MLB in tangled web of on-field advertising

I am not a huge baseball fan. I did not play little league baseball as a kid so that I don't have the same connection to the sport that many people do. Even though I am not a passionate fan, I am floored by the MLB's plans to promote Spider-Man 2. The following information is from an ESPN.com article titled MLB in tangled web of on-field advertising.

"As part of a marketing alliance between Major League Baseball Properties, Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios, webbed logos of the upcoming film Spider-Man 2 will appear on bases and on-deck circles in 15 stadiums of teams playing host to interleague games June 11-13.

Pitching rubbers and home plate will be adorned with Spider-Man 2 branding before games, but will be replaced with standard white plates once the games start.

Baseball will receive about $3.6 million in a deal negotiated by Major League Baseball Properties with Marvel Studios and Columbia Pictures, a division of Sony Inc., a high-ranking baseball executive told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The teams will get a piece of the pie from the promotion. Large-market clubs like the Yankees and the Red Sox reportedly will receive more than $100,000 each through the promotion, according to the Wall Street Journal."

Not all of the teams are crazy about the idea. I just wonder where this is going to lead. MLB baseball has opened a pandora's box and they are going to be bombarded with requests for additional promotions. It will be interesting to see what promotion they decide to do next.

Jack's eighth baseball game of the year.

Wednesday evening, Jack played in his eighth baseball game of the season. At this level, they are playing until some scores six runs in an inning; there are typically very few outs made. Tonight, Jack was playing center field and a high fly ball was hit in his direction. He caught it and the crowd went crazy!

Morgan's Birthday!

Morgan is 17 today!

Kings Win!

In spite of my pessimism, Bibby carried the Kings to a 104 to 98 victory over the Wolves. Sharon and I spent the last couple minutes of the game swearing at Cassel and pounding on the floor of the bonus room. Larkin and I have tickets to game four back in Sacramento on May 12.

Wolves in six games

Almost three weeks ago, I predicted that the Dallas Mavericks would beat the Sacramento Kings in six games in the first round of the Western Conference play-offs. Ultimately, Bibby's play and the lack of size in the Dallas front line were the Mavericks' undoing.

While I think that the Kings can beat the Wolves, I am not optimistic. The nexus of Kevin Garnett's MVP season with Chris Webber's negative impact on the flow of the King's game should give the Wolves the edge in the series. With commissioner David Stern there to present Garnett with his MVP trophy before tonight's game, I expect the Wolves to come out on a huge emotional high at the beginning of the first game.

My prediction for the Western Conference semifinal series is the Wolves in six games.

Trekkie communicator ready to go

Brun sent me a link to a BBC News article titled Trekkie communicator ready to go. He and I were talking about it at one point during Velta's birthday party on Saturday. Sutter actually had a team at a Vocera presentation in the bay area evaluating this product about three weeks ago. Several of our hospitals are very interested in installing the system.

The Vocera Communications Badge is a wearable device that weighs less than two ounces and can easily be clipped to a shirt pocket or worn on a lanyard. The actual size of the device is 4.2" tall x 1.4" wide.

It enables instant two-way voice conversation without the need to remember a phone number or manipulate a handset. It is controlled using natural spoken language. To initiate a conversation with Jim and Mary, for example, the user would simply say, "Conference Jim Anderson and Mary Guscia." In addition, when a live conversation is not necessary, text messages and alerts can be sent to the LCD screen on the back of the badge.

It uses the 802.11b wireless networks that we are installing in most of our locations.

Brunch with Morgan

Jack and I went to Placerville and took Morgan out to breakfast at Sweetie Pies. Morgan's birthday is on Wednesday; she will be seventeen. We got her an iPod for her birthday.

Since last October, Morgan had been working at the Baskin Robbins in Placerville. In late March, the building was heavily damaged by fire. Initially, the business was supposed to be reopened in a few weeks, but now it looks like it is going to be much longer. Morgan had been working some fairly long hours (8 hours on one school day!) and is now relishing her life of leisure.

Afterwards, we stopped by Kim and Brun's house. They were having a birthday party for Velta; she will be one year old on May 6.

