i just got back from a wonderful family vacation to milwaukee, wisconsin for a big party for my uncle nate taffel's 80th birthday.

click image to enlarge

that's jon, ruthie and i with lake michigan in the background.

there were over 100 people at the party and it was great seeing many family members and friends i have not seen since last year when ruthie and i went for nate's wife's (my aunt mur) 75th birthday. it was sorta de javu in that it was in the same place and a lot of the same people were there.

a couple of observations from the trip...

the airline portion, on american airlines, was pretty much a pain in the you-know-where. between the security deal, taking off my shoes, dealing with my laptop (more on that in a sec) and trying to avoid checking luggage (because of time, not the surcharge, we booked before the surcharge applied) the whole deal was yucky.

it was one of those tiny jets for like 80 people where they squish you in like sardines into 3 seats across (1 and 2). very small space for a 2 hour flight.

on the way back i got up to go to the lavatory and 2 rows from it, this older lady gets up and goes in, making me stand there like a moron while she went in and out 4 times (she could not figure out how to close the door to get the light to go on).

the other yucky part was the baggage. they take your bag at the end of the jetway (whoever thought up that term?), put a red tag on it and give it back to you after the flight lands.

fine. but, the plane lands in dallas and 50 people are standing in the jetway waiting for the bags and the door is open and it is 102 degrees outside. it was like an oven waiting for those bags. shame on you american airlines.

ruthie and i are just about to leave for the airport for a trip to milwaukee, wisconsin (i was born there) for my uncle nate taffel's 80th birthday celebration.

click image for larger view

that's nate being very musical from last year's trip there for his wife, my aunt mur's 75th birthday celebration. we went over to my cousin jimmy guten's place and they put on a nice little concert in the backyard where even my mom played the piano in a set.

we have everything packed in 2 very small suitcases so that we won't have to wait for luggage in chicago as we still have to drive from chicago to milwaukee once we get off the plane and it's going to be pretty late when we get to my aunt renee and uncle jack dygola's house to sleep.

more from milwaukee soon (yes, i brought my trusty powerbook g4 along)

as many of you know, i supported mike huckabee for president during the primaries.

he has since started huck pac, a site devoted to trying to bring the issues forward in this campaign.
some of the topics he would like america to discuss on what he is calling "vertical day" are...

• how would you control spending in washington?

• how would you make america energy independent?

• what would you do to improve our education system?

• what would you do to improve our health care system?

• what sort of tax reform do you think america needs to boost our economy?

• what steps would you take to promote conservation and good stewardship of the environment?

my own thoughts are i think we should get energy independent as quick as we can by whatever means we as a great country have. the ideas are here. the people are here. get government out of the way and let's get america on the problem.

so let's start chatting and please do go visit the huck pac site and help mike huckabee discuss our country's issues. who else wants to help get this word out?

ok, i just finished writing a post about this software for facebook called radical buy.

i put a comic book up that i had tried TWICE to sell on eBay for less money than i offered it for on radical buy.

within 10 minutes of putting it up for sale with radical buy on facebook, i had a payPal payment for the item! it was a buyer less than 10 miles from me that found my item not on facebook, but through a search on google shopping!

wow. this thing has legs and i m going to put a few more things up and see what happens.

i am investigating a facebook application called radical buy. i found it through an old high school friend named ivan schonwald that i recently re-connected with on facebook.

radical buy is an application within facebook that allows you to list items for sale as an individual seller like you would on eBay.

the twist is that you can also show other seller's products in the application and if a buyer then buys that product from your facebook page where they saw it, you get a commission that the seller offers for selling it.

they have a web site www.radicalbuy.com that you can go to outside of facebook to browse products for sale, add the application to facebook, read the forums or find out more about the program.

here is a video review from a site named www.facereviews.com, that has been watching the software for a few months.

i have not verified the fact, but i do also believe the company is based in dallas, texas, which is also where i live and grew up.

i will be testing this software because i think it might be a good alternative or addition to eBay as a sales outlet, plus i like the sort of affiliate marketing angle with the commissions. so far i have listed a comic book and am going to try and earn commissions on products a few other sellers have for sale as well.