Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Ramdom Thought from a Couple Weeks Ago

Have you ever had one of those moments when you felt like God was shining down upon your life? It happens when you least expect it and I know that for me, it warms my heart and spirit. It could be hidden in a photo, a song, a person's smile, or ...a child's laugh. God works in mysterious ways.

A Runner's Prayer

It's been a while since I wrote anything in my blog - lot's been happening. But a friend of mine, who's a runner and has been struggling with some issues, came to mind this morning. I'd read the following prayer back in High School when I ran track - Even kept a copy of the prayer in my wallet for a while. For those of us who run the rat race everyday, whether at work, school or on the hard asphalt, this prayer is for you. Enjoy - ~=C

A Runner's Prayer

Our Father,

Accept our gratitude for the opportunity to participate in this contest and in the larger race of life. We accept with thankfulness the wholeness and well being which running contributes to our living. As running brings pleasure to our lives so may our efforts on this day bring pleasure to you, our Creator.

We give thanks for physical bodies wonderfully made. Help us to exercise good stewardship of the health, energy, and clarity of mind provided for our use. Bless our efforts in training to develop these gifts to their full potential.

Give us the strength to endure and the passion to persevere. Protect us from injury and illness. May we possess courage and character in adequate supply to meet the challenge before us.

Grant each of us the integrity to do our best in the quest to finish well. We can do no more and desire no less.

Thank you for the sense of community created by our common commitment to run. As we seek to realize personal goals help us to also celebrate the accomplishments of others. Grant that we may find joy not only in competition but also in the privilege of running together.

Remind us on this day and through all of life that we never run alone.

Amen.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

A Father's Day Message.

There are times when I question my faith. I wonder if it's all real or just a made up dream. I throw my fists in the air, full of anger, rage and disbelief. Then I hear His voice and see His face in my daughter's eyes. It is then that I know him to be true and real. I cannot do anything but weep with happiness that she is part me and part Amanda, but mostly GOD! Thank you Lord for making me her DADDY!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

I Love Candy!!

Help! I'm Addicted to FaceBook!

Originally contributed by Tara Stiles
Posted February 15, 2009 | 10:38 AM (EST)


Pretty much everyone I know has a Facebook account. I use it for emailing, messaging, sharing pictures, and more. That sounds pretty reasonable, right? Well, Facebook has a way of creeping from something useful into a major contributor to carpal tunnel, burning eyes, procrastination, and mindless clicking.

Haven't seen people you went to high school with in ten years or more? With Facebook it's no problem. Since you can view everyone's friend list as soon as you connect with one person, the floodgates open, and you're back in your hometown, for better or worse.

Want to see what people are up to but have no interest in really talking to them? No problem with Facebook. If someone has an open profile you can click around on their page like you are their BFF, seeing all their pictures, friends' comments, and status updates. You can locate exactly where someone is and how they're feeling today in 3 minutes or less.

Got something to promote? It's no problem with Facebook. Set your favorite site as your status, create a link to your project and your friends will surely check it out. Got a new business? Create a Facebook group and your friends can join and keep in contact with all the updates of your company.

Ok, obviously I am a Facebook user. I enjoy seeing a picture of my friend when I send them a message. I am a fan of the status update. I even like notifications and am only mildly concerned when I am friend-requested by a total stranger. I enjoy clicking through pictures of my long lost friends' houses in the suburbs and seeing their kids covered in spaghetti. It's sort of exotic to a country girl transplant like me.

So here is the problem, well, my problem. And I am assuming I'm not alone on this one. I'm on Facebook all the time! I go to the site not even conscious that I am going to it. I turned on my computer this morning with the intention of opening Word first thing, and where did I find myself? You guessed it. Facebook. I am addicted! Admitting is the first step to recovery (bankers take note). Sign me up for Facebook rehab.

