The Quarry

Trevor and I stopped by The Quarry (aka the CSX loading dock near Steelyard Commons) today to take an up-close look at the freight cars.

I took some random shots with my cell phone. This is the best of the bunch.


Here are a few more.

More from the satellite office

My job has its perks--I'm not gonna lie. Here's a shot I took on the final day of the Choice Hotels conference last week. To prove that I actually do work, here's my coverage from the event.

easter pictures

Trevor Freed #1

Full name: Trevor Quentin Freed
Birth Date: July 28, 2007
Birth Place: Cleveland, OH
Age: 2
Weight: 34 lbs.
Height: 3-1
Bats: Not sure
Throws: Not sure
Experience: Rookie

2010 Easter stats
Eggs collected: 23
Money collected: $1.17
Candy consumed: 1.82 lbs.
Avg. search time: 97 seconds

2011 Fantasy Egg Hunt projected draft ranking: 3rd overall

Click here for more pics of Trevor gathering eggs and what not.

eternal sunshine of the baseball mind

There's something genuinely beautiful about baseball.

Of course there are the obvious reasons: its history, its summer seasonality, its mental strategy, pennants, hot dogs, autographs, the stitched seams on your fingertips, the the smell of broken tanned leather and fresh cut grass.

And baseball fanaticism transcends all other sports. For 200 grueling days of the year, loyal baseball fans patiently await pitches, discuss strategies, pour over box scores, monitor minor leagues and live and die by percentage points.

For 17 long years the Pittsburgh Pirates have tormented fans. Optimism abounds in April, May is borderline fun, reality sets in around June and by July we're watching the family we grew to love say goodbye. August brews hatred and September embarrassment.

But the true beauty of baseball is that, by next April, every loyal fan of every team has washed away any feelings of pessimism and is again primed with potential.

There are few reasons to be excited about the 2010 Pirates. The team is too young to compete. After repeated management do-overs, the organization is still stuck in the early stages of rebuilding. "Inconsistent" only scratches the surface in describing the starting rotation. Fans know--as many times we are promised otherwise--come July any talent on the field will be dismantled and sent packing.

Still my excitement can't be denied. Certainly the goals have been lowered; playoffs are far out of the picture, a .500 season seems nearly unattainable. But the talented youth in Pittsburgh lends itself to a promising future. As I look down the batting order, I see young potential at nearly every spot. A string of singles can turn into a few extra base hits into a few wins into a little streak and all of a sudden the city of Pittsburgh is all abuzz.

Minor league movement in 2010 will make a major splash in Pittsburgh. By the end of the year we expect to see three incredibly talented prospects join the big league ranks, and how fast they hit the ground running could have a catalytic effect on the success of the team.

Pedro Alvarez, 3B, whom MLB.com ranked as baseball's eighth-best prospect heading into the season, is the premier piece in the prospect puzzle. Alvarez was drafted as the No. 2 pick overall in 2008. He agreed to a $6-million minor league contract minutes before the deadline. In June 2009, he was assigned to AA, where he performed extremely well, leading the Pirates organization in home runs and RBIs with 27 and 95 respectively. He batted .288 with an .917 OPS.

Jose Tabata, OF, was acquired in 2008 in a multi-player deal with the Yankees for Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte. Prior, he had led the Yankees farm system in batting average for three consecutive years, highlighted by a .314 average in 2005 while playing for the Gulf Coast Yankees. Sport Analysts compare him to the next Manny Ramirez at the plate.

Brad Lincoln, RHP, could be brought up sooner rather than later if the Pirates' rotation shows the holes expected. Scouts regarded Lincoln as one of the best players eligible for the 2006 draft and the Pirates chose him with the fourth overall selection. He almost immediately encountered injury problems; an oblique strain limited him to 24 innings in 2006 and he had Tommy John surgery on his right arm in April 2007. He ended last season in AAA, going 6-2 with a 4.70 ERA, walking 10 and striking out 42.

state of the lodging industry

Here's a presentation I put together for an industry event called HOTEC Operations, which is partially owned by my parent company, Questex Media. The event was held at the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas. They asked me to present a "State of the Industry."

It was 20 minutes in length and about 100 hoteliers and vendors were in attendance.

Stubs: A Digital Scrapbook

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I'm really excited about this project. For a number of reasons.

Last week Melissa surprised me with a scrapbook to house all the concert stubs I've saved throughout the years. It was a thoughtful gift; live music has always been one of my great passions and the old stubs represent, to me, treasured memories shared with great friends.

The hard copy book sparked an idea: how can i get this music memory book online to share with the same friends who attended these shows with me? I wasted little time scanning, cropping, designing and researching.

Building the book was a blast. I had forgotten plenty of details from many of the shows (shocking) and in several cases I had to find the show on the Web to see who the opening act was. Not only did I realize how many good bands I've seen live, but memories from the shows proved to be a narration of my life journeys over the past 15 years.

An equally important discovery during this project was the free digital publishing platform Issuu. I hadn't used the site/application before, and I truly think it could play a part in revolutionizing the magazine and newspaper industries. Nearly every published media has a digital edition, but Issuu provides the least complicated, least cluttered, most seamless application I've seen. Best part--it's free. All you do is take PDF versions of the pages you've built, combine them into one document and hit "upload." The rest of the work is done for you.

From there, you can embed the book into any website just like you would upload a YouTube video. Viewers can flip through the pages without downloading any files or viewers; and one click enlarges the book to full screen. Once you publish more than one title, you can embed an electronic bookshelf onto your site that houses a number of books. Readers can browse the titles and pick the books they want to read from your shelf. No more downloading PDFs or PowerPoint presentations--no more paying for services like NxtBook--all the information can be presented on clean, intuitive, free digital pages.

Take a moment to browse my first digital book, "Stubs," at full screen and let me know if you are as stoked about the new medium for digital presentation as I am ... or if you and I were at any of the same shows!

Ben Harper essential mix

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Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals had been my favorite band for about 10 years; I've seen them live nine times. The first time I saw them in 2001 changed my life. I happened to catch the debut of Relentless 7 (Ben's new band) in Youngstown during the Get Out and Vote tour. Relentless 7's debut album didn't wow me at first, but it grew on me.

Now I'm trying to introduce Ben's music to a friend who doesn't know much about either band. I've put together what I call Ben's "essential mix," or a greatest hits, if you will. I leaned more toward the rock and less toward the folk because that's the mood I'm in. Also I stuck with studio recordings and stayed away from live tracks. I combined work from the Innocent Criminals and Relentless 7; it took nearly a week to whittle the length down to one CD.

For the Ben fans, what do you think? What tracks did I leave out that you would've included? What album is under-represented? How would you have ordered the tracks? I look forward to your feedback below.

1. The Three of Us
2. Oppression
3. Ground on Down
4. Faded
5. Keep it Together
6. Forgiven
7. Shimmer and Shine
8. Black Rain
9. Number with No Name
10. Please Bleed
11. Brown-Eyed Blues
12. With My Own Two Hands
13. Better Way
14. When it's Good
15. Show Me a Little Shame
16. Lay There and Hate Me
17. The Woman in You
18. Paris Sunrise #7
19. Lifeline