Yesterday, I accomplished something that I wasn’t sure I’d ever do.  And to be honest, I’m not so sure I want to do it again.  I completed the Philadelphia Marathon with thousands of others, and boy, am I ever sore.

I decided to do the marathon without really training for it.  I haven’t missed a day of running in 6 and 1/2 years, so I figured I wouldn’t be too bad.  I went for one or two longer runs (16 miles, 18 miles) and then just ran my normal mileage before the race.  I went to bed at a decent hour on Saturday night, and crossed my fingers at the start line.  I must admit, I was impressed with the support of Philadelphia.  As we ran down Columbus Avenue, and up to Drexel University, the fan support was pretty positive.  Lots of people were standing on the sidewalk high-fiving us as we went by, and cheering loudly from their steps.  I saw a young woman somewhere in Center City holding a sign that said, “I love your stamina - Call me at 215 - 555 - 5555″ (unfortunately I didn’t write it down guys:)  My favorite comment, however, came around mile 8 as we trudged up a hill somewhere in Fairmount Park.  A race official, who was standing on the side near one of the mile markers cheering us on, yelled this;

“Smile people.  You signed up for this!”

Every single person who was within earshot laughed.  It was the comic relief we needed to get up the rest of the hill, and he was right.  Thousands of us had signed up to run 26.2 miles and put our bodies through the torture of a run like that.  We might as well enjoy it, right?

Around mile 16, I started to question my decision to run the marathon.  My legs were numb, I couldn’t feel my feet, and when I went to say thank you to a woman who handed me a cup of water as I jogged by, I realized my face was too numb and I couldn’t even get the words out.  What made it worse was the cup was full of ice - the weather was so miserably cold that the water was freezing before they could get it to the runners.  The ground near the water stations was a slick sheet of ice from knocked over cups and spilled water.  As I trekked through Manayunk (which I must say was the most populated and supportive of all the areas, especially right in front of Kildaires) and back down Kelly Drive, I started to REALLY question why I had done the race.  I ran with people of all ages, shapes, and sizes, and I was impressed with their stamina and perserverence.  I finished the race in pain and not being able to feel any part of my body due to the cold, but I am glad I did it.

The rest of the day I treated myself to lots of pizza, pasta, and ice cream.  I think that made the race worth it in itself:) I’m walking around like I’m 4X my age, in lots of pain and everything aches, and I wonder how long this will last.   Yet today,  I signed up for the Philly Olympic Triathalon next June.  What am I thinking?

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For Philadelphia sports fans, there aren’t many times when you’ll hear the above statement, but for right now, Philly is on cloud nine:) What a month it has been for this city! Philadelphia has cheered the Phils along to a World Series championship, the Eagles have won three straight, and our country has elected the FIRST african american president. October/November have been busy!

Wanted to share a few quick videos with you that have been passed along via email this week. First, a group of extremely talented students who express the importance of voting (if i ever have kids I’m sending them here!), and the second is a phenomenal catch by Ryan Howard during the Phillies parade (check out the video footage of that parade on our blog!

Possibly the coolest part of this month though has been the launch of www.LTLprints.com. It’s both exciting and a relief! It’s great to see the launch and all of the team’s long hours paying off - but it just means that things will get busier! I can’t wait to see our 6-color large format printing churning orders like crazy. Exciting!

Quite a picture above, eh? That awesome picture can be credited to the talented Mr. Matthew Gutberlet, a very close friend of mine and someone who is ridiculously good at everything he does - even photography! Matt grabbed that shot at the Phillies parade last Friday.

Before I sign off, just a reminder that the CMA Awards (COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS) are this Tuesday night. Everyone should definitely sit down to watch my boyfriend, the talented Kenny Chesney, in all his glory. I’d trade the World Series for him:)

Tags: Carsten Petzold, CMA Awards, Election, Kenny Chesney, LTLprints, LTLprints.com, Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies Parade, Ryan Howard, Trisha Noel

Hello World!

