Year End Free Time

i recently resigned from my job. the reasons are not worth getting into, but i'm excited for my next career strengthening opportunity.

i didn't realize until today how timely this decision was. i basically have three weeks (two of which are paid) to decompress, catch up on holiday shopping, prepare for my next job and enjoy time with family and friends.

my wife also has off next week (she's a teacher), so we will also be able to prepare for our big move in mid January.

so let's see....in the coming weeks, i'll be experiencing a new job, settlement on a new house, moving/settling into the new house and my 30-something birthday.

think i'll take a nap.

Dogs On A Plane

on a recent 4-hour flight back east, i had the pleasure of being on the same plane as, not one, but two screeching lap dogs.

based on recent policy changes by the airline related to traveling with pets, having tinkerbell flying in business class with the everyday business traveler, vacationer and crying baby is now status quo.

at first everyone thought the noise was a defective engine part or extremely whiny child, but after a few minutes it became clear that we were all in for a joyous flight.

after several passengers asked the stewardess what her 'plan' was, she emphatically encouraged us to 'write a letter'. she went on to explain that the passenger should have been made aware that her dogs had to be tranquilized for the flight...well, clearly she either missed that message or failed to pay attention.

once i realized that we were all in it for the long haul, i began wondering a few 'what ifs'...what if the dog had to 'go'?....what if one of them died?...what if they never stopped barking?

thank god for noise canceling headphones.

Home Search - Update

Since the last post, a lot has happened. Our townhome is sold and we've found a new house. We've put in an offer and are in the post-home inspection phase. If all goes well, we'll be able to settle on both places on the same day...which means logistics are key to make sure all necessary parties show up.

I can honestly see why 'buying a home' is on the list of the top stressful events in a person's life.

Next up, finalizing the mortgage, coordinating the move, buying the furniture, meeting the neighbors.

The Joys of Selling/Buying a Home

we've had our home on the market for the past three months. let's just say things are in line with what analysts are calling a 'slow market'. a slow market that benefits the buyer. a slow market that is tough on the seller...both of which we qualify for.

on average, i check about 120 home updates per day online; including new listings and updates to existing ones (usually a notification of a price reduction).

the objective is being able to sell at a reasonable price where we can still make a solid profit. then, put on the 'prospective buyer' hat and find an ideal house at an ever more reasonable price.

after reducing our price three times and hosting numerous showings, the 'interested parties' are starting to appear. we should have an offer in the next few weeks. but trying not to get too excited until there is something in writing and the inspection has passed. it will be a joyous day when the house doesn't need to be in staged condition 24/7. stay tuned.

Howard! Howard! Howard!

in an effort to reach more of the masses, sirius radio offered free service Wednesday and Today. Aside from access to 70+ of commercial free music channels, the big push is for the uncensored Howard Stern show.

Stern isn't for everyone. But if you thought his show on commercial ('terrestrial') radio was funny, it only gets better when there is no FCC to worry about.

Love em or hate em, you have to resepct his ability to monetize his raw talents in a much censored media world.

Interesting to see the relationship between Google searches/news references on 'Howard Stern' and 'Sirius Radio' over the past few weeks/months. Will be interesting to see if there are any increases once October data is updated..

Easy Web 2.0 Directory

Online music storage. Open source blog platforms. Online calendars. Live, group note-taking wiki. Other tools for mashups. Find all your resources, tools and platforms here.

Give yourself plenty of time when visiting this site. You may be aware of some or all of these applications, but probably never had them all easily consolidated in one location.

Cool Web Tools

Have you ever wanted to build your own search engine? Want to only scrub sites that pertain to certain queries? Check out Rollyo.

Did you have a better name for Google than...Google? Rename your own 'Google' search engine. It's always good to dream...

Three school shootings in the past 10 days. I'm sure there was an impact on web searches, but the question is 'how much?' Yahoo's Buzz Index has some pretty interesting stats. Whenever a celebrity provides some watercooler fodder, The Buzz Index is a good reference to see what the world deems search-worthy.

On that note, if you want to see how the "buzz" correlates to search volume over time, check out Google Trends. Check out results for Google vs Yahoo. For US based comparisons, it also provides breakout of popularity by city.

Know of any other cool web tools?

Survivor - What Next?

the thirteenth installment of the 'reality' show pioneer begins tonight. unless you've been living on Mars, you've heard that producers have decided to segment contestants by race. while the media is largely responsible for making this decision 'news-worthy', i'm still trying to figure out why all the hype and criticism; claiming the decision was supporting segregation among various races and communities.

watch any cbs morning news program on sept 15th, and you're guaranteed to hear from the first contestant voted-off and from your local asian/african/latino support group on how cbs played the race card to expose their 'people.' i can only imagine that cbs executives are patiently waiting for one race to refer to another race (or to one another) as something other than the PC version..or referencing/suppporting certain stereotypes. i'm sure the producers will be able to bake up a controversial situation to help spurn some animosity...i'm sure the media can't wait.

let's be honest, the name of the game here is ratings...which equates to ad revenue. last season contestants were segmented by age (young / old) and gender...apparently this wasn't enough to gain/maintain the ratings that make producers happy.

what's next? i guess it would be more like what's left? how about gay tribe vs. straight tribe. convicts vs. lawyers. probably a matter of how far can they push the FCC.

in another few days, this whole hype surrounding the idea of segmenting contestants by 'race' will be long forgotten and the show will most likely see ratings that fade over the coming weeks...forcing producers to think of how they can draw out the 'live finally' with some other twist.

in a fast evolving media consuming society, i don't see how this decision was seen as so controversial. if producers tried this sort of segmentation back in season two or three, it never would have made it passed the brainstorm session. i'd like to think that the other real life 'reality' news bits (teacher raping student, student shooting spree, that thing happening in iraq) help put things in perspective.

how long before we're watching a real life execution similar to the Schwarzenegger movie The Running Man?

