London - Day 2 (10/27/07)

We woke up on Saturday morning and went downstairs for breakfast. We then jumped on the Circle Line and then took it to High Street/Kensington, heading toward Kensington Palace. First we stopped at an American Express Exchange to cash in some travelers checks - nothing like getting a 2.17 exchange rate, that means our money is worth LESS than half when converted into British Pounds. UGH!

From there we walked past St. Mary's Church making our way to Kensington Palace. Walking around Kensington Palace around the park side past the Orangery Restaurant and the Sunken Gardens. Then making our way through the heart of the park past the Round Pond, the Steke Monument (Spire) and the statue of a guy on a horse called Physical Energy.

We then made our way to the gilded Prince Albert Memorial dedicated to him, the British Empire and all of its interests. This is an amazing statue that could be a social studies lesson in itself with all of the historical vignette carvings and statuettes. Just across the street is the impressive Royal Albert Hall auditorium. Then back into the park, past the Princess Diana Fountain, which was more of a continuously flowing wandering loop. Across the Serpentine river, past the Reformers Tree (a rock mosaic of a tree) and on to Speakers Corner (no one was on the soapbox). Across the way is the former London's central gallows, now known as the Marble Arch.

We headed down Park Lane then into the neighborhood past Grosvenor Chapel, down Audley to Curzon and into the Shepherd Market zone - lots of Lebanese restaurants here. We found a cozy little authentic British pub, Ye Grapes, that had a full Thai menu... huh? Thai? Odd juxtaposition.

Leaving there we started to get a few sprinkles but they didn't last long. Wondering around we came across the hotel where the Miami Dolphins were staying - pretty cool. We then checked out the Wellington Arch and made our way to Westminster Cathedral (not Abbey or even near it). There was an abortion protest that had just finished as they arrived back at the cathedral for mass. Then on to Buckingham Palace and down The Mall through St. James Park. Winding up at Admiralty Arch and on into Trafalgar Square/Lord Nelson's Column. From there we proceeded down Whitehall, past Downing Street and ending our day's walk across from Parliament/Big Ben and St. Margaret's Church.


After rushing back to the room to grab a quick shower and change, we then took the Piccadilly to Leicester Square, picking up our show tickets and heading to the Dominion Theatre for Queen's We Will Rock You. The show was awesome! Great music, funny... would love to see it in New York to see the different as they add several "local" aspects to the show.

After a long day of walking, we wrapped it up by going into China Town (Soho) and having a nice dinner and bottle of Shiraz at the Golden Dragon. Sleep and 'off our feet' were quite welcome that night.

The British Invasion

Well, the day finally arrives! Gina and I catch our British Airways flight (BA 206) - how appropriate. The flight was uneventful (the best kind) and we arrived at London's Heathrow at 6:35 am. While in line for Passport control/immigration, we met Billie Applegate who was also flying over for the game. She is Sirius satellite radio's "Any NFL Game Anywhere Sweepstakes" winner. She's a Dolphins season ticket holder that also got to choose any game for every week this season - how cool is that! She's going to see 22 regular season NFL games plus a couple of NCAA games whenever there's a good one where she's traveling to.


Bhavesh (my UK sales guy) came to pick us up at the airport. Before leaving we grabbed some breakfast at Garfunkels in the airport. We then made a quick trip to High Street (first of many) to change some dollars into British Pounds at some ridiculous rate of 2.15 USD per 1 GBP. Ouch!

After checking into the Mayflower Hotel in the Earl's Court area of Kensington, we decided to check out the neighborhood. We ended up walking to the St. Mary's church and then a stroll through an expansive and very old Brompton Cemetary.


We then bought our Oyster Cards which gave us the unlimited opportunity to Mind The Gap in the Underground (the Tube). We rode the Piccadilly line to Piccadilly Circus area, then strolled around through Leicester and Trafalgar Square then down Whitehall past 10 Downing St. to Parliament. Big Ben looks great at night... all lit up. After going across Westminster Bridge and walking north again past the London Eye and then across on the Golden Jubilee Bridge back toward Leicester Square.

