Sparkatopia

Sparkatopia is Moving...

2009-08-24T19:18:00.000-05:00

Okay Cats...

Sparkatopia has a new home...

Movin up to Wordpress...

Loads of older stuff from years gone by.... since 2004

Please point your browsers here..

sparkatopia.tommytrc.com

pardon the dust...

See you there...

Tommy

Be a Social Media Rock Star

2009-08-12T21:03:00.004-05:00

The Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce presented Be a Social Media Rock Star at the F.K. Bemis Center at St. Norbert College in De Pere Wednesday, Aug. 12 at 7:30 a.m. I was the opening and closing presenter and what an amazing time had by all. It was so great to meet all fine folks in Green Bay. What an honor to be a part of that group. Such a great time and I learned to much!!!

You can follow along with all the action on the What the tweet website...

Or you can see the youtube video that Sara Nisler Flimed here...SMROCKGB Youtube Channel

The seminar was the offspring of the chambers first social media seminar, What the Tweet Is Social Media Marketing? Breakout sessions focused on Twitter; Facebook; LinkedIn; blogging; YouTube, photo/video sharing and online buzz; and selling social media to CEOs — policies and procedures. The seminar also included ideas for creating and deploying social media strategy.

Presenters included Tommytrc, Dana VanDen Heuvel of MarketingSavant, Kiar Olson, and Dave Sauter of ENVANO, Todd Lohenry.

Here's a short video that was put together by the boys over at Freshpaintdigital for the video. This rocks!!

Here's my Speach, THANK YOU Andy Crash for taping this...

PART ONE

PART TWO

My Presentations

Tommytrc Presentation Smrockgb Opening

View more presentations from Thomas Clifford.

Tommytrc Presentation Smrockgb Close

View more presentations from Thomas Clifford.

Solea Tweetup Picture

2009-08-10T09:14:00.000-05:00

So a few weeks ago, @mmangen set up this awesome afternoon lunch tweetup at one of the best Mexican Restaurants in town, Solea. They have a new location in Neenah with this great outdoor patio. I was joined by my sweetie, Mrstommytrc, Baby Drew as well as the usual twitter suspects, @tvorse, @saranisler, @kalalea, and his sweetie @debsoul. I knows there are others, but I have lost their names, so please excuse my forgetfulness.

Well the whole reason for this posting, is the picture they took of us on the patio, was used in a full page as in the Scene magazine. How cool is that!!!!

Yeah for good friends yeah for tweetups and yeah for Baby Drew!!!!

Family - It's What Holds Us Together

2009-08-02T16:34:00.000-05:00

This week while in church, I was sitting in the "customary" Clifford back row pew, where we always sit and have sat for quite some time. I like the back row cause I can keep tabs on whats happening while still sitting in the chapel, without sitting on the harder chairs setup in the overflow area. Well after Sacrament meeting concluded, I kept my soft, warm spot, playing with Drew and readying myself for Sunday School which is taught in the same room. In between feeding Drew and a quick cat nap...at least I'm honest that I doze in church--I noticed the sweetest thing that I thought I would share.

Sitting a few rows in front of me was a college student who was here on internship. We shall call him B.A. to protect his identity. He was flanked by his new bride in the right as well as his sister, and his mom on the left. Now B.A. is a tall man. He's got to be 6'7"or better and have the wing span of a B-52... huge! Well what got me was when he put his arms around his wife and his mom at the same time. Just the sweetest form of family love. The sign of a true man is one who honors his mother and treats his wife like a queen. B.A. comes from one amazing family and I learn so much from them each and every day. We really need more strong family bonds in this world.

Here's a pick of the Clifford fam taken last week at Church, the week of Baby Drew's blessing. Pretty great, broken arm and all. I love you Clifford's!!

Andy Crash Kelly & Tommy Clifford - "Nothing Accomplished"

2009-08-01T16:58:00.000-05:00

@tommytrc and @andycrash on Twitter meet up a late lunch social media networking discussion at Red Robin. Food was great. Crash's son's nap was 2 hours past due. Nothing accomplished. Camera: Katelynn Connell. Edited by Crash

My Five Key Ingredients for Social Media Engagement

2009-08-01T11:48:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Lisa Cruz, President of Red Shoes PR in Appleton, WI to do a guest blog posting on the Red Shoes PR blog. I was totally 100% overwhelmed and humbled by the invitation. The reactions and comments have been stunning. You can read all the comments here. My life has been forever changed by the relationships I have made. It keeps getting better and better... - Tommy
----

Today's guest blogger is Thomas Clifford, or tommytrc as his followers know him as. Red Shoes PR first met tommytrc via Twitter during the fall of 2008. Tommytrc regularly ranks as one of the top three Twitterers in Wisconsin and top 100 in the world. Tommytrc's presence on Twitter skyrocketed after tweeting throughout the birth of his son. We asked him to share his passion and expertise on social media. Thank you tommytrc!

I come from a very heavy Italian background. My grandfather on my mother’s side was born in Sicily, so eating and food preparation took a major role in my social upbringing.

Social media is like the recipe for Mom’s favorite spaghetti sauce or chocolate chip cookies. Everyone has a recipe and each is a bit different than the next, though the purpose of the finished product remains bringing smiles to the eater’s face!

Like every good recipe, you start by throwing a few key ingredients together, season to taste and Voile! your masterpiece takes shape. The key ingredients to social media engagement are really simple. Your mileage may vary as everyone’s social media engagement “strategy” is different. Here are my five key ingredients to social media success:

Interaction
It’s next to impossible to be involved in social media without interacting with others. Interaction is one of the main ingredients to a successful social media experience. Regardless of if you are using Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, the base for each of these social media services is interacting with others. This may be the hardest work you do. You must get out there and meet people, strike up conversations and do some old fashioned “networking.” People can tell if you are genuine or not, and in social media, the one thing you cannot fake is interaction. While some people may find it hard to strike up a conversation on social media sites, I say just like the first dip into the pool, just do it! Once people start replying to your questions or comments, you will get the bug. And it’s infectious. Interaction feeds on other interaction, and before you know it, you will be a social media butterfly.

Share
As you build your social media recipe, it’s next to impossible to go through your day without seeing something that is worth repeating. Whether it’s a post on Twitter or a comment on Facebook, if you like it, spread the word. Like a telephone operator in the old days, if you see a comment that you feel your network of friends will like, “patch it on in” and pass the good 411 around. On Twitter you would retweet it, or on Facebook you comment on it. That way people in your networks can be exposed to valuable information and find people they normally would not cross paths with. In the Twitter world, the sincerest form of flattery is to be retweeted by someone else. Sharing is critical for true social media engagement.

Listen
Many times, the most important ingredient for your master recipe is also the one that you are most likely to leave out. Kind of like the salt in your mom's favorite chocolate chip recipe, “Why does something sweet need salt??” You may think that skipping this all-too important ingredient will not make any difference, but have you ever tried chocolate chip cookies sans salt? You get the picture. In social media, the top engagers are also the best listeners. Its one thing to want your message heard, it’s totally another to listen to other’s messages. Like a great parent, favorite teacher or counselor at school, what makes them great are their listening skills. Many times it’s not what you say that is important, it’s the fact you give someone a listening ear.

The same holds true to social media. Just like an IRL (In Real Life) conversation, listening is one of those ingredients that can make or break the interaction. A conversation without listening is just like mom’s chocolate chip cookies without salt. Do not forget to listen.

Moderation
A great cook knows when to hang up her apron and leave the kitchen. Likewise, in social media sometimes you just need to log off, shut down and spend some quality time doing something else. I’m not talking about just going to bed either. You cannot be a top engager in social media if you are not engaged in real life. You cannot neglect your local friends. Things like local tweetups, local Twitter meet-ups, are great opportunities to network and build new friends, while also feeding your hunger for social media interaction. Locally, we have a pancake tweetup every other Friday at 7 a.m. This is a great way to put real faces to the Twitter avatars and talk more openly about issues and situations. These local interactions actually strengthen our Twitter relations because now you are true friends with these people.

Family
Like moderation, family time is one thing that you may not expect to hear in a social media engagement “must have” list. But, family is one of those ingredients that will add so much pizzazz to your social media experience. Looking for content to share on Twitter or Facebook? Look no further than family oriented stories and experiences. Nothing builds more credit on the social media networks then someone who shares true blue family interaction. You can’t build good family interaction if you are on Twitter or Facebook all day, which is why the family ingredient goes hand-in-hand with our moderation ingredient. Showing family pictures and stories not only warms the heart of your friends and followers, but also shows you are a real person, which in turn builds your followers and friends. It’s a vicious circle that works.

Now, just because you talk about your family, does not mean you need to give up their identity. Privacy is one thing we all need to be careful of. I talk about my wife online all the time, but instead of giving up her name, she is referred to as “mrstommytrc.” This makes it fun, while also keeping your privacy level high. You can experiment to see what works for you.

Now remember kids, if your initial blend of herbs and spices isn’t exactly right, no need to worry or fret. Social media is your creation and you make it what you want. I know from personal experience that mom’s special sauce was always a work in progress. A little more of this, or a little less of that. Like all great cooks, experimenting to get the blend just right takes time and practice, but once you hit it, you will be a social media engagement gourmet!

Connect with tommytrc:
Twitter: @tommytrc

RELEASE - ONE OF WISCONSIN'S TOP TWITTERERS FEATURED AT "BE A SOCIAL MEDIA ROCK STAR"

2009-07-29T11:47:00.002-05:00

Contact: Lori Kaye Lodes, 920.593.3423 or llodes@titletown.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

One of Wisconsin’s top Twitterers featured at “Be A Social Media Rock Star”

Green Bay, Wis.- (July 29, 2009)- Tommy Clifford, one of the most avid Twitterers in Wisconsin, will kick off and close the Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce’s “Be A Social Media Rock Star” event on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the F.K. Bemis Center on the St. Norbert College campus.

Clifford, known as Tommytrc to his Twitter followers, regularly rates as one of the top three Twitterers in Wisconsin and the top 100 in the world. He has more than 15,000 followers on Twitter and has created more than 50,000 tweets – and counting. Tommytrc’s presence on Twitter escalated to new heights when he tweeted about one of the pivotal events in his family’s life: the birth of his son, Andrew, on May 22, 2009. The resulting followers – from Hong Kong to Los Angeles – and ensuing news coverage even astounded Tommytrc, a self-professed technology nut.

“Being Twitter centric is what has gotten me where I am,” said Tommytrc. “But it’s not about me. It’s about my followers and the relationship we have.”

Case in point: After tweeting about his son’s birth, Tommytrc’s family got to know a California family who baked cupcakes in baby Drew’s honor and photographed themselves with them and a sign wishing him a happy birthday. The Tommytrc family responded with a cupcake “thank-you” video they posted themselves.

Tommytrc’s presentation at the Be A Social Media Rockstar event will address how personal experiences like these with his brand can translate to business brand- and relationship-building.

“I’m very passionate about this. People can see the passion I have about building my personal brand. If I can do this myself, others than do it themselves. They can translate it to Anna’s Autoparts, Jimmy’s Quilts or Susie’s Cookies and turn their brands into rock stars.”

