could it be over

November 30th, Hurricane season is done. Tropical Storm Epsilon became the 26th named storm today but does not look like it will touch us.

Katrina came through here and really didn't do much (although the people in Miami may disagree) and then Wilma. Still there are endless trees down, intersections with just 1 light and when you fly into South Florida ... it is all Fema Blue as far as you can see.

It really amazes me how long things take to get back to normal. The fire department made my community put up wood balconies since most balconies were destroyed. And we got off lucky. 1250 died in Katrina ... Wilma just made a mess.

So another season done, another global warming argument to be had ... the calm of winter in South Florida. At least it won't snow (fingers crossed).

Blog on ...

For a living

Little Johnny Tucker was in his nursery class when the teacher asked the children what their fathers did for a living. All the typical answers came up -- fireman, policeman, salesman, etc ...

Johnny was being uncharacteristically quiet and so the teacher asked him about his father. "My father''s an exotic dancer in a gay cabaret and takes off all his clothes in front of other men. Sometimes, if the offer's really good, he'll go out to the alley with some screaming fag.

The teacher, obviously shaken by this statement, hurriedly set the other children to work on some coloring, and took Little Johnny aside to ask him, "Is that really true about your father?"

"No," said Johnny, "He plays for the New York Mets, but I was too embarrassed to say so.

As a Met Fan ... this hurts

missing nyc

So i have been bitching and moaning like a little girl ... i want to go to nyc. The truth is that I miss living in the city. When Jenn and I moved out I realized the mistake as I was unpacking but now, 10 years later I am not so sure. I miss the city and I am really not in love with Florida but I have a business that cant move and a nice place on the water.

So is NYC THE place to live?

I looked at apartments when I was up last. The couple that I stay with, he is actually my old roommate. Back in the day we shared a one bedroom, we put up a wall in the living room and flipped to see who got the real bedroom. I won. Back then I think we paid about $1600 or so for that. Now, I looked at one bedrooms in the $2500-2700 range. I am 40, I am not sharing an apartment.

Then the question is, do I just miss the city or do I really want to live there?

I have been talking about opening an NYC office for a long time. I think I need it to take the business to the next level ... whatever that means.

Am I to "countryfied" to live in the big city again?

I love apartment life more than houses. Since college I lived in 1 townhouse, the rest (even now) were apartments (ok, some nicer than others). I just like the apartment life.

What now?

I walk to the office I use in the city and there is a hop in my step. There really, really is an energy that you just do not get anywhere. Can I keep up anymore?

Ugh ...

Blog on ...

a final thought

So I really have not checked into Blogster since the sale ... except for a few posts about the hurricane. So after a group of emails to me about Blogster I had to look ... it is entertaining.

When I owned Blogster I did my best not to edit comments unless they were downright malicious or dangerous ... or if they just kept annoying the crap out of me. The new owners are booting people ... like I said if everyone left it would not really effect the traffic but I am surprised this is how they would choose to run the site. It is theirs ... they can do as they please.

So ... I guess the site that I built I am no longer welcome at. Odd that it comes the day after I moved the site to their servers finally. Took them long enough. I spent a good part of Wednesday dealing with them and when it was moved .... not even a thanks for your time.

It's business .... move on and blog on ...

one last note on Blogster

First of all, I do not own Blogster anymore. Stop emailing me and posting complaints to me. I have nothing to do with it.

I understand blogging and Blogster can be somewhat emotional and personal to people but to me it was a business and nothing more.

For those of you who have asked me to get back into the blogging business. No. For two reasons, 1 is that I have a non-compete (regardless of the way the new owners have acted towards me, I prefer to act in a responsible business manner), and 2, the only day I ever made money blogging was on the day I sold Blogster. If I wanted to be in the blogging business, I would not have sold Blogster.com.

Oh no, they kicked so and so off Blogster ... please, who cares. While I am not entirely convinced of the current owners success, I can tell you that if the people they kicked off got all their friends together and they all left Blogster at once ... it would not be a blip in the traffic levels of Blogster. Sorry to disappoint you all ... if you do not like the way they are running thing ... move on but do not think you are going to "bring down" Blogster. Only Tony and Ed can do that.

Censorship ... again, it is their damn site. You want to curse, go somewhere else. As I told Ms Alabama today ... I would have kicked your ass off too ... It is THEIR site ... not yours.

I found out last night at dinner (after 40 years) that my mother always makes herself chicken on Thanksgiving but since I sit at the other end of the table from her I never noticed (its a big table). Last night I noticed and for the first time on Thanksgiving I didn't force myself to eat Turkey.

For some reason I have always wanted to get into the restaurant business ... I am currently looking at buying an existing restaurant - Cheeburger Cheeburger. It is a good start, a franchise, simple menu, small ... and while a significant sum, not a crazy number. I know I know ... tough business. Really, do you think any business is easy? If it was you would all be running a business.

So that is my thought for Black Friday. Hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving. My family is in from our of town and out of the country so I am a little tired by now.

Blog on ...

FYI ... my non-competes come up in less than 10 months

so why did i start adultblogster.com

After I sold blogster.com i still had the domain name adultblogster.com and while I am not against porn sites, it is just a part of the internet that i do not know. So what do I do with adultblogster.com?

Back in the day ... there was a site, and still is, a site called persiankitty.com. The lady who started it had no porn on the site, just links to porn sites. (her name was beth). She made this monster site simply out of links to porn sites (the site has changed over the years and i do not believe she still owns it).

