This is the day that we found out that Heather is pregnant! It'll be our fourth child. We've been discussing it for the past couple months and thought it was a good time! It's always exciting!
We have some excited sisters and a brother too!
Happy 1/28/09!
jamie
¶ 1/28/2009 1 Comments
I haven't been able to blog much this year. Not because I haven't had anything to say...I Twitter a decent amount of random thoughts everyday. It's been a time issue.
So, I read this essay from news syndication guru Andrew Brietbart that offered a unique look at how social media and the web in general has been seized by the Democratic party.
A good read, especially for an Obama supporting Republican like me..
God Bless America.
jamie
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BREITBART: No magic Internet button for GOP
Andrew Breitbart
After the 2004 election, much was made of Joe Trippi, Howard Dean's campaign manager and Internet guru. Mr. Trippi is credited with using social networking tools to hook up supporters and to drum up excitement and campaign cash for Vermont's then-little-known former governor.
His book "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything" capitalized on Mr. Dean's meteoric yet short-term rise at the hands of a previously competent yet little-known Democrat apparatchik who became an Internet legend for almost getting the dark horse over the primary finish line.
"The Howard Dean campaign was a dot-com miracle," Mr. Trippi now tells audiences for a handsome price.
But Mr. Dean's story was also the ultimate dot-com crash: "And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan, and then we're going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House! Yeeeah!!!"
The "Dean scream" lives in infamy on YouTube. Live by the Internet, die by the Internet.
Now Mr. Trippi gets paid a lot of money to tell clients something that millions have known since the mid-1990s: The Internet is a big, big deal.
The last election cycle bore more online fruit for Democrats.
"Obama is really Howard Dean 2.0 when it comes to online fundraising," said Phil Tajitsu Nash, who runs Campaign Advantage, a company that makes Web sites and develops Internet strategies for candidates.
So it's understandable that Republicans are green with envy and scratching their heads wondering why the Internet works for Democrats but doesn't work for them. The simple answer:
There is no technology that can help overcome the left's current online dominance.
There is no wizard in Silicon Valley who can make things better.
There is no Joe Trippi who can take an obscure Republican and push him to victory using online tools past, present and future.
Facebook won't do it. Twitter won't do it. Countering Soros and MoveOn .org won't do it. And mimicking Kos and Arianna won't do it.
Sorry, Republicans, there is no magic Internet button.
The Democratic Party resonates on the Internet because it resonates in pop culture. The Democratic Party resonates in pop culture because it has been committed to dominating it for over a generation.
Democrats are celebrities, rock stars, magazine covers and stadium concerts. Republicans are a small list of famous people who have to make public excuses for their affiliation.
Democrats throw parties, get models to show up, and Red Bull and Stoli pick up the tab. Republicans feature a no-host bar hoping an astronaut from the Mercury mission stops by.
Democrats pull off a star-studded, entertainment-laden Obama acceptance speech at Invesco Field. Republicans get a black dude to wear red, white and blue and perform a 1985-era patriotic rap song dressed as Uncle Sam.
The spectacular Will.I.Am song and video, "Yes We Can," could not be duplicated by Republicans if T. Boone Pickens airdropped his fortune on the RNC headquarters.
The Mac versus PC advertising campaign best sums up the stark divide. Only it's much worse.
What the Republican Party needs to do now is figure out how to make up for 40 years of ignoring the net effect of film, television and music, and the youth culture that goes along with it. When will the people who make the big decisions and write the big checks realize the AM radio band is not enough?
As I've written and stated many times, college Republicans and other young conservative activists need to go Hollywood - in mind, spirit and even in location.
Retiring military personnel hot off of war duty need to head west to secure the Los Angeles front.
Producing screenplays - not legislation - is the answer. Performing songs - not whining - is the plan.
Simultaneously, closet conservatives in Hollywood need to come out and run for office. They have the requisite communication skills to compete in the Obama age.
The conservative movement has the best product to sell in the history of the world: freedom. The side that promotes freedom has the best writers. It has the best think tanks. Its Web sites have all the right social networking tools, and there's no shortage of 527s on its side, either.
