The big New York/SES Toronto road trip.

So I’ve been harping on at my buddy Kevin Ryan, for little short of a lifetime, to get this new vehicle of his out of the garage and give me a tour somewhere. Living in New York, I don’t have a car (it’s sitting in the UK with a flat battery and flat tires by now, I guess). I get around OK on the subway and by taxi same as most New Yorkers.

I was kind of hoping we could do a Sunday afternoon around New Jersey and visit some places I’ve seen on The Sopranos. But, if you know Kevin at all, you’ll know he never does anything by half. So the big day arrived.

Instead of flying up to Toronto together for SES… We’ll drive he says!

Excuse me Kevin, but isn’t that like a ten hour drive or something? Sure, he says. Ten hours of big fun!

In fact, the trip took the whole weekend getting there. Kevin’s folks live upstate at Finger Lakes. It was father’s day the coming Sunday so he could do brunch with his dad.

But more to the point, specifically for me, they make wine upstate New York… Lots of it.

An so, we hit the road, early Saturday morning. On the way up we stopped only once to fill up… On something called Pudgie Burgers! If my diet wasn’t specifically geared towards an early heart attack, it surely was now. I could feel my arteries filling up with pudginess each mouthful. At one point in his varied career, Kevin worked part time at Pudgies. And after we finished burgers the size of our respective heads, he told me a total gross-out story about what he used to get up to making the famous Pudgie Burger.

Donnt ask!

We did actually have to make one emergency stop. I couldn’t resist this shot.

Last chance for what?

Gas?

Wine?

A shag?

All of the above?

Our next emergency stop was essential. The Herman J Weimer vineyard to stock up on his delicious (and famous) Riesling.

There’s only one word for the Finger Lakes area: Beautiful.

And what else would you do at the lakes, other than sail a boat.

And in keeping with his usual style, Kevin had picked out a great place for us to stay overnight. Geneva on the Lake.

This is a beautiful resort sitting right on Seneca Lake.I found out later, from Kevin’s mom that, it used to be a monastery at one time. And when I discovered this beautifully serene corner of the gardens, it seemed fairly apparent.

Kevin’s folks were attending a family and friends get together along with Kevin’s brother, Frank and his family. It was such a wonderful laid back family affair with plenty of cold beer, hot dogs and burgers. Just the tonic I need as I miss my family get-togethers back in the UK very much. So, I was adopted as a member of the family for the weekend!

I was made to feel very much at home. So thanks so much you guys for having me over.

Sunday was father’s day. I got two texts from my kids (one forgot – you know who you are!!!) and Kevin had his mom and pop come join him for brunch at Geneva on the Lake. And he kindly invited me too. What a wonderful family brunch that was.

Kevin’s parents are absolutely delightful folks. And I couldn’t have been more happy than when, Kevin’s mom gave me a huge hug just as we were leaving and invited me to come back and stay again (I was also instructed to get Kevin’s ass up there more often too, of course 🙂

After we crossed the border into Canada, we decided to visit Niagara on the Lake as Kevin had never been there before. It being the place which boasts the oldest pub in North America… I had!

This is a beautiful little town which has been voted prettiest in Canada on more than one occasion.

And so, we had lunch and local beer at the Angel Inn.

Sunday night we arrived in Toronto and met with Andrew Goodman (SES, Toronto, Co-chair) for dinner. And Monday night was the traditional pre-show dinner. Incisive Managing Director, Gary Lynch, myself, Kevin, Matt McGowan, Frank Fazio, Richard Zwicky and a bunch of others piled into my favourite little Italian eatery in Toronto. The Kit Kat.

The show started Tuesday with another extremely informative and entertaining keynote by another favortie Canadian buddy of mine, Fredrick Marckini. He really is a first class public speaker.

There were the usual shenanigans and parties. And the usual pic of me taking a pic of Li Evans taking a pic of me (with my number one Guinness drinking buddy Motoko Hunt in the background).

And yes, my usual pic of the audience at my sessions.

After an excellent show (well done Andrew and team) Kevin and I made an early start for home. On the way, we both became aware that neither of us had ever been to Buffalo before. I did a quick check online and discovered that Buffalo really does have the restaurant where buffalo wings were invented. The Anchor Inn.

