Happy New Year!

Pastrami Days

Holiday Projects

I've decided to take a couple of weeks off for the holidays, and have really been looking forward to the time off...

we're not going anywhere, so basically will be out here on long island for 17 days with the kids...

i really don't know why i am doing this, but i've got this list of projects around the house that i am going to try to get done, though I am pretty sure i'll get pretty much none of it done...so here are the projects, along with the projected chances of completion...

wall mount the the 19" flat panel tv i bought on black friday on our kitchen wall - Chance of completion: 10%
i am too much of a wuss for this one...scared that when i drill into the wall, i will hit an electrical wire, kill the electricity in my house, as well as possibly me...all before i have the opportunity to gain my google 15

exercise
the time at home should give me an opportunity to use the neglected treadmill or go to equinox with allison to take some kind of class....
Chance of completion: 10%

clean out the basement closets
they're filled with crap, including a couple of toys from china that have been recalled....guess i really should get rid of them, but with all the procrastinating i'll be doing, probably won't get to this one
Chance of completion: 5%

2 plumbing projects
replace the downstairs bathroom sink which was shattered after shelly dropped a metal toothbrush holder on it, and replacement of our kitchen faucet, which to the outsider's eye, can use a dose of viagra as it hangs its head in shame and leaks like a cheney aide...
For this one, i don't even have to do it myself, i just need to hire someone...the problem is that while i've bought the replacement sink for bathroom, i haven't been able to find a faucet for the kitchen....
Chance of completion: 25%

Buy a 2nd Car
I've been using Hicksville Taxi to get back and forth from the Railroad to my house every day....adds about 20 to 30 minutes to my commute each day, and has reduced my expected lifespan by a couple of years as i breathe in marlboro red 2nd hand smoke from the drivers...
Chance of completion: 10%

Take Sam to the City to see my office
the big concern on this one is the long train ride in with a 2 1/2 yr old....the concern, maybe not that obvious, but do i really want to expose sam to the rudeness of human beings demonstrated by my fellow hicksvillians?
Chance of completion: 1%

What a Dick! My favorite new site...

If you haven't checked out Dickipedia, take a look...pretty funny stuff...

Facebook Changing - But Slowly

Lots of stories today about Facebook's modification to their "beacon" program, it looks like some of the changes are in place already....I submitted a new review no Yelp, and while it was subsequently sent to my Facebook profile without my explicit approval to do so...it did not get published to my news feed...instead, it showed up on my homepage as an item waiting for my approval....
a step in the right direction....

Thankful!

On this Thanksgiving holiday, i thought it could be appropriate to post about things I am thankful for....After thinking about it a little more, there was really one thing I felt warranted a post, vs. including a bunch of things.

It took Allison and I about 5 years to have our first child, Sam. And while now, that thought occupies just a 1/2 sentence in what I am sure will be an under-read blog post, it is hard to explain what those 5 years were actually like. The emotional impact, the physical pain (mostly for allison), and a series of ups and downs, too long to list here.

So what does this have to do with Thanksgiving? With my family now up to 3 kids, each now growing up a bit, Sam at 2 1/2 and Madison and Luke at 9 months, I wanted to thank our team of doctors, for all they have given me and my family.


First on this list is Dr. Zev Rosenwaks...If you ever want to know what I have in common with Celine Dion, it is this guy (he helped Celine have her baby). Its funny, cause this picture of him sums it up pretty well....The guy must be 60, but look at that head of hair! Sick. Apart from that though, this guy, who gets an (IMHO) undeserved reputation for poor bedside manner, is a passionate scientist, who really cares about changing his patients lives. He spoke to us while attending conferences, in the middle of giving interview with Katie Couric and most impressive...during his fast while he was in temple for Yom Kippur.


Glenn Schattman, who held Allison's hand on the night of March 6th when we lost our first baby, and also was responsible for our embryo transfer that lead to Sam's birth....We used to joke that Sam kind of looked like Dr. Schattman, but now that he's gotten older, not so much....Wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world...the guy is one of the leaders in the area of surgical robotics....



Isaac Kligman who was Dr. Rosenwak's right hand man, performed a couple of procedures for us along the long and bumpy way....A great scientist, and just a really nice guy. Isaac was also the doctor who performed the ultrasound on that crazy Sunday morning and told us that Allison was pregnant with quadruplets.



