From the Inside Out

Foreclosures hit another record high in August. According to CNN Money, 304,000 homes were in default and 91,000 families lost their houses. More than 770,000 homes have been repossessed by lenders since August 2007, when the credit crunch took hold. The numbers are staggering. While the worst hit area has been California, no state is immune to the crisis.

If you’ve ever wondered how widespread the problem is in North Texas, the Dallas Morning News recently launched an interactive foreclosures map. It lets you view the foreclosures that have occurred this year in your neighborhood. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/graphics/0908/foreclosures/.

On a brighter note, here’s a different map that provides hours and hours of fun. It tests how well you know your geography, so not only is it fun, it’s educational. The Traveler IQ Challenge lists certain locations across the world, and you have to find that location on a map. The faster the better because part of your score is based on how quickly you can pinpoint the location.

Check it out, but I warn you, it’s addictive: http://www.travelpod.com/traveler-iq

We went on our first road trip with the GTO yesterday. Gary’s cousin was getting married in Ruston, Louisiana, so we loaded up the car and headed out. I hooked up my iPod to the car stereo and played the role of DJ for the duration of the trip. I had recently updated my iPod software so I was itching to play with a new feature called “genius“.

With this feature, you can select a song, and the “genius” will automatically create a playlist of songs that go with it using music that is already stored on your iPod. Basically, it looks at the song and figures out what you typically like with it (what playlists you include it on), what others who like it also like (what playlists they include it on), and what music mathematically (tempo, tone, etc.) fits in with it. Then, it tries to predict other songs you might like and whips up an instant playlist. It’s really cool. If you have an iPod, you should check it out.

Three hours later, we arrived at the Hilton Shreveport where we would be staying for the night. The wedding was small and short. It was held outside in a downtown courtyard in Ruston — a fact we didn’t know until after we arrived. Details like that are good to know in advance so you can dress appropriately, especially when the weather is hot. Regardless, we endured the heat and mosquitoes. The ceremony wasn’t long.  The most entertaining part was the minister who officiated the ceremony.  He had a heavy Louisiana accent that cracked me up, reminding me of the priest from The Princess Bride — too funny.

We traveled home today. No offense to my friends from Louisiana, but I thank God that I live in Dallas. I can’t imagine living in such a small town. You miss out on the diversity, culture, shopping, variety and conveniences that a large city offers. I guess life is simpler there, but I’ll take my complicated, busy life any day.

Speaking of complicated…it’s T-minus 3 days and counting until our big launch. I’ll be working all day and most of the night this week. I’ll try to update my blog as much as possible, but it may not be daily.

Have a great week everyone!

This was the last day of my 36th year on earth. It wasn’t notable, just another day filled with work issues that I don’t want to re-live in this blog. Thankfully, it was a Friday which makes me happy even though I will have to work some this weekend. We are preparing for the biggest launch my team has ever done. The US events will be held in San Diego where we have over 600 analysts, customers, consultants, and partners converging next week. Thousands more will participate via live Webcast and TelePresence. Other events will be held simultaneously in 20 cities across the globe. I’ll be glad when it’s over.

Last year, I was working in San Jose on my birthday. This year, I’ll be attending a wedding for a member of Gary’s family that I barely know. What is up with people scheduling things I don’t want to do on my birthday? Oh well, maybe I’ll have better luck next year.

The bright spot in my day was dinner with Gary this evening. Since we’ll be at the wedding tomorrow, he took me out tonight. We dined at Nicola’s Ristorante located in the Shops at Legacy area in Plano. The restaurant has a great atmosphere. They serve Northern Italian cuisine and boast that all pasta is hand made on-premise, using traditional shapes not commonly seen in American restaurants. There are no freezers in the restaurant, and groceries are delivered twice a day to insure only market-fresh ingredients are prepared.

It was a nice end to a challenging year. I’m looking forward to better things with number 37.

ChaCha has answers. It doesn’t matter where you are or what type of question you have, ChaCha can help. It’s a free text messaging service that provides a quick, one-sentence answer to your most pressing questions. According to CNN, here’s how it works. “Users text message ChaCha (242242) on their mobile phone or call 1-800-2ChaCha. The question can be on anything — from local weather forecasts to who starred in the 1960 suspense classic “Psycho” to how many children Angelina Jolie has now.

Questions are sent to a worker, or “guide,” who searches the Internet using sites preapproved by ChaCha. When the guide finds the answer, he or she text messages the user back in less than 160 characters — all for free.”

What makes ChaCha unique when compared to other computer-automated answer services like Google SMS is that it doesn’t rely on technology alone. It uses people to search the web, find the most appropriate response and provide the answer — a method that has won the company several awards.

ChaCha has about 25,000 guides who respond to questions. Most of them are college students or stay-at-home moms who want to earn extra spending money. ChaCha offers the ultimate flexible working environment. Guides can work whenever they want, and no minimum hours are required. They simply log in, answer questions, and get paid per question. On average, they make $3 to $9 per hour. It sounds like a neat gig for anyone wanting to earn a few extra bucks. You can learn more about how it works here.

So, the next time you’re playing Trivial Pursuit or you have to settle a dispute with a friend who insists he’s right (but you know he’s wrong), send a text to ChaCha. They have all the answers.

Wow, we’re only 17 days away from the first performance! I spent the better part of the evening managing promotions, working on the press release, sending cast reminders and recruiting additional volunteers. It’s a lot of work, but it is completely worth it.

Before we know it, we’ll be performing, entertaining people and making them laugh. It’s so much fun. I’m getting really excited!

For all the details, check out the official press release.