Brewed Fresh Daily

"A difficult economic climate may make it harder for health care providers to comply with provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in time for deadlines next year, according to a report by the consulting company Frost & Sullivan Inc."

Why radio advertising? Radio has universal acceptance, portability and high usage. It's easy to target and inexpensive. Radio gives marketers the power of the human voice and the magic of music setting the tone.

Paul Pearsall suggests, when we encounter one of life's major or minor annoyances, that we remind ourselves that it is not permanent, pervasive, or personal.

Become a Marketing Matchmaker Guerrilla Dana Burke of Mind Your Business, has a terrific idea that can be used by anyone with a box of labels and some ingenuity. Burke maintains a supply of her clients' and associates' business cards in her office and distributes them to likely customers. Using return address labels, she's created a sticker that says "Referred by Mind Your Business." Placed on the back of other people's business cards, the stickers remind the recipient who she is and help them when they call on the prospect. The customer is reminded of her business and her name is the first one the prospect hears. Quite the win-win-win situation.

One of the more interesting items was his prediction of the 4 major technologies for the next 30-50 years:

1. Information Technology
2. Material Science
3. Bioscience
4. Mobile or Portable Energy

The real progress will be when 2 or more of those areas intersect. Such was the case with the Genome Project. The intersection of Bioscience and IT led to the completion of the project 10 years ahead of the predicted schedule.

"Greater Cleveland needs help in getting people to think and act more positively, creatively and entrepreneurially about business and work. The process, as I see it, starts with people thinking more creatively and then acting on those thoughts. Both must occur. My attitude is do what you can everyday. I see too many people getting stymied over getting the money to do something. I say "do what you can today" and the money will come. Can you imagine what an impact it could have if only one (1) percent of the region's working age population -- that's 7,200 people -- decided to create an innovative new business in the region? I'm not talking about rocket science businesses necessarily--rather any business in any industry that is based on an innovative idea about how to do something better. Yes, many will fail, but many will also succeed."

• A significant visual piece
• Ask five key questions of your prospect
• Give them a reference list
• Have committed times for follow up appointments if needed
• Bring a contract, to write the business or leave as a sample
• Send a thank you note within three business days

The highlight of last night's dinner was definately Hal Becker. Hal is one of those hidden treasure of Cleveland that we desperately need to shed light on. Some bullet points from his website:

• Xerox's #1 salesperson among a national sales force of 11,000 at the young age of 22
• Founder and former CEO of Direct Opinions, one of America's largest customer service telemarketing firms
• Author of the national best seller "Can I Have 5 Minutes Of Your Time?" and "Lip Service"
• Received the Toastmasters International Communication and Leadership Award. He is one of only eight people in the world to be given this honor.
• Inc. Magazine voted Hal as one of the nation's top speakers in the areas of sales and customer service.
• Hal is a CSP - or Certified Speaking Professional - which is the highest earned Designation presented by the National Speakers Assocication.
• Devoted over 25 years to the science of sales and customer service
• Survived terminal cancer at 28 years old and now helps other patients and their families cope with their disease
• Founder of the Cancer Hotline of Cleveland and donates proceeds of his books to this cause

Despite an anticipated downturn in corporate IT spending next year, CIOs still plan to invest more in security architecture, according to META Group's 2003 Worldwide IT Benchmark Report. The IT research and consulting firm predicts 55 percent of companies will spend 5 percent or more on security, up from 33 percent in 2001. Howard Rubin, META Group executive vice president and author of the trends report, says last year's terrorist attacks still influence security investments. "As recent events have heightened awareness of exposure to internal and external security threats, finding room in the budget for a security architecture is imperative." The report is based on survey data collected from a panel of 25,000 IT professionals from 34 countries.

Here are five ways to command people's attention: 1) Speak softly, but carry a big message. 2) Be interesting; focus on your listener's favorite topic. 3) Never interrupt; let the speaker finish. 4) Don't finish other people's sentences; be patient. 5) Use non-verbal gestures to enrich communications.