Pope Benedict XVI has warned us about getting in a pickle with Facebook. Now I'm not one to go around quoting any kind of Church, especially if you knew the extent of my Catholic grade school story, but this was sort of interesting. The Associated Press brought us his thoughts about how Facebook (and MySpace, a whole other topic mostly about kids and bands) can foster friendships and understanding, but warns that they also can isolate people and marginalize others. Benedict welcomes as a "gift" new technologies such as social networking sites, saying they respond to the "fundamental desire" of people to communicate. But he warns that "obsessive" virtual socializing can isolate people from real interaction and deepen the digital divide by excluding those already on the sidelines. He urges producers to ensure that the content respects human dignity, and of course the "goodness and intimacy of human sexuality."

What about burning eyes, carpal tunnel, hunched shoulders, stiff hips, and monkey mind? Those issues are more interesting to me as a health, yoga, and psychology geek.

I would friend-request the Pope. What would his status updates be? "Slipping into Prada loafers getting ready for mass."

So here I am, busted by the Pope! On one hand, he's got a point. Cyber-bullying is not a joke. The horrific suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier from Missouri in October of 2006 was the direct result of her former friend's mom taunting her through MySpace. Being a teenager is hard enough. I can't even imagine what kids go through now. There are so many new ways to torture each other. I know a few teens in NY that have problems with teasing each on Facebook too. It's a mess.

I'm sure adults have had problems with taunting and other social blunders on Facebook too, but the majority of problems adults face is just plain over-use. Let me reference my "25 random things." If you're a Facebook user, you are well aware of the "25 random things" that have been going around in the last few months. Maybe you've written yours. Or, maybe you think you won't get pulled in. Good luck.

I should be writing at this moment. July 1st deadline will be here soon. FB is one big distraction really, but I do firmly believe in its usefulness. And its ability to deliver BlockBuster-esque horror, comedic, and dramatic episodes in the disconnected yet intimate way only the modern web experience can.

Correct me if I am alone on this one, but the reality of our lives displayed on Facebook splattered with debauchery is a big part of the fun!

I've come up with some warning signs here. This may be the start of developing a support group for Facebook addicts. The group will be listed on Facebook, where you can become a fan of the group, add pictures, look at pictures of other cute people who are in the group, and write on the wall.

10 warning signs that you may be addicted to Facebook

1. Facebook is your home page.

2. You update your status more than twice a day.

3. You have over 500 "friends" half of whom you've never actually met.

4. As soon as you step away from your computer you're on FB on your phone.

5. You are a FB stalker. You qualify as a FB stalker if you

a) click on someone's profile more than once a day even if they haven't messaged or tagged you in a photo.

b) have dragged and dropped more than 3 FB photos (not from your own profile)

c) actually go to a place mentioned on someone's page in hopes of seeing them in real life...creepy!

6. You change your profile picture more than a 12-year=old girl.

7. You have checked your FB page while reading this article.

8. You clean up your "wall" so it looks like you spend less time on FB.

9. You are a member of more than 10 groups and respond to every event invitation "attending" even if you have no intention of going.

10. You change your relationship status just to mess with people.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Koala saved from Australia's wildfires doing well


From the AWWWWW FILES...

By KRISTEN GELINEAU, Associated Press Writer Kristen Gelineau, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 43 mins ago



SYDNEY – "Sam" the koala, the most famous furry survivor of Australia's worst-ever wildfires, is healing well thanks to the efforts of caretakers at a rescue shelter — and she even has a new boyfriend, "Bob."

Sam, who captured hearts around the world after she was photographed drinking from a firefighter's water bottle, has also won the affection of "Bob," another koala whose paws were scorched in the weekend's inferno, caretaker Lynn Raymond said Thursday.

"Bob is her protector — as soon as she is moved, he's on the move, too. It really looks like he's making sure she's OK," Raymond said from the Mountain Ash Wildlife Shelter in Rawson, 100 miles (170 kilometers) east of Melbourne in Victoria state, where the deadly fires continue to burn. "They're good company for each other."

Neither koala is likely to be healthy enough for release for at least four months, and are being comforted by caretakers who salve their scorched paws every few hours.

Global interest in the fate of Sam has been intense since a photograph of firefighter David Tree offering her a bottle of water in a burned-out forest was splashed across the Internet, in newspapers and on television broadcasts. The telephone at the shelter has rung incessantly with callers eager for an update on the creature's condition.

