Ugliest Couch in America

Regis and Kelly have a yearly contest to determine the "Ugliest Couch in America." I would have no idea of this fact...however... it turns out that this years winner happens to be the childhood couch of my brother-in-law!

Fred's mom, Sylvia (accompanied with her couch of 32 years), is featured in the episode that aired this morning.

I'm going to let the video be the bulk of the content on this post, but I didn't want to leave out that I thought Sylvia came off as the coolest and most comfortable with her appearance on the show out of the 3 contestants.

In addition to getting put up in New York by the show, Sylvia received $5000 and a trophy for being rewarded as the contest winner. Congrats Barry and Sylvia!!!

MIchigan Football...2007

It seems as if the biggest story in the sports media world over the last few weeks has been the University of Michigan's abysmal start to the college football season. As I'm a proud Wolverine fan, most people who know me are thrilled to ask me how I'm feeling these days about Michigan Football...As I've gotten the question over 10 times recently -- I decided to blog my feelings...

While I am frustrated, annoyed, and baffled -- I actually have what I like to think is a unique mindset on the situation. You see -- being a loyal fan means that you are with the team through good times and bad. This is a clearly bad time. So... I take notice to the fact that I'm lucky... Lucky in the fact that I am a fan (and alumni) of one of the few college football programs that has the luxury of being a realistic competitor year in and year out. I can think of maybe 5 other college programs that can say that...To put it in perspective - if I went to Indiana - I wouldn't have a college football program to root for... This isn't meant to be a knock on IU -- it's just an example of why I feel it's great to be a Michigan Wolverine - even in times like this.

I do feel bad for Mike Hart, Chad Henne, and Jake Long -- who all came back to repeat as contenders... I'm hoping they are able to taste a championship at the next level...

It's been a very bad start to the year. Does that mean that the season is over? Of course not. We're not going to win the National Championship - but there are some big ten team(s) that could make our season salvageable - even if we go 3-9. Another benefit of being a Michigan fan -- lots of meaningful rivalries...

All in all ... again - As a fan, it's been a baffling 2 weeks. It's probably going to be a very frustrating 12 weeks...
This said ... I'm still proud to be a Michigan Wolverine alumni - and this will never fade. I won't defend the poor performance or get frustrated with those classless fans who like to rub my face in it. I don't think I gloat when Michigan is great either. I'm what I like to consider a class-act Michigan Wolverine fan. GO BLUE!!

Fabuloso

I just got back from Home Depot... As I was leaving the store, I took a double-take at a specific product display. It was for a all-purpose household cleaner, with a name I'd never heard of before. I'm familiar with the standard brands: Windex, Clorox, Pine Sol, Formula 409, Fantastik, etc.... but this was the first time I ever was introduced by the brand "FABULOSO" (manufactured by Colgate).

Now - If I'm the CEO of SC Johnson (the maker of "Fantastik") - I'm a little ticked at the product marketing folks for getting beat to the punch here. You know that a good portion of your target audience is Hispanic-American, and you probably spend a good deal of advertising dollars with Hispanic language ads (I should have probably checked with the Mrs. on this first to make sure my facts were correct)... Yet you believe that your brand is so powerful - that you will leave it's name the same? Who wants to bet that within the next year - Fantastik is selling a portion of it's product as "Fantastico"? (and if they're not - someone should be fired)

Anyway - props to Colgate for doing something that even Jim Gaffigan mentions in his famous Hot Pockets routine ... "...Caliente Pockets...."

Google Lunch

As I haven't had a pro-Google post in a while... I thought I'd quickly show-off a recent article in a food service magazine about the lunch served at Google.

For those that haven't experienced lunch with me at Google - read this to get a sense....
I actually had those peas as part of my lunch today - so the article I suppose is pretty timely.

Sportsline glitch and phone Number

I have been a loyal Sportsline.com power user for the last 10 years. By power user - I mean that I not only consume their products as a fantasy player -- but as a commissioner as well.

