Random Thoughts

The Phils are in the World Series. I am so happy they are in the big dance. Most people will be upset if they lose, but I am one of the few that is just happy they got in this year. It is great to see how the Phils crushed the Mets two years in a row.

My oldest came home from school the other day and asked me did I know that Clay Aiken was gay? I asked her what does gay mean and she responded it means he is stupid. I responded I didn't know he was stupid and thanks for clearing it up for me. I almost explained it her, but 9 years old is way to young. Besides someone needs to explain it me first.

I played in a 54 player tournament at Showboat in AC last month. The buy in was $75. I managed to make a small profit and come in fourth place. It was real fun way to spend four hours. The goal for me was to get to the final table. Their was some very tough players so I was real proud. I must say it can be a long grind. The key moments for me was trying to play only when I had position. Meaning I would call or raise when no more then 1 or possibly two players were in the pot. The whole night the best had I had was JJ and AK off suited and I folded the AK. I was able to hang around so long because of these hands.

• Third hand into the tournament I hit a set on pocket 8's
• Right before the first break I went all in with K8. I wanted to steal the blinds. I was called by the big blind with A, 3 off suited. I got lucky and hit the K on the river. He didn't have many chips.
• Before the next break when all in with 6, 7 red. I wanted to again steal the blinds and a few small calls who I knew would fold. They all did and picked up a nice pot.
• Then made it to the final table and I was the smallest stack size. I was BB and when all in with 10, 2 off suit as I had really nothing left at that point. I had two calls and flopped two 2's on the river. 
• Then I folded AK and to what turned out to be pocket 10's.
• I caught a pair and picked up some more chips. I forgot the pair.
• Then hung around and watched players pick each other off.
• I took home $368. Not a bad night to spend at poker.

Amber Alert Jessica Alvarez

STATEWIDE AMBER ALERT (NJ)
Jessica Alvarez Age Now: 3 years old Sex: Female Skin Tone:Hispanic Height: 3 feet Weight: 30 lbs
Unknown Unknown AbductorAge: Late 40s-50 years old Sex: Female Weight: 135 lbs
Status: NewMissing From: 116 Broad Street, Elizabeth, NJ Last seen: 2008-10-16 11:04:00 Circumstances: The child was removed from a store at 116 Broad Street in Elizabeth, NJ. The victim's mother was shopping while the child played in the toy area. We have video fo the child being led out of the store by the described suspect. To report information on this case, please contact: NJSP Missing Person's Unit (NJ) 1-800-709-7090 To view other cases, please visit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: http://www.missingkids.com/

The Phis are on the way to the World Series!

Ray, Josh, and Sasha snoozing on the couch. That is the life! http://ping.fm/6KNRL

Doing science homework with my daughter. The words hypothesis, inference, and standard measure send chills down my spine.

The Phils are off to a great start beating the Dodgers in game 1!

Pay $250 and receive $500 in gas rebates. Not a gimmick.http://ping.fm/7L3eZ

The Phils are on at 1pm and the Eagles are on at 1pm. And my wife has the Sunday planned for me. This is just ugly.

The debate tonight will have many viewers. Some people will be interested in the topics and others will focus on what Palin is wearing. I do think Tina Fey does a better Palin then Palin.

The Phillies win the NL East Division. The Mets choke again. What a nice weekend!

I am thinking about what I should do with my girls on this rainy weekend ahead.

Watching the Mets lose another game never gets old! Go Phils!

Michael is in Phoenix this week on a business trip. It is just a little hot here in the Vally of the Sun.

Buy a tee shirt and join the club! http://ping.fm/jVvue

I rented 21 http://ping.fm/R4F7q on Friday. Winner winner chicken dinner!

Google Chrome is here and our lives will never be the same. Download here - http://ping.fm/t4Ew6

So you had a bad day?

Embedded Video

This is video I did with my Flip camera while driving the car. I would not recommend. It was after a long day at the beach with Rachel and Jessica. Notice the music playing in the background. I couldn't have asked for better background music.

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I am back from a fun filled weekend at Knoebels. Now back to work!

I am looking forward to going to Knoebels with the family for the weekend. http://ping.fm/CE9ZA

Live AP Video stream of the Democratic Convention found here - http://ping.fm/qnSOO

Work is crazy right now because of the Olympics!

One my favorite movies growing up

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Is anyone using Plaxo? I have an account, but random use it.

Four years ago today a little girl named Alex lost her battle to cancer. If you don't know about Alex she is the reason for Alex's Lemonade Stand. http://ping.fm/mh7Vz

Can anyone supply feedback on crossloop.com? Can you use the co browse software with anyone?

Post a job or search for a job at http://ping.fm/Jb3Qh

10 great tools to use with Twitter
http://ping.fm/5XN7d

Josh on the rug

Josh is 24 days today. He loves laying back on the soft rug.

Josh arrives

Joshua Benjamin Wishnick arrived on July 2nd at 8:11 am. The baby and Mommy are doing great. Josh came in at 7 pounds even and 18 inches long. You can find more pics here - Josh's first day.

Big day almost here

The big day is tomorrow. We are the first C-Section in the morning. I will keep everyone posted. Wish us luck!

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Beyond Craigslist: 50 Other Sites to Buy, Rent, or Snag Goods (and Get Cool Free Stuff) | Free Geekery

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How Much Social Media Can You Handle?

Here is a great article about the Social Internet World. If you are thinking about doing some socialization on the web below are the sites to start with. If you have any questions about using them let me know.

by Jacob Morgan

I’m not going to even try to speculate on the amount of social media companies out there. Nor am I going to try to guess on the niche markets that have already been penetrated. All I am going to say is that there are a lot of social media companies out there, and the number of niche plays are slowly dwindling down. So, this begs the question, how much social media can you handle?

I’ll start off by divulging the social media platforms that I use and what I use them for:

Linkedin:

Great for networking and making business connections. I find the question and answer feature especially valuable. I put my linkedin profile link on my blog and sometimes on my business cards. This make it easy for anyone to find out a bit more about my professional and educational background.

Facebook:

Also good for networking, however I find that linkedin is a bit more professional, that is just my opinion. I do find facebook rather useful when it comes time to find out about new events that I should attend since they appear in my friend stream. I also use the post item feature to share links with my friends. Of course there is also the random play and fun.

Twitter:

Twitter has been a very valuable resource for me, I have met a lot of my twitter friends, OFFLINE, via events, conferences, etc. Twitter is almost like a world wide chat conversation. I get a lot of tech news from twitter as well as relevant event information. I also use twitter to share links with my followers and of course engage in discussion. I love the immediate response, it’s like having access to your own personal information group, very valuable indeed.

