You know when you sign up for something online, you have to occasionally give your birthdate? Back in the internet-boom days, this was "personalization," the great little get-to-know-ya thing that was supposed to revoloutionize the internet. You give them your information and they would target products to you based on your info and send you emails, etc. But you always had to enter your birthday. So through the years, I've signed up for a few things here and there (Friendster, Amazon, blah blah blah) and I always wondered when some company would utilize my data and send me a birthday wish. Today, my dreams came true.

The Boston Bruins sent me an email this morning wishing me a happy birthday. Isn't that sweet? There is, however, one problem - I never have signed up for anything with the Boston Bruins website and today is not my birthday. Screw the internet.

Off to New York today until Friday for my, uh, internet related job. Will post from the Big Apple as I attend the Search Engine Strategies conference. Whoooooo!

Who wants to play Pac-Man?

I've always thought that the amount of keys on your keychain could very well be the key indicator of how complicated (or simple) one's life may be. I have 2 keys on my keychain.

Song now playing: Cracker - "100 Flower Power Maximum"

Ruminating today about decision-making. What happens in our brain that sways us to do one thing over another? If you have two choices to make for places to go on a Friday night, it's almost always a pretty simple decision. But what's at work inside our heads when we're walking down the street and there's a person coming at us from the opposite direction? How does the decision get made to stay left or right? Is it a conscious decision? It's made in a matter of milli-seconds in that example, but there's got to be some kind of internal process that decides it. This morning, this process fascinates me.

My example about walking down the street is an interesting one - I read somewhere that the decision-making process in that scenario actually comes from hundreds of years ago. What I read was that it was an unwritten law that men would always walk furthest from the street (in affect, staying to the right) and that women would stay closer to the street (left) because there were bound to be more accidents or mishaps closer to the street. Since men were considered more important than women in those times, that's the way it worked. It became such standard practice, such a part of the fiber of daily life, that eventually it just become second-hand - an unconscious decision - and as generations passed, it just became hard-wired to the point where it was automatic.

Of course, our society today and its views on women has changed significantly. But next time you're walking down the street, pay some attention to people who are walking in the opposite direction from each other and how they interact and what split-second decision they make, particularly men and women. Also try to pay attention to yourself as you walk down the street.

Decision-making is really an interesting subject. For example, what made me choose a heavy ceramic monkey to hold my business cards at work?

First things first, this new law recently enacted by the state of Massachusetts has put a damper on my heterosexual marraige plans. Stephanie won't be pleased. The question: is there a grandfather clause which lets currently married or engaged people maintain their heterosexual union while determining the partner for their homosexual one? Stay tuned.

Lots of good search engine material recently. Of course, there's the latest Wired cover story, which features 13 full pages of nothing but Google. It reads much more like a paid advertisement than an article, really. What I mean is that this piece is more suited to People magazine, based on it's near-adolescent content and writing. Wired, normally a pretty fantastic magazine/editorial, ought to be ashamed of themselves really, but let's face it, Google's a juggernaut now and we'll probably see more of it in the weeks and months to come. I'll hold off on adding "years" to that statement for now.

Wouldn't hurt to take note of this interview, too, with Ask Jeeves VP Of Product Management, who makes some interesting comments about the future of search (editorial note: I work for Ask Jeeves).

I've noted here previously about my disdain for the sport of basketball. But it's kinda cool to see that Kent State, my alma mater, has strung together some very impressive seasons, including this year. When I was at Kent, all of our sports team were pretty horrible, with the exception of baseball, who had a dominating young pitcher named Dustin Hermanson at the time. You might recognize his name. Anyway, I believe that while I was at Kent, the aggregate record of our Division 1 football team was 1-39. I think.

Song now playing: The Clash - "Lost in the Supermarket"

I got a call late yesterday afternoon and it was a friend-of-a-friend who was looking for someone to play hockey in his league because a few guys couldn't make it. Seeing as though the rink was less than 5 miles from my house, I accepted.

