TJ Crawford's Abstract Ideas

LostGolfBalls Going to Good Home

TJ — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:23:38 +0000

Eric Ewe, the Internet Marketing Manager, over at LostGolfBalls.com contacted me and asked if I would do a review of their LOST but now found golf balls.

To do a good review though I feel it was important to take a look at the site and it’s functionality since it is really part of the brand experience. For this post I’m only going to review the Golf Balls section of the site. However they do have other areas covering Apparel, Equipment (yes clubs), Accessories (Gloves, markers etc), Logo (NCAA, NFL & MLB branded golf stuffs) plus a Specials section.

They do stay true to their name and when you hit the site it’s mostly golf balls on the home page. Even though they have used balls they sell new ones as well. All the new ball rates are commensurate with retail store prices (at least on the Pro V’s I hit). I found out this is because Titleist sets the retail rate and even if a store wants to give up some of their $ they can & will yank your contract. Can’t blame them when 50% of the balls sold are Pro V’s and they are one of the highest priced. Definitely worth it in my opinion though.

Back to the LostGolfBall.com review though. Needless to say there are all kinds of sorting and filtering features, but the one that stands out for me is the cool and easy grading scale. They rank the quality of the balls and have them priced accordingly. For the Pro V1x’s I hit they start at an AA rating (Practice) @ $7.95 and for the AAAAA rating (Like New/Excellent) they top out at $28.95. That’s $17 off a dozen balls. Not bad.

I’ll post more once I get the balls and hit them around a few times. Hopefully that’s soon as it’s turned pretty cold around Reno lately.

Article About Enterprise Applications

TJ — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:15:05 +0000

The following is an article our Marketing Director posted covering an interview with me about application development. Thanks Robert for a great interview and making me sound so smart.

Enterprise-level Applications: Interview with TJ Crawford, Director of Professional Services

TJ Crawford has been with Twelve Horses for almost eight years now, and in that time he has implemented many complex business automation and multi-channel marketing strategies for a variety of our enterprise level clients. With more than twelve years of experience in website design, application development, and integrated online marketing, T.J. is a master of melding web applications and technologies with database management and customer interaction. Whether the conversation is centered around multi-channel marketing, data replication, content management, ecommerce, Salesforce integration, or an amalgamation of all of the above he has plenty to share. It is for these reasons that I thought I’d chat a little with TJ to see what he is up to.

What are you most excited about right now?

It is not any one item, product or industry but technology period. There is a lot of fantastic innovation and discovery going on. I just saw the Space Cube, which is a computer condensed into a 2-inch cube. It has decent memory, USB, VGA output, Linux operating system etc. Something that used to take up a whole room can now easily fit into your hand. A large number of our cell phones have more computing power than NASA had when we went to the moon. There is just a plethora of technological innovations going on out there. Moore’s Law is in full effect for not only hardware but innovation as well. And where I get excited is finding that innovation and bringing it to use.

What changes have you seen in the company since you first started?

I actually have the proud designation of being the first Twelve Horses North America employee going back to when we merged in 2002. It was at that time that we went from being a 12-person web development shop called, Aztech Cyberspace to an international email marketing company…overnight. At first we focused on email software solutions but quickly found that people still need web services and integration; so we made sure those areas had the proper people and resources. We had our MessageMaker platform and Content Management System already, but over the years we developed quite a few more systems (Compliance, Automated Alert Systems, Membership Managment, Ticketing etc.). We went from being a web service company to a software company, to where we are now, which is a full-scale web development company helping automate and streamline all of the above. We have the brains (the people) as well as owning the development and IP for several software platforms.

And it makes perfect sense for us when you look at it from a competitive position. Most interactive companies don’t own their own solutions. They have to go out and find an email provider, a website designer, a content management system. Because we own them we are not limited to some 3rd party’s off-the-shelf feature sets.

What is new in enterprise-level application development?

Different industries are asking for different things. For instance, the financial industry is very focused on security. If they send an email they want to be sure the information in that email is secure. Having data portability is also really important. Sharing information internally, with 3rd parties and vendors, but doing it securely. Also, where the data is actually stored.

We are still very focused on technology systems that allow us to alleviate physical resources. Figuring out how we can automate and pull the labor out of it so the company can focus on how to make the business better, not just simple execution of processes.

Also, the ability to track data and put together actionable items. Just tracking is no longer enough. Don’t tell me I have 10,000 visitors, but tell me what they want. You not only have to provide insight, but you need to integrate it with multiple applications so you can get more of a holistic and aggregate view.