We found a "discount" show ticket outlet where we purchased tix for Saturday night's showing of Queen's We Will Rock You. We then grabbed some dinner at a Spaghetti House restaurant near Leicester Square before calling it a day.

London Calling

T-minus 1 week and counting until the wife and I jet off to London. The destination was chosen because the NFL decided to hold a regular season game there to promote the League to a global audience. Interestingly, the announcement of the game being brought to the UK was followed by the announcement that the NFL Europa league would be closed. NFL Europa began in 1991 as the World League of American Football, with 10 teams competing in North America and Europe. After a two-year hiatus (1993-94) following the 1992 season, the league returned in 1995 as a six-team, all-European venture, with five teams in Germany since 2005, and has existed in that format through its final season in 2007. With 5 teams in Germany and the sixth being Amsterdam, I'm not sure "Europa" was the appropriate naming, perhaps NFL Rhine (as in Rhine Valley Region).
I think Ricky Williams' career could have really flourished if he were on the Amsterdam Admirals.

Anyway, back to NFL US... of course the game they chose to hold in London, was a Miami Dolphins home game vs. the New York football Giants. I'm a season ticket holder for the Dolphins and my wife is a Giants fan. Four years ago, we planned our wedding around our teams' schedules - it worked out perfect. They each had the same BYE week, so we scheduled our wedding for that weekend, with a honeymoon to St. Lucia for the following week. But it gets better because the next weekend, the 2 teams were playing each other. Miami Dolphins vs. New York Giants in New York, well technically, it's in New Jersey, but that's another story. So, after our week on the island of St. Lucia at the beautiful Sandals resort, we were off to New York. The Dolphins won that game 23-10.

Fast forward to this year, now the Dolphins are 0-6, and will face the 6-0 Patriots this weekend, so they could (probably will) be 0-7 when they head to London to face the 4-2 Giants. I just hope the Dolphins can at least make it an interesting game. The same way fútbol (READ: soccer) has struggled to capture the interest of US fans, the same holds true for the NFL in Europe and the rest of the world. Too many strict rules (they're used to VERY subjective yellow cards), too much game stoppage (normally the clock just runs for 45 mins. straight, plus any extra. Then a short break and do it again), wearing all this "gear" - pads, helmets, etc... who knows why each side can't accept the other's past-time. Probably just familiarity. And, yes, I said football is our past-time, with all of baseball's issues, it's been surpassed by the monsters of the gridiron.

So, London, here we come.
Go Dolphins! Let me extend my 4 years of bragging rights another round.

The Law of Supply & Demand

So, I spent the next 30 minutes surfing the broker sites - mostly out of disgust, cussing... Cussing them, cussing Jeb Bush for making scalping legal, wondering about the fuzzy logic that really thought this would be better. They were right in their assumption that this would create competition, but as to lowering prices... not even close!

Surprisingly, they didn't realize that with a finite supply of something, the laws of supply & demand don't apply. Why can a one-of-a-kind painting sold at auction in Christie's worth more than a mass-produced print sold at Wal-Mart? Besides the subjective qualities, it's supply. The masterpiece is worth more because there aren't anymore, while the print isn't unique and more can always be produced, so there's nothing to drive the price higher.

The same is true with concert tickets and the limited supply - most of the time. Sometimes an artist will throw a monkey wrench into the works by announcing additional shows (affecting the supply - which should lower the price) but that doesn't happen often - unless you're The Police or The Rolling Stones.

So, 30 mins. after the show is sold out, I'm watching demand slowly deplete the tickets that are showing on the broker's websites. My daughter's birthday approaching, knowing how much she wants to go to this concert, I jump. I find 2 tickets (Upper level, 4th row) for $150 each and I buy them. If I have to deal with snakes, I want to stick the ones with the least poison.

I chose StubHub (owned by eBay). They guarantee all of their tickets sales.


FanProtect for Buyers
* You will get your tickets in time for the event.
* Your tickets will be authentic and valid for entry.
* You will receive tickets comparable to or better than
the tickets you ordered, or your money back.
* You will be refunded if the event is canceled and
is not rescheduled.

