I didn't post too much this weekend, and I definitely have a backlog of things I'd like to post about in my head.  Hopefully, this week will be a slower week in terms of my after work activities and I'll be able to catch up.

My weekend was spent, as you can probably guess, mostly kayaking at the Downtown Boathouse.  Anyone who made it out had fantastic weather, aside from the occasional forboding storm cloud, but none of the threats came to post and 95% of the weekend was pretty sunfilled.  The Downtown Boathouse was a little quieter than last year, perhaps because the water hasn't quite warmed up yet and people aren't quite sure its summer yet.  Another week or two and I'm sure we'll be in full swing.  I got some great pictures in at the Boathouse as well as on the Circle Line Monday night, which I went to with my friend Joy who used to work at GM.  Speaking of Joy, that's the name we're going with for the family dog.  So, here's a little collection of my kayaking photos, NYC shots from the Circle Line and pictures of Joy (the dog).

Chillin' in a kayak on the beach, originally uploaded by ceonyc.

Beautiful weather!

I'm cabbin' it home.

When I first met with Oddcast, and even before that, I was starting to get the sense that the idea that "markets were conversations" was being taken further.  Lines were being blurred.  Blogging and other user generated media brought the brands down from the ivory towers to the people, even if they came kicking and screaming.  They were ours.

When the brands woke up from being dazed, it seemed that they began to like us... to want to get closer to us.  They wanted to be in our networks, to be friends with us.

At first, I started calling this phenomenon "Brand Association."  The things I buy wanted to be closer to me. 

Then I realized that, even more than that, they wanted to be me, and me to be them...   and to a large extent, I am them.  I don't drink, so when I'm out at bars, I'm Sprite guy.  Its become a running joke, but ask any of my friends who they think of when they see a Sprite, its probably me.  I am a Mustang and Jamba Juice, and Macy's, too.   When I bring these brands with me online through Flickr pics of the car or moblogging from Jamba Juice, what it really is is "Brand Expression."  I am self identifying with a number of brands.  I have a relationship with brands that I am committing a part of myself to.

Henry Jenkins covers this phenomenon in his new book and new blog:

"I wanted to suggest the various ways that people are trying to attach value to emotion in the new media economy...the ways that product placements sought to connect the emotions associate with entertainment onto products embedded within that story.

Some aspects of what I am calling affective economics are deeply embedded in current advertising practice, referred to by the various terms Bogost identifies ("lifestyle marketing," "associative advertising," "relationship marketing," etc.) ...

I am convinced that this shift represents the best means we have of getting media producers to reassess their relationship to their consumers and that seems to be key to the long term viability of participatory culture...companies...will have an economic interest in opening themselves up to greater participation from their consumers...."

Some aspects of this, as Henry points out, are not totally new.  We've always had lifestyle marketing... but something about this new trend... this new closeness, where brands are opening up and becoming vulnerable to form a stronger tie to consumers... it all seems a bit different.

When I was at USV, digital media and marketing stuff generally went into my VC & Technology category, but I think I'm in a new playing field now...  and so I'm going to start categorizing it accordingly.

But none of the terms out there are quite as direct as I'd like... so I've come up with something that says exactly what I feel this is...  MeVertising.  Its a blurring between my own identity, brand association, ad consumption, expression, etc.   

Its buying the Nike t-shirt.  In that scenario, who is advertising what?

• Is Nike advertising on me, literally?
• Am I advertising that I subscribe to the Nike lifestyle, whatever that is?
• Am I advertising that I am a sophisticated t-shirt buyer?

And I don't even want to go into what that does to the economics of the whole thing...

So, over the course of the future of this blog, I will be doing a lot of MeVertising posting, tagging things MeVertising in del.icio.us and Technorati.  Feel free to do the same and join me in the exploration.            

"What number?" "I dunno...   What are my choices?" "One, one and a half, or two." "Let's go for two."

I just got this in my findmypath@gmail.com mailbox...

Dear Charlie,

             We read the profile of you in Sunday’s “Newsday” and thought your knowledge, experience, and success with blogging as a networking and career building tool would make a great basis for a Learning Annex course.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

If you don't know what the Learning Annex is, you obviously don't walk around the city much, because their little booklets with classes for people to take are everywhere.  Ok, so I'm definately going to do that, AND it could also help me with the book thing, because they have "How to Get Published" talks all the time, so I'm sure they know literary agents.

I may have mentioned this before, but the ultimate irony of all this is that its turning out that what is "going to be big" is the blog itself.

First, the MTA cries poverty, telling us they're deep in the red and need to hike the fares.  Then, it turns out they were keeping two sets of books, so they actually have a big SURPLUS. 

Now they're striking??

Link: New York Daily News - Home - City war plan for transit walkout.

