2008 was a big year for innovation. New sites were launched. New products came to market. And, I stumbled upon several things that I should have been on top of from the beginning. See, there are lot’s of things that I’ve overlooked…I’m not on top of everything. It was really hard to limit this list to 10, but here we go.
- AllTop – Guy Kawasaki was brilliant for concepting this idea. Alltop aggregates all the top stories/pieces of content from the best websites…so you don’t have to. Talk about a time saver. The site covers topics from fishing to poker.
- Hulu – Great video content served up in HD. Lot’s of solid older (aka canceled) shows. They let you be in charge of what type of advertising you see. The only thing they don’t let you do is download the video.
- MadMen – How did I miss the boat on this one? I ignored the show when it launched. Didn’t pick up on it, after the first season. But, then I decided to tune in 1 night and after the first episode I saw, I said to myself, “why wasn’t I watching this earlier?”
- Red Bull Cola – Passed on trying it in Vegas. Then went on a mission to find it. Finally I found a can. Drank it…and was blown away. It’s a GREAT drink.
- Internet Activity Index – I pride myself on being on top of a lot of different online measurement tools. How it is I never knew about the Internet Activity Index is beyond me. The index measures what people do online and segments the behaviors across 5 categories.
- Twitterific & Twitterfon – Both are iPhone application that let you interact with Twitter. I’ve found that I need them both. They both rock.
- WordPress – for years, my site was built in Flash. It was sexy, but it was a pain to update. Someone recommended I try WordPress and I’ve never looked back. From the plugins to the themes, the community does a great job of making WordPress fantastic.
- What If Sports – This site let’s you simulate games between sports teams from different eras. Want to see how the 2007 Celtics would do against the 1992 Jordan lead Chicago Bulls? This site will let you do it. This site has helped me end so many sports arguments quickly and painlessly.
- Twitter Grader It’s not perfect, but it’s the best tool out there for measuring how good of a tweeter someone is. Twitter Grader is addictive too. I find myself checking my score weekly. It’s another great tool from the folks at HubSpot.
- Amazon MP3 Store: Should have gotten on this wagon/bus/train a while back. When you consider my hatred for DRM music, it just makes sense. Since discovering Amazon MP3, I’ve stopped buying music from iTunes. In fact, I’ve refused to purchase music from iTunes until it becomes DRM free.
What did you discover this year that rocked your world?
I spent way too much this year. I’ve bought some great things, and some less than smart things. As I looked back on my contribution to the economy and came up with the best purchases I made in 2008.
- BMW 328i – Really, do I need to say anymore? I traded in my 2002 BMW 530i for the 328i. It’s amazing similar in size they are. The new 3 series platform is so much larger than the previous platform generation. Given that I use the car, nearly every day, I’d say the ROI is fantastic.
- Tickle Me Elmo Live – Perhaps the best $60.00 I’ve ever spent. Cora loves the new Elmo. I’m amazed with how smart they’ve made these toys. It has a sensor in the doll that indicates when Elmo has fallen over. The sensor triggers Elmo to ask you to please stand him up. Are you kidding me?
- iPhone 3G – This is a funny purchase given I don’t actually own the 3G. My wife does. The reason this purchase made the list, is because looking at her iPhone 3G makes me feel really good about NOT upgrading. There just isn’t anything in the 3G that I wish the first generation had. Seriously. The 3G speeds aren’t legit and all the problems people have had with the 3G just reinforce my decision not to upgrade.
- Apple Macbook Pro 15″ – I’m typing this post on the Macbook Pro right now. It’s been reliable as hell. The battery life rocks. The screen is bright. And…I can run Vista on it.
- Apple TV – The Apple TV has changed the way I think about music and photos. Being able to sync all my music and photos and watch them on a 50 inch TV is just amazing. I wish my car had an Apple TV like device. It would make my life so much easier. Imagine driving into your garage and having the car sync automatically with the files in your house.
