Compulsory post

I feel like I need to post something. So, here goes. . . It's not like there hasn't been anything exciting happening. There's a lot, my buddy Gary just had a child, I'd give you the link to his site but you'd get this: If the bandwidth statistics reset at the beginning of the month it should be back up tomorrow. In the meantime if you need a fix visit this link. Last weekend was big fun. On Friday night my company had a seminar at the ultra swanky, Ritz-Carlton in Cleveland. Yes, Fancypants. Followed by an Indians game in a luxury suite. All this courtesy of Microsoft! Ach! Yes, but we did manage to have a good time on their dollar. See the way it worked was back in April we recieved an e-mail from MS that they had a new marketing program and we were invited to be a part of it. See, MS leaks money, you know how people joke about using hundred dollar bills as toilet paper, well they do at MS. Seriously. I was there once. I took an entire roll, and in true MS fashion, this stuff is two-ply! Anyway, the way this program worked is that you (meaning the MS partner company) would submit a marketing campaign to MS, give them the different campaign metrics (i.e. potential revenue generated, # of mailers sent, blah blah blah). So, we send the marketing campaign idea to MS, who passes it off to a 3rd party consultant, who reviews, contacts us and tells us to makes some changes. We do that, send it back to MS and it gets put into a big pile to be reviewed. The only constraints are that you share the results of the campaign with MS and you complete it before the end of June. Turns out our idea was one of the best and they decide to give us $10,000 to do it. Yea! So the madness began in late April and hit a boiling point the beginning of last week. You see, we spent some time developing an invitation that we mailed to around 1000 people, except nobody responded to it. I was quite amazed. So our staff kicked into high gear and started making phone calls and we managed to fill up the registration list. So tragedy was averted. We had a great time and I think made a good impression on all those who attended. Saturday, I had a softball game in the morning. Our team is, I am proud to say, still undefeated. We played the other (at least until then) undefeated team and delivered them a beating. Later that day I met my Dad and brother, Ben, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course to watch the American LeMans. Very exciting. There's nothing quite like the smell of race gas in the morning. We bought the Super Pass which gave us access to the paddocks (that's where the teams prep the cars before the race) and the grandstands (that's where you sit your butt to watch the races). There were a bunch of races with some really cool cars, Audi, Nissan, BMW, Acura, Mazda, Cadillac. Yes, Cadillac. They were fast and loud, but they lost to the Audi's. Got to spend some good time with Dad & Ben. Came home and had a great "date" night with my beautiful wife. That said, I had a pretty good weekend.

Feeling Uninspired

It's been a while yeah, I know. But, I've been uninspired lately. Some people are off at the pool. Some people are off having children. Some people, as in me, spend part of thier lunch break playing games like Bow Man. Basically, it's archery with poorly illustrated figures combined with physics. Big fun if you ar a dork like me. All the fun of playstation 2 without the things that make the playstation fun! Wait a minute. . .

Smith All Over

At the time of this entry, my parents are in Poland leading the 12th graders from our church on a missions trip - Doulos. I'm in Florida, my wife is on her way to a wedding in beautiful Columbus, OH. My youngest brother Nate is a Counselor at Camp Carl and Ben is well, probably driving a big water truck somewhere in Peninsula, OH. And because of the internet, we can all "keep tabs" on each other. Oh the wonders of technology. My dad is updating the parents and friends of the students on the Doulos team by adding pictures and commentary to their website. Check it out here. My brother Ben, is blogging as well. If you came in through gitgan.com you've seen that before. He hasn't done a whole lot though so, if you see him, bug him about it. The cast is off his arm so he doesn't really have an excuse anymore. Also, perhaps the biggest change to the Gitgan family is that my beautiful wife, Kirsten, has been inspired by yours truly and has started her own blog. Give it a visit. You'll see less spelling and grammatical errors than you find in this blog and get to see my better half. Kirsten that is. Get your mind out of the gutter chukko! Hopefully you've noticed the changes on the Gitgan homepage. There's not a whole lot underneath that yet but, in due time there will be a wealth of info all about what we can do for you. Until next time. . .

