Candlestick Park

Are you a 49er season ticketholder?  A sports fan in general?  Does your team honor your loyalty and dedication?  Perhaps some teams should treat their fans as they would treat their fans and not as deep pockets.  I love my 49ers and will probably find a way to see an occasional game in the new stadium but as someone who has been going to games as a season ticketholder for almost 40 years, I’ve found that my loyalty is finally being disrespected.  I now see how the Cleveland and Baltimore fans had owners who took their teams away from them.  One should read “Field of Schemes” which details how the stadiums are taking public money to in turn to create private profits.

With the new PSLs at a cost of $80K/seat the San Francisco 49ers are requesting to renew my friendship, I am wondering if others feel the same.

It is the eve of the biggest game of the 49ers in over a decade and I’m upset and bothered.  Why? Because the team I have rooted for my whole life is betraying the trust and faith built over my lifetime.  Greed, the lack of understanding of community, and then poor communication.

Many of the memories I had as a season ticketholder of the 49ers are about to start fading away.  My season tickets have been in my family for over 40 years and that might end soon.  What kind of fan am I?  I don’t paint my face or tailgate in the parking lot.  I wear my Joe Montana jersey for big games.  I’ve stuck with the 49ers through thick and thin.  I stuck through coaches named Fred Meyers and his 2-14 seasons.  I watched the team win 5 Championships. I watched the team fall back to earth with more 2-14 seasons. And now I’ve watched them grow again in what so far has been a wonderful season.

Over the years, some things have changed. The elderly people who baked cookies for me have passed away.  Many of the young kids who attended the games with their dads are now bringing their children, and some new people have moved in as the prices increased.  The stadium has gotten older and there is no disputing that the team needs a new stadium.

Yesterday a young rep called me because I had no responded to a request to meet with the ticketing personnel to discuss buying a Personal Seat License.  I had received a package the week before, but was not ready to review the contents.  I had heard rumors that the team was asking for $80,000 per seat for my seat license.  Were they kidding?  How could they expect someone to put up $160K (basically the same price as the average home in the US).  The 49ers are trying to move their stadium another 40 minutes South of San Francisco.  What their team does not understand is this not only moves the team further away from the core of the Bay Area, but it also moves it further away from the people who will support the team (affectionately known as the Faithful).  They are telling me traffic will be better, yet it will take another 2 hours out of my day.

The previous five seasons the team has disappointed without a winning season yet raaising my tickets 300% from $60 to $180 each.  By 2015, the team wants to charge me $375/ seat.  At the same time, the team has never called me until yesterday.  They have weeded out those who could not afford to keep the price increases and make it harder every year to renew.  The new seat license is an obvious ploy that should weed out the last of the great 49ers Faithful.  The lowest price is roughly $20K each.  The 49ers cannot expect to make sales at these prices and those that buy will surely not be happy when others do not pay the same.

Corporations are thriftier than ever and will not be able to fill the stadium alone.  Seriously, is Larry Ellison, one of the 5 wealthiest men in the world going to purchase a PSLs for his employees?  Is Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook going to buy a PSL?  How about Jerry Yang of Yahoo?  If they do try and fill the stadium with corporate money, the 49ers will find a very fickle fan base that did not grow up here.  Over 60% of the population was not even raised in the state of California (meaning they grew up likely rooting for another team).  The Bay Area, especially Silicon Valley is made up of a transient population that is constantly moving.  My son’s kindergarten class seven years later only has 5 kids out of 36 that root for the 49ers.

