Blogging My Life...Happy Passover
Happy Passover everyone!
I am offline tomorrow and the next day.
Thursday, I am speaking at Market St. Louis and then heading back to New York later that day.
Have a wonderful Passover!
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March 29, 2010
March 26, 2010
I Go Through Mice Like... Next Up, Logitech M500
I seriously go through too many computer mice. Today, I got my new mouse - possibly considered a downgrade from what I had beforehand, the Logitech MX Revolutions - I got the Logitech M500.
It is basically the same mouse with two main differences:
(1) It is corded, not wireless.
(2) It is missing the thumb scroll wheel
Why am I switching? For some reason, ever since I purchased the really nice Logitech diNovo Keyboard it has been conflicting with the USB wireless connection of the mouse. So the MX mouse was skipping 5 to 10 pixels. As I tried to click on something, the mouse would jump and I would end up somewhere else. As you can imagine, it was very annoying and frustrating. I tried moving USB devices around - but it never worked.
So I moved to a corded mouse and so far, it seems to be working fine. I don't miss the thumb scroll, simply because I never used it.
I have been a long time user of Logitech mice. In fact, when I replaced my Appel Mighty Mouse with the Logitech VX, before the Mighty Mouse I had a cheap corded Logitech mouse for years. Now, it seems I go through a new mouse every 6 to 12 months.
March 22, 2010
Today I Turned 30 Years Old
Today is my birthday and today I turned 30 years old.
Not sure what I can say about that, other than I am 30.
I can, if I want, go to Wikipedia and source some interesting tidbits on 30, such as:
- 30 is the sum of the first four squares, which makes it a square pyramidal number.
- The atomic number of zinc is 30
- Messier object M30, a magnitude 8.5 globular cluster in the constellation Pegasus
- I can now become a U.S. Senator
- The code for international direct dial phone calls to Greece
- The designation of Interstate 30, a freeway that runs from Texas to Arkansas (image above)
- The designation of U.S. Route 30, a highway that runs from Oregon to New Jersey
- The number of tracks on The Beatles' eponymous album, usually known as The White Album
- I am still a young adult
- 30 is one of the more common numbers worn by hockey goaltenders (along with 31).
- Plus lots of events happened on March 22
So I turned 30 today.
Looking at my life at 30, I am pretty happy - I am very lucky.
March 18, 2010
Let Your iPhone Keep Track of Your Celebs & Stars
Full disclosure: This iPhone app is an app we built for a client...
Back in December, we launched an iPhone app for a client named WorldLive Mobile. The app was focused around compiling and aggregating the Tweets and MySpace feeds of their favorite HipHop stars. It not only showed you these feeds, but also hooked up to the iTunes Music Store, the artist's web sites, their Facebook and MySpace pages, included their YouTube channels and had concert dates and listings.
The app literally rocks. It has a sweet coverflow like interface with tons of ways to customize the artists you love. It gives you an easy way to stay on top of your favorite Hip Hop artists. You can download it for free and it is named WorldLive Hip Hop.
Since then, we released three more apps that work in a similar fashion but for different areas. For example, we released WorldLive Country, WorldLive Pop and WorldLive Hollywood. So Country and Pop are similar to Hip Hop, but the Hollywood is obviously focused on TV and movie stars.
Here are some pictures of each app:
WorldLive Pop:
WorldLive Hollywood:
WorldLive Country:
WorldLive Hip Hop:
All these apps for free and I would really appreciate it if you would download it and give me feedback.
Download them at:
March 17, 2010
Seeing Things In Slow Motion
During my teen years, I pretty much spent all my time around basketball. I was a die hard ball player. They called me a "gym rat" because during our 10 minute breaks between clases in High School, I was one of those who ran to the gym to shoot around for 9 minutes. When I wasn't playing ball, I was watching Michael Jordan play ball. In short, I was really into basketball.
I was pretty good also. Which is why I am writing this blog post. By "pretty good", I base that off being in a pretty popular but yet Jewish school. So although it was top for Jewish basketball, I am sure it was on no level to public school competition. That being said, for my competition in my school, I was pretty up there. Okay, back to the title of this post.
Last night, I was playing basketball - I absolutely stink now, by the way. And I had one of those slow motion moments. You know, where you have the ball, and either see or anticipate a hole opening up (either for a driving lane or a sweet pass). I saw it last night. I don't remember seeing that slow motion moment in years, maybe close to five plus years.
I had the ball at the top of the key (~ foul line for those who don't speak basketball) and I saw some movement amongst the players. Things just slowed down. Ultimately, I did not end up using the hole or lane because one of the players stopped his movements and the opportunity left - but for a brief second, it was there.
Why am I blogging this? Well, I don't know when or even if I will ever see that slow motion effect again in my life. So I figured, as a blogger, I'd blog it and keep it here so I can reference that.
Keep in mind, seeing things in slow motion when I played ball as a teenager was several times a day. After experiencing last night for just a brief second, it reminds me that I miss it. It is hard to describe the feeling, but it made me smile.
