The May Report: 5/26/2011: Part I: Dalka doubles down: saves TMR and gets thumbs up on Ronnie’s list; Drunken farm boys and states with no helmet laws; More toads or toadies at the Chris Brogan roast?; and the guy making the money is the guy printing the cards; and wanting to throw up at the roast: “Mikey, are you in there?”; the sorrows of Len Bland; the new designer drugs, Poland’s history and what happened in 972AD, Jeff Meredith and Darcy, Stel V., Andrea Moran, David Culver, Glenn Gottfried, Bob Kaufman, and much more…

Editor and publisher: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com, www.themayreport.com , 773-525-3944.

Assistant editor: Melanie Adcock, iPHONE: 312-259-0610, melanie_adcock@msn.com

If you missed an article, go here: www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter
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Finalists Announced in 2011 MIT Enterprise Forum Chicago Whiteboard Challenge Idea Contest

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Enterprise Forum Chicago selected 10 finalists to present their ideas at the 2011 Whiteboard Challenge. The Whiteboard Challenge, now in its sixth year, is an ideas contest, with the winners receiving a share in $5,000 in cash prizes.

Finalists will present before a panel of judges beginning at 5pm this Thursday, May 26, at the IBM Innovation Center, 71 S. Wacker, 6th Floor, Chicago. 2011 finalists are:

Fun Captcha Bryan Arturo
Blood Vessel “BullsEye” Locator Colin O’Donovan
ENERGY DISTRIBUTION UNIT OR EDU Eduardo Sampedro
M.O.R.E. Life (Mobile Operating Room Engineering) Henna Eassa
I-GO Peer-to-Peer Car Sharing John Brophy
Green Zephyr Inc. Michael R. Weinman
Energy Recovery Technologies Ron Fleckman
CommuniTeach Sarah Press
Fear Experiment Saya Hillman
Efficient transmissions for heavy trucks and machinery Thomas Capote/CVT Innovations Corporation

As 2010 winner Joe Sprovieri, Founder and CEO, ReadyPing, explained, “All you have is a whiteboard, markers, and five minutes to explain your idea. It forces you to simplify the message and visuals. That pitch has become the cornerstone of my ReadyPing presentation. Sometimes I skip the PowerPoint and just go to the whiteboard.” ReadyPing “pings” waiting customers with text notifications that their provider, restaurant table, or other service is ready (www.readyping.com).

Sponsored by Ungaretti and Harris (www.uhlaw.com), a law firm for entrepreneurs offering corporate and intellectual property services, the 2011 MIT Enterprise Forum Chicago Whiteboard Challenge will be held 5 pm -8:30 pm, Thursday May 26, at the IBM Innovation Center, 71 S. Wacker, 6th Floor, Chicago. The event is free for MIT EF Chicago members. Cost for pre-registered guests is $30 (before 5/24) and $40 at the door.

REGISTER NOW

bitly.com/lTxiLA

Date and Time
Thursday, May 26th, 5:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Location
IBM Innovation Center
71 S. Wacker Drive, 6th Floor
Chicago

Cost
Individual Member No Fee
Pre-Registered Guests $30.00
Day of Event Registration $40.00

REGISTER NOW

bitly.com/lTxiLA

MIT Enterprise Forum is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and strengthening technology-oriented startups, allowing them to grow and prosper. The Chicago chapter is an extension of the national MIT Enterprise Forum and is the voice for local entrepreneurship.

CONTACT:
Ted Wallhaus, Chair, (312) 593-3796, twallhaus@gmail.com

Collin Canright, Communications, (773) 426-7000, collin@canrightcommunications.com
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The Business of Cloud Computing

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

8 a.m. – Noon

IIT’s Rice Campus in Wheaton

Join us for a Cloud Computing seminar oriented to business and co-sponsored by Illinois Institute of Technology and NewGen Business Solutions Inc.

Key Topics

• Hype vs. reality

• Moving to a cloud-based world

• The Cloud Computing Roadmap

• The Private Cloud: The answer to security and privacy concerns

• How the Cloud benefits business

• Cloud architecture: Operating your full business cycle in the cloud, from CRM to general ledger

Business owners, professionals, senior managers, IT technical staff, and educators should attend this event.

Location

Illinois Institute of Technology

Rice Campus

201 East Loop Rd., WheatonIllinois

Wednesday June 1, 2011 , 8 a.m. – Noon

Cost

Advance Registration: $40.00

$50.00 at the door the day of the event

Registration includes continental breakfast

Register Today!

Visit www.cpd.iit.edu/cloudcomputing

Questions? Call 630-682-6001 or email pfeiffer@iit.edu

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SOCIAL MEDIA TRAINING WORKSHOP – STILL TIME TO REGISTER!

Join 12 Social Media experts in this 5 week “Social Media for Business” Training Workshop starting Wednesday, May 25 – June 22, 2011.

Great group of attendees representing over 37 states and 15 countries across the globe!

There are a total of 15 sessions conducted by leading social media authors & industry experts including few of Chicago’s own.

As a special bonus for May Report readers, Instant E-Training is extending an exclusive 10% off their listed fees.

So, why wait?