So anyway, I'd like to thank the guy on the other team who thought it was a 7th game of the Stanley Cup Finals and decided to hack me with his stick:



Is there anything more bizarre or frustrating than people who are so competitive that they feel like they have to do these type of things? Maybe competitive isn't the right word. How about maniac? Some people are just not mentally prepared or mature enough to accept the fact that everyone out there playing has to work the next day, or that most of us are there to have fun and burn off some calories. I mean, is it that important? Oh well....

Song now playing: Tarbox Ramblers - "Columbus Stockade"

Last Friday night at about 5:45pm I was sitting in the office at work, on the phone, for what I decided would be my last call of the day. Stephanie was out for most of the night, so I found myself trying to decide what to do with myself. Normally, when I try to decide what to do, it takes me about 37 hours. Not on this night. I quickly decided that I wanted to see the movie Miracle. This should come as no shock to anyone, since I've played hockey nearly my entire life and I do remember watching the 1980 U.S. hockey team like it was last week. I was only nine at the time, but I remember it so clearly - the blue ice, the pandemonium, Al Michaels, the stunned looks on the Russian faces. Anyway, the movie was Disney-esque - squeaky clean, fairly compelling and very moving. Kurt Russell was excellent as coach Herb Brooks. In interviews I've seen and read, the actual players are all saying that Russell nailed the personality of Brooks to a T - that's cool.

Two questions come out of this:

1) Because the movie started at 6:45, I realized that I had to move quickly if I was going to make it on time. I was also hungry. I also had no cash. I quickly formulated my plan: drive right to Maynard, hit the ATM, grab a sandwich and bring it to the movie. Which I did. With the sub stuffed under my coat, I walked into the theatre about ten minutes before the movie started and had my dinner. Later on, I told Stephanie about this and she seemed to get a kick out of the fact that I brought a sub into the theatre and ate it. She wondered if other people might have thought it was weird or rude. It didn't really even occur to me that it might be strange, but in thinking about it, I've never actually seen someone do it (except me, now). My question: if you saw someone eating a sub at a movie theatre, would you think it was strange?

2) I also don't think twice about going to the movies by myself. I'll call a couple of people and if they can't go, than that's fine. I'll go alone. However, I've spoken with many people who feel uncomfortable going to movies alone. I sure don't. I'm the type of person who likes to be alone quite a bit, actually. Think about it - I've had this site for over two years now and all I really do is talk about myself. I believe that I am my favorite person and there's nothing wrong with that. Is there? Question: do you think it's strange when you see people in the movie theatre alone?

Song now playing: The Velvet Underground - "I'm Sticking With You"

A friend of mine pointed me to this interesting article about eating meat. While I am not a vegetarian and I don't necessarily pay much attention to how much meat I consume, I would venture to guess that I eat less meat than the average American. I'm more apt to order a portobella mushroom sandwich than a hamburger, I suppose. More likely to buy Gardenburger products (I am particularly keen on this one) because, well, I think they taste good and I love the retro design on the box. Anyway, my point is that there are some vegetarians out there who take their vegetarianism to ridiculous levels, prodding and pushing their beliefs on you, then there are those who simply go about their life and don't make a huge show of it. Here's to the latter.

So nobody answered my question from earlier in the week: what is the plural of "fleece?"

Song now playing: L7 - "Pretend We're Dead"

Hmmmm.....need to stop and pick up some bread, milk, some Fig Newtons, something for dinner tonight, a drop cloth for painting and.....oh yeah, don't forget the F/A-18A Navy Blue Angel Hornet fighter jet.

Sad news from the entertainment world today, Madge, the 1970s and 1980's tour-de-force pitchwoman for Palmolive, has died. Oh, the hours I spent watching those commercials, studying the acting. Such grace, such maturity. Today we'll all be "soaking in it" and soften our hands while doing the dishes one last time. Why do the great ones have to leave us?

So, Yahoo has dropped Google. For those of you who didn't know, when you did a search at Yahoo, they were using Google's results. Now they use their own results. The big question: will anyone other than us search engine nerds notice this? I suspect not.