As you will have seen coming to www.LTLprints.com - we just released our new site. You can imagine that Kendall, Trisha and I are REALLY happy that after months of work we finally see our baby flourish. In particular we are happy because the innovative cutout tool (a tool to remove backgrounds)

At moments like this it is time to celebrate and to extend special thanks to our hard working developers. So big thanks to Najam, Jose, Scott, Eric and Diego in getting this baby put together.

We put a Beta next to our logo to indicate that though the site is mainly functional you might experience some little bugs here and there. Also, some of the functionality we want to provide hasn’t been released yet - mainly the catalog, so please stay tuned and check back.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: We’d like to hear from you. What do you think about the application? Is it intuitive to use? What functionality would you like to see on LTLprints to make your life easier? What is missing, what needs changed? In order to engange with you and get your honest feedback we created the LTLprints’ Feedback Forum. Very conveniently you’ll see the ‘Feedback’ button floating on the right when surfing on www.LTLprints.com. Just click it and you can submit a new idea or vote an existing idea up.

Tags: Beta, Carsten Petzold, Feedback, Forum, Integrated development environment, Kendall Schoenrock, LTLprints, Release, Software release life cycle

Saturday night was the much awaited Halloween Party at my place, and I must say it was a success. We had loads of people coming through dressed as draculas, tv characters, political candidates, mimes, and much more. The costumes were clever and creative and the drinks were plentiful. My roommates and I had spent a long time decorating, so cobwebs and orange lights draped over bookshelves and hanging spiders (which scared me all night long) dropped from the ceiling. Of course we also had LTLprints of jack-o-lanterns, candy corn, and bats over all the walls and they were quite a hit. People pulled them off the wall all night, played with the material, and would restick them without trouble. I loved watching the look of amazement as people realized how durable and easy to use the material was. They were definitely the hit decoration of the party!

Prior to the party, I came up with an idea for a practical joke. My roommates (Dan and Dave) and I are always joking and kidding around. So, I decided to utilize LTLprints to help out with a little joke. At the final Harry Potter book release awhile back, Dan, Dave, and a few other friends decided to dress up as the Harry Potter characters and head to Borders to purchase their copies. Many pictures were taken that night, but have since been hidden for no one else to see. It took almost 5 months of begging for them to overcome their embarrassment and show me the pictures of that night. Being the nice roomate I am:), I decided to have “larger than life” prints made of Dan and Dave’s Harry Potter debut. I brought the pictures in and Kendall (President of LTLprints) worked his photoshop magic to produce detailed cutouts. I couldn’t wait.

Around 11:30 p.m. in the midst of the party, we unveiled the photos. We put them everywhere in the house - the kitchen, the living room, the hallways, all plastered with the image of Dan with a lightning bolt on his forehead and Dave in his Severus Snape outfit. When the guys came up the stairs and saw the prints, their reaction was PRICELESS. Dave immediately tackled me to the couch and Dan’s jaw dropped. Luckily, they thought the joke was hysterical and we laughed about it all night. I must admit I thought there was a chance I’d get kicked out of the house. Phew!

One of the girls at the party actually saw the LTLprints and mentioned it would be a great idea for parties, to have the LTLprints created for the guest of honor. That way, if people wanted to sign it, write messages, etc, they could easily do so and the print would transport home with no trouble. Yet another solid idea for LTLprints!

So, if you need a good practical joke or a good laugh - LTLprints is here for you:)

This past weekend I had the opportunity to participate in a great event - the 2008 Parkway Run/Walk for children’s cancer research. Despite the light rain that drizzled down the entire morning, over 1200 people still filled the Parkway with their running shoes and rain attire, and even more did the 2K walk. I participate in a lot of charity 5Ks, triathalons, and road races, but this was the first time I had run in this specific race. A big thank you and a job well done goes out to the race planners and the Four Seasons for the volunteers and delicious breakfast following the race. It’s great to see Philadelphia come together for such a great cause!