Click here to sign up:

instantetraining.go2cloud.org/SHE

Here is the list of authors and speakers training this workshop:

Dan Zarrella, Author of Facebook Marketing and Social Media Marketing book
Ramon De Leon, Dominos Pizza
Hollis Thomases, Author of Twitter Marketing: An Hour a Day
Krista Neher, SXSW Speaker & Author Social Media Field Guide
Eric Enge, Author of The Art of SEO
Simon Salt, Author of Social Location Marketing
Fionn Downhill, Instructor & CEO, Elixir Interactive
Barbara Rozgonyi, Founder Social Media Club Chicago
Marshall Sponder, Author of Social Media Analytics
Bob Tripathi, Trainer & Industry Speaker
Nicole Duhoski, Social Media Manager
Look at the detailed training agenda. There is something for everyone to learn:

instantetraining.go2cloud.org/SHE

Here is how this Social Media training workshop is different:

Live video streaming makes you feel like you are in a classroom
Real-time Q&A features as well as questions you can ask experts during the training
Recorded training available for 90 days
Free Access to 10 training video worth $897 in value
Certificate of completion awarded

Learn more about this

instantetraining.go2cloud.org/SHE

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Scoop section:

– Ruder-less Connolly might get caught in Finn’s new wake
– Jeff Carter : HPA on Chicago NBC5 News – Hyde Park Angels
– Hock pulls Hoch out of a hole: Illinois Technology Association and TechNet Form A New Partnership
– AgileThought, Inc. Opens Office In Downtown Chicago’s Central Loop
– Briefly noted, by Ron May
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Going Mobile – Web Content 2011 Conference – June 6 & 7
Gleacher Executive Conference Center – Downtown Chicago

Register here (Fewer than 35 seats remaining)

www.webcontent2011.com/

15 mobile-focused sessions over 2 full days featuring speakers including:

Gian Fulgoni, comScore, Inc. – Today’s Mobile Mainstream
Robert Rose, Big Blue Moose – Context Aware Everything!
Colleen Jones, Content Science – This Mobile Moment
Erin Scime, HUGE – Content Strategist & Designer Talk Mobile

Plus BONUS WORKSHOP:

“Smart from the Start” – Content Strategy ½ Day Workshop by Brain Traffic

“In the world of online content, mobile is the new black! Join national content experts, marketers, strategists, developers and other industry thinkers June 6th and 7th in sunny Chicago at WebContent 2011 www.webcontent2011.com/ .” – CMSWire

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New from TMR: Ronnie’s List

TMR provides a valuable archive of information for conducting research on individuals or firms that you or your firm may be considering hiring or engaging in some business capacity. Given the overwhelming amount of information available on specific people, it may be difficult to wade through many documents for succinct summaries. To this end we will be issuing weekly cautionary reports on specific individuals – both positive and negative – that are active in the local business community. Consider this TMR’s version of Angie’s List or…RONNIE’S LIST

On the permanent watch list:

Al Wasserberger: He is now lying about his true job history and what happened when he ran Media River here in Chicago by saying that he “sold his company” to Google and “retired” to Belize. Nothing could be further from the truth. First, it was not his company. Second, the firm was eventually sold for a song but not to Google and third, it was Al Wasserberger who wrecked the firm and spent a lot of company money wining and dining his 22 year old girlfriend while cheating on his wife. It would not be good to place him in charge of any budget or people.

Chris Tomes: He scammed his investors in Veritel out of millions of dollars and lived a lavish lifestyle at their expense

Terry I. Howerton II:
If you’re a landlord, be cautious about signing a lease with Mr. Howerton, if you’re an investor be wary of what he’s doing with your funds and if you’re the City of Chicago – strongly reconsider allowing Mr. Howerton to become involved in any school initiatives – the black eye of embarrassment he will bring to your face is not worth the pain.

Three “bad guys” for this week:

Len Bland: This self-described “religious man” should have read the Torah more closely – especially the part about lying. He claims that he has a fund, but does not. He calls this fictitious fund the “Midwest Renaissance Fund,” I guess by the time there is a Midwest renaissance it might exist – and have broken two digits. He masquerades as a business panel judge specifically to solicit clients for his mentoring services. Try finding a satisfied customer! Why Locke Lord puts up with him is beyond me – he is also a potential embarrassment in the making. Len should really be holding his sessions in a more appropriate venue: next to that guy who preaches outside of the Old Navy store on State Street. Len, this is called satire. Get a sense of humor, Len. The same for you too Dalka.

David Beazley does not have a fund raised but he is brokering deals and from what I have heard, successfully.

This is just a personal opinion of mine, but Chris Gallinari of the Bellows Law firm hired economist Stan Smith of Smith Economics Group as an expert witness in the case in which I am a co-defendant. My issue is that the report that the economist Smith issued had little connection to the facts about the plaintiff Dan C.’s actual behavior and knowing this, Gallinari did not ask Smith to re-write his report when those facts came out. So, if you are going to hire Gallinari to represent you, be aware that he may be a bit sloppy.

Two people we recommend with caveats:

David Dalka: A smart guy, but may require some social tuning. For the right company he’d be a great asset. Just don’t let him talk with clients. But on his side, he did help to save Ron’s life. Dalka, no calls, this is what is known as humor or satire.

Irv Shapiro: A truly genial straight shooter – with a good mind and a clean track record. He can be demanding and whiny – if you work with him, pretend he’s your bossy aunt, and you’ll be OK.