"Rabbi Pliskin's Daily Lift: Enthusiasm Is Contagious"

"We are all influenced by the emotional states of the people we interact with. In the presence of cheerful, sincerely kind, upbeat people, we find it easier to become more cheerful and positive. Conversely, in the presence of someone who is negative, kvetchy, irritable, and angry, we easily feel more negative or uncomfortable ourselves. The person whose state is more intense and enduring will have a greater influence on the states of others, for better or worse." "Because the state of enthusiasm is contagious, if you want to increase your own level of enthusiasm, it makes sense to be around other people who are enthusiastic. Even talking to an enthusiastic person for a few minutes is frequently sufficient to elevate our own state. At times just talking to an enthusiastic person on the telephone will raise our spirits." Your own enthusiasm will have a positive influence on the lives of others. By being enthusiastic you will be doing many acts of kindness. At times, you won't even be aware that your enthusiastic state was helpful to someone else. This can add a dimension of motivation for developing a greater amount of enthusiasm. Not only will you gain yourself, you will also be helping numerous others.

posted by George Nemeth  # 10/27/2002 06:55:00 AM

Your Voice is the Key to Telemarketing Successful telephone salespeople tell an astonishing truth: the sound of your voice may do more to make the sale than the words you use. If you sound confident, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and genuine, people will pick up on your voice inflections and feel confident in you. Your Business has a Personality A business's identity is one-of-a-kind and authentic. Although cyberspace allows you to create and promote an image, it's essential that your presence on the net be an honest reflection of your business identity. An exercise you can do to identify your business identity is to sit down with a few key employees and list key phrases that define your company. Once you've established those words, use them consistently in your ad and brochure copy, mission statement, theme, e-mail signature, and even in the name of your company, your products or services. This may be hard work but it will result in a unique presence on the internet.

"traditionally, coffee is grown in fields overhung by large shade trees. nowadays, however, agri-business has been tearing up these shaded coffee fields and planting coffee varieties that don't need shade. so the birds are losing their important winter habitat. however, farmers who grow shaded coffee are eligible for a bird-friendly sticker, which offers them an incentive for protecting songbird habitat."

"Evidence that a secret can be kept under wraps successfully is shown with the unveiling of a new Stealth jet by Boeing, as shown in New Scientist. Called the Bird of Prey (Star Trek buffs, anyone?), it's got a very cool design."

Do I act professionally? Do I always ask more questions than I answer? Is the prospect talking more than 50% of the time? Acting professionally means spending more time asking questions than in giving answers. When we act professionally in this way we will be able to uncover more needs and hear more truthful answers. People are more inclined to tell the truth to a professional.

posted by George Nemeth  # 10/24/2002 06:11:00 AM

Over the last year we have been diligently feeding two young feral cats from the south garden. One, Scooter, we found under the house's eaves. Another, Sarah, hearing of our bounty, also enlisted in our S corps of cats. (We have no idea what sex these animals are.) We've found the ideal bond with these creatures: we feed and water them and they spare us their arrorance. Low maintenance pets suit us. No vet bills, litter boxes, flea collars, no demanding purring and no scratches on the hands. We keep a respectful distance, as do they. But we felinophiles enjoy their feeding rituals, stately postures and condescending stares through the sliding door. We look forward to greeting them every evening. The Cat Elegant. The Cat Supine. The Cat Attic. T. S. Eliot opined that a cat must have three names. Three Names in Nine Lives?

i am a little church(no great cathedral) far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities -i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest, i am not sorry when sun and rain make april my life is the life of the reaper and the sower; my prayers are prayers of earth's own clumsily striving (finding and losing and laughing and crying)children whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness around me surges a miracle of unceasing birth and glory and death and resurrection: over my sleeping self float flaming symbols of hope,and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains i am a little church(far from the frantic world with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature -i do not worry if longer nights grow longest; i am not sorry when silence becomes singing winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to merciful Him Whose only now is forever: standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence (welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness) -- e. e. cummings

"Just prior to the first big layoff at Nortel, they had an internal marketing campaign called Get the Message! If you participated, as I did, by visiting the web internal web site and following the program--reading a couple of screens and answering a few tedious questions--you got a free t-shirt." The free Nortel t-shirt was emblazoned on the front with a snappy "I Got The Message!" logo. "I got the message alright," McPherson said, "YOU'RE FIRED!"