Tell us about a difficult challenge you’ve recently been faced with?

It is really the people equation. We can’t automate a solution around people acting differently depending on the variables within a situation. While there is fuzzy logic built into many systems, we can’t really automate a relationship decision, or a decision that is based on loose variables involving the human element.

For instance, clients place value on the relationship - the history, loyalty, and personality - you can’t automate that. We use Salesforce, love Salesforce, and have dedicated employees who only work on Salesforce; but Salesforce cannot go out and meet with a client.

What are you currently working on?

I have taken a very active role in business development because of our recent product developments. For instance, with our CMS system we have done 3 major new releases since the beginning of the year. Going out and talking to our customers is very important. Internally, you can talk to project managers, developers, and designers, and while they can give you great feedback, you have to get the full balance. You’ve got to know what your clients are doing, and what they are struggling with. You need their feedback. If you are not out in front of your customers hearing what their needs are, what their goals are, then you can’t build a great solution. That is how you bring real value.

We have a lot going on particularly with our CMS and supporting application development. The applications are much like plug-ins. For instance, we have a lot of CVB clients, so we have developed a stakeholder application for them. It gives the hotels, eateries and other businesses within the community access to manage content on the CVB’s site. It gives the stakeholder control of their interest and removes the labor component from the CVB.

Also, I’ve been working for quite some time on a ticketing system. The ticketing industry has been going through a lot of changes. Technologies have improved dramatically since the early 90s when many of these original ticketing systems were being built. A lot of old ticketing systems focused on the operational side, but they overlooked the marketing piece of it. Also, if you don’t provide some of that data on what your customers are buying and their demographic information, purchasing habits, etc, then you’ve really falling behind. There is also a lot of opportunity to take these transactions to the mobile environment, both on the payment side as well as using your mobile device as the ticket itself.

What would be your one piece of advice for database and online marketers out there?

Work smarter not harder. Find ways to bring exponential value to your clients both internally and externally. Don’t just implement changes to save a penny but sacrifice your brand by ticking off a client. Also, over the years I’ve seen companies invest a lot of money developing or buying closed systems. But to get into a system that does not take into account the other systems within your company, or integrate with them, is shortsighted. If they don’t play friendly with other companies and other solutions then you should be suspect. Getting locked into these long term contracts with closed system means they basically don’t have to develop new solutions and features and compete for your business as aggressively. That is why companies like Google have done such a great job. Many of their systems are open and continue to add value. They continue to innovate at a breakneck pace.

Custom vs Out-of-the-Box?

A lot of clients think they need a custom solution, but they really don’t. You have to ask, what is the cost vs benefit? Sometimes we have customers that come to us and the solution just doesn’t exist. So we have to determine whether or not it makes sense. An example of that is an economic development authority we recently worked with. They were shopping for an event management solution. We showed them what we could do, as well as what some other competitors were doing. They did a considerable amount of research and after that came back to us. They couldn’t find one that fully integrated with their systems or managed their groups the way they wanted. So we built it; and the ROI has far exceeded their and our expectations.

When TJ is not busy strategizing, scoping, and architecting technology solutions, he can be found playing golf or hanging out with his wife and twin boys. He even on occasion finds a little time for abstract blogging.

Click here to see the original article.

Great New Golf Course in Reno Area

TJ — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:16:50 +0000

Thanks to a friend of mine Scott Hilson for mentioning a great new course in Verdi, NV. Crystal Peak is touted as the only Love design on the west coast, is an absolutely fantastic layout. This track is not for the feint at heart though. It’s not tremendously long but you definitely have to hit well directioned shots. The green fees are super reasonable and for Trevor and I to play was $65. Definitely felt very economical considering the challenge and layout.

The fairways were in good shape but it was the greens that stood out. We waled the course which let you take more of the picturesque qualities on most of the holes. They look like they had barely been played on and rolled very true. I definitely am having some internal conflict on writing a blog post because the less people know about it the easier it will be to get another tee time.

I have just one gripe and it would be that on the Par 3 third hole there were several branches that hung out right in the flight path of the back tees. I don’t mind trees being strategically placed but for a 122 yard par 3 it just doesn’t make sense to hit and hope you don’t hit a branch right down the middle.

