February 17, 2008

…nostalgia…

While doing some cleaning up today, we came across some
photos that we had taken a while back and just hadn’t gotten
around to framing yet… So I was curious to see if I could
take a snapshot of a couple of them with the digital
camera on my phone… whether it would turn out ok
or not.

So here they are…

(Unfortunately I have no idea how to lower the resolution of the pics)

First Photos TogetherFirst Photos Together

January 31, 2008

Vote for Ron Paul for Marketer of the Year!

As some of you already know, I’m an avid student of marketing. Being an internet/computer geek as well tends to naturally lead me in the direction of internet marketing.

Today, one of the marketing gurus I subscribe to left an interesting email in my inbox. It’s all about the phenominal success Ron Paul has been having with his presidential campaign.

You see he’s been excluded from a lot of the mainstream press coverage that the other candidates benefit so heavily from. Most people still don’t really know who the guy is… even though he raised the largest amount of money in history from a single day’s campaign contributions!

Anyway, it’s a pretty good read, so I’ve reprinted a good deal of it for you to read below…

Take care,

tr00b

*******************************************

Just over a month ago, I posted on my blog
that Ron Paul got my vote for _________ marketer
of the year.

Pretty bold, ey? You’ll see why soon enough.

And NO, this isn’t about politics…

It’s all about a certain type of marketing.

I pasted the blog post for you to read below.

BUT, before you scroll down to read it,
I want to stress the fact that he didn’t
manage to set the ALL TIME internet fund
raising record in a 24 hour period by a
politician on accident.

It was purely by design.

And he harnessed the power of Social Marketing
to accomplish this amazing feet.

You can read exactly how he managed to pull in over
$10 Million in small donations using ONLY Social Media
in this Free Case Study written by Jack Humphrey:

http://MikeFilsaime.com/Recommends/ronpaulcasestudy

This guy was practically a NOBODY in the world of politics
and now he has put himself on the map as a major contender
in the coming election.

All because of what he did which is REVEALED here:
http://MikeFilsaime.com/Recommends/ronpaulcasestudy

Here is what I posted to my blog at MikeFilsaime.com

After reading the report about Ron Paul, feel free to
post your comments at my blog about it under the post
titled -

“Ron Paul Gets My Vote For Social Marketer Of The Year”

Here is the link to the case study one last time:
http://MikeFilsaime.com/Recommends/ronpaulcasestudy

To Your Success,
Mike Filsaime

============================ BEGIN BLOG POST ===========================

NEVER before in history could a REAL TRUE grass roots campaign
have taken effect with JUST THE RIGHT message and NOT the
right amount of money.

Just 20 years ago, if you wanted anyone to hear you, you had to
have the money in your party and not always the message. Or heck…
you could have been like Ross Perot and bought your way into a
party nomination

How may good presidents have we never seen because they did not
have the money to go against people with deep pockets and lots
of money pouring in from lobbyist?

Ron Paul has the right message (for many) as it’s obvious by his
popularity with web savvy people (like me.) Yes, I even donated
to his campaign and I wear his shirt on my little cartoon below
(many of you picked up on that.) <He is referring to his Meez

But here is a person that, along with his team, REALLY AND TRULY
get social media marketing better than, honestly, anyone I have
ever seen.

THEY ALL LAUGHED WHEN I SAID I WANT TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT….

THEN I RELEASED MY YOUTUBE VIDEOS…

Here is a guy that some would have laughed at 4 years ago because
he had very very very little financial backing. TODAY, he as set
a record for the MOST MONEY EVER RAISED in one day in the history
of American politics!

Way to go Ron!

I honestly feel, that you are witnessing the future of American
and World politics. Finally GRASS ROOTS can get the message out.

But with that said, I think Ron Paul is actually 4 or even 8, or
12 years ahead of his time. He has changed the way politicians
get the message out.

Again, you need a good message to do it.

While I AM a Ron Paul supporter, I also encourage you to watch
his marketing and how he uses social media better than any person
in the history of the Internet.

He raised $6 Million in one day! Never had that been done before.