How do the 49ers expect such rates?  Just 3 years ago the Jets and Giants sold PSLs.  The Giants charged anywhere from $1k-$20K.  Now $20K is the lowest end of the pricing? The Jets were only able to get 300 people to bid at least $5K.  The Cowboys charged $50K on the high end and did not sell out.  The Steelers are supposedly the best PSLs but they sold for a couple thousand a piece and are supposedly worth around $15K now.  But Pittsburgh is different.  People there live and die by the Steelers.  The San Francisco Bay area is full of alternative activities on Sundays.  Oh, and they don’t spend $60K a year to send their kids to go to school in Pittsburgh.  My feeling is that @49ers season ticketholders should hold out until the market corrects itself.  The prices the 49ers are asking are exhorbitant and need to change.  Take a look at what happened with other teams and PSLs:

Here is a blog on Cowboys PSLs at $50K but up to $150K

Here is info on the Giants and Jets costs at $1k-$20K

Here’s an old article speculating on the 49ers PSLs

You can buy a 50 yard line Seattle Seahawk PSL for $10K

It is really sad that many people will lose their money and their team because of greed.  In me the 49ers will likely lose my revenue as a fan in the stdium.  I will support the laundry and the people who wear it, but I will not be a fan of management.  unfortunately, the tradition of attending football games with my son will be ending soon for many in the Bay Area.  I will just have to be more committed to baseball and the San Francisco Giants.

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Take Our Poll

I am asking any 49ers STHs to consider holding out on the 49ers before paying for a seat license.  There is no guarantee that the 49ers will be around just because of the stadium  You will own nothing in the case of an earthquake, etc.  There will still be ample opportunity to see an occasional game.  The 49ers will just have to mrket harder to get the Faithful to show up every week.  They better hope the team stays strong or else they will see how Unfaithful their new fans are.  Ed Debartolo is the greatest owner that ever lived.  Many called him a player’s owner, but he was a fan’s owner.  He was the original Mark Cuban.  His nephew is nowhere close in my eyes.

Did I mention that the stadium’s cost of $1 Billion will be at the expense of $150MM from the NFL and an $850MM loan from the city of Santa Clara and its taxpayers who will likely go bankrupt from this decision and are wanting to change their minds.  The PSLs are going to pay off part of that loan.  I’m not going to fall down that black hole.

I love my 49ers, but all I want is a winning team.  I’m sure this new stadium is beautiful and will be a huge upgrade, but it is costing more than $1 billion.  It is costing my loyalty to the game day experience.  I hope there will come a better solution that will still allow me to send my children to college and along the way still allow me to afford to attend a few 49er games.

]]> http://route53.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/when-your-team-doesnt-love-you-back-alienating-your-core-customer/feed/ 0 route53 Candlestick Park http://route53.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/surgery-5-cleaning-it-up-the-future/ http://route53.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/surgery-5-cleaning-it-up-the-future/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:31:33 +0000 route53 http://route53.wordpress.com/?p=1593 Continue reading »

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UCSF Medical Center

It has been almost 2 and a half years since my wife’s last surgery in her battle with breast cancer.  I want to say that it has been almost 28 hours of surgery and probably another 10 of recovery room waiting that I have spent in this waiting room.  Today is just a clean up surgery for removal of scar tissue and hopefully that is all.  They will also possibly scrape for any residual tissue for genetic testing.

The past couple of months have been a bit trying as my wife found out that her younger brother also has breast cancer.  Although rare, this is just so indicative of the fact that there is some genetic mutation that is being passed along.  Their mother had breast cancer and as it turns out their father’s uncle had breast cancer.  There is definitely a trend here.  The fact that my own mother had breast cancer is very worrisome for our children.  While we don’t want to worry our children, we have to balance the education vs. information on which we provide them.

I still remember 3 and a half years ago dropping off my 5 year old daughter and 8 year old son to school, not telling them what was going on with their mom.  They were too young and as a parent the smiles on their faces are always a great healing medicine that eases the pain.  When I did tell them their mom had surgery I had to make sure to hold back the tears because I didn’t want them to worry.  Of course the kids could sense it.  Today they are the most sympathetic kids to breast cancer. They console their friends when their moms find they have breast cancer and they are quick to volunteer for any benefit to the cause.

Now almost 10 and 12, there are no secrets (well just Santa for the younger one).  We told them last night that mom would be going to have another procedure early in the morning and that we wouldn’t be home when they woke.  We told them to make their own breakfast and I’d be back to take them to school once mom was wheeled in to surgery. “So you’re just confirming our logistics for the morning,” my 12 year old said.  It was such a clinical thing to say.  My way and I just nodded our heads.

