Your Blank Sucks

I think I've mentioned before that I asked Lori to pick up "Your Management
Sucks" from the library. Apparently the author likes to say things suck
because she ended up with "Your Marketing Sucks" instead. A really good
read. It challenged readers to really look at every dollar spent on
marketing, advertising, public relations, etc., and make sure that each one
of those dollars are resulting in more than a dollar in return. And that
if they're not, then they need to be eliminated or retooled. That's some
pretty hard-line thinking that would probably be hard to pull off in the
real world. But they do it for their clients and if someone comes to them
but doesn't want to go that extreme, there's a pretty good chance his
company won't take their business.

I finished that last night and am now reading "Waiting For Your Cat to
Bark?" which explores the idea that consumers are no longer pavlovian dogs
salivating at each new advertisment, seeking to please, to be social and do
what advertisers want like good little dogs, but that most people have now
evolved into cats... aloof, uninterested and only after what's in it for
them, and how marketing must adapt to continue to advertise to these types
of people. Lori is an amazing "cat" in this regard... we can listen to an
ad on the radio and I'll say something about the ad and she won't even have
heard it. I'm getting pretty good at glazing over when viewing websites
and our DVR helps us avoid commercials.

It rained hard all night long. The water retention ponds at work are
nearly full. It should be interesting to see what happens when they reach
capacity. I know they'll overflow into a neighboring wetlands, but it
should be interesting to see if the walking path becomes impassable. I
enjoyed walking this morning. I was toasty and dry in my new coat and my
really old busted up umbrella, my iPod kept nicely dry inside but still
workable from the pocket or the outside of the jacket. It turns out that
my socks and the backs of my legs did get a little wet. I'll have to
figure out how to avoid that in the future (bring a change of clothes
beyond just shoes?)

When I first got up this morning and went into the bathroom, the window was
open just a crack. Cold crisp air and the sound of rain assailed me and
for a moment I was thrown back in time to a very wet weekend at a church
camp. I've mentioned it before, but it's just interesting how your mind
can warp time and space.

Now, I'm sitting here in the office, several things all going at once and
wishing I had brought my glasses. I don't really need them, everything
looks fine, but I'm feeling a little bit lazy today and it's a little dark
in here. Fortunately my cube has undermount lighting I can turn on and I
can turn to the right and see out windows. I love this new cube. I love
having a window view.