Hooray for Ferre: Many of you already are getting fed for free Monday nights through October at Ferre Ristorante e' Bar. A little spaghetti, a little lasagna, a little eggplant. Oh, sooooooo good. But nooooooo, that’s not good enough. You want MORE from Luis and Laura, such as a free meal on Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday. Well, they can’t feed everybody for free, but one reader is going to get a $50 dining certificate good Monday-Thursday for food. Not for drinks or your tip, just food, glorious food. So, who is it that’s going to eat free Monday night then go back for free seconds Tuesday night?   Movie madness: Mr. B, with some critical assistance from Star-Telegram and dfw.com movie critic and chef Christopher Kelly, saw 11 movies in three days at the Toronto Film Festival. My backside needed a muscle relaxer after that. Christopher, his employers and the Modern Art Museum are presenting MODERN CINEMA 2009: GREAT MOVIES YOU HAVEN’T HEARD OF . . . YET. It’s Oct. 1-4 at The Modern and Kendal (Jump In The) Lake has a festival pass for two. You and a pal can see eight films in four days, plus the discussions and the opening-night reception.  First up is The Boys Are Back, the story of a sportswriter (Clive Owen) left to care for his two sons after the tragic death of his wife.    First sighting: Soon, Christmas celebrations will begin so early that we will be too busy to celebrate July 4th and Labor Day. If you haven’t heard, Santa is making a media promotional tour and will be in Fort Worth for breakfast Oct. 3, courtesy of the Junior League and in association with its Christmas in Cowtown. Charity Aughinbaugh with Cash America is feeling charitable and has two tickets to the breakfast and the events surrounding Christmas in Cowtown. If you have young’ins 2-or-under, bring ’em along for free.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK         Atmos Energy generously sponsored the awards dinner Monday evening after the Chamber’s 23rd Annual Golf Classic, presented by GDF Suez Energy Resources. All this “energy” produced some spectacular lightening in the area but not before the shamble had ended and everyone was off Ridglea’s course. Pictured here are Atmos’ Gary Rehm, Marilyn Ackmann, John Paris and Rad Cook. (Rad shorts, Rad. You are giving Jake Richter a run for his money.) More golf photos and winning team names will be posted on the Chamber’s website soon.     Sponsored by

On your tiptoes: Mr. B’s best dancin’ always has been dancin’ around straight answers. That was until he ran into Billy Bob Texas’ Princess Pam and began learnin’ to line dance. And that was fun until he met Ben Stevenson and got into ballet and chick flicks and smelling nicely. The ballet is mi amore now and marketing guru Gene Almy at Texas Ballet Theater has managed to grande plia away with two opening night tickets to The Russian Masters Oct. 2 at Bass Performance Hall. The Russian Masters features the work of George Balanchine, Michel Fokine, Alexander Borodin, and it is the first fabulous performance of Texas Ballet Theater’s 2009 – 2010 season. 

Phone home: Big Boss Bill (BBB) told Mr. B to call "any time." So B called BBB. Nothing happened. B called BBB again. Nothing happened. Come to find out the Chamber has switched phone systems and BBB conveniently forgot to tell B. You can call the old (817) 336-2491 number, but all extensions have changed. Wait for the recording to prompt you to get the member directory, OR get the new extensions on the Chamber site. Better yet, you may bypass the switchboard and dial 817-338 and then the person’s extension to call direct.

Special treatment: Aaron’s Automotive and Performance, owned by Teresa Dudley, caters to female drivers. “We like men,” Teresa says, “but we treat women special.”   Turning on the lights: You know that little box on the energy bill that most of us ignore, the one where you can contribute $1 to someone in need of help with their electricity bill? TXU Energy matches it five-to-one, with no cap, and gave out $5 million last year, including $600,000 to Catholic Charities.