Next week or the week after that: Jeff “jwillie” Willinger, Sima Dahl, David Weinsten, Jim “Forrest Gump without the shrimp company” Eiden, Gary Slack, Dr. Ronald Michael, Michael Kurgan, Mike Profita, Doug Stukel, and more…
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The Scoop section:
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Ruder-less Connolly might get caught in Finn’s new wake

www.prweekus.com/pages/login.aspx?returl=/peter-finn-confirms-split-from-ruder-finn/article/203629/&pagetypeid=28&articleid=203629&accesslevel=2&expireddays=0&accessAndPrice=0

Peter Finn confirms split from Ruder Finn
Steve Barrett
May 24, 2011
As exclusively revealed by PRWeek last August, co-CEO Peter Finn is splitting from Ruder Finn to head up his own agency called Finn Partners.

Finn Partners will still be part of the Ruder Finn Group and will formally launch later this year. It will comprise the entire staff of Ruder Finn’s San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, DC offices – including the recently acquired Rogers Group, which will operate as Rogers/Finn Partners, with Ron Rogers as president.

In addition, about …
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Jeff Carter : HPA on Chicago NBC5 News – Hyde Park Angels

Subject: Fwd: HPA on Chicago NBC5 News – Hyde Park Angels
Date: 5/24/2011 6:49:45 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: jrcarter@me.com

Send this to your friends that own a store. Noblivity might be great for them!

blog.hydeparkangels.com/hpa-on-chicago-nbc5-news

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Hock pulls Hoch out of a hole: Illinois Technology Association and TechNet Form A New Partnership

Subject: Illinois Technology Association and TechNet Form A New Partnership
Date: 5/25/2011 8:51:03 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

Illinois Technology Association and TechNet Form A New Partnership

illinoistech.org/story.aspx/303986

May, 16 2011 / Submitted by dradke

Washington, DC – TechNet, the leading national, bipartisan policy and political network of CEOs that promotes the growth of the innovation economy and the Illinois Technology Association (ITA) today announced a new strategic partnership to collaborate on a dual state-federal policy and political program for Illinois’s fast-growing and emerging technology companies.
With over 700 member companies, ITA represents organizations from innovative start-ups to large technology companies across the sector – representing software, mobile, internet, consulting, online services, electronics, telecommunications, and green technology. ITA companies cut across a variety of industries – business, consumer, financial services, travel, manufacturing, healthcare, and so on – that represent Illinois’ diversity of companies that make the technology that make businesses run.
“We at TechNet are very excited to partner with the Illinois Technology Association,” said Rey Ramsey, President and CEO of TechNet. “ITA and its President Fred Hoch are the preeminent leaders in Illinois in helping innovation thrive. We look forward to working with them in Illinois and around the nation, a partnership that will strengthen both of our organizations at both the federal and state level.”
“ITA is thrilled to be working with TechNet to strengthen the technology industry locally and expand nationally,” said Fred Hoch, President, ITA. “Illinois companies are innovating across the entire business landscape and we look forward to collaborating with TechNet and its members to drive the industry forward.”
TechNet was founded in 1997 by the high-tech industry’s leading CEOs to create a network of the nation’s strongest voices in the industry to unite with both federal and state leaders in helping to shape the public policies that impact the technology industries. TechNet continues to actively promote policies that strengthen the national’s innovation-driven global competitiveness as well as create private sector initiatives that will ensure U.S. competitiveness and economic leadership.
TechNet members work together to identify key policy priorities and execute successful legislative strategies at both the federal and state levels to spur innovation in the U.S. Working through the organization’s working groups, these policy priorities include:
- ICT 2.0 – Recent developments in information and communications technologies (ICT) have forever changed the way people work, play and interact with one another. Innovations in social media, cloud computing, mobile e-commerce and applications, and more all present ongoing challenges to policymakers. TechNet’s ICT 2.0 Working Group focus on issues such as privacy, security, spectrum policy, intellectual property protection, telecom regulation, and others that the group identifies.
- Global Competitiveness – Innovative companies rely more heavily than ever on overseas markets for their business. Challenges to doing business overseas include protectionist trade policies, weak intellectual property protection, and lack of action domestically on free trade initiatives. This working group focuses on issues relating to tax policy, working capital, as well as other issues that affect the well-being of American innovation within the global economy.
- Clean Technology – Clean energy can create new jobs, reduce rising energy costs, promote sustainable business practices, and enhance energy efficiency. This working group focuses on policy initiatives that enhance the deployment of clean energy technology such as: eliminating regulatory barriers to commercialization, fostering conditions for market entry and access to capital, research and development funding, and workforce development. The Clean Tech Working Group also provides input for the joint TechNet and Brookings Institution collaboration that includes clean energy topics.
- Human Capital – An innovative economy relies on a talented and creative workforce in order to turn today’s ideas into tomorrow’s products. An adequate supply of workers with the right skills to sustain innovation is crucial to America’s competitiveness. This group focuses on issues related to the talent that drives innovation, such as: STEM education, the talent pipeline, and high-skilled immigration reform.

About TechNet:
TechNet is the national, bipartisan network of CEOs that promotes the growth of technology industries and the economy by building long-term relationships between technology leaders and policymakers and by advocating a targeted policy agenda. TechNet’s members represent more than one million employees in the fields of information technology, biotechnology, e-commerce and finance. TechNet has offices in Washington, DC, Palo Alto, Sacramento, Seattle, Boston and Austin. Web address: www.technet.org. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at @technetupdate.

