Why are we building this d@!n wall!

I have worked with a lot of celebrities, but I have never met a more improessive man than Vicente Fox, the guest speaker for the Hispanic Media Awards in San Antonio. My colleague, Chris Day, asked me to help arrange the media opportunities for the media. Instead of the traditional 30 minute press conference, we allocated six minute interview slots with President Fox. Like all media, the selected media pushed the envelope in trying to get more time, but for the most part, they were pretty good.

However, the message of President Fox was pretty impressive. Here is a man whose grandfather immigrated from Cincinnatti after his great grandparents immigrated from Germany. Fox told the media about his grandfather how his penniless ancestor made a life for himself in Mexico. Today, we Americans rely on hard working Mexicans for our trades and other services. Yet, how can we build a wall to keep those hard working people out of our country. As someone who had his relativ es immigrate to America, I couldn't agree more.

To my friend, Chris Day, it was a honor to work with you on this.................

Track 49, can you give me a shine or my trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee

Just got back from a short two-day roadie to Chattanooga on behalf of MDI and LearnSafe. I was there to get pictures and facts for an article for Security Magazine. Gotta say that I enjoyed the lack of traffic congestion in Chattanooga as compared to San Antonio. From my short visit to the Volunteer State, I have to be honest about a couple of things:

1) I used to think the truck drivers in Texas were bad, but there nothing quite as challenging as those hillbilly drivers heading downhill from Lookout Mountain;
2) Tennesseans are true Southerners. We Texicans think we're from the south, but we don't fry all of our food;
3) The folks in Chattanooga are still proud of that old Glenn Miller song, and I wish I had the time to visit the local train depot. Perhaps, the next time I'm in town I can do that......

I gotta put together the article with the pictures for the folks at Security Magazine in the next couple of days as well as deal with Peter, my oldest son, and his graduation from Morton Ranch or as Pete calls it "Moron Ranch" on Sunday.

Alexander Haig not worth $30K for four minutes of fame

Is Alexander Haig worth $30,000 for a four-minute interview segment? That's a question one client asked me to look into the cost and the production value. The end result is a three to four-minute segment on CNBC at 11:30 p.m. After looking at the production value of the sample clips, I had to question its overall editorial quality. When you have a corporate spokesman on the air for a minute, that's 50 seconds too long. And, the segments with General Haig looked like he was a little bored with the process. Truthfully, the combination of the former Secretary of State/former NATO commander, and the four minutes on CNBC at that time segment in a paid sponsorship deal isn't worth the cost. I recommended to my client that he look at his own production with placement on cable.

Rob Schorr on the Steve Gill show

Imagine my surprise whenI was sitting in my office Monday and saw the MSNBC report on Murfreesboro. Initial reports said that the school cadre decides to institute a "fake gun" test during a field trip for one elementary school. Right away, I went to work contacting media on behalf of my client, MDI and LearnSafe, and I got a positive hit with the Steve Gill show in Tennessee. This morning, Rob Schorr, a senior security integrator, was on his show for 15 minutes. Rob did a great job of telling the MDI and LearnSafe story. In the wake of the Virginia Tech story, the media is starting to understand the importance of a cohesive security strategy for schools.

What a deal for advertising houses and marketing firms

My client, BroadRamp has announced a 5/5/5 deal for those who want to see how their CDS streaming video makes it better for online visitors. If you are one of those CIOs for an advertising or marketing house who wants to save money on your web site's bandwidth, please call Martha Trevino, my co-worker at 828-4451, Ext 359

American Banker features the work of BroadRamp and Broadway

My client, BroadRamp, was featured in today's issue of American Banker. Reporter Daniel Wolfe interviewed Sean Darwash, the firm's chief technology officer, and Tom LLewelyn, Broadway's CIO about their new video banking project. It was a great article, even with the comment from Gwenn Bezard, a researcher from the Aite Group who said she didn't think bank customers would use videos to learn how to use the site. As one of those many visual or what my bride, Jackie, calls a "geographical" learner, I love well made videos that show me how to do things. Time Warner, my cable company, definitely understands this with its 960 channel and their three-minute clips on how to fix my remote tool.