Join Tommytrc and several others presenters for the day at Be A Social Media Rock Star, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the F.K. Bemis Center at St. Norbert College. The hands-on learning will include breakout sessions on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Blogging, YouTube and photo/video sharing, and Selling Social Media to Your CEO. Attendees can opt for four of the six breakout sessions and attend the TweetUp after the event. Event presenters include Tommytrc, Dana VanDen Heuvel of MarketingSavant, Kiar Olson of Element Creative and David Sauter of Envano. The cost is $69 for Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce members, $119 for non-members.

Special thanks to major contributors MarketingSavant and Element Creative and event sponsors Global Recognition, Cineviz and Nicolet National Bank.

To learn more about Tommyt

"Crazy Lady" Santa Cruz Speech

2009-07-28T15:33:00.000-05:00

Listen to this rant from a Santa Cruz city counsel meeting... Money Quote "California doesn't have slaves like on the East Coast!"

Glorious!!!

Please help me!!! What is this????

2009-07-27T13:41:00.000-05:00

What's this yellow book that was dropped off at Tommy's Doorstep. Who uses such a book?

What a Wedding...

2009-07-25T10:40:00.002-05:00

Clearly not the wedding entrance that Becky and I did for our special day, but this really is memorable...

How Large Is a Petabyte?

2009-07-08T09:08:00.000-05:00

This just rocks!! Getting your hands around how large a Petabyte just got slightly easier. it's still amazing....

Hat tip Gizmodo

statistically speaking… people who hate michael jackson

2009-07-03T13:23:00.000-05:00

hat tip the duty

My Tribute to Michael Jackson

2009-06-29T08:40:00.002-05:00

12 second tribute to Michael Jackson. Peace out MJ on 12seconds.tv

Bottom Line: Social Media for Business in 8.5 minutes

2009-06-08T10:16:00.000-05:00

My friend and fellow twitter'er Ross Larocco did a killer job taping and editing the Bottom Line: Social Media for Business. My head is still spinning. I met so many great people. THANK YOU Red Shoes PR, Rick Burnes at HubSpot and thank you Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce for allowing me to be uncomfortable and stretch a bit.

When can we do it again?

Bottom Line: Social Media for Business in 8.5 minutes from Jessica Dennis on Vimeo.

Optical Illusion

2009-05-30T21:35:00.001-05:00

Which way is she spinning? If you watch long enough, she spins both directions....

TommyBaby09 - The Rest of the Story.

2009-05-29T15:51:00.002-05:00

So ever wonder what was going on behind the scenes with the Tommybaby09 / WFRV 5 story? Well now you know the rest of the story. Enjoy!

Bottom Line: Social Media for Business Seminar

2009-05-27T16:06:00.000-05:00

WOW... my head is just spinning. Today I was invited by Lisa Cruz, the President of Red Shoes PR in Appleton, WI to speak at the "Bottom Line: Social Media for Business Seminar" on June 4th. I will be speaking along with Rick Burnes from HubSpot as well as Lisa and Jess Dennis from Red Shoes PR on the topic of social media in business. My presentation will be more from a personal level but the things I have learned personally from socail media can certainly be applied to your business.

I'm so excited I did a quick vlog to share the news...

Rock on and see you June 4th.

Welcome Andrew Brent Clifford

2009-05-22T22:05:00.006-05:00

Welcome Andrew "Drew" Brent Clifford

Born: 3:26 PM cst, 7 lbs. 12.5 oz. 20 inches.

Mom and baby are perfect!!!

WFRV Channel 5 and the Hospital PR agency, RedShoes PR picked up on the fact I was twittering from the birthing suite and sent a film crew to do a story... The rest happened so fast, but the news story is here below follolwed by a few choice action shots.

UPDATE: Web gallery posted with all the pics. Click here.

~

Kids Singing Evanescence "Bring me to Life"

2009-05-15T10:37:00.000-05:00

This just ROCKS!!!!

I made the 100+ Incredible Twitter Backgrounds Listing

2009-05-14T06:45:00.000-05:00

I have been twitter friends with a great graphic designer out of India by the name if Cheth. He consistently posts great contents and certainly is worthy of a re-tweet more then once in a while. Well he has a killer website and from time-to-time will post twitter backgrounds that he tends to like. Well I made the listing. Not sure if it was out of pitty or not...that's beside the point. The raw fact is I made the list. How cool is that?

To quote a great friend, Navin R. Johnson "Things are going to start happening to me now."

LOVE IT!!! Thanks Cheth!

Ignite: Bram Pitoyo on The Secret History of Fonts

2009-05-13T06:34:00.000-05:00

Found this in my RSS feed, interesting watch if you enjoy fonts...

Is your job really that bad?

2009-05-13T06:32:00.000-05:00

Is your job really that terrible? 9-5 grind got you down? Looks like this guy truly has the "crappy" job!!! YIKES!

Accident FAIL!!!!

2009-05-07T08:07:00.002-05:00

I saw this and this just made me roar..

see more pwn and owned pictures

This is just too much...

2009-04-29T11:20:00.004-05:00

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

History of the Mac OS; Parts 1 - 4

2009-04-22T21:27:00.000-05:00

The History of the Internet

2009-04-06T12:02:00.002-05:00

Forget twitter... FLUTTER

2009-04-06T08:04:00.000-05:00

I saw this and just roared!!

An Unexpected eBay Experience - Part One

2009-04-04T16:45:00.000-05:00

This week I decided to put my trusty 32 GB iPod Gen 1 for sale on craigslist. BIG MISTAKE!!! -- I'll go into more detail on that in part two of our discussion. After a few spam filled days of craigslist "H.E. double hockey-sticks"... I pulled the ad and moved to eBay...

For this blog posting I want to focus on my eBay sale. When I post an item on eBay I ALWAYS work so hard to explain the items in as best detail I can without overselling. No one wants to get negative feedback or have to return money due to oversell and under deliver. That is bad.

Here's an email I got from my new eBay seller friend Randy...

"Got it today! Man...you da' bomb!!! Good packing, Great product...and it doesn't appear to have ever been f'd with. Smooth, excellent transaction. Good feedback will be left. Thanks so much Tom. I really feel as though I got what I paid for, and so much more.

Thanks, man.
Randy G"

I was so tickled and relieved... Here is what I set back...

"GREAT news randy...

I always worry that I over sell things, when I try to be as honest as possible...

glad you are happy...

my new ipod is being delivered today...

rock on, -thomas"

Thinking that was the end of it, I went shopping, but received this reply while in the check out. I was not ready for what I received....

"Ever since I lost my right arm and damaged my left hand in an accident 19 months ago, ...anything that doesn't require too much digital dexterity, and touts ease of use, is greatly appreciated, in so many ways that I could never appreciate, before. This is as described, and I pray your new iPod brings you as much joy as this, has me. (Rockin to "Daughtry" now on the iPod) Lovin' it man!!! Thanks, again.

Randy"

WOW... this really sent my spirits souring. I even got a tear in my eye. Not sure why, but this just makes you think...you never know where or when you will have an impact. In the oddest places and in the most obscure of situations, you can still make a difference and clearly Randy has made his mark on me...Thank you Randy!

If I had a nickel for every time

2009-03-29T21:41:00.000-05:00

This made me smile....

see more Political Pictures

How I Obtain Knowledge

2009-03-29T19:55:00.001-05:00

see more Funny Graphs

Hey...Where'd the TommyLog Video Blogs Go?

2009-03-27T21:21:00.000-05:00

Hey there...looking for my latest TommyLogs? Well after some serious contemplation and the fact that I'm never 100% satisfied with anything that I do..mixed with the fact I tinker constantly; I have created a second blog dedicated just to my video blogs, or vlog or what I like to call Tommylogs. You can access them from the handy dandy menu bar. On the Tommylog page, you can see a Sparkatopia link there. So no need to add more bookmarks..just know where to look.

To a Child - Love is spelled T-I-M-E: A Short Inspirational Film

2009-03-24T11:32:00.000-05:00

Being a parent means many different things to different people. Spending time with my kids is one thing that is very important to me. This video hits the nail on the head and really struck a chord with me...

Hanging with Dad...

2009-03-18T22:00:00.005-05:00

Today got this email from my 14 year old daughter Madeline. She entered a "coolest dad" contest in some online girls magazine.. and here is what she posted...

"My Dad is one of the coolest people I know. You see, my parents are divorced so i cherish all of the time I get to spend with my Dad. Most kids i know Dad's fish or watch TV or work in the basement in their free time. But, my Dad is a DJ. DJ'ing is my favorite thing to do with my Dad. We have so much fun together and get to hang out for three to four hours non stop enjoying our favorite music. Most parents listen to music from "their time" but, my Dad listens to the same things most 14 year olds do. When the dance is over I help him pack up our gear and head home knowing I have THE COOLEST Dad ever!"

TOP THAT!!!!

I love you Madeline!

tc

My Half Million Dollar Overdraft

2009-03-18T12:15:00.001-05:00

Well the story starts like this...

I was getting ready to sit down for a birthday celebration for my 1 year old when I ran to the mailbox to see if she had received any new birthday cards. To my surprise I see a letter from my credit union with "URGENT" stamped on it in big red letters. "Oh No!" I think, not an overdraft notice, I was on top of my game and didn't think I was in the trouble. Well boy was I wrong.

I open this letter and it says that I have a $546,020.00 NSF. YIKES!!!!

How can this be? I have an overdraft for half a million and all I get is a letter? No phone call, no personal attention??? What the... it says that I made a transaction to Banks of America for that amount? The darn card has only a $5,000.00 limit on it...

So thinking though the whole thing trying to figure out what happened… Here’s the deal. I went online to pay for my work corporate credit card. I had a $546.02 balance. Apparently I added a few extra zeros to the amount and quickly hit enter. Bam I had just transferred a half a mill to my corporate credit card. WOW. Seems odd that there is no check and balance system and that a credit card with a $546.02 balance can post a payment of over 1000 timers that amount. That just seems crazy.

Well the next day I have quite a conversation with the CFO of my local credit union. She was very sheepish over the whole thing. Apologized up and down for what had happened. My one big question to her was this..."At what level of an overdraft does the system kick this out and I get a phone call and not just a letter??”

She had no answer for me other then she would speak to the person working the overdraft area and make sure they are on the look out for this in the future. Not very comforting, but it is what it is. The big question was what Bank of America would say.

A few days later I did hear from someone at BOA. I heard from a Senior VP over corporate affairs and she said in her 30 years of banking experience, she has never seen anything like this. “I bet not I said!!” I asked how this could happen. In this day and age -with bank transparency at an all time high, why didn’t this get flagged? Isn’t there a system to see that a $5,000.00 credit limit card with a $546.02 balance doesn’t need a $500,000.00 payment?

She told me that their processing systems are over 20 years old and there is nothing like this for checks and balances built into the system…alarming really.

Isn’t it comforting to know that none our financial systems can catch a “butter fingers” like this? Makes you think, what else they don’t catch.

WOW!! The Consumerist picked up on the story Whoops: Typo Causes You To Overdraft $546,020.

