June 30, 2003
eBay Live! 2003
I was one of the 10,000 who attended eBay Live! 2003 in Orlando this past weekend. It was a 2.5 day event but I only went for Fri and Sat. I must admit I learned a lot. The classes were actually were very good and I'm impressed with the enthusiasm that eBay employees display (eBay flew 500 employees to the conference). One employee who is a powerseller account manager shared some good selling tips (start/end time, sourcing ). A development employee filled me in on eBay's hardly known merchant & editor kits.
I also spoke with Michael Dearing, eBay's VP of Marketing & Merchandising, regarding eBay stores (they're pretty fugly but might be good to use for cross-selling); I was very surprised when at the end of our conversation he handed me his business card. I also discovered that eBayers are very willing to share their experiences and tips with aspiring powersellers like myself and some lead very interesting lifestyles (which I'll expand upon later). I also had no idea there was so much 3rd party support available for eBay mostly advanced auction managemnet software but also online postage, escrow/insurance/credibility and even photography boxes. Next year eBay Live! will be in New Orleans (basically same dates). Not sure if the classes will be of benefit next year but it should definitely be fun.
More: ABC News | Orlando Sentinel
June 24, 2003
Honda's Cog Ad too Complex for Stupid Americans
Well, I guess the main reason one of the coolest ads I've ever seen isn't going to be shown in the states is b/c the model featured is only available in Europe but a Honda exec supposedly said "it doesn’t say enough for U.S. viewers".
More: No Cog in US | Cog Details
June 21, 2003
Harry Potter: Reloaded
So the 5th installment of the Harry Potter series is now officially available. I've read all four books and am not ashamed to admit I like them. People that bash the books for being too kiddish or derivative need to give the books a chance. I almost broke down and ordered it from Amazon this week when I found out a major character will die (it obviously can't be Harry and I seriously doubt Rowling could kill off Ron or Hermione so my guess is it's either Dumbledore or Hagrid).
Actually the books are getting too damn long (870 pages!). That it was a quick and easy read was an aspect that I really liked about the first one. However, Rowling has said that her vision is to have 3/4th graders to start with the first book and then as they progress to the other books she raises the bar by increasing the books in complexity.I dragged my feet on the 4th one b/c of it's length. I actually only read about 1/4 of it. Ended up listening to the rest of it. I think I'll do the same with Order of the Phoenix. Yeah, it sounds like I'm too lazy to read but it's actually very practical since I can listen to it while I work. Though I don't have to travel far for my workplace , for those that do - listening to a good book will at least be change of pace from the same ol' regurgitated music.
If you like the Harry Potter books then I also recommend these:
- Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman
Many BoM diehards insist Rowling is a hack b/c she borrowed heavliy from this series. In fact, look at the cover and tell me that Timothy Hunter (and his owl) don't look like Harry Potter. Truth be told BoM were published 4-5 years before the first Harry book and they're much, much darker. Besides, Neil Gaiman gave Rowling his blessings and congratulated her for creating wonderful story and getting kids excited about reading. Thief of Always by Clive Barker
An enjoyable story of a bored boy who makes a careless wish. It shows another side of an author who's known more for his tales of twisted demons that are heavily into body manipulation. You can easily finish this short book on a weekend.
And if you don't llike Harry Potter at least you've got to admit that it's gotten many kids interested in reading instead of vegging out in front of the TV.
June 20, 2003
Old Bartender's Trick
Heard on the radio the other day that a tactic bartender's use to handle unruly patrons is by putting a couple of drops of VisineTM in their drink (it's gotta be the one that says removes redness). Supposedly the active in ingredient in combination with the alcohol gives the victim a quick and significant case of the runs (ie diarrhea).
I don't buy it. In fact, this Saturday night I plan to disprove this as just an urban legend. Its either that or I'm leaving the party early, empty handed and with stained undies (not that it'd deviate from the norm).
UPDATE
Hmm. I think I'll pass on the experiment ;)
First Post!
Well, after many years of surfing for porn on the internet I've decided to join the phenom known as blogging. Must admit that the only exposure I had regarding blogs was slashdot.org (which is quite fugly) and blogger (recently gobbled up by google). The whole concept never really appealed to me. Seemed too much like an online diary (and let's face it - keeping a diary is not the manliest of activties). Then I ran across an interesting Mac article on Steve Garrity's blog Acts of Volition. I really dug Steve's site and inquired about the software he used. Turns out it's a proprietary blog developed by the talented folks at silverorange.
Luckily (and I don't even exactly remember just how) I came across a site powered by Movable Type and saw some remarkable similiarites with silverorange's blog. I decided to give it a try. MT was relatively straightforward to install (excellent instructions!), seems like it'll be pretty easy to customize (look and feel wise), the backend is very complete (well organized to boot) and you gotta love no annoying banner ads. It truly is a brilliant bit of software and I do plan on making a donation. Only thing I could wish for is WYSIWYG editor for the entries and photo album support though it seems they might be covering that in their new product - Type Pad.
So basically the reason I put up a blog is cause I thought the software was cool and wanted to play around with it. Not cause I have a burning desire to share my adventurous life with a bunch of strangers. I can't assure you that I'm going to be posting many (if any) thought provoking essays on this site but occasionally (OK more often than naught) I'll put links to funny/interesting images, videos, articles, deals and babes.