Digg:

The only thing I really use dig for is sharing links and blog posts, I wouldn’t call it a must have tool, but I have definitely gained a few readers from sharing my posts. I use it about 1-2 times a week. Whereas the others I use daily.

Plurk:

I can’t say that I have really been using plurk that much, but ever since my plurk post a few weeks ago I have been getting friend requests and have decided to try it out. I am still much more active on twitter, but I do plurk every now and then.

I would say that the above 5 are my most active social media platforms, sometimes I poke around on friendfeed, but not that often. Out of the above 5 I would only consider linkedin, facebook, and twitter, to be my most active social media platforms. Now, it’s not because I don’t like the other great platforms out there, it’s because I can’t handle anymore. How many different friend groups, friends, passwords, usernames, etc. can you possible have? Am I supposed to log into 10 different social media platforms every day to check for updates? I’d never leave the house!

So, what does this mean for the social media world? Well, simply put there are two choices. Either, something like friendfeed is going to figure out a way to aggregate all of a users social media streams into one, or, we are going to continue to see a segmentation of social media platforms and users. What social media platforms do you use and why?

We are at a crucial stage of social media evolution, the only question is, what are we going to evolve to?

Thanks for reading

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iTunes Store: 5B Songs Sold, Now Pushing 50K Movies Daily

The ascent of the iTunes Store has been consistently touted as industry-changing, and not without reason. In the past five years, the Web-based marketplace for downloadable media has gone from startup size to one which, not very long after launch, began to tally sales in the billions, and soon made its big media partners grow hesitant of its influence on music sales and associated pricing controls.

Despite the music industry’s overt promotion of competitors, however, the iTunes Store has remained the biggest selling online storefront in the digital market. And today Apple is heralding one more milestone in the growth of the iTunes Store, marking the passage of the five-billionth song sold. There’s really no mystery as to why the iTunes Store continues to be the outstanding leader in the digital download arena. The company’s iTunes-plus-iPod/iPhone infrastructure still greatly simplifies media consumption, arguably more so than any other competitor.

The retailer often recognized as the next most substantial force in digital music sales, Amazon, has made remarkable headway in its effort to encroach on Apple’s dominance, but though the majority of the iTunes song catalog has been relegated to a technologically unappealing position laden with DRM and distributed with inferior audio quality, the storefront moves forth apace.

What’s more, Apple has today also divulged that the iTunes Store, following its recent introduction of movie purchases and rental options for newly released titles from several Hollywood studios, is now regularly distributing over 50,000 movies per day. Surely, if one were to juxtapose that figure against Netflix’s own statistics one might sense iTunes to be a virtual non-competitor. But placed against the budding market of download centers, which includes, among others, Amazon Unbox, Apple claims iTunes to be “the world’s most popular online movie store.”

Apple does not explicitly state an independent market researcher for its daily movie download figure, but suffice it to say that the figure of 50,000+ will gain perhaps as much attention as that recorded for sales of audio tracks upon further scrutiny. Movie downloads are an increasingly hot topic for market analysts, given the amount of piracy conducted over the Web, as well as in physical form. And with ISPs’ concerns over network data traffic, plus the costs required for consumers to opt into the habit of downloading movies on-demand from non-cable or satellite providers, many observers will likely peg iTunes first official statistic for movie sales and rentals as either good news or bad for the fate of the premium video download movement.

The movement presently involves material from film studios, television networks, and independent, Internet-born producers. Theoretically speaking, 50,000 movie rentals and purchases per day would amount to 18.25 million if maintained for an entire year, give or take any fluctuations in demand.

---
Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:

Is iTunes Losing All its Music? Warner May Follow Universal’s Lead
Starz to Launch on iTunes
Apple Movie Rentals On its Way?
iTunes UK To Soon Launch Movie Sales And Rentals
AC/DC Sells Music through Verizon–Not iTunes
Universal Music May Drop iTunes Contract
Apple Lands Deal with MGM

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FLIP Camera

I received an early Father's Day gift last night. The FLIP camera. It is portable video camera that can record for 60 minutes. Read more about the camera here - http://theflip.com

Here is Ray on my new FLIP camera.

More is Less

I have been on both side of the interview fence many times. When I was in between jobs I was the interviewee and as a hiring manager the interviewer. The one thing I can tell you is that candidates don't understand the concept of listening. The individual is more focused on selling themselves to you that the sales pitch is non stop. As the title says less is more. To quote the movie Jerry McGuire in many cases during the interview the candidate has me at hello. Then the more they talk the less engaging they become.

I realize it is very competitive today. If I can pass along a small tip that will go along way is to be selective when responding to questions. Make sure the answers are clear and concise. You may just talk yourself out of a job.

starting up again

It's been a long time since I posted. I decided in 2008 to simplify my life. I slowed down the social networking and focused more on email and my favorite rss feeds. Also with my new job at the AP and life at home with the girls it has been crazy.

I have decided to start posting when I can again. I did miss it. I have good news to share with everyone. We are expecting our third child in July and the baby is not a girl. Wow I can make a boy. My time management skills are poor now they sure need to improve with a third child on the way

I would love to hear from old and new friends. Drop a comment or an email.

I need to hire

You must be able to work in Mid Town NY two blocks from Penn Station and Cranbury NJ. If you are interested email michael.wishnick@yahoo.com. I have shifts available for 9am - 5:30, 11am - 7:30pm, 3:30 - 12pm, and 7pm - 3:30am.

