Cramer's Corner

Thank you, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for the nice feature

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:56:32 GMT

UP CLOSE / BOB CRAMER, CEO, ThePort Network Inc.

ThePort helps clients, users interact on Web

By CAROLINE WILBERT

For the Journal-Constitution

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Bob Cramer’s first job out of college was at CNN. Though he liked his job, he decided that he’d rather be like Ted Turner than work for him. An entrepreneurial career was born.

Cramer went on to form A.D.A.M., now a publicly traded firm that provides companies with online health information and benefits management services for employees.

Enlarge this image

ALISON CHURCH/Special

ThePort Network Inc., which Bob Cramer started in 1999, helps media companies and nonprofits interact with consumers much as Facebook and MySpace.

THE BOB CRAMER FILE

Home: Chastain Park
Age: 48
Family: Wife, Sally; children: Ben, 17; Sara, 14; Jack, 11
Education: B.A. political science, Tufts University, 1982
Favorite movie (recent): "Iron Man"
Last book read: "The Lay of the Land" by Richard Ford
Favorite Quote: "Not to be served, but to serve," Taft School, Watertown, Conn., motto

While still running A.D.A.M., Cramer founded a second company called ThePort Network in 1999. The company, which survived what Cramer calls “the very dark days” of the dot-com bust, has evolved into a cousin of social media providers such as Facebook or MySpace. It helps nonprofits, associations and media companies use the Web to interact with consumers, members and others. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was a customer at one point, but no longer is.)

Two years ago, Cramer handed over the reins at A.D.A.M. and became full-time CEO of ThePort, which has 25 employees.

When he’s not starting and running companies, he spends a lot of time working on behalf of Atlanta’s homeless. He has been involved with the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless for more than 20 years and is board chairman.

Q: Tell us more about ThePort and what it offers customers.

A: ThePort has very quietly built one of the most powerful social media platforms in the industry today. What we do is we help brands bring social elements, social capabilities, by leveraging their existing Web assets. The future of the Internet will be moving from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, which is all about connecting people and engaging them and letting them participate in the discussion. This has very important business goals and opportunities to start to leverage the Internet in new ways that were never available before.

Q: Your customers are media companies and associations, including nonprofits. Why have you focused on these markets?

A: We think those are two very large markets where there is tremendous need to use the Web in all its capacity. People are generally in an association because they share a passion or a commitment to the subject matter or to the cause. We are letting them participate in the discussion and be part of a steady stream of information about whatever that cause or subject might be, to share and participate and use the knowledge that they have to create new content and new discussions and also to social network, to meet other members of that same organization. That can lead to all kinds of new stuff. Generally, an association will have an annual meeting once a year where a lot of networking takes place. Now they can use the Web to do this 365 days a year.

Q: What about the media? Why does that make sense?

A: In many respects, a newspaper or a magazine, a newspaper in particular, is sort of an association of people who live in a particular geography. We have also seen, as traditional media companies are moving more to the Web, particularly as newspapers struggle for circulation and people are getting their information online, to have the tools and technology to effectively compete online is of para-amount importance. … One product we are just introducing is called Social Market 2.0, and it really lets a traditional newspaper company or a broadcast television station or a radio station let local merchants get very engaged with a growing online user base. Social Market 2.0 is really a new form of advertising. It gives a business a presence, a socially enabled presence, in a traditional sort-of-business-directory mode, where they control a profile page very much like a person would control their own profile in a social network. By giving them that dynamic page, where all their prospective users are, the business can have a blog, can have video and photos, a map, times when they are open, specials, and people can “friend” the business just like they would “friend” a person.

Q: What are your goals for ThePort?

A: Our goal is to build a $100 million-plus company.

Q: Where are you now, in terms of reaching that goal?

A: We have laid the foundation for reaching that goal. Now it is really about sales and marketing and distribution. We spent an inordinate amount of time building our platform, building our client services team, deploying with marquee customers. In fact in Atlanta we have a number of high-profile nonprofits that are our customers. We work with CARE, with a community called CARE Connect, and we have built a dynamic community for the Arthritis Foundation. These are two large nonprofits based here in Atlanta. We also run a community for the Atlanta Business Chronicle. So we have very good reach here in Atlanta, but we are looking to take this company to all different levels.

