My Top Ten Advertising Characters for Collectors

It's finally up and finished! My top ten advertising icons for collectors. How were they picked? First of all, it goes without saying this is my list and my opinion, no one else's. The list is based on several factors that contribute to the collectibility of an item, including general availability (but sometimes scarceness!), value, variety, longevity and that most important of reason of all -- they're fun to collect!

Check them out and let me know what you think!
Top Ten Advertising Collectibles

Orca Live is now.... Live

One of my favorite web sites is back in season, Orca Live -- web cams from Inland Passage area of Alaska. The sounds and sights can be incredible when the Orcas come into view.

http://www.orca-live.net

check it out

Last Night --The Boathouse

Last night we had reservations at the Boathouse restaurant at Central Park .. another great setting, lots of good food, company and mosquitos. We were happy to meet Amy and of course she got the infamous Crews/Titus/Harlin grilling. Amy took it pretty well and I think we gave her some ammunition to use with Jim. (close your eyes, count to twenty)

More Pics will be posted today...

More NYC Pics

Pictures from our Tuesday Morning adventure in NYC ... lunch on the sidewalk, the biggest toy store in the world and the naked cowboy.

NYC Pics

Jim Out-Did Himself....

Imagine the 45 floor in a NYC building, with not a single building blocking the view to the south, an absolutely postcard view of lower manhattan. It starts getting darker, one building is decked in red, white and blue, and then the fire works start. Incredible views of two or three fireworks shows that are perfectly synchronized. Amazing Jim... thanks for really doing it right.

Btw.. a look out the window on the east side, had a up-close and personal look at the Empire State Building, a fantastic view that I've never seen before. You almost could reach out and touch it. Wish I had a camera with me that could have captured it.

eBay Live, Here I Come...

eBay, the name strikes terror in the heart of Robert. He gets nervous everytime he sees me surfing and I must admit, I don't blame him. I do find all sorts of goodies on eBay -- out of millions of items, surely there is something I don't have or need.

But I digress, I just wanted to mention that I will be on my way to San Jose on Wednesday and will be drinking some of that great eBay koolaid. It's a lovefest for those of us who are online auction addicts, even if you disagree with some of the way eBay does business. But how can we complain about the way they do business, they've changed the whole way we find and buy stuff.

Those of you reading this probably don't remember a time when we couldn't go online to find a product. The days of making phone calls all over the country trying to find a certain collectible or maybe a part needed for a car or appliance. Plus the fact that those were the days when long distance phone calls weren't a monthly subscription rate, all you can call for $20 bucks or so. So eBay has changed the way we do everything nowadays, sure someone else might have come along and done something similar -- but many others have tried over the years and they didn't succeed. Remember Boxlot or Auction Universe? I thought not!

Two Black Dogs

And in the summer -- black fur is not very good. They are hot! So hot in fact that they empty the water bowl and splash in it, not a very good thing on a hot day if I don't catch it right away OR if no one is home. So yesterday I bought one of those water cooler looking drink bowls for them, we'll see how it goes and if that survives for very long. I do expect Ali to try eating it -- the whole contraption. She does like to search out stuff to destroy, luckily I've only lost one pair of shoes so far.

So I'm Driving Along -- listening to some CD's

and I admit, I'm OLD and like the oldie classics. Simon and Garfunkel, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond and even Barry Manilow. When all of a sudden the CD changes and someone starts YELLING at me, or maybe that was supposed to be music? What happened?

Finally it dawns on me, Jim drove my car last time he was in town and it finally cycled over to that CD. Whatever the heck it was . . . .

And if you read his blog today, you'll find out he really does like the oldies -- so why does he put other stuff in my car?

On a related note, I started getting a system check problem today, Brake Light Out! Oh, no ... where is a full-service gas station when you need one. Remember, I'm old and don't fix things like that myself. Must be time to trade in the M3 for a new car!

Storms in Oklahoma

Although there were no tornados last night, the weather map was the most colorful one I've seen in a long time. The entire western side of the state was bright red and green, and went over state lines to Kansas and Texas. Heavy downfalls, lots of thunder and lightning -- not a relaxing night at all. Today is clear, sunny and not too much humidity, here's hoping the spring storm season is slowing down.

