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I've been a Saints fan my whole life.  The first time I entered the Superdome I was three and went to a game with my Papa.  He had season tickets as he always did.  I still remember that first visit and how BIG and amazing the inside of that dome was. 

I was born in Monroe, LA and we lived in Metairie (a subburb of New Orleans) when my brother was born.  By the time  I was five we were living in Golden Meadow, LA.  Golden Meadow is basically as far down in the bayou as you can go and still be in a town.  We had three hurricanes one summer and I remember coming home and seeing the marks on the wall where the water had come up in the house.  We left "Loos-e-aner" shortly after. 

Papa died of diabetes and Uncle Kevin of AIDS when I was nine and ten so we didn't have any family left in New Orleans.  I've only visited the state once since the last funeral.  The Saints were the only real connection to Louisiana that I had left, but it's one that I've strongly held onto because I remember how much my grandfather loved them. Five years ago when Hurricane Katrina hit the state I was reminded of those experiences and remembered what it must be like going through that. 

When I was fourteen and living in South Carolina the Carolina Panthers came into town.  They even played their inaugural season in Clemson's Death Valley, which was just down the street from where I lived.  I was actually able to go see a couple of games that first season and watched them win a few. It has always been so easy to pull for the Panthers.  Their owner Jerry Richardson, a Wofford College alum, is good friends with my uncle, and the Panthers have always done their spring training in Spartanburg, SC at Wofford.  For those of you who don't know, I am a third generation Wofford alum.  I also worked at the school in multiple roles for six years after graduation.  Although I still really like the Panthers, when they play the division rival Saints I've always pulled for the "aints."

The Saints have been known as the "aints" for quite some time.  They went over a decade before their first season with a .500 record.  The Panthers made it to the NFC Championship game in their SECOND SEASON!  It was twenty years before the Saints made the playoffs for the first time, and although they came into the league in 1967 I still vividly remember their very first playoff victory in 2000. 

Tonight's Superbowl victory over the Indianapolis Colts still seams surreal.  Watching the game, it didn't seem like a real Superbowl because the Saints were playing in it.  This is all despite having two whole weeks for me to mentally prepare for it AND passing through Miami yesterday and seeing all the fans and excitement.  The Saints fans in Miami on Saturday must have outnumbered the Colts fans 15:1. 

So here I am after the events of tonight compelled to tell this abbreviated story of my life as a Saints fan.  Tonight is one of those special moments that I will remember for a very long time.    

WHO DAT!  GEAUX SAINTS!

Earlier this week I went and saw the movie Avatar in 3D.  Now 3D movies are nothing new and they seem to go in and out of style faster than tie-dye shirts.  I think they first popped up in the 50's, right?  The 3D experience has never been one of those things that have been able to get a foothold for many reasons, but this time around it felt like the technology has finally come of age. 

I'm not saying that Avatar was the greatest movie of all time.  I'll still continue to give that title to Forrest Gump.  It was also an extremely predictable title following all the "required" plot structure that we enjoy in our movies.  Now this doesn't make it a bad movie, it was an absolutely amazing movie.

Where I want to be so bold is comparing Avatar to Star Wars in revolutionizing the movie experience.  Not only were the computer graphic imagery top notch, but the technology displayed in the movie was simply out of this world.  As we credit Star Wars and Star Trek in defining what looks "sci-fi" let's be honest our understanding of technology has advanced to the point where surely they must have more advanced technology than what those franchises use, right? 

Watch the movie trailer here, but be warned even this in HD doesn't do the experience justice.

Let me come back and talk about the computer imagery for a moment.  This isn't the first movie to bridge the gap between a Pixar animation and human live action but it felt like it brought the two together in such a way where you really couldn't tell them apart.  Movies like Sin City, 300 and Speed Racer paved the way for blockbuster big world experiences that can be created in a single warehouse without building gigantic sets.  The difference between those movies and this one is the budget size of this movie.  Avatar is one of the most expensive movies ever created.  With all that extra bread to spend they can go the extra mile to throw more excitement into the movie.  This brings me into where I really want to talk about.