Try, try again: Mr. B is the Susan Lucci of the Chamber’s Small Business of the Year award. Six entries. Six losses. Much like your entries for the weekly giveaways. David Goodroe, however, is a winner. He says Designs For Living has received numerous positive comments from a variety of business representatives regarding his Small Business of the Year recognition in 2009. Such as:

• Past clients – “Many of our previous customers took notice.  They called, emailed and wrote notes of congratulations, with many comments on how it made them proud of their previous selection of us as their contractor.”
• Current clients and vendors – “The award seemed to make those who were currently working with our team feel more honored and proud of their existing partnership with our business group.” 
• Potential new clients – “In a challenging economic time, it was very helpful to have credible exposure through this award to a new customer group.  Our award gave validity and awareness to potential and almost-signed clients, offering them comfort and excitement in doing business with someone that has won this prestigious award.” 

Nominations are being accepted now for the 2010 awards until September 30th.

Oh wow, man: Community Bank has a team entered in this weekend’s Big Brothers Big Sisters bowling fundraiser. The team is the Groovy Gutter Girls. “Peace out,” says marketing maven Lizz Pulliam.   TV stars: Co-founders Joshua and Justin Hernandez of Impossible Possibilities struck CBS gold. They were recently featured in a CBS 11 segment entitled "Texans with Character." And one of their program beneficiaries -- 13-year-old Roy Harris -- got to be a news anchor for a day.

Grin & bear it: The family of NBC 5/KXAS TV news anchor Mike Snyder closed its Colleyville children’s boutique last week after 15 years because of the economy. “It is Life Lesson 101,” Snyder said. “You pick yourself up and go on. I know that well. I’m not doing the 10 o’clock news any longer.”

Political correctness: HR professionals at the Chamber’s Job Links Excelerator are calling layoffs “career transitions.” The next AT&T sponsored Excelerator is Oct. 7 at UNTHSC.

You can help, too: The 2009 Corporate & Social Responsibility Award winner from the Volunteer Center of North Texas is Alcon Labs. It’s the “Stanley Cup” of volunteerism.

Hey congrats! Mr. B worked with cardiovascular surgeon Don Peska, D.O. on clinical trial G70035: Phase 3, a Multicenter, Multi-National, Randomized, Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of Alfimeprase in Subjects with Acute Peripheral Aterial Occlusion. Mr. B later went on to Newz-E-Letter fame. The doc has moved up, too, having just been named Dean at TCOM at the University of North Texas Health Science Center.

Ah, the good life: If you’re thinking international business development might be glamorous, consider this from Bill Lang of TechnoBridge:

• In Albania, he had a machine gun stuck into his gut.
• Flying from Moscow to Minsk, his co-passengers were chickens in open overhead bins.
• In Lagos, Nigeria, he barely avoided a collision with a goat-drawn cart while driving at night in a taxi at 80 miles per hour without headlights.

Moral of this story…: Paulette Wagner, aka The Morale Fairy, says as morals go down so does morale. She and Decker Jones attorney Patricia Cole were speakers at an interesting Chamber seminar on ethics. Topics included parents using the credit cards of their children, the IRS, employers checking employees on MySpace and Facebook, sending blind copy emails, minority and woman-owned business designations and much, much more.

4 sale…what’s the bid? Neither daughter MisBehavin’ nor son NoBGood fetched minimum amounts on eBay, so Mr. B called new member Jo Davenport at Regency Auctions to see if she could help. Unfortunately, Regency doesn’t sell people. Hmmm, sell people? Didn’t Bethany Tyler at Burnett’s Staffing say she sold people? Gotta try her.

Commercial timeout: The Chamber has paid for two product placements in this Newz-E-Letter:

• The new versions of the Major Employers Directory and Media Directory are available at the Online Store starting at $30. No longer are printed or CD versions available. Eight track versions are available on eBay.
• The ads for the regional map sold out. If you bought one, your invoice will come from Target Communications, not the Chamber. Maps should be here by Thanksgiving.

She’s the boss: Fifteen years ago this month, Gail Cooksey left banking –including 10 years with Fort Worth National Bank -- to start Cooksey Communications. She’s still dishing out fantastic PR as the 9th-largest independent shop in D/FW.   Who’s the boss: Carrie Lange, stay-at-home mom and wife of Cantey Hanger attorney Sid Lange, describes her job as Household CEO.

Get on the bus, Gus: More than 800 people took advatage of the T's $5 round-trip to the Cowboys game Sunday night. Buses will be running again Monday night from downtown Fort Worth.