Do You Have Marketing Myopia? by Michael Fischler

It�s been 42 years since Theodore Levitt first introduced the term Marketing Myopia, and our marketing eyesight has not improved much. Even today, most companies don't market their product correctly. At the heart of the issue is focus: Marketing should focus not on product, but on the customer.

The Customer Evangelism Manifesto by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba

What do Krispy Kreme and Harley-Davidson have in common? They are among the many companies still thriving in the midst of an American economic meltdown. Why? Because they have methodically focused on building the love, enthusiasm and goodwill of their customers.

Do I relate to prospects on their own terms? Do I ask questions that show that I'm really interested? For example, "That's interesting. Can you tell me more about that?" To most prospects you appear to only be there to get an order. Showing your interest in the prospect's needs by questioning will win the day for you.

Cleveland Clicks @ The Union Club 10/18- While everyone is bemoaning the poor economy and the lack of inspired leadership in our region, some area companies are charging ahead despite the climate. And props to Jennifer Thomas of Cleveland Clicks who brought two successful Cleveland tech companies to the glorious Union Club, Cardinal Commerce and OEConnection, to tell us how they did it, and it turns out that it�s mostly a matter of attitude. And hard work, and good luck and being in the right place at the right time, and persistence, and being smarter than the rest. Most interesting was the anecdote from Michael Keresman, CEO of Cardinal Commerce (an internet transaction and eCommerce system), relating his experience with one of the big Cleveland banks when they refused to fund him even after realizing that his company would be successful, by telling him, �No one�s going to let a shitty little company from Cleveland take over the world.� It�s nice to know you�re loved in your own backyard.

"It will be three weeks tomorrow. Schools are shut down, or the kids are locked down, not allowed to go outside. Sporting events are cancelled. It's Halloween time, but the schools are not going out to the fields to pick pumpkins. People are scared. It's starting to go past the nervous laughter and the jokes. With each shooting, you can see people become more anxious. As I've said before, this is terrorism, pure and simple. And very effective. Whatever his motives, this sniper has managed to bring this area to a halt. People aren't doing what they normally do. This impacts, to some degree, everyone in a huge area."

Weaseliest Organization : Democratic Party 5,727 Weaseliest Country : France 6,684 Weaseliest Company : Microsoft 7,661 Weaseliest Profession : News reporters 4,875 Weaseliest Individual : Martha Stewart 4,734 Weaseliest Religion : Islam 6,112

Metropolis- Even if you�re not a fan of sci-fi, you gotta love new 35mm prints and a re-recorded original symphonic score, while you enjoy this totally inspiring visual banquet. Don�t worry about the disjointed story, but check out how it resembles today�s society: two cities in one, the ruling class living in splendor, the working class living in squalor. Fritz Lang, trained as an architect, worked with actors in an Expressionist style, but his real stars were the luscious sets and scenes of the city, foreshadowing computer displays and videoteleconferencing. The bitch has been that this film, originally 3 hours long, was cut ever since it was first shown, and this new version is longer than any previous. At the Cinematheque Fri., 10/25, at 9:35 pm; Sat., 10/26, at 5:00 & 7:30 pm; and Sun., 10/27, at 8:45 pm. www.cia.edu/cinematheque

"CIO Magazine�s recent survey of wireless technology adoption found that companies continue to invest in wireless initiatives, but due to budget constraints and security concerns, CIOs are not spending at the rates they predicted in 2000. According to the 270 IT professionals surveyed by CIO Research in May 2002, the greatest barriers to adopting wireless technologies were a lack of security, unproven benefits/ROI of wireless technologies and applications and high start-up costs."

Selling Daily: Determining how unsatisfactory service affects the prospect Determine if unsatisfactory service causes the prospect a loss in money, time, or peace of mind. Does the unsatisfactory service cause the prospect anxiety or aggravation? What about the lost time to placate a supervisor and the time involved in getting replacement? It's up to you to determine by questioning how unsatisfactory service impacts on the customer contact's time, money and/or peace of mind.

