Ann Arbor Ad Club

I went to a networking get together for the Ann Arbor Ad club. It was interesting, met some people, hopefully they'll have clients who could use my services and we can work together.

The thing that stood out was the venue, its called the Thinkubator . It is intended to make you think outside the box. I thought it was a place with an identity crisis. There were chairs that looked like cell phones, like big hands, and some that look like the belong in a coffee house. There are cut outs of movie stars and one of Michael Jordan.

There is an oxygen bar, which I guess is basically breathing, but they add flavor. I didn't try it (does flavored oxygen need to be kosher?) In the back there was a karaoke room, a message chair room. In this room the lights are dimmed, and there a few chairs you can sit in and they have massage thingies on them. There is also some trippy candles that blow out steam or something. Then there is the XBOX room, for real, just a small room with a flat panel TV and an XBOX. (With games of course, but alas no Madden)

Then there is the main conference room. When I got there, music was blasting from that room, and there was a mist machine that was pouring mist into the whole building. This is where the speakers were at.

Apparently the place is designed to make you think outside the box, so they designed it to be the opposite of a workplace. They did some exercises that made you do that. It was a pretty cool place to have this meeting, I had a good, hopefully productive evening.

Random

With gas prices rising to $3.18 this morning, and reports saying 'There's no question gas will hit $4 a gallon,' Ben Brockwell, director of pricing at the Oil Price Information Service" Nat and I are thinking of getting a Hybrid. (if the price is right of course)

Got the weirdest thing in the mail today. The Detroit news and the Detroit Free Press from last year tommorow. This coinceides with Jonah's first birthday. How would the newspapers know this? There was no letter in it or any sort of explanation. really weird.

People seemed surprised that I returned Madden '06 so quickly, m dad even claims he lost a bet on it. Had I opened it, it would have been tough. But when I bought it, they saod teh return policy was unopened and within 30 days. So mentally I never really had it, since I knew it couldn't be used.

My grass hasn't sprouted yet, I wonder if it's broken.

The difference between men and women

This might not be the difference between all men and women, but at least between me and Nat.
This difference is in regard to watching sports.
I have to give Nat credit, she loves going to the games, but it's how she views the games that we differ.

When Nat goes to a game she wonders where the players lives, are they married, do they have kids, do they have a girlfriend, if they are married do they ever cheat on their spouses. At the Lions game yesterday we were discussing John Madden (the same John Madden as in the Madden video games) I mentioned that he is afraid of flying and drives to all the games in his RV. The first thing that she wanted to know was what did his family think about this. He would probably be away from home for the entire season.

This thought never crossed my mind. I didn't know whether Madden has a family, as long as he called the football I was happy (After doing a bit of research I learned that he has a wife and 2 kids, and they live somewhere in California.) When I watch a game, I just like to watch, I don't care about the personal lives of the players. I don't care if a guy hasn't paid his child support in a few years, had 10 concubines, and likes to kill people. So long as he can play the game. For all I care they can let the guy out of jail for the game, and then drag his butt back to his cell when the game is done.

By using this philosophy I don't become jaded by a player, I don't care if he gets arrested or refuses to show up to camp, or commits a crime during the season.

ESPN has found the solution for Natalie though, by creating ESPN Hollywood, which goes into the personal lives of different players.

Lions

Thank you Gabi for hooking me and Nat up with tickets to last nights game, we had a great time. Nat had a better time since her Rams beat the living crap outta the Lions.
I would also like to thank the Lions for the gift they gave Nat, they didn't show up, and her Rams had little resistance.

The Lions showed that they are same old Lions. At one point in the game the Lions were first and goal, from about the 7. I turned to my beloved and said, if the past is any indication, they will lose 10 yards and kick a field goal. Sure enough, on the next play they scored a touchdown, but had it called back due to a penalty. then on the following play another penalty. Now it's first and goal from the 25 yard line. Joey throws three short passes, never once tossing it up to his big receivers, and the Lions ended up kicking the Field Goal, as I predicted.

I can only hope that this was just a preseason game, and not an indication of things to come or it will be a loooong season. I couldn't bear to watch the game as it went on. Once the starters were pulled in the third quarter, the game slowed up. Garcia sucks worse then Joey, and mark my words my week 9 the fans will be wanting Dan Orlovsky, who sucks just as bad as the first two. I fear that my prediction of the Lions hosting the Super Bowl this year may fall short.

I only hope that they end up the season with a better record then the Rams, so I win two cases of beer from my father in law.