So, at least I'm assured that I won't lose my money. But if I get to the show and the tickets do end up bogus, no amount of money will console my daughter if we have to stand outside that show, with all of her excited anticipation, unable to get it in. So far everything is looking aboveboard, I already received the tickets. They are the actual ticket machine printed ones, not the highly suspicious laser-printed PDF e-tickets.

While I don't condone their business, I can't fault their business practices. Trying to add customer service and piece of mind to a situation that often holds neither.

We'll see how it goes. I'll be filling you in on November 21st about my experience at the Hannah Montana show. Weeeeeee!

Anti-Scalping is Anti-Consumer

Tickets for the Hannah Montana concert went on sale the morning of Sept. 15. I set up 3 of my computers to be ready to at least secure 2 tickets to ensure that my 8 year old daughter (a huge Hannah fan) gets to go. Ticket prices ranged from $26 - $66.

The site dictates the following stipulations:
Ticket limit is 4 tickets per household.
Please Note: There is a strict ticket limit policy in effect, more than one order per person or household will result in cancellation without notification.
-- No problem... I only want 2.

REFRESH... REFRESH... REFRESH... it's up!
Full Price Tickets: 2 - Any Price
Section: Best Available
Location: Best Available
Click "Look For Tickets"

Input Verification Code
(BTW... "This step helps prevent unfair use of automated programs." - Good stick it to those scalpers and ticket brokers)
Click "Continue"
....searching...searching...

Then at 10:00:20 (Yes, that's 20 seconds past the start time of 10 am), I received the following message:
"There were no tickets available that matched your request"

What!!? How can that be?
Thousands of tickets gone in less than 20 seconds? And when purchasers were limited to a max of 4. Season ticket holders to the Florida Panthers were guaranteed tickets to any other show that comes to the Bank Atlantic Center - maybe they got all of the tickets? Doubt it - there aren't that many season ticket holders. Also, I have a friend who is a season ticket holder and he was told that because of this special show they couldn't honor that promise. Okay, so where did all of the tickets go?

The TicketMaster site displays the following helpful hint:
"Can't find tickets? You can still buy Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus tickets from other fans through TicketExchange!"
Their cheapest:
Sec. 403 (Upper deck), Row 8, Seat 19 - $275 (Yes, that's for only 1 seat!)
Most expensive:
Sec. 5 (Middle floor), Row F, Seat 12 - $785 (Again, for only 1 seat)

Then I found hundreds, no, thousands of tickets posted on every ticket broker site - Ticketliquidator, FrontRowKing, GotTickets, StubHub (owned by eBay), TicketsNow... all of them. Tons of tickets! Lowest price: $150 per ticket for upper deck seats. Up to $12,000 for a private box that holds 20 (what a deal at $600 each person?).

This isn't an isolated case either. My friend went through the same for the show in Kansas City. And now Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon has gotten enough complaints from upset parents to start an investigation. CNN picked up the same story for the Nashville show. And it seems pretty much all of the shows have seen the same result.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush signed the anti-scalping legislation [House Combined Bill No. 6003] into law June 7, 2006, making Florida one of 35 states to legalize scalping. "When you have a monopoly, what happens?" asked John K. Stargel, R-Lakeland, who sponsored the bill in the House. "You pay more. I think you've seen what the high end of the prices will be. And now there'll be more people, more tickets available and consumers will have more choices, which I think is a good thing."

Government needs to evaluate how their plan to remove anti-scalping laws would increase competition and reduce prices. News Flash: It's not working!!

Next... I'll tell you how I sold my soul for the happiness of my daughter.

Life's Passion

I'm not sure about where my life has gone or where it shall go in the future, but I believe my soul was meant for other things. I think it's a matter of location, not misdirection or mistakes. I've found the perfect woman, I have a beautiful daughter, and we have a comfortable life... but I think there's more.

My wife and I work too hard (well, she does) and it's rewarding enough monetarily, but it's not fulfilling. It's work. I want a passion. Not just for me, but for all of us. I don't know what, but something... buy a chateau in France or Italy with a vineyard and toil over each vintage; write a great novel that seizes the imagination; retake my art and stop feeling like I'm wasting a gift; learn to play the piano; rebuild and customize a '70 1/2 Chevy Camaro Z28 and road trip across the country; and share whatever it is with friends and family.

