My blog assignment this week is for Consumer Behavior and it's an analysis on the Top Dog vs. The Underdog brands. The top dogs are usually the market leaders. They are your Coca Cola, Ford and GM, Apple (modern day Apple) Mars Candies, Annheuser - Busch, brands like that. You see their products prominently on shelf spaces in grocery stores, quick shops, and super centers.
The disrupters are the underdogs, they saw a product and tried to make it different or better in some way. Apple became a top dog but started as a disrupter with a new style of computer and a new operating system. Microsoft was, or perhaps still is, the market leader and therefore the top dog still in the personal computing/operating system game. However at one time they were also the disrupter! They started with DOS, made a graphics based interface and called it Windows and then that turned the world upside down!
Apple could not even come close to competing with Windows and Microsoft grew into one of the best top dogs of all time. Apple stayed a niche product at best until they turned the world upside down with a handheld device that disrupted everything in the iPhone. They became the dominant company they are today because of that and are clearly top dogs in their industry now.
There is a clear difference in marketing strategy used by the top dog and the underdog. The top dog strategy is very clearly put by saying, "This works, we are dependable, we are always here, we are always reliable, no reason to change." They know they have the shelf space, market share, and have developed their product or service to the point where they are at their optimal.
The underdog strategy is, "We are new! We are exciting! We innovate! We are the future and you should join us!" They are disrupting the status quo, they give the Pepsi Challenge, they shake up the market, and they put themselves in front of your eyes constantly for your attention.
The next question for my assignment is to provide three recommendations on how an underdog can surpass the top dog. I've given one, Apple focused on a market that Microsoft ignored, the cell phone, and became a very big top dog! Microsoft struggled to produce any cell phones worth a mention, the same thing happened to the Microsoft Zune, basically an iPod style device that just never took off.
However Microsoft does own one segment that Apple has never attempted, the home game console. The X Box is a monster product! They came to the market when Nintendo was slipping away quietly with a next generation product that was so innovative that it rescued the home gaming market from another bust like after Atari went bankrupt. Microsoft is no slouch by any means and still have top dog product lines but they fail as well from time to time.
Another recommendation for an underdog to become a top dog is to stay embrace technology. You know what the status quo is of your product, it's time to think of it in a new way. It's time to take the old Ford approach to Model T colors (you can have any color you want as long as it's black) and make something hot rod red metaphorically speaking. Innovators, underdogs, disrupters need to embrace new technology.
Technology is constantly changing, to the point that change is the only
constant. Find technology to innovate your product, make it faster, make
it higher quality, make it cheaper and you'll find your inner top dog! Maybe it's a new flavor combination for a potato chip no one has tried before. Maybe it's the Ranch Dressing innovator upstart that's about to take on long time established and top dog Thousand Island for the title of best dressing in the world. Think about your product a bit differently, maybe you can revolutionize your underdog into a top dog!
Innovate! The top dogs were innovators once! Be the innovative leader and you can become the top dog! Take the NBA for example, teams used to run set piece offenses in the 1970's, if you watch the game replays now you might die of boredom. Pat Reilly build a team that was stat heavy and innovated offense with "The Showtime Lakers" in the 80's and started to dominate the game with a free flowing offense that accounted for much more offense than other teams were able to replicate or produce! They were exciting to watch even for the casual fan.
That team was a disrupter and quickly became a top dog to the point where today's modern NBA offenses are free flowing, reads, pick and rolls, and isolation offenses produce over a hundred points on average!
Why do I believe consumers choose the top dog over the underdog? That's pretty easy, people are creatures of habit. The more they grow the more they want to plan ahead and avoid surprises. They don't want the car to break down on the side of the road so they buy brands that are reliable. Brands that always start when you turn the key on. That's why I probably drink Bud Light (when I can't afford Lagavulin that is, which as a working class college student, not often) I see Bud Light along side Natty Light, Coors Light, Miller Lite, Michelob Ultra, and I generally pick Bud Light. It's tasty, drinkable, common, affordable and there's no surprises. You know what you are getting and sometimes that's good enough for me.
Monday, July 30, 2018
Monday, July 16, 2018
SMART Goals Ahead
As you long time readers know I've been combining my personal blog with my homework assignments for the past couple of years. Well anytime there is a blog post assignment. It lets me keep a record of where I am now at this point and time in my work and in my personal life, which lets me know how far I have left to travel on this journey.
This assignment if for Integrated Marketing, which so far has been a pretty interesting class even though it's only week three. I'm to describe SMART goals which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Then write about what role they have in marketing campaigns.
Then in another prompt I'm to write about the difference between goals, strategies, and tactics.
Well let me begin by explaining the difference between goals, strategies, and tactics. The goal is what you get up in the morning for. It's the prize at the end of the rainbow, the surprise in the bottom of the cereal box. How do you get to this goal?
Through a strategy! A strategy is a road map to the goal. You'll have to eat all the cereal to get to the plastic diving submarine that's powered by baking soda. If it's a huge box you'll need a tactic to get through the road map faster! This is where tactics come into play, it's how you get over the obstacles in order to implement your strategy to get to your goal!
So in this example you'll open your box of Lucky Charms to get to the submarine (goal) then you've got the problem of going through all the cereal because Mom won't let you have the toy until all the cereal is gone (strategy). So you've got an obstacle to overcome (tactic) and recruit your little brother to eat as much cereal as he can while you eat the rest! BOOM! Goal, Strategy, and Tactics accomplished and now you've got the baking soda powered submarine in your hands and ready for bath time!
You can map out your strategy a bit more by using the SMART acronym to help you out!
If your strategy specific? Yes! You need the toy!
Is your strategy measurable? Yes! You seen a known quantity of cereal to be consumed before getting to your toy!
Is your strategy attainable? Absolutely! You can practically see the little green submarine wrapped in clear plastic!
Is your strategy realistic? Sure is! You could cheat and reach into the box and get it but Mom is watching soooo, you got to play it straight!
Is your strategy timely? Yes! The box isn't the Grand Canyon! It's a cereal box and in a few short mornings your goal will be accomplished!
My next prompt is to explain how marketing tactics align with strategies! This is actually pretty easy if you think about it! So say you've got a client and that wants a thousand new clients knocking on their door in a year. They are a new business and have no client base at all.
They call you up and explain what they are after. You device a strategy of gaining your new client a thousand new clients! You do a SWOT, you find out what they are selling and who would benefit from what they are selling, in short you find the target audience that your client is after. Once you determine that audience you devise your tactics!
So perhaps your target demographic is aged eighteen to thirty nine, male and female. So you know people of this age group are pretty tech savvy and feel like an organic social media campaign is the way to go but you don't want to put all your eggs in that basket completely. This is where you also think about radio ads to reach your audience for example. Just to make give your client added value you also start a Facebook ad buy! You are confident in the next year these tactics will fulfill the strategy and accomplish the goal of gaining your client a thousand new clients!
What is also very important about all three of these advertising channels is that they are measurable using key performance indicators or KPI for short. KPI is likes on Facebook, or as you sift through the click through numbers on your ad buy, you can tell exactly how many people are seeing the new ads and who is clicking and how much time they are spending on your client's site.
This is just one form of a myriad of indicators such as subscribers on YouTube, Follows on Twitter, impressions, click through rates, ratings from radio advertisements, and a hundred more measurable indicators to tell exactly how you are reaching your audience. This is important as you might not be gaining any traction from one channel and can save money there by taking those resources to another channel that's got more promising indicators!
This is how tactics align with a strategy in marketing!
A few years ago I was hired by a local marketing firm to film some short videos with a couple of hosts and start a channel on YouTube for consumption. We did quite a few videos together around town to promote various things. After a few months I started watching the viewing numbers and they just weren't there. This was the YouTube of maybe ten years ago so it was a bit more primitive than it is today but I also knew the videos would soon be coming to an end because the KPI just wasn't favorable anymore. In today's more modern YouTube we could have done a lot of different things and gotten a lot of subs and views but it was a lot of fun for a while!
Well my friends this should complete the assignment and look for another blog post coming this week as my other course, Consumer Behavior requires one as well! So stay tuned! Same BluChannel, Same BluTime, by the Same Blugill!
This assignment if for Integrated Marketing, which so far has been a pretty interesting class even though it's only week three. I'm to describe SMART goals which stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Then write about what role they have in marketing campaigns.
Then in another prompt I'm to write about the difference between goals, strategies, and tactics.
Well let me begin by explaining the difference between goals, strategies, and tactics. The goal is what you get up in the morning for. It's the prize at the end of the rainbow, the surprise in the bottom of the cereal box. How do you get to this goal?
Through a strategy! A strategy is a road map to the goal. You'll have to eat all the cereal to get to the plastic diving submarine that's powered by baking soda. If it's a huge box you'll need a tactic to get through the road map faster! This is where tactics come into play, it's how you get over the obstacles in order to implement your strategy to get to your goal!
So in this example you'll open your box of Lucky Charms to get to the submarine (goal) then you've got the problem of going through all the cereal because Mom won't let you have the toy until all the cereal is gone (strategy). So you've got an obstacle to overcome (tactic) and recruit your little brother to eat as much cereal as he can while you eat the rest! BOOM! Goal, Strategy, and Tactics accomplished and now you've got the baking soda powered submarine in your hands and ready for bath time!
You can map out your strategy a bit more by using the SMART acronym to help you out!
If your strategy specific? Yes! You need the toy!
Is your strategy measurable? Yes! You seen a known quantity of cereal to be consumed before getting to your toy!
Is your strategy attainable? Absolutely! You can practically see the little green submarine wrapped in clear plastic!
Is your strategy realistic? Sure is! You could cheat and reach into the box and get it but Mom is watching soooo, you got to play it straight!
Is your strategy timely? Yes! The box isn't the Grand Canyon! It's a cereal box and in a few short mornings your goal will be accomplished!
My next prompt is to explain how marketing tactics align with strategies! This is actually pretty easy if you think about it! So say you've got a client and that wants a thousand new clients knocking on their door in a year. They are a new business and have no client base at all.
They call you up and explain what they are after. You device a strategy of gaining your new client a thousand new clients! You do a SWOT, you find out what they are selling and who would benefit from what they are selling, in short you find the target audience that your client is after. Once you determine that audience you devise your tactics!
So perhaps your target demographic is aged eighteen to thirty nine, male and female. So you know people of this age group are pretty tech savvy and feel like an organic social media campaign is the way to go but you don't want to put all your eggs in that basket completely. This is where you also think about radio ads to reach your audience for example. Just to make give your client added value you also start a Facebook ad buy! You are confident in the next year these tactics will fulfill the strategy and accomplish the goal of gaining your client a thousand new clients!
What is also very important about all three of these advertising channels is that they are measurable using key performance indicators or KPI for short. KPI is likes on Facebook, or as you sift through the click through numbers on your ad buy, you can tell exactly how many people are seeing the new ads and who is clicking and how much time they are spending on your client's site.
This is just one form of a myriad of indicators such as subscribers on YouTube, Follows on Twitter, impressions, click through rates, ratings from radio advertisements, and a hundred more measurable indicators to tell exactly how you are reaching your audience. This is important as you might not be gaining any traction from one channel and can save money there by taking those resources to another channel that's got more promising indicators!
This is how tactics align with a strategy in marketing!
A few years ago I was hired by a local marketing firm to film some short videos with a couple of hosts and start a channel on YouTube for consumption. We did quite a few videos together around town to promote various things. After a few months I started watching the viewing numbers and they just weren't there. This was the YouTube of maybe ten years ago so it was a bit more primitive than it is today but I also knew the videos would soon be coming to an end because the KPI just wasn't favorable anymore. In today's more modern YouTube we could have done a lot of different things and gotten a lot of subs and views but it was a lot of fun for a while!
Well my friends this should complete the assignment and look for another blog post coming this week as my other course, Consumer Behavior requires one as well! So stay tuned! Same BluChannel, Same BluTime, by the Same Blugill!
Wednesday, July 11, 2018
Under Armour's Marketing Armor
My long time friends and readers that have joined me on my quest that began in 2015 to earn my bachelor's degree have noticed that from time to time I post updates in my blog. These updates are usually assignments or random musings when the need strikes to me extrapolate some random thought into typed words such as my last post, "The Beauty in Mediocrity."
This post will be assignment related and deals with the sports apparel company Under Armour and their woman focused "I Will What I Want" campaign from 2014. Following on the heels of an Adidas campaign that marketed to females "Unite All Originals" that failed to register much of a blip in sales, Under Armour decided to try to market their products to women which accounted for less than 25% of their total sales.
Both campaigns were social media focused with YouTube being the main method of delivery. Under Armour focused on an unusual athlete, Misty Copeland, a ballerina. She reads a rejection letter from a top school while the camera focuses on a powerful performance on stage that would put my middle aged and formerly athletic body in traction for a month. The ad was an instant success with four million views in the first week.
By contrast the Adidas ad was loud, unfocused, and frenetic. There were more men in the commercial than women which was counter to their intent to market to females. Compared to the peacefully scored piano piece that contrasted with the rejection letter and powerful physical performance it was easy to see what Adidas failed to garner sales. They might as well have set their marketing budget on fire and at least they could have roasted hot dogs with it.
Under Armour stayed on target with their intentions to market towards females. Every piece of their ad set meshed with every part. Their message was clear while Adidas' message was muddled at best. Their segmentation focused on athletic females that might not be perceived as athletic. More along the lines of the everyday female athlete that might go to the gym a few days per week.
When you market to a segment, you've got to actually keep them in mind and not throw frenetic images on a wall and see what sticks. How did Adidas believe such a campaign to move the sales needle after a very muddy message? I wanted to shut it off after the first thirty seconds but did my due diligence and stuck it out until the end and came away thinking "WHAT WAS THAT?!"
Segmentation marketing is around us on a daily basis. Web searches create patterns in what you look for, ad sets are matched to your searches, you see products that are then marketed towards your segment. If I search for concealed carry holsters for example, I'll start to see different brands pop up on the sides where the ads are on websites I visit. That means someone created an ad set that was looking for your segment of the population with your interests and has a product they want you to see and purchase.
The rubric asks me to identify a marketing segment I've noticed and how I would market towards that segment. This is very easy! Free to play games has got to be one of the most easily identifiable segment in today's world! You can't get away from ads for Candy Crush, Boom Beach, Viking Kingdom of the Lost World of Titans or whatever such bland titles they come up with next. The reality is these games are everywhere.
It's brilliant actually, they know everyone and their dog has a mobile device. They know you will be looking at it constantly. They also know for Millennials being bored for more than two seconds is like death to them. However give someone constant affirmation in the form of a game, pleasant sounds, and constant rewards and they have you hooked. Micro transactions will eat into your budget quickly but these aren't mentioned much in the marketing design.
The marketing for such a game writes itself. Segment the Millennials born between 1994 and 2004, both male and female. Appeal to your segment with your product as THE boredom killer. Post game play videos on Instagram and YouTube where the focus isn't on the screen but the happiness of the player's face that is playing the game to create curiosity. The game play would never be shown in an ad as they are typically the same game in different skins with the same mechanics but focus on what the player is feeling and not what they are doing. That's how I'd create an a segmentation strategy.
This post will be assignment related and deals with the sports apparel company Under Armour and their woman focused "I Will What I Want" campaign from 2014. Following on the heels of an Adidas campaign that marketed to females "Unite All Originals" that failed to register much of a blip in sales, Under Armour decided to try to market their products to women which accounted for less than 25% of their total sales.
Both campaigns were social media focused with YouTube being the main method of delivery. Under Armour focused on an unusual athlete, Misty Copeland, a ballerina. She reads a rejection letter from a top school while the camera focuses on a powerful performance on stage that would put my middle aged and formerly athletic body in traction for a month. The ad was an instant success with four million views in the first week.
By contrast the Adidas ad was loud, unfocused, and frenetic. There were more men in the commercial than women which was counter to their intent to market to females. Compared to the peacefully scored piano piece that contrasted with the rejection letter and powerful physical performance it was easy to see what Adidas failed to garner sales. They might as well have set their marketing budget on fire and at least they could have roasted hot dogs with it.
Under Armour stayed on target with their intentions to market towards females. Every piece of their ad set meshed with every part. Their message was clear while Adidas' message was muddled at best. Their segmentation focused on athletic females that might not be perceived as athletic. More along the lines of the everyday female athlete that might go to the gym a few days per week.
When you market to a segment, you've got to actually keep them in mind and not throw frenetic images on a wall and see what sticks. How did Adidas believe such a campaign to move the sales needle after a very muddy message? I wanted to shut it off after the first thirty seconds but did my due diligence and stuck it out until the end and came away thinking "WHAT WAS THAT?!"