Tier 1-Product Support Specialist
As a Product Support Specialist you will be responsible for providing first line, Tier 1 customer support to the customer base for online products and services. You will be responsible for handling incoming service requests (telephone, email etc.) and setting up customers with products and services, all in a fast-paced, changing 24/7 support environment. You will also assist our clients in maximizing their use of our products and services. You will work with sales, operations, editorial, product management, product services, development, and other departments to help improve external customer support. Candidate needs to be able to work in both New York, NY and Cranbury, NJ.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
· Handle inbound telephone and email customer requests. Gather supporting information and reviews carefully. Evaluates and assesses situation as understood. Relay back to customer toensure focus is on solving correct problem. Obtains sufficient information to determine the possible cause of the issue. Work independently to determine the best and most efficientsolution to resolve the customer’s operational issue(s), including procedural changes as necessary.
· Handle customers who may exhibit a range of emotions such as frustration,anger, and irritation. Stays calm despite customer emotions.
· Track activities through support tools including a ticket logging system and customer relationship management system.
· Provide pre/post sales support, along with ongoing technical and product support.
· Process service requests for new installations of web /internet and satellite services.
· Work with sales and international/domestic bureaus to ensure seamless product releases, installations and service upgrades.
· Work on special projects as assigned.
· Be available for work on a rotating shift (24/7) and “on call” basis (evenings and weekends) as required.
JOB QUALIFICATIONS:
· College degree, technical degree or acceptable experience required.
· 1+ years customer support experience (telephone, email, online chat etc.) required.
· Previous technical product support experience required.
· Must possess a service-oriented attitude, and be able to communicate and coordinate well with team members and customers.
· Demonstrated ability to work in a team environment. Communicate effectively with others and express ideas.
· Must be a self-starter with the ability to multi-task, manage workload, take accountability and deliver results to meet competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
· Ability to prioritize and work in a high pressured environment.
· Strong written and communication skills required.
· Working knowledge of HTML, XML, C+, Perl, Java Script, DHTML, CSS and Flash a plus.
· Experience with Windows, Unix, Linux and and MAC OS’s preferred. Knowledge of basic file handling command line syntax on UNIX-LINUX-FreeBSD or VMS is a plus.
· Experience with Microsoft LDAP directory services - Active Directory a plus
· Understanding of network protocols TCP/IP, HTTP, FTP, SMTP and NNTP. Must be able to trouble shoot problems related to these protocols.
· Knowledge of streaming video technology and ability to troubleshoot video players (e.g. Windows Media Player, Real Player and Quicktime).

The end of a Browser

If you were like me then Netscape was the browser of choice. No one wanted IE 4x. Then came along Firefox and the rest is history. I am little sad as Netscape was a browser I used frequently in the past. Oh well I guess this is just one more conquest for the machine called Microsoft.

PC World - AOL to End Support for Netscape Browser

Homer Quote

I saw this quote from Homer and had to post it. If you work in the Corporate World this has to make you laugh!

Life become crazy

Life become very busy for me starting right after thanksgiving. I got a new job and some other stuff happening at home I will discuss down the road.

I hope everyone had a great Chanukah and Christmas! Please have a safe New Year. Don't be stupid and drink and drive. Even a little alcohol can cause a big problem. My new job details can be found over at Linkedin. In 2008 I am going to keep the Blog about personal opinions and thoughts. No business talk here. Hey and if you are feeling like giving to charity click on the google ad above. I made a total of $1.82 in 2007. Yea me!

Remember to make good decision!

Oh how Festive?

I heard on XM radio that on December 4th they will be lauching a 24 x 7 Chanukah channel. The question I need to ask is do we need a 24 x 7 Chanukah channel? Just because XM has 4 Christmas channels they really don't need a Chanukah channel. What songs can they play? Really how many Chanukah songs do you know? It is going to be 24 x 7 non stop of Dreidle Dreidle I made it out clay and when its dry and ready oh dreidle i will play......

Radio Hanukkah
Tue, 12/4 - Wed, 12/12XM 108 & XMRO (XM Radio Online) - 108
It's a celebration of the festival of lights as well as Jewish culture. Radio Hanukkah - XM 108 brings you the best mix of contemporary and traditional Jewish favorites as well as exclusive music shows, interviews, and the candle lighting every day in every time zone throughout America.

Sasha at Halloween

Picture 285
Originally uploaded by Mike Wish

My beagle Sasha decided to show off her wild side for Halloween. What do you think of her as a blonde?

3 of us

3 of us
Originally uploaded by Mike Wish

This is one of my favorite pictures of me and my girls. I wish their was more time in the day to spend with them!

Have a great Monday!

Google Tip

I thought I knew most of the cool Google applications. Below is one I read about on the Ask Liz Ryan community blog. The blog and group is about business, finance, careers etc.. You can go directly to the Yahoo newsgroup to subscribe.

I am sure most of you know about it already. Below is the copy about the tip:

The best ever Google Tool:
You can send a text message to googl (46645) to find anything. You put the item in the first line, then the city and state in the second line, and Google will immediately send you text messages back with the info. So, you can look for Sheraton, Denver, CO. Or, you can search for generic items like tow truck, breckenridge, CO and it will send you a listing for the address and phone number of all of them in the area! They don't charge you, so it will cost like a regular text message! It is the best.

Things I just don't understand

For obvious reasons I have had some extra time on my hands. During these times recently I was pondering about some things in the world that I will never understand. Below are just a few I can think of right now. If you have any please add them.

1. Why don't we have better candidates running for President? Really is Hillary, Obama, and Rudy the best this Country has to offer? I am just not thrilled with any of the candidates who are throwing their hats into the ring. I can't be the only one who feels this way? I am sure the people who aspire to be the next president are all smart and want what is best for this Country. It's just I am not impressed with any of them. I suppose it must be coming from the recent job interviews I have had. During a job interview the potential employee should attempt to portray a professional individual who can immediately add value for the Employer. When listening to these candidates I don't hear anything on how they can benefit myself or my country. Maybe I am just not listening?
2. I am not a Yankees fan. I repeat I am not a Yankees Fan. I am a Philadelphia Phillies fan and very proud of the year they had. Even though I am not a Yankee supporter I even know that Joe Torre received a raw deal from the Yankee brass. You just are not going to find a classier more professional person to represent an organization or baseball in general. Don't get me wrong I don't feel sorry for him. He had a great run with the Yanks. He just should of been treated so much better.
3. Why can't the US mint print more money? If we could make sure the money would go to the poor then why not print some more bills? Its not like Robin Hood. No one is robbing from one to give to another. I am sure their is a very logical reason for why this can't be done. I just don't know the answer. It just made me think this morning with all the areas in this country impacted from catastrophes that range from Hurricanes to the recent fires on the west coast. If an individual can't support his or her family then why not print some money and give it to them? Maybe then I could disprove my parents and show them money does grow on trees. I suppose this whole idea is to Star Trekish for most. In Star Trek the only form of currency was the barter system. They searched the galaxies for knowledge and to boldly go where no man has gone before. I guess if they did do it for money Captain Kirk would have stayed with the green hottie on Mars. I heard she came from a wealthy family. Or was she blue?

Remember to make good decisions!

Mike Wish

Elevator Speech

A recruiter asked me today what is my elevator speech? I have one ready to go when called upon. It is a great skill to polish up on especially if you are a job hunter.

BTW why do I have to be a job hunter? I don't even like guns. I rather call myself job challenged or job browsing. Even if I hunt for a job and catch it or kill it do I get the job? Maybe I don't want the job? Or maybe the job doesn't want me?

Ok back to reality. For those of you who don't know an elevator speech it is a short (15-30 second, 150 word) sound bite that succinctly and memorably introduces you. It spotlights your uniqueness. It focuses on the benefits you provide. And it is delivered effortlessly. Usually in the time it takes for a 30 second elevator ride. The elevator speech started as the elevator pitch. In most cases for entrepreneurs speaking to a potential investor on a new idea or maybe scheme.