The Numbers
9 Hole, Par 36
3,274 From the Tips & 2,558 from the forward tees
Rating 71.2 & Slope 131 again from the tips

Crystal Peak Golf Course
(775) 345-1551

Cleveland HiBore XLS Spoon

TJ — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:51:01 +0000

So a spoon is really just a nickname for a 3 metal or 3 wood. So confusing is golf some times.

Yesterday I wrote about the Cleveland HiBore XLS driver and compared it to last years XL. In that article I said I wouldn’t spend the bones to upgrade just yet, however this one I would. I stopped carrying a 3 wood for the last 5-6 years as I just couldn’t find one I couldn’t hit. I traded it for a 2 Hybrid. However after getting Trev this XLS I’m SOLD. It has a very low profile but a larger head (from volume) that creates some great stability. The face is relatively flat on the bottom and has a great shape on the sole plate that won’t let you dig it in an chilly dip it.

Now how do I convince my wife I need this bad enough to spend the $179?

Signal Convergence

TJ — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 06:04:58 +0000

I added phone service from Charter the other day and it works just fine (saved us $70 bill every month from AT&T). I started having issues with our connectivity every time the phone rang however. I placed a service call and while I was on with them I ran a Speed Test to see if i lost all connectivity. However to my surprise everything was just fine. With a little nudge in the right direction from the tech about cordless phone interference. I started digging more.I got the specs on my D-Link Router and it was running @ 2.4 to 2.483 GHz. My primary set of phones is 5.8 GHz but low and behold the office phone was a 2.4 GHz model. For some reason it started causing interference randomly.

I would say I was pissed but since it involved a trip to BestBuy & ultimately CircuitCity I was ok with it.

Interestingly enough this is a much larger issue and the FCC has now dedicated a slice of spectrum to cordless phones based on a current European standard. DECT 6.0 is a newer standard that cordless phones are now running on. As you can see by the graphic below your network connections (via WiFi only) can be interfered with by 5.8 and 2.4 GHz cordless phones.

By the way I bought a GE only because it had a dedicated GOOG-411 button. Directory assistance beware, your business model is being hacked and turned upside down.

Oh yeah it turns out that my getting Charter phone service had nothing to do with the phone interfering. It was just a coincidence.

Cleveland HiBore XL vs XLS

TJ — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 05:05:22 +0000

Last year I replaced my Ping Si3 Driver with a Cleveland HiBore XL (9.5 degree, S-Flex, Gold shaft). I love it. I spent the time to get on the launch monitor and got it fit perfectly. Trevor tried out for the golf team and as incentive, and reward we told him if he made the team we would get him a new set of clubs. He had been using my wifes set of Golden Bears because he was in this weired transitional period where he couldn’t fit a full set but out grew his junior set.

So to cut to the chase he got fit as well and ended up with this years model of the HiBore XLS (12 degree draw, R-Flex, Gold Shaft). Despite the differences in bias and shaft I will have to say it feels great. It has a little bit more of that buttery feel and the acoustics are a bit louder with the increased size.

You can see the most prominent difference in size in tis photo of the Sole as they stretched and widened it.

Here you can see the stretch in depth as well as the change in scalloping on the XLS.

This also show how the slope on the back has changed. I was surprised it didn’t look more pronounced.

On the face of the XLS you can see how they widened the contour on the bottom and it looks a little more like a boat. They also deepened it up. How can you miss the ball with a face this large? Answer: YOU CAN’T!

They also differentiated the XLS with a reverse color scheme on the head cover, new graphics on the shaft and grip as well as the coloring on the club head itself. Also there is a logo on the toe that changes color in sunlight and UV lights to help prevent counterfeiting.

I am definately a gadget and tech junkie so clubs fit right into that, as the golf marketers have found out. I would love to have a new one but one years change in tech just doesn’t justify it for me. I will say Cleveland has figured it out better than any of them by pricing their driver line $100 cheaper than Taylormade and $150 cheaper than Callaway’s FT-5. They are turning out some fantastic clubs that perform as good as they look and feel. These will be flying off the shelf.

Wordpress Mobile Edition - Plugin

TJ — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:05:21 +0000

I updated my blog install to Wordpress version 2.5 and it definitely feels nicer. As I was looking through some of the features I noticed a snippet on a plugin that generates a mobile site for almost any PDA, Smartphone etc. One of my biggest pet peeves is trying to view websites on my Windows Mobile device. It’s not because more sites don’t offer a mobile version but more about Microsoft not delivering a very good mobile browser experience.

