El Gaffney

What I’m Getting Into This Morning

A non-typical post but I’m waiting for movers – so why not?

TrueHoop

We Love You So
(Lauren Epstein passed this on a while back)

(Phil Chang posted on Facebook earlier this week but I can’t get enough)

And this
(Not just because of the mention in “Motherlover”)

Tags: moving

What Disintermediation?

Sorry for the big, grown-up word in the subject of this post: I learned it in business school…when I read about business school…in a book. (reference DirecTV “Charge More”)

Yesterday afternoon I saw a tweet from ESPN RISE asked if anyone had questions for Donald Faison of Dr. Turk on Scrubs fame. I posed: Best hairstyle in sports? Look at Lawrence’s head. It’s da bomb! Cause I’m keepin’ it real. Cause I’m keepin’ it real. (reference Clueless script)

Well, today he responded to me (right after dirtydave998):

Tags: celebrities, espn

Ads, Brands, and ESPN: A Presentation

I just returned to the office from giving a guest lecture at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. The audience was first-year students in Professor Ansari’s Marketing class, which is part of their core curriculum. That means, they have to be there whether or not they give two hoots about this fuzzy stuff. And at 9AM, at that. However, I must give credit to the class – they were surprisingly awake and engaged from the get-go, and they asked very smart questions. All A’s, I say. (Unfortunately, I have no power to do such a thing.) So thank you to them, Prof Ansari, W+K, and ESPN – nothing makes up for lack of new thinking better than some “This is SportsCenter” spots. Thanks to the blogosphere and plannersphere, from whom I’ve learned (and stolen) much to make this presentation. And thanks to my parents, who as educators themselves, have instilled the importance of, and inspired the passion for, teaching. (Yes, I know it’s only a presentation, not an acceptance speech for an award show.) Enjoy and please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or on SlideShare. I’d like that.

(Note: Many of the slides contain hyperlinks to videos. Also, I have no idea why that clip art heart shape would upload properly. But I’m done trying since it’s not relevant to the pres. Plus, it’s only getting further away from Valentine’s Day.)

UPDATE: Many people have told me they need the VO with this or even the notes, and unfortunately I don’t think there’s a way to upload it with them. But in the absence of each, I must clear up just one misconception – I’m not feeling that State Farm spot creatively or strategically. Of course I understand that it was just to get the NFL sponsorship across; however, I used this slide to make the point that advertising is not the end game – that it must serve the brand, connect to your memories of the brand, etc. In hindsight, that was probably not the best example or title of that slide for those reading it. Thank you, Clay, for bringing it to my attention considering I got the idea to use when he and an ex-colleague bashed it on the same day.)

Tags: ads, b-school, brands, espn

Wrap That Run Up

No more NYC Marathon posts after this one. I promise. Unless I run it again in the future, of course. But I meant to share my final email in order to give a public shout-out to all my donors. Here’s what I sent:

A little over 4 and a half months ago, I started training to run the NYC Marathon for MS. A little over three months ago, I sent my first email asking for donations with two (connected) goals:

Raise $3,450 and Run the race in under 3 hours and 45 minutes.

I’m beyond happy to report that we beat both these goals. You helped me reach a total of $5,242.20 and a time of 3 hours 25 minutes and 15 seconds. That’s almost $2K more and 20 minutes less than I had hoped for! (Just wanted to give you all a chance to pat yourselves on the back, and give me a chance to show off my “3 on the AP Test” math skills :))

Thank you so much to:
Vince and Ila Gaffney, Megan Gaffney, Larry and Linda Fields, Craig Addeo, Carolena Deutsch-Garcia, Hara and Michael Cohen, Steve and Patti Cohen, Howie and Cathy Stein, Phyllis and Jarrett Pikser, Patricia Marchese, Kerri Holt, Jeff Stein, Lauren Cochran, Eric Rattner, Adrian Ho, Brean Cunningham, Jeffrey Greenblatt, Laith Kalamchi, Michael Rubinfeld, Jess April, Stephanie Redlener, Andrew Tchabovsky, Hara and Michael Cohen, Matt O’Laughlin, Robert Nelson, Lisa Michel, Kirsten Shiroma, Eric Friedman, Kim Nguyen, Jeff Friedman, Jason Brupbacher, Steven Krammer, Sherri and Jeff Feinman, Ron and Diane Kaufman, Matthew Jung, Mark DiMassimo, Paul Garvey, Zach Lev, Eric Mishlove, Tom Theys, Erica, Dave and Noah Ellenbogen, Barry Blyn, Jen Giroux, Eve Silverman, Jason Oke, Pete Brown, Justin Eshak, Michael Katz, Matthew Johnson, Steven Fields, Leah Zamkow, Donna and Ed Mishlove, Tori Greene, Marie Shadi, Lee Goldstein, Chad Blakenship, Kamila Prokop, Genna McKeel, David Buxton, Slyvan Garfunkel, Arthur Marino, Aki Spicer, Noah Brier, Evan Schepps, Sarah Saline, Sean Cox, Toby Daniels, Jonathan Stein, John Dooley, Jonathan Marshall, Ian Young, Christina Verdeschi, Annemarie Cullen, Einat Korman, Aaron Perlstein, Gary Van Dzura, Alex Sagol, Rich Weinstein, Sarah Park, Jonathan Eshak, Brian Flax, Jessica Rowlands, Annie O’Rourke, James Hochleutner, Mara Kelly, Alain Sylvain, Adrian Heney, Michael Page, Virginia Scoza, Irene Binder, and Brian Morris.

