New York StrapHanger Origin Video at NYC Transit Museum

Last month, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, we went to the New York City Transit Museum in Brooklyn New York on the corner of Boerum Place and Schermerhorn Street. I've always wondered why they refer to New York City subway riders as strap hangers and after my visit to the NY transit museum, I found out why. Check out the video below of the author, Dallas Plummer by his videographer, Dean Lewis, as he shows the origin of the term New York Straphanger.

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There were many more interesting points of interest at the transit museum such as the period ads in the subway cars, which were funny and interesting. Interesting things such as phone numbers way back when were preceded by lettering. For example, if you wanted to call somewhere in Manhattan, the lettering preceding the number might be MU5-3015, with the MU standing for Murray Hill and that being the neighborhood.




















This photo on a period New York City subway train shows the headlines and feelings of the time. This NATA ad was interesting.












Here is a video of the author of this blog post, Dallas Plummer, as he talks about old subway trains, subway lines and website design, his website www.seoposse.com making your website popular and search engine optimization, as he uses one of the period New York subway cars as his studio and office for this discussion. Stay tuned to this blog for additional video from the New York Transit Museum visit and discussions on the old New York City subways, transit and infrastructure of the time, including what IND, IRT and BMT means in the subway system, then and now. For more information on SEO and search engine optimization, visit the website www.seoposse.com

Another Good Steakhouse-Shula's 347 Grill - A Vikings Perspective

Last weekend, I traveled up to Providence Rhode Island to discuss some search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing techniques and opportunities with a colleague of mine.

I hopped about Amtrak for the train ride up there and lo and behold, Miss Daisy was driving the train - not her chauffeur Hoke--Miss Daisy herself. When I arrived in Providence and learned how to walk again, after having sat for so long, we met up and went to the Hilton in downtown Providence and I proceeded to show him link building, blogging and what a Google PageRank is and what are the factors to employ when trying to achieve a high page rank.

We spoke for a couple of hours and he then had to leave and do the Saturday afternoon domestic thing and I was left to fend for myself. Not wanting to do the touristy thing, I stayed at the hotel and said to myself, "Let me get a drink and plan my next culinary move".

I went to the hotels restaurant and saw that they had a Shula's 347 Grill. I said, this can't be related to Dolphins coach Don Shula. To my surprise it was.

I'm a simple man: A steak; cranberry and vodka (no lime garnish) and a place to dive into my own little world. Maybe it's the viking in me ["More food; More wine for everyone...and singing Viking battle songs] but I didn't travel to Providence to sample their seafood. Anyway, I was looking for a meal that would tide me over til I got back to New York City proper and this place did the trick.

Let me set it up for you: I order a 16 oz strip steak (what that is, I don't know), well done and some mashed potato thingy and some tomatoes to keep it sane and gully with a vegetable. Oops. I did have the house salad which I swallowed in no time. Nothing like some fresh greens to get ya going before the main course.

The steak and potatoes came and it was a very good steak. No fat or none that I had to play around with (slicing it off). Let me put it in the proper perspective. I've eaten at quite a few steak houses (Smith & Wollenskys, Peter Lugers, er Outbacks) and the portion of steak in Shula's 347 Grill was smaller, I did not go hungry. A good thick, nurtured steak; not cooked but nurtured. A fresh salad with egg sparsed in.

When most people dine out, they want a decent meal and if the wait staff advertises something about the meal, you would come to expect it. I was doing link building from the restaurant and no one disturbed me even though it was a Saturday afternoon/evening. Finishing off my SEO and link building work with a good meal; interspersed with drinks is not bad.

I now have to make a business excuse to go back up to the Providence Hilton, which Shula's 347 Grill is attached to and try out their 22 or is it the 24 ounce nurtured steak. This time, I should have a seafood starter. Just because.

Here is a photo of the steak at this Providence Rhode Island restaurant - Shula's 347 Grill

New York SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) Inaugural Meetup

For the past month, in my office, we have been gearing up for the inaugural New York SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) meetup. Initially, Sara Holoubek (saraholoubek.com), free agent consultant, columnist and SEMPO board member had space booked at Double Clicks offices with space for up to 100 people but because of the overwhelming, positive response for the meetup, it was moved to Yahoo's Offices, which had room for over 100 people, which allowed this writer to attend. (See Photos):



Much thanks go to the sponsors of this event, namely, Yahoo and Clickable. The space and the refreshments were very much appreciated and set the theme for this very unique Search Engine Marketing users group. See Photos:



All succulent appetizers and beverages provided by Clickable and Yahoo




Items in this picture appear closer than they actually are



A Place to go to wash everything down




The 2nd Place to wash everything down

After arriving and sampling the food, the meeting was called to order by David Fall, VP, Product Management - Search Technology for Double Click and SEMPO Board Member who presented an eloquent introduction about SEMPO, it's purpose and goals and how the New York SEMPO meetup factors in. (See Photo of David below)



Followed by David, was Sara Holoubek, who was born to lead the New York SEMPO meetups. She skillfully illicited key future discussion points, stayed on message and gave both sponsors (Yahoo, Clickable) their due. She allowed this writer, an SEO Specialist for Martindale-Hubbell, to compile this little pictorial and she gave floor time to Maia Benson of Martindale-Hubbell to speak about the SEO initiatives underway at Martindale for all of its clients. (See Photo of Sara holoubek below)



As we moved from discussion to "liquid refreshments", this writer knows that the stewardship of the New York SEMPO meetups are in good hands with the likes of David Fall and Sara Holoubek. For more information on membership in SEMPO, visit the SEMPO website

Semblance of Order

This is my attempt (feeble or otherwise) in bringing some semblance of order to the web. What I will attempt to do is write a little snippet on each website that I visit and whether I think its good or not. We shall see. Let's start with this two websites, which I both own:


One is a video sharing website and youtube clone featuring New York sports and fitness videos, bodybuilding vids, basketball, baseball, football and soccer video. It is www.splaxon.com. There are also bodybuilding, fitness and sports photos and pictures.

and for SEO or search engine optimization, search engine marketing or SEM as well as for video optimization, there is www.seoposse.com