City war plan for transit walkout

BY MICHAEL SAUL and PETE DONOHUE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Commuters stream into city April 7, 1980, during last strike.
Workers rail for big raises

The city has begun preparing for a possible transit strike that would leave millions of New Yorkers stranded in the middle of the holiday season, the Daily News has learned.

If the MTA strikes, they're going to cripple the city during the important holiday shopping season, causing a lot of economic distress for hundreds of thousands of other workers.  Lots of babysitters, eldarly caregivers, etc. won't be able to make it to work either.  Its just very selfish, especially when you consider how much better the average transit worker's salary and benefits are then a lot of the other people in this city. 

Perhaps busboys, dishcleaners, and newsstand workers should go on strike...  the working poor with jobs nobody else wants.  But as for transit workers, they can strike without pay for as long as they want, for all I care, and I hope they get fined amounts equalling the economic hardship they cause the rest of the city.  In the meantime, I'm happy to bike to work.  Ridiculous.

Fordham's first game at Roosevelt Island's Copobianco Field felt like practice...   Actually, it was practice, because the ABA Stingers didn't show--not a one of them.  That means Fordham was able to post their first win of the season, which, of course, isn't the way this hungry team wants to win.

"This sucks.  I wanted to play," manager Charlie O'Donnell, known for his eloquence, told reporters after the game.

The nightcap didn't prove as successful, however.  It turns out that, unlike the first game, 90% of success isn't just showing up.  It turns out you have to hit and field, too--two little areas that Fordham has been struggling with as of late.  Monday's struggles resulted, unfortunately for this expansion franchise, in a 17-2 drubbing.

AIG took advantage of the cozy Copo confines early, scoring five in the first and six in the second--all off rookie starter and Jay Buhner impersonator Jason Gianetti.

Teammates tried to comfort Gianetti after his performance and the following exchange took place in the clubhouse:

"That ball wouldn't have been out of a lot of parks."

"Name one."

"Yellowstone."

Patti Dickerson took over in the fourth, providing one of the lone bright spots in the game.  Patti turned in a solid mop-up effort and will be likely to start the team's next game.

Fordham's only two runs came late in the game.  Kevin Rodricks lashed a double to left, tearing the stiches off the ball (which is amazing considering the Clincher softballs don't actually have stiches).  Charlie O'Donnell, coming off a shoe string catch in center the inning before, then followed up with a monster, albeit lonely, blast to the concrete in right center.  That would be it for the Fordham offence though.  Rumors have it that the team is considering letting go hitting coach Amanda Hickey. 

There were a couple of other bright spots for Fordham.  Ryan St. Germain threw out a runner at home from right field--the other end of which featured a nifty tag from catcher Nicole Horsford.  Chrissy Guerrero turned in a solid defensive effort at second base as well.

There were no photos from the game, however, due to the illness of team photographer and emerging offensive star Anntoinette Mirsberger.  She should be off the DL by the next game, marking a return to the photographic documentation of the team's hijinks and shananagans.

With last night's rainout which will probably not get made up because my Fordham alumni softball team is out of it, the third of my three softball teams' seasons came to an end.

Sunday morning, my fastpitch men's team, the Warthogs, got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs after a 16-11 season.   Two and out...   and we basically gave the games away... didn't want it enough.  Very disappointing end to a good season.  Here's a hit to right  from the game.  I don't wear #21 on this team because someone else had it when I joined, so I just picked an utterly ridiculous number.

Wednesday night, my Zog team, Waiting for Turiansky, which crawled its way into the playoffs going 5-6-1, lost to the 11-1 Pubstars, after winning our first playoff game.  We were winning for one inning after I led off the game with a home run to right center.  I seriously have no idea why anyone plays on the left side of the field when I get up.  I have no ability to pull the ball in any form of this sport whatsoever.   Then it was 3-1 them...  3-2, 6-2, 6-3...    so in the 5th and it was 6-3 and I really felt good about the fact that we stayed in it as long as we did.  One big inning could do it.  Unfortunately, the wrong team had the big inning.  We lost 13-4.  Still, good season and we're excited to be playing again in the fall season.

As for my Fordham team... well... we're just not very good.  We went 3-9.  Oh well.  Perhaps we'll draft well in the offseason.  If you're a Fordham grad, and you can play shortstop or firstbase in particular, and can hit drop me a line.

So, the totals, including playoffs...    55 games...  25-29-1.   Eh.   Room for improvement. 

So I was just searching del.icio.us for links about Lacuna Coil, because they do this great cover of Enjoy the Silence, and I noticed ads on the results page.  I don't think I've ever noticed those before.

Def doesn't bother me...    I'm searching, I see ads.  That's normal. 

I also added a del.icio.us network badge, which I think is the tipping point for me for a slight blog "reorg".  I've got too much crap in the sidebar not exactly in the order that I want.   Look for some changes coming in the next week. 