"Had lunch at the newly remodeled Flower (used to be That Place on Bellflower) the other day." "It reminded me of how interesting University Circle is. If you were to lift up UC and plop it down in another city, we would be scrambling to make reservations to go visit it." "Maybe it�s the Dorothy in Kansas mindframe but we really take it for granted. Many of us drive by/through it twice every day and don�t think about all the amazing stuff that is crammed into that area. Park the car from time to time and check it out."

exoteric (ek-so-TER-ik) adjective 1. Not limited to an inner circle of select people. 2. Suitable for the general public. 3. Relating to the outside; external. [From Latin exotericus, from Greek exoterikos (external), from exotero, comparative form of exo (outside).]

What separates entrepreneurs from managers is that entrepreneurs thrive on high-risk, high-reward opportunities and significant ownership potential. Large corporations typically don't offer this kind of work environment, yet those that do can expect a zealously committed and energized workforce, coupled with high returns on their human-resource investment, claims Jon Katzenbach, author of Peak Performance.

What many employees value more than money is the challenge of a great skill-building opportunity--a chance to excel and develop as an individual. Encouraging personal achievement is perhaps the simplest and least expensive way to energize a workforce. While many companies are still grasping for ways to compel employees to make changes that are mostly in the best interest of the enterprise, a better blueprint for a higher-performing workforce is honoring individual achievers, and assuring an unending supply of new opportunities.

Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition across the Antarctic is one of the greatest survival stories of all time and it offers a valuable lesson for today's corporate leaders. Executives and managers must be willing to change goals when conditions dictate, but once a goal is selected, focus and commitment to reaching it are paramount. Forty-five days after departing from South Georgia, the ship Endurance became trapped in the ice of Weddell Sea. After 10 months living onboard waiting for a thaw, Shackleton and his crew realized the ship was slowly being crushed by tons of ice. They watched helplessly as their floating home disintegrated plank by plank. At this demoralizing moment, Shackleton was able to shift his long-term goal of crossing the continent to bringing back every man alive--which he did 307 days later.

Wow. I would have never thought that I'd have the opportunity to spend time with people of this caliber. Here they are, right in my own backyard!

Another excellent session of Cleveland area businesses! Mike Keresman spoke of his business, Cardinal Commerce, which is an ASP in Mentor, Ohio of all places. Last week, representatives from the Japanese Credit Bank visited his company! How cool is that?

The other speaker was Chuck Rotuno of OEConnection, another Cleveland area ASP! Obviously, there are companies that survived the 'dot-bomb' and are going on to be successful enterprises!

Bogus AdAware Circulating

Lavasoft has posted an announcement to their forums warning of a possible trojan application being hawked as a valid download of AdAware, a popular spyware removal tool. Information is still being gathered about the fake, but the download file is named aware.exe or perhaps other variations. Lavasoft has posted a list of authorized mirror sites from which you should be obtaining AdAware.

the world.
Selling Daily
Cold call
but in Guatemala.
delicious!
Incredibly smooth with Blogger.
I on the growers.
Do it
depending on the Greenwich
technology platform.

There's a bunch of things that have happened over the last week that are really cool. On Friday, I had lunch with Jason from ThunderTech. Yesterday, we did lunch with John at DigiBahn. Then, last night was the Connection Series at the KeyClub.

Craig James of Catalyst Strategies set the tone for the evening by recalling the 'tent meetings' held at the turn of the century by then mayor Tom Johnson. After setting the rules of engagement for the evening, he introduced the 'Number One Sales Person' of Cleveland, Mayor Jane Campbell. Mayor Campbell went through a short list of the selling points of Cleveland, then introduced 'the Number Two Promoter of Cleveland' Tim Mueller. Between the three of them, everyone's heads were filled with the good things about our city and the surrounding areas. Many people commentted on the things that they thought were Cleveland's 'selling points'. It was interesting to note that the room was almost equally divided between people who were born and raised here, and people who moved here from somewhere else.

Then, things got interesting. On everyone's nametag was a colored dot, signifying which Breakout Group you would be in. Each group had one topic, something to do with either attracting or retaining businesses or individuals to the area. With 20 or so people crammed into every room, everyone contributed ideas that were recorded on huge sheets of paper. Then, we all got to vote, placing colored dots near the ideas we thought were the best. The three most popular ideas were then placed on the 'Action' list. Everyone was asked to write down on a post-it note something to be done for each Action Item. Next to the action item was a envelope to put your business card into to volunteer for working on the 'Action' you thought was most important.

