The Staten Island Ferry consistently tops lists of the best things to do in New York City. If you’re attending a conference here and can fit in just one outing, this one should be it.

This 5-mile, 25 minute boat ride from Whitehall Terminal in Battery Park at the tip of Manhattan to the historic city of St. George on Staten Island offers outstanding views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the city’s various bridges. In the waters closer to St. George you’ll enjoy a breathtaking panorama of the city’s skyline. Perhaps best of all, this simple pleasure is absolutely free.

The Staten Island Ferry is a working commuter ferry (no vehicles allowed) provided by the New York Department of Transportation to bring Staten Islanders into the city.

The ferry runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The fleet makes 110 trips each weekday and 64 trips each weekend day, making this an attraction that’s easy to fit into your schedule. Timetables are available in 7 languages.

Ferry history and tips for a pleasant trip (hint: wrap your camera strap securely around your neck or wrist) are available at http://www.siferry.com/

If you have the time, consider hopping off the ferry and taking a meal and a wander in St. George. The area right around the ferry terminal is a historic district sprinkled with architecturally appealing old buildings, including many large Victorians left over from the city’s heyday as a fashionable resort in the 1830s.

Dozens of movies have been filmed wholly or partly on Staten Island, and a recent influx of artists seeking affordable has also contributed to making ‘the forgotten borough’ a vibrant community well worth a visit.

The days of cross-country family vacations may be coming to an end or so the media prognosticators would lead us to believe. Even with gas prices plummeting from an all time high last summer to the lowest they’ve been in three years, Americans continue to tighten their belts and change the way they do things, which includes travel. Not even government stimulus checks can bail us out of the economic squeeze but the news isn’t all bad.

American’s are still traveling, Utahn’s are still traveling; we’re just staying closer to home. This “new” phenomenon of backyard travel is being coined as staycations. But is it really a new trend or just being hyped by media and tourism marketers to keep hotels and attractions full? It must be working; the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City and the Tuacahn Amphitheater in Ivins near St. George both report record attendance this past summer. This may actually be the first summer in many years that English was the primary language I’ve heard at the national parks (I say that tongue n’ cheek). Anyone who has ever gone to Zion, Bryce or Arches during the summer months knows what I mean.

American’s have been taking road trips ever since the automobile was invented; in fact, more than 80 percent of all personal leisure travel is by automobile to places close to home according to studies conducted by the Travel Industry Association (TIA) and the American Automobile Association (AAA). These aren’t just recent statistics, they date back several years. Close to home for east side U.S. travelers means three hours or less by car; for us folks in the west driving 4-6 hours is very typical. We have a great passion for driving in the west. We love our SUV’s, mini-vans, cross-over’s, Hummers and roadsters and by golly no one is going to take away the freedom of the open road.

I remember as a kid in the 60’s and 70’s the summer vacation was the highlight of our year. From visiting relatives in the Midwest to the grand dame of all vacations –Disneyland – our family vacation was sacred. My children, who are grown now with kids of their own, grew up taking family trips in the 80’s and 90’s but unlike the vacations I took as a kid, the distances and length of stay began to shrink each year as a result of life getting busier and more complicated. It’s not so much about quantity of time as it is about quality of time. It’s about spending time with the family interacting, no matter where you’re at.

Frequency of big ticket travel is slowing down; airlines are charging for everything from water to window seats, which adds to the enticement of staying on the ground and close to home. We’re lucky in Utah to live so close to so many amazing places. Salt Lake City quite literally is the crossroads of the west and hub to so many places to explore. If you’re in to adventure and recreation this is the place! It doesn’t take long, once you’re out of city traffic, to get to your destination. St. George, Jackson Hole, Moab, Bryce Canyon just to mention a few, are all within four hours, depending of course on road construction. And within a couple of hours the list is quite impressive with the likes of Park City, Snowbird, Upper Ogden Valley, Logan Canyon, Sundance, Midway just a short drive away. The places mentioned on this list make great daycations, trips you can do in a day without spending the night. However, I do recommend taking advantage of great savings on lodging with many of the hotels offering deals during the week and on occasional weekends.

Visiting places nearby or around the city is a good idea for spending a daycation. Visit museums, go to the zoo, hit the ski slopes, go to a movie, slap on the ice skates or go snowmobiling on the many trails along the Wasatch Front. The Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau offers a tour to see the popular attractions and historic sites of the valley. Give it a try. If you string enough of these low-cost “daycations” together, you may actually end up with something we used to call — a vacation.

Here in Southern Utah, there are lots of fun things to do with family during the holidays. From the Jubilee of Trees, to the Dickens’ Festival, to Tuchan’s Festival of Lights; there is plenty of entertainment for all!

Winter air in the St. George Desert is crisp and refreshing. Enough chill to build a fire and bundle up, but pleasant enough for outdoor activites.

Call Southern Utah Your Home for the Holidays!

This is the dominant architectural fixure in my community. I was hoping for more interesting sky.  Also, I missed the prime Fall foliage by a few weeks. But you get the idea, right?