It had to be done!

And God bless Teressa Belissimo for inventing the wings that have had people all over the world asking the question: “Why are they called Buffalo wings?”

Although I have to say – 20 on a plate as the smallest dish may be a little too much Buffalo and wing!

So, rite of passage and all that, Kevin and I entered the Anchor Inn where we were seated and Kevin…

Twittered!

Next stop, the Turning Stone casino and resort for a quiet stay over.

This is based on an Indian reservation and is HUGE!

Strange thing is… It doesn’t sell alcohol. Remember I mentioned how we stocked up earlier in the trip with that lovely upstate Riesling? Well that’s the reason nobody received there gifts when I got back.

Of course, it was a long trip and we had some big, big laughs along the way. But I think we’ll just leave this as the edited version. And next time you meet with Kevin and I… Buy us lots of alcohol and we may tell you the unabridged version (as Kevin’s mom and my own read this blog. It’s best kept out 🙂

Central Park.

One thing I really do love about where I live is I’m only a few blocks from Central Park. And one of my favourite places is the park!

Last weekend (in the heat wave, I should add) I thought it would be a great idea to go to the Boathouse… I adore the Boathouse. So, yes, it’s a little touristy, but what a great spot.

There’s always live entertainment going on in the park. I spotted these two guys with a great comedy/gymnast/dance routine which was hilarious. Here, in the set up, you can see a small kid and a group of adults. The idea is, that one of the guys will leap over the top of the kid first and then the group. So much more to it actually (but I have a ClickZ column to write so this is the short version).

Kid first

And then the group

Excellent act!

So, my favourite place is the boathouse on the lake.

It’s so relaxing just to sit and drink a nice chilled Sauvignon Blanc and watch the boats go by.

But, when you do it in a heat wave, your drink starts to boil in ten minutes and then so do your brains. Doh! Not my best idea last weekend. I’m still suffering from sun stroke!

But on the way back to my apartment, I thought what a good idea it would be to dance a little Tango first…

Not!!

Congratulations…

My son Joe and his beautiful girlfriend of four years have just announced their engagement.

That’s fantastic. You’re a great couple and have been for years. And it’s wonderful that Paula will join the family. She’s lovely.

But take your time, kids. Weddings are expensive 🙂

Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Walldorf…

Just before I came back to New York I paid a flying visit to Germany. Although I had been to Frankfurt a couple of times, this was my first opportunity to visit both Heidelberg and Walldorf. These towns have very interesting history.

My friend and colleague, Crispin Sheridan at SAP recommended a small hotel in Heidelberg. It was just wonderful! Die Hirschgasse is a small, luxury hotel with a 500 year history.

And I have to say, the food was outstanding. This is most certainly a place I’ll be coming back to with my wife (well, whenever I see her again!). Heidelberg has a very interesting history. It’s a small town of about 140,000 people and is world renowned for the famous Heidelberg press for paper and envelopes. It’s a very pretty place.

And the University of Heidelberg is one of the oldest in Europe (some say the oldest) dating back to 1386. Of course, the outstanding landmark, sitting 80 meters above the river Neckar, is Heidelberg castle.

John Le Carre’s novel, Absolute Friends, was set in Heidelberg.

Close by, in Walldorf, are the global headquarters of the world’s third largest software company, SAP. And yes, there is a link to the Astoria family and the famous New York hotel. But the actual spelling of the name is with two Ls

SAP was founded in 1972 by five former IBM engineers and has a huge presence in the region (as well as the rest of business world… And most certainly in my life these days!).

Yes, I’ll definately be coming back to this part of the world as often as I can!

Devon, Cornwall and Eden…

Over the long weekend Tatiana and I decided to goo take a short break somewhere. Not unusual for as we’re separated so often we usually look forward to spending some quality time just the two of us.

This one was a little different though. I’m living mainly in New York right now. And my wife has just been promoted and… She has to go live in Geneva, Switzerland.

So, we checked our schedules and it turns out, we won’t see each other again now until September. So, with us both living outside the UK for a while, I thought I should try and do something in the UK that my wife has always wanted to do.

