Author Archives: route53

Why you should Root for the Giants

27 Wednesday Oct 2010

Posted by in Route 53 - Life is A Highway, San Francisco - Leaving your heart

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“Is this Heaven?  No, it’s Iowa.” – Field of Dreams
Bill Neukom

Giants Managing Partner, Bill Neukom

Doc Brown

Doc Brown- Back to the Future

Many of my friends, knowing how big of a San Francisco Giants baseball fan I am have asked me what is going on with the Giants?  They hadn’t focused on this baseball team that today is waiting on the eve of the franchise’s first trip to the World Series since 2002.  It is only the team’s 4th trip to the Fall Classic since they moved to the West Coast.  They have yet to win their first World Series in San Francisco.  Ironically they are playing a team that is making it’s first trip ever to the World Series and facored to beat the Giants.
So who are these guys?  They really are the “Team of Misfit Boys”.  Everyone loves an underdog and there is nothing more lovable and underdog than this team.  They’ve taken San Francisco by storm because there is something for everyone.    People relate to this team on all levels.  75% of the starting lineup was not on the Opening day lineup.  These guys might wake up tomorrow and realize that they are in over their heads, but maybe it isn’t coincidence that their owner bears a striking resemblance to the crazy inventor from Back to the Future.  I guarantee you though.  The Flux Capacitor has nothing to do with this team’s success.
Affeldt

Game 6 Hero Jeremy Affeldt

San Francisco is a full of transients and this team truly represents that image:
  • a 10 year veteran first baseman who wears a red good luck thong making his first trip to the post-season,
  • the leftfielder – a former first pick in the amateur draft who was released and passed over by all of baseball before the team he rooted for as a kid picked him up,
  • a second baseman who limps around after being born with a club foot,
  • a right fielder the team picked up by accident, and grew up wanting to be a rodeo clown
  • a pitcher nicknamed the Freak because of his long hair and skinny small build that scared 9 teams to pass him up despite his dominating college career,
  • a rookie catcher who seems more mature than everyone on his team,
  • a centerfielder who spent 10 years in the minors before being diagnosed with ADD
  • a 3rd baseman who is overweight yet smooth as a cat that they call him Panda,
  • a shortstop playing with a torn tendon in his left arm, and
  • the dominating closer who took all the lessons watching his dad battle cancer over 5 years as a teenager and harnessed it into the most interesting character in baseball that is so full of life and has everyone in San Francisco sporting fake beard.
  • Oh and the team has relegated its 3 highest paid players to the bench

You can’t blame this city over its excitement over this team.  They represent the common man and act like us.  You’ll find them at night shopping at the local Safeway, getting coffee and donuts at the local donut shop before a game, or even eating dinner in some of the nice restaurants in the hotter spots in town.

October baseball is rare and the city is hungry for it.  Affectionately, Giants baseball is called torture (coined by Giants announcer Duane Kuiper) for the style of close games the team plays.  Giants fans live and die by the team’s success and failures.

What are Giants fans saying today?  Half of the diehards are saying to “Bring on the Torture”.  The other half are saying, ” Delicious”…..I can’t even explain this.  You just need to see the video from Giant’s reliever, Brian Wilson, to see what a nut he is:

So if you haven’t picked a side, vote for the underdog.  Vote for the little guy.  Vote for the crazy misfits who nobody believes will win (24 out of 30 ESPN experts are picking the Rangers).  Vote for the Beard, the Panda, Smiles, the Water Buffalo, Bweez and the Freak.  They’re playing for all of us underdogs.

Remember or Move On?

26 Tuesday Oct 2010

Posted by in Breast Cancer - A Loving Fight, Route 53 - Life is A Highway

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This Time's A Charm

It has been a while since I posted here.  It doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about what to post.  I’ve been thinking, but I’ve also been living.  Right after my last post, my friend Donald passed after losing his battle with cancer.  What do you say when the best fighter loses their fight?  I told him once I felt guilty that since my wife was feeling okay that I felt like maybe it was time to move on.  I respected people like him, Lance Armstrong and others who continue to raise awareness and also inspire others in such a public way.  He told me there is no guilt and no shame. 

