My wife recently pointed out how similar some of the other Eric(h) Stauffer’s in the world are similar to me so I thought I’d highlight some of them here. If you’re one of them and you want me to take your info down, just contact me or leave a comment below.

Eric Stauffer – Entrepreneur, Payment Solutions Consultant, SEO Ninja, and Business Development/Content Creation

•  CardPaymentOptions.com
•  twitter.com
•  facebook.com
• Google +

I’ve added this Eric(h) Stauffer I found on About.Me because he’s an entrepreneur, is interested in payment solutions, SEO, and business development. On all of those things we’re a complete overlap. It’s a little odd actually. I currently do SEO and content marketing, but also run blogs on items processing and digital wallets.

Erich Stauffer - CEO bei Starbusiness

Located in Basel Area, Switzerland, this Erich Stauffer does Management Consulting, which is also something I have both done in the past as a business analyst and something I currently do. I’m also CEO of my company, but I know that’s a stretch. My mom is CEO of her company and my friend, Jason Cobb, is CEO of his company too. Everybody’s a CEO nowadays.

If Starbusiness is anything like the .SU website, then it’s a multi-level marketing (MLM) business that’s currently expanding into Russia. Good for them! I’ve done my share of MLM (and so has my mother – we have so much in common!). I did Amway and sold Tri-Star vacuums (one to – again – my mother). She sold Tupperware in her day (when she was my age).

Eric M. Stauffer – Eric M. Stauffer

According to his Twitter account, this Eric(h) Stauffer is an “Instructional Technologist, Consultant, Creative Problem Solver, Runner, Husband, Comedian . . . Not always in that order.”

I’ve often tried to be a comedian, am currently a husband, and creative problem solver; and I’ve called myself a technologist and consultant. This guy looks like he travels more than me, but that’s okay. We need different types of Eric(h) Stauffer’s in this world, even if we all have a lot in common.

Then of course there is the guy I’m named after (who was also a designer like me, even if he was designing fake Hummels).

After having several people email me about the prices of Erich Stauffer figurines I attempted to make an Erich Stauffer Figurines price guide, but it was way more complicated than I thought.

I knew that the price varies by how clear the mark on the bottom is, whether a number exists or not, if there are any chips or cracks in the porcelain, and if it has a sticker. But I didn’t know exactly what metrics to use or what the official names of the figurines were or if the numbers on the bottom under “Designed by Erich Stauffer” were unique to each porcelain figurine or if that ID number tied it to a set.

What I found out by researching the completed Ebay auctions from the last 6 months was that:

• Not all Erich Stauffer figurines had paper tags glued to the front, some used tags on a string
• The ID numbers seem to correspond to groups of figurines, meaning they were meant to be sets – making collecting all of the figurines to a set more valuable than the individual figurine
• Some of the Erich Stauffer figurines have the same name, even though they aren’t part of the same set
• Some ID numbers are also re-used, even if they are not part of the same set
• If the number has a division symbol (/) it may be a limited run or made to look like it was a limited run
• I don’t know what the S or the U at the beginning of the ID stood for/stands for
• The prices of Erich Stauffer figurines ranges from $1.86 to $20.89 each with this limited sample:

Why do it for the lulz?

“Sign Lulz” was a web site dedicated to capturing funny signs wherever they may be. The term “lulz” refers to the plural form of “lol”, which stands for “laugh out loud”. Sign Lulz was published by Cost Publishing, a division of Watershawl, Inc.. I’ve since moved all of the funny signs to a category of The SDN.

The logo was from a a sign that hung on the Wan Shi Da Bakery across from the Pui Tak Center in The Armour Square area of southern Chicago, otherwise know as Chinatown, Chicago. The picture in the logo was taken in 1997, but you can see a more recent version of the sign on Flickr, which was taken on April 8, 2006.  However, according to what we can see on Google Street View, the sign has been removed (but no signs have been posted!).

