I am learning Spanish and I find that learning songs is a great help…I learned this when I was a teen and still know it to this day!!! Hopefully I can become more fluent especially with the increase in Spanish speaking workers coming to Atlanta.

Are some Southerners still that sore about losing the Civil War that they need to befoul a day remembering a man who sought to unify people, with celebrations for a Confederate general, who for four years effectively tore this country apart?

Although I am not a “person of color” as they now say in Atlanta I admired Dr. King’s philosophies and tactics. I believe it must be a slap in the face to the African Americans living in a southern state that indulges in this injustice.

My home state of Alabama is one of three states to commemorate both men with a state holiday. The others are Arkansas and Mississippi.

Undoubtedly, general Robert E. Lee was a brilliant military tacticians, but unfortunately they were fighting for the southern states’ right to keep slaves. I am not a huge fan of the Confederacy or anything that it stood for. I think that honestly, all of the fond memories and reverence that some southerners hold for “Dixie” and “Johnny Reb” is the reason why things down here are in some ways no different from 50 years ago.

So in my mind, celebrating Lee’s birthday in certain southern states seems overly spiteful. Especially since his birthday is conveniently placed on the same day the holiday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is observed.

Coincidence? The Alabamians say they had the Robert E. Lee’s birthday celebration on that day way before the MLK celebration became law…yes maybe so, but certainly they could at least give both their own day?

When Bill Clinton was in office we had hope we may even have had some change. He presided over a fabulous economic period in American history. Before we had new stimulus packages every other week we had a President that was in touch with the American people.

We had a good economy, we had new products people wanted to buy, people had money to buy the new products in the market, and we had new jobs, 22 million of them.

Because of his economic and strategic planning we got to see a record 115 months of economic expansion. We had the lowest unemployment rate that we had in over 30 years; the unemployment rate was at a 4.0%.

Clinton expanded financial aid for students going to college; he thought that educating young Americans was a good thing! This country had a very low crime rate, the overall crime rate declined for 8 consecutive years.

Clinton paid off $363 billion of the national debt, thanks to the lowest government spending in over 30 years.
Love him or hate him he was a good President. Let’s move to change the twenty-second amendment ruling of only a two term President.

At the very least if we did not amend the twenty-second amendment make him the Secretary of the Treasury.

Former K-State head football coach Vince Gibson has passed away at the age of 78 at his home in Kenner Tuesday morning.

My sympathy goes out to the entire Gibson family as we lost one of our great coaches and ambassadors. I came to know Coach Gibson when as a young boy in Montgomery, Alabama I somehow finagled my way into being allowed to be the Blue Team manager for the annual Blue and Gray All Star game.

Coach Gibson was the closest I came to experiencing NCAA football and he made that experience a special one for me…I even was allowed to handle the headsets on the sideline at the game…a big honor for someone just 15 and wild for football.

Coach was from Alabama and was born in Birmingham. He played college football at Florida State in 1954 and 1955.

He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at South Georgia Junior College in 1956. Gibson coached with and became good friends with Bobby Bowden, who made sure he referenced Gibson while speaking at the BCS National Championship Breakfast, sponsored by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes last Friday. Two great characters for sure. Gibson became an assistant at Florida State in 1959 before moving to Tennessee as defensive coordinator in 1964.

Gibson got his first head coaching position at Kansas State, where he served from 1967-1974 before becoming the head coach at Louisville from 1975-1979,

Gibson was the Big Eight Coach of the Year in 1970 at Kansas State. Gibson is a member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and the Kansas State Athletics Hall of Fame.

Coach was gregarious and fun. He became known for his gambling style as a coach and earned the moniker “Vegas Vince.” His two wins over LSU were quite memorable. One came against an Orange Bowl-bound Tiger team. I am sure he was a lot like Les Miles.

He loved purple and insisted that all K-State fans wear it to the games…no one would in those days especially since before Coach went to K-State the team had gone two years without winning a single game. Before he coached his last Blue-Gray Game he gave me a K-State jersey which I kept until it was too thread bare to wear.

Winning at K-State wasn’t even in the conversation with seasons of 0, 0, 3, 2, 0, 2, 1 and 2 wins in the eight previous seasons before he arrived.

Vince said, “We Gonna Win…I don’t think K-State people realize what a great school they have and the potential it offers in the competitive area of collegiate football. Don’t let anyone tell you that this is an impossible job because of the losing tradition here. Now is the time when Kansas State can become a legend in the annals of collegiate football. But let me assure you, this job is not for the timid, the skeptic or the lazy.”

A memorial service is set for next Tuesday, January 17 at 4 p.m. at Christ the King Church, 1001 West Esplanade Avenue in Kenner.

Our client Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta surprised us with a gift yesterday, 6 gallons of ice cream. And it’s not just your standard ice cream … this stuff was from Jake’s (local Atlanta midtown/Highlands/Emory creamery). There were 6 different flavors. The client literally was thanking us for the wonderful work we did and the success from the campaign we launched this past quarter…rare in the ad biz these days.

President Obama could fulfill campaign promise of nudging college football toward a playoff system

Barack Obama pledged during his 2008 election campaign to throw his “weight around a little bit” to nudge college football toward a playoff system.