"It's insane," Raymond said with a laugh. "(But) everybody has been absolutely wonderful."

Sam was found moving gingerly on scorched paws by a fire patrol, said David Tree, the firefighter who spotted her.

On Thursday, Tree clarified to The Associated Press that the rescue occurred Sunday, Feb. 1, three days after the fire initially broke out, and not last Feb. 8 as the AP previously reported.

Tree and his crew were conducting backburning operations to help contain a clutch of six fires that the Country Fire Authority called the Delburn complex. The fires started on Jan. 29 and destroyed 30 houses, cars and other property before being contained, though not extinguished, on Feb. 7. No one was killed in the Delburn complex of fires, though more than 180 people have died in other blazes in the region.

Tree said he crouched down and held out a bottle of water for Sam to drink, which she eagerly accepted, holding Tree's hand as he poured water into her mouth.

"You all right, buddy?" Tree asks in a video of the encounter as he approaches the koala. Later, as Sam gulps from the bottle, he quips: "How much can a koala bear?"

Often mistakenly called koala bears because they resemble a child's teddy bear, the marsupial is actually a somewhat ornery creature with a loud growl and sharp claws.

Sam and Tree were reunited at the shelter on Wednesday, a meeting that left the 44-year-old firefighter fighting back tears.

"When I saw her, I was just overwhelmed," Tree said Thursday. "I got a bit choked up, got a bit of a gut rise."

Tree was relieved to see his little friend doing so well, and plans to give her a cage that currently houses his 11-year-old daughter's canary. "We'll worry about the canary later," he said.

Sam, who suffered second- and third-degree burns to her paws, has been sharing a cage with Bob, who took an immediate interest in her when she arrived, Raymond said.

Both Sam and Bob were given painkillers when they first arrived, but they're off the drugs now, Raymond said. The two are still receiving antibiotics. For now, though, the famously thirsty marsupial appears to be on the mend.

"I'm just looking at Sam now — she is fast asleep," Raymond said. "She's doing very, very well."

Tree told the AP on Thursday the intensity of the media interest in the koala's rescue caught him completely by surprise, but he was concerned that it did not overshadow the tragedy of the lives and property lost in the blazes.

(This version CORRECTS the date of Sam's rescue to Feb. 1.)

Monday, February 9, 2009

15 Companies That Might Not Survive 2009


By Rick Newman Friday February 6, 2009, 11:53 am EST

((Editor's note: Krispy Kreams? Say it isn't so!!!))

Who's next?

With consumers shutting their wallets and corporate revenues plunging, the business landscape may start to resemble a graveyard in 2009. Household names like Circuit City and Linens 'n Things have already perished. And chances are, those bankruptcies were just an early warning sign of a much broader epidemic.

Moody's Investors Service, for instance, predicts that the default rate on corporate bonds - which foretells bankruptcies - will be three times higher in 2009 than in 2008, and 15 times higher than in 2007. That could equate to 25 significant bankruptcies per month.

We examined ratings from Moody's and data from other sources to develop a short list of potential victims that ought to be familiar to most consumers. Many of these firms are in industries directly hit by the slowdown in consumer spending, such as retail, automotive, housing and entertainment.

But there are other common threads. Most of these firms have limited cash for a rainy day, and a lot of debt, with large interest payments due over the next year. In ordinary times, it might not be so hard to refinance loans, or get new ones, to help keep the cash flowing. But in an acute credit crunch it's a different story, and at companies where sales are down and going lower, skittish lenders may refuse to grant any more credit. It's a terrible time to be cash-poor.



That's why Moody's assigns most of these firms its lowest rating for short-term liquidity. And all the firms on this list have long-term debt that Moody's rates Caa or lower, which means the borrower is considered at least a "very high" credit risk.

Once a company defaults on its debt, or fails to make a payment, the next step is usually a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Some firms continue to operate while in Chapter 11, retaining many of their employees. Those firms often shed debt, restructure, and emerge from bankruptcy as healthier companies.

