Steve Fischer's Random Blog

Author: fish1964

  • Ringling Bros 2010

    It’s that time of year. The circus is in town. Going to the circus has been an annual tradition with Danielle and this year Victoria was old enough to appreciate it. So today was Tori’s first circus.

    There is still something magic about watching the circus through a three year old’s eyes. When you’ve seen the circus a bunch of times, you get numb to the spectacle of it all. But if you take a three year old, you just watch the mesmerized look on their face.

    Tori was mainly enthralled by the elephants, but she loved the whole thing.  And of course there were the obligatory treats. First she shared a snow cone with Danielle.

    DSC02762

    Ringling Brothers always sells the cotton candy with the big hat so they can charge $12.

    DSC02763

    What Tori looked like for most of the show.

    DSC02791

    And of course, a good time was had by all at the Greatest Show on Earth…

    DSC02821

  • Brooklyn Bridge Park

    We went to the newly opened Pier 1 section of Brooklyn Bridge Park. Brooklyn Bridge Park is a big plan to turn a large section of the Brooklyn waterfront, from the Brooklyn Bridge to Atlantic Avenue (our street). When it is done it will be fantastic.

    This is the plan. The part above the Brooklyn Bridge, Empire Fulton State Park, already exists. It’s a nice park in a great spot, with great Manhattan views, great views of both bridges and even the Statue of Liberty.

    The Pier 1 section just opened. It’s very nicely done. The next part to open is Pier 6 (opening this spring), which is closest to us. It is going to have a big playground, so I’m sure we’ll be there plenty.

    Our spot on Atlantic Avenue is just getting better and better. We’re about a mile  from this park. A half mile in the other direction will be the new basketball arena for the Nets.

    If we can only afford to stay here…

  • Google Ads

    OK, I’ve been having fun with Google AdWords lately. I love the control it gives you and the incredible amount of statistics you get. I love being able to rotate ads to see exactly what verbage gets the most clicks.

    For the record, this ad is our all time top click getter:

    Origami Risk RMIS
    Fast, Simple, Modern, Secure
    A fresh approach to RMIS

    But Google’s knowledge of your preferences can get annoying. As everyone knows, I’m looking for a new phone. I want the Nexus One on Verizon (hello? Verizon? any day now…).

    Optimistically thinking the Nexus One would be released on Verizon, I recently did a Google search on “Nexus One cases”.

    I swear to God, whatever site I go to now, I get a Google ad for Nexus One cases. This ad shows up everywhere. Honestly, I searched for that one time.

    Leave me alone, I’m begging you…

  • No Phone Yet

    Despite all the rumors, Verizon did not announce the Nexus One at the CTIA convention today. So I am bummed, especially because my Blackberry Pearl is just flat out dying on me. The trackball now prefers up to down. I find myself having to press the space key (shortcut for page down) and then scrolling up because scrolling down takes forever.

    But I have to keep a sense of humor about things. I especially like the new Nexus One ads…

    It is, after all, now available for AT&T…

  • Understatement of the week

    We were pleased to learn that Tiger Woods will be playing the Masters in a few weeks – PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem

    I’m thinking backflips…

  • Evil Empire part 2

    and I quote:

    The iPhone vision of the mobile Internet’s future omits controversy, sex, and freedom, but includes strict limits on who can know what and who can say what. It’s a sterile Disney-fied walled garden surrounded by sharp-toothed lawyers. The people who create the apps serve at the landlord’s pleasure and fear his anger.

    I hate it.

    I hate it even though the iPhone hardware and software are great, because freedom’s not just another word for anything, nor is it an optional ingredient.

    The big thing about the Web isn’t the technology, it’s that it’s the first-ever platform without a vendor (credit for first pointing this out goes to Dave Winer). From that follows almost everything that matters, and it matters a lot now, to a huge number of people. It’s the only kind of platform I want to help build.

    – Tim Bray

    Of course, he is now working for Google…

  • Countdown to Nexus One

    It’s not even official, but I’m still counting down until March 23rd, the day that Verizon will supposedly start carrying the Nexus One. And I realize that I’ll then have to order it from Google so I still need to add a few days for shipping, but I’m counting down anyway.

    In truth, my Blackberry Pearl has been a very good phone. The smallest phone I’ve had in years (I had the original Treo). Like all Blackberries, it’s an email machine. Handles Twitter fine. I read books using Mobipocket. Syncs nicely with my Google calendar.

    But it’s just getting old.

    The keys stick. The over/under on how many times you have to press L to get a response is 3. The trackball randomly decides not to recognize up. But really, it’s the keys. Sending even the shortest text message is torture. Forget about replying to an email, I’ll read it, but wait until I can get to my computer to respond, unless the response is two words or less.

    So I’m counting down. It’s pretty much inconceivable that I won’t love a Nexus One. I’m not comparing it to an iPhone, I’m comparing it to my Pearl. As long as the virtual keys don’t stick…

  • Madness

    My NCAA pool is back on. The url is

    http://fish2006.mayhem.cbssports.com/e

    The group password is fish. The rules and payments are the same as always. Enjoy.

  • Rework

    I just finished “Rework” the latest book from the 37signals folks. If you aren’t familiar with 37signals you should be. They are a small, profitable, opinionated software firm.

    I read their first book “Getting Real”. Frankly, if you read that, you probably don’t need to read Rework. I read “Getting Real” while working at CS STARS and it immediately struck a chord. “Yes, that’s how I want to work”, was my immediate reaction. Nothing in the book was earth shattering to me, but it was very affirming.

    The nice thing about starting your own company with folks you like and who think like you is that without even trying, you end up with the kind of company you always wanted. Reading “Rework” was fun because I constantly said to myself, “yes, that’s exactly what we are doing”.

    If you haven’t read anything from 37signals, you should check out “Rework”. It’s a very quick read and is dead on.

  • Google ads vs Bing

    After a short period of comparable data (same time frame, same keywords) in a niche market, a quick comparison:

    Impressions (number of times our ad was shown)

    • Google: 1,122
    • Bing: 234

    Interestingly, that ratio is pretty comparable to the cost difference. You pay about 5 times as much per click for Google as for Bing (for our keywords – your actual experience may vary).

    Since there is much less competition for ads on Bing (again, for our keywords) getting top placement is cake. Which of course drives the lower prices for the ads.

    But over this short time frame, the clicks from Google are only twice that of Bing. So while Google is king, you get your money’s worth from Bing…

    (note to Microsoft, the above catch phrase is available for a nominal fee)