At the time, it appeared as if Obama was simply attempting to curry votes with swing states as we are still watching meaningless match ups on Bowls going on as many as 40 days after the last regular season games

Now in the wake of the elimination of Osama Bin Laden and the troops coming home from Iraq, Obama appears to have a chance to push the issue again for different reasons. Facing an extreme deficit in a recession, perhaps he could use a playoff to generate an additional untapped financial windfall for the nation by transforming a currently nonprofit, multi-million dollar industry into a taxable, for-profit business.

Or he could use it to gain popularity points again in a tough election year. I may vote for him if he can do that.

“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man.” — Benjamin Franklin

I have made countless New Year resolutions in my life and one thing is for certain unless I use them to set real achievable goals for myself by February 1 the resolutions are forgotten.

This year I will have two sets of resolutions…one set of practical resolutions that will make my life richer or even easier in some cases.

The other set are the resolutions that may be harder to accomplish because outside forces that I cannot control may get in my way. Every year I set business goals but the economy often effects not only me but my clients as well. If they have a bad year no matter what I do I may find the going tough. I will keep this set as business objectives.

My practical list seems easier to tackle anyway.

First, I will learn to type…sounds simple right? I am typing this and my other blogs using my patented “hunt and peck” method. I have had enough. I am the product of the “old school” Catholic school system.

The boys took shop, the girls took typing…this made sense to the nuns. Why would a boy ever need to type and for God’s sake why would a woman need to learn to use tools? In my case the Sisters of Loretta added yet another wrinkle, the so called “smart” students should take Latin. They say that is helpful in learning other languages. I can tell you it has not helped. If I had used those two years to learn more Spanish for example I would not be putting leaning Spanish on my “practical” resolution list.

Second, lose weight. It has been a tough and challenging year…some folks don’t eat when they tackle stress, I binge. Comfort food has been the best way for me to cope in this tough economy. Food beats Xanax I am sure but if I continue on this path I will be one ton by 2013. Pizza and Pasta are the trusted, “go-to” menu items for me and I will try to cut them from my roster.

I am sure exercise should be on the list but most people put that on their lists and quickly leave that resolution on the shelf. In my case I have joint issues as well so I would be dropping exercise like a bad habit first sign of pain.

Third, re-learn to play a musical instrument. I have tried a few instruments when I was a teen but now I really regret not sticking with any of them. With Apple’s help it has become so much easier to learn instruments I will have little excuse to not at least give it a shot. This may be the toughest resolution on my list because it does require some musical talent as well as perseverance but I have produced a great deal of music in my career and I should at least know how to make some chords on the piano!

Even one stand-by song that I can call up at a party would be nice…This year is starting to shape up like Bill Murray’s experience in Ground Hog Day.

The fourth resolution is one that I should be ashamed not to complete. In my career I have written countless scripts for TV commercials and short films but each one has been for a client or brand. Why have I not been able to write even a small script for myself is already a mystery. Knowing my history my colleagues have even urged me to take my shot at it.

With all my time abroad, in all of the exotic countries I have been posted I should have a wealth of material. The coups, natural disasters, jungles, cults, superstitions and the sheer variety of cultures I have experienced will make a great backdrop for any story I choose to write.

All of the other resolutions should not even be on a list. They are all things we should be doing as good citizens of the earth and just good people in general. For example, I have a new grand daughter I won’t need a list to remind me to love her any more than I do already. No promise is necessary to begin to spoil her, it will come naturally.

I do have one request for all my friends, be kind in 2012. We all need a little extra love and attention these days.

Among the strongest elements of Obama’s 2008 election campaign was the fact that it used innovative and unique new techniques that applied technology especially mobile marketing to raise funds from large corporations such as Verizon Communications, Walt Disney, and other U.S. giants.

By using these methods to their fullest for the 2012 campaign, Obama should be able to raise $1 billion this time around. Campaigns that embrace the potential that technology has to offer will have a notable advantage over its competition.

In the last election, Obama’s advantage came from recognizing how much the internet could do for him, and by centralizing it in his campaign. The result was that Obama was able to appeal to the online market much more than McCain, regardless of their political platforms; a fact which had a major influence on the results of the election.

In the upcoming election, it isn’t just the online presence that candidates will be considering, but the mobile optimized presence. Indeed, the tactics from Obama’s previous campaign appealed to the younger voters with its search engine optimized BarackObama.com site that was supported by sizeable marketing campaigns.

Now, that same demographic is accessing the internet through different channels, so candidates will have to consider making their internet presence easily accessible on smart phones and tablets. In this vein, it is clear that Obama’s web advisory group has already had some foresight.

The website is always being pumped full of fresh new relevant content, with new speech transcripts, public appearance videos, PowerPoint presentations of proposed plans for budgets, and other content all added on a daily basis. Not to mention the tremendous social media presence that has been built up on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube over the years that he has been in office.

Now, the team is focusing on mass text-messaging to a degree that no other candidate has ever met. They are taking advantage of the way that SMS texts can reach a tremendous number of people in a very time-sensitive way, engaging the recipient immediately.