XXXVIII = 38?! Yikes!

Oof! 38 years old... ouch. When did that happen!?
Oh, well, time flies when you're having fun.
At least I don't feel as old as this age seemed when I was 20.

Papillary Carcinoma

So, Johns Hopkins returned the bad news on the pathology of the now banished thyroid. Something called a papillary carcinoma, which is generally the culprit in about 80% of thyroid cancers diagnosed. Scary! You hear the stories and stigma around the word cancer so when it gets close to home, you try to steel yourself for what may come.

Next, was to determine treatment. Apparently radioactive iodine treatment is standard after a thyroidectomy, it's just a matter of needing only an outpatient dosage or a 3-day quarantine hospital stay. Gina's doctor decided she needed the 3-day timeout. So, here's the deal - she takes a little pill that arrives in a metal box, inside a metal box, it can't be directly touched and once taken no one can be within 10 feet of her. It has a 6-7 day half life, so after 2 days, you were allowed very limited time within a 3 foot proximity. In fact, she can't have anything in the room with her that she can't throw away afterwards - clothes, books, magazines, etc. That cuts out the all of the fun stuff... iPods, portable DVD player, laptop, cell phone, etc. It's like a 3 day incarceration! She gets a TV and phone in the room and that's about it. No Internet? Yikes! Just euthenize me why don't you. Weird that the nursing and dietary personnel had to wear little geiger counters to monitor their exposure when they had to enter. That's some serious stuff.

All in all (not that I was the one going through it) for "chemotherapy" this is a pretty mild form - no nausea, hair or weight loss; only a mild dry, sore throat for which they perscribe lemon hard candies. Papillary cancer cells that may have spread elsewhere in the body will absorb iodine, so if the iodine is radioactive, it will then kill those cancerous cells. Apparently the iodine will then show up in a full-body scan a week later if there are additional cancer cells somewhere... Gina's scan was NEGATIVE.... Yeah! Finally some good news.

So, let's hope this chapter of this blog and of this scariness is over! I've realized that I'd rather have it myself than watch Gina go through something like this again. I've also learned a new respect for what serious cancer sufferers (afflicted or related) go through - it goes against the "beats a stick in the eye" saying.

Hospitals

Arriving at 6:15 am for my wife to undergo a thyroidectomy, I would much rather be the chauffeur than the patient. Sure the chauffeur (especially a spouse/parent) has to endure a lot of waiting in usually uncomfortable chairs, watching a TV that you'd kill to control the remote (especially us husbands) and the lack of timely information - but I'd take that any day over anesthesia, being cut open, anesthesia nausea, noisy roommates, noisy hallways, hourly poking & proding, the food (blah!), leashed to an IV and most of all, the endless hours of boredom. It makes one consider the benefit of being DOA.

The elderly woman in the next bed asked them to change her bedding, then asked if they do that daily. The clinical assistant said that they "make" the beds daily (um... not when there's someone almost always in it?) but they don't "change" the sheets daily. Huh? Even the cheapest hotels change the bedding daily if there's an occupant - but in a hospital, it isn't necessary? If the hotel can afford it from just the room rate, a hospital has profit oozing from many sources and like they don't charge enough for the hospital room to at least give you clean linens?

The roommate is wearing noise-cancelling headphones connected to the TV mounted on a nifty floating arm - she said they're for "all the noise around here". She also has her cell phone on the loudest ringer setting (so she can hear over the noise-cancelling headphones no doubt) and takes a minimum of 3 rings to answer it. Funny thing is I only hear her speaking loud to all of her friends from Century Village (FL) and NY about the diverticulitis that has stranded her here for "a minimum of 12 days". Glad we're only here for 2 days!

Luckily Gina's surgery went perfectly, hopefully the side effects (mostly from anesthesia) will subside soon. Then she can get home and rest in a nice & quiet comfortable bed.

I Jyte, therefore I am (wasting time)

Okay, Jyte is cool... I don't know why, but it is. And it's addicting.

