Take back the Tour

Yes indeed we all own the Tour, so let us Take back the Tour. Nice little marketing effort of the Versus network, but something that is most likely close to mind of most passionate cycling fans.

Hallelujah

Well, the new 3G iPhone has been announced and will be available in about a month. Hallelujah.

Something is wrong

Seriously. :-)

Microsoft cool?

Fast Company magazine recently pondered the question "Can Hotshot Ad Guy Alex Bogusky Make Microsoft Cool?" My very fast response to that question would be NOPE.
But I would for love Alex Bogusky of Crispin Porter Bogusky fame to prove me wrong.

We can solve it

If Reverend Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson can come together when it comes to the urgency of protecting the planet, I think we all can come together too. Why not sign up for wecansolveit.org and show them that you care for our planet too. Let's make sure our kids and their kids have a beautiful planet left.

Duellanti magazine

I have never had a Duellanti magazine in my hands so I can't speak for its content, but the ads below certainly got my attention. Their site is not even up and I am still curious.

Alright Hillary

It is time to admit defeat. Seriously.

An architect's rendering

We received some better renderings of our new house in Winston-Salem and it really seems to come together now. The plan is to get it LEED Gold certified and if all goes well we should be in it by this time next year. The exterior is a mix of corrugated metal and hardiplank cement siding. Colors are not yet determined.

A view of the front



An angled view of the front



A view of the back



An angled view of the back



Our architect send us also the first rendering of the inside of our new home. Ignore the furniture and colors, but that is roughly what it will look like inside.

Great home available

As we are moving to Winston-Salem at the end of the month my beautiful home will go on the market this week. Located on the side of Missionary Ridge, this 2 bedroom, 1 bath home was built in 1961 and sits on 2 lots. Hardwood floors and tiled throughout, the home features huge windows and a very nice open floor plan. It also has a very deep garage and an unusually large driveway.







Here is the actual listing on realtor.com

Annual Memorial Day swim

I have lived in Chattanooga now for 10 years and almost every year I participated in the Memorial Day swim across the Dam. We basically swim from the beach area on one side of the Chickamagua Dam to the "Caution Dangerous Waters" sign on the other side and back. Total distance is 1.5 miles and since i am considering doing a 4.5 mile swim in mid June, I swam a bit more after the round trip. This year we were 13 swimmers and one kind support kayaker.


Me just before the swim in my new blueseventy pointzero 3+ swimskin

Winston-Salem visit

We went to Winston-Salem for the weekend to meet with the architects of our soon to be built home and also look for an apartment. The meeting went really well and we really like both Anne and Marty of Metropolis Architecture PLLC, plus it seems that we found a very cool apartment too. Yeah.

June 2, Hold your horses, today we found out that the person living in the apartment decided to stay there so we won't get it after all. :-(

That Jordan Rapp

Pro triathlete / slowtwitch web master Jordan Rapp does some pretty impressive diving and wins some nice cash for effort. MC for the event is 2000 Olympic Triathlon Champion Simon Whitfield. Go Jordan.


Via: Simon Whitfield blog

My bachelor event

I just realized that I never posted an image of my bachelor event and I feel a bit guilty. After all several friends made a great effort for it to happen.

The event was a Rod Dixon run that required participants to run 6 miles and drink a beer after each mile. Each runner was allowed 11 minutes for each mile and in that time they also had to finish their beverage of choice. Most common was Pabst Blue Ribbon or Coors Light etc, but 2 hearty souls brought Guinness. As I don't drink, I was "allowed" Busch NA. :-)

Custom event numbers were made for this bachelor run and all participants who were not YET bald, wore bald caps in my honor.

The gang



The groom

The world united by Bush

While many people seem to think that George Bush divides folks, others clearly think the opposite. According to Ivan of creativebits the ad world seems to be especially united when it comes to the portrayal of George.

Below are some examples but check out the complete listing on creativebits

Some of the wedding guests

Kate and Dave from my old Philly days



My host mom Bev from Philly, my mom, my brother Manfred and my aunt Maria



Susan Herin with Jamie Simpson (secret agent 1) lurking right behind her



Eric Buck (secret agent 2) returned from Miami for the event



Martin Finnegan had his hands full with Bex and Jill as we had courted his wife Janelle Simpson as a photographer

We are married

Amy and I got married on Saturday, May 3rd at Cloudland Canyon State park. We had a wonderful wedding and are now very excited to spend the rest of our lives together.



More pictures on our wedding blog

What is in a logo?

Sometimes logo changes are very small and subtle and other times they are quite large or even graphic. I actually really mean that.


Presenting the logo for the Office of Government Commerce in the UK.




