Back in December, I got one of the best Christmas presents ever from Tara – a pair of tickets to a Buffalo Sabres game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Knowing that Tara is not much of a hockey fan, this is an amazing gift from her and we are going to be spending the weekend together at the end of March in Buffalo.  The gift is more than just a pair of tickets, it shows me that Tara is willing to take an interest in something that I love and wants to spend the time together cheering on my favorite NHL team.

So, there you have it.  I am not moving, getting married or becoming a father.  I am counting down to a weekend away in Buffalo with the person that means so much to me and I am really excited to spend the weekend away from work and just enjoy life :)

The biggest thing in my life right now is Tara :)  Here is the tweet that started it all:

@TwainRookie Have you been to a @JackalsHockey game yet this season? I would love to have you join me for one!

— Jacob Burke (@jacobburke) October 25, 2011

Things have been awesome and they just keep getting better :)  Yes, I cannot stop smiling :)

Work is keeping me busy and the 2nd Annual Winter Village Bluegrass Festival is at the end of the month – really looking forward to that.

Ok, I must get going and get back to work before heading to meetings in Ithaca for the day – more soon!

Cheers!

It is interesting that a use the term “normal life”, because no one that has undergone a transplant is living a normal life.  That person is living with a gift, whether it be from a complete stranger that has chosen to donate their organs upon death, or a special person that is making a living donation, these people have been given the gift of life.  Yeah, you could go on living by dealing with dialysis treatments, but that is no way to live your life.  The National Kidney Foundation helps make donations and transplants possible.

On May 22, I will be walking in the Elmira Kidney Walk.  I am asking for you to help however you can.  I know that financially people are continuing to struggle, but I am not asking for a lot.  My goal for the walk is $200, so I ask that you please give what you can, whether it be $5 or $50, all the sponsorship I can get is greatly appreciated.

Here is the link to my walker’s page: http://donate.kidney.org/goto/jacobburke

I hope that you will be able to find it possible to sponsor me as I walk to continue help those get the gift of a new life.

Cheers!

Once I saw the flyer that Rick had put together, I sprung into action.  I found a more “comfortable” shade of blue, replaced the dreaded Papyrus font and turned the poster into an 11×17 format.  Well that was the start of many more projects and many more poster revisions.

As the months went on, we decided on a 4×6 informational postcard, then we needed CD samplers to send to radio stations, oh and the postcard and poster underwent about five revisions each.  We added sponsors, more bands, things needed to be tweaked here and there until we were happy with it – well until Rick was :)  Interesting thing, the posters that we had printed at State Theatre were not the final design – that design was not printed until the afternoon of the festival, in which we wanted a poster for the musicians to sign (more on that later).  Gift certificates were also added into the mix in mid-December, that was one of the easier tasks – only two revisions to that design.

A few weeks out, I found out that the resort was nearing capacity for the weekend.  I thought to myself, “wow, we did it, we are going to sell out and this is going to be huge.”  I was right about that, but the work wasn’t over – not nearly over.

Roughly one week before the festival, I sent out for banners (we had a conversation about that back in December, but decided to table it – wish we hadn’t).  I had the design done, but it needed to be tweaked to fit the measurements of the wall – thankfully we had those – I ordered two, it was a BOGO with the printer, glad we did.  Then we needed a shirt design, just modeled it off of the banner design and called that done.  Finally, I was home free – nope!

I arrived at the resort on Thursday, one day before the festival started.  I was there to work – bar, security, whatever was needed of me – when you have the word “marketing” in your title, you do it all.  I was still creating signage for this event, even the morning it was supposed to start, oh the fun.  The final poster design saw the light of day after three different attempts to get the PDF file to Staples for printing.  Finally I exported the design as a JPEG and they were able to get the art printed so that we could have posters to get signed by the musicians – and you all wonder why I don’t get much sleep anymore :)

Overall the event was a resounding success – we sold out the resort both nights, the concerts were very well attended and I finally got to meet my favorite female bluegrass artist – the beautiful and talented Claire Lynch (her band was pretty awesome too).

So, would I do it all again – oh yeah!  I love the music of the bluegrass community and how supporting the community is of one another.  I have been a fan for a long time and have been listening to Claire Lynch for a while (more about that in a later post).  I can’t wait to start planning for next year and hope we can find some ways to make the event bigger.

Rick and Scott, thanks for putting this project on my desk, it is some of the best fun I have had – even with all of the work involved :)

I have seen the movie Runaway Jury so many times that I honestly thought that is how the selection process works: attorneys firing off questions at potential jurors and just a frenzy of back and forth.  Nope, not at all.

The jury selection process is that of an educational endeavor for those who are summoned.  The day started with going through security and some paperwork.  Once everyone was ready, we received an explanation of the day’s proceedings from the court clerk.  The judge also ran through the same explanation and then the first panel was called.  I sat there and took it all in, from the questions asked to how comfortable the judge made everyone feel.  It was nothing that I had expected.

After the second panel of potential jurors was challenged behind closed doors by the judge and attorneys, the rest of us were dismissed and thanked, and given our six year exemption.

I had a lot of apprehensions going into the whole thing, thinking it was going to be nerve-racking, but it was the judicial process in action.

Glad I went, sat, learned, and will wait until it is my turn again.

