Driven Dec 19, 2006
I've mentioned a few times my utter disgust for anything management-related.  I can't stand anything that has to do with six sigma nonsense, MBAs, or "being seen by people who matter".  I don't like books like Who Moved My Cheese, mandatory leadership development training, and the idea of a corporate ladder. 

With this in mind, I'm glad everyone's not like me.  I'm glad there are people in the world who are driven.  I'm glad somebody takes charge.  I'm glad somebody has a desire to be my boss.  I'm glad there are people who do things I don't have any desire to do, because otherwise, I'd be forced to do them.  If everyone was like me, we'd have a world full of introverted, follow-the-leader, unwilling-to-take-charge, waits-for-others-to-volunteer, geeks.  I'm not saying I regret the way I am.  I'm saying I'm glad somebody does this nonsense that I utterly despise. 

Thanks, bosses, managers, team leaders, and other driven people.  If you weren't around, I'd be forced to do your worthless jobs. #business
Sports fights Dec 19, 2006
As a result of the recent NBA fight and the T.O. spitting incident, I have a suggestion for professional sports organizations:  Allow fights.  Let them happen.  Heck, even encourage them.  Under two conditions:  Players must fight by the rules, and a referee must be nearby to enforce the rules.  The rules should be something like the ones in the UFC:  Wear lightly-padded gloves; fists, elbows, knees, and feet can be used for striking; points are awarded for takedowns and grappling; a winner is decided by knockout, submission, or a judge's decision.  Other than that, just let them go at it.  Professional male athletes are positively brewing with testosterone.  And a lot of guys get pretty emotional whether they're winning or losing.  Fighting is inevitable.  So instead of making it a national spectacle every time there's a major fight, set up a system that enables players to fight in a relatively safe and fair manner.  And just think of the marketing potential.  It shouldn't come as a surprise (though it does for a bunch of people) that fights during sporting events are exciting.  They're fun to watch.  Every time there's an extra push or a shirt-grab or a face-to-face verbal exchange, the fans are on the edges of their seats, fists in the air, ready to cheer on whoever they think will win.  Can you say typical male demographic, ages 18-35, mildly athletic, interested in sports/action/fighting/aggression?  Can you say captive audience? 

Let's face it, fighting during sporting events is inevitable.  Why stop it?  Let's see some fights. #sports
Kohl's lines Dec 18, 2006
I'd like to go on the record and state that I believe Kohl's has a terrible checkout line system.  Before you get in a line to actually pay for your items, you have to wait in a queuing line, where a "helpful" associate usually directs you to the appropriate checkout line.  Do they think I'm incapable of choosing a line myself?  Am I so stupid that I need someone to tell me which line to go to?  I have a feeling Kohl's paid some consultants a lot of money to run an expensive computer simulation, the results of which said that the queuing line system was the most efficient.  While it may be the most efficient, there are at least 2 major problems with it: 
  1. The idiot factor.  Idiots are among us, and they don't know why there's a big line before a bunch of smaller lines.  So every few minutes, someone will walk toward the smaller lines, notice the bigger line, and ask incredulously, "Is this the checkout line?"
  2. Inferiority-ism.  I pride myself on my ability to choose the shortest, fastest line.  We as humans have a natural desire to excel in this area.  Taking this ability aware from me is like declawing a cat or caging a wild animal.  My natural instincts are taken away and my soul is crushed.
So, Kohl's, get rid of your stupid checkout line system.  Even if it's more efficient, it feels slower and it hurts my feelings. #business
Mom and pop Dec 18, 2006
I've never been a fan of mom and pop stores.  In my limited experience, they've always been small and run-down, with few to no options.  So when big stores like Walmart or Home Depot come into town, I'm not at all disappointed.  The big guys offer better quality products and a better selection at lower prices.  Plus, they're usually clean and well-run. 

