Overloaded

THIS is why I don't have a Facebook!


Infographic by- Shanghai Web Designers

I only use a few of these apps/sites thankfully, but I'm still overwhelmed with all of the information thrown at me daily. What have YOU done in the last 60 seconds?

Brother can you spare a dime?

Donations are always welcome, but I'm doing OK. Actually better than I thought I was. Well, in a "college financial aid" kinda way. You know, "you make too much money to qualify for any grants, but enjoy your ramen noodles for dinner."

One thing I was actually dreading about getting my wife's new vehicle was the credit application. I know that I'm much better off than a large number of people, but I hate having so much debt and so little savings. We'd socked away the tax return in February and all we could since then as a down payment at the expense of larger checks to Visa and his cousin, but because we needed a larger car (we'll have three tall teenagers by the time we are done with this vehicle, plus the two of us as well), we couldn't fit into a pop can on wheels.

My wife actually submitted the credit application on our behalf while she was at the dealership the day the vehicle came in. She gave them estimates of income and house payment, etc and set the wheels in motion.

Payment history -- good, no flaws. Length of credit history -- all good, lengthy track racord. Amount of available credit to income -- a little high I think. Amount of debt to income -- higher than I'd like, but not unmanageable by any standard. Available savings -- sitting there waiting to make a down payment. Really nothing for me to worry about in reality, but it's kinda like being called into the boss' office without an agenda -- makes me a little nervous.

In the end, I was very pleasantly surprised when not only did we qualify for the low rate we were after, but I happen to see a copy of the credit score. Much higher than I was thinking. I know that they've really tightened up on credit and even reworked the FICO score not too long ago. I'd gotten my score several years ago before that change, but other than paying down debt, had not really done anything else to influence that score.

I know that they (the bankers) are in a funny spot. On one hand, trying to convince you to take as much loan as they can get you to take, telling you you can afford more than you really can sometimes -- that's how they make their money after all, but on the other hand if they over extend themselves, or rather, get you to over extend yourself, that's not good for them and they lose money on defaults.

My credit score is not something to brag about, but I have been working a long time on maintaining a good credit score and report, and I'm still working on the outstanding debt part of the equation, but I guess in the end I may not be as bad off as I had thought.

Now I just have to find a way to figure out the whole financial aid thing within 3-4 years. I really hope my kids like writing grant essays :-)

White Collar Welfare...

I've been trying to find the right way to write about this. Then, the other day, out of the blue, I got it. What is "White Collar Welfare"? As described by a co-worker, it's the process of a bunch of white collar workers generating busy work for a bunch of other white collar workers who in turn need the assistance of others and in the end, it's just a bunch of busy work to keep them all employed.

I am often dumbfounded by this whole process. There is sooooo much stuff that we do, just to do it. Not because there is any real value in it. Not because something will change because we did it. Not because someone will be more the wiser because of our work. Not because something will be better, faster, stronger, cheaper. We do it just to do it. Well, that, and because some superior told us to.

And yet, when it comes to real work - the work that WILL make things better, cheaper, faster, stronger, more secure... there's no support for that kind of work.

There are certain "standards" in industry that exemplify this "white collar welfare" perfectly. It's all about documentation. It's all about standard processes and practices. Yet none of the "standards" really work in industry. And yet, they are forced upon the company by some probably well-meaning executive with no footing in the real world. It complicates the job the workers are trying to accomplish, creates additional paperwork and drudgery and meetings up the wazoo, and for what? Nothing really changes, because after all of the work is done, everything goes back to the way it was.

What happened to just doing what needs to be done? To not needing a 16x48 cell spreadsheet to know who was Responsible, Accountable, Informed and whatever that C stands for. What did we do before the letters I, T, I and L were all stuck together? Or those before those guys in DC, Sarbanes and his buddy Oxley decided that ALL of us in business needed to be sentenced to death by paperwork for the grievous acts of a few idiots. The laws were already in place. They were broken. Punish them, not us. Are we any better off, or is unemployment just a little less.

