I'm now Brand Manager

I failed to mention in my previous blog today that I am now transitioning to Brand Manager, overseeing KTM's brand marketing techniques specific to KTM's product line, print and online advertising, web presence, viral marketing, video marketing and PG&A. During the transition, I will continue to work on ATV and Husaberg dirt bike product management from conception to the showroom floor.

Here's a quick banner ad I made for our new bike / era in motocross starting this spring. Just one of the many I made today. Banner ads, either flash or static like this one, seem to be the norm for my job duties lately. I can count on one hand the amount of Brand Managers I know who actually do the design work too! It's a cool gig having complete control over the brand!

Oakland Was Already A Week Ago

It's hard to believe, but our trip to Oakland was already more than a week ago. We stayed in the town of Alameda at our friends Missy and Danny's house, so we didn't really make it in to Oakland. We did, however, hit up San Francisco for some sights and food.

What we didn't bargain for was an anti-abortion, pro-life rally to take over the city by the bay. Thankfully, we made our way over to San Fran across the Bay Bridge before the rally got under way. We had a ferry to catch over to Alcatraz and beat the crowd by an hour. It was my first in-person protest (we took no part in this one of course), so it was a unique experience.

Better was seeing Alcatraz. Once a maximum security prison and now a tourist trap, go figure. It was definitely worth seeing, though. The ferry ride took about 20 minutes and $26 round trip, your National Park dollars at work, to get to Alcatraz. Still, it was $26 well spent. The island is full of history, and the buildings are starting to show they're from another era. We definitely recommend doing the audio tour if you ever make it to the island. From the attempted escapes to the particular prison cells like Capone, the audio covered it all.

Outside of that, small things have kept us pretty busy lately. Somehow the weekend got burned up doing chores and running errands. We did manage to see Extraordinary Measures. Slow-paced, feel good movie. Recommended for rental, not worth seeing at the theatre.

We'll try and post some pics from our trip to Oakland tonight.