Sharon and Liz got back from Santa Cruz in the late afternoon.

The Seattle Times: Fact is, wedding-dress guy's eBay pitch includes some fiction

Here is even more on eBay item 4146756343 - SIZE 12 WEDDING DRESS/GOWN NO RESERVE. The Seattle Times has an article posted Friday evening titled Fact is, wedding-dress guy's eBay pitch includes some fiction.

Saturday morning, Jack played in his seventh baseball game of the season.

Sharon and Liz took off for Santa Cruz to spend the weekend with Laura, while I spent most of the rest of the day working in the front yard. Jack and I had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory and then watched The Cat in Hat.

more on eBay item 4146756343 - SIZE 12 WEDDING DRESS/GOWN NO RESERVE

Here is some more on eBay item 4146756343 - SIZE 12 WEDDING DRESS/GOWN NO RESERVE. Although it is hard to believe, the counter suggests that the page has taken over 11.7 million hits as of 8:00 p.m. Pacific time.

The seller has created a web site at: http://www.ebayweddingguy.com/

The video segment from the today show is on the web at the MSN Video site.

The video is worth checking out!

Kings Win!

Jack, Sharon, Tim (Sharon's brother) and I went to game five of the first round NBA play-off game between the Sacramento Kings and the Dallas Mavericks. Jack and I got a chance to sit in the fifth row in the end zone right above the Kings bench; these were great seats. We had a blast and the Kings closed out the series with a 119 to 118 win!

eBay item 4146756343 - SIZE 12 WEDDING DRESS/GOWN NO RESERVE

I spent the day winding my way back from Atlanta. I flew AmericaWest from Altanta to Las Vegas and then Las Vegas to Sacramento. Although I have had some bad experiences with AmericaWest in the past, the trip was very uneventful. AmericaWest is doing something different; the only meals offered are the flight were for sale. They offered a couple of three different meals for $5 to $7. I have never seen this before.

Wednesday night, Jack played in his sixth baseball game of the season.

Larkin sent me a link to an eBay item: SIZE 12 WEDDING DRESS/GOWN NO RESERVE. It is worth taking a second and reading the item's description. As of tonight, the page has had over 6 million hits. The seller was on the Today Show on Monday talking about the eBay sale.

Second day at Lawson CUE

I spent a second day at the Lawson Conference and User Exchange. The conference sessions I attended included: Caltholic Healthcare West: Optimize Your Supply Chain Management Implementation; Planning for 8.1 ProcessFlow: Differences from 8.x ProcessFlow; and, a Lawson Reporting Suite for Healthcare Demonstration.

After a 10k run on the treadmill, a group of us headed to Turner Field for the evening event. There was a healthcare industry reception at the 755 Club. We had dinner and drinks overlooking the field. To end the evening, the Little River Band played in the Monument Grove Plaza at the stadium.

Lawson CUE

I spent the day at the Lawson Conference and User Exchange in Atlanta, George. The conference is being held at the Georgia World Congress Center. The opening session included a presentation by Jerry Linenger, an astronaut who spent 5 months aboard the Muir Space Station. His presentation was titled Embracing Challenges and Change: My 132 Days off the Planet. He had some amazing stories; it sounded like they kept the Muir going with baling wire and chewing gum. His story about fighting a fire in the Muir space station was particularly incredible.

I attend three break-outs sessions, including What's New in Human Resources Version 8.1, Becoming a Power User of the Lawson Portal, and What's new in Procurement Version 8.1.

After a 10k on the treadmill, Donna and I joined the Lawson Account representative and a group of other major customers for a dinner at a restaurant called Spice.

Winding my way to Atlanta

Although Bibby did not look any worst for his supposed injury in practice, the Sacramento Kings team that showed up in Dallas on Saturday afternoon was the Kings team that I watched the last six weeks of the season. I was hoping that team was lost and gone, but apparently not...

I spent the day winding my way from Sacramento to Atlanta via Phoenix. When I boarded the flight in Sacramento for the short trip to Phoenix, there was a woman with a baby in the middle seat. Initially, I assumed that the guy on the window was her husband. Shortly after take-off, I realized that he was not her husband, but just some dude. Over the course of the flight, I ended up talking to her.