I'm thinking of doing a half screen blog area on the left, and then two sidebars on the right... one with identity stuff, like my avatar, AIM status, my BlogLog, etc... and then links, comments, etc. on the other one.

I'm a big fan of Newsgator Online and Brad showed us the other day how to create a blogroll from it.  I still want it to be synced to the /contacts folder that I created where I actually read my blogs, but the creating a new location hack will do for now.

One of the best things about blogging is that it can take your passions and interests, magnify their intensity, and act as a lightning rod for like minded people and a great network.

It also has the unfortunate byproduct of being non-discriminating in this process, particularly with people like me who are still a bit rough around the edges.  I put myself out there and sometimes, it comes back to bite me... more often than I'd like to.

So if you're thinking about blogging, currently blogging, etc. just remember every post is something you feel reflects you and you don't mind being representative of who you are... pretty much forever.  Its generally not a good place to start yammering about things you really don't even care much about and let your mouth go where it will.  Blogs are better when you are thoughtful about stuff that really interests you, lest you find yourself in a bad place, taken there by a post not really worth it in the first place.

Rooster paraphernalia?  There was a story in the news this morning about how cops broke up a cockfighting ring in the Bronx.  They confiscated a whole bunch of roosters, plus assorted "rooster paraphernalia."   I haven't the faintest idea what that could possibly mean.  Little tiny boxing gloves?  Beak guards?  Championship belts?

Link: The Mobile Andrew: November 2004.

Did you notice what's hilarious about this pic?

Andrew Anker has been moblogging for some time now, which basically means he has a camera phone that he takes pictures with, and e-mails them straight to his blog with a little note.  He works for Six Apart, which is the company behind Typepad, which powers my blog as well as my Find My Path career site. He snapped off the photo above at Six Apart's recent board meeting.  The picture is of the co-founder of the company, Mena Trott, but what really struck me was the two gentlemen in the backround.  One of them is someone I had the fortune to meet earlier this year, David Hornick, who is a VC from August Capital who funded the company recently.  The other guy... well... the other guy is HUGE... or at least appears that way in the picture.  So David wouldn't make the Sand Hill Road basketball team (which, by the way, would likely be dominated from the guys at ComVentures and John Hummer, who used to play in the NBA/ABA), but still...  this is just hilarious.   

I brought the pic to David's attention and he responded:

"Just clicked on your link.  That's hilarious.  The guy I was talking to was
a mere 6 foot 8.  Of course that seems pretty darn tall when you're 5 foot
4."   

At least he takes it in stride, no matter how short those strides may be.   Good luck guys!  I've enjoyed keeping up with this company.

Ugh.  Not many bright spots in a 16-3 loss.  After two innings, Fordham was down 2-0 and it looked like Charlie O'Donnell might turn in another serviceable start.  Then, the wheels came off the train.  Five walks, some singles, and some defensive misqueues opened the door and Linkshare never looked back.  In fact, Fordham didn't actually push a run across until the last inning, when they scored their only three runs, mostly on walks.  Kevin Rodricks turned in an inning saving catch in Saskatchawan after reliever Brian Cuthbert served up a bomb to left, but that wouldn't prove to be enough.

The manager had this to say to the press at the end of the night during an interview at the Third Thursday bar, P.J. O'Hurley's:

"They outhit us.  They outpitched us.  They outplayed us in the field.  So, really, when you think about it, by category, it was only a 3-0 loss." 

Either way, we got a nice turnout after the game at the bar.  Remember, each 3rd Thursday of the month, we'll be out at a bar celebrating the happiest of hours.  Tonight, we had a couple of '04 grads show up, as well as much support from the '99 crew.  Come on out next month.  "Y'all come back now."

Ok, so not really...  someone stuck this on me.  :)  Proud to support female blogging!

Link: ESPN.com - MLB - L.A. deals Ishii to Mets for Phillips.

The New York Mets plugged a hole in their starting rotation Sunday, acquiring left-hander Kazuhisa Ishii from the Los Angeles Dodgers for catcher Jason Phillips.

Only the Mutts can plug a hole by digging a deeper one.  Kaz Ishii has great stuff, but, like Victor Zambrano, none of it is near the plate.  Trust me from someone who could never put it together and find the plate, guys who don't throw strikes very rarely succeed in baseball.  They put your fielders to sleep and they don't go late into games, eating up your bullpen.  Ishii's ERA last year was 4.71.  Did anyone watch Jae Seo pitch the other day against the Marlins?  You're telling me he can't put up better than 4.71 over a full season?  Who couldn't?  Its one thing to replace an injured pitcher with a real replacement, but Ishii?  You couldn't pay me to watch this guy pitch.  All of the sudden, I'm not feeling so good about this season.  Don't get me wrong, Jason Phillips is the worst base clog this side of Johnny Helmet, but he did bat .298 in '03.  One bad season and we're done with him?  Wasn't he the Mets leading hitter this spring?  I don't know.  I can't remember the last time this team made a deal that made me say, "Wow, I really like that deal."