My wife and I weren’t worried about the surgery this morning as we drove in to the hospital.  It was still about making sure we had the pick up schedule settled and the odd conversation we had with our son the night before. It felt weird to leave my wife even to pick up my kids. Once we checked her in and the anastheseologist did her work, I raced home.  When I got home they were in their school uniforms reading the Kindle and newspaper as if the morning was just like any other.  I was thinking they were de-sensitized until my son, put his hand on my shoulder as I drank my coffee.  He was teared up, “She’s going to be okay, right?”  My daughter was crying too.  They had been putting on a strong face for their mom.  I told them not to worry and this would be easier than all the other surgeries and that she’d be home when they got back from school.  I looked at my son.  He had grown up a lot in the last several years.  He was wearing his dress uniform for a Thursday mass.  I smiled….”nice Windsor knot”.  It was the first time my son had tied his tie all by himself without it being lopsided.

<just got word from the doctor that surgery went fine and she’ll be in recovery for another hour>

The next step is to not just continue to personally fight this battle with breast cancer, but to also help wtih the research.  Our family has been hit hard specifically with breast cancer and survived.  Our goal is to help future generations and others who might be dealing with the same issue.  Is it genetic, environmental or both?

One thing is for sure.  No matter how much we try to put breast cancer behind us, thi will not be the last of it in our lives.  It will be there again.  Hopefully by the next time we have to fight this disease, we will have achieved greater advancements in detection and treatments to prevent us from the suffering we’ve incurred to date.

Is it really 2012 already?  You know it is in the Affiliate Marketing business because the Affiliate Summit Conference takes place at the beginning of January and marks the start of business with inspirational speakers and talk of what went well and what will be in the coming year.  Does that mean new resolutions?  Let’s just put it out there.  If you have a conference at the beginning of the year in Las Vegas, you’ve probably already broken your resolutions: 1) Lose Weight and 2) Save money.

I don’t really believe in resolutions as a whole year is a long time to keep track of, but I think with short time frames it is easier to keep those.  For those of you new to Affiliate Summit or even those old timers, here are 10 resolutions I have for the next three days of Affiliate Summit.  I’ll let you know if I keep them:

1. Blog about Affiliate Summit at Affiliate Summit
2. Get out there.  Shake hands and don’t come back with any business cards even if you have to try and win iPads with them
3. Get at least 6 hours of sleep (this will be the hardest to keep)
4. First rule of Affiliate Summit is to tweet about Affiliate Summit (hashtag #asw12)
5. Eat and hydrate.  In the past I have missed so many meals.  I actually lose weight here)
6. Take photos…Steve Hall and Brad Crooks are great photographers..but they can’t be everywhere
7. Say hello to friends and make new ones.  Affiliate Summit is a community.  Continue to build those relationships and say thanks for the great 2011 you had.
8. Learn something new!  Don’t go back to the office saying the same old thing.  If you are an SEO veteran, don’t go to the same sessions.  Get a new point of view.
9. Give something back.  Teach someone about your business or thoughts.  Make this a stronger industry.
10. Come out of Affiliate Summit with a must do.  The best part of Affiliate Summit is I’ve always rushed back on Wednesday to the office with a lot of great opportunities and some of my best deals ever were conjured up and brokered here in Vegas.

Vegas is a great time, but it is even better when you make it a business pleasure as well as a social pleasure.  Hopefully Affiliate Summit can be a productive one for you.    When it comes to Affiliate Summit, what happens in Vegas is much better if you take it with you!

Okay, I confess to being a people watcher.  You know that game some couples play when they are bored and just make up stories about the people and things they observe?  Yeah the same game that Tina Fey and Steve Carell play in the movie, “Date Night”.

To me I guess that is part of the appeal of Social Media and social analytics.  Watching all these normal people and trying to figure out their story and what makes them tick.  Then apply that to marketing and competition and I am quite admittedly in statistical heaven.  This is how sites like http://hotornot.com got big when people used to rate people looks. It is also how Mark Zuckerberg got started with Facebook only this rating system is based on more than looks.  Why is he rated higher than me?  Why is she rated higher than her?  Why do people find him interesting?  You get the picture.  Now that people are putting their lives out there selectively on Linked In, Twitter, Facebook and Google +, the question of: “I wonder what [Insert Name Here]  is doing now?” is being answered with regularity.