Innovation is stifled by unwieldy processes and documentation. There is so much in the way of getting things done that nothing gets done. Common Sense, even Business Sense, has taken a back seat to Process 5.6.32.a.7 subsection 37b.9. Progress is hindered by the need to write a 500-page proposal and fill out for TP-8675309 before making a change to fix a spelling mistake found in Process 5.6.32.a.7 subsection 37b.9. Real work is subjugated by White Collar Welfare. Such is the life we life. :-(

Is it over yet?

Christmas is a time for family, for religious reflection, for food, for charity, and a time to witness the joy as children (and others) unwrap their presents. For the past several years though, I just haven't been able to get into the Christmas spirit.

Maybe it's the lack of a wintery wonderland that I associate with Christmas from my childhood. Maybe it's the commercialism that's become worse and worse each year as retailers remove the calendar gap between selling fireworks for the 4th of July and selling toys and electronics aimed at the Christmas buyers. Maybe it's because I refuse to listen to Christmas music until AFTER Thanksgiving as opposed to when we get home from trick-or-treating (as one local radio station would have us do). Maybe it's the chaotic scheduling around having a split family with siblings and extended family on both sides to find time to share presence with. Maybe it's the added frustration of all the items that jump out of their hiding spots in closets and the garage once a year to make our living room feel even smaller. Maybe it's just the stress built up at work as projects try to wrap up at year-end. Maybe it's the frustration that I want to be one of those parents that buys my kids something big and flashy for Christmas, but can't afford to.

Or maybe it's something completely different. I don't know.

I enjoy the time with family (immediate and extended), some of whom I only see on holidays, but I'm really glad when I go back to work and return to a "normal" schedule.

I feel bad about feeling bad about Christmas, which just makes me feel worse. I want to get back (?) to a time where Christmas is a fun time. A time I can enjoy without regard to anything else that's going on. A time when I can release the chaos and just enjoy the moment. A time when I can stand outside on the porch with my family on Christmas Eve, look up at the sky and catch a snowflake on my tongue. A time when we all cuddle up by a fire and read 'Twas the night before Christmas and then tuck my little ones and my wife safely in bed before retiring myself in preparation for the excitement of the Christmas morn.

Maybe it's all part of parenting, of growing up, replacing the fun of Christmas with the function of Christmas. But that's not right. I don't want Christmas to be a function. I want Christmas to be a fun time -- to be a worry-free time to enjoy life and family. I want THAT as my Christmas present next year.

Bah Humbug, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours...

Selling business

In a previous job, I participated in the sales process for a software product (and service). I was a technical representative and not the actual sales person, but I was witness to a number of "bargaining sessions." There are all kinds of people buying things from a variety of companies, but in general, we're all out to optimize the value that we get for our dollar. Some people do that by buying a less expensive version of a product (that sacrifices quality), or using coupons to lower the actual cost, thus increasing the value. Others try the ol' "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" routine... and then forget on Tuesday...

While the situations expressed in this video are obviously fictitious, I have to say that I have witnessed some version of each of them over the years. I can say that I find them funny now, since I'm not in that position anymore, but had I seen this several years ago, I'm sure that I would've thought a little differently.

Front Line

I had occasion to call my mortgage company today. I've dealt with a lot of customer service reps over the years, but something really struck me today.

I understand that in the low-paying, cost-center world of customer support, businesses are looking to save every penny that they can. Part of that may mean sending the call center overseas. Whether that's what I experienced today or not, one thing that companies need to remember is that their customers need to be able to understand the people on the other end of the line. The person I spoke to today had such a heavy Spanish (?) accent that it took two and three times of them repeating a phrase before I understood what he was saying.