So what is your elevator speech? Here are some great resources:

• Get job contacts with an elevator speech
• Podcast about elevator speech
• How to write an elevator speech

Follow me on Twitter

Twitter is a great way to see what your friends are up too. It's kind of like a mini blog in a way. Give it a try and sign up.

Follow me on Twitter

My Resume

Click below to view my resume online.



Michael's Resume

An Update on Michael

The job hunt has started to pick up. The months of July and August were pretty much dead. In the month of September I have received some interest in possible opportunities. I am hoping something comes through soon. I am firm believer that things happen for a reason. The time at home has allowed me to spend a lot of time with the girls. It really does so much for my soul to spend quality time with them. I have been able to walk with Jessie from the bus stop and talk about her day at school. I have also been able to spend time with Rachel. The best part is taking her for a car ride in the afternoon until she falls asleep. Her favorite CD is MAMA MIA on Broadway. She is usually out by track three.

So as much as I have love spending time at home I would like to get back into the work place. On Friday I tried a new service called Resume Rabbit. For the low low price of $49.95 the service will automatically post my resume to over 50 sites. Below are the sites I am posted at. I am also doing my best to be creative with social networking sites like Linkedin and Plaxo. If anyone has any other suggestions on recruiters or job sites or anything else I have not thought of I would be happy to hear from you.

Remember to make good decisions!

Mike Wish

Job Sites 4Jobs.com American Preferred AmericasJobSource.com Bakos Group Beyond.com Career Exposure Career Shop CareerBuilder CareerJournal.com CollegeJobBoard EmployerIndex.com FillThatJob FreshJobs.com HireAbility.com HireNet Horizon Career Hot Jobs HotResumes.com Job Bank USA Job.com JobAnimal.com JobCentral.com JobGuru.com Jobing JobSearchLink.com JobsExcite Jobvertise Kakoon.com MegaJobSites.com Monster MyCareer.com MyCareerSpace NationalJobBank Net-Temps QuintCareers.com Resumes2Work SearchEase.com SmartHunt TalentSpider The Talent Bank Thingamajob.com USJobNetwork.com VidRez.com

I love my little sister

This is Jessica adding another entry to my Dad's blog. This is a picture of me and my baby sister Rachel. I love her a lot! She is the best sister in the world. I have fun playing with her every single day. People who have baby brothers or sisters should take care of them.

Love

Jessica

Shana tova

Today is Rosh Hashanah. To all my family and friends I wish you a sweet and happy New Year. On Rosh Hashanah's each person takes a piece of apple, dips it into honey, then offers up a prayer in hope of a sweet new year.

The Jewish New Year (5768), Rosh Hoshanna, began at Sundown last night. The proper greeting is Shana Tova. Emphasis on the final syllables. Shana means year, Tova is Hebrew for good. May we all have a Shana Tova!

Remember to make good decision!

Mike Wish

What is focus?

I thought this was very humorous! For me it sends a clear message on what it means to focus on a task or project. Sometimes you just need to stick to your guns and listen to the voices inside.

BFF's

Hi this is Jessica adding an entry to my Dad's blog. I want to share with you a picture of me and my best friend Emily. I am the girl on the left and Emily is on the right. This picture was taken at Club Libby Lu in the Menlo Park Mall. We had plenty of fun that day picking out pretty clothes and styling our hair. After we played we went for ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. It is one of my favorite places to eat ice cream because they mash up the ice cream right in front of you. I like the peanut butter cup with Vanilla ice cream. Its good to have a friends and always be nice to them and never let them down! My Daddy let me type all this by myself. Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think?

XOXOXOXOX

Jessie

Proud Father

I was a very proud Dad yesterday. My oldest daughter decided on her own to donate 7 inches of her hair to the locks of love organization. It is great non profit group that donates hair to children who suffer hair loss from Chemotherapy or other miscellaneous illness. If you have not done so I encourage you to check out the link. I thought it was a very mature and thoughtful decison made by an 8 year old child. I was a bit skeptical about Jess losing her long hair, but when you saw how proud she was of herself with a smile from ear to ear the length of her hair didn't seem to matter.

Great job Jessica!

Love

Dad

It was a rainy day

It was a rainy day in New Jersey today. In order to kill some time I watched Happy Feet with the girls. It is one of the better kids movies. The problem is when I see the movie I get the Stevie Wonder song - I Wish stuck in my head. Stevie Wonder – I Wish

In honor of the song I have added the lyrics below in hope that this great song gets stuck in your head as well.

Happy Feet Soundtrack- Stevie Wonder - I Wish

Stevie Wonder

Lookin back on when I, was a little nappy headed boy,
Then my only worry, was for Christmas what would be my toy,
Even though we sometimes, would not get a thing,
We were happy with the, joy that they would bring,

Sneakin out the back door to hang out with those hoodlum friends of mine
Greeted at the back door with "I thought I told you not to go outside",
Tryin the best to bring that water to your eye
Thinkin it might stop her from whuppin your behind

I wish those days, could , come back once more
Why did those days ever have to go
I wish those days, could, come back once more
Why did those days ever have to go, cause I loved 'em so...

Brother says hes tellin, bout you playin doctor with that girl
Just don't tell Ill give you, anything you want in this whole wide
world,
Mama gives you money, for Sunday school
You trade yours for candy, after chuch is through

Smokin cigarettes and writin somethin nasty on the wall
Teacher sends you to the principle office down the hall
You grow up and learn that kind of thing aint right
But while you were doin it, it sure felt outta sight

I wish those days, could, come back once more
Why did those days ev-er have to go
I wish those days, could, come back once more
Why did those days ev-er have to go, cause I loved em so.......

Sasha rides the short bus.

Sasha rides the short bus.
Originally uploaded by Mike Wish

We love Sasha, but she isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. She is scared of her own shadow. This is a picture of Sasha after she decided rolling in the mud would be fun!

All my links

In effort to consolidate all my links I have listed them below. As I look at all these URL's the only thing i can think of is clutter. Or better yet web clutter! Most likely I will add them all on the right side of my blog. I know claim ID is supposed to centralize these URLs for me. I want to create a web site that decribes who I am on the web. I think in the future something better needs to come along. All these links are my presence on the world wide web. The problem is they are scattered across the internet.