While i like naked woman I do not know much about the internet porn business but i do know how to drive traffic and a lot of it ... to any type of website even a listing of adult blogs. So I was challenged to see if I could make adultblogster.com a top 10,000 website by the end of the year ... with NO advertising money It was just a little challenge by greg ... so if course I had to accept.

Unfortunately I was out of commission for almost a month now because of the hurricane and have not really done anything. But it is coming along well ...

So that is the story behind adult blogster ... no real hidden agenda, just a friendly bet

blog on ...

before wilma

this is my view on a nicer day ...
my apt is the third floor with just the side shutter missing. this was taken as the eye of hurricane wilma came overhead

just posted some pictures

sunrise at my place

You know you live in Florida when ...

1. You have FEMA's number on speed dial.
2. You have more than 300 "C" and "D" batteries in your kitchen drawer.
3. Your pantry contains more than 20 cans of Spaghetti-O's.
4. You are thinking of repainting your house to match the plywood covering your windows.
5. When describing your house to a prospective buyer, you say it has three bedrooms, two baths, and one safe hallway.
6. Your SSN isn't a secret; it's written in Sharpie on your arms.
7. You are on a first-name basis with the cashier at Home Depot.
8. You are delighted to pay $3 for a gallon of regular unleaded.
9. The road leading to your house has been declared a "No Wake Zone."
10. You decide that your patio furniture looks better on the bottom of the pool.
11. You own more than three large coolers.
12. You can wish that other people get hit by a hurricane and not feel the least bit guilty about it.
13. You rationalize helping a friend board up by thinking, "It'll only take a gallon of gas to get there and back."
14. You have 2-liter Coke bottles and milk jugs filled with water in your freezer.
15. Three months ago, you couldn't hang a shower curtain, but today you can assemble a portable generator by candlelight.
16. You catch a 13 pound red fish --- in your driveway.
17. You can recite from memory whole portions of your homeowner's insurance policy.
18. At cocktail parties, women are attracted to the guy with the biggest chain saw.
19. You have had tuna fish more than 5 days in a row.
20. After eating MREs, ! you think that joining the military is now an interesting alternative than going back to your regular job.
21. There is a roll of tar paper in your garage.
22. You can rattle off the names of three or more meteorologists who work at the Weather Channel and every single newscaster and reporter at all of the major stations in town.
23. Someone comes to your door to tell you that they've found your roof.
24. Ice is a valid topic of conversation.
25. Your "drive thru" meal consists of MRE's and bottled water.
26. Relocating to South Dakota does not seem like such a crazy idea.
27. You spend more time on your roof, than you do in your living room.
28. You've been laughed at over the phone by a roofer, fence builder, or a tree worker.
29. You don't worry about relatives wanting to visit during the summer.
30. Your child's first words are "hunker down" and you didn't go to Ole Miss.
31. Having a tree in your living room does not necessarily mean it's Christmas.
32. You know the difference between the "good side" and the "bad side" of a storm.
33. Your kids start school in August and finish in July.
34. You go to work early and stay late just to enjoy the air conditioning.
35. You get phone calls from family members saying they've found bread at a store 6 miles away; and you hurry to get there.
36. You wait in line for 45 minutes for a loaf of bread and don't mind because at least you have bread.
37. A battery-powered TV is considered a home entertainment center.

NYC

So let me just say the knick do not look good and I am having a rough time rooting for them ... but I will have a rant about that later.

So two weeks ago today I woke up, was pouring water in the coffee machine and out go the lights. That started me on this two week odyssey that now has me in NYC getting ready for Adtech. That is the internet marketing trade show at the Hilton, pretty good business to be done as everyone who is anyone is there. Usually some pretty big parties as most of these companies are funded and like pissing away money. But this year, I am cutting out early. I will be up there when the show opens at 11 and stay until 4 ... basically running through the show the best I can and handing out cards, saying hello and making some contacts.

My odyssey has taken me from a powerless Delray Beach back and forth to Ft Pierce, up the Ct and back and forth the NYC. So tonight I get on an 8PM flight to Palm Beach and yes ... finally ... my own bed with air conditioning. Finally.

During this time, we hired a sales person, I bought a laptop and my Knicks have gone 0-3. I will be moving up full time during the holidays, 5 years since I moved down to FLA and opening a NYC office.

So I am going to have another cup of coffee, sit back and relax as I am not leaving for the show until 10.30 or so.

Blog on ... see you all back in FLA.

power is back

So we are back in the office as of Thursday AM after 11 days without power and now my home has power. I am sitll up here in NY and will be until Monday.

So that is it ... Wilma is over ... I think.

Blog on ...

the new laptop

feels like i am almost ready to start working again. still no power at home or the office but we are getting close. i got my new dell latitude yesterday and have been setting it up for the past few hours. wireless, 14 inch screen and 4.5 pounds ... cant beat it

we went out to dinner at cada mia last night, 9th and 45th. i like that place. got some work to do and have to go to bank of america ... need to open accounts for the new biz.

so over the past few weeks I have started to invest again in the market. i use to trade a lot, then got poor and now that i have some cash i have started to invest. i buy long term options, always over 1 year out and generally at or in the money.

msft jan 07 22.5 and jpm jan 07 24.5 both were at the money so we are up almost 20% this month ... of course, you arent up until you sell but you are down the second the stock goes down. i know.

blog on