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Super Bowl Ads waiting for the halftime show

Posted in Celebrity, Editorial, Entertainment, Humor, Internet, Internet Video, Media, National, News, Rants and Raves, Shopping, Sports, Super Bowl, Television on January 29th, 2008

Super Sunday is approaching and this year the buzz is all about the Super Bowl advertising. Last year I did a post on Super Bowl facts before the big football game. This year I want to look at the advertisement and the big buzz of what the ads will be like. There are a few super bowl ads sneak previews out there and here I have posted some of the available videos giving us a pre game look at what halftime will bring in 2008. 2.7 million dollars in advertising has been spent by big companies to get to the super bowl this year and while none of the ads are made to make you drop what you are doing to run out and but their product, it is more about brand recognition.

Of course one of the biggest advertiser to hit this mark would be Budweiser. Even if you do not drink beer, you know the name from the super bowl ads. Therefore, if you ever decided to have a beer, what do you think you might ask for? I think you might go for a Bud or bud light. Brand recognition is definitely what Bob Parsons, CEO of Go daddy is shooting for his his version of super bowl advertising. On Bob’s blog, he generates a great deal of excitement about the ads with his readers long before super Sunday. In the past, Parsons has put the rejected ads out for everyone to see to draw in new traffic. This year the approach is a little more on the it is a secret side of the dial. Bob is only allowing a small pinch of the video to be seen and then promising that all 3 ads will be available to be viewed online on February 3rd. While most super bowl advertising shoots toward humor, Bob Parsons uses sex to gain brand recognition. Indy race car driver Danica Patrick might not be a super model, but the Go daddy super bowl ad “exposure” makes her look like one and the ad as well as the ads from previous super bowls are all on one landing page. But now it is time for a commercial break and a word from some parrots? Watch the super bowl ad below

YouTube Preview Image

Yeah right. Just an example of the ads that we laugh at and talk about for a week after the game. Speaking of talking about the ads, You Tube has set up a page where the ads will be shown again and you can vote for your favorite super bowl ad here. One thing for sure, most people watching the game will get up to go to the bathroom before half time. No one wants to miss those super bowl ads!

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V-Twin Vineyards Wine Company Catering to ‘The Harley Lifestyle’

Posted in Entertainment, Global, News, Press Release, Shopping on July 2nd, 2007

SANTA ROSA, Calif., July 2 /PRNewswire/ — What type of wine do you drink after you park your motorcycle and unzip your leathers? Try V-Twin Zin(R) from V-Twin Vineyards, based in the Sonoma County, CA. Motorcycle enthusiasts — turned winemakers, rolling to success with V-Twin motorcycle themed wines selling nationwide.

“The motorcycle lifestyle is about freedom and enjoying life,” says Scott Del Fava, Brand Manager for V-Twin Vineyards. “Our 2004 V-Twin Zin(R), is very smooth and drinkable — especially with your favorite grilled meat dish. After a long weekend ride — open a bottle while waiting for the grill to heat up and have a glass or two! This wine is good — damn good!”

In the last 20 years, the “outlaw biker” image associated with Harleys has been replaced by a new demographic. Most bikers are now in their 40s and 50s, with steady careers and families. What they share is a love of the finer things in life, and an interest in good food, good times… and of course, good wine.

V-Twin Vineyards also fosters an online community, the “Easy Rider Wine Club,” that allows members to post photos of their bikes, share news and information, rides and events.

“It’s not that bikers have gone soft,” says Scott Del Fava, brand manager of V-Twin Vineyards. “We’re just conspicuous consumers; we like the finer things in life. I don’t think any of us are the bad boys you’d think of when you think of hardcore motorcyclists. V-Twin Vineyards is simply producing another lifestyle product for the upscale motorcycle enthusiast.”

The V-Twin Vineyards team has decades of experience in the wine industry, and the grapes for V-Twin Zin have been carefully selected from prime vineyards in the legendary Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys.

V-Twin Zin is currently available via the company website and thru select distributors. Planned Releases include: River Run Chardonnay(R), Poker Run Cabernet(R), Redwood Run Zinfandel(R), Toy Run Rose(R), Bike Week Merlot(R), — and a special Reserve V-Twin Zin(R) with a flaming skull on the front label. These ain’t no sissy wines! Look for a tasting room in the not-too- distant future, with good wine, a little attitude, and plenty of motorcycle parking out front.

  Visit www.vtwinwines.com for more info on V-Twin Vineyards.