1. My Blog - http://michaelwishnick.com
2. Linkedin - http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelwishnick
3. My Resume - http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/resumes/mumpish/wishnickmichael
4. Flickr Photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/61628908@N00/
5. Facebook - http://www.facebook.com. Sign up and then search for me.
6. ClaimID - http://claimid.com/michaelwishnick
7. Jaiku - http://mikewish.jaiku.com/
8. Jobster - http://www.jobster.com/at/person/show/23281
9. Tumblr - http://mikewish.tumblr.com/
10. Twitter - http://twitter.com/mikewish
    

ScribeFire

I have been using a great FireFox extension called ScribeFire to do many of my blogging. It is a great utility to have for any blogger. It allows me to write to my blog directly from any web site. It is fast and saves plenty of time. I don't have to log into my blog to add an entry. The link is below if you want to kick the tires and give it a try.

ScribeFire :: Firefox Add-ons

Mike Wish

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what I learned

I was thinking recently of some of the things I learned the last ten years as a Customer Service and Technical Support Director. Their are so many lessons learned that I can think of. You know the one item that you just can't replace is experience. I can't tell you how many times that in order to make a business or support decision I had to simply go with my gut. Their were situations when I could NOT extract the numbers from the CRM or other data to back up a hypothesis. I would confer with fellow colleagues for input when it was an option and then research industry standards. When some or none of these options were available it was really reaching back to my past experience and going with my gut or instincts. I would often have a running joke with one of my managers that my Spidey senses are tingling. I couldn't get the information I wanted from the numbers, but I just had this feeling in my gut that something was not right. It would usually happen before a big problem occurred.

As I stated my experience has taught me so much over the last ten years. Here are the three principles I will always carry with me.

1. Empathize - Empathy is one of the most critical skills a customer service, technical support, call center agent can have. Empathy is very different then sympathy. To empathize with another is to put yourself in the individuals shoes. An example is I understand Mr. Doe this problem is causing you not to be able to finish your project.
2. Knowledge - The next item is the product or technical knowledge you posses. You are not going to add value to the customer unless you can help them. The customer is looking for quick answers and if the knowledge is lacking it will only cause more frustration. The last thing a customer wants to hear is that you have to pass them to another rep because you don't know the answer to a question
3. Professionalism - To me professionalism is taking ownership of the customers problem. Communicating to the customer they are in good hands with you and you will resolve the problem. This makes the customer feel you are their advocate and you are fighting for the customers needs. Some people may call this account management. I prefer to label this as great professional service. No one calls a call center to let them know everything is great with the products they are using. If they are to call it is a good feeling to know the other person on the end of the telephone, IM, email will be able to assist them with the problem or issue of the day.
   

Simpsons and other stuff

In honor of the Simpsons movie coming out this weekend here is 101 Simpson quotes.
101 Greatest Simpsons QuotesThe Homer quotes are my favorite.

Homer: Oh, so they have Internet on computers now!

I really hope you don't think I am going to blog about serious topics going on in the world right now. And currently the only thing I am concerned about with the DJ sale is when should I cash out my stock? I am unemployed and enjoying spending time with the kiddies. Its a Wiggles World and we are all just eating our fruit salad and trying to get by!

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Play it again Sam

Who says lightening doesn't strike twice? In less then six months I was laid off again by Dow Jones. The first lay off was January 9th. The second one was last week July 9th. As I said when it happen the first time in January working at Dow Jones has been a great experience. I made plenty of life long friends. My second go around at Dow allowed me to meet new people and make even more friends. Although I only worked with the Dow Jones Customer Service Team a short time I was lucky enough to work with some great hard working people.

I am now back on the job market. If you know anyone who needs an experienced Customer Service/Call Center/Technical Support Director let me know. Here is my resume.

Maybe its time to start my professional poker career!

Remember to make good decisions.

Mike Wish

I bought my name

In a bold move I have purchased the domain name for http://michaelwishnick.com. You can also use this link to get to my blog. Maybe in the future the site will become more and not just a blog.

In any case stay out of the heat and drink plenty of water.

Wish

Sorry you call us to much

Sprint is dropping the customers that call Customer Service to much. So they are basically saying sorry we don't want your business go to AT&T. I wonder who is person who thought of this idea? Do they still have a job. Check out the letter below.

One Way Contract: Sprint Drops You Because You Call Customer Service Too Much - Consumerist

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Code Monkey

I love this song Code Monkey. I heard it a few months ago and thought it was great. Check out the video that was just made for the song. It is real good. Here are the lyrics and the site. It is from an artist named Jonathan Coulton.

New WSJ Online Auto Page

Auto News - Consumer Auto News - Car News - WSJ.com



The Wall Street Journal Online announced a new Auto Page on WSJ.com. The page contains the latest news for automobiles and the car industry. The site has buying tools, ratings and great articles and blogs.



The Auto Page is open to everyone. Click here - Auto Page

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Check out Wufoo

Free HTML Form Builder - Create Forms, Surveys and Invitations



Do you need to create a quick form? Planning a wedding, poker game, or want to create job application. Then check out Wufoo. The best part it is quick and easy to use. You can build up to three forms for free. The forms can be used as its own page or you can add it to your web site or blog.



Check out the Templates for some cool ideas.



Remember to make good decisions!



Mike

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What is Web 2.0

What is Web 2.0 to you? I suppose it is a trick question. Web 2.0 can be almost anything you want it to be. For me Web 2.0 is about knowledge sharing and collaberation. Working with friends or co workers from around the world to achieve a common goal. So why blog about Web 2.0? At the Web 2.0 expo that I didn't attend one of giveaways was a shirt that asked the question -- What is Web 2.0. One of my co workers attended the expo and wrote about it on her blog http://danielabarbosa.blogspot.com/



Also you can check out what other people are saying about Web 2.0 by checking out the pics on Flickr.



Remember to make good decisions!



Mike_Wish

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Google will sell ads on Clear Channel - USATODAY.com

Google will sell ads on Clear Channel - USATODAY.com



I love Google as much as the next geek, but do I need to hear radio ads from them on the FM dial? Thank goodness I mostly listen to podcasts and XM Radio! Where does the Google empire end? Or the better question is when will the Google empire end?



From the article it states - Clear Channel said it has agreed for Google to sell a guaranteed
portion of the 30-second spots available on its 675 radio stations in
top U.S. markets, in a bid to expand the universe of local radio
advertisers to Google's online buyers.



I realize Google is branching out into other media outlets. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a Google Channel on our Cable and Dish providers. As I said I am a fan of Google, but when is it enough? What about working on enhancing my Internet experience. Google can work on the My Google page. Their are others that handle RSS feeds much better like Yahoo and Vibe. Although Yahoo hasn't change the page in years. What about changing the UI in gmail. I really don't like it. I do like the amount of space you get, but the interface is clunky to me. I moved my email back to Yahoo. I like the Outlook look and feel much better.



Ok now I am off my soap box. Remember to make good decisions!