New World Corporate Logos, Recession Style

2009-03-10T21:51:00.000-05:00

Someone sent these to me in an email.. too good not to share.

Laundry Fail

2009-03-09T18:58:00.002-05:00

Not funny in the slightest... well...

see more pwn and owned pictures

Mini vMac - Mac Plus emulator for iPhone and iPod Touch.

2009-02-22T17:14:00.000-06:00

How about a blast from the past for all you iPhone jailbreakers out there?? If you are interested in playing some old early Macintosh (Classic) games on your iPod touch, you are in luck. In the Cydia repository is a game called Mini vMac that is a old Mac Plus emulator.

Hat tip 9 to 5 Mac

You grew up in the 80s if ...

2009-02-21T16:29:00.001-06:00

Do you remember these from the 80's?

I found this listing on a cool website called Openzine... Worth sharing...

You've ever ended a sentence with the word PSYCH
You watched the Pound Puppies
You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and can do the Carlton Dance
Girls wore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy
You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own.
You owned those lil' Strawberry Shortcake pals scented dolls
You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey on Blossom
Two words: Hammer Pants
If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock"
You had plastic streamers on your handle bars... and spokey-dokes or playing cards on your spokes for that incredible sound effect
You can sing the entire theme song to "Duck Tales" (Woo ooh!)
It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watch cartoons
You wore a ponytail on the side of your head
You saw the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the big screen...and still know the turtles names
You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school
You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side
You played the game "MASH" (Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House)
You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it
L.A. Gear....need I say more?
You wanted to change your name to "JEM" in Kindergarten. (She's Truly Outrageous.)
You remember reading Tales of a fourth grade nothing and all The Ramona books
You know the profound meaning of "WAX ON, WAX OFF"
You wanted to be a Goonie
You ever wore fluorescent neon clothing (some of us...head-to-toe)
You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted
You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf
You took lunch boxes to school...and traded Garbage Pailkids in the schoolyard
You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets
You still get the urge to say "NOT" after every sentence
You remember Hypercolor t-shirts
Barbie and the Rockers was your favorite band
You thought She-ra (Princess of Power!) and He-Man should hook up.
You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.
You ever owned a pair of Jelly shoes.
After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying "I know you are, but what am I?"
You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up"
You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.
You ever got seriously injured on a Slip and Slide.
You have ever played with a Skip-It.
You had or attended a birthday party at McDonalds.
You've gone through this nodding your head in agreement.
You remember Popples
Don't worry, be happy
You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high top Reeboks.
You wore socks scrunched down (and sometimes still do..getting yelled at by younger hip members of the family)
You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.
You remember watching both Gremlins movies.
You know what it meant to say "Care Bear Stare!!"
You remember watching Rainbow Bright and & My Little Pony Tales
You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot
You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac
You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool...and don't even flinch when people refer to them as "NKOTB"
You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell," The ORIGINAL class
You know all the words to Bon Jovi - > YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME
You just sang those words to yourself
You remember watching Magic vs. Bird
Homemade Levi shorts.. (the shorter the better)
You remember when mullets were cool!
You had a mullet!
You still sing "We are the World"
You tight rolled (pegged) your jeans
You owned a banana clip
You remember "Where's the Beef?"
You used to (and probably still do) say "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?
You had big hair and you knew how to use it
You're still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren't you!

Aaa those were the days.

2009-02-15T22:06:00.000-06:00

I have always had a thing for Macs since I first played with my good friend Ken Halls Macintosh 512KE back in 1986. Once I laid eyes on the GUI and started messing with the software, I was hooked. In the early 90's after lusting after Steve Jobs masterpiece NeXT machines, I finally dropped a whole lot of cash on my first Mac, knowing that the NeXT was out of my league.

After months of stopping at the BYU Bookstore, scoping, preping and lusting after those Macs, Apple finally came out with one that I could afford...well loan myself into is more like it. It was a package deal, Mac IIsi, 14 inch monitor, Apple ADB keyboard and mouse. Oh this baby was loaded with all the best Apple could offer..and corners Apple could cut to keep the price down. 2 MB yes MB of juicy ram, 40 MB, yes MB of hard drive space, running a Motorola 68030, at a whopping 20 MHz --oh and yes. Macintosh System OS 6.0.7.

All the for educations goodness price of for $3100. Back then education discount actually meant something and I think I saved over $750 bucks over retail. Apple was one of those companies that knew to be popular, you needed to get your tools into the hands of the future working folks--that meant saturate colleges with your tools and once day they will take thier love of the Mac to the working sect.. and it worked.

I used my entire pPell grant fo that semester on this new Mac..and laser printer too. I was so jazzed. Did all my research and according to MacUser Magazine, the Qume CrystalPrint Publisher II was the laser printer to get with genuine Adobe PostScript. None if this ink jet crap using QuickDraw, I needed true Adobe PS for real desktop publishing horsepower! This thing was fab..btw, it cost be a cool $2100. Oh but I'm not done yet. Who can do anything with only 2 MB fo ram? Not me either. So I maxed out my Citibank credit card with 4 - 4 MB SIMMS fo this bad bot, so now I was sporting 17 MB RAM! Oh $700 for the RAM upgrade. Too bad the OS could not access that much RAM and I had to use the rest of the RAM as a RAM disk.

Who remembers Connectix Virtual?

Aaaaa the good old days.

Ask Twitter: If you are trapped in an elevator, pick 4 people you want to be stuck with?

2009-02-06T17:50:00.269-06:00

So this morning I woke up and started my morning routing of checking email / RSS feeds and monitoring twitter when one of my good friends from London, sends me this...

kelliesimpson @tommytrc Not much! I'm just asking people who'd they'd like to be trapped in an elevator with!

and I said

@kelliesimpson asks, if you could be stranded in an elevator with, who would it be? Me: Steve Jobs, Tina Fay, Bear Grylles & Heidi Klum

kelliesimpson @tommytrc Good to time to get to know someone, stuck in an elevator.

As I'm going about the rest of my day and people start replying to my original tweet. I get one, 2, 5, 10 replys and they keep pouting in. people keep forwarding or Tweeting my original question and I'm getting the best answers. Many have asked to see what other have said, so I'm compiling the

Ok Kids, If you are stuck in an elevator, what 4 people would you want to be stuck with? Alive people only

Okay here's what I found out... I did not edit this at all or correct spelling errors in names or anything. Remember twitter is limited to 140 characters per reply, that's why some words are truncated.

tangokdesign @tommytrc my hubby, mybff mary, her hubby dave and Anthony Bourdain. Interesting people to have conversations with.

LesleaC @tommytrc Johnny Depp, Channing Tatum, Dexter, Robin Thicke

JasonAltenburg @tommytrc Maynard James Keenan, Juliya Chernetsky, Bill Gates, and Linus Torvalds

judyrey @tommytrc Good choices, but I'd rather be stuck in a elevator with an elevator mechanic or the building's superintendent.

coconacchi @tommytrc Lily Allen, Neko Case, my dirty ex, Amir Derakh

footenotes @tommytrc My 4: Pres Obama, Tom Colicchio, J. D. Salinger and Sandra Day O'Connor

laquesefue @tommytrc Obama, Sarah Palin, John McCain and Pelosi, I love drama.......

ShoeSmitten @tommytrc 1) You, we could chat for hours about shoes ;) 2) Giuseppe Zanotti, of course 3) My dad, he tells great stories 4) my best friend

WOW ShoeSmitten picked me interesting...

lollieshopping @tommytrc @dudieboy, @tara_bear, her BF @_twt and my BFF/Gay Husband Joey (who isn't on Twitter, but should be).

Ashleybird @tommytrc the 4 members of The Used. :) They would keep me entertained

DougOntrack @tommytrc Shir Shimron,Warren Buffet,Guy Kawasaki,Stevie Nicks.

smlacy @tommytrc My 2 best friends, my boyfriend and @TheCharmQuark I thin

Oshkosh_mommy @tommytrc just me, so quiet would be nice, maybe form a whole thought without hearing mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommmy

snowvandemore @tommytrc my husband, Bear Grills, Bobby Flay and George Cloone

klanum @tommytrc tina fey, conan o'brien, travis clark and al roker. what about you

Another Tine Fey Fan..nice

carnellm @tommytrc Jenny McCarthy and her three clone sisters. Yup, that would about do it for me!! ;)

KRAPPS @tommytrc tough/good question!!! Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jessica Alba, Eva Longoria :)

Yes, I knew Steve Jobs would be popular...

mattmutz @tommytrc Dave Attell, Jorge Garcia, Steve Wozniak, Kevin Rose

writingroads @tommytrc Eve Ensler, Ellen, George Clooney, Jon Stewart

LisaTorres @tommytrc barack obama, oprah, hellen keller and YOU so you can ask me more great questions!

Is Hellen Keller still alive?...next...

shawnz @tommytrc Quinn, John, Donna...and Jim Beam (much needed companion as I have a great fear of getting stuck on elevators). I take the stairs.

UneditedVersion @tommytrc Sigmund Freud, Eva Peron, Ernest Hemmingway, and Frida Kahlo still stands with me. I'm thinking of alive people.

They are dead..try again please...!

UneditedVersion @tommytrc Dr. Michael Stone, Barack Obama, Madonna, and Marilyn vos Savant. That was tough.

briancray @tommytrc Survivor man, Construction worker, Water delivery guy, and my girlfriend

nerdette @tommytrc 4 people: an elevator mechanic, MacGyver, Billy Crystal and Wanda Sykes because then at least it would be funny.

hack10 @tommytrc opra,obama,george bush sr, and richard branson

footndale @tommytrc That's easy. My wife and 3 kids.

linnetwoods @tommytrc Without pondering long? Keith 'Robbie' Robinson (he'd get us out) Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey, and John Cleese (for examlple)

amitchowdhry @tommytrc bill gates, warren buffett, obama, and larry page

mayhemstudios @tommytrc: @Logomotives @andysowards @unmarketing and MacGyver

estmr @tommytrc putting family aside, Rush, Prager, Levin, & Ingraham, funny, informative and I'd get along with them all!

kodakCB @tommytrc Hmmm. My husband, Martha Stewart, David Letterman and an elevator repairman! (Comforted, educated, entertained and rescued! : )

AnneHyde @tommytrc Stuck in elevator: Barak Obama, Dalai Lama, Osama Bin Laden & world's best negotiator

LadyFate @tommytrc Hmmm, probably Eddie Izzard, Jen Lancaster, Lincoln Child, & Dmitri Martin.

ragebots @tommytrc - 4 people in my immobile elevator: Bear Grylls, Billy Idol, Ricky Gervais, and Don Rickles

Another vote for Bear! Rock on!

docmurdock @tommytrc Just kidding! Robin Williams, Sully, @mariasimone, [wifye poo] @aplusk

CreativeWisdom @tommytrc My 4 people: My oldest son (he's cool), My best friend (we'd laugh), @Mitzs (she'd have a utility belt), & anyone w/snacks.