My opinion changed a little yesterday.  I was trying to install ceiling tiles in a room in my house by gluing them to the existing drywall.  That's how they were installed before the major leaking/cracked pipe fiasco.  But wood glue wasn't doing the job (how was I supposed to know?), so I went to the local hardware store instead of the 3-miles-and-30-minutes-farther Home Depot.  I went in and talked to an employee who recommended a few different high-strength glues.  Then another employee came over and recommended using staples, eliminating the need for glue altogether.  All I needed to do was staple the lip of the tile, not the center (again, how was I supposed to know?).  So instead of buying some chemically harsh adhesives and completing an unnecessarily messy job, I bought some staples and quickly finished [some of] an easy job. 

It was such a pleasant experience walking into a little store and talking to someone who immediately knew the solution to my problem.  Nobody tried to get me to buy anything more expensive.  Nobody gave me a credit card offer.  Nobody checked my bag as I walked out of the store.  Nobody asked me if I wanted to buy insurance for my staples.  It was a simple in-and-out operation, and that little stored gained themselves a repeat customer. #business
Double Stuf Dec 17, 2006
When partaking of some delicious Oreos, I'm particularly drawn to the Double Stuf variety.  And I'm not alone.  There's something about that big glob of cream in the middle that just makes the world a better place.  It's unexplainable, yet it's undeniable. 

When I was growing up, my dad worked for Nabisco, so I had my choice of any Nabisco product I wanted.  Looking back on this, I was truly the most blessed kid on the face of the earth (thankfully, I was also blessed with good metabolism).  But when your dad works for Nabisco, you can only eat so many Oreos and Chips Ahoy cookies before you swear off them completely.  And that's exactly what I did ... up until the day after he retired.  On or around that day, I remembered my love for Oreos and bought a box.  But I quickly grew tired of the weak stuff; I needed a real fix.  And that's where Double Stuf comes in.  They provide the same great taste and nutritional benefits as regular Oreos, with the added benefit of extra cream [1], which is arguably the best part of the cookie. 

[1] On a side note, when I was a kid, I used to take my Oreos apart and scrape the cream out of the center.  Then I'd eat the two cookie parts and make a ball out of the remaining cream.  Finally, I'd eat that big ball of cream and love every second of it. #food
PayPerPost disclosure Dec 16, 2006
News from the Federal Trade Commission came out a few days ago saying, "companies engaging in word-of-mouth marketing, in which people are compensated to promote products to their peers, must disclose those relationships."  This applies directly to PayPerPost, the "get paid to blog" people.  In light of that, PayPerPost is starting a new mandatory disclosure policy (as opposed to the highly recommended one) where "participating Consumer Content Creators are required to disclose their sponsored status."  TechCrunch says this is the right thing to do, which is the first nice thing they've said about PPP. 

This is a sponsored post. #technology
Holiday media Dec 16, 2006
Holiday movies like A Christmas Story, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and generally all Christmas music never really get old.  That point can definitely be argued, but I consistently find myself getting exciting about watching these things and hearing these sounds year after year.  Is it because they're artistic masterpieces that deserve to be played non-stop for 30 days each year?  Probably not.  I think it's more about us as American consumers being cultured to get excited about a particular time of year.  Everything we see on TV, movies, and commercials gives the impression that Christmas is a magical time of year where dreams come true and hoofed animals fly.  Broken marriages are fixed, long-lost family members are reunited, and people get new cars.  Basically, everything is good, and even though we know it's not true and we get sick of hearing about it, the idea gets ingrained in our minds.  Eleven months go by, we see a commercial for some standard holiday TV specials, and we get excited again. 

