Extra, Extra … Read All About It…On Facebook and Twitter

When I was studying to become a journalist at the University of Maryland, I had to take more than 20 classes to learn what it took to become a professional reporter. Little did I know, but all I had to do was wait 15 years and I could become “a reporter” just by creating a new Facebook page. Don’t tell that to my father; he’s still paying for the University of Maryland. Web 2.0 and the explosion of social media outlets has not only changed the way that people communicate with their friends and family, but it’s also opened up the way they disseminate news to business colleagues, potential customers or communicate with Facebook Friends or Twitter followers (akin to a newspaper’s circulation) about what they had for dinner at Five Guys (and more importantly, if it was good or not). I know. There’s nothing more annoying than reading what a person you knew in high school ate for dinner that night, but when you think about it: 1) you read their status update; 2) formed an opinion on it; and 3) may in fact eat at that restaurant simply because your brain stored that information and remembered that someone you knew had a good experience there. While there are still many reputable and professional journalists in our State and the world at large, the simple fact is that today, everyone, including YOU, has the ability to become a “reporter” because the Internet has allowed websites like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and a variety of other social media outlets to become the newsstands of the 21st Century. Think about it: People are no longer hearing about world events like the earthquake and tsunami on the ABC Nightly News. They are reading about it from their friends’ first person accounts in Japan on Twitter or Facebook. Now people aren’t just learning about the hot new restaurant because they read a food review in a newspaper. They’re reading posts from their friends on Foursquare. Now people aren’t opening up the Sports Section first thing in the morning; they’re opening up Ubersocial on their smart phones and reading the Tweets of their favorite sports reporters. Whether, it’s Twitter or Facebook or the ABC Evening News or NJ.com or the Star Ledger print edition, people learn about the world around them from a variety of “news” sources. And believe it or not, sometimes it’s not a professional journalist who’s sharing that information with thousands of people. It’s YOU. Tony Bianchini is the Director of Public Affairs at Open Door Media, a public affairs and community relations firm based in Trenton, NJ. He can be reached at: (609) 396-6620 or by email at: tony@opendoormedianj.com. Visit Open Door Media at: www.opendoormedianj.com to learn more.

It's Been Two Years...

It's been two years today since my mother died at the age of 59.

She had turned 59 just a month earlier. ...

And her granddaughter Grace had been born just a month earlier....

My mother was taken away much too soon from us, but I've come to accept it over the last two years, after crying a lot, reflecting a lot on her life and thinking about how much she suffered since 1996 when she got pancreatitis. No one deserved to suffer the way she did.

Still, even when she was in the most gut wretching pain that even I can't possibly imagine, she always had a smile on her face and always cared about us first and foremost.

In the month that she was alive at the same time as her granddaughter Grace, my mother called everyday to ask about her, spoiled her as much as she could and died way too soon before she was ever able to see her granddaughter speak her first word or recite her first color or count to 20 for the first time.

I will always regret that she wasn't there to experience those moments in person and I will always regret that she wasn't there for Grace's Baptism or 1st birthday or 2nd birthday.

But still, I always know that she's always in the room.

I can literally feel it.

I talk to Grace every day about her grandmother and I could swear that she recognizes her grandmother's face when I show her pictures.

And I can swear that when we're playing, she sometimes looks over at the couch and can see her grandmother sitting there like she was the last time I saw her alive - truly alive - on March 16, 2009. ...

808 Wedgewood Circle, Flemington, NJ For Sale

808 Wedgewood Circle in Flemington NJ is for sale starting on March 15th. It's a 2 BR, 1.5 Bath and is listed at $235,900. We've taken great care of the condo in the last five years that we've lived there and have had the entire house professionally painted, redesigned the master bath with new tile, vanity, medicine cabinet and mirror, installed four new windows in the master bedroom and second bedroom.

You can visit the listing on the Garden State MLS (http://new.gsmls.com/). The MLS # is 2840617

It's been a great house for us and would be a wonderful home for anyone looking for a 2 BR and 1.5 Bath condo. Here are some photos:

Tony Gwynn Has Cancer

I heard today that one of my childhood idols, Tony Gwynn, has cancer.

See that bulge in his lip above?

That's dip. ...

And that's why he has cancer.

Gwynn admitted today that dipping during and after his playing days gave him cancer.

That sucks. But it is unfortunately something that many people in America struggle with...

That's why when Tony Gwynn recovers from his fight with salivary cancer, he needs to use his national status and tell kids and adults not to dip. And show them what can happen if you do dip.

Dip is just as addictive and dangerous as smoking cigarettes. The thing with dip though is that people usually associate those who dip with ball players or those who live in the South.

That's not the case at all.

Dipping is something that unfortunately people of all ages do, and believe me, it is just as tough to quit it as it is to quit smoking cigarettes. Maybe harder.

I wish Tony Gwynn the best in his fight against cancer and hope that he lives through this and becomes a spokesperson to urge people not to dip.

Giants draft the freak...or a bust?

The Giants drafted DE Jason Pierre-Paul and I am not the bit happy about it.

Earlier this week, Giants GM Jerry Reese said that while the combine was added into the value of a player, it did not make the player because they were drafting a football player and not a gymnast. Was he trying to throw us off the scent. Or did he just panic when Mcclain and Spiller were off the board?

That's the question of the day folks.

Reese and the Giants scouts are saying now that Pierre-Paul is the second coming of the Freak Jevon Kearse, but Pierre-Paul has 1 year of college football experience. Wow.

I pointed this out to The Daily News's Giants beat reporter Ralph Vacchiano (http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/giants/) and he agreed with me on Twitter:

abianchini23 @TheBlueScreen didn't reese say this wk that he didn't think combine mattered because they were drafting a football player and not gymast?

TheBlueScreen @abianchini23 Good memory. Yes, he did say that.

I guess we'll all see together if Pierre-Paul turns out to be the freak that Reese is talking about or a complete bust.

XBox 360 games, DVDs and Blu Rays for Sale on eBay!!

Check out my eBay auctions of XBox 360 games, DVDs and Blu Rays.. Get them while they're hot: http://shop.ebay.com/abianchini23/m.html

March 10th

A year ago today, my mother was scheduled for surgery at Columbia Pres. They called her at the last minute and asked her to reschedule to the following week.

She got another week of life because of it. I'm sad today, but grateful that we got that extra week with her.