Across from the Wan Shi Da Bakery to the north is the Pui Tak Center on South Wentworth Avenue, which is a great community center. It is run by the Chinese Christian Union Church and have lots of programs to offer. Many student fellowships are held in this center. Volunteers tutor reading and math after school and on the weekends in addition to the English as a second language classes for adults.

Further south on South Wentworth Avenue is the actual Chinese Christian Union Church, which is one of the few Christian churches in the Chinatown area. The church serves as a preschool center as well. The children there love to play with the toy Godzilla. It is their favorite toy.

These may not be the most popular, but these are the ones I listened to the most. What are your favorite Christian bands, songs, or albums from the 90′s?

In art class they will teach you to never use black as black rarely occurs in nature. Instead, when a dark hue is needed, purple is used. Even in web design, a dark gray is used instead of black as black itself is harsh and unprofessional.

What is Black?

If black is never ‘black’ then what is black? Black is brown, gray, and purple. It’s dark and contrasting. It’s bold, but much the same way any solid color is when used appropriately. But how often are solid colors found in nature? Almost all colors are mixed and changing, just like the definition of ‘black’.

Today I saw two men wearing purple shirts. One man was my elder and the other my younger. I didn’t like either application of the color and wondered if my age or my micro-generation was somehow biased against it as it reminded me of purple silk shirts from the early 90′s – but those days are over. Aren’t they? Or is purple the new black?

A couple of years ago I wrote a post entitled, “What Happened to CollegeClub.com?” It’s still one of my most popular posts so I thought I’d do a follow up to see where CollegeClub.com is now.

If you type ‘http://www.collegeclub.com‘ into your browser you will be taken to Teen.com, which is, according to their web site the, “ultimate online destination for teens on celebrities, entertainment, music, and fashion.” I think what they mean to say was that they are a ‘destination for teens’ that covers ‘celebrities’, not “teens on celebrities,” which has an entirely different meaning.

Teen.com is owned and operated by Alloy Media, LLC, which is a New York based media company that is partners with Alloy Marketing and Alloy Entertainment. Alloy Media also owns Channel One News, which most know is a 12 minute news program for teens broadcast via satellite to middle schools and high schools across the United States.

For those looking for other ex-CollegeClub.com members, check out ExCollegeClubbers. The ‘tribe’ is “for everyone who wants to meet new friends, but in particular for ex members of Collegeclub.com…It used to be cool like Tribe and we have all lost contact with each other. So non-ex members and ex- members alike are invited to join.”

When You Say Yes but Mean No: How Silencing Conflict Wrecks Relationships and Companies…and What You Can Do About It

In 2003, Leslie Perlow wrote a book called, When You Say Yes but Mean No: How Silencing Conflict Wrecks Relationships and Companies…and What You Can Do About It. In that book, Leslie does a case study on the demise of CollegeClub.com in the chapter, Nine Bad Endings. Pages 141-156 cover the merger with Versity, the talks about the IPO, and the eventual bankruptcy. Overall it’s also a good book on management as one reviewer called it, “A Management Must-Read”.

I have been searching for the name of this triangle-shaped, red seated toy that has a handlebar underneath that you move back and forth to go forward with, but because it existed prior to the Internet, I haven’t been able to find it – until now*.

The Original Roller Racer

It’s called a “Roller Racer” and Amazon defines it as a scooter. I suppose it is, but it’s not like any other stand-up scooter. You sit very close to the ground and instead of using your feet to push you forward, you have to move the handle bars back and forth, kind of like a snake.

One Amazon commenter said it was good for preschool children with disabilities because even, “Kids with splints or whose legs are too short can ride with their feet on the T-bar connecting the handlebars and, again, enjoy a great ride.”

According to Wikipedia, the Roller Racer was originally sold by WHAM-O brand name, but is now sold by the Mason Corporation and is available on Amazon.

EDIT: I’ve recently setup a whole new website for these ride-on toy scooters with one post dedicated to Roller Racers and Flying Turtles.

