Boo!

Last year we had a lot of kids come to the door for trick or treating. I was concerned that we night run out of candy before the night was through, but we managed to squeak by with just a few pieces left over at 9:00 pm, and we turned off the porch light at 9. I don’t think that kids should be roaming the neighborhoods after 9:00 pm, and it appears that most of my neighbors believe the same thing.

This year we bought an extra bag of assorted candies from Sam’s Club. If we have any left over by the end of the evening, at least this is candy that we like and can enjoy eating ourselves over the next couple of months.

Here it is 5:00 pm and we already have kids coming to the door! They are very young kids with their parents, and I’m sure they will tucker out quickly. It is fun to see the imaginative costumes that are being worn this year.

Teeny Bopper Night

Last night the Jonas Brothers came to town. All of Nashville’s teeny boppers were in heading to the Sommet Center in droves. Like the little lemmings they are.

Can you even name a single Jonas Brother song? I can’t think of a single one.

Desktop Audit

My blogger friends are sending around a “Meme” that asks you to post what’s on your desk. At the office I work in a cubicle with a wraparound desk and overhead bins that close and hide the mess. Here’s what’s actually out on the desktop and my little cubbie’s bulletin board:

• my laptop and docking station
• a cheap personal laser printer (for quick printing rather than going to the company network printer)
• a little desk lamp that I brought from home to soften the flourescent lighting
• my company phone
• a docking station for my cell phone
• four in and out trays
• a Big Dogs coffee mug to hold my pens, scissors, highlighters, etc.
• this year’s Predators team calendar
• photoframe with snapshot of my buddies and me at my Hooter’s birthday party a couple years ago
• a map of the U.S. divided into our company’s sales regions
• printout of the company phone directory
• a stack of business magazines

Kinda boring desktop, isn’t it? I have a policy of not keeping any personal stuff on my desk except maybe one or two photos. After the last job when I got fired and escorted to the door for being ethical and not doctoring the numbers on the sales reports that my boss demanded, I want to be able to leave with just one box of my personal belongings in a box and be gone with just one trip out the door to my car.

So, come on and tell me what’s on your desk and send me the link to your blog so I can read it!

Spin Ads

Reading through this month’s Spin Magazine I am struck by how many ads are targeting the younger demographic that must read this magazine regularly with products that are not necessarily good for them or helpful to them other than designer clothing lines.

The inside cover is a special slick trifold page that gives this advertiser 4 actual full pages of exposure for 1800 Tequila.

The next two pages are DKNY Jeans, and the next two pages are for VanHeusen shirts – their Studio line.

The next two pages are Quiksilver shirts, jeans and hoodies.

The next two pages are Ben Sherman coats. I guess it’s coats. Can’t tell for sure.

Then we finally get to a page that I thought might be a table of contents page opposite a full page ad for Boost cell phones. But it’s not a table of contents. Its a page called Spin Flash with photos from four of the summer’s big concerts.

Then FINALLY a table of contents page, opposite an ad for Hennessy cognac.

So to just get to the table of contents page we’ve been exposed to:

• Liquor – 5 pages
• Clothing, shoes, handbags & accessories – 8 pages
• Cell Phones & Electronics – 1 page
• Personal Care Products – 0 pages
• Music & Concerts – 0 pages

So for fun I went through the rest of the magazine and tallied the rest of the ads into basic categories. The rest of the magazine might have halfpage ads or quarter page ads, but I’m counting the occurrences of the types of ads, so some pages maybe be counted twice if they contain two half page ads.

• Liquor – 12 pages
• Clothing, shoes, handbags & accessories – 16 pages
• Cell Phones & Electronics – 6 page
• Personal Care Products – 2 pages
• Music & Concerts – 16 pages
• Other – 9 pages

George Carlin

It was a shocker when George Carling died last month. I expected that old codger to be around for years, hobbling around on a gnarled up walking stick and waving his arms around while he grumped and fussed. He has been a comedy fixture my whole life. I listened to some of his comedy routines when I was a kid and watched most of his HBO specials.

He came to town a few years ago and did a standup routine for about an hour. I got great seats because of connections at the radio station. But to be honest, he came off as a bitter, twisted old man who wasn’t funny anymore. I was terribly disappointed in the entire show and wondered if it was me not being in the right frame of mind that night? Or has he lost his funny touch?

I read the other day that he had just done another show with new material and that his children are releasing it on DVD to try to milk a few more dollars out of their old man’s estate. I sure hope the show was funny this time. I really did like the guy and am sorry that he’s gone.