Thursday, January 03, 2008

Happy 2008!!!!

The year is already off to a good start based on a very successful Christmas Holiday. I received all the presents I could have hoped for, and was off from work for the entire Christmas week. I didn't gained any weight, mostly because I had a cold for the first few days I was off. I finally got to play golf and found myself quite rusty rounding out 18 holes at a shameful 108.

The family trips were uneventful and everyone got here when they were supposed to. On the way home, however, American Airlines once again disappointed and left my parents stranded for 8 hours with a broken down plane resulting in a transfer of airports from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami via taxi. $104 complements of AA.

The family visit was just wonderful enough that now my sister and brother-in-law are frantically looking for jobs in the Jacksonville area as they cannot wait to come enjoy the great weather and cheap housing opportunities that the Jax market has to offer.

On the Web front, 2008 has been declared the year for online marketing by the President of Forbes.com. Here is the excerpt:

NAME: Jim Spanfeller
TITLE: President and CEO, Forbes.com
2008 PREDICTION: If history looks back at 2007 as the tipping point for interactive media and the ad dollars that have migrated to the Web, pushing it to a position of prominence as a central media platform for advertisers, 2008 will be the year of the Interactive Marketer. CMOs now get the Web and have personal experience around its ability to power their brands, activate their customers and fuel their data analysis and marketing allocation optimization. The Web is still only at the beginning of its evolution and will remain a source of media innovation for some time, but the focus going forward will be less about the media and more about the marketer. The digitization of media will continue to disrupt the traditional media model and we will see more “late to the party” web acquisition and initiatives from major media players. From this perspective, 2008 will be a make or break year for companies like Time Warner and many of the major newspaper companies in the country.

The bottom line is that if all goes as plan I too shall benefit from the Web in 2008. Hope you have a healthy and wealthy 2008. May your worst day in 2008 be your best day of 2007. Stay Tuned...

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Friday, December 21, 2007

Tracking Santa

Well the time is upon us. All the presents I was responsible for are under the tree and hopefully Santa will be fortifying those with more in a couple of nights. My folks flew in courtesy of American Airline miles. Have I mention how much I hate american airlines? I hate them so much that I used up all my miles to flight my kid in a few weeks ago just so I wouldn't have to feel guilty about loosing them, because I will never fly American Airlines ever again.

Back to Xmas, My first Xmas in Jacksonville has been off to a great start, except for a few days at the beginning of this week is been nothing but 70 and 80 degree weather and I don't miss shoveling the snow at all. I'm very happy is almost here, after all I get four or five days off and we had a great Xmas party at work today to get the weekend started, not to mention the very generous gift ($$$) we all receive from the Boss man.

The rest of the family is driving in and the vehicles are packed. The most distant one is driving a good 15 hours, but will be worth their while.

Santa is the last to arrive and we will be tracking his arrival via Norad. The NORAD Tracks Santa (NTS) program has been around for a long time, since 1955 to be exact! And while NORAD has the "history" and excellent technology to track Santa, NORAD cannot expend government funds on the program. Besides the short time a NTS Project Officer spends "managing" the program, NORAD spends only the minimal amount of funds on NTS. The NTS program is funded through generous contributions, this year one of the biggest contributors is Google.


The bottom line is that Xmas is the most wonderful time of the year and I hope you enjoy it with many love ones surrounding you. Don't forget to make your New Year resolutions as 2008 is only a few days away.

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Friday, December 14, 2007

Tis the season for gift giving: The Golden Globe

With Christmas around the corner, and I'm yet to buy or send a single present, it seems that the only thing to do is to postpone the holiday shopping some more and focus on more important things, like the Golden Globes Awards.

This year is particularly exciting for me as my favorite TV shows and actors are finally nominated. These include Californication, Pushing Daisies, and 30 Rock. I'm really pushing for Californication, I thought for sure the show would be cancelled mid season being that is on a premium channel, includes more than typical nudity and a lot of off color and adult humor. Not to mentioned its recent publicity with the Chilli Peppers swuing for name rights. The show is brilliant and with actors like David Duchovny, its no wonder that the show received two Golden Globe® nominations! Best Television Series - Comedy or Musical, and Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical. For more on Californication, visit the official show site.

I do wish other shows like Dirty Sexy Money and How I met your mother would receive the well deserve recognition, but I can always get what I want.

Which brings me back to my Xmas wants, I think I want my two front teeth, just kidding. I just finished purchasing new golf clubs. I haven't had a chance to try them out, and looks like I will have to wait another week as it will be raining this weekend. But I take a little bit of water over the twelve inches of snow the Northeast is receiving between yesterday and today. Pheww, I'm glad I recently moved to Florida.