To wind things up, the sheets containing the 'Action' items were bought back to the main area and posted on the walls. Then the facilitators of each Breakout Group explained to the entire session what had occurred in their group. Tim Mueller noted Brad Whitehead of the Cleveland Foundation commented that many of the things on the lists were the same 'timeless' things that have been discussed before - our waterfront, our museum, our orchestra, our location. Let's hope some big things happen!

"Reuters Messaging aims to deliver not only real-time IM capabilities but also a presence-awareness technology foundation for other financial applications, according to Mike Sayers, CTO of Reuters, based in London."

"Initially, Reuters is offering its IM as a fully hosted service. But in the longer term, 'our customers will want to run their own SIP collaboration server environment from Microsoft and federate into us. That is the strategic intention, that eventually it will be a federated network of presence collaboration', he said."

Online Marketing Daily:

Sponsor a community event - Find an event in your community that needs support, and then lend your time, energy, or imagination in support of it. Parades, beauty contests, races, sailing regattas, county fairs, symphony concerts, and car shows are all places where you can donate services in exchange for a mention in the program or on the event's signs. Large corporations use sponsorships to boost their visibility with sports fans or concert-goers all the time, and you can do the same thing on a smaller, more localized scale. If the event is popular, your efforts bring you visibility, goodwill, and a way to promote your online business in the off-line world.

Selling Daily:

Cold calling can be fun! It depends on your attitude but what doesn't? Shoot for a sales interview on every cold call but at the very least you can fact find and gather data to follow-up on the phone to set an appointment. Sales people often receive orders from the business cards left behind on a cold call, when a prospect did not have time to see them. Leaving your business card with a note on the back can be a future door opener. "Ms Prospect - sorry I missed you, I'll phone you for an appointment in a few days." Try it. It works!

Notice, it's not on my Amazon wishlist.

A few years ago, shortstop Omar Vizquel of the Cleveland Indians was headed for his first All-Star Game. On a jet bound for Denver, where the big game would be played, he noticed a girl standing in coach at the back of the plane, trying to maintain her balance in the aisle.

The girl, Rachel Dando, had injured her knee in a softball tournament and was wearing a massive brace. By standing�avoiding a squeeze play between narrow airplane seats�she had some relief from her discomfort.

Omar made a beeline to Rachel, offering her his seat in first class. Rachel was delighted. She stretched out her big old brace and flew the friendly (and now much more comfortable) skies to Colorado. Omar sat in coach and mixed with the fans.

Then there was Starbucks. Long before there was a Starbucks on every corner in America, I was ordering roasted beans from them. But as America's taste for coffee increased, the quality of their coffee decreased. So I started roasting my own.

I'm saying this as a preface to the next statement which is, I've actually found a coffee that I enjoy without roasting it myself! Chris Thompson gave me some of his father's coffee, grown on their plantation in Guatemala. It's delicious! Incredibly smooth with a crisp aftertaste.

I'm actually considering ordering some because it's very difficult to roast coffee in Ohio during the winter. The ambient temperature makes it difficult to get a dark roast. Besides, my wife would appreciate not having the house smell like smoke, with coffee husks all over the floor.

• Bandwidth becomes more cost effective than computing
• Most major applications will be interenterprise
• Macroecomonic boost from interenterprise systems
• Successful firms in strong economy lay off millions
• Continued consolidation of vendors in many segments
• Moore's Law continues to hold true through this decade
• Banks become primary provider of presence services by 2007
• Business activity monitoring is mainstream by 2007
• Business units, not IT, will make most application decisions
• Pendulum swings back from centralized to decentralized

Public service announcements serve you

Performing a public service shows you care about your community. It generates goodwill that translates into customers. If you have a web site, offer to provide links to your favorite non-profit organizations. If you run a local bulletin board, post announcements about people seeking donations for medical bills or looking for missing children. Run free ads for charity functions or community events. There are lots of public service causes you can support, and supporting them does your reputation good while doing good in your community at the same time.