Katrina

It's very rare that I turn the channel from the ones I usually watch to CNN and Fox news, but today was different. On my way to Dunkin Donuts to pick up a muffin for my wife's birthday, I heard the sportsstation talking about the Katrina in New Orleans. I changed to the station to a different sports station, an they to were speaking about the hurricane. When I got home I figured I may as well see what was going on.

It's crazy stuff, the reporter was having trouble standing, the superdome roof is leaking and now they say may blow off. When stuff like this happens a part of me always wishes I was there, to experience it (of course with the condition that I wouldn't be hurt) instead of watching it on TV.

For an interesting take on why this is happening check out http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/ Katrina's Message. (Hat tip Digital Irony's comments)

Funny or not funny

I got Nat a present for her birthday, but it won't be ready for a few weeks. I didn't want to have her birthday pass and not have me give her anything. So i thought up, what I thought would be a good joke.

As you may know, I'm a big fan of XBOX, and Madden '06. You may also assume that my lovely wife couldn't care less for the game. So I decided as a joke, for her birthday i would give her Madden. ( when I bought it, I made sure that I could return the game) There were to possible outcomes to this gift:
1. she would see it as a joke and laugh it off or
2. She'd be pissed off, and I'd be in trouble.

When she opened the gift, she baiscally said you gotta be kdding right?? To her credit she did laugh, but under the laugh, I could tell she wasn't so thrilled. That's when I gave her the card, which explained that it as a gag.

Funny or not, you decide?

Pat the Bunny

By reading the title of this blog you might come to the conclusion that I was writing about a pet bunny named Pat, or perhaps I know about a bunny named Pat. You wouldn’t think that Pat the Bunny just happens to be a phrase in my blog, so I chose it as my title.

I was reading Jonah a book called Pat the bunny. When I first picked it up I assumed that it was about Pat the Bunny, but it really the story of Paul and Judy and what they do. One of the many things they do is pat the bunny (no, they don’t do Pat the Bunny, this bunny has no name, its like they pet the bunny, which wouldn't be as misleading a title.)

Was the author unable to come up with a better name, so she chose pat the bunny? It could have just an easily been called “stick your finger through mommies ring" or "look in the mirror" or “play peek-a-boo" all phrases that were mentioned in this book. The only reasonable titles for this book would be "Judy and Paul" or perhaps "Copy Judy and Paul."

I'm not sure what my point is or even if I have a point. Maybe it's this: Writing a kids book isn't all the difficult. The least you could do is come up with an decent title.

Grass

This is my 100th post since I started blogging, who knew it would last this one. Anyway that being said...

This evening I planted grass on the side of my house (if any law enforcement people read this blog, don't worry it isn't that kind of grass. ) As I was lying down the green stuff that will one day turn into grass I thought maybe it would be fun if I planted it in a specific shape, maybe spell out my last name. Then I decided that I didn't want to do that, so I just spread it out all over the place.

Here is my question, I didn't cover every inch of dirt with the green stuff, and the stuff is lumpy, will it look really weird when it comes in. In some places there will like a couple of blades growing on top of each other (talk about urban sprawl) and other spaces will be desolate. It's possible that it will be so minute that we won't notice it (honestly I have no idea) but the bugs who move into the neighborhood will wonder why some houses are so close to each others and others are far apart. Oh well...To hell with the bugs.

Now comes the hard part, I must nurture this Grass seed mulch and bring into the next stage of it's life, becoming a blade. It's tough enough raising a human being into the next stage, but I'm doing a pretty good job, if I do say so myself. Know with this added responsibility, I just hope I can split my time so everyone is happy and healthy.

Babies

Tonight we had a house of babies, three kids all under a year. Of course there was Jonah, the crazy kid of the group ( of course I mean crazy in a good way) Then there Noa P, she was the the most chilled out/shell shocked kid. Then there was the baby of the group, lil Jenna she was pretty much an observer.

It's tough watching all these kids. There was a point when Nat and Noa's mom went to the computer and I was watching all three. It was then I decided that we are in no rush to give Jonah siblings. Joe is a very jealous kid, if I so much looked at another one of the babies he would run over and beat up the kid, and try and have me lift him. I think my boy is a bully, I don't know if it's genetic, but people tell me that I was a bully when I was younger. So he may not look like me but he acts like I do.

There was a time when Noa's mom and Nat were in the room and Jonah and Jenna were crying. I thought this would a be a good time to play man to man defense to stop the kids, and I immediately called I was in charge of Noa, I thought it was fair, Nat had Jenna (we were watching her while her mom was in class) and Adina had Jonah. As soon as I call her, Noa's mom gave me a crying Jonah, and took her happy child. Not fair.

