Test Track Milan Open for Submissions

I realize that I’ve been silent for the last couple of weeks. Between Kilimanjaro and the kids’ Spring Breaks it has been a very busy time for me. I apologize for the lack of communication. Please don’t take it as a sign that little is happening from our camp.

My team has been hard at work preparing for T.R.A.F.F.I.C. Milan. It’s going to be a great show where we will once again be focused on ccTLDs. Over the next weeks you’ll hear a glut of announcements from us.

In the meantime, Test Track is now open for submissions. It’s our forum for entrepreneurs to get funding from qualified investors. The entire press release is below.

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T.R.A.F.F.I.C. is looking for Test Track submissions for their upcoming show in Milan.

Atlanta, Georgia USA - March 10, 2010 -Traffic Milan is looking for Test Track submissions for their first 2010  European show, which will be held on April 27th-29th 2010 in Milan, Italy.  Test Track, sponsored by .CO Internet SAS, is one of Targeted Traffic’s biggest and most anticipated events at the conference.  Applications to pitch your business to a group of qualified angel investors can be made at www.targetedtraffic.com/test-track.php.  If you have an early stage company with a great domain, great idea, or both, and you are looking for investors to help you reach the next level, take the time to fill out the above mentioned form.  If selected, you will have the chance to pitch to a group of angels that are looking for people just like you.

Rick Latona Auctions is looking for quality submissions for Traffic Milan:

The auction for domain names at Traffic Milan, run by Rick Latona Auctions, is looking for premium domain submissions.  If you have considered selling one or more domains at Traffic Milan, now is the time to submit them for consideration before all of the slots fill up.  Submissions can be made atwww.ricklatona.com/auctions/submission-form.

Upcoming deadlines for Registration at Traffic Milan and the Milan Marriott:

There are only six days left to get the Early Bird price for Traffic Milan, which is EUR 449, or about 680 USD.  Also, there are only two weeks left for the discounted hotel reservations at the Marriott Milan.  Sign up now at www.targetedtraffic.com to obtain your ticket and book your rooms to TRAFFIC Milan.

About Targeted Traffic

Targeted Traffic (http://www.targetedtraffic.com) is the domain industry’s premier domain conference with eighteen shows on three continents.  Targeted Traffic is the largest and most successful domain conference in the world! The purpose of Targeted Traffic is to bring domain owners and aggressive, forward-thinking sponsors together along with investors, so that each can maximize their effort. Collectively, the core attendees control over 20 million domain names and over 50 million DAILY unique visitors.

About Rick Latona Auctions:

Rick Latona Auctions is an industry leader in the brokerage of domains and domain auctions.  This industry has exceeded 544,000,000 US Dollars in public sales1 representing over 72,000 individual domains sold since October 2003.  Auctions attract branding managers and executives looking to buy domains to increase their company’s market share against their competitors.  Registered bidders from a live audience and those watching the live online video and audio broadcast compete with one another buying domain names.  Rick Latona Auctions is proud to be the exclusive auction company for all six Targeted Traffic Conferences in 2010.  Rick Latona Auctions also can assist you by acting as your domain name broker for a domain purchase or sale.  For additional information, please visit www.RickLatona.com/auctions.

Atlanta Domainers - Party at my office Thursday the 25th of this month

If you are in the Atlanta area, we are throwing a party at our office on Thursday the 25th of February and we would love for you to come. In fact, if you aren’t in the Atlanta area and want to come, you are welcome too!

The food and drinks are on us of course.

There’s no special occassion and this isn’t for any particular reason. We just want to hang out with you and show you our digs.

Please let us know if you can make it so we can build our guest list and know how much food and booze to buy.

David Castello to perform on TRAFFIC’s opening night cocktail party

David Castello, noted member of CCIN and the Castello brothers is going to rock out with his com out at the Hard Rock during T.R.A.F.F.I.C.’s opening night cocktail event during the Las Vegas show.

Many of you have heard him talk about domains but now is your chance to listen and watch him perform.

In celebration of three weeks without smoking a single cigarette - KickTheHabit.com is now live

I haven’t launched a business to consumer ecommerce site in seven years. Smoking cigarettes though, that I’ve been doing for 20+ years. Jesus I’m getting old.

Well, in celebration of three weeks without a cancer stick I’m proud to announce eFags.com

This site will be a labor of love. It doesn’t have much content now but a great deal will be added in the coming weeks. Working on the site has helped me kick the habit. I’ve found myself spending time reading books like Quitting Smoking for Dummies to research and get ideas. I’m here to tell you that although I am selling electronic cigarettes, the real perfect way to quit an addiction is to start a business about it!

Again, please don’t hold the limited functionality of the site against me. I just wanted to get it “kicked” out the door and live for now. More products and content are soon to come.

Colonel Edward Grayson

Seventeen years ago when I was just a young punk of 18 years I considered joining the Marine Corps. I had told my grandfather, Colonel Edward Grayson that I wasn’t worried about getting into any wars. “Who did we have to worry about, the Chinese?”

The Korean War veteran and member of the Chosin Few looked at me and said, “you don’t want to fight the Chinese. They keep coming”. “They keep coming”, he said. I imagined then, as I do now, a Chinese body wave attack, 150,000 strong rushing at him and his 30,000 American counter-parts bunkered down in the frozen northern, reservoir of North Korea. It’s a vision I have thought of many times over the years with increasing admiration of what this great man has endured in his life. More and more Chinese entered the battle shortly after and completely encircled the American Army and Marine units in the area. My grandfather was one of the 12,000 Americans that made it back across enemy lines to safety.