Anyway - I wanted to post an issue they've been having with their HELP CENTER (and "ask a question feature" in particular). Basically - every time you try and login - there is a "login loop" that is occurring - where the "Please login page" constantly appears - even after continuously logging in. This is not a browser or operating system issue -- it's an internal problem at Sportsline (now CBS Sports). To fix this call: 1-877-Commish from 8:00am to 8:00pm, EST, Monday thru Friday.

It took me 2 weeks to get this answer. Sportsline does a HORRIBLE job giving out a customer service resource - email or phone number. This is the one major issue I wish they corrected.

Anyhow - just wanted to drop some knowledge for those Sportline commissioners out there...
Fantasy season is only 2 weeks away...

Fake Poker mishap

Yesterday, something upsetting happened to me .... Before I tell you what it is, know that I was surprised at my initial feelings of severe disappointment. Surprised may be the wrong word -- Pathetic is probably better...

Yesterday I sat down on the subway, blackberry in hand ready to continue my quest of "Texas Hold em King 2" dominance. While I clicked my usual way to start the game - an instant feeling of sadness had come over me. For a reason I will never know -- my fake $43 Million had just vanished from the games memory. My only option was to start all over with the starting bank of a measly $5,000.

Please keep in mind, the $43 Million was a product of immeasurable hours on countless subway and bus trips over the last several months (if not year). I guess it's the equivalent of George's (from Seinfeld) Frogger high score staying in tact over the years - and the importance of that to George.

It's a day later - and although I'm over it ... I have yet to start up a new quest. I'm not announcing my retirement from the Texas Hold em' King 2 Tour ... but I think I just need a break...

To fill up the time -- I've been listening to FootballGuys Podcasts on my iPhone. Other than severely eating the battery and the inability to figure out if/how I can fast-forward on my new device -- I love it! I guess nothing can cure a video game disappointment more than the smell of Fantasy Football in the air....

Being Sick Sucks

I typically have the mentality that I'm "a machine." I believe that your state of mind is often dictated by how you think...(If you think you are beaten -- you are...) This said, I can think I'll never get sick forever, but it's bound to happen, and it did. This week I took my 2nd and 3rd sick days at Google in 4 years... After traveling a lot last week, I suppose my body shut down...

Not only was I sick, but Amy apparently got jealous - and became sick herself. 2 sick people under one roof is definitely not a party... Anyhow, our condition forced us to cancel our weekend trip to Florida - where I was scheduled to take part in the WPT Boot Camp (Amy's birthday present to me).

We were able to reschedule for sometime next year - but I didn't think that I would be able to get as much out of it if my head was continuously throbbing as poker pros were instructing me how to play properly.

We're still getting better .... just resting and taking it easy. So ... I guess all I have to say is: Being sick sucks!!

My London visit

Last week, Google sent me to London to educate English retailers on how US retailers are utilizing Google as an effective marketing platform.

Before I get into the business aspects -- I generally had a much better experience in London this time around than I did 10+ years ago. The food was much better than I remember it, and the people I actually had conversations with didn't seem to mind that I was American. (Although I was amazed to find that London Tube riders were much ruder than NYC subway riders)

Also of note - last week was the first time in my memory that jet-lag truly kicked my butt. For the first day or two - my body was real screwed up. In fact, the first night of sleep - I woke up at 2:30 AM and was up for good. I went to the gym in the hotel at 4:30 AM ... which was definitely the first time that's ever happened.

Speaking of first times - it was my first time visiting the city of Manchester. As my pseudo tour guide (who lived in NY for 7 years) told me -- it's like Boston, but smaller and cleaner. And that was pretty spot on. I was only there for about 24 hours, but I really liked the city (minus the fact that the pound is worth 2x of a dollar).

On the business side - I was a bit taken back initially at some of the conversations I was having. It was like I traveled in an Internet marketing time machine to the US in 2005. The same objections and conversations that I was having with U.S. retailers 2 years ago -- our London and Manchester teams were having last week. This is no knock on anyone at all -- I just find it so interesting. Here's an Internet economy that is apparently larger than the US, yet the US is 2 years ahead of England in online marketing....