Then all three kids started crying at the same time, they are little but when they worked together as a team, they made one heck of a racket. It was so loud that the neighbors had to come by and ask us to keep it down, because they were trying to get their kids to sleep. (jk)

Growing up I always wanted twin, (first I wished I was a twin, when that didn't happen, I hoped I would have some)and now I thank god that I only have the one Jonah

The Basement

I've officially moved my office into the basement. I'm using an 8 foot table as a desk, I have my sukkah behind me, and I'm ready to work. Being in the basements has both advantages and disadvantages. On the pro side, I'm away from the goling ons of my house. So I can concentrate on the work, and not get to distracted.
On the downside, the T.V. is upstairs, and I missed sportscenter this morning Watching T.V. is also a crucial aspect of work for me, sionce I'm in advertising, seeing commercials will help inspire me to go and find some advertisers.

The solution is simple, I just need to get another T.V. and put it in my new office.

Open letter

Dear President Bush, Condoleeza Rice and all in favor ofIsrael giving away Gaza and other pieces of Land

I'm glad to see that you are in favor of returning the Gaza Strip and West Bank to the Palastinians. As you know Israel took away this land in 1967, and I respect how you are a strong believer in giving back what was wrongly taken.

Therefore I think you will understand my request and comply with it. My land was also stolen from me and my people. It happened a few hundred years ago, we tried to useterrorism like the modern day Palestinian but we were just called "savages" and didn't get anywhere.

I would like it if you could return land to my people and I don't want small reservations for Casino's I want real land, homes for our families. You said Israel should give up teh West Bank we want the West Coast.

If you look at a map you're getting off light, you want Israel to give up Almost a third of their land, w are just asking for a fraction of the USA. Would it help if we start scalping people and other acts of terror to get what we want?

Thank you for your time, I hope to see evacuations ASAP

Chief Running Water Wahoo.

Sold Out?

I went out to see Wedding Crashers with my cousin this evening. When we got to the theatre we saw that the show was sold out. This didn't make any sense because it's the middle of the week, and it's not like this is a brand new movie. But it is what it is, so we bought tickets to see 4 brothers. We were early for the movie (it started a little after Wedding Crashers) so we decided we'd peek in on the movie and see if there were any extra seats.

We peek in and to our surprise the place was empty. The theatre must have screwed up and said that it was sold out, when in fact it wasn't sold at all. It was pretty strange


Good thing we went in, the movie was awesome I recommend it to everyone. And hopefully I'll take Nat to see 4 brothers next week.

Dirt cheap

Whoever came up with that phrase obviously never bought dirt. We got a few yards of dirt to place on the side of the house. The hope is that this will somehow prevent water from infiltrating my basement. I hope it works because the next step my be digging up our house and wrapping the basement in Saran wrap.

Once I was already outside doing manual labor, I borrowed my parents bush trimmer (like a weed whacker for bushes) and started hacking off the sides of the bushes that surround my house. I wanted to make them into cool sculptures, but then I realized that I can't draw in the lines with a crayn, how could I deign something with hacksaw.

The bug that lived in the bush weren't happy with me, and they showed their displeasure by biting me. They must have seen me as an evil ruler who destroyed their homes, and this was the only way to show they hated me. To my credit, I delayed as long as possible, but the time had come and Marvin had to go

For future references when working outdoors don't wear short, your legs will get scratched and bitten....That's why jeans were created, for people who like/have to be outdoors

Out of shape

I remember a time when I could play ball for hours before I would be to tired to run up and down the court. Nowadays it seems like it happens during the first game. It was so bad that had T.O. been on my team, I couldn't blame him for calling me out and saying I got tired during the game. (To my credit, I did get a great second wind, and finished strong)

This means that I'll have to do two things that I really don't like exercise and eating right.

When I'm playing football or basketball I can run the route or finish the play and I'm usually good, but if I go jogging (it may be pronounced Yogging, the "J" may be silent" (God I love Anchorman) ) I tire and get bored by the time I pass my neighbors house. My new plan is swimming, it's fun and should get the job done.

Of course I say this every week, so why will this week really inspire me to exercise a few days a week, I dunno, it's possible that by next week, I'll make say to myself, man gotta get in shape, I'm gonna start exercising. This is like a new years resolution that I never keep. But make on a weekly basis.

Eating right is the other thing I hate. If something so in the kitchen, it's fair game, I'm not running to Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins or 7-11, if it's in the kitchen I should be able to eat it.

The problem with something like this is I only really think about it when I'm actually playing ball and feeling like I may drop dead right there on the court. It's like doing the laundry (as if I know) you only think about it when you're out of socks and underwear.