Allan Kessler, Allison's OB...I always told Allison that in another life, he and I would be good friends...The nicest doctor I've ever met, who blends caution and practicality into the care you receive...yes, he had Allison on bed rest for quite a while in both pregnancies, but 3 years later, who can complain?


These doctors were a part of our lives for years, and while I am extremely happy that I will never need their services again, they are great people, who I think about all the time....They have really changed my life and are deserving of a (not-so) public thank you.

As corn bread as it might sound, for me, really every day is Thanksgiving, and each day I walk into my house and see my 3 kids, I give thanks - sometimes out loud - sometimes to myself - but should dinner conversation turn to the now cliche "what are you thankful" for, i'll just point people to this post....

The Little Pie Company...

A couple of years back, I started picking up pies at "The Little Pie Company" on Wednesday before Thanksgiving for my team....This will be the third year I'll wait in line on 14th street to pick up their famous Sour Cream Apple Walnut pies....

If you happen to be at DoubleClick's New York Office today, stop on over....you won't want to miss it....

My Day of Diaper Changes

Video from this Weekend...

My wine cellar...

When I moved into my house, one of things we did was put a refrigerator in the garage to house stuff that we couldn't fit inside....I am an admitted Diet Coke addict, and over the last few months, the refrigerator in the garage has become the equiv of a wine cellar for me....always making sure we've got proper mix of caffeine / no caffeine, dr. pepper for special occasions, you get the idea...

Love ya baby!

The requests have been rolling in from tons of people (me) anxious to hear about some of the talent agents I worked with back at william morris, so here's the first in a really short series of posts that aims to quench that serious thirst.

Wma had a division that focused on what they called "adult contemporary". Old fogies, somewhat washed up artists who played casinos and private parties--in some cases they also generated a ton of cash--regis philbin was an adult contemporary client for example.

There was a pretty legendary agent named lee salomon who was credited with coining the "agenty" phrase "love ya baby". This guy was a sketch--a caricature of everything you thought about when you thought about talent agents. He wore expensive gaudy suits, a fur coat in the winter--and big ass cazal glasses which seemed to have diamonds on them. He was blingy before bling was thing.

He smoked cigarettes in his office and my job was to get him coffee, clean his ashtray, take dictation, whatever. The coolest thing about this guy, was that he couldn't even be bothered to learn my name. He just referred to me as "boy". It is amazing what time will change----cause at the time, i know i didn't find it very funny at all, but looking back on, it was hysterical.

Lee hung in there for about 50 years at the agency, and was eventually let go. that in itself was a legendary story, where lee was advised at his daughter's wedding that his services were no longer required

Cross Site Facebooking

Wrote a review this morning of a restaurant I went to in Boston....As i hit publish and went to close my browser, i saw that there was a pop up box that came up, and went away really quickly....you can see it here as it "runs away".

so the bottom line is that facebook has struck deals with a number of properties to track its users off their core facebook pages, and is publishing key events from those sites in your news feeds....while in this case, i don't have a problem with sharing this info, kind of seems like this should've been on an opt in basis, vs. opt out? no?

Can i see some ID?

went to sign up for a musician's page on facebook today, and was basically "carded".. they need me to upload to them a copy of my drivers license, passport or something else that would allow them not know it was me....

I need some time to process this one, but an internet first for me

My Solution to Writer's Strike - Hire a Spammer

I have a proposed solution to the writer's strike...a really simple one....There's a group of creative writers out there untethered by union regulations and hollywood-sized egos...these are the folks who bring us email spam....i found this one in my spam folder this morning...
i am very sure that the author of this note could easily craft episodes of "2 and a Half Men", or maybe even cross over to write a drama, like "CSI".

Facebook's Social Ads

So Facebook announced their Social Ads concept today...you can find info on the press conference and the concept all across the internet.....As you do that, you'll likely go to Google, type in a couple of keywords like "Facebook Press Conference" or something like that and the results will be returned accompanied by a text advertisement.....if i understand the Social Ads concept, the integration of advertising will be completely different in many ways, from how Google has monetized their inventory.