Given the fact that I travel a lot for work, it was definitely cool to travel overseas for a change. It was a good experience and I met some great people, but I don't see myself doing this regularly or anytime soon.

My iPhone!

I received my iPhone in the mail on Friday night. 2 weeks of waiting is over... and let me tell you, it was worth the wait! I've known that being the first generation technology is probably a mistake, but for some reason - I had to have it.

This said - after 2 days of ownership - I'm proud to proclaim that the iPhone is as cool as advertised.

Everything is typical apple: Sleek design, light weight, enormous colorful screen, nifty and futuristic sounds, intuitive interface and just overall coolness.

The publicly discussed drawbacks are there: slow internet connection, weak battery and expensive price-tag. But as I've never had fast internet connection on my personal cell phone, I am OK with plugging the phone in everyday, and never spend much money on myself -- I am accepting of the drawbacks.

The reaction people have (including random strangers), is pretty interesting to witness. I went to buy a suit today -- and the salesman wanted to talk more about the phone than he did about the prospective purchase I was going to make.

The interface will take me some time to master, such as the touch screen keyword and shortcut type tricks -- but all-in-all -- I'm loving my new phone... I'm sure I'll keep you posted.

My favorite business mag in trouble

I read a NYTimes article today with some bad news ... Apparently, Business 2.0 (owned by Time, Inc) is in danger of having it's last issue run in September. If this is the case - I'm undoubtedly going to be upset.

I've been reading Business 2.0 since it's beginning (1998). I find the subject and stories consistently interesting, educational, and relevant. I am not a huge magazine reader on the regular (minus fantasy football and baseball themes) - but it's fair to say that I've been reading Business 2.0 usually cover-to-cover on a monthly basis.

What's upsetting is that it seems like it was a corporate blunder that's causing the downturn. Apparently, when Time Inc. restructured its sales staff, the magazine started declining in ad revenue. With the consolidation, the sales staff was focused on selling higher priced titles in the "family" such Fortune, Money magazine, and others... If there was a dedicated Business 2.0 sales team - perhaps the company would be doing better... I mean - circulation hasn't declined year over year ... but it seems like ad revenue has.

If you're a loyal Business 2.0 reader - please join me in emailing Time Inc "Business and Finance" management staff members. I've written them an email today asking them not to stop the magazine. I have my fingers crossed. I've also joined this facebook group: I read Business 2.0 - and want to keep reading. (yes - this was my first time signing up for Facebook)

Fresh Direct Downslide

I've been a loyal Fresh Direct customer since the company launched it's service in 2002. Living in Manhattan - I've always been hard-pressed to find a quality, stress-free grocery shopping experience. When Fresh Direct came along, I thought I found it - and was happy with it - until recently.

Over the last 6 months, I've found the service and quality of food has rapidly declined, while the prices have gone up at a similar pace. The problem is -- I'm still in love with the convenience and I haven't found something that suits me better. The website knows our past orders, which makes ordering consistently beyond easy. We have a doorman, which makes scheduling the deliveries fairly stress-free (although we realize we can't leave our raw food down there for any major amount of time). And best of all -- we never have to step foot into a small, over-priced Manhattan grocery store...

The problem is - the products and service are decreasing so badly - that the allure of these conveniences is fading... The fruits and vegetables come in poor condition, anything delicate usually comes at least part broken, and the delivery guys aren't what I would call "happy to be there." To this end, it looks like their policy on "no tipping" (from the beginning - which they even touted in their commercials) has changed. Look below for their new tipping policy which is posted on their FAQ of the website:

You are under no obligation to tip but have the option of providing a nominal tip if you feel that you've received exceptional service. FreshDirect delivery personnel are not permitted to solicit tips under any circumstances.

I actually thought I'd tip the delivery guy today -- but he was 5 minutes from being late -- and he was rude... Given the status of our groceries -- I'm happy I didn't tip him...

Anyway -- I wanted to share my thoughts -- as I'm sure many of you have heard me praise the service in the past... If anyone knows of good alternatives in NYC - please holla at me.

