Sully's Stuff

Education City

2008-02-11T11:55:00.000-05:00

The New York Times features a write-up on Qatar's Education City, which houses Carnegie Mellon's business and computer science programs in Qatar.

Our former Regent Square neighbors (we left, they didn't) just returned from a fall semester of living and working in Qatar that they captured in their blog Monroes Abroad. (Wait until you check out the house that they lived in!) It is an interesting read that captures some of the culture clash that you read about in the article.

I find the Education City model, and the participation of American Universities very interesting. It is kind of like the food court at your local mall. You know, the Orange Julius, a chinese place, a mexican place, a cheese steakery, a pretzel shop, but with universities and majors:

Carnegie Mellon offers business and computer science
Virginia Commonwealth offers fine arts (including fashion design, can't wait for Project Runway Qatar)
Georgetown offers foreign service
Cornell offers medical related majors
and Texas A&M offers engineering fields, including petroleum.

Commodity Knowledge In Your Food Section

2008-02-07T19:22:00.000-05:00

The "Food & Flavor" section of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is usually the last place you expect to find coverage of global supply coverage, but today, Gretchen McKay brings together environmental sustainability, farm raised fish and the high protein diet in the closing paragraphs of her early-lent homage to fish:

"...because fish is an excellent source of protein, and also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids that benefit heart health, groups such as the American Heart Association still recommend eating up to 8 ounces at least once a week.
The government and other groups track fish with highest levels of mercury, a list that includes swordfish, tilefish, shark, orange roughy and king mackerel. (For a complete list, visit www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/sea-mehg.html)

"As with anything, you just need to do it with moderation," says Ms. Liu. "The benefits still outweigh the dangers."

Then again, with fish prices going the way of gasoline, it's probably not too hard to cut back to acceptable levels.

A boom in ethanol production has caused many farmers to plant fewer soybeans -- a key feed for many species of fish -- in favor of more corn. That, in turn, has sharply increased the cost of raising fish. Fuel costs for fishermen and product that is flown or trucked in has also increased. Cod, by way of example, has nearly doubled in price since the late '80s."

There you have it. Higher demand for ethanol, higher demand for corn, higher production of corn, lower production of soybeans, higher soybean prices, higher fish food prices, more expensive fish.

Post Gazette: "Caught in a rut? Lent doesn't have to be the same old cod and tuna"

The Spoiled Under 30 Crowd

2008-02-06T16:50:00.000-05:00

Received this by e-mail from a friend today, and it resonated a little bit more than I would like, especially as I look at my hummus eating, DVR watching, "wet wipe" using kids...

If you are 30 or older, you will think this is hilarious!!!! If not, send it to your parents! They'll think it's funny!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... Uphill BOTH ways ..Yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in heck I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to
my childhood, you live in a dang Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

1. When I was a kid, we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the dang library and look it up ourselves... In the card catalog!! (Do you even know what a card catalog is? Didn't think so!)

2. There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter... With a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

3. There were no MP3's or Napsters! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the dang record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up!

4. We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

5. And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

6. We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and "asteroids" and the graphics were horrible! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

7. When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

8. Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! And there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons!

9. And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove or go build a fire ... Imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid JiffyPop thing or a pan with HOT oil and Real popcorn kernels and shake it all over the stove forever like an idiot.

10. When we were on the phone with our friends and our parents walked-in, we were stuck to the wall with a cord, a 7 foot cord that ran to the phone - not the phone base, the actual phone. We barely had enough length to sit on the floor and still be able to twirl the phone cord in our fingers. If you suddenly had to go to the bathroom - guess what we had to do..... Hang up and talk to them later.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled!!

You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980! But before you go running your mouth or making fun of us, just remember......We are the ones that invented all of these things for you guys!!!

Regards,
The over 30 Crowd

By the way there are 15,400 links to "The Spoiled Over 30 Crowd" on Google, including:

A Day in The Life of a Houston Social Butterfly
Living Life Abundantly

Ambushed in the parking lot...

2008-02-06T00:14:00.001-05:00

If you watch the local news in Pittsburgh (and if you live in Pittsburgh you know you can't pass up the steady diet of fires, urban and rural shootings, threatening weather and sports reports approximately 25% of which include at least one person wearing one item of Steelers attire) you may have seen gsully on Channel 11.

To respect her privacy, I will not go out and find a link to the video to the report where she expressed a deep sense of fear about the contents of our hand lotions.

I will tell you that she felt ambushed by a Channel 11 reporter (who did not appear in the story as it aired) who approached her in the parking lot of Waterworks Mall as she was loading groceries into the car. She was asked if she was concerned about a report she knew nothing about and really had no opinion on. They then took her reaction and edited it into the report as if she had been made aware of the whole thing, and used her natural expression of concern as a mother to tease the story promising potential fear.

I guess we feel a little exploited, which makes sense because we watch the local news because of the way it's put together is often like The Daily Show without intentional comedy writers, presenting news that is often literally not fit to print since many of the stories don't even make the newspaper the next day.

By the way gSully was not wearing ANY Steeler gear, and in my very partial opinion, looked fantastic. I was creeped out a little by a woman in a parka who seemed to lurk behind her left soldier.

P.S. It's been an interesting couple of months for Sully's and the local media, more on that later.
P.S.S. I have not been in China since early October. I've just been busy.

Shanghai

2007-10-11T19:20:00.001-04:00

Riding to work in yet another VW Vanagon yesterday, while talking to G on the phone, our drive nearly hit a bicyclyst at an intersection. It should be said that we were in the middle of the block, the bicyclyst and some pedestrians were crossing in traffic, and the vanagon was inching along through traffic.

The bicyclyst was angry and proceeded from glaring, to standing in front of the windshield yelling, to coming over to the driver's side window. The driver shut off the engine and proceeded to have a heated argument with the cyclist for ten minutes in the middle of the road with cars and pedestrians, including a few police officer proceeding by us.

Then suddenly we were on our way again. By the way, I ate duck stomach last night.

Lady Liberty Guarding The Entrance To New York Mall in Taipei

2007-10-11T19:16:00.000-04:00

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to drink a double venti, sugar-free hazelnut, non-fat latte.

Home to McDonald's, Mr. Donut, Cold Stone Creamery and, of course, Starbuck's.

Little Mister Sunshine

2007-10-11T03:45:00.000-04:00

I spent 3 hours yesterday riding in VW Vans, the slightly newer version than the microbus featured in Little Miss Sunshine. The time spent "en bus" was part of a 12 hour odyssey to travel from the Grand Hyatt in Taipei to the Sheraton in Shanghai.

After leaving the hotel at 7:30 AM our 10:10 Cathay Pacific flight was delayed by Taiwan's "Double Tenth" day celebration show of military might.

Because of certain...let's call them tensions, one can not travel from Taiwan to mainland China directly without first going "someplace else." In our case the someplace else was a connection in Honk Kong for a 2 hour layover.

After landing in Shanghai, the fun really began, a 2 hour 20 minute, 45 mile drive to the hotel in excruciating traffic in a hot and uncomfortable VW Van, just in time to throw our bags down and keep our 8:30 PM dinner reservation at The Grill on the 56th Floor of the Grand Hyatt Shanghai, where mercifully we missed the fire drill.

Is this hotel haunted?

2007-10-11T03:23:00.001-04:00

This is The Grand Hyatt Taipei, located in Taipei adjacent to the World Trade Center, Taipei 101, and the Taipei City Hall. It has over 800 rooms of luxurious accomodations, including a 5th floor swimming pool with an underwater audio system.

This hotel was built on the site where they executed and buried military prisoners, and many locals consider it to be haunted. You can find some discussion of this is on TripAdvisor, where a guest from Tokyo claims to have checked out in a hurry after his wife had some mysterious encounters. I also found a couple of references here and here.

The strangest thing that happened to me? I watched the 1986 Kevin Bacon stockbroker/bike messenger flick QuickSilver on HBO after I went to bed at 10PM and woke up at midnight.

Happy Double Tenth Day

2007-10-09T19:03:00.000-04:00

Happy double tenth day, national day of Taiwan, Republic of China. Double tenth day comemorates the Wuchang Uprising of October 10, 1911 which started the Xinhai Revolution which ended the Qing Dynasty and led to the founding of the Republic of China.

Taiwan's city hall is in the shape of this Double Tenth symbol, which is essentially two Chinese ten characters joined together.

Unfortunately, I won't be participating in any Double Tenth celbebrations as I'm off to Shanghai today.

Taipei Food Court Lunch

2007-10-09T03:41:00.000-04:00

Today in Taipei, I found myself on my own for lunch. So I did what office workers all over do, I walked over to the food court to grab some grub. At the foodcourt at the mall in Taipei 101, the world's tallest completed building, I was able to grab this lunch of pork steamed dumplings, vegetables and soup for $170 TWD (about $5.35 -- Taipei's not really much of a bargain). For fast food counter service, it was delicious. It was served up in the nice bamboo basket and bowls. The big empty bowl at the top is someone else's lunch leftovers -- the foodcourt was really busy and I had to take the seat I could get.

I could not read the menu, I could only point at the picture. This is extra value meal #4. I don't know what kind of soup it was, but I didn't like it very much. I don't know what the vegetables were either, but they tasted good -- cold and crunchy. The dumplings were devine. I didn't drop anything on myself or get dirty eating with the chopsticks, a small victory.

My other choices at the foodcourt included McDonald's, Subway, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. There were a couple of bakeries and ice cream shops for desert, but the bulk of the counters were for meals like this one.

The mall at Taipei 101 puts all of the malls in Pittsburgh to shame if you like high end goods. Prada, Coach, Dolce and Gabana, Cartier, Sony, Nike, Mont Blanc, F.C.U.K, Ralph Lauren, are just some of the high end retailers in the huge mall. Of course, if you are more casual, there's a Wrangler store too.

Taipei Typing

2007-10-07T19:39:00.000-04:00

After almost a year, I find myself back in Taipei this morning. While the top story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette was the firing of Jim Tracy when I left Pittsburgh on Saturday morning, the top story here is Typhoon Krosha, which battered Taipei on Saturday -- here's a link to the AP account.

The typhoon triggered landslides and power outages here, and caused the cancellations of several flights, including that of my colleague who will now be forced to travel directly to Shanghai.

Seems like it could be a rainy trip...

Salt in the wound for Pirates fans...

2007-10-02T06:14:00.000-04:00

Josh Fogg started a game which ended up putting his team, the Colorado Rockies into the playoffs last night. According to Thomas Harding of MLB.com, Fogg "might have won had it not been for a tough third inning that saw him yield five runs, including an Adrian Gonzalez grand slam." That's kind of like saying someone would have lived through a car accident if they hadn't hit the other car head on.

Well, at least he didn't magically pitch better in black 'n purple, even if they do call him the dragon slayer.

My Near Biopsy Experience

2007-09-25T13:59:00.000-04:00

The world of Spend Management (or at least Supply chain Management) and my health collided yesterday at Allegheny General Hospital.

Those of you that know me personally know that for the past 18 months I have had abnormally high results from liver function tests. Otherwise asymptomatic, we have not been able to figure out what is causing these high levels. With some diabetes in the family it is better to figure out what is happening than not. The last avenue we have to do this was a liver biopsy.

So I block my calendar, GSully lines up some great care for the kids, and we show up at AGH at the appointed time. We check in, I get my "red light district length" hospital gown on and wait. The scheduled time of 11:15 comes and goes. Fifteen minutes my Doctor comes in.

"I am embarrased to say that the needle necessary for your biopsy is on backorder, so I can not perform the biopsy today."

GSully thought he was joking. I was just to shocked to even be mad at this my first personal encounter with our "3rd world" healthcare system.

It turns our that there are 3 types of liver biopsy needles: suction, cutting an spring loaded. Just as a jet pilot is certified to fly a CRJ, a 737 or a 747, but not all three, if you use one type of needle, you are not able to use the other 2 types. (I don't know what type of needle my doctor uses.)

Turns out it was not the Doctor's fault, or the nurse's fault, or operations fault -- it was of course the suppliers fault. The supplier had switched manufacturers and was now having trouble meeting their production schedule. They knew on Friday that they didn't have it. They thought they would get it on Monday. They were not due to receive it until after I was due to check it. Blah Blah Blah...whatever.

For my 3 hours of time, I did receive 2 free lunches in the AGH cafeteria, 2 free cups of coffee from the cart in the main lobby, free parking, some graham crackers and a few apologies. A "You've got to be kidding me" story for the blog, and some free time on one of the 5 best weather days Pittsburgh will have all year. And I get to go back and try to do it all again soon.

I Guess I'm Not The Only Blogger at Ariba Anymore...

2007-09-20T10:34:00.000-04:00

Welcome Tim Minahan.

Ariba announced a definitive agreement to purchase Procuri today...well 10 minutes ago. Press Release.

The Last Lecture of Randy Pausch

2007-09-20T09:32:00.000-04:00

As a young family with young children, hopes, and dreams, GSully and I were both moved to tears by Mark Roth of the Post-Gazette's coverage of Randy Pausch's last lecture at CMU. Now the inspirational lecture is posted in several parts on YouTube. Start by watching part 1...

Do ya Doha? Tom Friedman Does

2007-09-19T12:57:00.000-04:00

Unshackled from the walls of NY Times Select, Tom Friedman comes back to the free web surfer world with an article highlighting the carbon consuming sky lines of Doha and Dalian, which he somewhat condescendingly assumes that most of us have never heard of.

Well Tom, I have heard of Doha and if you want to see some great pics of the rising skyline visit monroesabroad.blogspot.com where you'll also be able to read about how readily accessible pornography is there too.