Segmentation marketing is around us on a daily basis. Web searches create patterns in what you look for, ad sets are matched to your searches, you see products that are then marketed towards your segment. If I search for concealed carry holsters for example, I'll start to see different brands pop up on the sides where the ads are on websites I visit. That means someone created an ad set that was looking for your segment of the population with your interests and has a product they want you to see and purchase.
The rubric asks me to identify a marketing segment I've noticed and how I would market towards that segment. This is very easy! Free to play games has got to be one of the most easily identifiable segment in today's world! You can't get away from ads for Candy Crush, Boom Beach, Viking Kingdom of the Lost World of Titans or whatever such bland titles they come up with next. The reality is these games are everywhere.
It's brilliant actually, they know everyone and their dog has a mobile device. They know you will be looking at it constantly. They also know for Millennials being bored for more than two seconds is like death to them. However give someone constant affirmation in the form of a game, pleasant sounds, and constant rewards and they have you hooked. Micro transactions will eat into your budget quickly but these aren't mentioned much in the marketing design.
The marketing for such a game writes itself. Segment the Millennials born between 1994 and 2004, both male and female. Appeal to your segment with your product as THE boredom killer. Post game play videos on Instagram and YouTube where the focus isn't on the screen but the happiness of the player's face that is playing the game to create curiosity. The game play would never be shown in an ad as they are typically the same game in different skins with the same mechanics but focus on what the player is feeling and not what they are doing. That's how I'd create an a segmentation strategy.
Wednesday, July 04, 2018
The Beauty in Mediocrity
One of my favorite quotes is, "No one in the world gets what they want, and that is beautiful." I first read it in Ready Player One but I believe it's attributed to another author.
I'm more of a destination guy than a journey guy. I've always wanted to get to the next thing as I discussed in my last post. The next level, the next payday, the next milestone.
I'm also an advocate of Americana. The American Dream, the great American novel, small town living where people aren't anonymous but recognize each other and form circles of friends. They form extended families apart from the family they were born to but also keep sacred the family they were born to.
When I was a kid I wanted my own place. A place where I could do what I pleased. A man and his castle with a truck where I could go where I pleased when he pleased. I never realized being an adult was such a pain though. Life kicks you around, grinds you down, takes your dreams and laughs at them and eventually you strive for the simple things and are happy about it.
You work. You look forward to the next three day weekend, Friday is a little easier, Monday or Tuesday a little tougher and Thursday is trash day. Some days you have nothing to look forward to. You have nothing to excite you and some days you forget the last time you were passionate about something, anything. That's the daily grind most of us live through while possibly looking forward towards a well planned vacation someday, a brief respite before going back to the grind.
John Cougar Mellencamp sang in arguably one of his top three songs in his career, Jack and Diane, "Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone." Mellencamp seemed to tap into the feelings of middle America. Fly over country, exclusive of the coasts and where most Americans live their lives.
Finding a passion for something is essential, necessary, vital to living. Myself I've been passionate about many things but they fade over time and I move onto something else to occupy my time and build upon my experiences. Sometimes I love watching street cooking videos, stir fry being my favorite, and learn to replicate those recipes. Sometimes I hear about a brand of scotch that's got a new offering and try to find a bottle. Maybe someday I'll be interested in wood working and build a wood shop, I don't know but the possibility is there and that's exciting.
Yes, sometimes you find beauty in being average, living an average life and filling it with experiences that can be extraordinary....at least for a little while.
I'm more of a destination guy than a journey guy. I've always wanted to get to the next thing as I discussed in my last post. The next level, the next payday, the next milestone.
I'm also an advocate of Americana. The American Dream, the great American novel, small town living where people aren't anonymous but recognize each other and form circles of friends. They form extended families apart from the family they were born to but also keep sacred the family they were born to.
When I was a kid I wanted my own place. A place where I could do what I pleased. A man and his castle with a truck where I could go where I pleased when he pleased. I never realized being an adult was such a pain though. Life kicks you around, grinds you down, takes your dreams and laughs at them and eventually you strive for the simple things and are happy about it.
You work. You look forward to the next three day weekend, Friday is a little easier, Monday or Tuesday a little tougher and Thursday is trash day. Some days you have nothing to look forward to. You have nothing to excite you and some days you forget the last time you were passionate about something, anything. That's the daily grind most of us live through while possibly looking forward towards a well planned vacation someday, a brief respite before going back to the grind.
John Cougar Mellencamp sang in arguably one of his top three songs in his career, Jack and Diane, "Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone." Mellencamp seemed to tap into the feelings of middle America. Fly over country, exclusive of the coasts and where most Americans live their lives.
Finding a passion for something is essential, necessary, vital to living. Myself I've been passionate about many things but they fade over time and I move onto something else to occupy my time and build upon my experiences. Sometimes I love watching street cooking videos, stir fry being my favorite, and learn to replicate those recipes. Sometimes I hear about a brand of scotch that's got a new offering and try to find a bottle. Maybe someday I'll be interested in wood working and build a wood shop, I don't know but the possibility is there and that's exciting.
Yes, sometimes you find beauty in being average, living an average life and filling it with experiences that can be extraordinary....at least for a little while.
Consumer Me
In my new course, Consumer Behavior a blog post assignment is required. As you will remember this has been part of my college experience and I chose long ago to integrate my long time personal blog into these assignments.
In this assignment we are exploring me as a consumer and I must answer these following prompts:
In this assignment we are exploring me as a consumer and I must answer these following prompts:
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What type of consumer are you?I'm an impulse consumer. For example, I pretty much cook for myself now and go to the grocery store two to three times a week to buy something to cook, depending on my mood. Maybe one day it's a casserole, the next red beans and rice, grilling on the weekend. It all depends on what my current impulses are.
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What influences your buying decisions, and how?Easy, hunger and comfort are my biggest influences when purchasing something. I've been blue collar my entire working career and I feel I've worked pretty hard to get where I'm at in life and if I want to eat something such as rib-eye steak, I'll go get a really good one. If I'm wanting to see a certain movie to pass the time after the evening's homework is completed after work, then I'll buy it or maybe subscribe to a streaming channel that has it. Again impulse decisions that are influenced by two driving forces.
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Which stage actually leads to your purchasing decisions?Hunger or relaxation. When I'm out of something I'll go buy to refill it. I subscribe to a pet food service that sends regular shipments of foods that my pets enjoy so that is planned but saves me the time in the grocery store. Not to mention that I might go to buy more pet food and they might be out of that specific brand or flavor which would mean I'd have to go to another store to find what they like. It's very convenient to just have it delivered on a regular basis.
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When making a buying decision, how are you influenced by marketing research and marketing design?Most of the times I'm not easily influenced by marketing. I tend to read about a major purchase product before purchasing which I realize flies in the face of my earlier stated impulse consumer behavior. I tend to read reviews, watch unboxing videos, or consumer views on an expensive product before purchasing. None of that is generally part of the company's marketing plan as most reviewers are uncompensated.
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Do you experience any post-purchase behavior?Not so much although I'm not a big believer in recycling I have started saving my empty beer cans. I consume, move on and usually discard the packaging.
Thursday, May 31, 2018
When Does Being Mature Start?
Tonight I’m feeling some age. It’s always made me wonder why I always wanted to be older when I was young. I couldn’t wait to be a year older. I wanted the next milestone, the next grade, the driver’s license, the graduation, the drinking age.
When I was in elementary I wanted to be in high school, when I was in high school I wanted to be in my own and supporting myself. Now I want the next phase, whatever that may be. A new slate, a new career, a new X.
Meanwhile, in my thoughts I feel I’m always about twenty eight. I still game while talking comics with friends and maybe trying to gather another D&D group one day. I binge watch cartoons as a reward for finishing my week’s worth of homework each module, that makes me feel like I’m 8.
Once in a while life creeps up and tells me I’m older than I believe I am. My knees tell me I can’t bend that low anymore. The age in my eyes tells me maturity is only a state of mind while thinking maybe today that unexpected event happens and everything changes. One day it will.
The experienced part of me wonders how my carefully planned next four years will disappoint me and give me yet another spectacular failure seasoned with regrets. Twenty six years. June 15, 2018 is my twenty sixth year at my job which leaves me four years to go before I’m eligible for my pension. I’ve been counting this down since 2000 when we got the pension at work rather than an employer 401k contribution.
There’s so much to do and so little time.
When I was in elementary I wanted to be in high school, when I was in high school I wanted to be in my own and supporting myself. Now I want the next phase, whatever that may be. A new slate, a new career, a new X.
Meanwhile, in my thoughts I feel I’m always about twenty eight. I still game while talking comics with friends and maybe trying to gather another D&D group one day. I binge watch cartoons as a reward for finishing my week’s worth of homework each module, that makes me feel like I’m 8.
Once in a while life creeps up and tells me I’m older than I believe I am. My knees tell me I can’t bend that low anymore. The age in my eyes tells me maturity is only a state of mind while thinking maybe today that unexpected event happens and everything changes. One day it will.
The experienced part of me wonders how my carefully planned next four years will disappoint me and give me yet another spectacular failure seasoned with regrets. Twenty six years. June 15, 2018 is my twenty sixth year at my job which leaves me four years to go before I’m eligible for my pension. I’ve been counting this down since 2000 when we got the pension at work rather than an employer 401k contribution.
There’s so much to do and so little time.
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Lays Baked Sweet Potato Chips A.K.A My Marketing Research Class
Over the course of the past six weeks we have been working on a fictional product from a preselected list major companies. We were given the assignment to create this product and research it using various methods taught to us during the class.
The major company I chose was PepsiCo and the fictional product I came up with was Lays Baked Sweet Potato Chips! This is a growth area as I found out in my research, sweet potato recipes are becoming more common place rather than reserved for the Thanksgiving table in pie form.
Sweet potatoes are rich in many vitamins and minerals and a far healthier choice than the more common russet or golden varieties. Baking them rather than frying them in fat is an additional boost to the health conscious among the population is just an added bonus and would preserve many of the healthier benefits by not submerging them in vats of grease.
The trends I have found tend to make this more of a growth product. There are a couple of smaller potato chip companies that have made this in the traditional fried of kettle form but baked has been missed out on. Add to that no major company has a line of sweet potato chips, not Ruffles, not Pringle's, not Guy's. No one, which leaves a rather large market to be tapped by a national company.
My marketing strategy was to focus group the chips in their baked, fried, and kettle cooked formats and adding flavors such as BBQ, Ranch, etc. with the main flavor being plain and baked which is the idea. Testing to see how the various tweaks on the baked chip would work compared to the one variety that is the real idea.
Focus groups would be used in the southern states first where sweet potatoes are more common and harvested such as the Carolinas. Regional testing is essential as tastes and flavors change from state to state and region to region. Lays Baked Sweet Potato chips might fail in California but thrive in Florida, regional testing would help determine the size of the market.
Smaller markets would be chosen such as quick shops and maybe a chain of grocery stores and sales would be measured until a big enough sampling size could be determined as accurate. The sampling size would be one of the more easier of the products I've read about as it would be anyone that has eaten or would eat a potato chip! That's pretty much everyone in the United States.
This proposed marketing strategy aligns perfectly with any legal or ethical concerns, there are no sweat shops to be concerned about, there are no import tariffs as sweet potatoes are heavily grown in North Carolina. The only concern would be for a fair price to the farms that produced the sweet potato which a buyer on the scale of Lays is used to negotiating prices and contracts for delivery.
I have not encountered many limitations for the idea of marketing proposal of this product. On the contrary, it's been one of the more enjoyable classes I've had as I work towards my degree! Way better than Business Systems and Design which left me with a rather poor teacher. That was the worst experience I've had since I started back to school in 2015! This is the complete opposite of that experience! This class has been faced paced and enjoyable! I've found myself at work thinking about how I would market this product if I really were in charge of such a thing at PepsiCo and what I would do to ensure a successful marketing strategy!
The major company I chose was PepsiCo and the fictional product I came up with was Lays Baked Sweet Potato Chips! This is a growth area as I found out in my research, sweet potato recipes are becoming more common place rather than reserved for the Thanksgiving table in pie form.
Sweet potatoes are rich in many vitamins and minerals and a far healthier choice than the more common russet or golden varieties. Baking them rather than frying them in fat is an additional boost to the health conscious among the population is just an added bonus and would preserve many of the healthier benefits by not submerging them in vats of grease.
The trends I have found tend to make this more of a growth product. There are a couple of smaller potato chip companies that have made this in the traditional fried of kettle form but baked has been missed out on. Add to that no major company has a line of sweet potato chips, not Ruffles, not Pringle's, not Guy's. No one, which leaves a rather large market to be tapped by a national company.
My marketing strategy was to focus group the chips in their baked, fried, and kettle cooked formats and adding flavors such as BBQ, Ranch, etc. with the main flavor being plain and baked which is the idea. Testing to see how the various tweaks on the baked chip would work compared to the one variety that is the real idea.
Focus groups would be used in the southern states first where sweet potatoes are more common and harvested such as the Carolinas. Regional testing is essential as tastes and flavors change from state to state and region to region. Lays Baked Sweet Potato chips might fail in California but thrive in Florida, regional testing would help determine the size of the market.
Smaller markets would be chosen such as quick shops and maybe a chain of grocery stores and sales would be measured until a big enough sampling size could be determined as accurate. The sampling size would be one of the more easier of the products I've read about as it would be anyone that has eaten or would eat a potato chip! That's pretty much everyone in the United States.
This proposed marketing strategy aligns perfectly with any legal or ethical concerns, there are no sweat shops to be concerned about, there are no import tariffs as sweet potatoes are heavily grown in North Carolina. The only concern would be for a fair price to the farms that produced the sweet potato which a buyer on the scale of Lays is used to negotiating prices and contracts for delivery.
I have not encountered many limitations for the idea of marketing proposal of this product. On the contrary, it's been one of the more enjoyable classes I've had as I work towards my degree! Way better than Business Systems and Design which left me with a rather poor teacher. That was the worst experience I've had since I started back to school in 2015! This is the complete opposite of that experience! This class has been faced paced and enjoyable! I've found myself at work thinking about how I would market this product if I really were in charge of such a thing at PepsiCo and what I would do to ensure a successful marketing strategy!
Monday, January 08, 2018
I'm Digging The Blog Assignments!
Well here we are again! I've got another assignment in my quest to earn my bachelor's degree in marketing that requires a blog post! This is the kind of assignment I can handle, if only every course had a similar requirement.
Alas, my current course is Marketing Research or MKT 337 in technical academia slang. My goal is to chose a Fortune 500 company from an approved list and create a product idea for launch.
Well friends I have chosen PepsiCo. Those of you who know me know that I used to be a Coke man until I suffered just north of 20 kidney stones over fifteen years and since then I've drank around a gallon of water each day to stave off such nonsense. The past year however I have become an avid ice tea drinker and rarely touch any kind of pop anymore.
PepsiCo is a strong company with worldwide brand recognition. They own Lays potato chips which is important because my product will be Lays Baked Sweet Potato Chips to capitalize on this health crazed country in which we reside.
The Lays brand has been known in the last several years to have fans vote on unusual potato chip flavors such as Southern Biscuits and Gravy, Sriracha, Wasabi, and many more. They are limited edition chips and never added to the permanent product line. I have not seen a chip made by Lays out of sweet potatoes, let alone in the baked variety. I believe it would be a natural combination of sweet and savory in chip form and would fit hand in glove with how Lays has been market testing fan voted flavors to push the envelope in snack design. They've become known for adventurous flavors and this should be no different.
With the healthy main ingredient of sweet potatoes over the traditional russet and baked rather than deep fat fried, Lays Baked Sweet Potato Chips would appeal to the health conscious consumer that tends to work out rather than become couch potatoes. A large segment of the population is obsessed with healthy eating decisions but I'm sure like anyone, they crave a good chip from time to time! I can see potential value in a healthy chip!
To research this product I would look at surveys and focus group testing variations of sweet potato varieties, and see how they perform. This would be a fun endeavor indeed!
Alas, my current course is Marketing Research or MKT 337 in technical academia slang. My goal is to chose a Fortune 500 company from an approved list and create a product idea for launch.
Well friends I have chosen PepsiCo. Those of you who know me know that I used to be a Coke man until I suffered just north of 20 kidney stones over fifteen years and since then I've drank around a gallon of water each day to stave off such nonsense. The past year however I have become an avid ice tea drinker and rarely touch any kind of pop anymore.
PepsiCo is a strong company with worldwide brand recognition. They own Lays potato chips which is important because my product will be Lays Baked Sweet Potato Chips to capitalize on this health crazed country in which we reside.