Children from St. George’s Red Mountain Elementary school got a big surprise from the Intermountain Healthcare Life Flight Tuesday, when one of the helicopters on loan from Salt Lake City dropped in for a special visit to congratulate them on the school’s Jubilee of Trees fundraising project.  The children got explore the helicopter and have their pictures taken around it and with the medical personnel. 

Because of the school’s Jubilee of Trees fundraising event, Southern Utah should have their very own helicopter by the end of next year.  The helicopter is needed to transport patients to Dixie Regional Medical Center from outlying communities and remote locations quickly.

The Red Mountain Elementary trees fundraiser was voted, by far, the favorite project at the Jubilee.  Their theme was “A Christmas Carol”, based on the Disney movie version.  The trees also featured promotional pictures from the film and period ornaments.

This was truly a great opportunity for children to experience volunteerism at such a young ag, and they were very successful at it.  They have benefitted their school district and the local children’s health services with the donations they received.

Provin dintr-o Familie cu vechi tradiţii de stânga… În acelaşi timp, Sfântul Gheorghe este Patronul şi Ocrotitorul Familiei noastre. Vă daţi seama ce bucuros am fost să găsesc acest frumos poster rus din anii ‘20 ai secolului trecut, ani de mari prefaceri sociale în Rusia Sovietică. “Renegatul” Trotsky, în perioada sa de efemeră glorie pământească, înfăţişat iconic ca Sf. Gheorghe, spre evlavia mujicilor ruşi, mântuiţi de cizma ţaristă… Genială piesă de propagandă sovietică, am avea ce învăţa şi noi cu Piar-ul nostru vândut capitaliştilor occidentali…

Sf. Leon Trotsky, de stirpe evreiască, precum Iisus Hristos, zdrobeşte capul încoronat cu joben al balaurului capitalist!

Totul pe fundalul pentagramelor masonice oculte… minunat! Cu Nimb în formă de Pentagramă galbenă… Der Gelbe Stern…

Deasemenea, Dragonul este înfăţişat tot în stilul Şarpelui Simbolic OUROBOROS, înfăţişat pe multe sigilii masonice, în special în Secolul al 18-lea… al Luminilor! Ex Oriente Lux!

Ironic, Şarpele este inscripţionat cu Kontr-Revoluţia… Să mai spuneţi că ruşii nu au simţul Umorului!

Şarpele OUROBOROS simbolizează Eterna Reîntoarcere, ceva care se re-creează constant, fiind un vechi simbol al Marii Opere Alchimice…

Iar Calul Alb al lui Trotsky – nu este el acel ίππος λευκός din Apocalipsa, care simboliza Cucerirea?

În final, vă las în compania acestei superbe Icoane din secolul al XV-lea, din Novgorod, care îl reprezintă pe Sfântul Gheorghe:

]]> http://victoriajones.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/st-george-has-his-day/ Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:58:08 +0000 victoriajones http://victoriajones.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/st-george-has-his-day/

Vikki Graves braves the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune to report on a singular experiment in cross border harmonisation.

Once upon a time, a man named George killed a dragon to rescue a damsel in distress. All the English people loved him and made him their patron saint. And they all lived happily ever after.

Now I’m from England and that’s as much as I know. I can’t recall any St George celebrations in my youth. In fact, the day would have passed unnoticed yet again this year had it not been for The Leither. Flicking through last month’s edition, I was surprised to find an advert for a St George’s Day themed menu at The Roseleaf. Surely in Scotland they give even less of a monkey’s about it than I do?

I confess the news made me feel a bit warm and fuzzy for a moment. Like I said, I’m from England and I live in Scotland, which I like very much. But sometimes I feel this is not enough to explain my presence. To make up for my posh voice, I say ‘British’ more than is necessary, and intersperse my received pronunciation with liberal spatterings of ‘ayes’ and ‘kens’ which, thankfully, most Scots are polite enough to ignore. I demonstrate my proficiency in the Scots velar fricative pronunciation of ‘loch’ and force myself to say ‘neeps’, or at the very least ‘turnip’, even though we all know it’s really ‘swede.’

I must point out that I’ve never really had any grief about being English. And it’s not that I’m ashamed of it – with my accent I couldn’t get away with being anything else. But I’m not actively proud of it either. I didn’t know that George is also the patron saint of lots of European countries and other far flung destinations such as Ethiopia and Lebanon. Not only that, but according to the St George Unofficial Bank Holiday website “he’s also patron saint of soldiers, archers, cavalry and chivalry, farmers and field workers, riders and saddlers, and he helps those suffering from leprosy and plague.” Busy man.

On further investigation, there are many people south of the border calling for more to be done to mark George’s murder of the mythical fire-breathing beast. Some want a public holiday, cheeky blighters, others want the red and white flag flying, and the diehards are calling for an English parliament. And for the first time ever, in an attempt to summon up an increased sense of English national identity, the esteemed Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, treated the city to Morris dancing, a maypole and a Punch and Judy show, saying “St George’s Day has been ignored in London for far too long…I encourage everyone to join in the fun and celebrate England’s great patron saint.” Down south it looks like in a few years, the bold St George might even need an agent.

