Last year at this time, we were just deciding to attend the Fall Toy Preview Show in Dallas, TX. It was obvious from our booths location that we were one of the last booths assigned. We were on an alternate floor and at the end of a dead end aisle. Despite this terrible location, we were able to convince people to stop by and take a look.
This year we signed up the first day possible. Our booth is in a much better location. We are on the 12th floor of the Dallas Market Center in booth 12906. It may not be the biggest booth, but real estate is all about location. And our location is terrific. We are on the main floor, on a main aisle.
The whole team is working incredibly hard to get ready for the show. We have a great group of new artists, licensed products, new puzzle formats and some new product catagories in addition to puzzles. It will take a ton of effort to be ready, but it will be worth it.
I can not wait for this show.
JP
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Lafayette Puzzle Factory products are starting to show up on retail shelves. Over 17,000 stores will have our products in them by October. It is an exciting time. It is truly remarkable how much time and effort goes into bringing products to market. At times it seems like it will never happen. And now the product is on shelves. All that is left is for consumers to like what they see.
JP
JP
Friday, August 7, 2009
John Hughes died yesterday at 59. A total surprise. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago in the area that many of his movies were filmed. I turned 16 the year before Sixteen Candles. My high schools detention was called breakfast club. I am loath to admit (although less so now than when I was a teen) that I identified with many of Anthony Michael Halls characters (especially in Sixteen Candles and the Breakfast Club).
John Hughes's movies captured a key time of my life. I still enjoy watching them today. Earlier this summer I watched Sixteen Candles with my daughter who is entering high school in the fall. I am not sure she saw it as I saw it. To her it was more like watching a history movie...What High School Was Like For My Dad.
Although he had not made a movie in years, I suppose I always figured he might make one more about my generation. Maybe a DVD release with unused footage or a directors commentary. As far as I can tell, he never did a directors commentary for his classic teen movies. That is too bad, especially now. Maybe he wanted to do it but kept telling himself, next year.
John Hughes will be missed, but because of his amazing movies, not forgotten. In some way they are the homemovies of a generation.
JP
John Hughes's movies captured a key time of my life. I still enjoy watching them today. Earlier this summer I watched Sixteen Candles with my daughter who is entering high school in the fall. I am not sure she saw it as I saw it. To her it was more like watching a history movie...What High School Was Like For My Dad.
Although he had not made a movie in years, I suppose I always figured he might make one more about my generation. Maybe a DVD release with unused footage or a directors commentary. As far as I can tell, he never did a directors commentary for his classic teen movies. That is too bad, especially now. Maybe he wanted to do it but kept telling himself, next year.
John Hughes will be missed, but because of his amazing movies, not forgotten. In some way they are the homemovies of a generation.
JP
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
I saw that the Arena Football league might be folding. Although I have not been to a game in 20 years, I do have fond memories of the 1988 Arena Bowl at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago. I remember it being the first Arena Bowl, but Wikipedia tells me it was the second.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArenaBowl_II
It was definitely a different kind of football game. You have to give credit to the founders of the league. They found a way to take a traditional game, update it, and market it perfectly.
JP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArenaBowl_II
It was definitely a different kind of football game. You have to give credit to the founders of the league. They found a way to take a traditional game, update it, and market it perfectly.
JP
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Here is an article from last weeks issue of Newsweek. Stave makes absolutely beautiful handmade jigsaw puzzles.
But the beauty of a good jigsaw puzzle is that it does not have to cost $100's of dollars. All you need is the right picture and a good table (card table or kitchen table are my favorites).
Enjoy the article:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/207384
JP
But the beauty of a good jigsaw puzzle is that it does not have to cost $100's of dollars. All you need is the right picture and a good table (card table or kitchen table are my favorites).
Enjoy the article:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/207384
JP
Monday, July 27, 2009
JP NOTE: I have been traveling the last couple of weeks in Asia. Blogger knows I am in Asia and puts all the links in chinese characters and has a different lay out. Sorry for the lack of updates. Here are some notes I made during my trip.
Wednesday July 15, 2009 - PM
After a couple of long days in HK I had a chance to get back to my hotel before the pool closed. I brought a swimsuit and decided to jump in the hot tub for a few minutes. The pool is outside and the hot tub is at the head of the pool, slightly raised. It looks very inviting. The jets were working and I jumped in. Then jumped out. The water was ice cold. What a let down. Lets hope that is the last unexpected thing that happens. And they fix the heater quickly!
Friday July 17, 2009
More unexpected…
Typhoon heading this way. Category 3 for now, but could reach level 8 overnight. My first Typhoon. Should be here by 5pm on Saturday.
Saturday July 18 / Sunday July 19
2:30pm Saturday – I was sitting my the pool eating a light lunch (no hot tub today. Heater still not fixed). It’s a little windy. The pool attendant just shut the pool due to the impeding storm.
5pm Saturday – nothing. Light rain.
7pm Saturday – went to the mall for dinner and watched a gymnastics exhibition. I think one of the gymnasts was on the Olympic team last August.
10pm Saturday – No rain. No typhoon. Lady in the lobby said it is suppose to hit by midnight. Tired. Do not want to go to sleep and miss the storm.
11pm Saturday – Rain against the hotel window. I think this is it. No weather channel in HK. Dearly miss Jim Cantore.
1am Sunday – Going to bed. Moderate rain and wind at this point. Still cars on the street.
3am Sunday – Beating rain on the window wakes me up. Wow, it is raining hard. Very windy. No one on the street. (update: Apparently the number 9 Flag was hoisted around this time. Only one away from 10!)
8am Sunday – No rain. The whole things seems over. Or maybe this is the eye? Cantore, where are you?
10:00am Sunday – Passing showers, light rain. Typhoon has moved inland. Here is how another westerner spent the storm.