Facebook will use the news feeds function to allow its users to recommend brands and has also launched "Pages", which sounding similar to Myspace, will allow brands, products, etc.. to launch its own pages for users to interact with. Ads will also be targeted to users based on info in their profile...a no-brainer,and of all the items they announced, the one that sounds most in the interest of the facebook end user.

I have tried to come up with a POV on the announcement, and after thinking about it, will have to take a wait and see approach...On an emotional level, it feels wrong....i use Facebook, but do not anticipate myself recommending brands to others...Unlike the Google business model, which enhanced user experience (more targeted advertisements relevant to your search), this Facebook announcement, on the surface, will detract from end user experience, cause we don't come there to interact with brands, we come there to interact with people.

I understand that brand interaction is really key for marketers, but as a mass marketing strategy, I am not sold. As an example, I've used Yahoo's Avatars application for a few months, and while I am presenting with opportunities to create branded avatars each time i visit the site, up until today, when I tested out my pepsi avatar, haven't really felt compelled to associate myself with Pepsi in this way. (By the way, check out the picture when I set up my pepsi avatar, was served a Dr. Pepper Ad - Nice! )

Maybe I am not the target audience? Possibly, but again, there in lies a crack in the foundation of Facebook's revenue model....When my mom, my dad, my aunts and uncles searche google, they ALL see more relevant text ads as a result of Google's ad technology...If Facebook is banking on increased interactions with brands to bankroll their operation, I think there will be substantial challenges.

But, what do i know? Right? Time will tell...

Maybe its a typo?

I am in boston for a couple of days attending a conference and was looking for a place to grab something to eat...there's chili's within the hotel complex, so was going to walk over for dinner, but thought I'd check out the menu before I did....There was a link to nutritional info so i thought i would give it a quick read....the one item that caught my eye was the "Awesome Blossom", their answer to Outback's Blooming Onion I guess...

Check out the nutritional info on this bad boy...200 grams of fat, and 194 grams of carbs in 1 serving...Holy crap, and this is just an appetizer....So I am obviously going to head over there after I click "Publish Post" and see what all the hype is about....Something tells me it is probably pretty damn tasty.

Interesting week in Social Networking Space

Within the last week or so, the social networking space has changed drastically and a lot like in a game of school yard football, teams have been chosen for the ensuing battle for supremacy in the Social Networking arena.

If I have it right, Microsoft and Facebook are on one side, opting for a closed approach, meaning that participants can't take their data with them to other social networks, and that facebook app developers wouldn't be able to port their apps to other social networks.

On the other side, there's Open Social....A consortium of top social network players, (as well as companies we do not typically associate with Social Networking). Oracle, Salesforce, Linkedin, Friendster, Myspace, Flikster, RockYou, Slide and of course, Google. Through a collection of OpenSocial APIs, social networking apps can be shared across this consortium, enabling a supposed proliferation of web apps for end users.

So based on this, it seems the OpenSocial approach is one that will bring more functionality to end users. And ironically, the Facebook approach ends up seeming very closed, old school and Web 1.0 when it flies in the face of the blatantly wide ope OpenSocial.

The one thing that is not yet clear to me is how this OpenSocial initiative may approach the challeng of unique identifiers for folks in the social fabric. I am Brian Kane on linkedin, Brian Kane on Facebook, Brian Kane on orkut, etc... When do these get linked? Do they get linked? stay tuned...

My old sneakers

Lots of people have asked me recently about the sneakers i have owned in the past...so here it is, at long last, the blog post that answers all the questions...some of my old sneakers



An old fave...the magic johnson converse hightops..i LOVED these, and wish i never threw them out






Another gem, the original Air Jordans...so sweet, not to mention my orange chuck taylors that i bought right before i started at University of Miami (yeah, i know, not a very cool way to start freshman year)















Of course, the classic Adidas Superstars...my parents thought i was nuts when they needed to spend $40 on them and bring them up on visiting day during summer camp...

What has happened to Eminem?

Based on this video, it is safe to say that Eminem (and possibly triumph the dog too) are officially irrelevant.

Their first halloween and this is what they are wearing?

Not my favorite choice of costumes for the twins, but i guess they kinda look cute


Would've been a nice shot of the family if not for Sam...
I've never seen a real construction worker cry like this before (please, no village people jokes)

When Luke Attacks!