Read the rest of this entry »

Vicente Lladro, the famous porcelain figurine artist from Valencia, Spain, is releasing Divine Love, a limited edition of 2000 pieces worldwide. It measures 12” x 10”. The artist drew his inspiration for the piece from the Hindu literary and artistic traditions staying true to the nature of Indian art, mainly the drawings and etchings depicted in traditional Indian folk stories.

Lladro, the company, was founded in 1953 by three brothers, Juan, José and Vicente Lladró, in the village of Almácera near Valencia. Starting with items such as vases and jugs, it wasn’t until 1956 that they started producing the sculptures for which they are now most famous. Enthusiasm for the items produced by the Lladró brothers saw their small workshop expand several times until eventually they moved to Tavernes Blanques, Spain in 1958.

This piece in particular, Divine Love, captures the timeless romance between a romantic couple sitting by the banks of the river Ganges, look lost in each other’s love. The young man must bid her farewell for he must go in search of fortune that he needs to marry his love. As a sign of the riches they will share on his return, the young man offers her his crown, a symbol of love that will keep his memories alive in her heart while he is away.

The piece is detailed in every aspect. Bedecked in traditional Hindu jewelry and costumes, the coloring is a new departure for classical porcelain pieces. From the blue used for the man’s skin to the orange and saffron color used in the skirt which is associated with celebrations, happiness, and optimism. The enamels used in the crown and jewelry is unique that lends a stunning realistic effect. The flower garland draped on the young lady’s shoulders looks real and detailed.

At one time in your life you’ve probably made a to-do list.  I still use them, but in the form of emailing myself.  But lists have expanded their scope lately as technology, as in the form of me using my email as a notebook proves, enables us to expand our love of making and using lists.

Lists of Lists

If you’ve ever shopped on Amazon.com, you may have noticed a book cover on the sidebar, with the heading, “Listmania.” This means that someone has included that book on a list of their favorites, and they posted that list to share with other Amazon customers. If you’ve ever used Apple’s iTunes you know that you can create playlists of songs and share them with other people. These are both examples of companies harnessing the power of people to help cross-promote products. Another term for this is crowdsourcing. Social bookmarking sites like Delicious, Reddit, or Digg rely on users to submit content, which are essentially lists of things people have found on the web.  Then other people come behind them and use them, vote up or down, or share more links.  People like making lists so much that they have even created books of lists of books to read, called ‘reading lists‘, but one site has gone as far as to make lists of reading lists. Yes, you heard right. People are obsessed with lists.

Top 10 Lists

Late Night with David Letterman probably has the most popular top 10 list, but there are many more examples and in different ranges from people obsessed with the top 500 albums of all time to the top 10 Twitter trends of 2010. Watch the following video made by Google on the top news stories of 2010:

Skylines, rooflines, and
antennas replacing crosses
Television the new religion,
Reception the new bosses

In the morning we rise and fly,
Leaving our home to give our best
We tune the dial and tweak our lives
The sun, it sets. We climb to rest

The 8-Bit Generation are those born in or around 1980 who knew a time before Nintendo, Nickelodeon, and personal computers.  Their favorite video games are The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros, and Final Fantasy.  Their technology’s performance could still be influenced by blowing harder on the controller or by demagnetizing the tape deck before use.  If you said, “I don’t know,” you were likely to get slime dumped on your head.  In 1986 Double Dare debuted and the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up.  We knew technology could fail us and that we were all still human after all, but we all still had land lines and it was expensive to call long distance.  900 numbers ruled late night television when Nick at Night was still playing My Three Sons.  Nowadays it plays past episodes of Full House, the same show that played when the 8-Bit Generation was in elementary school.