The Lays brand has been known in the last several years to have fans vote on unusual potato chip flavors such as Southern Biscuits and Gravy, Sriracha, Wasabi, and many more. They are limited edition chips and never added to the permanent product line. I have not seen a chip made by Lays out of sweet potatoes, let alone in the baked variety. I believe it would be a natural combination of sweet and savory in chip form and would fit hand in glove with how Lays has been market testing fan voted flavors to push the envelope in snack design. They've become known for adventurous flavors and this should be no different.
With the healthy main ingredient of sweet potatoes over the traditional russet and baked rather than deep fat fried, Lays Baked Sweet Potato Chips would appeal to the health conscious consumer that tends to work out rather than become couch potatoes. A large segment of the population is obsessed with healthy eating decisions but I'm sure like anyone, they crave a good chip from time to time! I can see potential value in a healthy chip!
To research this product I would look at surveys and focus group testing variations of sweet potato varieties, and see how they perform. This would be a fun endeavor indeed!
Tuesday, December 19, 2017
Hooked on Hallmark
Since October 27 I've been watching a lot of Hallmark Christmas movies. This is one crazy world, fast paced, angry, sometimes brutal. This world can be cold and uncaring, kicking you to the curb faster than you can get up and dust yourself off.
Hallmark hit on something, I'm not sure when the Countdown To Christmas began with the marathon of Christmas movies, a mix of premiers for the year and movies from previous years, but it's amazing.
I think of it as a lighthouse in a hurricane when the world feels like it's falling apart. Yes the story lines are simple and all formulaic but popular tropes are popular for a reason. Yes there are maybe 50 actors that reappear in all of the movies. Yes they all have happy endings. Yes they all make you feel good and most importantly they all give you an escape from the world for a bit.
Someone is grumpy at the start and happy by the time the credits roll, simple as that and you're missing out if you can't find a little joy in something simple like that.
Contentment has been a theme in my life lately. What is it to me, what will bring me a sense of peace and quiet in my head, and what steps do I take to feel contentment? You'll recall I'm working on my bachelor's degree and have been since 2015. Well I'd like to report I've got seven terms left! To break it down a little bit there are six terms in my school year so I'll finish in the first term of 2019!
After that my next goal will be to get my thirty years in at work, after that I'll be pension eligible! That will happen in June 2022. I'll have a steady and guaranteed income for the rest of my life and then I'll have a lot of options open to me! My mortgage will be paid off, most of my bills will be done and over with in fact! I'll truly be very free in a very real sense of the word!
So what do you do when you've got that kind of freedom open to you?
I don't know yet. I've been kicking around some ideas. I'd like to find contentment for sure but what is that exactly? How do you know? Is it long lasting or fleeting? I've been very content many times in my life thus far and sometimes it lasted for a long time but then it would end and would be followed by intense times of loneliness and loss. I'm somewhat content right now, just extremely busy with work and school but now I can see the very bright light at the end of the tunnel.
I'll have plenty of time after graduation to find out what I'm going to do with myself. We'll see what that looks like then but I'm excited for the future! I'm hoping for a Hallmark happy ending!
Merry Christmas!
Hallmark hit on something, I'm not sure when the Countdown To Christmas began with the marathon of Christmas movies, a mix of premiers for the year and movies from previous years, but it's amazing.
I think of it as a lighthouse in a hurricane when the world feels like it's falling apart. Yes the story lines are simple and all formulaic but popular tropes are popular for a reason. Yes there are maybe 50 actors that reappear in all of the movies. Yes they all have happy endings. Yes they all make you feel good and most importantly they all give you an escape from the world for a bit.
Someone is grumpy at the start and happy by the time the credits roll, simple as that and you're missing out if you can't find a little joy in something simple like that.
Contentment has been a theme in my life lately. What is it to me, what will bring me a sense of peace and quiet in my head, and what steps do I take to feel contentment? You'll recall I'm working on my bachelor's degree and have been since 2015. Well I'd like to report I've got seven terms left! To break it down a little bit there are six terms in my school year so I'll finish in the first term of 2019!
After that my next goal will be to get my thirty years in at work, after that I'll be pension eligible! That will happen in June 2022. I'll have a steady and guaranteed income for the rest of my life and then I'll have a lot of options open to me! My mortgage will be paid off, most of my bills will be done and over with in fact! I'll truly be very free in a very real sense of the word!
So what do you do when you've got that kind of freedom open to you?
I don't know yet. I've been kicking around some ideas. I'd like to find contentment for sure but what is that exactly? How do you know? Is it long lasting or fleeting? I've been very content many times in my life thus far and sometimes it lasted for a long time but then it would end and would be followed by intense times of loneliness and loss. I'm somewhat content right now, just extremely busy with work and school but now I can see the very bright light at the end of the tunnel.
I'll have plenty of time after graduation to find out what I'm going to do with myself. We'll see what that looks like then but I'm excited for the future! I'm hoping for a Hallmark happy ending!
Merry Christmas!
Thursday, November 23, 2017
Happy Thanksgiving!
Well now, let's see what I've got to tell and what you wanna know!
I'm about a year and a half away from graduating from Southern New Hampshire University. Yeah I know it's a Northeastern university but it's got southern in the title so....I'm earning it you Yankees!
Second I've spent a beautiful day with my family and daughters! I started to brine the turkey yesterday around 9 A.M. and got it on the grill at 7 this morning. Yeah, I'm still a badass cook, don't forget it! Great Thanksgiving! Both Things 1 & 2 came up to spend it with me and their extended family. I know soon it'll be a very rare occurrence when we are all together at one time so I'm savoring all the time I can get with them.
Ok, something pretty much only two of you know, I've developed a taste for beer. Yeah I know....go figure. Ok, here's the story. Once I started taking classes in the evening I'd have a hard time destressing from my job. I'd have a hard time concentrating on the materials I needed to study so I decided to go to my go to which is a scotch with a couple of cubes of ice, however the problem started when I found out after one or two of those, well, I didn't care about homework anymore! On a particularly stiflingly hot day after work, I walked back to the coolers in my local quick shop for a coke and picked out a couple of beers instead.
Yeah, I could destress and STILL do homework after one or two beers! Well the next dilemma was to find a flavor that I could handle. If you'll recall I got very drunk/sick on beer at the tender age of 19 and rarely, and I mean VERY rarely drank beer since. So I started sampling beers and found a couple I can handle and actually enjoy!
I settled on Pabst (The beer of the blue collars, screw the hipsters!!!! They corrupt everything!) and regular Budweiser. These are pretty much what beer should taste like and after a long day at work with a long night of homework lined up, a PBR tastes as sweet as anything I've ever had before! I've been consistently having one or two so I'm able to read what I've got to read, write what I've got to write, forget where I work, and move on to the next day.
Well, let's see what else you'd be interested in dear reader, I made a 152 song playlist on Spotify from 70's country hits, one of my favorite genres. I've told you about my dad being a truck driver and how that's what we listened to when he would take me on the road with him once in a while! Yeah, give me a 70's country song title and I'll give you the artist and likely lyrics! Test me sometime, I dare ya.
Now I'm really into watching the Hallmark channel's Countdown to Christmas marathon when I'm not working or doing homework. What a great thing Hallmark has done here. Nothing but formulaic movies with happy endings, standard tropes, and leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy by the end. What more could you really ask for? If you haven't seen it, check it out. It's really something to make you feel good when this crazy world has got you down.
The Thunder seem to perhaps be getting their chemistry together! I've been a Thunder fan since year one, I've still got a magnetic schedule inside my locker at work from the first year. It's pretty special though to me, my mom and I text back and forth during the games. Something we've really enjoyed over the years and believe me, she knows the NBA very well. She's been watching almost every NBA game she can over the past three seasons so I bought her the League Pass so she could watch any game she wanted and she does! She probably watches on average two games every evening.
I know I've not updated my blog on a regular basis, I apologize for that. I write so much for classes that I really don't want to write much else but I've been on vacation for a couple of weeks and go back to work on Monday. I've got some stuff to say.
I'm about a year and a half away from graduating from Southern New Hampshire University. Yeah I know it's a Northeastern university but it's got southern in the title so....I'm earning it you Yankees!
Second I've spent a beautiful day with my family and daughters! I started to brine the turkey yesterday around 9 A.M. and got it on the grill at 7 this morning. Yeah, I'm still a badass cook, don't forget it! Great Thanksgiving! Both Things 1 & 2 came up to spend it with me and their extended family. I know soon it'll be a very rare occurrence when we are all together at one time so I'm savoring all the time I can get with them.
Ok, something pretty much only two of you know, I've developed a taste for beer. Yeah I know....go figure. Ok, here's the story. Once I started taking classes in the evening I'd have a hard time destressing from my job. I'd have a hard time concentrating on the materials I needed to study so I decided to go to my go to which is a scotch with a couple of cubes of ice, however the problem started when I found out after one or two of those, well, I didn't care about homework anymore! On a particularly stiflingly hot day after work, I walked back to the coolers in my local quick shop for a coke and picked out a couple of beers instead.
Yeah, I could destress and STILL do homework after one or two beers! Well the next dilemma was to find a flavor that I could handle. If you'll recall I got very drunk/sick on beer at the tender age of 19 and rarely, and I mean VERY rarely drank beer since. So I started sampling beers and found a couple I can handle and actually enjoy!
I settled on Pabst (The beer of the blue collars, screw the hipsters!!!! They corrupt everything!) and regular Budweiser. These are pretty much what beer should taste like and after a long day at work with a long night of homework lined up, a PBR tastes as sweet as anything I've ever had before! I've been consistently having one or two so I'm able to read what I've got to read, write what I've got to write, forget where I work, and move on to the next day.
Well, let's see what else you'd be interested in dear reader, I made a 152 song playlist on Spotify from 70's country hits, one of my favorite genres. I've told you about my dad being a truck driver and how that's what we listened to when he would take me on the road with him once in a while! Yeah, give me a 70's country song title and I'll give you the artist and likely lyrics! Test me sometime, I dare ya.
Now I'm really into watching the Hallmark channel's Countdown to Christmas marathon when I'm not working or doing homework. What a great thing Hallmark has done here. Nothing but formulaic movies with happy endings, standard tropes, and leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy by the end. What more could you really ask for? If you haven't seen it, check it out. It's really something to make you feel good when this crazy world has got you down.
The Thunder seem to perhaps be getting their chemistry together! I've been a Thunder fan since year one, I've still got a magnetic schedule inside my locker at work from the first year. It's pretty special though to me, my mom and I text back and forth during the games. Something we've really enjoyed over the years and believe me, she knows the NBA very well. She's been watching almost every NBA game she can over the past three seasons so I bought her the League Pass so she could watch any game she wanted and she does! She probably watches on average two games every evening.
I know I've not updated my blog on a regular basis, I apologize for that. I write so much for classes that I really don't want to write much else but I've been on vacation for a couple of weeks and go back to work on Monday. I've got some stuff to say.
Saturday, August 12, 2017
The Influencers of Marketing
This week one of my assignments is to read a 60 Minutes story on social media marketers and how they are a driving force in today's world. Television marketers are becoming more and more nervous as streaming services with zero commercials or full on DVR functions that allow subscribers to skip through commercials become prevalent in the cord cutting movement. This means that there is more competition for the advertising dollar in places where the message of a company can be seen.
The evolution of this has been a rise in online advertisers and people with large online followings that are called influencers. Instagram is a huge platform for influencers to drive traffic to products that they enjoy themselves or for companies that pay them for a shout out. This can drive a large amount of traffic to a site in a very economical way.
I myself purchased a marketing course for physical products and one part of the course was how to use Instagram to drive traffic to your product. For example you can have an influencer shout out your product for a hundred dollars to his followers which might number in the tens of thousands.
If your product is shown to ten thousand prospective buyers and you get only 3% in sales, that's 300 buyers for a successful ad buy. To take this a bit further in how lucrative it can be consider your product costs 1 buck and you sell it for 3. That's 900 gross sales and you subtract 300 for your cost, and 100 for the shout out for a total profit of 500 dollars. Now if you can do that every week, well that's more pay than a minimum wage (7.25 per) job working 40 hours which would be a mere 290 dollars.
Now you can play around with that simple model as much as you wish but that's how influencers work on a basic level. Now larger influencers with millions of followers are more expensive and smaller influencers in more of a niche market are cheaper. It really depends on what you want to sell and in what market your niche is in.
I firmly believe it's too early in this evolution to predict where this type of marketing will wind up and how larger companies will find a way to move away from an uncertain future in TV to an increasingly online form of entertainment. It'll be an interesting evolution to watch and pay attention to being a marketing student and all!
The evolution of this has been a rise in online advertisers and people with large online followings that are called influencers. Instagram is a huge platform for influencers to drive traffic to products that they enjoy themselves or for companies that pay them for a shout out. This can drive a large amount of traffic to a site in a very economical way.
I myself purchased a marketing course for physical products and one part of the course was how to use Instagram to drive traffic to your product. For example you can have an influencer shout out your product for a hundred dollars to his followers which might number in the tens of thousands.
If your product is shown to ten thousand prospective buyers and you get only 3% in sales, that's 300 buyers for a successful ad buy. To take this a bit further in how lucrative it can be consider your product costs 1 buck and you sell it for 3. That's 900 gross sales and you subtract 300 for your cost, and 100 for the shout out for a total profit of 500 dollars. Now if you can do that every week, well that's more pay than a minimum wage (7.25 per) job working 40 hours which would be a mere 290 dollars.
Now you can play around with that simple model as much as you wish but that's how influencers work on a basic level. Now larger influencers with millions of followers are more expensive and smaller influencers in more of a niche market are cheaper. It really depends on what you want to sell and in what market your niche is in.
I firmly believe it's too early in this evolution to predict where this type of marketing will wind up and how larger companies will find a way to move away from an uncertain future in TV to an increasingly online form of entertainment. It'll be an interesting evolution to watch and pay attention to being a marketing student and all!
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Interactive TV
Where once a giant stood and spoke to you while you listened, now you can have a dialogue. Back in the day radio was king. Radio was how everyone was connected and kept informed of what was happening around the world.
You could hear today's news as it happened in some cases like the Hindenburg disaster which you can still listen to today. Even during the great depression the radio industry was strong and FDR started his Fireside Chats to talk directly to the American people without the media filter.
Then TV came along and a new form of entertainment was born. You could watch the people that were once just voices to you. Networks expanded their reach to cover the entire continental U.S. and eventually there was a TV in every home. Then the next big revolutions, color TV, cable TV, satellite TV, HDTV, and then smart TVs with streaming services built in.
What's left? Interactive TV. There have been some good experiments in refining the interactive TV experience since the widespread roll out of broadband internet. Back over a decade ago I remember watching the first season of Big Brother online and chatting with other viewers about what was happening. That was a great experience and then they started charging a subscription price and I lost interest quickly. It was great though as you could switch between cameras and see unfiltered what was happening in the house.
Since then (and thanks to an extended writer's strike) reality TV has found a place in American pop culture, much to my dismay and is here to stay. Networks started to build shows from the ground up with interactivity in mind coupled with the internet experience. Then then the next big evolution happened, social media became a thing. From the early days of MySpace to Facebook and Twitter to Instagram, producers started to utilize social media to have an effect in how the show would happen.
The Voice, a show I have never nor will never watch, was one such show. The producers coordinate with the talent, who then are interactive with the audience and on social media. All I really know about The Voice is that the chick that sings for No Doubt is dating a country singer and they are both judges. I've seen commercials and I'm more than familiar with the pop culture effect of the show and I can see that it's one of the more popular reality TV shows on today, where once American Idol reigned as king.
So if someone like me, that has no interest at all in such a show knows about it a little bit, they are doing a pretty good job. I do however have an interest in watching the evolution of entertainment and how interactive it is. After actually reading about what The Voice does that has pioneered a lot of interactivity, I'm not sure a media form exists yet that would be better. It seems to be the prime example of what to do right.
The Voice does so much with it's audience such as the instant save in which consumers are encouraged to tweet for their favorite. This engages audiences and creates the interactivity audiences will expect going forward.
I was once a firm believer in the idea that you didn't want to see your celebs in real life, you'd eventually learn that they were just people like you except everyone knew their name and everyone had a different expectation of what they'd be like in real life. All of which no one could live up to which lead to disappointment.
Today, if a celeb isn't interactive with their audience, you are disappointed. Tomorrow if a show isn't interactive with it's audience, you'll turn it off and find one where you are part of the experience. Where this leads in scripted shows is unclear but it's an evolution away from trying and a couple of failures away from succeeding and becoming groundbreaking.
Eventually you might see actual shows built for social media exclusively where audiences are the participants. Twitter for example, might give a task and then people tweet back their results of such a task for prizes. That platform has yet to be invented but you can imagine there are some producers out there that have been inventing and trying to make their shows as interactive as possible.