I work with people in the technology field who speak many, many different languages with varying degrees of heaviness in their accent. It's part of the world I live in. But that's me -- I suspect the same is not true for the majority of people. That being said, I still had a hard time understanding this guy. I'm (pretty) sure that he was technically capable of his job, but if I, as the customer, can't understand him, that pretty much invalidates the service he's capable of performing.

I have nothing against people that don't speak fluent English - I actually find some languages really cool to listen to, Spanish being one of them (and Mia Rose's Portuguese as well), but don't put them on the front line of customer contact if they are not able to communicate with the customers.

Just my rant for the day I guess... Tomorrow - The drivers that cut me off by turning left in the "outside" lane and then cutting me off to get into to the "inside" lane to get on the expressway...

Copyright 2010

Unless someone else has thought of this, I hereby copyright this idea... :-)

There are many sites on the web that allow you to create "Ransom Note" style text where each letter you use is presented in a different font, or substituted with a different picture representing that alphabetic character. My idea expands on that a little (but significant) bit.

My idea is to replace whole words (where possible) instead of the individual characters, but by using images of signs from each specific locality. For instance, if someone was to type "Come see our Saturday Performance at 12345 Mainstreet, 10 o'clock am" and tag the location as Detroit-area, each of the words would be replaced with the image of that word from a picture taken somewhere around Detroit. The images would be crowd-sourced like the Human Clock site after being seeded with some Creative Commons images.

• Obviously not all words would be available, especially at the start of the project, so when that happens, the word would be replaced by random letters for each character, though still from local pictures where possible.
• Logos, recognizable signs, etc would all be fodder for the collection.
• The images should be able to be submitted by anyone, but would need to be moderated.
• Submitter should specify which word/letter they are submitting.
• Submitter should be able to cropthe image upon upload so that it isolates the intended area.
• Submitted images should be commonly sized.
• File formats should be restricted.
• Multiples for each would would be allowed and encouraged to provide more randomness.
• A needs list could be presented based on the most common words.
• A needs list could include the ones that are being used that we need to replace with characters instead.
• Users of the site would be allowed to specify a metro area or allow images from the global catalog of images.
• Once presented with a refined image, the user would be able to refresh for a new set of images if desired.
• The final image should be presented to the user as a single image for download.

Any code hackers out there that want to take a shot at this?

A picture is worth a thousand, well...

Your corporate identity, as expressed by your logo, can say a lot about you. Are you high-tech, or low-tech? What services do you offer? What are your strengths? What should someone remember about your organization? Are you a multinational conglomerate, or a small, home-town mom and pop shop? Do you sell books, or smoothies? That's an awful lot to accomplish with just a few pixels.

Graphic Design Blog has found several companies that have managed to create something that speaks volumes about their companies. There are creative logos that you'll recognize, but see in a new way from now on, and a few much less popular ones that that will make you think.

Lawyers never cease to amaze me....

With apologies to any legitimate lawyers out there... Both of you! :-)

Seems like someone doesn't have a very big sense of humor. Specifically the law firm of Faegre & Benson. Either that, or they get paid by the letter...

See the full scoop at the ThinkGeek page.

Just say NO!

No, this isn't another Public Service Announcement (but Hey! Say no to Drugs!). I'm talking about the fact that no one seems to know how to say NO anymore. I sit through endless meetings where people hem and haw (yeah, I guess I AM that old), about this or that, and we'll look into this or think about that, but what they're really saying in their mind is NO. If they drag their feet long enough they know we'll have to take what they give us. Because no one wants to tell "upper management" NO - we can't deliver on that tight timeline.

Or the uneducated management types that have no idea the herculean effort necessary to recreate manually week by week the presentation you had to do for them months ago as a one time effort.

Or the... Or the... And the...

If you mean NO, say NO. Deal with the consequences, and spend the four hours of meetings that you just avoided coming up with something better than what you said NO to.