Monday July 20.
The earth gods are in full swing here in Hong Kong – Eclipse.
Eclipse in HK this morning. About ¾ of the sun was covered. I missed it. Somehow I forgot I was in Asia and might be able to view the eclipse. Looked out the window and wondered why it was getting dark. Thought maybe it was going to rain. Feel really dumb. Too much product development. Hope that making final decisions on images during an eclipse is good luck.
Wednesday July 15, 2009 - PM
After a couple of long days in HK I had a chance to get back to my hotel before the pool closed. I brought a swimsuit and decided to jump in the hot tub for a few minutes. The pool is outside and the hot tub is at the head of the pool, slightly raised. It looks very inviting. The jets were working and I jumped in. Then jumped out. The water was ice cold. What a let down. Lets hope that is the last unexpected thing that happens. And they fix the heater quickly!
Friday July 17, 2009
More unexpected…
Typhoon heading this way. Category 3 for now, but could reach level 8 overnight. My first Typhoon. Should be here by 5pm on Saturday.
Saturday July 18 / Sunday July 19
2:30pm Saturday – I was sitting my the pool eating a light lunch (no hot tub today. Heater still not fixed). It’s a little windy. The pool attendant just shut the pool due to the impeding storm.
5pm Saturday – nothing. Light rain.
7pm Saturday – went to the mall for dinner and watched a gymnastics exhibition. I think one of the gymnasts was on the Olympic team last August.
10pm Saturday – No rain. No typhoon. Lady in the lobby said it is suppose to hit by midnight. Tired. Do not want to go to sleep and miss the storm.
11pm Saturday – Rain against the hotel window. I think this is it. No weather channel in HK. Dearly miss Jim Cantore.
1am Sunday – Going to bed. Moderate rain and wind at this point. Still cars on the street.
3am Sunday – Beating rain on the window wakes me up. Wow, it is raining hard. Very windy. No one on the street. (update: Apparently the number 9 Flag was hoisted around this time. Only one away from 10!)
8am Sunday – No rain. The whole things seems over. Or maybe this is the eye? Cantore, where are you?
10:00am Sunday – Passing showers, light rain. Typhoon has moved inland. Here is how another westerner spent the storm.
Monday July 20.
The earth gods are in full swing here in Hong Kong – Eclipse.
Eclipse in HK this morning. About ¾ of the sun was covered. I missed it. Somehow I forgot I was in Asia and might be able to view the eclipse. Looked out the window and wondered why it was getting dark. Thought maybe it was going to rain. Feel really dumb. Too much product development. Hope that making final decisions on images during an eclipse is good luck.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
I set up a Twitter account today. Not sure what I am going to do with it. Maybe nothing, but if you want to follow its www.twitter.com/LafayetteJP.
My kids are completely comfortable with all the different social networking sites out there. There are on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and others. As parents we know their passwords and do what we can to monitor their usage. But it is hard to be watching all the time.
Last fall, I started using a service call YouDiligence.com. For a monthly fee, they will monitor you childrens MySpace and Facebook accounts. Basically, they are monitoring the kids sites for the use of certain words and phrases. If the word appears on their profile, an e-mail is sent to me to review. So far, the word party seems to come up the most, but each time in an innocent context (ice cream party, birthday party, etc.). You can also customize the word search with your own words. I have not done this personally, but suppose that one could add names or nicknames and know who they are posting with back and forth.
I liked the service so much I wanted to find a way to tell more people about it. I had numerous discussions with one of the founders on how to best promote their service. We finally decided to set up a special web page. You can either type into your browser, www.youdiligence.com/puzzle or go to our homepage (http://www.lpfpuzzle.com/) and click on the link to Youdiligence. We are also promoting the service and websites on our packaging as a service to parents. The company would offer our customers their first month free and then a discounted monthly rate going forward.
I see this service as a tool for parents to help teach their kids how to be responsible on-line. The kids should know that the parents are subscribing to the service (you need your kids password to make this work). If there are inappropriate things going on with their accounts, this service gives you the notification you need and the opportunity to then discuss with your kids the right was to present oneself on-line.
If you have any questions, drop me a line. Otherwise, try the first month for free and see how you like it. I think you will be like me and keep your subscription going. And want to tell you friends about the service.
JP
My kids are completely comfortable with all the different social networking sites out there. There are on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and others. As parents we know their passwords and do what we can to monitor their usage. But it is hard to be watching all the time.
Last fall, I started using a service call YouDiligence.com. For a monthly fee, they will monitor you childrens MySpace and Facebook accounts. Basically, they are monitoring the kids sites for the use of certain words and phrases. If the word appears on their profile, an e-mail is sent to me to review. So far, the word party seems to come up the most, but each time in an innocent context (ice cream party, birthday party, etc.). You can also customize the word search with your own words. I have not done this personally, but suppose that one could add names or nicknames and know who they are posting with back and forth.
I liked the service so much I wanted to find a way to tell more people about it. I had numerous discussions with one of the founders on how to best promote their service. We finally decided to set up a special web page. You can either type into your browser, www.youdiligence.com/puzzle or go to our homepage (http://www.lpfpuzzle.com/) and click on the link to Youdiligence. We are also promoting the service and websites on our packaging as a service to parents. The company would offer our customers their first month free and then a discounted monthly rate going forward.
I see this service as a tool for parents to help teach their kids how to be responsible on-line. The kids should know that the parents are subscribing to the service (you need your kids password to make this work). If there are inappropriate things going on with their accounts, this service gives you the notification you need and the opportunity to then discuss with your kids the right was to present oneself on-line.
If you have any questions, drop me a line. Otherwise, try the first month for free and see how you like it. I think you will be like me and keep your subscription going. And want to tell you friends about the service.
JP
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