But it takes fresh financing to do that, and with money scarce, more bankrupt firms than usual are likely to liquidate - like Circuit City. That's why corporate failures are likely to be a major drag on the economy in 2009: In a liquidation, the entire workforce often gets axed, with little or no severance. That will only add to unemployment, which could hit 9 or even 10 percent by the end of the year.



It's possible that none of the firms on this list will liquidate, or even declare Chapter 11. Some may come up with unexpected revenue or creative financing that helps avert bankruptcy, while others could be purchased in whole or in part by creditors or other investors. But one way or another, the following 15 firms will probably look a lot different a year from now than they do today:

Rite Aid. (Ticker symbol: RAD; about 100,000 employees; 1-year stock-price decline: 92%). This drugstore chain tried to boost its performance by acquiring competitors Brooks and Eckerd in 2007. But there have been some nasty side effects, like a huge debt load that makes it the most leveraged drugstore chain in the U.S., according to Zacks Equity Research. That big retail investment came just as megadiscounter Wal-Mart was starting to sell prescription drugs, and consumers were starting to cut bank on spending. Management has twice lowered its outlook for 2009. Prognosis: Mounting losses, with no turnaround in sight.

Claire's Stores. (Privately owned; about 18,000 employees.) Leon Black's once-renowned private-equity firm, the Apollo Group, paid $3.1 billion for this trendy teen-focused accessory store in 2007, when buyout funds were bulging. But cash flow has been negative for much of the past year and analysts believe Claire's is close to defaulting on its debt. A horrible retail outlook for 2009 offers no relief, suggesting Claire's could follow Linens 'n Things - another Apollo purchase - and declare Chapter 11, possibly shuttering all of its 3,000-plus stores.



Chrysler. (Privately owned; about 55,000 employees). It's never a good sign when management insists the company is not going out of business, which is what CEO Bob Nardelli has been doing lately. Of the three Detroit automakers, Chrysler is the most endangered, with a product portfolio that's overreliant on gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs and almost totally devoid of compelling small cars. A recent deal with Fiat seems dubious, since the Italian automaker doesn't have to pony up any money, and Chrysler desperately needs cash. The company is quickly burning through $4 billion in government bailout money, and with car sales down 40 percent from recent peaks, Chrysler may be the weakling that can't cut it in tough times.

Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group. (DTG; about 7,000 employees; stock down 95%). This car-rental company is a small player compared to Enterprise, Hertz, and Avis Budget. It's also more reliant on leisure travelers, and therefore more susceptible to a downturn as consumers cut spending. Dollar Thrifty is also closely tied to Chrysler, which supplies 80 percent of its fleet. Moody's predicts that if Chrysler declares Chapter 11, Dollar Thrifty would suffer deeply as well.

Realogy Corp. (Privately owned; about 13,000 employees). It's the biggest real-estate brokerage firm in the country, but that's a bad thing when there are double-digit declines in both sales and prices, as there were in 2009. Realogy, which includes the Coldwell Banker, ERA, and Sotheby's franchises, also carries a high debt load, dating to its purchase by the Apollo Group in 2007 - the very moment when the housing market was starting to invert from a soaring ride into a sickening nosedive. Realogy has been trying to refinance much of its debt, prompting lawsuits. One deal was denied by a judge in December, reducing the firm's already tight wiggle room.


Station Casinos. (Privately owned, about 14,000 employees). Las Vegas has already been creamed by a biblical real-estate bust, and now it may face the loss of its home-grown gambling joints, too. Station - which runs 15 casinos off the strip that cater to locals - recently failed to make a key interest payment, which is often one of the last steps before a Chapter 11 filing. For once, the house seems likely to lose.

Loehmann's Capital Corp. (Privately owned; about 1,500 employees). This clothing chain has the right formula for lean times, offering women's clothing at discount prices. But the consumer pullback is hitting just about every retailer, and Loehmann's has a lot less cash to ride out a drought than competitors like Nordstrom Rack and TJ Maxx. If Loehmann's doesn't get additional financing in 2009 - a dicey proposition, given skyrocketing unemployment and plunging spending - the chain could run out of cash.