But this feverish activity hasn’t quite reached Scotland yet, so instead I focussed my attentions on lunch. I thought about proper pie and mash, with mushy peas and liquor; a ploughman’s lunch in the pub with white bread, a doorstep hunk of cheddar cheese and tangy pickle; a massive Cornish pasty from a beachside bakery, straight out of the oven with a filling so hot it’ll strip the roof of your mouth off. I could get into celebrating St George’s Day. Gripped with a newfound appreciation of Englishness, I set off for The Roseleaf. Although I knew in my heart of hearts it was unlikely, I still didn’t quite give up hope of stepping through the doors to find a host of diners in Kiss-Me-Quick hats, and Chas and Dave blasting out ‘Dooown to Maargate’ in the corner. But, predictably some might say, there wasn’t a red and white flag or a cuddly toy dragon in sight.

They did have Yorkshire puddings though, giant ones at that. How could I have forgotten about Yorkshire puddings? Crisp and light as a feather on top and soggy and gooey on the bottom, having sat in a pool of rich onion gravy. Thank you Roseleaf. Although the presence of beardy men in knee high socks with bells on, hitting bits of wood together on Leith Links is probably some way off, I realised that some lighthearted English-Scottish banter and a bit of a sense of national pride is no bad thing. Because you say turnip, I say swede, but we both say Yorkshire pudding.

Published in The Leither May 2009

If you thought Square-Enix already gave us enough Cloud Strife, then you are wrong. With revealing of Zack and  Cloud’s back story in FFVII: Crisis Core, they have remade and re-released a new updated version of Advent Children titled Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete.

Don’t be fooled. This just isn’t limited to deleted scenes but new content, more detail, better graphics and just everything to make your inner Final Fantasy Fan girly scream with joy. They are even including full CGI feature “Denzel’s Story” which was only released as a animation short in Japanese.

However…there is one minor catch….FFVII: AC Complete will only be available on Blu Ray Disc. So far all of us out there who cannot afford the $200+ bucks for a Blu Ray Player (myself included T_T) will have to live off of internet clips and online spoilers until someone finally posts the whole move or your able to mooch off of someone else’s Blu Ray player. This epicly sucks but apparently the graphics are kick ass in High Def and Sony wanted to keep it that way. I both curse and applaud you Sony…

But…since I am here to feed your inner Final Fantasy Fan, what kind of person would I be if I didn’t give you something to make you sequel with joy and cry over the fact that you may not have a Blu Ray Player. Below you will find the Official FFVII: ACC Trailer released by Square-Enix in HD (it’s in Japanese mind you but everything is better in Japanese). You will also find a few other epic win video clips that I have included just because they are awesome to watch.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete Trailer
The official trailer posted by Square-Enix Japan. Posted in HD

Safe And Sound – Kyosuke Himuro feat. Gerard Way.
The ending song of FFVII:ACC and the song featured in the trailer. Posted in HD.

Complete Cloud Vs. Sephiroth Battle in HD
Some very lovely person posted the whole Cloud Vs. Sephiroth Battle in HD on Youtube. However, to keep Youtube from taking it down, they inverted the video colors but give you instruction on how to change it back.

FFVII: AC Complete – Cloud Vs. Sephiroth
An awesome kick butt, fan made AMV featuring clips from the new battle scene and the rest of the movie.

FFVII:ACC + Crisis Core Fan Made Trailer
Another epic win fan made work that streams clips from Crisis Core and FFVII: ACC together in a short but sweet video.

Please enjoy and if you ever find the full FFVII: ACC movie posted online (or don’t mind someone mooching off of your Blu Ray, heh) Then please let me know! ^_^

St. George Magazine and Classy Closets Etc. are helping homeowners take control of their closet clutter with awesome makeovers.  To get your closet made over, just send a photo of your cluttered closet along with your contact information to features@thespecturm.com or send the picture to: The Spectrum, 275 E. St. George Blvd. before November 17^th. Classy Closets Etc. will be making over closets before Thanksgiving.  For more information, contact Lisa at 674-6214.

For homeowners who are not into contests and just want to get your closet organized, you can always give your closet a makeover yourself with this helpful advice.  Closet organizing can be a big chore, especially if it has been some time since you have tried to give it a good cleaning.  You can start by getting rid of items you don’t need and give them to charity to help declutter your closet.

Closet organizers can be a huge help with keeping the rest of your stuff in order.  Racks and baskets can be placed in your closet and will help save and keep your closet more open.  It is far more pleasant to have an open and organized closet than one with everything strewn all over the place.  Closet organizers are great for helping even the most unorganized person stay organized.  And home improvement stores carry a large variety of closet organizers that you can put in yourself. 

Once you purchase your organizers, here are some recommended tips to follow to help you get organized:

* Remove everything from your closet – Place everything in boxes so you can sort through it all.  You don’t want to toss something you may need or want.  Only get rid of items you no longer need or want that are taking up space.

* Add your organizers – Insert your closet organizing racks and baskets.  Make sure they are anchored correctly, if needed.  You will probably need a screwdriver, drill and drill bits to accomplish this task.  And always follow directions.

* Place your things back in – Replace your items back into your closet now that you have your closet organizers in place.  Decide where you want your things to go where they will be the best organized and you’re done.