Time will tell how this goes..Wish me luck

Weird

I'm watching a Seinfeld rerun on TBS, and Jerrys comes home and his parents are staying at his house and the guy who plays Mordy Seinfeld (Jerry's dad) is a different guy then the one who is usually there.

The scene has Jerry walking into his apartment and they are lying on his sofa couch. My initial reaction was his mom was cheating on his dad. But Jer seemed OK with it, and referred to the guy as "Dad"

It seems like this is an early episode, because George has more hair then in later seasons.

random

In my opinion giving away Gaza is a bad move. It would be like giving Al-Queada Dearborn as a reward for all the terrorism they've done in the U.S. They would happy, but not satisfied, they still want D.C.

What would you do? Last night I was driving to Nat's grandma's house. I had my cousin Rayna with us, and we were driving her car. All sudden Nat pointed in front of her, and told me to look out. I looked and didn’t see a car in front of me. Then I saw the dog. I couldn't swerve into the night lane, because there was a car there. So my options were to just run over the dumb dog or slam on my brakes. I opted for the brake slamming. After slamming in the brakes, I check my rearview mirror, and luckily there wasn't a car to close to me, otherwise we could've been hit.

I'm watching the Tiger game, and two guys apparently just ran onto the field, but the TV wouldn't show them running around. So I just heard the announcers say how terrible it is. I think they should show the guys running around.

I went to Grille 173 for burgers with my brother tonight, just wanted a burger, but it took forever. We were there for over an hour, had a burger and some buffalo wings. What takes so long to make a burger and wings. It was nice hanging out with Arye, but I was pretty disappointed with 173

Rafael Palmeiro returned from his steroid suspension and he received a mixed reaction from his hometown fans. Some cheers and some Boos. I understand booing him, he got caught cheating and is a disgrace to the game of baseball. I understand if you didn’t boo or cheer. He got caught, paid his due, and now he's back. What I don't get are the cheers. It reminds me of a kid whop gets caught cheating on a test is suspended from school, and when he gets back everyone applauds him.

Speaking of steroids, here's a good idea for baseball to be more interactive with fans, and have a dose of reality T.V. Have fans vote on which player should be tested next. That would be good TV.

The trip

The day started ominously as I was woken up by a THUD followed by screaming. Jonah, who had decided in the middle of the night that he'd rather sleep in our bed had, decided he wanted to get off the bed. The obvious problem being he couldn't, and he fell off, thus creating the thud that woke me. Our flight was scheduled to depart for St Louis at 9:30, and we were running late. We finally got the car loaded up, and stopped by Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. As we were pulling out of the drive-thru, Nat realized that she had left her engagement ring at home. As we turned around to go and get it, said to Nat "wouldn't it be weird if we miss the flight by a few minutes, and then the airplane falls out of the sky. Had you remembered your ring we would have been on it." Nat told me to be quiet, and that "I'm not funny" WELL we get to the airport at 9:05, our bags get checked through. But they couldn't guarantee that they'll make it on the flight. "If not this one, they'll be on the next one". Great so we may or may not have to run back to the airport on Friday afternoon and find our bags. Security is crazy busy. I keep telling myself that we'll be bale to make the flight, but I know that the chances are slim. We finally get through security (surprise surprise, neither Nat, Jonah nor myself had any weapons, and so we were a waste of time and manpower for the secuirty team ) we run to gate A-10 and could only watch as the plane pulled out. We go to see when the next flight is, and hope that they have extra seats, when we hear a loud BOOM!! We look out the window and see a plane, our plane, go up in flames. My first thought was “man I’m like a freakin prophet" My next thought was "I hope our luggage also missed the flight." After they cleared the debris, There were no casualties; the plane caught fire while still on the ground. We caught the next flight into St Louis, and arrived a few hours later then expected. (ed. note - Parts of this story are loosely based on the truth, and some are just completely false while others are 100 % true.)

Madden '06

The latest Madden football game out yesterday, and no, I didn't run out to the store and buy it...yet.

Yesterday on WDFN radio they were discussing this game, and all sports video games. Do they help you understand the game more? One host was convinced that if you were to take the top 32 Madden players in the world, and plug them in as coaches in the NFL, you wouldn't see a drop-off in the real game (Take that Veev, it's not just a game, it relates to real life:)) The same would go for the Golf game. If you take the top video game golfer, and use him as Tiger Woods caddy, nothing would change.

I don't know if that is true, I play Football and Basketball a lot, and I don't think I could run the lions (although sometimes the lions play calling is so predictable, I think I can coach them)

Anyway back to the game. I've played Madden for years, since before I had an XBOX. I used to play on Sega Genesis when it first came out with my friend Elly, had it on game gear, played it on PC, and finally I had it for XBOX.