Sbarro. (Privately owned; about 5,500 employees). It's not the pizza that's the problem. Many of this chain's 1,100 storefronts are in malls, which is a double whammy: Traffic is down, since consumers have put away their wallets. Sbarro can't really boost revenue by adding a breakfast or late-night menu, like other chains have done. And competitors like Domino's and Pizza Hut have less debt and stronger cash flow, which could intensify pressure on Sbarro as key debt payments come due in 2009.

Six Flags. (SIX; about 30,000 employees; stock down 84%). This theme-park operator has been losing money for several years, and selling off properties to try to pay down debt and get back into the black. But the ride may end prematurely. Moody's expects cash flow to be negative in 2009, and if consumers aren't spending during the peak summer season, that could imperil the company's ability to pay debts coming due later this year and in 2010.

Blockbuster. (BBI; about 60,000 employees; stock down 57%). The video-rental chain has burned cash while trying to figure out how to maximize fees without alienating customers. Its operating income has started to improve just as consumers are cutting back, even on movies. Video stores in general are under pressure as they compete with cable and Internet operators offering the same titles. A key test of Blockbuster's viability will come when two credit lines expire in August. One possible outcome, according to Valueline, is that investors take the company private and then go public again when market conditions are better.

Krispy Kreme. (KKD; about 4,000 employees; stock down 50%). The donuts might be good, but Krispy Kreme overestimated Americans' appetite - and that's saying something. This chain overexpanded during the donut heyday of the 1990s - taking on a lot of debt - and now requires high volumes to meet expenses and interest payments. The company has cut costs and closed underperforming stores, but still hasn't earned an operating profit in three years. And now that consumers are cutting back on everything, such improvements may fail to offset top-line declines, leading Krispy Kreme to seek some kind of relief from lenders over the next year.

Landry's Restaurants. (LNY; about 17,000 employees; stock down 66%). This restaurant chain, which operates Chart House, Rainforest Café, and other eateries, needs $400 million in new financing to finalize a buyout deal dating to last June. If lenders come through, the company should have enough cash to ride out the recession. But at least two banks have already balked, leading to downgrades of the company's debt and the prospect of a cash-flow crunch.

Sirius Satellite Radio. (SIRI - parent company; about 1,000 employees; stock down 96%). The music rocks, but satellite radio has yet to be profitable, and huge contracts for performers like Howard Stern are looking unsustainable. Sirius is one of two satellite-radio services owned by parent company Sirius XM, which was formed when Sirius and XM merged last year. So far, the merger hasn't generated the savings needed to make the company profitable, and Moody's thinks there's a "high likelihood" that Sirius will fail to repay or refinance its debt in 2009. One outcome could be a takeover, at distressed prices, by other firms active in the satellite business.

Trump Entertainment Resorts Holdings. (TRMP; about 9,500 employees; stock down 94%). The casino company made famous by The Donald has received several extensions on interest payments, while it tries to sell at least one of its Atlantic City properties and pay down a stack of debt. But with casino buyers scarce, competition circling, and gamblers nursing their losses from the recession, Trump Entertainment may face long odds of skirting bankruptcy.

BearingPoint. (BGPT; about 16,000 employees; stock down 21%). This Virginia-based consulting firm, spun out of KPMG in 2001, is struggling to solve its own operating problems. The firm has consistently lost money, revenue has been falling, and management stopped issuing earnings guidance in 2008. Stable government contracts generate about 30 percent of the firm's business, but the firm may sell other divisions to help pay off debt. With a key interest payment due in April, management needs to hustle - or devise its own exit strategy.

- With Carol Hook, Danielle Burton and Stephanie Salmon

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Monday, January 26, 2009

Senate passes bill to delay digital TV switch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate passed a bill on Monday to delay the nationwide switch to digital TV signals, giving consumers nearly four more months to prepare.

The transition date would move to June 12 from February 17 under the bill that was fueled by worries that viewers are not technically ready for the congressionally-mandated switch-over.

It also would allow consumers with expired coupons, available from the government to offset the cost of a $40 converter box, to request new coupons. The government ran out of coupons earlier this month, and about 2.5 million Americans are on a waiting list for them.

Senate Commerce Chairman John Rockefeller said delaying the TV switch is the right thing to do because the United States is not yet ready to make the transition.

