The 2005 football season has begun...finally! I''m sitting in my basement watching the Raiders/Patriots game. Although it''s been a long off season, it''s doesn''t take very long at all to get back in the football zone. To top it all off, the Cowboys are picked by most scouts to make it back to the playoffs this year. After all our defense is one of the best in the NFL and the offense should be considerably improved from last season. The first Cowboy''s game is on sept 11 at 3:00 pm against the Chargers. Awesome! Church gets out around 12:30. That leaves me with more than enough time for lunch and a quick nap before the main event. Let''s get it on!

Excerpt from a press release announcing the new CIO and CFO at Travelclick. [Full article] The title of this post is a little misleading because both these positions have been vacant for a while.

CHICAGO (September 7, 2005) --TravelCLICK Inc., a leading provider of hotel e-commerce solutions, today announced the appointment of Scott Smith to the position of Chief Financial Officer and Todd Hinkel to Chief Information Officer. Mr. Smith will report directly to TravelCLICK President and CEO, Robert Post. Mr. Hinkel will report to TravelCLICK Chief Operating Officer, Jeff Bzdawka.

Mr. Smith has over 25 years of executive financial, operating and investment experience in a wide variety of industries including technology-based business services companies. He joins TravelCLICK from PLM Transportation Equipment Corporation where he held the position of Vice President of Finance. In this role, Mr. Smith was responsible for developing and managing sources of debt and equity financing for a variety of equipment fleets. Mr. Smith previously held the position of CFO of Concept Shopping, a company that uses proprietary technology to create and distribute highly targeted consumer promotions for large retailers and packaged goods manufacturers. He has served as a board member of several private and public companies. Mr. Smith holds an MBA in finance from Indiana University.

Mr. Hinkel has over 15 years of experience in strategic and operational information management and has held executive positions in a number of diverse industry segments including travel and transportation, engineering, manufacturing, management consulting and telecommunications. Most recently, Mr. Hinkel co-founded and served as President of Customer Evolutions, Inc. Mr. Hinkel also served as the Vice President of Customer Management Solutions of Tanning Technology Corporation. In this role, Mr. Hinkel led a customer management initiative for a major international airline that resulted in a significant increase in revenue and cost-savings. Mr. Hinkel holds an MBA from American University with concentrations in business administration and the management of global information technology and a BS in mechanical engineering from the United States Merchant Marine Academy.

During the past year we''ve been through quite a few changes. While it''s impossible to predict the future, things are certainly looking good at TravelCLICK. In spite of all the shocks (9-11, avian bird flu, tsunami, hurricanes) to the travel industry in the last few years, sales have continued to increase. I had the opportunity to have lunch with our new CIO last week and get briefed on some of TravelCLICK''s future plans. I came away convinced that our new management team is committed to taking TravelCLICK to the next level and positioning the company to be the global leader in providing revenue management solutions to hotels.