Category Archives: Uncategorized

Don’t be a gerbil.

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Do not be content with running on a wheel that gets you no closer to your goals. Don’t rely on others to fill your food dispenser, and your water bottle. Learn to clean up after yourself, become self sufficient. You don’t need someone to clean and rearrange your place every two weeks. Plan, be active, exercise and learn something new. Try something you have never tried before, dare yourself. Just don’t be a gerbil.

Gerbils are content creatures. They run nowhere, eat and sleep and they excited to be back home in their tank after you clean it. They will even explore, and admire their clean tank as if they just moved into a new home.

No Gerbils were harmed in the writing of this blog.

Back up your Data Now or else….

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I had a rather rude awakening the other day. A Western Digital 500 GB Firewire hard drive I bought in 2007 croaked, died, started the dreaded click clik click on startup. This is a universal sound of death apparently. I did not have any irreplaceable on it, its just a big inconvenience and time suck.

I spent Friday looking into Data Recovery Options, which it turns out is an oxymoron. It really means “it will cost you a minimum of between 49.00 and 65.00 dollars for anyone to determine if they can even help you.”

Twelpforce (Bestbuy online) tried to help on twitter by enlisting about 7 people responding and talking around the problem until I suggested I take it to Best Buy in Natick to get it looked at and it was agreed that was best.

I got an estimate of 3000.00 from Data Doctors. They were very certain they knew my problem and that they could fix it. They even called me from CA after I spoke to a local office in MA. Great response time, but the pricing is crazy.

The thing I just don’t believe is this premise that fixing and recovering data requires a clean room. Mixing plutonium probably does require a clean room, Data recovery probably not so much. The thought that all these companies need 2500.00 to get a 150.00 hard drive to spit out it’s data is a little too wizard of Oz for me, even given the fact I produce video. If they charge that much why not let the person with the hard drive fly to the clean room and observe the process then in person. Make it a vacation to the clean room and data recovery world?

My feeling is that most of the companies online claim to be able to do data recovery but really don’t. It’s my gut telling me something smells bad. It’s also 49.00 – 65.00 dollars to find out what the problem with the failed hard drive might be, and maybe a solution.

We all rely on computers to do our stuff. We all have backups of our stuff. With millions of people paying 49.00 – 65.00 that’s lots of money spent on maybe. I say we save that 49-65 million dollars right now.

Maybe coming up with a better backup plan is a better idea. Hmmm I found mine online. Please see http://www.videomaker.com/article/14242/

Three Strikes I’m Out. WTF…

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Sometimes you just have bad customer service experiences, but when you have three in a row you start to question yourself as I have. Is it me am I doing something wrong? I will let you decide.

1. gomylocal: They had my company listed all wrong on its listing and when I tried to have them reset my password they said they could not do that. So I asked them to delete my listing. This revealed another version of my listing that was also wrong going back 4 years. I had them delete that one also so that’s that. WTF?

2. Marketcircle: (Daylite) This program is my ACT for Mac program that I wrote so many good things about last year after I got rid of windows finally. Well an update rolled out recently and now my database name and password are gone. Did they create a customer service incident? We will see. I am not in habit of deleting this info.
WTF!

3. Bank of America said they sent me a new bank card on june 11th, and yet I did not get one. So yesterday when I was heading out I had to rush to an open banking center for my temp replacement card expired. Can you say two hours of my life I can never get back. I mean WTF.

Bonus: I tried updating my map on Tom Tom last night and it crashed while downloading the new map. Sure they have my money but can I get the map to download nooooo. WTF?

You need to laugh sometimes and I try, but sometimes you just need to say WTF.

Skippy gets to a tweetup

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I sign up for tweetups with the best intentions, most are in cool places in Boston that I would like to visit again. Tonight I finally got to one at the Marketing Profs / Tapas tweetup at the Renaissance Hotel in the seaport area. The Marketing Profs has it’s two day conference there today 6/8 and tomorrow 6/9 and it was very well attended by all I talked to about it. They also had a tapas tweetup for non attendees also which is why I went. 9ubgwkse8y

The food was great, great marinated artichokes, and the sandwich things were good. There were olives and peppers and chicken with thai peanut sauce. All very good but all not Tapas. When I think Tapas I think small plates, but thats ok free food is good food and the renaissance had some of the best to nosh on.

The room was full and lots of people were milling about. I saw and met lots of people I tweet with that I had not had before in real life. I am bad with twitter names so if I goof yours up writing I appologize in advance.

I saw and spoke with twitter friends @JoselinMane happy Birthday again and many many more. You rock. I saw @damphoux from Green leads, @Robertcollins and a clone who reportedly was @chrisbrogan but I was always told he never attends boston events so I was dillusional obviously. Thanks for the compliment btw, your clone rocks. I figure if I am going to dilude myself I would throw that in also. THe other person I saw that I met before was @missusp, and I am glad my video production skills at New Marketing summitt were not completely lost.

