassed to $5,148.

Over the 11 years, I've probably invested about $30 in maybe 5 sets of clippers...which nets my gross savings at $5,000.

If you know me - than you know I'm the type of person who is pretty proud of this fact. It's not about the $5,000. It's about "beating the system." If I truly felt that the value I recieved from the $18 a week was worth it -- I'd have no problem spending it. I can afford teh $36 per month. This being said, to date, I've been very content with the outcome of cutting my own hair - plus have the luxury of doing this without leaving my home!

I'll have to see how I feel in a few weeks. Perhaps I'll go to the barber more often in the future.

Blog Tag

Ever hear of a "Dog living in a doggy-dog world? Well I happen to be a "Nerd working in a nerdy-nerd industry." (and proud of it!)

Earlier this week - I got "blog tagged" by an industry collegue, Alan Rimm-Kaufman. Before getting "tagged" I had no idea this nerdy game ever existed. I'm 100% confident than no readers of mine no what it is either - so here's a quick run-down:

A blogger from the UK some months ago wanted to take advantage of the power of blog communities to try and help promote and increase exposure of such communities. You see - the more people who link to a website, the more popular the blog is assumed, and hence, the better the search engine listing. Various search engines - including my employer - have strict rules against "link farms" (sites that offer no value other than link exchanges - "I'll link to you if you link to me") to try and guard against manipulators of the system.

With this in mind, the UK blogger began the game of blog tag. In theory, this is a way to promote blogging (and bloggers) with staying "search engine legal."

How does blog tag work? Well - from my understanding - since I've been tagged, I've got to blog about "5 little known facts about myself" in addition to "tagging" 5 other bloggers. So .. here's my best shot.

5 little known facts about Brett:

• I've cut my own hair for the past 11 years (more on this in my next post...stay tuned)
• I've had contact lenses since I was 5 years old. I was told back then that it was an "experiment" (additional related fact is that my vision isn't laser-correctable)
• I'm a 4th Generation American and currently the last remaining "Goffin" male
• My childhood favorite hobby was jigsaw puzzles. (Yes - I'm a little annoyed that I didn't get into computer programming - apparently those 2 are connected)
• I pride myself as the best Fantasy Football commissioner on the planet.

Now on to who I "tag." Let's just say that I don't have much hope that my "tagg-ees" will participate in the exercise (in no particular order):

• Adam Brown - college buddy and mortgage banking guru. Recently began blogging.
• Adam Glantz - Written articles and have always tried to help motivate to become a consistant blogger... Oh - what "Thursday Thoughts" could have been....
• Colediggys Corner - Hard to believe that just a few years ago - his blog was being sent around like wildfire among many 20- and 30- something males. Sad to say that he truly hasn't kept up with his craft
• Guy Hollerin - An overly sarcastic, fairly unstable blog that I find entertaining if I'm in the giddy mood

Straightening up.... For the Cleaning lady

For as long as I can remember, I've almost always been fortunate enough to have someone come on a regular basis to clean my house. This person has always been a woman - and was commonly known as "the cleaning lady." More recently, I suppose in our more "polically correct" society, these people are known by their first names like my last one "Patsy" or our current one "Pamela."

Anyhow, growing up, the following statement would drive me INSANE: "Brett, straighten up your room...the cleaning lady is coming today." WHAT!? That's like saying, "Brett - make sure you take a nap before you get ready for bed" Isn't the whole point of hiring someone to clean so that I wouldn't be burdoned with the task? Should you clean before they get there - wouln't you be doing their job for them?

Now, I'm not saying I should go out of my way to make my apartment unbearably messy. This would clearly cause one of the following:

1. A "high-turn-over rate" of employees
2. Someone who will feel underpaid, be resentfull and thus figure out where I hide my "emergency cash" and take consistant withdrawals.

This being said - I geniunely believe there is nothing wrong with not taking the garbage out, not emptying the dishwasher (Amy's favorite), or not puting the towels and sheets in the hamper. Employment is called a "job" for a reason. If you tell a bellman at a hotel that you would like to carry your own bags - do you tip them anyway? No! (and if you do - you clearly need some lessons on how to spend money).

I wouldn't call myself a slob or a neat-freak....I'm somewhere in between. Although I was much worse as a child, I've learned how to generally pick-up after myself and can appreciate the satisfaction of a clean apartment (especially in the ridiculously small apartment spaces of Manhattan). I believe that as long as I don't go out of my way to make my apartment the toughest job they have -- that it's ok to not "clean up for the cleaning lady."

Am I alone here?

Best SNL skit in years

Amy and I have often discussed how disappointed we are with the writing of Saturday Night Live. As she has been watching the show since she was a little girl, Amy has always DVR'd the show - primarily as an old habbit. This sesason, I think it's fair to say that we fast-forwarded through 90% of the skits, enjoying maybe 1 or 2.