:-) Invented Here

2007-09-19T12:50:00.001-04:00

To the Ferris Wheel, the Big Mac and modern organized labor add the emoticon to things invented in Pittsburgh. It's been 25 years since Scott Fahlman, a rather distinguished professor of at Carnegie Mellon decide that jokes should be designated by the now famous colon dash close parens combo. On his CMU website you can catch up with the other things he's actually accomplished in his life, or you can skip to his history of the Smiley and even peruse the mother thread where the first Smiley appeared.

United Untied

2007-08-21T01:26:00.001-04:00

I hate traveling on Monday.

My reward for getting up at 4:10 Eastern to make a 6 AM to ORD? An "indefinite" mechanical delay that would cause my 7:10 AM connection to SFO to take off at....well, maybe we'll know more at 8.

So I go to the C Concourse Red Carpet Club and call the 1K desk to rebook. An 8 AM 1 stopper through Phoenix that will get me in at 12:30. Walk over to B. Long line at gate B5. Go to B Concourse Red Carpet Club, get boarding pass.

7:40 comes...no plane at B5. Announcement -- my original flight will leave at 8:10. Back to RCC. Get back on original flight. Now have middle seat. Go to C15. Finally board for 8:20 departure. Push back from gate...sit on the tarmac for more than an hour.

Finally get in the air...foot odor...nasty foot odor, can't find the source foot odor for 3+ hours.

Arrive SFO. Go to Avis. My name's not on the board. Line at the preferred counter more than 15 deep.

Tell me why I don't like to travel on Monday's again?

Bare handed grab..

2007-08-14T11:04:00.000-04:00

After 34 years, and scores of games, a couple of near misses, I made a bare handed grab of a foul ball at last night's Barry Bonds tribute double-header at PNC Park. Matt Cain, the Giants pitcher, popped the first pitch he saw from Paul Maholm in the top of the 3rd about 25 rows behind the 1st base on deck circle. I stood up with cracker jacks in my left hand and snatched it out of the air cleanly with my right to a smattering of applause from the few hundred fans around our section. It was about as easy a play as you're ever going to have on a foul ball.

I turned to my right and handed it to my son, called my wife and my dad and settled in for the rest of the game.

BTW -- the ratio of standing ovations to boos for the Barry Bonds tribute last night was probably 4:1 ovations.

It takes a Giant to make life simple...

2007-08-13T09:09:00.000-04:00

The complexity of pricing schemes seem to increase daily with the advent of technology. As companies are better able to track your purchases, they are able to develop programs and promotions that would have been impossible to manage in the past.

Giant Eagle, who has used it's Advantage Card program to launch a regional juggernaut of Get Go gas station/convenience store through it's "Fuel Perks" program, which in turn launched them into the gift card business is a great example of this. (If your outside the area that the Giant Eagle flies in, Fuel Perks essentially refund 1-2% of your grocery purchases back to you in gasoline depending upon the size of your personal vehicles gas tank.)

I was the victim of a promotion gone wrong on Saturday. The requirement was to buy $25 of various products, primarily General Mills cereals. In return, you would receive a $10 coupon, printed at the register for your next Get Go purchase. I have 3 kids, eating $25 in cereal is maybe a 60 day proposition, so this made sense.

The coupon did not print at the register, which triggered a 30 minute odyssey to get my $10. First stop, the customer service desk. Second stop, the chief cashiers desk. Third stop, lane 16, where we twice tried to ring up the promotion to receive the coupon. It turns out that they did not have another way to produce the coupon, so the next step was a debate about how to give me $10. Should I get a refund? a Giant Eagle gift card? a Get Go Gift Card?

Finally they decided to give me a $10 refund, because it required the least amount of paper work on their end, but led to my 4th stop, a repeat visit to the customer service desk, and after 30 minutes I was out the door $10 less poor.

To their credit the staff at the Edgewood Towne Centre Giant Eagle was very friendly and did nothing but try to give me my $10, and found a solution even when they could not create the original coupon. They did, however, prove that complex promotions like this are virtually impossible to manage when the IT doesn't work as planned.

Qatar -- The North Hills of the Middle East

2007-08-13T09:00:00.000-04:00

Good luck toour friends, the Monroes, who are off for a 4 month stint living and working in Doha, Qatar.

Ever wanted to know what life is like for an American family in the Middle East? Bob Monroe is the co-coordinator of the Technology Leadership track at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business, and will be teaching on the University's Doha Campus this fall.

Mrs. Monroe is keeping a blog so we can follow their journey on monroes abroad.

Bonds Away

2007-08-08T00:23:00.001-04:00

Last night I was in section 106 row 41. Bonds was 0-3 with a foul out
a k and a 6-5-3 dp (thanks to the wicked shift.)

Tonight I was in the front row OF THE GO BISTRO ASIAN FUSION BAR AND
GRILL in Concourse A of the San Francisco International Airport and
Barry Bonds was 3 for 3 with a double, a single, an HR his 756.

Of course the punchline is still the same. By the 7th inning Rajai
Davis is the best former Pirate on the field.

BTW - Hank Aaron's gracious scoreboard message proves once and for all
that he's a bigger man than Bud.

K

2007-08-07T00:34:00.001-04:00

Bottom 7. The mighty Barry has struck out. Now the only former Pirate
in the lineup is Rajai Davis.

The National League and it's double switches.

Section 106 Row 41 Seat 7.

2007-08-06T23:57:00.001-04:00

That's where I'm seated tonight at AT&T Park where Barry Bonds just
grounded into a 4-6-3 double play in the bottom of the 6th. He fouled
out to the 3rd baseman in the 1st and walked in the 3rd.

I'm not surprised. I never saw Barry Bonds do anything clutch in
person when he was a Pirate either.

Dead Ducks

2007-08-06T07:31:00.001-04:00

I'm back on the road after a 2 week hiatus, and my trip is off to an
"fowl" start.

As my plane approached O'Hare the Captain came on and said,

"I expected to be on the ground already, but the plane in front of us
flew through a flock of birds. Now we'll be another 10 minutes while
we switch runways so the can clean the dead birds off the runway."

A little much before breakfast if you ask me.

The Rest of My All-Star Week

2007-07-12T01:25:00.001-04:00

I went to the All-Star Game Tuesday...sort of. After getting out of
training around 4:30 yesterday, a colleague and an aquaintance from
the training decided to head to AT&T Park and try to get into the
All-Star Game.

As we arrived in the area about the time of player introductions,
market makers were asking $200-$300 per ticket - while nothing
compared to a rumored $25k some were asking, too steep for us to be
really interested, so our next move was to head around back and check
out the scene from McCovey Cove.

Kayaks are the most famous vessal out there, but we did see a couple
surf boards and a guy with a stool fastened to 2 water skis, and a
floating trampoline.

MLB and the Giants kept their tradition of allowing fans to stand at
the right field fence and watch a couple innings and the crowd was
thick even behind the baricaded pline. Just before game time, a few
Giants employees arrived to hand out a few free tickets...targeting
groups with one adult and several kids. Nice gesture.

I talked to a Dodger fan who had arrived around 4 with a full bottle
of rum. He expected to get in around the 3rd inning with an empty
bottle. Not a bad return on his time investment.

From our vantage point, we could get just a hint of what was going on.
From Willie Mays walking the gauntlet to driving around in the
Cadillac to Ken Griffey taking his spot in right field.

After the first inning we called it a night and headed off somewhere
else to watch the game and have dinner, but I still saw more of the
2007 All Star Game in San Francisco than the 2006 game in Pittsburgh.

Later that night we joined a crowd in the lobby of the Westin staking
out players. We caught glimpses of C.C. Sabathia and Justin Morneau
and Brian Roberts but all I got was a grainy photo of Mets GM Omar
Minaya.

It's like I was there, only not really.

How Many Flavors Are There At Baskin Robbins?

2007-07-12T00:59:00.001-04:00

If you said 31, you're wrong.

The Baskin Robbins at El Camino Real had 50 flavors in the case.

The employees at the chain that some even call "31 Flavors" didn't
even know what the 31 that appears between the Baskin and the Robbins
was supposed to stand for. They said it was their number...like the
Golden Arches of McDonalds.

For some reason, I had never bothered to think about the actual number
of seats...even though common sense would tell you that they would
have an even number (unless they doubled up on a few).

In another sign that we're all slowly being turned into hypnotized
monkeys incapable of doing anything without staring at a screen I
watched "NBC @ the pump" while filling my rental car with $3.28 gas.

X in 16 E

2007-07-09T02:01:00.001-04:00

Kicking off my 2nd half of 07 flying (1st half stats 108,000 miles
flown, 73 segments), I bumped into somebody wraping up his 1st half.

Last to board, seated 2 rows in front of me in 16E in a black San
Antonio Spurs t-shirt and backwards black baseball cap was Pirate RF
Xavier Nady carrying 50 RBI into the All Star break.

As astonishing as the fact that he was riding middle seat in coach on
an Airbus A320 was the fact that he made the flight at all. I left my
house at Chapel Harbor just after the last out of the Pirates 6-2 win
over the Cubs at about 5 after 4. Nady, who drove in a run in the
win, had to hustle to get showered and out to plane on time.

Nady's become a favorite in our house after the Pirates Kids Club
autograph session. There's a great photo of him and Damaso Marte with
my son on our photo share.

This in some small way made up for me being in 18E between a husband
and wife that did not want to switch but did not hesitate to
cross-talk.

Just like it was...only better

2007-07-07T22:34:00.000-04:00

This photo above is in the queue for the "Behind the Falls Adventure" in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

This year, I've noticed a disturbing trend. In the past 3 weeks I've been asked to pose in front of a green screen San Francisco, CA and Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada so the camera can capture my acted excitement and wonder and impose it on the background that captures that perfect moment before I've even experienced it. My experience on a, drizzly overcast 4th of July is pictured here. I'm not sure how different it would be on a sunny day.

Like a local weatherman or action hero, we're acting out the excitement we are about to experience to manufacture an abstract replica of what will be an actual memory in order to have it sold back to us in it's Photo Shopped perfection -- for like $10.

This is of course something that you can do in your own with your home computer without leaving the house for almost no cost, and of course there's taking your own photo, which also costs almost nothing.

Allegheny River Kayaking

2007-06-10T14:46:00.000-04:00

Since we've moved "down by the river," we've been able to pick up a new hobby that keeps you fit and gets you in touch with nature -- kayaking on the Allegheny River.

After borrowing a neighbors kayak a few weeks ago, we were hooked. A quick trip to Dick's Sporting goods for a boat, paddle, life jackets and cart that allows us to roll the boat the 1/8th of a mile or so from our garage to the waters edge, and we were in business.

At the spot where we live close to the Fox Chapel Yacht Club, there's generally lots of boats around, but very little boat traffic. So after slogging through a little bit of muddy shallow, you're out on the waterway.

In the kayak, you're literally sitting on top of the water. You will get wet, but not as wet as the jet skiers and water skiers you might be surprised to bump into.

The south shore is tree covered hillside. When the sun is shining with blue skies and blue water, it's the closest feeling I've had in Pennsylvania to the wide open spaces you find out west.

The wildlife surprises -- fish jump out of the water, geese and other birds swoop in and skim the water for catch. You'll make some friends out on the water as you pass fellow kayakers, and a few owners relaxing on their boats docked at the club.

Heading toward Oakmont, you'll find some islands in the water for exploring. The route (link) we've mapped here is typical for us. Almost 3.5 miles, it generally takes about an an hour with no lengthy stops.

Look Ma, No Dell

2007-06-04T13:58:00.000-04:00

On June 1, AMR announced it's Top 25 Supply Chains for 2007. Here's the Top 10:

1. Nokia
2. Apple
3. Proctor and Gamble
4. IBM
5. Toyota Motor
6. Wal-Mart Stores
7. Anheuser-Bush
8. Tesco
9. Best Buy
10. Samsung Electronics

I must admit scouring the list down through the Top 10 past Pepsi-co at 15 and HP at 21 through to AstraZeneca at 25 and having my jaw drop at the glaring absence of a company whose name and Supply Chain go hand-in-hand: Dell.

In the past these 2 had been nearly synonymous, #1 in the 2004 rankings, #1 in 2005, NOWHERE in 2007. Did Dell retire as Oprah retired from the Emmy competition for best talk show?

The 7-Deadly Anti-Competitive Sins

2007-06-02T10:27:00.000-04:00

I tore these out of USAToday this week where they were included with an article describing why Hong Kong, which has been named the world's freest economy by the Heritage Foundation for 13 consecutive years, is implementing a new competition law. These come from Peter Macmillan, a Hong Kong lawyer who's blog Hong Kong Competition Law has looked at pricing practices in the beer and pork industries. Without further adieu here are The 7 deadly anti-competitive sins:

1. Price-fixing
2. Bid-rigging
3. Market allocation
4. Sales and production quotas
5. Joint boycotts
6. Unfair or discriminatory standards
7. Abuse of dominant market position

Kennywood Day!

2007-05-27T10:19:00.001-04:00

Pitt Fall, originally uploaded by justinsullivan.

This past Wednesday was "Kennywood Day" for our school district. Kennywood is a Pittsburgh tradition and historic landmark founded in 1898. Completely ingrained in the Pittsburgh culture, it's practically assumed that every school kid, township, borough and several companies will host an annual Kennywood Day.

Virtually every Pittsburgher visits Kennywood each year and many more than once. Many end up working there at some point. I currently work with at least 2 ex-Kennywood employees, one of whom is married to an ex-Kennywood employee. Having lived in other cities, I can think of no other amusement park as completely ingrained in a cities identitiy as Kennywood. (Well, maybe Hershey Park.)

This year was milestone year for my 6 year old son, who rode both the Phantom's Revenge and the Pit Fall for the first time. Despite being pretty quiet and shy, he's been a coaster nut since his first ride on the Jack Rabbit when he was 3 years old.

Sitting by his side as we plunged down the hillside at speeds up to 85MPH, I saw the amusement park experience in a new perspective. Not just about fun, dizziness and fried food, thrill rides present real tests of courage for our kids (and adults too, I suppose).