The Good Sore

This is a philosophy I've had for a while - but never blogged about it. As I've recently gotten back into lifting weights, the concept has re-emerged into my brain.

So what is "the good sore"? Well, the best example is when you have a good work-out and you feel it the next day or day after. By "feel it" I mean that your body acknowledges that you extended muscles more than they're used to... Notice my used of the word "acknowledge" rather than "scream at." I don't consider the "good sore" to be when you're forced to hunch over and walk around like a 98-year old...It's more of a minor feeling that doesn't hinder your daily activities...yet, you still know it's there.

Anyway, I've equated this feeling to a completely different scenario. Living in NYC, there is always something going on. As individuals, we don't always feel like partaking in some of these festivities. Back in the days of "BG the bachelor," I would often convince myself to partake, by thinking of the potential for "the good sore."

So here's an example... It's a Thursday in the summer... you've had a really long week, but some friends are pestering you to go out. Some friend of a friend has mustered up a group of younger girls who want to go out and go dancing at a lounge. You're not totally feeling it - but you convince yourself to power through... Long story short ... you have a great time. You're out till 4 in the morning, and you wake up 3 hours later preferably lying next to one of the lady-friends you went out with... You clearly have gotten a small fraction of necessary sleep and your alarm is the most annoying sound in the world. After the uncomfortable pleasantries with your visitor, you get ready for work....

Throughout the day, you really feel like you've been tortured by a member of the "Covenant" on Alias -- but the good sore helps you through the day. Although you're beat up -- your mind acknowledges that you truly lived life the night before...

That's the good sore. The times when you decide to do something against your body's better judgement, and you end up with a positive experience. This doesn't have to be the example I mentioned. It can be an all-nighter that a student puts in and gets an "A" because of it. It's when a parent spends all night putting together a toy for their child, and then seeing the look on the child's face, regardless of how tired you are.

Sore is typically used in the negative context. I guess my point is that it doesn't always have to be. There is such a thing as "the good sore."

Two NBA thoughts

First NBA thought: Robert Horry owes Bill Russell and apology
"Who is the best player of all-time" is probably the most popular sports debate topics ever. Rarely is there one conclusive answer to the question - as there are varying viewpoints from different generations, different sports philosophies, different regions of the country/world, etc.

Growing up, the NBA was my favorite sport and Magic Johnson was the type of player I wanted to emulate. Understanding that I was never going to be 6' 9'', I still loved his game. I'm sure there was some time when I thought Magic was the best of all time ... although I don't today. Him and Bird undoubtedly made a enormous impact on the league like no one else - but I'm not sure either was the best. Magic ended up with 5 NBA Championships, Bird ended up with 3.

Michael Jordan is probably the most popular choice as best NBA player ever. It's hard to argue MJ's impact on the global game, his dominance, and sheer beauty playing the game. MJ ended his career with 6 NBA Championship.

There are a bunch of other players of mention in the category such as Wilt, Kareem, Oscar, etc.
But then there's Bill Russell ... who I never saw play. They guy has 10 championship rings - more than any other player! I used to think that the 10 championships were almost enough to give Russell the crown ... but then Robert Horry comes along.

"Big shot Rob" - as Wilbon likes to call him - has been a solid role player on 7 championship teams! More than Jordan, more than Magic, more than Bird, more than Wilt..... You get the picture. Bottom-line, Robert Horry ruins the claim of Bill Russell's as the best player of NBA history - and I think that's sad.

My second NBA thought: When are teams going to learn -- Drafting big, white centers in the top 10 is a huge mistake.
What was Sacramento thinking tonight? Spencer Hawes??
I honestly cannot remember a 7-foot-plus white center being drafted high who actually has an impact on his team. Rafael Araujo? Chris Mihm? Nikoloz Tskitishvili? Chris Kaman? (solid role player - c'mon)

Toilets in Mountain View Office

I'm at corporate headquarters this week for work. This place is very lively, with tons of perks (like great free cafes, gyms, pools, dry cleaning service, valet parking, etc) - but over time the company has done a pretty good job bringing some of these high value perks to other offices like New York.