This past weekend, though, a true gem was discovered. Much respect to Justin Timberlake who brought a much needed quality performance to a struggling SNL season. He was in 90% of the skits - most of them were funny - and this one below is absolutely PHENOMONAL.

Ladies and Gentlemen...thanks to the power of YouTube... I bring you the world-wide Holiday Season Instant-Classic soundtrack: Dick in a Box

Who's hot right now?

For Amy's shower, I was asked to answer a handful of questions on a video that Amy would try and guess my response. One of the questions was what celebrities would I have on a "kiss list" (not my terminology). Well, when it was time for me to answer, I was a bit tongue-tied. Not because I don't think any celebrities are hot -- but moreso because I didn't know the actresses real names. Given the fact that I'm not 15, and shouldn't be obsessed with things like this -- I got over it pretty quickly, but I was intrigued to find out the real names of 2 ladies in particular.


The first is "Lyla Garrity" or in real life (um, according to Hollywood): Minka Kelly. Minka plays Lyla Garrity on NBC's Show Friday night lights. When I used IMDb to find her real name, I was happy to learn that she's 26 years old in real life and not 16 like she plays on the show. (I'd be a little woried if I thought a real-life 17 year-old was hot)

Anyway, I truly believe that Lyla, I mean Minka, is the next "Buffy" or "Felicity" type character who's cute enough to get her own show in a teen-oriented environment. To date, Friday Night Lights is her biggest success, having minor roles in a handful of shows beforehand.

The second "no-real-name" hottie is Emmanuelle Chriqui, or as I knew her "Sloan from Entourage." I actually thought she was a little too hot to be casted as "E's" girlfriend. I love "E's" character on the show - and I'm glad he gets the hot girl - but I think she is hotter than any of the girls that "Vince" (the mega movie star) has gotten on the show. Maybe that's how Hollywood really is -- who knows. Anyway, Emmanuelle is from Canada and is 29 years old. She's been in a bunch of minor roles (including a few episodes of the O.C.) and according to IMBd has 3 or 4 projects coming out next year.

(In addition to these 2 ladies --- Jessica Alba was also in the Top 3... but given that everyone knows who Jessica Alba is - I decided to focus the other 2)

So - that's it. This blog post represents who I thought was hot in 2006. The fact that this blog documents a point of time is both scary and cool. I wonder if I'll still think they're hot in 10 years...

NYC - Open 24 Hours

When I lived in my last apartment, I loved to tell people that on the three corners other than the one my apartment building was on, there was:

1. A 24 Hour Bakery/Deli
2. A 24 Hour Drug Store
3. A 24 Hour Grocery Store

I mean - if I ever needed ANYTHING at 2 AM - I was covered. New York Fuckin City!

On that note - I wanted to pass along something I just found out yesterday. In this City (the one that never sleeps), there is a 24 Hour Post Office. That's right! The USPS - the public-facing business with the most obscure and non-standard hours (each office is different) - actually has a location that is open 24 hours! I don't know any other cities that have such a luxury - but would be interested in hearing of any.

The location is on 8th Ave between 31st and 32nd Street - right across the street from Madison Square Garden - and is actually the "main Post Office" in NYC. It looks like a library inside - which is kinda freaky (and straight out of an old movie), but to go at 9PM - and not have to wait on long, stressful lines -- was an absolute pleasure.

Yahoo's Peanut Butter Manifesto

Last week, a SVP over at Yahoo wrote an internal memo to the company outlining current organization flaws and his broad-based solution. He compared the company initatives to Peanut Butter, being spread too thin. Thus, the memo being leaked to the public (via the internet), has been coined "The Peanut Butter Manifesto."

What I find interesting (beyond the memo itself) is the concept of how it is virtually impossible these days to keep such broad, company-wide messages in-house. I don't think it's a good or bad thing, frankly .... Just different.

I work for a similar type of organization - and have noticed that any "company-wide" messages (although fully plastered with "INTERNAL ONLY" messaging) are completely written to be expected to be posted on a blog somewhere.

Is this a new type of investor-relation strategy? Is there any other option other than for a company to embrace it? I don't think so...

Yes - Companies need to do their part by keeping employees loyal and putting fear in every employees mind regarding releasing such information. But beyond strong policies and high security within email -- I'm not sure what else a company can do.

Regarding the memo itself -- I actually thought it was good. I felt the SVPs passion in it - and it wasn't just complaining - it offered a plan and a solution.

I guess in today's world, the lesson is that whatever you produce/put your name on - you should go into it making sure that you are comfortable with having your name attached to it.

