Fort Worth Chamber's Newz-E-Letter: April 23, 2008

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For Members, About Members	April 23, 2008
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PICTURE OF THE WEEK!

The Spectacle--Vision FW's Annual Celebration turned out to to be just that...a spectacle. A live band at River Ranch with food, drinks, and a photo booth. What more do you need? Too see pics of this or other events check out the Vision FW photo gallery at VisionFW.com.

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Dressed for success: When Mr. B was filming those Crowne Plaza Colonial Invitational tournament ads with Phil Mickelson, Phil put his arm around B’s shoulder and said, “Have you heard about all the freebie perks we get for playing?” Absolutely, Phil, and because our bud, tournament manager Dennis Roberson, keeps us well stocked, we have four Colonial shirt and cap combos to wear to this year’s tourney, May 19-25.

These girls can party: The second best two minutes in life happen the first Saturday in May when the three-year-old horses run 1 ¼ miles in the Kentucky Derby. Mr. B never has been, but it’s close enough to bluegrass heaven when you celebrate the day at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie. You can have a shot at the winner’s circle atmosphere by winning these two tickets to the Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains, Inc. fundraiser -- Derby Day at Lone Star Park May 3. Enjoy the simulcast of the race, mint juleps, hand-rolled cigars, a lavish buffet, open bar and complimentary valet parking.

Here’s a quarter: Call Someone Who Cares…It’s Travis Tritt night at Billy Bob’s Texas April 26 and Princess Pam has five pairs of tickets for those of you who want to be a Member of his Country Club.

Someone does care: Today is Administrative Assistant's Day, and you probably forgot your assistant. So wouldn’t it be a fantastic love-fest to win this prize and “surprise” your assistant when he/she isn’t expecting it and is angry at you because you forgot? Glenda Diaz of Edible Arrangements on Hulen and in Arlington will make it a special gift from you to your office MVP with a Delicious Daisy, an arrangement of strawberries, pineapple, honeydew, cantaloupe and grapes.

Fishin’ for Bass: Tickets for the free Jack Ingram concert sponsored by Chesapeake Energy during Bass Performance Hall’s 10th anniversary festival are gone, but you could try to get in if there are no shows. Just line up at the box office. If you want a sure thing, enter to win two tickets to hear incomparable contemporary gospel singer Kirk Franklin of Arlington Sunday May 4 at 2 p.m. A little church, a little southern brunch and some Kirk Franklin would be heavenly.

May Day: Chesapeake is sorry if you missed out on Jack Ingram, so maybe you could attend Mayfest courtesy of Julie Wilson and landman friends. Carrie Capel with the Mayfest committee says Chesapeake has three family four packs and a three pack to give away for the arts and food fiesta at Trinity Park.

Pimple power: Business is so good in zit-ville for acclaimed dermatological company Galderma that it needs more space. A second building is planned for its north Fort Worth campus.

50 in 2009: Komatsu Architecture will celebrate 50 years in Fort Worth next year. Founder Albert Komatsu still is involved, though son Karl runs the company today.

Que sera…internationally: Rachel Malone, a financial advisor with Merrill Lynch, says French is her first language, which has helped her get clients. Her mom was born in France; she was born in Ohio, married Irish and was divorced American-style.

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Summer fun: Mike Roundtree of Roundtree Advertising was a caricature artist at Six Flags Over Texas one spring/summer during the late '70s. These were fast-stroke, one-minute caricatures, supervised by someone named Balloon Man. Seems speed was a prerequisite of the job, and Mike was speedily out of there. "One day, when the Balloon Man was standing nearby, I had a customer and no line so I took a little longer to show my boss how I can gather interest," Mike says. "A crowd started to gather while Balloon Man stared at his watch. When I was done with that customer, he approached me and told me I took 1 minute and 45 seconds. He was clearly upset. Since I was doing this for fun and that was not a fun moment, I handed him my marker and my badge and showed him the 10 people in line waiting for their caricature. I walked slowly away from that job that paid $0.50 a drawing."