2011 will be no different, Monday morning starts out with jury duty in county court – a huge waste of time in my opinion.  I have no desire to sit in a room and watch two overpaid suits go back and forth over petty crap.  Who knows if I will even get selected to sit on a jury, it is just going to be a waste of time waiting to get called anyway.

My hope is to update this blog more often, I am shooting for once a week if the time allows it.  We shall see how things go…

Well, time to run, more work to get done and maybe some sleep if that is possible.

Cheers and welcome to 2011!

The newest season of Doctor Who came to and end last night with the thirteenth episode ‘The Big Bang’.  While the episode was the continuation of the week prior, it really brought the entire season to a great close and wrapped up the story in a nice bow :)

While the season is still running in the United States, I will not go into any details of the episode.  This post is about the entire season as a whole and how well the new actors brought the story of the time lord to a new level.

Matt Smith, who had the honor of playing the eleventh incarnation of The Doctor, did a superb job.  I had my doubts when it was first announced that he would be taking the role.  I felt that his age would hinder him from really performing as this great character and following the in footsteps of the very talented David Tennant.  Smith was able to make the role his as he donned some very retro attire and he really brought the character to a new level and helped to add a new dimension to The Doctor.  It took some getting used to, but after a few episodes I started to enjoy Smith’s quirkiness and how he was able to command The Doctor’s presence in any situation.  Given the many dramatic moments from previous seasons that Tennant had powerful monologues, I wasn’t sure if Smith was going to be able to pull this off – I was wrong, he certainly did.

Karen Gillan, the fiery Scottish actress that took on the role of Amy Pond, was just a delight to watch.  Gillan light up the screen every week with her smile and attitude and gave The Doctor a challenge when it came time to sit still.  I wasn’t sure about Gillan at first either, but the chemistry between her and Smith certainly gave the show a new dynamic and had me coming back for more each week.  I hope that Gillan returns in the next season, but only time will tell.

Overall, the new season was amazing.  From the re-branding of the franchise to the inclusion of old enemies and friends, the 2010 season of Doctor Who was certainly one that I will remember.

I am really looking forward to Christmas for the special and can’t wait to see what is in store!

Cheers!

Well the ‘June 23rd Delivery’ was not a hoax, and I am happy to be the owner of a new Apple iPhone 4.  I wasn’t sure if it was going to come today, because FedEx had a backlog in their tracking system that prevented real-time updates.  This honestly doesn’t surprise me with all of the iPhone pre-orders being delivered.

I got my hands on the device this afternoon after going back to bed due to a horrible night’s sleep.  Thankfully I left the authorization form on the door for the FedEx driver, or I would be waiting until the 24th!

My first impressions are that "I LOVE THIS PHONE!"  Yeah, it is sleek & sexy and of course it is new.  Besides the black and steel exterior, the phone is fast (really fast) and all of the new features that Apple packed into the iOS are just amazing.  One of the best features is the camera.  I love taking photos and having a 5MP shooter is great.  The focus & flash are a welcomed addition and the video is great too.

I won’t go in-depth on this post, because I have only had my hands on the device for 12 hours.  But so far, I am glad that I decided to upgrade :)

Cheers!

Dear Apple Store Customer,

You recently received a Shipment Notification email from Apple advising you that your iPhone has shipped.

This email is to confirm that your delivery will occur on June 23rd. Although Apple and FedEx tracking information may currently indicate a later date, you can check the FedEx website the morning of the June 23rd to track your package to your doorstep.

In the event that you will not be available to accept delivery on June 23rd, it may be more convenient to use our pre-sign delivery option by visiting our Order Status website at http://www.apple.com/orderstatus.

Sincerely,

The Apple Store Team

A lot of buzz has been going around about this email and if it is an error on Apple’s part or if it is legit.  My thought is that Apple and AT&T want to take some of the pressure off of the servers on launch day and get the 600,000 pre-orders activated before the big rush.

At this point my iPhone has arrived in Newark, NJ.  So this whole ‘June 23rd delivery’ might very well be possible.

I guess we will see come tomorrow, all I can do is wait at this point :)

Cheers!

This journey started at 5:30 AM when I checked the Apple website and saw that pre-order was available, I immediately decided to get the small task out of the way before tackling my inbox.  Boy, that sure was a bad idea.  After four attempts to order, I gave up for time.

A few hours later I check back to see that the Apple online store was down.  I figured that they were working out the bugs and that this was a sign of hope.  I waited around and once the store was back up I proceeded to place my order.  Three attempts this time and no luck, it was back to my work I went.

At this point I decided I would wait until later in the day or tomorrow morning to order the phone.  I headed downtown for some meetings and stopped at the cafe for some lunch.  I decided that I would try again, hoping I would be successful.  Four more attempts later I still was unable to order the phone.  I was not going to make a reservation to pick-up my phone at an Apple store, because the closest one is two hours away.

Well after getting home, around 8 PM, I decided to give it another try.  A friend of mine told me they sold out, so I wasn’t sure if it was worth it.  I crossed my fingers and went through the prompt screens that I had seen so many times during the day, it was actually working.

SUCCESS!  At 8:15 PM I had an order confirmation screen sitting in front of me confirming my order and making the journey seem worthwhile.

So after seven failed attempts and a lot of yelling, I have my iPhone ordered.  I just hope that it will show up on June 24, as my order confirmation indicated.

Anyone else go though hell to order their new toy? :)