For those of you that don't know, Jyte is a website where you can make a claim or share cred and others can vote on your statement (thumbs up or thumbs down).
Some of the statements are really inane (i.e. Learning to speak Klingon is a complete waste of time, I sing in the shower, etc.) others are more interesting a debatable (i.e. The purpose of life is different for different people., I don't feel that I really have a purpose, etc.).

My one and only post (so far) was The Internet was always interesting, but only now is it becoming useful. - currently being downed 10 (up) - 12 (down). Sometimes the questions and votes are difficult to interpret, such as in this one... do people think the Internet has always been useful or do they not think it is yet. Or, are they confused that perhaps I was considering email as part of the Internet - which I wasn't.

Anyways, check it out. Just surf through the claims, it's easy, but if you want to vote or make your own claim, you'll have to register or sign in with an OpenID (if you have one).

(what) To Be or Not To Be... that is the question.

Besides when I was a kid with a lawnmower, I've only been self-employed 1 other time. I started a graphic design company with a partner at first and then later bought him out when he needed to relocate. I had the company for about 3 years until desire gave way to need and I took a design position with a clothing catalog company.

Having my own company taught me many things - mostly from the "how to run a business" administrative side - payables, receivables, filing taxes, business licenses, how to incorporate, etc. During that time, I also learned the computer side of my design craft. I was an Illustrator with a self-proclaimed keen eye for design, but until then I hadn't really been computer trained. Krow, Inc. not only gave me my present day moniker and persona, but a solid foundation on which I've built over the years.

The catalog company taught me several invaluable lessons. The first was how to work as part of a team and how to work within a process. The job was very regimented in its processes and showed me the importance of paying attention to the details - every minute, fine detail. I am genetically anal-retentive and obsessive-compulsive anyway and this just further nurtured that nature. I also grew my knowledge of printing - sheetfed, large web presses, inks, papers, etc. but after 3 years, I was ready to move on.

I took a job with an advertising agency thinking that the diversity of many clients and different creative projects would restimulate my brain after the monotony of the catalog business. This turned out to be true. Expanding my creative portfolio to include more print advertising, brochures, billboards, identity packages, etc. But here is where I met 3 important people in my life.

The first and most important was my wife, Gina. She was the VP of Finance at the agency and likes to say that I fell in love with her because she was intrumental in getting a raise at one point - while that helped us first interact, it was only the catalyst to getting to know all of her qualities that really made me fall in love with her.

The next was someone I considered to be a creative mentor. He taught me how to not only be the one who executes (designer) but how to to be a Creative Director. He taught me how to formulate the ideas - how to think - and not just self indulgent creative but something truly beneficial for the client... good advertising.

The last is my current boss. I brought on his software company to the agency as a client and later he brought me on as his VP of Marketing and am now in charge of sales and marketing.
He's helped me broaden my business acumen. In addition to being very business saavy, he's knowledgeable in marketing and sales, while at the same having a solid background in the technical foundation of our company. I've learned quite a lot about business management
from him and continue to still.

I hope to someday soon venture again into entrepreneurship and leverage the knowledge I've been gleaning from everyone. I'll be happy if I can parlay it into similar success. I'll keep you posted.

Why blog?

I'm not sure... why are you reading this? If you don't know that, then I shouldn't have to know why I'm blogging. I read several blogs and many of them are brilliant musings by brilliant men, but what will mine be like? I guess we'll see...

I have about a 30 minute one-way drive to & from my office - this provides me with a lot of time to think, daydream, formulate, plot and plan. But that's thinking, no judgment, no editor, no critique, and let's face it... some things are better left unsaid, or for that matter, unwritten.

I'm sure the fodder for my posts will be factors of my life - children, family, pets, work, sports and personal finances. But I'm sure I'll delve into subjects that are more ancillary - politics, foreign affairs, tabloid journalism, music and entertainment.

The one thing I ask is that just as you shouldn't judge a book by the cover, don't judge this blog by this prelude post. Perhaps the chapters to come will hold more promise. Hopefully, there can be some outside contributions to spark discussion, debate or even future posts. More importantly will be my own commitment to feeding this blog on a regular basis - like I said, I guess we'll see (and read).