The 3D Movie Experience

Movie theaters are looking for that next new boost to give them an experience that you can't have watching a movie in your home.   With all the new HDTVs that have flooded the market and surround sound systems I've been making the argument for a few years now about why do I need to go to the movie theater when I can just wait and watch the movie when it comes out on DVD (downloadable content, Blu-Ray or whatever other way that you like)?  Heather doesn't always like that excuse to not go to the movies for a date night though, but the practicality and expense of the experience usually helps me win the debate.

Movie theaters latest trump card looks to be the 3D experience that is coming back in full force.  In the previews for Avatar I saw quite a few upcoming movies that will incorporate 3D technology.  Why this is a big deal for the theaters is they can charge a premium to watch a movie in 3D.  As if going to a movie wasn't already expensive enough! 

Yes, watching a movie in 3D still requires you to put on those glasses.  Even that technology has come a long way as these are decent plastic glasses that you recycle after the movie and I'm assuming they sterilize and reuse. Surprisingly watching Avatar in 3D wasn't a painful experience and if I could last through a marathon movie that was two hours and forty minutes then it's probably a sign that this technology will last this time around. 

So bottom line, GO SEE AVATAR IN 3D and let me know what you think?  If it doesn't blow you away I want to hear why.  This is the future beyond HD TV and I think it's safe to say in five years we will probably go see every movie in the theater in 3D! 

An ancient Chinese proverb goes, "yesterday is the past, tomorrow is the future and today is a present."  I think that quote sums up so much in just a few words.  There is nothing to be gained in living in the past and even with all the planning in the world we are never sure about the future.  Live in the moment.  If the advice from the Chinese isn't enough here is another quote, actually my favorite line from the Bible:

This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. - Psalm 118:24

Life simply isn't worth getting upset or angry about many things as they are out of our control and we can only control one thing, the present. 

So all this is a little bit of a backward way of asking what are you thankful for today?

I'm thankful to have become an uncle two short weeks ago.  Bentley Thomas James is tiny, but he is the first of the next generation in the James family. 

I'm thankful to have a wonderful family, girlfriend and BFF in Skip.

I'm thankful to have a job doing something that I love, helping people solve real problems and turn their business around through inbound marketing.

I'm thankful to have this moment to rejoice and live a wonderful life. 

Hopefully everyone will enjoy turkey today and spending time with loved ones and just living in a moment that is a present?

This past weekend I took a wonderful trip back to South Carolina for some R&R.  I’m also about to be a first time uncle as my younger brother is about to have his first child.  I thought it was scary enough when my younger brother got married before me, but now he’s about to have a kid.  I remember back when I used to drive him to school every day or even further back when we used to play Contra in the yard squirting evil alien bushes with our water guns!

Man I’m OLD!

So while I was home I started tweeting “Things I miss about South Carolina.”  This list built to ten things so just in case you missed out, here was my list.

1. The warm weather, even the humidity.
2. How cheap everything is, especially food and clothes (yes, I went clothes shopping).
3. The sweat tea!  You don’t know real sweet tea unless you KNOW!
4. Riding around in a truck… heck I never ride around in cars anymore… so if I do then do it BIGGER!
5. Listening to country music radio.  Yes, that’s right we still listen to the radio and not satellite.
6. Family… what else is there to say…
7. Going out to lunch after church on Sundays.
8. Having the time to watch multiple Braves games in a weekend, them being on TV, and them winning!
9. Drivers letting each other over and NO HONKING.  Instead, waving to each other, even strangers.
10. It’s always just a flight away. 

Also, if you are interested I took some pictures at my brother and sister-in-law's baby shower.

Last weekend one of my coworkers at HubSpot’s band was playing out in Waltham. What a great opportunity to support a coworker and listen to some live music! To top it off they are an 80’s hair metal cover band! That’s right lots of AC/DC, GNR, Bon Jovi and the rest of the great tunes of that decade. So if you are in need of a Boston area 80’s rock cover band you should definitely check out Wildside!

Don’t believe me check out these short videos I took of the action.

The Wildside of Boston

Some GNR Love

A while back I wrote about the differences between living in the country and the city.  I think it’s time to start expanding on some of those changes living in the city represents.  The first change is the availability of FiOS high speed internet.

My apartment is wired with the ability to use FiOS internet, which means lightning quick 20Mbps.  Needless to say it is much faster than anything I’ve had before!  With this extreme speed there are a lot of things I can do with my internet connection.  For example, I have the ability to watch high quality streaming video.  Hulu, MLB.TV, ESPN360 and YouTube have all been great to watch through the internet connection, but the most enjoyable by far has been Netflix! 