Imagine now what you would think about that logo when you look at it with your head tilted to the left. Still thinking about the Office of Government Commerce?

Via: theregister.co.uk

The Chattanooga cable wars

Comcast just sued the Electric Power Board (EPB) again over their plans for a new fiber optic network that could offer an alternative cable tv solution to Chattanooga residents by the end of 2008. According to Comcast "Our intention is to ensure that EPB complies with the Tennessee Cable Act and that Comcast be allowed to compete in a fair environment. Due to this pending litigation, we cannot comment further." Say what?

As far as I know, Comcast has a big monopoly and is not competing with anybody at this time.

I hope EPB continues to pursue this issue and maybe they'll give us better service, more choices, a fairer price and ideally some better tv ads too. It is quite sad that a media company like Comcast currently has some of the worst tv ads in town.

Hello Centro

My new Palm Centro phone arrived a few days ago and I do like it quite a bit. It has a bit of an iPod feel and is just the perfect size. The buttons are smaller compared to my Treo 680, but that seems to be no issue. Battery life seems to be better so far.

Congrats Jordan

My buddy Jordan Rapp had an amazing race at the the 2008 Ironman Arizona and finished 3rd overall in 8:35:04. His 4:32:42 bike split was the fastest of the day and he still had enough power left to run a 3:02:33 marathon. Plus unlike many others, he actually knows what to do with the bubbly.


Pic courtesy Jay Prasuhn

Blackbird

My new Jamis Xenith T1 TT bike is ready to ride and it is an amazingly stunning machine. It looks like a stealth bomber and weighs in at 16.22 pounds without pedals. Bamm. I lovingly call it Blackbird. :-)

I am a bit worried

Sometimes my friend Eric worries me a bit, but usually it is all fairly harmless. But more recently his marine biology studies seem to have taken him to a different universe. :-)

New phone, new phone service?

My Treo 680 died a sudden death the other day, actually very shortly after my last blog entry. What should have been a simple warranty thing turned out to be a major AT&T customer service nightmare. Palm products are no longer on my shopping wish list and AT&T should be out too, but apparently all phone companies have no clue about customer service. So what do do other than continuing to use my ancient Sony Ericcson backup phone?
Wait a few months until the new 3G iPhone comes out and then worry about getting a new phone then? Or wait a few more months for the Garmin Nuviphone to show up?

My new phone assistant

Sometimes when I am on the phone, my personal assistant Silvie keeps me company. :-)

A great gift

Amy and I recently got this great gift from her parents. It is a bowl from 1969 called a Celestial Gem Tone bowl and they received it then as a wedding gift. They never liked it and kept it to this day. They decided to pass it on to us with the understanding that we could not sell it on eBay, but we could pass it on eventually. Amy and I though really like it and I think we will just hang on to it.

More green stuff

It appears that Amy and I will be getting a sustainable living / Leed certified home in Winston Salem. We are both excited about having a home that'll be "ours" versus "mine" and "yours", plus we feel good that we'll be contributing to a solution. Additionally a neat location downtown doesn't hurt either. :-)


A somewhat artistic rendering of the new home




The red X marks the spot where our new home will be

Build it green and they will come

Today I went to the monthly meeting of the USGBC East Tennessee chapter at the very cool Loose Cannon Studios on Rossville Boulevard. Speaker was Jim Nicolow, AIA, LEED AP, a nationally recognized sustainable design expert. He leads Lord, Aeck & Sargent Architecture's Sustainability Initiative, overseeing the incorporation of sustainable design strategies and features into the firm's design projects. He talked about daylighting and smart use of natural light and it was all very interesting. Most interesting though was the massive throng of people there to attend the meeting. Who would have thought that so many folks have GREEN on their mind?

How do they know?

Maybe the question should be, why does facebook think to market a hair loss product to me? What gives them the idea I could possibly use it? :-)

Maybe every male and female over 40 gets that.

Say it without too many words

I guess the pic says it all, no words needed.

Wild storms in Europe

Hurricane-force winds and rain lashed northern Europe earlier in March disrupting air, rail and sea travel for thousands, toppling trees and construction cranes, and killing 11 people. Below are some images that give you an idea of the power of those storms.




pics via FAZ.net

Pandora radio

My friend Joe recently made me aware of Pandora Radio where you can create your own radio stations based on an artist or band that you like. I created a few different radio stations so far and I really like it.

Amy

Almost ready, but not quite

The Xentis aero bars, Fizik Arione Tri braided saddle and stem are now added to this beautiful Jamis Xenith T1 and it slowly looks like a real vicious TT machine. I love how the bars and wheels really match the frame so nicely.