Because of the rise in social interaction and personal content management, the idea of personal branding has become a larger topic on the web.  It is the opportunity for people to have the vanity plates and bumper stickers on their lives that they choose to have.  Yes I am a fan of the San Francisco Giants!  I watch reality TV! I drive a VW Beetle!  And then you can hide the things you don’t want people to see such as your age, the embarrassing name of your high school (Lick Wilmerding) and any other guilty pleasures in your life (the fact that you listen to Debbie Gibson and new Kids on the Block when you are depressed).

A few years back I worked for Fair Isaac, creators of the FICO score which tells potential lenders (mostly credit card issuers and auto financiers)  if you are credit worthy.  People started paying attention to their FICO scores.  Your FICO score was a handy thing to have, but it wasn’t something people openly shared.  It isn’t as if people go around sharing their salary information.

Klout Score Dashboard

Well enter the age of Social Metrics.  The simple math tells you how many people follow you on Twitter, how many people “like” you on Facebook, or how many people you are Linked to on LinkedIn.  Since not everyone plays on all of these social channels, we have the introduction of companies like Klout and PeopleBrowsr / Kred.  Both companies have admitted that they are in beta and that they are always working to improve the metrics around their scoring so sharp swings in scores are not unexpected.  People on Klout for example, have seen their score go up when they add new networks such as Google+ to the network.  If that adds a whole new set of friends and interactions to their overall social scene, then their score would likely see an irregular bump.  Klout is not perfect and people knew that.  Weight was heavily skewed towards Twitter activities, no real reasons were given for sudden shifts, people with lower scores were considered more advanced than others, people were considered influential about topics that they knew nothing about (see @QAQN and Gary Johnson).

Kred Dashboard

The art of scoring people’s social prowess is a tricky one.  Once you give people a little candy they can get addicted.  People learned that if you wanted to increase your score, you couldn’t just tweet a lot, you had to get people to mention you more.  You needed to create more links, retweet others posts (give them credit for good content), and not just use Klout as a channel for clogging the digital airwaves.  This gave way to Follow Fridays, Twitter Tuesdays, and such where people saw their scores rise.   It also saw that when you were inactive for a couple days for vacation or a holiday that your score took a dive.  Imagine!  You go on vacation and somehow you aren’t as important or influential to your followers!  Take a week off from your podcast or your blog and suddenly less people follow you?  Doesn’t the saying go something like ”Absence makes the tweets grow fonder?” Well you get the picture.   Oh well, nobody is perfect.  Your score would dip a couple points and suddenly your score would jump again.

This morning Klout changed their scoring method.  It was of Google Pandaesque or Netflixesque proportions.  Suddenly it appears that the social behaviors that Klout was encouraging are now discounted.  It’s like telling your wife of 15 years that you like that she colors her hair blonde because it makes her look younger and then suddenly the next day you tell her that you think that brunettes have more fun!

The jury is still out but here is what we know:

• Klout says they are being more transparent about what affects your score, but people are stil speculating on what actually made their score go up or down.  Was there more weight put on Facebook actions?  Were certain influence types now given more weight?
• Klout gave a bell curve shaped diagram showing a pretty even distribution of scores going up or down.  Yet it seems that those who saw their score go down heavily outweighed those who saw a rise.
• Even social media celebrities Scott Kleinberg (@Scottkleinberg), Katrina Hill (@actionchick), and Michael Brandvold (@michaelsb) who were once touted in Klout’s blog saw their scores go down by 8 points or more each.
• It seems that those people who saw their scores rise were those who had scores in the teens, 20s and 30s.  People in the 50s through 70s and even 80s saw their scores decrease
• People saw their True Reach score increase (this is a subscore that basically tells you how many people follow you) as it used to be discounted.
• Assuming that their other subscore, Amplification, is a product of your Actions/True Reach many large podcasters and online conversationalists saw this score decrease significantly.  This score appears to be weighted more heavily than in the past when it comes to your overall Klout score.