# # #
Contact: Jim Hock, (202) 463-0013 x202 jim.hock@463.com
Illinois Technology Association and TechNet Form A New Partnership

Melanie Adcock
Assistant Editor of The May Report
312-259-0610 melanie_adcock@msn.com
LinkedIn: linkd.in/MelanieAdcock
The May Report Facebook Page: on.fb.me/TheMayReport
Visit The May Report Archives: bit.ly/TheMayReportArchives
Subscribe to The May Report: bit.ly/TheMayReportSubscribe
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AgileThought, Inc. Opens Office In Downtown Chicago’s Central Loop

AgileThought, Inc. Opens Office In Downtown Chicago’s Central Loop

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from Jenny Nielubowicz jennyn@naiagency.com
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date Wed, May 25, 2011 at 4:07 PM
subject AgileThought, Inc. Opens Office In Downtown Chicago’s Central Loop

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NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Jenny Nielubowicz
941-924-5077
jennyn@naiagency.com

Software Solutions Firm AgileThought, Inc. Expands Presence In Chicago – Opens Office In Downtown Chicago’s Central Loop

CHICAGO, IL (May 25, 2011) – To better serve the needs of its growing clientele in the Chicago market, AgileThought, Inc., a Tampa, Florida-based national provider of custom software solutions for Fortune 500 companies, today announced the opening of its new office at 33 North Dearborn in the heart of the central business district. The office opened with a staff of four, with plans to employ twelve by the end of the year. A variety of roles will be based out of the Chicago office including technical, project management, and account management, resulting in a full service model that will collaborate very closely with personnel in Tampa and elsewhere.

Stated David Romine, President/Chief Executive Officer of AgileThought, “Our entire business is built on our partnerships with our clients. An expanded presence in Chicago enables us to have more face time with our Chicago clients, which builds stronger partnerships. This allows our team to be more proactive in helping to shape our clients’ strategies, and more sensitive and reactive to their day-to-day tactical challenges. Outside of our current client base, we believe there is going to be greater demand for our unique mix of deep technical skills and diversified services in the Midwest region. While we have always had steady annual revenue increases in this market, we expect to see a significant jump in 2011.”

AgileThought’s Chief Operating Officer, Jeff Alagood, commented, “Our current staff and structure puts us in a great position to expand and scale our capabilities in other regional markets, like Chicago. We’ve been very successful in attracting top-level software professionals in the Tampa market, including a growing number of Microsoft MVPs. Our search for exceptional software professionals is a top priority. We hope to attract top talent from the Chicago area so we can continue to grow and develop the market as an AgileThought key growth strategy.”

Alagood will be the lead contact for the Chicago office located at 33 North Dearborn, Suite 1506, Chicago, Illinois 60602; telephone 877-514-9180.

About AgileThought, Inc. – AgileThought, Inc. is a full service provider of software development and implementation services, with specializations in custom software development, user interface design, business intelligence solutions, application lifecycle management, and enterprise portal solutions. Formed in 2004, the company is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and an Agile Alliance Corporate Member. Its corporate headquarters is located in Tampa, Florida, and it serves clients nationwide from offices in Tampa, St. Louis, Chicago and New York. It was recently recognized as an Inc. 500 company and was ranked #5 by Florida Trend magazine as one of the best companies to work for in Florida. It has also been included on the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 2008, 2009 and 2010 Fast 50 list as one of the fastest growing, privately held companies in the Tampa Bay area. For more information, visit www.agilethought.com or call 813-514-9180.
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Briefly noted, by Ron May

* Why is this man smiling?

ow.ly/i/bXDs#GtI

Answer: It’s Raining Men: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBlbPw7WAqM

I have been holding off and off on printing the report for today which is now Thursday at 4am. The reason is that while I believe it raises important issues, the issues do not rise to the level of scandal, but they do call for note and a note of caution.

Secondly, so many of the issues raised are subject to what we might call situational ethics.

And the situation or the context does matter. To give an example that hits the nail on the head, Len Bland just approaching entrepreneur Y to sell consulting services is not in and of itself a problem. But the context has to be considered.

Place Len Bland on a panel which lends legitimacy and status.
Place Len Bland on a panel at the Funding Feeding Frenzy which implies he’s an investor and also gives him a tie-in to the ‘brand’ they are trying to create.
Place Len Bland on a panel judging Entrepreneur Y who is given a “Still fishing” vote by Len, the second highest rating that the panelists could give.
Place Len Bland approaching Entrepreneur Y to sell his services at the conference just after Entrepreneur had presented.

It is a Rubik’s cube of variables. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik‘s_Cube
Change any one or more of the above variables and the ethics changes.

So, Len is at the conference but he is not on a panel. Does that change things? Yes, it does since then he is not leveraging having been on the panel. Then there is little difference between Len and Terry Flanagan.

So, let’s say that Len approaches Entrepreneur Y before the panel. You know what, that would have been worse.

So, let’s say that Len sends Entrepreneur Y an email or calls him a week after the conference. Does that change things? Now we are into a gray area. I have to really consider that and ask others to do so as well. Along with that information, I’d want to know whether Len also told Entrepreneur Y that he has a fund as he has been telling just about everyone else.

You see the problem? There are a lot of situation specific ethical questions.