Well, today, I figured out what I really want to come to NY next... The toilets in the bathrooms here are AMAZING. You may think I'm either over-exaggerating or ridiculous... but hear me out.

First and foremost - who likes taking a deuce at work? NO ONE! Well - I've got to admit that if I had toilets like the ones we have here.... I may try and hold it in to ONLY do it at work.

Check it -- Each stall has a square panel on the right side of it -- about waist high standing up. There are 4 controls on the panel - which become at eye-level while sitting down:

1) Heat Control -- Yes -- the seats are being consistently heated so that when you sit down - it's comfortably warm. There are controls to move the temperature higher or lower, but in my brief experience tinkering wasn't necessary...the temperature was perfect at initial contact.
2 & 3) Rear and Frontal (for the ladies) "rinse" controls. Now, I've never been a "bidet guy"... Partially because bidets are rare, but primarily because it looks uncomfortable. Who wants to do their business on the toilet, then move (with your pants down) and crouch over another apparatus. It just doesn't scream "refreshing" to me. Well, these toilets solve that problem. The rear and frontal rinse buttons enable you to efficiently and refreshingly take care of your washing business. There are water temperature controls for these features as well.
4) Dryer - After you rinse with water - you of course need a dryer - which temperature is able to be set on the panel. I obviously used TP as well -- but I'm guessing because I'm a novice at it. I can foresee figuring out a way to ensure that the embedded rinse and air dryer combo is sufficient enough.

That's it. I felt the need to share. I've tried looking into how much one of these costs for my home, but haven't found it online yet ... I need to do a bit more researching...

Political Debate Youtube style

A quick note in case you don't frequent YouTube.

Today the leading online video site and CNN announced an interesting format of upcoming Republican and Democratic debates whereby all of the questions will come from uploaded Youtube videos. I know I'll catch a little grief about promoting some Youtube announcement -- but I thought it was cool. I'm sure the entire events will be available on the site afterwards as well. Check out the announcement below.

Metaphor - "Nah Mean"

I had to give a quick shout-out to an old-school friend, Becca. We go back a ways from the mean streets of the Rat's Mouth..

Becca has been working the record industry for a few years now - and came across Metaphor (the rapper in the video below) a few years ago. The kid is young - but apparently getting some real-deal hype. It's great for to see them start to see some momentum - so wanted to do my part in the "social media" world and share his new video. If you're a hip-hop fan - I hope you enjoy.

Seat un-taken

I spent this past week in San Francisco at my companies national sales conference. Usually I find these weeks very long and fairly uneventful -- but this past week certainly wasn't.

The details of the two day festivities were exceptionally planned. One of the highlights was renting out AT&T Ballpark (while the Giants played on the road) for a huge party for the 900 of us attendees. We had celebrity MC for our yearly talent show (Carson Daly), but I'd have to say the highlight of the "wow factor" is in the following story:

I'm assuming most of you have attended a large conference in a hotel ballroom before. Seats were set-up in 10 seat round table formats. On Thursday morning, my buddy and I headed into the ballroom looking for seats. It was mildly crowded, but we found a table with no one else at it... I sat in the seat with direct straight view to the humongous stage and screen ... My buddy (JJ), being the "guys-guy" we both are -- felt we needed some elbow room -- so we left a seat in-between him and I.

Before starting the days session -- our VP kept telling people in the back rows to move up closer. Given the influx of people --- JJ and I both thought separately of moving next to each other, as to not have someone we didn't know sit in-between us, but we didn't do anything. A petite girl who'd been at the company for 2 weeks sat in-between us....

Anyway - the morning session was dedicated to clients coming in to talk to us about their marketing initiatives, how they thought we can serve them better, etc. Representatives from 4 companies including AT&T and Cadillac did the honors. After the session - they announced that there was a surprise... They were giving away prizes - including Gift cards for AT&T products (excluding the iPhone) as well as a new 2008 Cadillac (that hasn't even been built yet). They instructed us to look under our seats to see if we won anything.....