And she’s always wanted to go south to Devon and Cornwall. So it seemed like an ideal time to jet down to Exeter, rent a car and drive around the English Riviera.

We checked into a wonderful little boutique hotel with an excellent view of Torbay.

Torbay has a nice marina.

And a long boardwalk (can’t quick figure what that building with the pagoda style features are on the hill).

But the big surprise I had for Tatiana was that I had bought tickets for the world famous Eden project. Basically, you’re driving through this wonderful Cornish countryside and bang! You come across this.

It’s a global garden and it’s quite breathtaking. Recreated right there is a rain forest environment and also a Mediterranean environment housed inside huge “Biomes” as they are called in what used to be an old china clay pit.

If this next pic looks a little steamed over… It is. The shot was taken inside the rain forest Biome and the temperature was… Well, just like a rain forest!

And to prove the point that it is the real thing, they actually grow and package bananas for sale.

The temperature on the other side at the Mediterranean Biome was a little easier for Tatiana to handle.

These are vines growing grapes with some kind of weird shit going on with dancing bulls… and er… Stuff.

All manner of flora and forna is grown here.

And for all kinds of reasons.

One of the other Biomes had an exhibition called the Sexy Green Car Show. There was wonderful old Ford Prefect on show, the first car my father ever owned (and incidentally, where Douglas Adams took the name for the lead character in the Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.)

And as a contrast, one of the most modern (and green) cars on the planet. The hydrogen powered Morgan, LIFECar

This guy looked a little scary when we bumped into him.

But then a second look and we could see he was made from old washing machines and vacuum cleaners!

Eden project. Fascinating!

Afterwards we were ready for lunch and went to the wonderfully quaint village harbour of Mevagissey. This is still a working port so you can watch the fishing vessels coming in and out. I can recommend the ancient old pub, the Sharksfin.

The next day, on the way home, we stopped at Exeter, the ancient capital of Devon. Here we had a beer at the 17th century Prospect Inn.

After which, it was time to hop a jet back to Newcastle.

See you in September, Tatiana!

Cheers!

eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit, London, 2008

Seems like only five minutes since I was hanging out with my pal Jim Sterne at eMetrics, San Francisco and here we are again… eMetrics, London.

I love this conference. But really!

You have some of the smartest minds in online marketing from the vendor, agency and client side. So the networking and knowledge exchange is phenomenal. In my own way, I try to impart a little knowledge about search (and perhaps, even a little wisdom from time-to-time). And in return I soak up the anecdotes, case studies and data like a sponge.

As ever, Belgian analytics superstar Rene was there with the chocolates (and cigarettes – but no dear wife of mine, I never smoke… Honest!).

The great man himself had a wonderful idea for the London show: an eMetrics version of American Idol session. And duly, with the panel assembled, Jim kicked off with his own rap version of the hokey-cokey… “Left hand in, left hand out… Put your hands in the air for Santa Barbara, then you turn around…”

And then he stunned the audience as he segued his rap into a rousing finish as he hit the crescendo in Nessun Dorma!

After much debate by the panel, who had cleverly tagged everyone in the audience with JavaScript so that they could get real time results, it was decided to let Jim win. That way they could get to the hotel bar much quicker…

The sessions started proper with Neil mason recollecting a metrics case study from when he was a boy. It was about a fish. “Anyway, it was this big…”

Seriously, once again the conference was a complete winner. It’s always great to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. Here’s me with industry stalwart Danny Meadows Klue, Jim Sterne and Adam Cox.

And of course, I have to have one shot of the audience so they can link to it 😉

Well done Mr Sterne, yet another sensational show!

Okay time to start revving up for SES, Toronto.

The peril of not checking your Facebook email is…

You may miss something very important like this from one of your buddies!

Sorry about that Joe… By the way, can we spend some of your VC money on Mojitos and Madames in San Jose 🙂

SES, Toronto with Andrew Goodman.

Last year, Andrew Goodman donned the SES captain’s cap for the Toronto show. And what a show it was. Complete with Seth Godin, no less. And this year promises to be even bigger, better and loaded with the must-see sessions and speakers.