Those crazy British!

Song now playing: Big Star - "The Ballad of El Goodo"

I'm still feeling slightly floored by that Autumn Defense show from Friday. Now that I'm "down," I still feel like that was one of the best shows I have ever seen.

Anyway, good article to be found here regarding the heavyweight title fight coming this year between search engines. It's going to be a fun year. No matter what happens, I'm enjoying being in the hottest business on the internet right now.

What is the plural of "fleece?"

Right now I am shoving gum drops in my mouth during my lunch, but this morning at the gym I observed a woman putting much effort into the treadmill, but at the same time drinking coffee and singing along to the song that was on the PA at the time, Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive." Great stuff.

Spent the past three days doing nothing except working on the house. Hazardous chemicals, primer, paint, scraping, taping, sanding, steel wool - the works. To say that I was exhauseted last night would be a dramatic understatement, but damn, the house is shaping up!

Song now playing: Cracker - "St. Cajetan"

Back in December, when I first saw The Autumn Defense at Schubas in Chicago, I reported to you all right here on these pages about how good their show was. My thoughts at the time were that it was their record release party in their hometown and they had a sold out club full of fans who knew them, were friends with them, cheered them and loved them. That kind of crowd always makes for a better show.

So it was with great anticipation about a month ago when I was scanning the music listings here in Boston and I circled the date of Friday, February 13th - The Autumn Defense finally makes their stop in Boston. This would be a more true test in my eyes - put them in a less friendly environment - a city with different, discerning tastes, where they're a lesser-known entity playing in a smaller club - then let's see how it works out. I'm here to tell you that what I saw tonight might have been one of the best live rock shows I have ever seen in my life. And I've seen a lot of them.

It's just such a rarity these days that I leave a show with the feeling I had tonight after seeing this band - pure, unadulterated elation. I mean, it was on a completely different level. There are only a few specific instances where I was taken to these kinds of heights in a rock-show setting. One was a single moment during a Son Volt show back in 1997 when the band performed such a drop-dead, perfect version of "Left A Slide" that it resulted in my getting intense goose bumps and - really - I almost wept. No lie - it was right there on the cusp and I remember and very much appreciate that moment like it happened 3 days ago. I have no idea why it was that particular song that caused it, but that's a feeling you just want to capture and bottle-up for the remainder of your life. You search for such happiness.

The Autumn Defense tonight brought me to those levels again. Not necessarily on the verge of tears, but the feeling that you're witnessing something at its finest, seeing such perfection being made just ten feet from you really takes you to another place, so much so that I had to come home tonight, sit here right now and type this out at 2:12am (EST) while it was still freshly baked in my head.

Performing a stunning range of songs from weepy, '70s style AM ballads, to richly textured 7-piece performances featuring two horn players, to the show's closing number, the gut-ripping, jumping version of Big Star's "You Can't Have Me," The Autumn Defense have set the standard for a live show in this decade. There, I've said it. I'm not trying to be "I've seen the future of rock-and-roll" Landau-ish here, I'm just calling them as I see them and I cannot stress enough how strongly I suggest you see this band play. I brought my friend Will with me, who had never heard a single note of this band and one of his few comments afterward was "it's such a cool thing when a band you've never heard in your life can totally blow your mind like that."

Here, here.

As a quick sidenote, if there were such thing as buying stock in musical talent, I would put every last dime of my money into Pat Sansone - and he's not even the main singer in the band. Where a John Stirratt (singer) is like Jim Thome - he will hit home run after home run, Pat Sansone is Alex Rodriguez. He can do everything and make it look like nothing - piano, acoustic guitar, electric guitar and a voice that you just have to hear in concert to even believe.

My final statement of the evening is the incredulous notion that this band is actually just a side project. That thought really just makes me laugh. A side project. Anyway, here's a slideshow of some pics from the show tonight. Enjoy. Let me stress again - do whatever you can to see them if they're in or near your town.

I really should pay attention more. I just found out (like, right now) that I have Monday off. I thought I had to work. Thankfully, I found out now and not on Monday at 9am when the door is locked.