She was a very normal looking woman in her late thirties or early forties. The baby was an eight month boy who was great during the flight. The baby was her seventh kid. She was married for fifteen years and had six kids, ages 4 to 18, with her first husband. She got divorced and married a guy who lives in Grass Valley that she met on the internet. Yes, the internet...

Her new husband has two kids by his previous two wives, ages 8 and 16. Yes, this is his third marriage and he has three kids by three wives. Together, the two of them have nine kids. Their ex-spouses (his two ex-wives and her ex-husband) have not remarried and are very combative. According to her, all three of the ex-spouses are constantly working to poison the kids against her and her husband.

She can not get permission from the court to move to California with her six other kids and her new husband can not find a job in Phoenix. As a result, one weekend a month she flies to Sacramento and one weekend a month, he flies to Phoenix. They spent vacations and holidays together. She is in court to try to get permission to move to California.

I am constantly amazed how complicated we can make our lives.

This Blog is one year's old today!

This Blog is one year's old today. The initial entry was Shopping Colleges and Kindergartens.

Early Saturday morning, Jack played in his fifth baseball game of the season. Afterwards, Jack and I went and signed him up to play in the Elk Grove youth soccer league. Sharon spent a big part of Saturday with her nephew Kevin. She is serving as his confirmation sponsor and there was a rehearsal for Sunday.

Friday morning, Sharon worked at T0wer. Although the woman Sharon filled in for while she was on maternity leave is back, T0wer is still having her work on some projects.

Friday afternoon, Sharon was one of the art docent's for the afternoon kindergarten class. The lesson revolved around artists who paints flowers, including Vincent Van Gogh's Vase with Irises [shown below], Claude Monet's Waterlillies II, Vase of Flowers by Odilon Redon, and Petit Fleurs by Pablo Picasso.



Friday night, Sharon and Janie met for drinks at the Virgin Sturgeon.

sacbee.com -- Kings -- Bibby injured during Kings practice

urrrgghhh.... Bibby injured during Kings practice

Waffles

Brun sent me another g00gle b0mb. If you do a Google Search for "Waffles," the first item in the list is the web site for John Kerry for President. I previously pointed out that if you do a Google Search for "miserable failure" the first item in the list is the biography of George W. Bush on the official White House web site.

sacbee.com -- Business -- Tech upgrade at Sutter

Sutter Health has moved aggressively to deploy technology over the last six years to cut costs and improve patient safety. Plans for the next ten years are even more ambitious. The short article in today's Sacramento Bee titled Tech upgrade at Sutter notes that Sutter Health will spend $1.2 billion over the next 10 years to improve medical and administrative technologies at its hospitals.

There is a longer article in today's Contra Costa Times titled Sutter Health sets $1.2 billion plan for IT which quotes the Sutter Health CIO and provides more details about the plans that we have underway.

Will India price itself out of offshore market?

Part of the subplot of Wednesday's episode of West Wing included the export of technology jobs to India. This is probably a story that they should have done several years ago. I have had several opportunities in the last couple months [see 12/21/2003 and 3/6/2004] to deal with help desks outsourced to India and have been less than impressed.

Within Sutter Health, I have been fairly vocal about my negative experiences with India help desks. As a result, people are always forwarding me articles about India outsourcing. One of the Regional CIOs forwarded a link to Will India price itself out of offshore market? The article notes that:

The U.S. technology industry's demand for offshore services is apparently beginning to drive up pay rates in India, raising questions about the long-term benefits of outsourcing work to that country.

Indeed, even some Indian companies have begun offshoring their own work to China.

The article points out that salaries in India have grown at a double digit rate in the last year. In contrast, the mid-points and salary ranges for our technology jobs have not changed for three straight years.

Wine Tasting!

Sharon and Liz spent the day wine tasting in Somona. They went to the Buena Vista and Artesa Wineries and had lunch at the Martini House.

Wednesday night, Jack played in his fourth baseball game of the season.