Born in Mississippi in 1922 and raised in that state by a Baptist minister, during the great depression, his childhood was anything but the luxury we see in today’s world. At 19 he enlisted in the Marine Corps. He served in every enlisted rank from private to master sergeant. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1952 and was promoted to colonel in 1973.

To put things in perspective, World War II started for the United States in 1941 or the same year he enlisted in the corps.  By the time he was finished serving our country we had already finished the Vietnam War 35 years later. It’s my belief that his career covered a span of the most influential years of our country’s history.

When he was 20 years old he was taking a rest on a south pacific island after a beach landing aboard a Higgins personnel transport vehicle. After a lieutenant yelled at him and told him to put his helmet back on; a Japanese sniper shot him right in the head. The bullet entered the chamber of the helmet, spun around inside but did not exit the inside of the helmet and did not enter his skull. He survived that too.

This man was struck not once, not twice but three times by a bolt of lightning. Have you ever heard of such things?

Finally, in the end, it was father time that proved to be the only force capable of sending him to the afterlife.

What I would like my children to know is that their great-Grandfather was one of the greatest of the greatest generation. He was not only brave but hard-working, courteous, thoughtful at all times and just a good person overall.

My admiration for him is stronger than ever and I will miss him.

Pig butt anyone?

You have to admire a country with such a passion for ham, or Jamón to be correct in Spanish.

Here in Madrid you can really splurge on the tasty asses of swine.

I personally prefer the jamón ibérico which is taken from Black Ibérian pig which eats only acorns while roaming oak forests between Spain and Portugal. It’s a romantic thing to think of them hobbling around eating nuts waiting to be slaughtered. It’s romantic because in the States it’s usually the abused animals that taste the best like baby calves that hang in the air on ropes and are never allowed to touch the ground for fear of their meat becoming less tender.

A small plate of jamón ibérico will set you back about 20 Euros or more than 30 dollars U.S. but it is worth every Euro cent.

The olives here are tasty as well but they aren’t nearly as funny to write about.

On the subject of meat, for the domainers who are reading this, it’s interesting to note that cubesteak.com does over 1 dollar a day for me on AdSense. That name shouldn’t do so well. Clearly it is because the name has a mini-site on it and isn’t parked. If you’d like me to help you put mini-sites up on your names and you are willing to pay my team for their time, drop me a note with the names you’d like done and we’ll get back to you.

Decisions, decisions…

I often get questions about the Lincoln in the header of this website. That car, isn’t actually mine. I told my designer I had an old convertible Continental so he just looked one up on the net. Being that he lives in the Philippines, it wasn’t exactly easy for him to come over and take a gander at the real thing.

What I own is a 1965 Lincoln Continental convertible. It is a frame off restoration done by Mobsteel Customs out of Detroit.

I bought the car off of Albert Haynesworth. He’s the Tennessee Titan football player that stepped on that guy’s face a couple of years ago. If you pay attention to such things… It was a big deal at the time for Sportscenter fans.

These pictures you are looking at were taken from Mobsteel’s website. The car for the most part still looks the same but the roof isn’t working and one of the door handles fell off. Thus, it is at a specialists shop at the moment.

Some of you might recognize this car. It’s the same make, model and year as the ride from the opening sequence of HBO’s hit T.V. series Entourage. The big difference is that their ‘65 Lincoln had the original wheels, hub caps, etc.

Which do you think is better? Now that I have it at that shop, I’m trying to decide if I want to replace the Mobsteel logos with Continental logos and put the original wheels back on the car.

What would you do?

How to become a scratch golfer

I’m a bad golfer. Ok, I’m a terrible golfer. What sucks is that I have tried so hard. I take the lessons, I get out and play, but I still suck.

So what’s a guy to do? Well, I suppose I’m the kind of guy that takes things to the extreme.

This past weekend I went looking for a golf cottage. My goal was nothing less than a house with a driving range in the backyard. Well, I found one. It’s a modest home with four master bedrooms, a game room, a movie theater, etc. Yes, I’m being sarcastic.

Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t committed to this house. The cost is enough to make a grown man cry. Damn, I sure want it though.

Did I mention it comes with memberships to 6 courses, a marina on a large lake, the clubhouse and it is only 90 minutes from my home in Buckhead?

Maybe if I do buy it my daughters will grow up to be billionaire lady golfers. That could justify the price!

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Something is Wrong with WordPress

Anyone who has tried to post something on this site or fill out one of my contact forms has either received an error or been told that everything was fine, only for nothing to happen.

We’ve recently upgraded to the newest version of Word Press so that might be the problem. Either way, I’ll post as soon as the problems have been resolved.

In the meantime, you can email directly at rick AT ricklatona.com if you need anything.

Also, the newsletter subscription is still working, if you haven’t signed up yet I suggest you do!

I think I got carried away in my home office.

The Dell salesman had to tell me that I could hook up four monitors if I wanted to. He just HAD to tell me that. Actually, I can push a button on my universal remote to push whatever is on my fourth moniter to the LCD TV at the other end of the office so I guess technically, it would be five monitors.

Don’t get me wrong, though. It’s great. I’m not having any problems finding things to cover up the pixels with. Email on one, an inventory spreadsheet on another (minimized for the purpose of this post), browers on the third and IM messages on the fourth. No problem. I do feel more productive.

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