After the race on Sunday I ran into some old colleagues and co-workers of mine who I haven’t seen since I joined LTLprints.com. We huddled under umbrellas and canopies to catch up and chat between bites of scrambled eggs and bananas (thanks again, Four Seasons!) As I described what I was doing, one of the gentleman I was talking to asked a question that I get a lot when I am talking about wall graphics and our product;

“What do you use them for? Who buys them?”

This might be my favorite question to answer. The possibilities of this product are endless. I turned to my colleague and started my speel. If you’re a parent or an aunt or uncle, it’s a great idea to take a picture of your child doing their favorite activity (playing sports, an instrument, drawing, or just smiling at the camera) and have a print made for their bedroom (great gift idea!.) You can edit the picture to add other people in, such as a celebrity, athlete, or a relative that lives far away. If you’re a creative person, you can submit a design or graphic as a great solution for decorating; it’s removable and reusable without leaving any mark or residue on the wall. Plus, it adds a personal touch that you can’t get in a home store. Businesses can use LTLprints for company publicity too -they travel so easily and are a great answer for trade shows or expos. When you need to bring a poster or billboard of some kind but don’t want to deal with the hassle of tearing or ripping the paper in transit, take LTLprints instead!

I found myself going on and on at the race, talking about some of the prints we did for other companies at IgnitePhilly and IndyHall. Before I knew it I was chatting to a group of about 5 or 6 people who had crowded around me to catch what I was talking about. I answered questions about the service, described how durable the material is (it can even go through the washer!) and laughed about some new ideas people were shouting out (the Kelly Kalpalski - Saved By the Bell cut-out idea came up quite a few times.)

As a friend of mine and I walked home after the race, he was teasing me for being a walking, talking advertisement for LTLprints. I defended myself by saying that as the director of PR, it IS my job after all:) But it’s also easy to talk about, because LTLprints is a great product that really is going to change the way people decorate. What other product allows people to add a personal touch to anything they put on their walls? I invite anyone to leave a comment with a creative idea of how to utilize LTLprints.com - it’s fun to see what people come up with!

Tags: 2008 Parkway Run/Walk, 5K, Cancer Research, Carsten Petzold, Gift Ideas, Ignite Philly, IndyHall, Kendall Schoenrock, Larger than Life, LTL, LTLprints, LTLprints.com, LTLprints.net, Philadelphia, Trisha Noel

As Carsten mentions, LTLprints had the pleasure of attending IgnitePhilly, a series of speakers with five minutes each to talk about inspiring ideas. It’s truly a great idea - the room buzzed with creative and innovative minds. In my opinion, anytime you can get great people, innovation, and a few beers in the same room, it’s guaranteed to be a good time!

LTLprints was there in full force - we actually provided the prints for all the speakers at the IgnitePhilly event. I hope everyone got a chance to see how neat the material is - if you missed one of our handouts for “IgnitePhilly,” just contact Kendall or myself and we’ll be happy to mail you one. I dare you to test the material - take it off the wall, crumple it up, and put it back on a different wall, good as new. Go ahead, I dare you. Or you can watch Alex’s video!

Much credit is deserved to each of the speakers last night. My personal favorites included Pamela Zimmerman from Park(ing) Day Philadelphia. Pam, great idea and concept - it shows just how creative this city really is and I loved the pictures! Credit is also due to Stu Hankin and Will Robinson from IdeaBlob. My favorite quote of the night came from this presentation; “You shouldn’t be afraid of somebody stealing your idea. You should be afraid of no one ever seeing it.”

ArtSphere and MakePhilly rounded out my favorites (which by the way, I plan to attend the ArtBuggyDerby), but a round of applause goes out to each presenter. Hearing each of your presentations was an inspiration to wake up and get back to work this morning:)

Tags: ArtsBuggy Derby, ArtsSphere, Carsten Petzold, IdeaBlob, IgnitePhilly, Kendall Schoenrock, Larger than Life, Larger Than Life Prints, LTLprints, MakePhilly, Pamela Zimmerman, Park(ing) Day Philadelphia, Petzold, Prints, Schoenrock, Stu Hankin, Trisha Noel, Will Robinson