New people I met for the first time in person were @JoeCascio, @dough , @fairminder, @jimstorer and @jeffglasson you guys were all great to talk with. Though @dough skipped out without paying “that DB”. I also was very fortunate to meet @bostonmarketer finally.

I want to thank the organizers Marketing Profs and 451 Marketing for co sponsoring the post seminar event and tapas tweetup. I had gone outside to twitter for a minute (no signal on edge) and when I returned Joselin mentioned they had called my name.

Usually the only time I get my name called is in a court room or a Starbucks so I was skeptical. I had won a prize however a very nice prize indeed. It was a Casio 8.1 megapixel youtube ready camera. Wow, just for showing up. I need to go to more of these tweetups.

My thanks again to Marketing Profs and Sage Patterson at 451 Marketing again for the really nice camera.

5 guys burgers and the Obama Factor

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5 guys burgers are very good, Keith Shaw from Network World and I were in DC a few months back and had them in Terminal B at Dulles. They are very good indeed. Last night on MSNBC the leader of the free world went out for 5 guys burgers. It was a planned covert operation where president Obama went out and got burgers for himself, staff and NBC correspondent Brian Williams.

Now in social media circles some speak of the Oprah factor in purchasing. Today Keith and I went with Jason Meserve to 5 Guys and they were very busy.

I asked a worker if business had always been so busy, and it was mentioned that they were much busier today the day after the MSNBC show aired. They reported that they were slammed all day with new customers they had never seen before at their location.

5 guys burgers it would appear then is benefiting by the Obama factor.

Know your limitations…

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In Dirty Harry the last line of the film was “a man’s got to know his own limitations” I may be good at video production but as far as being an early adopter testing things like Friend feed and feeding it to face book and twitter I am a doofus.

Interesting tonight I pleaded to the Twitter cosmos to see if anyone had similar problems. 1 person a friend and colleague responded. Thanks Jason. The thing I also noticed that in my rant of frustration I got 10 more followers on twitter. 10 more people but no more help on this problem.

Chris Brogan got me and another 100o plus lemmings to respond to a Star Trek trivia question which of course I knew the answer on.

“ a mans got to know his own limitations”

Turning another page…

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I am a 47 year old PT dad, I work and do everything for my kids. I try and squirrel away a little money so that they will have something for college and then some when I am gone. As a PT dad, I am also very selective to whom I share myself, and my kids with emotionally. Sadly, my most recent relationship failed. As I get older I get more hopeful that the next first date will be my last first date. I am sad and in mourning right now and I miss the relationship. Life will go on however as it always has one day at a time the best foot forward with the other one right behind it.

Time to heal and visit friends, travel some, spend more time with people I love most.

Rene Sings Phil out of his Boston Bruin Blues

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I was at Casey’s Hotdogs in Natick today after a photo shoot at the Natick Service Council and Ran into Rene Rancourt a longtime Natick resident and local frequenter of Casey’s hotdogs. Pat and I were shooting the s, well you know and in walks Rene. Light bulb goes off, if Phil is ever going to play golf again and come out of hiding after the Bruins lost, Rene Rancourt the Tenor who sings at all home Bruins games can surely sing away the blues.

So I call phil, Rene sings Oh Canada into my iphone he says because they pay more in Canadian I guess and We all have a good laugh. Phil hears all this and does not know what to think and I explained what I did. I think Phil thought I was doing an impression or something and Rene mentioned he was Rene Rancourt’s manager while on the Phone with Phil. Anyway…

So to dispel all doubt and to extricate my Bruin Loving brother out of hiding I enclose the following picture. Call me about a Tee time Phil.

Heart Broken yet Again…

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I want to thank the Boston Bruins for a great season of hockey. You guys made additional in roads into your search for Lord Stanley. The offense got better, the defense got better you inspired all of us with one of the best overall seasons in recent bruins history.

You still broke my heart however, and while it helps that I am currently working with the Heart Rhythm 2009 show in Boston, I hope my heart isn’t terminal. I am sure it will mend in time as it does every season. It could be worse, I could also be a Cubs fan.

Positive clients rule.

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I work for quite a diverse group of clients and each has her or his own style, mannerisms and demeanor. I gravitate towards positive people and I look to
work with those that are also positive. I am picky that way

Last week I worked for a client that was positive, no matter what happened he was always happy. Asa from Mesa was a positive person and he got things done. He
almost always listened and was kind even if he disagreed with you.

Conversely David, is short always looks like he is pained when you speak to him
and I try to avoid him after her barked orders at me day one over a problem one
of his own people created that I took the brunt on.

Asa and David are night and day. One is someone you want to do something for
regardless. The other takes away your wind and you wish you could avoid them.
Both pay you for your services, but which one would you want to work for?