More unusual business cards

I'm not sure what it is about business cards that I find interesting, but I've always been drawn to interesting or unusual business cards. I even used to collect them for a while. Maybe it's my dream that one day I will have a job cool enough to warrant such an art piece, or maybe I'm envious of the creativity of the nameplate. Apparently, I'm not the only one who finds these fascinating. I've posted several collections here and here before, but Odd Stuff Magazine came up with quite a few I hadn't seen before. Take a gander...

PS. Have a cool business card of your own? Let me know!

Non-profit

According to Wikipedia,

A non-profit organization (abbreviated as NPO, also known as a not-for-profit organization) is an organization that does not distribute its surplus funds to owners or shareholders, but instead uses them to help pursue its goals. Examples of NPOs include charities (i.e. charitable organizations), trade unions, and public arts organizations... They are in most countries exempt from income and property taxation.

Hospitals and churches also generally fit this definition.

Listening to some of the debate about the health care reform being debated in the US recently reminded me of the hospital inclusion in this category. More specifically, listening to some of the hospitals complain about potential "decreases in revenue" got me thinking about how flawed this "non-profit" system really can be. While I'm sure that there are many organizations that are truly using this status to the benefit of their customers (providing lower cost health care, or more healthcare in more places, etc), some of these organizations seem to be taking a different kind of advantage of the system. Gaudy hospitals that make Trump jealous. Over-paid executives. More money spent on advertising than on patient care. This is the kind of stuff that really makes me jaded about our country.

My understanding is that non-profits just can't have any funds (profits) left over at the end of the year. If they "accidentally" make "too much" money one year by increasing their rates, they just need to spend it on something (a large sculpture, painting, new desks for the executives, a "team building event in Hawaii", etc) so that it doesn't have to be recorded as profit. Heaven forbid that they don't raise rates instead.

I don't begrudge corporations that make a lot of money, so long as they do it legally, and I'm not suggesting that we collect it all in one big pot to make sure that we all have an equal share. Maybe I'm jealous that I can't seem to break out of permanent debt while all of these others are living higher than I think that they should be, and crying when they're made to pay taxes, or fines, or have to abide by the same laws that us lowly plebes need to. Maybe it's their arrogance. Whatever it is, I'm sick of seeing it on the news, in the papers, in the magazines, on the Net. How about reading about someone that gives all their hard earned money to someone that needs it more than them? How about reading more "pay it forward" stories? How about remembering the little guys that do the work that you take credit for?

Just a thought...

Social Media

Drinking the Kool-Aid

Google has received a lot of negative press about privacy since it first hit the market. It's mission to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" implies that it needs to collect all the world's information, or at least to see it. And what is information?

• a message received and understood
• knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction
• data: a collection of facts from which conclusions may be drawn; "statistical data"

In Google's terms, that means, essentially anything it can get it's hands, er um, spiders on. Fromnews articles on CNN, to blog posts on A World Discovered, to videos of funny cats, to Britney Spear's son's birth certificate and other public records and maps (including StreetView imagestaken just tens of feet from your front door). It also includes health information provided by you, your doctors and other medical professionals assisting in your treatments. This also includes anything that it can gather and glean from your searching and usage on it's vast collection of web properties,the contacts that you communicate with through those services, and even your credit information when you use Google Checkout. Google's alliance with the US-National Security Agency does little to squelch fears about invasion of privacy (for Google or the US Government).

Scared yet? I was too. I was really leery about using Google Toolbar when it was first released. I was concerned about the fact that it would scan my entire hard drive in the interest of providing faster and better search results of my local docs as well as my web searches. I was concerned about the information that would pass through Google Mail (Gmail). I was scared about having a Google Health account. I was scared about all of the integration that the Nexus One offers.

I'm scared of dying too. But that too is inevitable.

I'm not saying that there is no risk with using all of Google's services, of providing them with your life and being, but I've come to realize that it's better to live than to fear dying. It's better to take advantage of all of the power that you're provided, than to feign blindness and ignore the elephant in the room. I'm not advocating running naked through the streets with a pair of scissors in each hand in the middle of rush hour, but, with clothes, using a crosswalk, you can still get pummeled.