"The Senate acted responsibly to give the Obama administration time to attempt to bring order to a mismanaged process," the West Virginia Democrat said in a statement.

Many lawmakers worry that an estimated 20 million mostly poor, elderly and rural households are not ready for the switch, which requires owners of older television sets receiving over-the-air signals to buy a converter box or subscribe to cable or satellite TV.

Broadcasters are moving from analog to digital signals to give public safety officials more spectrum, especially useful for emergencies, and to improve viewing quality.

Momentum had been building for a delay since President Barack Obama backed it earlier this month.

The digital TV bill also would extend the licenses of AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications, which are waiting for the airwaves to be vacated when all TVs convert.

The companies, which paid $16 billion for the public airwaves in an auction last year, would get 116 extra days on their licenses under the proposed legislation.

CTIA, the wireless trade association, has said a delay could hurt confidence in the FCC's spectrum auctions.

(Reporting by Kim Dixon, Editing by Toni Reinhold and Carol Bishopric)

<>

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Yes We Can Lyrics Barack Obama

"Yes We Can is a collage style music video inspired by a speech delivered by Senator and now President-elect Barack Obama following the 2008 New Hampshire primary, derived from similar union catch cries. The song was released on February 2, 2008 by the Black Eyed Peas member Will.I.Am on Dipdive.com and also on YouTube"

Many celebrities were featured in the song and music video. SOT : Scarlett Johansson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Common, John Legend, Kate Walsh, Nicole Scherzinger, etc

This is the lyrics :

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation
Yes We Can
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes We Can, Yes we can
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes We Can
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots
A President who chose the moon as our new frontier and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality

Yes We Can
Yes We Can
Yes We Can
Yes We Can
Yes We Can
Yes We Can

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity
Yes we can heal this nation
Yes we can repair this world

Yes We Can
Yes We Can
Yes We Can
Yes We Can
Yes We Can
Yes We Can

We know the battle ahead will be long
But always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way
Nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

People :
We want change
We want change
We want change

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics
they will only grow louder and more dissonant
We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check
We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

People :
We Want Change!
We Want Change! (I want change)
We Want Change!

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA
We will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests
That we are one people
We are one nation
And together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea :

YES WE CAN
YES WE CAN
YES WE CAN
YES WE CAN
YES WE CAN
YES WE CAN
YES WE CAN
YES WE CAN
YES WE CAN

Sing their song, play their music, and don't forget to buy their single / album!!

Watch Obama Live, Right Here... on my blog!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Ricardo Montalban dies at 88


By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer 1 hour and 1 minute ago

Ricardo Montalban, the Mexican-born actor who became a star in splashy MGM musicals and later as the wish-fulfilling Mr. Roarke in TV's "Fantasy Island," died Wednesday morning at his home, a city councilman said. He was 88.

Montalban's death was announced at a meeting of the city council by president Eric Garcetti, who represents the district where the actor lived. Garcetti did not give a cause of death.

"The Ricardo Montalban Theatre in my Council District -- where the next generations of performers participate in plays, musicals, and concerts -- stands as a fitting tribute to this consummate performer," Garcetti said later in a written statement.

Montalban had been a star in Mexican movies when MGM brought him to Hollywood in 1946. He was cast in the leading role opposite Esther Williams in "Fiesta." He also starred with the swimming beauty in "On an Island with You" and "Neptune's Daughter."

A later generation knew Montalban as the faintly mysterious, white-suited Mr. Roarke, who presided over an island resort where visitors were able to fulfill their lifelong dreams. "Fantasy Island" received high ratings for most of its 1978-1984 span on ABC television and still appears in reruns.

In a 1978 interview, he analyzed the series' success:

"What is appealing is the idea of attaining the unattainable and learning from it. Once you obtain a fantasy it becomes a reality, and that reality is not as exciting as your fantasy. Through the fantasies you learn to appreciate your own realities."

Saturday, January 10, 2009

I'll Plug Blackberry for $100,000 a year!