AmyStark @tommytrc Bill Gates-Warren Buffet-Omar Sharif and a Bellhop with food and wine. Bill and Warren against me and Omar in bridge

Drwright1 @tommytrc My friend Angie, Vin Diesel, my friend Laura

greenbaygreg @tommytrc Tiger Woods, George Bush, Jessica Alba, Warren Buffett

AmberLyssaMarie @tommytrc That is a good question. Of course, my sweetie @AbigailRaymaker, my mother, my sister, and I guess my father & brother take turns

AmberCadabra @tommytrc Barack Obama, my kid, Brian Greene (physicist) and Conan O'Brien.

rosslarocco @tommytrc Natalie Portman, Keira Knightley, Amy Smart, Anne Hathaway

debworks @tommytrc Barack Obama, Karl Rove, Chris Brogan, Jon Stewart (Barack&Chris have blackberrys,Karl to argue with, Jon to laugh with) so there!

SashaKane @tommytrc If I were trapped in an elevator with (4) Celeb people would want -- Whoopie Goldberg @mariashiver Jon Steward & Celine Dion

JRGriggs @tommytrc well my wife, son and daughter. 4th is tough, I'll auction that spot on ebay

crisangwich @tommytrc my hubby, @queenoflotr1, my mom and my other sister. You?

AbigailRaymaker @tommytrc My Amber, my sister and my parents

pfont @tommytrc I only want two: shemar moore and blair underwood. Naked.

Only 2...okay only 2 then!

SusanMazza @tommytrc Deepak Chopra, Robin Williams, and My Husband & My Daughter I'd be happy to be stuck anywhere w/ them.

jessicahalem @tommytrc hmmm...obama, rachel maddow, chris rock, and my partner red.

CubanaLAF @tommytrc Aaron Rodgers, Anderson Cooper, Eric Bana, George Stephanapolus, (sp?) and Mike Modano.

ninjen @tommytrc Eric Dane, @rightgirl and Christian Bale. It would be a hot mess.

Only Three?

TheDailyBlonde @tommytrc ok 4 people I want to be stuck w in an elevator: George Clooney. Why 4? I think that's enough.

xianfox @tommytrc Four highly skilled elevator repair technicians.

ninjen @tommytrc Hmmm. I forgot a 4th person. Ok, I said @rightgirl, Erice Dane, and Christian Bale. 4th...@stephenkruiser

AnnEvanston @tommytrc Gordon ramsey, Leslie Blodgett, John Maxwell and Janet Evanovich

tygerbaby @tommytrc Christian Bale, Frank Langella, Michael Keaton, @ninjen (I'd just fight her for Christian Bale's attention LOL)

Anoher in the Christian Bale fan club, just please DO NOT set him off....!

Minervity @tommytrc Carmen Electra, Steve Jobs, President Obama and Peter Jackson. (There's an interesting mix. Would be interesting!! :)

msmonogram @tommytrc my mini, my bff, Prez Obama, Dr. Rey from Dr. 90210

Mittons @tommytrc My Mom. Only because she would be the only one willing to put up with my going insane stuck in an elevator!

Brandilyn @tommytrc Hubby, son and daughter, daughter-in-law. Although I wouldn't wish that on them!

jeanettejoy @tommytrc @YoungBob @PhilHenderson & wife Susan @MichaelMillman Because they are all calming inspirational influences in my life. Fun too!

rosyblue @tommytrc I'm think I would want to talk with Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, Gov. Sarah Palin and Kobe Bryant. I have so many questions.

TheMogulMom @tommytrc If u were stuck in elevator, I bet you'd like 2 b stuck w/Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh, Snoop Dog & Jay-Z. Am I right? Am I right? :)

Nooooooo I told you before, Steve Jobs, Tina Fey, Bear Grylls & Heidi Klum!

Pdkay @tommytrc First of all I hope I dont have to pee. Lets see Obama, Chris Rock, Andrea Fonseka, and Keith Olbermann

Forian @tommytrc Robert Scoble, Loren Feldman, Stephen Colbert and a tie between Bill O'Reilly and Obama.

briancarter @tommytrc the 4 fattest people on the planet

KikiValdes @tommytrc If i was stuck in an elevator...hmm Kim Kardasian, Scarlett Johansson, Rose McGowan and Anne Hathaway

goDOTchris @tommytrc the 4 best friends of the guy who can fix the elevator.

jesshatchigan @tommytrc, Jennifer Aniston, Hugh Grant, James Franco & J.K. Rowling.

TheMogulMom @tommytrc Jerry Seinfeld, my husband Scott (he'd be so pissed he'd figure a way out), Oprah & Neil Peart from Rush. (Random & weird, huh?)

kateblogs @tommytrc Hmm, I'll go for Barack Obama, @stephenfry, Germaine Greer and Sean Bean

MariSmith @tommytrc 4 peeps stuck in my elevator: Oprah, @StephenFry, Madonna & Jude Law. Hm, wait I wouldn't be able to breathe!!

Paul_Holgorsen @tommytrc George Bush, Newt Gingrich, Mike Shanahan,Tony Dungee Ok I thought about it.

boonebgorges @tommytrc David Lee Roth, Jimmy Carter, Toots Thielemans, Jacques Pepin. Booya!

techpr @tommytrc Aside from family? I'm a go with Russell Crowe, Mike Rowe (the "Dirty Jobs" guy, rowr), Bradley Whitford and John Cusack. :-)

Sarah_Stuart @tommytrc ok got it I would like to be with @aroadretraveled @briancarter @eunice007 and a guy Who knows how to fix elevators

clifford1029 @tommytrc Andy Dick, Carrot Top, Rosie O"Donnell, and Rosanne Barr. Hands down.

detainee @tommytrc Rod Blagojevich, his wife, Mayor Daley and President Obama. I would be super scared of the first 3. Bad tempers

krclaypool @tommytrc My hubby and 3 kids. They are my fav peeps!

noraburns @tommytrc ......@DaveTaylor cause I'd have all that time to ask my techie questions! @ashleyandrus because she would bring humor & levity

noraburns @tommytrc ....and @stevespangler the science guy cause he would be able to figure a way OUTof the elevator!

KellyOlexa @tommytrc Easy. My best friend Wendy, @garyvee, my massage guy Mr. Rene and Will Ferrell. LOL And some wine. Lots of wine.

AnnEvanston @tommytrc my SO wants General Michael Hayden, Obama, Osama bin Ladin, and David Petraeus - hmmm.... interesting elevator!

AmberLyssaMarie @tommytrc Oh, if we are talking famous people, my 4 people would be Terry Goodkind, Philip Pullman, J. K. Rowling, Colleen McCullough

Didn't I already heard from those 2..I guess they want another crack at it!

twitwebtester @tommytrc Alive people? how abt split personalities? hahaha... @simonleung @coolsi @leecollins @robincollins does all tat count hahaha

stylestar @tommytrc I choose @meandsports, Brandy H, @Chrishelle, and my son (though 5 mins into it I'll be praying that he shut up)

Attitudegrrrl @tommytrc Robin Williams, Bill Clinton, Michael Symon, and Sponge Bob (or Patrick)

KrisColvin @tommytrc Omg, how fun. Stuck in elevator companion wishlist = @garyvee, @guykawasaki, Chelsea Handler & Justin Timberlake. Hahaha!!!

abarcelos @tommytrc Elevator: Dali Lama, Barack Obama, Steve Jobs, & Bill Gates. The last 2 only to see if I could get them to be friends again;-) U?

anjin19860 @tommytrc keiichi tsuchiya, liam neeson, uma thurman, and sonny chiba would be my four at this exact moment in time.

klsnyc805 @tommytrc My man, Jon Stewart, Tom Wolfe, and MacGruber

KateGaffin @tommytrc Richard Branson, Bono, Lance Armstrong and my best friend Simon

employerbrander @tommytrc awesome question! Right this minute? @stelzner @hrmaven @chris_bailey and @gabrielrossi :)

Lets try that one again....

employerbrander @tommytrc celebs...hmmm George Clooney, Brad Bitt, Matt Damon & Edward Norton ...LOL ;-)

kristacolvin @tommytrc my husband, my best friend diane, and 2 interesting people that i've yet to meet.

kristacolvin @tommytrc to clarify... 2 interesting people that showered + have snacks on them!

Holly_GPB @tommytrc My husband, my 2 boys and my brother

islandprincess2 @tommytrc Elvis (young Elvis on X) and that would be all LOL

TheUserPool @tommytrc Hot girl 1, hot girl 2, hot girl 3 and hot girl 4.

FollowingBetty @tommytrc oh, I found it...I like your picks! Mine would be: Jeff Hardy, Tom Brokaw, Betty White and Jerry Seinfeld

greenskeptic @tommytrc missed yr question re: 4 ppl in elevator; top of mind: Will Smith, Michael Ondaatje, Pierre Omidyar (@pierre), and Alison Krause

chatblanc @tommytrc I'd say. . . Daisy the Curly Cat, JD at I Do Things, BeesMusings (all bloggers) & Jen Lancaster (writer). AWESOME CHICKS (& 1 cat)

BarbDreger @tommytrc Hmm... good question. My husband, my min pin dog and Jesus. How's that?

MichaelJames_NY stuck in an elevator...3 Swedish bikini team members and a good locksmith...Lol

MichaelJames_NY Just kidding tommytrc, easy answer. Spielberg, Cronkite, Goldman, and DeCoster.

MissShellBelle @tommytrc 1. Maya Angelou 2. Hillary Clinton 3. Alice Walker 4. Michelle Obama

VAnetworking @tommytrc Sam Elliot (eyecandy/sexy voice), MacGyver (I know he'd find a way out), Obama (pick his mind), Bette Midler (entertainment)

CupCate @tommytrc Hmm...I'd like to be stuck in a lift with @barackobama , @diablocody @ibwan & Russell Brand. Brand & Obama will totally get on.

greenskeptic @tommytrc missed yr question re: 4 ppl in elevator; top of mind: Will Smith, Michael Ondaatje, Pierre Omidyar (@pierre), and Alison Krause.

What did I learn from all this? Well first I think that I learned that there are a lot of folks who would really like some quality time with our new POTUS, Barack Obama. I'm betting that choice would bring some amazing conversation, not just about the situation at hand but even world issues. Second thing I learned is how many people like Christian Bale. Do they like him more at this time because of the rant from earlier this month, or because he was just a good looking stud from the movie Newsies or was that Batman?

I think the last and most impressive thing I leaned is more about the twitter community then anything else. I learned that even though you do not talk or "tweet" people every single day, if you have an engaging question, one that makes people think, you will get people to spread the word and share. I mean it speaks for itself. a good questions, repeated anough, gets over a hundred responses...and I wasn't even really trying that hard to get people to reply. This was a great example of how twitter can really enrich the people who participate and I for one am a believer.

PS...they keep coming in..here's another...

nessienoo @tommytrc Stephen Fry, My Husband, Helen Mirren, George Clooney

jamield @tommytrc David Bowie, Simon doonan, Isaac mizrahi, salman Rushdie. Today anyway. Tomorrow might be different.