I hate Oklahoma thunderstorms, they scare the heck out of me! And if you live in the northeast and wonder why I am scared of thunderstorms, it's because you haven't experienced a storm in Oklahoma, Texas or Kansas . . .

Time Machine Purchase

All right, I'll confess I was the one that purchased the Time Machine on eBay. It apparently has a crucial part missing, now to scour the eBay auctions to find and figure out what that part might be.

I thought I was getting a real bargain, until I got a bill for $500. shipping and handling charges. So my total bill for the time machine was $500.57. Not bad if I can find that elusive, missing part and get ready to go back a few years. No way, I want to go into the future -- it's downright scary!

JK -- Now Known as The Computer God

If you read my last note, I am sure you can feel frustration of over three weeks of barely Internet connection. Especially since I write three email newsletter per week, along with a few articles, that depend on a good connection.

Yesterday I called Jonathan and asked for his help in running some diaognostic programs. He came and he conquered, the computer problems that is. Although there have many problems and solutions tried, he found the right one. Everything has now been working without a hitch for over 24 hrs.

I don't really understand the problem -- he replaced the new router with an old, cheap one he had in his tool bag. The two routers I had were doing something weird (not his term) with the IP addresses.

I am estatic to have good access again -- but I still need it explained to me why when I had the old router completely disconnected I still was not able to access the Internet. So if the router was the problem, explain that one to me.

Thanks JK!

22 Days and Counting -- Cox Cable Woes

That's how long it's been since I've had good internet access with my Cox Cable. Renewing my IP address every ten to twenty minutes is getting really old, especially when filling out forms or trying to ftp articles onto the web.

Yes, I am about to change providers, but can we say monopoly? The only other choice is going the DSL route, which I understand is not quite as fast as Cox used to be for me!

Here's the story:
One morning, all of a sudden I couldn't send emails, couldn't access certain sites. Big ones, like eBay or Disney. I could get most places, but not to them. I figured maybe it was a temporary problem. Nope. Later on in the day, I still couldn't access those sites, could not do anything that was interactive on any site. Stuff like a search, filling out a form or even sending an email from my Gmail account.

After spending almost two hours on the phone with several tiers of Cox support, nothing worked and by the end of the day I couldn't get on at all. Nada, nothing, zilch. No problem support says, we can have someone out next Tuesday, this was on a thursday. So much for quick service.

Thank God for AOL dialup, it was the only way to update my web site, publish my newsletter or make reservations for an upcoming trip. But it was slow, very, very slow. It took almost an hour to make two hotel reservations. Yikes, did we do that all the time?

But I digress.

Tuesday finally rolls around and tech support arrives. HIS computer does the exact same thing that mine does, that both of mine do as a matter of fact. Whew, it's not my computer. But he can't figure it out. He spends a couple of hours here, finally calling in his boss, Cox Field Operations Manager. Between the two of them, they install a new modem (doesn't solve the problem), hook a line up direct from the outside cablebox direct to the computer. At times the service works, but then quits again. It's time for the experts to come in.

On Friday the specialists show up. After checking stuff out and messing around a while, they decide to install a new network card on the computer. It works for a while -- on and off. By now I have a new wireless router, new modem, new network card and, just for fun, a new battery back-up in case it was an electrical problem.

It's still not better. I have run multi-virus programs, ad aware, spy software and it's coming up clean. Meanwhile Cox says, everything we have shows you are getting service it can't be our problem. I'm told to re-format my computer. No way, not unless it's proven it's the computer. SO out of frustration I tear apart the computer connections, the big desktop, and take the whole thing to someone else's house that uses Cox Cable. Someone in a different area than we are.

It works perfectly. No problems. For six to seven hours the service is not interrupted one time. Not one time. Perfect connection. So, does this tell us something? Apparently not to Cox. Right now I am still having to renew IP address before I post this.

I am also going to try Cox Business services for a few week and see if that helps, but apparently they are pretty slow on getting that set up for me. It's been a couple of days and nothing happening yet.

Meanwhile, I asked how about a rebate on the month's service. No way.. I was told, you are getting service. Unfortunately it's only ten or fifteen minutes at a time.