Now, there is also a meta-issue. The presenters paid $400 each for the privilege of presenting. David Culver told me that the entrepreneurs were told they would have access to resources. Resources in general and that includes consulting services. Culver knows that is hooey. Did the presenters pay $400 each to get the chance to talk to consultants who want to charge them more money? Of course not. Everyone, attendees and presenters, knows and expects the panelists to be INVESTORS WHO WRITE CHECKS. If they are not investors, they need to be people who can quickly and easily connect them with investors who do write checks.

But David Culver, your “resources” spin is not quite what I am picking up from the entrepreneurs who were lead to believe that the panelists are by and large investors — investors, not just deal brokers, not just coaches, business plan writers, etc.

Terry Flanagan told me that Bob Schulein did not disclose to him that he already has an advisor, a program advisor is the term I think Terry used.

I don’t know what the protocol is for such a situation. If someone approaches you to sell something, do you have an obligation to say that you already have that thing or service?

There are many gray areas, but one thing is certain. There is also a slippery slope here. Chicago has stewed in the morass for years of putative angels who just want to sell consulting services. Barry Moltz was the poster child of such behavior with the advent of Prairie Angels and while Len Bland may not have been involved in investing back in those days, he should at least know the story. I think that back then Len was working for Napersoft and Bart Carlson.

You now realize that I have been sitting on this because I have been mentally stewing in it.

But more is going on.

This morning, Wednesday May 25th, I trekked down to 219 S. Dearborn, the Federal Building, to appear in front of Judge Amy St. Eve for what is called a status update. Never mind that getting a cab was tough, that it was raining cats and dogs, and that my guy was not here today so I had to try to put my socks on by myself and that I could only do it for the left foot. So it was one sock on, one sock off.

After appearing before Judge St. Eve I hung around outside the building and got a feel for the madhouse that was surrounding me. Tons of media, including many international people. Plus of course it would not be complete without the demonstrators. They chanted: “One, two, three, four, the FBI kicked down the door; Five, six, seven, eight, Fight back before it’s too late.” There were a lot of speakers for some liberation movement or another. I could not hear them that well since it was windy and raining and the protesters were down by the south side entrance to the building. BTW, I had asked one security guy if Rahm was coming in through the main entrance and he said that Rahm may come in through some other entrance.

I have agreed that if the other parties want to sit down for a negotiation with a view toward a settlement, I will join them, but I don’t want to settle now. I want a trial. But the settlement conference will be non-binding and will take place before Magistrate Judge Cole whom I had the misfortune of insulting a few months back.

The trial is a discussion for another day, but I feel that this has been a silly and bogus case from day one. And when Jeff Becker, Doreen Schweitzer’s lawyer who works for Swanson Martin & Bell, tossed the casino gambling report on the conference table last Thursday afternoon at the end of his question period about 12:30pm showing economist Stan Smith that his assumptions that went into his model of the value of the loss of enjoyment of life for Dan C. were wrong, the whole case essentially crumbled. Dan told Smith’s firm that he is so depressed that he does not gamble anymore or as much as he used to, but that is not what the casino records say and I told this to Judge St. Eve today.

Outside of hedonic damages, we basically have a “he said, she said” and “she said, he said” case. We have Doreen Schweitzer and her ex-husband Steve Schweitzer saying that Dan did tell her that say he would ____________ the guy from Merrill. I am not even coming close to the exact wording so I am not repeating the supposed defamation. On the other side, we have Dan C. denying having said that and his long time assistant with whom he admitted that he had had an affair years ago going along with the denial.

So, assuming that there is defamation, what are the damages and that is where the hedonic damages argument comes in. Again, not loss of wages or potential income, but loss of enjoyment of life which Stan Smith ascribed a 10% to 40% drop to Dan C.

Part of that 10% to 40% is the gambling. So, what part of the loss of enjoyment is knocked out if Dan’s gambling is no longer an issue? I don’t know but I hold Chris Gallinari, Dan’s attorney who works for the Bellows Law firm, accountable for his poor management of the case. Gallinari should have been more forthcoming about where his client really stands. When it came to the report that Stan Smith produced, Gallinari did nothing to vet what Dan C. told Smith’s people.

We have been going through the motions with many depositions for months now and no reaction from Gallinari on how their case has been shattered. Let’s see, there was the deposition of Dan C., Judy Myers, Doreen Schweitzer, David Kuhn who was a customer of Dan’s at that “we shall not name them” brokerage firm and who is dating Dan’s daughter; Ron May, Steve Schweitzer, Terry Howerton who stuck his nose into a case he had nothing to do with and lived to regret it when I deposed him — I assure you, they won’t call him to the stand in a trial; and Stan Smith, the economist who has built a business around economic and hedonic damages. Am I forgetting someone? I attended every deposition in person except for the deposition of Steve Schweitzer which I listened to on the phone from my dialysis center. This has been a lot of work and rigmarole. On top of that, I have gone to four or five status update hearings in front of Judge St. Eve and two in front of Magistrate Judge Cole. I missed two of them, one due to the snow in February and one due to the fact that they had mistakenly scheduled it for a Tuesday or Thursday which conflicted with my dialysis.

That is eight depositions and as an example, it will cost me $955 to get the Howerton deposition transcribed. I am trying to raise that money.