So sites to pay attention to are:

RonPaul2008.com
www.teaparty07.com/
www.ronpaulblimp.com/

Or just Youtube Search Ron Paul. Then you will see why it is
OBVIOUS he gets SOCIAL MARKETER OF THE YEAR!

Thanks,

Mike Filsaime

================================ END BLOG POST =============================

P.S. Here’s that link for the free case study just in case
you made it this far and still haven’t downloaded it:
http://MikeFilsaime.com/Recommends/ronpaulcasestudy

(c) 2007 MikeFilsaime.com, Inc.

January 24, 2008

tr00b – Yesterday – Karaoke Play – The Sims On Stage

January 20, 2008

Yesterday

January 20, 2008

Karaoke – Yesterday – The Sims On Stage

This is one of my karaoke performances from the website formerly known as SingShot.com. It’s now called The Sims Onstage for some reason.I’ve probably got about 15 recordings posted there, and I think I’ll post a few of the better ones here. I’m just an average singer and some of my recordings aren’t that good, so I’m only going to let you hear the good ones, fair enough? :)

(The embedded video player doesn’t appear to wanna work like it should, so you can click on the link directly below it to check out my performance.)

from thesimsonstage.ea.co posted with vodpod

January 20, 2008

Chinese Coca Cola commercial

This is one of the coolest commercials I’ve seen in a while…

posted with vodpod

January 8, 2008

Back On Track Again…

Yesterday, I returned to Smoothie King after a four month break. I had been going there every weekday during my lunch break and buying the “Immune Builder” smoothie. I started going last November after getting over a nasty cold. I made up my mind I was going to start feeling and being healthier. So I began going nearly every weekday from that point until this past September. It made a dramatic difference…

It has bananas, strawberries, something they call an herbal nutrient blend, soy protein, turbinado and honey in it. It’s pretty tasty and to be honest with you, it really works. Well, not immediately! Not like a magic pill or something. But after a week or so, I noticed an increase in my energy levels and overall health. And not just a small increase… a massive increase.

I, however, have a way of wrecking a good thing, so in September I began to hit the burger joints and fast food restaurants for lunch to get a change of pace. At first, everything was ok… it took a couple of months for me to recognize the lack of energy and lethargy I now feel full-time. Plus just a few weeks ago, I had my first cold since last November. A terrible one… It reminded me of why I began the smoothie-a-day in the first place. So I began to strengthen my resolve to get my health back in order, and the beginning of that process is to make myself drive past all the tasty burger and taco places and obediently pull into the Smoothie King parking lot every day to get my Immune Builder.

It’s better for me… It makes me feel better… and that’s the way I want to live my life. With abundant energy and health! It feels good to be on track again. :-)

January 3, 2008

C’mon Baby, Light My Firefly…

A couple of years ago, (or three) I watched the movie “Serenity”. For a variety of reasons, it instantly became one of my favorite movies. Shortly afterward, I discovered that it had been based on the Sci-Fi Channel (I think) series by the name of “Firefly”. It was cancelled after only one season for reasons I can not fathom. I mean it! There’s no good reason for it to be cancelled.

I’ve been a fan of several sci-fi series and movies like all of the Star Trek movies and series, Star Wars movies, Stargate movies and series, and others I can’t think of right now. But Firefly (and Serenity) have something that lacks in the rest. I’m not sure if I can say exactly what it is, but it’s probably a mixture of several great qualities. The cast is great, the writing is fresh and packed with humor, and the story lines are imaginative and exciting. I also think it gives a much more realistic portrayal of what life would be like if the human race ever got scattered throughout the galaxy than other space-based television series do.

But for some reason, it didn’t make it past the first season. I got re-interested in it a few weeks ago, when I saw that it was on sale at Fry’s for a mere $20. I watched a few episodes over the last several days and got it firmly entrenched in my head again. So that’s why I decided to blog about it tonight…

I pulled this snippet off of Wikipedia:

Cult status

In 2005, New Scientist magazine’s website held an internet poll to find “The World’s Best Space Sci-Fi Ever”. Firefly came in first place, with its cinematic follow-up Serenity in second.[54] Also, as of May 2007, it is the highest rated science fiction show of all time according to an online poll conducted by tv.com.[55]

On May 9, 2006, the Firefly episodes were added to the iTunes Music Store for download as part of FOX Television Classics along with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lost in Space. The episodes were initially listed in the order FOX originally aired them, but due to comments from fans in the Store, the episodes were listed in the order in which Whedon originally intended.