Q: How much is revenue now?

A: Over $1 million, going toward $5 million to $6 million in 2009.

Q: Can you talk a little bit about your work with the homeless?

A: I’ve tried to be not only a technology entrepreneur; I’ve tried to be a social entrepreneur, too. I’ve been involved with the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless now for coming on 23 years. There are so many similarities between a technology startup and a nonprofit. People invest in a technology company for a return, and people contribute to a nonprofit for a different kind of return. I’ve learned a great deal by being in both worlds. I think there is a tremendous education there, and it is nice to give back to the community as well.

Q: What do you find most rewarding about this particular cause?

A: [W]e are helping thousands of people, and it is literally thousands over the years, really transform their lives, from going from the streets to going into a place where they receive care and services, and plenty of them come out the other end where they are living on their own. They get jobs and live lives just like the rest of us.

ThePort Featured in DM World

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:55:59 GMT

Here is link to the nice press ThePort just received. http://www.dmnews.com/Nonprofits-adopt-social-media/article/116380/

Speeding Ticket

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 18:42:26 GMT

I got pulled over for going 50 in a 35-zone just outside the office on Thursday. I was racing back from a meeting with Tom Bell, CEO of Cousins Properties, to discuss the Task Force and homelessness. I was very pumped up and encouraged by the meeting and was paying absolutely no attention on a stretch of road that I know is a speed trap.

For the past month or so, I have been speeding through life, working my tail off to get ThePort properly positioned and funded and to keep the lights on literally at the Task Force. Progress is being made on all fronts, but the perhaps the ticket is a good metaphor for slowing down a bit.

Denver's Convention and Atlanta's Homeless

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:30:53 GMT

I am having a hard time as I watch the Democratic convention wrestling rhetoric from reality. As speaker after speaker talks about fairness, inclusiveness and opportunities for all, my thoughts go to the 500 or so men who each night sleep at the Task Force Peachtree Pine Center.

We supposedly have a progressive Democratic Mayor here in Atlanta who has gone out of her way to cut off state funding to help these people and to interfere in additional local and federal funding. It turns my stomach to hear the talk when I see the reality. Who is looking out for these people and thousands like them? Is it just concerned citizens like me? Where is John Lewis whose history should make him a champion for Peachtree-Pine's residents? How are we to care, aid and empower thousands of people who sit homeless on our streets or in our shelters to be contributing members of an inclusive society if nobody acts or cares?

Heaven for Hypochondriacs--A.D.A.M. in Business Week

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:26:09 GMT

Click on the headline of this story to see the nice mention. I'm sure it looks good in the print edition as well. Congrats to Kevin and the A.D.A.M. team. I'm very proud of them.

It's Out Of Our Hands, Sort Of

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:45:06 GMT

ThePort is in the social media "infrastructure" space. This means we provide the underlying technology to add social media elements to exist web sites and create an expanded web presence including online community functionality.

The question today is what should we do if one of our clients "designs" an implementation of our technology that we feel is not going to work effectively. Do we walk away from the account? Do we beg them to change it based on our experience? What if they don't take our suggestions?

We have faced this issue repeatedly in the past where we get judged on how our deployed communities do when we have little or no say in the actual implementation design. This is an interesting paradox. Our platform can work flawlessly but if the actual implementation, which at times is out of our hands, is not done correctly, often times we take the blame.

The answer we have tried to implement over the past few months is to standardize our product offering and deployment methodology using best practices. We also try to work with our clients upfront so we develop common metrics to judge success or failure. We encourage them to start a little slower, get their user base comfortable with participating in a community and then expanding from there. The "less is more" approach is really starting to work.

Advertising 2.0

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:41:48 GMT

Some random quotes from Advertising 2.0:

Social media that connects strangers is more valuable than social media that connects friends. Yelp, Trip Advisor CPM's much higher than Facebook

Type of Content: PSAA. Professional content; Semi-professional content; Amateur content; Advertiser content.

"Enabling" has taken the place of "Sponsored" which took the place of "Advertising".

The vast majority of advertising dollars online or anywhere is spent by Fortune 500 companies. Therefore, they need to be comfortable advertising on social networking sites and to date they are not.