So as we sat at the top of the Pitt Fall and my son said to me "This is a great view dad," as I tried to pry my eyes open, or he bounced along saying "I must be the bravest kid in the whole world." after conquering Phantom's Revenge, I decided that there's a valuable lesson at amusement parks about the rewards that come from taking calculated risks.

Intel gets the Le(a)d out...

2007-05-26T10:40:00.000-04:00

Intel's getting a lot of press for going "unleaded" as an environmental initiative, replacing the remaining o.o2 grams per chip with an alloy of tin, silver and copper.

As the trend graph above showing the price trend for lead shows, this is another in a line of decisions that could be driven as much by increases in the TCO related to producing it with lead as pure environmental stewardship.

While over the past several months the public may have reached a tipping point in terms of the conciousness of climate change, it appears that companies are approaching a cost tipping point where the cost of purchasing, using in production and remediating the negative aspects of materials with negative environmental impact is greater than the value that they provide.

Getting the lead out is still a bold move for a company whose approach is not usually heavy metal:

Taint of Politics Indeed

2007-05-20T08:52:00.000-04:00

The banner headline of One of America's Great Newspapers today reads: Taint of Politics colors city's Redd Up work.

The particular choice of the word taint by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is probably one of the most aggressive editorial choices in a long time. To paraphrase: It ain't the County Courthouse and it ain't the City County Building. [Insert teeanage boy giggle here.]

The Boomerangs Turn Green

2007-05-17T12:43:00.000-04:00

Last week, IBM announced a $1 billion investment in reducing the energy consumption in its global data centers.

In a May 16 Business Green Blog interview Mike Arenth, Ariba's VP of EMEA, talks about both the barriers and practical steps that organizations can take to implement a green sourcing initiative.

Some interesting nuggets:

While sustainable procurement is a top 3 initiative for many European CPOs about half aren't really sure how to acheive it.
Spend Visibility plays a key role in finding the right targets and managing compliance with green sourcing initiatives.
Establishing and measuring the right key performance indicators in you Supplier Performance Management process increases the buyer and suppliers overall accountability.

Warren Buffett does Supply Chain

2007-05-16T09:48:00.000-04:00

Think Supply Chain is important? So does Warren Buffett.

In this week's Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, the oracle of Omaha revealed that he had taken large stakes in the Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern and Burlington Northern and Santa Fe railroads.

Warren, buying into the idea that high fuel costs and increasing highway congestion will make railroads a more critical, financially successful, link in the supply chain. For Berkshire, it's a $3.5 billion dollar bet on the financial strength of the railroad.

Maybe it's not the turn of the 20th century all over again, but it doesn't make me feel good if I'm managing a lot of transportation spend....

I'd Rather Manage Spend...

2007-05-11T13:36:00.001-04:00

Painting The Tower, originally uploaded by justinsullivan.

than paint this tower.

This tower is connected to another just like it perched high on a hillside across the Allegheny River. The townhomes at the bottom of the photo are 3 stories high.

If you look closely about half way up you can see a man painting. If you look REALLY closely you might be ableto see 2 more men at the top where the wires connect doing the same thing.

Currently, a crew of about 5 guys is working to prep, prime and paint the tower to protect it from rust and reduce the eyesore factor at that end of our neighborhood.

One of many jobs I prefer a career in Spend Management to.

How much do you think IBM Spends on energy?

2007-05-10T09:30:00.000-04:00

IBM announced that it was going to allocate $1 billion in investment on strategies andtechnologies to double the energy efficiency of their computer data centers. IBM, the world's largest operator of data centers, wants to double capacity without increasing the amount of energy expended. The benefit will not only accrue to IBM, but will become a service that IBM will sell to its customers.

IBM has a history of participating in environmental steward ship, but a $1 billion investment must have a return. I can only imagine how much IBM is already spending on energy and how much they expect the cost to grow for this program to be worthwhile -- not only as a conversation and spend management initiative but as a marketable service as well.

On another note...IBM has 53,000 employees in India, the largest country presence outside the US, mostly providing call center services.

The Similarity of Sourcing Transport and Kidneys

2007-05-07T10:21:00.000-04:00

Last week I posted about the the algorithm that killed Jeeves, the tongue in cheek (or foot in mouth depending how you look at it) billboard series by ask.com.

Today's Pittsburgh Post Gazette features the work of Tuomas Sundholm, a computer scientist professor at Carnegie Mellon. Sundholm, in addition to being a former Finnish windsurfing champion, is the founder of Combinenet. Combinet is a niche competitor of Ariba that uses algorithms to optimize the solution of network sourcing problems, the classic case of which is transportation where many suppliers can potentially serve many destinations with varied degrees of efficiency. (They've been a landing spot for many ex-FreeMarketeers and publish Combinenotes if you're interested.)

Sundholm, not content to dabble in windsurfing and trucking, is now setting his sites on using algorithms to source kidney transplants by matching pairs of mis-matched buyers and suppliers...I mean patients and donors. Often an individual patient has a willing but incompatible donor, by using an optimization algorithm, Sundholm hopes to match patient/donor pairs to create networks of efficient matches, helping to alleviate the imbalance between the need for transplants and the supply of available kidneys.

Apparently he's got a pretty good Texas Hold 'Em simulation too.

Help Catch The Lackawanna County Flasher

2007-05-05T10:19:00.000-04:00

Dwight K. Schrute, Commander of the Lackawanna County Taskforce (and Assistant Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin) is looking for information on the Lackawanna County flasher. Please call him at 1-800-984-3672 if you have any information on this pervert.

"I have bare feet Mommy, but you have pig feet."

2007-05-03T21:33:00.000-04:00

My 3 year old daughter to my wife after taking her shoes off in the car.

The Algorithm That Killed Jeeves

2007-05-01T23:50:00.000-04:00

During the last part of my commute (and by commute I mean 8 hour planes, trains and automobile odyssey from Pittsburgh, PA to Mountain View, CA) on Southbound 101 en route from SFO to Mountain View in a rented white chevy Malibu I passed an ambiguous blue billboard with the following inscription:

"The algorithm killed Jeeves."

So who's billboard is it? The Jeeves seemed an obvious reference to Ask Jeeves now ask.com. But who is the "algorithm"? My guess was that the algorithm was Google whose patent filings for search algorithms are dissected by profiteering webmasters all over the world.

After a little Googling...I was able to determine (about 30 days after everyone else) that the killer of Jeeves was Jeeves himself. It turns out that the ask.com algorithm killed Jeeves and this is a stealth marketing campaign.

This one is a clunker to me. My web search revealed that I wasn't the only one that thought the billboard was a Google enterprise. If your marketing refers to killing a part of a brand that your closely associated with and makes people think of the top competitor and leader in market share in the market that you're in...your marketing might not be successful.

Sully bids Kid Adieu

2007-04-30T14:00:00.000-04:00

Peter Leo published his retirement column in today's Morning File. I always thought he had a fun job...to read a lot of random stuff...pull a theme out of mid-air and tie it all together, kind of like a 6 degrees of everything.

Back in the heady days of the XL Super Bowl run when almost all Puhlamalu searches led to Sully and the hype machine was going at full tilt, Peter Leo featured my coverage of a Seattle Seahawks pep rally in Pittsburgh in the Morning File. I think I was featured 2 more times (to be honest, I can't remember the second one). The last was when he ran my rambling recollection of afternoons at Schenley Park Golf Course with the late Bob O'Connor.

Peter, it was fun to be included in your column. It was fun to know you were reading every once in a while. It was fun to see what else you were thinking about. Enjoy your retirement.

Happy Friday Evening from Taipei

2006-11-10T04:49:00.000-05:00

So, it's been a while, huh? After several weeks my first post since September finds me in Taiwan at the end of a Friday work day on the second (3rd?) day of a business trip that will take me on to Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai before returning back to Pittsburgh.

Since September we've moved out of my in-laws and into a new home, and I've moved into a new chapter of my career that has so far whisked me off to Paris, Munich, Dublin, and now Taipei, not to mention Mountain View, CA. Not to mention the dozens of other things that have come and gone that I might have an opinion on.

This morning I woke up next to Taipei 101, the tallest building in Taipei and the world, and while there was no time for exploring during the day, our hosts took us to a Chinese restaurant in the adjacent mall. We sampled a fantastic Chinese lunch with noodles, beef salad, artichokes, green beans, pork with mustard grass, spicy tofu, fish and rice. They got to watch me struggle with chopsticks (gsully would tell you I struggle with chopstick because I don't even know how to hold a pencil) I got a great meal.

A message from Sully's wife...

2006-10-18T11:06:00.000-04:00

For those of you wondering, Sully has not gone AWOL; he's just been extremely busy. Since his last post, we have moved into a new house, and he has started a new job within Ariba, which so far has lined up about 8 countries in the next month or so which he is to visit. He is currently in Munich and will be off to Dublin within the next 24 hours. So, between unpacking boxes, assembling furniture, and celebrating 3 out of 5 birthdays in our family which occur within about 6 weeks of each other, he has been interviewing for, preparing for, and now implementing a global kick-off for a new position, as well as wrapping up the loose ends of the old one. I'm sure he will have many tidbits to share, and I know he won't let the Polamalu hair-pulling incident go un-blogged, but in the mean time, this quick and boring explanation from his wife, who is herself juggling 3 small children and the new house and bills to boot, will have to do!

I Could Be The Next Bachelor...except

2006-09-14T10:26:00.000-04:00

Straight to you from my GMail inbox this morning:

Dear Justin ,

ABC Television's hit reality television show, The Bachelor, is searching for its next star. After viewing your profile on LinkedIn, the casting producer has selected you as a potential candidate.

ABC is using LinkedIn to find its next Bachelor because this time around, they're looking for an accomplished professional. LinkedIn is about your professional life instead of your personal life, so we don't know if your marital or relationship status qualifies you for the show. However, your professional profile fits the bill.

If you think you'd make a great Bachelor, please let me know by reply (xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.com) and I will contact you regarding next steps. LinkedIn respects your privacy and will not release your contact information, so you must reply to the email above for us to pass you along as a candidate.

If you know anyone else that would make a great Bachelor, feel free to let us know
about them. ABC will pay a $5,000 reward for any referral that leads to the
next star.

Wishing you continued professional
success,
XXXXX XXXXXX
Assistant to the CEO LinkedIn

Sorry ladies, but GSully and the three amigos take me out of the running. Here's a link to my winning profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/justinsullivan.

Out here in Steeler Nation...Houston, TX

2006-09-08T08:58:00.000-04:00

You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by justinsullivan.

Thursday Spetember 7 rolled around and I find myself on the road in Houston, TX doing voice overs for Computer Based Spend Management Training. (If Sully's Stuff ever launches a pod cast, you will learn that he's no Don Pardo). That means I had to get out of my hotel room into Steeler Nation to see the kick off. I suspect that scenes like this played out in Steelers Bars accross the country:

I went to SRO in NW Houston and arrived around 7 PM (Houston is in the Central time zone), and found a few fans already gathering and a poker tournament kicking off. Is there anything more ironic than a cue ball bald man in a Troy Polamalu jersey?

As we got closer to game time, the crowd really began to build, mostly with Steelers fans. There was the Steeler family, a husband, wife and 2 boys, that arrived wearing black jerseys that proceeded to spread out their Steelers table cloth and decorate their personal space.

Pittsburgh looked great -- LOVED the spotlights along the bridges and rivers, can't wait to get home tomorrow.

Jersey's on the scene included several Polamalus and Roethlisbergers, 1 Joey Porter, 1 Willie Parker (which also happened to be the only white Steelers jersey, a Jerome Bettis and a drumroll please....Kordell Stewart. My Kevin Greene jersey was hung in my closet at home. I almost forgot the one lonely Dolphin fan in the Zach Thomas (of the Parma Texas Thomas') jersey.

The most colorful fan was a woman that sat in front of me and smoked Art Rooney's cigar for the entire first half, and 46 seconds into the 2nd quarter when the Steelers scored their first Touchdown, the first chant of Here We Go Steelers erupted.

The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Steeler Country.

Thank You For Including Me

2006-09-08T08:43:00.000-04:00

Thank you to Peter Leo for including me in yesterday's Morning File tribute to Mayor Bob O'Connor in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The Bob O'Connor I'll Remember

2006-09-06T09:38:00.000-04:00

Out of thousands that had personal connection to Bob O'Connor, the Pittsburgh Mayor that lost a brief battle with brain cancer last Friday, mine is near the bottom, but this is how I will remember him.

During the summer's of 1994 and 1995 I worked as a ranger at Schenley Park Golf Course (my Caddyshack phase). On many summer afternoons as the sun would begin to set to a golden twilight, one of Pittsburgh's City Councilman would pull up to the course with his youngest son and quietly they would practice together in front of the clubhouse on the putting green. They enjoyed the game, and they enjoyed each other.

Now 12 years later, with young children of my own, it is that memory, far quieter and more personal than many, that I've been reflecting on. A memory that somehow taught a 21 year-old kid who was concentrating mostly on which bar he was going to that night a little bit about being a good dad. When I read in the paper that his funeral procession would pass the golf course, I knew that somebody else remembered that too.

One day you're in...The next day you're AUF'ed

2006-08-31T12:17:00.000-04:00

Among the cliches of "reality television" a contestant from Pittsburgh. Launched in Survivor season II Australia ("Baby Got")Outback, continued with Sarah "hand model" Kozer (whom my wife attended sleep overs with as a kid) and will continue in this fall's "Segregated Survivor" when University of Pittsburgh Law School alum "Becky" Lee goes all out for Team Asians.

Last night, the latest Pittsburgh connected reality show contestant was "auf-ed" from Project Runway. Angela Kesslar, born in Johnstown, now living in Aames, Ohio and contemporary of mine at CMU. Apparently the judges thought that whoever said she was an "arts and crafts macaroni gluer and not a designer" was right.