Brad Wright, co-creator of Stargate SG-1 has said that “200″, the 200th episode of SG-1, is “A little kiss to Serenity and Firefly, which was possibly one of the best cancelled series in history.” In the episode, “Martin Lloyd has come to the S.G.C. because even though “Wormhole X-Treme!” was cancelled after three episodes, it did so well on DVD they’re making a feature [film].”[56]

The follow-up film, Serenity, was voted the best science fiction movie of all time in an SFX magazine poll of 3,000 fans.

IMDB also has some interesting stuff to say about it: http://imdb.com/title/tt0303461/

Just thought I’d share Firefly with you because I think it’s one of the good things that shouldn’t be missed. I hope you’ll take some time to enjoy it too… :-)

December 18, 2007

Whine and Cheese

Just felt like writing a little something today, so here goes! Over the last month or so, things have been getting a little tense in the workplace. For Thanksgiving, rather than receiving the healthy bonus that everyone expected, we got to take off work an hour early. What a tremendous morale booster!

A lot of folks were upset, and rightly so, because bonuses are considered a part of our salary. We got a nice check LAST Thanksgiving, so it was only natural to assume we would also get one this Thanksgiving, right? And last year was nowhere near as profitable as this year has been.

To not receive anything is tantamount to a slap in the face… an indirect “we don’t particularly value the role you’ve played in the company’s most lucrative year ever” to every employee who busted their butt to make sure the customers were taken care of. I’ve had to struggle every day to go in and give my normal 100% effort. And even so, it’s only honestly been about 75 -80 % since then. I can’t help it… I feel unappreciated. I like to know that my skills and dedicated effort mean something to the people who benefit so heavily from them.

This Friday is the next scheduled bonus. I don’t know why they disburse them this way, only that they do. Everyone is waiting with trepidation to see if we get shafted again, or if they come through with one giant, huge mother of a bonus for everyone. For the last few weeks, I’ve privately been making up my mind that if the bonus isn’t really close to a dollar figure I’ve set in my mind, I intend to work up my resume and begin hunting for another job.

That’s a hard thing for me to think about, cuz I dislike the buffer period of a new workplace where no one knows you, or your work ethic, or your intent to do the best possible job you can do. You’re just the new person. No one cares to get to know you until you’ve proven yourself, yet you can’t prove yourself until the circumstances permit. The probationary period is the most stressful thing I can think of…

I’d really rather think that my current employer intends to do the right thing and reward us for providing him with his best year ever, because I really do like my job and the people I work with. So let’s hope that’s the way things go. Either way, you’ll hear about it right here… Thanks for letting me whine! :-)

December 2, 2007

If’s, and’s or but’s…

Well, I was gonna do a LOT of things today…

  • plan my website
  • amp up my friends lists on the social networking websites where I have accounts
  • do a refresher study on web copywriting
  • return a pair of shoes to the store b/c they are too small for my daughter’s feet
  • buy her a new pair that fits better
  • go to the bank
  • watch football ;-)
  • write a blog!!!
  • assemble all the software I need for proper marketing
  • install some software on my pc and laptop

… and probably a few things I’ve forgotten. Well, out of that list of ten, I’ll have four completed when I finish this blog entry. I would have gotten more of them done, but My daughter is sick and I’ve been taking care of her a little bit… And I was feeling a little lazy… and I got distracted by something shiny on teh internets… black hat tactics, I think they’re called :-D

Anyway, I got a little better perspective on what I want to accomplish, so it’s all good. My mind’s been on fire lately. Burning with ideas and the desire to implement them. I just have to patiently suffer through the processes, now.

Signing off now…

Tony