I’ve always been taught not to forget your past.  Don’t forget where you’ve come from.  Remember the journey and all the people that helped you along the way.  The cancer that my wife had and all the people who helped us won’t be forgotten.  They are special people,  but when the memory is an unplesant one, it is nice to not have to think about it.  As it was my wife’s illness, I think I take her lead.  She is moving on and I can tell would rather not talk about it if she can.

The problem is the disease still won’t go away.  You can’t escape it.  As I mentioned, right after my last post Donald, Wilhelm died, then my wife’s good friend found out she has breast cancer and two more relatives admitted that they have it as well. 

So maybe we can’t move on.  You can live, but you have to live with those memories and help inspire others.  We don’t have to inspire others by helping them directly with their fight.  You can help by showing them how to keep moving, keep breathing, keep smiling. 

And as a message to Amy, the wife of Donald, you will find your way to move on.  Do not feel as though you need to prolong his message.  It will always be there……”don’t ever give up.”

2 Year Cancerversary

09 Thursday Sep 2010

Posted by in Breast Cancer - A Loving Fight, Route 53 - Life is A Highway

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Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy – bronze inscription above the tunnel entrance to Disneyland

The Happiest Place on Earth

The Happiest Place on Earth

Today my wife and I had a brief celebration.  We quickly acknowledged the mark of the 2nd anniversary of her cancer surgery.  We smiled, shared a kiss and went off to work and taking the kids to school.  When she was first diagnosed I would see posts about cancerversaries.  I asked what that meant.  Was it the date from diagnosis?  Then I was told it was the date from when you had your surgery.  For the most part, most people are looking forward to their 5th cancerversary.  It is when they are considered in full remission as there have been no sign of additional tumors.  In a way it seems like a 5 year purgatory.

Two years might not seem like a long time ago but it does feel that way.  We have somehow been able to mentally put cancer behind us as best we can.  There are the daily pills, the monthly shots, the side effects, etc., but it all seems to be like raising a baby.  You have some memories, but it seems so long ago and you have new challenges and some of the old memories get thrown out the door.  Those sleepless nights, the mental anguish the weeks and days leading up to the visit to the hospital, and all the help and visits from friends the days after seem distant and mostly it is in our minds.  That said, we are surrounded by reminders every day during our  journey back to normalcy of where we have been and how fortunate we are.

We just got back from a family trip to Disneyland, the Happiest Place on Earth.  In reality it isn’t always that way.  The crying babies, the tantrums, the frustration of negotiating large crowds and the L.A. traffic are just some of the smoggiest problems that Los Angeles and the Magic Kingdom have to offer.  In the end, it might not be the Happiest Place for All, but it is still magical.

My children noticed the large amounts of wheel chairs and ill children at Disneyland.  The Make a Wish Foundation seemed to have a large presence this past week.  Then it happened.  As we rode on the the Grizzly Rapids ride at the California Adventure Park, we struck a conversation with a dad and his 3 sons who were riding in the same raft. The dad confided in me that the family had lost their mom to breast cancer at the beginning of the summer.  This trip was a small way to distract his sons before the school year got started.  The Happiest Place on Earth was suddenly transformed into a place of hope and faith.  When I told them that my wife was a cancer survivor as well, he asked how long and did the quick math.  I realized there that it had only been two years since my wife’s original surgery which took place 9/9/08.

After the ride was over, my 8-year old daughter was in a giddy mood.  She laughed that both moms in both families were too scared to go on the ride (my wife chose to stay dry).  It was my 10 year old son who nudged his sister and told her to be quiet.  He had realized what was going on and was attempting to be considerate.  My daughter suddenly realized the weight of the situation and actually teared up a little as the other family walked away.    What really hit me wasn’t the heaviness of the encounter in such a beautiful setting but not only did my usually unaware children grasp the meaning, but their show of compassion for such a young age.