I'm about halfway through the documentary A Decade Under The Influence and I'm totally captivated. It's a three hour documentary which explores the newly found freedom of filmmakers in the 1970's. It's not just Coppola and Scorsese, either - it's a detailed piece of work, featuring interviews with many directors and producers - good interviews - and clips from movies both famous and the lesser-known. I can't recommend this more. Released in partnership with the Independant Film Channel (another great entity in its own right), this is one of very few DVD's that I might consider buying.

While we're on the topic of movies, it was with great amazement that Stephanie and I watched Winged Migration a few nights ago. This documentary is unique in that there are probably three sentences spoken in the whole film. Basically, this work of art, and I don't use that term loosely, somehow manages to document a variety of different birds as they migrate. The absolutely stunning part of this film is that you literally feel like you're flying right next to these birds. I don't know how they did it, but it's as if they tied a camera to another bird's head - that's how close the camera gets. How did they do it? I don't know. Just incredible.

Song now playing: The Autumn Defense - "Iowa City"

Some search-engine stuff today. As I've mentioned before, the hullabaloo over Google's upcoming IPO is nearing epic proportions. I should preface my thoughts by saying that I believe Google has an excellent product. Their brand is clearly second-to-none in the search space. However, much like the technically superior Beta-Max was left in the dust by the horrific VHS technology back in the early '80s, I do believe there are other search technologies out there that are as good, and in some cases, better than Google. The competition is getting very interesting. Would you invest in a Google IPO today, valued at $15-25 billion, knowing that Microsoft is quietly perched in the top left corner of the United States, rubbing their chins, raising their eyebrows and plotting their own search engine?

Anyway, I'll abandon excessive verbosity here and point you to this article, one in which someone is stepping up to the plate and delivering a message a lot of people won't want to hear - Google is already over-valued. I couldn't agree more. Furthermore, when Barry Diller says that he's slowing down his acquisitions because he thinks we're in an internet bubble, than there must be something to it. I'm not sure we'll ever reach the heavy panting we saw in the 98-00 stock market/internet run-up, but what's going on now, especially with Google, is most certainly shades of that.

What we've seen over the last few years is a mini-bubble of sorts. Overture, then Google, launched the paid search market into the stratosphere and suddenly you see a turd truck come 'round the corner, two wheels off the ground, chock full of search sites that barely indentify themselves on their webpages. Now there's 42 million companies that are telling you (and charging you for it) how to buy sponsored links and how to get ranked better. We'll see who's still standing in that space five years from now. Hell, two years from now. Hell, one year from now! Not many.....

All we know is that every time you click, someone's probably getting paid. That's no big deal, really. All we know is that every now and then, your computer is taken over by some mysterious ailment that directs you to search sites you've never seen in your life. It's ludicrous. Yet analysts claim this will be a $7-8 billion dollar business in a few years. Will it? Let's just look back and remember what analysts were saying about the internet back in 1998. You can make your own call.

Do I believe in sponsored links? You bet I do. Are they effective? About as effective as anything that's ever been put on the internet. Keep this in mind, though - a lot of people I've talked to over the last week or two, and I've talked to many, have told me that, for the most part, they skip right over sponsored links. Never look at them or click them. Some of these people are internet savvy, others are not. But the message, to me, was clear - sponsored links might not be the savior for search engines. That is a fact that remains to be seen and I'm not throwing my personal dollars at any companies whose reliance is solely on that technology.

Song now playing: AC/DC - "Problem Child"

Some fun with pictures today. I finally got around to getting a picture of myself with the new "rec specs," also known as prescription sport goggles, also known as the pair of glasses that make me look like a maniac when combined with an ice hockey helmet.



Perhaps I should get a picture of the specs and the hockey helmet, this one looks a little tame. The goggles seem to work okay, though. It's unbelieveable how much everything changes when your sight is crystal clear on the ice.