Social Networks lack context, said Sue Decker of Yahoo!

Women's groups and healthcare sites are very popular subject matters.

BDX-Brand Duration Exposure

Social Media Metrics: Traffic, Ad Engagement, Sales Impact.

It is not easy for Brands to step into a social space.

New York Highlights and Lowlights

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:58:25 GMT

I've recovered from my two-day, three-night trip to NYC last week. Quite an adventure: I got to see Barack Obama on the street (it was from a distance and the police lights made him difficult to see, but who counting), I met the publisher of the New York Times (seriously, and told him we were both Tufts grads and that ThePort could help his business...we are, already, with Boston.com and A.D.A.M. is an important partner with nytimes.com). I got lost on the subway which was a new experience to me as a native NY'er (I just don't know the west side like the east side). I went from 46 and 7th, down the 42 and 7th, then one short hop to Times Square then one stop North before I realized I was headed East when I wanted to continue North. I got out at 52 and 7th, sweating and cursing profusely, and having wasted a half hour and walked a half mile underground lugging my (heavy) laptop bag with my blazer on, I had gone just about 6 blocks in total. I cannot tell you how happy I was when I finally snagged an airconditioned taxi and went on my merry way.

Busy Days In Social Media Land

Fri, 30 May 2008 20:07:28 GMT

Finishing up a great week here at ThePort. We definitely have momentum at our back and numerous deployments in front of us.

Some newspaper companies are finally "getting" social media and now understand the transformative nature it can have on their industry. Our good friends at Lee Enterprises fit that bill. They were just in for a visit and we have some great stuff about to launch with them. I am a firm believer that newspaper companies have many valuable assets that can be dramatically leveraged in the digital world. At some point, the discussion will shift from a focus on the decline of print circulation and the loss of big print advertising revenues to the newly constructed digital business model with which many newspaper companies are reinventing themselves. A key issue is figuring out when that shift will occur. We are clearly not there yet, but maybe the time is not that far away.

Next week I head to NYC for Advertising 2.0 and a whole host of meeting with publishers and investors. June is a great time to be in New York and I look forward to a fun, productive trip.

Making Money In Social Media

Thu, 29 May 2008 14:56:58 GMT

A continuous flurry of interesting articles on the divergence between company valuations and real money making performance in the social media arena. I obviously follow this closely as CEO of a leading white-label social media company.

The Financial Times kicked off this week's discussion with a story entitled, "Web 2.0 fails to produce cash". Leading venture investors predict a shake-out , but many reserve judgement saying Silicon Valley is usually right and usually early.

Bernard Lunn over at Read/WriteWeb goes into more detail about proposed business models. His interesting analysis of a walled garden model vs. a utility model gives many consumer facing social media sites and apps creators much to consider.

Being in the social media "infrastructure" or tools business, ThePort has a clearly defined business model that should produce significant cash, recurring revenues, "SaaS" margins and significant room for product innovation. But a model like this doesn't have the same sex appeal to venture investors as some free models including Automattic, the parent of the free, open source blog publishing system Word Press which has gained huge market share, Ning, the free, self-service social networking platform which too has strong market share and consumer-facing social networking sites. Now Word Press and Ning may very well be able to convert their millions of users into sustainable revenue streams and walled garden social networking sites may drive extremely high CPM rates at some point off of a large traffic base, but these are interesting home-run bets. ThePort's business model is more conservative I guess, but very attractive especially at scale.

I plan to write more on this subject in the weeks' ahead and articulate some of the significant opportunities that we see.

A Fish Tale

Thu, 29 May 2008 01:19:33 GMT

A note from Bob: it is coming on the two-year anniversary when I took my then 15-year old son, Ben, down to Florida to go deep sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico with my dear friends Dan, Bill and David. It was quite an experience for all of us and I had to write about it. It took me almost a year (two sittings exactly) to finish my recollection of this Gilligan-type adventure. While it might not be the most professional piece I have ever written, I had a good laugh with it and a few beers while waiting for a plane. Here it is:

A Fish Tale

A faint warning was the only clue: “it might be a little rough when we get into the channel” said our captain, a 46-year Florida transplant well versed in the art of understatement. His passengers, excluding his semi-seasoned first mate, were hunched together in the backseat, impaling their hands on the metal handrail, sinking deeper into their seat with every corresponding wave pounding, questioning what they were doing in a 24-foot World Cat fishing boat at 4:45 in the morning, pitch black, with 70 miles to go and no relief in sight.