Organizing your closet will be one of the best things you can do for yourself.  It can also be an affordable way to improve your closets and make you feel better about yourself.

Realtor® Erika Rogers

Designed some posters the other day for a gallery in St. George that will be displaying Ria’s artwork.

To see more of my sister’s art go to her blog maria.willowrise.com

The first text from us in English! We try it to write down an easy English, that everybody understand what we want to tell you!

But we hope you enjoy it and maybe some of us can learn some more English words! Try it! If it´s getting to hard, go online to google tools and translate it into German! But we hope you can read it! GOOD Luck ! 

At first!! We´re still alive ! Yeah, it is al long time ago, that we´ve wrote something down. Over one month is past without news, now it´s time to write something down as good as we can, we hope!! 

But what? St. George isn´t Cairns or Brisbane. There isn´t so much to do the whole day! But we like it, the town, the atmosphere, the great guys, the river where we are going to swim or the Barbecue . All this stuff is great! But of course, during the time it gets a little bit the same! And we want a change! But at first more from our lovely work!

Every morning ( okay, nearly every morning, but we try) we wake up at 4 AM. That means, in Germany you guys are spending time in front of the TV or PC or you already sleep, because it´s still in the evening. We think it has to be … We start working at 5 AM and at 7 o´clock in the morning you already begin to sweat. This morning at 10 AM we had 36 ° C !!!! in the shade. During the lunch time it is impossible to continue. Sometimes we have about over 45 ° C. That´s what we think, we don´t have a thermometer. Well, it doesn´t matter. It feels as hot as it can be! You can´t be outside in the rows if it´s such a heat. Now we are working at a really worse block with very bushy vine trees. Many canes are hanging down that you can´t see anything! You have to remove all the leafs and sometimes that´s not enough to reach the bunches to cut. You all know, that we are doing leaf thinning and bunch trimming.

Well, what I actually want to say is, the rows look like a jungle and it´s hot like a – now we don´t know the English word  (Gewaechshaus or Affenhaus im Zoo) The sun burns your skin the whole day, that we are getting to look like African guys , especially Aininas back  . But we don´t forget to wear the sun cream, most of the time! Oh yeah, back in Germany we´ll show you how we look like, awesome! 

From day to day we notice more and more, that our bodies an our mind need HOLIDAY and BEACH and OCEAN and MC´DONALDS ! 2 or 3 weeks ago, one French couple have left us! We had a really great time together. As a goodbye present we made a CD for them together with Laura and Greg ( the other French couple) . We have record German songs! I think everybody knows “Bruder Jakob”, “Wir fahren uebern See” and “Auf einen Baum ein Kuckuk sass”!? Manu and Quentin ( the cuople who left us) didn´t liked when we sang German songs during our work. That´s why we thought it would be nice to give them a CD with our lovely voice and the German songs !  The reverence was, that they wrote an email where they told us about their Mc´Donalds visit! Ahhh, we are very jealous , because we all love it and want it!

But now, we decided to make it true! We want ocean, beach and Mc´Donalds and we want to see something else than St. George!  That´s why we are going to make holiday in 9 Days! We are all excited, especially Greg! In his mind, he doesn´t want to wait 9 days. Every morning he comes out and scream, just … days until we are driving to the beach!

We want to take 1 week off to drive to the Wild Water adventure park near from Brisbane and to Rainbow Beach, where we want to visit Fraser Island. After all we come back to St. George to work until the mid of December and then we drive to Sydney. But we aren´t alone. We are more than 6 guys ! That will be a great party .

Well, our first English text! We know, loooong. But we hope you enjoyed it !

Lovely regards and see ya!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

P.s: Now, there are staying more English guys than everything else at our farm . Incredible, it´s like an English invasion !

St. George township is offering a $1,000 reward for information about the Halloween weekend desecration of the township’s cemetery.

The Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office is offering a $1,000 reward for anyone helping to bring to justice whoever is responsible for vandalizing and stealing road signs in St. George.

Sheriff Greg Riat said his office is investigating the recent destruction or theft of at least four road signs or signals in St. George, including those damaged Monday in the 5600 block of Flint Rock Road, 12955 Elm Slough Road, the 8300 block of Mount Zion Road and 13860 Vineyard Road.

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates yet. Now that the Halloween Rush is over, it’s time to settle back down to life again.

Rhies comment yesterday asking how the Corn Maze was. It was pretty cold and there was quite a few people there but it was fun nonetheless. The whole thing was rather humorous. Karson is a bit of a ‘fraidy cat and tends to crack jokes about everything to take the edge off while me…I’m just not scared about anything in a rubber mask. In fact…*cough* a few people got flipped the bird from me. The guy who didn’t blare this car horn on the group that was in front of us but waited until we were RIGHT in front of him to let it rip and just about made our ears bleed. Also the guy who ran up with a chain saw right in my face so I got a lung full of diesel crap. Yes….both of them got flipped the bird. I don’t know if either of them saw it, but it was there.

….What? They said we couldn’t cuss. They never said anything about anything hand gestures. Heh.  Either way it was a fun evening and we plan of making it a tradition of going every year from now on.