Angela attended CMU, a fact that I confirmed after Googling her based on some vague recollection of the name or the face. I don't remember if I ever actually met her, or if she was a name and face that somehow stuck out in the black and white blandness of the freshman pic-book to an eager and anxious teenage boy going to a school with 3 boys for every 2 girls (as my college years pre-dated facebook.com).

I do know that this connection made me slightly more sympathetic to the girl that didn't sketch and was always in a fight with somebody. Especially when that obnoxious guy with Detroit inked on his neck went after that nice Western Pennsylvania mom.

Fanaticos de los Steelers

2006-08-29T15:03:00.000-04:00

You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by justinsullivan.

I picked up this Spanish Language cheer card for the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday at the PNC Bank Headquarters branch in downtown Pittsburgh. In contrast to other cities, the sight of Spanish language signs and marketing materials is still very rare in Pittsburgh. For many, this is a sign of a lack of vibrancy and a symptom of the lack of migration to the Pittsburgh area over the past 7 years.

For a brief time last season, the Steelers had a Spanish language section of their website - espanol.steelers.com. A visit to the site today brings up the ordinary home page, but you can still read "El Presidente" Art Rooney and "Director General" Dan Rooney's welcome letter here. (How do you say 'n at in espanol?). Previously the team had discussed Spanish language brodcasts and highlighted the fact that Pittsburgh's metropolitan area is 154th in the US for hispanic population, and that 13 NFL teams currently offer Spanish language radio broadcasts.

Slowly but surely spanish is creeping into the things we see in Pittsburgh every day (like the Giant Eagle ads in the City Paper), but seeing something like this in downtown Pittsburgh is still surprising and mysterious. And if you want to talk to PNC in Spanish, just call 866-Hola-PNC, seriously.

Shmula on LinkedIn

2006-08-29T10:43:00.000-04:00

Peter Abilla, ops expert and publisher of Shmula, posts on the number of strangers in his LinkedIn network today. I was going to post this as a comment, but I couldn't pass his math test (on his blog, somehow adding 4 and 2 does not make 6:

Peter -- you and I met through a LinkedIn request, and I agree, it's easy to have a cluttered network full of people that you don't know.

Just about everyone has received requests from people that query by company or occupation and take an educated guess on your e-mail to build a massive bank of contacts. Of course, this makes your search broader and increases the chances you'll find what you're looking for.

The downside is when you have to pass on a request from someone that you don't know to contact someone that you know very well without really being able to validate the value of making that introduction for your friend. I won't pass on these types of requests unless I "meet" the person in a conversation first. I come down on the side of "more is better" but it means that I use LinkedIn more as a database of loose connections than a tool to truly manage my personal network.

As if to prove my point:

2006-08-18T10:31:00.000-04:00

Proving that it always pays to come early in the alphabet -- Carnegie Mellon is featured as on of the 25 "New Ivies" in this week's Newsweek.

Pittsblog: Warning: Branding Coming Back to Pittsburgh

2006-08-18T10:16:00.000-04:00

Since I've been posting, I've been a fan of reading Mike Madison's posts at Pittsblog --and am happy to recently be added to his blog roll.

A recurring theme there, and for anyone who listens to the media in Pittsburgh is Pittsburgh's "brand" and the efforts of large groups of well-educated, well-intentioned people to "re-brand" Pittsburgh, the latest effort will be Pittsburgh 250, which will allow us to revisit well worn circular arguments about what Pittsburgh's brand is or should be.

Here's what I believe: Pittsburgh need's a brand destruction program more than a brand creation program.

Pittsburgh is fighting a newsreel image (or maybe a late 1970's NFL Films playoffs highlight film image) of snowy gritty skies, cold weather, and an industrial skyline of steel mills and blast furnaces. This is the anchor that many people seem to have, I somehow don't believe that (how many glowing "hidden gem" pieces in the NYTimes does it take to change belief?), but the brand seems powerful.

Underneath there are a series of niche brands for Pittsburgh that seem to be growing steadily and strongly within their niches:

1. Pittsburgh as an urban outdoors capital. We just picked up an endorsement here from National Geographic's travel magazine and watching kayaks bob for baseballs at the All-Star game didn't hurt this one either. The whitewater rafting, Bassmaster, Rachel Carson Trail Challenge, and green buildings Pittsburgh.

2. Pittsburgh as a home of medical innovation. Cancer treatment, facial reconstruction, transplants -- it's a rare week when Pittsburgh's medical research isn't in the news somewhere.

3. Pittsburgh as a home of technology innovation. The Pittsburgh that keeps the internet safe, that invents electronic reverse auctions, and robot vehicles.

4. Pittsburgh as a great place to raise a family. Families attracted to convenient, reasonably priced real estate, strong school districts, and city ammenities that can actually afford to make the choice for 1 parent to stay at home and raise the children.

5. Pittsburgh as a source of art and history. The Andy Warhol, Falling Water, George Washington almost drowned here. All of these brands are about opportunities to live an attractive type of lifestyle or celebrate something important.

The truth is, I could live anywhere, all I need for my career is an airport and a cell-phone and an internet connection. But my wife and I chose Pittsburgh 7 years ago with no jobs, primarily because of #4, we've found opportunities here because of #3, we like #5, #1 becomes more important to us every day (we're building a house on the river, watch out for me in an inner-tube trailing a 6-pack off the back next summer).

My belief is that all of these niches seem to be growing, but a single powerful image is difficult to overcome. If you're Austin, it's enough to just build a brand by having a bunch of niches grow until they all come together (outdoors, music, youth, technology). If you're Pittsburgh, you have to kill the old one, but it's misguided to think you have to magically replace one old big brand with one new one, you just need to create some room for the new ones to grow.

Pittsburgh need's that moment from the famous Apple 1984 commercial when the athlete runs into the room and throws a sledge hammer through the old image of Pittsburgh killing it once and for all.

Sick Boy

2006-08-17T09:50:00.000-04:00

You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by justinsullivan.

Driving the Mini to the Park 'N Ride this morning drinking my coffee black in BMF travel mug (my life is so exciting), I pulled up behind Sick Boy here and suddenly felt like I was in a Quentin Tarentino movie.

Are you heading to Latrobe?

2006-07-29T09:12:00.000-04:00

If you are one of the 86 invited to Steeler training camp, you're late, but if you've still got time to plan, this Steeler training camp guide will tell you what you need to know to have a good day in Latrobe.

(It's a little bit sad that the Steelers return coincides with the last bottles of Rolling Rock rolling off the line at the Latrobe Brewing Company. Maybe someone will have to re-write the 33 words in eulogy.)

More Out-Landis-ness!

2006-07-27T14:01:00.000-04:00

Maybe the guy that said "We are disappointed with the lifestyle he lives, but I love him as a friend and care about him." was on to something.

Floyd Landis apparently has a little extra testosterone in the tank for Stage 17 last Thursday. If Stage 17 doesn't ring a bell, it is the stage to Morzine where Landis moved from being more than 8 minutes behind in 11th place and ended up 2nd, just 30 seconds behind, positioning him for the win.

Perhaps even more surprising is that it seems logical that he got caught only because whoever gave it to him, gave him just a little too much. The post-race test looks at the ratio of testosterone testosterone to epitestosterone in the body. Normally, its 1:1, and anything greater than 4:1 fails the test. Landis was 6:1.

Maybe that gives a little extra meaning to the "It was my only chance and we had no other options." comment in this post-stage interview:

Putting Lipstick on a Pig

2006-07-25T09:08:00.000-04:00

Putting Lipstick on a Pig
Originally uploaded by justinsullivan.

Highlighting Julie Murphree's interview with former FreeMarkets COO Dave Becker, Jason Busch has the honesty and courage to compare some of his marketing efforts at FreeMarkets to putting makeup on a pig in Spend Matters (not sure if he hit the market on graciousness). If you're having any difficulty picturing what this is like, pick up the July 24 issue of Information Week magazine. (Information Week Cover Image by Mark Coulas)

Ariba Earnings Today...

2006-07-25T08:59:00.000-04:00

Ariba, Inc. will webcast 3rd quarter earnings (Apr-Jun) this afternoon at 5PM EDT.

Join the webcast on vcall.

An Amazing, Out-Landis Tale

2006-07-24T13:29:00.000-04:00

I'm officially looking forward to reading the Floyd Landis book detailing his inner drive to win the Tour De France as much as I was looking forward to reading about Lance Armstrong after he won 1st won the Tour in 1999.

I find myself intrigued and curious about the Landis story. Landis was raised a Mennonite tradition that deemphasizes personal acheivment and glory and told by his father that his cycling would not amount to anything. Inside he found the drive and courage to sneak away in the middle of the night to practice and then to move from Lancaster County, PA to San Diego to pursue his dream. As if that weren't enough, Landis battled through an arthritic hip condition that will require surgery now that the tour is over and needed to overcome an 8 minute deficit in the final 3 days of the race in order to win.

Where Armstrong's moment of truth was pretty easy to identify, his battle with testicular cancer, Landis' is enigmatic. To win the Tour requires a love of the bicycle, an obsessive discipline to practice the mundane and technical details, a team of support on the road and off it, and a self-absorbed, deep seated competitive desire to believe in the possibility and commit to the task.

It is this last detail that intrigues me given his upbringing. This deep seated belief that he could have such success in an individual sport, to compete in pursuit of individual glory and to acheive it by winning, seems most inconsistent with his Menonite origins. Ironically, it could also be the source of the great discipline and hard work required to be successful.

The reaction of his parents and home town certainly revealed the complexity at the intersection of his triumph and his heritage. In the AP story by Michael Rubinkam we see that his mother Arlene had to go to a neighbor's house to see her son race on television each morning. Yesterday, at her son's moment of triumph, she was in church at her normal Sunday services, where his name was not even mentioned, and parishoners had words of encouragement like this, "We are disappointed with the lifestyle he lives, but I love him as a friendand care about him." Frankly, it sounds like my family and friends were more supportive of my adventure in the Harrisburg Marathon last fall.

I hope that Floyd Landis is able to take the full measure of joy and fulfilment from his win yesterday, and like I said I can't wait to read the book.

You Can't Keep A Good Band Down

2006-07-22T10:40:00.000-04:00

Corbin/Hanner at the Irwin Band Stand
Originally uploaded by justinsullivan.

Being out of our house this summer has forced us to broaden our horizons. Our family's affinity for music picnics began with the wine and cheese crowd on the manicured grounds of the Frick with the occasional journey to Point State Park. This summer, we've yet to venture to a 1st Friday concert but have been to the Point for Roseanne Cash and out to Pittsburgh's North Hills for a Bluegrass Festival at Hartwood Acres. Last night, hotdogs, nachos and snow cones replaced wine and cheese as the music picnic adventure expanded to Westmoreland County for the Corbin Hanner show at the Irwin Municipal Park.

Overcoming a torrential downpour that caused some electrical problems. Corbin Hanner proved that you can't keep a good band down. The band is one of Pittsburgh's hidden powerhouses, quietly delivering country/rock in the shadow of the attention given to The Clarks and Rusted Root.

The 3 Amigos, joined by their cousin we're in full dance mode for the 2 hour plus show played in support of the Norwin Relay For Life for the American Cancer Society. Today at Noon, 36 relay teams will begin circling the track at Norwin High School Stadium for 24 hours to raise money for cancer research.

Bob Corbin and Dave Hanner have been playing together since highschool, and enjoyed some national success as performers in the late 1980's. Bob Corbin especially has written noteworthy songs including "Can't Keep A Good Man Down" by Alabama and is currently working with The Poverty Neck Hillbillies.

Dave Hanner has been featured on Sully's Stuff twice before. On May 26, 2005 we featured Eat 'N Park's generous offer to American Idol runner-up Bo Bice to record their new Hanner written jingle. On February 20, his song "The Place Where I Come From" was Sully Stuff's choice in the Post-Gazette's song about Pittsburgh contest, which was unfortunately won by "I Love Pittsburgh," by Jimmy Sapienza.

The Small World...

2006-07-21T14:15:00.000-04:00

Staying in touch with friends and groups is obvioulsy easier than ever with the internet, but an e-mail exchange on my CMU fraternity chapter really sparked my imagination for some reason.

The first e-mail said "I'm in London on business, is anybody else." The replies caused us to learn:

1. Another guy is in Pune, India after Thursday.
2. Another guy is Jerusalem until Monday.
3. There are more people in London who might be able to get together.
4. The guy in Jerusalem feels safe, despite world events.
5. Another guy was actually in Beirut, being evacuated to Cyprus and then going on to Jordan to study Arabic.
6. Our fraternity's return to our house on the CMU campus is not going as smoothly as planned.

That's 2 guys in London, 1 in Jerusalem, 1 in Pune, 1 in Cyprus on his way to Jordan, enabled by 3 more guys in Pittsburgh.

Me, I'm basically where I've been all summer: My Cubicle.

Ariba's All-Star Impression

2006-07-19T11:17:00.000-04:00

Last week as millions of sports fans tuned into the Major League Baseball's All-Star festivities, they were introduced to PNC Park and the Pittsburgh sky-line for the first time. Monday night as the left-handed "Davids" (Big Papi Ortiz and the Champ Howard) launched baseball's at the Goliath skyscrapers, viewers were continually introduced to the red boomerangs of Ariba, Inc.

Front Row Marketing Services estimated that PNC Bank received $11.7 million in free advertising during the All-Star Game, which included 13 minutes and 25 seconds of on bank logo shots, 17 seconds of on-screen PNC graphics and 12 "verbal mentions."

Now Ariba didn't take away the same type of value, but there it was on-screen anyway, which I'm sure caused some people to go to Google and find out about the world-wide leader in Spend-Management solutions.