Every once in a while a small grunt was heard from the passengers, like a female tennis player unloading on a forehand. These grunts usually occurred when one’s spine was condensed because the seas provided little cushion when the twin Yamaha 225, four stroke engines launched our little ship airborne. The inevitable, “what comes up must come down” applies here, and there were no soft landing, no sea of glass this fateful early morning as we ventured West in search of gold, no I mean goldfish, no, fish that we could turn into gold or gold plated memories or some of all of the above.

The passenger roster included two Cramers, two Gryboskis, and one captain named Howe who lived up to his name telling us the how’s and why’s of fishing strategy, technique and etiquette such as when peeing from the boat it doesn’t really matter if you get most of it outside the boat or on the rail or in the boat, nobody cares; drinking beer at 5am was actually in the sailor’s manual of the US Navy and cured motion sickness, frayed nerves and fear of touching fish or bait; no complaining of any kind was allowed and if evident, one would join to ranks of previous passengers (a particular lawyer and nephew come to mind) who had dared to wish they were home with their Mommas or anywhere else on earth but 76 miles out in the middle of the Gulf, puking their guts out, getting baked by the sun or simply wiped out from reeling in a 45-pound jump-in-the-boat Amberjack.

Our 13-hour pleasure cruise was just three hours old when our Captain throttled back on the controls thereby announcing we had arrived at our first fishing hole. To this passenger, this water looked identical to the billions of gallons of water we had just passed, naively leading to the question why we were stopping here and not just over there, or for that matter, 25 miles back closer to shore. But a stop was a stop and that meant no more pounding, and with the sun rising to the east, the water blue and clear, things were looking bright. However, fisherman optimism quickly turned to cold hard reality: our first casts of the morning yielded a fish that had in fact eaten our bait but on the way up from the bottom of the 200-foot sea had transformed itself into bait and was eaten by a shark. We caught a mangled, half-eaten fish! Yippee! And to make matter worse, for 20 minutes, that is all we caught. We wondered aloud the words of the late great Doc Gryboski who once had a bad fishing start, “is this a bad omen for the rest of the day?”

The fishing gods however were smiling upon us this Sunday morning. A few expert moves from our Captain properly positioned us to start reeling in fish the way we expected to. As the seas calmed and the heat soured, Captain Howe made sure the entire crew learned the proper reel-in technique. This passenger learned the hard way, first putting the pole into his ribs instead under his arm. A 40-pound Red Fish on the line helped correct the poor positioning otherwise I’m sure I would have punctured my anatomy.

The atmosphere on the boat improved dramatically. Fish were flying into the boat: my son, Ben, hooked a tuna that was neck and neck to either pull Ben overboard or become prized sushi. For awhile it was a draw, but Ben called for reinforcements and his muscle-bound Dad (me) with his new improved fishing technique backed by Bill, Dan and David and the full power of the boat’s twin, outboard engines were able to apprehend this Starkist can filler and deliver our Charlie the tuna squarely into our hands.

Oh, by the way, one nearly fatal (slight overstatement) blunder in this exquisitely planned Giligan style, fishing tour was a discernable shortage of Nachos chips. Can you believe our Captain only bought one stinking bag! There we were, adrift in the Gulf of Mexico, the sun beating us down, beers, fish remains, probably even urine that didn’t quite make it overboard, hooks flying, an ice cooler of the finest assortment of dead fish you have ever seen, and we had one stinking bag of chips for 5 tired, sunburnt, starving guys. It is a good thing we didn’t have a mutiny right there and then. We could have tied our illustrious captain to the side of the boat and hightailed it back to the closest 7-11 we could find. There has to be some kind of convenience store somewhere out here in the Gulf, right?