This blog is a perfect example. I know that maybe 15 of my friends and family are the core audience, but there are times when people outside of that are the audience. When I speak at events and people want to see what I'm about, or one day if I'm ever interviewing for a job .... People will Google my name and associate the content on this blog to my peronsal brand.

And the bottom-line... I know that going into it - so I'm comfortable with it. It's just the world we live in now and it's only going to get more transparent...

Michigan and the BCS

I've had this conversation with a handful of folks, so I thought I'd write a little bit about it on my blog.

I'll start by saying I've always been in favor of a NCAA Football play-off - even if it was for 6 teams. Every year there is an issue with the current system - and nothing is ever done about it. My buddy, Salis, had a good point yesterday (which is rare) ;) ... He said, if you ran a business and there were problems with the same operational function of your business every year - that you'd be forced to change that system - even if it meant a short-term decrease in profit.... But ... seems as if the Bowl Championship committee's doesn't have to play by normal rules. They seem to believe that controversy is good - because it promotes the series (which is such BS!)

This year - the lack of clarity continues around the "right" match-up of #1 vs. #2.

Being a Michigan fan - I clearly believe that Michigan should be playing on Jan 8th against Ohio State. I think Michigan has demonstrated it's talent, success, and it's claim to represent one-loss teams against Ohio State. I've watched about 5 or 6 of Florida's games this year - and I truly think they are not a good football team. I actually believe that LSU is the best team in the SEC this season -- they just happened to play all their toughest opponents on the road... USC isn't a good football team either.

Anyway - that's my opinion - and it means nothing in the grand scheme of things...

This being said, I've been very surprised at how I've felt the past few weeks about going to the National Championship game... Of course, I really wanted Michigan to play in the game -- but there was something missing. If Michigan played against OSU in the Fiesta Bowl and won -- I'd be very happy -- but not 100% satisfied. After losing to Ohio State - it was like even a National Championship would not have made the season a complete success. Yes - playing on the road is a disadvantage and we only lost by 3 points ... but that still doesn't erase the fact that we lost to Ohio State.

Many of my fellow Michigan fans don't agree with this feeling - and that's cool. I understand the ability for "revenge" on a neutral field, but not sure that alone would make the season whole to me.

If anything, though, I'm hopeful that Michigans impact on yet another totally botched BCS system -- helps pave the way for a better NCAA play-off system in the near future.

Go Blue!

Doctors - MBA or Med School?

I've been meaning to write this post for some time now, and after 6 hours in doctor's offices yesterday, I'm now motivated to actually write it. (I realize now that this post is on the longer side. Feel free to print out and read on the subway)

First - My day yesterday.
This weekend I noticed that my vision was a little off (yes - i have horrible vision generally speaking - but it was even worse than usual). I was traveling for work this week, so I called to make an eye doctor's appointment when I got back. I don't have a regular eye doctor - but more on this later. So after filling out paperwork for 15 minutes, then going through the initial set-up with the non-doctors (nurses i suppose) - I waited some more before seeing the actual doctor. I then took part of some annoying tests that involved big beams of light directed into my eye - with instructions to keep my eyes open. Tons of fun. After that came diagnosis #1. After more questions/answers - I took part of more tests. Hmmm ... Diagnosis #1 isn't it ... I think it's diagnosis #2. Let's take more tests ... Hmm ... it resembles diagnosis #2 - but I'm not really sure - let's send you to a specialist.... "Can it wait till next week? NO - you have to go today - it could be serious..." (In the spirit of not wanting to screw with my eye-sight, I obviously followed orders to a tee)

Retinal specialist was downtown. I had a 1:30 appointment. After filling out forms, waiting to be called, going through the almost identical pre-testing, and then waiting 45 minutes for the actual specialist -- let's just say I'm not overly bubbly.

The Doctor was actually a nice, personable guy. He explained as best he could what the charts indicated that it was a common case of Central Serous Retinopathy. Yea - I'm sure you all know what that is so I'll move on... (Feel free also to click on that link to find out more) Long story short - I took another 20 minutes of PAINFUL tests to ensure that's what it was. Unfortuantely - inconclusive...but it still smelt like it... So - what's to come of it? Nothing! I have to wait 4 weeks to see if it improves on its own. No treatment for now. Just waiting. My entire day spent to find this out... (Don't want to complain - it was just frustrating)

Anyway ... now on to Chapter 2: Doctors are merely used car salesman with some expensive schooling.
That's right - I said it. 99% of doctors I interact with as a patient are money-hungry low-lives. I have NEVER EVER heard the words "you don't need that" from a doctor in his/her office. Something is always "precautionary" or "good to make sure." And don't get my wrong - I'm always buying. No one wants to cheap-out on their health.