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Super Bowl Facts

Posted in Editorial, Entertainment, Food, Media, National, News, Shopping, Sports, Super Bowl, Television, Upcoming events on February 1st, 2007

With the approach of Super Bowl this weekend, I thought I would post some interesting game stats. These stats are not for the football game, rather they are statistics surrounding the super bowl and how it effects the media.

  • Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts sports merchandise have seen a dramatic rise in retail sales this year.
  • More women are drawn to the Indianapolis Colts
    than the Chicago Bears. Data show that 59% of Indianapolis women are Colts fans,
    vs. 46% of Chicago women who are Bears fans.
  • The 2006 Super Bowl was the highest rated TV show
    of the year, attracting more than 90 million U.S. viewers.
  • The cost for a 30-second TV advertisement reached
    an all-time high in 2006, while traditional advertiser categories continued to
    dominate the broadcast.
  • Super Bowl advertisers in 2006 saw a sharp
    increase in visits to their web sites following the big game.
  • Album sales of the Super Bowl halftime performers
    soared in the week following their appearance in the halftime show.
  • Box office figures continue to plunge on Super
    Bowl Sunday.
  • Sales of soft drinks, beer and chips rise
    significantly before the Super Bowl.

Comparing last year’s Super Bowl food preferences in the two markets that are
home to this year’s teams – Chicago and Indianapolis – there are some noteworthy
similarities and difference between the two cities. Looking at the largest
overall percentage of sales increases, both markets showed strong sales growth
in cocktail franks and processed cheese loaves. However, Chicago area
supermarkets showed strong growth in sales of frozen unbreaded crab,
refrigerated fruit, dip mixes, and dairy dips; while Indianapolis area
supermarkets experienced bumps in the sales of ‘Miracle Whip’ type salad
dressing, frozen hors d’ oeuvres & snacks, brownie mixes, and bratwurst
& knockwurst.

Product Categories — Super Bowl Weeks*
Largest Overall Sales Increase

– Tortilla Chips — $10.2 million
– Light Beer — $9.2 million
– Regular Beer — $8.7 million
– Potato Chips — $7.8 million
– Regular Cola — $7.7 million
– Frozen Pizza — $7.3 million
– All remaining Carb Bev — $5.5 million
– Frzn Poultry 1-Food Entree’s — $5.4 million
– Mexican Sauce — $5.3 million
– Ice Cream — $4.7 million

Product Categories — Super Bowl Weeks*
Largest Overall Percentage Sales Increase

– Cocktail Franks — 118.1%
– Beef Steak-Frozen — 58.4%
– Pork-Frozen — 48.8%
– Dip Mixes — 37.0%
– Processed Cheese Loaves — 36.3%
– Dairy Dip — 36.1%
– Bread Mushrooms-Frozen — 35.6%
– Tabasco/Pepper Sauce — 34.8%
– Canned Dip — 32.2%
– Barbecue Sauces — 31.7%

* Two-weeks ending February 11, 2006
Source ACNielsen; Supermarket sales

A consumer segmentation analysis from the marketing company Spectra revealed
some of the unique characteristics of Super Bowl viewers from Miami,
Indianapolis, and Chicago compared with national professional football fans.
Utilizing Spectra’s BehaviorScape framework, viewer characteristics can be
determined based upon BehaviorStages (which bring to life key household factors
that impact consumer purchasing behavior), and LifeStyles, (which further
differentiate consumers by highlighting affluence and the neighborhood type in
which they live).
For instance, most viewers of professional football across the U.S. typically
watch on the weekend one or more times per month, and tend to come from affluent
neighborhoods from a variety of household types. They span across all
neighborhood types and tend to skew toward couples 35+ without children in the
household as well as singles under 35 with no children. Popular Super Bowl
snacks that skew highly across the average US viewer are bags of nuts, brats,
popcorn, and frozen poultry.
Super Bowl viewers in the host city of Miami watch the game on TV live in
both urban and affluent suburban households across household types.
Indianapolis residents who watched the Super Bowl last year generally come
from rural and downscale suburban neighborhoods. Additionally:
– Indianapolis viewers purchase above average amounts of sausage, buns,
and brats than the average viewer.– Indianapolis viewers are likely to do their grocery shopping (possibly
for Super Bowl snacks) at Wal-Mart, Aldi, or Kroger.

– There is also a very high concentration of Super Bowl viewers who are
likely to shop in smaller accounts such as IGA and Buehler’s Buy Low.

Chicago residents who watched the Super Bowl last year likely live in urban
and affluent suburban households across household types. Additionally:

– Viewers in Chicago tend to purchase more bagged nuts, beer, frozen
poultry and meat than the average viewer.

– Chicago viewers are likely to do their grocery shopping (possibly for
Super Bowl snacks) in Dominick’s, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods.