I tried to get a read from my kids later on in the day, but they seemed to move on.  They had a great time running around and laughing at Disneyland, and I didn’t want to interrupt them.  In their own way, they had moved on from cancer as well.  Cancer had affected them , but in a good way. Having witnessed their grandfather’s death and their own mother’s struggle with cancer in their young lives has only given them a greater apreciation for living life to the fullest and taught them to put the past behind them while recognizing how precious their own lives may be.

We have three more years of purgatory, but I think in our minds, cancer is almost already behind us.  We are learning to live with cancer with an enlightened point of view.  Well 2 years down and the rest of our lives to go!

Reflections and Listening to the Voices in Your Head

20 Tuesday Jul 2010

Posted by in Breast Cancer - A Loving Fight

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“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” ~ Winston Churchill

The other night I was driving home when my mother gave me a call.  She was lonely and wanted to have dinner.  This might sound trivial to some, but since my father passed,my mother has been a non-stop whirlwind of energy.  A breast cancer survivor, she has traveled the world (South Africa, Egypt, Germany, China (2x), Japan, India, Hungary, South America, Morocco, Russia, Yugoslavia, Kenya, Maldives, Seychelles, etc.).  We joke in my family that we need to put a tracer on my mother as you never know where she is and although I live within a mile of her home, getting her to find a date to babysit is not an easy task.  Playing Mah-Jong with her friends, seeing the latest movies, morning tai-chi, and such I have always afraid my mother never really stopped to mourn my father’s death.

When I picked her up she wasn’t her cheery self.  Her other two children were on vacation and my own family was on the East Coast visiting my in-laws.  We always hear about Fathers and sons, Fathers and daughters, and Mothers and daughters, but “Momma’s boys” has always had a bad connotation. I wouldn’t call myself a Momma’s boy.  We’ve always butted heads and being the eldest we graduated to a peer-to-peer relationship pretty quickly.  It was like having 3 adults in the house and my 2 younger siblings were the kids. 

Tonight was different.  My mom seemed lonely and tired.  She admitted that the cancer had given her the desire to do and see everything.  She admitted that she missed her family.  Most of all, she admitted that she was really missing my dad.  I realized that she just wanted to talk and I let her (by all means, not a normal interaction for me and my mom) She talked all through dinner about what she missed. I just listened and teared up.  Finally as we ate our fortune cookies, she apologized for talking all during dinner and asked me if I still missed my dad.

I had seen the above Nike commercial the day before.  It reminded me of my nightly running and how I process thoughts and ideas each night to clear my head.  According to the agency it is meant to reflect the community of survivors and people who follow Lance Armstong and encourage him on a daily basis through his trials and tribulations.  When I processed my mother’s question, I told her that amazingly, I think that while I will always miss my dad, that I am finished mourning him.  That said, I don’t think I ever have a run at night where some thought of my dad doesn’t enter and pass through my thoughts.

The question made me think about some of the thoughts rattling through my brain. I got to do so much with my dad, but there are so many things I didn’t do.  So my mom and I came up with a plan of 5 experiences I’d like to have with my children that my dad and I had done separately but never together:

1. Go to China & Tibet (visit Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall)

2. Hike to and visit Machu Picchu

3. Visit and play the Old Course at St. Andrews (walk across the Swilcan Bridge)

4. Spend a month in France and Italy driving the countrysides and eating great food. We’ll throw in a few museums and major cities along the way.

5. Watch a game from the bleachers at Wrigley Field and have a beer afterwards 

After coming up with the list, my mother was so excited.  The list combined some things that I wished I had done with my father and I learned from my mom about some things my dad had said he would have wanted to share with his children.  It was quite surprising to hear some of his thoughts that I had never heard before.  This is not a crazy list and there are many things on the list that are much more grand, but they are personal to me and personal to my dad.  My mom loved it and by the end she was so happy that she wants to come along!

I definitely need to listen to the voices in my head more often.