In any event, finally after a dozen more fish—we’d get one on the line and no one wanted to bring it in--our relentless Captain Dan acquiesced and announce it was time to head on in. No finer words were ever uttered, not the Gettysberg address, not “Tear down this wall, Mr. Gorbachev”, not “one small step for man, one giant step for mankind”, “Pack it up” was all we needed to hear; hatches were buttoned down (except for the one fishing rod that somehow got loose and flew into the water never to be seen again, but that was just bad luck and I wasn’t really looking and thank goodness it wasn’t MY fault),. We quickly assume the travel position (that was Captain Dan and first mate David in the plush, heavily padded drivers’ seats with all the fancy, shamsy equipment and us, the lowly crew, on this tiny bare bench in the back where all bumps were accentuated to drive your spine right into your brain). Anyway, any physical pain could easily be tolerated with the knowledge we were headed back to dry land, with a cooler filled with fish, fish stories that could be told for years to come, and an experience to be remember. And, I kid you not, we were escorted back to land by a school of dolphins, swimming, jumping and I think just thanking us for coming out.

"Beyond Blogs" by BusinessWeek

Wed, 28 May 2008 15:17:58 GMT

Good cover story this past Memorial Day weekend in BW on Social Media. Basically, the BW reporters went back to their original 2005 reporting on this new phenononon, "Blogs", and expanded the scope to include all things social media. The current article delves into somewhat newer areas like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Wikipedia, but even this is somewhat old thinking. And, surprise, surprise, just like Fast Company and others, they even gave Ning a free two-page feature (ad) (Marc and Gina are definitely the social media couple of the year).

The article is good for ThePort in many ways, It talks about how businesses are starting to see Social Media and the need for social media implementation. Jeff Jarvis, a longtime blogger and former mainstream media member, predicts in three years BW's cover will not be about blogs or tools but about companies as communities. An interesting concept, and hopefully ThePort will be "powering" many of these dynamic online communities.

A.D.A.M. and the iPhone: A Cool Combination

Wed, 28 May 2008 14:53:57 GMT

Great news out of the Big A (A.D.A.M.): the new Symptom Navigator. Read it here (this is my first link in my blog). As the Chairman of A.D.A.M., I am very proud of my team up there (they are just up the hill from my current office). This is a great example of innovative thinking. The mobile market represents a real growth opportunity for health content and A.D.A.M. Having the power of the world's most authorative consumer health knowledge-base (A.D.A.M) in your cell phone opens up significant opportunities to improve health worldwide, especially in underdeveloped countries where access to this type of information is extremely hard to get. I think this could be the start of big things.

Where Have I Been

Wed, 28 May 2008 14:42:41 GMT

OK, I haven't blogged in over 6 months. "I've been busy" is true, but now I want to see if I can really have a blog and keep it going. I like to write, I started and run a social media company, so I really have no excuse (except for the kids and wife, running a business, non-profit work and my incessant need for exercise, and all the other stuff). But here we go and it should be fun.

My Op-Ed Piece in Atlanta Journal Constitution

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 01:11:39 GMT

HOMELESS SHELTER

Mayor Franklin targets the homeless

By BOB CRAMER
Published on: 09/10/07

Since her first days in office, Mayor Shirley Franklin has presented herself as someone interested in helping Atlanta's homeless. She speaks eloquently about her own father's experience with homelessness, and she has personally told me that she considers serving the homeless "God's work."

Against this backdrop, it is shocking and disappointing that Franklin would go out of her way to try to deny funding to Atlanta's largest facility serving homeless people. In an August letter to the state Housing Trust Fund for the Homeless, she writes, "as the mayor of the city of Atlanta, I am stating that we do not support the allocation of funding for the Peachtree-Pine facility."

One has to question why Franklin is now personally involved in reversing a letter of certification for the Peachtree-Pine facility that her own administration had provided to the state just months earlier. What would cause her to take such an unprecedented action harming hundreds of homeless people? How could she make any judgment on the Peachtree-Pine facility when she has never visited in her two terms in office?

Perhaps Franklin is not really leveling with us when it comes to her support of the homeless. Certainly her record in office does not equate with her rhetoric. Four years ago, she put together a commission that promised to end chronic homelessness in Atlanta in 10 years. This summer even The Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial board called the commission's efforts far from successful.

Franklin and her team oversold their $10 million, 24-hour Gateway facility. Today this downtown building serves only 300 people at full capacity, thus shutting out homeless people who are forced to sleep outside.