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As for the Fannatiku Rocktober…it was interesting. We stayed about 45mins or so, mingled, had our pictures taken and tried to win stuff in the raffle. Even though it was only about 9:45 by the time we left, things started winding down and they where just going to watch more J-rock videos. It was supposedly going to go until about 10:30 or 11:00 but we have short attention spans and  require constant entertainment or shiny objects. Nat did allow me to get up and give a report of our ASG Con and plug-in next year’s convention which was nice. We will also be having a half page ad in the Fannatiku Fest event which I’m hoping will bring in some new people to our con as well as interest more dealers and artists. We already have an artists pair who already wants a booth on reserve for our Sept 25th Con.

So far we have been getting a good response on our new date. Because so much does happen in the October Month in St. George and the nearby areas, a lot of people are free now to come to our  September Convention. It’s right after Anime Vegas so people are still on their anime high from that con and before Anime Banzai and homecoming. Both Karson and I are very excited for the ASG 2010 Con. It’s nice to have a breather for the holidays but I can’t until we open up Dealer Registration at the first of the year and Pre-Registration a few months after.

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Oh yes…I almost forgot…Twilight: New Moon comes out this month if I remember right. Don’t me wrong, I’m a fan of the books. I love the story, however…the movies…..not so much. I find them quite comical actually and they are just so too easy to make fun of. I will be seeing New Moon simply I wanna see shirtless wolf men and the transformation graphics look pretty good. That and my Daddy got me free tickets. Heh.

So there is a little bit of me making fun of Twilight the Movies. The Books Rock. The Movies pretty much suck. Even tho I will most likely go see all of them for the hell of it.

Today I noticed a new campaign running by St George and was interested to see how effective their online strategy would match and if it even existed. At The Lost Agency we often see large offline marketing campaigns are launched without an effective or even any complimentary digital campaign.

Since there are other banks who have similar products overseas, we thought we would review their product message and how at a basic level they performed in Google search result.

St George performed well above my expectations around the product name controlling the first 6 results and also the single AdWords displayed.

Often product reviews or investment websites will show up high in the results but St George effectively controlled all the results shown above the fold.

To test a very generic single product keyword “Sense”, did not show St George in the organic results but was visible as the single AdWords displayed.

St George Bank’s new saving product “St George Sense” and this product is similar to a product Lloyds TSB released several months ago called “Save the Change” where users of its debit card can save easily.  In the US Bank of America has its own similar saving product “Keep the Change“.

The St George product is quite broad in its offering covering FreedomCard, ATM Cards, and BPay will be rounded, but limits purchases made in Australian dollars to merchants in Australia. This means that you won’t be able to get the double benefit of overseas shopping cashbacks offered by PayPal.

Lloyds TSB has had their product in the market longer and you would expect more control over the search results in Google.co.uk but this was not the case.

The first two results were controlled by Lloyds TSB but the 3rd result was for a Money Saving forum and the 4th result was for Microsoft Windows. This showed that they have not effectively controlled the organic rankings.

The Lloyds TSB product appears to be marketed slightly better with a simple message of that they will round up the amount to the nearest pound and transfer the difference into your savings account.

The product name selected by Lloyds TSB also explains the product in simple terms that consumers understand and match the digital message.

The product names chosen by Lloyds TSB and Bank of America also seems to be better suited to being easily remembered by consumers.  To reduce the risk of becoming a generic term they have both registered trademarks of the product name.

The Bank of America product seeks to further improve and indirectly with its 5% matching of your savings transfers.  Offering 100% for the first 3 months with a cap on this bonus limited at $250 per year.  While these are great they make the product much more complicated to market and more confusing for consumers.

Bank of America’s results on Google.com showed that like Lloyds TSB they only control the first 2 results with random results showing that are not related or discuss Bank of America’s products. There is also a state specific landing page that means inbound links are split and their competitors could easily rank well for their product stealing their potential customers.

The problem is consumers can be easily confused so companies need to work to ensure they have more control over the search results when building new brands or products. Also since they are marketing and building a new product they should be following St George’s lead in reinforcing the message with Google AdWords.

From a product perspective Lloyds TSB wins for a simple message but St George seeks to win the most from its campaign with total control of the search results and we like that.

Through one of my LinkedIn groups a fellow group member – Munib Karavdic raised a question as to whether a new St George product is an example of a Blue Ocean product. I originally set out to review the site in question and draft a quick response but ended up turning it into a blog post…

So I had a good look through the promo site. I can see a number of BOS principles reflected in this product.

Before I share my thoughts lets look at the existing Australian market space of transactional banking – largely a vacuum of innovation – bitter red oceans of competition. I suspect the last really innovative move was ING launching their internet only transaction accounts which has since been eroded into a red ocean. In reality it’s nothing more than poor tit for tat incremental changes. I think even NAB’s recent elimination of fees is simply a red ocean reaction.

Given the information at hand, I can see some clear elements of Blue Ocean thinking in this product; though some aspects of it might not qualify (i.e. the flat $5 fee per month – is that really lowering costs for the customer? If so, how is this communicated by presenting it as a flat fee when their competitors are promoting fee removal?).