U.S. urged to wake up to 'coffee with a conscience' - "With plunging coffee prices bringing some coffee farmers to the brink of starvation, they are asking U.S. consumers to pay more for cappuccinos to help protect rural agricultural workers from wild swings in commodity markets."

If you buy coffee, make sure you know which company you're buying from. Some are better than others at giving a fair wage to the growers.

"Do you take cheese with your coffee, sir? - A Wisconsin dairy expert has found a cheese perfect for dunking in coffee, and he�s passing the centuries-old Finnish recipe along to other cheesemakers."

I like cheese. I like coffee. I'm not sure I'd like cheese dunked in coffee, but I'd try it once.

Here's an interesting idea - a managed messaging service.

"Critical Path Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. announced an alliance earlier this week that calls for the two companies to offer a managed messaging service to small-to-medium-sized businesses as well as large enterprises, carriers and ISPs."

"The new service combines CriticalPath's messaging software with HP's IT infrastructure and data center management services. The deal calls for Critical Path to outsource its own data center operations to HP, though it will still provide applications management services and product development."

"Ten years ago grunge musicians and college-age Cassandras who had never held a day job preached that corporate America would crush their generation's soul and leave them without a pension plan. A few years later the core of Generation X--the 40 million Americans born between 1966 and 1975--found themselves riding the wildest economic bull ever. Salesclerks became programmers; coffee slingers morphed into experts in Java (computerese, that is)--all flush with stock options and eye-popping salaries. Now that the thrill ride is over, Gen X's plight seems particularly bruising. No generation since the Depression has been set up for failure like this. Everything the dot-com boom delivered has been taken away--and then some. Real wages are falling, wealth continues to shift from younger to older, and education costs are surging. Worse yet, for some Gen Xers, their peak earning years are behind them. Buried in college and credit card debt, a lot of them won't be able to catch up as they approach their prime spending years."

Cleveland and the United States in general need to come to grips with that fact that people my age came out of college with little expectation, experienced the 'irrational exhuberence' of the times, then were smacked with the reality of the post Clinton cleanup. I think most of us are still reeling.

Did anyone notice the 24-page insert in last week�s (last) Free Times on how to be an anarchist (entitled, fighting for our lives)? Did you read it? Quotes: �It starts when you care to act, when you do it again after they say no, when you say �We,� and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more.� and: �To be radical is simply to keep up with reality.� and: �A scoundrel�s worst fear is a society without money: for in such a society he would only get the respect he deserves.� That last was a quote from Benjamin Franklin. Additional free copies of the insert are available (in any quantity) at CrimeThink.

"Let's do some crimes", thought crimes, that is.

I really need a new machine. The post got blown away while I was multitasking. This 400 mhz Celeron doesn't cut it anymore!

The post that got killed was one about some guy who was theorizing about 'smart mobs'. The thought that I was trying to convey was that I had read the same thing in a book by Bruce Sterling. Oh well. You get the point now.

I know what you're thinking. "That's disgusting!" I would have thought so too, until I tried the fresh roasted decaf. I digress. So, not only did I roast yesterday, I roasted today. I did a batch of regular and one of unleaded, ground them up, and mixed them together. I'll take them to work and mixed them with the straight batch from yesterday. That way, I'll have about a 60 percent caffeinated blend.

• Democratic Supporter Mike Evans saying "Clinton is going to have trouble. Anyone who commits adultry shouldn't run for president".
• Robert Downey Jr. shooting target pratice with Cypress Hill rapper B-Real
• The surfing Democratic congressman from Orange County who surf read "Give me Liberty or Give me Surf"
• Sean Penn relating that the French have a saying "Either you do politics or Politics does you".

Does Cleveland need a physical location dedicated specifically to technology companies?

The first question should be, "Do we really need to attract technology companies in the first place?" Shouldn't we look for companies that need what we have, instead of looking for companies that have what we think we need? I mean, are we buying or selling, here folks. It seems to me that we're looking at economic development as though it was stadium or arena marketing. Like, "Hey, what act can we bring to town that will help us sell tickets?"

Frankly, I think we should look at what our city's strengths really are and try to market them to any kind of business that makes sense. (Last time I checked, Proctor and Gamble stock was up; Palm was way down.) If you look at the success of technology centers, the businesses grew first, like seeds from a tree. Then, when enough of them thrived, support businesses moved in, and so on. We need to analyze and categorize our strengths and see what we can sow from those seeds.