Klout Distribution of Score Changes

Let’s take a step back a second.  Was Klout right in trying to make their scoring more accurate?  Definitely.  But we are a society looking for affirmation and the Klout score was the best proxy.  Scoring on a scale of 100 had people asking wondering if they are above average or passing the “test”.  Incidentally, Klout’s closest competitor, Kred, which is physically located on the other side of the block in an adjacent building scores people on a scale of 1000.  People following their Klout scores most heavily are bloggers and other social media early adopters.  The “Twitterati” if you will.  These were people are also the largest advocates of Klout and encouraging their friends to check out their scores.  At a recent social media conference I  overheard someone tell their friend kiddingly that they would let the other person follow them only if they had an acceptable Klout score.

The backlash has been predictable.  People woke up to find their scores dropped by 10% or more.  I received a tweet from @ActionChick (the ex-Klout star) saying “Those @Klout numbers are so wrong”.  People are claiming they will boycott. Others are claiming they’ll not get social media jobs when their interviewers ask and they tell them their score is below 50 (that’s a little dramatic).  Mostly, you’ll find people with scores in the 80s (that’s a B in school) with scores in the 60s now (that’s a D in school).  Nobody wants to get a low grade in the area they call themselves an expert.  Even moreso…nobody wants to be called a social failure, but that is what Klout is doing.   They created a monster and today that monster is growling back at them heavily.

So you are asking if they are so screwed up, why do I care? I want this model to succeed.  Social analytics are important as Social search takes over Portal search.  It is more important to know if Suzie Smith is an important influencer of a certain product than Jack Martin.  Klout has some great tools and they were heading in the right direction.  Every company makes mistakes, but you don’t want to slap the hand that feeds you.  Coke survived the whole New Coke debacle.  Some people tried it, didn’t like it and went back to the old coke. We shall see how this plays out.

Author’s note:  Personally my score dropped from 61 to 53.  To me this means I’m barely in the 50th percentile.  Maybe that is right, I don’t know.  What bothers me more is that Klout has their version of a Myers-Briggs grid.  They group people in from Celebrities to Thought Leaders to Conversationalists to Listeners, etc.  That analysis has me listed as a “Dabbler”, someone who just isn’t that into social media and should try using it more.  What?  If I tweet or Facebook any more, my own mother might disown me.  Hey did I mention that my 80 year old mother now has a Klout score not far behind me and she has only tweeted twice?

HELPFUL LINKS

If you’ve never heard of Klout, sign up here: http://www.klout.com

If you’d like to get a Kred score, sign up here: http://www.kred.ly

To read the post about the change announced by Klout: http://corp.klout.com/blog/

If you’d like to follow me and boost my Klout score (shameless plug), you can go here: http://www.twitter.com/Route53

Each year I forget what a scene it is.  Survivors of breast cancer are given special shirts that help them stand out.    As my kids and I picked up our regular shirts we saw my wife go to the “Survivors” tent to pick up her shirt.  The hug she was given by the volunteer and the clapping that people gave her hit me.  It reminded me how serious this all is and how lucky we are.  Everywhere, teams lined up for their group photo.  That is where you saw the numbers.  We counted 5 in the Bank of America group, 6 in the Oracle group, 3 in our school’s group.  Another 4 in the Pottery Barn group.  The numbers were there.  1 in 8 people there had survived cancer.

My son and I ran the 5K race leaving my wife and another mom survivor after she told us to run ahead.  As we ran past a survivor or one passed us the cheering got loud.  We completed the race and waited at the finish line for my wife.  It is such a rare race.  People wait by the finish line more than any other race and cheer each other on.  Most runners leave, but no at this race.  As you see that special pink shirt that says “Survivor”, you see their fist pump, the tears and the smiles on their face and you cheer and clap until your hands hurt.  And then for me I see my wife running across the line holding my daughters ahdna and her friend’s hand up high and smiling.  My son put his arm around my waist.  We let everyone else cheer.  It made me proud and inspired as a participant. Sounds weird, but that’s how I felt.  In a way, I felt bad that I had almost not wanted to participate for my own selfish reasons.