Mike

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Is this useful?

I came across this website. I am not sure if it is a real useful tool or not? What caught my attention was the clever way the word schmuck was added to describe the benefit of the site. Click the link below to check it out. I will download it eventually to see how it works.



Schmap Local - Save addresses and phone numbers as you browse the web

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1000 visitors to Wishnick World

I officially had my one thousandth visitors to my Blog today. I am sorry to report no special prizes are given away. Ok so one thousand pales in comparison to other web site and blogs. Some sites get a thousand hits in an hour. But I don't care! This is 1000 new visitors to my site. Not to be confused with page views which is around 1400.

Also I added my resume online. If you click on the Hotjobs icon on the right it will appear.

mobile web

The Wall Street Journal has an article about the mobile web. The mobile web is web sites that use the suffix .mobi to get to a web site. Think about the more mainstream web sites that end in .com, .net, .tv, and .org and replace with .mobi. The benefit to dotmobi is that it makes the traditional web site compatible for browsing from a mobile phone.

You can lear more about dotmobi technology by visiting the Wiki Article.

You can also see if your website is mobile compatible by going to http://ready.mobi/index.html

Hi Everyone

Its been a while since I added a post to the blog. I have been focusing on the new job and family. Some months are busier then others. The job is going well. I will post more about it later. The team I am working with are a great bunch of people.

I came across a few sites I want to share with you.

1. http://justin.tv - It is 4 guys who do live video blogging 24 x 7. It reminds me of the Truman show.
2. 101 shareware and freeware - It is a great list of anything you can think of. Browsers, email and most important security software. Go check it out

Remember to make good decisions!

Mike Wish

Back in the Family

It has been a crazy few months to say the least. I was recently asked to come back to the Dow Jones Family. An opening became available for a Technical Support Manager for the Wall Street Journal Online, Barrons, and Market Watch. It is a little different then what I was doing before for Dow Jones/Factiva. I am now apart of the Consumer Media Group of Dow Jones. The good news I was able to keep my date of hire, 401K, and health benefits. Since the move happened before my package ended it is treated as a job transfer from the Enterprise Media Group to the Consumer Media Group. The group handles second level Technical Support calls from Customer Service. It is very similar role to what I did as Director Global Technical Support at Factiva.

Thanks again to everyone for the support during the last few months. Many of you said that these things happen for a reason and the problem will work itself out. As you can see that is what exactly happen. I had the choice of going back to Dow Jones or accepting an offer at a Company in NY for more money. After discussing it with Jennifer I decided the best move would be to come back. After caculating NYC taxes, train fare, and most important time away from the family it just wasn't worth it.

Wish me luck in the new position! It is sure weird to be back in the Princeton Office.

Wall Street Journal Video Site

I recently read on beet.tv that the Wall Street Journal Online has made available videos from the Wall Street Journal Site. Here is a snippet from the article.
Dow Jones, the publishers of The Wall Street Journal, Marketwatch and Barron's, has provided the public with the ability to take the embedded code from video clips on the Wall Street Journal site. To view the videos, you don't need to subscribe to the WSJ. You can grab this code by simply pressing the "get code" button on the player. Below is a great interview with the founder of wikipedia and how wiki is growing into doing wiki type searches in Google, Yahoo etc..

Try Twitter

Hi!

I have been using Twitter and thought you may enjoy it. Twitter asks one simple question. What are you doing?

Click here to get started: TWITTER

Or, check out my Twitter profile:
Twitter Profile

Ciao!

I am not alone

It looks like I am not alone on the dilemma of purchasing a laptop with Vista this week. See my post below from yesterday.

Robin Raskin from Yahoo also asks a similar question. In her tech article she has narrowed down the choice between a Dell or an HP. Can you come up with a better choice? I am still searching.

Urgent Response needed

I am thinking about purchasing a laptop this week with Vista installed. I hate to buy anything that is version 1.0. What does everyone think? Should I buy this week? I found plenty of good deals.

I was going to buy something here from BestBuy.

I had a blast!

The birthday dinner last Saturday in Atlantic City was blast! I wanted to post about sooner, but my new boss at home is real tough. I get a lot of "honey do" lists from her. You know honey do this and honey do that. All 17 people showed up at the Knife and Fork inn. I was so impressed by the place. They even gave us our own room which I did not expect. I recommend the place highly. Ask for Ellen and she will take care of everything. Jennifer made a beatiful toast to me. It is something I will remember for ever. I couldnt ask for a better 40th birthday. Then afterwards most of went to the Hitlon to gamble. I went off with a few others to play in the poker tournament. I got knocked out shortly after the first break. Paul and Leslie who were also playing with me made it to the final table. Not bad considering the tournament had 53 players. Also a few of the ladies hit it very big on the slots. The amounts were $700, $800, and $1600. Jennifer and I didnt get home until 7 am. I cant believe we stayed out the whole night. All in all it was great night!

It was a great day!

Today was a great day! On January 19th 1967 Beverly L Wishnick gave birth to me. Her oldest son Michael. If you do the calculations that makes me the big 40 today. I really can't believe that I am 40. Jennifer and the girls made the day very special. Jenn and Jess picked out a special cake and I blew out the candles. It was real nice just to take it easy today and be with family.

Tommorrow I am heading down to Atlantic City. We have reservations at the Knife and Fork INN next to the Hilton Casino at 7pm. I never been to the place, but I heard it was very nice. There is 17 family and friends coming to dinner. It should be fun. Then afterwards it is over to the Hilton to play some poker.

Last I want to say a big thank you to the tremendous amount of emails I received after I was laid off from Dow Jones. The support that all of you gave me was overwhelming and very touching. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. Thank you to everyone who made a very difficult situation a whole lot better. As I said in my previous post --- The time I spent at Factiva was a wonderful experience. I learned so much from all the amazing people in the Company. I will always look back at my time with Factiva with very fond memories. Life is way to short to be angry or bitter. It is such a waste of energy. When I look into both my daughters eyes you really start to understand what is important in life. Careers or jobs will come and go, but your loved ones will get you through the most difficult times.

So wish me luck tomorrow at the Poker Tables. If you area in the please stop on bye.