Hair Pulling Extension Tension Intervention – Real Housewives

13 Tuesday Jul 2010

Posted by in Business - Affiliate Marketing, Route 53 - Celebrity Sightings

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“She certainly didn’t look like she just pushed out a watermelon out of her chuckarella.” – Dina Manzo from Real Housewives of New Jersey

Time for another one of my D-List celebrity sightings.  If you happen to be a fan of Real Housewives of New Jersey, you will happen to see a tall good looking gentleman named Greg who is titled as a friend of Albie, the eldest son of Caroline Manzo.  You have seen him in the episode when Albie confronts his other friend who is dating his younger sister, Lauren.

Most recently, you would have seen him on Season 2  Episodes 9 and 10 sitting next to Theresa at the fashion show (famously now known as the hair extension pulling episode) and later walking Ashley, Jacqueline’s daughter.   Below is a picture of me with Greg, a business associate of mine in the affiliate marketing world.

Me and Greg from Real Housewives of New Jersey

Me and Greg from Real Housewives of New Jersey

Herbie & Friends

10 Saturday Jul 2010

Posted by in Photos with Herbie

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” In less enlightened times, the best way to impress a woman was to drive a hot car.  Women got wiser and got their own hot cars so they wouldn’t have to ride around with jerks.” – Scott Adams, cartoonist

Yes, my wife laughs about “my ride” just as my mother laughed at my dad and his beat up Volkswagens.  My daughter gets slightly embarrassed when I drop her off in school with Herbie, but they just get a kick out of people pointing and giving us the thumbs up with a big smile.  Truck drivers, policemen, little kids…you name it, we’ve seen it all!  Yes, really -ALL.  Seriously, if a car is a person’s identity, then my car is mine.  Life is fun, and you don’t need to have the fastest, sexiest or most expensive tastes to make others smile

This past weekend I was at the Marin County Fair and went out to the exhibitor parking lot ( a big pasture) to get my sweatshirt.  My car was out back by the horse trailers and as I leaned into my car, on the other side of the car and out the windows I saw a bunch of bare chested teenage cheerleader girls.  They had been changing out back behind my car!  As a father of a young girl, I quickly grabbed my sweatshirt, shut the door and walked away as the girls giggled and told me how they loved Herbie. Brother!  Couldn’t they have picked some huge SUV to change behind?

Anyway, I frequently get told by people that they saw me (my car) etc.  So I’ve decided to start posting photos of people with my car.  If you ever find Herbie parked around San Francisco, feel free to take a photo and share it with me.  I will post it here.  Here are a few to start it off.

My Daughter & Herbie

My Daughter & Herbie go camping

John & The Cowmobile

My Business Partner and our other vehicle, the Cowmobile!

County fair volunteers

County Fair Volunteers

  

I did it – Goal!!

10 Saturday Jul 2010

Posted by in Travels: The Route 53

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“Running is a lot like life.  Only 10 percent of it is exciting.  90 percent of it is slog and drudge.”
          – Dave Bedford, English distance runner who occasionally put in 200 miles a week in training

GOOOOOOAALLLLL. Nah, this isn’t World Cup Soccer. 

Many of you have been asking about my crazy night time running regimen.  Well, I finally reached my goal to lose the 30 pounds I gained since I got married 16 years ago.  I’ve always said this training and running I’ve been doing wasn’t about me.  It isn’t.  It is about my wife, my mother,my mother-in-law, my aunts and my cousins who have all had breast cancer.   I run for these women and donate each year to the Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center based upon the number of miles I run.  Well the weight loss and conditioning originally were just a side result of my runs, but when I found my cholesterol to be high, I turned it up a notch.  The picture below is the result.  The move from a 36 inch waist to 30 and the loss of 30 pounds and a well managed cholesterol level were my main targets.

No more Fat Pants

My recipe?

  • 20-30 miles of running a week
  • The ‘Lean Track” of P90X exercises twice a week
  • 8 classes of water a day
  • 1 cup of coffee a day
  • Oatmeal with coffee for breakfast 6 days a week
  • Removed all sodas from the house

Testing Affiliate Links and Personal Merchandising

27 Sunday Jun 2010

Posted by in Business - Affiliate Marketing

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This store brought to you by
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I’m going to keep this brief as I’m just testing some links, but as it relates to my theory of web based personal retail the above example “virtual gallery” by Art.com is the perfect example for discussion that I thought I’d share it here.