I for one, look forward to such a day!
You could hear today's news as it happened in some cases like the Hindenburg disaster which you can still listen to today. Even during the great depression the radio industry was strong and FDR started his Fireside Chats to talk directly to the American people without the media filter.
Then TV came along and a new form of entertainment was born. You could watch the people that were once just voices to you. Networks expanded their reach to cover the entire continental U.S. and eventually there was a TV in every home. Then the next big revolutions, color TV, cable TV, satellite TV, HDTV, and then smart TVs with streaming services built in.
What's left? Interactive TV. There have been some good experiments in refining the interactive TV experience since the widespread roll out of broadband internet. Back over a decade ago I remember watching the first season of Big Brother online and chatting with other viewers about what was happening. That was a great experience and then they started charging a subscription price and I lost interest quickly. It was great though as you could switch between cameras and see unfiltered what was happening in the house.
Since then (and thanks to an extended writer's strike) reality TV has found a place in American pop culture, much to my dismay and is here to stay. Networks started to build shows from the ground up with interactivity in mind coupled with the internet experience. Then then the next big evolution happened, social media became a thing. From the early days of MySpace to Facebook and Twitter to Instagram, producers started to utilize social media to have an effect in how the show would happen.
The Voice, a show I have never nor will never watch, was one such show. The producers coordinate with the talent, who then are interactive with the audience and on social media. All I really know about The Voice is that the chick that sings for No Doubt is dating a country singer and they are both judges. I've seen commercials and I'm more than familiar with the pop culture effect of the show and I can see that it's one of the more popular reality TV shows on today, where once American Idol reigned as king.
So if someone like me, that has no interest at all in such a show knows about it a little bit, they are doing a pretty good job. I do however have an interest in watching the evolution of entertainment and how interactive it is. After actually reading about what The Voice does that has pioneered a lot of interactivity, I'm not sure a media form exists yet that would be better. It seems to be the prime example of what to do right.
The Voice does so much with it's audience such as the instant save in which consumers are encouraged to tweet for their favorite. This engages audiences and creates the interactivity audiences will expect going forward.
I was once a firm believer in the idea that you didn't want to see your celebs in real life, you'd eventually learn that they were just people like you except everyone knew their name and everyone had a different expectation of what they'd be like in real life. All of which no one could live up to which lead to disappointment.
Today, if a celeb isn't interactive with their audience, you are disappointed. Tomorrow if a show isn't interactive with it's audience, you'll turn it off and find one where you are part of the experience. Where this leads in scripted shows is unclear but it's an evolution away from trying and a couple of failures away from succeeding and becoming groundbreaking.
Eventually you might see actual shows built for social media exclusively where audiences are the participants. Twitter for example, might give a task and then people tweet back their results of such a task for prizes. That platform has yet to be invented but you can imagine there are some producers out there that have been inventing and trying to make their shows as interactive as possible.
I for one, look forward to such a day!
Wednesday, July 05, 2017
My Digital Life
Long time no blog!
For those of you who know me know that since early 2015 I've been going to college to get my degree, which I changed from game design to marketing. This is going to wind up being a long post so strap in dear readers. My plan was to learn a skill for my second career so I can supplement my pension in 2022 and quit my job of (at this time) 25 years.
I'll be getting into my assignment after I let all of my readers know how I got to where I got to;)
I started at Full Sail, which turned out being a fraud of a "school." Full Sail started out fairly promising for the first four classes which they call the core four. There was a lot of instructor interaction, live lectures, and questions were answered promptly.
After that it started to slide downhill. 99% of the material the instructors used was found on YouTube and you were given a discounted subscription to Lynda.com. No text books, digital or otherwise. Very little reading in fact was assigned. If you couldn't see it for free like the rest of the world on YouTube then I guess they figured you didn't need it. I got fed up with lazy instructors, bad assignments, finals that had nothing to do with whatever material I had watched on YouTube and a general attitude of self importance due to their hype machine.
So after looking around I found a better school, a not for profit school, that accepted all of my credits I had earned the past year and moved onto greener pastures. Full Sail was four times more expensive per month than my current university is (Southern New Hampshire U) per term! Yeah, it's crazy expensive.
I transferred and started classes early last year! After a few terms and getting into the game design part even more I found that it really wasn't the skill I was looking to learn. It's a super competitive market, pay is fairly low to medium, and you generally had to work at a company with resources to accomplish what you wanted to accomplish. Not exactly what I was wanting to do.
So I did some more research and found a lucrative field that was flexible enough to be used in a variety of ways! Marketing with a focus on social/digital media. This will be a degree I can use on my own and create digital products, I can contract with someone and work anywhere I choose as long as I have my laptop and internet connection. I can do any of a number of things where this degree will apply for me and supplement my future pension handsomely!
My first assignment is to create a blog, how little my fellow classmates know I've written this one over the span of more than a decade and even though it was dormant, I felt it might be time to awaken it once again, perhaps briefly, perhaps as I used to blog. A daily basis before work.
Let's see here:
1. What sites/applications do I visit most often? Describe them.
I use my email application the most on a daily basis. I check it constantly for new emails on a project I've been working on since February and is still in work.
Facebook was a site I used constantly until my divorce. I would look at it all day on my phone to see who was doing what. I caught onto the fact that it was nothing more than a voyeuristic practice to compare your life with your friend's lives to see who was winning, who was happy, who was sad, and who was getting by. It turned into a source of anxiousness over time and I quit cold turkey. It's still active but I rarely log onto it. So you can say I have a very negative reaction to Facebook and believe it'll eventually be replaced by something else in this digital trending world. Will it go the way of MySpace? I doubt it but I suppose it could.
I use the Twitter app a lot during the day to catch up on news from work. In the evenings I'm usually on the SNHU blackboard for a few hours per night. I try to do two to three hours of homework each night and make sure my assignments are good before I turn them in.
MMORPGs were a huge part of my life for maybe 12 years, from Everquest to WOW and dozens of games in between. That was a social way of adventuring together and forming "friendships" through a common cause and platform. Yeah at the end of the day none of it was real but for someone that could use social interaction without being social, it was perfect.
The shiny parts of the MMO have kind of faded since their heyday in the late 90's and 2000's as gamers have latched onto more niche games on the mobile platform and for a cheaper to free cost. They aren't required to wrap up a large amount of time to complete something and can quit anytime they need to and put it back into their pocket.
Digital media in marketing today is very much a growth industry and is practically dawn before a golden afternoon. Companies, particularly gaming companies, worked out a free model to play their games. However they do offer you ways to enhance your game playing time by offering powerups, time savers, extra lives, bonus levels, card packs, or any of a thousand different ways to support the game makers and the overhead of running the game itself. I've found that I've spent more money of "free" games than games I purchased outright! That's not uncommon either as one of my close friends and gaming buddies, Abostang has done the same!
This was a brilliant stroke of marketing! It is similar to the drug dealer's pitch, the first one is free! This also translates to subscription services. Remember when Netflix was just DVDs by mail and you got six with a coupon when you bought a new DVD player? Remember when Hulu was a way to catch up on the network shows from the previous evening? Now look at them! For a reasonable price per month, you have access to more entertainment than you could watch in a lifetime! Updated each and every month as well!
Overall once you learn that if you just enjoy a medium for what it is, the brief time passer, the movie in the minivan to keep the kids quiet, or the salvation from the realities of the daily grind, you find that you can live with it and your decisions and move on when you get bored with whatever is your distraction at the time.
So there I was in 2015. I had watched some streaming series on another Netflix binge and had finished it in record time. I asked myself if this is what I wanted to do every evening, come home, binge some show, go to bed, go to work, and do it again with weekends being reserved for the serious binging time. I had been a constant volunteer at my local community theatre for over seven years at that point and found myself burned out. No, I needed a challenge, to build my mind back up again instead of letting it atrophy in sitcoms.
What would I do....what indeed.....
For those of you who know me know that since early 2015 I've been going to college to get my degree, which I changed from game design to marketing. This is going to wind up being a long post so strap in dear readers. My plan was to learn a skill for my second career so I can supplement my pension in 2022 and quit my job of (at this time) 25 years.
I'll be getting into my assignment after I let all of my readers know how I got to where I got to;)
I started at Full Sail, which turned out being a fraud of a "school." Full Sail started out fairly promising for the first four classes which they call the core four. There was a lot of instructor interaction, live lectures, and questions were answered promptly.
After that it started to slide downhill. 99% of the material the instructors used was found on YouTube and you were given a discounted subscription to Lynda.com. No text books, digital or otherwise. Very little reading in fact was assigned. If you couldn't see it for free like the rest of the world on YouTube then I guess they figured you didn't need it. I got fed up with lazy instructors, bad assignments, finals that had nothing to do with whatever material I had watched on YouTube and a general attitude of self importance due to their hype machine.
So after looking around I found a better school, a not for profit school, that accepted all of my credits I had earned the past year and moved onto greener pastures. Full Sail was four times more expensive per month than my current university is (Southern New Hampshire U) per term! Yeah, it's crazy expensive.
I transferred and started classes early last year! After a few terms and getting into the game design part even more I found that it really wasn't the skill I was looking to learn. It's a super competitive market, pay is fairly low to medium, and you generally had to work at a company with resources to accomplish what you wanted to accomplish. Not exactly what I was wanting to do.
So I did some more research and found a lucrative field that was flexible enough to be used in a variety of ways! Marketing with a focus on social/digital media. This will be a degree I can use on my own and create digital products, I can contract with someone and work anywhere I choose as long as I have my laptop and internet connection. I can do any of a number of things where this degree will apply for me and supplement my future pension handsomely!
My first assignment is to create a blog, how little my fellow classmates know I've written this one over the span of more than a decade and even though it was dormant, I felt it might be time to awaken it once again, perhaps briefly, perhaps as I used to blog. A daily basis before work.
Let's see here:
1. What sites/applications do I visit most often? Describe them.
I use my email application the most on a daily basis. I check it constantly for new emails on a project I've been working on since February and is still in work.
Facebook was a site I used constantly until my divorce. I would look at it all day on my phone to see who was doing what. I caught onto the fact that it was nothing more than a voyeuristic practice to compare your life with your friend's lives to see who was winning, who was happy, who was sad, and who was getting by. It turned into a source of anxiousness over time and I quit cold turkey. It's still active but I rarely log onto it. So you can say I have a very negative reaction to Facebook and believe it'll eventually be replaced by something else in this digital trending world. Will it go the way of MySpace? I doubt it but I suppose it could.
I use the Twitter app a lot during the day to catch up on news from work. In the evenings I'm usually on the SNHU blackboard for a few hours per night. I try to do two to three hours of homework each night and make sure my assignments are good before I turn them in.
MMORPGs were a huge part of my life for maybe 12 years, from Everquest to WOW and dozens of games in between. That was a social way of adventuring together and forming "friendships" through a common cause and platform. Yeah at the end of the day none of it was real but for someone that could use social interaction without being social, it was perfect.
The shiny parts of the MMO have kind of faded since their heyday in the late 90's and 2000's as gamers have latched onto more niche games on the mobile platform and for a cheaper to free cost. They aren't required to wrap up a large amount of time to complete something and can quit anytime they need to and put it back into their pocket.
Digital media in marketing today is very much a growth industry and is practically dawn before a golden afternoon. Companies, particularly gaming companies, worked out a free model to play their games. However they do offer you ways to enhance your game playing time by offering powerups, time savers, extra lives, bonus levels, card packs, or any of a thousand different ways to support the game makers and the overhead of running the game itself. I've found that I've spent more money of "free" games than games I purchased outright! That's not uncommon either as one of my close friends and gaming buddies, Abostang has done the same!
This was a brilliant stroke of marketing! It is similar to the drug dealer's pitch, the first one is free! This also translates to subscription services. Remember when Netflix was just DVDs by mail and you got six with a coupon when you bought a new DVD player? Remember when Hulu was a way to catch up on the network shows from the previous evening? Now look at them! For a reasonable price per month, you have access to more entertainment than you could watch in a lifetime! Updated each and every month as well!
Overall once you learn that if you just enjoy a medium for what it is, the brief time passer, the movie in the minivan to keep the kids quiet, or the salvation from the realities of the daily grind, you find that you can live with it and your decisions and move on when you get bored with whatever is your distraction at the time.
So there I was in 2015. I had watched some streaming series on another Netflix binge and had finished it in record time. I asked myself if this is what I wanted to do every evening, come home, binge some show, go to bed, go to work, and do it again with weekends being reserved for the serious binging time. I had been a constant volunteer at my local community theatre for over seven years at that point and found myself burned out. No, I needed a challenge, to build my mind back up again instead of letting it atrophy in sitcoms.
What would I do....what indeed.....
Monday, July 22, 2013
I Hate Being An Ex Anything
So there I am, I'm watching YouTube videos and happen to run across videos I've shot myself. Yeah that happens when you log into your account.
I was watching Colder Weather and It's Been A While videos in their various forms, live, on screen lyrics, official, well you get the point when it dawned on me. Being an ex sucks.
An ex employee, an ex high school student, an ex youth. Yeah some people always think the future is brighter while some think of the past as the good ole' days.
I'm both.
I think the future is bright and I also long for the good ole' days but being an ex doesn't lend itself easily to either. It more easily lends itself to the present, the time being but without planning or without thought to the past.
My hopes lie in the future, my memories relish the past. One of the best times I've ever had was the big "Framily Christmas" I shared with my loved ones at Amy's house. That picture of us all on the staircase was truly a magnificent moment.
And yet, here I am, looking to the future but longing for the past. I cherish my daughters and tell them nearly every day I love them and that they make me one proud daddy. I look forward to holding my grandchildren and I look forward to many things that I can't even fathom at the moment.
I've got a tenacity in me, I'm a natural non-conformist. When someone tells me something, something inside my head asks an opposite question of "What if?" Most of the time I never voice it out loud but when it's overwhelming I do.
So yeah, sometimes I hate being an ex but there are things I'll never be an ex at.
I'm glad you know those things.
I was watching Colder Weather and It's Been A While videos in their various forms, live, on screen lyrics, official, well you get the point when it dawned on me. Being an ex sucks.
An ex employee, an ex high school student, an ex youth. Yeah some people always think the future is brighter while some think of the past as the good ole' days.
I'm both.
I think the future is bright and I also long for the good ole' days but being an ex doesn't lend itself easily to either. It more easily lends itself to the present, the time being but without planning or without thought to the past.
My hopes lie in the future, my memories relish the past. One of the best times I've ever had was the big "Framily Christmas" I shared with my loved ones at Amy's house. That picture of us all on the staircase was truly a magnificent moment.
And yet, here I am, looking to the future but longing for the past. I cherish my daughters and tell them nearly every day I love them and that they make me one proud daddy. I look forward to holding my grandchildren and I look forward to many things that I can't even fathom at the moment.
I've got a tenacity in me, I'm a natural non-conformist. When someone tells me something, something inside my head asks an opposite question of "What if?" Most of the time I never voice it out loud but when it's overwhelming I do.
So yeah, sometimes I hate being an ex but there are things I'll never be an ex at.
I'm glad you know those things.
Tuesday, June 04, 2013
Learning To Live Again
First of all I might as well cut to the chase. I'm now a divorced man. Any of you that know the both of us know this or have strongly suspected as much.
Second, I'd like to ask any of you that know the both of us to please not treat us any differently than you did while we were together. It wasn't our faults and it was both of our faults, we've both cried and accepted blame so please love us both as you did before this news. You won't hear me say a bad word towards her and if you do then please call me on it. I mean it.
Third, I've still got the two most incredible daughters in the world! Thing 1 has enrolled in college and when she walked across the graduation stage, well there wasn't a prouder daddy in the whole place, I promise!
Thing 2 is enjoying her time in Japan and without a doubt learning so much more through her experiences than most people her age. (I almost said the "T" word, teen, which she takes great offense to being referred to)
I love them deeply and without reservation. They've taught me so much about being a dad and are both truly the best things that have ever happened to me and I'm always grateful to her for sharing her daughters with me and that's the God's honest truth.
What's in my future? Well as I borrowed liberally from Garth Brooks in the title it's pretty accurate. I've got very little natural talent when it comes to writing or making things up so I've had to borrow the sentiment from a real artist with the creativity I lack but I've made some plans and just this week took the first step in that new journey. These plans are pretty broad and will take a few months to get accomplished but they will. I've come to some sort of peace, albeit uneasy at times, with myself.
I can't promise to update this blog as often as I did before but I'm going to try to get back into the morning writing groove again. It's a healthy habit that I've long been out of and I need that sort of outlet again for a while. It also plays a part of my future plans so I really need to get it going again.
It's a good habit, a healthy habit and I felt sharper when I did it daily.