What I find interesting is that I can see how they are appealing to their tiers of non-customers in a couple of interesting ways – primarily through 3 key strategies:

Savings Targets

Helping customers develop good savings habits

I see this as a really interesting attempt to move the idea of a transaction account away from being something you get in the mail every month to an interactive tool that you want to receive.

As we all know, setting up young people with good savings behaviours is important for their financial future. I think this is a reasonable attempt by St George to promote and support positive financial behaviour (as opposed to the disgraceful behaviour of some banks – ‘oh you’ve maxed your credit cards – let me give you more credit).

Budgeting Tools

Simple graphical tools for those customers who aren't numerically minded

This is the bit I think has real traction. This appears to be a legitimate attempt to help non-financially minded people make sense of the flows of money in and out of their lives. Whilst many of us might think it’s a simplistic representation of a financial situation – if it works for the customer then – it works. This isn’t new as some credit card companies already to this – but providing it as a service on a transaction account is. What I see here is the bank realising they have this data anyway to so why not aggregate and package the data so that their customers can use it and potentially modify their behaviours. What’s that you say? Banks and altruistic behaviour make strange bedfellows…

Round Up

An interesting approach to rounding...

I’m not sure what they are thinking with this feature. Whilst I get the virtual coin jar idea I’m not sure it’s solving a problem. But if this feature is another way of forced saving by stealth then in reality it’s a positive. Personally, I think there is more merit in rewarding account holders with bonus interest for every coin deposit they make over a certain amount.

Is this a Blue Ocean product?

Tough question to answer given the information provided – as I can’t help but feel they’ve missed some critical factors that (if included) would have created massive barriers for their competitors – chief amongst these is any form of measure of engagement and contribution. Deep down, this still smells like a bank product. I’m not quite seeing how they understand or recognise participation – and in my opinion – this is the holy grail

Have they really erected competitive barriers – I don’t have enough information to say yes or no. Maybe they have if you look at it in the context of their 3 peers. But I would argue not if you were to look into say the second tier of banks or more importantly the mutual sector (i.e. Credit Unions) where engagement measurement is more natural and intrinsic.

I think St George deserves praise for launching this initiative – but I can’t help but feel someone – more than likely a credit union is going to see this and really seize the day – particularly in terms of engagement that isn’t based on traditional bank metrics (i.e. share of wallet). I guess time will tell!

Well, I saw that Nat posted on the Anime Utah forums about Their Anime Fannatiku “Rocktober” party they will be hosting October 30th at the Hurricane Public Library. After much deliberation my friend Karson and I decided that we are going to attend for just the hell of it. Maybe mess with the Fannatiku Members just a little bit since they already don’t like us. >:3

Even though we won’t get there until later in the evening we will be dressing up as well in Vampire Knight outfits. Karson will be going as Zero and I will be going as the eccentric Head Master Cross. Antics are sure to arise from this devilish pair! If you wish to come down and see us, here is the below information from their post:

When: October 30th 6pm-10pm
Where: Hurricane Library 36 south 300 west Hurricane Utah 84737
Why: To Rock, and spread the Jrock love!

WHITE TEXT SPOILER:
Why they are having the party the day BEFORE Halloween I will never know. However, this is good for us since we are planning to attend the Halloween Ball at the DSC on the 31st and wear our GOOD Halloween costumes. Heh
(highlight to read)

So anyways, come see us just for the hell of it! We’ll be there around 8:30ish or so since Karson doesn’t get out work until late and he needs to pick me up since my house is on the way. Then if you want more fun, come see us at the College Dance the next day! I’ll be going as a pretty little Gothic Lolita Witch. >w<

It hasn’t even been a week since ASG 09 Con and yet people have already been chomping at the bit for us to announce the date for Anime St. George 2010.

Well, we are now proud to announce the official date for our next convention: Anime St. George 2010 Convention will be taking place at the Best Western Abbey Inn on September 25th 2010!

You heard it here first! Over the next few days I’ll be updating the Convention blog pages as well as the main website with all of the new updated information. Dealers and Artists Registration will be open at the First of the Year of 2010 and for those who come in from out of town, we also have some hotel rooms available at discount convention price so I will make sure to update that information first thing.

We are set to have a great convention this year and an official Press Release of our dates will be made shortly. Until then, we look forward to your comments and can’t wait to see you! If you don’t follow us on Twitter you should! It will help you stay updated on all of our latest blog posts and con info!

This surfer rides a wave near the pier in Huntington Beach, California. On the horizon is Catalina Island. Huntington Beach (Surf City USA) is known for its long 8.5-mile (13.7 km) beach, mild climate, and excellent surfing. The waves are a unique natural effect caused by edge-diffraction of ocean swells by the island of Catalina and the waves from distant hurricanes.

 I love road trips, especially when I only do twenty percent of the driving.  In mid-September, my husband and I loaded up my minivan with some of the left-behind belongings of my daughter and her boyfriend and headed west to Huntington Beach, California.  Laura and Ryan had moved there in mid-August, making the drive in their two small cars jammed to the ceiling with their stuff. 

Dozens of windmills in western Kansas produce electricity. They stand in the flyway of migratory birds, such as the endangered whooping crane.

