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.