Some elementary schools had Apple II’s, but by the time they got to middle school, public schools had begun buying personal computers (PCs) running DOS and the first versions of Microsoft Office.  By high school they would have PCs running Windows 95 and the Internet.  They would be the last generation to grow up without having the Internet their entire high school career and the last generation to not have cell phones in the class room.  The closest any of the 8-bit generation had to a cell phone in high school was a beeper because most cell phone’s batteries were so large you could only use them in your car.  Most Internet connections at home were dial-up and AOL ruled the land with it’s floppy disks.  The first CD-R drives cost $400, more than some computers cost today.

The 8-Bit Generation went to college in the middle of the Dot Com Crash and 9/11.  They graduated with less hope of finding a job than their immediate predecessors, Generation X.  They still dressed like they did in high school.  They think a Polo over a t-shirt and some stone-washed jeans is cool and if you swap the pants for some khakis and add a sweater they’re dressed up.  They believe white shoes are for dorks and prefer leather shoes like Dockers or Doc Marten’s.  They think of Angelina Jolie more of a Hacker than of Salt. They believe the future is possible and that it is here.  They don’t want to work, but they will.  Not everything was handed to them, but they did have it easier than their parents, but their children may not.  Those children, the sons and daughters of the 8-Bit Generation are now in kindergarten and elementary school.  They are using iPhones and iPads to communicate and play games.  They’ve never known anything other than always-on broadband Internet, streaming movies, video games on cell phones, and text messaging (they don’t even know or care what AOL is).  They are the 64-Bit Generation.

As someone who is laughably prone to hyperbole, it may may seem inconsequential that I laud it as the greatest television show of all time.  You may be asking yourself: “What is so great about it?” or “How can a modern show compare to TV classics from other eras?” or “What kind of a weirdo, fanatical, booger eating, sci-fi dork would care so much about a TV show?”

These are all fair questions.  I am not sure if I will be able to suitably answer any of them for you (but I don’t eat my boogers, by the way).  It is my hope that this article piques your interest enough to watch the first episode for free online on hulu.com.  If you are not engrossed in the tale of Flight 815 after 8 episodes, then I ask your forgiveness for presuming your interest in the fields philosophy and sociology.  If you find your mind and heart constantly returning to the question of “What is the meaning of life?”, then prepare yourself for a vivid, elaborate, amplified discussion of that very question that IS the show:  LOST.

What the uninitiated know or (don’t know) about the show varies.  I will presume that you know (or consequentially, inform you of) that

If something on the show leads you to believe what you are watching is “unrealistic”, take comfort in the fact that you are experiencing a vivid, detailed, highly personal metaphor.  The line between fiction and science fiction is fine, but don’t let crossing it ruin the truth is being illustrated for you within the framework of the show.

The most expensive pilot in television history sets the stage for one of the greatest serialized story lines in any medium.  This article is written with the knowledge of the first five seasons of LOST under my belt.  The mosaic has not been revealed completely, but enough has transpired to produce a sense of nostalgia in me while watching this episode.  Partly because of the production value, and partly because of the timeless locale, the show doesn’t feel five years old.  While some things, like hyper-color t-shirts, don’t age well, it’s a good sign that LOST will.

One challenge of an ensemble show is to find the balance between individual character development with keeping the audience interested in the fate of the whole group.  With flashback being an integral part of the LOST storytelling process, the pilot episode starts in the middle, with Jack lying in the jungle, seemingly unaware of how he got there.  Soon enough, he emerges from the jungle and sees the wreckage of the plane he was just riding on.  We soon see a flashback with Jack on the plane, having a strong drink just before the turbulence hits.  With his future alcohol struggles, it almost feels like an Easter egg to see Jack drinking just before being brought to the island.

Charlie is right in the throws of heroin addiction, and it is quickly apparent.  He’s a likable character, but it would be hard to tell if it is his drugs that make him so.  The actor, Dominic Monaghan, was just coming off of a journey through middle earth with the rest of the Hobbits in Return of the King, so there were a fair amount of LOTR fans who tuned in out of a quasi-loyalty to the Trilogy.  Charlie sets up the end title frame perfectly when he asks the group:  ”Where are we?”