The older I get, the less I remember. That too is a fact of life. But, an elephant, like Google (and the Internet) never forgets. I can look up phone numbers for people I haven't spoken to in eons (even if I don't know what city they live in). I can search for that cookie recipe that I know I had printed out somewhere but can no longer find. I can get turn-by-turn driving directions (the shortest, or mostscenic) to appointments at places I've never been (including seeing ahead of time what the building actually looks like.) I can find things so quickly from the Web that I have tossed my 1000's of bookmarks I spent so much time collecting and organizing years ago (a large number of them were no longer active anyway). I can get to my mail, and many of my documents from any computer in the world. I no longer need to worry about SPAM in my mailbox (I get one a year that slips through and 2800 a month that are cleansed, and no false positives in over a year). I'm entertained with news and posts that are of interest to me versus having to slog through the full news paper (or more often it's digital equivalent). It has literally changed the way I (and many millions of others) do things. It's freed us up to be more efficient, to worry about more important things and to think freer thoughts instead of having to occupy our brains with remembering and processing more trivial things. It's enriched my mind with more current, useful, entertaining information and knowledge.

There is a chance that Google will be hacked (again). There is a chance that the US Government isspying on it's own citizens. There is a chance that anything can happen (or already has without ourknowledge). We can become activists (that's the subject of an upcoming post), or we can take advantage of what's put before us and move on.

Google is a corporation with a reputation to uphold. If it does not keep it's users happy, there are many, many alternatives that users will flock to. If we all flock to other services, Google makes no money. We're not talking millions of dollars at stake. We're not even talking about hundreds of millions of dollars at stake. Try over 23.6 billion in full year revenue for 2009 -- and they're still growing at 6% a year even in this economy. I don't think that they have any plans to muck with that revenue stream knowing how fast it'd all be wiped out if they ticked us off.

Life's a risk. I chose to live. I choose to drink the Kool-Aid. (OK, that's an oxymoronic comparison I guess, but you get the point.).

Things someone much smarter than me has already learned...

• Get everything in writing. Always.
• Very little goes according to plan – be prepared to adapt, especially in this fast-paced industry.
• Play to your strengths – focusing on your weaknesses is soul-sapping and counter-productive.
• Hire experts to fill any gaps in your knowledge base and/or skill set.
• Surround yourself with talented, motivated people and treat them like gold.
• Don’t keep all your eggs in one basket – diversify at the earliest opportunity.
• Undertake to work with clients on your own terms.
• Managing client expectations correctly, from the beginning, will save you a lot of unnecessary stress and trauma later on.
• Saying “no” is completely liberating.
• Don’t work for or with people that you clash with – the relationship will not survive.
• Look after your existing clients – it’s easier to up sell than cold sell.
• Word-of-mouth is the most effective marketing tool in your artillery.
• Admit when you’ve made a booboo and then fix it. It can lead to unexpected doors opening.
• Making tough decisions is part of the package. Deal with it.
• Never undertake spec work – you’ll set a dangerous precedent that will come back to haunt you.
• Most meetings are a total waste of time.
• Backup your data regularly.
• There will always be someone else cheaper, faster and better than you so position yourself to add unexpected value.
• Under promise and over deliver – exceed all expectations.
• Honesty and integrity will serve you well.
• And guess what? The learning process never ends! In fact, the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know. That’s incredibly humbling!

I hate...

...incompetence and incompetents. There. I said it. It may not be PC, but it's true. Know your job. Learn your job, or at least acknowledge you don't know something until you can find the answer. Too many people sneak through on Peter's coattails or via nepotism.

There are people like this in every organization. From the customer service manager at my otherwise favorite store, to the 85-year-old person trying to accept my appointment today, to many, many people I've worked with over the years. Some are there 'cuz they suck up to who they think is the rising star. Others are there because there was no one else to fill the void. Maybe they are there because no one is brave enough to tell them to get the heck out.