Thingsall2good tough question. Jim Carey- he'd make me laugh, Oprah - they'll work harder at getting us out if she's in there, the pope - for the obvious

Thingsall2good and finally .. with someone I love. That would be a great team to be stuck in an elevator with. What are your choices?

No Matter how hard you try...

2009-02-06T06:19:00.004-06:00

see more pwn and owned pictures

The chances of a procrastinator getting a chart done

2009-02-04T21:53:00.006-06:00

more music charts

7 Things About Me

2009-01-16T21:53:00.002-06:00

I have been really into Twitter for the last few weeks, learning and growing and making it a fun outlet to meet new people and build my "social network." I was asked by Jamie to blog about 7 things that will help people get to know be a bit better... here goes.

I am the largest closet drummer in the world. I have always wanted a drum set. From my early formative days to this very day I am drawn to a drum set. Large or small, percussion always pulls me into the mood. I have always been a hard core RUSH fan. I'm pretty sure its the massive drum set Neil Peart uses that really makes me smile and gets by blood moving along. The way he maneuvers the drums..he is a master of his trade. Don't believe me, check this out. I always meant to take drum lessons when I was young. I took piano lessons as prerequisite to playing drums, but for whatever reason, I never did it. Whenever I would go over to my friend Eric's house, I would sit at his drum set and jam like I was a rock star. To this day there are still a set of drum sticks in my closet and whenever I'm feeling really in the mood, I'll air drum to something fun just to let out some energy. Someday I will have a large digital drum set just to sit and enjoy.
5 years ago I was sent to China for business. I had the opportunity of spending 17 days in Hong Kong and Shenzen, China to visit overseas printing operations. I visited so many places and saw so many things that I have never seen before its kinda hard to get your hands around all the new sights and sounds. I think of all the lasting impressions I will have from my trip to the far east the fondest would be the gracious Chinese people. Before my journey to Hong Kong and Shenzhen. China, my whole impression of the Far East was one that CNN, Fox News and USA Today had me believe. Soldiers marching in the streets, people working in factories like robots and systems that are backwards and technologically behind.... I was wrong...so wrong! My experience in China was nothing short of a life changing experience. I tell people that my trip to China was the best thing I have done since the birth of my children...bar none. What I saw paled anything I would have dreamed.

My new found love, honor, respect for the people I met is unimaginable. My stereotypes were shattered from the very start. What I saw was a pure of love, love of life, respect for there country and for the people in which they worked and served. So many hard working people trying to get from Monday to Tuesday and from here to there...just doing there thing. My experience in China was one I will never forget. Both my personal and professional life has been changed...for the better I can only hope!
I ~~hate~~, scratch that I loath walnuts. Nasty, icky, yucky!
I'm the president of the Graphic Users Association of Kodak Solutions or GUA for short. This users group started out in 1996 and now has over 4000 members world wide. Kodak is a leading prepress workflow in the printing industry. I have been on the board of directors for the past 6 year and president for the past 3 years. Along with the other board members, both from within Kodak and Kodak customers, I assist in putting together the yearly conference. Last years conference was held in Vegas and had an attendance of over 300 members. This years conference will be in Orlando, Fl - May 17 - 21.
I served a full time mission for the LDS Church. I served for 2 years in the Nevada, Las Vegas Mission back in teh late 80's.
I, along with 3 of my brothers, are HUGE eBay fans. I have purchased 3 of my last cars on eBay, Volvo 850 Turbo, GMC Envoy and Cadillac SRX. My brother Chris buys and sells used Honda's Mercedes and Porsche's on eBay and each one of my siblings is driving an eBay vehicle purchase.
I build a pretty mean pinewood derby car. With the help of some tools and skills from my friends over at Derby Champ, Tommy III, my 8 yr old son, was able to win 59 of 60 races last year. This years pinewood derby is in 2 weeks so we are actively building and crafting the vehicle as we speak. The mantra you need to say over and over is "wheels and axles, wheels and axles--weight in the back" and you'll will win every time. See for yourself.

And just in case you didn't care for any of the 7 above, I'll throw in a few extras:

Growing up I had pet cats named Fred and Barney, bothers. One day as I pulled out of the driveway, I accidentally drive over barney :<. Note to self, never fall asleep on the tire when someone intends on driving the vehicle.
During my high school years I was in the AV club, hard to believe, but yes I was.
I'm an Eagle Scout, Both me and my younger brother Mark received our awards on the same evening.

That all folks...

Rock on!

300 Club Brrrrr

2009-01-15T08:59:00.001-06:00

Here in N.E. Wisconsin its currently -14 F with a wind chill at -37. YUCK. Schools are all shut down and the town is pretty much Sloooow going. I was watching the some show in cable that I can't remember the name of, but the show was about the south pole. They talked about a ritual called the 300 Club. From the 300 Club blog

"The 300 Club is a mid-winter activity at Pole so named for the -300°F temperature shift one experiences when running from a +200°F sauna to the Pole and back when the outside ambient temperature hits -100° or below. The air is so dry here that it's possible to sit in a sauna that warm without getting scalded, and it's also possible to make a several minute walk to the Pole and back without losing fatal amounts of body heat. Air is a poor conductor of heat, and ultra-dry air at two-thirds of sea level pressure is even worse. Still, there are some safety-related traditions, such as the buddy-system (never do the 300 Club alone), wear shoes or boots, and there's no shame in wearing gloves or a face-mask."

Now that's what I call hard core!!

Attention to Details

2009-01-15T08:48:00.000-06:00

Many people have said its the small things that count. Well attention to details has always been a kind of mantra that I have had. Sometimes quality issues can be brushed off as rookie errors and have no harm, but sometimes those errors can cause thousands and even millions of dollars in extra cost. I found this website that I guess fits this notion. Enjoy.

LaserDisc Finally Dead?

2009-01-14T11:39:00.000-06:00

I had no idea laserdisc players were still being manufactured. Yes, I'm just as shocked and horrified to hear the news as you are, but it seems to be true. Pioneer, the last major electronics manufacturer to continue production of laserdisc players, has announced they'll discontinue all three of the models they currently offer, leaving dozens of hardcore fans in the dust. But cheer up: we'll always have the memories, and this poster.

hat tip akihabaranew news

$300,000 Zenith Defy Mens Watch

2009-01-14T09:30:00.000-06:00

Looking for the timepeice for the guy who has everything?? Want to make sure his gift isn't one that someone else may have? Well this is the watch for you.

Incredible dive depth of 1000m. High-temperature resistant bracelet in black titanium: Solid titanium structure reinforced by Kevlar lateral inserts.

This automatic winding mechanical movement is distinguished by its unique gyroscopic tourbillon cage, and off-centered time display. Composed of 166 individual components, the tourbillon construction also incorporates both spherical and conically-geared wheels, as well as six ball bearings; the unique design promises optimal horizontal positioning of the regulating organ. The Zenith Zero G Tourbillon watch is crafted from black titanium, measures 46.5mm in diameter, and is equipped with sapphire crystals on both front and back, as well as a unique crown protection device. The off-centered dial is made from a combination of carbon fiber and aluminum.

Hat tip Exotic Excess Find this on Amazon

The Pres has a new ride...

2009-01-14T06:35:00.000-06:00

Looks like the new president has a new ride... Checkout these stats...

The new car Barack Obama will use is a Cadillac that rivals the bulletproof SUV that rapper, 50 Cent drives.

According to Gizmodo, Obama’s Cadillac has several high tech features, including
• It can withstand rocket impacts and it’s perfectly sealed against biochemical attacks.
• Petrol tank: Can withstand a direct hit thanks to a special foam and armor-plating.
• Bodywork: made of dual hardness steel, aluminum, titanium, and ceramics to “break up posible projectiles”.
• Tyres: Kevlar-reinforced with steel rims underneath so it can run away no matter what.
• Accessories include: Night vision cameras, pump-action shotguns, tear gas cannons.
• Comes with bottles of blood compatible with the President’s blood.

Read more and even see a video here...

I'm Almost Famous

2009-01-06T13:28:00.006-06:00

For those who have known me for a long time... I'm a whore for new tech stuff and twitter is one of my big new things. I just love it.. love it to death. It's amazing how you can connect with people I would never have been able to connect with before. One new friend over at AuctiondirectUSA asked me a few questions about my past and present cars and now i'm in print. I'm published...well on the web anyways. This is just so cool.

It all started with one follower @terrymyers and now it has ballooned to over 400 and growing daily. I have new friends at the NY Times, TimeWaner Cable , Kodak Execs or even a host of a morning talk show in DC...and so many others. Pople that would never give me the time of day under any other circumstance, seem to flock to twitter and communicate almost on comment. it totally rocks! The world is your oyster with this technolgy and you have access to them all... right in the palm of your hand with Twitter clients for the iPhone, BlackBerry, Treo and a lot more others.

Then I see my new found twitter friend over at Markzware also mentioned me... ding another shot at fame. All in about 2 months of hanging out and testing twitter. So from zero to being one of the Top Twitter Elite in my area.. not bad for a little known tech guy from Wisconsin...

Crayon Physics is Coming!!

2008-12-29T12:07:00.011-06:00

Crayon Physics is one of my kids favorite games to play on my jailbroken (shhhh) iPod Touch. Enter firmware 2.0, that is all gone. Well now I can be excited again as Crayon Physics will be officially released for the iPod and iPhone on 2009... Yeah!!! The kids will be so pleased!

Update: Here's a Youtube Video of it in action. WOW

95 Old School Video Games

2008-12-24T13:20:00.000-06:00

Want a blast from the past.... The you need to check out this website.

What's you favorite? Its a toss up between 1942, Defender and Galaga.

Enjoy this....

I Loath You Snow Plow

2008-12-23T15:46:00.001-06:00

Die, Die Die...

Why can't you just post a schedule of when you will go by...

Don't you know I just finished plowing the driveway from the last time you went around the block. You are so inconsiderate!

I remember back in the day when I was growing up a snow plow just like you kept taking down one of our neighbors mailboxes... Then one spring afternoon I came outside to see the neighbor sinking an I-beam in 6 ft of concrete and adding plywood to disguise the masterpiece. New Mailbox...Bingo!

Fast forward to the next winter. I come strolling out of the house to find the right "wing" of the local city snow plow sitting there attached to the "mail box"...hydraulic fluid and some twisted fittings on the ground.

I just smiled!

Photoshop Evolution

2008-12-23T15:29:00.000-06:00

Here is a great picture of the 20 years of Adobe Photoshop tool pallet evolution, Thank you Gizmoto
I remember using Photoshop back at version .87....do you?

Snowplow Priorities after Snowfall

2008-12-21T21:36:00.000-06:00

This totally made me smile knowing all the snow we have had in Appleton so far this year... over 35 Inches and this is the first day of winter. Thank you GraphJam

Reloading Windows

2008-12-19T09:45:00.001-06:00

What is the hardest part about reloading MS Windows? I say its the drivers. Collecting all the drivers and updating to make sure you have the latest and greatest. This great article over at digital inspiration has a great article on the steps to make reinstalling a no brainier. One key here as they point out is collecting the drivers. This great tool called DriverMax takes all the leg work out of this for you. It checks drivers for updates, backs them up even has a web interface to track your drivers and configurations. It's pretty slick. I just love google reader for finding all these tasty tidbits...