Matthew "Mick-On-A-Hey" Where are you?

Note: I didn't want to give the sexiest man alive any additional rationale for a swelled head, so i didn't google the right spelling of his name, so the phonetic version is listed above....

I have been a huge fan of Amazon's unbox since it launched...I really believe that this is a sound model for content distribution, and in my own discussions with folks at Amazon, I have basically begged them to show some patience in evaluating the success of the technology....So in short, i am a fan...

on saturday though, decided to try something different and forgo the the re-runs of Law and Order SVU for an Unbox download, "We are Marshall" starring Mr. Matthew Mick-on-a-Hey....Well it has been over 48 hours and I am still waiting....I will of course now contact Amazon support to find out what happened, and try get my 99 cents back, but I have now already been forced to watch Stabler and Bensen yet again track down NYC's slimiest pervs.

While I love the idea of Unbox, there are still challenges - the bandwidth issue primarily as i see it - that will prevent the wide-scale acceptance of this technology. Fiber to the desktop may help, but we're years away from that at grand scale...I am hopeful that Unbox doesn't go the way of "Urbanfetch" before that time.

Johnson and Johsnon / Completely Delusional

The side of a box of Q-Tips outlines 4 suggested uses for the product...
First Aid, Baby Care, Household and Electronics...Not a single mention of ear-cleaning...

As they suggest on the package, I visited their web site and there found another site for a variety of other uses - no mention of ear cleaning - they do mention that i can create a masterpiece or touch up other works of Art, but not a single mention of getting the nasty build up of wax out of your ears....

I think Johnson and Johnson is now up there on the list of most delusional companies - right up there with the folks from EZ Wider, who are out there pitching their product for use with tobacco.

My Spam Folder

Not sure why, but decided to go through my gmail spam folder to see what type of stuff was getting caught in there...

First of all, the amount is staggering, 3 or 4 spam emails an hour....

And in some cases, the inclusion of text link advertising is creating interesting juxtaposition...In the above picture, Forbes (and to lesser extent Apple), is associated with an email of questionable content...

In this example, ESPN has some prime time placement in this incredible email announcing some really aggressive pricing for viagra...(is 1.53 a pill a good price?)

Wonder how carefully marketers are keeping an eye on this...while the truth is that most people aren't reading this stuff, something tells me that ESPN and Forbes are still paying for it.

I made it to Playboy - My parents were so proud!!

Back in 1986 and 87, I attended Univ. of Miami in Florida...
While Miami was promoting its academic programs as being on the rise, it didn't stop Playboy Magazine from visiting the campus and naming it the # 1 party school in the country. What that meant for me, is that a photographer from Playboy attended one of our frat parties, and lo and behold, I ended up in the October 87' mag....

Social Networking Ad Inventory - Doody or Booty?

Lots of people are quick to get on the "Social Networking Inventory Sucks" Bandwagon, see one example from Jason Calacanis here, but i think you need to be careful about throwing in facebook to that same bucket....i recently added the mytracker app to facebook, which sucks up the songs i'm listening to on itunes and includes them in my profile so my friends can see what i am listening to....You can see a screen shot from my profile that indicates Ben Harper has been played 6 times, and is actually number 4 on my list of top plays....




When i logged in today to facebook, i was served a Ben Harper concert ad, which totally caught my eye, and had it not, for some unknown reason to me, rotated out without my refreshing the page, i would've actually clicked to find out more info.....

So when posed with the doody or booty question, I believe that there's a treasure trove of valuable inventory out there, and in between cows and sheep being thrown across the ether and college kids posting pix of their roommates puking, there too are real consumers waiting to be messaged to, and an opportunity for marketers to reach them.

Luke's First Music Vid

Luke had a pretty good time playing with the piano this past weekend....in addition to playing with the keys and knobs, he vomited on it about 3 times....TOTALLY reminiscent of pigpen from the grateful dead....

Star Man

Dave Starman, one of my friends from Rockaway is working for CSTV as their hockey color analyst ...you can check out one of his videos here..

a long time ago, dave and i actually played hockey on the same team, "the belle harbor bullets", you can see our team picture here...along with an article that appeared in our local paper in february 1981..