- Yard Machines 8HP – First time owner of a snow thrower. It’s worth it’s weight in gold. Why I never had one in the past is beyond. Talk about being stubborn and thinking shoveling was manly.
- Nike Hatphones – Why Nike discontinued this item is beyond me. It’s amazing. The Hatphones are a warm Nike Thermafit hat that has headphones embedded into the hat. This let’s you keep your ears warm and listen to music at the same time.
- Nike Lunar Trainer Shoes – Without a doubt the best running shoes I’ve ever owned. Light, durable, stylish, and they work with Nike+.
- Tivo HD – After having a Comcast DVR for about 3 months, we realized how much we missed Tivo. A quick trip to Circuit City took care of that longing. The Tivo interface is still the gold standard for DVRs.
- Nikon D700 – It’s Nikon. It’s digital. It’s full frame. It’s an SLR. It’s basically perfect. Image quality is amazing. I thought my D2Hs was great, but the D700 takes things to another level.
What did you buy this year that was worthwhile?
Written on
December 20, 2008 by
Adam in
Cora
We took Cora to see Santa today and it didn’t exactly work out as planned. She kinda got a little bit freaked out by Santa. I can’t really blame her. The concept of stting on a fat old guy’s lap is a bit scary for me too. The day wasn’t a total loss though. As we were leaving Macy’s we noticed a display that was setup for kids to write and send out their letters to Santa. There was no way were going to pass up this opportunity.
Starting next Monday, I’ll be releasing a new top 10 list every day through the 31st, covering a range of topics. Just to give you an idea of what I’ll be covering, here’s a 1/2 the list of topics:
- My top 10 favorite blogs
- My top 10 predictions for 2009
- My top 10 favorite people to follow on twitter
- My top 10 movies watched in 2008
- My top 10 favorite commercials
Check back on Monday for the first list.
New York City is flat out the best city in the world. The culture, the people, the food; New York has it all. This is Cora’s third trip to the Big Apple, but this is the first time that she was old enough to really enjoy the city.
First stop on the visit into the city was Nathan's Famous in Coney Island. This is the site of the annual hotdog eating contest and has been a New York City fixture for seemingly forever. Cora ate her first "real" hotdog here.
From Nathan's we headed over to Scotto's bakery. Cora can be seen here eating her first tri-color or rainbow cookied. These are insanely hard to find outside of New York City. Minnesota doesn't have them, Nebraska didn't, and only 1 place in Chicago did. They are amazing and Cora agreed.
Cora sat on the stoop at 324 East 7th Street. Adam, his cousins, his mom, his aunts, his uncles, and many more have taken a seat on the stoop outside his grandfather's house. Cora is keeping the tradition alive.
This one could be the best picture from the trip. Cora is striking her presidential pose as she looks off into the distance. Behind her, Adam's grandfather can be seen looking on and approving of the scene.
What would a set of photos be without a photo of Cora running away. Cora played on East 7th Street for about 45 minutes. She ran up and down the block. At this point, it was time to go inside, but Cora wasn't quite finished playing.
On day 3 we arrived at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Adam has been to the museum several times, but this was Cheryl’s and Cora’s first visit. We covered the museum inside and out and top to bottom. We saw Schilling’s bloody sock, all 7 of the balls from Nolan Ryan’s no-hitters, and so much more.
The exterior of the museum.
These are the plaques from the first 5 Hall of Fame inductees: Babe Ruth, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb, and Honus Wagner.
This was a letter from Roosevelt to Kenesaw Landis (commisioner of baseball) encouraging Major League Baseball to keep playing even though the war was going on. As Roosevelt stated, "these players are a definite recreational asset to at least 20,000,000 of their fellow citizens -- and that in my judgement is thoroughly worthwhile."
Cora and Cheryl posed in this cut-out. Maybe one day, she'll be a pro.Perhaps Cora's favorite part of the museum was this chair and this room. She had to be practically dragged away. I swear if I could find a baseball glove chair I'd buy it.