By now - I'm supposing you guessed it ...... THE GIRL WHO SAT IN-BETWEEN MY BUDDY AND I WON THE CAR!!! The seat in-between us won -- which by the way -- is the reason why they told everyone in the back row to move up ... They knew that no one was sitting in the winning seat...

Imagine if no one sat there --- my buddy and I woulda had to wrestle for the car!

I told myself that I'd give it one day of frustration -- and that I'd have to move on after that. And no - I couldn't sleep a wink on the red-eye flight home last night ... I was still thinking about it.

Stepping in dog poop

Last Friday -- I stepped in dog poop. I was wearing my shoes with about 80 different crevices in them -- which the poop fit right at home with filling up completely...Clearly I've developed some thoughts on the subject...

1) Seriously People -- Curb your freakin dogs!!
I'm not a dog lover nor a dog hater. I don't see Amy and I ever owning our own dogs -- but we aren't against them at all ...We actually like playing with family and friends dogs... What we are against is committing ourselves to the responsibility of properly taking care of a non-human. Part of this responsibility is scooping the dogs excrement off the street - putting it in a bag - and throwing it away. EVERY TIME!
Do the people who decide not to pick-up their dog crap think it's going to magically disappear? Well - their half-correct ... it's going to disappear onto someone else's shoe! Not what I would call good Karma people...

2) Although the instant feeling of frustration right as you realize you stepped in crap is a bad one ... I found a worse feeling than this (and it's not getting on an elevator with the crap still on your shoe - praying the smell will not be too potent)...The winner of the worst part of stepping in dog crap during a work day is ..... Digging the crap out of your shoe in your companies bathroom, as several people come in and try to empathize... (and for the record, saying '' Oh man - that sucks" ...doesn't make someone feel any better)

3) I'm wondering how long my new doggy-doodoo radar walk is going to last. My approach to walking on the street has been temporarily altered. I'm now overly keen of looking down to see where my feet are going to step on the sidewalk -- and yes -- I'm even more appalled how much dog crap is on the sidewalks -- (SEE Point #1 please!!)

Congrats Felchy and Dana!

Quick congrats are in order for Felch and Dana who got engaged this week! (I'm sorry Dana - but the only pictures I have of Felch are either of him asleep or giving the camera the finger like the hater he can be)

For those of you who I told the "bagel for dinner" story to -- Felch is the renown author of the phrase.

Felch is the center of a lot of friendly abuse (mostly by Colediggy), but on occasions like this -- I've gotta try and show nothing but happiness for the guy. I'm looking forward to snapping a picture of you taking a little snooze while your groomsman walk down the aisle... (Sorry - I couldn't resist).

In all seriousness -- Congrats to you both! It's great to see you both so happy!

How long have I been blogging?

Well - if you look at the archives of this blog -- it will say February of 2005... but in truth... I've been blogging since February of 1997...

Long before I starting working at Google (the owner of blogger -- which sparked my initial interest to see what blogging was about), I studied abroad in Sevilla, Spain. At that point, I had 2 years of "World Wide Web" exposure -- and was entrenched in communicating via email for about a year or so through my @umich.edu address. Knowing I wouldn't be able to access this account in Spain -- I got my brettg@hotmail account (yes - it was that early) to communicate with friends and family while I was in Europe.

I had every intention to keep interested parties up-to-date with my activities and experiences, although I honestly under-estimated the massive effort and lack of computer time I would actually have. My solution to this issue was to create a mass email on a weekly (or bi-weekly) basis giving highlights of my study abroad experiences. So - yes - I consider myself a blogger since 1997.

The main difference, of course, is that my current effort is:
A) Available for total public consumption rather than merely 25 people on an email string
B) More easily archive-able (if that's even a word) -- so that hopefully one day I can use these web pages as a way to reminisce.

Interestingly enough, when I wrote the mass email -- most people weren't satisfied. It seemed as if everyone wanted their own personal attention. Fast forward 10 years -- and I get grief from people for not writing enough...