Babies on the Brain? (aka my dumbass move of the week)

Cleaned my dining room table with Baby Oxyclean last night....Think i may need a vacation, but in my defense the bottles do look pretty similar

Blog Action Day - I'm a work in progress....

So today is blog action day, an idea i guess that i support, but to be honest, i am not 100% sure i know what to write....i am not an "environmentalist" by any stretch....as an example, i recently got into an argument with someone from California who was trying to persuade me to only buy local produce....she obviously never tried to get a halfway decent strawberry in new york in november....i didn't win, or really try to win, that argument..

but i am a new parent, and i do tend to think every once in a while about the world my kids will live in - admittedly mostly with envy as to what technological advances will be made - but sometimes, about the enviornment ....While i am not comfortable in committing to any sort of zealot level antics, i will see what i can do to make sure i am leaving this planet in relatively similar, if not better shape, than if i hadn't been here at all...

so maybe for this "Blog Action Day" thing, i will just take a quick inventory of what I have done so far to make this world a better place

1. I have used twitter and facebook to keep in touch with people, which is a lot more convenient and environmentally friendly than sending letters through the mail, or using 2 tin cans and string
2. i allowed a family of raccoons to live in my attic for a portion of the year (you can email me though to find out how that story ended)
3. I have procrastinated decision (and am still procrastinating) buying a 2nd car, which has lead me to take a taxi to and from my house and the train station..often sharing the cab with other passengers - some of whom smell better than others...
4. I spent almost $700 in whole foods last month...that HAS to count for something
5. I looked up "Carbon Footprint" on wikipedia, so i can nod my head with a bit of certainty when I listen to Al Gore
6. I have not gone on my treadmill in like 2 years. i guess that saves on electricity, but not really sure if there'll be any Certified Emission Reduction (thanks wikipedia) as a result
7. I listened patiently to my mother in law when she told me that California is going to slide into the ocean (more problems for my strawberries in november conflict) after she saw it on the discovery channel
8. I've resisted the temptation to pursue a private pilot license, saving on tons of fuel that i no doubt would've burned through
9. When I played golf this summer at harbor links golf course, i complied with all the "environmentally protected" area signs...though i did make a handful of large contributions in terms of golf balls...not sure how that balances out in terms of CER
10. I always curse under my breath at smokers on the LIRR platform...more cause it makes me stink of cigarettes, but i HAVE to believe that if more people cursed at smokers on train platforms, some people would be less prone to pollute the air that way

So all in all, I am a work in progress, and while the idea of blog action day seems a bit contrived, a lot like Secretaries Day (no offense meant to anyone knocking em dead in that field, i used to be one, and a rather crappy one i might add), it did get me to reflect a bit on what I've done, and what more i can do to make the world an ok place for luke, madison and sam to live in.

Fixing a Hole....

What's raccoon remediation without a little bit of collateral damage?

One of the guys cleaning up the attic apparently stepped in the wrong place....

not to worry, its not like there is going to be a steady flow of contaminated insulation and raccoon feces falling through to our bedroom....oh, wait....

In the bottom photo, you can see the remediation job supervisor, looking at her team's handy work with sheer adoration and affection...love you too marjorie....

Attic Clean Up - Complete - Well, almost...

Wish the clean up company would've let me know before hand, but they were unable to complete the attic clean up in 1 day.....They'll be finishing up this morning, but because they couldn't finish, our house ended up looking like something out of E.T. , with ventilation pipes running through the house....

Let the raccoon clean up begin

the cleaning up of the mess caused by our uninvited upstairs raccoon neighbors has officially started.....how these guys escaped discovery's "dirty jobs" is beyond me....

I've got my own mask on as well, though not as heavy duty as these E.T. wannabees...

Supplies

A typical batch of supplies....should get us through a week or so.

October 2007 Video of Sam, Luke and Maddie

The Mets Collapse - Who is really responsible? a.k.a. Glavine's ride on the Mets vessel

I've been a mets fan since i was old enough to understand baseball...I spent time out on the field when i was 7, met Steve Henderson, Alex Trevino and a bunch of other players, and have always rooted for them, no matter what.