Ariba, and it's predecessor company FreeMarkets have been a fixture patrolling Center Field in PNC Park since it opened in 2001. The sign was first "turned-on" on September 21, 2000 when the building was re-christened "FreeMarkets Center" from One Oliver Plaza in a dedication ceremony attended by then Mayor Tom Murphy. It also happens to be the day my son was born.

The Ariba name hovering over the outfield (although missing one "r") is not entirely inappropriate for baseball fans, and in particular Pirate fans. Arriba, an exclamation of pleasure, approval, or elation, was the nickname of the most mythical player in Pirates history, Roberto Clemente.

Are the Bucs the 1990 Atlanta Braves?

2006-07-18T10:29:00.000-04:00

3-11 5.64 ERA
10-12 4.28 ERA
9-11 3.16 ERA
14-11 3.85 ERA
15-15 3.46 ERA

Who's starting rotation is this? It is not the 2005 or 2006 Pittsburgh Pirates, or any other Pirates team over the past 14 years of losing. It is the records of the 1990 Atlanta Braves, plus Greg Maddux. The ace of the staff, the one with the 3.16 ERA is none other than the immortal Charlie Liebrandt. John Smoltz, in his 2nd full season in the majors was the sole pitcher with a winning record. Tom Glavine, in his 3rd full season, was still not quite over the hump. Even Greg Maddux, then with the Cubs, wasn't Greg Maddux in the won-lost column.

There's starting to be a the rumble, the tremor of a theory here in the 'Burgh that the Bucs are the '90 Braves. (Brian O'Neill even mentions it in his column today.)

This is what we're reduced to, hoping that the 2006 Pittsburgh Pirates are the 1990 Atlanta Braves. The 1990 Atlanta Braves won 65 games, the 1991 Atlanta Braves won 94 games, finished 1st in the NL West and lost the World Series to the Minnesota Twins. Glavine was suddenly 20-11, Avery 18-8, Smoltz 14-13 and good time Charlie Liebrandt 15-13.

For this to be true, Duke, Maholm, Snell, et al would actually have to mature as pitchers faster than Smoltz, Glavine, and Avery. (Remember, Maddux didn't join the Braves as a free agent until 1993, 2 seasons after a pattern of winning was established.) On the other hand, the 2006 Pirates may already be better than the 1991 Braves offensively.

Look up the middle, '06 Pirates vs. '91 Braves

C: Paulino (.303 avg. .745 OPS) vs. Olson (.241/.661)
2B: Castillo (.272/.756 OPS) vs. Lemke (.234/.617)
SS: Wilson (.268/.682 OPS) vs. Belliard (.249/.582)
CF: Bautista (.275/.875 OPS) vs. Nixon (.297/.698)

The 2006 Bucs are clearly better offensively at all 4 positions.

Well, surely the Braves were better at the power positions right?
1B: Casey (.306/.820 OPS) vs. Bream (.253/.736)
3B: Sanchez (.363/.930 OPS) vs. Pendleton (.319/.880)
LF: Bay (.290/.936 OPS) vs. Gant (.251/.834)
RF: Burnitz (.227/.689 OPS) vs. Justice (.275/.880) (Yeah, we've got no place for Craig Wilson and his .270/.833 in this outfield.)

The 2006 Bucs are clearly better offensively at every position except right field.

I would feel better about this if it weren't largely an accident. A big part of the difference offensively for the 2006 Pirates is the fact that Paulino, Bautista, and Sanchez accidentally became starters when the Duffy, Doumit/Cota, and Randa went in the tank. Inexcusably, we continue to trot the horrible Burnitz over Craig Wilson, who has to be one of the least appreciated players ever to wear a Pirate uniform. Bautista and Paulino also still have a pretty small sample size to see if they will be long-term answers. At this point though, I'm willing to take happy accidents over atrocious decisions.

So as Pittsburgh prepares to stop paying attention to baseball in 2006 when the Steelers head to Latrobe, I will continue to scan the box scores and tell myself that the rotation is getting experience and maturing. Even is they lose 100 games, it will all be worth it when the pitching gets it together in 2007 and begins 14 years of dominance over the NL Central.

That'll get me through this year, but if the '06 Pirates turn out to be the '89 Braves and I still have to sit through the '90 Braves in '07, things will get difficult.

Mentionable, but not quotable...

2006-07-03T14:30:00.000-04:00

When you go to your mailbox to pick up your July issue of Government Executive (you know you subscibe), turn to the article titled "Bidding Wars" by Kimberly Palmer, and take in the 2nd to last paragraph:

"Researching suppliers ahead of time and specifying exactly what an agency wants are essential, says Justin Sullivan, a manager at Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Ariba Inc., provider of reverse auction hosting services."

Aaaah to be paraphrased in print. I may not have given them the quote that they needed, but I was good enough to get the paraphrased second-to-last word.

link:"Bidding Wars" by Kimberly Palmer.

Demand Management At American Airlines...

2006-06-23T10:17:00.000-04:00

Last night after missing a family dinner at my Mother-In-Law's house because I was sitting in traffic slowly consuming $3 gas, I had the pleasure of catching the end of the NBC Nightly News, and wouldn't you know it, the one piece I saw was on a company-wide spend management effort at American Airlines to manage the consumption of jet fuel by Tom Costello. The report shows the impact that focused efforts to manage spend can have, even when the commodity trades at a market price.

Some highlights from the report:

American Airlines consumes about 3 billion gallons of jet fuel each year, more barrels of jet fuel than Ireland consumes of oil.
Every $0.01 increase in the price of jet fuel costs American Airlines $33 million.

In an industry where many players go back and forth between bankruptcy and the edge of bankruptcy, managing the demand for jet fuel -- limiting its consumption -- can literally impact the survival of the company.

Many business travelers are familiar with the fact that American Airline's polished steel planes are kept that way to save the fuel required to carry the extra weight of paint. This report highlighted things you may not have known:

American saved $4m by implementing a procedure for pilots to taxi back and forth to the runway using a single engine.
They saved an additional $3m by cutting the amount of water in half.
They have removed unused galleys and asked passengers to lower window shades when planes are on the ground.
Their operations center studies weather to route planes through the most favorable winds for fuel consumption.
The airline is retrofitting planes with winglets. Installing winglets on 20 transcontinental 757s will reduce American's fuel consumption by 3 million gallons. (The winglets, recently featured in this USAToday article cost about $725,000 a pair).

At American, conservation and profitability go hand-in-hand. For all of its efforts, American claimed to have reduced it's fuel consumption by 84 million gallons last year, enough to save $161 million dollars.

The report is available to view on MSNBC's website. Go to MSNBC Video and look for "Airline cuts cost in little ways."

Celebrate Incoterms!

2006-06-22T13:24:00.000-04:00

The International Chamber of Commerce sent a reminder today to celebrate the 70th anniversery of INCOTERMS! Pardon me while I go grab a $0.25 pop here at Ariba, Inc.'s Pittsburgh tower (the one that watches solemnly over centerfield in PNC Park as the Pirates blow game after game season after season).

According to the ICC's release on the anniversary, International Commercial Terms have been keeping "the bricks of world trade contracts together" since 1936. The ICC also took a moment to recognize "the best known Incoterms are: EXW (Ex Works), FOB (Free on Board), CIF (Cost, Insurance, and Freight), CPT (Carraige Paid To), and my personal favorite, DDU (Delivered Duty Unpaid).

As we speak, the ICC is having a blowout in Venice, where in addition to the wine flowing, guests are being treated to presentations on the birth and evolution of INCOTERMS and "the role of INCOTERMS in jurisprudence."

Sadly, my tux remains in the closet because I could not get the travel approved by Ariba or GSully.

Not everyone loves Sandra Bullock...

2006-06-21T16:24:00.000-04:00

Sandra Bullock is widely considered one of America's sweethearts, perhaps the acting profession's version of Katie Couric.

Recently she has been in the news for reuniting with Speed co-star Keanu Reeves in a time-travel romance that is decidedly different than Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

This attention on Sandra Bullock reminded me that The Ambassador, my Seattle based driver during a January client visitor once had an encounter with her that he didn't consider all that positive. Then again, my colleagues and I didn't consider him to be all that positive.

Link: 25 days of rain and Sandra Bullock is ugly, a Seattle story.

Why Procurement Outsourcing is coming to a company near you

2006-06-21T13:01:00.000-04:00

First, let me start by saying I should have outsourced my blog this month. I'm frankly astonished by how well the traffic has held up despite this only being the 3rd installment of the stuff this month. Thanks for hanging in there.

While I haven't been writing, I have been doing some reading, which has caused me to think about the procurement outsourcing business. Procurement BPO has recently been discussed in in Spend Matters, Supply Excellence, and e-sourcing forum among others. IDC is expecting 22.3% compound growth over the next 5 years. A lot of these posts have focused on the rate of adoption, the fundamental question of whether or not its possible, and opportunities and shortcomings of the marketplace.

In my opinion, the rise of outsourcing solutions like Ariba, Inc.'s Managed Procurement Services is inevitable and in progress and here's why...

1. Companies have already outsourced sourcing and procurement for some of their most complex direct materials, proving that outsourcing works and is effective. The tiering of the supply base by OEMs has effectively outsourced sourcing and procurement of a large percentage of the material content of products to a handful of "systems" suppliers. They've pushed the risk of component availability and pricing for these system's to their outsourced provider. Sure, Dell's supplier produces the components they sell, but it's not just component manufacturing they've pushed out the door, it's sourcing and procurement as well.

In these cases, the product delivered to the end customer serves as a proxy for the service level agreement. Dell knows exactly what it will receive and when it will receive it. For non-product spend, many companies lack that SLA or a proxy. Their procurement processes are relatively immature or undefined. The development of centralized or center led procurement organizations is a stepping stone to the maturity of process understanding that is required to establish the outsourced relationship and govern it.

2. Value proposition. Like other outsourcing markets, there is opportunity to save money through labor arbitrage or the application of technology that a company might not otherwise invest in. Unlike most opportunities there is the lever to influence the cost, price and value of the goods and services received. The value proposition does not rely on merely being able to do the same thing more efficiently, but by being able to focus leveraged resource in a way that delivers more effectively.

3. Accountability. In technology and consulting relationships, they're is occasionally some tension between what the consultant estimates as the benefit produced by a recommendation and the benefit that the the company perceives that it actually realizes. Is it the strategy that didn't fulfill it's promise, or the employees of the company that implemented the strategy? Theoretically, an outsourced procurement relationship should give you access to the best practice methodology and knowledge that attracts you to the consultant with the added benefit of accountability -- the ultimate in "you think you can do it better, then prove it." The best part is because of the magnitude of the relationship and the long term duration, this accountability should come at a discount to a consultant's day rate.

There you have it 3 factors that are going to have companies plugging into the capabilities of procurement service providers -- and I didn't even have to fall back on mentioning all of the other things that are already outsourced.

Later on, I'll talk about what companies can do to prepare to outsource...

Where'd You Go?

2006-06-15T10:28:00.000-04:00

It's been a long time between posts to the site, but I've been busy. (If you were expecting a post about Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda's new project Fort Minor, well sorry.)

I closed the sale of my house yesterday. So, if you were interested in living here, its too late. That's 44 days from listing to closing without using a realtor or the multi-list.

GSully and I are now working on moving most of our stuff into storage and the family into temporary quarters with gsully's parents over the next couple of weeks. Fitting all of that in around "spend managing" has left little time for chit chat.

There's more to come, I've been accumulating some thoughts that I'll share when I get a chance:

Selling your home without a realtor
Procurement outsourcing
On demand spend management
Big Ben vs. the pavement

Private Equity Firms Do It For The EBITDA

2006-06-01T12:05:00.000-04:00

Jason opines on the growing relevance of Spend Management to companies pursuing mergers and acquisitions on SpendMatters. He's right. Cost reduction drives the achievement of merger synergies, and sourcing and procurement initiatives in the 1st hundred days following a merger can set the tone for a successful transaction.

We have even begun to see acquisitions where the acquired asset's spend management technology and operating model were a key piece of the value proposition. There are even private equity firm's that have set up their own corporate entities to execute strategic sourcing on behalf of their portfolio companies, and to evaluate opportunities as a part of the acquisition's due dilligence.

In 7 years at Ariba Inc. I've had the opportunity to work with several private equity firms. Without question, PE firms do spend management for the EBITDA: Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization. To the PE firm, the ding associated with every downward bid in a reverse auction is the sound of EBITDA going up.

The private nature and concentrated ownership of PE firms does give them some advantages in implementing a sourcing initiative, particularly in the area of commitment. These are not organizations where a lot of people have to "buy-in" to go forward. However, sourcing in the PE firm is not without its challenges:

First, while they are able to make decisions based on an owners right, PE firms are often seen as outside meddlers by their portfolio companies, and not particularly knowledgeable about operating the business, particularly in the early days of an acquisition. This is especially true if the PE hasn't yet installed its own leadership. Brokering this relationship between buyer and bought buyer can be delicate.

Second, when leverage is sought across portfolio companies, these companies often have no direct operating relationship, adding another layer of complexity to the first challenge.

Third, many of the companies purchased by PE firms are "distressed" maybe even coming out of bankruptcy. This results in extra effort being required to build trust with suppliers.

While PE firms have been relatively less interested in more operational procurement, this may change in the future, especially for firms that are more committed to operating their companies rather than repairing and reselling.

LCCS: Low Cost Country Surgery

2006-05-30T14:41:00.000-04:00

Low cost country sourcing has been a hot button topic in spend management and particularly strategic sourcing for the last several years. Here in the United States, consumers sit at the end of long supply chains with goods that travel more miles before they are sold than many people will travel in a lifetime, unless they need elective surgery that is.

In the May 29 issue of Time (the Dixie Chicks issue), Unmesh Kher writes about the latest trend in outsourcing, elective surgery. A procedure to repair a herniated disk that costs $90,000 in Louisiana costs $10,000 at the Bumrungrad Hospital in Shanghai.

