Exit172 Travel is now up-and-running! If you typically book your travel on the web with highly advertised sites like Expedia, Orbitz, or Priceline, you also need to check out www.exit172travel.com. We offer competitive rates on flights, hotels, cars, cruises, golf packages, vacation packages, and “Extras” such as flowers and event tickets.

Don’t be afraid to book on my site… Exit172 Travel is powered by Travelocity and YTB Travel Network. YTB is a full-fledged travel agency backed by a 1,200 person call center and 24 hour customer service. In addition, our “Extras” are brought to you by industry leaders Flora2000 and TicketsNow.

Please let me know if you’re interested in owning your own online travel web site — I’d love to sponsor you. If you have 10 minutes, check out the video at the following link. It’ll give you a brief overview of what this is all about.

www.ytbpres2007.com

If it makes sense to you, let’s talk. Selling hot dogs (travel) is nice, but owning the hot dog cart (travel web site) is even better.

Technorati Tags: travel,flights,hotels,cars,cruises,golf packages,vacation packages,flowers,event tickets,web business,expedia,orbitz,travelocity,priceline, golf,concerts,theater,business opportunities

I love the start of the “New Year”. It’s like a clean slate… well, at least for a day or two until reality sets in… yup, everything you were involved with at the end of the previous year is still there (good and bad). If you’re one for resolutions, maybe that’ll keep you energized a little longer than most.

I have high hopes for 2008. At the beginning of 2007 I explored a concept/book called Asset-Based Thinking. In a nutshell, it teaches you to look at every situation differently, but to focus on the positive (asset-based) elements versus the negative (deficit-based) side. Sort of “the glass is half full” mindset. I still practice this frequently and it has helped me in many challenging situations.

In 2008 I’ve decided to start capitalizing on a few opportunities that have been dangling in front of me for some time… I will finally formalize my own part-time business. My new company, Exit172 LLC, will represent several ventures:

• Exit172 Travel — a 24×7 online travel agency powered by Travelocity and YTB Travel Network
• Exit172 Photography — my freelance photography endeavors
• Exit172 Technology Services — IT consulting & services for homes and small business

I’m excited to finally gather all of this under one umbrella. As Anthony Robbins and all the other motivational/self-help folks have taught me over the years, sometimes you need to go out and make things happen, instead of waiting for things to happen… life’s too short…

I’ve had Verizon FiOS “Triple Play” (phone-data-tv) for a few months now and love it. At The Gym every morning I love watching MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. As I was programming my channel presets for my SlingBox client, I couldn’t find the channel number for MSNBC. I thought I was going crazy, but nope, it turns out that VERIZON FIOS TV DOES NOT OFFER MSNBC IN NORTHERN NJ. WTF?! Here’s the explanation from Wikipedia:

As a result of a carriage agreement, MSNBC is currently not available to Verizon Fios TV subscribers in Verizon’s Northern New Jersey grouping as well as areas in New York City. The reason for the lack of availability is an exclusive carriage agreement that MSNBC entered into with Cablevision, which services the areas in question. [8] The terms of the agreement (i.e. when the exclusive agreement expires) are unknown. The result of the agreement is that a competing content provider will be unable to offer MSNBC from where the broadcast originates. Also, as Verizon’s subscriptions rise, MSNBC will be increasingly unavailable in one of the largest markets in the United States unless viewers subscribe to a second provider (either Cablevision or one of the satellite TV providers).

Wow, what a disappointment.

Apple’s iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store is pretty cool. Immediately after updating my iPhone to firmware v1.1.1 I “clicked” on that little purple iTunes icon and presto, I was browsing an iPhone formatted version of the iTunes store. I gave it a try and purchased Matchbox 20’s “How Far We’ve Come” (which in hindsight was so fitting). It couldn’t have been easier… in seconds the song was on my iPhone and crankin’ away (great song BTW).

Yesterday I stopped in to the Hoboken Starbucks on Washington Street (yes, the one I affectionately refer to as the “AMD Hoboken Office”) and checked to see if the Starbucks iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store was live. The Starbucks feature wasn’t there yet, but I was still able to access the T-Mobile HotSpot for free and browse the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store on my iPhone. I went ahead and purchased an album (Pearl Jam Live at Lollapalooza 2007, for those keeping track). In less than 10 minutes 20 songs were on my iPhone and crankin’ away again. Wicked cool!