Second, I'd like to ask any of you that know the both of us to please not treat us any differently than you did while we were together. It wasn't our faults and it was both of our faults, we've both cried and accepted blame so please love us both as you did before this news. You won't hear me say a bad word towards her and if you do then please call me on it. I mean it.
Third, I've still got the two most incredible daughters in the world! Thing 1 has enrolled in college and when she walked across the graduation stage, well there wasn't a prouder daddy in the whole place, I promise!
Thing 2 is enjoying her time in Japan and without a doubt learning so much more through her experiences than most people her age. (I almost said the "T" word, teen, which she takes great offense to being referred to)
I love them deeply and without reservation. They've taught me so much about being a dad and are both truly the best things that have ever happened to me and I'm always grateful to her for sharing her daughters with me and that's the God's honest truth.
What's in my future? Well as I borrowed liberally from Garth Brooks in the title it's pretty accurate. I've got very little natural talent when it comes to writing or making things up so I've had to borrow the sentiment from a real artist with the creativity I lack but I've made some plans and just this week took the first step in that new journey. These plans are pretty broad and will take a few months to get accomplished but they will. I've come to some sort of peace, albeit uneasy at times, with myself.
I can't promise to update this blog as often as I did before but I'm going to try to get back into the morning writing groove again. It's a healthy habit that I've long been out of and I need that sort of outlet again for a while. It also plays a part of my future plans so I really need to get it going again.
It's a good habit, a healthy habit and I felt sharper when I did it daily.
Monday, February 04, 2013
Good Game
Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday and while it looked like a blow out to start with the game turned around after a power failure and the Niners made it close. I turned it during the half time show as Beyonce was taking the stage, the puppy bowl seemed much more interesting and was.
Commercial wise it was decent. My favorite was a Paul Harvey essay on farmers during a truck commercial. I miss Paul Harvey, he seemed to be the everyman of his day. If Normal Rockwell was the painter of common everyday life then Paul Harvey was the philosopher of the common man.
I'm sure you can find the commercial on You Tube if not many of his essays. The one Rest of the Story that always sticks out to me was his story about Helen Keller who was a dedicated communist. We happened to have been studying Helen Keller in school during that time and I recorded it and brought it in to listen to. It had a shocking effect of disbelief as I recall. The teacher really didn't want to discuss it, I suspect she might have been a communist sympathizer. It was the only class I ever flunked in my school career.
I had forgotten all about that until I heard his voice during the commercial. Wow, what a memory. Funny how they come and go like that.
Commercial wise it was decent. My favorite was a Paul Harvey essay on farmers during a truck commercial. I miss Paul Harvey, he seemed to be the everyman of his day. If Normal Rockwell was the painter of common everyday life then Paul Harvey was the philosopher of the common man.
I'm sure you can find the commercial on You Tube if not many of his essays. The one Rest of the Story that always sticks out to me was his story about Helen Keller who was a dedicated communist. We happened to have been studying Helen Keller in school during that time and I recorded it and brought it in to listen to. It had a shocking effect of disbelief as I recall. The teacher really didn't want to discuss it, I suspect she might have been a communist sympathizer. It was the only class I ever flunked in my school career.
I had forgotten all about that until I heard his voice during the commercial. Wow, what a memory. Funny how they come and go like that.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
On The Way
Alright, the beta readers have been secured.
I hired a graphic artist after Thing 2 simply didn't have the time to do the work.
He happens to be the son of one of my cousins. So I'll still be paying family to handle the work. He's pretty darn good too!
When my beta readers give me their critiques I'll evaluate them and rewrite the first draft to a draft that's much better and ready for publishing! I should be able to have it ready by March if things go well.
This will be a fun chapter to write, so to speak and I'm excited about a few other stories I've got rolling around in my head!
I hired a graphic artist after Thing 2 simply didn't have the time to do the work.
He happens to be the son of one of my cousins. So I'll still be paying family to handle the work. He's pretty darn good too!
When my beta readers give me their critiques I'll evaluate them and rewrite the first draft to a draft that's much better and ready for publishing! I should be able to have it ready by March if things go well.
This will be a fun chapter to write, so to speak and I'm excited about a few other stories I've got rolling around in my head!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
I'm Back!
That's right, my project has come to fruition recently and now I've got the time and energy to blog once again. I stopped blogging months ago for a reason. I was going to write a novel.
I did.
I didn't have time in the mornings to write both a novel and come up with a daily blog post. To start with I purchased a book called 90 Day Novel: Unlocking The Story Within.
Following it to the letter, well for the most part, I wrote away. An extra hour each morning, mostly anyway. When I was writing heavy I could hit the two thousand word mark but mostly I averaged about thirteen hundred words a morning.
I'm aiming for the self published world as I'm not planning on making a career out of this and it's really the easiest way for family and friends to access my work should they be so kind.
I mean I could set at home and email out Word .doc files but really who's going to be interested other than family and friends? Most of them will be kind enough to download it and maybe read a chapter or two before giving up thus politely saying they enjoyed it.
Believe me I've got no illusions as to the worth of this novel however it's a story I wanted to tell. This will never be confused with the work of a real author, believe me. It's a lot of pop culture bantering and a fantastical setting that I feel I'd be comfortable in.
The characters are what I spent the most time developing and the story really takes a back seat to them. After rereading it I can say the ending felt a bit tacked on so I rewrote a bit of it and added some more stuff. I'm not sure if it worked well or not but that's not really up to me, I can say I'm happy with it though and really couldn't end it any other way with my characters and the situation they were in. Well in my view anyway, you may see it differently.
I've also got no illusions about the genre I chose. The Zombie Apocalypse genre is almost as overcrowded as the Vampire genre was in the mid-90's.
The format is always the same though:
1. Unassuming, innocent day.
2. People get sick.
3. Sick people bite more people.
4. Survivors struggle to find refuge and safety.
With very few variations that's how they all go and I've read more than my fair share so I decided to add a few slight alterations to my story without making it totally self aware and thus a satirical joke.
There are good parts and bad parts of this story but it's my first attempt at serious writing so as a first effort I know there's plenty and plenty of room to grow my skills and develop a better style of writing.
So why isn't it available right now? Easy, it's not formatted yet. Honestly it should be easy but for some reason I'm not grasping it. Once it is formatted though and I've secured cover art for it then it'll be uploaded and published!
I'm not sure how long that will take but it'll happen when it's ready to happen.
So in short, I'm blogging again. I'm not sure if it'll be daily as it once was as I'm really out of the habit but I'll do my best to keep it interesting.
By the way, if you'd like to offer your time to become a beta reader and offer feedback on the weaker points of the story. Email me, you're hired!
I did.
I didn't have time in the mornings to write both a novel and come up with a daily blog post. To start with I purchased a book called 90 Day Novel: Unlocking The Story Within.
Following it to the letter, well for the most part, I wrote away. An extra hour each morning, mostly anyway. When I was writing heavy I could hit the two thousand word mark but mostly I averaged about thirteen hundred words a morning.
I'm aiming for the self published world as I'm not planning on making a career out of this and it's really the easiest way for family and friends to access my work should they be so kind.
I mean I could set at home and email out Word .doc files but really who's going to be interested other than family and friends? Most of them will be kind enough to download it and maybe read a chapter or two before giving up thus politely saying they enjoyed it.
Believe me I've got no illusions as to the worth of this novel however it's a story I wanted to tell. This will never be confused with the work of a real author, believe me. It's a lot of pop culture bantering and a fantastical setting that I feel I'd be comfortable in.
The characters are what I spent the most time developing and the story really takes a back seat to them. After rereading it I can say the ending felt a bit tacked on so I rewrote a bit of it and added some more stuff. I'm not sure if it worked well or not but that's not really up to me, I can say I'm happy with it though and really couldn't end it any other way with my characters and the situation they were in. Well in my view anyway, you may see it differently.
I've also got no illusions about the genre I chose. The Zombie Apocalypse genre is almost as overcrowded as the Vampire genre was in the mid-90's.
The format is always the same though:
1. Unassuming, innocent day.
2. People get sick.
3. Sick people bite more people.
4. Survivors struggle to find refuge and safety.
With very few variations that's how they all go and I've read more than my fair share so I decided to add a few slight alterations to my story without making it totally self aware and thus a satirical joke.
There are good parts and bad parts of this story but it's my first attempt at serious writing so as a first effort I know there's plenty and plenty of room to grow my skills and develop a better style of writing.
So why isn't it available right now? Easy, it's not formatted yet. Honestly it should be easy but for some reason I'm not grasping it. Once it is formatted though and I've secured cover art for it then it'll be uploaded and published!
I'm not sure how long that will take but it'll happen when it's ready to happen.
So in short, I'm blogging again. I'm not sure if it'll be daily as it once was as I'm really out of the habit but I'll do my best to keep it interesting.
By the way, if you'd like to offer your time to become a beta reader and offer feedback on the weaker points of the story. Email me, you're hired!
Friday, July 13, 2012
Amazing Experience!
My Wife pulled off a huge success today! She took a group of untested teens and younger to a theatre contest and they brought down the house!
They had three judges there, they were famous for theatre success and had Broadway directing experience. One judge had taken his show to this same contest and wound up winning the international competition.
After performing your show then the judges come down while the cast sits on the front row and they give you show notes. My wife was called "An excellent director", "Congratulations on a wonderful and fun show", and had practically everything good to say to our cast.
Let me set this scene a little, the show that went on before ours and after ours didn't have such kind remarks.
Our show was interrupted several times by thundering applause and laughter! This show that My Wife, GhoulGal, and Teehee put together was simply amazing! When you consider that we rehearsed in the lobby, didn't have a full cast and barely had enough to put on the show we could while doubling up some roles, rehearsed with lights for the very first time yesterday on the competition stage and that was only the second time of rehearsing on stage period, the limited experience at least half of the kids had while for a few it was their very first experience at all, and this was done during summer camp season! The full cast wasn't there for rehearsal four or five of the six weeks!
When you consider all of that AND add that our teens were competing against regular season adult shows they simply rocked this show! No other way to say it! They did their director's proud!
I'm very proud of my wife for taking the time to bring this show to the stage, it'll be an experience that will not soon be forgotten by me or the cast! Sunday we find out what if anything we've won. I feel great about our chances of bringing home some excellent awards for our troupe!
They had three judges there, they were famous for theatre success and had Broadway directing experience. One judge had taken his show to this same contest and wound up winning the international competition.
After performing your show then the judges come down while the cast sits on the front row and they give you show notes. My wife was called "An excellent director", "Congratulations on a wonderful and fun show", and had practically everything good to say to our cast.
Let me set this scene a little, the show that went on before ours and after ours didn't have such kind remarks.
Our show was interrupted several times by thundering applause and laughter! This show that My Wife, GhoulGal, and Teehee put together was simply amazing! When you consider that we rehearsed in the lobby, didn't have a full cast and barely had enough to put on the show we could while doubling up some roles, rehearsed with lights for the very first time yesterday on the competition stage and that was only the second time of rehearsing on stage period, the limited experience at least half of the kids had while for a few it was their very first experience at all, and this was done during summer camp season! The full cast wasn't there for rehearsal four or five of the six weeks!
When you consider all of that AND add that our teens were competing against regular season adult shows they simply rocked this show! No other way to say it! They did their director's proud!
I'm very proud of my wife for taking the time to bring this show to the stage, it'll be an experience that will not soon be forgotten by me or the cast! Sunday we find out what if anything we've won. I feel great about our chances of bringing home some excellent awards for our troupe!
Saturday, July 07, 2012
First Friday Cabaret
Yes this is one of my infrequent blog posts while my project is underway for the next three months.
I have to blog special occasions and this one is special!
My Baby and Piano Genius rocked cabaret last night! To a standing room only audience too! They played for nearly a full hour and had massive ovations after every song and music number! I was so proud of both of them and especially the song that Thing 2 joined them on, Louisana. Her violin cried while My Honey provided the soulful voice and Piano Genius provided the core of the sad song.
The story is about a flood in Louisiana in 1927 and six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline. Such a deep and soulful song that really brought the house down!
The night was amazing! They did so well!
I have to blog special occasions and this one is special!
My Baby and Piano Genius rocked cabaret last night! To a standing room only audience too! They played for nearly a full hour and had massive ovations after every song and music number! I was so proud of both of them and especially the song that Thing 2 joined them on, Louisana. Her violin cried while My Honey provided the soulful voice and Piano Genius provided the core of the sad song.
The story is about a flood in Louisiana in 1927 and six feet of water in the streets of Evangeline. Such a deep and soulful song that really brought the house down!
The night was amazing! They did so well!
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
The Blog Posts Will Be Sporadic
Over the next few months the blog will be very sporadic. I'm working on something in the mornings now and that'll take away from my blogging for now. Over the past month they've been pretty hit and miss anyway and that's one of the reasons.
So for now something else demands my morning attention and I might go a week or more without blogging. I'll return to my regular blogging schedule eventually though!
So for now something else demands my morning attention and I might go a week or more without blogging. I'll return to my regular blogging schedule eventually though!
Monday, July 02, 2012
Monday Monday
Here we go again folks! A short work week for the wonderful Fourth of July! The day in which our Founding Fathers decided to break away from England and venture forth upon a new path of governing!
Come on Wednesday! Looking forward to a day off in the middle of the week! Yeah it'll be hot at work today, I'll have a lot to do and I'll sweat so much that I'll feel grimy and dirty for days but I'll make it through, come home after and enjoy my Honey this evening!
That's enough to get me through today!
Last night My Honey saved the Theatre from burning down! She was there when things went Bang! It seemed the AC unit had blown up so she went around and checked the breakers and then called the power company. Good thing! With the heat the way it is I wouldn't be surprised if the power grid downtown just went up in smoke!
I'll have to talk to her today about what happened as I was sound asleep when she got home from rehearsal.
Come on Wednesday! Looking forward to a day off in the middle of the week! Yeah it'll be hot at work today, I'll have a lot to do and I'll sweat so much that I'll feel grimy and dirty for days but I'll make it through, come home after and enjoy my Honey this evening!
That's enough to get me through today!
Last night My Honey saved the Theatre from burning down! She was there when things went Bang! It seemed the AC unit had blown up so she went around and checked the breakers and then called the power company. Good thing! With the heat the way it is I wouldn't be surprised if the power grid downtown just went up in smoke!
I'll have to talk to her today about what happened as I was sound asleep when she got home from rehearsal.
Sunday, July 01, 2012
It's Running!
The pool is running away! The filter works fine, the new pump is a work horse, and now I'm filling up to the right amount! I'll go chemical shopping today and then it's all done! The triple digit heat will mean nothing anymore!
The girls and My Honey are happy and that's what is important:) There is now a way to cool off in the hot sun and feel refreshed! That's the goal!
The girls and My Honey are happy and that's what is important:) There is now a way to cool off in the hot sun and feel refreshed! That's the goal!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
The Pool Days
Today will mark the first time in roughly ten years my pool in the back yard will be operational. Fully operational. It's nearly full now. My neighbor happens to work on pools for a living and this year we actually have the funds to do some minor repairs and get a pump and get the filter going.
The last pump was pretty old and locked up and after looking at the prices I decided it wasn't worth it. However my neighbor happens to have a newer pump and we just purchased it. He'll be over when it starts to cool off and we'll get things lined out!
The pool has been shocked and via a submerge able pump the water is circulating as it's filling. During the hundred plus degree days to come it'll be very nice!
So the pool days are now upon us!
The last pump was pretty old and locked up and after looking at the prices I decided it wasn't worth it. However my neighbor happens to have a newer pump and we just purchased it. He'll be over when it starts to cool off and we'll get things lined out!
The pool has been shocked and via a submerge able pump the water is circulating as it's filling. During the hundred plus degree days to come it'll be very nice!
So the pool days are now upon us!
Friday, June 29, 2012
Chief Justice Roberts
As we made it through this triple digit week we now find ourselves on the verge of a weekend! Yeah it'll be a busy weekend but you know something? It's forty eight hours off and not at work! My oven of a shop will stay unused for the next two days and I won't be there!
Well yesterday something pretty big happened. Obamacare was upheld by the supreme court. Chief Justice John Roberts was the surprise swing vote in this case. A shock to everyone however as this article points out this might have been a crazy brilliant gambit that will allow everything to happen just as the conservatives want to happen and boil liberal frogs one degree at a time.
I'd say if Chief Justice Roberts thought along these lines then he without a doubt set the table for conservative win after conservative win for decades. What's even more important to remember is that the next president will be selecting two if not three justices in the next eight years. The dreaded Ginsburg is hanging in there but she will retire in the next eight years, Stephen Bryer is in his seventies. Kennedy is in his mid seventies as well and he usually sides with the liberal wing. The third could very well be a conservative judge in either Thomas or Scalia.