Chime in if you know what I am talking about...
Meeting The Inbal Jerusalem Hotel's SEO Team
When I was in Israel, I planned most my stay with the Inbal Jerusalem Hotel. I actually have stayed there a lot and it is a very nice hotel. The reasons I personally like this hotel is likely different from others. For me, it is between the Sheraton hotel (which just changed names) and the Inbal. The Inbal wins for a couple reasons, but most important to me is that my laptop fits in the in-room safe. At the Sheraton, my laptop will not fit in the safe.
Okay, enough about that. When I was there, I was asked if I can meet with a few of the people from the hotel. One was sick and couldn't make it but I did meet with others from the marketing team. We sat in the lobby and talked shop.
Here is a picture of the Online Marketing Manager of the hotel, Pinny after our meeting:
So you are probably asking, why didn't we have the Inbal as the venue for SphinnCon Israel?
(1) Inbal was booked for those two weeks
(2) JCT already said okay
(3) I am sure the Inbal is pricey, but who knows, maybe they will give us SEOs a nice break for next year.
In any event, I highly recommend the Inbal hotel for it's location, accommodations, hospitality and the size of their in-room safes. ;-)
March 16, 2010
My First Experience With a Circular Saw
On Friday, we had new carpeting installed in our home. I came home to find out that the closet door in the hallway would no longer open.
The carpeting was above the bottom of the door so it simply couldn't open. The carpeting guys did not tell a newish home owner that the door had to be trimmed down to allow it to open. It was obvious to them.
Lucky me, I have a brother with power tools and a circular saw. I took the door of its hinges, put the door in my wife's large car and took it to my brother's basement - where he has a workshop type of area.
My brother then showed me how the circular saw worked and I went at it.
I snipped off about an inch from the bottom of the door. Honestly, it wasn't a straight line, so maybe an inch on one side and 1.5 inches on the other, with a small incline as you go across the door. But that is really not noticeable when you look at the door.
The bottom line - the hallway closet door now opens even with the carpeting.
Mission accomplished!
March 15, 2010
Baby Proofing
Yesterday, I spent a portion of the day baby proofing my house.
Pretty much, all the electrical sockets have a baby proof piece of plastic insert. Many of the kitchen and bathroom floor level cabinets have those baby latches. And some of the drawers have those clamps, as shown in the picture above.
I also purchased two baby gates. One I hooked up already and it works well, the other, I am not too sure about. The other goes at the top of the stairs and it has to be done right. But the way my stairs are, it just doesn't seem this or any will work right. So I need to figure out a different solution, maybe a less optimal solution, but a safe solution.
We also spent money on one of those diaper genie types of cans. I don't like to air my family's dirty laundry, but at a certain age, those "poop" diapers really smell bad, really.
In any event, it is amazing watching kids grow - a lot of fun and joy.
March 11, 2010
I'm a Bad Vacationer
For the past two weeks or so, I was on "vacation." My wife, daughter and I went to Israel. We were there for a family Bar Mitzvah.
Since I was coming in, I decided to run the SphinnCon Israel conference one of the days. I then also decided to hold some meetings with clients I have in Israel. And while I was at it, I scheduled some meetings and get togethers about SEO related topics.
The first week we arrived was a bit hectic. Two of the first 4 days, I spent in the hotel working. One day catching up from the flight and the second day doing the billing for the company. That wasn't the end of it. Every day, I spent about 2 hours in the morning, an hour in the middle of the day and 2 hours at night working on my laptop from the hotel. Of course, during this time, I had my iPhone and spent way too much time when I was out of the hotel responding to emails and mobile IMs.
I just don't manage vacation and business well.
Thankfully, I have a very understanding and patient wife. But as time goes on, I need to be able to manage this better.
I honestly think I was a bit more relaxed this time. Less nervous about being away. I did not get sick like I sometimes do and I think I was able to unplug at times, when I really did not want to. Overall, I probably spent 65% working and 35% not working, not including sleeping, on this vacation.
At the same time, I was not able to get together with many people who emailed me to meet up while in Israel. This includes both family, friends and business colleagues. So I am sorry if I did not get to spend time with you. Most of the business colleagues I saw at the conference, so that was nice. But there are some really good friends I did not see while I was there.
Anyway, it's something for me to work on.
March 9, 2010
SMX SphinnCon in Jerusalem Post
About to get on a plane back to NY, but I wanted to quickly share the write up on the Jerusalem Post (a very large Israeli paper) on the SphinnCon event that took place Sunday.
You can read it over here and here is a picture of it in my hand:
March 2, 2010
My New Velvet Hebrew RustyBrick Kippah
Today I want to the ultra-orthodox Jewish neighborhood named Geula and purchased some religious wear. One of the things we bought was a new kippah, a brown velvet one . I decided to have them sew on the name RustyBrick, but in Hebrew, on the Kippah.
Here is a picture:
Don't I already have a RustyBrick Kippah? Yes, I do, but that one was Suede.