New York Skyline as I think of it

It took me a week to just write this as I felt too overwhelmed to write this last week.  I started writing and then had to call the family of a friend who passed 10 years ago in the New York tragedy.  I was thinking of scrapping this post, but just needed to write it down for my own sake.  It is my own therapy even if it doesn’t make sense.

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September 11, 2001 will always be a day that those of us currently over the age of 20 will remember.  We will remember where we were, we will remember those who lost their lives, those who knew people who lost their lives, and then those who subsequently lost their lives to fight for the freedom we have created in America.

Although I was affected and have thoughts about each of those classmates, neighbors and relatives who are now gone, I worry more about the future.  The one where my child will never really know what that skyline looked like in real life before 9/11.  The one where my child won’t feel that ultimate level of safety from those who do not like the way we live and could care less about who your are. The one where our society was starting not to feel so ill-willed and more tolerant towards people of other beliefs.

A picture taken 20 May 1986 in New York

My son’s birthday is 9/11 and I hope it just becomes a normal day.  He still calls it the Fireman Birthday although this year we did sit him down to watch documentaries of that fateful day.  One thing that really bothered me is the legacy we are leaving our children. I posted these photos here because I don’t want the twin towers to be remembered in smoke or crumbling in a video, or seeing a plane run into them.  As this is his birthday, he needs to know the importance of the date and to be proud to call it his birthday.  I did show him some fun stuff though too.  There was the video I took of when I lived in New Jersey and commuted through the World Trade Center every day.  It was a crazy mad rush every morning and it was such a weird feeling to see the WTC as it looked back in the early 90s.  There were photos from when I lived above the Holland Tunnel in Newport City in Jersey City on the 32 floor.  The WTC was right there and dominated the skyline.  Whenever I go back I still feel like I see those twin towers there.

New York is regaining its stride.  It is puffing out its chest.  It will be stornger than ever, but that scar will always exist.  It will be a reminder of what we lost so that we could move ahead.  For me it is just a reminder to do better.  Do more.  Don’t forget what is important in life and to enjoy it.  It could be gone tomorrow.  For me, 9/11 will serve as a reminder to Never Forget what is important, not just to Never Forget what happened on that day 10 years ago.

It has been three years since my wife’s cancer surgery.  We haven’t even talked about it being an anniversary of that day.  I know she has been begging her oncologist to be removed from some of the test medications she has been taking.  Maybe 3 years has been enough.  Well today is a milestone.  Probably a milestone my wife would rather forget than celebrate, yet one to set as a marker along the side of the road of life.  I for one still remember that day like it was yesterday.  Reading that blog entry again seems so surreal.

3 years.  Since then it has been:

• 3 more surgeries.
• Taking 4 huge  pills daily. Although she can tell you, I don’t know if I can tell you what they are for.  One is to fight the reoccurrence of cancer, another is for the side  effects and another is to balance out the side effects is all I know.
• Additionally there is that monthly shot that leaves her belly black and blue for a week
• Then there is the 3 times a week physical therapy.  That knife thing scares me.  It is supposed to smooth out the skin and prevent the build up of scar tissue, but it is just ridiculous,
• There is the monthly counseling with the oncologist and staff, and
• There is the monthly meeting to go over the test results of her medications.

Despite being a daily voluntary lab rat the last several years to help studies for future victims of cancer, my wife has really embraced life more than ever and it has changed her.  Her strength and her courage are beyond what I ever imagined she had in her.  Those changes in her life mentioned above might be considered inconveniences to many of us, but she takes it all in stride to the point where she forgets to tell me that she had an appointment until the day is over and to say that the oncologist told her to say hi to me.

They say that you aren’t truly in remission until you pass the five year mark, but my wife is already a Survivor.  More than that, she is a Winner.

For all those caught in the panic in the NY tri-state area over Hurricane Irene I do apologize for my making light of this storm as I do realize there was some damage.  Anyone trying to legitimately escape from New Jersey today (actually yesterday) found their flights cancelled with no other options (my customer service agent from India suggested I drive to Harrisburg in the middle of the night to catch a flight backwards to Dulles).  What?  Note to United and Continental Airlines, give your foreign customer service agents a lesson in American geography!