I watched the collapse these last couple of weeks, and have tried to read as much as possible about the potential reasons...While Willie deserves his share of the blame, after all, he is the leader of the team, and must take some responsibility, i blame someone else - not reyes, for disappearing, or the non-existent relief staff - to me, it is all about Glavine.

Glavine was never, and is not now, a real Met. He is an Atlanta Brave, and assume that when he goes to the Hall of Fame, it will be in a Braves uniform. He rode the Mets vessel, taking advantage of Omar Minaya's fine tuned offense, to victory # 300....And after that? Gave up. Gave up while on the mound, seemingly gave up in the clubhouse, where based on tv coverage, he couldn't be seen talking to any of the younger pitchers, providing the much needed leadership in the clubhouse....and post-300th win - checked out.

In so many categories, there is an obvious slip in performance after the game in Chi-town when he won 300...Innings pitched, ERA, Wins, Hits allowed...all dropped after that 300th win....

It is what we call in business "short timers disease"....Once an employee gives notice, you know that their productivity and their focus will wane...In my mind, this is exactly what happened, and while there's a long list of people who contributed, Glavine, and his blown opportunities to lead as well as to win, is my one throat to choke (proverbially that is, as he'd probably kick my ass).

Twitter Explained and Twitter Training

For Twitter newbies



And for those who haven't seen this clip, tries to explain the rapid growth of twitter...

Talk about Desperate! (Housewives that is)

After shopping for my yom kippur break fast, walked out of Fairway in Plainview to my car to find (at least for me), a new type of advertising….ABC had replaced the traditional lines between parking spaces with a custom version to promote “Desperate Housewives” – written on each stripe “Parking for Desperate Housewives”….Seems to be targeted at “Soccer Moms” or as they should more appropriately be called on the Friday of Yom Kippur, “Sable Moms”, but anyway thought this was an interesting approach….(and yes, I have written a letter to my congressman stating that ive been discriminated against as I had to park like a mile away as allison was home with the kids and I wasn’t desperate or a housewife)

As for the effectiveness, Allison and I both passed on watching the season premiere…but to be honest, I think we both had fallen asleep by 9pm….

Explanation for why I didn't get into Film school?

Came across this clip of an old movie i used to watch when i was a kid...."The Thing With 2 Heads" starring Rosie Grier and Ray Milland. Perhaps if i spent more time watching 'Apocalypse Now' or other more 'classic' films, the folks from Tisch would have decided otherwise on letting me in back in 1989.

An important call to action for fellow commuters - Act before its too late!

I was attacked by a yellow jack on the platform of the LIRR today…I was able to swat it away, and I feel very good about the skill I used to do so…but if you take a look at the snapshots of the scene right after the incident, you’ll see that it is really no surprise…I was sandwiched in between two "yellow shirters"…thankfully I wasn’t injured. I have since don’t a little bit of research, and found that these guys would’ve been in a load of trouble if something happened to me as they could be held responsible for any damage that was done, as well as expense incurred to bandage the wounds after they attracted the yellow jack over to our area of the platform….I'm calling immediately for hearings on this issue….my proposal will call for the altering of no “white after labor day” to “no white and/or yellow after labor day (and before Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah)".

I am just trying to make the world a safer, better place for us commuters….

My dry cleaning mistake, but come on!

My local dry cleaner dropped off my clothes last week, and I was shocked to find, protected nicely in environmentally unfriendly plastic, one of my "vintage" (old) DoubleClick t-shirts.

I know it was obviously my fault, cause I must've included the tshirt in the bag I dropped off with them, but don't you think that deb's cleaners (located in jericho,ny for anyone wondering) shouldve been able to figure out this was a mistake? I mean, maybe you can make the case that they thought it was one of those $120 plus ed hardy shirts, but the label says hanes beefy t!! Shouldn't that have been a red flag? So now, $5.25 later, I've got a chemically cleaned, hand pressed DoubleClick t-shirt. After that kind of investment, can't bring myself to wear it. It is not even one of the classic tees--geeks vs nerds/camp day, or the tried and true 99 gray doubleclick shirts. Maybe i'll frame it.

Ready for Break-Fast

Went to Fairway in Plainview to buy smoked fish for our break fast this year....Look at this guy's surgeon like technique as he slices me up some nova....You just know its gonna be tasty....