What really irritates me is seeing that actual profiting right before my eyes. Example - do you ever look at the statements your insurance company sends you? The pricetag doctors put on the smallest things are crazy! X-Rays $1000 (that's like $1MM/hour type revenue)... $300 for their personal "Examination" of you - which was about 30 seconds of them looking at your chart.
At the doctor office yesterday they tried charging my $300 for contact lenses that I hadn't even purchased yet!! (and by the way - i can buy my contacts online for HALF that price!!) The effect this has on me is really annoying. I find myself overly sensitive what doctors are doing to me..."Why are you doing that?" "Do I need this test?" "Is it covered by insurance?"

Maybe this is New York City specific - where the 8MM people are enough volume for doctors not to need recurring patients. They know that if you don't come back - someone else will be there.

What I hope for one day - is that I have doctors that I trust and that over time would want to know my family and I personally. I love the Hollywood concept of their being a small-town doctor who knows everyone. Someone who puts my health and well-being ahead of profit. Someone who is honest - gives customers (patients) all relevant information and then a choice.

Please don't get me wrong - I definitely think that doctors should certainly make a decent living - but I hate to see them treat patients as the sucker gravy train.

EDITORS NOTE: Upon further discussion with Felch (who happens to date a doctor), I must conceed that almost all of the doctors I have gone to come from the insurance programs web sites. Perhaps if I got doctors by referral -- my experiences would be better.

Guest Blogger - Amy Taykan (The Future Mrs. Goffin)

Whoever “APPROVES THIS MESSAGE” Should Be Ashamed

I admit I may not be someone involved in the political landscape in a regular basis nor am I one who stays up on all of the issues, but if you have turned on the TV in the past few weeks you can not help but be involved. Mid-term elections are next week and this vote is crucial for the Democrats and Republicans as to who will have control in Washington. Politicians should be in government for the people and to help right what they may feel is wrong to better our country, instead the elections have turned into a mud-slinging advertising war. I am embarrassed that the people who represent us as citizens have sunk so low in the messages they are paying to communicate. The Today Show is even conducting a poll to vote for the funniest and dumbest political ads. I think that says it all. When we vote on the ads before the election why don’t we just turn politics into a weekly reality show where every week another candidate gets eliminated based on America’s votes?

Ad Age reported that about $2 Billion is being spent on these political ads, up almost 18% from 2004. This is a lot of money to talk about one’s opponent and calling them liars, thieves or one ad where a candidate was accused of not returning someone’s phone call. When did we decide to stop focusing on what a candidate can do to make this country better and only spend money to communicate the negatives of their opponent? All of us would be much better served to hear what each candidate stands for on their own instead of trashing their opponent. Way back in my political days (High School) could you imagine a banner that read, “Don’t Vote For “Her” For Senior Class VP – she slept with 4 Football players - and 2 at 1 time -- Amy approves this message.” (Editor's Edit) I think I would have been laughed out of the election. That is how I feel about the current candidates. I can barely tell who is trying to get elected until the final part of the ad says, “I approved this message.” What the heck is this? If you were the one in the ad conveying your platform then you wouldn’t need to approve this negative message.

I hope by the time the 2008 Presidential Election rolls around that politicians can stop acting like children fighting in the school yard and focus on the people of the United States.

Blog Insight

Maintaining a blog is a hobby of mine. It allows me to express my thoughts on any topic I chose in a public forum, although, fully knowing that 90% of thus "public" are friends and family.

The other 10% are randoms... Usually stumbling upon my blog because they Googled a topic that I've written about. An example - in Septemeber I wrote about "Answer Tones" and received 50 visitors from that post...(I was on the first results page then - but now on the 3rd page when you google that term)

The way I know this is because I use an analytics program. It tells me things like how many visitors I get, where they come from, etc.

Anyway, some pretty funny/interesting insight I discovered last week...

My buddy Jared Margulies started a new job about 3 weeks ago. I have twice included his name (now 3 times) in posts. In looking at the blog analytics data - over the last 3 weeks - over 15 visitors came to my blog by Googling his name. I instantly emailed Jared and said - "Hey - looks like people at your new company are checking you out.." (Sorry ladies - if you clicked on my blog, you most likely found the post on his wedding weekend)

Just thought this was interesting ... oh ... and if you've found this post by Googling Jared's name.... you're busted! (well - not really - cuz I have no idea who you are - just how many of you there are)

Iron Man

No - this isn't my upcoming Halloween Costume... It's what our good friend Bryan Spellberg can now be characterized as.

Bryan, (as many of you will come to know as the "Bridesman" in the next few months) is crazy dedicated to fitness training. And by crazy dedicated - I'm talking about carving out time in between work and fatherhood to voluntarily put his body through daily over-drive. The guy does more exercise in his Monday morning warm-up, then I do in a month!