Fortunately we got the brave idea to rent a car and drive 6 hours to Pittsburgh, fly to Houston and then on San Francisco.  Well, it turns out a lot of people had that idea.  We lined up at 8am at the Hertz counter and found people driving to all parts of the country.  Then, on the Pennsylvania Turnpike we saw cars stacked with supplies getting out of town (sure some were heading off to college).  We took a quick pit stop to Pittsburgh and visited Carnegie Mellon where my wife and I met as undergrads and hadn’t been back since.

When we arrived in Pittsburgh we found people who had even gone to catch 6am flights in Newark, NJ and were turned away and headed straight to Western Pennsylvania.  Incidentally I ran into a business colleague who appears on the Reality TV show, ” Real Housewives of New Jersey”.  I guess even reality TV was escaping Hurricane Irene.

Real Housewives of NJ cast running from Hurricane Irene

As it turns out, the whole cast (sans kids) was on the same flights with me and my family.  For you Real Housewives fans on the trip were Joe and Teresa, Rich & Kathy, Joe & Melissa, Caroline & Albert & Family ( Albie, Chris & Lauren) along with Lauren’s boyfriend and Chris and Albie’s roommate, & Chris and Jacqueline.  There were a couple young women along who I think were the travel secretaries for the show.  Additionally a couple of the brothers ( I think they are Joe Giudice’s brothers) were along.

Now those who follow know I’m a big fan of reality TV, but it was fun to see what people in general thought.  Young girls from California were going nuts.  One girl who sat next to me asked who I knew on the show as she was talking to them (I actually wouldn’t have if I hadn’t needed to exchange seats with Caroline’s children so that I could sit with my own kids).  Otherwise this group wasn’t really bothered at all.  I saw maybe one or two people bother them for a photo and as a group they all seemed cordial.  What I did find interesting was that a couple of “Jersey Shore” type guys said they didn’t watch the show because it made them look bad although they admitted that they were representative of a pretty funny stereotype, but just perpetuated things.  So basically more people outside New Jersey found it more interesting than those within New Jersey.  I knew I’m probably part of the male minority that watches the show anyway although I would say that for the most part the women looked thinner, the Joes looked shorter, and the cast seemed more subdued than you see on television.  Of course that could all be part of the fact that they had been traveling for 24 hours as well.

It looks like Northern California will be a featured road trip in Season 4 as they will be spending a week here.  Definitely some wine tasting is my guess given that no kids were along.  Perhaps Jacqueline and Chris might be visiting Ashley (if she did move out to California).

Some observations:

1. Everyone seemed to get along nicely
2. They all tried to stay very low key
3. People were most interested in saying hi to Joe & Teresa
4. Joe Gorga.. yeah he’s short, but man can that guy strut….my 11 year old now can copy him saying “how ya doin’”
5. Joe Giudice pulling around Teresa’s leopard spotted rollie!  Too funny!  and then taking a couple tries to get it in the overhead!
6. Vito and the chatting up these two girls from Price Waterhouse fresh out of college…everyone was in stitches listening to the convo for 4 hours!
7. When offered Albie my exit row seats, Albie picked his sister to sit with him and not his brother.
8. Al & Caroline and Chris & Jacqueline sat in 1st class on the second leg of the trip.

Let’s hope no tables get flipped or wine racks thrown while they are here in San Francisco this week!  In the end, it turns out a hurricane which created rough travel conditions for all turned into a somewhat amusing and entertaining day!

Raise breast sawareness

35 months ago my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. It seemes so long ago but time really flew The care we received from the UCSF Breast Cancer Clinic was unparallelled. This week I came across an article covering the head of the clinic and thought I’d share it with all of you:

by Julian Guthrie for the San Francisco Chronicle:
Surgeon Laura Esserman, head of breast cancer research and treatment at UCSF, has favorite songs she sings to patients as they’re about to go under a general anesthetic. There’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing,” and her all-time favorite, “For Good.”