12 Things You Didin't Know About A Christmas Story

2008-12-17T20:02:00.000-06:00

I loved a Christmas Story! What a riot. I know I have seen it over 25 times myself... and I think I have it down word for word...well not all of it.
Here is a listing of 12 things I bet you didn't know about this great movie! Merry Christmas.

Running on Empty

2008-12-12T13:16:00.002-06:00

I'm on a kick today and its not good... Let me set the stage for you.

We have this support issue with one of our trusted vendors. They have this system that we use and they support it remotely. Well it's not just a system, its our huge workflow system here at the plant and throughout the whole org. In the old days they used to support it via 56K modems and this was way too slow. They kicked up their support offerings a notch and now they can access all their installed machines via something I like to call the world wide web. Faster, better, SUPER!! Well this is true for all the 4000 other systems they have ever sold except for the systems that are installed here at the little place I like to call work!! Why is that you ask? Well for some reason our technology staff does not like something about the way the remote connection software works. They say it goes against SOX rules and it rubs the "governance" people the wrong way. What the? Do they have any clue how much longer support takes at 56K vs T-1 or T-3 speeds? Certainly all the "governance" people do not use dial up at home do they?

So thinking I was so smart, I took a stab at this and called some lower level tech guy to see what the "H" was the matter with him. I was respectful and tactful but this guy was not hearing anything I had to say. It was going in one ear and out the other. All I heard was "back of the hand", this rule, that rule, this wall, that wall... nothing doing! I really felt like John Candy in Uncle Buck as he talked to his girlfriend on the phone. The vid quality stinks, but you get the idea of how the conversation went. I could not get in a word edgewise at all.

"Okay, that didn't go well!" as I hear my boss routinely say after a thrashing of a conference call.

How can these people run on empty like this and hide behind all these rules? I'm not trying to cause trouble, I just want to do what an honest EDUCATED answer to my inquiries. I'm just asking the question... a few "Why'"s and then I'm be on my way. Why can they not answer me in a civilize manner, instead hide behind PDF files and corporate websites. I know, they have no clue and this is the only way to get me off their back..is that it?

We have a preferred vendor we spend millions upon millions of dollars with, plus we trust basically our entire workflow to them, BUT we do not trust them enough to have high speed internet access to their servers? I just do not get it at all. I feel like i'm banging my head against a wall when I talk to these people. Is it just me?

Little red car

2008-12-11T21:11:00.000-06:00

After my Mission I had one dear Rochester friend that was truly amazing. She really inspired me and I feel it necessary to share....sorry again for the nostalgia post, I just can't help it. Growing up we lived a few miles apart and never saw each other as we each attended different LDS congregations and only saw each other for regional activities. I'm not sure how we actually became friends, I'm betting the LDS Hill Cumorah Pageant held each year had something to do with it.

She had a boyfriend who I worked with at a local gas and sip establishment and I hung out with them from time to time. She was my age but he was a few years my senior so it was cool to hang with one of the older crowd. He was a tech geek and that didn't hurt either, even though we both got mocked for liking technology... nothing seems to change now does it. It really never amounted to much, we just enjoyed each others company and could hang out. Heather as she liked to be called at that time, drove a Dodge Colt, red. It went everywhere. She was really into sign language and also moon lighted, my words not her's, as a nanny, or maybe it was the other way around..not a big point. Either way she was so amazing to me. Amazing why you ask? She not only took care of 2 girls as a full time nanny, but she watched over and cared for her mother who had failing health... oh and was one of my best friends too. Some people use their job or situations as a crutch to get out of social interaction, not Heather. It made her stronger and a better friend. She always seemed to put others first before herself. Case in point, the sign language. People who sign are helping others do something they can't do for themselves...hear. Signing is a skill that takes years and years to learn and frankly Heather is one of the best around. In the Deaf community, she may be considered the best. Heather always put others first. I remember her always coming way across town to pick me up and we could go to dinner or hang out... always in her red colt. She would drive and I would sit along side and we would just talk and talk and talk. Catch up from the days events and really talk about nothing, but we were both so happy to enjoy our friendship together. Heather and Scott had one of those off again, on again relationships, but in the back of my mind, I always knew they would be together. Sometimes I felt she really wanted me... but that would have ruined a good friendship :)~ While driving, Heather would tell me of the ups and downs between her and Scott and I would tell her of the downs in my love life, which at that time, seemed the biggest topic. Sometimes friends just need time together and the rest of the conversation takes care of itself. I like that about friends.

Fast forward to January 1990. I was out at BYU and Heather decided to drive the red Colt out west for what reason, not quite sure. I just can't remember. At that time, Scott had not yet made his way out there. So it was Heather and I to hang out and do whatever. Dinner, dancing, hanging out and mostly reckless abandonment for school and all things studying were the order of the evening..most evenings in fact. I would always look for reasons to get out of school work to hang out. Heather was a teacher at the Missionary Training Center, teaching, what else Sign Language. As I remember it, she was the first, and probably only, teacher in the MTC to have never served a full time mission. But they needed good ASL teachers and she was the best. Here is yet another example how she put others first. Teachers always seem to put others first. There's a pattern here...can you see it?

Heather and I were the closest of friends. I was with her when she got married to Scott in the Toronto LDS temple. What a wonderful milestone in her life and one I will never forget. As a married couple, they indulged me when they both moved back to Utah to finish college, but a 3rd wheel sometimes isn't the best option when you are a newly wed... wink wink. I would still ask to borrow the red car from time to time as I met new people and worked on my own dating prospects. Once I started my family, I lost touch for some time but things seem to be back in swing, not full swing due to proximity, but its better. Heather and Scott have an great family together. One that is amazing to me.

Heathers undying love and service to everyone she came in contact with will be a lesson I will never forget. I think we should all take a lesson from Heather and see how our life can be blessed by taking time to do things for others. The great Robert Wegman once said, "I have never given away more then I have received back. Words to live by in my book.

Sometimes I do long to say just one more time, "Hey Heather, can I take the red car tonight?"

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

Just Cool

2008-12-11T19:18:00.001-06:00

How'd they do that?

A CFC in a regular light bulb?

Thank you Gizmodo

Welcome Back

2008-12-05T22:26:00.006-06:00

This week has really been a heart warming week for me. I love FaceBook and it has always been a fun side project for me but this week it took a whole new twist. I have never been one really keep in touch with friends from days gone bye. I have always been the worst letter writer. Saying good bye sucks so bad!! I just can't do it. When I leave an area and move, I'm a total wreck. I have always been taught NEVER to say "goodbye", but to say "so long." or "see you soon." I have countless high school friends, mission companions and collage buddies that I have just lost track of cause I'm to darn lazy to write them. I'm just terrible in that regard.

I had this choice group of friends in collage. Ones that did everything together. We studied, hung out, went to dinner, midnight movies, comedy clubs, dancing, football games and basically meandered around aimlessly for hours together. It didn't matter what we were doing as long as we were all doing it together. Watching paint dry... we could make that fun. Anything! It was truly magic. Just enjoying each others company. They visited me and work and I them. We joked and laughed to all hours of the morning. We talked on the phone and goofed off like preschool kids. But it was my social circle and I loved it. They understood me and got me. I understood them and got them. We fought and cried and laughed and played as hard as we could. You know you really grow to love that interaction. Day in day out... 7 days a week we hung out together. We even traveled on a big trip to Vegas! Another cherished moment that will always be near and dear to me.

I still remember like it was yesterday, driving out of the Salt Lake valley leaving with my family moving to Wisconsin. I cried like a baby and had to pull over to get my self together... knowing all the great friends I was leaving behind. It was amazing knowing I needed to leave...to get on with my life, new job and opportunities, but the friends I had, pulled at my heart strings like a magnet. Not in a bad way, but the best of ways. I have always thought I brought out some of the best in my friends. Both near and far I have always wanted to leave a situation better that when I got into it. I loved my friends so much and moving on was hard.

Fast forward to this week.. like I said Facebook has never been a big deal. Its there and I use it a bit but I really never saw the true value till some of my best collage friends popped up. One right after the other....bing, bing, bing they started showing back onto the radar.. First there was one and I asked about others and they said they lost track....rats. Then one morning I wake and ding...gmail calling -- so and so has asked to be your friend in Facebook. "GET OUT!" I yelled, I smiled wide, I screamed inside... I even shed a tear. Its really amazing how this whole circle of life works. Years ago, during some newly found single-life, I took a trip back to Utah to see if I could find these old friends. I went to old jobs and old residences best as I could remember, but they had all moved on. Now certianly I didn't scour the place for them and it turns out that if I has just opened the darn white pages I may have found them... but I made an attempt and left empty handed and heart broken. I moved on. I hate dead ends, I hate goodbyes and I hate leaving words unsaid. I cherish every moment I get with friends and I really hope they get the same out of me, but these were not your run of the mill friends. It was different, so different. Hard to explain, but I'm trying. Not knowing where they are and not knowing they are safe and sound and happy...that was a big deal to me. Were they married, kids, single, jobs, happy, healthy and well...? I'm not sure I understood how great of friends they were.. but I do now.

So I have spent a few long evening chatting online with them. Catching up and showcasing my extended family, my Becky and my Emma and my Madeline, Clara and Tommy. All my pride and joy and what life is worth living for. Its amazing to welcome these friends back into my life. I'm not 100% sure how they will fit, but one thing I do know...Thomas Robert Clifford, Jr's life is so much fuller knowing that these fine folks and people I call friends, are back in touch. Kinda like that blanket we all used to crawl up under while watching movies...there was always room for one more. Its been almost 14 years... I missed so much, for that I'm sorry. Tonight went through some old stuff and found the above picture; See the smiles...genuine and true. Magic! This is the essence of what I have been talking about. Friendship is a 2 way street and for the last years, its only been one way. I didn't hold up my end of the deal. Its truly amazing to know where they are, to know they are safe and to know they are happy. Life is all about being happy, and each and every one of them have brought me so much untold happiness over the years. I wish I could in some small way, return the favor. I have time to figure that part out, but for now I know exactly where they are once I do. I love you all!

Calmness in our Lives

2008-12-04T11:42:00.000-06:00

Recieved an email this am....

had to share...

Let me know if this helps anyone.

From: "xxxxxxx"
Date: December 4, 2008 11:55:48 AM EST
To: "aaaaaaaaaa"
Subject: CALMNESS IN OUR LIVES

CALMNESS IN OUR LIVES

I am passing this on to you because it definitely works, and we could all use a little more calmness in our lives.

By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace. Dr. Phil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished."

So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey'sIrish Cream, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, and a box of chocolates.

You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now!!!!

Pass this on to those whom you think might be in need of inner peace.

Now this is how its done...

2008-12-02T15:35:00.000-06:00

So I'm reading my daily dose of internet swill and useless crap and I find this article about a company in Waukegan, Ill and some huge bonuses that were handed out. Oh course I turn to the article to see if it was more gouging going on..but to my eyes I find out it's a true, honest to goodness amazing story of a business who gave out 5 figure bonuses to the people who worked so hard to make them great. Amazing Christmas time story.