On a broader scale, Franklin supports tearing down more than 3,000 units of public housing. She doesn't say much about it, but I'm sure if she were against evicting more than 9,600 people, many highly vulnerable, she would not hesitate to write a letter. Perhaps the developers in town have persuaded her that she is in office to look after their interests, not the interests of the poor and vulnerable.

Finally, Franklin is not content with just preventing $110,000 of state money from reaching needy homeless people. Her administration is also trying to stop $340,000 of federal Housing and Urban Development funds from coming to the Peachtree Street-located Peachtree-Pine facility. Frankly, if you did not know better, you'd think Franklin was out to get Peachtree-Pine.

Which, of course, is exactly the case. The mayor's premeditated assault on the hundreds of predominantly African-American men who live at and depend on the Peachtree-Pine facility needs to be spelled out in black and white for all to see. Her recent letter to the state shows her true agenda. It is truly disheartening that she would stoop so low.

Cramer on TV

Mon, 05 Jun 2006 19:40:03 GMT

Here is a link to a recent television show I did on Georgia Public Television called Georgia's Business. It is a half-hour interview on A.D.A.M. and ThePort. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.gpb.org/public/tv/gbr/shows.jsp

My Article on Homelessness-Panhandling published today in the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Wed, 22 Jun 2005 14:26:45 GMT

EQUAL TIME

Lots of hype, little help for homeless

By BOB CRAMER
Published on: 06/22/05

Panhandling is a complicated issue. Nobody wants to be harassed or threatened while enjoying time out on the town. But the latest attempt by the Franklin administration for a new panhandling ordinance is unnecessary (we already have strong laws on the books prohibiting aggressive panhandling), unconstitutional and an attempt to divert attention from its failed policy on poverty and homelessness.

Despite all the press hype, the Franklin administration has done little to help or improve the lot of Atlanta's most vulnerable people. It has successfully created a sympathetic picture with articles about Mayor Shirley Franklin's father, who struggled with alcoholism and the like. But the administration's practices and policies, if it actually has a real strategy, are harsh, short-sighted and ineffective.

(ENLARGE)

Bob Cramer is chairman of the board of the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless.

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Shelters such as the one on Milton Avenue are being closed, public housing is being gentrified and the $8 million to $10 million being spent on the highly trumpeted, hugely expensive Gateway project doesn't add nearly enough long-term bed capacity. New housing promised for people forced out of public housing often never materializes. Neither do the replacement beds from shelters closing.

Meanwhile, the cost of housing escalates out of reach for many of the 40 percent to 60 percent of Atlanta's homeless population who have full- or part-time jobs. This leads to greater numbers of homeless people using a shrinking pool of available resources, the same resources that are desperately needed by the remaining members of the homeless population who do not work and who face difficult challenges, mentally and physically.

In a twisted way, it seems that primary access to these dwindling services is reserved for homeless people who come through the legal system. The attitude seems to be that if you can find a reason to arrest homeless people, you can force a decision between jail or help. Just look at the increased arrests every time a big convention or sporting event comes to town. Look at the establishment of the "Community Court," a special court system just for "quality of life" infractions. Add this new proposed panhandling ordinance to the growing list.

The criminalization of poor people has been at work, just under the radar, for a long time in Atlanta. It is sad, morally bankrupt and expensive not only to the city for needless prosecution and jail housing, but more importantly for the people struggling to move forward who are saddled with an unnecessary criminal record. Ironically, most homeless people want help and don't need to be forced into getting it with a heavy hand. They just need to know where to find it and have access to it.

Services keep being reduced partially because we keep playing around with the actual number of people who are homeless. City officials seem to go to great lengths to accomplish this. They have conducted seriously flawed "one day" censuses that seriously undercount the homeless. The Pathways intake program that is designed to track homeless people is also a great tool for number manipulation. Like Enron, altering the numbers is the ultimate feel-good, quick-fix approach, but ultimately it prevents us from dealing with reality.

If we want to get serious about homelessness, let's make the same commitment to building affordable housing as we do to winning the Super Bowl. Let's be honest with the numbers and not use the court system as a social service agency. Let's impose a small tax when housing gets torn down or new condos go up to help provide services for those who need it. I don't think this will cause unbearable financial hardship on anyone affected, but it might just allow us to do the things necessary so people will not have to beg.