One thing I talked about with Kristin from Fordham the other day is the idea of scheduled blogging...having different types of posts appear of specific days to get a blogging routine going.  I got the idea from Fred, who has a VC Cliche of the Week post and a running Top 50 Albums thing going.

Well, I like music, but I'm not much of an album guy.  Most of the music I have is sliced up into individual songs.  For me, its movies.  I love going to the movies.  I especially love the previews.  In fact, if someone came out with just an hour and a half of previews of all made up  movies with real celebrities, I think I'd go see that.  When I see a movie, I usually have a pretty good idea that I'll like it, and I haven't seen a lot of movies that "everyone" goes to see.  I never saw Titanic or My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  I like movies with style--ones that have a little hint of surrealism to them.  I like certain actors--Kevin Klein, John Cusack, Sean Connery, Bill Murray...  and I don't mind a good car chase or explosion.  I don't mind stupidity either.  That being said, for the next 50 weeks, I am going to post, every Monday, a new addition to My Top 50 Movies List. 

Its not the best 50, so I'm not soliciting feedback as to what should be on the list.  Its my list.  There are a lot of movies that you would figure a guy my age would be putting on here, like maybe Goonies or the Princess Bride, that won't show up.  They're fine, but they're not my favorite.  There are lots of people out there who can recite those movies by heart, just not me.

That being said, here's the first one.  Its kind of a bridge between the inspiration for this list, which is Fred's album list, and my movie list, because it has a fantastic soundtrack and that really adds to the movie.  My first movie is Grosse Pointe Blank, with John Cusack and Minnie Driver. 

In short, its about a professional killer who goes back to a Detroit suburb to attend his 10 year high school reunion.  That right there makes for a unique situation, but throw on top of it that he left is high school sweetheart at her front door on prom night...  never picked her up and dropped off the face of the earth for ten years. 

For me, the movie is about being nostalgic and  never forgetting the connections you had when you were coming of age.  There are a few people in my life that I wish I could go back and talk to--people who probably think I'm broken but could be convinced I'm just "mildly sprained".

The soundtrack is one of the best things about the movie.  Not a lot of people at the time realized that it came out in two volumes, and you didn't get all the music you wanted on the first.  The soundtrack features the Violent Femmes, David Bowie,  The Clash, A-Ha and The Specials.  Great songs...  great supporting performances from Dan Aykroyd, Alan Arkin  and Joan Cusack, and a little high school romance revisited.  Feel free to pick up a copy at Amazon (they're selling the movie cheaper than a single volume of the two volume soundtrack), because "You can never go home again, but at least you can shop there."

I was trying to explain to my dad on Saturday what RSS was and I came up with this analogy:

Web content is like pizza and there are a couple of ways to get your pizza.  HTML is like having it "to stay."  Web pages written in HTML are all about getting you to come in, stop in one place and spend some time on it.  RSS is like getting your content "to go"--no tray, dish, glasses... just your food in a box, formatted to be sent exactly where you want it, when you want it.  E-mail content from a website is like having pizza sent to you as well, in that same box, just not always when you want it, which is hardly convenient at all.

So I'm doing the round trip to my parents' house on my bike in a few minutes, which is about 32 miles round trip.  I made it a point of pulling my never-used helmet out of the closet. I promised myself I'd become a helmet wearer this year, given all the biking I plan to do.  Well, the helmet that I bought is a cheap one and waaaaaaaay too big.  It really is the dumbest looking thing I've ever seen.  If anyone can recommended a smaller, slimmer helmet (one that doesn't weigh my head down so much that it might actually cause me to get into an accident), I'd appreciate it.  Yes, I know, its completely ridiculous that I'm not wearing a helmet.  I'm fully aware of the risks, and yet, in the interest of not looking dorky, I'm still not on the helmet bandwagon. Show me a slim one, though, and I think I'm finally on it.  (Especially that now, it won't mess my hair.)

I think Seinfeld sums this helmlet stupidity up best:

"There are many things that we can point to as proof that the human being is not smart. The helmet, is my personal favourite. The fact that we had to invent the helmet. Now why did we invent the helmet ? Well, because we were participating in many activities that were cracking our heads. We looked at the situation, we chose not to avoid these activities, but to just make little plastic hats, so that we can continue our head-cracking life styles. The only thing dumber than the helmet is the helmet law, the point of which is to protect a brain that is functioning so poorly, it's not even trying to stop the cracking of the head that it's in.