Marla Olmstead

Just arrived home from a vacation (which may be more appropriately categorized as vocation as I worked a good portion of the time). I visited my 7 year niece who has received quite a bit of global attention for her painting including a full length bogus documentary. Her painting are spectacular including these huge 5 ft. x 5 ft. paintings......... my brothers house is full with paintings (he is sending my wife and I a few to "store" for him) on every wall - very cool. You can check out these spectacular paintings at marlaolmstead.com. She is also exploring new media to paint, which are also spectacular.

Best Buy Kiosks

Best Buy will be offering product via there kiosks in airports...check out the article at the WSJ............perhaps time for a services kiosk for high margin services - wireless, music, internet, security, etc..........time for the first bridgevine kiosk.

Ad Sales Ugly

Should be an interesting two quarters for corporate Ad sales in the US. First, the economy is not making a bold comeback anytime soon. Second, corporation are getting much smarter with display advertising and ROI - branding is great, but the market is looking for a return.......June was soft - see Viacom's results and Yellow book owner RH Donnelly results - for a quick preview. Less display ads will mean more SEM spend in my opinion, although the general economy and smarter tools may also impact Google and friends also.

Facebook Evolution

The most common response I get from my 35 - 45 year old peer group when sending an invitation to Facebook is "are you 16?".....then they try it, and it works, and they are connecting to many old friends who also like it, although they to first ask they question is "are you 16?". It will be interesting to see how this reluctant receptivity becomes more viral to the midlife crowd, and what impact their revenue model will have if the age skus higher and how quickly a newer/hipper social network evolves for the teen/20s crowd...............

Moving

The Bridgevine.com website is really evolving. It is becoming the most extensive, self contained website for home and small businesses.......the robust product offering is particularly appreciated by the 17 million annual movers (their are approx. 110M households, so many on the move......)......we have received a significant number of email praise for our advanced concierge service. Given the fact that we share our savings with customer, there is not a better one-stop local for ordering all moving services - triple play, credit card, DVD service, moving service, and much more.....the largest array of home services on the net with the best prices - great for everyone.

Vatican Secret Diplomacy

My great high school friend has just released his latest book - Vatican Secret Diplomacy. My friend: Charles R. Gallagher, S.J. or Chaz to his old school friends has become an accomplished scholar. You can buy it an Amazon. I am half way through the book and is very interesting if you are a history buff or are interested in the role the catholic church played (or didn't play) during WWII and Nazism.

Vacation

Heading out on vacation tomorrow. Have our airline tix and hotel; Real player with Rhapsody lined up; ATT/RIM mobile phone including international plan; the kids have ipods and itunes; Netflix DVD (Perfume); downloaded Audible.com (The Last Lecture) to listen on the plane; Wall Street Journal for me, People Magazine for my wife; Discover Credit Card.......and the beauty of all these items - ALL PURCHASED ON BRIDGEVINE.COM