If you're talking to your surgeon friend at the country club, he definitely has some reasons to be scared.

The uninsured love this product. At 10% on the dollar against tens of thousands of dollars, this can be the difference between personal bankruptcy.
Insurance companies like this product. At these rates, they can sell more policies to more people. For people in traditional policies they can "manage costs" by convincing patients to venture overseas.
Traditional companies are interested. They can give their employees a free vacation to Bangkok or Mumbai AND lower insurance premiums.
General Electric is getting into this business, partnering to open a luxury hospital complex in Delhi.

Now, I'll bet your Doctor friend will have some objections that sound suspiciously like those raised by incumbent suppliers in an Ariba Inc. reverse auction:

What about quality? -- International hospitals are already pursuing accreditation and certification, and they're recruiting U.S. trained doctors, and what about your error and accidental death rates?
You're really going to buy this on price? -- In the insurance system we have now pricing is opaque and complex. The one thing we do know, it's high. International providers are giving transparent pricing information, but they're also offering upgraded services like luxury accommodations and extended stays.
What if something goes wrong? -- Doctors will actually argue that you should do your surgery in the US because if something goes wrong, it's easier to sue them. This is probably their best argument, but how long before a U.S. medical center "partners" with an international medical center to make this one go away.
You are going to put suppliers out of business. Hospitals are high-cost institutions and are consolidating. Now they'll face global competition on their highest margin product, elective surgery.

So baby boomers, if your back aches, or your knees aren't what they used to be, it could be your big chance to see the world.

Hot Procurement Update

2006-05-26T08:54:00.000-04:00

Last week I used my Junior High math skills to estimate the impact of increased margin's on HP's (NYSE HPQ) recent 51% earnings increase and speculated on the role that procurement may have played.

Yesterday, Larry Welch confirmed it on Purchasing.com:

"I can say with confidence that much of that improvement has come from cost-cutting, with procurement across the board at HP making a substantial contribution to the results."

This article goes on to describe the steps that HP is taking to transition their leading Spend Management practices from high-ROI initiative to an enterprise-wide embedded business practice by focusing on technology and human capital in concert in 4 critical areas: leverage, compliance, culture and policy.

Bits, Bytes and Guanxi

2006-05-25T13:18:00.000-04:00

You order a laptop from a website (or maybe Ariba Buyer), and that order engages one of the fastest, competitive and dynamic supply chains in the world. The laptop you order is high-tech, the company that you order it from is high-tech, so the supply chain must be too, right?

Not necessarily.

The laptop supply chain combines the lean technological integration made possible by ERP and e-procurement with intimate neighborly relationships among suppliers to deliver your laptop door-to-door in less than a week.

In a study sponsored by Arizona State's W.P. Carey School's Center for Advanced Procurement and The Personal Computing Industry Center at UC Irvine and San Francisco State's Institute for Next-Generation internet, this interesting combination of technology and guanxi is highlighted. (Link:"Take note: Laptop Supply Chain is Not What You'd Expect")

At the top of the supply-chain, the world is highly automated. Forecasts and procurement information is highly integrated between OEMs and their first Tier of suppliers, primarily based south of Shanghai.

As you proceed down the supply chain to the component level, those relationships become more and more relationship based. Forecasts are shared by voice, phone and fax. Special requests that are articulated directly by human beings, not computers. Fierce business competitors will collaborate to help each other overcome short-term shortages and disruptions - a network of highly personal, albeit low-tech network of companies and coworkers working together to fulfill more and more complex demands -- what the Chinese call guanxi.

To be successful in this environment a company has to know not only how to share the data, but when to say "Gan Bei" -- the right balance of technological efficiency and global savoir faire. This is what we strive to deliver at Ariba, Inc. and is probably part of the reason that you saw HP and Dell speaking in Vegas last week.

Franklin Raines, Another Fallen Role Model

2006-05-24T10:04:00.000-04:00

Before embarking on a career in reverse auctions, which begat a career in Global Supply Management, which begat a career in Spend Management with Ariba Inc, I was a Policy Analyst for the United States Office of Management and Budget.

My first day in June of 1996 was Brooking's Scholar Alice Rivlin's last day as Budget Director. Her ultimate successor was an executive who had served OMB earlier in his career and went on to a successful career as an investment banker at Lazard. He came from a modest family background, was an athletic, soft-spoken family man who presided over OMB precisely at the time budget deficits that had been a fact of life since I was in diapers were transitioning to surplus.

At the time I had the opportunity to directly support the Deputy Associate Director, and sit in on meetings with Director Raines, and was always impressed by his even handed manner and insightful questions. Serving the White House in any capacity is an honor, but I also considered it an honor to have served with Director Raines until he left to become the CEO of Fannie Mae at in 1998.

Now he Franklin Raines is practically on the same list as Lay, Kozlowski as a member of the CEO rogues gallery. During his time at Fannie Mae, Mr. Raines took more than $90 million in compensation, that included over $50 million based on the company's ability to hit earnings targets.

Now Fannie Mae will pay a $400 million fine for accounting irregularities that are expected to erase more than $10.6 billion in reported earnings during Raines' 1999-2004 tenure. Earnings that were created through earnings manipulation strategies driven by Raines and former CFO Timothy Howard.

Now the soft-spoken Raines doesn't speak, his attorney does, and there's one less role model I can draw on in my career.

Category Benchmarking: How do you know the true price of diapers?

2006-05-19T16:55:00.000-04:00

A tried and true tenet of Spend Management and one that Ariba Inc. focuses on developing is category expertise. True understanding of the goods and services that you buy, the market drivers that influence buyer and supplier behavior, your organization's business objectives and commercial requirements, and it's spend are essential to effectively managing those requirements. So as we enter the weekend, I'm going to provide some category expertise on one of the most strategic categories that young families manage for 3-5 years, diapers.

Diapers are an intensely competitive category dominated by 2 brand name suppliers - Pampers (Proctor & Gamble), and Huggies (Kimberly Clark Corp), with Luv's and numerous private label options on the market. Those with young children know that diaper's are a significant line item from the moment of birth, through to the moment the last one hits the diaper pail. Significantly, manufacturer's have "normalized" their pricing so that the smaller and more often your child "fills" a diaper, the less you will pay for that diaper. As your child grows, you get fewer, larger diapers for the same investment.

As with most consumer goods, you will find a seemingly excessive array of diaper specifications. Beyond size, you will find boys and girls, absorbency, and styles more or less similar to underwear. Following the general size rule above, expect that the more like underwear they are the more they cost.

But how much should you, the home spend manager pay for diapers? And how do you know what you're really paying?

First, you don't have to pay list price. The mailers full of diaper coupons will start arriving at your home before junior is born. I suspect they will continue to arrive until your young one begins to shave.

Discounts don't end with coupons though. You will be compensated for storing inventory with lower per/diaper prices. The more you buy, the less you pay.

If you buy Huggies at certain supermarkets using that supermarkets loyalty card, you'll receive a contibution to your child's college education. (Geek calculation: NPV of the transaction)

If you use a certain credit card, a portion of your purchase will be refunded to you in frequent flyer miles, cash or the reward of your choice. My poison is the Fidelity 529 rewards credit card which returns a fat 2% cash into a 529 college savings account. This is my preferred payment mechanism for everything.

If you take advantage of Amazon's rolling offers, you will experience competitive pricing on a per unit basis, you will get free shipping, saving you the "experience of the grocery store, and if you're willing to take on additional inventory ($99 worth to be exact), they'll rebate you an additional $30, reducing your overall cost by about 1/3.

If you are a diaper buyer, you'll buy a lot of them. But you may not have realized how complex this, and many consumer goods transactions, really are.

HP = Hot Procurement

2006-05-17T12:42:00.000-04:00

HP (NYSE HPQ) announced quarterly earnings were up 51% yesterday. Why? After all, year over year revenue was only up 5.5%.

How about margin increases in nearly every business group.

Personal Systems Group (computers and stuff), profit as a percentage of revenue increases from 2.3% to 3.6%, good for an additional $90 million in profit.

Imaging and Printer Group, profit as a percentage of revenue increases from 12.7% to 15.5%, good for a cool $180 million in a segment that earned $1.0 billion for the company.

Enterprise Storage and Servers, profit as a percentage of revenue increases from 4.3% to 7.5%, another $137 million.

Out of a $500 million increase in profitability, that's $407 million that wouldn't be there if margins were the same as last year.

Where does increased margin come from? One place it comes from is selling lots of printer cartridges, but another place it comes from for this Ariba, Inc. customer is Spend Management. (See Jason Busch's recap of HP VP Larry Welch's keynote at AribaLive on Spend Matters.)

Mark Hurd gets a lot of pub for being a sales data jockey, he even discussed plans to hire hundreds of salespeople in the next several months. You can make the case that he's able to pay for it because of world class spend management.

Carrot Top, Carrot Nose

2006-05-17T09:22:00.000-04:00

Last night, I'm washing the dishes after a delightful day of spend managing and a superb dinner from gsully when our red-headed daughter starts crying spontaneously.

"What's wrong?" I asked, and I noticed that she was pointing to and picking at her nose.

"I ?????? ?????? ????? ????? nose. It hurts." she said in that 3 year old way of saying every word clearly except for the 2 or 3 that you need to understand what they're saying.

"Did you pick your nose and give yourself a bloody nose?" I asked.

"No. I ?????? ?????? ????? ????? nose. It REALLY hurts."

After a couple of rounds of this and not understanding what was bothering her and causing this drama, I went over to our sofa, she sat on my lap and I immediately saw the problem.

"I GOT A CARROT STUCK IN MY NOSE. It hurts." is what she was saying. She had a piece of a baby carrot stuck in her nose.

My mind was frantic. What do we do. I went to get gsully for help. The carrot was too far up to grab. Having heard horror stories about what can happen when you push something from your nose into your brain, we were a little irrationally frightened. At the same time, it was hard not to bust out laughing.

We called my Mother-in-law, who passed us along to my sister-in-law, who is a doctor. Before my sister in law could stop laughing and give us some advice, the carrot "dislodged" and crisis was averted.

"Why did you do that?" We had to ask.

"I didn't know it would get stuck up there." she said. "I still want to eat one."

It's Time For Spend Management

2006-05-16T12:16:00.000-04:00

In the year plus that this really unfocused show has run, I've never made it a secret that I'm a Spend Management Strategy Consultant for Ariba. I've just chosen not to blog about it, except when I wanted to toot my own horn or to highlight something Ariba was doing that was worthwhile.

Well, as some company recently said: it's time for spend management. Why write about spend management? Why not.

First, I've never quite been able to adequately explain to my friends and family outside of "the community of practitioners" what I do. If I talk about this stuff from time to time they might get it a little bit.

Second, there are blogs closely associated with several other companies out there, why not one by someone from Ariba, Inc? (I guess I should disclaim here that I am offering personal opinions, not company opinions.)

Third, there's been a wonky (or do I mean to say nuanced) semantic debate going on between Tim Minahan, Jason Busch, Dave Stephans , and David Bush on Global Supply Management vs. Spend Management terminology.

Surprise! Despite having grown up at FreeMarkets and having some GSM in my heart, I'm going with Spend Management (Did I mention that I work for Ariba?), and here's why:

Spend Management is a fundamentally larger discipline that includes Global Supply Management. The phrase Global Supply Management takes me directly to direct materials for manufactured products. For this group of professionals, GSM is an exciting, even sexy term, particularly at a time when risk (which often goes hand-in-hand with cost) is high and rising. Who wouldn't want to be involved in a profession that demanded category expertise, an understanding of macro economic trends and a working knowledge of world business cultures.

The problem is, even in a manufacturing company supply management doesn't resonate outside of that product related spend. People don't feel like it applies to them. The human resources department trying to contain benefits costs doesn't view that as managing supply. The marketing department purchasing logoed premiums doesn't think that way. Many services companies have a difficult time thinking about the items that they buy as a component of their service costs and don't think of spend as supply management. It just doesn't resonate as well as it would for a manufacturing company.

Every company, on the other hand, understands that they spend money, and that by spending less or getting a higher return out of money spent they can drive profitability. The term spend is intuitively applicable to everything a company purchases from pizza to parts to prescription drug benefits.

For each type of spend there may be differing types of strategies that breed success -- from automate and disengage to highly integrated strategic supplier relationships. Some people will make good money practicing GSM as a career, but many more will be participating in some form of Spend Management.

I'll conclude with a question...if blogs existed when fast food was exploding would McDonald's argue with Burger King about the merits of calling what had previously been called a hamburger a Big Mac or a Whopper?

This is the 11th Mother's Day of 2006.

2006-05-14T14:08:00.000-04:00

To my mother, my grand mother, GSully and her mother, and all of the great mothers that I know -- Happy Mother's Day!

Today is the second Sunday in May, a.k.a Mother's Day. At least it's Mother's Day in the United States, China, Australia, Canada, Cuba and about 30 other countries. Almost every country and culture has a day to celebrate motherhood, but interestingly they come throughout the year.

If you wanted to celebrate every Mother's Day throughout the year, you would begin the second Sunday in February, when Norway observes Mother's Day. This is a little bit close to Valentine's Day, which seems a little bit Oedipal.

March is probably the second busiest Mother's Day month. Beginning March 3 in Georgia, the country not the state (Hi Jason, Amy and Sophie Orlando), March 8 in Bosnia and 7 other Eastern European countries, March 21, the 1st day of Spring in Bahrain, Egypt and several other Middle Eastern countries, and often the 4th Sunday in Lent in Ireland and the UK.

May is the grand-mommy of Mother's Day months. The 1st Sunday in May, May 8, May 10, the 2nd Sunday of May, May 26, May 27, May 30 and the last Sunday of May are all celebrated as Mother's Day in different parts of the world.

