One Brave Dog

One year ago today our oldest lhasa apso Marty suffered a ruptured disc from intervertebal disc disease which led to paralysis in all four limbs and he was rushed into emergency surgery. He was given only a 50/50 chance to pull through due to his advanced age of 12.

He came through, and was pretty weak afterwards. But he never lost his spirit and continued to hang on.


10 days later he still could not stand or walk and the doctor suggested we put him down.



But Marty struggled valiantly and soon began to crawl bit by bit.

By the 13th day post surgery he got up, and today he runs and plays like Marty of old.



He taught me a lot about the power of one's will to live.

Here's to Marty, here's to life.

Holidays Through the Years

Going back through the Christmas time machine. Boy how the years fly by.

2007


2006


2003


2001


2000


1996

Winter Biking

I started biking to work in July 2004 and I commute year round, rain or shine. For me, my hands are the first part to feel winter's pain, but it's only a 20 minute ride and a good pair of Lobster Gloves can get me through the coldest ride.

On the weekends I like to go 25-40 miles per ride, usually on the West Side Bikeway that runs along the icy Hudson river.

and it's much more challenging keeping your hands and feet warm for 2-3 hours of cold weather. Down to 35 degrees wind chill I'm fine with Lobster Gloves and Sidi Winter cycling shoes with Smart Wool socks as shown in the pictures below.



But when the wind chill goes below zero I turn to two very cool gadgets - my Sidi Toaster heated insoles which are wirelessly remote controlled


and my Zanier Heat-GX heated gloves.


Both feature rechargeable lithium ion batteries and can keep your hands and feet at room temperature for over 5 hours per charge. Just this past weekend I did 25 miles each day in 34 degree, 22 degree wind chill cold, and remained comfortable the entire way. I'm not going to kid you and say it's like riding in July, but at least your legs are still the part of your body that feels the most pain from the cycling.

The insoles are $300, the gloves $350. Being able to do your favorite outdoor activity year round - priceless.

The Teaching Company

As I've grown older, more and more I've come to realize how much there is in the world to know and how little of it I know. There's probably more new knowledge being created every year than one person could learn in an entire lifetime.

But I believe it's not how much you know - It's how fast you learn. That's why for the past four years or so, I've been hooked on The Teaching Company.

I've downloaded over 50 of their audio courses, covering university level course topics in history and other humanities, philosophy, religion, the sciences, and more. I feel like I've gained a second four-year college degree.

My first degree back at Stanford was one I designed myself, called Science, Technology, and Society. My second one was a MBA from Berkeley in Marketing and Finance. They've served me well in my business career, but I've always felt a bit incomplete when it came to my knowledge of the humanities.

I started with what are still perhaps my two favorite Teaching Company courses, the 96 lecture Foundations of Western Civilization, and the 60 lecture Great Ideas in Philosophy. The lectures are each 30 minutes, so it's really surprising quickly you can get through a course listening to one lecture on the way to work and another on the way home.

Plus throw in some plane flights and long weekend bike rides, and soon your delving into more specialized courses like No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life and Biological Anthropology: An Evolutionary Perspective.

I think the mind is the key agent we use to process what our senses encounter. The richer the mind, the richer and more fulfilling our engagement with our world.

Miami - Customer Segmentation Conference

I went to Miami last week to speak at the 2008 Customer Segmentation Marketing Conference hosted by Marcus Evans.



I talked about how by slicing and dicing our food TV fan niche, through the past 10 years Food Network has been able find new growth opportunities.



I met a lot of very smart professionals, but a big highlight was the down time at what I consider to be the best hotel value in Miami - The Alexander on Miami Beach.




The hotel is about 2 miles north of the heart of South Beach, so it's away just a short drive from the nightlife action, but quiet and serene, set on a lovely white sand beach.



For under $280 per night I got a ocean front suite



complete with kitchen, 2 flat screens, huge balcony - and since the hotel was was having a quiet week, they upgraded me to a 1,00 sq ft 2 bedroom suite for the same price.

My Nephew Jayden

I went to visit my little nephew Jaden in San Gabriel, CA last night.

He's was still napping when I arrived.

He's my brother's only son.

He's the sweet,

industrious sort

and another reason I'm so proud of my brother Jonathan.

Good Food Gardens

I few weeks ago I was San Francisco

at the Slow Food Nation festival

and where Food Network recently sprouted their first Good Food Garden, in a joint effort with Share Our Strength and Teich Garden Systems to provide kids with nutritious food where they live, learn and play. They showcased the model garden at

the festival.