An Ode to Father/Daughter Canoe Trip, 2005

Wed, 08 Jun 2005 18:26:11 GMT

Wrapped and chilled, the Henri sandwiches were laid out in precise formation on the sun-drenched picnic table awaiting the arrival of 2005 participants. The cars, straggling in from points south and north and complaining of traffic and missed turns, soon assembled in the tree covered depot off of Georgia 60. As fathers and daughters emerged and friends reconnected, we knew that we were in for something special.

Our maybe it was the Henri sandwiches. Offering a Soviet style selection of turkey, and turkey and more turkey, it was clear that Bob, father of Sara, had gone above and beyond on lunch. Setting the tone for the weekend, people said. Adding to the excitement, the drink master, Bill, father of Cooper, unveiled a beverage cart that showed why we won the Cold War—water, Propel, orange juice, (even beer and wine for the senior set). Lunch was such a big hit that we almost decided not to go any further.

But our fearless leader, Gillian, oh no, I mean Gino, father of Anna, said it was time to shove off for our 30 hour tour. No one seemed overly nervous about the journey as we were all grizzly veterans, but Gino, father of Anna, and Frank, father of Alex, did discuss Italy in a way that indicated that they were long lost cousins and would soon be buying real estate together upon their return in an undiscovered Italian Province recently written up in the New York Times. Glenn, father of Emily, and Bob, father of Sara, too made a geographic connection, revisiting their roots in New York and quickly deciding that they would NOT be buying real estate in an undiscovered New York Borough never even visited by the NY Times. Instead, they would focus their real estate intentions on an undiscovered piece of heaven in Costa Rica, the New New York (it’s a jungle out there, right?).

Well fed, the girls were already playing in the water as supplies were loaded, and the sea worthiness of our vessels accessed. Steve, father of Erica, sent a shot across the bow of all fellow boaters when he erected a Pirate flag to his stern. The HMS Trouble Maker was its name, armed with high powered water pistols and a previous unheard of “potato shooter”. The HMS Trouble Maker was certainly a boat to keep an eye on.

The initial leg of the trip was uneventful, despite strong warnings of imminent danger from our Appalachian Outfit leader Ben, father of someone I’m sure, but he wasn’t on the trip and just owned the land, the canoes, paddles, life preservers, etc. He was telling a bunch of carpet baggers from the North (we determined that there were no native Southerners on board) to go left. That was like telling someone if a tree fell in the forest and no one was there, did it really fall, blah, blah, blah. But Ben was serious and said that in this case a tree had not fallen in the forest, but in the river. Some of us Northern skeptics rolled our eyes saying to ourselves, “well if you cannot see the tree in the river did it really fall?” Adding to the confusion was hearing a Southern gentlemen tell a group of Northerners to go left, not right. Ben, we invented the left. Usually when you come to the South, you go right. Then he started saying something about orange stakes, or was it red states, and quickly this situation turned into a political free for all.

The election over, we adopted the “laissez faire” approach to canoeing, quietly floating downstream letting nature do the work, no hands on the paddle. Emily, daughter of Glenn, and Gino, father of Anna, spoke Spanish and Italian to each other as the afternoon and our canoes quietly drifted away. Fishing lines bisected the rushing water with the occasional fish story (“I got a bite!!!!”) breaking the golden pond silence.

Before you could say sunburn, we arrived at our campsite. Honestly, my heart sunk. Where did it all go? Last year it seemed much bigger. We have to stay HERE? Oh my gosh! Panic quickly turned to self preservation and the battle for a tent site went into high gear. Fortunately, I got there early along with Steve, father of Erica, and Bill, father of Cooper. We decided that a nice sandy perch just above the water line would be perfect for “our three daughters”. The other families, taking their leisurely time using their fancy fishing equipment with their fancy real worms and fancy specialty lures, were out of luck. Onto the rocks with you! This was “Survivor” and desperate times called for desperate measures.

