John Patrick Kreiss

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Happy Mother’s Day to all Moms

johnkreiss — Sat, 09 May 2009 18:49:50 +0000

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and I’d like to wish a happy Mother’s Day to my Mom and all the other Mom’s out there.

Attached is a great video by Deb Guttierrez on the trials and tribulations on being a Mom.

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Proud Dad

johnkreiss — Sat, 09 May 2009 18:36:46 +0000

Last week, I attended a research and science fair at St. Bernadette School in Northborough, MA. My daughter (Morgan) is a fifth grade student at the school.

Anyway, the students all did a tremendous job on these3 projects. I was blown away by the talent of these young kids. I was also excited and proud when Morgan was announced as the winner in the Research division.

She did a project on making Maple Syrup that included a display, sample syrups, and a presentation. The project will no go on to compete with other schools in the Archdiocese of Worecester.

Congratulation Morgan on a job well done!

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This week in Maui

johnkreiss — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:34:25 +0000

Day one – overcomming jet lag by haning out at the pool and the beach. It’s six hours behind eastern standard time here in Maui.

Day two – We went to the aquarium and have some great pictures that will be posted and shared soon. My daughter is still in Eastern time and getting up at 1 AM’

Day three – More beach, Harlen Coban, drinks by the pool bar, etc. Went to a luau at night.

Day four – Golf. The course we played was beautiful. Finished with a minus two. Ok, it was a scramble. =)

Day five – We’ve rented a car to see the island and we’re getting ready to go.

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Do I really have to join twitter?

johnkreiss — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:10:40 +0000

Attached is an interesting article discussing different methods of online communication today including blogging, texting, IMing, social network sites like Facebook, and of course, Twitter. The article discusses why Twitter is unique and questions whether or not the popular microblog service is simpyly a fad that may eventually die down in popularity

Click here to read this article.

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American Idol Bliss

johnkreiss — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:34:29 +0000

My eleven year-old daughter, Morgan, is an American Idol fan and a blogger. Each week, Morgan and her Maternal Grandmother (a.k.a. Mamma) share their thoughts and opinions on how the contestants fared, who should win, etc. The attached post from Morgan is her latest assessment of season eight.

President Obama calls for fiscal discipline

johnkreiss — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:28:24 +0000

This week, President Obama calls for fiscal responsibility and promises to identify areas of wasteful government spending b going through the budget line by line. The President also promises to reduce or eliminate programs deemed to be wasteful and inefficient.

Kudos to Amazon

johnkreiss — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:10:49 +0000

Recently, I had to call Amazon’s customer service department. Normally, I cringe at the thought of calling the customer service department of a large company. For me, these experiences are worse than going to the department of motor vehicles. Here’s why.

Buried Phone Numbers. It seems like everytime I have to call a large phone, credit card, insurance, or airline company, I have to waste a lot of time simply searching for a phone number. It seems like most of these companies bury their phone number to discourage people from calling them.

Ever have this experience? Sometimes, I have given up and gone to email only to get no response for days. Email is a great tool, but sometimes speaking to a live person can resolve a problem much faster. In this recent experience with Amazon, I did not have that problem. In fact, I was shocked. The number was surprisingly easy to find on my Kindle.

Being placed on hold. Ever call up a large company and get put on hold for eternity? Public agencies also seem to have this problem. They either don’t have enough staff or don’t want people to call them. Ever get put on hold, then connect with someone, only to be told that they have to connect you to a different department, and then you’re placed on hold again? It seems to happen to me all of the time and if my problem is too difficult to solve, they simply hang up and I have to call again. It’s like waiting in line at the DMV, getting to the front, and then being told that you’re in the wrong line and have to go and wait in another long line. Ugghh!!!!

Although I expected this type of experience when placing my call to Amazon, it did not happen, In fact, I was quite surprised. I was not placed on hold. I was connected very quickly to a customer service agent who seemed to be eager to help. He solved my issue right away and I was thrilled.

This recent experience with Amazon makes me believe that there is hope. Perhaps the down economy has had something to do with it. Whatever reason, it’s good to see that some companies like Amazon are starting to get it. Customers have choices and companies that behave like they actually want to hear from their custumers will fare better than those that don’t.

President Obama – Weekly Address discusses efficiency and innovation

johnkreiss — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:36:26 +0000

In this week’s address, President Obama confronts the deficit crisis head-on. He says that we had surpluses only eight years ago, but now have massive deficits and the federal budget calls for significantly more deficit spending. The President says that now is the time to review all of the federal programs, eliminating waste, and operating more efficiently.

Morgan turns eleven

johnkreiss — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:13:47 +0000

My daughter turned eleven a couple of weeks ago. Below are pictures from the birthday celebration.