slamboard

Reading about the typical Drug Rehab Malibu based facilities provide sometimes makes me feel jealous of the drug addicts. Chefs, massage therapists and other professionals seem to be there to treat the patients to the good life. When I undertook the task of reviewing Cliffside Malibu, I decided to do some research and find something unique and interesting about the place.

What I found were horses. I read in a medical RSS feed that equine therapy can be very beneficial because a recovering addict can experience a cooperative relarionship with another being that is not judgmental. Family members, friends and health care professionals are all aware to some degree of a patient’s history. Attempts at dialogue are always affected by real and perceived negative emotions. A horse can be an effective facilitator.

Many of the testimonials on CliffsideMalibu.com mention the equine program with great fondness. It is an interest that can easily be continued after Rehab. From what have experienced with addicts that I have been close to in my life, you pretty much have to get a new group of aquaintances after your initial recovery. You also have to find new things to take up your spare time. I recommend blogging.

I think Britney Spears should go into seclusion somewhere and do nothing but blog and spend quality time with her family. I think her failure is in large part due to an addiction to the social constructs that she buys into.

I am yet again using a catchy title that may or may not fit my post. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act came to my attention in relation to the recent unlocking of an iPhone for the purposes of using with a T Mobile account. According to general consensus, this act is LEGAL.

What is unclear is whether it will be legal for commercial enterprises to sell unlocked iPhones or software that allows users to unlock the devices themselves.

I am not familiar with the details of the iPhone user agreement and any warranty that might come with an iPhone. One thing Apple could do to reduce the incidence of hacking is to make a press release illustrating what possible adverse effects it might have. I wonder if it would be legal for Apple to unhack the phones when they are brought in for battery replacement? They could call it a repair.

Vontoo has what amounts to a Do-it-Yourself Technology of Voice Message Broadcasting. With Vontoo you can create a voice message and then send it to the people that you want to reach in this way. There is even a means of tracking.

Vontoo voice messaging works without any requirement for adding software or hardware to your system. I can see how this product could be used very effectively as a marketing tool. I have a business relationship with a marketer who, at some point, recognized that his voice was the medium that really let his get across to his customers.

I am glad to see that a main feature of Vontoo is ‘OPT IN’. When your customers have given you expressed permission to market to them, they are infinitely more likely to listen.

I also thought it was pretty cool that professional sports teams are marketing themselves in this way with Vontoo. The Boston Celtics had a voice message campaign designed to increase Season Ticket Renewals. It was effective and I bet the customers got a kick out of it too.

I read somewhere recently that there are over 100 major brands of bottled water on the market.

Many of these products are just tap water that has been filtered. The two major soft drink companies both sell purified water that uses public supplies as their source. This marketing confounds me a bit, but I am more upset by the premium waters that have sources like Fiji. How does it make sense to put water in bottles and then expend a whole bunch of energy in the form of diesel to bring it half way around the World to sell it to someone who is already paying taxes that go towards piping a similar product into their home?

Momentum is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. They specialize in outsourcing. Just last week they signed a five year contract with Mazda Canada.

The structure of the company consists of three main areas of expertise that can be brought together to provide a comprehensive internet outsourcing service to businesses. From web hosting to application development, they can do it all for you (but they can’t say that, someone else owns that slogan).

I read the specs on their hosting facility and it is pretty impressive. We have a hodge-podge of hosts handling some of our various older projects and it can be very frustrating when they let you down. In recent years, individuals and small businesses have alternately enjoyed all the competitive pricing and suffered from practically non-existant customer service in the web hosting jungle. Stepping up to this level of hosting might feel like walking out of the jungle into civilization.

We went to the beach today after our regular workday. It was a crowded beach. I had driven past a 1/4 mile of parked cars along the road hoping that I would snag a spot as someone was leaving. This strategy has often paid off after 6, but today I ended up paying for a parking space in the field of an enterprising farmer.

This must be a good metaphor for some aspect of marketing. Rather than figure out what kind of metaphor to force out of this, I went swimming in the sea. There were lots of fish.

Just to let readers know how old I am, I can remember when they still sold vinyl records in franchised music stores.

When I was a kid, I had an eclectic collection of vinyl that an aunt had left at our house. I used to listen to the records, but then the old player quit working. That was right about the time that vinyl was completely out of fashion for the average consumer. At the same time, Hip Hop was being born and along with it turntable scratching and associated techniques. I had the misfortune of being in the market for a turntable when they had ceased to become a consumer commodity and transistioned into a specialty item for professionals.

Long story short, I couldn’t afford to get a good turntable in the 80’s.

Imagine my surprise to see that Electra Warehouse has a turntable on their front page that is going for less than a hundred bucks. This eStore carries items that are designed for professional DJ’s but the discounts are designed to move the gear out to all the wannabe’s as well.

The store also has impressive deals on car audio components.

My brain hurts from trying to think about the implications of a battery that uses plant sugars as its energy source. The announcement as reported by Reuters has no information as to when these might actually be available to the public.

The only prediction that I can make with confidence is that complimentary sugar packets at restaurants and cafes will disappear when these batteries hit the streets. The low amount of electricity produced is suitable for operating things like iPods. I think the recent break-throughs with solar panels will make this sugar battery kind of pointless.

I really like Pine Beds and the items featured at Wooden-Beds.com are a good example of the kind of beds that I like. Simple yet elegant design without any impractical elements. That is what I want in a bed.

I had been given a second hand futon once and, being the handy man that I am, I took it apart and used the lumber to make a computer desk. Futons are not among my favorite things. I like to be a good foot or two off of the ground when I am asleep. This Plank Bed is my favorite. The pine beds sold on Wooden-Beds.com have a lacquer and wax treatment that gives them a rustic look and practical durability.

I wonder if there are many more firsts to be had these days. I don’t even know for sure if the guy who had the popular video on YouTube where he took credit for all the instances of a user typing First in the comments section was the first person to make such a video.

I highly doubt that I am the first blogger to wonder if there are any firsts left. I had a really original idea today, but I talked myself out of it.