Let’s assume that each lawyer is charging $300 an hour and let’s assume that each deposition averaged six hours of time for each lawyer. Some depositions went eight hours, a few went two or three. My estimate is that we are talking about $6K per deposition for the cost of the lawyers and the court reporter, the transcriptions, and the depositions. That is $50K for depositions alone. And then add in the hours of work outside the depositions. A good ball park figure there might be $20K per lawyer so we are talking somewhere between $80K and $90K so far and don’t forget that Stan Smith was paid for the deposition and $3,665 for his report.

All that because of one sentence, yes, one sentence in The May Report!

Perish the thought. We are in Alice in Wonderland. Is this real?

The robes, the whole court ritual and the deposition rituals, the whole thing is a charade. It is a secular church where the judges are the high priests. But it is an honored part of our democratic system. Would you really want to do away with it?

I respect Judge St. Eve, but let’s be honest. She should have thrown this case out months ago.

The problem with lawsuits is that you get caught in the wheels of justice and the schedule is set.

Now let me back peddle a bit.

Friday the report went out and I was going to send the Briefly noted that went on and on Saturday.

But life has a funny way of getting in the way.

From Thursday at noon to Saturday at 10am I had been trying to cut down on my fluid intake and was successful in doing so. My starting weight was even lower than my ending weight from the previous session and that is quite unusual.

My blood pressure dropped quite a bit during that dialysis session. And I left there at 3:45pm. I have been first shift starting at 6am (everyone else comes at 5am) but the last three weeks I have traded with Miss Rivera for second shift on Saturday at her request. She wants to come first shift on Saturday.

I went to Rice Bistro on Lincoln Ave., a Thai Restaurant to have lunch and on the way there, I returned calls and one of them was to Dsquared and he joined me for lunch. I had been headed to Golden Apple but Dsquared hates that place and wanted to go across the street to the Thai place.

When I got to the restaurant at 4pm, the sign on the door read that they open at 4pm, but I was soon tired out standing there and then banging on the door. About ten minutes later and by this time I was really wiped out, a guy named Joe, who said he was the owner came out and opened the door. He told me that they open at 4:30pm and that the door sign is wrong. I told him to get a new sign on the door!

Anyway, I also told him “No tip” in my usual verkempt Ron May way.

Then he apologized again since he had no server and was doing everything himself. BTW, Dsquared said that this place got good comments on Yelp.

No matter. I ordered the crab rangoon and the Pad Thai.

I had those two dishes and they were good. The portion of the Pad Thai was large and I was still hungry so I ordered steamed dumplings.

But something was wrong. I felt weak and I sensed that I needed some more salt in my system. I had not eaten much all day. And I had taken an insulin shot before going to dialysis. Dsquared told me later that I seemed to be in danger of keeling over for about ten minutes before my reaction.

That reaction was severely perspiring, spritzing as they say in Yiddish, big time. And feeling very weak and light headed.

No blurry vision, but light headed big time. And always on the verge of falling over.

Just before the spritzing happened, I had ordered Wanton soup so that I could get some salt in my system which might help raise blood pressure. I got the soup and started eating it.

I told Dsquared to get me an ice pack to put on my forehead. The sweat kept coming. Joe the owner also helped out.

Meanwhile some customers were starting to come in and Joe directed them to the outdoor patio. I was told later by Dsquared that this was because of me.

At this point it is about 5:10pm and I told Dsquared to ask Joe to call an ambulance. They did and I was taken by fire department ambulance to Illinois Masonic and the ER. I am trying to think about how many times I have been transported by ambulance. Three times now by the Fire Department ambulance and once by a private ambulance but that goes back to July 2001. The ER guys lifted me on their chair into the ambulance. Dsquared did not go with us but he told me later that he did give Joe a $5 tip (probably the first time that has happened ) and apologized for my behavior. My behavior! Does he think I was just faking this? Julia tells me that I am a “60% faker.” If by that she means that I could do a few more things than I do now, she is right and that theory got tested Wednesday morning when I made it downtown without Carlos but it was not easy.

In the ER, they gave me an IV and started to give me fluid. My pressure was probably low and it could have also been low blood sugar that started the problem.

I talked to Dr. Cindy Chan (or Chen?) and Sarah and Kara, two of the nurses there. It was Sarah Esposito I think. Then they gave me my own ER room and Suzette Chevere who has a real life story to tell for a woman who is 43 years old. She has a 14 year old daughter who just started at Lane Tech and a nine year old son. Her daughter is already up to all the teenage tricks and she has no compunction about lying right to her face. I told her about Anna and how I know well what deceptive practices these teens are up to. But Suzette has a way to keep up with and even one step ahead of her daughter. There is some kind of software that allows you to track everything your kids do. Suzette told me she has to be careful not to blow her cover so she just skirts around things but her daughter is still puzzled about how mom knew that.

Suzette has endured a lot. She’s quite attractive and men hit on her all the time but she is not interested in young men. Her husband of 17 years died two years ago of a number of problems including bi-polar disorder and alcoholism. He was Mexican, and she is Puerto Rican. Suzette does not want young men because she is at the point with two kids and one teenage daughter who is already getting into trouble with a capital T.

My troponin levels www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/troponin/test.html
were elevated and that does happen to dialysis patients but they decided to keep me in the hospital over night with a heart monitor to make sure that there was no problem.

So, about 8pm they moved me to the 8th floor and to a double bed room where I was the only patient. Since I have been tagged years ago with MRSA, they keep me in “isolation.”