So how did it go? Well, I woke up at 5AM to go the ferry. I got on the ferry to Staten Island. I started in Staten Island and crossed the Verrazano Bridge. I crossed the Verrazano Bridge to swallow the fly. I don’t know why…Okay, I’ll stop. But suffice to say, I had a great day physically, mentally, and emotionally. The conditions were fantastic that Sunday, though a bit chilly causing me—as you’ll see in pictures—to rock gloves for the full 26.2 miles. I got to see a handful of you lining the course, including my family, which provided that extra burst of energy and motivation to keep going. And for the majority of those miles I ran with a couple of new friends from the Run MS team, Fred and Andrew. These guys kept me inspired, entertained, and honest. I had a tendency in training runs to get a little too speedy for my own good, and as you can see here my pace was pretty consistent for the entire race at 7:49.

I don’t have any glamour shots by Deb or anyone else, but I did take some screen grabs of some photos taken by the hired pros on November 2nd. (Don’t underestimate my sneakiness, Brightroom.) I put them into a little video for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy:

UPDATE: I received quite a few emails asking how long it took me to put that together. The answer: Less than 20 minutes – the bulk of which was spent taking screen grabs of my race pictures. I used Animoto, a free service that allows you to make a customized slide show video (with your own uploaded images and music). It also enables you to import the video into YouTube straight from their site. Check it out.

Tags: marathon, nyc, running, videos

A Final Push for MS

The NYC Marathon is fast approaching. November 2nd is right around the corner. That makes it less than 12 days away. Some would say, this is the final countdown—well, if they wanted to link to this video, they would—until I finally run 26.2 miles for the NY Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. So I’ve made my last request for donations over email to family and friends. And I’ve copied it here in case it can convince even one reader to help the great cause of finding a cure for MS.

How am I doing? Thanks for asking. In short, great. In long, I’ve experienced some minor aches and pains and grosser stuff I won’t put in this email but week-to-week have been solid. Last weekend I completed my longest run of 20 miles and have been “tapering” since (starting to run less and rest more to let one’s body recover/get stronger for the race). This past Saturday I did 14, have 8 next weekend and then comes the big 26.2.

From when I began training to now, I’ve run an estimated—with the help of Nike+, which I use to track most runs—500 miles. From when I began training to now, I’ve met some incredible people also running for MS and made some good friends…2 with whom I’ll likely be running the marathon. (That is, if we can coordinate and find each other amongst the other 39,000 runners.) From when I began training to now, I’ve been both motivated and extremely touched by the support you’ve given me and this great cause.

When I began training with the Run MS team, I started with a goal of raising $3,450. Now, thanks to you, I have just surpassed $4,000. And I’m making a push for a nice, round $5000. So if you’d still like to donate (or pass on to someone who may like to donate):

Click here

Thank you’s go out to:

Vince and Ila Gaffney, Megan Gaffney, Larry and Linda Fields, Craig Addeo, Carolena Deutsch-Garcia, Hara and Michael Cohen, Steve and Patti Cohen, Howie and Cathy Stein, Phyllis and Jarrett Pikser, Patricia Marchese, Kerri Holt, Jeff Stein, Lauren Cochran, Eric Rattner, Adrian Ho, Brean Cunningham, Jeffrey Greenblatt, Laith Kalamchi, Michael Rubinfeld, Jess April, Stephanie Redlener, Andrew Tchabovsky, Hara and Michael Cohen, Matt O’Laughlin, Robert Nelson, Lisa Michel, Kirsten Shiroma, Eric Friedman, Kim Nguyen, Jeff Friedman, Jason Brupbacher, Steven Krammer, Sherri and Jeff Feinman, Ron and Diane Kaufman, Matthew Jung, Mark DiMassimo, Paul Garvey, Zach Lev, Eric Mishlove, Tom Theys, Erica, Dave and Noah Ellenbogen, Barry Blyn, Jen Giroux, Eve Silverman, Jason Oke, Pete Brown, Justin Eshak, Michael Katz, Matthew Johnson, Steven Fields, Leah Zamkow, Donna and Ed Mishlove, Tori Greene, Marie Shadi, Lee Goldstein, Chad Blakenship, Kamila Prokop, Genna McKeel, David Buxton, Slyvan Garfunkel, Arthur Marino, Aki Spicer, Noah Brier, Evan Schepps, Sarah Saline, Sean Cox, Toby Daniels.

Update: Since sending the email early this morning, I’ve reached $4,551. Thanks to Adrian Heney, Alain Sylvain, Annie O’Rourke, James Hochleutner, and Mara Kelly.

Tags: charity, ms, running