Become an information source

In the battle for publicity, the best weapon is a personal relationship with the editors of magazine sections you're targeting. And the best way to establish such a relationship is to become a source of useful information or ideas for that editor. Call key editors and offer some inside information about your industry. Take them to lunch, or buy them a drink at a trade show or conference. Once you become part of the editor's inner circle of information sources and acquaintances, you'll have no trouble getting your company mentioned in relevant articles.

posted by George Nemeth  # 10/08/2002 04:52:00 AM

About one year ago, a research institute located at Brown University rated how well the top 70 cities in the United States used the Internet to do business. Cleveland was ranked 69 of 70. This topic was discussed at the debate NEOSA held for the Mayoral candidates. Candidate Campbell said that if elected, effort would be put into doing a better job of using technology, including the Internet, to run the city.

Well, one year later another study has been done and guess what , Cleveland is now number 20! Yes, Cleveland has made the largest gain of any city in the United States!

Hats off to Mayor Campbell and her Team! We all know how tight money has been at City Hall; it makes this accomplishment even more astounding. Read the press release.

The problem is that you have to make at least 20 oz. of coffee. I use a ratio of 1 tablespoon of beans to 8 ounces of water. Hence the need to use Tisha's drip pot.

coffee as a weapon?

that's right - texas police have arrested a woman who robbed cafes by throwing large cups of hot coffee into the face or on the hands of staff when the cash register was open.

Don't get any big ideas.

On the way home, I passed a garbage truck that had a NineInchNails bumpersticker on it...

"Look, peekoolyar wimmen lyin' on their backs in ponds han'in' out swo'ds ... thass no basis fo' a system of govment. Supreme executive power derives fum a man'ate fum th' masses, not fum some farcical aquatic ceremony".

Thanks to Dean Allen at Textism for doing it first with a scene from a classic, Full Metal Jacket.

Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, the DA Pennebaker film (same guy that shot Don�t Look Back following Dylan on tour) has been remastered and makes a nice bookend to the recent album Heathen that David Bowie just put out, produced by Tony Visconti and his best since Scary Monsters. The film is seriously flawed but seriously magical, and if you�re a Clevelander, you need to see it. At the Cleveland Cinematheque tonight and Sunday at 8:30PM.

• Tim Allen - Special Agent, US Secret Service - Dallas
• Ed Rose - Director, Business Solutions Group - Computer Associates
• Chris Bateman - Carnegie Mellon University, CERT Institute
• Phillip Ardire - President - Western DataCom

The highlight was Western DataCom, one of the Cleveland area companies that have been growing "under the radar". They have an interesting product that is an "encryptor [that] works with a Cisco wireless router and an encrypted wireless Internet connection can be transferred seamlessly from a wireless network to satellite and then to another wireless network".

Here's a Grouse! site of the day I enjoyed - The Mean Kitty Gallery.

As I was driving downtown yesterday, I passed a car that had a bumper sticker that read "Well-behaved women never made history". On the same trip, I passed a sign that read "If George W wants to go to war, go to win".

There was another thing I wanted to jot down, but it escapes me. I hate it when that happens.

1. Front or rear wheel drive?  Front. Better for those Northeast Ohio winters.
2. Car or truck or van?  Car. Passenger, like a sedan
3. Fancy or utilitarian?  Utilitarian
4. Power or manual windows/locks?  Power. Usually comes with the package my wife and I like.
5. Small econobox or giant luxo cruiser?  Neither. I prefer something in between.
6. Factory or aftermarket radio?  Never mess with the aftermarket things
7. Lease or buy?  Buy.
8. Perform own maintenance or farm it out?  Farm out. For the cost of farming out an oil change, my aggravation is greatly reduced. Plus I spend that time on other things.
9. Hi-test brand name or cheap-o fuel?  In between again.
10. Run-it-till-the-wheels-fall-off or a new one every two years?  Run it 'til it's paid for!

The point that I was trying to make is that IFCtv plays some of their best flicks in the middle of the night. Last night I stayed up to watch Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane whi