Update (2006-12-19 11:08am):  The other thing I planned on saying was this:  Because of the excitement and fascination that goes along with holiday media, anything geared toward this topic will inevitably have tremendous success and become an instant classic.  The movie Elf is a good example.  The story is nothing spectacular and the characters aren't anything groundbreaking, but because it's a Christmas movie, it'll be bought and watched extensively during the Christmas season.  It's the same with any musician who makes a Christmas album.  That artist is pretty much guaranteed a major sales increase every year.  And because there's never really any "new" Christmas music (just redone old Christmas music), the songs and albums will never really get old.  They're instant "timeless" classics.  What a concept. #entertainment
Thoughts on ads Dec 15, 2006
I've been trying out BlogKits for about a week now, and I have a few thoughts.  BlogKits claims to be in competition with AdSense by earning money for blogs with little to no traffic.  But I think they're a completely different thing.  As one of the commenters said, BlogKits is similar to Commission Junction and LinkShare, which are affiliate marketing sites.  The difference is that AdSense and other Pay Per Click advertisers try to display ads that blend in with the context of the site.  When a user clicks on one of the ads, money is exchanged.  Affiliate marketing and other Pay Per Action services are like earning a commission.  If I use a product or service and recommend it to someone else who in turn uses the service, I get a kickback for referring the person.  I get nothing if the person doesn't buy something. 

In my opinion, affiliate marketing seems to make more sense.  I think people are much more willing to try a product or service that's directly recommended by another person as opposed to trying something based on a computer-generated suggestion system.  For example, if I'm having a conversation with someone and we're talking about coffee, which ads would most likely be more effective:  Ads that say "Buy coffee now!", "Coffee ranking site", and "Coffee lawsuit lawyers"; or ads that say, "Shop at DunkinDonuts.com for great coffee deals" and "Buy international coffee at Starbucks.com"?  I'd go with the second set.  And from my brief and limited experience, that's what affiliate marketing is about.  It's not always the case; affiliate marketers can recommend products they've never tried or even tried and hated.  But at least there's a choice.  With AdSense, you don't get to choose your advertises.  And even with BlogKits, you don't get to choose your affiliates.  But looking through Commission Junction and LinkShare, I'm able to individually select each advertiser I'm willing to do business with, based on my own opinions and experiences. 

The other benefit CJ and LS have over other ad servers is that they're not really an ad server.  Traditionally, I'm given a javascript snippet to put somewhere on my website.  That script connects to an ad server, gets information, and relays it back to my site.  This takes time, and I'm not a fan of things that make my website slower.  CJ and LS give out HTML links.  I can just copy and paste these links on my site.  The HTML does include a tracking image for statistical purposes, but I can omit it if I choose.  And I can even change the link text (though everything I read says it's a bad idea [I'll still do it anyway]).  So instead of having a script communicate with a third-party site, I can have an internal script execute before the page even loads.  And I can even setup an ad rotation system by using something like Witty Text or wp_quotes. 

So until the next thing comes along, it looks like I'll be trying this. #entertainment
Control Dec 14, 2006
I was listening to the radio a few months ago, and Drew Carey was being interviewed about his libertarianism.  He made an interesting observation:  Most people believe the government is for the people.  Drew believes the government is against the people, what with all the laws, the wiretapping, the copyright punishments, and the war on drugs.  While his views are a little crazy, he at least makes some sort of sense.  The government exists to punish the people who break its laws.  Sure, it provides nice things like highways, censorship, education, tax refunds, and military protection.  But it also does a lot of restricting and punishing. 

I've noticed this same thing with non-political things like the NFL.  NFL games are available on basic cable channels (ABC, NBC, FOX) for little money at all.  But if you happen to live outside your favorite team's hometown, you're out of luck.  NFL Sunday Ticket is a service offered through DirecTV that broadcasts every NFL game of the whole season for something like $80 per year (but only through DirecTV, which is a satellite provider).  The NFL also has a deal with Yahoo to offer streaming online versions of every game, all for the low-low price of $249.99 per year.  Oh, but it's not available in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and several other places, not because it's technologically infeasible but because the NFL doesn't want people to see all the games.  And that's what I don't get.  Why does a sports organization have so many restrictions about who can watch what games when?  Why can't I broadcast a game without the NFL's consent (that's why I think NFL on demand is illegal)?  It just seems like the organization exists solely to create rules and punish rule-breakers.  And that makes me want to become a libertarian. #politics
Cell phone ring Dec 14, 2006
I put a lot of effort into fighting this urge. 
#entertainment