The collective knowledge of Wikipedia lists 23 separate Mother's Day celebrations. The only month's without one are September, July, January and June (except for certain years in France (Fete de meres) when the last Sunday of May coincides with Pentecost day, Mother's Day is shifted to the 1st Sunday in June).

That's a lot of brunch. Why do we go to brunch on Mother's Day?

Sully's Stuff: One Year Anniversary

2006-05-05T10:35:00.000-04:00

Yesterday marked the 1 year anniversary of the first post to Sully's Stuff.

Since the site was launched last may (and we began keeping track in August, the blog has recorded 26,693 visits. The lion's share of these visits came during the height of Super Bowl fever in January and March, when Sully's Stuff became one of the search engine's top results for the Mr. Devious song Puhl-a-ma-lu, a.k.a the Troy Polamalu muppet song.

On February 1st, our coverage of the Seahawk's Super Bowl pep rally in Pittsburgh was featured in the Post-Gazette's Morning File by Peter Leo.

Before January, the blogs biggest highlights were stroke related posts related to my marathon training and fundraising campaign to support Gaylord Hospital. Posts discussing the return of Tedy Bruschi to the New England Patriots and Dick Clark's performance on New Year's Rockin' Eve were particularly popular.

We've welcomed several visitors from Australia looking for information about their beautiful, but elusive and mysterious news reader Sandra Sully, loads of fans of the new Nickelodeon Series The Wonder Pets, and people looking for tips on their planning their Disneyland vacation. Seth Godin sends us a lot of visitors (via my trackback) who want to know if we're turning into boiled frogs.

Links and search are the lifeblod of traffic, and while it seems inappropriate to thank google, I will thank these folks, none of whom I've met in person:

Pittsburgh Bloggers for being the first place to go when you start a blog in Pittsburgh
Rob at Unspace, the first person to link to Sully's Stuff
Peter Leo and the Morning File for featuring the site in the PG
Cindy at My Brilliant Mistakes who owe's me a beer for finding the Puhlamalu song for her
Tim Marmon of Loosely Coupled
Brendan Loy of the Irsh Trojans Blog, and
CWinters.com

Finally, I'll close with a few comments I've received that have tickled me:

From Carol F: "This blog has decided about five things for us and our upcoming vacation (in three days) to Disneyland with three kids 5, 4, and 2. Thank you for being funny and direct!!!!"

From Jennifer: "I found this on a search for A Steelers fight song. You're my new hero."

From GSully; "I don't get it."

All in all, not bad for a little writing experiment. I'll call it a success. So here's to getting to year 2 -- maybe this blog will be about something yet.

Kids Give The Most Stylish Haircuts (to each other)...

2006-05-04T07:54:00.000-04:00

Yesterday around noon, I received the strangest voicemail from GSully.

"We have kind of an emergency. No one's hurt, no one's health is in danger, but call me when you get this."

Of course, that left a lot of possibilities, including car wreck. Luckily what actually happened was much more hillarious.

After a brief argument between our 2 yeard old daughters, my neighbor and G went upstairs to find blonde hairs all over the floor, and when the garbage can was opened, they found the ringlets of red hair that you see here. Our 4 year old neighbor, who considers girls his "mortal enemy," gave himself, his 2 year old sister and our 3 year old daughter "haircuts."

The theme of kids giving haircuts has recently been in a lot of our kids reading -- in Junie B. Jones and the Russell series. I can still remember doing my own and having to go to Frank and Flossie's barbershop immediately after. If only I had the flowbie, I'm sure I would have done a much better job.

Fortunately, as a barber, our neighbor did a better job than you would expect. After a short visit to a professionally licensed hair-stylist, our daughter, the willing and enthusiastic participant, is now the owner of a short, but stylish haircut that resembles one of our neighbors. Maybe he has found his calling at a young age.

Regent Square For Sale By Owner, $215,000

2006-05-01T16:31:00.000-04:00

$215,000

For an on-line tour visit: http://www.1427MaconAvenue.shutterfly.com

Frick Park Paradise! Professionally renovated in 2004, this 4 bedroom, 1.5 bath Regent Square home features an open floor plan and 1^st floor powder room. The private-hideaway 3^rd floor master bedroom features vaulted ceilings and tree-top views of Frick Park.

Less-than 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh on the 1400 block of Macon Avenue, this home is 4 doors away from trail-access to the newly renovated 9-Mile Run section of Frick Park.

Building information:
1427 Macon Avenue,
Pittsburgh, PA , 15218 (map)

Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 1.5
Built: 1927
Type: Brick
Roofing: Shingle
Heating: Gas, forced air
Water and Sewer: Public (WPJWA)
Taxes: $3,682 (est.)
Burough: Swissvale
School District: Woodland Hills
Parking: Off-street, rear

Amenities/Inclusions:

Open floor plan
Hardwood flooring
Recessed lighting
Gas range (GE 1999)
Dishwasher (GE 2004)
Microwave (GE 2004)
Refrigerator (Roper 1999)
Garbage disposal
Washer
Dryer
4 Window air-conditioning units

To schedule a showing call 412.417.0180 or e-mail 1427maconavenue@gmail.com.

Spring cleaning...

2006-04-28T12:25:00.000-04:00

As we close April and the Mt. Lebanon Top 25 competes with the People Magazine Top 100 for column inches in the Post-Gazette. It's been more than 2 weeks since the last Sully's Stuff post. That's because the 3 Amigos, G and I have been extremely busy, and have lots of good news. On the downside, its kept me from finishing off the Wonder Pets Episode Guide, which is disappointing about 12-15 readers a day.

1.) We're moving. We love Regent Square, and thought that we would never move out of the neighborhood. That was until we bumped into a great home site at Chapel Harbor on the Water which is adjacent to the Fox Chapel Yacht Club in O'Hara. We'll be half a block off the Allegheny River in a beautifully landscaped development with hiking and jogging trails. It offers us the chance to live in a brand new home in a beautiful and unique location.

As we were making the decision, we were able to watch the spring leaves come out on the hillsides along the south side of the the Allegheny River, and see several sunsets over the water. It will be ready in September and we can't wait to get a kayak.

The house is in a Ryan Homes development. As soon as we made our decision, we needed to decide everything that was going into the home -- flooring, appliances, fixtures, cabinetry. You go from thinking about maybe moving to heavy duty planning in a day, and that planning has to be finished in a week. Plus making time for financing...It was a significant part time job in the last couple of weeks.

2.) We're getting ready to sell our house. Gosh, this is a lot of work. Packing, cleaning, planting. We're not listed yet (be sure to watch here for details). If you know anyone who is looking for a lovingly renovated, open floor plan, 4 bedroom, 5 doors up from a Frick Park trailhead with off street parking, have them e-mail me at 1427MaconAvenue@gmail.com.

3.) Easter came and went. Our oldest son, who's 5 years old believes in the Easter Bunny. The catch is that he believes the Easter Bunny is an adult male who puts on a bunny suit and delivers candy and gifts. Creepy!

He did have a great time hunting eggs. Our youngest is a real chocoholic.

4.) Did I mention that I have a job?

The Pierogies Stretch Before Opening Day Race

2006-04-13T15:35:00.000-04:00

You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by justinsullivan.

Oliver Onion, Sauer Kraut Saul and Cheese Chester stretch in the right field tunnel prior to the opening day pierogie race at PNC Park on Monday.

Opening Day

2006-04-13T14:18:00.000-04:00

You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by justinsullivan.

In avery busy week that has left little time for blogging or just about anything else, I was able to sneak away with the oldest of the 3 Amigos to attend opening day at PNC Park.

(Parenthetical observation: Is there a more tired use of music in professional sports than Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back In Town." I had to Google the song to know who wrote it. I bet there are people in the ballpark that know it only as "that awful classic rock song that teams only play in the Top of the First of the Home Opener every year." I bet Thin Lizzy refers to it as "the accidental gold mine.")

If you are a Pirate fan, you know that Monday's game capped a disastorous 1-7 start for the Pirates.

My son is preparing himself for a long season. After the game, he said, "It's ok if the Pirates don't win, because I like all of the teams."

Of course, this is the same kid that was jumping up and down and screaming all thought the house yesterday when he learned that the Pirates had won their second game of the year.

**Buy and Sell Pittsburgh Pirates tickets on StubHub**

At this point, he still likes the idea of baseball more than the actual game itself. After all, he still only partly even understands the basic objectives of the game.

The game, however, is a perfect wrapper around the Pierogie Race, which he does understand. He doesn't quite know who Jack Wilson is the same way he knows Ben Roethlisberger, but he can surely pick Sauerkraut Saul out of the crowd. (By the way, sit in section 101 of PNC Park if you want a great view of the Pierogies warming up for their big race.)

Crocs Shoe Odyssey Part III: Simply Adorable

2006-04-13T13:48:00.000-04:00

If you've been following the crocs odyssey since the beginning, you know that we've been having a difficult time getting light pink crocs for our daughter in size 10/11 children's.

I'm happy to report that the long wait is over. An adorable pair of size 10/11 crocs arrived on our doorstep from Crocs HQ in Colorado this morning. It took our daughter about 30 seconds to get them out of the box and on to her feet.

Find Crocs Shoes On ebay.

My overall review of crocs:

1. Product: A+. Crocs shoes are light and comfortable. If you don't know what they are yet or haven't seen them in your neighborhood yet, you will. I wouldn't be surprised if they started popping up on television frequently.

2. People: A+. Every time you call them, you get to talk to at least one human being, and they are always pleasant to deal with.

3. Customer Service: C. Long-term, it's hard to imagine a company like crocs maintaining it's own internet store. Face it they make shoes, order fulfillment and customer service is never going to be their strong shoes, especially at a time like this when they are getting ready to have explosive growth in the coming summer season. (I wish I had a company with this problem). In my particular case, the solution was spot on -- they sent the correct pair before I returned the incorrect one. The execution was a little slow. My advice, buy at retail if you can, but if selection makes that impossible, be patient.

I'll post a photo of the adorable pink crocs soon.

"Save the..." A Preliminary Guide to Wonder Pets Episodes

2006-04-05T02:07:00.000-04:00

A Wonder Pets Episode Guide.

The phone, the phone is ringing with questions about The Wonder Pets, whose fans include my children, the 3 amigos ("What's Gonna Work, Teamwork").

Each episode of the Wonder Pets consists of 2, 12 minute operettas which are set to music that is consistent with the plot or setting of the story, or more accurately the plot is shaped around the music.

Search for the Wonder Pets on Ebay.

An operetta is a performance art-form similar to opera, though it generally deals with less serious topics.

The first season of The Wonder Pets will consist of 40 episodes featuring Linny the Guinea Pig, Ming-Ming the Duckling, and Tuck the Turtle.

Episodes of The Wonder Pets Include (this list will be updated):

#1 "Save the Dolphin/Save the Chimp"

Save the Dolphin:

The phone is ringing because: a dolphin is caught in a fishermans' net in Hawaii.

Save the Chimp:

The phone is ringing because: a chimpanzee in outer space is in danger.

#2 "Save the Unicorn/Save the Penguin"

Save the Unicorn:

The phone is ringing because: a baby unicorn whose horn is stuck in a magical tree trunk in this episode composed by Jason Robert Brown.

Save the Penguin:

The phone is ringing because: a baby penguin is stranded on the South Pole.

"Save the Tree/Save the Elephant"

Save the Tree:

The phone is ringing because: a tree in Philadelphia is in trouble.

Save the Elephant:

"Save the Panda/Save the Mouse"

Save The Panda:

Why the phone is ringing: A baby panda in China is stuck in a bamboo tree. The Wonder Pets hop in the fly boat to China to save a baby panda stuck in a bamboo tree. After the bamboo forest is too thick for the fly boat and the bamboo trees too high to climb, the pets build a ladder out of ultra strong bamboo. After returning the panda to their mother, they enjoy a snack of celery with soy sauce.

Save the Mouse:

Why the phone is ringing: A baby mouse is trapped somewhere in The Wonder Pets' school house attic. Tuck and Ming Ming travel to the schoolhouse attic leaving behind Lenny who is not feeling well to save a baby mouse stuck in a saxophone. Lenny helps guide the pets by talking to them through the vents of the schoolhouse.

"Save the Caterpillar/Save the Crane"
"Save the Sea Lions/Save the Kangaroo"
"Save the Pigeon/Save the Dinosaur"
"Save the Duckling/Save the Kitten"
Save the Duckling:

Save the Kitten:
The phone is ringing because: a kitten is floating in the canals of Venice.

"Save the Swan/Save the Puppy"
Save the Swan:
The phone is ringing because a young swan is afraid of dancing in front of the other swans. This episode features music from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.

Save the Puppy:
The phone is ringing because a puppy is trapped inside his house and has to "pee pee."

Believe it or not this has been the second most controversial topic addressed on the show after Ming Ming's speech impediment. (Some parents have a lot of time to make disparaging comments on how well television is raising their children.)

"Save The Sheep"
"Save The Skunk"
"Save The Cow"

Have something to add to the episode guide? Please leave a comment.
Updated 04/15/2006.

Update on my crocs problem...

2006-04-05T01:39:00.000-04:00

Since I received a pair of light pink crocs in the wrong size on Saturday and submitted and e-mail and a phone call, I have received no response from the Crocs customer service department.

Since it's opening week in Major League Baseball, I'll use this cliche: crocs has 2 strikes.

Crocs Part II, Light Pink and Sea Blue

2006-04-01T19:03:00.000-05:00

After our little episode with the red Crocs last weekend, we ordered a pair of light pink Crocs for our daughter and a pair of sea blue in a (much) bigger size directly from the Crocs store.