What Ever Happened To...

...that show on comedy central, 'shorties watchin shorties'?

some of the most classic stand up bits, by up and coming comics, animated.

just finished watching dane cook's vicious circle stand up act...if you 'get' his act, i strongly recommend it.

..which got me thinking that he had a few bits animated on that show...here's one of em..

Penn State vs. Notre Dame - The Rivalry Continues

in a little over two days, penn state football will revive their rivlary with notre dame for a home and home series. the last game played was back in 1992...which was a battle in the snow that ended with some last minute pass. hope this one is as exciting, but ends in favor of the nittany lions. timing couldn't have been better..cause lord knows if this game happened in the last six years, it wouldn't have been worth watching since PSU was struggling at the hand of zach mills.

with 1 in every 700 pennsylvania residents being a PSU alumni, i would expect a strong showing in south bend. after next year's game, i expect each team to enter a re-building phase..regardless of casey clausen's little brother taking over for the mighty quinn.

here's to a good game...

Rainy Saturday = Starbucks

what better way to start a saturday..tall regular venti and a wifi connection. sound serene and relaxing? it was until some woman decided to let us ALL involuntarily hear her cell phone conversation(s) about her trip to philly, how much she hates rain, how her carpet installation is going at home, her sump pump issues, what her kids think about grandma, and on, and on...SHUT IT!

forget about banning drinking during gametime at PSU, how bout getting a grasp on the 'cell yell'.

Are You Kidding Me?

Penn State recently imposed a ban on drinking DURING the football game OUTSIDE the stadium. As a PSU alumni, I never thought I'd hear the words 'ban', 'drinking' and 'football' in the same sentence. Officials claim that this is in response to an increase in underage citations, destroying of property and an overall 'big drinking problem.' This is college. The atmosphere almost requires drinking as a habit. I don't get it.

So if you prohibit drinking DURING the game, I would assume that drinking consumption would increase BEFORE and AFTER? This situation creates a 'necessity' that will become the mother to the college kids 'invention'. Back in the '90's, kegs were banned...that led to buying cases. Then they passed a 'ban' that required all tailgaiting to shut down one hour after the game was over. Regardless of the attempt to curtail drinking, fans always found a way to have a drink (or seven) and enjoy themselves.

Tailgaiting is a religion at PSU. It's part of the overall experience. Imagine the thirty-something professional being told to 'dump that beer' while enjoying the game on a tv outside of his/her RV during the game. Regardless of the fine, I'm sure they'll be able to afford it and won't care.

Despite what officials claim that this is positioned to clean up the drinking, I can't help but think that this is another means to an end of generating more 'revenue' from the student body and the already cash-cow football program.

Here We Go....

If you too are a fan of college football, today marks the start of 16+ weeks of starting every Saturday with College Gameday (anyone know where Trev Alberts is nowadays?). It also means checking bodog or sportsbook religiously for the right parlay, resulting in an occassional 8+ hour binge of watching espn2, tbs and even cn8 to see if your big east, c-usa or pac10 team covers the spread.

Every year I like to make things interesting by joining a season long college football draft , a weekly college football pool, and an placing an 'occassional' online bet. Thus, I care more about the MAC, WAC and SunBelt teams than the average fan.

May you enjoy the time you spend watching Chris, Lee and Kirk...and your favorite teams do battle.

Bugaloe Beach Bar - Aruba

Recently came back from a week long vacation in Aruba. I thought i've experienced some pretty cozy beach bars in my day, but nothing compares to Bugaloe Beach Bar in Aruba. Located on a pier by the 'high rise' hotels, it is THE king of all beach bars...mainly because it's not even on the beach..but resides on a pier... Friendly bartenders and waitresses. Cheap Happy Hour prices. Great sunset views. Relaxing cross breezes. It's tough to not spend an entire day hanging out at this place. If you ever get a chance, stop by for a few Amstel Brites.

A Few Good Reads...

If you have any interest in knowing how Google became...Google, I would recommend John Battelle's "The Search...How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture." For those of who familiar with the rise/fall/rise of the Internet landscape, it provides a great perspective on what helped evolve the Search Engine Marketing sub-culture. It's interesting to learn more about just how close Yahoo! was to becoming what Google is today.

The other is Bo Burlingham's "Small Giants." When it comes to selecting a new employer, or evaluating your existing one, bigger is not necessarily better. Once finished, you'll find it hard to not want to downsize, break off to start your own company or re-evaluate how your company views profits or employee benefits.

Tour de Shore - 2006

What is Tour de Shore? I'm sure there are many other events that share this name, however, I am referring to the one that takes place every August in Avalon, NJ.

It's part scavenger hunt, part bike race, part costume party, part bar tour. Individually, each of these is fun. Roll them all together in one day, and you have yourself one hell of an event. Check out the clock in the background of the second pic...it's only a little after noon on a Sunday...and the bar was packed and the drinks were flowing. There is always a mass of Philadelphia area professionals that call out 'sick' the Monday following.

I believe this year marked the 20th anniversary. I've done it for the last six years. To get a better sense of what the day entails, check out pics from the 'un-official site'.

...And So It Begins

here we go. after months of contemplating and years of procrastinating, it is now time to start my own blog. tons of things to say and post. stay tuned...my primary inspirations for this venture include stumpy p and mr burton.