LOST

It’s great to see how quickly Kate and Jack connect with each other based on her finding him in need of a make-shift surgeon.  You wonder if this shared moment is what set the trajectory of their relationship.  What if another attractive female from the plane happened to stumble upon Jack at that time?

On July 4th, 2009, right in the swing of our Great Recession, I officially took a part-time position as a Customer Service Representative with my local video store. As a consultant for services that are not tangible and not immediately reflected on the bottom line, the waiting list for my attention and concern was at zero. I found myself able to complete my tasks, make new contacts, write a few articles, and still have disposable time throughout each day. But these duties were not impacting my bottom line in the way that I wanted them to, either. I decided that it was time to go back to a mode of making income that helped me in my youth: hourly pay to provide a low-skill service.

To my surprise, my first task was not to wait on customers, familiarize myself with the DVD shelves, or even learn the computer system. Rather, it was to mow the grass outside. While setting up the lawnmower, a piece slipped and pinched my thumbnail hard enough to leave a mark. It was the kind that I immediately knew would either cause my thumbnail to fall off, or would simply remain unsightly until new tissue grew to replace the damaged area over the next several weeks.

As I started to mow the grass, I thought: This is kind of cool! I do this at my own house every week, and now I get to do it while “on the clock”. After a couple of hours, I was finished. As I drove home, I thought: “I can do this. This is just something that will get me by while I’m building up my consulting business. Maybe I can meet some interesting people while I’m working and turn that into an opportunity for business.” It turned out that I was only half right.

How eReaders (also written e-Readers), which are digital readers for eBooks (also written e-Books) have taken over the tech news and gadget landscape? From Amazon’s Kindle™ which was first released on November 19, 2007 to Barnes and Noble’s nook™ which was first released November 30, 2009 to Apple’s iPad which was released April 3, 2010, there clearly is a revolution going on in how books are read, purchased, stored, and shared.

The first chart shows the dramatic rise in news articles related to ereaders starting in 2009. This chart also highlights the differences in spelling of the different terms for ebook readers. While there is no official way of spelling it (both ereader and e-reader are acceptable), Google Trends clearly shows that “ereader” is used more often or is more popular. In general I think that if hyphens can be avoided, they will be, just as in “e-mail” is more often written as “email.”

The second chart shows the steady rise of Amazon’s Kindle, followed by the nearly identical rise of Barnes and Noble’s Nook an Sony’s Reader. Other ebook readers like the Que and Alex don’t yet register in comparison to the traffic of these other major players, but if you compare Apple’s iPad against this chart, it makes the Kindle look pathetic in comparison.

Now these are mostly news trends and not necessarily a reflection of popularity or quality, but it does highlight a tipping point in the use of ebook readers that happened at the end of 2009, about a year after the market crash in 2008. Despite a recession and a bad world-wide economic situation, consumers have still went out and purchased not just ebooks and ereaders, but e-reader accessories, which can sometimes equal or cost more than the ereader itself. Nook covers, for example, average around $25 each.

How about you? Do you own an ereader or plan on purchasing one in 2010? Answer in the comments below.

Most everyone knows how to say a phone number: you say it in sections, area code, prefix, then the number (sometimes called the “line number”). Kevin James if famous for the phone number rhythm, “Bum bum bum, bum bum, bum bum.”

Anyway, I thought of him when I saw this sign in Elwood, Indiana: Home for Sale, but see if you can figure out what the actual phone number is.

I was browsing Google News > Science / Technology and saw two articles about the “secret” to Apple’s success (one is the Apps, the other is Kids!) and two articles about iPhone outages (one in NY and the other in London). Seriously? Is this all we have to talk about? Okay, Apple is successful (highest stock price ever!) and the iPhone is great (best cell phone/PDA ever!) but is there really no other innovation going on? Is this what the economy has done to us? There is Google, Nokia, Apple, and Microsoft. Everyone else can go home. We’re done here.