The bottom line is that although xmas is coming and we should all rejoice for this wonderful holiday where people feel the need to buy stuff for each other, I'm glad the entertainment industry finds the need to also give out awards to the already rich and famous, but recognition is due to all whether they are rich, talented, or otherwise. If you know me, you already know how I feel about awards, if you don't, then it's really simple, like everything else in life awards are nothing but a scam.

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Sunday, November 18, 2007

Crikey! St Augustine Croc Farm Visit

Now that the holidays are here, family has begun to arrive. I, for one, am very excited that they are here. I grew up in a household where it felt more like a hotel than a home. Growing up in the suburbs of NY we always had relatives that felt the need to stay with us when they came to visit the Big Apple. I come from a large family and found myself giving up my bed for relatives quite often.

Now that I'm fully grown and have recently relocated to JAX with my beautiful wife, we are looking forward to hosting Thanksgiving and Christmas with family. As such, we have started to visit the tourist areas of JAX and St. Augustine.

My first stop was with my son Brandon, I'm very proud of him, since he joined the Air Force he has grown and matured quite a bit. I guess the discipline has done him well. He wanted to see some alligators, as such, I took him down to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm. The place is designed to house the alligators and cocrodile so that they still feel like they are in their natural habitat. I wasn't expecting much as I thought it was just a local joint, but was pleasantly surprise to find that this was a full Zoological Park that was established in the late 1800's. They offer Florida discounts and the rates, thought a bit pricey, were worth it if you want the Steve Irwin experience. That is, they provide feeding and petting exhibitions where the "Zoo Keepers" feed the crocs and play with them. They called the crocodiles by name and I was amazed to see them respond.

The tour continued with the beach in the afternoon and although the water was too cold for swiming it made it for a perfect walk with the feet cooling down. Who would have thought that I would have my feet in the water in November, but the weather is still quite nice and the Thanksgiving forecast is set for the mid 70's. I still miss my Northern friends, but I don't envy the snow they are schedule to get this week.

We finished our tour this weekend at the Jacksonville Budweiser Brewery. They provide a free tour of the facilities with a little bit of the Budweiser history. Most think that the brewery is only in Milwakee, MO. However, I came across this nicely designed card at the outlet stores pointing out the JAX brewery and to my surprise found out that Budweiser has 12 different factories across the country. They also brewed more that the three flavors that have made them the King of Beers. They bottle and distribute more than two dozen kinds of beers and alcoholic refreshments. The tour is free and is designed to entertain. They take you through every step of the process. Be prepared to smell the barley and oats in the air, it is quite pleasant and makes you forget you are in a factory, a spotless one at that, and takes you out to believe you are in the Missouri fields. They round things out with a quick video and a look at the bottling, labeling, and packing machines. They move more beer than you can think of drinking and discard quite a bit just because of faulty labels. They offer a nice employee fringe benefit of three free cases of beer a month and tickets to Sea World and Busch Gardens in Tampa, FL. They also give visitors two free beers while on the facility and pretzels in a nice lounge while previewing old and new video ads. Quite a fun time, and all for free.

The bottom line is that it is great to have relatives in town. Most people take their families for granted, but it is not until you find yourself 1000 miles away that you start to miss them. As well, remember to enjoy the sites around you, you will be surprise what may be in your own town and experiences to enjoy for FREE!

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Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween

The holiday season is upon us. It starts with Halloween, then Thanksgiving. Turkey day is follow by Christmas, Hanukkah, and the likes and we finish it up with New years. Before you know it 2008 will be here.

I recently wrote on the topic of travel sites. Now is time to start thinking about family and friends and what to get them. Last year my wife and I decided not to exchange gifts until after Christmas. The thought there was that we could get better bargains when everyone is returning. This was a good plan in theory, but it turns out that in practice is not the same. We ended up getting bargains, but also found a lot of stuff had sold.

If you are already planning and don't know what to get that special someone, don't dispear, there are numerous sites designed to help folks create an online wish list that they can distribute to family and friends. Examples are Kaboodle, WhattoGive.com, Amazon.com, and many many more.

As well, many are planing on their new skits and youTube videos they will distribute. My favorite last year was one designed by the folks at SNL. It had a ton of hits on youTube, but unfortunately it has been pulled due to copyright laws. If you search there are a lot of remix and remakes, but nothing beats the original. You can catch it here.

As well, someone made a great flash animation for the 12 days of Christmas.

The bottom line is that for creative folks, there are still a lot of material that hasn't been tapped and I look forward to some great laughter this holiday season. I was surprise not to get any forwards this year showcasing some Halloween materials, but the day is not over. Happy Candy Day.

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