It's not all bad, and if this is accurate as I said above, it could be political gold for the long term. Obama is now forced to call his mandate a tax and that tax is now leveled on mainly lower and middle income families that can't afford to purchase health insurance. It won't bother those that have insurance or those that can afford it in the least. It's a gigantic tax though on those that can't afford health insurance and now it's unavoidable that Obama has to run on that.
Well yesterday something pretty big happened. Obamacare was upheld by the supreme court. Chief Justice John Roberts was the surprise swing vote in this case. A shock to everyone however as this article points out this might have been a crazy brilliant gambit that will allow everything to happen just as the conservatives want to happen and boil liberal frogs one degree at a time.
I'd say if Chief Justice Roberts thought along these lines then he without a doubt set the table for conservative win after conservative win for decades. What's even more important to remember is that the next president will be selecting two if not three justices in the next eight years. The dreaded Ginsburg is hanging in there but she will retire in the next eight years, Stephen Bryer is in his seventies. Kennedy is in his mid seventies as well and he usually sides with the liberal wing. The third could very well be a conservative judge in either Thomas or Scalia.
It's not all bad, and if this is accurate as I said above, it could be political gold for the long term. Obama is now forced to call his mandate a tax and that tax is now leveled on mainly lower and middle income families that can't afford to purchase health insurance. It won't bother those that have insurance or those that can afford it in the least. It's a gigantic tax though on those that can't afford health insurance and now it's unavoidable that Obama has to run on that.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Today Is The Day
This is the day that will make or break the present president of the United States. Today his legacy will be determined and he'll go down as a Carter or a better Carter (who by the way has been criticizing Obama about the drone strikes, if you have Jimmy Cater criticizing you about something you know you're doing something right) either way Obama will be compared to that failed presidency.
Today the Affordable Care Act will be ruled unconstitutional by the supreme court. No one knows how much will be struck down right now but if the individual mandate is struck down then the whole thing will fail. Obama will be wearing his bruises for a while as he heads into his campaign trail rhetoric.
Believe me, he and his cronies believe it'll stay intact. I believe it'll at least be gutted enough to where it'll be ineffective if not outright struck down. Then there is no way in the world where this congress will get something passed before the election. If the law stands then it'll be repealed if Romney is elected. Well that's what he says anyway. I really don't trust Romney that much and think he might wind up as Obama light but time will tell.
Regardless of what happens today it'll be interesting and it'll make a difference one way or the other for every single American. Whether you'll be forced to buy health insurance or pay a fine if you don't. Today is the day that I feel Obama will go up in smoke and have a hard time recovering from.
Today the Affordable Care Act will be ruled unconstitutional by the supreme court. No one knows how much will be struck down right now but if the individual mandate is struck down then the whole thing will fail. Obama will be wearing his bruises for a while as he heads into his campaign trail rhetoric.
Believe me, he and his cronies believe it'll stay intact. I believe it'll at least be gutted enough to where it'll be ineffective if not outright struck down. Then there is no way in the world where this congress will get something passed before the election. If the law stands then it'll be repealed if Romney is elected. Well that's what he says anyway. I really don't trust Romney that much and think he might wind up as Obama light but time will tell.
Regardless of what happens today it'll be interesting and it'll make a difference one way or the other for every single American. Whether you'll be forced to buy health insurance or pay a fine if you don't. Today is the day that I feel Obama will go up in smoke and have a hard time recovering from.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Bring It Heat!
One of my coworkers and I might have discovered the perfect summer lunch meal. Seven layer dip.
It's easy to make, filling, and very tasty! You don't have to cook it, it's served cold and in my hot oven of a shop that's the best thing about eating something cold!
I made up a dip last night, it's actually eight layers though: refried beans, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, cheese, olives, jalapenos, and for a topper, bacon bits! Yes, this will feed me the rest of the week and possibly into the hottest times of the summer!
I'm ready now for what the summer brings! I was just about sandwiched out anyway. This will be good for a long time though!
It's easy to make, filling, and very tasty! You don't have to cook it, it's served cold and in my hot oven of a shop that's the best thing about eating something cold!
I made up a dip last night, it's actually eight layers though: refried beans, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, cheese, olives, jalapenos, and for a topper, bacon bits! Yes, this will feed me the rest of the week and possibly into the hottest times of the summer!
I'm ready now for what the summer brings! I was just about sandwiched out anyway. This will be good for a long time though!
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Dog Days
Even though summer has officially just begun last week we are in the heat of it. The triple digit temperatures are here for a while. They are relentless and won't let up until the occasional front moves in, likely on accident or we get the very rare summer thunderstorm.
Yeah we will be mired in the heat, broiled, sauteed, and fried. My shop is pretty much a convection oven in the summer time. It's nice and toasty in the winter though. I was pretty sweaty at work yesterday, drenched in fact but when I got into the office to cool off it felt darn good. I stood under the fan, practically our only source of AC as we are on the end of the line when it comes to getting cold air pumped in. There just isn't much left by the time it gets to us.
I dread summers in our shop. I'll keep the powerade close by and plenty of water with me though. We'll knock this summer out too!
Yeah we will be mired in the heat, broiled, sauteed, and fried. My shop is pretty much a convection oven in the summer time. It's nice and toasty in the winter though. I was pretty sweaty at work yesterday, drenched in fact but when I got into the office to cool off it felt darn good. I stood under the fan, practically our only source of AC as we are on the end of the line when it comes to getting cold air pumped in. There just isn't much left by the time it gets to us.
I dread summers in our shop. I'll keep the powerade close by and plenty of water with me though. We'll knock this summer out too!
Monday, June 25, 2012
Heat Problems
So earlier in the week the heat was starting to get to me. It hit me harder on Friday, Saturday I was filling ill, and then yesterday it knocked me for a loop. I hydrate all the time. Problem this time is that I probably hydrated too much with just water perhaps and had sweated all of my salt away. I felt super weak yesterday, got dizzy easily, and just felt horrible.
Thankfully My Honey came to the rescue, she got me some powerade! That actually helped me to start to feel a lot better! I stayed in bed though for the remainder of the evening but yeah I feel almost decent this morning. I've got another two powerades in the fridge and I'm taking one to work
I don't feel as weak this morning. Hopefully I'm recovered, I'm feeling like it!
Thankfully My Honey came to the rescue, she got me some powerade! That actually helped me to start to feel a lot better! I stayed in bed though for the remainder of the evening but yeah I feel almost decent this morning. I've got another two powerades in the fridge and I'm taking one to work
I don't feel as weak this morning. Hopefully I'm recovered, I'm feeling like it!
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Day Off
I took a day off from the blog yesterday. I napped a bit. My Love had a big event last night and she did an outstanding job as the Emcee for the Texaco Country Showdown! Great job honey! I'm very proud of you!
Other than that I was out of sorts most of the day and into the night. I didn't feel right at all. I finally left the Showdown and came home where I tossed my cookies from the day and headed for the couch to recuperate. My Love found me when she got home and helped me to bed.
I'm feeling a bit better this morning, not all good yet but better. Hopefully the day will be better to me than yesterday.
Other than that I was out of sorts most of the day and into the night. I didn't feel right at all. I finally left the Showdown and came home where I tossed my cookies from the day and headed for the couch to recuperate. My Love found me when she got home and helped me to bed.
I'm feeling a bit better this morning, not all good yet but better. Hopefully the day will be better to me than yesterday.
Friday, June 22, 2012
Wait 'Til Next Year
Today Thunder fans will join the familiar turf usually inhabited by Cubs fans as they pack up the remains of their season and head home. Cubs fans usually are just hoping for a win now and then while the Thunder will be anticipating the first in a string of championships though. Big difference.
Last night one of the most disliked athletes in all of sports claimed his first title in LeBron James. The Thunder are poised to dominate the NBA for a very long time though. They have one of the youngest teams in the league, they are also all under contract for quite some time!
We as a state can enjoy this team for the foreseeable future and expect them to represent us well!
Nice season Thunder! We're glad you made it!
Last night one of the most disliked athletes in all of sports claimed his first title in LeBron James. The Thunder are poised to dominate the NBA for a very long time though. They have one of the youngest teams in the league, they are also all under contract for quite some time!
We as a state can enjoy this team for the foreseeable future and expect them to represent us well!
Nice season Thunder! We're glad you made it!
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Almost Over
The week is nearly done. Our sore kitty is still sore and has a cold. He hides under the bed but the vet said as long as he is eating and his stitches aren't draining he'll be fine. He stayed on my lap all last night for attention.
My Baby has a spectacular cast for Audition and rehearsals with the teens are going well! I'm very proud of her and the job that she is doing! The Theatre will be very well represented!
Tonight is Third Thursday, the acoustic music night at the Theatre. I'll be up there tonight with the tech.
My Baby has a spectacular cast for Audition and rehearsals with the teens are going well! I'm very proud of her and the job that she is doing! The Theatre will be very well represented!
Tonight is Third Thursday, the acoustic music night at the Theatre. I'll be up there tonight with the tech.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Thunder Down But Not Out
The Thunder have a shot tomorrow night at bringing the series back home but they are down 3-1 right now and face elimination. If they can deny LeBron James a ring I know America will be happy and I know Oklahoma will be thrilled at their first professional sports championship!
Yes they have enjoyed national championships before but this is the pro level. The big time. This time the whole state is united behind a team instead of in different college camps.
Even if they fall tomorrow night it's likely that they will be a NBA Finals participant for at least the next five years. They have dynasty written all over them and could likely be the next Spurs or Lakers and be perennial champions. They are young, they are under long term contracts, and they are getting this experience at a very young age. They are going to be a juggernaut for the years to come.
We'll get very used to seeing the Thunder play at this high level and in the next ten years they'll eventually have a rebuilding time and be at the bottom for a year or two before climbing back up to the top again. It's just the cycle of sports. Players will come and go, the team will rise and fall, and we'll win and lose.
Right now the Thunder are definitely rising though!
Yes they have enjoyed national championships before but this is the pro level. The big time. This time the whole state is united behind a team instead of in different college camps.
Even if they fall tomorrow night it's likely that they will be a NBA Finals participant for at least the next five years. They have dynasty written all over them and could likely be the next Spurs or Lakers and be perennial champions. They are young, they are under long term contracts, and they are getting this experience at a very young age. They are going to be a juggernaut for the years to come.
We'll get very used to seeing the Thunder play at this high level and in the next ten years they'll eventually have a rebuilding time and be at the bottom for a year or two before climbing back up to the top again. It's just the cycle of sports. Players will come and go, the team will rise and fall, and we'll win and lose.
Right now the Thunder are definitely rising though!
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
It's Starting Again!
Today is my Monday Tuesday. Got the kitten all back home yesterday evening. He's doing fine. We could tell when the pain meds were wearing off though. He slept in the nook of my arm all night, he's much better this morning though. He'll be up today and walking just fine I'm sure.
Thing 2 beat Diablo 3 last night, well on the normal level. She's going to try nightmare difficulty next and we'll see how that goes. I know how hard that is though, it'll be tough on her! She'll have fun though, she really likes the game.
My Honey's rehearsal went well last night for her OCTA show! She and I did the light plot that she has to send off. Talk about tough, without seeing the stage or the lights to tweak them and play with them the way you want, it's darn hard. You really can't see how they are going to look but we did our best with what we had to work with. It's a very funny and touching show! The teens are good, it should do well in competition! I'm very proud of her:) She's done a great job!
Thing 2 beat Diablo 3 last night, well on the normal level. She's going to try nightmare difficulty next and we'll see how that goes. I know how hard that is though, it'll be tough on her! She'll have fun though, she really likes the game.
My Honey's rehearsal went well last night for her OCTA show! She and I did the light plot that she has to send off. Talk about tough, without seeing the stage or the lights to tweak them and play with them the way you want, it's darn hard. You really can't see how they are going to look but we did our best with what we had to work with. It's a very funny and touching show! The teens are good, it should do well in competition! I'm very proud of her:) She's done a great job!
Monday, June 18, 2012
Nice Weekend
Today I took Liddy to the vet to get him fixed and get his shots. I took My Honey her Keurig coffee pods she forgot this morning. Now I'm just going to enjoy the final day off from work!
Now that I'm earning more leave I decided that after this I'm not going to take off so much and let it build up as far as I can. I'll have roughly seventy hours now, I'd like to build it up past two hundred if possible though. It'd be really nice to have that kind of leave in the bank.
So now to chill and wait for Thing 2's appointment this afternoon:)
Life is good.
Now that I'm earning more leave I decided that after this I'm not going to take off so much and let it build up as far as I can. I'll have roughly seventy hours now, I'd like to build it up past two hundred if possible though. It'd be really nice to have that kind of leave in the bank.
So now to chill and wait for Thing 2's appointment this afternoon:)
Life is good.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Father's Day
Today was my first official and real father's day. My girls, all three of them, got me a shirt, "You Can't Scare Me I Have Two Daughters"
It's been upgraded to my favorite tshirt.
I made a lemon and garlic pork loin on the BGE today. Yummy stuff. My Lady Love and Thing 2 have gone for coffee with Piano Genius. He wasn't able to attend last night's party for her so he suggested coffee tonight for them. Great guy!
The Thunder will be tipping off in about an hour from now. I've done little to not much today and it's been nice. Tomorrow will be taking the kitten to get fixed and Thing 2 has a check up in the afternoon. I'm off work so I'll handle that:)
It's been upgraded to my favorite tshirt.
I made a lemon and garlic pork loin on the BGE today. Yummy stuff. My Lady Love and Thing 2 have gone for coffee with Piano Genius. He wasn't able to attend last night's party for her so he suggested coffee tonight for them. Great guy!
The Thunder will be tipping off in about an hour from now. I've done little to not much today and it's been nice. Tomorrow will be taking the kitten to get fixed and Thing 2 has a check up in the afternoon. I'm off work so I'll handle that:)
Yesterday And Today
Yesterday was super busy, we were doing the final touches for Thing 2's sweet sixteen party! It went off without any problems at all and she was one very happy girl at the end of the evening with her new set of pearls! Lots of people showed up and I can tell you she is one very loved young lady! Her Theatre family loves her almost as much as her family!
Then we had a big rain storm, big but all too brief. It stormed for maybe a half hour or less and blew away. It looked threatening but nothing else appeared. All in all a top notch day for the family!
Friday night My Honey got me tickets for Charlie Daniels in Newkirk. Let me tell you something, that man deserves to phone in a performance if he wants to. He's seventy five. He had a stroke a couple of years ago. He's had his ups and downs. He is literally a living legend but he also puts on a super show! He tore up at least two bows, tossed another one to the audience, and can tear up a stage with is guitar playing. That man wouldn't phone in a performance if he was paid to! His band was very talented in their own right.
Most of them were songwriters as well and each of them had their own time to shine on stage. The drummer had at least a five minute solo that was making everything vibrate in the house! His lead guitar player could easily be in any band he wanted to be in and be a superstar. He could shred a guitar neck. The keyboardist was easily as good as Piano Genius himself. Do yourself a favor, if The CDB is in your neck of the woods, go see him. It's worth your time!
Today will be a nice day. The Thunder will be playing tonight in Miami and will win back home court advantage. They were beat so now they have a loss out of the way. They should be ready to go down there to Miami and tromp them on their own home court!
Then we had a big rain storm, big but all too brief. It stormed for maybe a half hour or less and blew away. It looked threatening but nothing else appeared. All in all a top notch day for the family!
Friday night My Honey got me tickets for Charlie Daniels in Newkirk. Let me tell you something, that man deserves to phone in a performance if he wants to. He's seventy five. He had a stroke a couple of years ago. He's had his ups and downs. He is literally a living legend but he also puts on a super show! He tore up at least two bows, tossed another one to the audience, and can tear up a stage with is guitar playing. That man wouldn't phone in a performance if he was paid to! His band was very talented in their own right.
Most of them were songwriters as well and each of them had their own time to shine on stage. The drummer had at least a five minute solo that was making everything vibrate in the house! His lead guitar player could easily be in any band he wanted to be in and be a superstar. He could shred a guitar neck. The keyboardist was easily as good as Piano Genius himself. Do yourself a favor, if The CDB is in your neck of the woods, go see him. It's worth your time!
Today will be a nice day. The Thunder will be playing tonight in Miami and will win back home court advantage. They were beat so now they have a loss out of the way. They should be ready to go down there to Miami and tromp them on their own home court!
Friday, June 15, 2012
20 Years
Today in 1992 I was hired at the place where I currently work. Since that time I've gone through two full rounds of BRAC, three presidents, massive world changes, two domestic terrorist attacks, nineteen super bowls, the Bulls legendary seasons with MJ, dramatic personal changes, gained new friends, lost old ones, and the best things, I've gotten married and I've now got two beautiful daughters!
