Me and my family traveled to Steamboat Springs for fall break this year. This has always been my favorite place to ski, but there is no skiing taking place here... yet. Pretty soon the snow will fall and the slopes will be crowded. As it turned out, we were here for Halloween. And Halloween in Steamboat Springs is a big deal! They shut down the main street going through downtown, the merchants all have a... Continue Reading

I'm not a big fan of the major airlines. In fact I have written several entries that demonstrated poor customer service by United and American. However, I had a uniquely good experience on United a couple days ago and wanted to share it with you. I was traveling to Los Angeles with Joel Ownby and Tim Prince, en route to Yanik Silver's Internet Underground conference in Los Angeles. The three of us board the 737... Continue Reading

I make no secret of it. I am a 43-year old man who loves playing computer and video games. And why not? I was a teenage when Space Invaders, Asteroids and Centipede took over the arcades. I was sixteen when I bought my first computer, a TRS-80. It was great for primitive gaming. And I've got a great collection of old computer software in a special room in my basement. Perhaps I'll do a video... Continue Reading

Do you remember the television commercial for a hair shampoo where the key concept was viral marketing? The phrase in the commercial went... "They'll tell two friends... and they'll tell two friends... and so on, and so on..." Yes, it was a very clear example of viral marketing. And whether we are talking about shampoo, automobiles, candy bars or web sites, viral marketing still works! If you were able to take your next visitor and... Continue Reading

When I first heard that Tim Burton was doing a version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I thought "Oh no. He's going to butcher it." Don't get me wrong. For the most part, I like Tim Burton's work. Yes, he is bizarre, and probably somewhat twisted. But I like his creative flair. I enjoy his unusual characters and camera angles. But I also have read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and thoroughly enjoyed Willy... Continue Reading

Mary and I had the opportunity to enjoy a "date night" on Friday. First we enjoyed a nice dinner at Johnny Carinos Italian restaurant. Next we went to the mall and pigged out on ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery (superior to Marble Slab in case you are wondering). Finally, it was on the cinema to take in a showing of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. I received a great deal of chastisement... Continue Reading

Call me Mr. Wonderful. No, its not Mary's pet name for me. And no, I don't have a super-inflated sense of self. Mr. Wonderful has been my alter-ego these past two weeks in City of Heroes, a massively multiplayer online game recently released by Cryptic Studios. The fictional location of Paragon City has had a difficult time lately. What with an alien invasion and several gangs of thugs battling it out for control of the... Continue Reading

Today we visited The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. As a Jew, I have been wanting to see the museum for a long time. I knew it would be a "must see" if I ever made it to Washington. I'm not sure I can put my experience into words, and perhaps it is best that I don't even try. I don't want to minimize my visit into simple cliches. I'll sum up by saying this... Continue Reading

We left Philadelphia early this morning and jumped on the highway towards Hershey, Pennsylvania. The kids have been looking forward to our visit to Chocolate World for the whole trip, so the anticipation had been building. Hershey's Chocolate World was just plain fun. Pulling into the parking lot gives you the feeling of, "Uh oh, there goes the diet!" The first thing we did was check out the free Chocolate Tour Ride, a Disney-style track... Continue Reading

Our last day and we've really got nothing left that we want to do. We considered going to Colorado to see the sand dunes near Alamosa, but it was over 1.5 hours away and it was going to be hot. So we opted to have lunch in town and play it by ear. But first, we stopped at the Red River Candy Mountain Fudge shop. As you may recall from yesterday's entry, the manager asked... Continue Reading

Another beautiful morning in Red River! We've been eating breakfast in the room all week, so we decided to go out for eggs and pancakes this morning. We went to The Hole Thing Donut Shop and were very pleased with the meal. It was pricy, but that's the way it goes. Afterwards, we found a nice park where the kids could play, the dog could sniff, and Mary and I could sit and enjoy the... Continue Reading