Next up we have a quiz. If you can tell me what this picture is, I will burn you a copy of any CD in my library. Do I have a list of CDs in my library? No. Can you come over and look through them and pick one out? No. But I must have something you'll like. You'll never get the answer anyway. So.......wanna play? What is it? By the way, looking at the source code ain't gonna help you.





Song now playing: Jet - "Rollover DJ"

I only saw about a half-hour of the Grammy's last night, but apparantly I tuned in at the right time, as I saw most of what was being discussed on the radio and TV this morning. A summary of what I saw and my thoughts:

- Celine Dion. Now here's a lady who takes herself too seriously. I can't even begin explain the level of hatred I have for her music. Maybe she's the nicest lady on Earth (I doubt it) but her music is simply torture. So I had the remote cocked and ready when I saw her getting ready to sing, but lo and behold, we have technical problems! She's singing, but there's no sound! Hooray! This was turning into the best performance of the night, until some dude came from backstage and handed her a live microphone. Nonetheless, I grinned the whole time, knowing that some poor soul was going to get his ass handed to him afterwards, despite her trying to smile and stay on track. Even though you could hear her sing, there were still clear audio problems, so much so that she just took the earpiece out of her ear. Ha ha ha ha! I loved it.

- Justin Timberlake & CBS: both spineless. Utterly, completely spineless. CBS is spineless for inviting Timberlake but un-inviting Janet Jackson. Timberlake is spineless for accomodating CBS in their demand to apologize for the "incident" at the Super Bowl. Give me a break, please! The whole thing is so overblown. All I've been hearing all week are people yammering about how much better our morals and values were in the '50s and '60s. Screw that. I'd rather live in today's world where an occasional breast pops out on TV than a world where blacks couldn't use the same bathroom or drink from the same water fountain. I'd rather live in today's world where women can get jobs and excel at them than a world where women were viewed as nothing other than a housewife. Really. Don't tell me our morals and values were better back then, that's a steaming turd of a statement.

- Christina Aguilera. My goodness. I'm speechless about this girl. It's so obvious that she has great singing talent. I'm not into her music much, but I can respect that she can sing songs and sing them well (maybe she should write some, though). But what's up with the chameleon act, lady? What's up with that embarassing hair? What's up with that dress? Holy crap, that dress......she needs to get her real hair back, wear some normal clothes and sing her ass off. Then she'll finally get all the respect that she's trying so hard to get.

- Why was Sting wearing a dress with bobby socks? That guy hasn't made a good song since 1983.

- Watching Beyonce was painful. I don't get it. "Crazy In Love" is a good song, but what the hell was up with that huge production on that horrific song. I don't even know what it was called, all I know is that she kept on yelping "I love you" over and over again and at one point I think I may have run outside the house and screamed as loud as I could. I mean, I'd rather jump into a pool filled with pure rubbing alcohol with small cuts all over my body than have to listen to that song one more time. Horrific. It wasn't until this morning at the gym that I saw she did a duet of "Purple Rain" at the beginning of the show with Prince. She totally ruined it. They should have just let Prince sing the whole thing.

Song now playing: Nick Drake - "Rider on the Wheel"

Well, it's yet another snowstorm here in Massachusetts today. Remind me again why people live here?

Couple of items today:

1) I was looking back through my archives and I clicked on a few links and remembered about a year and a half ago I directed you to click on the "The Best Page In The World." Well, that site remains up and it's still incredibly funny. One of the more recent entries is brilliant mix of writing and comics. Great stuff.

2) I've recently begun playing ice hockey again - it had been five years since I played previously. Playing hockey used to be my passion. It's a long story why I stopped for so long, so let's leave that for another time. Anyway, the first couple of weeks back on the ice were very tough - getting back into playing shape is not easy. I still feel like I need a couple of more weeks to get back to true form, but there are two things that stand out - the human body at 27 and the human body at 32 are two very different stages - the following day after playing hockey, you feel it more at 32. Believe me. The second thing is my vision - I wear glasses all day every day, but I can't wear them on the ice because they would slip off and probably fog up anyway. So I go without them, and you know what? I can't see a god damn thing out there. I could see without the glasses much better at 27. Now I can't see shit. So I am going out and getting prescription sport goggles! That is right, yo! I flat-out refuse to get contact lenses because I simply will not stick shit into my eyeballs. I just won't do it. My only other option is to get goggles and I cannot wait. I am gonna look so kick-ass! I'll post pictures here when I get them.