If you would have told me then all of that I wouldn't have believed you. A strange thing happens as you grow older, you want more security instead of more of the unknown. You gamble less with your future and start planning for when you are too old to work. When you are twenty two you aren't capable of thinking about your future, it's hard enough planning to the end of the week, when you are forty two you realize that the word retirement is a real thing and that you are headed for it sooner than you think.
I also realize I've done this kind of work for over half my life now. It's been twenty three years and probably a few more months than that that I've done this. I can tell you it's hard on your body and who knows what kind of health ramifications I've got in my future but I try to be safe. I use my gear every day.
Good lord above has it been this long? I get my extra week of PTO now. It'll build up faster than ever and that's a great thing. It also means that I'm ten years out from being eligible for the pension. I'm vested now but being able to collect it is a great thing! It'll be the main plank in our retirement planning, I've got My Love set up as my successor and she'll enjoy the benefits for life after I'm gone so security is a big deal to me. You think more about taking care of those you love and making sure they can do well in your absence. So yeah, sometimes you think about your mortality once in a while too.
Twenty years.
Twenty years.
If you would have told me then all of that I wouldn't have believed you. A strange thing happens as you grow older, you want more security instead of more of the unknown. You gamble less with your future and start planning for when you are too old to work. When you are twenty two you aren't capable of thinking about your future, it's hard enough planning to the end of the week, when you are forty two you realize that the word retirement is a real thing and that you are headed for it sooner than you think.
I also realize I've done this kind of work for over half my life now. It's been twenty three years and probably a few more months than that that I've done this. I can tell you it's hard on your body and who knows what kind of health ramifications I've got in my future but I try to be safe. I use my gear every day.
Good lord above has it been this long? I get my extra week of PTO now. It'll build up faster than ever and that's a great thing. It also means that I'm ten years out from being eligible for the pension. I'm vested now but being able to collect it is a great thing! It'll be the main plank in our retirement planning, I've got My Love set up as my successor and she'll enjoy the benefits for life after I'm gone so security is a big deal to me. You think more about taking care of those you love and making sure they can do well in your absence. So yeah, sometimes you think about your mortality once in a while too.
Twenty years.
Twenty years.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Twenty's Eve
Tomorrow is a big day for me. It's my twentieth anniversary at work. That means I earn my final week of vacation leave and will accrue leave very fast and it means that I've got ten years left before being eligible for my pension. That's a big big deal too. With the current contract they have added one and a half times the amount that is contributed on a hourly basis. It'll provide a decent retirement on it's own but add in the 401k I'm kicking in to and it'll be a comfy retirement package!
Yeah, June 15, 1992 was the date. Hard to believe I've made it this far. Tomorrow I'll have a far more detailed blog about the past twenty years. Sheesh, that's almost half my life when you type it like that.
Twenty years, where does the time go?
The Thunder play game two tonight in Loud City! They might do the rope a dope again and let the Heat wear themselves out as they did in game 1. We'll see how they'll come out, if it's swinging or if it's just cruising to the second half.
They will play the next game in Miami and there they'll probably want to set a tone and let Miami know they are here to play for real. LeBron, hero turned villain, probably won't have enough "umph" to get the Heat to a title this year. They have run into a very young wrecking machine that can play at such a high tempo for the entire game if they want to. If this team stays together for the long term then we can have a TwentyTeen dynasty on our hands!
Yeah, June 15, 1992 was the date. Hard to believe I've made it this far. Tomorrow I'll have a far more detailed blog about the past twenty years. Sheesh, that's almost half my life when you type it like that.
Twenty years, where does the time go?
The Thunder play game two tonight in Loud City! They might do the rope a dope again and let the Heat wear themselves out as they did in game 1. We'll see how they'll come out, if it's swinging or if it's just cruising to the second half.
They will play the next game in Miami and there they'll probably want to set a tone and let Miami know they are here to play for real. LeBron, hero turned villain, probably won't have enough "umph" to get the Heat to a title this year. They have run into a very young wrecking machine that can play at such a high tempo for the entire game if they want to. If this team stays together for the long term then we can have a TwentyTeen dynasty on our hands!
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Thunder Up One
The Thunder did their rope a dope style of play, letting the Heat get confident in the first half and then actually starting to play in the third quarter. The Thunder always own the second half! They usually tie things up in the third quarter and hit the gas in the fourth and pull away.
The other team is usually tired by that point and can't keep up with the young and energized Thunder!
Next game is tomorrow night and I predict the same thing will happen. The teams from the east just aren't as good as the western teams. If it goes five games I'll be surprised. Most people say six games. I guess it can happen because the middle three games are at Miami. We'll see, but we know that the Thunder can win on the road without any problems.
The other team is usually tired by that point and can't keep up with the young and energized Thunder!
Next game is tomorrow night and I predict the same thing will happen. The teams from the east just aren't as good as the western teams. If it goes five games I'll be surprised. Most people say six games. I guess it can happen because the middle three games are at Miami. We'll see, but we know that the Thunder can win on the road without any problems.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Wool
People came out of the woodwork yesterday to complain to the grievance committee member that inhabits my office and shop. Just another day in the life.
I had a ton of work to do as well. Parts for two jets were just for starters and it got busy from there!
Anyway I finished a book called Wool: The Omnibus Edition by Hugh Howey at lunch yesterday. It's pretty good. It paints a time after the world quit working and there are seeds of people planted in one corner of the world. These seed banks are silos and the silos are huge and inhabit thousands of people each. Entire systems from oil pumps to water pumps to gardeners and even livestock.
The interesting thing about this book is that it's a self published novel on Amazon for the Kindle. The first book was about fifteen thousand words and qualifies as a novelette. After the reviews from it wanted more story he wrote another one and another one and kept going. That started last April.
The book has gained attention from a long ways away too. Ridley Scott just purchased the movie rights to it. A hardback edition is in the works for the UK, he plans on staying independent in the States though. He's also very accessible. After I finished reading the book I emailed him my thoughts. He replied back himself! He says it's important to stay in touch with the people that read your material and months ago he was cleaning book shelves part time and writing on his breaks.
Mr. Howey seems a humble and goofy guy! I'd say get Wool and enjoy it, a new business model and brand new way of getting new stories out to people and bypassing the book making machine that usually dictates how and what we read and from whom.
I had a ton of work to do as well. Parts for two jets were just for starters and it got busy from there!
Anyway I finished a book called Wool: The Omnibus Edition by Hugh Howey at lunch yesterday. It's pretty good. It paints a time after the world quit working and there are seeds of people planted in one corner of the world. These seed banks are silos and the silos are huge and inhabit thousands of people each. Entire systems from oil pumps to water pumps to gardeners and even livestock.
The interesting thing about this book is that it's a self published novel on Amazon for the Kindle. The first book was about fifteen thousand words and qualifies as a novelette. After the reviews from it wanted more story he wrote another one and another one and kept going. That started last April.
The book has gained attention from a long ways away too. Ridley Scott just purchased the movie rights to it. A hardback edition is in the works for the UK, he plans on staying independent in the States though. He's also very accessible. After I finished reading the book I emailed him my thoughts. He replied back himself! He says it's important to stay in touch with the people that read your material and months ago he was cleaning book shelves part time and writing on his breaks.
Mr. Howey seems a humble and goofy guy! I'd say get Wool and enjoy it, a new business model and brand new way of getting new stories out to people and bypassing the book making machine that usually dictates how and what we read and from whom.
Monday, June 11, 2012
It Starts Today
All of the unhappy people will start lining up outside the office this morning to tell the grievance committee member how unhappy they are with the contract. How do I know? Because he's also my coworker and the same people were unhappy with the last contract too.
I will know this contract inside and out before the three years are up on it. I'll be able to answer questions left and right because I'll know the agreement better than probably Johnny Friendly that negotiated it in the first place. I'm not a shop steward but by golly I'll know it as well as they should. My coworker and I talk about the situations that arise and there are lots of them. Mostly it's easy to solve. For the most part it's about not being late to work and that their supervisor is picking on them because they punched in two minutes late....every day.
Yeah, that's a common one actually. And because I know the agreement and my coworker knows it and for some reason the supervisor fails to read it and understand it then there is always a loophole in how they try to give the employee a letter. Always. They never follow procedures correctly. What was a slam dunk turns into the supervisor having egg on his face.
Usually the employee is at fault too, that's the thing! They usually deserve the letter or even being terminated because they are lazy, screwups, never come to work and are out of leave, or they just don't care and would rather be somewhere else. However because the supervisor makes a mistake 95% of the time they keep their job, aren't grateful they get out of trouble, and will continue to go about their ways as if nothing happened. Until they get in trouble again.
Yeah, all of that begins today and you know something? I'm glad because the alternative would have been me standing in a ditch again. I'm not standing in that ditch again. I'll listen to the malcontents talk about how they hate the deal but didn't vote on it, they were busy doing whatever else they were doing that kept them from spending a half hour and listening to the negotiating team explain everything. I'll listen to the malcontents talk about how bad their jobs are despite being paid very well. I'll listen to the malcontents and wonder what in the world they would do when they had to go apply at Walmart and deal with managers I dealt with that thought I was an imbecile and spoke to me as they would a third grader. All the while thinking, actually knowing I made more than they did and had been in the workforce much longer than they had.
Yeah that magic starts today. The phone will be ringing before I'm even unable to unlock the office door. I know it will be and I'll answer it, and I'll tell them to come on down with their questions because I'm happy that I'm able to go to work today and not stand in a ditch.
I will know this contract inside and out before the three years are up on it. I'll be able to answer questions left and right because I'll know the agreement better than probably Johnny Friendly that negotiated it in the first place. I'm not a shop steward but by golly I'll know it as well as they should. My coworker and I talk about the situations that arise and there are lots of them. Mostly it's easy to solve. For the most part it's about not being late to work and that their supervisor is picking on them because they punched in two minutes late....every day.
Yeah, that's a common one actually. And because I know the agreement and my coworker knows it and for some reason the supervisor fails to read it and understand it then there is always a loophole in how they try to give the employee a letter. Always. They never follow procedures correctly. What was a slam dunk turns into the supervisor having egg on his face.
Usually the employee is at fault too, that's the thing! They usually deserve the letter or even being terminated because they are lazy, screwups, never come to work and are out of leave, or they just don't care and would rather be somewhere else. However because the supervisor makes a mistake 95% of the time they keep their job, aren't grateful they get out of trouble, and will continue to go about their ways as if nothing happened. Until they get in trouble again.
Yeah, all of that begins today and you know something? I'm glad because the alternative would have been me standing in a ditch again. I'm not standing in that ditch again. I'll listen to the malcontents talk about how they hate the deal but didn't vote on it, they were busy doing whatever else they were doing that kept them from spending a half hour and listening to the negotiating team explain everything. I'll listen to the malcontents talk about how bad their jobs are despite being paid very well. I'll listen to the malcontents and wonder what in the world they would do when they had to go apply at Walmart and deal with managers I dealt with that thought I was an imbecile and spoke to me as they would a third grader. All the while thinking, actually knowing I made more than they did and had been in the workforce much longer than they had.
Yeah that magic starts today. The phone will be ringing before I'm even unable to unlock the office door. I know it will be and I'll answer it, and I'll tell them to come on down with their questions because I'm happy that I'm able to go to work today and not stand in a ditch.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
The New Contract
After going over the deal and talking to the negotiation team I voted the way I thought I would. It's a pretty good deal, probably the best we could get given the economy.
The insurance is a bit confusing but not as bad as I thought it'd be. It should work out pretty much like it is now. Yeah, I'm positive several mad people will get up there and vote to strike no matter what, yeah the union did mishandle the information distribution.
I think it's a reasonable deal though and one we can easily live under!
We are good for three more years, the base isn't going anywhere anytime soon! Labor peace will reign for the foreseeable future!
The insurance is a bit confusing but not as bad as I thought it'd be. It should work out pretty much like it is now. Yeah, I'm positive several mad people will get up there and vote to strike no matter what, yeah the union did mishandle the information distribution.
I think it's a reasonable deal though and one we can easily live under!
We are good for three more years, the base isn't going anywhere anytime soon! Labor peace will reign for the foreseeable future!
Yesterday
I really didn't feel like posting yesterday. It just didn't occur to me as my mind was wandering from the contract talks to auditions and if we were going to have enough people to fill out the roles of the show My Honey wants to do. It's a show for the Gaslight Teens and it's going to be a festival piece. A competition show.
The Theatre hasn't had a show in this competition in about ten years now and this one will be a great show! It's funny! Well the auditions rolled around and by the skin of our teeth we made it! We've got enough teens to make a show of it! That was a massive relief!
The other big deal that had me on pins and needles all day was the contract talks at work. I heard from the grapevine last night that moneywise this is a fair deal, very reasonable and good for us. The con is that the insurance has become a jumbled mess now. As it was explained to me it's pretty confusing. That might be enough to make a lot of people vote in a bad way.
However when you put it into perspective it lays out like this:
1. This economy sucks and won't pick up until you know who is Out of office.
2. We are fortunate to have a job in today's world let alone a good job, sometimes you have to put up with the bad like this to get in on the good. Yeah maybe the insurance isn't what we wanted but the money is good and it's a good place to work. They are tripling the amount they are contributing to the pension and the cost of living raises are about what we've gotten every year. I can live with the bad and bite my tongue for three years to keep from winding up in the ditch which brings me to the third point.
3. I'm not striking anymore. If the choice is a jumbled mess of a plan and a strike, then I'll figure out the jumbled mess of a plan. My vote counts for two thirds more than a vote to strike. It's not based on simple majority, oh no, a strike has to pass by two thirds. A "No" on the strike vote carries more weight.
I think yesterday worked out fine after all.
The Theatre hasn't had a show in this competition in about ten years now and this one will be a great show! It's funny! Well the auditions rolled around and by the skin of our teeth we made it! We've got enough teens to make a show of it! That was a massive relief!
The other big deal that had me on pins and needles all day was the contract talks at work. I heard from the grapevine last night that moneywise this is a fair deal, very reasonable and good for us. The con is that the insurance has become a jumbled mess now. As it was explained to me it's pretty confusing. That might be enough to make a lot of people vote in a bad way.
However when you put it into perspective it lays out like this:
1. This economy sucks and won't pick up until you know who is Out of office.
2. We are fortunate to have a job in today's world let alone a good job, sometimes you have to put up with the bad like this to get in on the good. Yeah maybe the insurance isn't what we wanted but the money is good and it's a good place to work. They are tripling the amount they are contributing to the pension and the cost of living raises are about what we've gotten every year. I can live with the bad and bite my tongue for three years to keep from winding up in the ditch which brings me to the third point.
3. I'm not striking anymore. If the choice is a jumbled mess of a plan and a strike, then I'll figure out the jumbled mess of a plan. My vote counts for two thirds more than a vote to strike. It's not based on simple majority, oh no, a strike has to pass by two thirds. A "No" on the strike vote carries more weight.
I think yesterday worked out fine after all.
Friday, June 08, 2012
No News
The negotiating committee and the company have been holding their cards close to the vest. We know nothing right now and not only that but there is quite a bit of confusion about when the vote to accept or reject is. Originally it was supposed to be tomorrow, June 9th. Now it might very well be Sunday, or tomorrow.
Our union has dropped the ball on communication for sure this time. One of those in charge needed to iron out this date...like a month ago instead of the day before the weekend we are supposed to vote! There is a fundamental problem that means one of two things has occurred.
One: The union leaders are inept and it never crossed their minds to set a solid vote date for the rank and file to vote on.
Two: Negotiations aren't going in a good direction and that means there are some bad things in the new contract that they can't settle on or are bad for the membership but can't or don't want to do anything about. This is called ramrodding by the union. Meaning they will ramrod a bad deal down the throats of the rank and file and don't want to give us any time to read the contract in it's entirety.
This has happened before and it was over twelve years ago. They instituted a pay freeze for three years on grades one through four but got everyone else got pay raises. This was unfair to those that work pretty darn hard but the union didn't see it that way. So those that made the least amount of money got the shaft and the union let it happen. They didn't give anyone time to digest the contract, they didn't want you to think about it, they wanted you to vote and screw your fellow brothers and sisters that didn't earn as much as you did.
So now the game is afoot so to speak, our committee that is representing us has kept things quiet. Our main leader, Johnny Friendly is retiring this year. He used to be a mechanic where I work but got elected into the business representative office and hasn't looked back. He has about thirty contracts he works on or negotiates on a regular basis. However he hasn't worked under one of those contracts at all. He is as union as union can be. He's not a popular guy to most people as when he wants something he tends to leave out facts to get his way on something. When he wants something to happen, it happens no matter what the committee wants. What he usually wants benefits the International in some fashion like the insurance company they want to bring in.
