Learning to Make Your Own Graphic BLING

I have been reading Seth Godin's blog. Marketing has always seemed like Voodoo to me. So not only does he put up interesting and useful stuff, but I feel like he is beginning to demystify marketing for me. Especially, internet marketing.

Today's post I thought was particularly interesting because many of us are trying blogging or other internet ventures and I notice that everyone wants to add "BLING" to their site. Well Seth has put together a reading list for do it youself graphic BLING BLING. Check it out @ http://www.squidoo.com/become-a-really-good-graphic-designer.

The Silmarillion

I found a used paper back copy of the The Silmarillion and I could not resist buying it. It is a collection of some tales that J.R.R. Tolkein had never finished and that his son published posthumously. Apparently, Tolkein had written these stories first beginning in the early 1919 and had presented them for publication, but had been refused. After reading them, I must say that their greatest value was that Tolkein already had developed this entire Middle-Earth when he went on to write The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and could draw on this deep historical context when giving birth to his new works.

For fans of The Lord of the Rings series, The Simarillion is definitely worth the read for a better understanding of what is going on between the characters and races and the historic precedent of the areas in Middle-Earth. Some of the tales are very interesting and captivating. Don't get me wrong, there are some wonderful parts such as the creation of Ea (the World) and how it was sung into being and the tales of Hurin. But even with a map of Middle-Earth and a table of Elvish words, sometimes it was just hard to follow the who, what and where.

That said, I did learn the some cool facts:

• Who and what Sauron was


• Who was the Balrog Gandolf fights in Moria


• Who made the 3, 7 and 9 rings (we already new who made the 1 ring to rule them all)


• Why Aragorn lives longer than other mortals


• Why Aragorn's crest is a white tree


• Why Elrond was leaving Middle Earth


• How Elrond, Arwen and Aragorn are all related (Aragorn is Elrond's nephew (just like 50 generations removed)


• Who Gandolf and Saruman are and where they came from


• And just a better general understanding of who built what and lived where

So if you are a Tolkein fan, it is a fun read without taking on the entire 12-volume history of Middle-Earth. It has some shining moments, but is more like background reading than a classic Tolkein epic.

So there you go. I think it was worth the $6.99 I paid for it and was good reading for my BART rides.

Google Ads Gone Wild

I open up my blog today and the first thing I notice is that the Google add tower has an Elvira-ish woman holding her Chi Chis. "What on earth is Google advertising?" I wonder. Then understanding dawns on me. Its an ad for The Forbiden Zone movie. Google picked up my reference to Oingo Boingo and the mistic knights and placed an add to purchase a copy of the movie that was the real birth place of Oingo Boingo.

Google ads have become very specialized in deed. It is going to be interesting to see what Google decides to advertise with each post. The ad I am posting about is probably already gone, and I am now just rambling nonsense.

But I am kind of curious to see what Google will "ad" next.

Pandora Radio

Ready to explore the genome of your favorite genres of music? Then log onto http://www.pandora.com/ and enter your favorite song or group and it will examine the musicological aspects the tune that gets your groove and suggest similar songs. I tried first "Oingo Boingo" and it brought up Weird Science, which is my least favorite song from those mystic nights, so I tried to really test the project and added in The Smiths with Oingo Boingo and it brought up a nice mix of Morrissey, New Order, the Cure, Boingo, the Smiths and Simple Minds. I look forward to see what Pandora will include next, but I was a little impatient to test out the projects musicality senses so I next entered "Kryptonite" by 3 doors down. A nice and predictable mix (Daugherty, Linkin Park, Nickleback and Lifehouse) came up that I enjoyed listening to. Not bad. So how about non-contemporary music? I next created a Benny Goodman station (I like jazz clarinet) and some classic Benny came up and Pete Fountain that was awesome, but I also had a bunch of jazz piano (I am not so crazy about) and some Ella Fitzgerald (who is great, but obviously not a clarinetist!). So I can give the songs on my station a thumbs up or thumbs down and my radio station "learns" to narrow its selection in the genre to the genome of musicality that I like. In the jazz clarinet station it has narrowed down the selection just to clarinet pieces and I am enjoying new songs I have never heard before in random easy listening format. Right now I am listening to Honeysuckle Rose by Benny Goodman. Nice. So give it a try and let me know how you like it.

P.S. It also gives backround of the artist and a description of the music genre the artist fits into. Enjoy and learn about your old and, hopefully, new favorite songs.

Kart Racing

Chad Poplowski and I both included on our 25 Random Notes on facebook that we like to drive fast. So we decided to try out some Kart racing. Chad recommended GoKartRacer in Burlingame, CA for the races. It was an excellent selection. They provide a racing suit and helmets and have very nice karts that go about 50 miles an hour.

If you have ever gone kart racing with me, you know I am way too competitive and it is not uncommon for me to get a warning or flagged down for some penalty time. So it is nice for me to be able to let loose in a semi-safe environment like GoKartRacer.

Chad is a very good driver and we had a lot of fun racing each other and the other divers. While I won, I must admit that I illegally made Chad spin out or he probably would have taken me. But there was no foul and I received no penalty time, soooo I am officially the big winner. LOL!

Chad works in tax advisory at KPMG so we also talked shop a bit about corporate responsibility in executive compensation and how it should be evaluated from a risk management stand point. I think we both agreed that even though Congress has passed a sleuth of new laws, it is still the foxes that are guarding the chicken coup in this area.

So yesterday was a pretty awesome day. I started out at Jonathan's lacrosse game, and he played well and took his first shot on goal. Then it was off to Kart racing. Afterward, Chad took me to La Metate and we had foot long carnita burritos. When I was done with that I spent some quality time with my father-in-law fixing Paul's roof and then I went on a nice date with my wife wherein she creamed me in BananaGrams, so that I could once again be humbled and prepare myself to enjoy the sabbath with my wonderful family.

Life is good.

Pinewood Derby -- Sk8r Car

It was Jonathan's last year for pinewood derby. Man is he getting big fast.

He designed a skateboard car this year complete with a grip tape top. Not the fastest design, but it was very fun to make. My favorite part was his original design artwork on on the bottom of the deck. Below are some pics and video. You can tell which car is his in the video from the cool red wheels.

Enjoy.