And while our politicians are imperfect, they are manifestly less corrupt then their Democratic Party peers, and at least stand for something other than obstinate oppositionism.
Yet we are still deep in a hole and digging deeper.
If you are a bigwig in the movement and have begun paying a guy a lot of money to help you figure out the Internet, stop now.
The Joe Trippi of the Republican Party is the person who can make it cool to be a conservative. And only when that happens will Americans begin to start pressing the magic Internet button for our side.
Andrew Breitbart is the founder of the news Web site breitbart.com and is co-author of "Hollywood Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon - the Case Against Celebrity."
¶ 1/22/2009 0 Comments
Twitter!
With the largest spike being Nov/Dec so It's safe to assume the trend is growing larger as I type this.
Let me reinforce my stand on something: If you are in marketing, sales, a small business owner, a corporation, a musician, an author, a club, an organization or even a ministry...If you don't have a presence on myspace, facebook and especially twitter....
You are quietly motivating your customers, members, prospects and/or fans to go elsewhere.
Social networking in not a fad, it's a main part of modern communication. Now more than ever relationships matter!
How are you reaching out?
jamie
¶ 1/09/2009 0 Comments
From Techcrunch:
Sling Media, the company behind the popular (and very cool) settop boxes that allow you to stream cable from your house to your computer, looks like it has outdone itself. At this week’s Macworld the company will be showing off its upcoming iPhone application, which effectively gives iPhone owners instant access to their Cable TVs and Tivos from anywhere they have a network connection. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait a little longer (the company says that the app will be submitted to Apple some time in Q1), but it looks like it will be well worth the wait.
This comes right after the news that apple is releasing iPhone gloves that allow full functionality of the touch screen, while keeping those hands warm and protected!
Others follow....Apple leads! I wanna' be more like Apple.
jamie
ps- I'm VERY interested in learning how to develop iPhone apps!
¶ 1/07/2009 0 Comments
Ok, admittedly, this is totally Jr high, low brow humor. But I did a little "foley" experiment to some New Years Eve footage.
¶ 1/04/2009 0 Comments
2009 is here and I gotta' say that I'm pretty excited about the possibilities! I think of Jan. 1st as somewhat of a "reset button"...a new beginning for whatever area of your world you need it. I for one am completely out of shape and I plan to do something about it. Not for the sake of vanity, for the sake of my health! I love the luxury of working from my home...the downside? I have become far less active physically than I should be. And it doesn't help that the fridge is just a couple rooms away at any given time.
Looking forward to some Guardian activity soon. We have a do-able plan that will allow us to function without interfering with our "non band lifestyles" that we all now have. Watch this blog for future info!
Some random highlights for me in 2008 were:
The family vacation to Pensacola this past summer.
Seeing our home church enjoy visible growth!
Having Heather be recognized by the GB denomination as a forward thinking, high quality worship leader.
Seeing both Christian & Kaitlyn in an award winning High School Marching Band, while both are in middle school.
Increasing my working relationship with Integrity Music (and making some great friends in the process). Knowing the music is being used in Churches around the world and being a small part of the wheel is inspiring!
Discovering Seth Godin!
Discovering Twitter!
Starting a weekly "wangs night" with great friends!
Making some new friends this past year! I met some stellar folks in 2008.
Finally swallowing my pride and admitting during a checkup that I could be depressed. Wish I wouldn't have waited so long!
Guardian in Argentina. I loved being embraced by the fans as if we had never went away! Eugenia and all at Rock & Vida are world class!
Some random lows for me in 2008 were:
Madelyn breaking her arm in the spring... and then her foot in the winter.
Winding up in an emergency room this summer after getting severely dehydrated! Honestly, I haven't felt 100% since.
Having London Calling/The Ruled disintegrate.
Noticing that the "fat clothes" in my wardrobe were getting snug! ;-)
Not having enough free time to video blog like I used to!
Ok fine folks! Hope you have an awesome day!
True peace-
jamie
¶ 1/02/2009 1 Comments