One of her greatest areas of impact may come through a statewide research project called Athena, which she has spearheaded and will involve the early screening and follow-up for breast cancer of 150,000 women statewide at five UC cancer centers. The University of California initiative has just begun to enroll patients at UCSF.

Q: What are you excited about right now in the cancer field?

A: We started enrolling patients at two of our five centers, with others starting to enroll in July. We have also started doing a comprehensive risk assessment for every woman who comes in for screenings. We are looking at prevention as part of primary care. We are at the beginning of the road in making breast cancer prevention like heart disease prevention. We want to build a new model.

Q: What is the latest recommendation in terms of mammography?

A: If you are under 50, you need to sit down with your provider and ask for your level of risk. What is my breast density? Should I get screened or not screened? If your risk is high, yes, get screened. But again, I think screening has the most significant benefit for women between the ages of 50 and 70.

Q: What are the most important lifestyle changes people can make for breast cancer prevention?

A: If you are postmenopausal and you are overweight, you will have higher levels of estrogen. Through diet and exercise, you can bring that down, which is good for everything, including a sense of well-being. We try to get women to stick to no more than three to four glasses of wine a week, as alcohol is an associated risk factor for breast cancer.

Q: Have you developed a thick skin in delivering the news to women and men that they have breast cancer?

A: I don’t have a thick skin. You can’t. The good news is that there are some people for whom cancer is not that significant, where you can really reassure the person. Of course, it’s very hard if you know someone is in a really bad situation. I face it with them. You can’t just sit back and say this is an academic exercise. This is something that affects their lives – that determines whether their children will grow up and know them.

Q: Where did you grow up, and what did you want to be?

A: I was born in Chicago, and when I was 9 my family moved to Miami. I always wanted either to be a cancer researcher or cancer doctor.

Q: What was your awakening to cancer?

A: Hmm. I read a biography of Madame Curie. I thought what she did was cool.

Q: Where do you live in the city and where are your favorite hangouts?

A: Ashbury Heights. I love to work my way through the Top 100 restaurant list. My son and I were working our way through the cheap eats list.

Q: Secret talents?

A: I love to barbecue anything.

Q: How does working in the midst of cancer, when life becomes more precious, affect you?

A: You never know what’s in store for you. You have to live life to the fullest. I have a great sense of urgency. We need more answers and solutions.

Q: If you weren’t working as a pioneer in the breast cancer field, what would you be doing?

A: Trying to improve the education system. When I cure cancer, I’ll start working on that.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/22/DDS81JRVIS.DTL#ixzz1QpkKfK4H

Happy Father's Day

I say this every year and not to be unappreciative of my greatest gift – being a dad, but for me Father’s Day is not about me, but for my Father who left my life 7 years ago. To those of us who had a supportive and close relationship with their Father, you know what I mean.

“Just be a good kid”
“Just clean your room”
“Save your money”

That is what my dad always used to say on Father’s Day when I would ask if there is anything he needed. He said this whether I was 10, 15, 20, or 30 years old. It didn’t matter to him and now I realize that as much as he enjoyed his day, he was honoring his own father and not himself.

Well I should say, he did honor himself. He rewarded himself on Fathers Day with a game of golf with his friends. Fathers Day then rewarded my dad with his own Fathers Day memories and to this day they are memories for me. Fathers Day will always be his day. In 1987, my dad let me caddy for him at our local golf course on Father’s Day. Getting up at 7am on a cold foggy morning was my gift to my dad. on hole #17 with the worlds top players just across the street playing the US Open at San Francisco’s Olympic Club, there were no roars, no fist pumps, no new cars awarded as my dad hit his 3rd and last hole-in-one of his life.

As I picked the ball out of the hole and gave my dad a big hug and his friends celebrated what would eventually be free drinks back at the clubhouse. All I could say was, “Happy Fathers Day, Dad”. I still remember the smile on his face to this day when he gave me a wink and a simple “Thank You”. I didn’t give him a present, but he gave one to himself. They say golf is a game of generations. For me, Fathers Day will forever be about that day for my dad. I am only glad I was able to share that day with him so that I could relive it every year.