For those that don't know, an Iron Man competition is pretty much the end-all, be-all for "fitness freaks" like Bryan. It's a tri-athlon of freakish distances. Bryan conquered the Iron Man in Northern Florida this past Saturday. (Of important note - If you watched Donovan McNabb puke during the Tampa Bay game on Sunday due to the heat - That is where Bryan did this thing - near Tampa!!) In case you are unaware of what's involved in this event - here's how it goes (obviously as told to me by others). Start of the day (and seeing the sun-rise) by swimming 2.4 miles! 2.4 miles doesn't seem like a lot - but it's 155 laps in an Olympic style pool. (I do 2 laps and I'm huffing and puffin!!)

After you do this beyond difficult swim in the ocean or lake (and not in an easy, tame pool) - you race to your bike and pedal 112 miles! For a frame of reference - the distance from New York City to Philadelphia, PA is about 100 miles... that's a 2 hour car ride - plus 20 more miles!!

So after that.... you do something that people train YEARS for. You run a marathon. 26.2 miles! You run watching the sun set, reminding yourself of how you started the day by watching the sun rise. The sun rise and sun set reference were provided by Shelby, Bryan's wife, who was obviously there with him - and keeping Amy and I up-to-date on his progress. I thought it was crazy to think about how it would feel to spend the entire day torturing your body - and having the good ol fashion sun reminding you of that as your trying to finish.

Bryan is amazing and has surrounded himself with solely positive-minded people. In the few years that I've known him (and Amy can confirm this was the case pre-BG), his family has always been his number one fan. In fact - The Sun-Sentinel (leading South Florida newspaper) picked up on this and did a full page story yesterday on how his sister, Michelle, was going to run the marathon portion with him. It was her first ever marathon - so congrats Michelle!
Here is the interview of them two, although the large color photo of them is not online. (oh - and it's Spellberg - and not Speelberg).

So, Bryan is a loyal Blog reader - and I'm hoping after he spends the week in pools of ice and hot tubs - he'll answer some questions I have in the comments section:
1) What were your times in each event?
2) What do you do about going to the bathroom?
3) Is the Iron Man something you can now cross off the list - or are you hungry for more?

In closing, Bryan, Amy and I are beyond proud of you. We are wishing you a painless recovery. Congrats on kicking the crap out of the Iron Man!

More Rational Exuberance? NO!

I’ve read several articles and had a lot of conversations with folks over the past week about the Google-YouTube merger. As many of you know – I certainly drink the kool-aid of my current employer – so please take this into consideration when reading this…

The large dollar amounts that are being used to purchase companies that are only modestly revenue generating – has spurned some people to ask the question – “is it happening again”? Is there another “bubble” we are about to create that is bound to burst?

Putting the YouTube purchase pricetag on hold for a moment – I am very sensitive of the aura of the “dot-com bust.” The industry I have worked in for about 8 years now has had it’s ups and downs … but certainly much more impact on the perception of the industry during the “down” portion. Getting recognition amongst (most importantly) traditional advertisers has taken time. It was so easy for an old school marketer to shrug off the concept of changing his/her marketing strategy due to the very public image issue.

So when so-called respected journalists write things that insinuate that it’s round 2 of the “Dot-Bomb era” – I get annoyed.

So what is different now? It’s very simple. Monetization exists and is understood. Sure, there is definitely a lot of “future potential” still baked into the equation – but in what business venture is vision non-existent?

In earlier years (1999/2000) the reason why the “Dot-Com bust’ happened was because the people spending the money (Wall Street) treated it like a wave …People in the board rooms didn’t understand the realistic aspect of internet advertising.

Fast forward 7 years - and it's a different story. Although the industry still has leaps to grow and evolve, it (in large part to Google and other monetization engines) has figured out a model on how to monetize eyeballs and content.

So - more on this as it matures - but please don't think Google buying YouTube for $1.65 Billion is a sign that the internet marketing industry is about to take two steps backwards. I think that after testing and learning - it will actually lead to some big steps forward in Ad Formats... Stay tuned.

Getting around NYC during the day

For the most part, Google makes it so I don't have to leave the NY office very often. They feed me 3 meals if I want and they offer the latest technology available so I can communicate with customers and co-workers.

There are times, though, when I find myself traveling through New York City during the day on a weekday. On these days, punctuality usually means more than on the weekends. Whether I'm traveling to a doctor's appointment, client meeting, or running errands -- time is always "of the essence."

Since our offices moved downtown -- I've found it much more difficult to efficiently travel during the day. This is because the only Subway stop that is near my office is the Blue line (A,C,E). When we were in Times Square - there was a plethora of options.