Eagerly we tracked our package as it left Crocs in Niwot, Colorado to the FedEx Ground depot in Henderson, CO, on to Grove City, OH, to the Sewickley, PA station. We were giddy as we checked this morning and saw that our package was out for delivery. My daughter beamed from ear-to-ear at 12:43 when the FedEx Ground guy (the one in purple, NOT brown or yellow).

At about 12:47 we opened the box. First out a huge pair of sea blue Cayman's. The excitement mounts, the whole family is gathered around the spunky red head as she reaches into the box and pulls out the second bag, which contains a small bag of light pink Kids Cayman's.

At 12:50, they're on her feet! They're adorable. GSully pronounces them so. My daughter gushes, "They're booo-i-ful." But there is something askew. Big toes are too close to the edge -- touching the end of the shoe. A quick inspection reveals that the shoes are a size 8/9, NOT a 10/11. Crocs sent the wrong size!

Our daughter was a very good sport compared to your worst expectations about how a 3-year old would react when you explain to her that you have to take away the new shoes that are already on her feet and she has pronounced "boo-i-ful." Especially when that 3-year old had already been through a store not having her size in stock the previous weekend.

A call to the Crocs hotline puts us on pause -- they're only open Monday through Friday. We were able to send a note through the web sight. Hopefully Crocs Part III has a happy ending as it enters its 3rd weekend.

Why are the Jacksonville Jaguars so worried?

2006-03-31T07:14:00.000-05:00

Pittsburgh is a city of 4 seasons: Pre-season, Regular Season, Post-Season and Off Season.

Now that we're squarely in the offseason, our gaze has turned to looking forward to 2006 and a scarce, but tradable comodity Pittsburgh Steelers Tickets.

The market for 2006 tickets was hot before the clock turned to zero in Super Bowl XL, and some NFL teams are already worried about the influx of Steelers fans.

Follow the Steeler ticket market in my new blog: Here We Go Info. Today, you can find out why the Jacksonville Jaguars are freakishly preoccupied with Steelers fans.

I am so proud...

2006-03-30T23:55:00.000-05:00

One lucky visitor came to this blog yesterday through Google, after clicking on the #1 entry for waiting in line to pee. Ironically, the post about Disneyland is about waiting in line and mentions peeing, but is not really about either, let alone that.

Blue Slide Park and Baseball

2006-03-29T19:58:00.000-05:00

True to form in Pittsburgh, March came in like a lion and is going out like a lamb:

March 1st weather: High temperature: 43, Low temperature: 21
March 31 forecast: High temperature: 74, Low temperature: 53

That brought GSully and the 3 Amigos to Frick Park's Blue Slide Playground to ride the famous blue slide that is built into the hill. Our youngest daughter is now old enough to navigate the blue slide by herself, climbing the steep hill side like a sherpa climbs Mount Everest.

G tried to assist her up the hill, and in a fit of stubborness that only someone nearly 2 years old can muster, she immediately went back down the hill. She did not take the slide mind you, she scooted on her but down the climbing surface to get to the bottom in order to turn around and demonstrate her prowess in climbing the steep hill unassisted.

In a bit of spring fever, our oldest (who is fast becoming known as the kid with the red crocs in our neighborhood), spent breakfast chanting "Let's Go Bucs" in honor of this afternoon's nationally televised exhibition game between the Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates. I think the audience must have been preschoolers and senior citizens.
Our red headed middle daughter countered with, "Let's Go Princesses."

Let spring begin.

What's Gonna' Work, Teamwork

2006-03-28T12:16:00.000-05:00

"Wonder Pets, Wonder Pets, we're on our way."

A new children's show has found a home on our TiVo, the world's best entertainment management tool for parents.

Look for The Wonder Pets on e-bay.

For the past month, the 3 Amigos have been consuming a steady diet of Wonder Pets. For the kidless and un-initiated, the high concept behind the Wonder Pets is a turtle, a guinea pig, and a duckling that live in a school house and in their spare time save animals and pets from distress.

Each 30 minute episode consist of 2 mini-musicals that feature stories set to some familiar and not-so-familiar music. For example in "The Wonder Pets Save the Swan," music from Swan Lake figures prominently. Some shows are actually scored by Tony Award winning composers like Jason Robert Brown, and the sources of music has been diverse from Avenue Q's Robert Lopez to, well Swan Lake.

Of course the 3 Amigos don't know any of that, but I do know that whenever they're asked to do anything around the house this month they immediately go into the Wonder Pets' anthem, "What's gonna' work, teamwork." And I guarantee you that even if you don't sing it out loud, whenever you hear the telephone, you'll find yourself singing "The phone, the phone is ringing." in your head.

The adoption of The Wonder Pets also means the retirement of another title from our season pass list. (Our kids seem to have a natural capacity for television of about 5 shows. So far only Blue's Clues, Dora The Explorer and Postcards From Buster have been lasting.) So say goodbye to Caillou. I never did warm up to this Canadian import. What's with the name? It's lasting contribution to our house is a red headed Rosie doll, Caillou's sister which is our oldest daughter's favorite.

Gotta' go because, "the phone, the phone is ringing, this is sewious..."

Update: New Wonder Pets episode list.

Red crocs!

2006-03-26T19:57:00.000-05:00

You have new Picture Mail!
Originally uploaded by justinsullivan.

Somebody's gullible dad took his son to REI. The dad wanted to try on some crocs, but he took his son and daughter with him while mom waited in the car because they had to go to the bathroom.

Dad tried on brown crocs. A woman told him that these were the most comfortable shoes ever. The only color they had in dad's size was brown. Dad thought brown rubber was ugly.

They had a whole rainbow of kids colors. The dad's son likes red and his daughter likes pink (light pink, NOT hot pink). They tried on crocs. A guy walks by and says "These are supposed to be the most comfortable shoes in the world."

REI has the son's size, but not the daughter's. The son is not leaving without the red crocs. The daughter is bought off with a bag of gummi bears and the promise that some pink ones will come in the mail.

The woman at the cash register says, "These are THE most comforable shoes." The dad hands over his credit card.

The mom in the car is pretty sure the dad is crazy.

The son wear's his new red crocs to grandma's house. Everyone is pretty convinced that he likes them because they're red and have buttons that have crocodiles on them (which look a little bit like dinosaurs).

But as the young family is going out the door, the son goes "These are the most comfortable shoes that I've ever had on my feet."

**Update: Find out what happened when pink Crocs arrived in the mail.

I knew Nordstrom was coming to Pittsburgh when...

2006-03-24T09:24:00.000-05:00

I knew that Nordstrom was coming to Pittsburgh when I saw the Terry Bradshaw flags flying outside of it Seattle flagship store during the Pittsburgh Steelers Superbowl run.

While Nordstrom might not answer all of our prayers and magically transform us into the land of milk, honey and high priced shoes, it will be nice to have their customer service training available here in Pittsburgh.

And, while we're on the topic, we're not prone to reflecting on Cleveland as an upscale Mecca here in Pittsburgh. So why is it that now that we're getting a Nordstrom, the Post Gazette is already worrying about whether or not we're as worthy as Cleveland is to have one:

Will Pittsburghers be equally enchanted? The Seattle-based retailer, which announced plans yesterday to open a store at Ross Park Mall in Ross, can only hope there will be the same market here as there is in Cleveland for $595 Missoni striped jersey dresses and $885 Armani jackets in nubbly silver and pale blue silk.

Amen. USAirways listen up!

2006-03-24T09:11:00.000-05:00

A quote from this morning's Post-Gazette from television writer, producer and Carnegie Mellon alum John Wells, in town to film a television pilot:

"Pittsburgh really needs a [non-red eye] direct from L.A. again."

I agree 100% and felt this one personally when planning our Disneyland vacation. There's no way I would fly with the 3 amigos on a red eye.

Let's tackle this one before the London thing, please. And while you're at it, throw me a bone with a direct flight to Seattle.

10 Disneyland Tips...er, lessons learned...

2006-03-22T14:01:00.000-05:00

Disneyland is an exhausting experience. Unless you spring for the $55 electric scooter rental (at Disneyland there's only 1 class of stroller rental by 2 kinds of wheelchairs! They really do their best to take care of the infirm (and the extraordinarily lazy and obese)) you'll be walking and standing virtually the entire say. Here's 10 random tips to enjoying your time in the park:

1. Stay in the park. We didn't. Our reward, carrying our 2 year old on our shoulder for 2 hours at a time while she napped. If you have kids that should nap and you'd like part of your group to be able to break away for a siesta in the afternoon, the on property hotels are really the only option to do this. Everything else is too far. Period.
2. Live the suite life. You'll be spending enough time with your brood during the day, there's no reason to sleep with them at night. So if you're already disregarding rule #1, make sure to follow rule #2. Extended stay hotels like Residence Inn by Marriott are popping up, complete with kids bedrooms and king sized beds for mom and dad. Added bonus -- these hotels are newer.
3. Avoid ART. If you stay offsite you will be bombarded with pitches about the convenience of Anaheim Resort Transportation Disney shuttle busses. To discourage you from driving, passes will be "included" with your hotel. If riding a crowded bus packed with folded strollers, other people's exhausted and occasionally crying children (in addition to your own), and frustrated parents that runs on an inconsistent schedule and virtually guarantees 90 minutes of your day wasted coming and going to travel a distance of 1 mile -- by all means go for it. Otherwise, see #1 or do what we finally wised up and did and drive to the parking lot and park in Disneyland's enormous parking garage -- I think it's the size of the State of Rhode Island -- for $10.
4. Pre-souvenir. In Las Vegas, every attraction leads to a casino. At Disneyland, attractions lead to gift shops, mostly charging MSRP. Shop the Disney outlet online...pop gifts out of your bag at key moments. You'll be a hero. This is not unlike tailgating before the big game. (I'm NOT smart enough to think of that on my own, that's all GSully.) Bonus: Resist the call of Disney apparel. By your third day, you will think that it is perfectly appropriate to buy and wear something with some sort of Disney thing on it. Don't. It isn't, and the feeling quickly goes away when you get home. Partial exemption granted for elementary school teachers.

Search for Disneyland on ebay.

5. 1 on 1 rules. If your kids aren't independent, and I'll use the "can responsibly walk themselves to the restrooms and back to you unescorted" definition here, you probably will not enjoy yourself as a parent unless you have a ratio of 1 adult per child.
6. Don't skimp on meals. Eating in the parks? Find a place to sit in the shade and be served. The Princess Lunch at Ariel's Grotto in California Adventure made us all feel like royalty. We got to relax, sit in the shade, be served and recharge. Contrast that to the fast food outlets where you will wait in one line, order and pay, wait in another line, claim food, battle crowds for table, and choke down bland, warmish food.
7. Study up. Our second and third days in the parks were more enjoyable because of the familiarity we had developed the first day. As much as it seems like you shouldn't have to prep for a vacation, a basic understanding of where to find strollers, rest rooms and food as well as the rides will reduce your stress and increase your comfort.
8. Let your kids drive. You don't always know what they will enjoy and why. We spent 2 days saying no to Dumbo's Flying Elephants because the line was long and the ride was something that we could do at Kennywood. It was on all 3 kids' Top 5.
9. Fastpass. It seems obvious that not waiting in line is better than waiting in line, but someone is still waiting 90 minutes to ride Space Mountain. It isn't me and it shouldn't be you.
10. Don't forget your cellphones. My march statement will have 100 calls between March 13-16 of 1 minute or less. I just called to say "Where are you? Okay, stay there. I'm on my way."

Did we enjoy our trip to Disneyland?

2006-03-21T11:26:00.000-05:00

"It's a nice day when you wake up in Disneyland."
--Five For Fighting

With the California sun overhead and our credit cards in our wallets, we set out on one of America's 2 most common, must do consumerist vacations -- a trip to Disney. This year, Disneyland in California is celebrating its 50th year welcoming families to Anaheim.

GSully and I were nervous that we would not enjoy it and even worse, that our kids would not enjoy it. We were partially convinced that we (well mostly GSully's mom actually) would hand over a great big pile of money to a great big company and be disappointed. After all our children barely recognize Mickey Mouse, and didn't even seem to know what Disneyland was before we introduced the idea.

Can you believe how silly we were?

Our kids loved it -- skipping naps for 3 consecutive days and dragging 3 adults from dawn to dusk and beyond through adventure after adventure punctuated by mediocre meals and waiting in line. (Our typical wait in line was often punctuated by 2 separate trips to the bathroom, 1 deep philosophical question and occasionally and actual collision with a stranger. For example my 2 year old accidentally kicked another girl in the head when I lifted her onto a great white steed on King Arthur's carousel.)

So why does Disney work? First, it might be the most lavish place that many Americans go (at least the ones that don't gamble. They pee in Kohler toilets, and sit in the shade or stand in line while looking at lush arrangements of flowers that grow so colorful and beautifully. Second, unlike an impressionist painting, Disneyland does not degrade with the details, from the Latin inscription of above Mister Toad's Wild Ride, to the Space Port staging area at Space Mountain to the fact that cast members all sing along in the nightly parade, the minute details separate Disney from other experiences, making them more REAL for children and more interesting for adults. Third, I actually think that there is something about the line waiting. Jokes above aside, I'll bet some families have more genuine conversation while waiting in line at Disney attractions over the course of 3 days than they do in the course of 3 months at home.

I have some closet enthusiasm for Disney, but it's not the magical fantasy that gets me going. After my first visit when I was in high school, I went home and wrote an American history term paper, with great respect, about the city-state Disney was able to construct for itself in the middle of Florida. When I go to the Disney parks, I see math -- the number of people moving efficiently, willingly and obediently through lines and attractions cloaked in fantasy. The math that exists somewhere that shows how much more money a guest will spend now that Fast Pass can take them out of line for an hour and put them into a restaurant and gift shop. This math that traces its roots back to a simple line drawing of a rodent.

In the next couple of posts, I'll share what some of our families favorites were and some tips for anyone planning to visit Disneyland with a young family.