What's the weather like in Florida?

Frankly, I haven't the foggiest idea. This hotel where the conference is at is absolutely freaking huge! Check it out here. I'm having trouble coming up with the words to describe this place. But let me tell you this, and I would highly recommend this place even if it weren't half the size of New Jersey, for this simple reason. They have alligators. Yeah, I know. Real alligators in the hotel, and they post the time when they feed them. So I just might have to cut out of a conference session to check that out. As Steve Irwin might say "Crikey!"

Software Seminars in the land of Mouse Ears

I'm taking a business trip. That's the first time I've ever been able to say that phrase. I'm going to a conference in Orlando, Florida. It's for software that my company sells, Best Software - makers of MAS 90/200, MAS 500 & SalesLogix, along with a bunch of others. It's a lot of workshops and things like that but, I'm hoping that I'll be able to have some free time to maybe do some of the tourist stuff. It has been a while since I've been to Florida, 8 years to be precise. The last time I went was the summer after my senior year of high school with my best friend Jeff. The two of us took off for a 2 week trip with 60 packages of Sour Punch Straws a case of IBC Root Beer, our clothes, a tent and plenty of spending money. We procured luxury accommodations, thanks to friends of Jeff's parents along with 3 free days at Disney World. (If you go to Disney World, I highly recommend doing it for free. It's totally worth it.) We hit Orlando, "Clearwater" and Virginia Beach on the way home. Along the trip we got our ears pierced (Yeah, I'm a rebel!), learned the "right way" to jump start a vehicle with a manual transmission, saw the benefits on gas mileage by following a semi at 75+ MPH at less than a car length. We learned how uncomfortable it is to try and sleep in a truck at a campground with an infant two spots away screaming its head off at 2 in the morning, we also learned that we could put together the tent pretty quietly at 2:30 that same morning. It was a trip that I'll always remember. I'm not totally sure if our parents were confident that we'd make it back alive, but they let us go, and in the process we created memories and lived the stories that we still laugh about now. So, off I go to Florida, by way of Canton then Cincinnati. I'll get a rental car and everything. My accommodations probably will be nicer than the tent but, I'm sure this trip to Orlando will be quite different than the one the 18 year-old Josh took with his best buddy. But, I'll let you know if I come home with any more holes in my ears.

Have you heard. . .

"An angry and embarrassed ozone layer has slapped American scientists with a $20 million libel suit for quote, "The demeaning and degrading discussion regarding the size of my hole." These same scientists have come up with another reason for global warming. In an article on MSNBC entitled Scientists tie ancient warming to 'belch' they claim that a vast 'belch' of gas from beneath the North Atlantic 55 million years ago may have warmed the planet and hold clues to threats from an even faster modern surge in greenhouse gases, scientists reported in the journal Nature. Apparently a large part of the 'belch' was made up of methane - the odorless (but highly flammable)component of burping or flatulence. The best part of the article is it's title: 'The day the Earth let rip' There's been a bunch of news about global warming lately due to the release of the movie The Day After Tomorrow. The extreme leftist group MoveOn was working last weekend to spread it's Anti-Bush agenda in conjuction with this movie. The group passed out flyers after the movie that make the claim "Global Warming isn't just a movie, it's your future." The flyer attempts to tie Bush to pollution and global warming because of his wise refusal to sign the Kyoto Agreement. An environmental treaty that would cause an 50+ cent increase in fuel taxes here in the United Sates. So to combat their actions, Glenn Beck has set up a website for "Evil Conservative Industries" where flyers are available that illustrate the absurdity of MoveOn with absurdity. The flyers call for the destruction of the sun, trees and the dangers of water. Check it out at: www.evilconservatives.com

Pop.

If you live in Ohio it's Pop, not soda, not coke - unless you're having a Coke. Get it right! If you don't believe me click here. Geez!