Have a nice weekend.

Song now playing: The Olivia Tremor Control - "Jumping Fences"

Okay, the XML site feed, which I mentioned last week, is finally working, for those of you who want to syndicate this site or read on your own aggregator thingy. The link is over there on your right and it's called, strangely enough, "XML Site Feed." I'd be curious to know if anyone's using it, so please let me know.

I've been on hold with Intuit for nearly 40 minutes now. For the first time ever, I'm having an installation problem with their TurboTax state product. Delightful.

I need to take a poll and I sincerely hope that everyone reading will participate. Two questions:

1 - on a search engine, do you know the difference between a "sponsored link" and a "normal search result"

2 - if your answer to #1 was yes, do you ever click on sponsored links?

Search engine professionals need not answer, thank you. Please leave your answer in the comments field. Appreciate it.

Song now playing: Intuit hold music

We've now hit the desolate, brutal wasteland of the sports year. From now until Major League Baseball's opening day, all we have is dirty snow, cold temperatures, excessive usage of windshield washer fluid and even worse - college basketball. I think I'd rather watch prisoners take a dump than watch college basketball. Hell, any basketball, for that matter. Sure, we have hockey. Used to be I wouldn't miss a Bruins game, only now I'm just a mere casual hockey-gawker. Although lately I must admit I've been watching a bit more of the frozen pond with the addition of HDTV in da hiz. I'll be attentively tuned in when the NHL playoffs arrive in......uhhhh....July?

All that said, I am now faced with the monumental decision: do I do nothing with myself until opening day or do I stare out the window into the backyard and take pictures? Oh, the decisions.



Oh, wait - here's a thing. I was pulling out of the driveway the other night and I had just backed into the road when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a large ball of light in the yard across the street from my house. That large ball of light actually turned out to be a very large, inflatable New England Patriot. I made a mental note to myself to get a picture of that ridiculousness before the end of the Super Bowl on Sunday. Being the driven blogger that I am, I snapped up the very next morning and took this shot right out my bedroom window:



So there you go. A very large, inflatable, glowing at night Patriot. It's gone now. I wonder if, during early July, the 'ol neighbor will have a huge, inflatable Serena Williams out front during Wimbledon? Ick. I can't believe I just said "huge, inflatable Serena Williams." I take it back.

So this is what it will be like until opening day. Enjoy!

Song now playing: Warren Zevon - "Excitable Boy" ("....and he rubbed the pot roast all over his chest.....")

A few random thoughts on the Super Bowl:

- No football game has ever given me an actual headache. Last night's game did just that. A real, tension headache. That was like an old-school heavyweight title fight. Those of us who didn't know or respect the Carolina Panthers certainly know and respect them this morning - they put up one hell of a fight.

- Jake Delhomme is a tremendous quarterback.

- There are so many things that happened to the Patriots that made them a little bit lucky to win the game. First and foremost: two terrible coaching decisions by Carolina to go for two point conversions when they didn't really need them - does anyone think the Carolina players might be questioning those decisions? It could have very well cost them a victory.

- Many bungled plays by the Patriots: a horrendous squib kick at the end of the first half, the Tom Brady interception in the end zone, two missed field goals, getting sliced and diced by Delhomme.....

- In the end though, the good teams find ways to win games. Period. Brady is one of the most deserving players to win a Super Bowl MVP award - what a performance, other than the pick-off in the end zone.

- I think I saw Janet Jackson's boobie.

- Best commercial: the 7-Up commercial with the hoop on the back of the 7-Up truck had me really cracking up. Other than that, slim pickings.

Song now playing: Uncle Tupelo - "Fifteen Keys"