Anyhow - the Subway is the ONLY way to navigate the city during a work-day with any kind of sanity. Cabs, although often times viewed as "easier", are not at these times. The traffic going in almost any direction is horrific. So not only do you spend 6 times more to take a cab - but you're almost guaranteed to be late. And yes - that is bad - but I think the worst part about all this is the stress. Nothing compares to the frustration of sitting in the back of a taxi and the only thing you see in front of you is car gridlock -- and the only things you hear are cars honking loudly and your driver talking in another language on his cell phone.

And to top it all off -- the extremely long 30 minutes ride (that could be maybe 2 miles), seems like an hour.

When you take the subway - you may have to exert more energy and it may not take you that much of a difference in time -- but it is such less stress. The cars are typically not too crowded and there is usually not train traffic either.

So in conclusion -- if traveling through Manhattan during a work day -- either use the subway or don't even bother leaving your office.

Shop.org Conference

The Annual Summit of Shop.org starts today at the Hilton in New York City. For any retailers looking to hear about Search Engine Marketing tips - I will be on a panel this week with experts from Yahoo and MSN. I'm looking forward to it because over 1,600 people have registered for the conference already.

For non-retailers (ie friends and family) I appreciate support, but the conference charges all attendees so I'll be happy to give a private session on SEM Tips afterwards. ;)

Also - if you go on the site and look at my mug shot -- no need to tell me I need a new picture. I am well aware of the fact (especially after the first 10 comments from co-workers).

Gas Price Resource

Seeing as if 50% of my blog readership is from New York City (in which owning a car is rare), and another 2% from outside the US (Hola Manu), I don't know how relevant this post will be for everyone... however... I stumbled upon a cool site this morning (it's an Google AdSense partner) and I wanted to share: GasBuddy.

GasBuddy lists updated gas prices and trends by city and state.

As an example, Florida (where about 20% of my blog readership occurs) is the 31st ranked state in terms of cheapest gas at an average of $2.27 per gallon. It appears, though, that South Florida is bringing this average state price up, as Miami is averaging $2.37 per gallon.

Anyway - just thought the site/information was interesting and I wanted to share.

My Email System and Philosophy

Recently – more and more people are getting Gmail Addresses. Of course, being employed by the company that maintains this service – I hear a lot of unsolicited feedback on it.

Certainly, the majority of this feedback is positive – but not all.

“Spam is increasing” is a popular one – but most of the time – people are talking about their Spam folders (which users never even see) are getting more and more mail in them. This is actually a good thing! Anyway – the cases of Spam making it’s way through Gmail filters is growing as well – which brings me to my 2006 Email philosophy.

This philosophy incorporates 3 active email accounts:

1) For Work – I only give this out to business-related contacts. Today – this is also my “on the go” or Blackberry email …

2) For Friends and Family – I use my Gmail account to email with friends and family. Seeing that Spam is annoying under this context, I’ve put a period in my email username (xxx.xxx@gmail.com) as I’ve been told this helps limit Spam. Those folks who prefer an easy-to-remember address (asmith@gmail.com) will apparently receive much more Spam that those that have different/unique names….

3) For Everything Else – Credit Card Bills, Airline confirmation, Fantasy Sports, Comments on this blog, etc. I don’t check this account every day, but a few times a week keeps me up-to-date.

Thus far – this system has worked well for me – and I recommend it to everyone. I’m assuming in years to come, my system may change, but right now, It keeps my communications organized and helps limit Spam in the cases where it’s most annoying. Speaking of annoying – those folks who know all 3 of my addresses – please don’t email all 3 at once. Please use the system above. Thanks. ;)

Is the Umbrella a Failed Invention?

I believe after, say, 25 years of operating an umbrella on my own – that I’ve mastered the concept. If this is in fact the case – well then I need to marginalize it’s value to society…

The belief that an umbrella will keep one dry when it rains is good in theory – but is wrong. An umbrella will merely assist you from getting completely soaked – but it will not keep you dry.

Maybe I’m mis-holding the instrument, but I never seem to truly avoid getting myself and my belongings wet. If I choose to keep my front shirt and face dry, well then my entire back and backpack (my version of a business briefcase) gets soaked. If I chose to try and protect this bag that often holds various consumer electronic devices, well then I will look like I peed in my pants and sweat through my shirt within about 14 seconds.

Who decided that the innovation for umbrellas needed to stop? I’ve seen the “wind-proof” umbrellas (that sell for over $75) and the enormous “golf umbrellas” (which should be illegal in Manhattan – just like turning on a red light is). But - this isn’t what I’m thinking of… I’m thinking of an umbrella which casts a pseudo force-field around you … kind of like a plastic telephone booth. You know – like the Halloween custom of a guy in a shower – just without all the shower stuff….

I’m sure that there are issues with this – like how you would compact it into a woman’s purse – but smart innovators should be able to figure this out…. Am I the only one who thinks we need something else (well before we're all wearing clothes that self dry themselves like in Back-to-the-Future 2)?