For BlackBerry, Obama’s Devotion Is Priceless

Article Tools Sponsored By
By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD
Published: January 8, 2009

This week, Michael Phelps signed a deal worth more than $1 million to advertise Mazda in China. Jerry Seinfeld earned a reported $10 million to appear in Microsoft’s recent television campaign.

President-elect Barack Obama says, “I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry.”
Obama Digs In for His BlackBerry (January 8, 2009)

But the person who may be the biggest celebrity pitchman in the world is not earning a penny for his work.

President-elect Barack Obama has repeatedly said how much his BlackBerry means to him and how he is dreading the prospect of being forced to give it up, because of legal and security concerns, once he takes office.

“I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry,” Mr. Obama said Wednesday in an interview with CNBC and The New York Times. “They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”

What could the “BlackBerry president” charge for his plugs of the device if he were not a public servant? More than $25 million, marketing experts say, and maybe as much as $50 million.

“This would be almost the biggest endorsement deal in the history of endorsements,” said Doug Shabelman, the president of Burns Entertainment, which arranges deals between celebrities and companies. “He’s consistently seen using it and consistently in the news arguing — and arguing with issues of national security and global welfare — how he absolutely needs this to function on a daily basis.”

Mr. Obama is an ideal marketing representative, other agents say — popular, constantly in the news and explicit about his attachment to the product.

“You always want the celebrity to be a good fit with your brand, and is anybody considered a better communicator right now than Barack Obama, or a better networker?” said Fran Kelly, the chief executive of the advertising agency Arnold Worldwide, who estimated that an endorsement by Mr. Obama would be worth $25 million. “It couldn’t have a better spokesperson.”

Mr. Shabelman put the value even higher, at $50 million or more, because the endorsement is worldwide.

“The worth to a company to have the president always talking about a BlackBerry and how it absolutely is a necessity to keep in touch with reality?” he said. “Think about how far the company has come if they’re able to say, ‘The president has to have this to keep in touch.’ ”

The maker of the BlackBerry, Research in Motion, recently introduced advertising campaigns and products like the touch-screen Storm that are meant to position BlackBerry as not just a business device but a consumer product like the iPhone. The company, which declined to comment on Mr. Obama’s enthusiasm for its product, also struck a sponsorship deal with John Mayer, a popular guitarist but hardly the leader of the free world.

“The most powerful man in the country is saying, at this moment, basically, I can’t live without mine,” Lori Sale, the head of artist marketing at the agency Paradigm, which pairs actors like Adrien Brody and Katherine Heigl with advertisers. “It represents their now complete and final crossover to a device that people adore.”

Ms. Sale said that Mr. Obama had essentially participated in what is called a satellite media tour for BlackBerry by discussing the product with reporters. Just a single day of a media tour, “with the most A-list of A-list of A-list, would probably be 10 to 15 million dollars,” she said.

That he is not paid to promote BlackBerry is even better for R.I.M. “What makes it even more valuable than that is how authentic it is,” she said.

Mr. Kelly said the endorsement went both ways: while Mr. Obama was doing a lot for BlackBerry, BlackBerry had helped Mr. Obama’s image by making his message seem more relevant.

“The BlackBerry anecdotes are a huge part of Obama’s brand reputation,” he said. “It positions him as one of us: he’s got friends and family and people to communicate with us, just like all of us. And it positions him as a next-generation politician.”

Inevitably, perhaps, marketing executives dream about creating an ad featuring the president-elect, something Gene Liebel, a partner in the Brooklyn agency Huge, said would be a “fantasy assignment.”

Asked what tagline he might use for the campaign, Mr. Liebel repeated one his employees had thought up: “If Blagojevich can pick my replacement, I can pick my device.”

R. Vann Graves, the chief creative officer of the UniWorld Group, suggested a campaign showing Mr. Obama in the Oval Office. “In the foreground, you have the desk, but instead of having the proverbial red phone, you have a red BlackBerry,” Mr. Graves said, with the tagline “Shot Caller.”

Matt Reinhard, the executive creative director of DDB Los Angeles, suggested Apple try to steal Mr. Obama away from BlackBerry as a spokesman for the iPhone.

The message could be, “It’s time for change,” Mr. Reinhard said.