It’ll be neat when the Starbucks iTunes functionality gets enabled in NJ (I’ll check it out in NYC this week anyways). I always seem to like one of the songs playing in Starbucks and not know what/who it is. Pretty soon I won’t need to ask someone and will be able to purchase it on the spot. Some smart people at Apple and Starbucks… maybe I should finally jump in on those stocks.

It reached 70.7 degrees this afternoon in Woodcliff Lake. Hard to believe it’s January. Even harder to believe that I didn’t go for a ride on my bike!

I would actually prefer to see temps in the 20’s and see some snow. I haven’t even sparked up any of our fireplaces yet. However, I’m sure old man winter will be coming around soon.

It took me over 2.5 hours to get home from NYC today… @#$% Traffic was bumper-to-bumper from Hoboken all the way to Rochelle Park. The reason? The Sopranos were filming an episode at the South City Grill on Route 17 and EVERYONE was rubber-necking. Of course I took a turn when I finally drove by and saw Tony Sirico, a.k.a. Paulie Walnuts, walking around (you could see that hair a mile away). It’s always neat to see them filming an episode in the area. At least I got to see one of the cast members this time (yes, they film on Route 17 a lot).

Here are the finalists for New Jersey’s new slogan. Be sure to vote! The deadline has been extended to January 8, 2006.

1. New Jersey, Expect the Unexpected
2. New Jersey, Love at First Sight
3. New Jersey, Come See For Yourself
4. New Jersey, The Real Deal
5. New Jersey, The Best Kept Secret

Also, be sure to check out Jersey Slogans for some of the slogans that you probably won’t see.

[via Enlighten New Jersey]

01/12/2006 UPDATE: “New Jersey, Come See For Yourself” is now the official slogan for New Jersey.

$46,000 at Roulette… a lot of fun for everyone!

Almost finished with the Solarium in my house…

I had the pleasure of visiting the Jersey shore yesterday for a family celebration. We took the beloved Garden State Parkway from Exit 171 down to Exit 91 and had a great day. Although the GSP is not my favorite highway to travel in NJ, it does get you to the shore.

It was great to see that several of the toll plazas on the GSP have either been removed or converted to “high-speed” EZ-Pass lanes. Of course they ding you for double the amount on your way back North, but at least they’ve alleviated some of the traffic and congestion that was associated with those toll plazas.

I could not believe how fast people were driving on the GSP. Now I’ve been known to drive pretty fast over the years. e.g. 130 MPH on my motorcycle (Route 78), but there’s just something not right about a Toyota Echo passing me on the right side doing about 100 MPH. The way people were driving made it look like the speed limit was at least 90 MPH.

The Jersey tall-tale over the years has been that if you don’t drive fast enough on the GSP that people will run you off the road. That’s still the case, but I wasn’t expecting it when I was driving 80-85 MPH myself! It was amazing to watch people drive so recklessly. I lost count of how many of these erratic drivers were young girls in VW Jettas TALKING ON THEIR CELL PHONES (without a headset) while weaving in and out of traffic around 90 MPH. Unreal. The other reckless speeders were old cars with bumpers hanging off and mini-vans filled with people. I guess one shouldn’t waste time on the highway when they can be in Atlantic City at the Blackjack tables.

Some of my driving pet peeves that were rampant yesterday on the GSP:

1) Drivers who don’t clear all of the snow off their cars (in particular their roofs).

This is simply a dangerous scenario. It’s not so bad when it’s soft fluffy snow that flies off the car in front of you, but when that laziness becomes a sheet of ice, it can kill someone. Every year you hear a news story of someone getting killed by someone else’s laziness.

2) Drivers talking on their cell phones without a headset.

I don’t think headsets are the all-in-one fix for people driving and talking on their phones, but it can help. It’s simple, if you’re mind is involved with the conversation you’re having on the phone, it’s probably NOT paying attention to what’s happening on the roadway. I don’t care how well you can multitask… get a headset, it’s the law.

3) Slow drivers in the left lane.

“Keep Right, Pass Left” — how many years has this been a New Jersey law? Wake up people! If you want to drive 40 MPH, do it in another lane. Plain and simple. One of them yesterday was a yellow cab doing about 40 MPH in the left lane (and of course there was a bumper to bumper convoy of 20 cars behind him waiting for him to get out of the lane)!

Honestly, a lot of these issues boil down to a lack of common sense. It’s no wonder the insurance rates in New Jersey are so high.

Do you have any driving pet peeves? Please comment.

Metedeconk River, Brick, NJ

Bay Head Harbor / Metedeconk River

Metedeconk River, Brick, NJ

Bay Head Harbor / Metedeconk River

Woodcliff Lake, NJ