BizMojo Idaho marks first birthday

Today marks the first anniversary of my first post on this blog. Without a doubt there has been a learning curve, but overall I can say I'm very pleased with how it's gone and the acceptance BizMojo Idaho has gotten.

Since Blogger offers stats, here are a few numbers:

Total pageviews: 60,546

Best Month
August 2012: 9,018 page views

Most Read Posts
Best Carl's Jr. plans to open in Idaho Falls (12/9/11): 1,135
Second Idaho Falls Carl's Jr. opening (2/16/12): 787
Fourth of July preview story (6/20/12): 485
Story on the late Galen Bush, efforts to help his family (1/17/12): 386
Scoop on Celt Pub (4/25/12): 361

Most of the traffic on this page comes from Google, which I'm sure is why the Carl's Jr. stories have gotten the largest number of pageviews.

Then there is Facebook, on which I share everything I post here. When I started out, I was picking and choosing blog entries to share. In December, I decided I would share everything, because people on Facebook decide what's important by sharing it themselves. I saw a sharp increase in readership after that.

A year ago I had little idea of what I was doing with this other than resurrecting the old weekly column I used to write for the paper and adapting it to a continuous on-line format. I've scored some scoops (always gratifying) and goofed a few times (never a happy occasion). I've got some ideas about what I want to do in the coming year, but for now I've got a few trees to shake.

All the best!

Nuclear instrumentation expert to speak Sept. 11 at CAES

Jean-Francois Villard

Jean-Francois Villard of CEA Cadarache's Nuclear Energy Division will be the featured speaker at a dinner Sept. 11, the focus of which will be instrumentation development for the future Jules Horowitz Reactor.

The CEA Cadarache facility is a scientific research centre in the south of France that specializes in nuclear energy research. Since 2010, Villard has been in charge of instrumentation, sensors and dosimetry, leading the development of measurement systems for research reactors

The dinner meeting will be at the CAES Gallery, 995 University Blvd. beginning with a social hours at 6:30 p.m., with beer and wine available for purchase. The dinner and program, catered by 3's Company, will begin at 7 p.m. Cost is $20 per person and $10 for full-time students. 

The meeting is sponsored by the Idaho National Laboratory Instrumentation, Control and Intelligent Systems Distinctive Signature Program in conjunction with the Advanced Test Reactor National Scientific User Facility, Idaho Section of the American Nuclear Society, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

To attend the dinner and program, send your reservation to IdahoSectionANS@yahoo.com or call 526-7785 by noon on Thursday, Sept. 6.

Bonneville County home sales up in first seven months of 2012

A review of the numbers for the first seven months of this year show the local real estate market holding steady with last year on all fronts but one: the Snake River Multiple Listing Service indicates that from Jan.1 to the end of July this year, the number of units sold rose by 101 to the ominous number of 666.

That number is pretty much in the same range as where home sales have been in the past four years, however. It will still be some time before we see anything like 2007.

2007-- 1,043
2008 -- 764
2009 -- 605
2010 -- 626
2011-- 565
2012 -- 666

Photographer offers specials, hopes to recover hard drive

Melissa Bristol with her sons, Mikey, 10 and Leighton, 5

There's been a lot of talk this week about the challenges women face, so I'd like to offer a story of someone I know: a single mother of two who's trying to realize her dream as a photographer while struggling with some stubborn health issues.

Right now, Melissa Bristol's immediate concern is getting the money together to restore her hard drive. It crashed Monday, taking with it hundreds of photos she'd been editing for customers. The photos are recoverable, but it's going to cost hundreds of dollars.

To raise some cash, she's offering some specials:

• Senior Photos: $30 for a one-hour session, a disc of all the photos, and up to 10 edits
• Family Photos: $50 a session for up to four people, a disc of all the photos, and up to 10 edits; $10 extra for a collage
• Back to School: $20 for three basic photos, $10 extra for a collage

Melissa is the mother of two boys -- Mikey, 10, and Leighton, 5 -- and is in between jobs. She is hoping to find something that allows her flexibility to spend time with her kids and build her photography business. She volunteers her time and talent to the Museum of Idaho and the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. (On top of everything else, Melissa is dealing with cervical cancer, which, insurance or no insurance, is not cheap.)

I don't want to turn this into a bulletin board for hard luck cases, but she's a friend of mine and a talented young person. If anybody can help her out, I'd be glad to hear it.

Here's a link to her photo page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/?ref=hp#!/pages/Photography-By-Melissa/167038123358065

Idaho Falls Marriott Residence Inn taking reservations starting Sept. 4

There was still much to be loaded in Wednesday morning at the Idaho Falls Marriott Residence Inn.

Begun four years ago but delayed by the financial crisis that fall, the Idaho Falls Marriott Residence Inn on West Broadway is almost ready to open.

Reservations are being taken for Sept. 4 and after, according to the recording on the hotel's reservation line, (208) 542-0000.

Work on the 98,700-square-foot hotel ground to a halt in 2008, when the original developers, McNeil Development, ran into financial trouble in connection with the failure of Arkansas National Bank. Architect John Brunt of Woodbury Corp., the Salt Lake development company that took over the project, said one thing that made it easier for them to restart the project was the fact that McNeil had enclosed the building, which kept out water that might otherwise have gotten in and caused major damage.

Still, there were repairs to be made and Marriott’s standards had evolved in the time the project was in limbo. Once the six-story hotel is finished, Brunt said the estimated cost will top $20 million.

The hotel has 108 guest rooms, two meeting rooms, a large exercise room and pool. “There’s a lot more common area than a typical Marriott Residence Inn,” Brunt said, earlier this year. Although the exterior is in keeping with the other buildings of the Taylor Crossing development (a style Brunt described as “eclectic classical”), the interior will be more modern and streamlined.