There is also a very high concentration of Super Bowl viewers who are likely
to shop in smaller accounts such as Wild Oats and Sunset Food Marts.

So by the numbers, it looks like on Super Bowl Sunday Americans prefer to eat tortilla chips, drink light beer but regular soda throw some frozen steaks and chicken on the grill while munching on cocktail franks. It appears that there is a toss up in dipping your tortilla chips on eating prepared nachos. Either way we seemed to have consumed over 10 million dollars in tortilla chips and drink over 17 million dollars worth of beer washing them down.

These facts and statistics were compiled by and found at Nielsen Media Research, please visit their site for complete details.

Source:

http://www.nielsenmedia.com

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Belt Buckle Knife

Posted in Camping, Internet Video, Media, Motorcycles, Parts and Accessories, Shopping on January 28th, 2007
YouTube Preview Image

World’s Fastest Knife! This video is a demonstration of the belt buckle knife performed by Greg Gillespie. The video is really homemade which includes wind noise and barking dogs, but you get the idea of how this knife works.

World’s Fastest Knife Fast and handy. Always right where you need it. These uniquely designed belt buckle knives are held securely in place but come out fast in an emergency. 

This is what one of these belt buckle knife looks like up close. These knives are handcrafted and come in many engraved designs or they can be personalised. So you are asking, where can I get one of these belt buckle knives? click here to learn more.

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Choppers Inc. announces limited retail location store hours in 2007

Posted in Announcements, Brevard County, Celebrity, Chopper Builders, Editorial, Florida, Local, Melbourne, Motorcycles, National, News, Parts and Accessories, Shopping, State on January 9th, 2007

sign on door at choppers inc

There was no big press release in the news papers or on the Internet to tell visitors traveling to the Melbourne, Florida based Choppers Inc of the store closing. On the front door hangs a small printout from the company web site made into a sign. The sign says that Billy Lane’s store, Choppers Inc. will only be open during major motorcycle event and race days and those hours will be announced 30 days prior.

Billy Lane working at Choppers Inc in Melbourne, Florida

While it was announced that Billy Lane was planning to work hard at his Choppers Inc. location preparing motorcycles for the up coming 2007 bike shows, it seems this announcement was low profile. The only way visitors would know the store was not open for business was to visit the news section of the Choppers Inc web site or, as many, visit the retail store location only to find it closed to the public.

Hubless Wheel design created by Billy Lane of Choppers Inc

Billy Lane, is probably most famous in the motorcycle industry for his creation of the hubless wheel design and known to the general public as 3 time biker build-off winner, Monster Garage and owner of Choppers Inc. located in Melbourne, Florida. Billy Lane also holds many patents on custom motorcycle parts that he designed.

Sopping for choppers inc shirts and stuff

While Billy Lane and Choppers Inc motorcycles were well known, it was the Choppers Inc. shirts, hats and posters that people would visit the Melbourne retail location to shop for. Those purchases must now be made online only until the store opens during the next motorcycle event.

Source:

http://www.choppersinc.com

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PS3 Race Game

Posted in Editorial, Entertainment, News, Shopping on November 15th, 2006

(Melbourne, Florida) The Sony® PlayStation 3 (PS3) is due to hit the stores on Friday the 17th.

Popular Sony® Play Station 3 Game

Already, rumors have hit the Internet about the popular video game. Reports of pre-sale prices skyrocketing to over $9,000.00 on eBay and earlier today stories were told of eBay halting the pre sale of the PS3 games.

I did not see this supposed sale of over nine thousand dollars, it was called in to the Philips Phile a local radio talk show on Real Radio 104.1 this afternoon. The rumors of eBay halting the auctions of the presale receipts was just that, a rumor.

 PS3 auction close on eBay for 2200

They (eBay) did make a new set of specific rules for the pre-sale of PS3 games on the eBay auction site where the sales of the game are still hot.

I called the local Wal-Mart here in Melbourne, Florida to see how they were handling the sale of the Sony® PS3. The Wal-Mart electronics department told me that the game would not be available until after midnight on early Friday morning. They also told me that there was already a line waiting. I had heard that people were willing to camp out at the local Wal-Mart and wait in line, so we took a ride over to see the people in line.

Chris Cline waits in line at Wal*Mart for his PS3 

Chris Cline of Melbourne, Florida was 2nd in line at the Wal*Mart where the line already had 10 people waiting. Chris told me that he had been in line since 10 am and came prepared to stay the night outside. Chris is planning on giving his prize to his brother.

Ryan takes his 3rd place in line for PS3 

Ryan Elmusian of Melbourne has been in line since 11:00 am and says he plans on keeping his new Play Station. It looks like the Play Station camp out may become an annual event for Christmas Shoppers.