It's of course a health insurance company that's administered by the....union. You guessed it! We'll see how that plays out this weekend.
Our union has dropped the ball on communication for sure this time. One of those in charge needed to iron out this date...like a month ago instead of the day before the weekend we are supposed to vote! There is a fundamental problem that means one of two things has occurred.
One: The union leaders are inept and it never crossed their minds to set a solid vote date for the rank and file to vote on.
Two: Negotiations aren't going in a good direction and that means there are some bad things in the new contract that they can't settle on or are bad for the membership but can't or don't want to do anything about. This is called ramrodding by the union. Meaning they will ramrod a bad deal down the throats of the rank and file and don't want to give us any time to read the contract in it's entirety.
This has happened before and it was over twelve years ago. They instituted a pay freeze for three years on grades one through four but got everyone else got pay raises. This was unfair to those that work pretty darn hard but the union didn't see it that way. So those that made the least amount of money got the shaft and the union let it happen. They didn't give anyone time to digest the contract, they didn't want you to think about it, they wanted you to vote and screw your fellow brothers and sisters that didn't earn as much as you did.
So now the game is afoot so to speak, our committee that is representing us has kept things quiet. Our main leader, Johnny Friendly is retiring this year. He used to be a mechanic where I work but got elected into the business representative office and hasn't looked back. He has about thirty contracts he works on or negotiates on a regular basis. However he hasn't worked under one of those contracts at all. He is as union as union can be. He's not a popular guy to most people as when he wants something he tends to leave out facts to get his way on something. When he wants something to happen, it happens no matter what the committee wants. What he usually wants benefits the International in some fashion like the insurance company they want to bring in.
It's of course a health insurance company that's administered by the....union. You guessed it! We'll see how that plays out this weekend.
Thursday, June 07, 2012
Thunder Up
The Thunder took the Western Conference Crown last night and are headed to the finals to face either the Heat or the Celtics. In all honesty I believe they just beat the three hardest teams to beat in the NBA over the past month. They started with reigning champs Mavericks, then took it to the perennially good Lakers, and knocked off the well oiled machine Spurs.
Any of those teams would have destroyed any East team that made it to the finals. The East is just weak this year. I'd really be shocked if the Thunder got into a series that went to game six, but more than likely they'll win in five or a sweep.
Negotiations are going smoothly reportedly. They plan to have everything wrapped up by tomorrow and we are supposed to vote on Sunday now. That gives me pause though, if the unthinkable happens again then there will be little time to come to an agreement and get back to work on Monday. The results of the second first strike vote came in last night and a friend called me with the results. They were good, we had enough people show up this time to sanction a strike.
Let me be clear, I'm not voting strike unless they take money away. Many share that same view, strikes suck. No one wants that to happen again. Not us, not the company, not the military, no one. No one won last time and no one will win this time. We only got what we had out of the strike, not one cent more. That's what I expect to happen again, to maintain what we have with probably less of a cost of living raise each year which was 3.75% the last three years. I expect 1% honestly, the government is broke.
More zombie style attacks have occurred lately including one in Louisiana and another one in Miami. Keep in mind this is drug fueled and so far the victims haven't turned to anything but patients in the hospital. That rules out a self sustained Zombie Apocalypse of Doom. We are safe...for now.
Any of those teams would have destroyed any East team that made it to the finals. The East is just weak this year. I'd really be shocked if the Thunder got into a series that went to game six, but more than likely they'll win in five or a sweep.
Negotiations are going smoothly reportedly. They plan to have everything wrapped up by tomorrow and we are supposed to vote on Sunday now. That gives me pause though, if the unthinkable happens again then there will be little time to come to an agreement and get back to work on Monday. The results of the second first strike vote came in last night and a friend called me with the results. They were good, we had enough people show up this time to sanction a strike.
Let me be clear, I'm not voting strike unless they take money away. Many share that same view, strikes suck. No one wants that to happen again. Not us, not the company, not the military, no one. No one won last time and no one will win this time. We only got what we had out of the strike, not one cent more. That's what I expect to happen again, to maintain what we have with probably less of a cost of living raise each year which was 3.75% the last three years. I expect 1% honestly, the government is broke.
More zombie style attacks have occurred lately including one in Louisiana and another one in Miami. Keep in mind this is drug fueled and so far the victims haven't turned to anything but patients in the hospital. That rules out a self sustained Zombie Apocalypse of Doom. We are safe...for now.
Wednesday, June 06, 2012
Busy Day
This morning I've got to take Jet to the vet, later on this afternoon take the big cats to the vet for their shots, I have to go vote on the second first strike vote, and My Baby has a MRI for her back. All in all a packed day!
Thing 2 will be at the Theatre all day with drama camp and busy with that.
Governor Scott Walker won by a landslide last night on his recall election. You'll recall he limited collective bargaining agreements with public sector (Not the private sector unions mind you) unions last year. That made the public sector unions angry and then the fight was on! Money poured in to take out Walker and to defend him and what he's been able to accomplish.
In the end the unions lost and it wasn't even close. The people of Wisconsin wanted Scott Walker and loved the job he was doing. So it's all over now but the crying and with liberals you'll get a LOT of that. They'll spin it in so many different ways you won't be able to see straight for a week.
You might be thinking that there is a bit of hypocrisy on my part and you might be a little bit right. However I'm a member of a private sector union. There is a contract between the military and my company, and there is a contract between my company and our union. None of it effects the public taxes as a public sector union does. In fact I wish I could kick in to my own pension fund as Scott Walker had the workers in Wisconsin do. I'd put in quite a bit on my own if it was possible.
Thing 2 will be at the Theatre all day with drama camp and busy with that.
Governor Scott Walker won by a landslide last night on his recall election. You'll recall he limited collective bargaining agreements with public sector (Not the private sector unions mind you) unions last year. That made the public sector unions angry and then the fight was on! Money poured in to take out Walker and to defend him and what he's been able to accomplish.
In the end the unions lost and it wasn't even close. The people of Wisconsin wanted Scott Walker and loved the job he was doing. So it's all over now but the crying and with liberals you'll get a LOT of that. They'll spin it in so many different ways you won't be able to see straight for a week.
You might be thinking that there is a bit of hypocrisy on my part and you might be a little bit right. However I'm a member of a private sector union. There is a contract between the military and my company, and there is a contract between my company and our union. None of it effects the public taxes as a public sector union does. In fact I wish I could kick in to my own pension fund as Scott Walker had the workers in Wisconsin do. I'd put in quite a bit on my own if it was possible.
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Negotiating Problems Already
It turns out that what was supposed to be a swift and smooth week of negotiations got off to a rocky start. We had a strike sanction vote a full month ago. Without a sanction from the international union we would have no negotiating power at all and basically whatever we vote on Saturday would be null and void. We'd be forced to accept any proposal set forth by the company.
So some idiot didn't catch the fact that we had no sanction until yesterday...less than a week before our big vote. So the local called for an emergency vote and that takes place tomorrow. Basically what this means is that the company doesn't have to bargain in good faith with us. They can just sit back and let their proposal stand until they find out the outcome of Wednesday's vote. If we still have no sanction then we're in trouble and would be working under rules that even Walmart wouldn't apply to its workforce.
I read the company's proposal yesterday. Some of it is quite draconian. I like that word draconian, it's darn dramatic!
Anyway hopefully they will bargain in good faith with us until we achieve a sanction from the international via our vote.
Wednesday will be a busy day, My Honey will go in for a MRI to discover the cause of her back pain and I'm taking in our kitties to get their shots and one of them needs fixed. Jet has gone into heat twice so it's passed time to get her fixed.
So some idiot didn't catch the fact that we had no sanction until yesterday...less than a week before our big vote. So the local called for an emergency vote and that takes place tomorrow. Basically what this means is that the company doesn't have to bargain in good faith with us. They can just sit back and let their proposal stand until they find out the outcome of Wednesday's vote. If we still have no sanction then we're in trouble and would be working under rules that even Walmart wouldn't apply to its workforce.
I read the company's proposal yesterday. Some of it is quite draconian. I like that word draconian, it's darn dramatic!
Anyway hopefully they will bargain in good faith with us until we achieve a sanction from the international via our vote.
Wednesday will be a busy day, My Honey will go in for a MRI to discover the cause of her back pain and I'm taking in our kitties to get their shots and one of them needs fixed. Jet has gone into heat twice so it's passed time to get her fixed.
Monday, June 04, 2012
Bilderberg
The Bilderberg conference has just wrapped up. It's a real thing not a conspiracy theory woven from scraps of information taken out of context from an uncle's cousin that once knew a waiter from the inside.
The conference is held each year in a different location and usually has the global power brokers present. Global bankers, leaders of industry, heads of state, lots of big wigs. It's also completely secret which ALWAYS leads to conspiracy theories. For instance this is a prime one,
Four years ago it was held in Virginia I believe. All of a sudden while it was going on Obama and Hillary disappeared for about four hours from their schedules, I also remember this being reported by the embedded reporters, and later that day Hillary had dropped from the race. The theory is that the Bilderbergs had decided Obama was the one to continue while Clinton was just hurting his chances by staying in the primaries. They were neck and neck with Clinton losing little ground to the Chicago Machine.
Alex Jones, alarmist, paranoid, and seemingly delusional radio personality, covers the Bilderberg conference each year. He continues to try and get a spy inside it. He infiltrated the Bohemian Grove once about ten years ago which is similar to the conference. Say what you will about Jones, and he never helps himself by linking everything to some kind of plot for the elites to control the population at large that it's ridiculous but he's a true believer. If he's wrong then there's no harm, if he's right though then there are some serious problems worldwide.
I like him because he uncovers things in congressional bills that do have a real world effect on us as citizens. Those are bills and laws that are being passed on a daily basis and sometimes they aren't what they seem to be. I'm against law enforcement using drones over the states for instance and I'm definitely against them being armed. I'm against the military using drones over the states, that's a violation of Posse Comitatus which prevents the military from engaging in law enforcement activities in the states. I'm more for states to decide on how they want to live and limiting federal powers. Things that work in New York don't always work in Florida and they sure don't work out west a lot of the times.
I've written about Jones a couple of times when something he brings up really bothers me and could be another degree of freedom being lost, similar to a frog being boiled one degree at a time. Sometimes he's dead on with what he is talking about and sometimes you just shake you head while you are turning the radio station. The Bilderbergs are real though, it's not a secret. What they talk about is secret and that's the fodder for conspiracy radio for weeks!
The conference is held each year in a different location and usually has the global power brokers present. Global bankers, leaders of industry, heads of state, lots of big wigs. It's also completely secret which ALWAYS leads to conspiracy theories. For instance this is a prime one,
Four years ago it was held in Virginia I believe. All of a sudden while it was going on Obama and Hillary disappeared for about four hours from their schedules, I also remember this being reported by the embedded reporters, and later that day Hillary had dropped from the race. The theory is that the Bilderbergs had decided Obama was the one to continue while Clinton was just hurting his chances by staying in the primaries. They were neck and neck with Clinton losing little ground to the Chicago Machine.
Alex Jones, alarmist, paranoid, and seemingly delusional radio personality, covers the Bilderberg conference each year. He continues to try and get a spy inside it. He infiltrated the Bohemian Grove once about ten years ago which is similar to the conference. Say what you will about Jones, and he never helps himself by linking everything to some kind of plot for the elites to control the population at large that it's ridiculous but he's a true believer. If he's wrong then there's no harm, if he's right though then there are some serious problems worldwide.
I like him because he uncovers things in congressional bills that do have a real world effect on us as citizens. Those are bills and laws that are being passed on a daily basis and sometimes they aren't what they seem to be. I'm against law enforcement using drones over the states for instance and I'm definitely against them being armed. I'm against the military using drones over the states, that's a violation of Posse Comitatus which prevents the military from engaging in law enforcement activities in the states. I'm more for states to decide on how they want to live and limiting federal powers. Things that work in New York don't always work in Florida and they sure don't work out west a lot of the times.
I've written about Jones a couple of times when something he brings up really bothers me and could be another degree of freedom being lost, similar to a frog being boiled one degree at a time. Sometimes he's dead on with what he is talking about and sometimes you just shake you head while you are turning the radio station. The Bilderbergs are real though, it's not a secret. What they talk about is secret and that's the fodder for conspiracy radio for weeks!
Sunday, June 03, 2012
Lazy Day
Got up, fixed breakfast, did the dishes, and then later on had a cigar with Beersnob.
Just didn't have a lot on my agenda today and I did it to the fullest!
Tomorrow the grind starts up again. Negotiations will be in full swing. We'll get tidbits about how they are going.
We'll vote on Saturday so by Friday we'll probably have the best and final offer. It'll be a stressful week and I'm really wanting to avoid last time. So here we go!
Just didn't have a lot on my agenda today and I did it to the fullest!
Tomorrow the grind starts up again. Negotiations will be in full swing. We'll get tidbits about how they are going.
We'll vote on Saturday so by Friday we'll probably have the best and final offer. It'll be a stressful week and I'm really wanting to avoid last time. So here we go!
Saturday, June 02, 2012
One Great Day
This morning started off simple enough, coffee. Then My Honey got up and we sat on the back patio and had coffee. Then I took Thing 2 to set call for Shakespeare. After that I thought I'd go gas up and had the idea to sand the upstairs floors. They are hardwood and needed refinished as the last owners of the house glued carpet to them.
So I rented a sander and then helped my mom pick out a new laptop for her at Staples. I happily headed home and got to work. First of all the main sander was HEAVY! I bet it weighed seventy five or a hundred pounds. It did the job though. After about three hours the main floor was sanded with thirty six and eighty grit while Thing 2 had sanded the edges with a smaller sander.
Then we moved everything from the landing into the bedroom and sanded it and then we did Thing 2's room. I started a little after eleven this morning and returned the sanders at a quarter til six. It was nonstop sanding except I did take a couple of short breaks.
While I was doing this My Love and R were preparing for a send off party for Tech Guy. They were making finger foods all day and getting the photos perfected for the table center pieces! What a great job they did too! The cake looked tremendous! The table decorations were top notch!
We had a big portion of our Theatre Family show up and wish Tech Guy and his family good luck in their new endeavors! Everyone will be saddened by their moving and the Theatre will be poorer for their leaving.
We (mainly My Love and Tech Guy) have been talking over shows for the past two hours and finally we shut it all down around eleven and I took out the trash. Tech Guy walked with me and we said our, "See you laters" as neither of us knew it'd be a goodbye. He'll still have the same phone number and will, for a while, keep the website updated for us.
They will be greatly missed!
So I rented a sander and then helped my mom pick out a new laptop for her at Staples. I happily headed home and got to work. First of all the main sander was HEAVY! I bet it weighed seventy five or a hundred pounds. It did the job though. After about three hours the main floor was sanded with thirty six and eighty grit while Thing 2 had sanded the edges with a smaller sander.
Then we moved everything from the landing into the bedroom and sanded it and then we did Thing 2's room. I started a little after eleven this morning and returned the sanders at a quarter til six. It was nonstop sanding except I did take a couple of short breaks.
While I was doing this My Love and R were preparing for a send off party for Tech Guy. They were making finger foods all day and getting the photos perfected for the table center pieces! What a great job they did too! The cake looked tremendous! The table decorations were top notch!
We had a big portion of our Theatre Family show up and wish Tech Guy and his family good luck in their new endeavors! Everyone will be saddened by their moving and the Theatre will be poorer for their leaving.
We (mainly My Love and Tech Guy) have been talking over shows for the past two hours and finally we shut it all down around eleven and I took out the trash. Tech Guy walked with me and we said our, "See you laters" as neither of us knew it'd be a goodbye. He'll still have the same phone number and will, for a while, keep the website updated for us.
They will be greatly missed!
Friday, June 01, 2012
Friday!
Tonight I'll be stopping to get a hair cut after work. After that home and at seven thirty I'll be ready to go run Cabaret at the Theatre. It'll be a busy evening for sure.
Last night Piano Genius and My Honey were practicing in the dining room. They sounded amazing! I know I'm biased but GOOD LORD they really sound great when he plays and she sings those old blues songs!!!
I really think the original musicians of those songs must be looking on and are very proud that they are sung so well!!! My baby does the blues well! I'm so proud:)
Last night Piano Genius and My Honey were practicing in the dining room. They sounded amazing! I know I'm biased but GOOD LORD they really sound great when he plays and she sings those old blues songs!!!
I really think the original musicians of those songs must be looking on and are very proud that they are sung so well!!! My baby does the blues well! I'm so proud:)
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