Teich built the garden the day prior to the start of the festival

When the festival ended we moved the garden to is final home, the Boys and Girls Club of Treasure Island where the kids really seemed to take to it.

Share Our Strength

I went to Washington DC this weekend to participate in a conference on child food insecurity
with our charitable partner Share Our Strength. Share Our Strength® is a national organization that works hard to make sure no kid in America grows up hungry. They weave together a net of community groups, activists and food programs to catch children at risk of hunger and surround them with nutritious food where they live, learn and play.

On Friday I took the Hinges of Hope tour with a bunch of other Share Our Strength supporters


and we visited a few of the organizations that Share Our Strength funds including the Friendship Charter School and the Mazique Head Start Center.

The Friendship Charter school in Southeast Washington is one of the only schools in DC to offer
breakfast in the classroom. This greatly increases the number of kids eating breakfast as
compared to schools where breakfast is served prior to classes, since it's often difficult for
low income parents to get their kids to school prior to classes.

The school is right across the street from Saint Elizabeth's Hospital, home to would be presidential assassin John Hinkley and where my mother worked as a psychiatric nurse during my high school years when we lived in nearby Columbia, MD.

Share Our Strength funds Operation Frontline cooking and nutrition classes at the Mazique center and we heard from some of the student mothers about how the classes have helped them get better at feeding their kids.

We also visited the Lincoln Heights housing project in Northeast DC and saw some of the great
work done by the Project Blessing community center - including providing clothing and food to
residents.

On Saturday I heard a presentation by Dr. Marianna Chilton on how childhood food insecurity
leads to serious health and educational problems for our kids.

She said that 17% of households with children are food insecure, whereas the rate is only 9% among households without children.

Plus those that are food insecure have 2-4 times the health issues as food secure households and
households in the food stamp program have better reading and math scores over time, while those whose households who have left the food stamp program had worse scores over time.
She also talked about the recently passed Farm Bill and it will help in the fight against
childhood hunger by significantly increasing funding of the food stamp program.

Food Network personality Sandra Lee, a big supporter of Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale event,

gave the luncheon keynote speech and talked about her own personal history of being on food stamps as a child.

Tonight Food Network's Sarah Copeland will receive an award and on Monday Food Network's VP of PR Carrie Welch will make a presentation.

http://www.strength.org/
http://strength.typepad.com/hinges/
http://cbpp.org/foodstamp-video.htm

Why I Work In TV Marketing

Thirty years ago when I was a kid in high school I saw this commercial on ABC-TV one night after Barney Miller.



It was then that I knew what I wanted to do with my life. No longer would it be a doctor, lawyer, or automobile engineer. I would make ads that make people want to watch more TV, something I've been doing for Food Network since 1998.

The Week

This week was a mix of a bunch of activities and events. Monday I took the day off and went for a 35 mile bike ride before watching the US Open men's final. Tuesday I interviewed a prospective new member of my condo board. Wednesday I began two days of jury duty.

Wednesday night I went to a party for the launch of a new TV show from Martha Stewart called "Whatever Martha" where Martha's daughter and a friend take a satirical look at past Martha Stewart TV appearances.

On Thursday night I sat out on the balcony and took in the bittersweet 9/11/08 view from downtown.

US Open Tennis 2008

I've been I big tennis fan ever since I was a 10 year old kid in Michigan and I'd hit balls off the brick siding of our duplex, pretending to be Jimmy Connors locked in a battle with Arthur Ashe in the final set at Wimbledon. I played on the tennis team in high school and in college roomed with a player from Stanford's NCAA champion tennis team.

I started going to the US Open when I moved to New York after graduation in 1986 and I went
nearly every year till I moved to LA in 1992. Since returning to NYC I've gone to at least 3 sessions every year since 1999. This year I went to 4 day sessions and 4 night sessions over the two week tournament.

My favorite female player is Venus Williams who made her debut at the US Open in 1997,

the same year the 22,000 seat Arthur Ashe Stadium opened


Prior to that, the main show court was the Louis Armstrong Stadium, which is still in use and is a great place to take in a night match. You can see the Manhattan skyline from the upper level seats.



I saw a lot of my other favorites including 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli


2008 Australian Open finalist Jo Wilfried Tsonga


2008 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Andy Murray


and 2008 French Open semifinalist Gael Monfils