I'm not saying that they were always incompetent. Maybe they just hung around long enough that they were put into that position. Maybe they've reached the point in their careers that they've checked out, but forgot to leave the room when they turned the lights out.

I admit that I've been placed into roles that were not a good fit for my skills. People actually thought, myself included, that I'd be a good manager of people. Guess we all learned something on that one. I'm not a people [managing] person. Sorry guys.

But I learned from that experience. I learned what was not working and molded it into something that worked out much better. They key to that transition was understanding, and admitting, that I was somewhere that I shouldn't be. I thought sure that was where I wanted to be, but I found out otherwise.

So are these incompetents in the wrong position because they can't admit that they're in the wrong position? Are they they because they've checked out and are just going through the motions to collect their paycheck? Are they still there because no one will tell them their time is up? [And what about those people afraid to take responsibility and do their job and get them out of the wrong position?!] Or are they there because they are absolutely so darn clueless that they don't know what time it is? Probably a little of all of it. They take the easy road. Stay the course. Don't rock the boat.

I'm not naming names. I feel like putting a little subliminal Carly Simon reference in here... but I won't.

Too Hot To Handle!

So apparently Farberware, a fairly well-known brand of cooking pots and pans, can't really handle the heat.

According to their website,

...the Farberware®name has stood for value, quality and durability. This commitment to the customer continues to this day. All of the Farberware®family of products are designed with the consumer in mind and manufactured to the highest standards.

I beg to differ...in a big way!

First a little back story. My wife and I are by no means gourmet chefs, but we do like to, and have to cook on occasion. Over the years, we've had quite a mishmash of pots and pans handed down from family that replaced theirs, odds and ends that we've picked up as needed, etc. Over time the frying pans that we had had lost their non-stick coating and it was time to replace them. It happens. No biggie.

We also collect Coke Rewards points (well nowadays we get most of them from my step-mom as we're down to tea mostly). Feel free to save your unused caps for us :-). Anyway, as our points accumulated, we noticed that one of the rewards was a set of frying pans. Perfect. It was a set of three or four different sizes. Made by Farberware (not Joe's Fry Pan Heaven) - a well-known and, until now, respected brand. We cashed in our points and awaited their arrival.

After a little shipping snafu, we got the set and thought we'd be all set. NOT.

One of the problems with the inexpensive pan we had just tossed was that it had warped on the bottom so it didn't sit flat on the glass cook top. This led to very uneven heating. I was glad to be rid of it because it would wobble as I tried to stir the ham and eggs my kids have become so fond of.

After just a few uses, the Farberware pans seemed to have warped as well. I was shocked. It's not like we cook in a blast furnace. It's a standard consumer-grade electric cook top. Why would a frying pan not be able to stand cooking scrambled eggs?! I thought surely this was a defect. Farberware? Maybe they were the low-end 'cuz Coke was giving them away (well not really, but "offering them as redemption options."). In any case, I decided to call Farberware and ask -- "What's up with not being able to use your pans to scramble some eggs?!"

I had the "pleasure" of speaking to a $10 phone rep named Allegra when I called Farberware's consumer hotline. I explained my situation, received the pans via a Coke promotion, the pans had warped after just a few uses, and I wondered if this was expected behavior or if I just got a "bad batch" of pans.