Then came the ESPN version. It cost only 20 bucks, and the game was OK (Thanks dav and Shany for the game) But it doesn’t compare to Madden, and at some point I will have to go and get it.

I was talking to Jonah, and he mentioned that for his first birthday present he would love it if he could get the game, so if anyone out there is trying to figure out what to get Jonah for his first birthday, he wants Madden (It sounded like this baa abbaaa gaa bkkkk madden) Since I'm his dad I understand his language

Let the fun begin

SUCCESS

We have finally the first completed the first stage of business here in Michigan. Last night I presented our program to the Ypsilanti School Board and they accepted it. The hope is now that we have one, the rest will follow like sheep.

Now comes the fun part, finding the advertisers, and bringing money into the company.
Things are gonna get interesting here at InSight Media

Reruns

Reruns suck.

Today on TBS they showed the ENTIRE final season of FRIENDS, followed by three hours of Seinfeld. The Simpsons- rerun, Family Guy -rerun, American Dad -rerun
Has TV completely run out of programming ideas? I always hear that TV execs have so many new ideas thrown at them blah blah blah, well why don't they put them on TV. Even if they suck, just something different, new shows , new jokes happier viewers. And no reality shows, they suck also.

I dont mind shows that hit syndication and are on from 6-8 and 10 and on, but I thinkit's inexcusable to have a rerun during prime time.

Little League and layups

I spent a few hours this evening watching my nephews little league team try and advance to the league championship game

I have to send out props to my nephew, we'll call him Pudge, on his little league season. It didn't end how he envisioned it, his team lost in league semi-finals. As far as an individual performance, Pudge made what one of the fans at the game called the greatest play he'd ever seen at a little league game.

There were two men on base, and I believe one guy out. The batter smacked the ball out of the infield. The runner on second scored easily, and the guy on first was going to test the arm, and accuracy of the defense.

As he rounded third and headed home, the throw came into Pudge ( I think I forgot to mention, he plays catcher, hence the name Pudge( The Tigers catcher))on a hop, he scooped the ball up, and turned to see a kid twice his size come barreling into home plate.

Pudge held his position in front of the plate, and held onto the ball for dear life, as the runner threw him down to the ground. The Ump checked to make sure Pudge still had the ball, which he did, and called the runner out at the plate.

This kept Pudge team in the game. They were only down a run, when it could have been 2 runs, with one out and a guy at second. Instead there were two outs with the guy on second, and his team left him stranded there, as the next batter struck out.

I ended my evening, by playing my Tuesday night game.

Growing up, I always felt that it was inexcusable to miss a layup, I probably yelled at my teammates if they blew what I felt was an easy layup. (I'm not big into yelling at teammates anymore, I prefer to keep it all bottled up inside of me.) All you have to do is lay the ball off the backboard, or directly into the basket.

It sounds simple, but tonight, I just couldn't finish, and it was the most frustrating thing in the word. Mentally I was telling myself it's because I was still out of synch from the Pittsburgh life, that I had no rhythm, but still, these were layups that I should have finished.

One theory is that I was getting to far under the basket, before I would put the ball up, if thats the case, it shouldn't be to difficult to fix, and that will come back as I get back in the flow of the game.

Whatever the case may be, I gotta figure it out, and finish at the hoop, because nothing sucks more than beating your guy off the dribble, making a move to the hoop, and watching it bounce off the rim.

Which is the opposite of what Wesley Snipes told Woody Harrelson in White Man Can't Jump, it doesn't matter if it goes in or not, as long as you look good doing it. There was a time I subscribed to that theory, and even quoted Wesley, but of course in those days I wasn't missing most of my layups, so I was able to trash talk my opponent if they made an ugly shot. Who would have though, bad information from a sports movie...

People are never happy

My mom used to say "Pigs get nothings" (is that correct sar?) If only this were true in business

I've been meeting with administrators recently, introducing them to my companies program, and hoping that they sign on with my company. As part of the program, we offer them a percentage of the media dollars we'll say 40%. We also offer a percentage if they refer us, successfully, to another District.

I don't know about you, but I'd be happy receiving 40 percent of profit, Especially if I have to do nothing but say "go ahead" but not these people. Everyone wants more, "How bout an extra 10 percent, we'll go 50-50". "We want extra referral fees".

Don't these people realize that we are in business to make money, not give them all half our money just to receive their approval?

I think if we tell them right off the bat they would receive only 30 percent, they'll negotiate up to 40 percent, they'll feel like they won, we will pay out what we initially planned and everyone will be happy.