Netflix has multiple subscriptions but their basic package is right at $9/month. With this you can have one movie checked out at a time, AND you can stream as many movies through their online servers as you would like.  So basically for $9/month you can watch all the movies you want from Netflix streaming collection of 10,000+ movies and television shows, as well as having new releases shipped to you one at a time.  How can you beat that!?  Of course the catch is you need a high speed internet and you have to watch the movies on your computer.  Wait a minute. Maybe you don’t…

The Xbox 360 with Xbox Live is another one of those exciting entertainment toys.  Besides all the great games, they also have a Netflix add-on for Xbox Live.  So this means that all those great streaming movies from Netflix can be watched through the Xbox on my plasma TV!  Netflix even has some movies and shows that stream in HD.  Double win!

With Netflix through the Xbox 360 and being able to stream the rest of streaming online video through a laptop to the television adapter, who needs cable or satellite?  Ok, so six months after moving to Boston I did finally give in to cable, but it wasn’t by choice.  

Save the money...buy a high speed internet connection and watch streaming online video.  You will thank me in the long run because THIS IS THE FUTURE.

I don't really know how to explain this so just watch the video.

Skip is such a beggar for human food. The first few cheeseballs that we gave him he ate right up.  Since then he has created what can only be described as a ritual that he performs with these little balls of intense cheesey puffiness.  

So this weekend I attended two tweetups.  For those of you who don't know what a tweetup is, it's an event organized partially through twitter where you have the chance to physically meet individuals that you have connected and built virtual relationships with.  Granted, it sounds sounds the same as a get together or meetup, but for some reason it is fun to say "tweetup."  Here's the wikipedia definition of a tweetup.

For the first tweetup, we celebrated the one year anniversary of HubSpot TV.  That's right, it means that they have filmed 52 episodes and continue to produce them weekly. In the short attention span of the web, this is a major accomplishment  I've even had the pleasure of filling in as co-host of a couple of episodes.

Since I always end up being the photographer for HubSpot events this one was no different.

I guess having the biggest camera puts me on the spot to be the photographer?

The following day, some of my great friends came to town for our second eduTweetup, including fellow .eduGuru writers Karlyn & Rachel.  Before heading out to Harvard Square for some fun and hanging out with a bunch of Higher Ed peeps, we enjoyed a Duck Tour around Boston.  Here are some pictures and a video of riding a duck boat into the Charles River.  Notice the one picture of Captain Jason.

Needless to say after a day of adventure and touring the city, me and my lazy self didn't even take the camera to document the evening. Actually it was probably a good thing because apparently their are some pictures out there floating around of me dancing... always a scary thing.

Saturday August 1st, Heather and I left the apartment early in the morning to head to South Station, hop on a bus, and head down to Cape Cod for a weekend with our friends, Bonnie and Dave.  As a side note, Au Bon Pain's Smoked Salmon and Wasabi on Onion Dill Bagel is an AMAZING breakfast sandwich.

Anyway, so when you no longer have a car, traveling outside of Boston becomes a little bit of an adventure.  The bus ride was mostly uneventful besides the traffic, but when we arrived Bonnie and Dave were ready to take us on a ferry ride to Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard. It was a perfect day so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Martha's Vineyard reminded me a lot of Hilton Head, SC.  I guess the only difference is they get a lot more snow in the winter.

Last week I was in Chicago for the eduWEB conference.  It was an awesome conference.  Not only did my presentation on SEO for Higher Education go extremely well and get fantastic feedback, but .eduGuru WON the eduStyle People's Choice award for Best Higher Education Blog.  Of course all that aside it was just a fantastic chance to hang out with all the wonderful people in Higher Education Web that I just haven't had the time to since taking my new job. 

I'm won't get into everything about the conference in this post, but I do want to share some of my pictures exploring Chicago.  One of my favorite times during the trip was while hanging out with my buddy tsand on Wednesday when we went out to meet the PlaidNation crew.  What an interesting way to take a vacation while also building brand awareness and documenting the whole adventure!  So I'll shut up now and share some pictures.

Navy Pier

Around Chicago with tsand