On the floor my nurses included: Jasmine K. who had me last time in March 2011. Jasmine is from India, is Catholic from Keralam en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ke in southwest India. Jasmine graduated from DePaul’s nursing program. What?! Yes, DePaul has a nursing program. When Jasmine graduated a few years ago, she was one of 25 graduating students. Now she tells me there are about 50. There is another person of Indian descent at Masonic who comes from the same state in India as Jasmine does. Jasmine has such a lovely smile.

Emily H. has a nursing degree from the University of Michigan and tells me that the three most popular majors among her friends were psych because it leads to lots of other things like law school or med school and another popular major is organizational studies and a third one is business. Emily is from Bloomfield Hills and I knew right away that she was Jewish. I told her without even asking if she was that she was one of the few Jewish nurses I’ve had and she smiled.

Look, I’m sure Tom Bennett can spot an Irishman and I can spot a Jew. It comes with the territory. Mira Bilinska entered the lunch room at Whitney Young a few years ago (actually seven years ago) when her daughter Anna Bilinska entered their junior high program and ran, literally ran, across the room to a couple and their daughter. Mira had never met them. Mira had never talked to them. But somehow Mira knew that they were Polish and indeed they were.

Jennifer Knight did not have me for her shift but she helped out in the room. She is blonde with bangs and had been in advertising at Draft but was laid off.

They had to fix the EKG machine and it did not work the first two times. Jasmine kept her cool through it all. Then an older Filipino nurse came in and fixed it.

The Filipino nurses know their stuff.

The next morning, Sunday, I was feeling fine and was ready to go home. My new primary doctor, now that Dr. Anthony Pick and Dr. Robert Sobel have kicked me out for being on Medicare (since I’m a dialysis patient), Dr. Dominic Gaziano, came by. He had ten patients in the hospital that day and was doing rounds on Sunday. By contrast, while the Sobel/Pick gang used to round every day seven days a week (in 2003-2005 and 2006), they cut back on it in more recent years. They used their more junior docs to do the work but Gaziano is not doing that from what I can see.

So, Gaziano said I could go home and I was out of there in ten minutes, right?

Wrong. All the docs assigned to me had to come by first and sign off on my discharge.

One of them was Surendir (spelling?) Kumar, the cardiologist. This time he was not doing hit and run as he did when I was there in March. He actually spent about 12 minutes with me. He told me that Kumar stands for something with the K and something with the U and then he said the M is for majestic and the A is for ace and the R is for royal. His first initial S is for Supreme. He dresses well and likes his title,of Doctor.

They have a lot of foreign trained residents at Masonic. One guy was from Nepal and has climbed the second highest mountain. You have to go through breathing training for that, he told me. Another guy was from the DR so I called Dr. DR.

I just heard on Phil Ponce that there is an app providing the most green path for GPS, the most fuel efficient route. Developed down in Champaign-Urbana. Wednesday night, 7:35pm, the 25th.

“Try again, fail again. Fail better,” a quote from Samuel Beckett. Failure is a friend. Babe Ruth said that every strike gets him closer to the next home run. From Tavis Smiley’s interesting interview with Phil Ponce Wednesday night.

Where was I? OK, they did let me out at about 1:30pm Sunday and Jeff Meredith had come to meet me at the hospital. He was in Chicagoland for the weekend and he had made the trek from Arlington Heights to the city. We had planned to meet about three weeks ago. Jeff is doing well these days. He is a conference coordinator for Aviation Week. Jeff is now making about $80K a year including commissions. He works for the event side of Aviation Week which is a not commonly known fact about many publications be they The Economist or Forbes. He has put on at least twenty pounds and he’s 33 or 34 now.

I had called Darcy earlier in the morning and told her about Jeff coming into town. We set up a surprise meeting. I called Darcy as we were headed down to the Rush Street area. I suggested to Jeff that we go to Dublin’s and sit outside since it was such a beautiful day.

That was also close to where Darcy lives.

In the cab on the way to Dublin’s (btw, Jeff insisted that we stop at my apartment and that I put on some long pants and a shirt instead of my shorts and a t-shirt), I kept calling Darcy but I always dial the wrong number for her.

Jeff took his Palm and tried to get it charged by hooking it up in the men’s room but the restaurant found it and brought it out to him since they would not allow that.

As you know, I talk to everyone and that is how I get information. The two guys who were sitting at the table just north of us, well, one of them does home valuations for banks on foreclosed houses.

Jon Bloomquist (jonbreo@gmail.com) told me that 90% of the properties sell at auction if they don’t sell on the open market for 130+ days. He mentioned two sites online, www.mylandhome.com (restricted access site) and www.amsi.com.

I called Dean DeLisle again to find out if he agrees with Bloomquist’s analysis. Dean said that many homes have not sold for a year and a half or more. Dean said that his firm has talked to 300 bank groups and that the banks have to do a delicate balancing act with respect to how many homes to put on the auction block vs. how many they hold back in stock. They don’t want to flood the market with foreclosed homes.

Darcy and Jeff talked over old times. Darcy gave $250 to Rahm’s campaign and said that he does not say “thank you” very well. She got an email, she said. Hey Darcy, Rahm is saving trees.

They talked about how they had uncovered in 2002 the fact that in 2000 Josh Metnick (then Schneider) had given $25K to the Al Gore campaign and Josh was not happy that they printed that. By the same token, before McCain Feingold, George Garrick had given a lot of “soft money” contributions. But I never heard a dollar figure.