Kid in a Candy Store

The phrase "Kid in a candy Store" is used to describe a sense of overwhelming happiness in response to one's surroundings. Last week ... I was an entire 2nd grade class in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory...

After the core priorities in my life (Amy, Family, Health, well being, career, etc), it'’s fair to say that Fantasy Football comes next. I know that sounds pathetic when you read it (and believe me, it feels pathetic writing it), but I really am THAT passionate about Fantasy Football. It'’s certainly my favorite hobby (and what I chose to spend countless hours on in my free time).

Last week, I had my most important and 2^nd most important drafts, followed by one of the best days of the year -- NFL Kick-off Sunday…..

My most important draft is of the league I have been running for 9 years now, called The Bigtime. It’s very competitive – with limited trash-talking, mostly done between teams rathmassan en mass. I've won the league once, back in 2003, and I'm hungry for that championship trophy again.

My 2^nd most important draft was for the World Championship of Fantasy Football (WCOFF) in Atlantic (Sh)city. I entered last year, but went to Vegas for the draft. This was the first year it was also offered in AC, so I was able to be joined by more of my friends -– which I found to be very cool. The entry fee isn't cheap ($1600+), but the winner can win $200,000 plus Superbowl tickets...

I'm also in 2 other leagues, which I primarily enter for social reasons. I love keeping in contact with groups of friends I don't see on the regular, so fantasy football is actually a great way to stay in touch. Of course I want to win leagues like the one with my camp friends (The Funk Air Memorial), but I try not to follow who I'm playing every week so that rooting doesn't get over-complicated.

Anyway, back to Sunday... It's hard to describe with words - but I just have this sense of excitement every Sunday morning. As the season goes on, the excitement becomes a bit more intense (and competitive) -- but it's so much fun.

So in conclusion -- if you ever want to talk to me about Fantasy Football -- I'm game... If you call me on Sunday in the next 17 weeks to talk about something other than football, wait till Monday...And if you haven't yet gotten onto the Fantasy Football bandwagon -- GET ON IT.

Trader Woe's

On Sunday night, Amy and I motivated to do an evening grocery run after dinner… We are for the most part, loyal Fresh Direct customers, but we thought we’d try out Trader Joe’s.

At around 8:00 at night, the place was fairly hopping. (and by hopping I mean “a very stressful place to try and leisurely grocery shop) Trader Joe’s is known (in my mind) for it’s customer-friendly pricing and it’s nature-friendly foods… I didn’t price-compare all that much, but as a generic theme – I found the prices to be more than fair. Amy agreed. Other than that, though, that’s all of the positive things I have to say about my experience.

Here are the top 3 more annoying things that stand out duing my Trader Joe's experience:

1. The aisles are big enough to MAYBE fit two shopping carts. If one person is looking at a product, it's tough to pass them. If multiple people are going down an aisle at once - get ready to tango...
2. Speaking of over-crowded drama -- the lines are so long, that the rap into grocery aisles one through three. So, there you are, FINISHED with the process of stressful grocery shopping - and now you have to wait on an ultra-long line and battle on-coming traffic of other shoppers.
3. Everything is Organic - there is nothing "standard" in their entire product mix. If I am health conscious, but enjoy Diet Coke every once in a while -- I've got to go to another store for that. This isn't what I would call a "convenience"
   

To sum up -- I had high expectations of Trader Joe's which were certainly not met. The drama of shopping in that atmosphere for select products was not worth the potential savings to me...

On the flip side, you'll hear no complaints from me about Trader Joe's Wine Shop. Where else can you buy 4 bottles of wine for less than $15 (yes I said bottles and not "boxes") ?? The wine isn't half bad either... Just be sure - that all people with you while you are buying wine have ID with them. Amy forgot hers one time, which prompted them to say they couldn't sell to us... Amy ran out of the store (which made it wierd), but they ended up giving in...

Hand Gash in Dallas

Last week, I was traveling for work… First stop on Monday was Bentonville Arkansas for 2 days, followed by Dallas, Texas for 2 days… Needless to say, it was a long, taxing week.