Outside of the museum is an exhbit that features a bronze statue of Johnny Podres throwing to a bronze statue of Roy Campanella. Cora was in love with Roy's glove. Perhaps this means she'll become a catcher.
On day two of the road trip we left the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and headed northeast to Niagra Falls. The journey was only about 3 hours and it was completely worth it.
Adam got a chance to hold Cora near the railing that protects people from falling into the river that becomes the falls.
We let Cora sit all by herself on a podium that was attached to the railing that stops people from falling into the river. Yes, we are totally unfit parents. Cora loved the freedom and we love the photo.
After paying the fare to enter the observation area we took several shots of the falls. This is one of my favorites. Cora really wanted to get through the railing.This is a photo of the river and the bridge that connects the U.S. side of Niagra Falls with the Canadian side. Though the view is better we didn't cross over into Canada.
Yes, we paid the insane amount of money to take the Maid of the Mist boat ride. We had a blast. The video footage of Cora getting soaked by the falls was worh the price.
We decided to take a road trip from Minneapolis to New York with the intention of seeing Adam’s family. Along the way we made time stops at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Niagra Falls, and the Baseball Hall of Fame.
These photos are from our first stop, after 12 hours of driving through the night, in Cleveland, Ohio.
This is where we ate breakfast. We found this place called Yours Truly that was right in the middle of a farmer's market.
Just before the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a park that has the world's largest rubber stamp.
To give you a sense of perspective I shot this photo. Cora is in the lower right hand corner of the frame. This stamp is huge.
Cheryl shot this photo of Cora and Adam waiting for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to open. We got there kinda early.
This is the stage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It's one of the last things you see before you have to check your camera.
We would have shown you more photos from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but as you can see we weren't allowed to use our camera. Bummer and totally lame.
Tags: 2008, Cheryl, Cleveland, Cora, D2Hs, Family, Hall of Fame, Nikon, Ohio, Rock and Roll, Vacation
Wow, what a difference a year makes. Last year we took Cora to the Minnesota State Fair. She was only 4 months at the time, but we strapped her into a BabyBjorn and pounded away at the pavement. We event made time to give Cora a little taste of a corn-dog.
Cora Eats a Corn Dog
We’ll this year, Cora was really able to enjoy the fair. She really ran us ragged. Clearly, I need to be upping my daily mileage so I can keep up. She was hesitant at first, to touch the animals. But, once she realized they wouldn’t bite back, Cora had no problem petting them.
Cora Pets The Animals
Her first real taste of fair food came in the form of a fried cheese curd.
Cora Eats a Cheese Curd
From there it was a corn-dog, then some mini-donuts, cookies from Sweet Martha’s, and lastly a blueberry snow-cone.
Cora Eats a Mini Donut
Cora Eats a Snow Cone
It wasn’t all junk food though. Cheryl made sure to give her a nice glass a milk.
Cora Drinks Some Milk
What a great time!
We took Cora to the Como Zoo and Conservatory today. We took her to the Omaha zoo several times, when she was an infant. But, this a whole new experience. She ran and ran and ran…the girl has got some serious stamina. While she enjoyed the animals, especially the monkeys, she really enjoyed climbing “things” and playing in the water. After checking out the zoo we explored the conservatory and finished the day with a carousel ride. Not too bad!
Como Zoo and Consevatory
Cora Checking Out Monkeys
Cora Climbed a Bench
Cora Inspecting Foliage
Cora Snacking
Cora Playing in the Koi Pond
Cora and Cheryl in the Japanese Garden
Japanese Garden
Cora Riding the Carousel
Interactive marketer, innovator, boat rocker, continuous learner, movie lover, risk taker, dad and all around good guy. I'm always up for a spirited conversation. These are my thoughts and ramblings, not those of my employer.