Sad Day

Today I finally was voted off the Factiva/Dow Jones Island. You may recall in a few posts down below I briefly discussed that Dow Jones bought our Reuters half in Factiva. I also mentioned how excited I was to be 100% part of the Dow Jones Family. Well it turns out they were not as excited as I was. Today I was let go with about 60 - 100 other people. I can't say I was shocked. In every re org people are made redundant. And as good friend reminded me today that my position was made redundant not me. Also I have been through this many times with Factiva. I have learned all the signs. In the past I would know who unfortunately was being released and when. I was the one that would help pack up the desk and take back the PC equipment and anything else. I started to realize last week that this time around my chances were not good. The answers I was receiving to my questions about my role in the lay offs were extremely vague. I have become very good at knowing when people are trying to cover things up.
So I do leave with plenty of sadness. I loved my job. I love Factiva. Most important I love the people I worked with. I am so much a better person for working with the passionate talented people that surrounded me. Eight years ago I accepted the job at Factiva because the Technical Support Department was in ruins. They had a mass exodus in the department and 10 employees left for other jobs. I took the position because their was no place to go but up. I hired 10 new employees in two weeks time and had the department trained and ready to go live 4 weeks later.
Now I close one chapter and begin another. I am not sure what the future will hold, but I do know that the eight years I spent at Factiva was a wonderful experience and as I said above I am much better person because of it.

What Superhero are you?

I took this Superhero quiz. I was hoping to be Superman or Spiderman. Give it a try and see what Superhero you are? The world needs more heros!

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern 85% Superman 85% Spider-Man 65% The Flash 65% Supergirl 65% Wonder Woman 60% Catwoman 55% Robin 50% Iron Man 50% Batman 40% Hulk 20%

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Baby

I know this is childish humor, but since I have a baby the same age I find this hysterical.

My PB Wiki

I created my first Wiki at a site called Peanut Butter Wiki or PB Wiki.com.

A Wiki is public page that anyone can edit. As the Wiki says it is as easy to make as a peanut butter sandwich. It is very quick to do with some already made templates to use. The reason I did this is my 40th Birthday is approaching in January and I often get asked what would you like for a gift? To be honest I have everything that I ever wanted besides a few more dollars in my wallet. I have a wonderful family and great friends! So I used one of the Templates that Wiki offers and created a Birthday wish list Wiki. What I like about the page is it is open to the public. You can view the list, modify the page, and make comments.

Check out my Birthday wish list Wiki when you have a moment. It will contain any items that I can think of. Also feel free to make comments. It is always good to know that I am still loved!

my first tournament

I went to the TAJ Casino in Atlantic City last night to play in the midnight tournament. It was my first big tournament at a casino. The buy in was $50.00 - $38+12. They had a great turn out of 150 players. I am sorry to report I dont have good news. I was just happy I wasnt the first one to bust out of my table. These players were very good. You can tell they make a living from this. I was impressed with the tournament. It was run very professional for having 150 players. The tables and the seating is random when you register. I usually go to the Borgata to play. It is much nicer. The Poker room is very bright and clean. The TAJ needs plenty of work. It looks like a poker room that has been around for 20 years. I only went to the TAJ as it is hard to find a buy in for as low as $50 bucks.

Good news for my friend Jan who runs the site http://pokertourneyschedules.com/. They had signs and pamphlets all of over the TAJ Poker Room that said to check out the latest poker schedule go to http://pokertourneyschedules.com/. If you haven't done so already go check it out. It is a great site for Poker schedules at many of the Casinos across the country.

And yes Jann I wore my pokertourneyschedules tee shirt last night.

PC Tune Up

I read a great article on the Yahoo Technology Web site from Robin Raskin. Robin writes about the10 important things you should do to keep your PC updated and running at full speed. You can read the complete article here - A PC Tune-up. Here are the top 10 items from the article:

Step One: Install Windows Service Pack for protection against spam, viruses, and intruders.

Step Two: Set them up with Windows Automatic Updates: To do this, open My Computer and select System Properties. Click on the Automatic Update tab and select Automatic Updates.

Step Three: Verify that Windows firewall is on by clicking on the Control Panel, then Security Center and Firewall.

Step Four: Scan for disk errors. To do this, open My Computer and select the drive to be checked. On the File menu, click Properties. On the Tools tab, under Error-checking, click Check Now. Under Check disk options, select Scan.

Step Five: You can also run defrag (though it's not as critical), which puts files that have been chopped up into discontinuous locations on the hard disk back together into a single contiguous file. This will increase performance and reliability. You can find the Disk Defragmenter by clicking the Start button, then All Programs, selecting Accessories, then System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.

Step 6: Uninstall unused applications by clicking on the Control Panel and selecting Add or Remove Programs. A list of programs and how often they've been used will pop up. Remove the ones they'll never use.

Step 7: Add anti-spyware utilities, such as Microsoft's Windows Defender (available as a free download until December 31).

Step 8: Add an overall Internet security package that includes virus and anti-spam protection such as AVG Anti-virus, which is free, or Norton Internet Security ($69). If they already use a program, make sure that the updates are current.

Step 9: Upgrade Internet Explorer to Version 7.0. This is controversial advice because some of you prefer Mozilla, but I would not put it on my parents' machine because it's still not the standard and they won't understand how to toggle between browsers.

Step 10: Create desktop icons for their most-often-used programs. Right-click the desktop (that's the opening Windows screen before you run any applications), select New, and then click Shortcut. Enter the location of the program. To add, click Browse to look for the file name and then click Next. Type the name that you want to appear under the icon, and then click Finish.

Great Eagles Win

I ususally don't blog about sports. America Football is different then European Football. However today the Eagles had an amazing win. They were huge under dogs going up the New Jersey Turnpike to play the Giants. They hung in the whole game and managed to pull out to win. Jeff Garcia is playing great! I hope they can keep it up. It makes the NFL more exciting when the team you root for is in playoff contention.

Resuts from the game - Eagles Win!

The deal is done

It is now official. Reuters has sold its stake of Factiva to Dow Jones. Factiva is now 100% A Dow Jones Company. I am very excited to be fully integrated into the Dow Jones Family. 2007 will be an exciting year! You can read more about the purchase here - Dow Jones takes over Factiva.

Thanks Jason!

Thanks Jason for the offer! My friend Jason who I work with at Factiva was very high on the waiting list at Sony to receive the Sony PlayStation 3. Jason is very smart man. When he received the PS3 in the mail he took his brand new unopened PS3 and placed it on ebay for the highest bidder.

If you are interested here it is to view. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160057854736&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:US:11

You can get it right now for the low low price of $1600.00

Tale of the tape

CNET has written an article that gives a round by round comparison to Microsoft IE 7 v. Mozilla Firefox 2. If you click through my archive you will see my views already on the two browsers. I am huge FireFox fan for reasons that range from security to simplicity of use. Now you can read what CNET says about the two browsers. The article is here CNET Browser Review.

Changes

I made some changes to the blog. First and most obvious is the Template. Second is I changed the about me section. Factiva is now owned by Dow Jones. It is no longer a joint venture between Dow Jones and Reuters. It will be official on Jan 1st. You can read more about by doing an internet search. Here is one of many articles --- Click Here

Also with this new template the Wishnick Family Photos are not appearing. I will look at that later.