On Wednesday evening, we took out some clients to dinner (with an Evander Holyfield siting - and yes his ear is pretty messed up)… After dinner, I went back to the hotel and got ready for bed. Before getting into bed, I thought, “you know what, I should really hang up my shirt for tomorrow…" So I went to the glass closet door, put my hand on the nob to open it and pulled. In an instant, the entire mirror panel shattered in about 50 pieces. I was obviously scared out of my mind and jumped back (and dropped my shirt). The next thing I know, I look down at my hand, which is pretty much covered in blood… and not stopping. So I grab a towel, rap it firmly across my hand. I then call downstairs… security comes up about 10 minutes later. Within this time, I check out the rest of my body… I have some cuts on my feet and arm, but for the most part – the one large gash on my hand is the only major injury…

I won’t go into all the details that follow, but let’s just say that I (with the help of Hotel security) decided that going to the emergency room at 11:30 PM with a cut on my hand will probably be the last priority there…So I went to sleep with a bandaged hand… I woke up and it was still bleeding. So I got dressed, packed my things and drove to the hospital (primarily via confincing of a co-worker). This meant I was going to certainly be late to my meeting… The whole process took a little over an hour – which wasn’t too bad. They cleaned the cut and then “Stitch glued” it (new form of stitches). They also gave me a Tetanus Shot, which has provided me with a lovely dead-arm all week…

Anyway, fast forward, I race to my meeting and was only about 30 minutes late… I couldn’t shake anyone’s hand (which has been somewhat awkward all week), but everything went fine…

I tell this story for 2 reasons:

1. If I run into you – and give you a weird left-handed fist pound as a greeting, please understand
2. Atleast every other person I tell this story, their FIRST reaction is: "Are you gonna sue them. You should." And my answer is always "No, it's not my style."

Do I wish that the hotel was a little kinder to me, asked to move me to another room, and comped me the room? Sure -- but they didn't. When I called two days later to complain, they offered to pay any medical bills associated to it...
So, why am I anti-suing in this instance? Because first of all -- it could have been MUCH worse and I'm grateful that it wasn't... Secondly, too many people who get injured abuse the right to be financially compensated for thier injuries. And lastly, God forbid something worse happens to me in the future - I definitely don't want a previous suit to be held against me in that case - just because I thought I could end up with a little extra cash.

Through this experience I will end up with a minor scar on my hand and possibly a small fear of hotel glass closets... Other than that - I'm hopeful that I walk away from this annoying experience with my head up.

Ball Park Derby

My buddy Salis and I have a competition of sorts I felt worthy of sharing. Neither of us is the biggest baseball fan in the world - but we both found an intriguing commanality within building a resume of visitied professional baseball parks. It makes for a fun summer "thing to do" (especially with my frequency of business travel schedule and his lack their of business travel). It is with this I thought I'd give an update. Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending my 13th professional baseball stadium (Ameriquest Field) -- towering over Andrews' 11.

For future reference (because I think we've asked each other for one anothers list at least 10 times) here are the 13 stadiums I have been to (in no particular order):

1. Yankee Stadium (Yankees)
2. Shea Stadium (Mets)
3. Dodger Stadium (Dodgers)
4. Skydome (Blue Jays)
5. Old Tiger Stadium (Tigers)
6. Fenway (Red Sox)
7. Wrigley (Cubs)
8. US Cellular (White Sox)
9. Pac Bell (SF Giants)
10. Camden Yards (Orioles)
11. Pro Player Stadium (Marlins)
12. Miller Park (Brewers)
13. Ameriquest Field at Arlington (Rangers)

Here are the 11 that Salis has been to:

1. Shea Stadium
2. Yankee Stadium
3. Fenway
4. Old Pittsburgh Stadium (Pirates)
5. Turner Field (Atlanta)
6. Oakland (A's)
7. Pac Bell
8. Wrigley
9. US Cellular
10. Veteran Stadium (Phillies)
11. Olympic (Montreal Expos)

As we get older, I'm looking forward to visiting ball parks with Salis and checking off stadiums (with or without corporate marketing names) off our list...

Why are Smokers Exempt?

I'm no "liter policeman" (like Steve Coleman), but I'm curious to know why smokers are exempt from the traditional public courtesy of giving a hoot -- and not pollute-ing.

Now, I'm not an over-arching "anti-smoker" kind of guy. Do I think it's a gross habit, that is clearly life-limiting, and makes you smell? -- Yes. But as long as you are a respectful public smoker, than I'm not going to judge you. I could elaborate on what this entails, but I think I'll save this for another post. Generically, though, it's just about being conscious on the "second hand" effect that smoking has on people other than you...

So, getting back to the subject, why is it socially acceptable to flick your cigarette on the street or outside you car window, but not acceptable to just drop your empty Starbucks cup on the ground in mid-step? Did I miss the "cigarettes are bio-degradable" lesson in 2nd grade Science class?
Furthermore, if the cigerette is still lit when you flick it -- that lovely smell is going to linger for the people behind you to smell. I mean, what if people had this mentality for public toilets? (cuz we all know how good public toilets smell)

Anyway - I don't really have the balls to call someone out on it on the street, so thought I'd vent this way. If you're a smoker, please think twice before flicking your cigerette butt on the street. Put it out with your foot and treat it like a used tissue. Thank you.