Paul R Smith Dot Com

The Fate of the Barry Bonds Home Run Ball

In an almost Cinderella story, a New York (Met fan by the way) kid on a whim went to a baseball game and caught the baseball that broke Hank Aaron's record for all time home runs.  That ball sold on auction for roughly 750,000 dollars.  Sadly, this was almost the amount of money to cover his airline penalties for changing his flight plans in San Fransisco to catch a game where he found out the Mets weren't even playing. 

So, in comes Mark Echo - branding genius. He bought the ball for that amount.  The first thought in the public's mind was, "What a ridiculous waste of money for a baseball?!  Why, I can pick one up at Walmart for 4 bucks!"

Mark then creates a website called www.vote756.com.  Mark calls the voting  "democratizing" the ball.  He will let the fans decide.  Sounds cool. And it's just enough to get  him, his fashion brand, his website on every major media news outlet for the next few weeks. Brillant!

But here's a few questions that no one is asking:

"Is Barry Bonds a big fat liar liar pants on fire baseball player who is guilty guilty guilty!" (New and improved objectivity - the envy of all bloggers.)

Oh.  Okay, everyone is asking that question.  Well, not everyone.  From doing extensive search on the Internet, I've concluded:

1. I really need to post more entries.
2. Most people care about Football and are paying attention to this only long enough to cook their hot pockets before ESPN gets to the Football coverage.
3. 8 gig iPnone for 399! Hmmm....is paying the mortgage that important?
4. Baseball fans feel Barry Bonds is no more a cheater than Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, a healthy dose of pine tar, or recent Tour De France winners. 

So far no one has asked this question:  Will the tally of the vote on www.vote756.com really decide the baseball's fate?  Or has it already been decided by a marketing focus group paid for by the billions that Mark Echo already owns?  Face it, he's a marketing genius. Doesn't anyone find it odd that they have not posted the tally for the vote anywhere?

But fear not, the bottom of the website it says the voting will be verified by Promosis.  And marketing firms are known for their integrity.  I feel that integrity every time I get a piece of spam. 

Jade Gets An Upgrade

 
 

After I upgraded my laptop to a MacBook, Jade took a big interest.  So much so that she was starting to use it more than me.  So Bren and I picked up a Mac mini last night.  I set up the mac mini last night with the minimal of effort and in no time, she was playing Green Eggs and Ham.

Here is Jade in her favorite Apple store keeping other little kids away from the iMacs. 

Running 8 Miles During a Sunny Day Is Bad

  I needed a test photo to see if I could post to my blog from my phone.  It appears I can.  So this should make some interesting and quick updates when I need to.  I don't even need to be near my computer.