Walmart group

I am not sure if this changes where you shop this holiday season? This is a blog about an organization against Walmart. The site is called Wakeup Wal-Mart. I think it is interesting what they stand for. I admire how they are looking out for the worker so Walmart does not take advantage of them. I do admit they have an uphill battle. Read the blog and decide for yourself.

http://pokertourneyschedules.com

Most of you who read my blog share my love for Technology, Sports, and of course Gambling. I want to share with you a great site I found out about last week. I went to the Hilton in Atlantic City to play a $2 $4 table and they were giving out pamphlets about the Tournament Schedule. On the pamphelet was the site http://pokertourneyschedules.com/. When I went home that evening I checked out the site. I was very pleased to see that they have update poker tournament schedules daily for my favorite Casinos in Atlantic City. The site included schedules for the Tropicana, Hilton, and my favorite the Borgata. Also the site has a great blog on it about playing at different Casinos across the country.

Let me know what you think of the site.

Free Security and Spyware software

It has been a while since I have updated my blog. I know you have all been waiting with anticipation for the next post. Life has been very hectic lately. Work has been busy and my wife and I recently spent some time in Vegas for our 10th wedding anniversary. More to come about the time we spent in Vegas in another post.

In today's scary world security for your PC is vital! With out the right software protection you are open to a numerous amount of problems. They could range from a simple virus to losing all your data. So remember no glove no love. No wait that is advice given for another topic. So you say you want protection, but don't have the money to spend. Well CNET has put together a great page on the best FREE security and spyware software available. I encourage all of you to check it out! Even if you are confident that your PC is protected better then a teenage boy with a condom stuck in his wallet. I confused topics again. My desktop is using the Zone Alarm package with Firewall, virus, and spyware installed. It is rated one of the best security software applications to use and even with ZA installed I will still use one of the free spyware software applications mentioned for due dilligance.

Please check it out and give one these security applications a try. You will never regret it.

Click Here - Free Security and Spyware software

best

Mike

Topix.net

I like to read my local news on the web. The day of getting the Newspaper delivered to my house is over for me. News is free I am not paying for it. One of the web sites I like to use for my local news is Topix.net. I have found the web page easy to navigate. All you have to do is type in the zip code of where you live and the local news appears. What I like about Topix
is the page has global news, forums, blogs, entertainment, sports, - I think you get the idea. In my opinion it is better then Yahoo local news or any Newspaper online like NYTimes or LATimes.
Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Mike

Phillies drive pointing North

I have decided to start rooting for the Yankees. This is not to say that I am still not a Phillies fan. In fact I am very excited about watching all the youngsters play that the Phillies called up. The fact is the Phil's are 14 games out of first place from the Muts. So unless a minor miracle happens the Phillies are not making the playoffs. My thinking is why not root for the Yanks? You can rename the Team Phillies North after recently acquiring Bobby Abreu, Cory Lidle, Sal Fasano, and of course the 3rd base coach for the Yankees Larry Bowa.

So as Bobby Abreu would say go Jankees!

Automatic Delivery of Internet Explorer 7

The new version of Internet Explorer 7 will be installed as an automatic upgrade using Windows Update after the browser moves from Beta to Production. I haved tested IE7 and thought the browser was very clunky to use. It was not fairly intitutive to add RSS feeds. Also something as simple as adding your favorites took way to many clicks for me. So knowing that many web sites are not working correctly in IE 7 you have to wonder why is Microsoft making this an automatic update? To read more about Microsofts spin on this click on the link below to read about it on Microsoft Technet.

Read more at www.microsoft.com/techn...

My Favorite Extensions

As I have mentioned in the past I am big fan of using Mozilla Firefox to search the Internet. It is much better the Micosoft Internet Explorer. Why you ask? Here are a few of many reasons.

• The browser takes up half size of disk space and memory to run the Explorer and is twice as fast.
• It is less of a security threat then Explorer by hackers.
• The benefits is a tremondous amount of add-ons available because the browser is open source.

The add ons in FireFox are called extensions. I use a few extensions that are amazing. This includes writing to my blog from any web site, RSS Ticker that scrolls headlines across my screen, and a tool that will quickly create a hyper link from any word highlighted. I am not the only one who is a fan of extensions. Above is a screenshot of PC Magazines favorite extensions for Firefox.

V Foundation for Cancer Research

This Sunday the ESPY awards are on ESPN. It is an annual event where voters get to vote for their favorite althlete. Every year the ESPY is on I think back to 1993 and the fabulous speech given by Jim Valvano. The speech he gave was given two months before his death. It was amazing talk about familyand courage. You can read the transcripts of the speech by click the URL below. Please read it and send it to others.

Read more at jimmyv.org/rememberingj...

Mike and Jess video

This is a test video of Jessica and me. I used my webcam. Their was not much lighting in the room so the quality is poor. I am sure this is much better with a digital camera or camcorder. Let me know what everyone thinks? Isn't Jessica a ham!

Mike Wish

Was the Wicked Witch really Wicked?

Until Thursday I thought so. I went to see Wicked the Musical. I went to the show knowing very little about the music and the story. The only thing I knew is that the story took place before the little girl from Kansas landed her house in Oz. The first and remaining thought that has been stuck in my head since I saw the show is that their is always more then one way to look at almost anything. Seems cliche I know, but the show really explains the motives behind the actions of the Wicked Witch of the West. I don't want to give to much away for those of you who have not read the book or seen the show. If you do won't to learn more I recommend these sites. The official site at http://www.wickedthemusical.com/ and also the Wiki on Wicked found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_(musical).

I have been on vacation this week and didn't do much. The plan was small family adventures as money is tight. Jessica and I went crabbing a few times at the shore. She really loves it. The second time we went we caught 18 crabs. They were nice size crabs around 5-6 inches long. Also thanks to my buddy Frank we got invited to the party deck at the LakeWood Blueclaws. The BlueClaws are the single A minor league team of the Philadelphia Phillies. If you have not been to a minor league game it is plenty fun. General admisson tickets are around $5.00 and always a good seat in the house.

We also went to Great Adventure. I am not a big fan of GA. It is over crowded and the people can be interesting at times. They do have a great selection of kids rides. So I guess I shouldn't complain since Jess loves it and GA is only 10 minutes away.

I have great news about Rachel. She has officially began walking! I call it the Frankenstein walk. She holds her hands out in front as she walks. I can't believe how time just goes by. It seems like just recently she was born. Well I am off from work until Tuesday then back on Wednesday. Vacations are always way to short.

Mike Wish