Since I have been working on mobile project lately I wanted to see how well the plugin worked. When you install it there is a php file that gets added to the plugins directory and then a theme to the themes directory. The site will do a browser detect and when it sees a mobile browser it will dynamically use the slimmed down theme. The theme is all text and link based so there are no graphics in the template. However graphics are supported in the post which is perfect. This streamlines the download on the phone.

Careful What You Wish For

TJ — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:52:50 +0000

Our 2 youngest (11 months) had been a bit slow to crawl. We were hoping they would get moving however now that they are can we tie them down. Trent LOVES the stereo equipment and rushes over so he can push every button and turn every knob. It took me 30 minutes the other night to get the settings back to the correct place. Speakers were turned off, surround turned off, muting, etc. Amy had to grab something from the back room a few days ago, a 20 second task, and Trent was sitting playing with some toys. As she was walking back down the hall the stereo got cranked up to a level that was WAY TOO LOUD. Trent was sitting in front of the stereo again looking at her like "WHAT?".

Velcro could work too!

Here is the first crawl just a few days before.

Bodies Revealed Exhibition

TJ — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 06:20:29 +0000

My wife has always liked medical things and has made comment on several occasions that she would have loved to have been a nurse. When she saw in the paper that the Bodies Revealed Exhibition was in Sacramento we knew we needed to go (even though we did the standard "do you really want to go?" at least 7-10 times).

This last weekend we packed up the twins with all of the standard diaper bag gear and headed down to Sac. We had called Amy’s sister and Bob (The Brother-in-law) and planned to meet them. We were a bit surprised to see such a small building as I was thinking museum type spaces. However the small accommodations didn’t detract from the displays at all. It was absolutely fascinating, the manner in which they preserve the bodies lets them do all kinds of creative displaying.

The process uses acetone to remove all the water from tissue on a traditionally preserved body. They then use a polymer in conjunction withe a vacuum chamber that somehow replaces all the water with the polymer. Your left with a plasticized mummy. With everything being plasticized you can remove bone, skin and other tissues leaving organs, blood vessels, muscle etc. My favorite one was the blood vessels (see image). You can’t believe how fine of a network runs throughout the human body and I was amazed that one of the largest concentrations was in your heel. On displays of the heart and lungs they even colored the arteries vs the veins so you could see how blood circulated out then back in.

When we bought the tickets they let us in with our strollers, but a few minutes in the head attendant nabbed me and made me check mine, thus having to walk around the entire time holding Trent. He is the lighter of our twin boys but at 22-23 pounds and as squirmy as a worm out of the ground, it was tough holding him for 45 minutes. He also wanted to touch every display we walked within 3 feet of. We got to talking with a sympathetic attendant that told us it wasn’t fair as there are people that come in all the time with wild 2-4 year olds and, in her opinion, that was worse. Interesting fact, you tip one of the displays over and it cost the exhibitor $1,000,000 to replace. Wow!

There is a great deal of controversy over this exhibit though. All the bodes are of Asian origin and word has it they are all obtained through the black market. You can imagine how they came to be on the black market too. Within the Asian cultures it is definitely a no, no to have your body treated in such a way as these have been preserved. I can’t really condone taking peoples remains and doing something against their wishes, but I would have to tell you that it is unbelievable informative and educational, beyond anything I learned in the class room.

If you get the opportunity to go I highly recommend it as you will learn and see more about the human body in 45 minutes than the average person sees in their educational career.

Callaway TOUR ix Golf Ball Review

TJ — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:45:37 +0000

Trevor made the golf team for Reed High a few weeks ago and we picked him up some new clubs. Since we were going to be playing I needed to restock my golf ball reserves. The golf shop was running a special where you got a free sleeve if you bought a box of a dozen. Sweet, except the fact that it excluded only Titleist. Evidently Titleist dictates they can’t do any promotions except the Titleist approved ones, and will revoke their license for any Titleist product if they are found violating their laws. THAT SUCKS.

A few weeks earlier I had received an ad in my email for Callaway’s new TOUR i & TOUR ix balls. I picked these up instead and got the free sleeve. Well I wish I had just paid for the Titleist because the cover on the TOUR ix are so thin they scuff up with regular iron play after 4-6 holes. I go through 3 or 4 a round just because of wear and tear. For a $40 box you would think they would be a little more durable.

I’ll stick with my ProV1x’s where a ball lasts the entire round.