Derek Gallo

So I am finally back from Barcelona where we went on business. After resting from 26 hours of travel and catching the Flu pretty bad I look back on the trip. We were there providing and supporting our MeetingsConnect NQuest Browser for ACTE at their European conference. Overall, the conference went great. Attendees were very happy with the programming and education at the conference and it seemed to be the least stressfull out of the 3 that I have been to. The NQuest Browser performed well and we recieved many compliments by the many users. This year the International Bussiness Lounge was sponsered by Iberia Airlines and they were especially pleased with our product. Our product is centered around sponsorship branding and they recieved tremendous exposure through it. We still need to crunch the data that we logged but I am sure that the numbers will prove Iberia’s investment to be worthy. We only came across very isolated problems with a couple of attendees’ webmail systems but gethered the info we need to fix them. We also gethered many ideas for additional features and improvments we hope to rollout by the next conference which is in six months in Miami.

Outside from the conference, Barcelona proved to be a very beautiful city. The architecture in that city is like none I have seen before. Hardly any of the buildings take a traditional shape. Barcelona is also home to one of the greatest yet primarily unknown architects, Atoni Gaudi. I was able to experience several of his works first hand. La Casa Batllo is what looks like another apartment building in the middle of the city. The outside architecture stands out however with curvy lines instead of straight and balconies that are shaped as skulls. The next that we saw and probably most amazing was the Templo de Segrada Familia. This is a beautiful cathedral that is still under construction (the only one in the world that still is). The design is amazing and hard to explain. They are currently finishing the main central tower that will stand over 500 feet high with a huge cross on top of it. The last place we saw was the Park Guell. This is a large park designed by Gaudi. One rarely makes a connection between a park and an architect but after visiting this spot you will believe that much design can go into an outdoor park. The feeling you get here is such tranquility and peace and after hiking up the side of the mountain you get the most amazing view of the city and the sea.

We had a lot of fun in Barcelona and some good beer stories have come out of it. There were 2 things I did not like about the city though. It always seem to have bad smell. A smell like stagnant water. You would get gusts of it here and there and it was pretty strong. The other thing was the food. Almost everything there was tapes(many small plates of different finger foods) and seafood. I liked very few of the spanish meals. I can’t remember the last time I was so happy to eat at McDonalds. All in all though the trip was very good and one I will remeber for a long time. I am definatly glad to be home though and resting.

“Not all online social networks are the same, according to new research released this week. Internet research firm, comScore Networks, said on Thursday that significant age differences exist between the user bases of these websites.”

“While the top social networking sites are typically viewed as directly competing with one another, our analysis demonstrates that each site occupies a slightly different niche,” commented Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix.”

This is very true in my opinion. That is why we believe that Racing Kids and MyBabyPortal will be successfull. There is no reason why people wouldn’t want to create accounts in multiple social networks. Social networks are based on connecting with other who share your interests. What better way to connect than through a more specific network than something like Myspace? Instead of competing with Myspace focus on something that is more targeted and just give your users ways to market themselves more. That is what I feel most people like social networks for, to market and display what they are doing with their lives.

Being that Wallstreet used to be a client they gave us some free tickets to Rumfest as a “parting” gift so to say. Sterling, Darla and I met up with a bunch of friends down there after haggling down the Toyota dealer for Darla’s new car. All in all Rumfest was fun but I was not that impressed. It was kinda like any other night at Wallstreet except there were tents where you could get different rum drinks. It was definatly cheaper than a normal Wallstreet night though!

Correct me if I am wrong but isn’t the purpose of a fest to be able to try different brands of the drink and determine what you like or dislike? The problem with Rumfest is that they give all kind of fruity mixed drinks that are weak and you can barely taste the rum. I think I only confirmed that a lot of sweet drinks just give you an upset stomach. I can’t wait till their next beerfest though. I always have a great time at that and you actually get to figure out which beers you like.