I got the idea to make this odyssey when the Spiritual Rez band stayed at our house and talked about how much they loved traveling the country.  I hadn’t made a driving trip to the West Coast in a long while.  Our home state of Kansas is very familiar, but this time I tried to look at it with new eyes instead of wishing it away until that first exciting moment when we see the Rocky Mountains rise up from the horizon.  So eager are we to make progress that sometimes we make a mountain out of a cloudbank. I love the gradual change in landscape.

Morning in Dillon, Colorado, in September 2009.

Mid-way through Kansas we saw Monarch butterflies fluttering across Interstate 70 as they made their annual migration to Mexico for the winter.  We saw scores of tall modern windmills slowly turning their blades, some overshadowing the old-fashioned farm windmills first erected in the 1880s. 

As we drove through Colorado, Utah and Nevada, I recognized sights Laura had emailed me from her camera phone.  My husband and I have driven much of this route before, but it was still awe-inspiring.  I still gaped at every ridge and butte and mountain peak and begged for my husband to stop the car at every scenic turn-out during much of the drive.  When I was behind the wheel, we did stop at everything!  I wish there were scenic turnouts along the Flint Hills in Kansas, too.  Kansas Turnpike officials, are you there (wishful thinking)?

The first night we spent in Dillon, Colorado, which is ski country. There was a brew pub conveniently located right by our hotel.  The night air was crisp.  I’ve been to this area several times during ski season, but it’s so much more beautiful when you’re not freezing to death.  I won’t be visiting during ski season again.  My skiing days are over! I wasn’t much of a skiier to begin with. I’m so slow I should have an orange triangle fastened to my back, and I hate to be cold. And I don’t like snow, either!  Already in September, it was in the mid 30s when we headed back on the road.

Interstate 70 cuts through an ancient ridge north of Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. Doesn't this formation look like an ancient reef or the spiny backbone of a massive reptile?

Horses graze in a pasture at sunset in St. George, Utah.

The second day we drove through western Colorado and through Utah, spending the night in St. George, which we visited last November.  We toured our “old” neighborhood. We knew where the Walmart was, too.  Both visits to Wal-Mart we saw a few women with french-braided hair who were wearing long pioneer-style dresses with muttonchip sleeves. If you want to read my Utah posts, type in “Utah” in my search box. There are lots of great photographs!

We hurried through Nevada, stopping in Las Vegas only to get gas, and it seemed like forever to get through the desert of California to reach Huntington Beach.  Laura had said that seemed like the longest part of the trip, maybe because you’re so close to your destination but the desert never seems to end. 

I've always loved Joshua Trees. They look like sentries. These trees, a member of the yucca family, are near Interstate 15 in the Mojave Desert in California.

Yeah, yeah, I know I just wrote that I never tire of it, that it was gorgeous and amazing.  Some parts do drag on a bit.  I thought about all of the immigrants who had plodded through these bleak, arid western lands in the 1800s on the California trail, which starts in our green part of the country of Kansas City.   I thought of “Death Valley Days,” “Wagon Train” and “Twenty-Mule Team Borax”  — two old television shows and a commercial that I barely remember beyond the titles.  I do remember Ronald Reagan was the host of “Death Valley Days” for a while. (Yes, this might be the spot for a political joke, but I won’t go there.)

I’m not going to recite a mile by mile account of this trip (although it seems like it so far), but I’ve got to have some words to hold the photos together in this post, like eggs beaten into a  cake.  

Loki can't wait to go to the dog beach. She has to wait until she's had all of her vaccinations. (Yes, Laura and Ryan got a dog the first month they were in HB. We have their cat....)

Huntington Beach is a nice city, very laid-back it seems.  The city is located 40 miles south of Los Angeles.  Houses are packed very closely together because real estate there is very expensive, even now in this economy.  There are no buildings on the 8.5 mile-long-beach, so there’s an unobstructed view of the ocean and of Catalina Island.  It’s the longest open run of beach on the West Coast. It’s celebrating its 100th anniversary as an incorporated city this year.  It was called Shell Beach, later Pacific City and finally Huntington Beach in honor of H.E. Huntington who brought the Pacific electric Railway to the area.

Two surfers head out at sunset on Huntington Beach. You can see an oil rig in the distance.

Here’s what the official Huntington Beach website has to say (yes, they like themselves very much!): “The dynamic coastal City of Huntington Beach, with its sunny Mediterranean climate and idyllic setting, is home to more than 202,250 residents. Internationally known as Surf City, Huntington Beach boasts eight miles of scenic, accessible beachfront, the largest stretch of uninterrupted beachfront on the West Coast. Tourism remains a vital part of the economy, as over 11 million visitors flock to the city during the summer, on weekends and for special events.

Wetsuits drying at a motel.

Our parks and recreation features one of the largest recreational piers in the world, public parks, riding stables and equestrian trails, a marina, and a wildlife preserve, and an eight-mile biking, inline skating, jogging, and walking trail along the ocean. The crown jewel of the recreation system is the wide expanse of beautiful and spacious beaches, where large crowds gather to watch professional sporting events as the U.S. Open of Surfing, AVP Pro Beach Volleyball and the Surf City USA Marathon.”