If you’re an SEO and proud to be Canadian… Come drink beer with Andrew Goodman and Fredrick Marckini (and me 😉 (and Kevin Ryan, of course 😉

Sara, SEMPO, San Francisco…

Just before SES, New York the SEMPO New York, local working group had its first meeting at Yahoo’s midtown offices. Of course, I was there for the splendid snacks and free drinks. And just last week, I attended the second meeting at the same location (me being a bit of local myself now). Mike Grehan+SEMPO, I hear you shriek!

Well, it can get lonely living on your own in New York and I really do have to get out more 🙂

Seriously, I have a renewed interest totally inspired by my friend, a little force of nature known as Sara Holoubek.

Sara’s totally passionate and quite simply swoops into the building and takes over the room. In order to get more attention to myself I went to the first meeting disguised as Matt Cutts. Turns out lots of people are aware that Matt is not a little, old, fat guy with a British accent. So that kind of blew it. Last week I used my stealth technique again and attended as Adam Lasnik… Turns out that, lots of people are aware that Adam is not a little, old, fat guy with a British accent. Damn, failed again!

I’ve been rethinking my strategy. Yesterday, I had lunch in San Francisco with Vanessa Fox. I’m just not sure I can fit into that dress size. But hey, let’s give it a try 🙂

And so it was, I left New York last Friday with the Village People top-tune, San Francisco (You got me) playing in my head. I checked into the Westin (formerly the Argent) with its pleasant views of the city (so entirely different to New York)

To the right I have the striking building that is the Marriott hotel (AKA the jukebox).

And to the left, the sea a little way in the distance. I had a deja vu moment when I looked out of the window and remembered I’d stayed in the very same room when I was speaking at ad:tech a couple of years back.

Saturday I had a quick beer at lunch time with my great pal Jim Sterne. And later we met up for the traditional pre-conference dinner. We were recommended a wonderful little Italian restaurant (the name of which I completely forget). And pretty soon, the shampoo was flowing.

Not sure if was the shampoo that went to Matt Finlay’s head. But for some reason he felt it was necessary to poke poor Fanny (his assistant) in the eye. Talk about a totally different style of management 🙂

After dinner, it was back to the hotel bar where, again traditionally, Belgian analytics superstar Rene Dechamps Otamendi arrives with the delicious Belgian chocolates.

This is a shot which occurs at every eMetrics event at some point… Me taking a pic of Jim Sterne… Taking a pic of me!

One of my favorite places to visit in San Francisco is in the touristy area of Fisherman’s Wharf. Here, proudly standing for more than 50 years is the Franciscan restaurant.

You can tell by the wine glass they make a big deal about being 50 (and yes, I can seriously recommend the Shrimp Pescatore – delicious).

No less than once a year, I find myself sitting in the high booths facing the huge windows that look out over Alcatraz Island. Here you can see everything go by. From tourist ferry boats…

to cargo ships…

to little sail boats…

On Sunday I had a fabtastic (yes, that was fabtastic) day with lovely Lisa Barone. Not many people know that, Lisa is actually my long lost daughter who was abducted and sold into… What? What?? Okay, so you’ve heard it before…

Anyway, we took ourselves to the top of the Hyatt hotel and its Grandviews restaurant for Sunday brunch.

And then we headed to the Franciscan where Lisa got involved in her new spectator sport: watching her old pop type thing get fashionably drunk in the afternoon. Of course, like any good pop type thing, I didn’t let the day go by without taking her to see the famous California sea lions, sunning, stinking and barking on the bay!

Some of the other residents have no idea what the whole sea-lion-fuss-thing is all about…

And so the event got into full swing, Monday. In between my sessions, I took a walk around the exhibit hall. Here I bump into a lot of my pals. Tim Ash (great book) as you can see was doing a book signing. His colleague next to him is obviously saying: “But let’s make the next one at least this thick, okay?”

Talking about bumping into people, after the SEMPO bash in New York, last week I walked out into the street and bumped into Marshall Sponder who just happened to be outside the Yahoo! Building. “I heard you were living in New York, now” sez he. Yes, I reply. “Going to eMetrics next week” sez me. “Absolutely” sez he. “Should be good” sez me, “I haven’t seen Eric Peterson for a while.” “He’s standing right behind you” sez Marshal! And so he was… So he and I and Marshall and Kevin Ryan and Rhian and Kevin Heisler and Bill & Motoko Hunt and more, had a spontaneous SEM/Analytics get-together in the restaurant across the street.