Update:

I watched in amazement as the sales of the popular PS3 video game went soaring through the roof on eBay the next day. I took screen shots of the closing bids of 2 more auctions that went for top money.

PS3 sold on eBay for $6,000.00!

PS3 sold on eBay for $6,000.00!

and here it is folks, the PlayStation 3 that sold on eBay for Ten Thousand Dollars!

PS3 sold for 10 grand on eBay

PS3 sold for 10 grand on eBay

Two lenses are better than one

Posted in Announcements, Equipment, Photography, Shopping on September 21st, 2006

Sony Mavica 400

My wife and I do photography, commercial and for our sites. We started out back in 2003 when we opened our first bike event site. We had a Sony Mavica CD400 that we purchased at Best Buy here in Melbourne. I bought the extended warranty on the camera and was glad that I did.

Although the camera worked well, when it was working, it had to go to the shop at the geek squad too many times. It ended up being deemed a lemon, so I got to get a new camera from the store. I was happy with the fact that I could get a new camera, but not happy that they no longer made or stocked the Sony Mavica. We shared the camera when we worked and Cindi really like to use it to take her “on the road” shots for Bike Week and Biketoberfest.

Nikon D50

I ended up picking out the a Nikon D50 from the camera department at Best Buy and I am really happy with it. However, we took a loss on not being able to get a new Mavica to replace the bad one. We had purchased many accessories to go with the camera. Extra batteries, car charger, etc. I really like the simplicity of the Sony and you can not beat the fact that your pictures are recorded to a mini CD! When you start running out of space, about 300 high resolution pictures, you just pop in a new CD. This really comes in handy when you shoot a few thousand pictures during a motorcycle event.

I am really happy with my Nikon D50. It is an SLR digital and there are many things that I can do with this camera that I could not with the Mavica. At the same time I missed the Sony and we still have to share, being we only have one camera.

Today I won a used Sony Mavica on EBay for under $200.00 shipped! I am really excited that now we will have the best of both cameras and not have to share. I purchased the Sony especially for Cindi to use, because she already knows the camera and we still have all the accessories to go with it. With Biketoberfest right around the corner this is going to make our coverage of the event twice as good in pictures.

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Wal*Mart cart racing!

Posted in About Me, Editorial, Florida, Humor, Melbourne, Shopping on September 20th, 2006

We live in a world of fast and convenience. Most of us have a 7-11 of other type of convenience store within a mile or two of where we live. Fast food joints are built and open overnight. Americans like to be able to grab things on the run and it is no secret society.

Occasionally, we have to go to a local super-store just to get a few items. We would like the same in and out convenience of the local 7-11 when this happens. However, this is not always the case. Ever notice how the amount of items in the so called quick checkout have gone up? I remember the day when these lanes were for 5 or less items and cash only. Those days are gone! Today the quick checkout lanes are up to 20 or even 30 items and there are those that think that 40 cans of the same brand of cat food constitute 1 item. The only way that you can achieve a quick in and out few item trip to Wal*Mart is to go at 3 a.m. This is really the best time to shop at the store period. Unless you thrive on the idea of to see and be seen shopping at the neighborhood savings store.

OK, so to the point about the cart racing. Today was one of those occasions that we had to go to Wally World only to get 2 items, carrots and ginger root. These items, of course, would not be available at the local convenience store. We get our items quickly. But now comes the big slow down, getting to and through the checkout. Now today this was quite comical to watch. Cindi, my wife, heads off in the direction of the quick lanes while eyeing up the current lines. I watched as her and another lady were scanning the lanes looking for the best route to take. Both women’s carts still rolling and searching for direction, while each was watching the other out of the corner of the eye. I seen the competitive look and stance that these two took while still moving in search of the quickest way out of the store.

The whole time I was in the background watching this scene, the idea of a new indoor racing event came to mind. Wal*Mart cart racing! That is exactly what these two women were poised for and the race was on. The way that the checkout lanes are designed at a Wal Mart is kind of strange to begin with as they have 2 cashiers in a lane. Just as the thought of the sport of cart racing was going through my mind, I seen Cindi spot a lane opening. It was so comical to watch as they both had their eye on the open lane and you could almost hear the sound of revving engines and squealing tires as both started for the checkout. Funny thing was that Cindi was actually 1 lane over so the other lady had the obvious advantage. I watch as Cindi put here head straight up and pushed her cart in high gear down her lane then crossing over to the next to the open checkout. The other lady gave up reluctantly, but knew she had been whipped by a well experienced cart driver.

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