Soon to be President Hillary (no comments here) has a saying, “It Takes A Village” and that certainly applies to me on a camping trip. Thanks to fellow tent partners, Steve, father of Erica, and Bill, father of Cooper, the tents went up without a hitch. Even a high-tech, battery operated mattress inflator contributed without sending our tents skyward like a hot air balloon. The Ritz by the River was quickly taking shape.

A word of praise for the fancy fishing set who arrived late on the scene. There was no complaining about sleeping on the rocks, no negotiations, in fact, they were true professionals. All I could see was a sitting area assembled, chairs around a campfire, bags of wood and charcoal and more foods than could legally held by a Publix’s. The only thing missing was Frank, father of Alex, who seemed to be gone for long periods of time. We were concerned, to say the least.

Perhaps Frank, father of Alex, was doing more than napping and had visited the North Pole because upon his reappearance, he arrived bearing gifts. Of food. 15 one-pound chicken thighs with bones (remember, Frank, father of Alex, next time we want boneless ones or there will be consequences, ok?). Three yard long slabs of baby back ribs also found their way on to our two level, charcoal-enhanced, wood-burning grill set that would put any Weber to shame. As if this wasn’t enough, throw in corn on the cob and a veggie platter, it was almost time to unveil our two top prize winners in the gastrological delight category.

The runner up who should hold his head high was Frank’s homemade Barbeque sauce. Two non-descript jars offered up a flavor sensation so powerful that Ben, the campground owner and his sons, actually jumped into their canoes and paddle down to our campsite just to investigate what the heck smelled so good. I am not kidding about this. We were in the middle of no where and all a sudden Frank, father of Alex, opens these jars and minutes later we have visitors on our waterfront doorstep. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I have never heard of any other barbeque sauce causing a family to paddle miles just to get a whiff.

While it seems impossible to top this amazing feat, the top prize in the cooking category goes to Glenn, father of Emily, who in his unassuming way, prepared a ribs and chicken feast for the ages. Without any flame controls and just a small Swiss army knife, Glenn, father of Emily, filleted the ribs with a surgeon’s touch and moved red hot logs around with his bare hands. Even though Frank, father of Alex, threw him a curve by first saying the chicken was boneless (it wasn’t), Glenn, father of Emily, went to great lengths so as not to over cook, burn or char the tender homemade barbeque sauce. Glenn, father of Emily, was too busy working to finish the story of how he threw bread yeast overboard years ago on some cruise ship in the South Pacific that created a new island chain, but we look forward to hearing the full details on next year’s adventure.

The smores (thanks to Steve, father of Erica), the Mafia game and the two-word story that focused on Pistachio ice cream brought the night to a close. A full belly and a peaceful night’s rest were interrupted by a bright Georgia sun and the next big activity, breakfast. And while I could go on and on (but have to go to work) with tails of eating, swimming, fishing and all, the true highlight of the trip was the time we got to spend with our precious daughters and with each other. I hope this trip provides us all with a lifetime of wonderful memories and more wonderful adventures in the future.

With warm regards,

Bob

Father Daughter Canoe Trip/June 4-5

Tue, 07 Jun 2005 18:46:13 GMT

My daughter, Sara, and I went on a great overnight canoeing trip down the Chestatee River this past weekend. We camped out, had all of our stuff in the canoe and never stopped eating. There were six father/daughters in all. What a great time!!!!!! More details to come later.

Sara and Dad

The Power of RSS Readers

Fri, 05 Nov 2004 14:57:08 GMT

"And a second revolution is coming. Many portals (e.g. news portals) are starting to understand that they too have to give their user a personal, individually defined view of the site’s content.

In the coming years, we will see more and more sites offering personalized content views and feeds. And again, these feeds can be subscribed to (Of course YEALD will introduce your personal feed in a few days too).

So instead of reading Google News, I can now read my own news portal, which includes e.g. The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and SlashDot. But it isn’t just the general content feeds from these sources. What I can get is the US Business news from the WSJ, the tech marketing news from BusinessWeek and the tech industry news from SlashDot, plus all their content on IBM, Microsoft and the marketing industry.

It’s really my very own news portal!

I think this will be a very fundamental trend that will have a dramatic impact on user behavior, content management strategy and business models. Publisher will have to learn to add multiple relevancies to their content instead of filing it under just one category."