Sure enough, one of the first people I bumped into at the conference was none other than Eric himself!

Monday was cinco de Mayo, and Lisa (Mike-shut-up-about-the-stick-and-semi-clad-girls-in Universal-results-or-I’ll-never- blog-your-sessions-again) Barone, decided that Mexican food was the order of the day. And so, complete with recommendations from the concierge, myself, “The Lisa”, Matt Bailey and Dave Rohrer headed for a restaurant… which served food about as Mexican as a full English breakfast (saved only by the Chips and guacamole!)

Later that evening, my newest and bestest friend and colleague, Acronym’s very own Tami Dally, flew in from New York to join the throng at the bar. In no time at all, I had the shampoo flowing and the very artistic Marshall Sponder (obviously not being a Dom Perignon sort of guy) decided to draw it instead of drink it as Tami looked on 🙂

As usual, the conference was excellent for networking.

And, as ever, the food and drinks at the sponsor sessions in the exhibit hall were first class (one of the reasons I love this conference).

And lunch, of course, is always a truly excellent networking (birds of a feather) event.

Industry supertars really do abound. And here, in one of my sessions, Vanessa Fox tells Avinash Kaushik, “of course, the last algorithm I wrote at Google before leaving was this big!”

“Being analytics guru at Google, I’m always measuring things” says Avinash. And then reaching into his pocket “I have this fab new analytics tool called… a tape measure, with me. Let’s just see how big that mother really is…”

And with the conference over, I sneaked back to the Franciscan for a little chill on my own. And then I started the long journey back to Newcastle to see if my wife remembers who I am.

Cheers!

Joe’s little adventure…

I feel like I’ve been in New York for so long now, I’ll lose my English accent and start sounding like my pal Andy Beal 🙂

So, it was great to have my boy Joe come over and see me for the weekend. He may not have been able to find the razor blades in my apartment, and he may have been wearing the most provocative soccer shirt in town (as we bumped into every Manchester United supporter in New York) but we had a blast!

On Friday night we took in a stroll around Times Square (make that shuffled backwards and forwards in no apparent direction with the other half million people there).

And then, it was Joe’s dream dinner… A steak as big as a football (and that was the small one!). Ben Benson’s is one of my favourite steak houses in New York. And once again, he didn’t let down.

On the way back to the apartment we walked up to Columbus Circle. Here, Joe learned some of the local lingo, as a taxi turned left on a red light and nearly hit a guy walking his dog.

Man with dog: Fuck you!

Taxi driver: Fuck you!

This is how the dialogue and brief encounter went. Then it was swiftly followed by man with dog concluding by peering through taxi windscreen: “It’s a red light you dickhead!”

It made me feel so at home in New York, I almost cried.

Saturday morning, Joe donned the shirt which would be glared at in so many strange ways by people who think soccer shirts should only come in red and white. And into Central park we ventured.

No time later, seemingly, we were atop the Empire State Building.

After which, we jumped into a taxi and headed to South Street Seaport area, Pier 17 and a pint of Newcastle to go with the shirt!

And yes, dad had one too!

Just one more tourist attraction to fit in here, before heading to Macys to be cleaned out… Joe and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Saturday night, what’s a pop and his boy to do in New York… Go to the Stone Rose Lounge on Columbus Circle, of course.

Mojitos were the order of the day.

And here, Joe showed how mighty he was by pushing an entire burger into his mouth in one go!

Sunday was chill-out day after squeezing so much in on Saturday. So we took another stroll through the park.

I bumped into an old friend and we chatted a little while about his nuts.

Swiftly we hit Fifth Ave where we both imagined how good it would be if we robbed a bank and could then afford to buy one earring in Tiffany’s for his girlfriend, Paula.

And that was it. A whirlwind adventure for Joe and a plane back to dear old Newcastle on Monday. While I slipped back into my SEO Superman costume and flew up to the 55th floor of the Empire State Building… To do super Acronym SEO stuff 🙂