Is anyone at my work listening to this? Granted I'm very lucky to have a job, but how much better would my luck be with an extra 5 figure bonus check to boot? I remember a 20/20 story years ago about some company in the south that gave out 6 and 7 figure bonuses when the owners sold the company, made hundreds of millions and paid each of their employee's a million plus and get this...they paid the taxes too. How great would that be?

Black Friday Lines

2008-11-27T20:49:00.002-06:00

So the kids and I decided to adventure out to return a few movies and then drive by our local Best Buy and Circuit City stores to see what the lines were like. The results were pretty amazing... See for yourself.

When thinking of Thanksgiving travel...

2008-11-26T21:17:00.000-06:00

Watch more Megavideo videos on AOL Video

I'm SO Thankful

2008-11-26T07:42:00.002-06:00

This Thanksgiving season, I would like to post what I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for so many things and I hope that if you didn't make the list you don't feel bad. Either you didn't make the cutoff or your bribe wasn't large enough. There's always the 2009 listing. I'm thankful for people, places and things. There are so many things that help archive happiness. Certainly material things don't ultimately make one happy, but as the say going..."it sure helps!!" Its the entire package that makes life worth living. Also, this listing is in no particular order...

What I'm thankful for

Emma
Tommy
Madeline
Clara
Becky
Flip Mino Camcorder
Jody & Mike
iPod Touch
Twitter
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Diet Mountain Dew
History Channel
A GREAT Job
Wendy & Jack
Heather & Scott
Snowblowers
AppleTV
Rochester, NY
eBay
325 Horsepower
4 Wheel Drive
I'm thankful to know the purpose of life.
Kevin, Bruce and Brian
Discovery Channel
52" HDTV
Good Food
Mac OS X
My Marriage
The ability to serve others
Good Music
A sence of humor
Google Reader
My Pearl
Grandparents near and far
Yellowstone National Park
Youtube
Drudge Report
The Graphic Users Association
Great work and personal friends
Kelloggs Fudge Pop Tarts
Income Tax Refund Checks
Buffalo Wild Wings
Naps
BYU Football
New York City's Times Square
Meebo
Jamoca Almond Fudge Ice Cream
IPTV
Firefox
Christmas time family vacations

20 Top Optical Illustions

2008-11-26T07:17:00.001-06:00

Love this...

check em all out

Thanks Terry for turning me on to this...

Dancing Cliffords

2008-11-22T18:09:00.002-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

BASE Jumping Off the Burj Dubai

2008-11-21T15:07:00.000-06:00

INSANE!! Over 2000 ft. up. WOW

Thanks Gizmodo

Friday Funny - Can I have your Number?

2008-11-21T15:02:00.000-06:00

This is classic from MadTV

Perfect Holiday Gift

2008-11-21T08:13:00.000-06:00

Ladies,

Looking for that perfect holiday gift for your main man? Look no further. Forget Car and Driver, or Popular Science, get him a subscription to Whipped.

Flip Mino HD Vs Kodak Zi6

2008-11-17T14:45:00.001-06:00

Here is a great side by side look at both the Flip Mino HD and Kodak's Zi6. I'm looking at getting a Mino HD, but may be looking elsewhere...

Flip Mino HD vs Kodak Zi6 from Fork You on Vimeo.

I'm all about Charts...

2008-11-10T20:32:00.002-06:00

This just makes me giggle...

more

And this last one just rocks! So true!

more music charts

A Blast from the Past - Tech Edition

2008-11-07T14:52:00.000-06:00

These are just great and I found them over here. Not sure I 100% like the name of the blog, but this article just tickled me.

Franklin Ace 1200
Tagline : 13 good reasons to buy the Ace 1200
Atari 800
Tagling : More capabilities than any other personal computer under $1,000
Compaq
Tagline : Feature for feature, it’s hard to beat the Compaq Portable
MicroAce
Tagline : For just $149.00, you get everything you need to build a personal computer at home…
Macintosh
Tagline : Introducing Macintosh. What makes it tick. And talk
IBM PC
Tagline : The quality, power, and performance of the IBM Personal Computer are what you’d expect from IBM. The price isn’t
TRS-80 Color Computer
Tagline : Radio Shack’s $399 TRS-80 Color Computer - Innovation at it’s very best!
Amiga
Tagline : Amiga under $2,000. Anyone else up to $20,000
TI-99/2
Tagline : TI’s new basic computer. The one to start with and get smart with
Hewlett-Packard HP-85
Tagline : Introducing HP-85. A new world of personal-professional computation

Do You Pass the Geek Test?

2008-11-07T13:10:00.000-06:00

How do you measure up on the "geek-ness" scale? How many of these have you done?

1. Install a hard drive in a laptop
2. Perform a clean OS install on a machine with two OSes
3. Swap out the battery on your iPod/iPhone
4. Jailbreak an iPhone
5. Wire your house for Ethernet and Coax cable
6. Use BitTorrent and RSS to automatically download new shows from trackers
7. Use an A/V receiver to its fullest capability (every port is taken)
8. Calibrate an HDTV without the manual
9. Use a DSLR in full manual mode
10. Hack the encryption and mooch your neighbor's Wi-Fi
11. Solder cleanly enough to get around a circuit board
12. Use your 3G phone as a Wi-Fi access point
13. Shove the guts of a modern game console into a retro game console
14. Design a webpage in HTML by hand that features a picture of your cat
15. Use Photoshop to imperceptibly doctor a photo
16. Abstain from buying extended warranties
17. Know where to buy cheap cables and accessories
18. Fix your parents' computer over the phone without looking at a computer
19. Enter the Konami code
20. Comment on Gizmodo from your phone
21. Type quickly using T9 texting
22. Program a universal remote
23. Contribute code to the Linux kernel
24. Hide porn from your significant other
25. Avoid DRM on everything
26. Know how to back up your data to networked storage—and actually do it
27. Watch TV shows on the internet for free
28. Edit together digital video ripped from YouTube
29. Play any SNES game on your computer through an emulator
30. Reset expired trial software by messing with the registry
31. Hackintosh your PC
32. Download pre-release movies from Usenet
33. Hack the Wii to play homebrew games
34. Get around web content filters on public computers
35. Get into a Windows computer if you forgot your password
36. Securely erase your data so it can't be recovered
37. Share a printer between a Mac and a PC on a network
38. Build a fighting robot
39. Write your own Firefox plugins
40. Navigate and reorganize the files on your computer in DOS
41. Get something on the front page of Digg
42. Get through to executive customer service
43. Rip a CD to V0 quality MP3s
44. Rip a DVD to DivX
45. Build your own computer from parts
46. Swap out the hard drive in your DVR for a bigger one
47. Get an NES cartridge working again by blowing in it
48. Calibrate a 7.1 surround-sound system
49. Play downloaded games on a Nintendo DS
50. Talk about things that aren't tech related

thanks Gizmodo

Is It Just Me?

2008-11-06T11:09:00.002-06:00

For those of you who are in the prepress industry, dealing with customers and their myriad of issues is a daily if not hourly occasion. I get phone call after phone call and email after email from CSR's asking for kindergarten level prepress information. Do they soak in anything from day to day operations or does it all just bounce off? Is it just me?

I love it when a 25 year Customer Service Representative veteran calls me asking "The customer sent in files all set up as RGB, what should I do?" Or here's a classic... without any prior knowledge or information regarding a situation, a CSR will pull this one "Tom, I have a customer on the line who is unhappy with something we did to their files, can I connect them, click..." And there I am, knee deep in a customer situation I have no information on, lovely!

Or the another ditty, "Sparky, (my nickname at work) I have a customer who sent all their files with type less then a quarter inch from trim, what do I tell them?"

Seriously?!?

I don't make enough money to do your job and mine at the same time. Do you ever get this? "Tom please call this customer and help them solve this issue?" I hate that with a passion. How can a CSR learn anything if they pawn everything off on the tech staff? I always insist that the CSR set up and listen in on the conference call..with high hopes they will learn something...rarely happens that way!!

I also love, love, LOVE IT when CSR's send strings of emails back and forth to their customer, wasting time and energy, instead of just picking up the phone and making a simple phone call. Where has the service gone in the customer service rep?

Does it seem like we have more customer expositors then customer service people around? I can pay someone $7.50 an hour to open FedEx boxes and shuffle work around. That's easy. What we need are people who can make decisions and work by themselves. I need good people to block and get things done, not forward emails and put customers on hold so they can ask someone else's opinion on the matter.

It is just me?

Not on My Watch

2008-11-03T11:10:00.000-06:00

How many of you parents out there watched your kids comb through bags and bags of Halloween candy to find that some people are giving out 3 Musketeers bars?? Ew! I too had to deal with this issue and I'm not happy about it.. I could not believe my eyes. People are still buying that candy bar? ...or better yet buying it and "re-gifting" to other people's kids? Do they have no shame? Was the store all out of perfectly good Snickers, Hershey Bars or Peanut Butter Cups? I'm not sure where you were brought up, but in my home town of Rochester, NY passing out that type of poor candy choice was deemed as cruelty to children and punishable as such. I heard one story of a parent losing their kids to foster care for a whole week cause they purchased this candy for them. Some people find this a bit harsh, not me.

Have you ever eaten one of these candy bars? A 3 Musketeers candy bar is just a chocolate wrapper on marshmallow fluff nastiness, no peanuts, no crunch, no nothing. Parents should never let their kids eat this candy. Never, never never!!

So the next time you are in the Clifford household, you will never find a single 3 Musketeers candy bar... not on my watch!

An Invite to "The Business"

2008-10-29T21:33:00.000-05:00

So about a week ago I heard from a long lost friend that I hadn't seen or heard from in months. We had a quick short exchange after a church meeting before going our separate ways. Its always fun to catch up. Our families had hung out from time to time. No more then a week later do I get this great looking thank you card from him thanking me for the reunion. It was curious in quality and had his picture on the inside. Interesting, toss, rock on. Well that wasn't the end of it. I get a call fro him a few days ago telling me he has this great business opportunity he wants me to listen to. "Oh no" ...I'm thinking on the fly. "How do I get rid of this situation." I love this person, but I hate being propositioned like this...

This takes me back to a day where I had the grand daddy of all conversations and what I consider an "inside the park home run." Here goes.