Darcy also said that Christine Lagarde who is being considered for the post of head of the IMF used to run Baker McKenzie here in Chicago. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Lagarde

www.nytimes.com/1999/10/09/business/her-partners-can-call-her-ms-chairman-baker-mckenzie-takes-small-step-for-law.html

The other thing I picked up was that at UIC there is a huge amount of politics and Darcy did not give details but the Nancy Sullivan story does not surprise her. Darcy was not aware that the three senior people who left, Colin James, Dr. Jay, and Connie Cleary, were all there when Nancy got there. She also kvetched about my publishing anonymous emails for the umteenth time. Look, anonymous is only bad when you don’t agree with it.

Then I had a fascinating conversation with a guy named Chris at the Up Down, a good place to hang out for interesting conversations. Chris told me the history of Poland in about ten minutes. The king in 973 AD who brought the tribes to Catholicism. Another king in 1300 or so, Vlasov Hubey was a strong king and he ruled for 15 years or so. The Battle of 1410, Grunwald, and the area of Poland known as Pomerania near the Baltic Sea. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomerania

Fast forward to today. Chris says that Poland has a 6% growth rate in GDP and Poland was 70% larger after WWI than it is now. The Ukraine, Latvia and Belarus have large Polish speaking populations and they want their own identity, such as their own schools but the governments of those countries won’t give it to them. The Polish government continues to raise the issue, he said.

Wroclaw, Statin, (which is a Baltic port) and Konigsberg were all German and Russian cities that became Polish. Do I have that right?

I came home and sat on the bench across the street.

Amy works in a vet’s office. She went to Michigan State and studied fashion. Now she wishes that she had studied to be a vet. But that would run another $100K she said. I think more.

The top five breeds of dog they see is #1 Golden Retriever, #2 black and yellow labs, #3 beagle, #4 poodle and #5 shih tzu. The number one problem for dogs is diarrhea. For cats the number one problem is urinating outside the litter box which can also be treated with medication since it is tied to urinary tract infections known as UTIs. Julia told me that this shows how bad the food is that people feed their animals.

The dog/cat ownership ratio is 50:50 at her office.

Amy’s boyfriend works at The GAP. It is 60% women, 40% men. The most popular item is t-shirts followed by khakis. Business is flat but steady for 2010 and 2011.

Good topic for discussion. A new mother walked by carrying her newborn baby (a few months I would estimate) and I overheard her on the phone talking about how she read in a book that the baby should be put to bed between 6pm and 8pm. Gee, is that how new mothers learn how to do things these days?

Now, get this. David Carman referred Lori Brown, a commercial real estate person to me. We talked for some time and I told her to call Fred Hoch, David Miller, Kevin Willer, hey that rhymes, and TiE-Midwest. Interesting. Carman has banned me and I have been banned by all four of the other organizations. Except now that Willer is there maybe that will change.

Lori is looking to break into the tech real estate world more than she has been thus far. Her main client is Accretive Health, a public firm that is located at 401 N. Michigan and she is in the same building. Accretive has a lease in that building going through 2020 and Lori plans to stay in that building too. So, if you see her out and about, say “Hi” from me.

On Monday the 23rd, Stan Smith called me and I just got his book on Economic/Hedonic Damages today, Wednesday, May 25th. It is a practice handbook for defense and plaintiffs’ lawyers.

All the above was written on Wednesday and Thursday.
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This next thing on Stan Smith was written Monday, the 23rd.

Now I am becoming a fan of the economist Stan V. Smith.

He called me today at 1:04pm (Monday the 23rd of May) and we talked more than a half hour.

The guy has a great — and typical of economists — dry and wicked sense of humor. You really have to in his business.

Among many other things such as daisy chain organ donations, we discussed the Rachel Barton case in which she was awarded $30MM and at one point in the conversation, just to save time, Stan referred to that as “a leg-off case.” Rachel’s lawyer was demanding $600MM and the jury settled for $30MM. Stan was representing the defense in that case, I believe. Rachel, if someone sends this to you, I apologize. I have enjoyed your playing for many years and listen to it often on WFMT.

I did ask Stan if he thought that Rachel would have been such a great violinist if the leg accident had not happened. His view is that the accident certainly helped her to become better known and any publicity like that could be good for her career, but what a price to pay!

Stan’s mother is Jewish and her family is from Poland and surrounding areas while his dad was Bohemian and he had some family in Bavaria, so Stan said that he had “relatives on both sides of the fence at Dachau.”

In all seriousness, he did present to me a strong case for the idea underlying hedonic damages. If we could examine a person’s DNA and had a life expectancy table, we could just plug in the numbers. His argument is that jury verdicts that range so widely in the amounts awarded are far from an efficient market. If we are striving for efficiency and consistency so that a poor person and a rich person can be treated the same, and the same leveling can apply to other circumstances, hedonic damages are a kind of dummy variable that can even things out. The words “dummy variable” are mine, not Stan’s. But Stan did say that juries are much better when they are better educated (not in their background but in the trial itself) and informed.

The Supreme Court of Nevada, New Mexico and Mississippi has embraced or at least allowed hedonic damages to come into play but Stan said that in the case of Nevada, it is not tied to gambling based on what he knows.

It turns out that several people sent Stan a copy of what I wrote: one lawyer, Dean DeLisle, and Stan said that Rich Lyons is a good friend of his. What that proves is that some people do read this report.
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END OF PART I