Art.com calls itself the best kept secret on the web.  In fact, it is the biggest brand you’ve never heard of.  Above is what they call their virtual store.  Any of their affiliates can place one of these “widgets” on their own website/blog as I am doing here.  Now that is half the battle.  There is no viralness to this widget.  I do love that someone like myself can display for you some art that they find interesting or that they’d like to share with you.  It allows me to broadcast what I like.

What do I not like about it you ask?  Art.com does not make it easy to share.  If someone wants to make a copy of this gallery or make one themself, how do they do that?  Art.com has created a great widget.  Now they have to turn on the marketing engines.  Art.com has developed the application on Facebook, but similary there is no viralness.  There should be an embed or share button somewhere.  There might be, but I couldn’t find one.

If you want to get one of these widgets, go to http://affiliates.art.com

Losing a San Francisco Icon

26 Saturday Jun 2010

Posted by in San Francisco - Leaving your heart

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“I arrived in San Francisco  with no job, a pregnant wife and less than $1,000 to my name.” – Walter Shorenstein, billionaire, San Franciscan and owner of the largest private real estate company in the US.

Clinton and Shorenstein

RIP Walter Shorenstein.  Herb Caen, famed Pulitzer winning columnist, used to be so mad at Walter Shorenstein for ruining the San Francisco skyline and views with the large buildings that he owned (the Bank of America building was his most famous) and built.  Now two of San Francisco’s largest fans can continue their conversation in heaven.  Herb will tell him not to build any buildings in the afterlife.  He’ll also tell him that it is cool, but not as nice as San Francisco.

I only met Mr. Shorenstein personally once.  He was a very quiet billionaire, but if you knew San Francisco and politics, you knew the name.   In fact it was hard to escape in San Francisco and New York where his name could be found on buildings (his daughter just won a Tony for the revival of August Wilson’s Fences).  San Francisco is a small town in many ways so it is hard not to run into people some time in our lives.

Like Herb Caen, I hated Walter Shorenstein too!  16 years ago I got married and came home to San Francisco from my “Big Italian New Jersey Wedding” on our way to Hawaii.  We were dropping off our bags and picking up our honeymoon bags and flying out the next morning.  The problem was that our car (with house keys in the glove compartment) had been towed from in front of my parent’s house.  This crazy rich guy had our whole street towed for his wife’s funeral which took place at San Francisco’s Temple Emanuel.  By the way, I live on a street where homes were built before people had cars so we all parked on the street back then on the street.  Needless to say I never carried my wife into our first home.   I spent my second night of marriage at the tow yard.  Ironically the World Cup was going on that year as well as I remember sitting in the tow office watching soccer.

Four years later I was still holding a grudge about that night and was out for a run when I got jumped by several secret service people outside of Mr. Shorenstein’s house in the Sea Cliff neighborhood where I lived.  Seems that I was of poor timing as President Clinton had been spending the night and was about to go for a run.  Mr. Shorenstein had said that he’d seen me in the neighborhood and apologized.  I thanked him and he introduced me to the President.  I wonder if they both remembered my sweaty and stunned handshake.  Not often that you get to shake hands with a current President and a billionaire in the same minute.  I never got to tell Mr. Shorenstein about my towed car story, but it was now pointless.  This man was a philanthropist.  He saved our baseball team from moving, he donated his money freely, and he did it as many would call “The San Francisco Way” (with style).

Now almost 16 years later to the day of his wife’s passing, the quiet billionaire and supporter of Presidents has passed and I’m bracing myself.  Monday will be his funeral and now that I’m back living across the street from the Temple, I’m expecting multiple Presidents in attendance.  My guess is that I will have an unobstructed view of President’s Clinton and Carter as well as VPs Walter Mondale and Al Gore.  Others I expect in attendance are Senator Diane Feinstein (a former neighbor), Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (also a former neighbor) , and Mayor Gavin Newsom.   So I guess I will be there as well.

Well that is my story about Walter Shorenstein.  Attached is the article from the San Francisco newspaper to get a broader view of his career: SFGate – Click Here for article