Walk, don’t run: It’s going to be a real (traffic) crawl in years to come if Camp Bowie retail keeps getting better. Until then, speed around April 24-26 to more than 38 participating stores for the 4th Annual Camp Bowie Crawl. Lots of sales, discounts and incentives to buy, buy, buy. Money raised goes to Camp Bowie District, Inc. to keep the boulevard B-yoo-tee-full.

Frogs to Princes: The collapse of the pillar at the remodel of the TCU football stadium has a happy ending. It enabled contractor HKS Inc. to enlarge the Plaza area out to the field, enabling for a casual area to entertain and watch the Frogs. HKS says it should be completed about Aug. 1.
Arrrggghhh: Also, received a groaner from Abel Saldana at HKS, Inc. after a recent Going Green mention: What’s green and sings? Elvis Parsley.

Retail marketing: In less than a year, the database for Perry Tong’s Pop’s Safari Room weekly e-newsletter has grown from 350 to 900 names. Fixed marketing cost and huge increase in business, he says. Maybe it’s good for your business, too.

Copy this: It’s documented now -- Imagetek Office Systems of Arlington has been acquired by Nina Knight and private investors. If you scan your memory, Knight started Denitech in Fort Worth, too.

I’m the boss! Debbie Jansen has started DJ’s Print & Promo, a full-service broker of printing and promotional products. “I do not have to answer to anyone but my customers!” she said.

Fueled by success: The Barney Holland Oil Co. is 80 this year, which isn’t why Barney Jr. is bald. The hair loss must be from the volatile gasoline market. The company is one of the oldest and largest privately-held businesses in Fort Worth and is a third-generation family operation. It survived by changing to a fleet card marketing company providing critical management information and measurable savings. Customers include the Fort Worth Police Department, City of Arlington, the T and Fort Worth ISD.

Lifetime of learning: 3M – Mayor Mike Moncrief – shares two important lessons he has learned:

It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t care who gets the credit.
It’s amazing what you can do when you surround yourself with great people.

Despite those truths self evident, he says he still has the same troubles you do getting appointments with doctors.

Lost…& found? The Tarrant Council on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse is looking to honor its founding members at its 50th anniversary celebration, Stars in Recovery, June 3. Phone home: Joe Shannon, Paul Allison, M.F. Williams, M.D., Phil H. Edwards, George Johnson and Harlon Wright.

Lost, then found: After a seven-year sabbatical, Tim Carter and Anne Holland are together again, this time at OmniAmerican Bank. Anne just signed on as Senior Vice President-The Private Bank. They had worked together at JPMorgan Chase.

Lost: The Carter Burgess name should be gone around June. Will change name to new parent company, Jacobs. No word on the name for the building downtown.
No time off: So what does High School Sports magazine publish during slow summer months for high schools? Recaps of baseball, softball and golf, some seven-on-seven football news, football, volleyball and tennis previews and bands. Interestingly, co-owner Kevin Erickson says September issue is the slowest month.

Seriously? Free iPods for everyone who goes to the ribbon cutting at Best Buy, 9494 N. Freeway, this week. OK, it’s a joke; it’s still April. Ribbon cutting and other photos from Chamber events can be viewed at the website.

Never missed a beat: Newz-E-Letter loyalist Kristen Escovedo of Eagle Mountain ISD didn’t let childbirth get in the way of reading her April 9 issue. “Just wanted to let you know that Richie and I gave birth to our second child April 5. Well, I gave birth; Richie provided the snacks and entertainment. Ryan Gregory Escovedo arrived five weeks early and was 5 pounds one ounce.” Uncle Greg Escovedo worked part-time as a temp for the Barnett Shale EXPO.

Congrats: Accuconference won the Member’s Choice Award for conferencing from the national Telecom Association.