Her response? "You can't cook on high with those pans sir." I said, "uh, can you repeat that? I thought you just said that I can't use my pans on a consumer cook top on a normal setting to cook food." She repeated her stance that they are not designed to be used on a high setting. "If you had followed the directions for care included with the cookware they wouldn't have warped sir." So I repeated that I was using these on a consumer cook top, not a commercial gas blast furnace. I stated that in my opinion, before this incident, Farberware was a trusted, quality brand that I had grown up with. Not at all perceived as a cheap piece of crap that I could pick up at the Dollar Store. Showing no care nor concern for any damage to their reputation, nor explaining the possibility that there might have been cheaper quality that other items in their line that might be more suited for my needs, she simply repeated that I should've followed the instructions for care.
I don't know about you, but after reading the dishwasher safe, don't use metal objects to stir because they'll strip the non-stick coating, I pretty much assume that cookware is for cooking. Forgive me for missing the fine print about COOKWARE not being suitable FOR COOKING! This must be another one of those disclaimers that some high-paid lawyer made them put in...."blah blah blah, caution, contents may be hot. don't use this cookware for it's intended purpose as it might become destroyed in such usage..."

Well, I guess I know what's going on my birthday list this year -- a set of NON-FARBERWARE frying pans that can stand the heat!

Feel free to tweet, forward, link, fax, email, blog, call, or generally harass FARBERWARE about such a ridiculous product as one that can't be used for its intended purpose. What a shame.

I suppose I should call them again and see if I can get ahold of someone that cares, but Allegra ticked me off so much, I'm not sure I want to even give them a second chance.

Bring it on...

I'm gonna try something I think might be interesting starting next week. I'm going to keep a log of every commercial product/brand that I use during the course of one week. Then at the end of the week, I'll seek out the customer contact form on the web for each product, say something nice about the product, give them my email address and home address, and ask for coupons if available. I'll keep track of the initial list of products and then record what response, if any, I get. I think I saw something similar done before, but I can't find the link at the moment.

I'm curious not only what "financial gains" I might achieve (every coupon helps, and if they add me to a list for future mailings, even better), but also how companies are treating such requests these days. Are they reacting to more and more people trying to "milk the system," or are they seeing this as an avenue to reach more customers, instill brand loyalty and get them to purchase their product more often? Do they only respond via email, or will they respond via snail-mail as
well? Will they say "Thanks, we're glad you enjoy our products," or will they say, "If you liked that product, try this new product that we've just released."

My initial thought was to just pick a single day (weekday or weekend day), and use that list. I'm sure that there would be plenty of companies to contact. I'm talking about the alarm clock, the toothpaste, cereal, TV, car, cat food, bulk-goods store, grocery store, furnace, gasoline, lunch meat, "Tupperware-esque" containers, vitamins and everything else that I actually utilize in a day. I'm not going after stuff I don't use, just to get stuff. I'm communicating with companies with whom I already have a relationship of some kind. Then, I realized that over the course of the week (all seven-days), the number of companies added each day would dwindle geometrically as I use mostly the same things each day, so I decided to stretch it out for a whole week.

I'm sure it will generate more email. I'm sure it will generate more snail-mail. I recycle both, so I'm not worried too much about these increases. There are some things that won't necessarily justify a coupon, or "reward" of some kind. I'm thinking that the furnace manufacturer might deal only through dealers. The same thing with my car manufacturer. I might get a few cold calls from them, but with my Google Voice account, I can stop those as spam if I need to.

I might throw in a couple of brands I regularly visit or use, but just didn't hit during this period -- some fast food spots, etc. - just to see what happens as well.

There is definitely a selfish angle to this (the coupons, samples, etc), but I am very curious about the responsiveness of the companies as well.

I'll keep you updated on the experiment as it progresses.

Money to burn?

According to an article in Forbes Magazine (Sept 7, 2009, pg88), the following people have a lot of money to burn on Internet advertising:

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buy structured settlements
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phoenix arizona dui attorney

I'm just sayin' :)

Home Page 2.0

A number of web pages have undergone some updating over the last few years. Cooler, more high-tech graphics. Drag and Drop features. Stir in a little bit of AJAX, some RSS, a bit of tweeting and call it good. Not so for the folks over at advertising agency BooneOakley. Instead, they decided to completely rethink and re-image the corporate web page...AS A YOUTUBE VIDEO!

This is by far the most innovative, think outside the box, attention grabbing thing I've seen in a while.