9 years ago I get a strange phone call on my cell phone. The sweet female voice on the other line introduces herself and says she would like to meet with me for a few minutes. She said that she had heard about me and my abilities. "What abilities I thought," but lets let that go for now. She said things to me like "You seem like a real go-getter" and " I like your style"... and financial freedom and independence..."okay" I thought. She then went on to talk about how she had this "business opportunity" to share with me. Immediately red lights, flares, buzzers and civil defense sirens start going off in my mind. "Is this lady really cold calling me to set me up with some sort of multi-level marketing scam?" "No way!!" Well I called her on it and asked what "the business" was. I love it how when speaking in code, "the business" automatically referrs to Amway or some other multi-level marketing engine. Guaranteed, every time. I'm sure I know why they don't just blurt out the name of the company, but then if they did...nearly no one would be working for them. She never actually said Amway, but I assumed it. So she goes one at great length I may add explaining all the capabilities I have that she is looking for. I let her go on for about 10 minutes then I stop her and say

So I had to be somewhere and I know exactly what would end the conversing in a hurry. I asked her if "the business" opportunity she wanted me to hear was Amway? She said yes it was and asked me if I had heard about Amway. This is where I snapped into action. I told her the biggest of lies..but trust me, it was worth it. I went on to tell her that I had been involved with Amway since my early college days where some roommates and I started out as a distributor for some extra cash. I told her how I worked my way up, quit college and focused on building "the business' full time. I used terms like Diamond, and Double Diamond and Crown levels. I told her of cars unnumbered, trips with the family and boats. I told her that a few months ago I sold "the business" for 25 million and I'm now retired.

Silence

More silence

Then she spoke "I'm not sure what to say," she said. "It's an honor to speak with someone as successful as you." She went on to say that she had never talked to someone who had reached my level before. Clearly the tone of the conversation did an instant 180 and I was giving her something she wanted instead of visa versa. I gave her encouragement and told her to reach for the stars.

Funny how things change with a few industry code words.

There's a Buzz in the Air

2008-10-25T21:36:00.000-05:00

There is a buzz in the air this time of year in the printing industry. Yes its fall in the Midwest and the temperature is getting colder and the leaves are turning brown and falling from the trees. But that's not the real reason there's something in the air. The reason is Graph Expo. Graph Expo is the one a year printing fiesta held in windy Chicago, Il in the heart of the good old USA. Hosted at the McCormick Place, Graph Expo is just HUGE. Almost 500,000 sq feet of printing goodness. I get to see full scale running presses, binding lines, proofing devices and all the booth babes you could ever want.... All under one roof. What a great country I say as I stroll from booth to booth just wandering, faking interest in other people wares. Oh yes I have some things I truly am interesting in and want to get the 411 on, but I love just browsing and seeing possibilities. Just to tuck away in the memory banks cause you never know when you might need to say "Oh yes I saw that at Graph Expo" in some random meeting... just to impress your boss. You know what I'm saying!

Each year I drive to Chicago to stay the weekend and enjoy some of the finer things Chicago has to to offer. One of the finest and most emotional things to see is the Michigan Avenue Apple Store, or as I affectionately call it "Mecca." What would a trip to Chicago be without a stop there? It's amazing to walk through the doors, smell the sweet aroma of fresh new iPod, iPhones Macbooks and iMacs. Its truly electric. All the workers dressed in Steve Jobs issued black tee's with "back stage pass" looking name tags. Awesome! Lets not forget all the working Macs. Tables and tables and row upon rows of Apple treats. Not the crappy password protected models like you see a "Office Buy" or "Circuit Max" or whatever electronics store you shop. These machines are ready, willing and connected to the internet to do your bidding.. This afternoon when I go I think I'll make a small video for the kiddies back home and post it on YouTube. Certainly Chi-town has a lot more to offer then just a few Macs on Michigan. The food, the pier and the buildings, I love it all!

I love fall, I love Chicago, I love Apple but most of all, I love printing!!

Digital Conversion PSA

2008-10-17T14:53:00.000-05:00

This made me roar... :)!

enjoy courtesy of Gizmodo.

Growing up along side the Yellow Box

2008-10-16T15:01:00.001-05:00

The Eastman Kodak I remember as a child growing up in a small suburb of Rochester NY is one that will forever be in my mind. When I was born I was given shares of Kodak stock as a birth gift, which I still have to this day. It just shows what a mark Kodak had in our community. I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s in a subdivision where almost all our neighbors were employed by the “Big Yellow Box”… as it was affectionately called back in the day. We always had a freezer in the basement stuffed to the gills with small yellow Kodak boxes and plastic black canisters. ASA 64, 100, 200, 400 and, oh, there was some 800 in there- maybe even a 1600 would sneak in there on occasion. We had color slide film, color print film, black and white, high speed, low speed, low light…that freezer stored hundreds of rolls of film. All chilled down to a nice 0 degrees to keep it all nice and fresh. We never purchased any as all our friends would give us gobs of film at holiday time…or any time really, as we lived in the town of milk and honey, or as we called it, Kodak film! How many times would my dad say, “Tommy! Go get your Dad a new roll of film.” And I would run to the basement freezer to grab a few rolls for good old Dad. Dad would shoot Kodak film with near reckless abandon in his Canon AE-1 knowing the processing was included in many of the pictures he would take. Our dear next door neighbors, the McAllister’s, would even take the rolls to work with them to get the film processed at no charge. What a great land we lived in. Free film and prints to boot!

I still remember the day when the shoe fell. It was a dark and stormy day… black clouds filled the sky. An edict came from on high at Kodak central, “NO MORE FREE FILM!” People walked the streets, bouncing into walls not knowing what to do. What once was free we now had to add to our budgets? Well, thankfully the Clifford’s had a freezer chock full of film, some of which remains there today.

We lived not too far from former Kodak CEO Kay Whitmore and once he took me on a tour of Kodak Park…from the CEO standpoint. Nice gig! I remember one afternoon Kay brought over one of the new “Kodak Camcorders”. It was the huge one that rested on your shoulder but also sat in a cradle on your TV and acted as a VCR. Great idea but didn’t last too long. What about Kodak batteries or that Disc Camera? Well… In 1984 that was the extent of the innovation that came from Kodak Park. Batteries, camcorders, and what about that Polaroid knockoff? Ouch! the lawsuit over that one.

Rochester NY is tied to the successes and failures of Kodak. Boy, where there some black Fridays when Kodak announced layoffs. 25,000, 50,000 even 75,000 people would lose their jobs worldwide with the brunt of the punishment coming to Rochester. Kodak really lacked consumer innovation back in the day. Where was good old George Eastman when you needed him? Some of the crap that Kodak came out with was really stunning. But on sheer size alone, they labored through the 90’s and early 2000’s like a sick elephant. Cutting and trimming what they could, but what they really needed was a culture shift. Film and print as we knew it was dying- and they knew it.

Enter Kodak the 2000’s. A portion of the yellow box is fading. Film is dying right in front of their eyes and there is nothing they can do to stop it. Kodak knows the secret sauce and everyone else has it except them. So they are simply buying it up! Kodak is purchasing companies as fast as it can. Kodak nabs Nexpress, ENCAD, OFoto, Scitex Digtal Printing and Creo. Kodak is a digital media giant. It is hip, cool and most of all fresh. Kodak has blogs, Kodak is using Twitter, and Kodak is on TLC with Trading Spaces. Kodak has a huge theater in Hollywood, home of the Academy Awards. Kodak has a CMOS that may be in the very phone you are using now… or will be soon. Does it get any more glam than that? Digital prepress, digital proofing, digital print, digital cameras, digital photo frames and high end digital imaging. its almost as if it is turning into a "Kodak World"...who said that on TV. I know.. I know! I had to say it. Sorry Jeff I like the motto that Gene so affectionately gave on Celebrity Apprentice. Kodak is back and the Big Yellow Box is in style and I love every moment of it.

This isn’t the Kodak of days old. It's been a fun, exciting, and amazing journey to watch. Look back at where they have come from.

“Hey dad, do you need another roll of film? I’ll get it.”

Prinergy in a Cloud

2008-10-09T13:27:00.000-05:00

With all the talk of virtualization in this world, I don’t see much action on the part of Kodak with regards to that. Now they may be working on this but not that anyone of us have seen. I know that prepress people buck the IT mindset as most of us are big Mac fans and its very “un-IT” to like the Mac. Some do, so don’t flame me, but generally, most do not. One thing that I have thought about over the past few weeks is what about Kodak offering a Prinergy in a cloud model.

What the heck is “Prinergy in a Cloud?” PIC as I like to call it, would be a Prinergy system hosted in one of Kodak high availability data centers running the latest and greatest versions of Prinergy and InSite software. They could offer preps licensing, RBA and all the tools of the trade, but from afar. You access all this via the internet through your company pipe and you are off to the races. No servers to install, no software to patch, no nothing.

Why would any company want to do this? Prinergy saturation is really reaching critical mass. Everyone knows Prinergy is the biggest and best, even though others try to compete, there really is no competition. Cost is one huge barrier to entry to this club. Even with Evo people are spending tens of thousands of bucks just to gain membership. Add InSite on top of that and the cost rises. Some licensing fees for an unlimited copy of InSite can be$30K or more. Plus you need a server room, you need storage to hold all the files, you need a beefy network infrastructure and a backup strategy. And I’m sure that’s not the half of the issues. What mom and pop outfit wants to get involved in that IT mess if they don’t have to?

Enter Prinergy in a cloud. Kodak can now offer end users a much less expensive point of entry into the workflow of their dreams. They can offer all the tools the big boys use, but at a much smaller foot print, and a pay as you go model. I’ll leave the pricing up to the brain trust in Rochester for that. Some changes would need to happen with Prinergy like new access rights in workshop where people who log in only see jobs that they are entitled to see, like in InSite, that sort of thing. How to access the storage over the internet would also need to be addressed, but bigger hurdles have been overcome.

Bandwidth is getting cheaper every day so that should not be an issue. Certainly you are not going to run a 1000 plate a day operation on this type of deal, but 50-100 plates…maybe. Kodak service would be thrilled about this. The RC is already in place and all you would need to do is place a call and the rest is up to Kodak. No Kodak RSS to install, no onsite visits. Think about prep houses or even comp houses that have no plating operations, even better. Upload your PDF files to the cloud, bing, bang, boom…you have a ripped, trapped, color managed PDF files in no time. Your files are ready to be approved by your customer via InSite, exported, and downloaded or whatever. No worrying about Prinergy upgrades, OS patches, virus updates or any of that nonsense.

Think about it and let me know. Kodak, do you have your ears on?

Change Taking Place

2008-10-06T13:28:00.000-05:00

The only thing that is steady is that fact we need to deal with change. If it's not one thing its another. I just spent 3 long weeks at a sister plant dealing with systems and work flows and people who buck change. Really the floor people were all up for a huge dose of change, it's the management that held to their guns on this.The floor folks felt that they were not being listened to. Maybe management felt they could not implement sweeping change like that. But they could have listened a bit more. There were brick walls everywhere I turned. If I hear one more time "it's not my job" I think I'm going to scream! or how about "Well that's the way we have done it for the past XX years, we can't change now!" That person needed a huge knuckle sandwich for that one. But people feel that after hitting a wall for so long, why ask for change, it will just get refused. One group of technology minded folks told me... "Tom, if our floors could talk, you would be amazed at how many great ideas died right here cause we felt upper management would kill our idea's" How sad!! Do you really feel that no one listens in your job? Do you have great ideas that just die on the spot because you say no one will listen? At this plant, I had to go to the plant manager and the head of HR to get people to understand what was happening. Change does not happen overnight. This is a culture shift. But its happening. Slowly and surely its happening. I have seen great strides in the past 3 weeks. People opening up and talking, walls falling and ideas being shared.

It's really amazing what can happen if you bring people together.