A surfer rides the waves of the "dog beach" in Huntington Beach, which is also popular with surfers. In the background is an offshore oil rig.

 There are also oil rigs offshore, which surprised me.   There’s oil in this town!  I’m a little late in finding this out.  The oil boom began in the 1920s. A few “grasshoppers” oil wells pump away in a beach-view lot in town, walled off next to houses that must be worth millions. When the Spanish arrived, they established the area as a cattle ranch.  Beach Boulevard, the main thoroughfare of Huntington Beach, was originally a cattle route.

Pier Plaza in Huntington Beach.

A hummingbird visits a flower near Laura and Ryan's courtyard.

Much later, I read that an encylopedia company gave away free parcels of land, with the purchase of a whole set for $126.  I don’t know how true this is, but it makes a great story.  The encyclopedia company had obtained the land cheaply.  The company should have kept the land and forgotten about the books, because oil was discovered in the area the company had given away as a bonus with the purchase of encyclopedias. Now the price of land for housing has risen so high it has pushed many of the rigs off the landscape. Links to more history about the city are at the bottom of this post. The city has dozens of pristine parks, protected nature reserves and unspoiled wetland habitats, such as Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve and the Donald D. Shipley Nature Center,

Duke Kahanamoku, the father of modern surfing, is honored with a statue near the Surfing Walk of Fame at the pier plaza in Huntington Beach, California.

Huntington Beach is officially Surf City USA, a title it wrangled over with Santa Cruz, California.

Hawaii’s Duke Kahanamoku first introduced modern surfing in the United States in Santa Cruz, so you can see why that city might want to claim the title.  Kahanamoku is credited with popularizing surfing world-wide during the 1920s, after achieving Olympic swimming fame in 1912 and 1920.  The Surfing Walk of Fame is in Huntington Beach, featuring a statue of Kahanamoku.  I loved watching the surfers, seeing how they’d pop up onto a wave and ride it so gracefully.  I wasn’t tempted, though. That’s COLD water!  The International Surfing Museum is in Huntington Beach.

Links to information about surfing, Huntington Beach and Duke Kahanamoku are at the bottom of this post.  Later (probably much later), I’ll post about the Spanish Missions system, Catalina Island, South Pasadena and the Grand Canyon. 

Surfers watch the waves on Newport Beach on a very foggy morning. The surf was great, but the conditions were probably dangerous. A lifeguard pickup soon showed up and told everyone to get out of the water. I was standing far back, but a huge wave lashed the beach, and I got splashed and covered with sticky sand.

Part of the Surfing Walk of Fame in Pier Plaza in Huntington Beach, California.

Kite surfers sail along Huntington Beach at sunset. In the distance is Catalina Island.

Surfers ride the waves along the "dog beach" in Huntington Beach. This is a section of beach where dogs are allowed.

Dogs enjoying the water on "dog beach" in Huntington Beach.

Huntington Beach Pier was originally built in 1904 and rebuilt most recently during the early 1990s. Stretching 1,856 feet into the Pacific Ocean, it is the longest concrete municipal pier in California and a great place to watch "million-dollar" sunsets.

A surfer leaves for the day. His board is tethered to his ankle so he won't lose it.

A woman serves a volleyball at the Huntington Beach Pier beach volleyball court.

Surfing Walk of Fame.

Duke Kahanamoku.

Huntington Beach, California.

Surfing.

Huntington Beach Official Website.

International Surfing Museum.

Surf City USA.

There is no better time of year to start a remodeling project in Southern Utah.  The weather is bearable and with the Holidays coming soon why not give your home a fresh new look?

Our latest remodeling job was to get rid of some  laminate and carpet flooring, and replace it with tile and some carpet in selected areas.  I think you will agree this made quite a difference especially in the hallway areas.

In the kitchen we removed the existing laminate flooring and replaced it with Daltile Salerno 18″ SL83.  This is a beautiful tile with a high shade variation, providing a better contrast to the cabinetry in the home than the laminate that had been installed,  we also replaced the high traffic hallways with tile and got rid of the carpet.

Carpet and hallways just don’t mix, and now with this beautiful hard surface this hallway is going to look great for years to come, no more tread pattens here!

We still wanted to keep some carpet in the main living room area.  A Mohawk Smart Strand product was chosen, with it’s inherint softness and stain resistance this carpet will hold up well to traffic and pets.  Smart Strand carpets offer a lifetime stain warranty, now that’s hard to beat!

Isn’t it time you called Bliss Design? Let’s work together to give your home the makeover you’ve been dreaming of.  Call us today at 674-2934 or visit our website www.blissdesigncenter.com

Mention this blog post and receive $200 off of any $2000 purchase!

Kitchen area before with laminate in the kitchen and carpet in the adjacent dining room.

After with tile in the kitchen area and adjacent dining area. What a difference a new floor can make, it really updated this kitchen.

Hallway area before work began.

Hallway with new tile flooring, no more tread patterns here!

Report: 2008 Australian Major Bank Analysis PWC May 2008

A brief but very good overview of the business activities of the 5 major banks in Australia; ANZ, CBA, St George, NAB and Westpac.